POLICE CHIEFS KILLED

"... gunmen have shot and killed senior police officers in Baghdad and... Kirkuk... Lt. Col. Dhiya Hilal, chief of police in the capital's Ghazaliyah district was shot dead and three of his bodyguards were wounded in an attack in western Baghdad. Meanwhile, Lt. Colonel Mohammed Rashad, commander of a unit protecting Iraq's vulnerable oil pipeline network, was assassinated in front of his home in Kirkuk."
http://news.scotsman.com/latest.cfm?id=1865622005

NEW REASON GIVEN FOR WAR

"President Bush answered growing antiwar protests yesterday with a fresh reason for US troops to continue fighting in Iraq: protection of the country's vast oil fields..."
http://www.commondreams.org/headlines05/0831-01.htm

GWOT = WAR ON ISLAM

"... when the Bush administration invaded Iraq there was virtually no doubt in Muslim countries that America was indulging itself in a euphemistic war: that Bush's "global war on terrorism" in reality was a war against Islam..."
http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Front_Page/GH30Aa01.html

TROUBLES WRITING CONSTITUTION - PHILADELPHIA 1787 VS. BAGHDAD 2005

"We had a little trouble with our own conventions writing a constitution. [We] must remember the history of our own country. The American Revolution was followed by years of chaos."
-- President Bush, address May 17, 2005
http://www.state.gov/s/crs/rls/rm/46818.htm

"... a bizarre analogy... Try as Bush and his followers may, they will find no historical record of Ayatollah Alexander Hamilton's militia hunting down followers of radical secularist Thomas Jefferson, nor of rival Christian gangs blowing up one another's houses of worship. Nor will they find a record of renegade Green Mountain Boys gunning down foreign troops who were supposedly present to "help young democracies succeed."
--The Nation, August 26, 2005
http://www.thenation.com/blogs/thebeat?bid=1&pid=17116

COST OF OIL TO BE MEASURED IN BLOOD

"President Bush answered growing antiwar protests yesterday with a fresh reason for US troops to continue fighting in Iraq: protection of the country's vast oil fields..."
http://www.commondreams.org/headlines05/0831-01.htm

"... taxpayers, are already footing the bills to maintain military bases across the globe. But politicians and the news media rarely mention those bills as hidden costs for oil... “Ultimately, the cost of oil will be measured in blood... The American military is being used more and more for the protection of overseas oil fields and the supply routes that connect them to the United States and its allies... Slowly but surely, the U.S. military is being converted into a global oil-protection service...”
--Michael T. Klare, “Blood and Oil.”
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0805073132/commondreams-20/ref%3Dnosim/002-6105438-3669652

DRAFT CONSTITUTION - SUNNIS REJECT, BUSH WELCOMES

"... Parts of the Iraqi draft constitution are a "recipe for chaos", Arab League Secretary General Amr Moussa has said... Shia and Kurdish negotiators have endorsed the document, but negotiators from the Sunni minority refused to put their names to it. They fear the proposals would lead to the break-up of the country into a Kurdish north and Shia south... US President George W Bush welcomed the completed draft constitution..."
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/4194214.stm

INSURGENCY SUCCEEDS WITHOUT WINNING

"... The problem is that the "insurgency" doesn't have to win in order to succeed. All it has to do is spoil everyone else's successes. By sabotaging the oil pipelines and the electricity grid that supports them, the guerrillas have reduced Iraqi government revenue by a third to a half of what it otherwise would be. They can go on doing that a very long time. They have put the lives of every senior member of the new government in danger, and have managed to assassinate a whole roster of high-ranking officials, even two members of the new parliament and two members of the constitution drafting committee. They have kept the new government, and even the US military, from truly controlling the major Sunni Arab cities, and have even made mixed cities such as Baqubah big security problems. They have increasingly succeeded in provoking deep hatred between Sunni and Shiite Arabs, contributing to a low-intensity, uncoventional war between the two that seemed unlikely as recently as a year ago. These tactics are proving successful and can be maintained for a very long time. At present troop levels, to use Sullivan's phrase, there is no prospect of the United States military defeating the Sunni Arab guerrilla movement..."
-- Juan Cole, Informed Comment, Sunday, August 28, 2005
http://www.juancole.com/2005/08/sullivan-and-tantalus-in-baghdad.html

WHY THEY DIED IN IRAQ

"... Maybe they died so Iraq can draft a constitution in line with radical Islam, which would suppress women and ultimately destroy Israel. Maybe they died so Mobil / Halliburton / McDonald's can have free rein and profits galore in the Mideast. Maybe they died so U.S. Army Inc. can have a permanent base and continue imposing our will by force on another region of the Earth. Maybe they died so Bush wouldn't have to answer bothersome questions about Karl Rove. Maybe they died so Iraq can have the same rigged and untraceable elections we do, putting inept but connected people in office to start wars unnecessarily..."

"... When we defend our country, we're "patriots," but when Iraqis defend their country, they're called "terrorists." So, our patriots kill their terrorists, and this makes it a noble cause worth dying for?"

http://www.startribune.com/stories/1519/5581635.html

NEO-CONS VISION FOR IRAQ DID NOT WORK OUT

"... No one in Washington would have imagined that with all the human and financial costs of the war, the United States would find itself supporting a government ... (with) close ties to Iran and that would conclude a military agreement with Tehran for the training of Iraq forces, even as nearly 140,000 U.S. troops remained on Iraq soil... This indeed was not how it was supposed to turn out for neo-conservatives who had argued that the gratitude of Iraqis for their "liberation" from Saddam would result in the installation of a secular, pro-western government that would permit its territory to be used for U.S. military bases..."
http://www.commondreams.org/headlines05/0826-04.htm

U.S. CREATED INTERNATIONAL TERRORIST FACTORY IN IRAQ
The flypaper strategy - Bring 'Em On

"... Two studies, conducted separately by Saudis and Israelis, confirm that most foreign fighters entering Iraq had no previous history of jihad. One of the studies interviewed more than 300 captured infiltrators and found that they had entered Iraq specifically to oppose the U.S. occupation. In other words, we have created an international terrorist factory where none existed..."
http://www.startribune.com/stories/1519/5575522.html

ISLAMIC FEDERATION OF IRAQ

"Under Saddam Hussein, Iraq was a centralised and largely secular state. Now, if the Shia religious parties get their way, it will be a decentralised state with a pronounced Islamic identity. The draft of the new constitution describes Islam as "a main source" of legislation and stipulates that no law may contradict Islamic principles...
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/4177266.stm

SUNNIS SAY LATE DRAFT CONSITITIION IS ILLEGAL MANEUVER

"Today we received the draft of the constitution," Mr. Hassani (the Assembly speaker) said. "But there are some undecided points. So these points will be dealt with in the forthcoming three days," he added. Then the meeting hastily broke up. The Assembly members streamed out, nearly all of them without a copy of the constitution in hand.

Kamal Hamdoun, a Sunni member of the committee who is the chief of the Iraqi Bar Association, immediately declared the maneuvers illegal and asserted that the government was now acting without any formal authority. "I warned them. I told them, you have no legal basis, and that we are not agreeing to this process. I told the American ambassador, too."

http://nytimes.com/2005/08/23/international/middleeast/23iraq.html

U.S. AND SHI'ITES FORCE CONSTITUTION ON SUNNIS, WHO WARN OF CIVIL WAR

"... the Shi'ite majority forced a draft constitution into parliament in defiance of Sunni warnings that it could ignite civil war... If it passes, there will be an uprising in the streets," Sunni negotiator Saleh al-Mutlak said..."
http://today.reuters.com/news/newsArticleSearch.aspx?storyID=250136+22-Aug-2005+RTRS&srch=Force+Charter

Text of draft of constitution:
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/international/AP-Iraq-Constitution-Text.html

BLAST LEAVES MUCH OF IRAQ WITHOUT ELECTRICITY, STOPS OIL EXPORTS

"... Oil exports from southern Iraq have stopped after a power cut left much of the country without electricity.... a power cut affected southern and central Iraq. Iraqi officials said the blackouts were caused by an attack on a key power line between Baghdad and Beiji... The power failure was triggered by the closure of the largest power plant in southern Iraq, which supplies electricity to the city of Basra and the nearby port of Umm Qasr. Parts of Baghdad were also left without electricity following the attack on the central power line..."
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/4173206.stm

U.S.TROOPS KILL AMBASSADOR'S COUSIN IN ANBAR

August 22, 2003
"The US military is to investigate the circumstances in which a male relative of Iraq's envoy to the United Nations died during a search of his home. Samir Sumaidaie has accused US soldiers of killing his 21-year-old cousin Mohammed in "cold blood"... the death had been referred to the Naval Criminal Investigative Service (NCIS)... Mr Sumaidaie said the ramifications of such a "serious crime" were enormous for both the US and Iraq."
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/4173278.stm

July 2,2005
"Samir Sumaidaie... Iraq's ambassador to the UN... said his 21-year-old cousin was shot as he helped marines... in the restive Anbar province... 10 marines with an Egyptian interpreter knocked on the door... When asked if there were any weapons in the house, Mohammed took the marines to a room where there was a rifle with no live ammunition... the marines left "smiling at each other"... the interpreter told the mother they had killed Mohammed... In the bedroom, Mohammed was found dead and laying in a clotted pool of his blood. A single bullet had penetrated his neck."
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/4643481.stm

HADITHA EXPOSES LIMIT OF U.S. POWER

"Under US noses, brutal insurgents rule... Haditha, a farming town of 90,000 people by the Euphrates river, is an insurgent citadel...A three-hour drive north from Baghdad, under the nose of an American base, it is a miniature Taliban-like state. Insurgents decide who lives and dies, which salaries get paid, what people wear, what they watch and listen to. Haditha exposes the limitations of the Iraqi state and US power..."
http://www.guardian.co.uk/Iraq/Story/0,2763,1553969,00.html?gusrc=rss

IRAQI CONSTITUTION COULD END ITS CIVIL WAR

"... by most common political-science definitions of the term, "civil war" is already here. "It's not a threat. It's not a potential. Civil war is a fact of life there now''... What this means in practical terms, is that an immediate US withdrawal isn't likely to bring peace to Iraq... Nor is simply "staying the course," if it isn't matched by a political peace treaty among the warring parties - a role that a new constitution... could fill..."
http://search.csmonitor.com/2005/0822/p01s02-woiq.html

IRAQ CONSTITUTION -- IRAQ TO BE ISLAMIC REPUBLIC, SAME AS AFGHANISTAN

"US backs down on Islamic law in Iraq... negotiations over the Iraqi constitution appeared last night to be leaning further towards making Islamic law the main source of law for the country rather than a source after US diplomats apparently gave way to the concerns of Iraqi officials."
http://www.sundayherald.com/51378

"US concessions to Islamists on the role of religion in Iraqi law marked a turn in talks on a constitution, (Iraqi) negoatiators said... (while) US diplomats, who have insisted the constitution must enshrine ideals of equal rights and democracy, declined comment..."
http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=story_21-8-2005_pg7_42

Similar law is present in the constitution of the US-installed "Islamic Republic of Afghanistan"...
http://www.oefre.unibe.ch/law/icl/af00000_.html

ON DEADLINE FOR CONSTITUTION

"There is a very long list of priorities that need deadlines in Iraq: basic services (e.g. electricity, water, food rations, health care, free education, etc.), basic human rights (the very same rights that are being violated on a daily basis by occupation supported Iraqi military and paramilitary forces), and basic capacity building for Iraqi civil society (i.e. building and rebuilding Iraq’s NGOs and Grassroots organizations).

"But why would a country like today’s Iraq have a deadline for their constitution?! What would an imposed constitution achieve in the war-torn country? Shouldn’t the current government try to gain as much public support for writing the constitution before worrying about deadlines? What is the point of doing a rush job on a constitution that has no popular support and is rejected in the public referendum?"

"This constitution is nothing more than another mistake of the Bush administration in Iraq. It can’t make things better, but it may make them worse. Iraqis should be left to write their constitution and rule their country by themselves. The only deadline that should be set by the US-led coalition is the one for their complete withdrawal from Iraq."

-- Raed Jarrar, the Baghdad Blogger, in Raed In The Middle, August 15, 2005
http://raedinthemiddle.blogspot.com/

DEMOCRACY IN IRAQ

"... Most Americans believe that real democracy is something like our own. They believe that the president is promising that in Iraq. It is a foolish, ignorant, stupid promise.

"Democracy does not mean merely that the majority of voters elect their rulers. It also means the rights of the minority are protected. It means freedom of the press, freedom of expression, freedom of religion, the right to seek redress of grievance, an impartial and independent judiciary, it means no street violence after an election, the right to presumed innocence and to appeal court decisions, respect for those who are different from you, protection of property and contracts, a stable and generally accepted civic culture, civilian control of the military and the police -- all the precious and priceless freedoms and rights which we Americans take for granted -- however imperfectly they may be protected or honored.

"Majority rule, without these kinds of safeguards, turns into tyranny, total power invested in the monarch or the general or the cleric or the caudillo or maximum leader or whoever else claims at gunpoint to embody the will of the people. No matter how long Bush "stays the course" in Iraq, the history of that part of the world suggests that the end result of our "regime change" will be something like that. For this, American blood is being spilled?"

http://www.suntimes.com/output/greeley/cst-edt-greel19.html

UN SANCTIONS DESTROYED IRAQ FIRST

"... the most glaring scandal of all... UN sanctions destroyed Iraq but no one will be tried for the crime... the state's infrastructure crumbled. Basic services, ministries, power stations and drinking water all became precarious. Corruption spread throughout society. Crime exploded. The inhabitants of Baghdad, who had never bothered to lock their doors, now barricaded their homes. When the US invaded, Iraq needed only a little push for the worm-eaten state to collapse.

"Sanctions also affected the structure of the population. Middle-class emigration, which had begun before 1991 as people fled the dictatorship, accelerated. Iraq was emptied of its managers and administrators. The education system, which had catered for all the country's young, was abandoned. Children left school to work and help their families, resulting in a generation of quasi-illiterates. Academic links with other countries were severed. Iraq fell 15 years behind and is not about to catch up."

http://www.guardian.co.uk/print/0,3858,5266182-103677,00.html

U.S. EXPANDING PRISONS IN IRAQ

"The US has announced it is sending 700 paratroops to Iraq to boost security at its prisons there.... Air Force Lt-Col John Skinner, said detention operations in Iraq were expanding.... As the insurgency continues, there are now nearly 11,000 prisoners in major US-run detention centres - twice as many as last September...

"About 10,800 prisoners are currently held at the main US-run prisons at Abu Ghraib, Camp Bucca and Camp Cropper. A fourth facility at Fort Suse in the Kurdish city of Suleimaniya, 330km (205 miles) north of Baghdad, is expected to be completed next month. The three older prisons are being expanded. The $50 million construction programme, announced in June, will eventually allow the US to hold 16,000 prisoners..."

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/4162392.stm

REPBULICAN COMMENTS ON THE INVASION

"You can support the troops but not the president."
--Rep Tom Delay (R-TX)

"Well, I just think it's a bad idea. What's going to happen is they're going to be over there for 10, 15, maybe 20 years."
--Joe Scarborough (R-FL)

"Explain to the mothers and fathers of American servicemen that may come home in body bags why their son or daughter have to give up their life?"
--Sean Hannity, Fox News, 4/6/99

"[The] President . . . is once again releasing American military might on a foreign country with an ill-defined objective and no exit strategy. He has yet to tell the Congress how much this operation will cost. And he has not informed our nation's armed forces about how long they will be away from home. These strikes do not make for a sound foreign policy."
--Sen. Rick Santorum (R-PA)

"American foreign policy is now one huge big mystery. Simply put, the administration is trying to lead the world with a feel-good foreign policy."
--Rep Tom Delay (R-TX)

"If we are going to commit American troops, we must be certain they have a clear mission, an achievable goal and an exit strategy."
--Karen Hughes, speaking on behalf of George W Bush

"I had doubts about the bombing campaign from the beginning . . I didn't think we had done enough in the diplomatic area."
--Senator Trent Lott (R-MS)

"I cannot support a failed foreign policy. History teaches us that it is often easier to make war than peace. This administration is just learning that lesson right now. The President began this mission with very vague objectives and lots of unanswered questions. A month later, these questions are still unanswered. There are no clarified rules of engagement. There is no timetable. There is no legitimate definition of victory. There is no contingency plan for mission creep. There is no clear funding program. There is no agenda to bolster our over-extended military. There is no explanation defining what vital national interests are at stake. There was no strategic plan for war when the President started this thing, and there still is no plan today"
--Rep Tom Delay (R-TX)

"Victory means exit strategy, and it's important for the President to explain to us what the exit strategy is."
--Governor George W. Bush (R-TX)

--Quotes from when Clinton committed troops to Bosnia
http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2005/8/17/144732/740

WE HOLD THESE TRUTHS TO BE SELF-EVIDENT

Star-Spangled Lies for War...
* America Is a Fair and Noble Superpower
* Our Leaders Will Do Everything They Can to Avoid War
* Our Leaders Would Never Tell Us Outright Lies
* This Guy Is a Modern-Day Hitler
* This Is About Human Rights
* This Is Not at All About Oil or Corporate Profits
* They Are the Aggressors, Not Us
* If This War Is Wrong, Congress Will Stop It
* If This War Is Wrong, the Media Will Tell Us
* Media Coverage Brings War Into Our Living Rooms
* Opposing the War Means Siding With the Enemy
* This Is a Necessary Battle in the War on Terrorism
* What the U.S. Government Needs Most Is Better PR
* The Pentagon Fights Wars as Humanely as Possible
* Our Soldiers Are Heroes, Theirs Are Inhuman
* America Needs the Resolve to Kick the "Vietnam Syndrome"
* Withdrawal Would Cripple U.S. Credibility

http://www.commondreams.org/views05/0808-20.htm

BUSH WITH FAMILIES OF SOLDIERS KILLED IN IRAQ

"... most White House reporters have not heard before: how Mr. Bush handles himself when he meets behind closed doors with the families of soldiers killed in Iraq... in Ms. Sheehan's telling, though, Mr. Bush did not know her son's name when she and her family met with him in June 2004 at Fort Lewis. Mr. Bush, she said, acted as if he were at a party and behaved disrespectfully toward her by referring to her as "Mom" throughout the meeting..."
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/08/08/politics/08crawford.html?


"SHEEHAN: ...He wouldn't look at the pictures of Casey. He didn't even know Casey's name. He came in the room and the very first thing he said is, "So who are we honoring here?" He didn't even know Casey's name. He didn't want to hear it. He didn't want to hear anything about Casey. He wouldn't even call him "him" or "he." He called him "your loved one." Every time we tried to talk about Casey and how much we missed him, he would change the subject. And he acted like it was a party.
BLITZER: Like a party? I mean...
SHEEHAN: Yes, he came in very jovial, and like we should be happy that he, our son, died for his misguided policies. He didn't even pretend like somebody..."
--Interview, Wolf Blitzer on CNN on Sunday, August 07, 2005
http://www.juancole.com/2005/08/party-over-on-cindy-sheehan-bob-harris.html

MRC LISTS JENNINGS ANTI-AMERICAN COMMENTARY ON IRAQ WAR

"Media Research Center - "the largest media watch-dog organization in America"... lists of what it considers liberal bias in the media, among which it places Peter Jennings' allegedly anti-American commentary on the Iraq War..."
http://www.commondreams.org/views05/0808-25.htm

U.S. ALLOWED OIL SMUGGLING WORTH 40 TIMES THE U.N. OIL FOR FOOD KICKBACKS

"US ignored Iraq oil smuggling... The US turned a blind eye to the former Iraq regime's $8bn trade in smuggled oil... Smuggled oil made 40 times as much as oil-for-food kickbacks... take the example of a series of shipments from the port of Khor al-Amaya in southern Iran in the month before the US-led coalition began its 2003 invasion. Jordan paid $53m in hard currency for 7.7 million barrels on seven tankers, all of which were explicitly allowed to pass by the US naval blockade..."
--US Senate Subcommittee Report
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/4554507.stm

AL-QAEDA SAYS IRAQ WAR CAUSED LONDON BOMBINGS, BLAIR AND BUSH SAY NO

"... "Blair has brought to you destruction in central London, and he will bring you more destruction, God willing... To the people of the crusader coalition ... our blessed Sheikh Osama has offered you a truce so that you leave Muslim land. As he said you will not dream of security until we live it as a reality in Palestine. Our message to you is clear, strong and final: There will be no salvation until you withdraw from our land, stop stealing our oil and resources and end support for infidel [Arab] rulers."
--Ayman al-Zawahiri, Al Qaeda's No. 2
http://search.csmonitor.com/2005/0805/p01s02-woiq.html

"Al-Qaeda blames Blair for bombs... Osama Bin Laden's lieutenant Ayman al-Zawahri has warned London will face more attacks... (and) also warned other nations to leave Muslim lands to avoid further violence...
"He said: "What you have seen, O Americans, in New York and Washington and the losses you are having in Afghanistan and Iraq, in spite of all the media blackout, are only the losses of the initial clashes. If you continue the same policy of aggression against Muslims, God willing, you will see the horror that will make you forget what you had seen in Vietnam..."
"Mr Blair denies his policies provoked the 7 July bombs... President Bush said al-Zawahri's comments would not prompt the US to withdraw from Iraq..."
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/4745639.stm

TOKEN WITHDRAWAL WILL NOT END INSURGENCY

"... the Iraqi insurgency is likely being driven by fears that even once the large majority of US forces leave, enough will remain behind in permanent bases to allow the US to control Iraq's destiny... the administration's refusal to declare it doesn't seek permanent military bases "has aroused Iraqi suspicions that we seek long-term domination of their country"... Senator John Kerry... (said) "The president must ... announce immediately that the United States will not have a permanent military presence in Iraq. Erasing suspicions that the occupation is indefinite is critical to eroding support for the insurgency."
http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/GH06Ak02.html

WITHDRAWAL PLANNING BEGINS

"The Pentagon is laying the groundwork for beginning a withdrawal from Iraq... At best, a U.S. drawdown would begin shortly after elections for a new government... scheduled for December..."
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,164562,00.html

THE WITHDRAWAL SCAM

"... the Bush administration (will) keep saying things that seem to foreshadow a drastic reduction of the U.S. troop presence in Iraq. Floated withdrawal scenarios will be part of an enormous hoax... the strategy is double-barreled: Keep killing in Iraq while hyping scenarios for withdrawal of U.S. troops... No matter how many troops it has on the ground in Iraq, the Pentagon will be set up for a major role (in Iraq)... the United States military plan(s) on being there for a very long time.”
http://www.commondreams.org/views05/0801-26.htm

HOW THE AMERICAN RIGHT CREATED THE TERRORISTS

"... The American Right, having created the Mujahideen and having mightily contributed to the creation of al-Qaeda, abruptly announced that there was something deeply wrong with Islam, that it kept producing terrorists."
--Juan Cole, Informed Comment, Tuesday, August 02, 2005
http://www.juancole.com/2005/08/fisking-war-on-terror-once-upon-time.html