BUSH STRATEGY FOR ENDLESS WAR IN MIDDLE EAST
"... the President asserts that the war in Iraq is the central front in the struggle against what he describes as "Islamofascism," (while) real "Islamofascists" are already in power in Baghdad -- and they are, shamefully, America's allies..."
"... The Bush administration has put into operation an utterly paradoxical and self-defeating strategy. First, its policies inflame the region, feeding the growth of political Islam and its extremist as well as terrorist offshoots. Then, as in Iraq -- and as seems to be the case in Syria and Egypt -- it seeks "regime change" in countries where it knows that the chief opposition and likely inheritor of power will be... forces of "conservative" political Islam and those associated with radical-right, violence-prone Islamists. This is a formula for endless war in the region."
http://www.commondreams.org/views05/1130-22.htm
Wednesday, November 30, 2005
CHRISTIAN PEACE GROUP BLAMES U.S. POLICIES FOR KIDNAPPING
"... The aid group Christian Peacemaker Teams said today that the policies of the United States and British governments were ultimately to blame for the kidnapping. "We are angry because what has happened to our teammates is the result of the actions of the U.S. and the U.K. governments due to the illegal attack on Iraq and the continuing occupation and oppression of its people," the group said in a statement posted on its Web site..."
http://nytimes.com/2005/11/30/international/middleeast/30cnd-Iraq.html?hp&ex=1133413200&en=469abc3dac6c717c&ei=5094&partner=homepage
"... We are angry because what has happened to our teammates is the result of the actions of the U.S. and U.K. governments due to the illegal attack on Iraq and the continuing occupation and oppression of its people. Christian Peacemaker Teams (CPT) has worked for the rights of Iraqi prisoners who have been illegally detained and abused by the U.S. government. We were the first people to publicly denounce the torture of Iraqi people at the hands of U.S. forces, long before the western media admitted what was happening at Abu Ghraib. We are some of the few internationals left in Iraq who are telling the truth about what is happening to the Iraqi people We hope that we can continue to do this work and we pray for the speedy release of our beloved teammates."
--Christian Peacemaker Teams, November 30, 2005
hhttp://www.cpt.org/ere
"... The aid group Christian Peacemaker Teams said today that the policies of the United States and British governments were ultimately to blame for the kidnapping. "We are angry because what has happened to our teammates is the result of the actions of the U.S. and the U.K. governments due to the illegal attack on Iraq and the continuing occupation and oppression of its people," the group said in a statement posted on its Web site..."
http://nytimes.com/2005/11/30/international/middleeast/30cnd-Iraq.html?hp&ex=1133413200&en=469abc3dac6c717c&ei=5094&partner=homepage
"... We are angry because what has happened to our teammates is the result of the actions of the U.S. and U.K. governments due to the illegal attack on Iraq and the continuing occupation and oppression of its people. Christian Peacemaker Teams (CPT) has worked for the rights of Iraqi prisoners who have been illegally detained and abused by the U.S. government. We were the first people to publicly denounce the torture of Iraqi people at the hands of U.S. forces, long before the western media admitted what was happening at Abu Ghraib. We are some of the few internationals left in Iraq who are telling the truth about what is happening to the Iraqi people We hope that we can continue to do this work and we pray for the speedy release of our beloved teammates."
--Christian Peacemaker Teams, November 30, 2005
hhttp://www.cpt.org/ere
Tuesday, November 29, 2005
REPUBLICAN VIEW OF MURTHA'S REASON FOR WITHDRAWAL
"... In his speech, Representative John Murtha (D-PA) said the continued presence of U.S. troops in Iraq is "uniting the enemy against us." Does this mean that we should not have landed on the beaches of Normandy out of fear that the invasion would "unite the enemy against us?"... Using Rep. Murtha's logic, D-Day was a tragic mistake."
http://www.gopusa.com/commentary/bstock/2005/bs_11291.shtml
"... In his speech, Representative John Murtha (D-PA) said the continued presence of U.S. troops in Iraq is "uniting the enemy against us." Does this mean that we should not have landed on the beaches of Normandy out of fear that the invasion would "unite the enemy against us?"... Using Rep. Murtha's logic, D-Day was a tragic mistake."
http://www.gopusa.com/commentary/bstock/2005/bs_11291.shtml
IRAQ PRISON ABUSE AS BAD AS SADDAM
"The former Iraqi prime minister, Iyad Allawi, has called for immediate action against human rights abuses. Such abuses are as bad today as they were under Saddam Hussein... Militias are operating within the Shia-led government, torturing and killing in secret bunkers..."
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/4475030.stm
"... Deputy Human Rights Minister Aida Ussayran and Gen. Muntadhar Muhi al-Samaraee, a former head of special forces at the Ministry of the Interior, (said) Iraqi authorities have been torturing and abusing prisoners in jails across the country... women were being raped by male guards... former Prime Minister Ayad Allawi, a secular Shiite (said)... that Shiites are behind the death squads and secret torture centers. "People are doing the same as Saddam's time and worse," he said. "It is an appropriate comparison."
http://www.realcities.com/mld/krwashington/news/special_packages/iraq/13278134.htm
IRAQI FORCES CARRY ON TORTURE AND DEATH SQUADS OF SADDAM
"... Iraqi forces are carrying out executions in predominantly Sunni neighborhoods. Hundreds of accounts of killings and abductions have emerged in recent weeks, most of them brought forward by Sunni civilians, who claim that their relatives have been taken away by Iraqi men in uniform without warrant or explanation. Some Sunni men have been found dead in ditches and fields, with bullet holes in their temples, acid burns on their skin, and holes in their bodies apparently made by electric drills... Sunnis believe that the security forces are carrying out sectarian reprisals... in revenge for years of repression at the hands of Saddam Hussein's government... Ayad Allawi, a prominent Iraqi politician who is close to the Sunni community, charged... that the Iraqi government - and the Ministry of Interior in particular - was condoning torture and running death squads."
http://nytimes.com/2005/11/29/international/middleeast/29security.html?ei=5094&en=f18810368c98ae2c&hp=&ex=1133326800&adxnnl=1&partner=homepage&adxnnlx=1133269527-PvFXHY1XskkaAmECTRbZKA
"The former Iraqi prime minister, Iyad Allawi, has called for immediate action against human rights abuses. Such abuses are as bad today as they were under Saddam Hussein... Militias are operating within the Shia-led government, torturing and killing in secret bunkers..."
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/4475030.stm
"... Deputy Human Rights Minister Aida Ussayran and Gen. Muntadhar Muhi al-Samaraee, a former head of special forces at the Ministry of the Interior, (said) Iraqi authorities have been torturing and abusing prisoners in jails across the country... women were being raped by male guards... former Prime Minister Ayad Allawi, a secular Shiite (said)... that Shiites are behind the death squads and secret torture centers. "People are doing the same as Saddam's time and worse," he said. "It is an appropriate comparison."
http://www.realcities.com/mld/krwashington/news/special_packages/iraq/13278134.htm
IRAQI FORCES CARRY ON TORTURE AND DEATH SQUADS OF SADDAM
"... Iraqi forces are carrying out executions in predominantly Sunni neighborhoods. Hundreds of accounts of killings and abductions have emerged in recent weeks, most of them brought forward by Sunni civilians, who claim that their relatives have been taken away by Iraqi men in uniform without warrant or explanation. Some Sunni men have been found dead in ditches and fields, with bullet holes in their temples, acid burns on their skin, and holes in their bodies apparently made by electric drills... Sunnis believe that the security forces are carrying out sectarian reprisals... in revenge for years of repression at the hands of Saddam Hussein's government... Ayad Allawi, a prominent Iraqi politician who is close to the Sunni community, charged... that the Iraqi government - and the Ministry of Interior in particular - was condoning torture and running death squads."
http://nytimes.com/2005/11/29/international/middleeast/29security.html?ei=5094&en=f18810368c98ae2c&hp=&ex=1133326800&adxnnl=1&partner=homepage&adxnnlx=1133269527-PvFXHY1XskkaAmECTRbZKA
Monday, November 28, 2005
U.S. INVOLVED IN CIVIL WAR
"... a Sunni-Shiite civil war. In many areas, that war has, in a sense, already begun, and the United States military is being drawn into the sectarian violence. An American Army officer who took part in the assault on Tal Afar, in the north of Iraq, earlier this fall, said that an American infantry brigade was placed in the position of providing a cordon of security around the besieged city for Iraqi forces, most of them Shiites, who were “rounding up any Sunnis on the basis of whatever a Shiite said to them.” The officer went on, “They were killing Sunnis on behalf of the Shiites,” with the active participation of a militia unit led by a retired American Special Forces soldier. “People like me have gotten so downhearted,” the officer added."
http://www.newyorker.com/fact/content/articles/051205fa_fact
"... a Sunni-Shiite civil war. In many areas, that war has, in a sense, already begun, and the United States military is being drawn into the sectarian violence. An American Army officer who took part in the assault on Tal Afar, in the north of Iraq, earlier this fall, said that an American infantry brigade was placed in the position of providing a cordon of security around the besieged city for Iraqi forces, most of them Shiites, who were “rounding up any Sunnis on the basis of whatever a Shiite said to them.” The officer went on, “They were killing Sunnis on behalf of the Shiites,” with the active participation of a militia unit led by a retired American Special Forces soldier. “People like me have gotten so downhearted,” the officer added."
http://www.newyorker.com/fact/content/articles/051205fa_fact
Sunday, November 27, 2005
IRAQI LEADER SAYS U.S. IS ALLOWING EXPANSION OF TERRORISM
"... the United States is tying Iraq's hands in the fight against insurgents. One of Iraq's "biggest problems is the mistaken or wrong policies practiced by the Americans"... the United States was being too weak against Iraq's insurgency, allowing attacks to mushroom... "there are plans to confront terrorists, approved by security agencies, but the Americans reject that... This has led to the expansion of terrorism..."
--Abdul Aziz Hakim, head of the Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq, the Shiite Muslim religious party that leads the transitional government.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/11/26/AR2005112601211_2.html
"... the United States is tying Iraq's hands in the fight against insurgents. One of Iraq's "biggest problems is the mistaken or wrong policies practiced by the Americans"... the United States was being too weak against Iraq's insurgency, allowing attacks to mushroom... "there are plans to confront terrorists, approved by security agencies, but the Americans reject that... This has led to the expansion of terrorism..."
--Abdul Aziz Hakim, head of the Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq, the Shiite Muslim religious party that leads the transitional government.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/11/26/AR2005112601211_2.html
Friday, November 25, 2005
HIGH CONTRACTOR CASUALTY RATE
"... a spokesman for L-3 Communications, said his firm had had so many losses because its translators were "with the combatants; they're with the special forces; they're with the infantry units. That probably puts them out in the most dangerous places"... (he) noted that L-3's employees aren't killed in combat, they're being assassinated. Of the company's 152 dead Iraqi employees, 105 were murdered because they collaborated with Americans..."
http://www.realcities.com/mld/krwashington/news/special_packages/iraq/13055180.htm
"... a spokesman for L-3 Communications, said his firm had had so many losses because its translators were "with the combatants; they're with the special forces; they're with the infantry units. That probably puts them out in the most dangerous places"... (he) noted that L-3's employees aren't killed in combat, they're being assassinated. Of the company's 152 dead Iraqi employees, 105 were murdered because they collaborated with Americans..."
http://www.realcities.com/mld/krwashington/news/special_packages/iraq/13055180.htm
SUPPORTING THE TROOPS
"... The last man or woman to die in any war almost surely dies in vain: The outcome has been determined, if not certified. And he or she might die happier thinking that death came in a noble cause that will not be abandoned. But if it is not a noble cause, he or she might prefer not to die at all. Stifling criticism that might shorten the war is no favor to American soldiers. They can live without that kind of "respect."
http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/opinion/oped/bal-op.kinsley25nov25,1,5593897.story
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/11/24/AR2005112400477.html?nav=hcmodule
"... The last man or woman to die in any war almost surely dies in vain: The outcome has been determined, if not certified. And he or she might die happier thinking that death came in a noble cause that will not be abandoned. But if it is not a noble cause, he or she might prefer not to die at all. Stifling criticism that might shorten the war is no favor to American soldiers. They can live without that kind of "respect."
http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/opinion/oped/bal-op.kinsley25nov25,1,5593897.story
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/11/24/AR2005112400477.html?nav=hcmodule
IRAQI RECONCILIATION CONVENTION IN CAIRO RECOGNIZES THE RESISTANCE
"The preliminary meeting of the Iraqi "Reconciliation" Convention ended its sessions in Cairo last Monday... it called for the pullout of the foreign forces and set a deadline... In addition, it considered resistance a "legitimate right"... it recognized the resistance, the role of which revolves around targeting the foreign forces on Iraq's territory upon the request of the government..."
http://english.daralhayat.com/opinion/OPED/11-2005/Article-20051125-c816445f-c0a8-10ed-0092-eb766d0478dc/story.html
"... At the conclusion of the conference, Iraqi Interim President Talabani made an unprecedented offer: "If those who describe themselves as Iraqi resistance want to contact me, they are welcome . . . I am committed to listen to them, even those who are criminals.''
http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/news/opinion/13260029.htm
"The preliminary meeting of the Iraqi "Reconciliation" Convention ended its sessions in Cairo last Monday... it called for the pullout of the foreign forces and set a deadline... In addition, it considered resistance a "legitimate right"... it recognized the resistance, the role of which revolves around targeting the foreign forces on Iraq's territory upon the request of the government..."
http://english.daralhayat.com/opinion/OPED/11-2005/Article-20051125-c816445f-c0a8-10ed-0092-eb766d0478dc/story.html
"... At the conclusion of the conference, Iraqi Interim President Talabani made an unprecedented offer: "If those who describe themselves as Iraqi resistance want to contact me, they are welcome . . . I am committed to listen to them, even those who are criminals.''
http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/news/opinion/13260029.htm
IRAQI PRISONS
"... the influx of new prisoners - the population of the four American-run prisons here has doubled over the past year, and Iraqi jails are packed - has overwhelmed the Iraqi authorities,... the mushrooming Iraqi detention facilities operate virtually unchecked.... There is so little oversight... it is impossible to tell how many detention centers exist..."
http://nytimes.com/2005/11/25/international/middleeast/25search.html?ei=5094&en=055fba1854dc85ad&hp=&ex=1132981200&adxnnl=1&partner=homepage&adxnnlx=1132922516-PF/LxZBnlNlItiffCYppiQ
"... the influx of new prisoners - the population of the four American-run prisons here has doubled over the past year, and Iraqi jails are packed - has overwhelmed the Iraqi authorities,... the mushrooming Iraqi detention facilities operate virtually unchecked.... There is so little oversight... it is impossible to tell how many detention centers exist..."
http://nytimes.com/2005/11/25/international/middleeast/25search.html?ei=5094&en=055fba1854dc85ad&hp=&ex=1132981200&adxnnl=1&partner=homepage&adxnnlx=1132922516-PF/LxZBnlNlItiffCYppiQ
Wednesday, November 23, 2005
BUSH BOMBINGS OF AL-JAZEERA TV OFFICES
Kabul, Afghanistan, November 2001
"... The Kabul offices of the Arab satellite al-Jazeera channel have been destroyed by a US missile..."
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/south_asia/1653887.stm
Baghdad, Iraq, April 2003
"Reporters Without Borders expressed outrage at the U.S. bombing of the Baghdad office of the pan-Arab TV station Al-Jazeera that killed one of its journalists, cameraman Tarek Ayoub, and wounded another..."
http://www.thehindu.com/thehindu/2003/04/10/stories/2003041000891500.htm
Doha, Qatar, April 2004
"... Bush planned to bomb Arab TV station al-Jazeera in friendly Qatar, a "Top Secret" No 10 memo reveals. But he was talked out of it at a White House summit by Tony Blair..."
http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/tm_objectid=16397937%26method=full%26siteid=94762%26headline=exclusive%2d%2dbush%2dplot%2dto%2dbomb%2dhis%2darab%2dally-name_page.html
Kabul, Afghanistan, November 2001
"... The Kabul offices of the Arab satellite al-Jazeera channel have been destroyed by a US missile..."
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/south_asia/1653887.stm
Baghdad, Iraq, April 2003
"Reporters Without Borders expressed outrage at the U.S. bombing of the Baghdad office of the pan-Arab TV station Al-Jazeera that killed one of its journalists, cameraman Tarek Ayoub, and wounded another..."
http://www.thehindu.com/thehindu/2003/04/10/stories/2003041000891500.htm
Doha, Qatar, April 2004
"... Bush planned to bomb Arab TV station al-Jazeera in friendly Qatar, a "Top Secret" No 10 memo reveals. But he was talked out of it at a White House summit by Tony Blair..."
http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/tm_objectid=16397937%26method=full%26siteid=94762%26headline=exclusive%2d%2dbush%2dplot%2dto%2dbomb%2dhis%2darab%2dally-name_page.html
ORGANIZING FOR THE ELECTION
"... top Baghdad electoral official, Izzadin al-Muhammadi (is) unable to travel anywhere unless accompanied by enough firepower to level a village... After landing at the main American base near Baquba, Mr. Muhammadi dashed into a convoy of two Bradley fighting vehicles, four Humvees and three armored sport utility vehicles. Soldiers from the Special Forces and the Third Infantry Division sat inside, holding automatic rifles and grenade launchers. The roadside bomb detonated next to one of the Humvees as the convoy rolled through downtown... Baquba to a meeting with local politicians..."
http://nytimes.com/2005/11/23/international/middleeast/23elect.html?hp&ex=1132808400&en=94d717a5d4c10fe3&ei=5094&partner=homepage
"... top Baghdad electoral official, Izzadin al-Muhammadi (is) unable to travel anywhere unless accompanied by enough firepower to level a village... After landing at the main American base near Baquba, Mr. Muhammadi dashed into a convoy of two Bradley fighting vehicles, four Humvees and three armored sport utility vehicles. Soldiers from the Special Forces and the Third Infantry Division sat inside, holding automatic rifles and grenade launchers. The roadside bomb detonated next to one of the Humvees as the convoy rolled through downtown... Baquba to a meeting with local politicians..."
http://nytimes.com/2005/11/23/international/middleeast/23elect.html?hp&ex=1132808400&en=94d717a5d4c10fe3&ei=5094&partner=homepage
Tuesday, November 22, 2005
U.S. USED WHITE PHOSPHOROUS (WP) IN FALLUJAH, KNEW IT WAS ILLEGAL
"... 9b. White Phosphorous. WP proved to be an effective and versatile munition. We used it for screening missions at two breeches and, later in the fight, as a potent psychological weapon against the insurgents in trench lines and spider holes when we could not get effects on them with HE. We fired "shake and bake" missions at the insurgents, using WP to flush them out and HE to take them out."
-- Captain James T. Cobb, Task Force 2d Battalion, 2d Infantry’s (TF 2-2 IN’s) Fire Support Element (FSE), in Field Artillery Magazine, March-April 2005 issue, "Fight for Fallujah"
http://sill-www.army.mil/FAMAG/Previous_Editions/05/mar-apr05/PAGE24-30.pdf
November 23, 2005
ALTERNATING EXPLOSIVE AND WP MORTAR ROUNDS = SHAKE 'N BAKE
"... (in Fallujah) they ran through the drill again and again, sending a mixture of burning white phosphorus and high explosives they call 'shake 'n bake' into a cluster of buildings where insurgents have been spotted all week."
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/4442988.stm
November 22, 2005
ARMY DOCTRINE SAYS WP ILLEGAL AGAINST PERSONNEL
"... The US army knows that its use as a weapon is illegal. In the Battle Book, published by the US Command and General Staff College at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas... (is) the following sentence: "It is against the law of land warfare to employ WP against personnel targets."
"... a declassified document from the US department of defence, dated April 1991, and titled "Possible use of phosphorus chemical" (says that) "During the brutal crackdown that followed the Kurdish uprising... Iraqi forces loyal to President Saddam may have possibly used white phosphorus (WP) chemical weapons against Kurdish rebels and the populace in Erbil ... and Dohuk provinces, Iraq... These reports of possible WP chemical weapon attacks spread quickly ... hundreds of thousands of Kurds fled from these two areas." The Pentagon is in no doubt, in other words, that white phosphorus is an illegal chemical weapon..."
http://www.guardian.co.uk/Columnists/Column/0,,1647998,00.html
November 16, 2005
U.S. ADMITS USE OF WP, CALLS IT LEGAL
"The Pentagon on Wednesday acknowledged using incendiary white-phosphorus munitions in a 2004 counterinsurgency offensive in the Iraqi city of Falluja, but defended their use as legal... (because) ... the U.S. military had not used the highly flammable weapons against civilians... It's part of our conventional-weapons inventory and we use it like we use any other conventional weapon..."
http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/politics/politics-iraq-usa-phosphorus.html
November 14,2005
WP REPORTS RESURFACE
"... the available evidence suggests the following: that WP shells were fired at insurgents, that reports from the battleground suggest troops firing these WP shells did not always know who they were hitting and that there remain widespread reports of civilians suffering extensive burn injuries..."
http://news.independent.co.uk/world/americas/article327094.ece
"... Some saw what they thought were attempts by the military to conceal the use of incendiary shells. "The Americans were dropping some of the bodies into the Euphrates near Fallujah... In the centre of the Jolan quarter they were removing entire homes which have been bombed... he saw bulldozers push soil into piles and load it on to trucks to carry away. In certain areas where the military used "special munitions" he said 200 sq m of soil was being removed from each blast site..."
http://news.independent.co.uk/world/middle_east/article327136.ece
November 8, 2005
"Italian state TV, Rai, has broadcast a documentary accusing the US military of using white phosphorus bombs against civilians in the Iraqi city of Falluja... The documentary... shows a series of photographs from Falluja of corpses with the flesh burnt off but clothes still intact - which it says is consistent with the effects of white phosphorus on humans. Jeff Englehart, described as a former US soldier who served in Falluja, tells of how he heard orders for white phosphorus to be deployed over military radio - and saw the results. "Burned bodies, burned women, burned children; white phosphorus kills indiscriminately... When it makes contact with skin, then it's absolutely irreversible damage, burning flesh to the bone," he says."
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/4417024.stm
"Powerful new evidence emerged yesterday that the United States dropped massive quantities of white phosphorus on the Iraqi city of Fallujah during the attack on the city in November 2004, killing insurgents and civilians with the appalling burns that are the signature of this weapon... information has surfaced, including hideous photographs and videos and interviews with American soldiers who took part in the Fallujah attack, which provides graphic proof that phosphorus shells were widely deployed in the city as a weapon..."
"Phosphorus burns bodies, in fact it melts the flesh all the way down to the bone ... I saw the burned bodies of women and children. Phosphorus explodes and forms a cloud. Anyone within a radius of 150 metres is done for." .. dozens of high-quality, colour close-ups show bodies of Fallujah residents, some still in their beds, whose clothes remain largely intact but whose skin has been dissolved or caramelised or turned the consistency of leather by the shells... A rain of fire fell on the city, the people struck by this multi-coloured substance started to burn, we found people dead with strange wounds, the bodies burned but the clothes intact."
http://news.independent.co.uk/world/middle_east/article325560.ece
WP "WILLY PETE" APPEARS IN FALLUJAH
November 22, 2004
Effects of "Willy Peter" (white phosphorous):
http://webpages.charter.net/dmarin/cbwbeta/wp.htm
"... We Americans pioneered the use of weaponized "Willy Peter," as GIs call it. Using Willy Peter, my dad's generation barbecued tens of thousands of Japanese. Resembling pelletized napalm, Willy Peter burns so hot that if a glob lands on you it instantly melts your skin and sticks to you. Following gravity, it will burn right through your body and come out the other side..."
http://www.theava.com/03/1119-protection.html
“They used these weird bombs that put up smoke like a mushroom cloud,” he said, having just arrived yesterday, “Then small pieces fell from the air with long tails of smoke behind them. These exploded on the ground with large fires that burnt for half an hour. They used these near the train tracks. You could hear these dropped from a large airplane and the bombs were the size of a tank. When anyone touched those fires, their body burned for hours.”
hehttp://www.guerrillanews.com/articles/article.php?id=913re
"Usually we keep the gloves on. For this operation, we took the gloves off." Some artillery guns fired white phosphorous rounds that create a screen of fire that cannot be extinguished with water. Insurgents reported being attacked with a substance that melted their skin, a reaction consistent with white phosphorous burns... a physician at a regional hospital, said, "The corpses of the mujahedeen which we received were burned, and some corpses were melted."
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A35979-2004Nov9_2.html
and
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2004/11/10/MNG6P9P3ER1.DTL
"... 9b. White Phosphorous. WP proved to be an effective and versatile munition. We used it for screening missions at two breeches and, later in the fight, as a potent psychological weapon against the insurgents in trench lines and spider holes when we could not get effects on them with HE. We fired "shake and bake" missions at the insurgents, using WP to flush them out and HE to take them out."
-- Captain James T. Cobb, Task Force 2d Battalion, 2d Infantry’s (TF 2-2 IN’s) Fire Support Element (FSE), in Field Artillery Magazine, March-April 2005 issue, "Fight for Fallujah"
http://sill-www.army.mil/FAMAG/Previous_Editions/05/mar-apr05/PAGE24-30.pdf
November 23, 2005
ALTERNATING EXPLOSIVE AND WP MORTAR ROUNDS = SHAKE 'N BAKE
"... (in Fallujah) they ran through the drill again and again, sending a mixture of burning white phosphorus and high explosives they call 'shake 'n bake' into a cluster of buildings where insurgents have been spotted all week."
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/4442988.stm
November 22, 2005
ARMY DOCTRINE SAYS WP ILLEGAL AGAINST PERSONNEL
"... The US army knows that its use as a weapon is illegal. In the Battle Book, published by the US Command and General Staff College at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas... (is) the following sentence: "It is against the law of land warfare to employ WP against personnel targets."
"... a declassified document from the US department of defence, dated April 1991, and titled "Possible use of phosphorus chemical" (says that) "During the brutal crackdown that followed the Kurdish uprising... Iraqi forces loyal to President Saddam may have possibly used white phosphorus (WP) chemical weapons against Kurdish rebels and the populace in Erbil ... and Dohuk provinces, Iraq... These reports of possible WP chemical weapon attacks spread quickly ... hundreds of thousands of Kurds fled from these two areas." The Pentagon is in no doubt, in other words, that white phosphorus is an illegal chemical weapon..."
http://www.guardian.co.uk/Columnists/Column/0,,1647998,00.html
November 16, 2005
U.S. ADMITS USE OF WP, CALLS IT LEGAL
"The Pentagon on Wednesday acknowledged using incendiary white-phosphorus munitions in a 2004 counterinsurgency offensive in the Iraqi city of Falluja, but defended their use as legal... (because) ... the U.S. military had not used the highly flammable weapons against civilians... It's part of our conventional-weapons inventory and we use it like we use any other conventional weapon..."
http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/politics/politics-iraq-usa-phosphorus.html
November 14,2005
WP REPORTS RESURFACE
"... the available evidence suggests the following: that WP shells were fired at insurgents, that reports from the battleground suggest troops firing these WP shells did not always know who they were hitting and that there remain widespread reports of civilians suffering extensive burn injuries..."
http://news.independent.co.uk/world/americas/article327094.ece
"... Some saw what they thought were attempts by the military to conceal the use of incendiary shells. "The Americans were dropping some of the bodies into the Euphrates near Fallujah... In the centre of the Jolan quarter they were removing entire homes which have been bombed... he saw bulldozers push soil into piles and load it on to trucks to carry away. In certain areas where the military used "special munitions" he said 200 sq m of soil was being removed from each blast site..."
http://news.independent.co.uk/world/middle_east/article327136.ece
November 8, 2005
"Italian state TV, Rai, has broadcast a documentary accusing the US military of using white phosphorus bombs against civilians in the Iraqi city of Falluja... The documentary... shows a series of photographs from Falluja of corpses with the flesh burnt off but clothes still intact - which it says is consistent with the effects of white phosphorus on humans. Jeff Englehart, described as a former US soldier who served in Falluja, tells of how he heard orders for white phosphorus to be deployed over military radio - and saw the results. "Burned bodies, burned women, burned children; white phosphorus kills indiscriminately... When it makes contact with skin, then it's absolutely irreversible damage, burning flesh to the bone," he says."
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/4417024.stm
"Powerful new evidence emerged yesterday that the United States dropped massive quantities of white phosphorus on the Iraqi city of Fallujah during the attack on the city in November 2004, killing insurgents and civilians with the appalling burns that are the signature of this weapon... information has surfaced, including hideous photographs and videos and interviews with American soldiers who took part in the Fallujah attack, which provides graphic proof that phosphorus shells were widely deployed in the city as a weapon..."
"Phosphorus burns bodies, in fact it melts the flesh all the way down to the bone ... I saw the burned bodies of women and children. Phosphorus explodes and forms a cloud. Anyone within a radius of 150 metres is done for." .. dozens of high-quality, colour close-ups show bodies of Fallujah residents, some still in their beds, whose clothes remain largely intact but whose skin has been dissolved or caramelised or turned the consistency of leather by the shells... A rain of fire fell on the city, the people struck by this multi-coloured substance started to burn, we found people dead with strange wounds, the bodies burned but the clothes intact."
http://news.independent.co.uk/world/middle_east/article325560.ece
WP "WILLY PETE" APPEARS IN FALLUJAH
November 22, 2004
Effects of "Willy Peter" (white phosphorous):
http://webpages.charter.net/dmarin/cbwbeta/wp.htm
"... We Americans pioneered the use of weaponized "Willy Peter," as GIs call it. Using Willy Peter, my dad's generation barbecued tens of thousands of Japanese. Resembling pelletized napalm, Willy Peter burns so hot that if a glob lands on you it instantly melts your skin and sticks to you. Following gravity, it will burn right through your body and come out the other side..."
http://www.theava.com/03/1119-protection.html
“They used these weird bombs that put up smoke like a mushroom cloud,” he said, having just arrived yesterday, “Then small pieces fell from the air with long tails of smoke behind them. These exploded on the ground with large fires that burnt for half an hour. They used these near the train tracks. You could hear these dropped from a large airplane and the bombs were the size of a tank. When anyone touched those fires, their body burned for hours.”
hehttp://www.guerrillanews.com/articles/article.php?id=913re
"Usually we keep the gloves on. For this operation, we took the gloves off." Some artillery guns fired white phosphorous rounds that create a screen of fire that cannot be extinguished with water. Insurgents reported being attacked with a substance that melted their skin, a reaction consistent with white phosphorous burns... a physician at a regional hospital, said, "The corpses of the mujahedeen which we received were burned, and some corpses were melted."
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A35979-2004Nov9_2.html
and
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2004/11/10/MNG6P9P3ER1.DTL
IRAQ A BLACK HOLE MAKING U.S. LESS SECURE
"... Iraq today is ''a black hole," as France's antiterrorism judge, Jean-Louis Brugiere, said, sucking in impressionable youths from all over the Muslim world and radicalizing them.... The Iraq war is harming us in the greater struggle against Islamic extremism and making the United States less secure..."
http://www.boston.com/news/globe/editorial_opinion/oped/articles/2005/11/22/why_its_time_to_bring_american_troops_home/
"... Iraq today is ''a black hole," as France's antiterrorism judge, Jean-Louis Brugiere, said, sucking in impressionable youths from all over the Muslim world and radicalizing them.... The Iraq war is harming us in the greater struggle against Islamic extremism and making the United States less secure..."
http://www.boston.com/news/globe/editorial_opinion/oped/articles/2005/11/22/why_its_time_to_bring_american_troops_home/
IRAQ MAY LOSE OIL TO US AND BRITAIN
"Iraqis face the dire prospect of losing up to $200 billion of the wealth of their country if an American-inspired plan to hand over development of its oil reserves to US and British multinationals comes into force next year... reawaken(ing) fears that the real purpose of the 2003 war on Iraq was to ensure its oil came under Western control..."
http://news.independent.co.uk/world/middle_east/article328526.ece
"Iraqis face the dire prospect of losing up to $200 billion of the wealth of their country if an American-inspired plan to hand over development of its oil reserves to US and British multinationals comes into force next year... reawaken(ing) fears that the real purpose of the 2003 war on Iraq was to ensure its oil came under Western control..."
http://news.independent.co.uk/world/middle_east/article328526.ece
Monday, November 21, 2005
IRAQ SERVICE A PAIN IN THE BACK
"More than half of U.S. soldiers who have been medically evacuated from Iraq and treated at two of the military's large pain treatment centers suffer not from battle wounds but from bad backs... the high percentage of soldiers who leave Iraq because of back pain is disturbing, says lead author Steven Cohen, a lieutenant colonel in the Army Reserves and pain specialist at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine in Baltimore..."
http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/iraq/2005-11-20-back-pain_x.htm
"More than half of U.S. soldiers who have been medically evacuated from Iraq and treated at two of the military's large pain treatment centers suffer not from battle wounds but from bad backs... the high percentage of soldiers who leave Iraq because of back pain is disturbing, says lead author Steven Cohen, a lieutenant colonel in the Army Reserves and pain specialist at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine in Baltimore..."
http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/iraq/2005-11-20-back-pain_x.htm
Saturday, November 19, 2005
LOCKHEED MARTIN
"... for signing up, they got a US$2,000 check from... Lockheed Martin... they flew to... their final destinations - Iraq's infamous prisons, including Abu Ghraib, Camp Cropper near Baghdad International Airport and Camp Whitehorse near the southern Iraqi town of Nasariyah... Known in the intelligence community as "97 Echoes" (97E)... these civilian contractors work side-by-side with military interrogators..."
"... Lockheed Martin is now positioned to profit from every level of the "war on terror", from targeting to intervention and from occupation to interrogation... Lockheed Martin... (also) sorts your mail and totals your taxes. It cuts Social Security checks and counts the United States census. It runs space flights and monitors air traffic..."
"... "Men who have worked, lobbied and lawyered for Lockheed Martin hold the posts of secretary of the navy, secretary of transportation, director of the national nuclear weapons complex and director of the national spy satellite agency."
http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/GK19Ak03.html
"... for signing up, they got a US$2,000 check from... Lockheed Martin... they flew to... their final destinations - Iraq's infamous prisons, including Abu Ghraib, Camp Cropper near Baghdad International Airport and Camp Whitehorse near the southern Iraqi town of Nasariyah... Known in the intelligence community as "97 Echoes" (97E)... these civilian contractors work side-by-side with military interrogators..."
"... Lockheed Martin is now positioned to profit from every level of the "war on terror", from targeting to intervention and from occupation to interrogation... Lockheed Martin... (also) sorts your mail and totals your taxes. It cuts Social Security checks and counts the United States census. It runs space flights and monitors air traffic..."
"... "Men who have worked, lobbied and lawyered for Lockheed Martin hold the posts of secretary of the navy, secretary of transportation, director of the national nuclear weapons complex and director of the national spy satellite agency."
http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/GK19Ak03.html
Friday, November 18, 2005
BLOWING IN THE WIND
"In the background of today's entries, Bob Dylan's "Blowing in the Wind" is playing.
How many roads must a man walk down
Before you call him a man?
In response to the call for a withdrawal of US troops from Iraq by a retired marine colonel, decorated Vietnam War veteran and Democratic Congressman, John Murtha, White House Spokesman Scott McClellan implied that Murtha was advocating a "surrender to the terrorists." McClellan is not a veteran of any war, and nor are his bosses, George W. Bush and Richard Bruce Cheney (the latter actively sought 5 deferrals from serving in Vietnam).
Yes, 'n' how many seas must a white dove sail
Before she sleeps in the sand?
Peace activist and mother of a GI killed in action in Iraq, Cindy Sheehan, was fined $75 for demonstrating without a permit outside the White House.
Yes, 'n' how many times must the cannon balls fly
Before they're forever banned?
The US military is puzzled about the outcry over the use of white phosphorus at Fallujah. After all, a 500-pound bomb is also destructive. My guess? You can't go to war against Saddam on the grounds that he has stockpiles of chemical weapons, and then turn around and use incendiary bombs of a sort that much of the world regards as a form of chemical weapon. It is the hypocrisy factor. Not to mention that the international community is trying to get such weapons banned.
. . . Yes, 'n' how many ears must one man have
Before he can hear people cry?
Over two hundred years after the Founding Fathers banned "cruel and unusual punishment," the Congress is considering banning the use of torture on detainees of the US. A no-brainer? Sure. But George W. Bush is threatening to veto the measure.
Yes, 'n' how many deaths will it take till he knows
That too many people have died?
Some 62 percent of Americans think Bush is doing a poor job in Iraq."
--Juan Cole, Informed Comment, November 18,2005
http://www.juancole.com/2005/11/blowing-in-wind-in-background-of.html
"In the background of today's entries, Bob Dylan's "Blowing in the Wind" is playing.
How many roads must a man walk down
Before you call him a man?
In response to the call for a withdrawal of US troops from Iraq by a retired marine colonel, decorated Vietnam War veteran and Democratic Congressman, John Murtha, White House Spokesman Scott McClellan implied that Murtha was advocating a "surrender to the terrorists." McClellan is not a veteran of any war, and nor are his bosses, George W. Bush and Richard Bruce Cheney (the latter actively sought 5 deferrals from serving in Vietnam).
Yes, 'n' how many seas must a white dove sail
Before she sleeps in the sand?
Peace activist and mother of a GI killed in action in Iraq, Cindy Sheehan, was fined $75 for demonstrating without a permit outside the White House.
Yes, 'n' how many times must the cannon balls fly
Before they're forever banned?
The US military is puzzled about the outcry over the use of white phosphorus at Fallujah. After all, a 500-pound bomb is also destructive. My guess? You can't go to war against Saddam on the grounds that he has stockpiles of chemical weapons, and then turn around and use incendiary bombs of a sort that much of the world regards as a form of chemical weapon. It is the hypocrisy factor. Not to mention that the international community is trying to get such weapons banned.
. . . Yes, 'n' how many ears must one man have
Before he can hear people cry?
Over two hundred years after the Founding Fathers banned "cruel and unusual punishment," the Congress is considering banning the use of torture on detainees of the US. A no-brainer? Sure. But George W. Bush is threatening to veto the measure.
Yes, 'n' how many deaths will it take till he knows
That too many people have died?
Some 62 percent of Americans think Bush is doing a poor job in Iraq."
--Juan Cole, Informed Comment, November 18,2005
http://www.juancole.com/2005/11/blowing-in-wind-in-background-of.html
BRITISH WERE CONCERNED OVER LEGALITY OF WAR
"... there were profound concerns over the legality of regime change, and relying on resolution 1441 without a security council authorization. Indeed, Sir Michael Boyce, the chief of staff, made it a requirement of mobilizing the troops that he should be given an unequivocal assurance that the war would be legal - and the prime minister and attorney general both obliged.
"... the full advice of the attorney general of March 7 2003 (was) far from being unequivocal, it is full of legal riders and cautionary statements: the language of resolution 1441 "leaves the position unclear", "arguments can be made on both sides", and "the safest legal course would be to secure the adoption of a further resolution to authorize the use of force". Further, he advised that the government should "consider extremely carefully whether the evidence of non-cooperation and non-compliance by Iraq is sufficiently compelling to justify the conclusion that Iraq has failed to take its final opportunity".
http://www.guardian.co.uk/antiwar/story/0,,1645524,00.htm
and
http://www.commondreams.org/views05/1118-20.htm
"... there were profound concerns over the legality of regime change, and relying on resolution 1441 without a security council authorization. Indeed, Sir Michael Boyce, the chief of staff, made it a requirement of mobilizing the troops that he should be given an unequivocal assurance that the war would be legal - and the prime minister and attorney general both obliged.
"... the full advice of the attorney general of March 7 2003 (was) far from being unequivocal, it is full of legal riders and cautionary statements: the language of resolution 1441 "leaves the position unclear", "arguments can be made on both sides", and "the safest legal course would be to secure the adoption of a further resolution to authorize the use of force". Further, he advised that the government should "consider extremely carefully whether the evidence of non-cooperation and non-compliance by Iraq is sufficiently compelling to justify the conclusion that Iraq has failed to take its final opportunity".
http://www.guardian.co.uk/antiwar/story/0,,1645524,00.htm
and
http://www.commondreams.org/views05/1118-20.htm
DEMOCRATS SUPPORTED IRAQ WAR
"The Democrats cannot be allowed to use faulty intelligence as a crutch to hold up their unforgivable support for the Iraq invasion... None of the horrors playing out in Iraq today would be possible without the Democratic Party... The Democrats didn't need false intelligence to push them into overthrowing Saddam Hussein's regime. It was their policy; a policy made the law of the land not under George W. Bush, but under President Bill Clinton when he signed the 1998 Iraq Liberation Act, formally initiating the process of regime change in Iraq... No matter how hard some party leaders try to deny it, this is their war too and will remain so until every troop is withdrawn."
http://www.commondreams.org/views05/1118-33.htm
"The Democrats cannot be allowed to use faulty intelligence as a crutch to hold up their unforgivable support for the Iraq invasion... None of the horrors playing out in Iraq today would be possible without the Democratic Party... The Democrats didn't need false intelligence to push them into overthrowing Saddam Hussein's regime. It was their policy; a policy made the law of the land not under George W. Bush, but under President Bill Clinton when he signed the 1998 Iraq Liberation Act, formally initiating the process of regime change in Iraq... No matter how hard some party leaders try to deny it, this is their war too and will remain so until every troop is withdrawn."
http://www.commondreams.org/views05/1118-33.htm
SOUTH KOREA TO WITHDRAW 1/3 OF TROOPS FROM IRAQ
"... We will never back down and we will never give in and we will never expect less than complete victory," the president told US troops stationed in South Korea after attending a trade summit there."
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/4451860.stm
"In a move that caught the White House by surprise, South Korea has announced plans to pull one-third of its troops out of Iraq... As many as 3,200 South Korean troops are currently in Iraq, the third-largest contingent behind the United States and Britain... The announcement comes a day after U.S. President George W. Bush met with South Korean President Roh Moo-hyun..."
http://www.mytelus.com/news/article.do?pageID=cbc/world_home&articleID=2093435
"... We will never back down and we will never give in and we will never expect less than complete victory," the president told US troops stationed in South Korea after attending a trade summit there."
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/4451860.stm
"In a move that caught the White House by surprise, South Korea has announced plans to pull one-third of its troops out of Iraq... As many as 3,200 South Korean troops are currently in Iraq, the third-largest contingent behind the United States and Britain... The announcement comes a day after U.S. President George W. Bush met with South Korean President Roh Moo-hyun..."
http://www.mytelus.com/news/article.do?pageID=cbc/world_home&articleID=2093435
ATTACKS ON OIL COSTING $28 MILLION PER DAY
"Insurgent attacks are costing Iraq about 500,000 barrels of oil a day, almost a third of its daily output. At today's oil prices, that's costing the country at least $28 million in export earnings every day.... Oil experts no longer think Iraq can bank on oil earnings to rebuild its oil sector, let alone its tattered economy. "Oil business cannot pay for reconstruction in that country, that's the fact. It can run the country, but as far as reconstruction is concerned, that's helpless," said Robert McKee III, the second of three special U.S. oil envoys to the occupation government after the invasion."
http://www.realcities.com/mld/krwashington/news/special_packages/iraq/13194741.htm
"Insurgent attacks are costing Iraq about 500,000 barrels of oil a day, almost a third of its daily output. At today's oil prices, that's costing the country at least $28 million in export earnings every day.... Oil experts no longer think Iraq can bank on oil earnings to rebuild its oil sector, let alone its tattered economy. "Oil business cannot pay for reconstruction in that country, that's the fact. It can run the country, but as far as reconstruction is concerned, that's helpless," said Robert McKee III, the second of three special U.S. oil envoys to the occupation government after the invasion."
http://www.realcities.com/mld/krwashington/news/special_packages/iraq/13194741.htm
INSURGENCY NUMBERS 30,000 OF WHICH 3,000 ARE FOREIGN
"Up to 3,000 foreign insurgents may be fighting in Iraq, but they remain a small part of the overall rebellion... The figure is three times as large as unofficial Pentagon estimates, but may total no more than 10% of insurgents. The Iraqi insurgency remains largely home-grown... with 90% or more hailing from Iraq..."
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/4447778.stm
"Up to 3,000 foreign insurgents may be fighting in Iraq, but they remain a small part of the overall rebellion... The figure is three times as large as unofficial Pentagon estimates, but may total no more than 10% of insurgents. The Iraqi insurgency remains largely home-grown... with 90% or more hailing from Iraq..."
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/4447778.stm
Thursday, November 17, 2005
SPLIT BETWEEN ZARQAWI AND AL-QAEDA FAVORS AMERICA
"... since September 11, 2001 the level of cooperation between Iran and al-Qaeda has increased. However, the anti-Shi'ite stance of the al-Qaeda leader in Iraq, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, remains a major obstacle. Should this be resolved, and Iran soften its attitude, al-Qaeda will have taken a major step towards launching its global war against America."
http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/GK15Ak02.html
"... since September 11, 2001 the level of cooperation between Iran and al-Qaeda has increased. However, the anti-Shi'ite stance of the al-Qaeda leader in Iraq, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, remains a major obstacle. Should this be resolved, and Iran soften its attitude, al-Qaeda will have taken a major step towards launching its global war against America."
http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/GK15Ak02.html
Tuesday, November 15, 2005
IRANIAN OCCUPATION OF IRAQ
"... The occupation has ceased to be American. It is American in face, and militarily, but in essence it has metamorphosed slowly but surely into an Iranian one. It began, of course, with Badir’s Brigade and the several Iran-based political parties which followed behind the American tanks in April 2003. It continues today with a skewed referendum, and a constitution that will guarantee a southern Iraqi state modeled on the Islamic Republic of Iran.... Congratulations Americans- not only are the hardliner Iranian clerics running the show in Iran- they are also running the show in Iraq."
--" Riverbend", an Iraqi teacher, in her blog "Baghdad Burning", Sunday, November 06, 2005
http://riverbendblog.blogspot.com/
"... The occupation has ceased to be American. It is American in face, and militarily, but in essence it has metamorphosed slowly but surely into an Iranian one. It began, of course, with Badir’s Brigade and the several Iran-based political parties which followed behind the American tanks in April 2003. It continues today with a skewed referendum, and a constitution that will guarantee a southern Iraqi state modeled on the Islamic Republic of Iran.... Congratulations Americans- not only are the hardliner Iranian clerics running the show in Iran- they are also running the show in Iraq."
--" Riverbend", an Iraqi teacher, in her blog "Baghdad Burning", Sunday, November 06, 2005
http://riverbendblog.blogspot.com/
SHIITE IRAQI FORCES STARVING AND TORTURING SUNNI DETAINEES
"... prisoners, many malnourished and some showing signs of torture, were found when US troops took control of a interior ministry building on Sunday. The US operation followed persistent inquiries from the family of one of those held, most of whom were Sunnis... officials believe it may be the tip of the iceberg... There have been persistent allegations of abuse by members of the Shia-dominated security forces..."
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/4440134.stm
"... prisoners, many malnourished and some showing signs of torture, were found when US troops took control of a interior ministry building on Sunday. The US operation followed persistent inquiries from the family of one of those held, most of whom were Sunnis... officials believe it may be the tip of the iceberg... There have been persistent allegations of abuse by members of the Shia-dominated security forces..."
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/4440134.stm
U.S. HOUSEHOLDS OWE OVER TWICE AS MIUCH DEBT TO CREDIT CARDS AS TO IRAQ WAR
"... according to The Plastic Safety Net: The Reality Behind Credit Card Debt in America... $8,650 is the average credit card debt of a low- and middle-income indebted household in America..."
http://sev.prnewswire.com/banking-financial-services/20051012/DCW02712102005-1.html
"... (as of June 2004) The United States has spent more than $126bn on the war in Iraq, which will ultimately cost every American family an estimated $3,415..."
http://www.guardian.co.uk/print/0,3858,4956053-103550,00.html
"... according to The Plastic Safety Net: The Reality Behind Credit Card Debt in America... $8,650 is the average credit card debt of a low- and middle-income indebted household in America..."
http://sev.prnewswire.com/banking-financial-services/20051012/DCW02712102005-1.html
"... (as of June 2004) The United States has spent more than $126bn on the war in Iraq, which will ultimately cost every American family an estimated $3,415..."
http://www.guardian.co.uk/print/0,3858,4956053-103550,00.html
Monday, November 14, 2005
RECONSTRUCTION OF FALLUJAH
June 2005
"Sen. Mitch McConnell's itinerary last week included a day in Iraq... went to Baghdad and Fallujah... Fallujah, which had been a seething center of insurgency, the city "is calm now and getting back to normal, and (the Iraqis are) reconstructing the city," McConnell said..."
http://www.courier-journal.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050605/NEWS0104/506050438
November 2005
"... most of the population has returned to the city centre, but those who live further out cannot because their homes were the most damaged. Power is only available downtown, and only for a few hours in the middle of the night. The majority of the population is still unemployed since the city's factories have not been rebuilt. The economic situation is so desperate that the limited reconstruction funds are being consumed by the immediate needs for food and material aid. Schools are mostly open, but three schools and the Ministry of Education offices are still being occupied by U.S. forces. As we spoke to the sheikh, members of the U.S. forces and the Iraqi Army swept up the street searching homes and threatened to blow-up our driver's car which was parked outside the mosque... The only hospital in Falluja... (is) operating, but very short of modern equipment like incubators, anaethesia machines, and electrical generators... U.S. officials have repeatedly promised aid, but so far have only supplied blankets and a few kerosene heaters. The staff said that the number of violent deaths is increasing, and now averages 100 to 200 per month..."
http://electroniciraq.net/news/2195.shtml
June 2005
"Sen. Mitch McConnell's itinerary last week included a day in Iraq... went to Baghdad and Fallujah... Fallujah, which had been a seething center of insurgency, the city "is calm now and getting back to normal, and (the Iraqis are) reconstructing the city," McConnell said..."
http://www.courier-journal.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050605/NEWS0104/506050438
November 2005
"... most of the population has returned to the city centre, but those who live further out cannot because their homes were the most damaged. Power is only available downtown, and only for a few hours in the middle of the night. The majority of the population is still unemployed since the city's factories have not been rebuilt. The economic situation is so desperate that the limited reconstruction funds are being consumed by the immediate needs for food and material aid. Schools are mostly open, but three schools and the Ministry of Education offices are still being occupied by U.S. forces. As we spoke to the sheikh, members of the U.S. forces and the Iraqi Army swept up the street searching homes and threatened to blow-up our driver's car which was parked outside the mosque... The only hospital in Falluja... (is) operating, but very short of modern equipment like incubators, anaethesia machines, and electrical generators... U.S. officials have repeatedly promised aid, but so far have only supplied blankets and a few kerosene heaters. The staff said that the number of violent deaths is increasing, and now averages 100 to 200 per month..."
http://electroniciraq.net/news/2195.shtml
BUSH VETERANS DAY SPEECH
"... it's perfectly legitimate to criticize my decision or the conduct of the war..."
"... These baseless attacks send the wrong signal to our troops and to an enemy that is questioning America's will..."
http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2005/11/20051111-1.html
"... it's perfectly legitimate to criticize my decision or the conduct of the war..."
"... These baseless attacks send the wrong signal to our troops and to an enemy that is questioning America's will..."
http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2005/11/20051111-1.html
BUSH VETERANS DAY SPEECH INACCURATE
"President Bush... (said) that Congress saw the same intelligence the administration did before the war, and that independent commissions have determined that the administration did not misrepresent the intelligence..."
"But Bush and his aides had access to much more voluminous intelligence information than did lawmakers, who were dependent on the administration to provide the material..."
"And the commissions... though concluding that the administration did not pressure intelligence analysts to change their conclusions, were not authorized to determine whether the administration exaggerated or distorted those conclusions.
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2005/11/12/MNGNUFNCC31.DTL&type=printable
and
http://www.commondreams.org/headlines05/1112-03.htm
Bush: "When I made the decision to remove Saddam Hussein from power, Congress approved it with strong bipartisan support."
The Nation: "Congress did not approve Bush's decision to remove Saddam. In October 2002, the House and Senate approved a resolution that gave Bush the authority to go to war in Iraq if he deemed that appropriate... When the resolution passed... the White House insisted that Bush was not bent on "regime change" and that he was willing to work within the UN... when Bush did order the invasion of Iraq months later in March 2003, he did not ask Congress to vote on his decision to remove Saddam."
http://www.thenation.com/blogs/capitalgames?bid=3&pid=36405
"President Bush... (said) that Congress saw the same intelligence the administration did before the war, and that independent commissions have determined that the administration did not misrepresent the intelligence..."
"But Bush and his aides had access to much more voluminous intelligence information than did lawmakers, who were dependent on the administration to provide the material..."
"And the commissions... though concluding that the administration did not pressure intelligence analysts to change their conclusions, were not authorized to determine whether the administration exaggerated or distorted those conclusions.
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2005/11/12/MNGNUFNCC31.DTL&type=printable
and
http://www.commondreams.org/headlines05/1112-03.htm
Bush: "When I made the decision to remove Saddam Hussein from power, Congress approved it with strong bipartisan support."
The Nation: "Congress did not approve Bush's decision to remove Saddam. In October 2002, the House and Senate approved a resolution that gave Bush the authority to go to war in Iraq if he deemed that appropriate... When the resolution passed... the White House insisted that Bush was not bent on "regime change" and that he was willing to work within the UN... when Bush did order the invasion of Iraq months later in March 2003, he did not ask Congress to vote on his decision to remove Saddam."
http://www.thenation.com/blogs/capitalgames?bid=3&pid=36405
Sunday, November 13, 2005
COST OF WAR PER HOUSEHOLD = ABOUT 1/4 OF CREDIT CARD DEBT
"... according to The Plastic Safety Net: The Reality Behind Credit Card Debt in America, a new report released today by Demos and the Center for Responsible Lending... $8,650 is the average credit card debt of a low- and middle-income indebted household in America..."
http://sev.prnewswire.com/banking-financial-services/20051012/DCW02712102005-1.html
According to the National Priorities Project, $2,378 is the cost of the Iraq War per household in America.
http://www.nationalpriorities.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=31&Itemid=61
"... according to The Plastic Safety Net: The Reality Behind Credit Card Debt in America, a new report released today by Demos and the Center for Responsible Lending... $8,650 is the average credit card debt of a low- and middle-income indebted household in America..."
http://sev.prnewswire.com/banking-financial-services/20051012/DCW02712102005-1.html
According to the National Priorities Project, $2,378 is the cost of the Iraq War per household in America.
http://www.nationalpriorities.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=31&Itemid=61
Saturday, November 12, 2005
CHALABI BACK IN U.S. FAVOR
November2005
"... Ahmad Chalabi refused to apologize Wednesday for providing the U.S. government with false information on Saddam Hussein's weapons and ties to terrorists, calling charges that he did so an "urban myth."... Chalabi is visiting Washington to try to mend ties with the Bush administration.. Chalabi met with Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and national security adviser Stephen Hadley on Wednesday, although neither would be photographed with him. He's to meet with Vice President Dick Cheney, a longtime patron, next week... Asked whether he has ambitions to be prime minister, he replied with a smile: "That's for me to know, and you to find out.""
http://www.realcities.com/mld/krwashington/news/special_packages/iraq/13125351.htm
U.S.'S IRAQI LEADER CHALABI HAS IRANIAN CONNECTION
May 2004
"... joint US-Iraqi forces carried out raids on the home and offices of the Pentagon's erstwhile favorite, Iraqi National Congress (INC) chief Ahmed Chalabi... the INC's Information Collection Program (ICP), which until last week had received millions of dollars in US taxpayer funding in the last decade, has essentially been an Iranian disinformation operation designed to get the US to oust Saddam Hussein and that the ICP's chief, currently on the lam in Tehran, was an Iranian agent..."
http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/FE25Ak02.html
November2005
"... Ahmad Chalabi refused to apologize Wednesday for providing the U.S. government with false information on Saddam Hussein's weapons and ties to terrorists, calling charges that he did so an "urban myth."... Chalabi is visiting Washington to try to mend ties with the Bush administration.. Chalabi met with Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and national security adviser Stephen Hadley on Wednesday, although neither would be photographed with him. He's to meet with Vice President Dick Cheney, a longtime patron, next week... Asked whether he has ambitions to be prime minister, he replied with a smile: "That's for me to know, and you to find out.""
http://www.realcities.com/mld/krwashington/news/special_packages/iraq/13125351.htm
U.S.'S IRAQI LEADER CHALABI HAS IRANIAN CONNECTION
May 2004
"... joint US-Iraqi forces carried out raids on the home and offices of the Pentagon's erstwhile favorite, Iraqi National Congress (INC) chief Ahmed Chalabi... the INC's Information Collection Program (ICP), which until last week had received millions of dollars in US taxpayer funding in the last decade, has essentially been an Iranian disinformation operation designed to get the US to oust Saddam Hussein and that the ICP's chief, currently on the lam in Tehran, was an Iranian agent..."
http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/FE25Ak02.html
COST OF WAR
"... According to an October report from the Congressional Research Service, the cost of the war in Iraq has reached $255 billion, and is continuing at a rate of at least $6 billion per month..."
http://www.commondreams.org/views05/1112-20.htm
"... According to an October report from the Congressional Research Service, the cost of the war in Iraq has reached $255 billion, and is continuing at a rate of at least $6 billion per month..."
http://www.commondreams.org/views05/1112-20.htm
DOES ZARQAWI EXIST OR IS HE A MYTH?
November 2005
"Loretta Napoleoni, a terrorism expert and author of “Insurgent Iraq”, says that Abu Mus’ab Al Zarqawi, the alleged leader of armed groups in Iraq, is nothing but a myth created by the United States... A remarkable proportion of the unrest and bloodshed in Iraq is regularly credited to Al Zarqawi... The United States has been using the Jordanian born rebel as a shadow to follow in every region inside or outside Iraq where it deems interference in necessary. “Sometimes it seems no car bomb goes off, no ambush occurs that isn't claimed in his name or attributed to him by the Bush administration. Bush and his top officials have, in fact, made good use of him..."
http://www.aljazeera.com/me.asp?service_ID=10090
July 2005
"... he and his organization were reputed to be headquartered in Fallujah, prior to the American assault that flattened the city... He has since turned up, according to American intelligence reports and the U.S. press, in Ramadi, Baghdad, Samarra, and Mosul among other places, along with side trips to Jordan, Iran, Pakistan and/or Syria. His closest "lieutenants" have been captured by the busload, according to American military reports... when you try to track down Zarqawi, a man with a $25 million American bounty on his head, or simply try to track him back to the beginnings of his life's journey, whether you look for him in the tunnels of Tora Bora, the ruined city of Fallujah, the Syrian borderlands, or Ramadi, you're likely to run up against a kind of eerie blankness. Whatever the real Zarqawi may or may not be capable of doing today in Iraq or elsewhere, he is dwarfed by the Zarqawi of legend... Even dead, he is unlikely to die; even alive, he is unlikely to be able to live up to anybody's Zarqawi myth."
http://www.commondreams.org/views05/0706-03.htm
November 2004
"... I didn't know of Al-Zarkawi, didn't even think that such person exists!! Dad suggests that he's just an imaginary person made by the Americans to make the resistance look worse! ... Believe me, faking someone exists is so easy nowadays, especially with the technology we have!
- Blogger in Mosul, "A Star From Mosul", Wednesday, November 24, 2004
http://astarfrommosul.blogspot.com/
"... not a single source, anywhere, claims to have actually seen "Zarqawi" since late 2001 in Afghanistan. Ask the Pentagon. Ask the CIA. Ask the Federal Bureau of Investigation. No one, on the record, is able to independently verify that "Zarqawi" actually exists. There are no photos - only that same CIA-owned black and white. The CIA doesn't even know how tall or how fat "Zarqawi" is. All the literature on "Zarqawi" since late 2001 springs from dubious "confessions" by prisoners and "statements" by all sorts of people claiming to be "Zarqawi"... he may have been created by US military intelligence..."
http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/FJ15Ak02.html
"... American counter-terrorism officials are ignoring a wide array of fundamentalist groups at work in Iraq and surrounding countries in their effort to portray all terrorist activity in Iraq as the handiwork of a single mastermind... America needs to create a serious public enemy who is not Iraqi so they can claim Iraqis aren't responsible for the resistance..."
http://www.boston.com/news/world/articles/2004/11/01/zarqawis_role_in_iraq_overstated_analysts_say?mode=PF
November 2005
"Loretta Napoleoni, a terrorism expert and author of “Insurgent Iraq”, says that Abu Mus’ab Al Zarqawi, the alleged leader of armed groups in Iraq, is nothing but a myth created by the United States... A remarkable proportion of the unrest and bloodshed in Iraq is regularly credited to Al Zarqawi... The United States has been using the Jordanian born rebel as a shadow to follow in every region inside or outside Iraq where it deems interference in necessary. “Sometimes it seems no car bomb goes off, no ambush occurs that isn't claimed in his name or attributed to him by the Bush administration. Bush and his top officials have, in fact, made good use of him..."
http://www.aljazeera.com/me.asp?service_ID=10090
July 2005
"... he and his organization were reputed to be headquartered in Fallujah, prior to the American assault that flattened the city... He has since turned up, according to American intelligence reports and the U.S. press, in Ramadi, Baghdad, Samarra, and Mosul among other places, along with side trips to Jordan, Iran, Pakistan and/or Syria. His closest "lieutenants" have been captured by the busload, according to American military reports... when you try to track down Zarqawi, a man with a $25 million American bounty on his head, or simply try to track him back to the beginnings of his life's journey, whether you look for him in the tunnels of Tora Bora, the ruined city of Fallujah, the Syrian borderlands, or Ramadi, you're likely to run up against a kind of eerie blankness. Whatever the real Zarqawi may or may not be capable of doing today in Iraq or elsewhere, he is dwarfed by the Zarqawi of legend... Even dead, he is unlikely to die; even alive, he is unlikely to be able to live up to anybody's Zarqawi myth."
http://www.commondreams.org/views05/0706-03.htm
November 2004
"... I didn't know of Al-Zarkawi, didn't even think that such person exists!! Dad suggests that he's just an imaginary person made by the Americans to make the resistance look worse! ... Believe me, faking someone exists is so easy nowadays, especially with the technology we have!
- Blogger in Mosul, "A Star From Mosul", Wednesday, November 24, 2004
http://astarfrommosul.blogspot.com/
"... not a single source, anywhere, claims to have actually seen "Zarqawi" since late 2001 in Afghanistan. Ask the Pentagon. Ask the CIA. Ask the Federal Bureau of Investigation. No one, on the record, is able to independently verify that "Zarqawi" actually exists. There are no photos - only that same CIA-owned black and white. The CIA doesn't even know how tall or how fat "Zarqawi" is. All the literature on "Zarqawi" since late 2001 springs from dubious "confessions" by prisoners and "statements" by all sorts of people claiming to be "Zarqawi"... he may have been created by US military intelligence..."
http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/FJ15Ak02.html
"... American counter-terrorism officials are ignoring a wide array of fundamentalist groups at work in Iraq and surrounding countries in their effort to portray all terrorist activity in Iraq as the handiwork of a single mastermind... America needs to create a serious public enemy who is not Iraqi so they can claim Iraqis aren't responsible for the resistance..."
http://www.boston.com/news/world/articles/2004/11/01/zarqawis_role_in_iraq_overstated_analysts_say?mode=PF
BISHOPS FROM BUSH'S CHURCH REPENT IRAQ WAR
"Ninety-five bishops from President Bush's church said Thursday they repent their "complicity" in the "unjust and immoral" invasion and occupation of Iraq. "In the face of the United States administration's rush toward military action based on misleading information, too many of us were silent," said a statement of conscience signed by more than half of the 164 retired and active United Methodist bishops worldwide..."
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,175245,00.html
"Ninety-five bishops from President Bush's church said Thursday they repent their "complicity" in the "unjust and immoral" invasion and occupation of Iraq. "In the face of the United States administration's rush toward military action based on misleading information, too many of us were silent," said a statement of conscience signed by more than half of the 164 retired and active United Methodist bishops worldwide..."
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,175245,00.html
Thursday, November 10, 2005
THE ADMINISTRATION REALIZES THE INSURGENCY - SUMMER 2003
"... On June 16 Army General John Abizaid... was the first senior American official to say that in fact the United States now faced a "classical guerrilla-type campaign." Two days later... Paul Wolfowitz... (said) "There is a guerrilla war there, but ... we can win it." On June 30 Rumsfeld corrected both of them, saying that the evidence from Iraq "doesn't make it anything like a guerrilla war or an organized resistance." Two days after that President Bush said at a White House ceremony that some people felt that circumstances in Iraq were "such that they can attack us there. My answer is, Bring them on."
http://www.theatlantic.com/doc/200512/iraq-army/3
"... On June 16 Army General John Abizaid... was the first senior American official to say that in fact the United States now faced a "classical guerrilla-type campaign." Two days later... Paul Wolfowitz... (said) "There is a guerrilla war there, but ... we can win it." On June 30 Rumsfeld corrected both of them, saying that the evidence from Iraq "doesn't make it anything like a guerrilla war or an organized resistance." Two days after that President Bush said at a White House ceremony that some people felt that circumstances in Iraq were "such that they can attack us there. My answer is, Bring them on."
http://www.theatlantic.com/doc/200512/iraq-army/3
U.S. NOT COMMITTED TO "STANDING UP" THE IRAQI ARMY
"... President Bush and other officials say so often, "As Iraqis stand up, we will stand down."... Americans need to understand... when and whether Iraqi forces can "stand up."... if American troops disappeared tomorrow, Iraq would have essentially no independent security force. Half its policemen would be considered worthless, and the other half would depend on external help for organization, direction, support. Two thirds of the army would be in the same dependent position, and even the better-prepared one third would suffer significant limitations without foreign help. The moment when Iraqis can lift much of the burden from American troops is not yet in sight..."
"On the current course we will have two options," (said) a Marine lieutenant colonel who had recently served in Iraq... "We can lose in Iraq and destroy our army, or we can just lose."
"... the United States must therefore choose one of two difficult alternatives: It can make the serious changes—including certain commitments to remain in Iraq for many years—that would be necessary to bring an Iraqi army to maturity. Or it can face the stark fact that it has no orderly way out of Iraq, and prepare accordingly."
http://www.theatlantic.com/doc/200512/iraq-army
"... President Bush and other officials say so often, "As Iraqis stand up, we will stand down."... Americans need to understand... when and whether Iraqi forces can "stand up."... if American troops disappeared tomorrow, Iraq would have essentially no independent security force. Half its policemen would be considered worthless, and the other half would depend on external help for organization, direction, support. Two thirds of the army would be in the same dependent position, and even the better-prepared one third would suffer significant limitations without foreign help. The moment when Iraqis can lift much of the burden from American troops is not yet in sight..."
"On the current course we will have two options," (said) a Marine lieutenant colonel who had recently served in Iraq... "We can lose in Iraq and destroy our army, or we can just lose."
"... the United States must therefore choose one of two difficult alternatives: It can make the serious changes—including certain commitments to remain in Iraq for many years—that would be necessary to bring an Iraqi army to maturity. Or it can face the stark fact that it has no orderly way out of Iraq, and prepare accordingly."
http://www.theatlantic.com/doc/200512/iraq-army
U.S. TROOP ROTATION PLAN FOR 2006
"The Pentagon announced a plan Monday that will send 92,000 fresh troops to Iraq beginning in mid-2006... Included in Monday's announcement were:
-Division Headquarters, 25th Infantry Division, Schofield Barracks, Hawaii.
-3rd Brigade, 25th Infantry Division, Schofield Barracks, Hawaii.
-13th Corps Support Command, Fort Hood, Texas.
-1st Brigade, 34th Infantry Division, Minnesota Army National Guard.
-2nd Brigade, 1st Infantry Division, Schweinfurt, Germany.
-3rd Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division, Fort Lewis, Wash.
-3rd Brigade, 82nd Airborne Division, Fort Bragg, N.C.
-2nd Brigade, 10th Mountain Division, Fort Drum, N.Y..."
http://www.realcities.com/mld/krwashington/news/special_packages/iraq/13106893.htm
"The Pentagon announced a plan Monday that will send 92,000 fresh troops to Iraq beginning in mid-2006... Included in Monday's announcement were:
-Division Headquarters, 25th Infantry Division, Schofield Barracks, Hawaii.
-3rd Brigade, 25th Infantry Division, Schofield Barracks, Hawaii.
-13th Corps Support Command, Fort Hood, Texas.
-1st Brigade, 34th Infantry Division, Minnesota Army National Guard.
-2nd Brigade, 1st Infantry Division, Schweinfurt, Germany.
-3rd Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division, Fort Lewis, Wash.
-3rd Brigade, 82nd Airborne Division, Fort Bragg, N.C.
-2nd Brigade, 10th Mountain Division, Fort Drum, N.Y..."
http://www.realcities.com/mld/krwashington/news/special_packages/iraq/13106893.htm
UN EXTENDS MANDATE FOR U.S. PRESENCE IN IRAQ
"... The existing UN mandate had been due to expire at the end of this year, after parliamentary elections planned for 15 December... The UN Security Council voted unanimously to extend the mandate to the end of 2006... In a concession to France and Russia, the US agreed that the mandate should be reviewed in June next year..."
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/4419222.stm
"... The existing UN mandate had been due to expire at the end of this year, after parliamentary elections planned for 15 December... The UN Security Council voted unanimously to extend the mandate to the end of 2006... In a concession to France and Russia, the US agreed that the mandate should be reviewed in June next year..."
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/4419222.stm
Monday, November 07, 2005
NUMBER OF U.S. PRISONERS IN IRAQ
"... Figures released by the US last week said its forces were holding 13,885 prisoners at several detention centres across Iraq, including more than 5,000 at Abu Ghraib.."
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/4416116.stm
"... Figures released by the US last week said its forces were holding 13,885 prisoners at several detention centres across Iraq, including more than 5,000 at Abu Ghraib.."
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/4416116.stm
INSURGENT NUMBERS SAME AS A YEAR AGO
"U.S. and Iraqi forces have killed more than 1,300 insurgents in Iraq and detained 9,000 suspected fighters since last January's election... but... Gen. John Abizaid, the chief of U.S. Central Command... put the number at 20,000... about the same as it was a year ago."
http://www.realcities.com/mld/krwashington/news/special_packages/iraq/13084531.htm
"U.S. and Iraqi forces have killed more than 1,300 insurgents in Iraq and detained 9,000 suspected fighters since last January's election... but... Gen. John Abizaid, the chief of U.S. Central Command... put the number at 20,000... about the same as it was a year ago."
http://www.realcities.com/mld/krwashington/news/special_packages/iraq/13084531.htm
Sunday, November 06, 2005
WHY THE INSURGENTS FIGHT
"The reason why they're fighting us is not Osama bin Laden. They're fighting us because we're here. ... They don't want us here. They just want us to leave. I guess that would be a victory for them. As far as I can see there's not going to be any victory for us."
--Sgt. Antonio Molina, Sniper, 3rd Infantry Division, in Muqdadiyah, Diyala Province
"(Sgt. Hunter) Sabin, sitting next to him, nodded. "In past situations you've had a good guy and a bad guy and the troops were impassioned, but now troops just want to go home," Sabin said. "I don't feel like there's a cause. I don't personally think there's a reason for this."
http://www.realcities.com/mld/krwashington/12776025.htm
"The reason why they're fighting us is not Osama bin Laden. They're fighting us because we're here. ... They don't want us here. They just want us to leave. I guess that would be a victory for them. As far as I can see there's not going to be any victory for us."
--Sgt. Antonio Molina, Sniper, 3rd Infantry Division, in Muqdadiyah, Diyala Province
"(Sgt. Hunter) Sabin, sitting next to him, nodded. "In past situations you've had a good guy and a bad guy and the troops were impassioned, but now troops just want to go home," Sabin said. "I don't feel like there's a cause. I don't personally think there's a reason for this."
http://www.realcities.com/mld/krwashington/12776025.htm
Wednesday, November 02, 2005
IRAQ SAYS NO TO U.S. STRIKES ON SYRIA
"Iraqi president (Talabani) says he is opposed to military action against Syria... (but admits) Iraq cannot stop US using bases against Syria... "I categorically refuse the use of Iraqi soil to launch a military strike against Syria or any other Arab country. But at the end of the day my ability to confront the US military is limited and I cannot impose on them my will."
http://www.middle-east-online.com/english/?id=14909
"Iraqi president (Talabani) says he is opposed to military action against Syria... (but admits) Iraq cannot stop US using bases against Syria... "I categorically refuse the use of Iraqi soil to launch a military strike against Syria or any other Arab country. But at the end of the day my ability to confront the US military is limited and I cannot impose on them my will."
http://www.middle-east-online.com/english/?id=14909
Tuesday, November 01, 2005
LIBBY REPLACED WITH BOGUS INTELLIGENCE ADVISOR
"Vice President Dick Cheney replaced I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby as his national security adviser on Monday with an aide identified by a former Iraqi exile group as the White House official to whom it fed information on Iraq that turned out to be erroneous..."
http://www.realcities.com/mld/krwashington/13046078.htm
"Vice President Dick Cheney replaced I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby as his national security adviser on Monday with an aide identified by a former Iraqi exile group as the White House official to whom it fed information on Iraq that turned out to be erroneous..."
http://www.realcities.com/mld/krwashington/13046078.htm