IRAQI OIL RISKS DOWNGRADE TO A RESERVE RATHER THAN A SUPPLY
"... Iraq risks losing entirely the confidence of the international market as a supplier... If the situation continues as it is with the security and political problems, the market will discount Iraqi oil. "They will view it as a reserve rather than depend on it as a supplier."
-- Saad Allah al-Fathi, former Oil Ministry official
http://today.reuters.com/business/newsarticle.aspx?type=reutersEdge&storyID=2006-03-09T131303Z_01_KAR926411_RTRUKOC_0_US-ENERGY-IRAQ.xml
Friday, March 10, 2006
IRAQI ARMY AND POLICE ARE EXTENSIONS OF U.S. MILITARY
"... the Americans are recruiting and training both the military and the police in Iraq. What is less well known is that, once their training is complete, the Bush administration does not relinquish control over these forces...
"... (as for) the Iraqi army. Its troops are directly integrated into the occupation structure commanded by the American military... The Iraqi military has no air support, no artillery, and almost no armored vehicles; nor does it have a logistics capacity that would allow it to resupply its fighting units. As a result, even if the Iraqi government could "take command" of its army, it could not fight battles on its own... None of its units can go into battle unless they are integrated into the American military...
"... (as for the police) the number of U.S. troops assigned to Iraqi police and Special Forces units, (is being) increase(d) by a factor of 10, with as many as 500 Americans working with a Special Forces brigade of 2,500 or so Iraqis... "under the command of American officers." ... In other words, an already desperately weak Iraqi central government will have no enforcement apparatus at its command for its policy decisions, if these diverge from occupation desires..."
http://www.commondreams.org/views06/0310-24.htm
"... the Americans are recruiting and training both the military and the police in Iraq. What is less well known is that, once their training is complete, the Bush administration does not relinquish control over these forces...
"... (as for) the Iraqi army. Its troops are directly integrated into the occupation structure commanded by the American military... The Iraqi military has no air support, no artillery, and almost no armored vehicles; nor does it have a logistics capacity that would allow it to resupply its fighting units. As a result, even if the Iraqi government could "take command" of its army, it could not fight battles on its own... None of its units can go into battle unless they are integrated into the American military...
"... (as for the police) the number of U.S. troops assigned to Iraqi police and Special Forces units, (is being) increase(d) by a factor of 10, with as many as 500 Americans working with a Special Forces brigade of 2,500 or so Iraqis... "under the command of American officers." ... In other words, an already desperately weak Iraqi central government will have no enforcement apparatus at its command for its policy decisions, if these diverge from occupation desires..."
http://www.commondreams.org/views06/0310-24.htm
Thursday, March 09, 2006
NEOCONS CALLED FOR FRAGMENTATION OF IRAQ
"... major figures in the Bush foreign policy team, David Wurmser, Richard Perle and Douglas Feith predicted that a post-Saddam Iraq would likely be "ripped apart" by sectarianism and other cleavages but called on the US to "expedite" such a collapse anyway... One of the longstanding goals of such neo-conservative intellectuals has been to see the Middle East broken up into smaller ethnic or sectarian mini-states..."
http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/HC09Ak01.html
"... major figures in the Bush foreign policy team, David Wurmser, Richard Perle and Douglas Feith predicted that a post-Saddam Iraq would likely be "ripped apart" by sectarianism and other cleavages but called on the US to "expedite" such a collapse anyway... One of the longstanding goals of such neo-conservative intellectuals has been to see the Middle East broken up into smaller ethnic or sectarian mini-states..."
http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/HC09Ak01.html
Friday, March 03, 2006
O'REILLLY: LEAVE IRAQ
"During the February 20 broadcast of his nationally syndicated radio show, Bill O'Reilly suggested that the United States "hand over everything to the Iraqis as fast as humanly possible" because "[t]here are so many nuts in the country -- so many crazies -- that we can't control them." O'Reilly then claimed that the "big mistake" was actually "the crazy-people underestimation."
http://mediamatters.org/items/200602220007
"During the February 20 broadcast of his nationally syndicated radio show, Bill O'Reilly suggested that the United States "hand over everything to the Iraqis as fast as humanly possible" because "[t]here are so many nuts in the country -- so many crazies -- that we can't control them." O'Reilly then claimed that the "big mistake" was actually "the crazy-people underestimation."
http://mediamatters.org/items/200602220007
CIVIL WAR "MADE UP" BY MEDIA?
"Following Fox News' February 23 suggestion that a civil war in Iraq might "be a good thing," Neil Cavuto switched gears on the March 1 edition of Fox News' Your World with Neil Cavuto and displayed an onscreen caption that asked: " 'Civil War' in Iraq: Made Up by the Media?"
http://mediamatters.org/items/200603020002
"Following Fox News' February 23 suggestion that a civil war in Iraq might "be a good thing," Neil Cavuto switched gears on the March 1 edition of Fox News' Your World with Neil Cavuto and displayed an onscreen caption that asked: " 'Civil War' in Iraq: Made Up by the Media?"
http://mediamatters.org/items/200603020002
IRAN INVESTING $1 BILLION IN IRAQ
"Iran to invest $1 billion in Iraq... to rehabilitate the country’s industrial sector... A team of Iranian industrial experts is due in Iraq to map out the sectors of mutual interest, the statement said. Seven major Iranian companies will be involved. The Iranians would like to start up a new car company in Iraq as well as factories for the manufacture of electrical transformers and appliances, steel and glass...."
http://www.azzaman.com/english/index.asp?fname=news%5C2006-03-02%5C206.htm
"Iran to invest $1 billion in Iraq... to rehabilitate the country’s industrial sector... A team of Iranian industrial experts is due in Iraq to map out the sectors of mutual interest, the statement said. Seven major Iranian companies will be involved. The Iranians would like to start up a new car company in Iraq as well as factories for the manufacture of electrical transformers and appliances, steel and glass...."
http://www.azzaman.com/english/index.asp?fname=news%5C2006-03-02%5C206.htm
Thursday, March 02, 2006
ON ENFORCING DEMOCRACY IN IRAQ
"... Without something or somebody to monopolize the use of force and decide right from wrong, no man is safe from another and there can be no freedom for anyone. Physical security remains the primary human freedom. And so the fact that a state is despotic does not necessarily make it immoral. That is the essential fact of the Middle East that those intent on enforcing democracy abroad forget... (Saddam) may have kept in check an even greater anarchy than the kind that obtained under his rule..."
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/03/01/AR2006030101937.html
"... Without something or somebody to monopolize the use of force and decide right from wrong, no man is safe from another and there can be no freedom for anyone. Physical security remains the primary human freedom. And so the fact that a state is despotic does not necessarily make it immoral. That is the essential fact of the Middle East that those intent on enforcing democracy abroad forget... (Saddam) may have kept in check an even greater anarchy than the kind that obtained under his rule..."
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/03/01/AR2006030101937.html
Wednesday, March 01, 2006
IRAQ: A SOLUTION TO NOTHING
"... the third anniversary of the invasion and occupation of Iraq... take some time out and reflect on how we got where we are, as well as where we are going in Iraq and the Middle East as a whole... Gone forever is any talk of song and flowers, economic recoveries paid for by Iraqi oil, or a blooming democracy in the cradle of civilization... The Sunni insurgency is stronger than ever, and Shiite death squads roam the street in the guise of government police... American troops appear to be powerless.."
--Scott Ritter, U.N. weapons inspector in Iraq (1991-1998) and Marine Corps intelligence officer.
http://archives.seattletimes.nwsource.com/cgi-bin/texis.cgi/web/vortex/display?slug=scottridder01&date=20060301&query=ritter
"... the third anniversary of the invasion and occupation of Iraq... take some time out and reflect on how we got where we are, as well as where we are going in Iraq and the Middle East as a whole... Gone forever is any talk of song and flowers, economic recoveries paid for by Iraqi oil, or a blooming democracy in the cradle of civilization... The Sunni insurgency is stronger than ever, and Shiite death squads roam the street in the guise of government police... American troops appear to be powerless.."
--Scott Ritter, U.N. weapons inspector in Iraq (1991-1998) and Marine Corps intelligence officer.
http://archives.seattletimes.nwsource.com/cgi-bin/texis.cgi/web/vortex/display?slug=scottridder01&date=20060301&query=ritter
ADMININSTRATION WAS WARNED OF LOCAL INSURGENCY IN 2003
"U.S. intelligence agencies repeatedly warned the White House beginning more than two years ago that the insurgency in Iraq had deep local roots, was likely to worsen and could lead to civil war... a National Intelligence Estimate, completed in October 2003... concluded that the insurgency was fueled by local conditions - not foreign terrorists- and drew strength from deep grievances, including the presence of U.S. troops... The reports received a cool reception from Bush administration policymakers at the White House and the office of Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld..."
http://www.realcities.com/mld/krwashington/news/nation/13984788.htm
"U.S. intelligence agencies repeatedly warned the White House beginning more than two years ago that the insurgency in Iraq had deep local roots, was likely to worsen and could lead to civil war... a National Intelligence Estimate, completed in October 2003... concluded that the insurgency was fueled by local conditions - not foreign terrorists- and drew strength from deep grievances, including the presence of U.S. troops... The reports received a cool reception from Bush administration policymakers at the White House and the office of Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld..."
http://www.realcities.com/mld/krwashington/news/nation/13984788.htm
MILITIAS AND GANGS RULE STREETS OF IRAQ
"Militias and armed gangs rule streets of Iraq... The sheer proliferation of armed groups underscores the lawlessness of Iraq, where neither US forces nor the Iraqi armed forces they trained have been able to impose their authority on the whole country.."
http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2006%5C03%5C01%5Cstory_1-3-2006_pg4_13
"Militias and armed gangs rule streets of Iraq... The sheer proliferation of armed groups underscores the lawlessness of Iraq, where neither US forces nor the Iraqi armed forces they trained have been able to impose their authority on the whole country.."
http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2006%5C03%5C01%5Cstory_1-3-2006_pg4_13
Tuesday, February 28, 2006
BBC POLL: WORLD THINKS IRAQ WAR MAKES TERROR MORE LIKELY
"People across the world overwhelmingly believe the war in Iraq has increased the likelihood of terrorist attacks worldwide, a poll for the BBC reveals. Some 60% of people in 35 countries surveyed believe this is the case, against just 12% who think terrorist attacks have become less likely...."
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/4755706.stm
"People across the world overwhelmingly believe the war in Iraq has increased the likelihood of terrorist attacks worldwide, a poll for the BBC reveals. Some 60% of people in 35 countries surveyed believe this is the case, against just 12% who think terrorist attacks have become less likely...."
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/4755706.stm
ZOGBY POLL: WHY TROOPS THINK THE U.S. IS IN IRAQ
"... 85% said the U.S. mission is mainly “to retaliate for Saddam’s role in the 9-11 attacks,” (and) 77% said they also believe the main or a major reason for the war was “to stop Saddam from protecting al Qaeda in Iraq...”
http://www.commondreams.org/news2006/0228-01.htm
"... 85% said the U.S. mission is mainly “to retaliate for Saddam’s role in the 9-11 attacks,” (and) 77% said they also believe the main or a major reason for the war was “to stop Saddam from protecting al Qaeda in Iraq...”
http://www.commondreams.org/news2006/0228-01.htm
Sunday, February 26, 2006
DEATH SQUADS IN BAGHDAD
"Hundreds of Iraqis are being tortured to death or summarily executed every month in Baghdad alone by death squads working from the Ministry of the Interior.. . three-quarters of the corpses stacked in the city's mortuary show evidence of gunshot wounds to the head or injuries caused by drill-bits or burning cigarettes. Much of the killing, he said, was carried out by Shia Muslim groups under the control of the Ministry of the Interior..."
--John Pace, United Nations' outgoing human rights chief in Iraq
http://news.independent.co.uk/world/middle_east/article347806.ece
"Hundreds of Iraqis are being tortured to death or summarily executed every month in Baghdad alone by death squads working from the Ministry of the Interior.. . three-quarters of the corpses stacked in the city's mortuary show evidence of gunshot wounds to the head or injuries caused by drill-bits or burning cigarettes. Much of the killing, he said, was carried out by Shia Muslim groups under the control of the Ministry of the Interior..."
--John Pace, United Nations' outgoing human rights chief in Iraq
http://news.independent.co.uk/world/middle_east/article347806.ece
Saturday, February 25, 2006
IRAQI TROOPS DOWNGRADED
Jan 4, 2006
"President Bush said Wednesday that U.S. efforts in Iraq are bearing fruit, and predicted that Iraqi forces will shoulder more of the responsibility this year and that U.S. force levels will drop...."
http://www.cnn.com/2006/POLITICS/01/04/bush.iraq/index.html
Feb 25, 2006
"... The number of Iraqi battalions able to fight the insurgency with no US help falls from one to zero, the US military tells Congress..."
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/4749866.stm
"The only Iraqi battalion capable of fighting without U.S. support has been downgraded to a level requiring them to fight with American troops backing them up, the Pentagon said Friday..."
http://www.cnn.com/2006/WORLD/meast/02/24/iraq.security/index.html
Jan 4, 2006
"President Bush said Wednesday that U.S. efforts in Iraq are bearing fruit, and predicted that Iraqi forces will shoulder more of the responsibility this year and that U.S. force levels will drop...."
http://www.cnn.com/2006/POLITICS/01/04/bush.iraq/index.html
Feb 25, 2006
"... The number of Iraqi battalions able to fight the insurgency with no US help falls from one to zero, the US military tells Congress..."
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/4749866.stm
"The only Iraqi battalion capable of fighting without U.S. support has been downgraded to a level requiring them to fight with American troops backing them up, the Pentagon said Friday..."
http://www.cnn.com/2006/WORLD/meast/02/24/iraq.security/index.html
Tuesday, February 21, 2006
TWO IRAQI PROVINCES CUT TIES WITH COALITION FORCES
February 21, 2006
KERBALA PROVINCE SUSPENDS COOPERATION WITH U.S. OVER SEARCHES
"... The governor of Iraq's Kerbala province, Aqil al-Khazali, said on Tuesday he had suspended all cooperation with U.S. forces because U.S. security staff last week used police dogs to search government buildings..."
http://www.commondreams.org/headlines06/0221-01.htm
February 15, 2006
BASRA PROVINCE CUTS TIES WITH BRITISH FORCES OVER ABUSE
"... the alleged abuse of Iraqis by British forces prompted Basra Provincial Council to sever relations with the British... Basra province... announced all government authorities suspended ties with the British military and consulate operating in the area... the decision includes ending cooperation with the British consulate in Basra..."
http://www.military.com/NewsContent/0,13319,87916,00.html
February 21, 2006
KERBALA PROVINCE SUSPENDS COOPERATION WITH U.S. OVER SEARCHES
"... The governor of Iraq's Kerbala province, Aqil al-Khazali, said on Tuesday he had suspended all cooperation with U.S. forces because U.S. security staff last week used police dogs to search government buildings..."
http://www.commondreams.org/headlines06/0221-01.htm
February 15, 2006
BASRA PROVINCE CUTS TIES WITH BRITISH FORCES OVER ABUSE
"... the alleged abuse of Iraqis by British forces prompted Basra Provincial Council to sever relations with the British... Basra province... announced all government authorities suspended ties with the British military and consulate operating in the area... the decision includes ending cooperation with the British consulate in Basra..."
http://www.military.com/NewsContent/0,13319,87916,00.html
Monday, February 20, 2006
U.S. GIVES UP TALKING TO SUNNI RESISTANCE
"... the Americans have given up attempting to dialogue with the Sunni Arab Resistance, preferring instead to deal with the tribes. This attempt has not gone well. The Americans paid $20 million to set up something called "tribal militias," money that appears to have simply been embezzled..."
http://www.daralhayat.com/arab_news/levant_news/02-2006/Item-20060219-8416aa01-c0a8-10ed-0118-a770f9023f10/story.html
"... the Americans have given up attempting to dialogue with the Sunni Arab Resistance, preferring instead to deal with the tribes. This attempt has not gone well. The Americans paid $20 million to set up something called "tribal militias," money that appears to have simply been embezzled..."
http://www.daralhayat.com/arab_news/levant_news/02-2006/Item-20060219-8416aa01-c0a8-10ed-0118-a770f9023f10/story.html
Sunday, February 19, 2006
SAMARRA FAILURE
Oct. 1, 2004 - Colin Powell... "Our troops are in serious battle today in Samarra to take that city back from the insurgents and they're having some success..."
Oct. 3, 2004 - Condoleezza Rice... "The reporting from the ground (Samarra) is that things have gone well..."
Oct. 4, 2004 - President Bush... "I don't know if you've seen any newspapers recently, but in Samarra, the Iraqi soldiers performed brilliantly."
Oct. 10, 2004 - Secretary of Defense Donald H. Rumsfeld... "In Samarra over the last 48 hours... you may have to use force. And that's what happened in Samarra."
http://www.realcities.com/mld/krwashington/news/special_packages/iraq/13880447.htm
Feb. 15, 2006 - "... U.S. Army commanders gave several reasons that the American effort to secure and rebuild Samarra has stumbled... U.S. officials don't fully understand the city's tribal structure and its connections to the insurgency... Insurgents have infiltrated and intimidated the Iraqi police and army... Samarra still has no effective city government. Several have dissolved or have been disbanded by American military leaders... Insurgent attacks have created a violent and dangerous environment in which American forces sometimes kill innocent civilians, further alienating the populace..."
http://www.realcities.com/mld/krwashington/news/special_packages/iraq/13880446.htm
Oct. 1, 2004 - Colin Powell... "Our troops are in serious battle today in Samarra to take that city back from the insurgents and they're having some success..."
Oct. 3, 2004 - Condoleezza Rice... "The reporting from the ground (Samarra) is that things have gone well..."
Oct. 4, 2004 - President Bush... "I don't know if you've seen any newspapers recently, but in Samarra, the Iraqi soldiers performed brilliantly."
Oct. 10, 2004 - Secretary of Defense Donald H. Rumsfeld... "In Samarra over the last 48 hours... you may have to use force. And that's what happened in Samarra."
http://www.realcities.com/mld/krwashington/news/special_packages/iraq/13880447.htm
Feb. 15, 2006 - "... U.S. Army commanders gave several reasons that the American effort to secure and rebuild Samarra has stumbled... U.S. officials don't fully understand the city's tribal structure and its connections to the insurgency... Insurgents have infiltrated and intimidated the Iraqi police and army... Samarra still has no effective city government. Several have dissolved or have been disbanded by American military leaders... Insurgent attacks have created a violent and dangerous environment in which American forces sometimes kill innocent civilians, further alienating the populace..."
http://www.realcities.com/mld/krwashington/news/special_packages/iraq/13880446.htm
IRAQ OIL PRODUCTION ALMOST HALF THAT BEFORE OCCUPATION
"Attacks by insurgents on Iraq's oil industry cost the country $6.25 billion in lost revenue during 200... Iraq currently produces about two million barrels of oil a day... down by about 800,000 barrels from production levels before Saddam Hussein's regime was toppled in 2003..."
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/4729178.stm
"Attacks by insurgents on Iraq's oil industry cost the country $6.25 billion in lost revenue during 200... Iraq currently produces about two million barrels of oil a day... down by about 800,000 barrels from production levels before Saddam Hussein's regime was toppled in 2003..."
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/4729178.stm
Thursday, February 16, 2006
INSURGENCY UNITED AND CONFIDENT OF VICTORY
"... the predominantly Sunni insurgency in Iraq appears increasingly united and confident of victory, according to a report released on Wednesday by the Brussels-based International Crisis Group (ICG)... the report, "In Their Own Words: Reading the Iraqi Insurgency"... (says) four main groups now dominate the communications channels of the insurgency and publish regularly through a variety of media: QOM; Partisans of the Sunna Army (Jaysh Ansar al-Sunna); the Islamic Army in Iraq (al-Jaysh al-Islami fil-'Iraq); and the Islamic Front of the Iraqi Resistance (al-Jabha al-Islamiya lil-Muqawama al-'Iraqiya, or Jami). "...
http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/HB17Ak01.html
"... the predominantly Sunni insurgency in Iraq appears increasingly united and confident of victory, according to a report released on Wednesday by the Brussels-based International Crisis Group (ICG)... the report, "In Their Own Words: Reading the Iraqi Insurgency"... (says) four main groups now dominate the communications channels of the insurgency and publish regularly through a variety of media: QOM; Partisans of the Sunna Army (Jaysh Ansar al-Sunna); the Islamic Army in Iraq (al-Jaysh al-Islami fil-'Iraq); and the Islamic Front of the Iraqi Resistance (al-Jabha al-Islamiya lil-Muqawama al-'Iraqiya, or Jami). "...
http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/HB17Ak01.html
Wednesday, February 15, 2006
MORE ABU GHRAIB PHOTOS RELEASED
"The US has said images broadcast on Australian TV showing the apparent abuse of Iraqi detainees by US soldiers should not have been released... The new images show "homicide, torture and sexual humiliation"... (and) mark a "leap in seriousness" from previously released images of abuse at Abu Ghraib..."
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/4718328.stm
More photos at this site.
"The US has said images broadcast on Australian TV showing the apparent abuse of Iraqi detainees by US soldiers should not have been released... The new images show "homicide, torture and sexual humiliation"... (and) mark a "leap in seriousness" from previously released images of abuse at Abu Ghraib..."
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/4718328.stm
More photos at this site.
MASSIVE, PERMANENT U.S. SUPER BASES IN IRAQ MEAN NO REAL WITHDRAWAL
"... Lt. Col. David Holt, the Army engineer "tasked with facilities development" in Iraq, was already speaking proudly of several billion dollars being sunk into base construction ("the numbers are staggering"). Since then, the base-building has been massive and ongoing..."
http://tomdispatch.com/index.mhtml?pid=59774
"... The third major mission the army's engineers are engaged in is building facilities for the bed-down of U.S. forces. "Again the numbers are staggering," Holt says. Most of work is being done through KBR. "Interesting program in the several billion dollar range..."
http://enr.construction.com/news/bizlabor/archives/031020.asp
"... a British reporter, visited another of the US "super-bases"... al-Asad Airbase. He observes... that "this stretch of desert increasingly resembles a slice of US suburbia". In addition to the requisite Subway and pizza outlets, there is a football field, a Hertz rent-a-car office, a swimming pool and a movie theater showing the latest flicks. Al-Asad is so large - such bases may cover 40-50 square kilometers - that it has two bus routes and, if not traffic lights, at least red stop signs at all intersections. There are at least four such "super-bases" in Iraq, none of which have anything to do with "withdrawal" from that country. Quite the contrary, these bases are being constructed as little American islands of eternal order in an anarchic sea. Whatever top administration officials and military commanders say - and they always deny that the US seeks "permanent" bases in Iraq - facts on the ground speak with another voice entirely. These bases practically scream "permanency".
..." US Under Secretary of State for Public Diplomacy Karen Hughes on the Charlie Rose Show : "Charlie Rose: ... They think we are still there for the oil, or they think the United States wants permanent bases. Does the United States want permanent bases in Iraq? Karen Hughes: We want nothing more than to bring our men and women in uniform home. As soon as possible, but not before they finish the job. Charlie Rose: And do not want to keep bases there? Karen Hughes: No, we want to bring our people home as soon as possible."
"... keep your eyes directed at our "super-bases". Until the administration blinks on them, there will be no withdrawal from Iraq. "
http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/HB16Ak01.html
"... Lt. Col. David Holt, the Army engineer "tasked with facilities development" in Iraq, was already speaking proudly of several billion dollars being sunk into base construction ("the numbers are staggering"). Since then, the base-building has been massive and ongoing..."
http://tomdispatch.com/index.mhtml?pid=59774
"... The third major mission the army's engineers are engaged in is building facilities for the bed-down of U.S. forces. "Again the numbers are staggering," Holt says. Most of work is being done through KBR. "Interesting program in the several billion dollar range..."
http://enr.construction.com/news/bizlabor/archives/031020.asp
"... a British reporter, visited another of the US "super-bases"... al-Asad Airbase. He observes... that "this stretch of desert increasingly resembles a slice of US suburbia". In addition to the requisite Subway and pizza outlets, there is a football field, a Hertz rent-a-car office, a swimming pool and a movie theater showing the latest flicks. Al-Asad is so large - such bases may cover 40-50 square kilometers - that it has two bus routes and, if not traffic lights, at least red stop signs at all intersections. There are at least four such "super-bases" in Iraq, none of which have anything to do with "withdrawal" from that country. Quite the contrary, these bases are being constructed as little American islands of eternal order in an anarchic sea. Whatever top administration officials and military commanders say - and they always deny that the US seeks "permanent" bases in Iraq - facts on the ground speak with another voice entirely. These bases practically scream "permanency".
..." US Under Secretary of State for Public Diplomacy Karen Hughes on the Charlie Rose Show : "Charlie Rose: ... They think we are still there for the oil, or they think the United States wants permanent bases. Does the United States want permanent bases in Iraq? Karen Hughes: We want nothing more than to bring our men and women in uniform home. As soon as possible, but not before they finish the job. Charlie Rose: And do not want to keep bases there? Karen Hughes: No, we want to bring our people home as soon as possible."
"... keep your eyes directed at our "super-bases". Until the administration blinks on them, there will be no withdrawal from Iraq. "
http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/HB16Ak01.html
BASRA CUTS TIES WITH BRITISH FORCES OVER ABUSE
"... the alleged abuse of Iraqis by British forces prompted Basra Provincial Council to sever relations with the British... Basra province... announced all government authorities suspended ties with the British military and consulate operating in the area... the decision includes ending cooperation with the British consulate in Basra..."
http://www.military.com/NewsContent/0,13319,87916,00.html
"... the alleged abuse of Iraqis by British forces prompted Basra Provincial Council to sever relations with the British... Basra province... announced all government authorities suspended ties with the British military and consulate operating in the area... the decision includes ending cooperation with the British consulate in Basra..."
http://www.military.com/NewsContent/0,13319,87916,00.html
OUTLAW WHO FOUGHT U.S. HAS DETERMINED SELECTION OF IRAQ'S LEADER
"... Moqtada al-Sadr, whose Mahdi militia has twice engaged in fierce armed conflict with U.S. troops since the 2003 invasion, was the kingmaker in the selection of Iraq's next prime minister... The astounding rise of an anti-American firebrand like al-Sadr is an indicator of how wide and complete a political defeat pro-Western forces have suffered in Iraq. Written off by most Western observers as nothing more than a rabble-rousing irritant in the first months of the U.S. occupation, al-Sadr has more than survived his confrontation with the world's only superpower: His faction was the big winner in the recent elections, now entrenched as the largest single force in the dominant Shiite coalition. So it is that the political support of a young radical, who not so long ago was considered a wanted outlaw by the occupiers, has now determined the selection of Iraq's new leader..."
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2006/02/15/EDGU9GJE1O1.DTL&hw=Robert+Scheer&sn=001&sc=1000
"... Moqtada al-Sadr, whose Mahdi militia has twice engaged in fierce armed conflict with U.S. troops since the 2003 invasion, was the kingmaker in the selection of Iraq's next prime minister... The astounding rise of an anti-American firebrand like al-Sadr is an indicator of how wide and complete a political defeat pro-Western forces have suffered in Iraq. Written off by most Western observers as nothing more than a rabble-rousing irritant in the first months of the U.S. occupation, al-Sadr has more than survived his confrontation with the world's only superpower: His faction was the big winner in the recent elections, now entrenched as the largest single force in the dominant Shiite coalition. So it is that the political support of a young radical, who not so long ago was considered a wanted outlaw by the occupiers, has now determined the selection of Iraq's new leader..."
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2006/02/15/EDGU9GJE1O1.DTL&hw=Robert+Scheer&sn=001&sc=1000
Monday, February 13, 2006
DIFFICULT TO HAND OVER RESPONSIBILITY IN OCCUPIED IRAQ
"It's difficult to be burning villages at one end of the country by means of an (occupation) Army, and assuring people at the other end that we really have handed over responsibility to native Ministers... Long Life to the Arab Government. Give them responsibility and make them settle their own affairs and they'll do it every time a thousand times better than we can."
--Gertude Bell, senior diplomat in British-occupied Iraq, 1921
http://www.realcities.com/mld/krwashington/news/special_packages/iraq/13823870.htm
"It's difficult to be burning villages at one end of the country by means of an (occupation) Army, and assuring people at the other end that we really have handed over responsibility to native Ministers... Long Life to the Arab Government. Give them responsibility and make them settle their own affairs and they'll do it every time a thousand times better than we can."
--Gertude Bell, senior diplomat in British-occupied Iraq, 1921
http://www.realcities.com/mld/krwashington/news/special_packages/iraq/13823870.htm
Sunday, February 12, 2006
WHY CAN'T U.S TV INTERVIEW ELECTED IRAQI POLITICIANS
"... our television news almost never talks to anyone among important Iraqi politicians... Aren't the Iraqi politicians who have come to power in the celebrated purple-thumb Iraqi elections worth talking to? Don't Americans care what they think? Or are they just a blank set of canvases on which Kansas gets to paint its own preconceptions and prejudices (a process made all the easier if real Iraqis are not allowed to speak on camera to Americans)?...
"In contrast, the much-maligned (in the US) Aljazeerah just had an excellent wide-ranging 45-minute discussion of Jaafari's election with several Iraqi observers of different persuasions. Can't we here expect to be at least as well served by our television news as the Arab world is by theirs?..."
http://www.juancole.com/2006/02/jaafari-prime-minister-2006-2010-but.html
"... our television news almost never talks to anyone among important Iraqi politicians... Aren't the Iraqi politicians who have come to power in the celebrated purple-thumb Iraqi elections worth talking to? Don't Americans care what they think? Or are they just a blank set of canvases on which Kansas gets to paint its own preconceptions and prejudices (a process made all the easier if real Iraqis are not allowed to speak on camera to Americans)?...
"In contrast, the much-maligned (in the US) Aljazeerah just had an excellent wide-ranging 45-minute discussion of Jaafari's election with several Iraqi observers of different persuasions. Can't we here expect to be at least as well served by our television news as the Arab world is by theirs?..."
http://www.juancole.com/2006/02/jaafari-prime-minister-2006-2010-but.html
WHY SO MANY MUSLIM SUICIDE BOMBERS?
"... Why are there so many suicide bombers in the Muslim world?... (the) explanation — one you rarely hear — is that they're blowing themselves up to fight military incursions into their lands. (In this sense, they're not that different from people throughout history who sacrificed their lives to defend territory against foreign armies.)... Robert Pape, a political scientist at the University of Chicago... as director of the Chicago Project on Suicide Terrorism... concludes there's been a strategic goal common to nearly every act of suicide terrorism in the past 25 years: "To compel modern democracies to withdraw military forces from territory that the terrorists consider to be their homeland."
http://www.thestar.com/NASApp/cs/ContentServer?pagename=thestar/Layout/Article_Type1&call_pageid=971358637177&c=Article&cid=1139611812882
"... Why are there so many suicide bombers in the Muslim world?... (the) explanation — one you rarely hear — is that they're blowing themselves up to fight military incursions into their lands. (In this sense, they're not that different from people throughout history who sacrificed their lives to defend territory against foreign armies.)... Robert Pape, a political scientist at the University of Chicago... as director of the Chicago Project on Suicide Terrorism... concludes there's been a strategic goal common to nearly every act of suicide terrorism in the past 25 years: "To compel modern democracies to withdraw military forces from territory that the terrorists consider to be their homeland."
http://www.thestar.com/NASApp/cs/ContentServer?pagename=thestar/Layout/Article_Type1&call_pageid=971358637177&c=Article&cid=1139611812882
Friday, February 10, 2006
BUSH MISUSED IRAQ INTELLIGENCE -- also ALLIED SADDAM TO AL QAEDA
"The Bush administration disregarded the expertise of the intelligence community, politicized the intelligence process and used unrepresentative data in making the case for war... (said) Paul R. Pillar, the CIA's national intelligence officer for the Near East and South Asia from 2000 to 2005... in an article published... in the journal Foreign Affairs...
"The biggest discrepancy between public statements by the Bush administration and judgments by the intelligence community centered on the relationship between Saddam Hussein and al Qaeda, he said. "The enormous attention devoted to this subject did not reflect any judgment by intelligence officials that there was or was likely to be anything like the 'alliance' the administration said existed." Rather, "the administration wanted to hitch the Iraq expedition to the 'war on terror' and the threat the American public feared most, thereby capitalizing on the country's militant post-9/11 mood," Pillar wrote."
http://www.cnn.com/2006/WORLD/meast/02/10/iraq.intelligence/index.html
"The Bush administration disregarded the expertise of the intelligence community, politicized the intelligence process and used unrepresentative data in making the case for war... (said) Paul R. Pillar, the CIA's national intelligence officer for the Near East and South Asia from 2000 to 2005... in an article published... in the journal Foreign Affairs...
"The biggest discrepancy between public statements by the Bush administration and judgments by the intelligence community centered on the relationship between Saddam Hussein and al Qaeda, he said. "The enormous attention devoted to this subject did not reflect any judgment by intelligence officials that there was or was likely to be anything like the 'alliance' the administration said existed." Rather, "the administration wanted to hitch the Iraq expedition to the 'war on terror' and the threat the American public feared most, thereby capitalizing on the country's militant post-9/11 mood," Pillar wrote."
http://www.cnn.com/2006/WORLD/meast/02/10/iraq.intelligence/index.html
Thursday, February 09, 2006
U.S. CPA OFFICIAL STOLE OVER $2 MILLION
"... Robert Stein held a senior position in the Coalition Provisional Authority, which administered Iraq after American and allied forces invaded in 2003. In a Washington court, he admitted to ... conspiring to give out contracts worth $8 million... in return for bribes... also received gifts and sexual favours lavished on him at a special villa in Baghdad... (and) admitted to stealing more than $2 million from reconstruction funds..."
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/4675902.stm
"... Robert Stein held a senior position in the Coalition Provisional Authority, which administered Iraq after American and allied forces invaded in 2003. In a Washington court, he admitted to ... conspiring to give out contracts worth $8 million... in return for bribes... also received gifts and sexual favours lavished on him at a special villa in Baghdad... (and) admitted to stealing more than $2 million from reconstruction funds..."
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/4675902.stm
REBUILDING COST AND ATTACKS INCREASING
"Iraq's rebuilding is being undermined by continuing insurgent attacks and will cost more than the $56 billion forecast, US officials say. Special Inspector-General Stuart Bowen said the cost of reconstruction would be much higher... (because) less oil and electricity is being produced in Iraq now than before the US-led invasion in 2003...
"His comments came as a director of the US Government Accountability Office said attacks were not decreasing. In his testimony to the US Senate Foreign Affairs Committee, Joseph Christoff said newly declassified figures went against previous statements by US and Iraqi officials, who said the insurgency was abating... The charts included in the GAO's report show the number of attacks in December was almost 250% higher than in March 2004...."
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/4696934.stm
"Iraq's rebuilding is being undermined by continuing insurgent attacks and will cost more than the $56 billion forecast, US officials say. Special Inspector-General Stuart Bowen said the cost of reconstruction would be much higher... (because) less oil and electricity is being produced in Iraq now than before the US-led invasion in 2003...
"His comments came as a director of the US Government Accountability Office said attacks were not decreasing. In his testimony to the US Senate Foreign Affairs Committee, Joseph Christoff said newly declassified figures went against previous statements by US and Iraqi officials, who said the insurgency was abating... The charts included in the GAO's report show the number of attacks in December was almost 250% higher than in March 2004...."
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/4696934.stm
ISRAELI SECURITY CHIEF: SADDAM PREFERABLE TO U.S.
"The head of Israel's domestic security agency, Shin Bet, has said his country may come to regret the overthrow of former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein. Yuval Diskin said a strong dictatorship would be preferable to the present "chaos" in Iraq, in a speech to teenage Jewish settlers in the West Bank... "I'm not sure we won't miss Saddam."
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/4696038.stm
"The head of Israel's domestic security agency, Shin Bet, has said his country may come to regret the overthrow of former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein. Yuval Diskin said a strong dictatorship would be preferable to the present "chaos" in Iraq, in a speech to teenage Jewish settlers in the West Bank... "I'm not sure we won't miss Saddam."
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/4696038.stm
Wednesday, February 08, 2006
SPINNING THE OCCUPATION
"Three years after invading Iraq, George Bush and Tony Blair are still dipping into the trough of deception and disinformation that launched the war: hailing non-existent progress, declaring sanctimonious satisfaction with sectarian elections and holding out the mirage of early withdrawal. In reality, the occupation and divide-and-rule tactics have spawned death squads, torture, kidnappings, chemical attacks, polluted water, depleted uranium, bombardment of civilians, probably more than 100,000 people dead and a relentless deterioration in Iraqis' daily lives...."
http://www.guardian.co.uk/comment/story/0,,1704737,00.html
"Three years after invading Iraq, George Bush and Tony Blair are still dipping into the trough of deception and disinformation that launched the war: hailing non-existent progress, declaring sanctimonious satisfaction with sectarian elections and holding out the mirage of early withdrawal. In reality, the occupation and divide-and-rule tactics have spawned death squads, torture, kidnappings, chemical attacks, polluted water, depleted uranium, bombardment of civilians, probably more than 100,000 people dead and a relentless deterioration in Iraqis' daily lives...."
http://www.guardian.co.uk/comment/story/0,,1704737,00.html
Saturday, February 04, 2006
COST OF WAR APPROACHING KOREAN AND VIETNAM WARS
"The Bush administration has said it is planning to spend $120 billion on the Iraq and Afghanistan wars this year, bringing their total cost so far to $440 billion. The spending request... marks a 20% increase over last year, despite plans to draw down US troop levels in both war zones in the coming months... The spending on the Iraq conflict alone is now approaching the cost of the Korean war, about $330 billion in today's dollars. Meanwhile the cost of the overall "war on terror"... is already close to half a trillion dollars, and will soon equal that of the 13-year Vietnam war."
http://www.guardian.co.uk/frontpage/story/0,,1702134,00.html
"The Bush administration has said it is planning to spend $120 billion on the Iraq and Afghanistan wars this year, bringing their total cost so far to $440 billion. The spending request... marks a 20% increase over last year, despite plans to draw down US troop levels in both war zones in the coming months... The spending on the Iraq conflict alone is now approaching the cost of the Korean war, about $330 billion in today's dollars. Meanwhile the cost of the overall "war on terror"... is already close to half a trillion dollars, and will soon equal that of the 13-year Vietnam war."
http://www.guardian.co.uk/frontpage/story/0,,1702134,00.html
Friday, February 03, 2006
BUSH: PROVOKE SADDAM TO FIRE ON FAKE U.N. PLANE TO START WAR
"... Bush considered provoking a war with Saddam Hussein's regime by flying a United States spyplane over Iraq bearing UN colours, enticing the Iraqis to take a shot at it, according to a leaked memo of a meeting between the US President and Tony Blair..."
http://news.independent.co.uk/world/americas/article342859.ece
"... Bush considered provoking a war with Saddam Hussein's regime by flying a United States spyplane over Iraq bearing UN colours, enticing the Iraqis to take a shot at it, according to a leaked memo of a meeting between the US President and Tony Blair..."
http://news.independent.co.uk/world/americas/article342859.ece
Monday, January 30, 2006
IRAQ IS NOT A WAR BECAUSE THE U.S. HAS NO ENEMY
"... Bin Laden was a self-mythologized figure of no historic standing until George W. Bush designated him America's equal by defining 9/11 as an act of war to be met with war, instead of a crime to be met with criminal justice. But this over-reaction, so satisfying at the time to the wounded American psyche, turned into the war for which the other party simply did not show up. Which is, of course, why we are blasting a substitute Iraq to smithereens. Iraq is not a war, because, though we have savage assault, we have no enemy. The war on terrorism is not a war because, though we have an enemy, the muscle-bound Pentagon offers no authentic means of assault...."
http://www.boston.com/news/globe/editorial_opinion/oped/articles/2006/01/30/is_america_actually_in_a_state_of_war/
"... Bin Laden was a self-mythologized figure of no historic standing until George W. Bush designated him America's equal by defining 9/11 as an act of war to be met with war, instead of a crime to be met with criminal justice. But this over-reaction, so satisfying at the time to the wounded American psyche, turned into the war for which the other party simply did not show up. Which is, of course, why we are blasting a substitute Iraq to smithereens. Iraq is not a war, because, though we have savage assault, we have no enemy. The war on terrorism is not a war because, though we have an enemy, the muscle-bound Pentagon offers no authentic means of assault...."
http://www.boston.com/news/globe/editorial_opinion/oped/articles/2006/01/30/is_america_actually_in_a_state_of_war/
Sunday, January 29, 2006
1/3 IRAQ VETS HAVE MENTAL DISORDERS
"About 40,000 soldiers returning from Iraq and Afghanistan have been found to show symptoms of mental health disorders, a Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) representative said... In addition, 14,000 of the veterans diagnosed with PTSD were also treated for drug dependencies -- although the mix of drugs differs somewhat from the Vietnam era -- and 11,000 were treated for depression..."
http://www.menafn.com/qn_news_story.asp?StoryId=Cq9MO0eidDxmTAxjHCxrYB29WC21LBNrHBgG
"... Societies that think that aggressive war is some macho game and that the price is well worth it just have a lot of homeless and limbless people after a while..."
http://www.juancole.com/2006/01/over-30-killed-in-guerrilla-violence.html
"About 40,000 soldiers returning from Iraq and Afghanistan have been found to show symptoms of mental health disorders, a Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) representative said... In addition, 14,000 of the veterans diagnosed with PTSD were also treated for drug dependencies -- although the mix of drugs differs somewhat from the Vietnam era -- and 11,000 were treated for depression..."
http://www.menafn.com/qn_news_story.asp?StoryId=Cq9MO0eidDxmTAxjHCxrYB29WC21LBNrHBgG
"... Societies that think that aggressive war is some macho game and that the price is well worth it just have a lot of homeless and limbless people after a while..."
http://www.juancole.com/2006/01/over-30-killed-in-guerrilla-violence.html
Saturday, January 28, 2006
U.S. DETAINING WIVES
"U.S. forces in Iraq, in two instances described in military documents, took custody of the wives of men believed to be insurgents in an apparent attempt to pressure the suspects into giving themselves up.... the documents were among thousands obtained by the American Civil Liberties Union from the government under court order through the Freedom of Information Act... "This is not an acceptable tactic... seizing a wife to try to catch a husband..."
http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/N27217263.htm
"U.S. forces in Iraq, in two instances described in military documents, took custody of the wives of men believed to be insurgents in an apparent attempt to pressure the suspects into giving themselves up.... the documents were among thousands obtained by the American Civil Liberties Union from the government under court order through the Freedom of Information Act... "This is not an acceptable tactic... seizing a wife to try to catch a husband..."
http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/N27217263.htm
MIDEAST ELECTIONS TURN DEMOCRACY AGAINST U.S.
"... (concerning) the administration's campaign for greater democracy in the Middle East. Elections in Iran, Iraq, Egypt and now the Palestinian territories have resulted in the defeat of secular and moderate parties and the rise of Islamic parties hostile to U.S. interests."
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/01/27/AR2006012701562.html
"... (concerning) the administration's campaign for greater democracy in the Middle East. Elections in Iran, Iraq, Egypt and now the Palestinian territories have resulted in the defeat of secular and moderate parties and the rise of Islamic parties hostile to U.S. interests."
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/01/27/AR2006012701562.html
Friday, January 27, 2006
U.S. DOES NOT INTEND TO REBUILD IRAQ
"Iraqis... are looking at the debris of a country where reconstruction has come to a standstill... Baghdad had been receiving 12 to 13 hours of electricity a day on average over recent months. Over the past few weeks they say supply has fallen to just a few hours a day... Many Iraqis thought the United States would improve their situation when the occupation began in April 2003, but those expectations are long over. Iraqis complain that the situation in Baghdad now is worse than it ever was under Saddam. ... Bush has declared that he would seek no more money for Iraq's reconstruction..."
http://www.commondreams.org/headlines06/0123-02.htm
"Iraqis... are looking at the debris of a country where reconstruction has come to a standstill... Baghdad had been receiving 12 to 13 hours of electricity a day on average over recent months. Over the past few weeks they say supply has fallen to just a few hours a day... Many Iraqis thought the United States would improve their situation when the occupation began in April 2003, but those expectations are long over. Iraqis complain that the situation in Baghdad now is worse than it ever was under Saddam. ... Bush has declared that he would seek no more money for Iraq's reconstruction..."
http://www.commondreams.org/headlines06/0123-02.htm
Wednesday, January 25, 2006
POLICE PUNISHED FOR BOMBINGS, AND STOP REPORTING THEM
"... the Interior Ministry has decided to punish police officers if there is an explosion in the vicinity of their checkpoint. The logic goes something like this: If the police don’t find the bomb first, they aren’t doing their jobs. So what’s the result of this new dictate... Police report fewer bombings, because police don’t want to be punished.... The official number of bombings decreases - but, as usual, the reality in the streets of Iraq is much different."
http://onthescene.msnbc.com/baghdad/2006/01/punishment_for_.html
"... the Interior Ministry has decided to punish police officers if there is an explosion in the vicinity of their checkpoint. The logic goes something like this: If the police don’t find the bomb first, they aren’t doing their jobs. So what’s the result of this new dictate... Police report fewer bombings, because police don’t want to be punished.... The official number of bombings decreases - but, as usual, the reality in the streets of Iraq is much different."
http://onthescene.msnbc.com/baghdad/2006/01/punishment_for_.html
Monday, January 23, 2006
MAHDI ARMY SIDES WITH IRAN
"... Muqtada Sadr, the... militant young cleric, said on Sunday that the Mahdi Army, which is now a big part of the Iraqi government to be, says that his forces will fight alongside Iran’s if Iran is attacked by the United States over its nuclear program..."
http://www.commondreams.org/views06/0123-26.htm
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1107AP_Iran_Iraq_Sadr.html
"... Muqtada Sadr, the... militant young cleric, said on Sunday that the Mahdi Army, which is now a big part of the Iraqi government to be, says that his forces will fight alongside Iran’s if Iran is attacked by the United States over its nuclear program..."
http://www.commondreams.org/views06/0123-26.htm
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1107AP_Iran_Iraq_Sadr.html
Saturday, January 21, 2006
IRAQ NEEDS $20 BILLION FOR ELECTRICITY
"Iraq needs 20 billion dollars over the next five years to solve a chronic electricity crisis... the Iraqi electricity minister said... Total power production is lower than before the March 2003 US-led invasion, at about 3,700 megawatts, because of insurgent attacks and other reconstruction problems.. The United States earmarked 4.7 billion dollars for the neglected electricity sector in 2003, but much of the money has gone and there is little to show for it..."
http://www.middle-east-online.com/english/?id=15507
"Iraq needs 20 billion dollars over the next five years to solve a chronic electricity crisis... the Iraqi electricity minister said... Total power production is lower than before the March 2003 US-led invasion, at about 3,700 megawatts, because of insurgent attacks and other reconstruction problems.. The United States earmarked 4.7 billion dollars for the neglected electricity sector in 2003, but much of the money has gone and there is little to show for it..."
http://www.middle-east-online.com/english/?id=15507
Tuesday, January 10, 2006
MONTHLY COST OF WAR = $5.8 BILLION
"... Last year, the U.S. military's top generals revealed that the Pentagon is spending more than $5.8 billion a month on the war in Iraq, a 50 percent increase above the $4 billion-a-month benchmark the Pentagon used to estimate the cost of the war. The U.S. Army spends $4.7 million a month, the Air Force spends $800 million a month transporting soldiers and flying combat missions and the Marine Corps spends $300 million a month, the four service chiefs informed the House Armed Services Committee..."
http://www.aljazeera.com/me.asp?service_ID=10495
"... Last year, the U.S. military's top generals revealed that the Pentagon is spending more than $5.8 billion a month on the war in Iraq, a 50 percent increase above the $4 billion-a-month benchmark the Pentagon used to estimate the cost of the war. The U.S. Army spends $4.7 million a month, the Air Force spends $800 million a month transporting soldiers and flying combat missions and the Marine Corps spends $300 million a month, the four service chiefs informed the House Armed Services Committee..."
http://www.aljazeera.com/me.asp?service_ID=10495
DEMOCRACY BRINGS BLEAK DAYS
"Iraqis see dismal days ahead in the face of rising violence and the decision by the U.S. administration not to seek any further funds for reconstruction... "It is obvious that the situation is much worse than it used to be," retired army general Ahmed Abdul Aziz told IPS. "Can you walk free in the streets? Did you receive your food ration last month? It is essential for most Iraqis to receive the food ration just to feed their families. When you go to the hospital, do you find medicines? The answer is no medicines, no services, no sheets or pillows, no beds, no nursing, and no ambulances to carry you from your house."
http://domino.ips.org/ips%5Ceng.nsf/vwWebMainView/163194899DD9DC9CC12570F2004B1642/?OpenDocument
http://www.commondreams.org/headlines06/0110-11.htm
"Iraqis see dismal days ahead in the face of rising violence and the decision by the U.S. administration not to seek any further funds for reconstruction... "It is obvious that the situation is much worse than it used to be," retired army general Ahmed Abdul Aziz told IPS. "Can you walk free in the streets? Did you receive your food ration last month? It is essential for most Iraqis to receive the food ration just to feed their families. When you go to the hospital, do you find medicines? The answer is no medicines, no services, no sheets or pillows, no beds, no nursing, and no ambulances to carry you from your house."
http://domino.ips.org/ips%5Ceng.nsf/vwWebMainView/163194899DD9DC9CC12570F2004B1642/?OpenDocument
http://www.commondreams.org/headlines06/0110-11.htm
TOTAL COST OF WAR BETWEEN $1 TRILLION AND $2 TRILLION
"The real cost to the US of the Iraq war is likely to be between $1 trillion and $2 trillion... according to a report written by... Joseph Stiglitz, a Columbia University professor who won the Nobel prize for economics in 2001, and Linda Bilmes, a Harvard budget expert... Congress has appropriated $251bn for military operations, and the Congressional budget office has now estimated that... the Iraq war will cost over $230bn more in the next 10 years. According to Mr Stiglitz and Ms Bilmes... there are substantial future costs not included in the Congressional calculations."
http://www.guardian.co.uk/print/0,3858,5369059-103681,00.html
"... The figure is so large because... it includes costs that official estimates do not. The cost of the lifetime medical care for 16,000 injured American personnel... 20% of injured US personnel have brain injuries, 6% have had amputations and another 20% have other serious injuries... still others will have various health and mental problems in the future. There will be disability pay and health care costs to the US budget that will continue for several decades... figures also include the loss to the economy from injured people being unable to contribute as productively as they would other wise have done..."
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/4595510.stm
"The real cost to the US of the Iraq war is likely to be between $1 trillion and $2 trillion... according to a report written by... Joseph Stiglitz, a Columbia University professor who won the Nobel prize for economics in 2001, and Linda Bilmes, a Harvard budget expert... Congress has appropriated $251bn for military operations, and the Congressional budget office has now estimated that... the Iraq war will cost over $230bn more in the next 10 years. According to Mr Stiglitz and Ms Bilmes... there are substantial future costs not included in the Congressional calculations."
http://www.guardian.co.uk/print/0,3858,5369059-103681,00.html
"... The figure is so large because... it includes costs that official estimates do not. The cost of the lifetime medical care for 16,000 injured American personnel... 20% of injured US personnel have brain injuries, 6% have had amputations and another 20% have other serious injuries... still others will have various health and mental problems in the future. There will be disability pay and health care costs to the US budget that will continue for several decades... figures also include the loss to the economy from injured people being unable to contribute as productively as they would other wise have done..."
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/4595510.stm
IED PROBLEM INSOLUBLE
"... IEDs also create fear and uncertainty... Fear and uncertainty, of course, ultimately breed mistrust. That may be the most damaging aspect of the IEDs: they prey on American minds, making soldiers suspicious of the local population and ultimately isolating them. For... military theorists, the IED problem in Iraq is insoluble no matter how much time or money is spent. "If we can't engage the enemy," he says, "what do we do? The answer is, we lose."
http://www.theatlantic.com/doc/200601/explosives/2
"... IEDs also create fear and uncertainty... Fear and uncertainty, of course, ultimately breed mistrust. That may be the most damaging aspect of the IEDs: they prey on American minds, making soldiers suspicious of the local population and ultimately isolating them. For... military theorists, the IED problem in Iraq is insoluble no matter how much time or money is spent. "If we can't engage the enemy," he says, "what do we do? The answer is, we lose."
http://www.theatlantic.com/doc/200601/explosives/2
Monday, January 09, 2006
CIVIL WAR IN BAGHDAD
"I am an American currently working in Baghdad for a news organization... The current security situation here has gotten much worse since the elections.... there’s a high probability of all out civil war... Shiite death squads roam the city at night (in police and army uniform no less) dragging all the male members of a Sunni family out into the street and executing them in front of their women folk. Sunni insurgents (not in uniform) do the same to Shiite families in areas claimed as theirs..."
NO FUEL OR ELECTRICITY IN BAGHDAD
"... Sunni insurgents... are now determined to bring the new government to its knees by cutting off fuel supplies to Baghdad. The city’s supply of gasoline nearly dried up last week... Electricity in most Baghdad neighborhoods has now been further reduced to as low as 1 hour per day. The black market rate for fuel for generators has doubled again and in many areas even that has run out. At this rate the city will go dark by the end of the month. Iraqi troops are reluctant to escort fuel trucks into Baghdad and American troops have their hands full escorting their own convoys..."
--Juan Cole in Informed Comment, quoting a journalist
http://www.juancole.com/2006/01/17-us-troops-killed-in-iraq-baghdad.html
"I am an American currently working in Baghdad for a news organization... The current security situation here has gotten much worse since the elections.... there’s a high probability of all out civil war... Shiite death squads roam the city at night (in police and army uniform no less) dragging all the male members of a Sunni family out into the street and executing them in front of their women folk. Sunni insurgents (not in uniform) do the same to Shiite families in areas claimed as theirs..."
NO FUEL OR ELECTRICITY IN BAGHDAD
"... Sunni insurgents... are now determined to bring the new government to its knees by cutting off fuel supplies to Baghdad. The city’s supply of gasoline nearly dried up last week... Electricity in most Baghdad neighborhoods has now been further reduced to as low as 1 hour per day. The black market rate for fuel for generators has doubled again and in many areas even that has run out. At this rate the city will go dark by the end of the month. Iraqi troops are reluctant to escort fuel trucks into Baghdad and American troops have their hands full escorting their own convoys..."
--Juan Cole in Informed Comment, quoting a journalist
http://www.juancole.com/2006/01/17-us-troops-killed-in-iraq-baghdad.html
IRAQI JOURNALIST INVESTIGATING U.S. CONTRACTS SEIZED
"American troops in Baghdad yesterday blasted their way into the home of an Iraqi journalist... firing bullets into the bedroom where he was sleeping with his wife and children. Dr. Ali Fadhil... is working with Guardian Films on an investigation for (British) Channel 4's Dispatches programme into claims that tens of millions of dollars worth of Iraqi funds held by the Americans and British have been misused or misappropriated..."
http://www.guardian.co.uk/Iraq/Story/0,2763,1682207,00.html
"American troops in Baghdad yesterday blasted their way into the home of an Iraqi journalist... firing bullets into the bedroom where he was sleeping with his wife and children. Dr. Ali Fadhil... is working with Guardian Films on an investigation for (British) Channel 4's Dispatches programme into claims that tens of millions of dollars worth of Iraqi funds held by the Americans and British have been misused or misappropriated..."
http://www.guardian.co.uk/Iraq/Story/0,2763,1682207,00.html
Sunday, January 08, 2006
IRAQ ON VERGE OF CIVIL WAR
“The country’s on the verge of a civil war.”
--Lt. Gen. Ricardo Sanchez, V Corps commander, addressing troops.
http://www.estripes.com/article.asp?section=104&article=33249&archive=true
“The country’s on the verge of a civil war.”
--Lt. Gen. Ricardo Sanchez, V Corps commander, addressing troops.
http://www.estripes.com/article.asp?section=104&article=33249&archive=true
Saturday, January 07, 2006
2005 OIL PRODUCTION LESS THAN 2002
"... The US Department of Energy reported in late 2002 that... Iraq could quickly double its production from the then-daily level of 2.5 million barrels to 5 million barrels or more. Yet current production is well under 2 million barrels a day..."
http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/HA06Ak01.html
"... The US Department of Energy reported in late 2002 that... Iraq could quickly double its production from the then-daily level of 2.5 million barrels to 5 million barrels or more. Yet current production is well under 2 million barrels a day..."
http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/HA06Ak01.html
Thursday, January 05, 2006
EVASION ON PERMANENT BASES IN IRAQ
"... when the president says: "When they [Iraqis] stand up, we will stand down," it cries out for an explicit definition of what "stand down" means in practice... Any attempt to find out whether the US is, or is not, constructing permanent military bases meets with frustration... If we are in fact constructing permanent bases, "leaving" simply means a reduction of forces and the permanent stationing of US brigades in Iraq..."
http://www.commondreams.org/views06/0105-30.htm
"... when the president says: "When they [Iraqis] stand up, we will stand down," it cries out for an explicit definition of what "stand down" means in practice... Any attempt to find out whether the US is, or is not, constructing permanent military bases meets with frustration... If we are in fact constructing permanent bases, "leaving" simply means a reduction of forces and the permanent stationing of US brigades in Iraq..."
http://www.commondreams.org/views06/0105-30.htm
Wednesday, January 04, 2006
28,000 U.S. TROOPS SEVERELY WOUNDED
"... A total of more than 28,000 soldiers, airmen, sailors and Marines from Operations Enduring Freedom and Iraqi Freedom have already been treated at Landstuhl hospital... Doctors and nurses work around the clock at this hospital to meet the needs of U.S. soldiers who have been severely injured in Iraq, Afghanistan or other combat locations..."
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/10533819/
"... A total of more than 28,000 soldiers, airmen, sailors and Marines from Operations Enduring Freedom and Iraqi Freedom have already been treated at Landstuhl hospital... Doctors and nurses work around the clock at this hospital to meet the needs of U.S. soldiers who have been severely injured in Iraq, Afghanistan or other combat locations..."
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/10533819/
DEMOCRACY IN MIDDLE EAST MEANS SOMETHING DIFFERENT
"... I want Bush to forget about Middle East democracy... Democracy does not necessarily promote peace and stability. On the contrary, democracies have a long tradition of promoting wars for loot... Something more than democracy is required for peace and prosperity, and that is a people committed to good rather than evil. Democracy in the Middle East means something quite different: Hamas in Gaza and the West Bank, Hezbollah in Lebanon, the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt and Muqtada al-Sadr in Iraq. The sooner President Bush changes the subject (from democracy), the better."
http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/HA04Ak02.html
"... I want Bush to forget about Middle East democracy... Democracy does not necessarily promote peace and stability. On the contrary, democracies have a long tradition of promoting wars for loot... Something more than democracy is required for peace and prosperity, and that is a people committed to good rather than evil. Democracy in the Middle East means something quite different: Hamas in Gaza and the West Bank, Hezbollah in Lebanon, the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt and Muqtada al-Sadr in Iraq. The sooner President Bush changes the subject (from democracy), the better."
http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/HA04Ak02.html
Tuesday, January 03, 2006
RECONSTRUCTION FUNDING TO END
"The Bush administration has scaled back its ambitions to rebuild Iraq from the devastation wrought by war and dictatorship and does not intend to seek new funds for reconstruction... administration officials say they will not seek reconstruction funds when the budget request is presented to Congress next month.... A decision not to renew the reconstruction programme would leave Iraq with the burden of tens of billions of dollars in unfinished projects, and an oil industry and electrical grid that have yet to return to pre-war production levels. The decision is a tacit admission of the failure of the US rebuilding effort... a retreat from a promise by Mr Bush in 2003 to provide Iraq with the best infrastructure in the region... (also) fewer than 30% of Iraqis were even aware of ongoing reconstruction projects, suggesting the US has failed to extract public relations benefit from any of the reconstruction projects it has completed."
http://www.guardian.co.uk/frontpage/story/0,,1676913,00.html
"The Bush administration has scaled back its ambitions to rebuild Iraq from the devastation wrought by war and dictatorship and does not intend to seek new funds for reconstruction... administration officials say they will not seek reconstruction funds when the budget request is presented to Congress next month.... A decision not to renew the reconstruction programme would leave Iraq with the burden of tens of billions of dollars in unfinished projects, and an oil industry and electrical grid that have yet to return to pre-war production levels. The decision is a tacit admission of the failure of the US rebuilding effort... a retreat from a promise by Mr Bush in 2003 to provide Iraq with the best infrastructure in the region... (also) fewer than 30% of Iraqis were even aware of ongoing reconstruction projects, suggesting the US has failed to extract public relations benefit from any of the reconstruction projects it has completed."
http://www.guardian.co.uk/frontpage/story/0,,1676913,00.html
Monday, January 02, 2006
IRAQ AND THE WAR ON TERROR
"... It's not so long ago... that Bush explained to us that all the Arabs would one day wish to have the freedoms of Iraq. I cannot think of an Arab today who would wish to contemplate such ill fortune... ... It also allowed al-Qa'ida's violence to embrace more Arab countries. Jordan was added to Egypt. Woe betide those of us who are now locked into the huge military machine that embraces the Middle East. Why, Iraqis sometimes ask me, are American forces - aerial or land - in Uzbekistan? And Kazakhstan and Afghanistan, in Turkey and Jordan (and Iraq) and in Kuwait and Qatar and Bahrain and Oman and Yemen and Egypt and Algeria (there is a US special forces unit based near Tamanrasset, co-operating with the same Algerian army that was involved in the massacre of civilians the 1990s)?
In fact, just look at the map and you can see the Americans in Greenland and Iceland and Britain and Germany and ex-Yugoslavia and Greece - where we join up with Turkey. How did this iron curtain from the ice cap to the borders of Sudan emerge? What is its purpose? These are the key questions that should engage anyone trying to understand the "war on terror".
http://www.commondreams.org/views06/0102-20.htm
"... It's not so long ago... that Bush explained to us that all the Arabs would one day wish to have the freedoms of Iraq. I cannot think of an Arab today who would wish to contemplate such ill fortune... ... It also allowed al-Qa'ida's violence to embrace more Arab countries. Jordan was added to Egypt. Woe betide those of us who are now locked into the huge military machine that embraces the Middle East. Why, Iraqis sometimes ask me, are American forces - aerial or land - in Uzbekistan? And Kazakhstan and Afghanistan, in Turkey and Jordan (and Iraq) and in Kuwait and Qatar and Bahrain and Oman and Yemen and Egypt and Algeria (there is a US special forces unit based near Tamanrasset, co-operating with the same Algerian army that was involved in the massacre of civilians the 1990s)?
In fact, just look at the map and you can see the Americans in Greenland and Iceland and Britain and Germany and ex-Yugoslavia and Greece - where we join up with Turkey. How did this iron curtain from the ice cap to the borders of Sudan emerge? What is its purpose? These are the key questions that should engage anyone trying to understand the "war on terror".
http://www.commondreams.org/views06/0102-20.htm
U.S. SECRETLY PAYING FOR COVERT PROPAGANDA STORIES IN IRAQ NEWSPAPERS
January 2, 2006
"... The Lincoln Group... a Pentagon contractor... that paid Iraqi newspapers to print positive articles written by American soldiers has also been compensating Sunni religious scholars in Iraq in return for assistance with its propaganda work..."
http://nytimes.com/2006/01/02/politics/02propaganda.html?hp&ex=1136264400&en=7aac55522b3865b9&ei=5094&partner=homepage
December 12, 2005
"... (The Lincoln Group) says it planted more than 1,000 articles in the Iraqi and Arab press and placed editorials on an Iraqi Web site, Pentagon documents show. For an expanded stealth persuasion effort into neighboring countries, Lincoln presented plans, since rejected, for an underground newspaper, television news shows and an anti-terrorist comedy based on "The Three Stooges."
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/12/11/politics/11propaganda.html?adxnnl=1&pagewanted=print&adxnnlx=1134395879-Rp6fhySW4h6Aj4UtVeT1EA
December 3, 2005
"... Journalists in Iraq say they are shocked by revelations that the US military paid Iraqi newspapers and journalists to run positive articles about US activities in Iraq... the payments were made to members of the Baghdad Press Club, an organization set up by US army officers more than a year ago... the military also was paying Iraqi reporters up to 200 dollars a month to write sympathetic stories... "It is a scandal that the US administration would use methods like these which contradict all principles of the profession and seek to defraud public opinion," well-known Iraqi journalist and political analyst Ahmed Sabri said. "A newspaper should reflect the reality on the ground, not sponsored information aimed at improving the image of the The United States, which in reality has failed in Iraq..."
http://www.commondreams.org/headlines05/1203-04.htm
November 30, 2005
"... the U.S. military is secretly paying Iraqi newspapers to publish stories written by American troops in an effort to burnish the image of the U.S. mission in Iraq... The stories trumpet the work of U.S. and Iraqi troops, denounce insurgents and tout U.S.-led efforts to rebuild the country... The operation is designed to mask any connection with the U.S. military. The Pentagon has a contract with a small Washington-based firm called Lincoln Group, which helps translate and place the stories. The Lincoln Group's Iraqi staff, or its subcontractors, sometimes pose as freelance reporters or advertising executives when they deliver the stories to Baghdad media outlets... The military's effort to disseminate propaganda in the Iraqi media is taking place even as U.S. officials are pledging to promote democratic principles, political transparency and freedom of speech in a country emerging from decades of dictatorship and corruption."
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-infowar30nov30,0,5638790.story?coll=la-home-headlines
November 30, 2005
"Can Iraqis trust what they read in the newspapers?... The US military in Iraq has implicitly admitted that it is running a campaign to plant articles in Iraqi papers aimed at improving its image in the country... they were written by US soldiers, and translated into Arabic by a defence contractor which helps place them in Baghdad papers... the stories were then presented as unbiased accounts by independent journalists, rather than stemming from the US military..."
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/4489696.stm
November 30, 2005
"... the Pentagon is paying millions more to the Lincoln Group for work that appears to violate fundamental principles of Western journalism. In addition to paying newspapers to print government propaganda, Lincoln has paid about a dozen Iraqi journalists each several hundred dollars a month..."
http://nytimes.com/2005/12/01/politics/01propaganda.html?hp&ex=1133499600&en=3af8aaf9fa1cb0bc&ei=5094&partner=homepage
January 2, 2006
"... The Lincoln Group... a Pentagon contractor... that paid Iraqi newspapers to print positive articles written by American soldiers has also been compensating Sunni religious scholars in Iraq in return for assistance with its propaganda work..."
http://nytimes.com/2006/01/02/politics/02propaganda.html?hp&ex=1136264400&en=7aac55522b3865b9&ei=5094&partner=homepage
December 12, 2005
"... (The Lincoln Group) says it planted more than 1,000 articles in the Iraqi and Arab press and placed editorials on an Iraqi Web site, Pentagon documents show. For an expanded stealth persuasion effort into neighboring countries, Lincoln presented plans, since rejected, for an underground newspaper, television news shows and an anti-terrorist comedy based on "The Three Stooges."
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/12/11/politics/11propaganda.html?adxnnl=1&pagewanted=print&adxnnlx=1134395879-Rp6fhySW4h6Aj4UtVeT1EA
December 3, 2005
"... Journalists in Iraq say they are shocked by revelations that the US military paid Iraqi newspapers and journalists to run positive articles about US activities in Iraq... the payments were made to members of the Baghdad Press Club, an organization set up by US army officers more than a year ago... the military also was paying Iraqi reporters up to 200 dollars a month to write sympathetic stories... "It is a scandal that the US administration would use methods like these which contradict all principles of the profession and seek to defraud public opinion," well-known Iraqi journalist and political analyst Ahmed Sabri said. "A newspaper should reflect the reality on the ground, not sponsored information aimed at improving the image of the The United States, which in reality has failed in Iraq..."
http://www.commondreams.org/headlines05/1203-04.htm
November 30, 2005
"... the U.S. military is secretly paying Iraqi newspapers to publish stories written by American troops in an effort to burnish the image of the U.S. mission in Iraq... The stories trumpet the work of U.S. and Iraqi troops, denounce insurgents and tout U.S.-led efforts to rebuild the country... The operation is designed to mask any connection with the U.S. military. The Pentagon has a contract with a small Washington-based firm called Lincoln Group, which helps translate and place the stories. The Lincoln Group's Iraqi staff, or its subcontractors, sometimes pose as freelance reporters or advertising executives when they deliver the stories to Baghdad media outlets... The military's effort to disseminate propaganda in the Iraqi media is taking place even as U.S. officials are pledging to promote democratic principles, political transparency and freedom of speech in a country emerging from decades of dictatorship and corruption."
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-infowar30nov30,0,5638790.story?coll=la-home-headlines
November 30, 2005
"Can Iraqis trust what they read in the newspapers?... The US military in Iraq has implicitly admitted that it is running a campaign to plant articles in Iraqi papers aimed at improving its image in the country... they were written by US soldiers, and translated into Arabic by a defence contractor which helps place them in Baghdad papers... the stories were then presented as unbiased accounts by independent journalists, rather than stemming from the US military..."
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/4489696.stm
November 30, 2005
"... the Pentagon is paying millions more to the Lincoln Group for work that appears to violate fundamental principles of Western journalism. In addition to paying newspapers to print government propaganda, Lincoln has paid about a dozen Iraqi journalists each several hundred dollars a month..."
http://nytimes.com/2005/12/01/politics/01propaganda.html?hp&ex=1133499600&en=3af8aaf9fa1cb0bc&ei=5094&partner=homepage
Friday, December 30, 2005
IRAQ OIL SITUATION
"... average exports in November fell to 1.21 million barrels a day – the lowest level since at least November 2003 – and down from 1.24 million barrels per day last month. An (Oil) ministry spokesman... said the country was facing an oil supply crisis. "Production in the north, centre and south is about to suffocate..."
http://today.reuters.co.uk/news/newsArticle.aspx?type=worldNews&storyID=2005-12-30T210241Z_01_KRA056976_RTRUKOC_0_UK-IRAQ.xml&archived=False
"... An official of the Oil Ministry in Baghdad... (said) “We do not know the exact quantity of oil we are exporting, we do not exactly know the prices we are selling it for, and we do not know where the oil revenue is going to.”
http://www.juancole.com/2005/12/iraq-petroleum-production-suffocating.html
"... average exports in November fell to 1.21 million barrels a day – the lowest level since at least November 2003 – and down from 1.24 million barrels per day last month. An (Oil) ministry spokesman... said the country was facing an oil supply crisis. "Production in the north, centre and south is about to suffocate..."
http://today.reuters.co.uk/news/newsArticle.aspx?type=worldNews&storyID=2005-12-30T210241Z_01_KRA056976_RTRUKOC_0_UK-IRAQ.xml&archived=False
"... An official of the Oil Ministry in Baghdad... (said) “We do not know the exact quantity of oil we are exporting, we do not exactly know the prices we are selling it for, and we do not know where the oil revenue is going to.”
http://www.juancole.com/2005/12/iraq-petroleum-production-suffocating.html
Thursday, December 29, 2005
MOST OPTIMISTIC SCENARIO - 20,000 ON 4 PERMANENT BASES
"A senior U.S. military commander, familiar with strategic plans, told me today there are two possible longish-term scenarios for Iraq... Optimistic scenario: In three years, the U.S. will be down to 20,000 troops. Their main mission will be to provide Iraqi forces with training, intelligence, logistics support, close air support, and lift. The forces would mainly be stationed at four "enduring bases," which the commander said would likely be: Talil, Taji, Balad and one of the bases around the Baghdad Airport."
--Richard Engel, NBC, Blogging Baghdad - The Untold Story, 29 Dec 2005
http://onthescene.msnbc.com/baghdad/2005/12/us_troops_are_s.html
"A senior U.S. military commander, familiar with strategic plans, told me today there are two possible longish-term scenarios for Iraq... Optimistic scenario: In three years, the U.S. will be down to 20,000 troops. Their main mission will be to provide Iraqi forces with training, intelligence, logistics support, close air support, and lift. The forces would mainly be stationed at four "enduring bases," which the commander said would likely be: Talil, Taji, Balad and one of the bases around the Baghdad Airport."
--Richard Engel, NBC, Blogging Baghdad - The Untold Story, 29 Dec 2005
http://onthescene.msnbc.com/baghdad/2005/12/us_troops_are_s.html
U.S. PRISONS IN IRAQ EXPANDING
"U.S. forces are working to complete a major expansion of detention facilities in Iraq as a growing prisoner population nears 15,000... The military earlier in the year launched a $51 million expansion of detention facilities to accommodate a growing population... The biggest is Camp Bucca near Umm Qasr in the south, holding 8,011 detainees. Abu Ghraib, notorious also as a torture center under deposed President Saddam Hussein, holds 4,648. Fort Suse, at a Russian-built former military barracks near Sulaimaniya in northern Iraq, holds 1,347. Camp Cropper near Baghdad airport, holds 124 detainees, including many "high-value" prisoners. A further 542 are held at smaller facilities... Existing facilities are strained, with the population at 123 percent of "optimal capacity..."
http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/N286539.htm
"U.S. forces are working to complete a major expansion of detention facilities in Iraq as a growing prisoner population nears 15,000... The military earlier in the year launched a $51 million expansion of detention facilities to accommodate a growing population... The biggest is Camp Bucca near Umm Qasr in the south, holding 8,011 detainees. Abu Ghraib, notorious also as a torture center under deposed President Saddam Hussein, holds 4,648. Fort Suse, at a Russian-built former military barracks near Sulaimaniya in northern Iraq, holds 1,347. Camp Cropper near Baghdad airport, holds 124 detainees, including many "high-value" prisoners. A further 542 are held at smaller facilities... Existing facilities are strained, with the population at 123 percent of "optimal capacity..."
http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/N286539.htm
KURDISH IRAQI SOLDIERS WELCOME CIVIL WAR AND END OF IRAQ
"... Iraqi army soldiers in northern Iraq - who are overwhelmingly Kurdish - made clear that many soldiers think that a civil war is coming... "I see Iraq gradually becoming three regions that will one day become independent," said Jafar Mustafir, a close adviser to Iraq's Kurdish interim president, Jalal Talabani, and the deputy head of Peshmerga for the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan, one of two major Kurdish parties. "I see us moving toward the end of Iraq."
http://www.realcities.com/mld/krwashington/news/special_packages/iraq/13495281.htm
"Kurdish leaders have inserted more than 10,000 of their militia members into Iraqi army divisions in northern Iraq to lay the groundwork to swarm south, seize the oil-rich city of Kirkuk and possibly half of Mosul, Iraq's third-largest city, and secure the borders of an independent Kurdistan... Many said they wouldn't hesitate to kill their Iraqi army comrades, especially Arabs..."
http://www.realcities.com/mld/krwashington/13495329.htm
"... Iraqi army soldiers in northern Iraq - who are overwhelmingly Kurdish - made clear that many soldiers think that a civil war is coming... "I see Iraq gradually becoming three regions that will one day become independent," said Jafar Mustafir, a close adviser to Iraq's Kurdish interim president, Jalal Talabani, and the deputy head of Peshmerga for the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan, one of two major Kurdish parties. "I see us moving toward the end of Iraq."
http://www.realcities.com/mld/krwashington/news/special_packages/iraq/13495281.htm
"Kurdish leaders have inserted more than 10,000 of their militia members into Iraqi army divisions in northern Iraq to lay the groundwork to swarm south, seize the oil-rich city of Kirkuk and possibly half of Mosul, Iraq's third-largest city, and secure the borders of an independent Kurdistan... Many said they wouldn't hesitate to kill their Iraqi army comrades, especially Arabs..."
http://www.realcities.com/mld/krwashington/13495329.htm
Wednesday, December 28, 2005
SOLDIER BLOGGERS
"In a development that is worrying US military commanders in Iraq, a growing number of US soldiers - 200 at the last count - have set up their own blogs, or internet diaries, and are updating them from the battlefield..."
http://www.smh.com.au/news/world/us-military-worried-by-soldiers-blogs/2005/12/27/1135445571736.html
"In a development that is worrying US military commanders in Iraq, a growing number of US soldiers - 200 at the last count - have set up their own blogs, or internet diaries, and are updating them from the battlefield..."
http://www.smh.com.au/news/world/us-military-worried-by-soldiers-blogs/2005/12/27/1135445571736.html
MOST PROBABLE SCENARIO FOR IRAQ
"... the most probable scenario for 2006 and beyond is a fragile central government in Baghdad bombarded by an intractable guerrilla movement - a chaotic and sectarian hornets' nest breeding one, 10, 100 mini (or maxi) al-Qaeda leaders able to convulse the Middle East..."
http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/GL23Ak01.html
"... the most probable scenario for 2006 and beyond is a fragile central government in Baghdad bombarded by an intractable guerrilla movement - a chaotic and sectarian hornets' nest breeding one, 10, 100 mini (or maxi) al-Qaeda leaders able to convulse the Middle East..."
http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/GL23Ak01.html
ARAB MEDIA COVERAGE OF IRAQ WAR IS BETTER THAN U.S.
"In the past three years, covering the Anglo-American led war in Iraq and its messy aftermath, I've made it a point to regularly watch Arab, European and American television services in order to compare their coverage. On the basis of what I have witnessed during the past 1,000 days... the overall coverage of Iraq on the mainstream Arab satellite services has been more comprehensive, balanced and accurate than the coverage of any mainstream American cable or broadcast television service."
--Rami Khoury, the editor of The Daily Star of Lebanon and a former Nieman Fellow in journalism at Harvard Unversity
http://search.csmonitor.com/2005/1227/dailyUpdate.html
PENTAGON DISSEMINATES SOME FALSE INFORMATION
"... Retired Air Force Col. Sam Gardiner, in a lengthy 2003 study, cited 50 stories in U.S. publications based on information that the Pentagon disseminated even though it knew that the information was false. "It's a culture that believes that it's OK to manipulate the story," Gardiner said. "It goes all the way from the senior leaders down to the battalion commanders."
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/chi-0512110416dec11,1,3760766.story?coll=chi-newsnationworld-hed
"In the past three years, covering the Anglo-American led war in Iraq and its messy aftermath, I've made it a point to regularly watch Arab, European and American television services in order to compare their coverage. On the basis of what I have witnessed during the past 1,000 days... the overall coverage of Iraq on the mainstream Arab satellite services has been more comprehensive, balanced and accurate than the coverage of any mainstream American cable or broadcast television service."
--Rami Khoury, the editor of The Daily Star of Lebanon and a former Nieman Fellow in journalism at Harvard Unversity
http://search.csmonitor.com/2005/1227/dailyUpdate.html
PENTAGON DISSEMINATES SOME FALSE INFORMATION
"... Retired Air Force Col. Sam Gardiner, in a lengthy 2003 study, cited 50 stories in U.S. publications based on information that the Pentagon disseminated even though it knew that the information was false. "It's a culture that believes that it's OK to manipulate the story," Gardiner said. "It goes all the way from the senior leaders down to the battalion commanders."
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/chi-0512110416dec11,1,3760766.story?coll=chi-newsnationworld-hed
Tuesday, December 27, 2005
SHIITES MAY ASK U.S. TROOPS TO WITHDRAW
"... If... (Shia) leaders feel they have to choose between relying on U.S. military protection and the security of their regime (by controlling the Ministry of Interior police), they are likely to choose the latter. They could counter U.S. pressures by warning they will demand a timetable for withdrawal of U.S. troops... The implication of calling for a relatively rapid U.S. withdrawal would be that the Shiite leaders would turn to Iran for overt financial and even military assistance... The Bush administration's strategy of pressure on Shiite leaders over the issue of control over state security organs thus has the potential to spin out of control and cause another policy disaster in Iraq and the entire Middle East."
http://ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=31576
"... If... (Shia) leaders feel they have to choose between relying on U.S. military protection and the security of their regime (by controlling the Ministry of Interior police), they are likely to choose the latter. They could counter U.S. pressures by warning they will demand a timetable for withdrawal of U.S. troops... The implication of calling for a relatively rapid U.S. withdrawal would be that the Shiite leaders would turn to Iran for overt financial and even military assistance... The Bush administration's strategy of pressure on Shiite leaders over the issue of control over state security organs thus has the potential to spin out of control and cause another policy disaster in Iraq and the entire Middle East."
http://ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=31576
U.S. ALLOWS HUMAN TRAFFICKING BY CONTRACTORS
"... Middle Eastern firms working under American subcontracts in Iraq, and a chain of human brokers beneath them, engage in the kind of abuses condemned elsewhere by the U.S. government as human trafficking. KBR, the Halliburton subsidiary, relies on more than 200 subcontractors to carry out a multibillion-dollar U.S. Army contract for privatization of military support operations in the war zone.the Defense Department has yet to adopt a policy to bar human trafficking..."
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/chi-0512270176dec27,1,2117782.story
"... Middle Eastern firms working under American subcontracts in Iraq, and a chain of human brokers beneath them, engage in the kind of abuses condemned elsewhere by the U.S. government as human trafficking. KBR, the Halliburton subsidiary, relies on more than 200 subcontractors to carry out a multibillion-dollar U.S. Army contract for privatization of military support operations in the war zone.the Defense Department has yet to adopt a policy to bar human trafficking..."
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/chi-0512270176dec27,1,2117782.story
Monday, December 26, 2005
SADDAM TRIAL NOT A FARCE
"... Judge Rizgar Mohammed Amin is a quiet, polite, highly intelligent man, who wants the world to see that he dispenses a very different kind of justice from Saddam's own courts... The chief judge has been remarkably lenient to Saddam and his half-brother, Barzan al-Tikriti, and they have taken advantage of this... But does this mean, as some people in the Western media are starting to say, that the trial is descending into farce?... If the judge treated Saddam more roughly, he would seem like a martyr. The fact that he does not is a sign of success, not of failure."
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/4556268.stm
"... Judge Rizgar Mohammed Amin is a quiet, polite, highly intelligent man, who wants the world to see that he dispenses a very different kind of justice from Saddam's own courts... The chief judge has been remarkably lenient to Saddam and his half-brother, Barzan al-Tikriti, and they have taken advantage of this... But does this mean, as some people in the Western media are starting to say, that the trial is descending into farce?... If the judge treated Saddam more roughly, he would seem like a martyr. The fact that he does not is a sign of success, not of failure."
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/4556268.stm
PROMINENT ELECTED SUNNI CANDIDATES DISQUALIFIED
"An Iraqi court has ruled that some of the most prominent Sunni Muslims who were elected to parliament last week won't be allowed to serve because officials suspect that they were high-ranking members of Saddam Hussein's Baath Party... The ruling is likely to dampen Bush administration hopes that the election would bring more of the disaffected Sunni minority into Iraq's political process and undermine Sunni support for the insurgency. Instead, the decision is likely to stoke fears of widening sectarian divisions in a nation already in danger of descending into civil war... the ruling would agitate already frustrated Sunnis who are questioning the validity of the elections...."
http://www.realcities.com/mld/krwashington/news/special_packages/iraq/13476434.htm
"An Iraqi court has ruled that some of the most prominent Sunni Muslims who were elected to parliament last week won't be allowed to serve because officials suspect that they were high-ranking members of Saddam Hussein's Baath Party... The ruling is likely to dampen Bush administration hopes that the election would bring more of the disaffected Sunni minority into Iraq's political process and undermine Sunni support for the insurgency. Instead, the decision is likely to stoke fears of widening sectarian divisions in a nation already in danger of descending into civil war... the ruling would agitate already frustrated Sunnis who are questioning the validity of the elections...."
http://www.realcities.com/mld/krwashington/news/special_packages/iraq/13476434.htm
Sunday, December 25, 2005
IRAQ AND IRAN BUILDING TIES
"... Baghdad is keen strengthening mutual ties in all areas with Tehran... The Iraqi foreign ministry is planing to dispatch a special delegation to Tehran to discuss issues outstanding between the two nations... Iran has agreed to Iraq's proposals for opening a coordination office in Tehran... The two nations have been striving to forge closer trade ties..."
http://www.irna.ir/en/news/view/line-17/0512246904234417.htm
"... Baghdad is keen strengthening mutual ties in all areas with Tehran... The Iraqi foreign ministry is planing to dispatch a special delegation to Tehran to discuss issues outstanding between the two nations... Iran has agreed to Iraq's proposals for opening a coordination office in Tehran... The two nations have been striving to forge closer trade ties..."
http://www.irna.ir/en/news/view/line-17/0512246904234417.htm
U.S. IS NOT BETTER OFF WITHOUT SADDAM
"We're better off now without Saddam." That is not true. The fall of Saddam led to the rise of al-Qaeda in the Land of the Two Rivers; and even Allawi admitted that human rights in Iraq now are no better than under Saddam. Not to mention that there is no reconstruction, unemployment is at 70%, and a country which in the late 1980s had one of the highest standards of living in the Arab world has been razed to a sub-Saharan level."
http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/GL23Ak01.html
"We're better off now without Saddam." That is not true. The fall of Saddam led to the rise of al-Qaeda in the Land of the Two Rivers; and even Allawi admitted that human rights in Iraq now are no better than under Saddam. Not to mention that there is no reconstruction, unemployment is at 70%, and a country which in the late 1980s had one of the highest standards of living in the Arab world has been razed to a sub-Saharan level."
http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/GL23Ak01.html
Wednesday, December 21, 2005
IRAQ DISINTEGRATING
"Iraq is disintegrating... the parliamentary election last week shows the country is dividing between Shia, Sunni and Kurdish regions... Religious fundamentalists now have the upper hand. The secular and nationalist candidate backed by the US and Britain was humiliatingly defeated... The election marks the final shipwreck of American and British hopes of establishing a pro-Western secular democracy in a united Iraq..."
http://news.independent.co.uk/world/middle_east/article334476.ece
"Iraq is disintegrating... the parliamentary election last week shows the country is dividing between Shia, Sunni and Kurdish regions... Religious fundamentalists now have the upper hand. The secular and nationalist candidate backed by the US and Britain was humiliatingly defeated... The election marks the final shipwreck of American and British hopes of establishing a pro-Western secular democracy in a united Iraq..."
http://news.independent.co.uk/world/middle_east/article334476.ece
SUNNIS REJECT ELECTION RESULTS
"Sunni leaders dismiss election results (as rigged)... fueling fears about civil war... many fear that Sunnis will depend on the insurgency to achieve their political aims, not the parliament, pushing the nation toward civil war, not consensus, and threatening U.S. plans to withdraw some troops..."
http://www.realcities.com/mld/krwashington/news/special_packages/iraq/13451275.htm
"Sunni leaders dismiss election results (as rigged)... fueling fears about civil war... many fear that Sunnis will depend on the insurgency to achieve their political aims, not the parliament, pushing the nation toward civil war, not consensus, and threatening U.S. plans to withdraw some troops..."
http://www.realcities.com/mld/krwashington/news/special_packages/iraq/13451275.htm
AL QAEDA GIVEN A NEW BASE IN IRAQ
"... Bush proclaims his war without end in Iraq the central front in a new cold war, never acknowledging that he has handed Al Qaeda terrorists a new home base.... Under Bush's watch, we not only suffered the September 11 terrorist attacks while he snoozed, but he has failed to capture the perpetrator of those attacks and has given Al Qaeda a powerful base in Iraq from which to terrorize."
http://www.thenation.com/doc/20051128/scheer1116
"... Bush proclaims his war without end in Iraq the central front in a new cold war, never acknowledging that he has handed Al Qaeda terrorists a new home base.... Under Bush's watch, we not only suffered the September 11 terrorist attacks while he snoozed, but he has failed to capture the perpetrator of those attacks and has given Al Qaeda a powerful base in Iraq from which to terrorize."
http://www.thenation.com/doc/20051128/scheer1116
Tuesday, December 20, 2005
WHY MARGINALIZING THE SUNNIS WILL NOT END THE INSURGENCY
"... A recurring theme in the history of war is that most of the killing typically occurs long after rational calculation would call for the surrender of the losing side. ... If one or more of the parties knows that peace implies the end of its existence, there exists no motive to return to peace. That explains why the majority of casualties in such wars are suffered long after all hope of victory has disappeared..."
http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/GL20Ak02.html
"... A recurring theme in the history of war is that most of the killing typically occurs long after rational calculation would call for the surrender of the losing side. ... If one or more of the parties knows that peace implies the end of its existence, there exists no motive to return to peace. That explains why the majority of casualties in such wars are suffered long after all hope of victory has disappeared..."
http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/GL20Ak02.html
Monday, December 19, 2005
PRE-EMPTIVE WAR ONLY A PART OF IMPERIAL POWER
"... he can authorize preemptive wars, spying on American citizens without court orders, incarcerating American citizens as "enemy combatants" without any constitutional protections, and torturing whomever he wants... All of this is, of course, is within the law as he... define(s) it. As one of the White House insiders said: "We are an Empire. We make our own reality."
http://www.commondreams.org/views05/1219-31.htm
"... he can authorize preemptive wars, spying on American citizens without court orders, incarcerating American citizens as "enemy combatants" without any constitutional protections, and torturing whomever he wants... All of this is, of course, is within the law as he... define(s) it. As one of the White House insiders said: "We are an Empire. We make our own reality."
http://www.commondreams.org/views05/1219-31.htm
Sunday, December 18, 2005
ARABS SEE IRAQ AS A POLICE STATE
"... Bush keeps making that the political developments in Iraq will influence the rest of the Middle East is ridiculous to anyone who actually talks to anyone from the region. Arabs mostly believe that Iraq is laboring under an oppressive foreign military occupation.... American Imperial "democracy" strikes most Arabs as paternalistic and hypocritical, masking a police state of a sort they are all too familiar with..."
--Juan Cole, Informed Comment, December 18, 2005
http://www.juancole.com/2005/12/parties-jockey-for-power-in-wake-of.html
"... Bush keeps making that the political developments in Iraq will influence the rest of the Middle East is ridiculous to anyone who actually talks to anyone from the region. Arabs mostly believe that Iraq is laboring under an oppressive foreign military occupation.... American Imperial "democracy" strikes most Arabs as paternalistic and hypocritical, masking a police state of a sort they are all too familiar with..."
--Juan Cole, Informed Comment, December 18, 2005
http://www.juancole.com/2005/12/parties-jockey-for-power-in-wake-of.html
Friday, December 16, 2005
IRAQ WAR WAS WRONG
"... Bush admitted Wednesday, "It is true that much of the intelligence (on which his administration invaded Iraq) turned out to be wrong."... If the United States invaded Iraq based on false intelligence, the attack itself was wrong, and Bush should admit this. In the war that began on a false premise, at least 30,000 Iraqi civilians are believed to have been killed, and more than 2,000 U.S. troops have died..."
http://www.asahi.com/english/Herald-asahi/TKY200512170149.html
"... Bush admitted Wednesday, "It is true that much of the intelligence (on which his administration invaded Iraq) turned out to be wrong."... If the United States invaded Iraq based on false intelligence, the attack itself was wrong, and Bush should admit this. In the war that began on a false premise, at least 30,000 Iraqi civilians are believed to have been killed, and more than 2,000 U.S. troops have died..."
http://www.asahi.com/english/Herald-asahi/TKY200512170149.html
BULGARIA AND UKRAIN WITHDRAW
"Bulgaria has ended military operations in Iraq and has begun withdrawing its troops... The Bulgarian withdrawal coincides with the departure of the remaining Ukrainian forces in Iraq, due to be completed by the end of December..."
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/4536040.stm
"Bulgaria has ended military operations in Iraq and has begun withdrawing its troops... The Bulgarian withdrawal coincides with the departure of the remaining Ukrainian forces in Iraq, due to be completed by the end of December..."
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/4536040.stm
U.S. EMBRACES INSURGENTS - NOW CALLED NATIONALISTS
"... the image of the insurgents has been transformed from "anti-Iraqi forces" to "nationalists"... (the) administration has quietly renounced the goal of defeating the non-al-Qaeda, Sunni-armed organizations there... The administration is evidently preparing for serious negotiations with the Sunni insurgents, whom it has started referring to as "nationalists"...."
http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/GL17Ak02.html
"... the image of the insurgents has been transformed from "anti-Iraqi forces" to "nationalists"... (the) administration has quietly renounced the goal of defeating the non-al-Qaeda, Sunni-armed organizations there... The administration is evidently preparing for serious negotiations with the Sunni insurgents, whom it has started referring to as "nationalists"...."
http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/GL17Ak02.html
Thursday, December 15, 2005
ANY WITHDRAWAL DUE TO ELECTIONS WILL BE ON TERMS UNFAVORABLE TO BUSH
"... (Americans are) hoping that these elections are a milestone on the way to withdrawing US troops from Iraq. I cannot imagine why anyone thinks that. The Iraqi "government" is a failed state. Virtually no order it gives has any likelihood of being implemented. It has no army to speak of and cannot control the country. Its parliamentarians are attacked and sometimes killed with impunity. Its oil pipelines are routinely bombed, depriving it of desperately needed income. It faces a powerful guerrilla movement that is wholly uninterested in the results of elections and just wants to overthrow the new order. Elections are unlikely to change any of this...
"The only way in which these elections may lead to a US withdrawal is that they will ensconce parliamentarians who want the US out on a short timetable. Virtually all the Sunnis who come in will push for that result... and so will the members of the Sadr Movement, now a key component of the Shiite religious United Iraqi Alliance. That is, these elections lead to a US withdrawal on terms unfavorable to the Bush administration..."
--Juan Cole in Informed Comment, 15 Dec 2005
http://www.juancole.com/2005/12/high-turnout-expected-as-iraqis-go-to.html
"... (Americans are) hoping that these elections are a milestone on the way to withdrawing US troops from Iraq. I cannot imagine why anyone thinks that. The Iraqi "government" is a failed state. Virtually no order it gives has any likelihood of being implemented. It has no army to speak of and cannot control the country. Its parliamentarians are attacked and sometimes killed with impunity. Its oil pipelines are routinely bombed, depriving it of desperately needed income. It faces a powerful guerrilla movement that is wholly uninterested in the results of elections and just wants to overthrow the new order. Elections are unlikely to change any of this...
"The only way in which these elections may lead to a US withdrawal is that they will ensconce parliamentarians who want the US out on a short timetable. Virtually all the Sunnis who come in will push for that result... and so will the members of the Sadr Movement, now a key component of the Shiite religious United Iraqi Alliance. That is, these elections lead to a US withdrawal on terms unfavorable to the Bush administration..."
--Juan Cole in Informed Comment, 15 Dec 2005
http://www.juancole.com/2005/12/high-turnout-expected-as-iraqis-go-to.html
Wednesday, December 14, 2005
DRAW-DOWN TO SUBSTITUTE AERIAL OCCUPATION FOR TROOPS
"... A broad overview of the types of helicopters and fixed-wing aircraft the U.S. military is employing in Iraq gives an idea of the scope of the air war currently underway and the sort of destructive power available on an everyday basis. It can also offer hints of what we might expect in an air-power intensified draw-down future.
"While this is in no way an inclusive list, fixed-wing aircraft include the F-14D Tomcat and F/A 18 fighter jets which are being used by the Navy and Marines. The F-18 fires the laser-guided, 630 pound Maverick Missile (at a cost of $141,442 per shot, by the way). In addition, both the F-14 and F/A 18 fire a 20mm hydraulically operated gatling gun which emits between 4,000 and 6,000 rounds per minute at a range of "several thousand yards."
"The Air Force is using F-15 Eagle and F-16 Falcon fighter jets, along with AF MQ-1 Predator drones which are armed with Hellfire missiles. AV-8 Harrier fighter jets have also been used in Iraq as have AC-130 gunships, especially in urban battles like the fighting for Fallujah last year. These planes are capable of circling targets for long periods while raining thousands of rounds of ammunition per minute down from above. Then there is the A-10 Warthog military jet which is used as ground support, as it is capable of firing 4,200 armor piercing 30mm rounds per minute.
"At this point, bombs used commonly range in explosive power from 250-2,000 pounds, with cluster bombs, the MK-77 500 pound fire bomb (napalm) and the infamous White Phosphorous also having been employed at various moments. The Joint Direct Attack Munition (JDAM) bomb, ranging from 250-2,000 pounds, was used extensively during the most recent military operation against Fallujah. The 2,000 pound variety, for example, has the capacity to blast a crater in a concrete street 70 feet in diameter and 30 feet deep. This size of bomb has a blast radius of 110 feet within which a human being will die, while fragmentation from the bomb casing can achieve velocities up to 9,000 feet per second and reach areas over 3,000 feet away from the detonation site.
"The U.S. military is also using a wide variety of helicopters offensively in Iraq. These include the Apache, Kiowa, Black Hawk, Cobra, Pave Low, Chinook, and Iroquois...."
http://www.commondreams.org/views05/1214-23.htm
"... A broad overview of the types of helicopters and fixed-wing aircraft the U.S. military is employing in Iraq gives an idea of the scope of the air war currently underway and the sort of destructive power available on an everyday basis. It can also offer hints of what we might expect in an air-power intensified draw-down future.
"While this is in no way an inclusive list, fixed-wing aircraft include the F-14D Tomcat and F/A 18 fighter jets which are being used by the Navy and Marines. The F-18 fires the laser-guided, 630 pound Maverick Missile (at a cost of $141,442 per shot, by the way). In addition, both the F-14 and F/A 18 fire a 20mm hydraulically operated gatling gun which emits between 4,000 and 6,000 rounds per minute at a range of "several thousand yards."
"The Air Force is using F-15 Eagle and F-16 Falcon fighter jets, along with AF MQ-1 Predator drones which are armed with Hellfire missiles. AV-8 Harrier fighter jets have also been used in Iraq as have AC-130 gunships, especially in urban battles like the fighting for Fallujah last year. These planes are capable of circling targets for long periods while raining thousands of rounds of ammunition per minute down from above. Then there is the A-10 Warthog military jet which is used as ground support, as it is capable of firing 4,200 armor piercing 30mm rounds per minute.
"At this point, bombs used commonly range in explosive power from 250-2,000 pounds, with cluster bombs, the MK-77 500 pound fire bomb (napalm) and the infamous White Phosphorous also having been employed at various moments. The Joint Direct Attack Munition (JDAM) bomb, ranging from 250-2,000 pounds, was used extensively during the most recent military operation against Fallujah. The 2,000 pound variety, for example, has the capacity to blast a crater in a concrete street 70 feet in diameter and 30 feet deep. This size of bomb has a blast radius of 110 feet within which a human being will die, while fragmentation from the bomb casing can achieve velocities up to 9,000 feet per second and reach areas over 3,000 feet away from the detonation site.
"The U.S. military is also using a wide variety of helicopters offensively in Iraq. These include the Apache, Kiowa, Black Hawk, Cobra, Pave Low, Chinook, and Iroquois...."
http://www.commondreams.org/views05/1214-23.htm
IRAN BENEFITTED FROM INVASION OF IRAQ
"... One country... has benefited greatly from the US-led invasion. Iran, increasingly radical, now knows that the United States lacks both the military strength and the political will to attack it. And the new, democratic, predominantly Shia Iraq has become its closest ally. None of this is what... (the neocons) in Washington expected back in 2002.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/4527908.stm
"... One country... has benefited greatly from the US-led invasion. Iran, increasingly radical, now knows that the United States lacks both the military strength and the political will to attack it. And the new, democratic, predominantly Shia Iraq has become its closest ally. None of this is what... (the neocons) in Washington expected back in 2002.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/4527908.stm
DOOMED TO FAIL
"... no amount of feel good stories disguise the fact that the American project is doomed to fail because the premise itself is flawed - a semblance of democracy as the offspring of an illegal invasion and foreign occupation.."
http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/GL15Ak03.html
"... no amount of feel good stories disguise the fact that the American project is doomed to fail because the premise itself is flawed - a semblance of democracy as the offspring of an illegal invasion and foreign occupation.."
http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/GL15Ak03.html
Monday, December 12, 2005
IRAQI FORCES MISTREATING PRISONERS AGAIN
"... On Nov. 15, soldiers with the Third Infantry Division, charged with controlling Baghdad, entered a (Ministry of Interior) bunker in central Baghdad and found 169 malnourished prisoners, some of them tortured. Most of those prisoners were Sunni Arabs... (on) Dec. 12 American and Iraqi forces raiding an Iraqi government detention center... in Baghdad discovered more than 600 prisoners packed into a cramped space, 13 of them mistreated so badly they had to be taken to a hospital... The detention center... is run by a commando unit from the Interior Ministry, which oversees the country's police forces, said the senior American official, Lt. Col. Guy Rudisill, a spokesman for the American detention system in Iraq".
http://nytimes.com/2005/12/12/international/middleeast/12iraq.html?hp&ex=1134450000&en=1c5afa302c14e8ec&ei=5094&partner=homepage
"... 12 of the 13 men in hospital had suffered torture, including electric shocks and the loss of finger nails.... "Two of them showed me their nails, and they were gone..."
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/4520714.stm
"... On Nov. 15, soldiers with the Third Infantry Division, charged with controlling Baghdad, entered a (Ministry of Interior) bunker in central Baghdad and found 169 malnourished prisoners, some of them tortured. Most of those prisoners were Sunni Arabs... (on) Dec. 12 American and Iraqi forces raiding an Iraqi government detention center... in Baghdad discovered more than 600 prisoners packed into a cramped space, 13 of them mistreated so badly they had to be taken to a hospital... The detention center... is run by a commando unit from the Interior Ministry, which oversees the country's police forces, said the senior American official, Lt. Col. Guy Rudisill, a spokesman for the American detention system in Iraq".
http://nytimes.com/2005/12/12/international/middleeast/12iraq.html?hp&ex=1134450000&en=1c5afa302c14e8ec&ei=5094&partner=homepage
"... 12 of the 13 men in hospital had suffered torture, including electric shocks and the loss of finger nails.... "Two of them showed me their nails, and they were gone..."
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/4520714.stm
Saturday, December 10, 2005
QAEDA-IRAQ LINK OBTAINED BY FOREIGN TORTURE, RECANTED
"The Bush administration based a crucial prewar assertion about ties between Iraq and Al Qaeda on detailed statements made by a prisoner while in Egyptian custody who later said he had fabricated them to escape harsh treatment... The fact that Mr. Libi recanted after the American invasion of Iraq and that intelligence based on his remarks was withdrawn by the C.I.A. in March 2004 has been public for more than a year. But American officials had not previously acknowledged either that (Ibn al-Shaykh al-Libi) made the false statements in foreign custody or that Mr. Libi contended that his statements had been coerced."
http://www.commondreams.org/headlines05/1209-07.htm
"The Bush administration based a crucial prewar assertion about ties between Iraq and Al Qaeda on detailed statements made by a prisoner while in Egyptian custody who later said he had fabricated them to escape harsh treatment... The fact that Mr. Libi recanted after the American invasion of Iraq and that intelligence based on his remarks was withdrawn by the C.I.A. in March 2004 has been public for more than a year. But American officials had not previously acknowledged either that (Ibn al-Shaykh al-Libi) made the false statements in foreign custody or that Mr. Libi contended that his statements had been coerced."
http://www.commondreams.org/headlines05/1209-07.htm
Friday, December 09, 2005
BAGHDAD - THE UNTOLD STORY - BY NBC
"Blogging Baghdad aims to provide a dynamic look at the story behind the story of covering the news in Iraq. Online entries – from text to video blogs – will detail the realities of daily life for ordinary Iraqis, American troops and the media living and working in a 24 hour war zone. Regular contributors include NBC News correspondent Richard Engel, as well as other producers and staff on assignment in Iraq."
http://www.baghdadblog.msnbc.com/
"Blogging Baghdad aims to provide a dynamic look at the story behind the story of covering the news in Iraq. Online entries – from text to video blogs – will detail the realities of daily life for ordinary Iraqis, American troops and the media living and working in a 24 hour war zone. Regular contributors include NBC News correspondent Richard Engel, as well as other producers and staff on assignment in Iraq."
http://www.baghdadblog.msnbc.com/
Thursday, December 08, 2005
U.S. BLAMED FOR FUNDAMENTALIST SHI'ITE DEATH SQUADS
"... Iraqis are coming to fear those bands of men in masks who seem to operate with the Iraqi police... such killing is the work of death squads operating with the Iran-backed Shi'ite forces that dominate the government, and therefore the police... The "death squads" as they have come to be called are getting more active with just a week to go before the December 15 election... "
"... the men... were members of the Shi'ite Badr Organization, a militia affiliated with Abdel Aziz al-Hakim, leader of the Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq (SCIRI)... the Americans have helped bring in new Iran-backed terror. "So many of us are against Iraq being controlled by these fundamental Islamic Iranian loyalists like al-Hakim... Now we are seeing the suffering and ultimate dictatorship they have brought us here with the help of the Americans."
http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/GL09Ak03.html
"... Iraqis are coming to fear those bands of men in masks who seem to operate with the Iraqi police... such killing is the work of death squads operating with the Iran-backed Shi'ite forces that dominate the government, and therefore the police... The "death squads" as they have come to be called are getting more active with just a week to go before the December 15 election... "
"... the men... were members of the Shi'ite Badr Organization, a militia affiliated with Abdel Aziz al-Hakim, leader of the Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq (SCIRI)... the Americans have helped bring in new Iran-backed terror. "So many of us are against Iraq being controlled by these fundamental Islamic Iranian loyalists like al-Hakim... Now we are seeing the suffering and ultimate dictatorship they have brought us here with the help of the Americans."
http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/GL09Ak03.html
CHRISTIAN MISSIONARIES EVANGELIZING IN IRAQ?
"... the Iraqi constitution says that Islam is the religion of state, that the civil parliament cannot pass legislation that contradicts the laws of Islam; and it allows ayatollahs to be put on court benches... Bush implied to his evangelical supporters that they would have a free mission field in Iraq (which they wanted to use then to evangelize the rest of the Muslim world). Any evangelical missionary who shows up in Iraq today may as well just go straight to the studio to record his hostage tape..."
http://www.juancole.com/2005/12/dean-v.html
"... the Iraqi constitution says that Islam is the religion of state, that the civil parliament cannot pass legislation that contradicts the laws of Islam; and it allows ayatollahs to be put on court benches... Bush implied to his evangelical supporters that they would have a free mission field in Iraq (which they wanted to use then to evangelize the rest of the Muslim world). Any evangelical missionary who shows up in Iraq today may as well just go straight to the studio to record his hostage tape..."
http://www.juancole.com/2005/12/dean-v.html
RUMSFELD'S HANDSHAKE DEAL WITH SADDAM VS CURRENT TRIAL
"... A photo of Donald Rumsfeld shaking Saddam's hand on Dec. 20, 1983, is easily available... (but) the initial trial of Saddam and co-defendants is focusing on grisly crimes that occurred the year before Rumsfeld gripped his hand... the methodical torture and murders in Dujail that have been front-paged this week in coverage of the former dictator's trial; they occurred 17 months before Rumsfeld arrived in Baghdad..."
"... The picture has been notably absent from the array of historic images that U.S. media outlets are providing to viewers and readers in coverage of the Saddam Hussein trial. And journalistic mention of Rumsfeld's key role in aiding the Iraqi tyrant has been similarly absent..."
http://www.commondreams.org/views05/1208-34.htm
"... A photo of Donald Rumsfeld shaking Saddam's hand on Dec. 20, 1983, is easily available... (but) the initial trial of Saddam and co-defendants is focusing on grisly crimes that occurred the year before Rumsfeld gripped his hand... the methodical torture and murders in Dujail that have been front-paged this week in coverage of the former dictator's trial; they occurred 17 months before Rumsfeld arrived in Baghdad..."
"... The picture has been notably absent from the array of historic images that U.S. media outlets are providing to viewers and readers in coverage of the Saddam Hussein trial. And journalistic mention of Rumsfeld's key role in aiding the Iraqi tyrant has been similarly absent..."
http://www.commondreams.org/views05/1208-34.htm
Wednesday, December 07, 2005
U.S. MILITARY BUYS IRAQI TV STATION AND NEWSPAPER TO RUN PRO-US REPORTS
"... One unnamed military official told reporters that Baghdad's "Information Operations Task Force" has bought an Iraqi television station and newspaper, which have been running pro-US reports. He would not reveal which ones for fear of insurgent attacks. How unnerving for the increasingly suspicious Iraqi readers..."
http://www.smh.com.au/news/opinion/just-a-change-of-masters-for-iraq-press/2005/12/07/1133829660308.html
"... One unnamed military official told reporters that Baghdad's "Information Operations Task Force" has bought an Iraqi television station and newspaper, which have been running pro-US reports. He would not reveal which ones for fear of insurgent attacks. How unnerving for the increasingly suspicious Iraqi readers..."
http://www.smh.com.au/news/opinion/just-a-change-of-masters-for-iraq-press/2005/12/07/1133829660308.html
BUSH CREATED A THEOCRACY ALLIED TO IRAN
"... The real winners of the January 2005 elections were the Shiite religious parties... the Shiite parties swept to power throughout the south... Shiite militias proliferated and established themselves... (in the) constitution... the Shiites inserted a provision that no legislation could be passed by parliament that contravened the established laws of Islam, and made provisions for Muslim clerics to be appointed to the judiciary... Baghdad (moved) closer to Tehran, seeking warm relations with the clerical rulers of Iran. Shiite power now dominated the eastern stretches of the Middle East. The Bush administration trumpeted its bestowal of democracy in the region, but most Middle Eastern observers saw only the installation of a new Shiite power... Bush has inadvertently strengthened Iran, giving it a new, religious Shiite ally in the Gulf region."
http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/how_bush_created_a_theocracy_in_iraq
"... The real winners of the January 2005 elections were the Shiite religious parties... the Shiite parties swept to power throughout the south... Shiite militias proliferated and established themselves... (in the) constitution... the Shiites inserted a provision that no legislation could be passed by parliament that contravened the established laws of Islam, and made provisions for Muslim clerics to be appointed to the judiciary... Baghdad (moved) closer to Tehran, seeking warm relations with the clerical rulers of Iran. Shiite power now dominated the eastern stretches of the Middle East. The Bush administration trumpeted its bestowal of democracy in the region, but most Middle Eastern observers saw only the installation of a new Shiite power... Bush has inadvertently strengthened Iran, giving it a new, religious Shiite ally in the Gulf region."
http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/how_bush_created_a_theocracy_in_iraq
DEFINITION OF TERRORISM
"... terrorism is only the privatization of war... terrorists are the free marketers of war. They believe that the legitimate use of violence is not the sole prerogative of the State."
--Indian writer and human rights advocate Arundhati Roy in the 2004 City of Sydney Peace Prize Lecture titled Peace and The New Corporate Liberation Theology
http://www.abc.net.au/rn/bigidea/stories/s1232956.htm
"... terrorism is only the privatization of war... terrorists are the free marketers of war. They believe that the legitimate use of violence is not the sole prerogative of the State."
--Indian writer and human rights advocate Arundhati Roy in the 2004 City of Sydney Peace Prize Lecture titled Peace and The New Corporate Liberation Theology
http://www.abc.net.au/rn/bigidea/stories/s1232956.htm
INVASION OF IRAQ A SIGN OF THINGS TO COME
"... The invasion of Iraq will surely go down in history as one of the most cowardly wars ever fought. It was a war in which a band of rich nations, armed with enough nuclear weapons to destroy the world several times over, rounded on a poor nation, falsely accused it of having nuclear weapons, used the United Nations to force it to disarm, then invaded it, occupied it and are now in the process of selling it... it is a sign of things to come. Iraq marks the beginning of a new cycle. It offers us an opportunity to watch the Corporate-Military cabal that has come to be known as 'Empire' at work. In the new Iraq the gloves are off."
--Indian writer and human rights advocate Arundhati Roy in the 2004 City of Sydney Peace Prize Lecture titled Peace and The New Corporate Liberation Theology
http://www.abc.net.au/rn/bigidea/stories/s1232956.htm
"... The invasion of Iraq will surely go down in history as one of the most cowardly wars ever fought. It was a war in which a band of rich nations, armed with enough nuclear weapons to destroy the world several times over, rounded on a poor nation, falsely accused it of having nuclear weapons, used the United Nations to force it to disarm, then invaded it, occupied it and are now in the process of selling it... it is a sign of things to come. Iraq marks the beginning of a new cycle. It offers us an opportunity to watch the Corporate-Military cabal that has come to be known as 'Empire' at work. In the new Iraq the gloves are off."
--Indian writer and human rights advocate Arundhati Roy in the 2004 City of Sydney Peace Prize Lecture titled Peace and The New Corporate Liberation Theology
http://www.abc.net.au/rn/bigidea/stories/s1232956.htm
Tuesday, December 06, 2005
ANOTHER AL-QAEDA NO. 3 MAN KILLED
"... it is faintly perplexing to learn that yet another chap described as "al Qaida's number three" has been killed in Pakistan. How many number threes is that now? In May, US authorities announced they had captured "al Qaida number three" Abu Faraj al Libbi, while, three years ago, Khalid Shaikh Mohammed was nabbed whilst apparently toiling in this same rank. Now it seems the similarly important Abu Hamza Rabia has been killed in Pakistan... each time a number three is captured or killed, another operative steps up to take his place. In which case, you'd have to think whoever is currently number four will today be gripped by a certain reluctance to take on this seemingly accursed promotion. Talk about dead men's shoes..."
hhttp://www.guardian.co.uk/Columnists/Column/0,,1659295,00.htmlere
"... it is faintly perplexing to learn that yet another chap described as "al Qaida's number three" has been killed in Pakistan. How many number threes is that now? In May, US authorities announced they had captured "al Qaida number three" Abu Faraj al Libbi, while, three years ago, Khalid Shaikh Mohammed was nabbed whilst apparently toiling in this same rank. Now it seems the similarly important Abu Hamza Rabia has been killed in Pakistan... each time a number three is captured or killed, another operative steps up to take his place. In which case, you'd have to think whoever is currently number four will today be gripped by a certain reluctance to take on this seemingly accursed promotion. Talk about dead men's shoes..."
hhttp://www.guardian.co.uk/Columnists/Column/0,,1659295,00.htmlere
Monday, December 05, 2005
US ARMY SAYS MAJORITY OF FIGHTERS ARE IRAQI, NOT FOREIGN
"Iraqis, rather than foreign fighters, now form the vast majority of the insurgents who are waging a ferocious guerrilla war against United States forces in Sunni western Iraq, American commanders have revealed. Their conclusion... contradicts the White House message that outsiders are the principal enemy in Iraq..."
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2005/12/04/wirq04.xml&sSheet=/portal/2005/12/04/ixportal.html
"Iraqis, rather than foreign fighters, now form the vast majority of the insurgents who are waging a ferocious guerrilla war against United States forces in Sunni western Iraq, American commanders have revealed. Their conclusion... contradicts the White House message that outsiders are the principal enemy in Iraq..."
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2005/12/04/wirq04.xml&sSheet=/portal/2005/12/04/ixportal.html
U.S. IS ABUSING ITS UN MANDATE IN IRAQ
"... John Pace, human rights chief for the United Nations Assistance Mission in Iraq (UNAMI), said... the US military is abusing its United Nations mandate in Iraq by detaining thousands of people without due process of law... the system, including the pattern, duration and conditions of detention, were "not consistent with what is foreseen in (UN Mandate Resolution) 1546" and complained of a "total breakdown" in individuals' rights..."
http://www.theage.com.au/news/world/america-abusing-mandate-in-iraq/2005/12/05/1133631201911.html
"... John Pace, human rights chief for the United Nations Assistance Mission in Iraq (UNAMI), said... the US military is abusing its United Nations mandate in Iraq by detaining thousands of people without due process of law... the system, including the pattern, duration and conditions of detention, were "not consistent with what is foreseen in (UN Mandate Resolution) 1546" and complained of a "total breakdown" in individuals' rights..."
http://www.theage.com.au/news/world/america-abusing-mandate-in-iraq/2005/12/05/1133631201911.html
UN SAYS SADDAM TRIAL WILL NOT BE FAIR
"The UN said yesterday said that Saddam Hussein's trial would never satisfy international standards because of ongoing violence and flaws in Iraq's legal system..."
http://www.guardian.co.uk/frontpage/story/0,,1657953,00.html
"The UN said yesterday said that Saddam Hussein's trial would never satisfy international standards because of ongoing violence and flaws in Iraq's legal system..."
http://www.guardian.co.uk/frontpage/story/0,,1657953,00.html
TRAINING OF IRAQI FORCES SUFFER SETBACK
"The training of Iraqi security forces has suffered a big "setback" in the last six months, with the army and other forces being increasingly used to settle scores and make other political gains, Iraqi Vice President Ghazi al-Yawer said... Al-Yawer disputed contentions by U.S. officials, including President Bush, that the training of security forces was gathering speed, resulting in more professional troops..."
http://www.commondreams.org/headlines05/1205-08.htm
"The training of Iraqi security forces has suffered a big "setback" in the last six months, with the army and other forces being increasingly used to settle scores and make other political gains, Iraqi Vice President Ghazi al-Yawer said... Al-Yawer disputed contentions by U.S. officials, including President Bush, that the training of security forces was gathering speed, resulting in more professional troops..."
http://www.commondreams.org/headlines05/1205-08.htm
Saturday, December 03, 2005
STATE DEPT REMOVING AMERICAN REPRESENTATIVES ABROAD WHO ARE CRITICAL OF IRAQ POLICY
" The State Department has been using political litmus tests to screen private American citizens before they can be sent overseas to represent the United States, weeding out critics of the Bush administration's Iraq policy... The effort, known as the "U.S. Speakers/Specialist Program," is part of a public diplomacy effort to change negative foreign opinions of the United States. It's overseen by Undersecretary of State Karen Hughes..."
http://www.realcities.com/mld/krwashington/13314542.htm
" The State Department has been using political litmus tests to screen private American citizens before they can be sent overseas to represent the United States, weeding out critics of the Bush administration's Iraq policy... The effort, known as the "U.S. Speakers/Specialist Program," is part of a public diplomacy effort to change negative foreign opinions of the United States. It's overseen by Undersecretary of State Karen Hughes..."
http://www.realcities.com/mld/krwashington/13314542.htm
Friday, December 02, 2005
INSURGENTS NOT THREE GROUPS
"... The Bush administration has long maintained... that the insurgency comprises three elements: disaffected Sunni Arabs, or "rejectionists"; former Hussein government loyalists; and foreign-born terrorists affiliated with Al Qaeda.
"... (but) the single most important fact about the insurgency is that it consists not of a few groups but of dozens, possibly as many as 100. And it is not, as often depicted, a coherent organization whose members dutifully carry out orders from above but a far-flung collection of smaller groups that often act on their own or come together for a single attack... Each is believed to have its own leader and is free to act on its own.
"... American and Iraqi officials agree on the essential structure of the Iraqi insurgency: it is horizontal as opposed to hierarchical, and ad hoc as opposed to unified. There is no center of gravity, no leadership, no hierarchy; they are more a constellation than an organization. They have adopted a structure that assures their longevity."
http://nytimes.com/2005/12/02/international/middleeast/02insurgency.html?ei=5094&en=7ce4d7d46d02679b&hp=&ex=1133586000&adxnnl=1&partner=homepage&adxnnlx=1133529659-NaW5n2BRS214YiTYosqQCg
"... The Bush administration has long maintained... that the insurgency comprises three elements: disaffected Sunni Arabs, or "rejectionists"; former Hussein government loyalists; and foreign-born terrorists affiliated with Al Qaeda.
"... (but) the single most important fact about the insurgency is that it consists not of a few groups but of dozens, possibly as many as 100. And it is not, as often depicted, a coherent organization whose members dutifully carry out orders from above but a far-flung collection of smaller groups that often act on their own or come together for a single attack... Each is believed to have its own leader and is free to act on its own.
"... American and Iraqi officials agree on the essential structure of the Iraqi insurgency: it is horizontal as opposed to hierarchical, and ad hoc as opposed to unified. There is no center of gravity, no leadership, no hierarchy; they are more a constellation than an organization. They have adopted a structure that assures their longevity."
http://nytimes.com/2005/12/02/international/middleeast/02insurgency.html?ei=5094&en=7ce4d7d46d02679b&hp=&ex=1133586000&adxnnl=1&partner=homepage&adxnnlx=1133529659-NaW5n2BRS214YiTYosqQCg
TROOP WITHDRAWALS ERODING COALITION
"... The coalition has steadily unraveled as the death toll rises and angry publics clamor for troops to leave... Two of America's allies in Iraq are withdrawing forces this month and a half-dozen others are debating possible pullouts or reductions... Bulgaria and Ukraine will begin withdrawing their combined 1,250 troops by mid-December. If Australia, Britain, Italy, Japan, Poland and South Korea reduce or recall their personnel, more than half of the non-American forces in Iraq could be gone by next summer... "
http://www.guardian.co.uk/worldlatest/story/0,1280,-5452396,00.html
"... The coalition has steadily unraveled as the death toll rises and angry publics clamor for troops to leave... Two of America's allies in Iraq are withdrawing forces this month and a half-dozen others are debating possible pullouts or reductions... Bulgaria and Ukraine will begin withdrawing their combined 1,250 troops by mid-December. If Australia, Britain, Italy, Japan, Poland and South Korea reduce or recall their personnel, more than half of the non-American forces in Iraq could be gone by next summer... "
http://www.guardian.co.uk/worldlatest/story/0,1280,-5452396,00.html
Thursday, December 01, 2005
KURDS MAKE OIL DEAL WITH NORWAY SEPARATE FROM BAGHDAD GOVERNMENT
"The Kurdistan Democratic Party, which controls a portion of... northern Iraq, last year quietly signed a deal with Norway's DNO to drill for oil... the first involving new exploration in Iraq since the U.S.-led invasion in 2003... In Baghdad, political leaders on Wednesday reacted to the deal with astonishment. "We need to figure out if this is allowed in the constitution," said Adnan Ali Kadhimi, an advisor to Prime Minister Ibrahim Jafari... "This is unprecedented," said Alaa Makki, a leader of the Iraqi Islamic Party, a Sunni Arab group. "It's like they are an independent country. This is Iraqi oil and should be shared with all the Iraqi partners."
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-oildeal1dec01,0,4057840.story?coll=la-home-headlines
"The Kurdistan Democratic Party, which controls a portion of... northern Iraq, last year quietly signed a deal with Norway's DNO to drill for oil... the first involving new exploration in Iraq since the U.S.-led invasion in 2003... In Baghdad, political leaders on Wednesday reacted to the deal with astonishment. "We need to figure out if this is allowed in the constitution," said Adnan Ali Kadhimi, an advisor to Prime Minister Ibrahim Jafari... "This is unprecedented," said Alaa Makki, a leader of the Iraqi Islamic Party, a Sunni Arab group. "It's like they are an independent country. This is Iraqi oil and should be shared with all the Iraqi partners."
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-oildeal1dec01,0,4057840.story?coll=la-home-headlines