U.S EMBRACED SADDAM AFTER HIS CRIME

"... the crimes for which Saddam Hussein was convicted occurred before the United States, in the form of Donald Rumsfeld, embraced him. Those crimes were well known to have occurred 15 months before Rumsfeld visited Iraq to usher in an alliance between the United States and Saddam to defeat Iran..."

http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/20061229_saddam_hussein_executed/

MONTHLY IRAQI DEATH TOLL = TOTAL U.S. DEATH TOLL

"... 3000 Americans dead over nearly four years? Really? That's the number of dead Iraqis in less than a month. The Americans had families? Too bad. So do we. So do the corpses in the streets and the ones waiting for identification in the morgue..."
http://riverbendblog.blogspot.com/2006_12_01_riverbendblog_archive.html#116738820591750213

IRAQ TODAY

"... 2006 has been, decidedly, the worst year yet... A day in the life of the average Iraqi has been reduced to identifying corpses, avoiding car bombs and attempting to keep track of which family members have been detained, which ones have been exiled and which ones have been abducted... What does America possibly gain by damaging Iraq to this extent?... Al Qaeda? That's laughable. Bush has effectively created more terrorists in Iraq these last 4 years than Osama could have created in 10 different terrorist camps in the distant hills of Afghanistan. Our children now play games of 'sniper' and 'jihadi', pretending that one hit an American soldier between the eyes and this one overturned a Humvee.... Why make things worse by insisting on Saddam's execution now? Who gains if they hang Saddam? Iran, naturally, but who else? There is a real fear that this execution will be the final blow that will shatter Iraq..."
http://riverbendblog.blogspot.com/2006_12_01_riverbendblog_archive.html#116738820591750213

SADDAM EXECUTION TO DESTABILIZE IRAQ

"Saddam Execution Set to Destabilise Iraq Further... Compared with the present scenario, many Iraqis have begun to see the Saddam days as a "golden time"... Iraqis felt proud of his policies against Iranian and American arrogance and greed. He managed to feed his people and provide them with security and basic services despite all the wars they fought, and the UN sanctions against Iraq."
http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=36010

TRANSCRIPTS OF SADDAM EXECUTION

"... The execution took place... with a view to enraging Sunni Muslims against Shiite Muslims... as a psychological weapon, to usher in sectarian violence and division throughout the Middle East... The translated transcripts of Saddam Hussein’s last words, which had been scrupulously manipulated and distorted, were fed into the global news chain... Presented below is the Global Research translation from the Arabic original audio-video believed to have been recorded on a cell phone. Also presented for purposes of comparison are several other “translations” from the same Arabic original..."
http://www.rinf.com/columnists/news/saddam-hussein%e2%80%99s-last-words-what-the-media-has-deliberately-concealed

BASRA 2006 LIKE 2003

"... This week began with a story of British and Iraqi soldiers storming a police station that hid a secret dungeon in Basra. More than 100 men, many of them viciously tortured, were rescued from almost certain execution. It might have been a story from the final days of Baathist rule in March 2003, when British and U.S. troops entered Basra believing they were liberating the subjugated Shiite south. But it was December 2006, and the wretched men being liberated were prisoners of the new Iraqi Shiite authorities..."
http://www.iht.com/articles/2006/12/29/opinion/edsaddam.php

BAATHIST PARTY TO TARGET U.S. EVERYWHERE IF SADDAM EXECUTED

"Saddam Hussein has vowed to go the gallows as a "martyr"... Saddam’s Baath Party... threatened retaliation if the execution went ahead, warning in an internet posting that it would target US interests anywhere..."
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/printFriendly/0,,1-3-2520408-3,00.html

PRESIDENT FORD AGAINST IRAQ WAR

"Former president Gerald R. Ford said in an embargoed interview in July 2004 that the Iraq war was not justified... Ford "very strongly" disagreed with the current president's justifications for invading Iraq and said he would have pushed alternatives, such as sanctions, much more vigorously..."
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/12/27/AR2006122701558_pf.html

U.S. CONSIDERING RECRUITING IMIGRANTS FROM OVERSEAS

"... With severe manpower strains because of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan... The armed forces... are considering expanding the number of noncitizens in the ranks -- including disputed proposals to open recruiting stations overseas and putting more immigrants on a faster track to US citizenship if they volunteer..."
http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2006/12/26/military_considers_recruiting_foreigners/

U.S. TO COMMIT HARI-KARI BY SURGE

"... the U.S. military is about to commit hara-kiri by "surge"... once an "all or nothing" offensive like the "surge" apparently contemplated has begun, there is no turning back. It will be "victory" over the insurgents and the Shiite militias or palpable defeat, recognizable by all in Iraq and across the world..."

"It will be a matter of win or die in the attempt... (troops) will commit every ounce of their being to "victory" and few measures will be shrunk from.... It will be total war with the likelihood of all the excesses and mass casualties that come with total war."

http://www.commondreams.org/views06/1224-22.htm

IRAQ AL-QAEDA OFFERS U.S. A SAFE EXIT

"... an al-Qaeda-backed group has offered US forces safe withdrawal from Iraq within a month if they left their heavy weapons behind... (they) claimed that Washington had tried to open a channel of negotiation with (their) group through the Saudi government. But... (they) rejected the initiative (saying) "The giant has started to fall. It is looking for an escape and seeking to negotiate with all the other groups and parties..."
http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/618367A6-71F9-43D8-BEC4-1D14DE93345E.htm

DOUBLE-DOWN SURGE OF 50,000 TROOPS PLANNED

"... the No 1 issue... in early January is the White House's apparent "urge to surge" as many as 50,000 new troops into Iraq for up to two years in a last-ditch effort to claim... "victory"... it represents one final effort by neo-conservatives to convince the president that, by "doubling down" on his gamble on Iraq, he can still leave the table a winner and "transform" the entire Middle East... the former chief Middle East analyst at the Pentagon's Defense Intelligence Agency... warned that... it would likely lead to "Stalingrad on the Tigris".
http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/HL22Ak01.html

FALLUJAH HOSPITAL RAIDED, CLOSED

"... U.S. soldiers raided the (Fallujah General Hospital ) "as if it were a military target"... kicking open doors and blasting locked ones... Doctors and medical staff were arrested and insulted, and some were called terrorists, witnesses said. The hospital was then closed... Lt. Col. Bryan Salas, spokesperson for the Multi-National Forces in Iraq, told reporters: "Coalition forces searched the hospital to ensure that it continues to be a safe place for the citizens of Fallujah to receive the medical treatment they deserve."
http://ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=35847

PLAN FOR NEW IRAQI GOVERNMENT - NATIONAL SALVATION FRONT NSF - FAILS

December 21
"Iraq's national reconciliation conference held on the weekend highlights the gap between the country's various political groups and their lack of consensus on a common basis for reconciliation..."
http://ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=35902

December 4
"A number of Iraqi political groups are planning to announce a broad national front in the next few days aiming to correct the falling political process... the National Salvation Front that will be announced soon will include the National Dialogue Front, the National Iraqi List led by Allawi, the Reconciliation and Liberation Front led by Meshaan alJuburi, and the Sadr movement... the front will work to set a timetable (or time limit) for the U.S. presence in Iraq, which is an important condition that will convince the Iraqi resistance to stop fighting... the NSF will take over the current Iraqi government either by pulling out from the current parliament and creating a new government, or through holding an international conference..."
--Raed in the Middle, December 4, 2006
http://raedinthemiddle.blogspot.com/

SCHOOLS IN IRAQ

"Two in three children in Iraq have simply stopped going to school... a mere 30 percent of Iraq's 3.5 million students are currently attending classes. This compares to roughly 75 percent of students who were attending classes the previous year... Just before the U.S.-led invasion in spring 2003, school attendance was nearly 100 percent...

"... Education today presents a quite different picture... Contracts have been handed out for refurbishment (of schools)... (but) "they just paint the walls and fix some cheap accessories to collect their cash, and go."

http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=35884

IRAQ OIL LOSES $700 MILLION PER MONTH, NEEDS $80 BILLION TO FIX

"... Iraq is producing about 2 million barrels per day, down from 2.6 million barrels before the war, despite having the third-largest reserves in the world. It exports about 1.7 million bpd... (but) a growing petroleum smuggling racket... is draining chances of rebuilding after nearly four years of war... With nearly its entire federal budget dependent on oil revenues, the $700 million a month the Oil Ministry estimates is lost to oil and petroleum products smuggling is a major loss... Iraq's electricity and oil infrastructure -- which also depend on each other -- need at least $80 billion to fix..."
http://www.upi.com/Energy/view.php?StoryID=20061212-081324-7320r

ISG REPORT NOT AN EXIT STRATEGY

"... the ISG report is not an "exit strategy"; it is a new plan for achieving the Bush administration's imperial goals in the Middle East... As its report states: "We agree with the goal of US policy in Iraq" ... the report essentially demands that the Iraqi government pursue policies shaped to serve "America's interest and values in the years ahead"... is more likely a threat of a coup d'etat than a withdrawal strategy - a threat that the facade of democracy would be stripped away and a "strong man" (or a government of "national salvation") installed..."
http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/HL16Ak08.html

HOSTAGES SEIZED AS SENATORS McCAIN AND LIEBERMAN VISIT GREEN ZONE

"Scores of Baghdad businessmen kidnapped by heavily-armed gang as US senators John McCain and Joe Lieberman visit Green Zone... Around 100 gunmen in police uniforms brandishing rifles and Glock pistols issued by the US military to Iraqi forces went from shop to shop Thursday, Dec. 14, stealing cash and seizing hostages. The two influential senators called for another 15-30,000 troops to be sent to Iraq..."
--DEBKAfile (Israel), Friday, December 15, 2006
http://www.debka.com/index.php

ISG BAKER REPORT REALLY ABOUT STAYING NOT WITHDRAWING

"Most striking is the report's 21st (of 79) recommendations, aimed at describing what the United States should do if the Iraqis fail to satisfactorily fulfill the many tasks that the ISG has set for them (which says:)

"If the Iraqi government does not make substantial progress toward the achievement of milestones on national reconciliation, security, and governance, the United States should reduce its political, military, or economic support for the Iraqi government."

"... this passage is more likely a threat of a coup d'état than a withdrawal strategy -- a threat that the façade of democracy would be stripped away and a "strong man" (or a government of "national salvation") installed, one that the Bush administration or the ISG believes could bring the Sunni rebellion to heel..."

http://www.commondreams.org/views06/1213-30.htm


"... while the ISG would be filled with notable movers and shakers from numerous previous administrations, no one on it, nor any expert "team" advising it would represent the one point of view that a majority of Americans have by now come to support -- actual withdrawal of all U.S. forces from Iraq on a set timeline..."
http://www.commondreams.org/views06/1213-29.htm

TOO LATE TO BUILD IRAQI ARMY

"... It may be too late to count on building an Iraqi army to defend and hold a unified Iraq together, and the American presence itself is a major incentive for insurgency. Iraqi soldiers fighting in the service of a puppet government will seem like puppets even to themselves, and their very association with the US occupation limits their effectiveness. They will be branded as collaborators in the pay of infidels. I am haunted by the remark Iraqi soldiers made..."We know we are bad Muslims but we need the money."
http://www.boston.com/news/globe/editorial_opinion/oped/articles/2006/12/12/bushs_sinking_ship_of_fools/

IRAQ WAR: $450 BILLION SPENT OFF-BUDGET

"... the almost fraudulent way in which the war is financed. The $450 billion spent so far on the Iraq and Afghanistan military operations has not come out of the regular Pentagon budget. It has been treated instead as an “emergency”—and still is, more than three years into the conflict in Iraq and two years after the government of Hamid Karzai took the reins in Afghanistan.

"The spending isn’t subject to the usual reviews by congressional committees meant to find error, waste, duplication and other budgetary funny business. The Republican-run House rarely even held hearings on these “emergency” billions before they zoomed to approval. Since no offsetting spending reductions were made—and taxes weren’t raised—the tab became part of the federal government’s long-term debt....

"Congress earlier this year demanded that Bush stop paying for the wars with emergency spending bills. The president, in one of his signing statements, effectively said he would ignore the instruction..."

http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/20061211_marie_cocco_fraudulently_financed_war/