Free Iraq

"Bush called the Iraqi election "a turning point in the history of Iraq, a milestone in the advance of freedom [sic] crucial advance in the war on terror."
At the same time, however, his advisers have downplayed the importance of Sunday's vote by calling it just the first step toward a new Iraqi constitution and fully elected leadership.
The White House is keenly watching the Iraqi election because it could affect U.S. military action there and sap President Bush's political strength here and abroad if the balloting doesn't lead to stability."
White House Has High Stake in Iraqi Vote January 29, 2005

This is as stable as you can get


PS: "In the run-up to Iraq's elections, the State Department's spokesman this week ticked off the final markers of progress: 130 planeloads of voting materials had landed in Iraq, including 90,000 ballot boxes and 60 million ballots — a flurry of up to 15 flights a day to Iraqi airfields."
U.S. nervously awaits Iraqi elections January 29, 2005
There are about 25 million Iraqis, and about 15 million of them are elligible to vote (many are indeed boycotting it).
What will they be doing with the extra 45 million ballots?

"Very early in the occupation of Iraq, the Bush administration recognized that a democratic Iraq, even a stridently anti-Saddam one, would not countenance the strategic U.S. goals the war was fought for: controlling the second-largest oil reserves in an energy-thirsty world, and establishing military bases required for undertaking the political transformation of the Middle East to serve American interests.
A long-term occupation to secure these ambitious goals was no less tenable.So even as the Americans proclaimed their mission as one designed to introduce democracy and human rights in Iraq, they fought against demands for early elections even from putative allies like the Shiite Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani. They also maneuvered to put into place a self-governance and electoral plan that, through carefully circumscribed United Nations involvement, they thought would ensure that the hand-picked Iraqi leadership would enjoy some legitimacy, with the elections scheduled for Sunday providing an added boost of Shiite support.
But as this blood-stained election shows, the complete breakdown of this plan has been one of the most colossal U.S. policy failures of the last half-century. Indeed, this is not an election that any democratic nation, or indeed any independent international electoral organization, would recognize as legitimate."
Iraq: This election is a sham January 28, 2005

"We must withdraw our military from Iraq, the sooner the better. The reason is simple: Our presence there is a disaster for the American people and an even bigger disaster for the Iraqi people. ... It is a strange logic to declare, as so many inWashington do, that it was wrong for us to invade Iraq but right for us to remain. ... A recent New York Times editorial sums up the situation accurately: "Some 21 months after the American invasion, United States military forces remain essentially alone in battling what seems to be a growing insurgency, with no clear prospect of decisive success any time in the foreseeable future.'' And then, in an extraordinary non sequitur: "Given the lack of other countries willing to put up their handsas volunteers, the only answer seems to be more American troops, and not just through the spring, as currently planned. . . . Forces need to be expanded through stepped-up recruitment.
... Here is the flawed logic: We are alone in the world in this invasion. The insurgency is growing. There is no visible prospect of success. Therefore, let's send more troops?
... The definition of fanaticism is that when you discover that you are going in the wrong direction, your double your speed."
Support Our Troops: Bring Them Home January 22, 2005

Where are the weapons of mass destruction?
Who are the insurgents and are they linked to al-qa'ida?
Where is the anti-war alliance now?
Do iraqis feel liberated?
Is Iyad Allawi, the interim prime minister, a us puppet?
Is the UN relevant any longer?
Will the kurds try for statehood?
How long will the soldiers stay?
Is there a humanitarian crisis?
How many died in the war?
Was the war legal?
Did the allies stick to the Geneva conventions?
Did bush's cronies get the biggest contracts?
Has the Rumsfeld doctrine been vindicated?
Is this the first step to reordering the middle east?
What about Saddam?
Does growing Shia power mean an increase in Iranian influence in Iraq?
What was the war really about?
Astonishingly, two years on there is no clear answer. The Bush White House claimed the invasion was to get rid of Saddam's weapons of mass destruction, and destroy a regime that was linked to terrorism. When the WMD failed to materialise, the war was justified (on legally shaky grounds) as a mission to remove an odious and repressive regime, the first step in a democratic transformation of the Middle East.
In truth, Iraq was at the top of the administration's hit list long before 9/11. The neo-conservatives in charge of US security policy had been calling for Saddam's overthrow for five years or more. This they argued, would give the US a new strategic base in the Gulf to replace Saudi Arabia. It would place the region's second oil producer firmly within the US orbit. It would step up the pressure on Iran, meeting a longstanding desire of Israel. Finally, there is a family factor: did Bush the son invade to finish the job started by Bush the father? Somewhere in this mixture of fear, grand strategy and blinkered ideology lies the explanation for the war.
Is the world safer now? January 28, 2005
(This is a very well researched document of facts we all recognize. Most of the facts behind what happened is brilliantly researched and put together.
This is a good document for history [and posterity] and for those who will still be around to witness the end of this trauma, if it will come.
Yahya Al-Witri)

Look, we have to .........


After the Democratic Elections (swipe Rice for Powell)


While by the way...

Guess who is (sorry, who is going to be) the next Iraqi Prime Minister?

Kindly refer to "Oil-for-Food is now Oil-for-Grease" of December 27, 2004 posting on this blog

"The story today is going to be very discouraging to the American people. I understand that. We value life. And we weep and mourn when soldiers lose their life," Bush said.
"The notion somehow we're not making progress I just don't subscribe to. I mean, we're having elections," he said.
.....
"There won't be instant democracy," Bush said.
Bush Uses American Deaths to Promote Iraq Agenda January 27, 2005

I wholeheartedly agree with the above two lines,
and it is the first time that I agree with a statement from Bush.

Especially when "Elections don’t make democracies. Democracies make elections." Edwin Black ,

And "It is enough that the people know there was an election. The people who cast the votes decide nothing. The people who count the votes decide everything." Josef Stalin

"They can block the whole city and people cannot move," says a man speaking to me on condition of anonymity, "The city is dead, the people are dead. For what? For these forced elections!"
Here comes "The Freedom" January 27, 2005

Come on out and vote ........................Now where are those 'liberated' Iraqi voters?


Does this look like a forced election?

"President Bush urged Iraqis to defy terrorists and vote in Sunday's election, and sought patience from anxious Americans as a Marine helicopter crash on Wednesday pushed the U.S. death toll above 1,400.
"The story today is going to be very discouraging to the American people," Bush said on the deadliest day for U.S. forces since the Iraq war began. "I understand that. It is the long-term objective that is vital - that is to spread freedom."
Bush Urges Iraqis to Vote January 26, 2005

"Prof. Shawket Daoud, a computer science specialist who now works for the government, said uncertainty over polling booths and the fear of violence was not the only problem. ”Why vote when we don't even know who is running yet?” More than 7,000 candidates on the electoral lists have opted to remain anonymous prior to polling day."
Vote Where, How, and for Whom? January 26, 2005

Spreading ............That is not Paint. It is Blood.


An Iraqi standing by a poster urging him to vote

"U.S. President George W. Bush will ask Congress for another $80 billion for the war in Iraq, bringing the price tag for that invasion and ongoing operations in Afghanistan close to $300 billion, six times the original White House estimate. (my italics)
The total is well beyond the estimate of $200 billion (U.S.) put forward by onetime White House economic adviser Larry Lindsey — subsequently dismissed for his forecast — and is the number Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld once derided as "baloney" on network television."

"It also conceded the spiralling costs were the result of an Iraqi insurgency that has surpassed all U.S. estimates in its size and commitment."
U.S. tab for war closes in on $300B January 26, 2005

So let us see:

- They lied to their own people about the reasons for occupying Iraq.
- They miscalculated the money required to subjugate it.
- They misjudged the Iraqi people's affront to their being occupied, and their intent on ending it, sooner rather than later.

Now, did they correctly 'estimate' their spreading of Freedom and Liberty?
(see posting above).

Pray, Bush.... And pray hard.

The real Baloney

"The Marines constantly debated the morality of what they were engaged in. A sergeant in the platoon told me he had consulted with his priest about killing. The priest had told him it was all right to kill for his government so long as he didn't enjoy it. By the time the unit reached the outskirts of Baghdad, this sergeant was certain he had already killed at least four men. When his battalion commander praised the unit for "slaying dragons" on the way to Baghdad, the sergeant later told his men, "If we did half the shit back home we've done here, we'd be in prison." By then, the sergeant told me, he'd reconsidered what his priest had told him about killing. "Where the fuck did Jesus say it's OK to kill people for your government? Any priest who tells me that has got no credibility."
Marines call executing wounded combatants "dead-checking."
"What does the American public think happens when they tell us to assault a city?" one of them said. "Marines don't shoot rainbows out of our asses. We fucking kill people."
Dead-Check in Falluja November 24-30, 2004

Robot soldier
Can be fitted with standard-issue M249 or M240 rifle
Has four cameras, night-vision and zoom lenses
Can travel over rocks and barbed wire
Batteries run for up to 4 hours at a time
Remote control unit has two joysticks and video screen
Costs $200,000 (£106,757) per unit
Eighteen of the 1m-high robots, equipped with cameras and operated by remote control, are going to Iraq this spring, the Associated Press reports.
The machine is based on a robot already used by the military to disable bombs.
Officials say the robot warrior is fast, accurate and will track and attack the enemy with relatively little risk to the lives of US soldiers.
Unlike its human counterparts, the armed robot does not require food, clothing, training, motivation or a pension."
US plans 'robot troops' for Iraq January 23, 2005

With zero-tolerance for 'collateral damage',
And it comes loaded with morality, with a bible dangling from its belly button.

How is my invading?

"When it comes to President George W Bush and books, the most enduring image remains that of his reading My Pet Goat to a class of primary school children as planes flew into the World Trade Center on 11 September 2001.
But Mr Bush is hoping that another publication will come to define his second term in office.
The commander-in-chief has been actively promoting the latest work by former Soviet Jewish dissident - and Israeli politician - Natan Sharansky, recommending it as a must-read for those who want to grasp his own world view.
In his book, Mr Sharansky echoes many of the president's favourite themes, likening the fight against terrorism to the struggle with Nazism and communism, and describing a world "divided between those who are prepared to confront evil and those who are willing to appease it".
"I am convinced that all peoples desire to be free," Sharansky writes. "I am convinced that freedom anywhere will make the world safer everywhere. And I am convinced that democratic nations, led by the United States, have a critical role to play in expanding freedom around the globe."
"The best hope for peace in our world is the expansion of freedom in all the world" George W Bush
"Freedom anywhere will make the world safer everywhere" Natan Sharansky
Bush's new book for a new term January 21, 2005

... Although he gained worldwide attention in the 1970s as a Soviet dissident and "human rights activist," Sharansky emigrated to Israel and soon emerged as one Israel's most outspoken hard-line extremist leaders who damns even Israel's heavy-handed Prime Minister Ariel Sharon as being "too soft" on the Palestinian Christians and Muslims.
... Bush himself told The Washington Times in an interview published on January 12 - even prior to his inauguration: "If you want a glimpse of how I think about foreign policy, read Natan Sharansky's book, The Case for Democracy. It's a great book."
An Israeli Fanatic Is 'Bush's Brain' January 22, 2005

Birds of a feather fly (and will fall) together.

A take on the Inaugural Speech
http://www.prisonplanet.com/articles/january2005/220105perspective.htm

Delivering ...................................Freedom Laden


'Swearing" (aside from Israel)... while 'I do solemnly swear' and do pray for ....


What did you complain about?

I have updated the December 24, 2004 posting
"Fallujah has not been taken" with the following line:

The Resistance have withdrawn from Fallujah after three months of fighting. January 23, 2005 (In Arabic).

This news item in English is:
Resistance Proclaims Victory In Fallujah, Fighters Allocated To New Locations
January 24, 2005

PS: Today is January 25, 2005.

Would one wonder why this news item, relevant as it is, is not mentioned in any 'mainstream media'?

I believe that there are two reasons for this anomaly:

First, is that the numbers of claimed US dead soldiers, as reported in the above withdrawal report, does vary widely than the numbers of dead and wounded American soldiers in and around Fallujah (they have been reporting the location of the dead casualties with the short hand acronym of Al-Anbar province, which is nearly one fifth the size of Iraq and does include both Fallujah and Ramadi) that are publicly reported by Dept of Defence and CENTCOM (after 24 hours of death and after breaking the sad news to their families, of course).

With 50-70 attacks daily, as has often been admitted by American generals in Iraq, and yet only one or two US soldiers, on the average, are reported to be affected daily? .... I do beg to differ also.

Secondly, the 'mainstream media' has been clamoring for a couple of months now that it took the American forces just one to two weeks to 'break the back' of the Fallujah insurgency. So what was really happening in Fallujah during the past three months if they report this? Aside from its near total 'liberated' destruction.

"The New York Times reported that "Residents trickling back to Falluja . . . enter a desolate world of skeletal buildings, tank-blasted homes, weeping power lines and severed palm trees. Sullen and anxious, tens of thousands of residents have passed through stringent checkpoints to find out . . . whether their homes and shops were reduced to rubble or merely ransacked . . . people have to file through huge coils of razor wire and a gantlet of armed marines to pick up their supplies. On the road . . . Lt. Col Patrick Malay . . . watched the scene with satisfaction. "This is how I like it, just like Disneyland," he said. "Orderly lines and people leave with a smile on their face"."
Iraq as Disneyland January 25, 2005

"As part of sweeping "economic restructuring" implemented by the Bush Administration in Iraq, Iraqi farmers will no longer be permitted to save their seeds, which include seeds the Iraqis themselves have developed over hundreds of years. Instead, they will be forced to buy seeds from US corporations. That is because in recent years, transnational corporations have patented and now own many seed varieties originated or developed by indigenous peoples. In a short time, Iraq will be living under the new American credo:
Pay Monsanto, or starve.

"The American Administrator of the Iraqi CPA (Coalition Provisional Authority) government, Paul Bremer, updated Iraq's intellectual property law to 'meet current internationally-recognized standards of protection'.
The updated law makes saving seeds for next year's harvest, practiced by 97% of Iraqi farmers in 2002, and is the standard farming practice for thousands of years across human civilizations, to be now illegal.. Instead, farmers will have to obtain a yearly license for genetically modified (GM) seeds from American corporations. These GM seeds have typically been modified from seeds developed over thousands of generations by indigenous farmers like the Iraqis, and shared freely like agricultural 'open source.'"
Iraq law Requires Seed Licenses November 13, 2004

"According to Order 81, paragraph 66 - [B], issued by L. Paul Bremer [CFR], the people in Iraq are now prohibited from saving seeds and may only plant seeds for their food from licensed, authorized U.S. distributors.
The paragraph states, "Farmers shall be prohibited from re-using seeds of protected varieties or any variety mentioned in items 1 and 2 of paragraph [C] of Article 14 of this chapter."
Written in massively intricate legalese, Order 81 directs the reader at Article 14, paragraph 2 [C] to paragraph [B] of Article 4, which states any variety that is different from any other known variety may be registered in any country and become a protected variety of seed - thus defaulting it into the "protected class" of seeds and prohibiting the Iraqis from reusing them the following season. Every year, the Iraqis must destroy any seed they have, and repurchase seeds from an authorized supplier, or face fines, penalties and/or jail time. "
Iraqis Can't Save Seed January 19, 2005

The original article on this topic: Iraqi farmers aren't celebrating October 15, 2004

As per an Iraqi proverb, the day will come, sooner rather than later, when the Iraqis will shred Bremer’s Laws, soak them in water and offer the glass to Bremer to drink.

Riverbend - We've given up on democracy, security and even electricity. Just bring back the water. January 22, 2005

Bleak Eid...
It's the third day of Eid. Eid is the Islamic holiday and usually it’s a time for families to get together, eat, drink and celebrate. Not this Eid. This Eid is unbearable. We managed a feeble gathering on the first day and no one was in a celebratory mood. There have been several explosions- some far and some near but even those aren't as worrisome as the tension that seems to be growing on a daily basis.
There hasn’t been a drop of water in the faucets for six days. six days. Even at the beginning of the occupation, when the water would disappear in the summer, there was always a trickle that would come from one of the pipes in the garden. Now, even that is gone. We’ve been purchasing bottles of water (the price has gone up) to use for cooking and drinking. Forget about cleaning. It’s really frustrating because everyone cleans house during Eid. It’s like a part of the tradition. The days leading up to Eid are a frenzy of mops, brooms, dusting rags and disinfectant. The cleaning makes one feel like there's room for a fresh start. It's almost as if the house and its inhabitants are being reborn. Not this year. We’re managing just enough water to rinse dishes with. To bathe, we have to try to make-do with a few liters of water heated in pots on kerosene heaters.
Water is like peace - you never really know just how valuable it is until someone takes it away. It’s maddening to walk up to the sink, turn one of the faucets and hear the pipes groan with nothing. The toilets don’t function… the dishes sit piled up until two of us can manage to do them- one scrubbing and rinsing and the other pouring the water.
Why is this happening? Is it because of the electricity? If it is, we should at least be getting water a couple of hours a day- like before. Is it some sort of collective punishment leading up to the elections? It’s unbelievable. At first, I thought it was just our area but I’ve been asking around and apparently, almost all of the areas (if not all) are suffering this drought.
I’m sure people outside of the country are shaking their heads at the words ‘collective punishment’. “No, Riverbend,” they are saying, “That’s impossible.” But anything is possible these days. People in many areas are being told that if they don’t vote- Sunnis and Shia alike- the food and supply rations we are supposed to get monthly will be cut off. We’ve been getting these rations since the beginning of the nineties and for many families, it’s their main source of sustenance. What sort of democracy is it when you FORCE people to go vote for someone or another they don’t want?
Allawi’s people were passing out pamphlets a few days ago. I went out to the garden to check the low faucet, hoping to find a trickle of water and instead, I found some paper crushed under the garden gate. Upon studying it, it turned out to be some sort of “Elect Allawi” pamphlet promising security and prosperity, amongst other things, for occupied Iraq. I'd say it was a completely useless pamphlet but that isn't completely true. It fit nicely on the bottom of the cage of E.'s newly acquired pet parakeet.
They say the borders are closed with Jordan and possibly Syria. I also heard yesterday that people aren't being let into Baghdad. They have American check-points on the main roads leading into the city and they say that the cars are being turned back to wherever they came from. It's a bad situation and things are looking very bleak at this point.
It's amazing how as things get worse, you begin to require less and less. We have a saying for that in Iraq, "Ili yishoof il mawt, yirdha bil iskhooneh." Which means, "If you see death, you settle for a fever." We've given up on democracy, security and even electricity. Just bring back the water. "
=====

I have had the following story hanging before me since three days ago, but refrained from posting it because I could not (and still can not) find it on the Internet: (The first comment below found the link, thanks.)

No water in Baghdad
By Luke Baker
BAGHDAD, Jan 20 (Reuters) - Just when the people of Baghdad thought things couldn't get much worse, they did.
For the past five days, most of the city -- particularly the western districts -- has been without water.
Added to a lack of electricity -- the national grid is off more than it's on -- a crumbling mobile phone network, endless lines to get fuel and a daily dose of bombs and mortars, it has made it next to impossible to even think about coming elections.
"This is everyone's biggest problem," said Alaadin Saad, 32, a father of two who lives in the southwest district of Saidiya.
"We haven't had water for nearly a week. We used up all our reserves and now I haven't had a shower for three days."
There has been no explanation for the crisis, which has provoked such anger and frustration that one Iraqi called a news agency demanding that something be done.
Insurgents are suspected of attacking a water mains outside the city several days ago, cutting off supplies, but the U.S.military had no immediate information on such an attack.
In the absence of hard information, rumour and speculation often run riot in Iraq.
Some Baghdadis believe the Iraqi government and U.S. military have cut off the water on purpose to frustrate people and prompt them to vote in the Jan. 30 election.
Others take the water shortage as yet another sign that the U.S. occupation brought them nothing but problems.
"Nothing works -- there's no power, no water, no fuel, no phone service. It's a disaster," said Namidh, a security guard who said his family had been without water for a week.

DIGGING FOR WATER
A spokesman for the public works ministry had no explanation for the crisis and referred callers to the mayor's office. No one was reachable at Baghdad city hall as Thursday is an
important Muslim feast day.
The crisis has left many families unable to cook, wash or bathe and also caused illness, some say. A police source said around 300 people were taken to hospital in west Baghdad this week with stomach problems or similar ailments and complaining of having been "poisoned".
Officials at Yarmouk hospital, one of Baghdad's main clinics, said they had had no major increase in patients suffering from water-borne diseases like cholera, but other hospitals were not immediately reachable for comment.
A Health Ministry official also played down fears of a cholera outbreak but said disease could rise if the water crisis was not resolved soon. "There will be health problems if we don't sort this out," he said.
In some areas there is absolutely no water, in others, a trickle for a few hours a day. The shortages have become the main talking point in a city of around five million people already beset by difficulties.
The election, just 10 days away and expected to bring its own set of problems amid fears of a surge in violence, has taken a backseat to the need to find a water source in a country that is mostly desert but also has two of the world's major rivers.
Some have taken to digging wells in the back garden in the hope of striking water. Those that get lucky are now supplying the neighbourhood. "People are lined up all day to get water from our well," said Badia Yaseen, a driver.
REUTERS

It is with great sadness that I now again post in sorrow my mental image of Riverbend.

"MR. RUSSERT: During the 2000 campaign you were on the program when we were talking about the Persian Gulf War and looking back and I asked whether you had any regrets about taking Saddam out at that time. And you said no. And then you added this, and I want to talk about it. Let’s watch:
(Videotape, August 27, 2000):
MR. CHENEY: Conversations I had with leaders in the region afterwards, they all supported the decision that was made not to go to Baghdad. They were concerned that we not get into a position where we shifted, instead of being the leader of an international coalition to roll back Iraqi aggression, to one in which we were an imperialist power willy-nilly moving into capitals in that part of the world taking down governments.
(End videotape)
MR. RUSSERT: “Imperialist power,” “moving willy-nilly,” “taking down governments.” Is that how we’re going to be perceived this time?
VICE PRES. CHENEY: Well, I hope not, Tim. " (my italics)
Interview with Vice-President Dick Cheney, NBC, "Meet the Press," Transcript for March 16, 2003

Yeah, right ! .... (White House Scraps 'Coalition of the Willing' List January 21, 2005)

"When pressed on mistakes he had made over Iraq, Mr Cheney said he had "miscalculated" the speed of the country's recovery. This he blamed on the brutality Saddam Hussein had wielded against his own people, emphasising in particular the suppression of the Kurdish and Shia uprisings that followed the 1991 Gulf war. "The brutality that he used in 1991 to put down the revolt at the time I think just had devastating consequences in terms of the ability of the Iraqi people to recover from his rule," he said. "It's taken a very long time for them to come back, to take control of their own affairs... I think the hundreds of thousands of people, literally, that were slaughtered during that period of time, including anybody who had the gumption to stand up and challenge him, made the situation tougher than I would have thought."
Cheney 'misjudged' Iraq recovery January 20, 2005

American intelligent 'Intelligence' unfortunately failed yet again to enlighten Cheney by misreading the mind of the Iraqi people and for not realizing their lack of gumption.

Ergo, it is not the misinformation and lies concerning Iraqi WMDs or the lack of ties to Al-Qaida; it is the fault of the Iraqi people themselves for not accomodating Cheney in being in the correct mind-set, after 13 years of criminal US imposed economic sanctions, to welcome the American occupation and open their hearts and minds to their bombing with American Freedom and Democracy.
As the Arabic proverb goes: "The excuse is worse than the crime", in this case a war crime.

And perhaps one should take a closer look at Cheney's own 'gumption':

The Unauthorized Biography of Dick Cheney CBC-TV October 6, 2004

Aside from his favorite 'Intelligence' source on Iraqi sentiments

The photographs, shown by most major Western and Arab main stream media that accompany news stories on Iraq's illegal occupation, are neutered in their message.

They usually portray soldiers standing with their weapons in hand, or a destroyed vehicle.

They do not reflect the reality and horrors of war.

You neither hear the sounds nor see the blood:

US Losses - Photos Hidden By US News Media

Crisis Pictures

Caring for the Wounded in Iraq- A Photo Essay

Marking the first year of occupation of Iraq

The Face of War and click on the images on the left column to view the whole gallery.

This is War

Videos documenting "brave" US soldiers killing wounded Iraqis:

Take No Prisoners - U.S. Marines execute an Iraqi to the cheers of fellow marines . Another proud moment in U.S. Military History.

"He's wounded, Hit Him"

Take them out, dude: pilots toast hit on Iraqi 'civilians'

"When dozens of suspected fighters showed up for a so-called peace conference in Baquba on Tuesday, they told the governor sponsoring it why they would not lay down their weapons ahead of elections."
.... Many of the men - from clerics and tribal leaders to ex-army officers and professionals - just wanted to know when U.S. forces would leave. .. "I would have signed it [an oath printed in Arabic and English] if it said no attacks on Iraqi forces, but no attacks on U.S. forces when they are occupying the country?"
.... "This pledge commits you to not even speak against the Americans. I cannot sign it," said cleric Fouad Attiya, 40."If I call from my mosque for occupation forces to leave my country does that make me a terrorist? Is this the freedom and democracy they are bringing us?"
Suspected fighters vent frustrations January 19, 2005
and
No takers as U.S. offers forgiveness to insurgents January 19, 2005

Now here is a whiff of democracy !

"As it now stands, there are three situations under which American forces could withdraw: we achieve our goals and depart in triumph; we are asked to leave by the Iraqi government; or we leave Iraq in chaos but spin it as a win. There are obstacles or drawbacks to all three.
Achieving our goals may be impossible now with the current levels of insurgency and distrust. Iraqi leaders may be slow to show us the door if we are guaranteeing their security.
Lowering our standard of success is unlikely to increase American credibility either at home or abroad.
Why not let the Iraqis themselves decide? (my italics) Ask Iraqi voters in a referendum six weeks after the national elections if they think foreign soldiers should withdraw immediately. Let the Iraqis debate what the absence of American forces will mean for their families and nation. Tell them we'll hold the referendum every nine months until they vote us out or we determine it's time to leave."
Should We Stay or Should We Go? January 19, 2005

Would this proposal not encourage/assure the participation of all Iraqis?
Better still, include that choice in the 'democratic national elections', as is often done in other referendums. The sooner you know, the better, no?

You ready to take over?


Hear ye, hear ye! Come and get some freedom

"Back in the 1980s, a film came out that was a masterpiece of Cold War propaganda. The film 'Red Dawn' depicted an invasion of the United States by a combined Soviet/Cuban force that came up through Central America and down from Alaska.
'Red Dawn' centered around the patriotic struggle of a bunch of kids from a small Colorado town, who armed themselves and took to the hills to fight the invaders. They were afraid and angry, and over the course of the movie most of them are killed. Each of the fallen is treated as a hero, their names etched upon a rock that eventually becomes a national monument once the war ends.
I was young enough that this movie had a pretty profound effect on me. In short, it scared the hell out of me and got me all jacked up at the idea of defending my country against an invasion by commie Huns.
... I am casting it now in a new context that throws the whole premise into a cocked hat. These Soviet/Cuban commie invaders kept the lights on, kept the stores open, and saw themselves bringing 'freedom' to a nation held in thrall by capitalist oppressors.
Why, then, did those kids fight? In other words, this film glorifies armed resistance by patriotic fighters bent on repelling invaders.
...Yet in Iraq today, the kids playing the role of the resistance are vilified as terrorists and thugs. Are they not doing what those all-American kids did, to great applause, in 'Red Dawn'?
....We're the 'liberators' this time around, trying to get the lights on, trying to hold some sort of election. Why do they fight us? They fight, I think, because home is home, and because invading armies are never, ever welcome (my italics).
All the neo-cons in the Bush administration who thought this was going to be a 'cakewalk' should have probably watched 'Red Dawn' before undertaking this farce.

Iraq's Red Dawn January 17, 2005

The Iraqi people are vehemently nationalistic and patriotic.
And we abhor indignity.

"U.S.-led forces, using Iraq's ancient city of Babylon as a military base, have caused "substantial damage" to one of the world's most renowned archaeological treasures, a British Museum report said.
The report said U.S. and Polish military vehicles had crushed 2,600-year-old pavements in the city, a cradle of civilization and home to one of the seven wonders of the ancient world. Archaeological fragments were used to fill sand bags, it added.
"This is tantamount to establishing a military camp around the Great Pyramid in Egypt or around Stonehenge in Britain," John Curtis, keeper of the museum's Ancient and Near East department, said in the report obtained by Reuters."
U.S.-Led Forces Damaged Ancient Babylon January 15, 2005

Do you recall the media furor against the destruction of the Buddhist statues by the Taliban in Afghanistan four years ago?

Yet, the destruction of Babylon is reported (and received) with a grain of salt !

"The job of the archaeologists has been made immeasurably more difficult by the avoidable and philistinian actions of the coalition forces who at the very least ought to pay for the damage they have inflicted."
Cultural vandalism January 15, 2005

Not even a double standard, but rather no standards in Pax Americana.

"I did my best to reach out, and I will continue to do so as the president," Bush said. "It's important for people to know that I'm the president of everybody." (my italics)
Bush Says Election Ratified Iraq Policy January 16, 2005

Kindly note the opening statement of this blog:
The Lion of Babylon rises again.

Thank you, for nothing.

So, Mr. President, you said what? “There are no weapons of mass destruction in Iraq”?

Huh? Funny thing you decided to mention that now.

It took you how long to admit this? Too long.

This confession of a big lie that you and your government bestowed upon us, the people, and the rest of the world came a little too late.

If you had told us this earlier, perhaps over a 1, 500 American soldiers would still be alive.

Perhaps that many young Americans would not have had to give up their lives and defend their country for a false cause.

If you, Mr. President, had told us this earlier, there would not be so many ash burned neighborhoods in Iraq. Cities in Iraq would not reek of death from your bombs.

There would not be so many wives, husbands, mothers, fathers, sisters, brothers and children crying for their beloved ones.

There might have been a few that cried under the old regime, it is true. But, you, you made that number multiply by so many; even count lost its place.

But you don’t care. You didn’t have to count the dead or collect their bodies, or even search through the rubble for someone that you might love.

Maybe, if you had remembered to mention that Iraq had no weapons of mass destruction since I don’t know, let’s say 1991, when you found out that Iraq had no capability of producing such ugly weapons; the world would be a safer place.

But no, you decided to keep that little secret to yourself.

You decided to sit back and watch as Iraq tumbles and the souls of the dead rise. You sat back and watched as your own people gave up their lives, for a country – whose reputation, you have tainted.

So, thank you. Thank you for being so considerate. Thank you for the partial truth you have given us, and for all the pain and ache you caused Iraqis all around the world. Not to mention the pain and the efforts of the nations around the world that tried to help us, but which you shut down and ignored over and over again.

Please, don’t take this personally, but in all honesty, if you are asking us “Isn’t the world a safer place without Saddam?” think again, because you have got the wrong person Mr. President.

The world would be safer without you too, and the likes of you.

Poster source: http://www.oldamericancentury.org/index.htm January 15, 2005


PS :
The new equation: September 11th + x (where x = whatever we say) = SHUT UP

"One senior long-time Democratic critic of the administration, Nancy Pelosi, has already said the president needs to explain to the American people why he was so wrong."
Fallout from WMD search failure January 12, 2005

Not opting to be too crass or vulgar, but I think this will be President Bush's reply to Nancy Pelosi's request:

Oh, yeah?


He even upped himself today:

" I felt like (my italics) we'd find weapons of mass destruction."
Once Again, No Regrets January 13, 2005

You mean to tell me he did not know?

I hesitate to ask how he feels now, knowing the sophistication of his responses; for example:



Well, sort of:

"Sometimes, words have consequences you don't intend them to mean," Bush said Thursday. "'Bring 'em on' is the classic example, when I was really trying to rally the troops and make it clear to them that I fully understood, you know, what a great job they were doing. And those words had an unintended consequence. It kind of, some interpreted it to be defiance in the face of danger. That certainly wasn't the case."

"In the week after the Sept. 11 attacks, Bush was asked if he wanted bin Laden, the terrorist leader blamed for the attacks, dead. "I want justice," Bush said. "And there's an old poster out West, that I recall, that said, 'Wanted, Dead or Alive.'"
Recalling that remark, Bush said Thursday: "I can remember getting back to the White House, and Laura said, 'Why did you do that for?' I said, 'Well, it was just an expression that came out. I didn't rehearse it.'
"I don't know if you'd call it a regret, but it certainly is a lesson that a president must be mindful of, that the words that you sometimes say. ... I speak plainly sometimes, but you've got to be mindful of the consequences of the words. So put that down. I don't know if you'd call that a confession, a regret, something."
President Has Second Thoughts About 'Bring 'em On' Jan 13, 2005

He did not rehearse it. Its gotta be something, you know.

Today In Iraq Regrets to Announce January 12, 2005

in reference to:
US gives up search for Iraq WMD January 12, 2005
"The Iraq Survey Group, which was responsible for the search, goes on, but its focus now is trying to help counter the Iraqi insurgency."

and:
Blair: I have secret proof of weapons June 1, 2003

Iraqi Child

"The Italian cardinal sent by Pope John Paul II last year to try to dissuade President Bush from invading Iraq said Monday the president promised that the U.S. operation would be "quick." Cardinal Pio Laghi visited Bush at the White House on March 5, 2003, to relay the pope's position that dialogue, not arms, should be used to resolve the crisis over Iraq, which the United States accused of harboring weapons of mass destruction. "When I went to Washington as the pope's envoy just before the outbreak of the war in Iraq, he (Bush) told me: `Don't worry, your eminence. We'll be quick and do well in Iraq,'" Laghi told Italian Catholic TV station Telepace, which was broadcasting the pontiff's annual address to diplomats. When the United States went to war in Iraq, Laghi called the attack on Baghdad "tragic and unacceptable."
"Unfortunately, the facts have demonstrated afterward that things took a different course — not rapid and not favorable," the prelate told Telepace. "Bush was wrong."
Cardinal Says Bush Broke Iraq Promise January 10, 2005

Hmmmm!!!
Will the Holy See consider that a mortal sin (straight to hell) or a venial sin (stay for a while in purgatory with a slap on the hand)?

Or perhaps President Bush is not a Catholic but who just happens to take orders directly from God, unlike the Pope? “God told me to strike at al Qaida and I struck them, and then he instructed me to strike at Saddam, which I did, and now I am determined to solve the problem in the Middle East…”

Perhaps his Holy See will diplomatically bless the dried blood of the 100,000 dead Iraqis to gain Bush’s penance?

On the other hand, it is most damning that the Vatican has refrained from commenting on one of the root causes of the plight of the Iraqi Christians, thousands of whom having escaped to Syria and Jordan during the past two years because of attacks on their churches and their livelihoods.

It is not only the hard-line Salafi Moslems that are the cause of this Iraqi Christian exodus; it is also the result of a vehement repulsive reaction to the American Christian Missionaries, who are neither mentioned nor condemned by the Vatican.

While there were always Christian missionaries in Iraq, (I recall the oddity of witnessing a middle-aged man, in the early fifties of the last century, walking along the busiest streets of Baghdad at noon time during the hottest days in August, unimpeded, wearing a hard hat while sweating profusely, with his wife and daughter on either side of him holding on to his arms as he loudly preached the Gospel that he held high in his hand to passers-by), and as per this news item:

“It has been 27 years since Herald and Joyce Davenport returned to the United States after 17 years as Christian missionaries in Iraq. Although time and distance has caused memories to fade one thing remains forever etched in the couple’s thoughts. Their love and concern are for the Iraqi people.
While many Americans express concern and offer prayers for American soldiers, Joyce’s concern has been for the Iraqi soldiers.”
Christian Missionaries in Iraq, A Story of Love May 2, 2003

On the other hand, with a born-again Methodist President leading the way:

“It could only happen with an American invasion. Poised behind the troops, waiting for a signal that Iraq is safe enough for them to operate in, are the evangelical Christians - carrying food in one hand and the Bible in the other.”
.... “Humanitarian relief is just a cover. Their basic motivation is conversion. These groups train workers to go in under the guise of relief to convert people away from their faith. I know this because I've been on their training courses. There's a technique known as contextualisation. You never say directly you're Christian. You take chairs out of the church to make it look like a mosque. You grow a beard. You dress your wife in Islamic attire. They know they're not welcome."
.... "If someone says 'Why would you to come to Iraq to serve in an impoverished, war-stricken country?' we would say it was because of the love that the Lord Jesus Christ put in our hearts. If a country opens up for evangelical missions to go there, we go. We believe strongly that Jesus Christ is the son of God and we intend to proclaim that."
Bringing aid and the Bible, the man who called Islam wicked April 4, 2003

“American Christian missionaries have declared a "war for souls" in Iraq, telling supporters that the formal end of the US-led occupation next June will close an historic "window of opportunity". Organising in secrecy, and emphasising their humanitarian aid work, Christian groups are pouring into the country, which is 97 per cent Muslim, bearing Arabic Bibles, videos and religious tracts designed to "save" Muslims from their "false" religion.”
… "Southern Baptists have prayed for years that Iraq would somehow be opened to the gospel," his appeal began … Southern Baptists from North Carolina visited Iraq in October to help hand out 45,000 boxes of donated food. One of the team, Jim Walker, told IMB's Urgent News bulletin that he met village children "starved of attention and I could tell some of them have not eaten well. But their biggest need is to know the love of Christ."
“Muslims are hard converts, American missionaries admit. The large organisations have experts trained in refuting Muslim teachings that Jesus is just another prophet.”
Bible Belt missionaries set out on a 'war for souls' in Iraq December 27, 2003

Their convictions and actions solicit revulsion:

"How dare these religious nuts think they know better than Iraqis what their beliefs should be?" I thought the whole thing reflected a very ugly racism and paternalism about other people in the world and their traditions.
Christian Evangelicals in Iraq: A Time-Bomb Waiting to Explode January 25, 2004

And direct attacks:

"Southern Baptists [are] struggling with the loss of four workers and the wounding of a fifth in Iraq. … "Southern Baptists have sought ways to share God’s love with the Iraqi people. Last fall Southern Baptist churches in the United States sent more than 3 million pounds of food to Iraq. The workers involved in this attack were researching the need for future humanitarian projects. Our personnel, as Americans and Christians, are well aware of the risk of living and serving in a place like Iraq. Yet their love for the Iraqi people and obedience to the conviction of God’s leadership have been expressed in a willingness to take that risk, even to giving their lives." The five were in a car in eastern Mosul when they were attacked with automatic weapons and rocket-propelled grenades. Their assailants remain unidentified."
Baptists not alone in grief over murdered workers, IMB says March 16, 2004

"The death of the Rev John Kelley, a Baptist missionary from Rhode Island, on Saturday, has set alarm bells ringing for several reasons. For one, it revealed that American missionaries were inside Iraq trying to set up new churches and, presumably, find converts.
That will be deeply offensive to the vast majority of Iraqis, who are Muslims. The unwelcome presence of the missionaries could become a new source of friction between Iraqis and their already deeply unpopular American occupiers."
American missionary pays ultimate price as foreigners become the target in Iraq 18 February 2004

And why Don’t Conservatives Care About [what happens to Iraqi] Christians?

"The answer to this question is surprisingly simple. Conservative politicians and pundits care little for the welfare of Christians outside the United States for one primary reason.
The Evangelical Christian base of the Republican Party doesn’t care. There have been no demonstrations protesting the inability/unwillingness of U.S. forces to protect Iraqi Christians. Their cause has not been championed by any of the televangelists. Christian persecution in post-Saddam Iraq has not been a centerpiece article in any of the Evangelical magazines. At the same time, there have been large protests against the Bush Administration’s ‘Roadmap for Peace,’ a plan many Evangelicals opposed as being too tough on the Israelis. The message is clear to Christians outside the U.S. – Israel matters and you don’t. (my italics)"
Christians in Iraq September 15, 2003

Several of the churches that were bombed in Baghdad and Mosul recently have been accused of collaborating closely, very closely, with these ‘missionaries’ and have assisted them in their endeavours (and were warned to desist).

It is also reported that several Moslem Kurdish villages have been converted to Christianity with the inducement of monthly payments, food and promises of work.
(The Calamitous Danger: Christian Missionaries الخطر الوخيم: التبشير) an article in Arabic.

It is indeed a portent of bloody religious strife in a land where Christianity was born.

May the Holy See behold and pronounce a stand. Amen!

Bearing the cross ... going into Fallujah