Free Iraq
The US's occupation of Iraq will see to it that the Lion of Babylon rises again .. سنـُبعـَث ُ من جَديد ، وإلى ضَـيـرِِهِـم
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| Unrevealed Milestones in the Iraqi National Nuclear Program: 1981-1991 | معالم وأحداث غير مكشوفة في البرنامج النووي الوطني العراقي 1981-1991 | 
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Monday, January 29, 2007
أهذا هو المـُرتجى؟
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Peace Train: Images from Iran: A slideshow of images from Iran with music by Yusuf Islam, formerly Cat Stevens. Click here to view in browser.
(Just look at all this beauty, in nature and people alike. These people we would bomb. These lives we would destroy. Yes, the 'greatest' nation on earth may do to Iranians what it has done to Iraqis - and others. How can we?)
(Just look at all this beauty, in nature and people alike. These people we would bomb. These lives we would destroy. Yes, the 'greatest' nation on earth may do to Iranians what it has done to Iraqis - and others. How can we?)
Salim Lone, Muslims fight for Political,not Religious reasons: Those Muslims who fight against occupations invoke their religion in order to mobilise the people. That is no different from others invoking freedom, democracy or human rights as rallying cries for war. What should determine our view of all wars are not the rallying cries but whether they are "just."
Robert Fisk, World ignores signs of civil war in Lebanon: This is how the 1975-90 conflict began in Lebanon. Outbreaks of sectarian hatred, appeals for restraint, promises of aid from Western and Arab nations and a total refusal to understand that this is how civil wars begin.
Mike Whitney, Why Fisk is wrong about Lebanon: Robert Fisk is all wrong about Lebanon. The country is not on the brink of another “civil war”, but has been subsumed in an “imperial war” engineered in Tel Aviv and Washington. He’s also mistaken in thinking that the Paris 3 Conference is designed to “save” Lebanon from the mountain of debt which piled up after Israel’s destructive 34 day war. The real purpose of the $7.6 billion in loans is to shackle Lebanon to the international lending institutions that are demanding additional taxes on the poor, more privatization of state-run industries, and restructuring the economy to meet the requirements of the global banking elite.
Fisk is wrong; it’s not “sectarian hatred” that is driving the war, but outside powers that are using their proxies within Lebanon to achieve their geopolitical objectives. In other words, this not the beginning of civil war, but a continuation of the 34 Day war; the deliberate pulverizing of Lebanon to create an US-Israeli protectorate in a critical area of the Middle East. Future pipeline corridors and regional hegemony require a compliant pro-western government in Beirut. That’s why the Bush administration has armed and trained the massive security apparatus of Prime Minister Fouad Siniora, so he could succeed where Israel failed, by crushing Hezbollah and the pro-democracy movement.
... [I]t’s likely that Nasrallah will not be able to stop the fighting; already events are beyond his control. Washington is preparing to open another front in its ongoing war on terror and is looking for a showdown with Hezbollah. The neoconservative ideal of “creative destruction” is now in full-flower and has extended the conflict from the northern tip of Afghanistan to the southern coast of Somalia swallowing up an immense swath of the Middle East and Central Asia. This is the “total war” the neocons promised when Bush took office. It isn’t civil war, but the calculated destruction of an entire region by the imperial powers.
Mike Whitney, Why Fisk is wrong about Lebanon: Robert Fisk is all wrong about Lebanon. The country is not on the brink of another “civil war”, but has been subsumed in an “imperial war” engineered in Tel Aviv and Washington. He’s also mistaken in thinking that the Paris 3 Conference is designed to “save” Lebanon from the mountain of debt which piled up after Israel’s destructive 34 day war. The real purpose of the $7.6 billion in loans is to shackle Lebanon to the international lending institutions that are demanding additional taxes on the poor, more privatization of state-run industries, and restructuring the economy to meet the requirements of the global banking elite.
Fisk is wrong; it’s not “sectarian hatred” that is driving the war, but outside powers that are using their proxies within Lebanon to achieve their geopolitical objectives. In other words, this not the beginning of civil war, but a continuation of the 34 Day war; the deliberate pulverizing of Lebanon to create an US-Israeli protectorate in a critical area of the Middle East. Future pipeline corridors and regional hegemony require a compliant pro-western government in Beirut. That’s why the Bush administration has armed and trained the massive security apparatus of Prime Minister Fouad Siniora, so he could succeed where Israel failed, by crushing Hezbollah and the pro-democracy movement.
... [I]t’s likely that Nasrallah will not be able to stop the fighting; already events are beyond his control. Washington is preparing to open another front in its ongoing war on terror and is looking for a showdown with Hezbollah. The neoconservative ideal of “creative destruction” is now in full-flower and has extended the conflict from the northern tip of Afghanistan to the southern coast of Somalia swallowing up an immense swath of the Middle East and Central Asia. This is the “total war” the neocons promised when Bush took office. It isn’t civil war, but the calculated destruction of an entire region by the imperial powers.
Ruth Tenne, Britain’s Arms Trade with Israel: In spite of over 30 UN resolutions demanding the establishment of nuclear-free zone in the Middle East, Israel is reported to have over 400 thermonuclear and nuclear weapons (Jane's Intelligence Review ,1997) and is refusing to join the Non-Proliferation treaty (NPT) of which all Arab states are signatories.
Israel planes dump "suspicious green balloons" on southern Lebanon: Lebanese troops cordoned off the area around the coast of Tyre and prevented people from touching the 'suspicious balloons' after reports indicated that some people were poisoned when they did.
Dear Dr.Imad
Thanks alot for showing people these photos .
Yes , that's what all our enemies looking for , The secarian problem should be in Iraq , yet , all the Muslims are involved , they want us to be sectarians and to think as the others are not in this world , still I really admire words I've read for hala_s :
"One day they'll leave and we will be left with a history of violence and wounds which are very hard to heal , and yet we will still together alike a catholic marriage , no way out "
It's either to wake up now , or we will swim in mud of blood .
I wish everybody will be able to give himself a moment to think about the other , so our problems will be solved .
Good luck
Thanks alot for showing people these photos .
Yes , that's what all our enemies looking for , The secarian problem should be in Iraq , yet , all the Muslims are involved , they want us to be sectarians and to think as the others are not in this world , still I really admire words I've read for hala_s :
"One day they'll leave and we will be left with a history of violence and wounds which are very hard to heal , and yet we will still together alike a catholic marriage , no way out "
It's either to wake up now , or we will swim in mud of blood .
I wish everybody will be able to give himself a moment to think about the other , so our problems will be solved .
Good luck
British Defense Secretary arrives in Baghdad: "I'm here to discuss the progress we have made, the challenges we face and what we all need to do in the crucial months ahead," Browne said in a statement.
Tragedy of occupied Iraq revealed as Shi‘i sectarian followers of Muqtada as-Sadr murder Sunni family, including day-old baby ‘A’ishah in Baghdad: In a dispatch posted at 4:02pm Makkah time Friday afternoon, Mafkarat al-Islam reported that pro-Iranian gunmen loyal to Shi'i sectarian cleric Muqtada as-Sadr shot and killed a man, his wife, and their new-born daughter as they left the Arab Children’s Hospital in the al-Iskan district of Baghdad.
The hunted: Iraq’s forgotten refugees: One night a week ago six men armed with pistols and AK-47 rifles smashed down the door of the Khaled family home. They hit Khaled, 54, on the head with rifle butts and dragged him into a car.
“Often we heard screams at night and shooting where we lived in the Al Jehad sector of Baghdad and in the morning we would see bodies in the street,” said Khaled, a former soldier in the Iraqi army. “But that night it was our turn and I prepared myself for death.
“They asked me if I had any guns in my house. I told them I did not keep guns. They started searching and told me they were from the office of Moqtadr al-Sadr [the Shi’ite cleric whose Mahdi Army is associated with death squads]. They did not tell me the reason. But when they took me to the car’s boot and put me inside I was certain that they were going to kill me.”
Besma, his eldest daughter, said: “Our father’s face was in agony. We thought we would never see him again.”
Khaled was being kidnapped because he belonged to the Sunni strain of Islam but lived in a predominantly Shi’ite neighbourhood. Kidnapping, killing and criminal extortion have fragmented Baghdad and other cities and towns along religious and ethnic lines. Refugee officials say the “ethnic cleansing” is reminiscent of the former Yugoslavia, Rwanda and Sudan.
“Often we heard screams at night and shooting where we lived in the Al Jehad sector of Baghdad and in the morning we would see bodies in the street,” said Khaled, a former soldier in the Iraqi army. “But that night it was our turn and I prepared myself for death.
“They asked me if I had any guns in my house. I told them I did not keep guns. They started searching and told me they were from the office of Moqtadr al-Sadr [the Shi’ite cleric whose Mahdi Army is associated with death squads]. They did not tell me the reason. But when they took me to the car’s boot and put me inside I was certain that they were going to kill me.”
Besma, his eldest daughter, said: “Our father’s face was in agony. We thought we would never see him again.”
Khaled was being kidnapped because he belonged to the Sunni strain of Islam but lived in a predominantly Shi’ite neighbourhood. Kidnapping, killing and criminal extortion have fragmented Baghdad and other cities and towns along religious and ethnic lines. Refugee officials say the “ethnic cleansing” is reminiscent of the former Yugoslavia, Rwanda and Sudan.
Video (10 min.), George Galloway's speech to the UK Parliament on Iraq, January 2007 (Galloway: "There is no Iraqi government. ... We've installed a gang of warlords in power in Baghdad.")
Kurt Nimmo, Former Mossad Honcho: We Are Sleep Walking Through World War Four and Don’t Even Know It
Three law professors kidnapped in Baghdad
Iraq: 300 militants killed in battle: The figures could not be independently confirmed. The Iraqi Defense Ministry, which oversees the army, said it could not yet give a casualty toll because sporadic fighting was ongoing.
Attacks, meanwhile, struck Shiite targets in the Baghdad area as the Islamic sect marks Ashoura, the holiest day in the Shiite calendar commemorating the 7th century death of Imam Hussein. The celebration culminates Tuesday in huge public processions in Najaf, Karbala and other Shiite cities.
On Monday, a parked car bomb also struck a bus carrying Shiites to a holy shrine in northern Baghdad, killing at least four people and wounding six, police said.
Authorities said Iraqi soldiers supported by U.S. aircraft fought all day Sunday with a large group of insurgents in the Zaraq area, about 12 miles northeast of the Shiite holy city of Najaf.
Iraqi soldiers attacked at dawn and militants hiding in orchards fought back with automatic weapons, sniper rifles and rockets ...
Iraq: 300 militants killed in battle: The figures could not be independently confirmed. The Iraqi Defense Ministry, which oversees the army, said it could not yet give a casualty toll because sporadic fighting was ongoing.
Attacks, meanwhile, struck Shiite targets in the Baghdad area as the Islamic sect marks Ashoura, the holiest day in the Shiite calendar commemorating the 7th century death of Imam Hussein. The celebration culminates Tuesday in huge public processions in Najaf, Karbala and other Shiite cities.
On Monday, a parked car bomb also struck a bus carrying Shiites to a holy shrine in northern Baghdad, killing at least four people and wounding six, police said.
Authorities said Iraqi soldiers supported by U.S. aircraft fought all day Sunday with a large group of insurgents in the Zaraq area, about 12 miles northeast of the Shiite holy city of Najaf.
Iraqi soldiers attacked at dawn and militants hiding in orchards fought back with automatic weapons, sniper rifles and rockets ...
Meet the CIA's New Baghdad Station Chief: Appointee played key role in early “torture by proxy” transfers
By law, I cannot tell you the name of the new station chief, so I will call him James. He is the son of a well-known and controversial figure who served at the agency during its early years. Sources with whom I spoke say James was stationed in Algeria in the early 1990s, after the military staged a coup to block a sweeping victory by Islamist forces in parliamentary elections (thereby triggering a bloody civil war that lasted more than a decade). During the mid 1990s, he served on an Iraq task force which sought to contain and destabilize Saddam Hussein's regime.
By law, I cannot tell you the name of the new station chief, so I will call him James. He is the son of a well-known and controversial figure who served at the agency during its early years. Sources with whom I spoke say James was stationed in Algeria in the early 1990s, after the military staged a coup to block a sweeping victory by Islamist forces in parliamentary elections (thereby triggering a bloody civil war that lasted more than a decade). During the mid 1990s, he served on an Iraq task force which sought to contain and destabilize Saddam Hussein's regime.
Bush Hates America: US Troops Face 'A Circular Firing Squad' In Iraq: Would you outfit your guys in new US combat fatigues, get them some black Suburbans, arm them with American weapons, and teach them to speak English, all to kill a handful of American soldiers?
Jamal Juma, Cementing Israeli Apartheid: The Role of World Bank: Through the violent occupation of Iraq, the US is laying the foundations to further open the economy of the Middle East for their corporate interests. Countries once protected by oil revenues are lining up to sign bilateral agreements leading to a Middle East Free Trade Agreement. MEFTA would impose free market policies that have enslaved other regions of the global south to global capital. In Palestine, the World Bank has played a key role in facilitating the cooperation of global capital and occupation.
Haaretz.com, Peace Now: New construction at outposts slated for evacuation
Jerusalem Post, 'Cluster bombs used in self-defense'
Jerusalem Post, 'Cluster bombs used in self-defense'
Wayne Madsen, January 29, 2007 --Moon & Bush: Yesterday, a front organization for Sun Myung Moon's Unification Church, the Universal Peace Federation, held a joint "Ambassadors for Peace National Forum" at the Sheraton National Hotel in Arlington, Virginia with another Moon front operation, United Press International Foundation, and, more interestingly, an organization founded by George H. W. Bush, the Points of Light Foundation. ...
This is a busy week for the Religious Right in Washington. Thursday, Feb. 1, is the National Prayer Breakfast at the Washington Hilton Hotel. ... George W. Bush and Laura Bush are scheduled to attend the National Prayer Breakfast along with Republican and Democratic members of Congress, foreign ambassadors, governors, and representatives of more than 100 foreign governments.
Wayne Madsen, January 29, 2007 --WMR has learned that the Federal National Mortgage Association (Fannie Mae) was under a joint U.S. Justice Department, Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight (OFHEO), and the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) investigation that, among other illegal activities, included the funneling of money for illegal Israeli settlements on the West Bank and Gaza before the joint investigation was abruptly dropped last August. During the mid and late 1990s, senior Fannie Mae officials reportedly traveled to Israel and met with Binyamin Netanyahu and Shimon Peres to hammer out the money deals. The government is insisting on keeping certain information sealed in its investigation of former Fannie Mae Chairman and CEO Franklin Raines. The information pre-dates Raines' term at Fannie Mae and may involve some aspects of the illegal money flows for Israeli housing settlements.
George W. Bush named his long-time "friend," Yale roommate, and former Mayor of Knoxville, Victor Ashe, as a board member of Fannie Mae from 2001 to 2004. In 1995, while Fannie Mae officials were first talking to Israeli officials about money for settlements, Ashe led a delegation of U.S. mayors to Israel. ...
This is a busy week for the Religious Right in Washington. Thursday, Feb. 1, is the National Prayer Breakfast at the Washington Hilton Hotel. ... George W. Bush and Laura Bush are scheduled to attend the National Prayer Breakfast along with Republican and Democratic members of Congress, foreign ambassadors, governors, and representatives of more than 100 foreign governments.
Wayne Madsen, January 29, 2007 --WMR has learned that the Federal National Mortgage Association (Fannie Mae) was under a joint U.S. Justice Department, Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight (OFHEO), and the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) investigation that, among other illegal activities, included the funneling of money for illegal Israeli settlements on the West Bank and Gaza before the joint investigation was abruptly dropped last August. During the mid and late 1990s, senior Fannie Mae officials reportedly traveled to Israel and met with Binyamin Netanyahu and Shimon Peres to hammer out the money deals. The government is insisting on keeping certain information sealed in its investigation of former Fannie Mae Chairman and CEO Franklin Raines. The information pre-dates Raines' term at Fannie Mae and may involve some aspects of the illegal money flows for Israeli housing settlements.
George W. Bush named his long-time "friend," Yale roommate, and former Mayor of Knoxville, Victor Ashe, as a board member of Fannie Mae from 2001 to 2004. In 1995, while Fannie Mae officials were first talking to Israeli officials about money for settlements, Ashe led a delegation of U.S. mayors to Israel. ...
Sami Moubayed, Another illusion out of the Iraqi hat: The terrorists Maliki promises to destroy are apparently alive and kicking in Baghdad, with no indicator that his security plan will succeed, not even with the 21,500 additional troops President George W Bush plans to send to Iraq, the first of whom arrived last week and the last expected in May.
Maliki promised, however, that his security plan will target both Sunni and Shi'ite militias. A major cause of concern over the past six months has been Maliki's alliance with the Mehdi Army of cleric Muqtada al-Sadr.
It is accused, among other things, of kidnapping Sunni notables, assassinating Sunni clergy and burning Sunni mosques. The hanging of Saddam Hussein on December 30, which fueled Sunni anger not only in Iraq but throughout the Arab world, was carried out by members of the Sadr movement, who chanted Muqtada's name in the Iraqi dictator's face before telling him to "go to hell".
Maliki never lifted a finger to stop them. When Iraqi troops stormed Muqtada's districts in late 2006, the prime minister apologized and released the arrested Sadrists. While he cracks down routinely on Sunni militias, Maliki refuses to harass Muqtada's Shi'ite militias or his rival in Shi'ite politics, Abdul Aziz al-Hakim.
Some of Maliki's personal guards, it is reported in Baghdad, are members of the Mehdi Army. During the latest holy month of Ramadan, Hakim gave a banquet in honor of the premier. Maliki attended and promised to bring security to Baghdad, while disarming the militias. Those guarding him and his cabinet at Hakim's banquet were members of the Badr Organization, one of the militias the premier promises to "disarm".
In a very simple equation of the patron-client system of the Middle East, Maliki offers them protection, exemptions and "above the law" treatment, while they offer him allegiance.
Maliki promised, however, that his security plan will target both Sunni and Shi'ite militias. A major cause of concern over the past six months has been Maliki's alliance with the Mehdi Army of cleric Muqtada al-Sadr.
It is accused, among other things, of kidnapping Sunni notables, assassinating Sunni clergy and burning Sunni mosques. The hanging of Saddam Hussein on December 30, which fueled Sunni anger not only in Iraq but throughout the Arab world, was carried out by members of the Sadr movement, who chanted Muqtada's name in the Iraqi dictator's face before telling him to "go to hell".
Maliki never lifted a finger to stop them. When Iraqi troops stormed Muqtada's districts in late 2006, the prime minister apologized and released the arrested Sadrists. While he cracks down routinely on Sunni militias, Maliki refuses to harass Muqtada's Shi'ite militias or his rival in Shi'ite politics, Abdul Aziz al-Hakim.
Some of Maliki's personal guards, it is reported in Baghdad, are members of the Mehdi Army. During the latest holy month of Ramadan, Hakim gave a banquet in honor of the premier. Maliki attended and promised to bring security to Baghdad, while disarming the militias. Those guarding him and his cabinet at Hakim's banquet were members of the Badr Organization, one of the militias the premier promises to "disarm".
In a very simple equation of the patron-client system of the Middle East, Maliki offers them protection, exemptions and "above the law" treatment, while they offer him allegiance.
Unacknowledged Special Access Programs (USAPs): US deep black programs out of control?
What makes Unacknowledged Special Access Projects even more impenetrable is the fact that a lot of these programs are located within private industry. The U.S. government generally doesn't develop a whole lot, but defense-oriented corporations like Boeing, Lockheed, Northrop, McDonnell Douglas, SAIC, Rockwell, and Bechtel do. This means it's virtually impossible to get information about these projects, because private industry is protected by something called proprietary privilege. ...
... Seymour Hersh has reported on a USAP that was set up to circumvent national and international humanitarian laws.
"Rice and Rumsfeld know what many others involved in the prisoner discussions did not -- that sometime in late 2001 or early 2002, the President had signed a top-secret finding, as required by law, authorizing the Defense Department to set up a specially recruited clandestine team of Special Forces operatives and others who would defy diplomatic niceties and international law and snatch -- or assassinate, if necessary -- identified 'high-value' Al Qaeda operatives anywhere in the world. Equally secret interrogation centers would be set up in allied countries where harsh treatments were meted out, unconstrained by legal limits of public disclosure. The program was hidden inside the Defense Department as an 'unacknowledged' special-access program, or SAP, whose operational details were known only to a few in the Pentagon, the CIA and the White House."
What makes Unacknowledged Special Access Projects even more impenetrable is the fact that a lot of these programs are located within private industry. The U.S. government generally doesn't develop a whole lot, but defense-oriented corporations like Boeing, Lockheed, Northrop, McDonnell Douglas, SAIC, Rockwell, and Bechtel do. This means it's virtually impossible to get information about these projects, because private industry is protected by something called proprietary privilege. ...
... Seymour Hersh has reported on a USAP that was set up to circumvent national and international humanitarian laws.
"Rice and Rumsfeld know what many others involved in the prisoner discussions did not -- that sometime in late 2001 or early 2002, the President had signed a top-secret finding, as required by law, authorizing the Defense Department to set up a specially recruited clandestine team of Special Forces operatives and others who would defy diplomatic niceties and international law and snatch -- or assassinate, if necessary -- identified 'high-value' Al Qaeda operatives anywhere in the world. Equally secret interrogation centers would be set up in allied countries where harsh treatments were meted out, unconstrained by legal limits of public disclosure. The program was hidden inside the Defense Department as an 'unacknowledged' special-access program, or SAP, whose operational details were known only to a few in the Pentagon, the CIA and the White House."
America ‘Poised to Strike at Iran’s Nuclear Sites’ from Bases in Bulgaria and Romania Report suggest that ‘US defensive ring’ may be new front in war on terror.
Chris Floyd, Radar Love: Robbing the Cradle to Pay War Profiteers: Last week, investigators with the UK's Serious Fraud Office (SFO) unearthed new evidence of a $12 million slush fund allegedly used to bribe officials in Tanzania into approving a $50 million purchase of a military air traffic control system from Britain's biggest arms merchant, BAE Systems, in 2002. Tanzania, which has a grand total of eight military airplanes and one of the most crushing loads of national debt in the world, had to borrow even more money to finance the sale. The money came, naturally, from another of Britain's most august and politically wired institutions, Barclays Bank. Tanzania repaid this loan with money that Blair's government had given it, ostensibly to support public education.
In other words, public money earmarked to help lift Tanzania's children out of poverty was instead laundered into the coffers of BAE and Barclays, with Tony Blair acting as bagman. ... (emphasis added)
In other words, public money earmarked to help lift Tanzania's children out of poverty was instead laundered into the coffers of BAE and Barclays, with Tony Blair acting as bagman. ... (emphasis added)
Kurt Nimmo, Suicide Bomber in Eilat: Blame al-Qaeda: Just in the nick of time, as the US, Israel, and the “moderate” Mahmoud Abbas were about “to renew long-stalled peace talks,” a suicide bomber attacks a bakery in the Israeli resort town of Eilat.
Kurt Nimmo, Arrest Madman Dershowitz Before It’s Too Late: Iran does not have a single nuclear bomb.
Dershowitz’s Iran has over 400.
Iran has not called for Israel to be “wiped off the map,” as claimed every day in the corporate media.
Israel and its apologists demand Iran be wiped off the map every day.
Kurt Nimmo, Arrest Madman Dershowitz Before It’s Too Late: Iran does not have a single nuclear bomb.
Dershowitz’s Iran has over 400.
Iran has not called for Israel to be “wiped off the map,” as claimed every day in the corporate media.
Israel and its apologists demand Iran be wiped off the map every day.
Ray guns and plastic ice: Pentagon looks to sci-fi weaponry: Fleeing Iraqi insurgents downed by artificial ice sprayed on the road; an angry mob in Afghanistan dispersed by non-lethal ray gun blasts. This is the future of US weaponry, at least for the Pentagon's high-tech arms research division.
(Frankly, I'm skeptical. Not about the weaponry, of course. The military, in love with its toys, will continue to astound. My skepticism, rather, regards the intended use of these fun new "guns". It seems to me that the military, in respect of foreign 'enemies', will continue evidencing its preference for the kill. More likely these proclaimed technological 'advancements' will be brought out for the 'enemy' at home - until such time the policy of "Shoot to Kill" no longer has to be publicly defended.)
(Frankly, I'm skeptical. Not about the weaponry, of course. The military, in love with its toys, will continue to astound. My skepticism, rather, regards the intended use of these fun new "guns". It seems to me that the military, in respect of foreign 'enemies', will continue evidencing its preference for the kill. More likely these proclaimed technological 'advancements' will be brought out for the 'enemy' at home - until such time the policy of "Shoot to Kill" no longer has to be publicly defended.)
Analysis: Najaf battle raises questions: Among the questions: How did a messianic Shiite cult, the "Soldiers of Heaven," accumulate so many weapons and — if Iraqi accounts are accurate — display such military skills? ...
It's also unclear how a shadowy cult that few Iraqis had ever heard of managed to assemble such a force seemingly without attracting the attention of the authorities earlier. ...
Virtually all the information about the cult has come from Iraqi officials, who have released incomplete and sometimes contradictory accounts.
It's also unclear how a shadowy cult that few Iraqis had ever heard of managed to assemble such a force seemingly without attracting the attention of the authorities earlier. ...
Virtually all the information about the cult has come from Iraqi officials, who have released incomplete and sometimes contradictory accounts.
Baghdad Is Key: The new plan for Baghdad specifically corrects the problems that plagued previous efforts. First, it is an Iraqi-initiated plan for taking control of their capital. Second, there will be adequate forces (Iraqi and American) to hold neighborhoods cleared of terrorists and extremists. Third, there is a new operational concept -- one devised not just to pursue terrorists and extremists but to secure the population. Fourth, new rules of engagement will ensure that Iraqi and U.S. forces can pursue lawbreakers regardless of their community or sect. Fifth, security operations will be followed by economic assistance and reconstruction aid -- including billions of dollars in Iraqi funds -- offering jobs and the prospect of better lives.
(Above items 1 - 5 must be PR for Americans. Who might have written them?!)
(Above items 1 - 5 must be PR for Americans. Who might have written them?!)
Gareth Porter, Bush's three-front blunder: The new policy appears to have been prompted by both the need to demonstrate to the US public that the administration is doing something different and to use force against a presumed ally of Iran in the region. But it means that the United States is now planning to fight what is in essence a three-front war without any reliable Iraqi Arab ally. Only the Kurds can be counted on to cooperate with the US military in such a war, because of their reliance on US support for their aspirations for quasi-independence.
One veteran military expert on Iraq, retired US Army Colonel Douglas Macgregor, said Bush's new policy is a "war against all" in Iraq and called it "a blunder of Hitlerian proportions".
Macgregor likened the policy of fighting all three Iraqi anti-occupation forces at once to Adolf Hitler's insistence on continuing a two-front war against the Soviet Union and the Allied powers during World War II, which is widely regarded as having ensured the defeat of Nazi Germany.
"It is ideology pushing violence to extremes," Macgregor said of the latest turn in Bush's Iraq policy. "They are trying to reverse the damage they have already done to themselves by having built up a Shi'ite state and army. But it is too late, and it is bound to be counterproductive."
One veteran military expert on Iraq, retired US Army Colonel Douglas Macgregor, said Bush's new policy is a "war against all" in Iraq and called it "a blunder of Hitlerian proportions".
Macgregor likened the policy of fighting all three Iraqi anti-occupation forces at once to Adolf Hitler's insistence on continuing a two-front war against the Soviet Union and the Allied powers during World War II, which is widely regarded as having ensured the defeat of Nazi Germany.
"It is ideology pushing violence to extremes," Macgregor said of the latest turn in Bush's Iraq policy. "They are trying to reverse the damage they have already done to themselves by having built up a Shi'ite state and army. But it is too late, and it is bound to be counterproductive."
Kurt Nimmo, Jafarzadeh and the Downing Street Dossier Redux: Is it possible we are stupid enough to fall for it again?
“The al-Quds Force of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards is stepping up terrorism and encouraging sectarian violence in Iraq,” Alireza Jafarzadeh — a US-based Iranian dissident who is linked to the Marxist cult Mujahedin-e-Khalq (MeK), officially listed by the State Department as a terrorist group—told the Moonie, er Washington Times earlier this month. In essence, Jafarzadeh is but another Ahmed Chalabi, pedaling lies and exaggerations, the vile stuff of neocon pretext.
“The al-Quds Force of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards is stepping up terrorism and encouraging sectarian violence in Iraq,” Alireza Jafarzadeh — a US-based Iranian dissident who is linked to the Marxist cult Mujahedin-e-Khalq (MeK), officially listed by the State Department as a terrorist group—told the Moonie, er Washington Times earlier this month. In essence, Jafarzadeh is but another Ahmed Chalabi, pedaling lies and exaggerations, the vile stuff of neocon pretext.
Robert Parry, The Democrats' Iraq War Dilemma: As the Senate prepares to debate a resolution against the proposed “surge” in Iraq, the Democratic Party faces something of a conundrum: will it heed the calls of its base and take concrete action to end the war, or will it simply use the opportunity to position itself in opposition to Bush’s policy in the hopes of retaking the White House in 2008?
Judging by the actions of the protesters this weekend who chose to bypass the permitted demonstration and instead charge the Capitol, there seems to be a growing willingness to intensify the movement’s strategy to end the war.
With all the calls for civil disobedience and direct action in the coming weeks, the Democrats in Congress could begin facing increased pressure to use their power to cut funding, or even to impeach the President in an effort to bring the war to a halt.
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Judging by the actions of the protesters this weekend who chose to bypass the permitted demonstration and instead charge the Capitol, there seems to be a growing willingness to intensify the movement’s strategy to end the war.
With all the calls for civil disobedience and direct action in the coming weeks, the Democrats in Congress could begin facing increased pressure to use their power to cut funding, or even to impeach the President in an effort to bring the war to a halt.
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