Even this week, American soldiers are kicking in the doors of homes and arresting men and older boys on “suspicion” to join the 65,000+ already imprisoned without warrant or charge.

http://www.texansforpeace.org/endthewar

At the same time, American peace workers continue to travel throughout Iraq and assist Iraqi families to learn the whereabouts of their loved ones.

It’s a crazy world.

Charlie Jackson
Texans for Peace

Dear all of you “we’re fighting them over there, so....”

The MNF in Iraq reports that it has in custody 200 “foreign” fighters in Iraq (and 45% are from Saudi Arabia).  The idea that there are thousands of “terrorists” trying to get to the U.S. is a fabrication created out of whole cloth by the Bush regime. 

While al-Qaeda is entirely a real organization, and there are terrorists who would do anything - even to kill innocent women and children - the fact of the matter is that 99% of all of the fighting is between Iraqis who want their freedom and independence from a foreign occupation force. This is no different than Poles who fought the Germans (or patriots who fought the British in the U.S.).

I’ve been to Iraq three times during the past five years and will stand up to any terrorist, abroad or at home!

There seems to be some general agreement, by both those that favor and oppose the occupation, that “there is no question that our troops doing their jobs cannot avoid intrusive and insulting presence” (i.e. raids, damage, killings).

If so, then why all of this talk about bringing “democracy” “freedom” “liberty” to Iraq?

I’ve traveled extensively throughout that country, both before this war and during it and have found that about 1/2 of the Iraqis originally supported the invasion but now about 90% want the U.S. to leave.

In visiting with soldiers, there are there for many reasons: duty, economic, patriotism, etc.

Most use the most racist and anti-Islamic (even though Iraqis aren’t all Muslims).  Much of this comes from those soldier’s lack of education (truly most soldiers are poorly educated in high school). Too many of the soldiers still view Iraqis as the “enemy”. 

I continue to ask my religious friends to comment on the following quote: “When Jesus said to ‘love your enemy’, I think he meant don’t kill them.”

Funny how those who serve in military capacity in Iraq always justify their actions (i.e. “You want to see what happens when you are nice and knock on the door..")

As an American who has been Iraq three times already during this war, I can say quite clearly that most Iraqis are threatening to people who come in peace.  It’s quite understandable to receive an angry response when the visit is hostile (which is of course the intent of the entire war and occuption of Iraq).

Let’s not blame the soldiers, for they were only “volunteering”.  Let’s not blame Congress, for they were only “doing what they thought best”. Let’s not blame the President and his Adminstration, for they are only deluded. 

....exactly what the Germans said.

I am ashamed to be part of this “liberation” of Iraq.  In surfing through the internet I came across a picture showing our troops “escorting” a young boy (about 10 or 11) to lock-up.  He is crying, and has wet his pants. 

In all four soldiers with weapons have a hold on him.  In my opinion that picture pretty much tells the story. Can you imagine the hate that child will nurse?

It’s a good thing that Iraqis are somewhat better educated concerning world events and politics than the average American.

I’ve traveled throughout that country three times now, during this war, and they are still able to let an American (from Texas, no less!) live in peace.  They understand that the policies of the Administration are not necessarily supported by the average American.

All of those peace protests in the street actually help to make U.S. soldiers “safer”.

CJ

Comment #39503 by Ken Schreier on 11/23 at 4:54 pm says:

Well, here we see Nir Rosen attacking our American boys ,who’s only wish is to do their job, and make Iraq into a multi-cultural democracy

Unbridaled western Huberous!!!

The citizens of Mesopotamia (including present day Iraq) had running water, and public street lights and a bountiful library while Europeans were still shivering in animal skins and living in caves.  The idea that we could bring these people ANYTHING that they have not already rejected is a adolescent western fantasy.

....and our “multicultural society” is not working very well here....AND As everyone knows we are not a “Democracy” or Al Gore would be our current president.  We are a representative republic… Democracies don’t have electorial colleges. MAYBE we should fix things at home before attempting to change the world....As countries go, we’re still pretty young…

Iraqvet

I poster your comment on my website http://www.controlcongress.com (39511). This comment should be required reading for anyone debating the war! 

Ken thank you for the kind words.

Please go to:
http://hotzone@yahoo.com\b\hotzone\blogs19056 and read the courageous story of the conscientious rejecter, Ehran Watada.

I am adding the name of this young courageous man Ehren Watada to my short list of heroes. Acttually, evil Bush looks like a dwarf in comparison to how tall and dignified this young man stands. We need few thousands of his types to put the criminal warmongers on notice! But, alas! In a country of 300 million people, you cannot find few thousands of Watada caliber! I already mourned this lost nation a few years ago.

comment 12692 i t’s been my view since I was old enough to have one that the MAJORITY of VOLUNTEERS in military service do NOT offer themselves up for God or country. They do so FOR THE BLOODY THRILL OF IT… and by the time they realize it’s not a game it’s too late - they’re either dead or maimed for life. Those who survive the ghastly horror show, appear each year to play the sympathy card… “look what I gave for my country… now, “country” honor and support me for the rest of my life.” I was stunned to read your comment; you are an idiot you then say “look in the mirror” This is exactly what you need to do! It’s idiots like you that have chosen to follow the hitlers & Saddams why? Because you cannot be the leader! Then you have the balls to bash our Veterans, A VET would NEVER take a HAND-OUT the ones you see holding a sign or begging on the streets are NOT VETS they just use that as a scam they walk to there BWM at the end of there work day & go home! I feel sorry for your parents they should be ashamed of YOU. I am a US citizen, lived in several differnt countrys to include the middle east. If not for our armed forces we would NOT be free to write what we feel even a dumb-ass like you have that freedom. Try living in another country I’m sure most would appreciate our men & woman who serve our country with pride, despite the few as yourself who are too closed minded to see the real picture-

Proud Daughter & Wife

I served in Iraq also and worked directly with the locals.  Soldier is correct in that knowledge of IED’s is not just limited to those who planted them but there are two reasons the locals are not stepping forward to tell us who did it. 

Reason 1 - Fear. 

We don’t fully control the cities, villages and neighborhoods.  We only control them temporarily when we are there and the minute we leave the people who helped us are retaliated against.  We found the bodies of people who had passed information to us with their lips cut off and other forms of gruesome torture.  Career minded CYA officers in my AO spent all their time disarming the Iraqis who were friendly to us (so they could report larger numbers of weapons seized) which left them vulnerable to retaliation.  In that climate we lost a lot of support from the locals while the preppy little officers got BSMs for their “major accomplishments”. 

Reason 2 - Hatred. 

Soldier, you and I have both seen some (or many) of our fellow soldiers acting like a**holes toward the locals.  It doesn’t matter if the entire platoon treats the people nicely, it just takes that one a** who is over there to get a kill and spends all his time listening to Sean Hannity and Ann Coulter.  Use some empathy and imagine yourselves in the shoes of the next guy that gets zip tied and bagged and thrown into the back of the Hummer to roast in the sun.  When he gets back from confinement (often weeks or months), he’s certainly going to be helping kill us. 

But the bigger question to ask is this “Why did we invade Iraq since we haven’t found WMD?” Was it to establish a democracy - what a joke - this isn’t democracy it’s anarchy with a thin veneer of democracy smeared over the top.  Purple thumbs don’t mean jack when you are in fear of your life every day. 

As a conservative I hated Bill Clinton.  If the Mexicans invaded America to liberate us from Bill Clinton and they started treating us like we treat the Iraqis I’d be out there shooting Mexicans, putting IEDs on the side of the road, torturing the ones I caught (to make the others afraid to come here) and planning ways to retaliate against them all the time.

People: read comment#29405 by John Konop !
It is an excellent analysis of the problems in the Middle East and possible solutions that will resolve the situation !
I commend him on his insight !

God Bless

Well, here we see Nir Rosen attacking our American boys ,who’s only wish is to do their job, and make Iraq into a multi-cultural democracy !
This reporter should understand, that if you are being attacked by terrorists everyday, and you happen to fit the physical description of them, you would have to be a fool not to make sure that you were not one of them !
But you can’t see this because you melt in with the physical features of the terrorists and they don’t know you are an American !
You are a coward, try doing your job as an African American or caucasian American and see how long you will live !
You are one of those liberal Anti-American intellectuals who find no cause worth fighting for !
Iraq was run by a murderous egotist named Sadaam Hussein and his degenerate sons ! 
He murdered and terrorized the people of Iraq for nearly 30 yrs !
The United States, represented by it’s constitutionally elected President, decided it was time to get rid of this threat to humanity and free the people of Iraq from their oppression!
Only if such thinking happened in 1933 when Hitler came to power ! Just think, maybe 50,000,000 people would not have died and countless others who were psychologically & physically injured !
What fools these pacifists are who fight for no cause but their own creature comforts and decadent way of life !
This guy, Nir Rosen, can talk about the evil our troops do, but we know better !
Our boys are there to free a people from oppression and misery ! They are their doing what it takes to stay alive !
Nir Rosen is a coward, doing everything to help them fail in their mission and get them killed !

God Bless our Troops, God help, Nir Rosen and those who cannot see the truth !

Well, wouldn’t that be nice, Spinoza?  However, it’s not just the Sunni insurgency now to make an accord.  Shiites are fighting amongst themselves, presumably for control once the U. S. departs.  You might find this analysis interesting:

http://www.alternet.org/waroniraq/43278/

And all of the mayhem discussed in the reference above is proceeding while we are still there.  After we leave, it will become even fiercer, as we will not be there to prop up the weakening current “democratically elected” government, headed by Nouri al Maliki, who refuses to crack down on the militias, especially al-Sadr, which, initially at least, supported him.

Don’t get me wrong, I am not in favor of our staying.  I’m just saying that we really have no idea how bad it will get when we leave, whenever that is.  It’s already pretty bad with us there.

>>>>In other words, we “ain’t seen nothin’ yet!”<<<<

Maybe not.  There is talk that if the USA pulls out all of the insurgency except al Queda will sign agreements with the Shiia and the Kurds.

We can’t know till we do it.

When the “coalition” forces leave, it is most likely that they will leave a significant portion of their equipment in theater.  It will be done as an effort to shore up the wavering Iraqi military.  Unfortunately, when the inevitable civil war goes into high gear without out troops to keep the lid on, our equipment will be used, probably by both sides, assuming that there will even be two well-defined sides.  In other words, we “ain’t seen nothin’ yet!”

Good onya for serving, Soldier. You mention that all the Iraqis in a village are complicit by knowing who planted the IEDs. So what can you do? Kill them all? Saddam would have, but the U.S. is supposed to be better than that. Bash a few until they name a name, which may or may not be the right person? Kick in doors, piss more people off so they’ll stand lookout for the IED gang the next time? You’re right, the situation if F’ed up.

Ditto for the Iraqis wanting U.S. troops there to tamp down on the death squads. No doubt they do. But you guys can’t stand watch on every corner of every village every minute of every day. You’ll go, and the killers will come back when your dust settles. You’re going to leave that village, and the entire country, sooner or later, and what’s going to happen will happen.

Those of us on the left want to see you leave NOW. That way, fewer of you will get killed. The chickenhawks who sent you over used you, mate. Used you badly. They did an F’ed-up thing, and it’s their fault that they set all this death in motion. If there was any justice, Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld, Perle, Wolfowitz and the others who planned this would be left in Iraq when you got to go home. “Team Chickenhawk, Iraq Police.” But it’s over. Lost. Get out whilst you have the chance, and batten the hatches for the blowback that’s coming.

I am a soldier in Iraq, i deal with Iraqis especially when we do LNE (local National Escort) for those that work on base.  I don’t see how the reporter doesn’t see the big picture. In these small villages there are no secrets, everyone knows who is the person who plants the IEDs, so when we go into a village and everyone is silent and we know that person is living in the village, than all the citizens are complicit for hiding an insurgent. but the reporter doesn’t see that.  he also doesn’t realize that American sons and daughters are dieng for these iraqis, its sunni vs. Shiia and americans are in the middle. and it is a lie that Iraqis don’t want us here, it matters who you ask, if there is a small comunity of sunni in a shiia neighborhood, they welcome patrols, the people who don’t want us there are the deathsquads that will slaughter the minorities in thier area (shiia, suni, or kurd) once we leave. and yes the situations is f#%$ked up.

Anyone who questions the lack of a realistic and comprehensive Iraq strategy is labeled a friend of fascism by the Republican leadership. House Majority Leader John Boehner (R-OH) recently said, “I wonder if [Democrats] are more interested in protecting the terrorists than protecting the American people.” Republicans are paralyzed with the fear of being thought ineffective on national security and the war.

Meanwhile, the Democratic leadership cannot seem to accept that—regardless of how we got there—we are in Iraq. They have not made a convincing case that an arbitrary phased or date-certain troop withdrawal is in the best long-term interest of the United States. Rather, they seem to think that withdrawal will undo the decision to have gone to war. Rubbing President Bush’s nose in Iraq’s difficulties is also a priority.

This political food fight is stifling the desperately needed public discussion about a meaningful resolution to the fire fight. Most Americans know Iraq is going badly. And they know the best path lies somewhere between “stay the course” and “get out now”.

Some Truths

1) Iraq is having a civil war between the Sunnis and Shiites. The Kurds will certainly join, if attacked. It may not look like a civil war, because they don’t have tanks, helicopters, and infantry; but they are fighting with what they have.

2) Vast oil revenues are a significant factor behind the fighting. Yes, there are religious and cultural differences—but concerns about how the oil revenue will be split among the three groups make the problem worse.

3) Most Iraqis support partitioning Iraq into Shiite, Sunni, and Kurdish regions. (Their current arrangement resulted from a pen stroke during the British occupation, not some organic alignment.)

4) Most citizens of the Middle East who support groups that kill and terrorize civilians—such as Hezbollah, Hamas, or al Qaeda—in part because of their aggressive stance against Israel and the United States, but also because they provide much needed social services, such as building schools.

5) Both Republican and Democratic administrations have spent decades doing business with the tyrants who run the Middle East in exchange for oil and cheap labor. This has been the one of the rallying calls of Bin Laden and Hezbollah—that we support tyrants who abuse people for profits. In fact, our latest trade deals with Oman and Jordan actually promote child and slave labor; it’s so bad the State Department had to issue warnings about rampant child trafficking in those countries.

6) Iran is using the instability in Iraq to enhance its political stature in the region. Leaving Iraq without a government that can stand up to Iran would be very destabilizing to the region and the world.

From the U.S. perspective, this is all mostly about energy. As things stand, a serious oil supply disruption would devastate our economy, threaten our security, and jeopardize our ability to provide for our children.

New Directions

Success in Iraq and the Middle East in general requires us to work in three areas simultaneously: (1) fostering a more stable Middle East region, including Iraq, (2) pursuing alternative sources of oil, and (3) developing alternatives to oil. To these ends we must:

1) Insure that the oil revenues are fairly and transparently split among all three groups: Shiite, Sunni, and Kurds based on population.

2) Allow each group to have a much stronger role in self government by creating three virtually-autonomous regions. Forcing a united Iraq down their throats is not working. Our military would then be there in support a solution that people want, rather than one they are resisting.

3) Become a genuine force for positive change, thus denying extremist groups much of their leverage. Driving a fair two-state solution to the Israeli/Palestinian problem should be our first priority. We should also engage in projects that both help the average Middle Easterner and Americans, such as supporting schools that are an alternative to the ones that teach hate and recruit terrorists. We should also stop participating in trade deals that promote child and slave labor by insisting on deals that include livable wages and basic labor rights.

4) Declare a Marshal Plan to end our Middle Eastern energy dependency with a compromise between exploring for new sources, reducing consumption, and developing of alternative energies. For example, we should re-establish normal relations with Cuba so we can beat China to Cuba’s off-shore oil. We should also redirect existing tax breaks for Big Oil into loan guarantees for alternative energy companies.

Once we no longer need so much oil from the Middle East, we can begin winning over its people by using our oil purchases to reward positive and peaceful behavior from their leaders. This would ultimately reduce tensions and encourage prosperity in the region.

We will have to live with the threat of Islamic radical terrorism forever; but these solutions are a start to reducing the threat. Both parties have to put politics aside and put together an honest and reasonable plan that the American understand.
http://www.controlcongress.com

Sunnis, Shiites, and Kurds. Three nations, two are oil-rich, and one, the former controllers of ‘Iraq’ under Saddam, the Sunni, very very very poor. There is no oil in the traditional lands of the Sunni, which is why they took control of the oil-rich regions of Iraq in the first place. Surely this can be solved by finding a way to give the Sunnis a measure of the oil wealth in the two other regions, then letting each fledgling neighbour live alongside the others in peace. Is there room for American troops in this process? The question that needs to be answered, probably by civil war: Who are the most powerful (Iraqi) representatives from each of the three regions? (I mean without US interference) Because now Iraq belongs to them, and they need to start communicating with each other to find a solution. The US presence, shoring up their own (otherwise weak) Iraqi allies, is probably confounding that process.

The Washington Post stated on 9-11-2006 the following regarding Al Anbar province in Iraq:  “The chief of intelligence for the Marine Corps in Iraq recently filed an unusual secret report concluding that the prospects for securing that country’s western Anbar province are dim and that there is almost nothing the U.S. military can do to improve the political and social situation there, said several military officers and intelligence officials familiar with its contents.”

And further:  “One Army officer summarized it as arguing that in Anbar province, ‘We haven’t been defeated militarily but we have been defeated politically—and that’s where wars are won and lost.’”

Since then, the military has issued denials and accused the media of “oversimplifying” the situation in Iraq in general and Al Anbar province in particular.  However, despite the spin, the report details exactly how bad it is:  http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2 006/09/10/AR2006091001204.html?sub=AR

President Bush has consistently stated that one reason we cannot leave “prematurely” is because that would ensure that the “bad guys,” as he so quaintly puts it, would be able to use Iraq as a terrorist base like Taliban Afghanistan.  It would seem that the chief of Marine Corps intelligence has just conceded that condition exists already in Al Anbar, which covers almost a third of Iraq’s territory.  If the current U. S. (or rather “Coalition") troop levels and tactics are insufficient to secure Al Anbar, then either the troop levels or tactics have to change, or we have to get out.

archy it i

Mr. Command, I wasn’t disagreeing with you just that your source was obviously from the Sunni Iraqi resistance and I thought the anti-Shiia stuff mostly nonsense. I don’t think American opponents of American involvement in Iraq should take sides in the sectarian conflict.  I actually think the USA knew what it was doing when it started this conflict. I think it a conscious divide and rule tactic. I just hope that if we can get the USA to get out, the Iraqi’s can solve this problem.

http://english.alarabonline.org/display.asp?fname=2 00688-23\zbusinessz\979.htm&dismode=x&ts=23/08/2006 05:00:59 ã
-------------------------------------------------

Iraqi oil workers end strike

Striking oil workers in southern Iraq on Wednesday ended action that closed the main pipeline supplying Baghdad with refined oil products a day after they had won higher pay, a union leader said.

“We received a document from the ministry of oil. It is a document to increase our salaries and to pay us (a) share in seasonal profits,” Hassan al-Asadi said.

Asadi is the head of a workers’ syndicate representing over 700 employees from the stated-owned General Company for Oil Lines and Pipes in the southern cities of Basra and Nassiriya.

Tuesday’s action did not have any impact on oil exports, oil ministry and union officials had said.

Asadi said the oil minister had agreed to meet with a union delegation in the next 48 hours.

But he warned that the workers would go back on strike on Sunday if remaining grievances about management practices were not resolved.

Basra accounts for most of Iraq’s crude exports.

Political parties in the south have demanded greater control over revenues from the oil produced there and greater autonomy from Baghdad.

Security in Basra has deteriorated this year.

In May, a Shi’ite faction there said it had the power to halt oil exports.

Dear Mr. Spinoza:

The post was to relay the following info:

Our US Government had a press briefing stating that our military “ handed over commands to Iraq’s.”

More lies.  NONE were done.

“US handed over of command of non-existent military services to Iraqi puppet government as propaganda show, ex-military commander says”

Secondly, I believe we should leave Iraq NOW.
As we are literally, training terrorists, who then leave Iraq and set up cells around the world.  Moreover, we as Americans are paying the $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ through our military to train those “terrorist want to be’s.” GREAT JOB!

Just a few dirty little secrets that never hit the press.

The site listed is most acturate in daily events of IRAQ bloodshed and further depicts US soldiers killed, except for wounded figures.

I hope I answered your ?  Further, no intention of disrespect to you.

http://english.alarabonline.org/display.asp?fname=2 00699-10\zopinionz\965.htm&dismode=x&ts=10/09/2006< /a> 08:06:53 Õ

---------------------------------------------
10/09/2006 08:06:53 AM (GMT)
Iraq’s Reality Sinks In

* Robert Dreyfuss is the author of Devil’s Game: How the United States Helped Unleash Fundamentalist Islam (Henry Holt/Metropolitan Books, 2005). Dreyfuss is a freelance writer based in Alexandria, Va., who specializes in politics and national security issues. He is a contributing editor at The Nation, a contributing writer at Mother Jones, a senior correspondent for The American Prospect, and a frequent contributor to Rolling Stone. He can be reached through his website: http://www.robertdreyfuss.com.

Sen. John Rockefeller speaks TRUTH all the while many Republican “ MURDERERS “ are still lying over their own lies concerning IRAQ!

Mother of US Special Forces Soldier

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http://wcbstv.com/topstories/topstories_story_25220335 1.html
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Sep 9, 2006 11:22 pm US/Eastern

Rockefeller: Bush Duped Public On Iraq
Senator Says World Would Be Better Without Iraq Invasion
(CBS News) WASHINGTON When the Senate Intelligence Committee released a declassified version of its findings this past week, the Republican chairman of the committee, Pat Roberts, left town without doing interviews, calling the report a rehash of unfounded partisan allegations.

Its statements like this one, made Feb. 5, 2003, by then-Secretary of State Colin Powell that have become so controversial, implying Iraq was linked to terror attacks.

“Iraq today harbors a deadly terrorist network headed by abu Musab al-Zarqawi, an associated collaborator of Osama bin Laden and his al Qaeda lieutenants,” Powell said.

But after 2 1/2 years of reviewing pre-war intelligence behind closed doors, the lead Democrat on the Intelligence Committee, Sen. John Rockefeller (D-W. Va.), who voted for the Iraq War, says the Bush administration pulled the wool over everyone’s eyes.

“The absolute cynical manipulation, deliberately cynical manipulation, to shape American public opinion and 69 percent of the people, at that time, it worked, they said ‘we want to go to war,’” Rockefeller told CBS News correspondent Sharyl Attkisson. “Including me. The difference is after I began to learn about some of that intelligence I went down to the Senate floor and I said ‘my vote was wrong.’”

Rockefeller went a step further. He says the world would be better off today if the United States had never invaded Iraq — even if it means Saddam Hussein would still be running Iraq.

He said he sees that as a better scenario, and a safer scenario, “because it is called the ‘war on terror.’”

Does Rockefeller stands by his view, even if it means that Saddam Hussein could still be in power if the United States didn’t invade?

“Yes. [Saddam] wasn’t going to attack us. He would’ve been isolated there,” Rockefeller said. “He would have been in control of that country but we wouldn’t have depleted our resources preventing us from prosecuting a war on terror which is what this is all about.”

Republicans say there was flawed intelligence to be sure, but they insist there was no attempt to mislead the public.

“In 2002 and 2003, members of both parties got a good look at the intelligence we had and they came to the very same conclusions about what was going on,” White House Spokesman Tony Snow said.

(© MMVI, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved

Dear Mr. Command

The immediate impression one gets from your post is the stupidity of Arabs.  Do you really think Arabs slaughtering each other is a good policy?  Do you realize that your enemies have fostered this Shi’ite/ Sunni divide so that it would be easier for them to rule?  Even the not very wise sheik Usama praised Nasrallah and recommended that Shia and Sunni work together. Religious wars are always stupid.  Now the Bushites are promoting a crusade against Muslims.  Want to bet who will win?

More Great Progress within Iraq:

Oh Pinocchio, your nose is growing of great length!
-------------------------------------

see the attached link for all the cities within IRAQ Civil War

http://www.iraq-war.ru/article/101613
--------------------------------------------

Baghdad.

Amidst great publicity, US handed over of command of non-existent military services to Iraqi puppet government as propaganda show, ex-military commander says.

Amidst extensive international media coverage US General George Casey and Iraqi puppet “Prime Minister” Nuri al-Maliki signed documents supposedly providing for the transfer of command of Iraqi military services from the US military to the US-installed Iraqi puppet regime leadership. Following international news coverage of the alleged hand over, the independent Saudi-based news agency Mafkarat al-Islam turned to a retired colonel familiar with the situation to comment on the facts of the alleged “handover.”

In a dispatch posted at 6:55pm Makkah time Thursday evening, Mafkarat al-Islam reported that the former Iraqi colonel, formerly in command of the northern Baghdad sector for the puppet army, had been dismissed because he is a Sunni on the grounds that information had been leaked under his watch to the Iraqi Resistance.

The correspondent for Mafkarat al-Islam reported the colonel as saying that in fact the US had handed over two Iraqi military services that do not exist on the ground to the Iraqi puppet government in an attempt to convey a positive message to the American people about what was taking place in occupied Iraq where the death toll continues to rise.

The colonel said that the US occupation forces handed over command of the puppet Iraqi Navy – something that does not in fact exist. All that Iraq has in the way of a “navy” are seven small patrol boats that ply the waters between al-Basrah and Kuwait.

The retired colonel went on: “The second force is the Iraqi Airforce, whose name suggests a service made up of squadrons of deadly fighters. But in fact there is no Iraqi air force in the skies of Iraq, apart from a military transport airplane used to transport troops.,” the colonel revealed, adding:“and even in that case, it is not known how Iraqis might be flying it, since the plane was recently presented as a gift from the Pentagon to the Iraqi puppet Defense Ministry and it is maintained and flown by a special American crew.”

The retired colonel pointed out that until now the US refuses to hand over command of the Iraqi puppet land forces and marines to the Iraqi puppet government for reasons that they refuse to discuss. That handover has been the subject of a complicated discussion for a long time and the media are kept in the dark about all that transpires in that area.

Prodded by Shi‘i religious authorities in an-Najaf, Iraqi puppet regime executes 27 accused Resistance fighters, four of them Saudis.

In a dispatch posted at 4:20pm Makkah time Thursday afternoon, Mafkarat al-Islam reported that the US-installed Iraqi puppet “Government” carried out the execution of 27 individuals who it claims were members of the Iraq Resistance battling the American occupation of Iraq. The correspondent for Mafkarat al-Islam reported a source in the puppet “Iraqi Ministry of Justice” as saying that the sentences were carried out on the 27, all accused of what the American-backed regime dubs “terrorism.” Four of those executed were citizens of Saudi Arabia.

When the official was asked for the names of the 27 executed individuals, the source in the puppet “Justice Ministry” replied: “the Iraqi puppet government refused to announce the names or nationalities for political reasons and their execution came about as a result of pressure applied by the Shi‘i religious authorities in an-Najaf on the Iraqi puppet government.”

Iraqi puppet regime orders closure of al-‘Arabiyah satellite TV offices in Iraq.

In a dispatch posted at 3:40pm Makkah time Thursday afternoon, Mafkarat al-Islam reported that the Iraqi puppet regime had ordered that the offices of the al-‘Arabiyah satellite TV station in Baghdad and all the rest of Iraq be closed down. The correspondent for Mafkarat al-Islam reported that a statement issued by the puppet “Council of Ministers of Iraq” and broadcast on local television stated that the puppet “Prime Minister” Jawad al-Malili had ordered the closure of the al-‘Arabiyah offices for a period of one month.

The al-‘Arabiyah TV station, based in Dubai in the United Arab Emirates, has acquired a reputation for ready compliance with the wishes of the US-installed Iraqi regime. Nevertheless, according to a dispatch posted by Quds Press the official puppet regime spokesman ‘Ali ad-Dabbagh told a press conference later on Thursday that al-‘Arabiyah was guilty of “non-journalistic behavior in its coverage of developments in Iraq.” Ad-Dabbagh said that several instances of such behavior had been registered, but declined to give any examples.

QudsPress noted that the other most well-know Arabic satellite TV station, al-Jazeera, was shut down for one month about two years ago, but that ban was simply regularly extended and as a result al-Jazeera remains locked out until today.

Resistance car bomber kills six puppet “Interior Ministry Shock Troops (Maghawir).”

In a dispatch posted at 2:28pm Makkah time Thursday afternoon, Mafkarat al-Islam reported that a short while earlier, an Iraqi Resistance fida’i fighter drove an explosives-laden car into a patrol of puppet “Iraqi Interior Ministry Shock Troops (Maghawir)” near the railroad in the al-Yarmuk neighborhood of western Baghdad. The correspondent for Mafkarat al-Islam reported eyewitnesses as saying that the explosion killed six puppet “Shock Troops,” one of them an officer and completely destroyed their vehicle. US and Iraqi puppet troops had completely surrounded the scene of the attack at the time of reporting.

Resistance bombards US military headquarters set up in former factory in western Baghdad.

In a dispatch posted at 12:15pm Makkah time midday Thursday, Mafkarat al-Islam reported that Iraqi Resistance forces fired four 82mm mortar rounds into the US military headquarters set up in the former Biskulatah factory in the al-Khadra’ area of western Baghdad. The correspondent for Mafkarat al-Islam reported eyewitnesses in the al-Khadra’ area a saying that the barrage sent plumes of smoke rising into the sky.

Resistance car bomber blasts fuel station in east Baghdad reserved for the puppet police.

In a dispatch posted at 11:42am Makkah time Thursday morning, Mafkarat al-Islam reported that an Iraqi Resistance fida’i fighter drove an explosives-laden car into a fuel station reserved for the Iraqi puppet police in the ash-Sha‘b neighborhood of Baghdad and blew up.

The correspondent for Mafkarat al-Islam reported a source in the puppet police as saying that the car bomb broke through the gate and blew up inside the station, which is located near the international ash-Sha‘b sports stadium in eastern Baghdad. The source said that he blast destroyed four puppet police vehicles and killed seven puppet policemen. Another 15 were wounded. Three civilians who were near the scene were also killed in the blast and five more of them wounded.

Shi‘i sectarian militias together with puppet police kidnap two busloads of Sunnis as efforts continue to partition Iraq on sectarian lines in keeping with US-Zionist plans.

In a dispatch posted at 10:50am Makkah time Thursday morning, Mafkarat al-Islam reported that Shi‘i sectarian militias together with Iraqi puppet police, all working to provoke sectarian war in Iraq in keeping with American and Zionist plans to partition the country, kidnapped 26 Iraqi Sunnis from the southwestern part of Baghdad.

The correspondent for Mafkarat al-Islam reported eyewitnesses in the southern Baghdad suburb of ad-Durah as saying that Shi‘i sectarian gunmen of the pro-American Badr Brigades and Jaysh al-Mahdi supported by units of the Iraqi puppet police seized too busses that weree carrying a number of Sunni Iraqis on their way to ad-Durah. The sectarians drove them off to an unknown destination.

Efforts to split Iraq along religious and ethnic lines – which often are masked under language about forming an Iraqi “federation” – are consistent with plans hatched by US and Zionist politicians and reflected recently by Leslie Gelb (President Emeritus of the US Council on Foreign Relations) in “The Three-State Solution published in The New York Times on 25 November 2003, in the article by Gelb and US Democratic Senator Joseph Biden in “Unity through Autonomy in Iraq,” in The New York Times on 1 May 2006.

Banking on splitting the Shi‘ah in Iraq from the rest of the country was a cornerstone of the neo-Conservative strategy laid out in “A Clean Break” a paper drawn up by American Zionist government officials Richard Perle, Douglas Feith, David Wurmser, and Paul Wolfowitz in 200 for the then Zionist Prime Ministe Benjamin Netanyahu.

But before the recent period, the idea of “the dissolution of Iraq into a Shi‘ite state, a Sunni state and the separation of the Kurdish part” was voiced by veternan Zionist military correspondent Ze’ev Schiff in Ha’aretz on 2 June 1982 and was a part of the divide-and-rule strategy laid out by Zionist writer Oded Yinon in his “Strategy for Israel in the 1980s,” published in Kivunim (Directions), A Journal for Judaism and Zionism, published by the World Zionist Organization in occupied Jerusalem in February 1982. (It was translated by the late anti-Zionist writer and activist Israel Shahak and is widely available.)

Bodies of murdered Sunni Iraqis recovered from drainage ditch Thursday evening.

In a dispatch posted at 7:34pm Makkah time Thursday evening, Mafkarat al-Islam reported that the Iraqi puppet river police had recovered more than 14 bodies of murdered Sunnis from a small river used to drain water in the Abu Dushayr area of southern Baghdad. The correspondent for Mafkarat al-Islam reported that more bodies were still being found in the stagnant water at the time of reporting. At that hour the following bodies had been identified:

“umar ‘Abd Mushhin al-‘Ithawi, Khalid Ya‘qub al-Kubaysi, ‘Ali Walid al-Fallahi, Rafid Muthanna al-Mahdawi, Durayd Munir al-‘Ani, Anwar Nassar al-Jannabi, Fayyad Khalaf al-Jabburi – an elderly man.

Salah ad-Din Province.

Balad.

Fadel, The right wing scum are trying to discredit Islam and are trying to start an anti Islamic crusade.  Though I don’t like religion it is morally wrong to start religious wars. The Bushites, The disgusting Christian Right and the mendacious Neo Cons are promoting World War three and are trying very hard to turn this country into a police state.

They might succeed.

The following article should be widely circulated as it is mostly right.

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article14886.htm

ALL OUT OCTOBER FIFTH.

Kindly read the following with an open mind and pay attention to the statistics provided by this sober piece! Learn how evil occupation is the source of all evil and terrorism! 
================================================
Nationalism, not Islam, motivates most suicide terrorists
Posted: 06 Sep 2006 05:00 PM CDT

By Gary Olson

Here is today’s discussion question: Suicide terrorism is primarily caused by Islamic fundamentalism. True or false? Although it seems counter-intuitive, especially given everything we read and hear in the mainstream media, the correct answer is ‘’false.’’

In his recent book, ‘’DYING TO WIN: The Strategic Logic of Suicide Terrorism,’’ University of Chicago political scientist Robert Pape has provided an indispensable public service by collecting data from all 315 suicide terrorist campaigns from 1980 to 2003, involving 462 individuals. His overall finding: The major objective of 95 percent of suicide attacks is to expel foreign military forces from territory that the terrorists perceive as their homeland. There is little connection with Islamic fundamentalism or any of the world religions. The taproot of suicide terrorism is nationalism and it’s ‘’mainly a response to foreign occupation.’’ The objective is political self-determination. The Tamil Tigers in Sri Lanka, a secular, clearly anti-religious movement, have committed 76 of the 315 suicide attacks, the most of any group. Their specific goal was an independent homeland in Sri Lanka.

Pape, who has also taught at the U.S. Air Force’s Advanced Airpower Studies, convincingly demonstrates that ‘’suicide terrorist groups are neither primarily criminal groups dedicated to enriching their top leaders, nor religious cults isolated from the rest of their society. Rather, suicide terrorist organizations often command broad social support within the national communities from which they recruit, because they are seen as pursuing legitimate nationalist goals.’’ Absent these goals, suicide terrorism rarely occurs.

Only 6 percent of the perpetrators have come from the five countries with the world’s largest Islamic fundamentalist populations. (Pakistan, Bangladesh, Egypt, Iran and Nigeria). He notes, ‘’Prior to America’s invasion in March 2003, Iraq had never experienced a suicide bombing in its history.’’ Further, Pape’s demographic profiles of individual suicide terrorists reveals they are not uneducated, poor, mentally unstable, lacking in prospects, or young men expecting to spend paradise in the company of 72 virgins. Almost exactly the opposite is true. The data indicates they have higher incomes, intelligence and education, are deeply integrated into their communities, are highly politically conscious and from widely varied religious backgrounds. A significant minority are female.

Obviously, killing innocents is a morally repugnant act, but the evidence also strongly suggests that these individuals are motivated by a deep sense of duty and view their actions as a sacrifice for a nation’s common good, its culture and community goals. Reprehensible, of course. But not caused by religious fervor. Although suicide attacks account for only 3 percent of terrorist incidents, they account for 48 percent of all fatalities. Clearly it’s the most deadly manifestation of terrorism and there is every reason to suspect it will increase. It works.

Placing tens of thousands of U.S. troops in the Arabian Peninsula between 1990 and 2001 was the pivotal factor accounting for the Sept. 11 attacks. Pape concludes that given the high correlation between foreign military occupation and suicide terrorist movements, the continued and hated presence of American troops in the region will greatly facilitate terrorist organizers in recruiting fresh volunteers.

My own take is that here we get to the nub of the matter. U.S. military might is concentrated in this region for one reason: He who controls the world’s energy resources, especially scarce oil resources, controls the world. He also becomes fabulously wealthy. Permanent military bases in Iraq are crucial to realizing their ends. How much easier, and necessary, for U.S. planners to deceive our citizens that Iraq and all the rest is about a ‘’war on terrorism’’ related to Islamic fundementalism than to reveal the truth about their motives. They’re well aware that an enlightened American public would refuse to give our nation’s blessing, blood, and treasure to such a nefarious enterprise.

The so-called ‘’war on terror’’ is fatally flawed because its planners are incapable of addressing the real political goals of those employing terrorism. They can’t afford to do so. Precious little time remains to reverse a U.S. course of action that virtually guarantees a significant uptick in deadly attacks on Americans, both here and abroad.

Gary Olson, Ph.D., is chair of the Political Science Department at Moravian College in Bethlehem. His e-mail address is olson at moravian dot edu

Source: http://www.mcall.com/…

GO TO A WORLD CAN’T WAIT MEETING TODAY

http://www.worldcantwait.net/index.php

Try to stop world war three.

Here are two frightening and mostly accurate pessimistic analyses

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article14860.htm

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article14862.htm

Bush wants to keep the war going because it’s easy.  Send weapons and men.  Point shoot bang bang.  See how great we are. Need more guns? Great we send more guns.  Need more men.  Ok we send more men.  Its easy.

If we weren’t over there fighting as priority one then we would have to be dealing with the tough issues that are not so easy like health care, the economy, global warming, immigration, etc.

It is long past time for us to come home

Thanks for taking http://www.sis.utk.edu/Members/derik/3.html

Your hard work paid off

America Building Symbols of Its Civilization in Iraq!

To those critics who keep yammering that the Bushittes have spent billions of our tax dollars for the reconstruction of the Iraq they destroyed, but have built practically nothing, one would say “Ha!”
If you went to Iraq today, you’d see a marvelous new complex rising up in the heart of Baghdad. This 104-acre shining oasis would certainly supercede the palaces Saddam Husain was known for building. It will include more than 600 condos, two major office buildings, its own electricity plant and water system, air conditioning, swimming pools, a gym, a movie theater, a food court, a beauty salon, a car-repair shop, and even a night club.
This sprawling new palace complex, which will have 8,000 people working in it when completed next year, must be a welcome sign of progress and a symbol of democratic pride for the long-suffering people of Iraq-right? Well… not exactly! You see this palace is not for them. This is to be the new U.S. center of occupation in Iraq, called nicely the U.S. Embassy.
Being built by an affiliate of –guess who?- Halliburton, this half-billion dollar, self-contained complex will be by far the largest embassy in the world. But this is no mere house of diplomacy-it’s a mini-state inside Iraq capital and the largest complex of espionage in the world, establishing a permanent American base that literally ripples with negative symbolism. Surrounded by 15-foot walls, guarded by marines, and overlooking the chambers housing the Iraqi government, this fortress will be viewed by the average Iraqi people as an evil palace of occupation and a continued target for the Iraqi resistance to liberate themselves from and evil foreign occupation. This symbol of neocolonialism will eventually be surrounded by the angry Iraqis, and only God will know what would happen to its occupants. Remember what happened to a similar complex in Iran in 1979!

LDThompson, thanks for your post. I am certain that the Iraqis can work things out if we got out of the equation.

We Have to kick Bush out first though and keep the fascist Democrats out also.

There is a necessary fight against fascism as represented by Rummy and other Bushites. Unfortunately the left is divided and ineffective as usual. However, I recently got an email from the World Can’t Wait and they are hoping to organize a super political action on October 5th. They are also asking for donations. Hopefully we can really do something to change history. They can be found at the

http://www.worldcantwait.org

Peace Delegation, Amman Jordan

For two days early in August 2006, members of the Iraqi parliament agreed to meet with a peace delegation from the United States in Amman, Jordan. The peace delegation included Medea Benjamin, Jodi Evans, Gael Murphy, Diane Wilson, Cindy Sheehan, Ann Wright, Judith LeBlanc, Barbara Briggs-Letson, Geoffrey Millard, Tom Hayden, Father Louis Vitale, Raed Jarrar, Aseel Albanna and Jeeni Criscenzo. I had been invited as a filmmaker to document this momentous occasion.

The meetings were complex and revealed the contradictions and factions that are making it difficult for the new Iraq government to speak with a unified voice. The one thing that was unanimous was their desire for the US to end the occupation and withdraw its troops.

Though they disagreed about the timeline for US troop withdrawal, they all agreed that federalism (the creation of separate discreet states within Iraq) is a mistake. Reconciliation of competing factions, compensation for war victims, recognition of the resistance as legitimate, amnesty members of the resistance, disbanding the militias, eradicating the mysterious death squads and rebuilding the country were priorities.

One parliamentarian, a doctor, had very sad reports about there being no medicine and no electricity in hospitals that were fully operational before the invasion and occupation. According to her, many of the skilled and educated, including doctors and nurses have either fled the country or been killed. Apparently, most of the reports we receive of hospitals and schools being built by the American occupation forces are really just efforts to rebuild existing institutions that have been destroyed.

The British ambassador, the day we arrived in Amman had been quoted as saying that civil war is imminent between the Sunni and the Shia. Yet, what we heard repeatedly is that the Sunni and the Shia have been intermarrying and living in integrated communities for thousands of years. In one of the sessions we heard from two men who represented the mainstream political parties – one is Shia, he is married to a Sunni. The other is Sunni and is married to a Shia. This is the character of Iraqi society.

In the second day of meetings, three men who had been incarcerated at Abu Ghraib spoke. Their testimony was electrifying. Even after all of the furor as a result of the photos from Abu Ghraib it was deeply disturbing to sit face to face with men who had been subjected to torture. We heard from one of the men that when he requested pain medication for his hand on which he had recently had surgery, a guard stomped on his hand and told him “that’s pain medicine in America.” He also told us of a man who was taken by a female guard and ordered to have sex with her. When the prisoner refused, ‘she put on an artificial penis and raped him’. And what is it they want? They want to be heard and they want justice.

That’s what struck me above all else was that these people are looking to America for justice. They believe that America is a just and law abiding society and they expect that the US will return their sovereignty to them and make right the damage and destruction that has been wreaked upon their country.

The goal of the peace delegation was to return to the United States with a clear and concise statement of what the Iraqis want and to present it to American legislators. But, I believe, an equally important effect of this meeting is something less tangible because it was clear that the men and women from Iraq who met with these citizens of the United States were given renewed hope that their belief in the innate goodness of Americans is not invalid. Their hopes for the future of their country were given new life.

LD Thompson
trick dog films

Certainly a point of view we’re not accustomed to.

Does this article disturb you?  Why?

Does it bother you because it confirms your assumptions and views?

Does it bother you because it goes against your beliefs and values?

We are all most comfortable with our own point of view.  We prefer to have our beliefs reaffirmed.  To see things as we’d like them to be, not as they are.  It’s much easier and more comfortable that way. 

The first casualty of war is the truth.  Perhaps we can get a glimpse by reading both sides and between the lines. 

Remember, first step in dealing with a problem is admitting you have one.

Hi ho Silver, away.

I found it very interesting.

The War is widening we have to get out in the streets

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article14195.htm

Skyrider7: the answer to your