20050823
There's a new batch of photos from Iraq's Abu Ghraib prison, and these are reportedly far worse than the sickening originals.
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2005/08/22/opinion/main791067.shtml
...the images reportedly depict "assault, coerced sexual activity, rape, even dead bodies."
Bush says war critics would weaken the U.S.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/9051990/
Bush charged Tuesday that anti-war protesters like Cindy Sheehan who want troops brought home immediately do not represent the views of most U.S. military families and are “advocating a policy that would weaken the United States.”
Isn't Bush advocating the policy that weakens the United States?
...Bush then went on to invoke the dead soldiers as reason to stay the course in Iraq -- a policy that will inevitably create many more of them.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/linkset/2005/04/11/LI2005041100879.html
One US soldier and a contractor were killed Tuesday when a suicide bomber attacked a joint US-Iraqi coordination centre in the restive Iraqi town of Baquba, the US military said.The deaths brought to 1,868 the number of US military personnel killed in Iraq since the US-led March 2003 invasion.
Bush won't meet with war protester
http://www.qctimes.net/articles/2005/08/23/news/local/doc430b408b554bd917295096.txt
In remarks to reporters outside an exclusive resort where he is vacationing, the President gave no indication that he would change his mind and meet with Sheehan, who lost a son in Iraq.
PR blitz counters antiwar protest
http://www.boston.com/news/nation/washington/articles/2005/08/23/pr_blitz_counters_antiwar_protest/
White House, military kin launch effort
'There's so much negative information in the media," said Deborah Johns, a Roseville, Calif., mother of a Marine who is about to serve his third tour of duty in Iraq. ''If the building of bridges and roads and schools and power plants was portrayed in the media, it would make a huge difference. We need to stand by our men and women so they can keep their morale up."
Iraq power blackout may impact oil prices
http://www.gazettetimes.com/articles/2005/08/23/news/nation/tuenat02.txt
Saboteurs triggered a cascade of blackouts that halted Iraq's entire oil export capacity for most of Monday, a move that cost the country almost $60 million in lost exports and rattled already jittery world markets.
A majority of U.S. soldiers in Iraq say morale is low, according to an Army report that finds psychological stress is weighing particularly heavily on National Guard and Reserve troops.
http://www.armytimes.com/story.php?f=1-292925-987358.php
The thing that bothered soldiers the most, the latest assessment said, was the length of their required stay in Iraq. At the start of the war, most were deployed for six months, but now they go for 12 months.
War Supporters, Anti-War Activists Clash
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/08/23/AR2005082300105.html
"You are ruining the morale over there," whined Greg Parkinson, a Bush supporter. Some caravan members called the anti-war protesters communists and said they were "aiding and abetting the enemy."
Pentagon says it has found no evidence Atta identified before 2001 attacks
http://sg.news.yahoo.com/050822/1/3uexl.html
A Pentagon review has so far found no evidence that a secret intelligence operation identified Mohammad Atta as a member of a US-based Al-Qaeda cell before the September 11, 2001 attacks, a spokesman said.
An active-duty Navy captain has become the second military officer to come forward publicly to say that a secret intelligence program tagged the ringleader of the Sept. 11 attacks as a possible terrorist more than a year before the attacks.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/08/23/politics/23intel.html?ei=5090&en=4010d072ce411d88&ex=1282449600&partner=rssuserland&emc=rss&pagewanted=print
His comments came on the same day that the Pentagon's chief spokesman, Lawrence Di Rita, told reporters that the Defense Department had been unable to validate the assertions made by an Army intelligence veteran, Lt. Col. Anthony Shaffer, and now backed up by Captain Phillpott, about the early identification of Mr. Atta.
Pentagon reviewing death of former NFL player Pat Tillman
http://www.9news.com/acm_news.aspx?OSGNAME=KUSA&IKOBJECTID=e4675016-0abe-421a-0088-f5f37c4bb554&TEMPLATEID=0c76dce6-ac1f-02d8-0047-c589c01ca7bf
Tillman left the NFL after the September 11th attacks to join the Army with his brother. He had played for the Arizona Cardinals. In April of last year, Tillman was killed by the gunfire of fellow soldiers. They mistook him for the enemy as he got into position to defend them.
Military's Recruiting Troubles Extend to Affluent War Supporters
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/08/19/AR2005081900815.html
Are wealthier Americans, who are more likely to be Republicans and therefore more likely to support the war, stepping up to the plate and urging their children and others from their communities to enlist?
Letter: Supporters of war in Iraq should be on front lines
So let me get this straight - the United States government took the only secular country in the Middle East and turned it into an Islamic republic? The United States government installed and supported Saddam Hussein for decades; the same goes for Osama bin Laden. It's been 1,435 days since President Bush said he'd catch bin Laden dead or alive. Our government lied to start an illegal, pre-emptive war of conquest. The "we are fighting them there so we don't have to fight them here" argument is going to look pretty stupid after the next terrorist attacks. So now we are fighting for freedom. When the war started in Iraq, most UNM students were in the silent majority that supported the war. Those who were not were gassed, maced and shot at with pepper balls. The silent majority has a lot of blood on its hands. If you support the war in Iraq, what are you still doing here? Go defend Israel and big oil: 1-800-USA-ARMY.Brian FejerUNM student ¶ 23.8.05
