Liberty or Death
Rebellion to Tyrants20060226
OCCUPIED BAGHDAD, The New Iraq (AP) - Two U.S. soldiers and an Iraqi police officer were killed in other explosions. http://dailynews.att.net/cgi-bin/news?e=pri&dt=060226&cat=news&st=newsd8g0qb8o0&src=ap
The two U.S. soldiers were killed when their vehicle was struck by a roadside bomb in western Baghdad, the U.S. military said.
Commanders Hint at More US Troops for Iraq
http://www.armytimes.com/story.php?f=1-292925-1559027.php
Violence erupted after the golden dome was blown off a historic Shiite mosque on Wednesday in Samarra, and the resulting protests and killings have only worsened the situation. “We are making progress on the ground, there is no doubt about it,” Gen.Kimmitt said. WHAT THE FUCK IS THIS ARMY TOOL SMOKING? USA! USA! USA!
Pentagon report: Insurgent attacks hit postwar high
http://www.stripes.com/article.asp?section=104&article=35298
Awareness of the relative unpopularity of U.S. troops “is one of the reasons we want to turn over the battlespace” to the Iraqi security forces. Significant percentages of Iraqis responding to a U.S. government poll lauded individuals attacking “multinational forces” as “patriots” and “freedom fighters.”
Pentagon: Iraqi troops downgraded
http://www.cnn.com/2006/WORLD/meast/02/24/iraq.security/index.html?section=cnn_topstories
And this means we'll be in Iraq for HOW long???
Iraq violence clouds US "exit strategy"
http://channels.netscape.com/news/story.jsp?id=2006022600207000000002&dt=20060226002000&w=AFP&coview
Washington insists Iraq is making progress on the security, political and economic fronts progress despite the violence sweeping the battered country nearly three years after the invasion to oust Saddam Hussein.
Fears over a 'new Saddam' as Iraq battles to avert civil war
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2089-2058790,00.html
...a military think tank, warns that if civil war breaks out “the outcome may be that we help the rise of another Saddam Hussein who is ruthless enough to deal with the problem”.
Iraq slipping into low-level civil war
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1139395492959&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull
..."quiet assassinations" are almost commonplace in areas of the country.
Bomb in Shi'ite mosque leaves 2 wounded
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1139395491461&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull
The explosion comes amid attacks on Shi'ites and Sunnis mosques following a Wednesday explosion that heavily damaged a Shi'ite shrine in the central city of Samarra.
Sunni mosque attacked in Baghdad
At least one more Sunni mosque was attacked in Baghdad on Saturday after two rockets were fired at a Shiite mosque in Tuz Khormato, north of the capital, the previous night
With Iraq perched at the very precipice of an ethnic and sectarian holocaust, the utter failure of the Bush administration’s policy is revealed with starkest clarity. Iraq may or may not fall into the abyss in the next few days and weeks, but what is no longer in doubt is who is to blame: If Iraq is engulfed in civil war then Americans, Iraqis and the international community must hold President Bush and Vice President Cheney responsible for the destruction of Iraq.
http://www.tompaine.com/articles/2006/02/24/on_the_brink_in_iraq.php
If the current crisis doesn’t spark a civil war, be patient. The next one will.
Wiliam F. Buckley Throws in the Towel on Iraq
http://www.editorandpublisher.com/eandp/columns/pressingissues_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1002074217
Now what will newspaper editors do? As the situation worsens in Iraq, one wonders what it will take for editorialists in this country to endorse the notion of a U.S. withdrawal from Iraq. A look back at critical editorials on the eve of invasion shows how timidly editors have acted since.
Surging anti-Americanism caused other Middle East elections to have the opposite results from what Bush’s neoconservatives predicted. Instead of breeding moderation, elections in Pakistan, Egypt, Iran and the Palestinian Authority saw gains by Islamic extremists, including a surprise victory by the militant group Hamas in Palestine.
http://consortiumnews.com/2006/022506.html
This string of catastrophes has now led even prominent conservatives to conclude that Bush’s “stay the course” strategy must be rethought. They see Iraq spiraling toward a civil war with 138,000 U.S. troops caught in the middle
The latest defectors – Buckley and Fukuyama – threaten to pull away even members of Bush’s political base. Buckley is the godfather of conservative punditry, while Fukuyama has been a bright light among neocon theorists.
Now, Bush must decide what to do – admit mistakes and heed the advice of critics – or circle the wagons even tighter and lash out at the growing majority of Americans who think the war in Iraq was a deadly mistake.
George WMD Bush admitted on Friday that Iraq is in a serious situation.
http://english.people.com.cn/200602/25/eng20060225_245730.html
"The enemies of a free Iraq are working to stop Iraq's democratic progress. They understand a democratic Iraq will be a major defeat in their totalitarian aims. They're going to continue their campaign of violence and destruction," Bush said in a speech on the war against terrorism.
It's been 1,623 days since GWB said he'd catch UBL 'Dead or Alive!'
British troops fear backlash as Afghans attack opium crop
http://news.independent.co.uk/world/asia/article347792.ece
British soldiers may also have to disarm the grandiosely titled Afghan Security Force - in effect former mujahedin hired by US forces to guard their bases?
Afghanistan prison 'quietly expanded'
http://rawstory.com/news/2005/Afghanistan_prison_quietly_expanded_0225.html
An Afghanistan prison that currently holds up to 500 terror suspects in "primitive conditions, indefinitely and without charges" has "quietly expanded."
Men are held by the dozen in large wire cages, the detainees and military sources said, sleeping on the floor on foam mats and, until about a year ago, often using plastic buckets for toilets.
http://www.startribune.com/722/story/270807.html
Before recent renovations, they rarely saw daylight.
What's Going On in Pakistan?
http://www.counterpunch.com/shariff02252006.html
Major cities in Pakistan have been in flames, several individuals have died, and damage to property is estimated to be in millions of dollars. These are among the worst riots in Pakistan's history.
"How the Neocons Sabotaged Iran's Help on al-Qaeda,"
QAEDA CLAIM: WE 'INFILTRATED' UAE GOV'T
http://www.nypost.com/news/worldnews/64126.htm
Al Qaeda warned the government of the United Arab Emirates more than three years ago that it "infiltrated" key government agencies, according to a disturbing document released by the U.S. military.
9/11 Commission Head: Ports Deal “Never Should Have Happened”…
Homeland Security Protested Ports Deal
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/P/PORTS_SECURITY?SITE=7219&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2006-02-25-10-37-13
Despite persistent criticism from Republicans and Democrats, the president has defended his administration's approval of the ports deal and threatened to veto any measures in Congress that would block it.
XXXXXXXXX Bush, Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff, Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld and even Treasury Secretary John Snow, who oversees the government committee that approved the deal, all say they did not know about the purchase until after it was finalized!
20060219
It does appear that our government in Washington has climbed to the pinnacle of obscenity. Time for them to take the fall.
I agree this guy should have his head cut off. He is a hypocrite. The Third World War was started by cartoons, no!Why I Published Those Cartoons?
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/02/17/AR2006021702499.html
I agree that the freedom to publish things doesn't mean you publish everything. Jyllands-Posten would not publish pornographic images or graphic details of dead bodies; swear words rarely make it into our pages. So we are not fundamentalists in our support for freedom of expression? On occasion, Jyllands-Posten has refused to print satirical cartoons of Jesus, but not because it applies a double standard?
Nigerian Muslims protesting caricatures of the Prophet Muhammad attacked Christians and burned churches on Saturday, killing at least 15 people in the deadliest confrontation yet in the whirlwind of Muslim anger over the drawings.
http://dailynews.att.net/cgi-bin/news?e=pri&dt=060219&cat=frontpage&st=frontpageap20060219_310&src=abc
It was the first major protest to erupt over the issue in Africa's most populous nation. An Associated Press reporter saw mobs of Muslim protesters swarm through the city center with machetes, sticks and iron rods. One group threw a tire around a man, poured gas on him and set him ablaze.
...the Danish cartoonist whose drawings originally sparked the furore, Kurt Westergaard, used an interview with a British newspaper to defend the right to a free press - and said the Islamic faith provided 'spiritual ammunition' for terrorism.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/cartoonprotests/story/0,,1713178,00.html
He defended it as 'a protest against the fact that we perhaps are going to have double standards [in Denmark and Western Europe] for freedom of expression and freedom of the press'. The inspiration for it was, he said, 'terrorism - which gets its spiritual ammunition from Islam.'
Double Standards HUH?
Danish paper rejected Jesus cartoons
This ends the claim that this is a free-speech issue.
Danish Paper won't run Holocaust cartoons
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1139395370665&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull
A prominent Iranian newspaper has said it would hold a competition for cartoons on the Holocaust to test whether the West extends the principle of freedom of expression to the Nazi genocide as it did to the Muhammad caricatures.
Poland will not let Iran "research" Holocaust
"It goes beyond all imaginable norms to question, even discuss or negotiate the issue."
The Dangers of a Middle East Nuclear War
New Pentagon Doctrine: Mini-Nukes are "Safe for the Surrounding Civilian Population"
Selling War against Iran
Propaganda campaign portrays Iran as a pariah state
Rice: Iran Is Terrorism 'Banker'
Iran was on edge; now it's on top
The war in Iraq has bolstered the regime's influence in the region and made it bolder.
What Bush Is Up To
I'm going to tell you what the real Bush administration policy is. I have no take-it-to-court proof. No one does, because the administration doesn't tell the truth and is very secretive. But from conversations I've had with people from the Middle East and from extensive reading, I infer that the Bush administration's policy encompasses three goals: One of the goals is to replace the present Syrian government with one the administration hopes will be more pliable in its policy toward Israel. Another is to construct four permanent bases in Iraq, and that means the administration has no intention of ever withdrawing all U.S. forces. The third goal is to attack Iran's nuclear facilities from the air. The propaganda campaign to justify this attack is already under way.
Rumsfeld Says Extremists Winning Media War
What is quite revealing about this statement is the prior assumption that if one spends enough money on lies, one will ultimately be believed. This is, of course, a fallacy. The US Government and mainstream media have spent incredible fortunes on their lies and propaganda. TV shows, movies, newscasts, all of these involve investments in the hundreds of millions of dollars. Yet blogs running on spare change are getting the truth out, and the reason is simple, because we ARE telling the truth, and the truth is what the people are starting to realize they must have.
Repub. Senator: If Cheney Had "Been In The Military, He Would Have Learned Gun Safety”...
British Troops Executed Unarmed Iraqi
Not terribly pro-life, is it Mr President?
Last month, the military forces that this same president commands aimed a missile at a house in Damadola, a Pakistani village near the Afghan border. Eighteen people were killed, including five children. The target of the attack, al-Qaeda's No 2, Ayman al-Zawahiri, was not among the dead, although lesser figures in the terrorist organisation reportedly were. Bush did not apologise for the attack, nor did he reprimand those who ordered it. Apparently, he believes that the chance of killing an important terrorist leader is sufficient justification for firing a missile that will almost certainly kill innocent human beings.
Presidential Incoherence
http://www.crooksandliars.com/stories/2006/02/18/presidentialIncoherence.html
George Bush gave another speech yesterday on the "Global War on Terror." If one actually sits down and reads these speeches, it really is staggering how much deceit and propaganda gets packed into each one of them. What they have him say is not just factually false, but directly contrary to claims he made in the past or which other Administration officials are making now. Sometimes, the most compelling argument against the White House's propaganda is simply to place it side-by-side with prior Administration statements and/or undisputed political facts.
http://www.whatreallyhappened.com/lies.mp3
BUSH YESTERDAY:
I knew we're at war when they attacked us. As a matter of fact, I was down here in Florida. It didn't take long to figure out what was going on. And I vowed that day that I would not rest, so long as I was the President, in protecting the people. So a lot of my decision-making is based upon the attack.And I know we're at war, see -- I knew it then, and the enemy has, unfortunately, proved me right because they continue to attack. In order to win the war against the enemy you got to understand the nature of the enemy.And we've got a coalition of countries. I spent a lot of time reminding people about the nature of the war. Listen, the tendency for folks is to say, well, this really isn't a war.ATTORNEY GENERAL ALBERTO GONZALES, testifying on February 6 before the Senate Judiciary Committee:
There was not a war declaration, either in connection with Al Qaida or in Iraq. It was an authorization to use military force.I only want to clarify that, because there are implications.Obviously, when you talk about a war declaration, you're possibly talking about affecting treaties, diplomatic relations. And so there is a distinction in law and in practice. And we're not talking about a war declaration. This is an authorization only to use military force. _____________BUSH YESTERDAY:
So I want to share some of the strategy in winning this war on terror. Make no mistake about it, we're going to win the war on terror. Bush during the 2004 Campaign:
President Bush ignited a Democratic inferno of criticism on Monday by suggesting the war on terrorism could not be won, forcing his aides to scramble to defend his remarks just as he had hoped to bask in convention accolades.On the campaign trail in New Hampshire, Mr. Bush sought to emphasize the economy, but his comments on terrorism dominated national attention. In an interview on NBC-TV's "Today" show, Mr. Bush vowed to stay the course in the war on terror, saying perseverance in the battle would make the world safer for future generations. But he suggested an all-out victory against terrorism might not be possible.Asked "Can we win?" Mr. Mr. Bush said, "I don't think you can win it. But I think you can create conditions so that the ? those who use terror as a tool are less acceptable in parts of the world." ________________BUSH YESTERDAY:
And we have a plan to achieve victory [in Iraq]. Victory is a state -- a democracy that can sustain itself and defend itself and join America in fighting the war on terror. That's the goal of victory. That's the definition of victory. REPORTS ON THE IRAQI ELECTION:
BAGHDAD, Feb 13 (Reuters) - Sick of bloodshed that has hit their economy and inflamed sectarian wounds, Iraqis held little hope on Monday that Prime Minister Ibrahim Jaafari could cure in his second term the ills he failed to heal in his first.As prime minister, Jaafari angered the Sunni Arab minority by visiting Shi'ite Iran and describing ties between the old foes as "very friendly and strong and expanding". Patrick Cockburn, Middle East Correspondent for the British newspaper The Independent:
Iraq is disintegrating. The first results from the parliamentary election last week show the country is dividing between Shia, Sunni and Kurdish regions. Religious fundamentalists now have the upper hand. The secular and nationalist candidate backed by the US and Britain was humiliatingly defeated. . . .Islamic fundamentalist movements are ever more powerful in both the Sunni and Shia communities. Ghassan Attiyah, an Iraqi commentator, said: "In two and a half years Bush has succeeded in creating two new Talibans in Iraq." . . .Iran will be pleased that the Shia religious parties which it has supported, have become the strongest political force. . . . __________________BUSH YESTERDAY:
Generally, people in a democracy don't campaign and say, vote for me, I promise you war. They say, vote for you -- vote for me, I work for the peace. I want your children to grow up in a peaceful world. That's what people say to get elected. HOW THE GOP WON THE 2002 MID-TERM ELECTIONS:
To summarize: within the Bush administration, even before their first days in power, there had always been both the motive and the rationale to invade Iraq. The events of 9/11 worked to add a sense of urgency to this predisposition by offering both a window of opportunity and a stronger motive to make this confrontation seemingly inevitable. Yet there was a more compelling reason to talk about invading Iraq in the summer of 2002 than can be explained by these predilections alone. And sadly this had more to do with political strategy than it did with national security. . . .Karl Rove's strategy to campaign on military issues, leaked reports about a possible invasion of Iraq from military sources, Bush's State of the Union speech citing an "axis of evil" and Bush's initial tough stand on Iraq before relenting and asking for Congressional consent on the brink of the midterm elections; are all dots that can be connected to show how impressive the forethought and planning of the Republican party's midterm campaign strategy actually was.Going into the 2002 election cycle, no one would have thought that a war with Iraq would come to dominate the political dialogue. And yet the efforts of the Bush administration combined with media coverage worked to push this issue to the forefront.
____________________So, to recap:We're at war - we're not at war.We will win the war on terror - the war on terror can't be won.We're in Iraq in order to bring democracy there because the Government will help us fight the war on terror and that's how we'll have "victory" -- a Shiite theocratic party with close ties to Iran now controls the country.Democracies never wage war because politicians can't promise war and win elections - Americans should vote for Republicans because they will start a war in Iraq and never stop waging that war.
THE 9/11 WARGAMES WERE NOT DONE BY TERRORISTS
http://911blogger.com/
"Four years later [..] a growing and increasingly prominent group of Americans believes that a government conspiracy is the only explanation of "the new Pearl harbor" that makes any sense. Armed with a spate of books, compelling videos, and a recent high-profile ad campaign, the loose community that some call the 9/11 Truth Movement has moved from the shadowy basements of the Internet out into the open. Across the board, the movement operates on the conviction that the U.S. government is keeping the whole truth under wraps. And that it either planned or allowed 9/11 to happen as a pretext for invading Afghanistan and Iraq and rolling back civil liberties at home."
20060216
"I don't want a penny of taxpayer money going to Hamas," George Allen told Kind of Sleezy Rice. We'll just send it all to Israel and Iraq and Iran.
"Neither do I," Kinda of Sleezy replied.
Kind of Sleezy Rice reiterated that message later Wednesday in a private meeting with eight Jewish leaders she invited to the State Department to discuss Hamas and Iran.
It's been 1,613 days since GWB said he'd catch UBL 'Dead or Alive!'
U.S. plans to confront Iran?
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2006/02/16/MNGJRH9JFI1.DTL
"The first step was Afghanistan, then Iraq, and now you're seeing an increasing focus on Iran," Brownback said.
Iraq Death Squad Claims Being Investigated
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060216/ap_on_re_mi_ea/iraq
Another car bomb blast in Baghdad targeted the convoy of Nouri al-Nouri, a former government human rights official who was dismissed in December over the discovery of tortured detainees in a Baghdad government building. Al-Nouri escaped the blast unharmed but four civilians were wounded, police Lt. Mohammed Khayoun said.
New Abu Ghraib images stoke US fears
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/4718666.stm
Detainees are forced to perform sexual acts. A young girl holds up her shirt, bearing her breasts for the soldier's camera.
Report Urges Gitmo Shutdown
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/02/16/AR2006021600318.html
Although the investigators did not visit Guantanamo, they said photographic evidence and the testimonies of former prisoners showed detainees were shackled, chained, hooded and forced to wear earphones and goggles. They said prisoners were beaten if they resisted." Such treatment amounts to torture," the report said.
Only 8% at Gitmo 'Qaeda fighters'
...only 5% of the detainees were captured by U.S. Forces!
A demonstration by more than 70,000 people angered by the Prophet Muhammad cartoons turned into a riot Wednesday, with armed protesters firing on police and youths torching foreign-owned businesses.
http://www.suntimes.com/output/news/cst-nws-den16.html
Demonstrations have been rumbling for weeks around the earth over the cartoons. At least 19 people have been killed.
Gonzales Withholding Plame Emails
Sources close to the investigation into the leak of covert CIA agent Valerie Plame Wilson have revealed this week that Attorney General Alberto Gonzales has not turned over emails to the special prosecutor's office that may incriminate Vice President Dick Cheney, his aides, and other White House officials who allegedly played an active role in unmasking Plame Wilson's identity to reporters.
A former NSA employee said Tuesday there is another ongoing top-secret surveillance program that might have violated millions of Americans' Constitutional rights.
http://www.upi.com/SecurityTerrorism/view.php?StoryID=20060214-053955-9494r
Tice was testifying because he was a National Security Agency intelligence officer who was stripped of his security clearance after he reported his suspicions that a former colleague at the Defense Intelligence Agency was a spy. The matter was dismissed by the DIA, but Tice pressed it later and was subsequently ordered to take a psychological examination, during which he was declared paranoid. He is now unemployed.
'Beer quote' re-added to Cheney story
http://www.iamthewitness.com.nyud.net:8090/Smith13Feb2006_1.mp3
U.S. plans to confront Iran?
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2006/02/16/MNGJRH9JFI1.DTL
"The first step was Afghanistan, then Iraq, and now you're seeing an increasing focus on Iran," Brownback said.
Iraq Death Squad Claims Being Investigated
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060216/ap_on_re_mi_ea/iraq
Another car bomb blast in Baghdad targeted the convoy of Nouri al-Nouri, a former government human rights official who was dismissed in December over the discovery of tortured detainees in a Baghdad government building. Al-Nouri escaped the blast unharmed but four civilians were wounded, police Lt. Mohammed Khayoun said.
New Abu Ghraib images stoke US fears
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/4718666.stm
Detainees are forced to perform sexual acts. A young girl holds up her shirt, bearing her breasts for the soldier's camera.
Report Urges Gitmo Shutdown
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/02/16/AR2006021600318.html
Although the investigators did not visit Guantanamo, they said photographic evidence and the testimonies of former prisoners showed detainees were shackled, chained, hooded and forced to wear earphones and goggles. They said prisoners were beaten if they resisted." Such treatment amounts to torture," the report said.
Only 8% at Gitmo 'Qaeda fighters'
...only 5% of the detainees were captured by U.S. Forces!
A demonstration by more than 70,000 people angered by the Prophet Muhammad cartoons turned into a riot Wednesday, with armed protesters firing on police and youths torching foreign-owned businesses.
http://www.suntimes.com/output/news/cst-nws-den16.html
Demonstrations have been rumbling for weeks around the earth over the cartoons. At least 19 people have been killed.
Gonzales Withholding Plame Emails
Sources close to the investigation into the leak of covert CIA agent Valerie Plame Wilson have revealed this week that Attorney General Alberto Gonzales has not turned over emails to the special prosecutor's office that may incriminate Vice President Dick Cheney, his aides, and other White House officials who allegedly played an active role in unmasking Plame Wilson's identity to reporters.
A former NSA employee said Tuesday there is another ongoing top-secret surveillance program that might have violated millions of Americans' Constitutional rights.
http://www.upi.com/SecurityTerrorism/view.php?StoryID=20060214-053955-9494r
Tice was testifying because he was a National Security Agency intelligence officer who was stripped of his security clearance after he reported his suspicions that a former colleague at the Defense Intelligence Agency was a spy. The matter was dismissed by the DIA, but Tice pressed it later and was subsequently ordered to take a psychological examination, during which he was declared paranoid. He is now unemployed.
'Beer quote' re-added to Cheney story
http://www.iamthewitness.com.nyud.net:8090/Smith13Feb2006_1.mp3
20060213
"Down with Bush!"
Uproar as Saddam returns to court
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/4707626.stm
The defendants are accused of killing 148 Shia villagers in Dujail in 1982.
About 100,000 Iraqi civilians - half of them women and children - have died in Iraq since the invasion, mostly as a result of airstrikes by coalition forces!
http://www.guardian.co.uk/Iraq/Story/0,2763,1338749,00.html
"The remaining 58 killings (all attributed to US forces by interviewees) were caused by helicopter gunships, rockets or other forms of aerial weaponry," they write.
PLAME WAS WORKING ON IRAN, INTELLIGENCE OFFICIALS SAY
Washington Note: Niger report referenced Iran...
Thousands of military personnel and hundreds of civilians would be killed if the United States launched an air strike on Iran to prevent it developing nuclear arms!
http://today.reuters.com/news/newsarticle.aspx?type=domesticNews&storyid=2006-02-13T170124Z_01_L13774748_RTRUKOC_0_US-NUCLEAR-IRAN-STUDY.xml&rpc=22
"For the Israelis, having an Iran which is getting anywhere close to a nuclear weapons capability is simply not acceptable."
An attack could eventually lead to a lengthy confrontation involving many other countries in the region, could mean the closure of the Gulf, and would probably have a "formidable" impact on oil prices, as well as spurring new attacks by Muslim radicals on Western interests, the report said.
"A U.S. military attack on Iranian nuclear infrastructure would be the start of a protracted military confrontation," the report said.
THOUSANDS OF DEAD
Such a confrontation would probably involve Iraq, Israel and Lebanon as well as the United States and Iran, with the possibility of Arab Gulf states being involved as well.
"Military deaths in (the) first wave of attacks against Iran would be expected to be in the thousands," it said.
"Civilian deaths would be in the many hundreds at least," it added. "If the war evolved into a wider conflict, primarily to pre-empt or counter Iranian responses, the casualties would eventually be much higher."
Police Gas Students Protesting Cartoons
http://www.breitbart.com/news/2006/02/13/D8FO91NG8.html
Kind of Sleezy Rice, meanwhile, said Iran and Syria should be urging their citizens to remain calm _ not encouraging violence like the attacks on Western diplomatic missions in Iran, Syria and Lebanon. Nearly a dozen people were killed in protests in Afghanistan, BY RENT A COPS!
Four U.S. Troops Killed in Afghanistan
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/02/13/AR2006021300596.html
A total of 214 U.S. service members have died in Afghanistan since the invasion of that country in 2001 to oust the Taliban government, which had been harboring elements of al Qaeda.
It's been 1,610 days since GWB said he'd catch UBL 'Dead or Alive!'
"If revealing classified information is illegal, then it's a crime, right?
"And George W. Bush promised that 'If somebody committed a crime, they will no longer work in my administration,' right?
"Now it comes out that 'Scooter' Libby has testified that his 'superiors' authorized him to reveal classified information in an attempt to discredit Joseph Wilson's account of his trip to Africa and thus to defend the idea that the Administration had a basis for claiming that Saddam Hussein had been trying to buy uranium in Niger.
"Libby's boss was Dick Cheney; Libby was Cheney's chief of staff. His only other 'superior' would have been . . . George W. Bush.
"So either Cheney or Bush (or both) ordered the release of classified information, which according to Bush is a crime. And anyone who commits a crime has to leave the administration.
"So which is it? Is Bush going to ask for Cheney's resignation, or offer his own?"
Bush spent nearly two billion on PR
20060212
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=jack+abramoff+mohammed+atta&btnG=Google+Search
To: ombudsman@washpost.com
http://www.whatreallyhappened.com/letters/
This puts the President one degree of seperation from Super Zionist Jackoff Mega Abramafia and Mohammed Atta!
http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/1398/750/1600/rr.gif
Isn't the reason the Post is afraid to cover the Abramoff affair is because he is jewish? Isn't that the reason the post is afraid to cover the anthrax suspect Philip Zack? google it! AIPAC? The Israeli spy scandals before and after 911?
"Evidence linking these Israelis to 9/11 is classified."
http://www.whatreallyhappened.com/spyring.html
"The Post published some of the first pictures of abuse at Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq but did not publish those that showed excessive nudity."
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/02/10/AR2006021001504.html
Lady, The US Government and its Corporate State Controlled Media need to be tarred and feathered for their horseshit!
Why Not Publish These Photos?
http://www.boingboing.net/2004/07/15/hersh_children_raped.html
" Some of the worst things that happened you don't know about, okay? Videos, um, there are women there. Some of you may have read that they were passing letters out, communications out to their men. This is at Abu Ghraib ... The women were passing messages out saying 'Please come and kill me, because of what's happened' and basically what happened is that those women who were arrested with young boys, children in cases that have been recorded. The boys were sodomized with the cameras rolling. And the worst above all of that is the soundtrack of the boys shrieking that your government has. They are in total terror. It's going to come out."
20060211
20060209
Danish paper rejected Jesus cartoons
This ends the claim that this is a free-speech issue.
Danish Paper won't run Holocaust cartoons
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1139395370665&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull
A prominent Iranian newspaper has said it would hold a competition for cartoons on the Holocaust to test whether the West extends the principle of freedom of expression to the Nazi genocide as it did to the Muhammad caricatures.
"Death to America, Death to Israel."
"At your service, oh Mohammed, at your service, oh Prophet of God," the crowds chanted with fists raised.
http://edition.cnn.com/2006/WORLD/asiapcf/02/09/cartoon.protests/index.html
"No dignity to a nation whose prophet is insulted," one sign read. "What comes after insulting sacred values?" another asked.
Bush, Rice told to ‘shut up’ over cartoon issue
“Let (U.S. Secretary of State) Condoleezza Rice, (President) Bush and all the tyrants shut up: We are a nation that can’t forgive, be silent or ease up when they insult our prophet and our sacred values.”
ISRAEL: Iran is world's most serious threat since WWII
Fucking Jews!
Israel 'may rue Saddam overthrow'
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/4696038.stm
When asked about the growing destabilisation of Iraq, Mr Diskin said Israel might come to rue its decision to support the US-led invasion in 2003.
Three American troops died in different attacks west of Baghdad, it was reported Thursday. A statement by the US army said that one soldier died after suffering of injuries when his vehicle was exploded during patrolling last Sunday in Anbar Province. Another US soldier killed during his duty in Ramadi in a bomb explosion on Monday and another killed near the Syrian - Iraqi borders on Tuesday.
'Mysterious diseases' strike some US troops
"I've had three heart attacks, two heart surgeries. I have chronic headaches, chronic upper respiratory infections. I get pneumonia two or three times a year," she said. "I have chronic fatigue, joint aches, muscle aches. I have a rash that migrates all over my body."
Only 8% at Gitmo 'Qaeda fighters'
20060208
Bush Calls for Halt to Violent Cartoon Riots
That should do it, no?
Rice Accuses Iran, Syria in Muslim Violence
"I call upon the governments around the world to stop the violence," Bush said, "to be respectful, to protect property, protect the lives of innocent diplomats who are serving their countries overseas," Bush had said earlier at the White House!
"With all respect to press freedoms, obviously anything that villifies the Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him, or attacks Muslim sensibilities, I believe, needs to be condemned," the king said.
Get Ready for the Next War
War Costs, Pentagon Budget Rising
Juggernaut Gathering Momentum: Next Stop, Iran
Exxon: US Will Always Rely on Foreign Oil
Olmert: We Must Separate From the Palestinians
Analysts: Fear of US Drove Iran's Nuclear Policy
White House Hawks Oust Key State Dept WMD Experts
Afghans Storm US Base Over Cartoons, Several Killed
Special Forces, Big-Ticket Weapons Dominate Defense Plans
FBI 'Gave Prior Warning to Britain About 7/7 Bomber'
Republican Who Oversees NSA Calls for Wiretap Inquiry
Who's the Bigger Hawk, George or Hillary?
The Senate's Cowardly Lions
Gonzo's Bluff on Eavesdropping
How Conservatives Went Crazy
Seeking Truth on Wiretaps
"The question is, do we want to destroy the Creation -- with a capital C [as in the Bible's Creation story] -- because that's what we're doing, and at an accelerating rate."
http://dailynews.att.net/cgi-bin/news?e=pri&dt=060208&cat=frontpage&st=frontpageglobal_warming_alliance_060208&src=abc
"It doesn't matter whether you believe Darwin got it right or that the Genesis story is literally true," Wilson said in his office on campus. "We can all agree that, however it got here, the living creation -- on which we all depend for our existence -- is something we don't want to see destroyed."
20060207
The funeral at times turned political, with some speakers decrying the war in Iraq, the Bush administration's eavesdropping program, and the sluggish response to Hurricane Katrina in mostly black New Orleans. http://www.guardian.co.uk/uslatest/story/0,,-5600914,00.html
The Rev. Joseph Lowery, who co-founded the Southern Christian Leadership Conference with Martin Luther King Jr., drew a roaring standing ovation when he said: ``For war, billions more, but no more for the poor'' - a takeoff on a line from a Stevie Wonder song. The comment drew head shakes from Bush and his father as they sat behind the pulpit.
Tue Feb 07 2006 15:49:48 ETToday's memorial service for civil rights activist Coretta Scott King -- billed as a "celebration" of her life -- turned suddenly political as one former president took a swipe at the current president, who was also lashed by an outspoken black pastor!The outspoken Rev. Joseph Lowery, co-founder of Southern Christian Leadership Conference, ripped into President Bush during his short speech, ostensibly about the wife of Martin Luther King Jr."She extended Martin's message against poverty, racism and war. She deplored the terror inflicted by our smart bombs on missions way afar. We know now that there were no weapons of mass destruction over there," Lowery said. The mostly black crowd applauded, then rose to its feet and cheered in a two-minute-long standing ovation.A closed-circuit television in the mega-church outside Atlanta showed the president smiling uncomfortably."But Coretta knew, and we know," Lowery continued, "That there are weapons of misdirection right down here," he said, nodding his head toward the row of presidents past and present. "For war, billions more, but no more for the poor!" The crowd again cheered wildly.Former President Jimmy Carter later swung at Bush as well, not once but twice. As he talked about the Kings, he said: "It was difficult for them then personally with the civil liberties of both husband and wife violated as they became the target of secret government wiretaps." The crowd cheered as Bush, under fire for a secret wiretapping program he ordered after the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, again smiled weakly. Later, Carter said Hurricane Katrina showed that all are not yet equal in America. Some black leaders have blamed Bush for the poor federal response...
20060206
Exclusive: Can the President Order a Killing on U.S. Soil?
In the latest twist in the debate over presidential powers, a Justice Department official suggested that in certain circumstances, the president might have the power to order the killing of terrorist suspects inside the United States. Bush claims he has the power to order anyone inside the US killed, without a court, without a judge, without a jury of the accused's peers, without evidence of wrongdoing, without a public record, without appeal... BANG, you are dead. By any possible definition of the word, Bush is a dictator.
http://www.whatreallyhappened.com/
In the latest twist in the debate over presidential powers, a Justice Department official suggested that in certain circumstances, the president might have the power to order the killing of terrorist suspects inside the United States. Bush claims he has the power to order anyone inside the US killed, without a court, without a judge, without a jury of the accused's peers, without evidence of wrongdoing, without a public record, without appeal... BANG, you are dead. By any possible definition of the word, Bush is a dictator.
http://www.whatreallyhappened.com/
20060205
20060204
Bush: US will defend Israel against Iran Bush's kids should be the first to go.
Atomic panel delays vote on Iran
No consensus on language aimed at Israel's WMDS
US unveils strategy for "long war" of terror
About 100,000 Iraqi civilians - half of them women and children - have died in Iraq since the invasion, mostly as a result of airstrikes by coalition forces!
Iraq War Is Costing $100,000 Per Minute!
Iraq war to cost 2 trillion dollars
Bush wants to up Iraq spending $120b; 53% say he lied about WMD.
http://www.whatreallyhappened.com/lies.mp3
US, UK 'plotted to lure Saddam into war'
Video Shows ABCNEWS Anchor Moments Before Iraqi Resistance Attack...
Fury over The Holy Prophet Mohammed (Peace Be Upon Him) Bomb Cartoons
CARTOON CONTROVERSY SPREADS THROUGHOUT MUSLIM WORLD...
Pentagon Lays Out 'Long War' Strategy
Rumsfeld: Iran Regime Sponsors "State" Terrorism
Mistrust driving force in Iran crisis
IAEA Refers Iran to Security Council Over Nukes
US General: We Can Beat North Korea
Pentagon Sees China as Greatest Potential Rival
Navy Construction Battalion Building Permanent Iraq Bases
Libby: 'Superiors' oked CIA leak
Report: Cheney knew Iraq claims false
AP: Documents show Cheney, Rumsfeld foughtfor wiretaps while under Ford Administration...
FBI Chief: NSA Spying Hasn't Caught Any al-Qaeda Agents
It's all classified!
"Evidence linking these Israelis to 9/11 is classified. I cannot tell you about evidence that has been gathered. It's classified information."
http://www.whatreallyhappened.com/spyring.html
-- US official quoted in Carl Cameron's Fox News report on the Israeli spy ring and its connections to 9-11.
“Terrorists like bin Laden are serious about mass murder—and all of us must take their declared intentions seriously. They seek to impose a heartless system of totalitarian control throughout the Middle East, and arm themselves with weapons of mass murder?”
http://www.tompaine.com/articles/20060203/washingtons_iraq_blindness.php
While Bush reinforces his Zarqawi myth and Dems call lamely for more armor, the battle lines for civil war in Iraq are being drawn.
The Iraq that exists in President Bush’s imagination and the real Iraq, the one in which 160,000 U.S. troops occupy a nation sliding into civil war, have never seemed further apart. Bush’s Iraq is a fantastical one in which American forces are battling the enemy that struck us on 9/11. Yet on the ground, in the real Iraq, more than six weeks have passed since Iraq’s election, and battle lines for civil war are being drawn up. There are multiple parties to that civil war: militant Iraqi fundamentalist Shiites tied to Iran, well-armed Kurdish warlords planning to grab Kirkuk and its oil, powerful Sunni tribal and religious forces bitterly opposed to the Shiite-Kurdish bloc and a Baathist-military resistance movement that has strong support among the Sunnis.
None of those forces, however, want anything to do with Al Qaeda, Osama bin Laden or Abu Musab Al Zarqawi. By all accounts, Zarqawi’s forces in Iraq are fast becoming nearly invisible on the canvas of Iraq’s battle map. And certainly neither bin Laden nor Zarqawi have a prayer of seizing control of Iraq whether U.S. forces stay in Iraq or not.
Let us first take a look at the enemy that President Bush says we are fighting, and then at the real Iraq.
Sounding like the Willy Loman of the snake oil industry, President Bush looked both tired and defensive as he made yet one more sales pitch for his failed Iraq policy. In his State of the Union address this week, the president insisted that the U.S. foe in Iraq is the bin Laden-Zarqawi axis, and that the danger still involves those mythical weapons of mass destruction. “Terrorists like bin Laden are serious about mass murder—and all of us must take their declared intentions seriously. They seek to impose a heartless system of totalitarian control throughout the Middle East, and arm themselves with weapons of mass murder,” proclaimed Bush. “Their aim is to seize power in Iraq, and use it as a safe haven to launch attacks against America and the world.”
Is the enemy in Iraq Shiite militias, Kurdish warlords or Arab nationalist armed insurgents? No, according to Bush. It is radical Islam and its attendant evildoers. “By allowing radical Islam to work its will—by leaving an assaulted world to fend for itself—we would signal to all that we no longer believe in our own ideals, or even in our own courage,” warned Bush. “But our enemies and our friends can be certain: The United States will not retreat from the world, and we will never surrender to evil.”
He added, “The road of victory is the road that will take our troops home.” But Bush failed to explain how you can win a victory against an imaginary opponent.
Meanwhile, back on planet earth, in the real Iraq, things are going from bad to worse. Last week, I reported here that the Arab League reconciliation effort on Iraq had collapsed in the wake of the Dec. 15 election. That effort was backed by Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Egypt, the U.N., Russia and the European Union. But ultimately, it was put in the deep freeze because the Shiite fundamentalist parties in Iraq—the Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq, Al Dawa and Muqtada Sadr’s Mahdi Army—utterly refused to compromise with mainstream Sunnis and ruled out talks with the Sunni-led resistance. Yet, as Hamlet’s uncle, King Claudius, said, “When sorrows come, they come not single spies but in battalions.”
Worse news followed: According to Al Zaman , an Arabic-language Iraq paper monitored by Juan Cole in his blog, Informed Comment, secret talks that had been underway between the U.S. military and the insurgents broke down and were ended. Why? Because the resistance leaders wanted a timetable for the withdrawal of U.S. forces. Among their other demands, none of which are particularly radical, the insurgents wanted the reconstitution of the Iraqi army, U.N. supervision of elections and the dissolution of the militias of the Shiite religious parties.
Meanwhile, precisely parallel demands were made by the official Sunni parties and their secular, non-sectarian allies, who together won 80 seats in the new assembly—and they backed their demands by threatening open revolt, in the form of outright civil disobedience. (Civil disobedience, in wartime Iraq, carries a more violent meaning than that associated with Martin Luther King and Gandhi.) The leader of the Iraqi Islamic Party, a Muslim Brotherhood-linked Sunni religious party that is part of the National Accord Front (and which, in turn, is part of the 80-seat bloc that also includes a secular Sunni nationalist party and Iyad Allawi’s moderate group), issued a set of demands that included: the disbanding of militias; an end to the pattern of death squad activity, random arrests and kidnappings; the strengthening of the army and its deployment to protect security in Baghdad; the dismissal of the radical-right Shiite interior minister; and the publication of the still-secret report of the investigation into torture prisons run by the ministry of the interior. The Iraqi Islamic Party's message: Accept these demands, or else.
The fact that the Iraqi Islamic Party is resorting to threats that amount to insurrection is a sign of how polarized Iraq is since the election. Only a few weeks ago, the IIP was toying with the idea of joining a government in Baghdad led by the Shiite-Kurdish alliance. That increasingly seems out of the question, because even the moderate Muslim Brotherhood IIP cannot risk breaking with overwhelming Sunni opinion that the Shiites are cats' paws for Iran and that they intend to create a breakaway state in south Iraq. Indeed, recent polling in Iraq has shown that the vast majority of Sunnis (and even most Shiites) want the U.S. out of Iraq, and fully half support armed attacks on U.S. forces.
None of this polarization was reflected in Bush’s State of the Union fantasy. Nowhere did he indicate that Iraq is beset by anything other than evildoers tied to Al Qaeda. And he didn’t mention that a few days before he spoke, Iran’s Islamic Republican News Agency reported cheerfully that Abdel Aziz Hakim—who has emerged as the chief power broker in post-election Iraq—had issued nonnegotiable demands that the new Iraq government intensify its war against the resistance, redouble its de-Baathification efforts, and enforce the “implementation of the constitution especially to create a state in the south and center of Iraq.” Hakim, of course, is the leader of SCIRI and its 20,000-strong Badr Brigade, which was founded, armed and trained by Iran’s Revolutionary Guards. His hardline stance, and his insistence that Adel Abdul Mahdi, his chief henchman, be Iraq’s next prime minister, seem calculated to provoke what would amount to a final Sunni break with the government in Baghdad. And his insistence on a south-central state, parallel to the emerging state of Kurdistan in the north, signals the rise of a new Shiite religious power in the Middle East that frightens not only Sunnis in Iraq but the rest of the Arab world.
It’s bad enough that none of this penetrated the State of the Union speech. But what’s worse is that the Democrats are letting Bush get away with it. One sentence from The New York Times a day after Bush spoke says it all. Referring to Sen. Harry Reid of Nevada and Rep. Nancy Pelosi of California, who spoke in advance of Bush’s speech, the Times noted: "The Congressional leaders steered clear of the Iraq war in their remarks before the speech." Meanwhile, the Dems sent the overearnest Tim Kaine, the governor of Virginia, out to give the official response to Bush. He, too, virtually ignored Iraq, except for offhand comments about American troops not having enough body armor.
I fear the expansion of American government power more than I do the terrorists.
http://www.antiwar.com/reese/?articleid=8493
They are, after all, criminals who might shoot us or bomb us and get killed in the process. They are, by nature, a passing threat. A secretive government that scoffs at the rule of law and the restraints of the Constitution, however, is a very permanent threat to the freedom of the American people.
Government power that isn't checked will just keep on growing until one day the American people will wake up neither free nor secure.
Archives
200501 200502 200503 200504 200505 200506 200507 200508 200509 200510 200511 200512 200601 200602 200603 200604 200605 200606 200607 200608 200609 200610 200702 200703 200704
