IRAQ The unseen war

The grim reality of Iraq rarely appears in the American press. This photo gallery reveals the war's horrible human toll.

By Gary Kamiya
Aug 23, 2005 This is a war the Bush administration does not want Americans to see. From the beginning, the U.S. government has attempted to censor information about the Iraq war, prohibiting photographs of the coffins of U.S. troops returning home and refusing as a matter of policy to keep track of the number of Iraqis who have been killed. President Bush has yet to attend a single funeral of a soldier killed in Iraq.
To be sure, this see-no-evil approach is neither surprising nor new. With the qualified exception of the Vietnam War, when images of body bags appeared frequently on the nightly news, American governments have always tightly controlled images of war. There is good reason for this. In war, a picture really is worth a thousand words. No story about a battle, no matter how eloquent, possesses the raw power of a photograph. And when it comes to war's ultimate consequences -- death and suffering -- there is simply no comparison: a photo of a dead man or woman has the capacity to unsettle those who see it, sometimes forever. The bloated corpses photographed by Mathew Brady after Antietam remain in the mind, their puffy, shocked faces haunting us like an obscene truth almost 150 years after the soldiers were cut down.
"War is hell," said Gen. Sherman, and everyone dutifully agrees. Yet the hell in Iraq is almost never shown. The few exceptions -- the charred bodies of American contractors hanging from a bridge in Fallujah, the blood-spattered little girl wailing after her parents were killed next to her -- only prove the rule.
Governments keep war hidden because it is hideous. To allow citizens to see its reality -- the shattered bodies, the wounded children, the incomprehensible mayhem -- is to risk eroding popular support for it. This is particularly true with wars that have less than overwhelming popular support to begin with. In the case of Vietnam, battlefield images played an important role in turning the tide of public opinion. And in Iraq, a war whose official justification has turned out to be false, and which a majority of the American people now believe to have been a mistake, the administration would prefer that these grim images never be seen.
But the media is also responsible for sanitizing the Iraq war, at times rendering it almost invisible. Most American publications have been reluctant to run graphic war images. Almost no photographs of the 1,868 U.S. troops who have been killed to date in Iraq have appeared in U.S. publications. In May 2005, the Los Angeles Times surveyed six major newspapers and the nation's two leading newsmagazines, and found that over a six-month period, no images of dead American troops appeared in the New York Times, Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Time or Newsweek. A single image of a covered body of a slain American ran in the Seattle Times. There were also comparatively few images of wounded Americans. The publications surveyed tended to run more images of dead or wounded Iraqis, but they have hardly been depicted in large numbers either.

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Executive Resigns in Storm Over Sleeping Guards

Steven Mufson, The Washington Post:
"Wackenhut, a private security firm that guards 21 commercial nuclear power plants around the United States, said yesterday that its chief executive resigned during continuing controversy about guards caught napping at a Pennsylvania reactor last year."
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US Corporate Elite Fear Candidate Edwards

Kevin Drawbaugh, Reuters: "Ask corporate lobbyists which presidential contender is most feared by their clients and the answer is almost always the same - Democrat John Edwards."

Across America, Deadly Echoes of Foreign Battles

Stress leads some vets to murderNYT: 121 Afghanistan and Iraq vets charged with murder upon return.

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KILLINGS ON THE HOMEFRONT

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The Yellow Rose of Texas Peace Bus has been destroyed by fire. Bill Perry reports:

The bus in this photo, was totaled by fire, around 9:30 pm, Friday night, 1/11/08. This bus, often mired in controversy since the IVAW "Dirty South" tour that left Philly in June, and had Active Duty BBQ's @ Ft Meade, Ft Jackson, Camp Lejeune, Ft Benning, and other Southern Military Posts ( Including an IVAW benefit by Tom Morello, of Rage Against the Machine, and AudioSlave, in Virginia ) as well as backdrop for many a Demonstration, and Ft Drum, NY, organizing parties, has finally died.
This photo shows the huge "Don't Attack Iran" and "Impeach Bush" logos, that let everybody on the highway know just how the occupants felt about the state of the state.
Owner~Operator~Driver ( and Veteran ) Jim Goodnow pulled into a South Jersey Truck Stop, to catch a 3 or 4 hour nap. Jim saw, in retrospect, some suspicious activity outside the bus, and about 20 minutes later, the entire engine compartment, and back of the bus was engulfed in flames. Mr Goodnow speculates that the cause could have been anything from ARSON, to ATTEMPTED MURDER. He plans to notify the ATF Arson Squad on Saturday morning. Stay tuned....

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WHY DO THEY HATE US

Excellent Christy, well done, a painting that speaks a thousand words, and sure as hell tells a story

AUCTION IT FOR THE DISABLED VETS WHO HAVE BEEN SO DEPLORABLE FORGOTTEN BY GEORGIE AND CO.

LinkHere Photo by Michael Yon http://michaelyon-online.com/wp/tabula-rasa.htm

That was a day that I kept shooting pictures, and one of the pictures of Major Beiger cradling the dying little girl in his arms made news around the world—and it exposed the terrorists in Mosul for who they really are. This was no stray bomb landing in the middle of ongoing combat. Perhaps it was a deliberate effort to kill and maim as many children as possible in order to frighten their parents, or maybe it was just bad luck that the kids were there. Whatever the case, it backfired; Iraqis love their children. When the foreign terrorists targeted kids, the citizens of Mosul grew to hate insurgents. US Army officers told me that after that photo had run on Iraqi television and in newspapers, intelligence flooded in that resulted in killings and captures of more terrorists.

KANGAROO SAID, That picture would not exist, if not for the illegal war and occupation of Iraq, by Georgie and his gang of war criminals.

What's the difference between you Georgie, and Hitler, the numbers don't differ, Hmmmmmmm You Decide?

THE HYPOCRACY IS MIND BOGGLING

Bush: US Should Have Acted on Auschwitz

JERUSALEM — A teary-eyed President Bush stopped in front of an aerial photo of Auschwitz on Friday at Israel's Holocaust memorial and said the U.S. should have sent bombers to prevent the extermination of Jews there.
Yad Vashem's chairman, Avner Shalev, quoted Bush as saying the U.S. should have "bombed it." Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said Bush referred to the train tracks leading to Auschwitz, not the camp itself, where between 1.1 million and 1.5 million people were killed by Nazi Germany.

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Number Of Iraqis Slaughtered Since The U.S. Invaded Iraq 1,163,944

http://www.justforeignpolicy.org/iraq/iraqdeaths.html

"Eighty people were arrested at the Supreme Court Friday in a protest calling for the shutdown of the US military prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba."

The Associated Press
Friday 11 January 2008
Washington - Eighty people were arrested at the Supreme Court Friday in a protest calling for the shutdown of the U.S. military prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.
Demonstrators wearing orange jump suits intended to simulate prison garb were arrested inside and outside the building in the early afternoon. "Shut it down," protesters chanted as others kneeled on the plaza in front of the court.
They were charged with violating an ordinance that prohibits demonstrations of any kind on court grounds. Those arrested inside the building also were charged under a provision that makes it a crime to give "a harangue or oration" in the Supreme Court building.
The maximum penalty is 60 days in jail, a fine or both.
The court is considering whether prisoners still detained at Guantanamo Bay have a right to challenge their confinement in U.S. courts.
Officials briefly closed the court building during the protest. It reopened around 2 p.m. EST. LinkHere

Baghdad Embassy Considered A Serious Fire Risk

'Serious' Problems Were Ignored, Says State Dept. OfficialBy Glenn KesslerWashington Post Staff Writer Saturday, January 12, 2008; Page A01
The firefighting system in the massive $736 million embassy complex in Baghdad has potential safety problems that top U.S. officials dismissed in their rush to declare construction largely completed by the end of last year, according to internal State Department documents, e-mails and interviews.
Some officials assert that in the push to complete the long-delayed project, potentially life-threatening problems have been left untouched. "This is serious enough to get someone killed," said a State Department official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because he feared retaliation. "The fire systems are the tip of the iceberg. That is the most visible. But no one has ever inspected the electrical system, the power plant" and other parts of the embassy complex, which will house more than 1,000 people and is vulnerable to mortar attacks.
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Strange Musharrof you forget, Iraq was a Sovereign Nation, I don't think you asked Sadam when you plotted with America to invade Iraq using the WMDs.

Musharraf tells U.S.: Stay out of Pakistan
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan (CNN) -- Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf has made it clear that a U.S. military mission to capture Osama bin Laden or other top al Qaeda leaders on Pakistani soil would be unwelcome and "against the sovereignty of Pakistan."
President Musharraf told the Singapore Straits Times that his military has the experience to operate in the mountainous terrain near the Afghan border and if the United States went in they would "regret that day."
The New York Times reported last Sunday that the Bush administration is considering expanding covert operations in the western part of Pakistan to shore up support for Musharraf's government and to find bin Laden and his second in command, Ayman al-Zawahiri.
"Nobody will come here until we ask them to come and we haven't asked them," Musharraf told the Strait Times this week.
Strait Times reporter Anthony Paul asked Musharraf: "If the Americans came, would you treat that as an invasion?"
"Certainly," Musharaff said. "If they come without our permission, that's against the sovereignty of Pakistan."
He said if there is good intelligence that bin Laden is hiding in Pakistan "the methodology of getting
Musharraf told CNN's Wolf Blitzer last month that "it is Pakistan's forces which will act" if there is "actionable intelligence" that senior al Qaeda leaders are in Pakistan, although he would consider U.S. assistance.
In the latest interview, Musharraf noted that U.S. forces were having trouble chasing al Qaeda in similar terrain in southern Afghanistan.
"The United States seems to think that what our army cannot do, they can do," he said. "This is a very wrong perception. I challenge anybody to come into our mountains. They would regret that day. It's not easy there."

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Big arms deal for Saudi Arabia

Monkey said:

Ok, so the country that was home to the majority of the 9/11 hijackers and the bin Laden family, will get $20 billion in arms...
Hmmmmm.

Kangaroo said:

Amazing how soon they forget

Bush will notify Congress on Monday of his intent to sell $20 billion in weapons, including precision-guided bombs, to Saudi Arabia, moving up the announcement to coincide with the president's arrival in Riyadh, a senior official said in Washington. The official announcement will kick off a 30-day review period during which Congress could try to block the sale, which has raised concern among some lawmakers.
Arriving at the airport in Kuwait, the president got a ceremonial red-carpet welcome and was presented with a bouquet of flowers. But he saw nothing like the torrent of public adulation showered on his father in a visit 15 years ago.
The tiny, oil-rich nation at the top of the Persian Gulf was invaded by Iraq's Saddam Hussein and liberated by a U.S.-led war ordered by Bush's father in 1991. Now, Kuwait is a major hub for U.S. troops and equipment deployed to Iraq.
At a palace surrounded by palm trees, Bush met with the emir, Sheik Sabah Al Ahmed Al Sabah. He told Bush he was delighted to have him in Kuwait. "We are equally delighted to see you working on issues that are very important to all of us here," Sheik Sabah said. It was not clear what issues he meant.
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Sparrow I love it, Ahahahahahaha

It's been a heck of a week, folks--a heck of a week!

A Sibel Edmond's bombshell, a Primary bombshell, and a new election fraud bomshell, an email bombshell...

Are you looking and feeling like this?

Then there's not much to do but kick back, rest a little, and then force yourself to get back up and join the freedom-fighters again.

Democracy is counting on us and so are your kids and the next generation.

Sparrow Said

Olbermann Talks Office Politics, Other Politics

If MSNBC anchor Keith Olbermann were to write a book about Office Politics 101, he'd call it "Do As I Write, Not As I Did for 20 Years." Olbermann discusses office politics and other issues in the February issue of Men's Journal magazine, out yesterday.
In the interview with Paul Tullis, one focus is Olbermann's habit of, "trashing people publicly, even his employers."
But he seems to be doing well for himself in the office now. Tullis cites a senior executive at MSNBC, who says, "Keith runs MSNBC. It's been an amazing turnaround, because two years ago they were going to cancel him. Because of his success, he's in charge. Chris Matthews is infuriated by it."
The article also touches on Olbermann's goals, in the context of his main competition, Fox News Channel. "I'd like it to be the accurate counterweight to Fox. My attitude is not to counterbalance them because they're conservatives; it's counterbalancing because some of their stuff is outlandishly in violation of every tenet of responsible broadcasting," he says.
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Officer’s Abu Ghraib conviction tossed out

Military’s action brings complaints of whitewash in prisoner abuse case

Mila Rosenthal, deputy executive director for research and policy for Amnesty International USA, said: "I think we're emboldening dictators and despots around the world. We're saying that it's OK to allow these kinds of abuses to flourish."

BALTIMORE - The Army has thrown out the conviction of the only officer court-martialed in the Abu Ghraib scandal, bringing an end to the four-year investigation and drawing complaints from human rights activists of a Pentagon whitewash.
Lt. Col. Steven L. Jordan was cleared this week of any criminal wrongdoing by Maj. Gen. Richard J. Rowe, commander of the Military District of Washington. Jordan was instead given an administrative reprimand, a blot on his record.
Barring any startling new information, the decision means no officers or civilian leaders will be held criminally responsible for the prisoner abuse that embarrassed the U.S. military and inflamed the Muslim world. -snip-
Complaints against decisionBut human rights advocates complained that the case did not go higher up the chain of command and said the decision sent a troubling message.
"It could not be more clear that prisoner abuse in Iraq and Afghanistan resulted from policies and practices authorized by high-level officials, including military and civilian leaders," said Hira Shamsi, an attorney with the National Security Project of the American Civil Liberties Union. "Although the abuse was systemic and widespread, the accountability for it has been anything but."
Mila Rosenthal, deputy executive director for research and policy for Amnesty International USA, said: "I think we're emboldening dictators and despots around the world. We're saying that it's OK to allow these kinds of abuses to flourish."
more...

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How Many Kids Will The US Kill In 2008?

By Dr Gideon Polya
Those who KNOWINGLY deny, ignore, excuse, minimize, obfuscate, support, advocate or are otherwise complicit in the mass murder of CHILDREN have crossed the line separating decent humanity from proto-Nazi barbarism, from the unthinkable but real, barbaric actuality of Bush America.
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Yesterday's Lies

On September 21, 2007, Sgt. Gerald Cassidy died - alone and forgotten in all the body counts and statistics of war, political polls and campaign strategies. He was unconscious for perhaps days before passing away like crumpled and discarded newsprint, barely noticed, simply brushed aside with yesterday's lies.
Sergeant Cassidy did not die in Iraq or Afghanistan. He died in America, at a new medical unit in Fort Knox - in America - where we support the troops, according to every single lapel-flag-pin-wearing politician and pundit on the airwaves, and yet, Sgt. Gerald Cassidy died neglected and unnoticed.
Shame on us.
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What the US Presidential Election Means to India

J. Sri Raman, writing for Truthout, says, "What the US presidential election means, really and immediately, to the mandarin-militarist camp is a desperately urgent need to hurry up with the nuclear deal."

The Fog of War Crimes

"Who's to blame when 'just following orders'means murder?"

Ashcroft Deal Brings Scrutiny in Justice Department

Philip Shenon reports for The New York Times: "When the top federal prosecutor in New Jersey needed to find an outside lawyer to monitor a large corporation willing to settle criminal charges out of court last fall, he turned to former Attorney General John Ashcroft, his onetime boss. With no public notice and no bidding, the company awarded Mr. Ashcroft an 18-month contract worth $28 million to $52 million."

Olbermann on the New Hampshire primary polls

Olbermann Vote Ron Paul

Who is a more honest man, Keith Olberman or George W Bush?
Anyone who said George Bush as the answer to this question, should be immediately taken into the street and shot, at point blank range, clean between the eyeballs. Their remains should be fed to rabid starving dogs and their families should be made to watch. What do you retarded George Bush lovers think about that? People who support George Bush hate sensible people. They love liars and will defend the criminals that poorly run the country.

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Decision a Win for Sick Lab Workers

In The San Jose Mercury News, Betsy Mason says, "Former Lawrence Livermore Laboratory workers who became sick from exposure to radiation won a victory Tuesday when a petition to speed up compensation claims was recommended for approval."

Congressman Robert Wexler | A Surge of More Lies

The Surge has failed. If my colleagues gullibly accept the moving rationale for the Surge, just as so many have for the war itself, we will have failed as well.

A Surge of More Lies
by Congressman Robert Wexler
A new troubling myth has taken hold in Washington and it is critical that the record is set straight. According to the mainstream media, Republicans, and unfortunately even some Democrats, the President's surge in Iraq has been a resounding success. In fact, nothing could be further from the truth.
This assertion is disingenuous, factually incorrect, and negatively impacts America's national security. The Surge had a clear and defined objective - to create stability and security - enabling the Iraqi government to enact lasting political solutions and foster genuine reconciliation and cooperation between Sunnis, Shias, and Kurds.
This has not happened.
There has been negligible political progress in Iraq, and we are no closer to solving the complex problems - including a power sharing government, oil revenue agreement and new constitution - than we were before the Administration upped the ante and sent 30,000 more troops to Iraq.
Too many Democrats in Congress are again surrendering to General Petraeus and have failed to challenge the Bush Administration's claims that the surge has been successful. In fact -- it is just the opposite.
The reduction in violence in Iraq has exposed the continuing failure of Iraqi officials to solve their substantial political rifts. By President Bush's own stated goal of political progress, the Surge has failed.
Of course raising troop levels has increased security - a strategy the Bush administration ignored when presented by General Shinseki before the war in Iraq began - but the fundamental internal Iraqi problems remain and the factors that were accelerating the civil war in 2007 have simply been put on hold.
The military progress is a testament to the patience and dedication of our brave troops - even in the face of 15 month-long deployments followed by insufficient Veteran's health services when they return home. They have performed brilliantly - despite the insult of having President Bush recently veto a military spending bill that enhanced funding and benefits, and increased care.
Despite the efforts of American soldiers, the surge alone cannot bring about the political solutions needed to end centuries of sectarian divide.
As it stands, little on the ground supports the assertion that Iraqis are ready to stand up and govern themselves. Too few Iraqi troops are trained, equipped and combat ready, and they cannot yet provide adequate security. Loyalty is also an issue in the Iraqi army as Al Queda and Sunni insurgents infliltrate their defense forces. The consequences turned deadly just recently when an Iraqi soldier purposely killed two U.S. troops.
On the streets of Baghdad and Mosul, the Sunni and Shia factions have paused their fighting, awaiting guarantees and protections that have not yet been delivered. As Iraqi refugees return, there is no mechanism to help them rebuild their lives, nor recover their now-occupied homes. Neighborhoods once mixed are now segregated.
In Northern Iraq, Kurdish terrorists conducting nefarious operations across the border into Turkey have compelled our NATO ally to strike at bases, inflaming tensions between Baghdad and Ankara.
The surge is working? We suffered more U.S. casualties in 2007 than in any other year of the war. We can't afford any more of this type of success.
How can we create the situation that is most likely to deliver political progress in Iraq? Not by continuing the surge and occupation. Our best chance (there is no guarantee) is by putting real pressure on the Iraqi government to force action. Telling the national and local Iraqi leaders that we are withdrawing our troops can help accomplish this goal. Today, the majority Iraqi Shia government led by Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki has little incentive to act when American troops remain in the country to provide security and stability.
Based on the Administration's plan, John McCain's proposal of a 100-year US occupation could be a reality!
The Democratic Congress must act aggressively to first cut off funding for the surge and then the entire war. Many of my colleagues avoided a showdown with the administration because they mistakenly believed such a fight would endanger the safety of the troops.
In fact, we must accept that every soldier killed or injured in the coming months should have already been home. Every billion dollars of war-appropriations we spend from here on should have been spent on genuine priorities here at home such as children's heath care.
Enough is enough: While the Administration over-commits American forces in Iraq, we see Al Qaeda-regrouping and Osama Bin Laden still at large. We remain seriously bogged down in Afghanistan, and are witnessing a crisis in Pakistan that has left a nuclear country on the brink of a meltdown. America's resources and attention are desperately needed elsewhere and our soldiers must no longer be needlessly sacrificed as we wait for Iraqis to stand up.
The Surge has failed. If my colleagues gullibly accept the moving rationale for the Surge, just as so many have for the war itself, we will have failed as well.

To contact me or for more information, go to www.wexlerforcongress.com .

Survey: Diplomats Oppose Iraq Policy

The Associated Press reports, "Nearly half of US diplomats unwilling to volunteer to work in Iraq say one reason for their refusal is they don't agree with Bush administration's policies in the country, according to a survey released Tuesday."

Afghan Civilians Were Killed Needlessly, Ex-Marine Testifies

Paul von Zielbauer, of The New York Times, reports, "A former member of an elite Marine combat unit that operated last year in eastern Afghanistan testified Tuesday that his comrades appeared to have needlessly killed civilians after their convoy was attacked by a suicide car bomb."
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The imperfect storm

From Where I Stand by Joan Chittister, OSB
There are two winds blowing around the globe. The first, fundamentalism, brings with it the guarantee of absolutism and security. The second, inclusiveness, brings with it the promise of a new kind of future, ambiguous certainly but expansive, at least. Those two winds clashed last week and the whole world is waiting to see which of them is stronger.
When Benizar Bhutto lay assassinated in Pakistan on December 28, 2007, news agencies around the world told the political story. Most of them missed completely the cultural story that underlies it.
The media concentrated almost entirely on the death itself. Bhutto was a political figure who had become a political icon and symbol of new life for the country. With her dead, there was plenty of death to go around.
There was, for instance, the death of peace that came with the sudden death of a popular political candidate in the already tension-filled country of Pakistan. Not only was Bhutto dead but so were over 40 other Pakistanis thanks to the riots that followed.
There was, too, the death of confidence in government as a whole. Over 400 government buildings, they told us, were torched in the chaos that followed the loss of Bhutto to the political life of the country, Polling places were destroyed, a symbol of the death of free elections, a clear statement of the gap between the powerful and the powerless there.
We all saw, as well, the death of integrity on world-wide television. Two doctors -- one who had treated Mrs. Bhutto when she was admitted to the hospital, and one speaking as spokesperson for the government the following day -- gave separate and different accounts of her death. The first described the condition of the body and the bullet wounds that killed her. The second told the world that Bhutto was brought into the hospital "her eyes rolled back in her head and with no sign of pulse -- both signs of cardio-pulmonary arrest" brought on, we were supposed to believe, by striking her head on the rim of the sun roof of her car as it lurched forward after an explosion. Obviously one of those doctors was surely not telling the truth. Clearly honesty had died on a grand scale right before our eyes.
But another kind of death, largely unnoted in the public press, gave sign of the seriousness of the other four. With the death of Benizar Bhutto the hope of women for justice, for full human development, for recognition and participation in the public arena, died a bit everywhere, too.
Once prime minister of a secular government, Bhutto was now a candidate for re-election in a country tilting dangerously toward theocracy. When warned that her life might well be in danger, Bhutto's response, according to a BBC radio interview (Jan. 3, 2008) was that "no Muslim would kill a woman." Maybe not. Probably no good Catholic or Jew or Hindu or Buddhist would either. But being Catholic, or Muslim -- or member of any other orthodox religious ilk for that matter -- has little or nothing to do with it. Instead, fundamentalism, the first wind circling the globe, is the real problem.
The thought of a woman leader, meaning a leader who is a woman, simply cannot be stomached by religious fundamentalists. According to The Washington Post, (Dec. 28, 2007, "Bhutto Targeted by Many Militant Groups) "some members of Pakistan's intelligence establishment resented the idea of a woman leading a Muslim nation." After all, fundamentalists teach, God does not want women acting like real human beings -- making decisions, having ideas, developing leadership skills. The God who gave women the same brains that God gave to men apparently gave brains to women only to taunt them, to mock them, to make certain that they understand the depths of their human deprivation. To these people, women are meant to be the servants of men, not the leaders of men. Equal, they say, but "different." These people will do anything to still a woman's voice, to kill a woman's public influence.
CNN's special investigative report, "Lifting the Veil," is clear about what happens to women where the Taliban, Islam's fundamentalist sect, seeks to be -- pretends to be -- the real, the only, expression of Islam. In these places, women are imprisoned in their homes, allowed in public only with a man or at least heavily shrouded, forbidden to drive or travel alone, left uneducated, married off as children and abandoned on the streets when widowed. It's a bleak, desperate situation. "God's will," they say -- as have so many before them.
In theocratic governments, religions other than the state religions exist only by virtue of the fiat of the state and the state is devoted to maintaining the laws of the religion that underlies it. Too bad for everyone else. Like women.
Absolutism is the old wind.
Inclusiveness is the new wind.
And this new wind is blowing, as well. Benizar Bhutto, although a most religious woman, was also the proponent of a secular democratic government. In the secular state, all religions enjoy equal protection under the law. All people are safe from the excesses of religion. This is the wind of justice and equality. And it is equally religious as well as comfortably secular.
This is the wind that comes with those who believe that God created all people with human rights, that God calls women, as well as men, to go on doing God's will, to continue co-creating the universe, to be moral agents. To vote, to minister, to teach, to think, to lead.
As a result, women everywhere, propelled by religion, are calling on both their religions and their governments to realize that as long as women can be suppressed, ignored, discriminated against, used, abused and made invisible -- all in the name of God -- humanity is only half human, government is suspect and religion itself is in danger of betraying itself.
Until the women's agenda is addressed, until things change for women, until the Benizar Bhuttos, the Hillary Clintons, and the Bishop Kathryn Jeffers-Shorri's of the world, leaders all, are the norm, not the exception, until domination and female invisibility stops being blamed on God, oppression will be the norm. Then nothing may change for women, true, but nothing will change for the rest of the world either. The fact is that whether they realize it or not, in the end, oppressors limit themselves as much as they limit those they oppress.
From where I stand, it seems clear that religions that only pretend to be religions ride on the past wind. Just look around you at all the women's groups rising up all over the world. In the face of religious fundamentalism, all of them -- like Benizar Bhutto -- pay the price, of course. But, has anyone noticed, these groups of women leaders are not going away.
Be not mistaken: There is clearly another wind blowing that no number, no kind, of assassinations can quell
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The Decider

"We do not condone torture.

I have never ordered torture.

I will never order torture.

George W. Bush

Torture and indefinite detention are shamefully un-American.

WEAR ORANGE January 11 and protest the shame that is Guantánamo Bay. www.aclu.org/closegitmo

YOU DECIDE!!!!!!!!!!!!

IRAQ VIOLENCE has claimed 151,000 lives in three years, report says. Number Of Iraqis Slaughtered Since The U.S. Invaded Iraq 1,163,944

http://www.justforeignpolicy.org/iraq/iraqdeaths.html

Pentagon Won't Investigate Halliburton Rape Charges

ABC's The Blotter Justin Rood January 8, 2008 11:01 AM
The Defense Department's top watchdog has declined to investigate allegations that an American woman working under an Army contract in Iraq was raped by her co-workers.
The case of former Halliburton/KBR employee Jamie Leigh Jones gained national attention last month. An ABC News investigation revealed how an earlier investigation into Jones' alleged gang-rape in 2005 had not resulted in any prosecution, and that neither Jones nor Democratic and Republican lawmakers have been able to get answers from the Bush administration...
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Fox News Caves, Allows Ron Paul Into Debate

By Robert Morris - The Sun News
Following the New Hampshire primary, six Republican candidates will attend Thursday night's debate in Myrtle Beach, state party officials said today.
Former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani, former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, U.S. Sen. John McCain of Arizona, U.S. Rep. Ron Paul of Texas, former Massachussetts Gov. Mitt Romney and former U.S. Sen. Fred Thompson of Tennessee have all accepted their invitations, said Rob Godfrey, spokesman for the state Republican Party.
"The stakes couldn't be higher this election, and we couldn't be more excited to extend a warm South Carolina welcome to six White House hopefuls who are seeking the Republican nomination," said Katon Dawson, chairman of the state GOP.
To be invited, candidates must have placed in the top 5 positions in the New Hampshire poll -- McCain, Romney, Huckabee, Giuliani and Paul -- or be polling at least 5 percent nationally, such as Thompson.
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Blackwater Dropped Gas On Iraqis, US Troops In 2005

2005 Use of Gas by Blackwater Leaves Questions

The helicopter was hovering over a Baghdad checkpoint into the Green Zone, one typically crowded with cars, Iraqi civilians and United States military personnel.
Suddenly, on that May day in 2005, the copter dropped CS gas, a riot-control substance the American military in Iraq can use only under the strictest conditions and with the approval of top military commanders. An armored vehicle on the ground also released the gas, temporarily blinding drivers, passers-by and at least 10 American soldiers operating the...
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U.S. warplanes flatten ‘safe havens’ in Iraq

Military says 38 bombs dropped in 10-minute strike on Baghdad's outskirts

BAGHDAD - U.S. bombers and jet fighters unleashed 40,000 pounds of explosives during a 10-minute airstrike Thursday, flattening what the military called al-Qaida in Iraq safe havens on the southern outskirts of the capital.
The strikes, carried out above approaching troops, was part of Operation Phantom Phoenix, a nationwide campaign launched Tuesday against al-Qaida in Iraq.
A military statement said two B-1 bombers and four F-16 fighters dropped the bombs on 40 targets in Arab Jabour in 10 strikes. Al-Qaida fighters are believed to control Arab Jabour, a Sunni district lined with citrus groves and scarred by daily violence.
“Thirty-eight bombs were dropped within the first 10 minutes, with a total tonnage of 40,000 pounds,” the statement said.
The attack came a day after the U.S. military reported that nine American soldiers were killed north of the capital in the first two days of a new offensive.
more...
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US To Send 3,000 Marines To Afghanistan

John Kerry Endorses Obama

Barack Obama has won the presidential endorsement of Sen. John Kerry, the Democrats' 2004 nominee who lost to George W. Bush.
Kerry, a senator from Massachusetts, plans to announce his support Thursday at a rally at the College of Charleston, said a Democrat familiar with Kerry's decision. The 2004 nominee will argue that Obama can best unite the country and has the potential to create transformational change, the person said.
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6 U.S. soldiers killed in explosion in house

4 soldiers wounded in incident during operation in Diyala, U.S. military says

Makes me think of the link posted below 'Why they hate us'

BREAKING NEWSNBC News and news services
BAGHDAD - Six American soldiers were killed and four wounded in a house rigged with explosives during an operation in Baqouba, the U.S. military told NBC News on Wednesday.
The soldiers were clearing the house when a huge blast killed the six — the largest single loss of life for U.S. troops in the Iraq war so far this year. It's not clear whether the house was booby-trapped or the explosives were remotely detonated.
The identities of those killed and their unit were being withheld pending notification of their families.
U.S. and Iraqi forces have launched a major operation against al-Qaida in Iraq in Diyala province, where Baqouba is situated, north of Baghdad, the military said.
Earlier Wednesday, the military reported the deaths of three other soldiers the day before in northern Salahuddin province, another target area of the new offensive against al-Qaida that was launched on Tuesday.
Since Jan. 1, 15 U.S. service members have been killed by hostile action in Iraq.

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The answer to 'Why they hate us', America are you listening?

It's called Liberation, Georgies style.

Who is the terrorist, Georgie? You decide

The information in this video and the news report that an Iraqi soldier killed a "US captain and another sergeant, and wounded three others" for brutalizing Iraqi women, one of which who was pregnant, should answer the question that many Americans have been asking for a number of years.
Through the following video, which will give you a better idea of the atrocity that is being committed, you can follow US Troops while they conduct Iraqi House Raids:

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House raids Iraq

The Iraq War - Clip 3: House Raids

Children As “Collateral Damage” Of The War In Iraq

How can new generations acquire an awareness of the preciousness of each individual when human life is so cheap, the dignity of all people so blatantly ignored and human potentials so suppressed?

Dan Jakopovich

Great is the hypocrisy of capitalist "civilization". On the one hand, big business and its media boast of their "democracy" and "freedom," while at the same time in today’s world they commit the greatest crimes. They spread rhetoric about human rights while stifling human dignity in a myriad of ways. Although several tens of billions of dollars would be enough to eliminate extreme hunger in the world, the USA annually spends approximately 600 billion dollars on its military budget, while approximately 15 million children are dying from starvation every year. It appears that it is still not in the interest of the system to eliminate poverty. War is profitable, and the profits coming from the war in Iraq are evidently more valuable than human lives.... continua / continued

More than 1 million displaced people in Baghdad

Anwar Jumaa, Azzaman
One out of four people in the Iraqi capital Baghdad has been displaced due to sectarian violence and ongoing U.S. military operations, according to the Iraqi Red Crescent Society. The society’s head Saeed Haqi said looking after this huge number was an uphill task and that the U.S. has promised to offer $250 million to help "these internal refugees." "There are 1.2 million internally displaced people in Baghdad," Haqi said. Children below the age of 15 make up 58 percent of the internally displaced population, he said.... continua / continued

Protest in Gaza against Bush visit

Resheq: Bush visit aims to support Olmert and perpetuate Palestinian division

He described George Bush as the Hitler of the 21st century, the most hated man world-wide, and the most stupid and the least popular among presidents of the United States accusing Bush of leading "international terrorism".

Palestinian Information Center

Senior Hamas political leader and member of the Movement's political bureau Ezzat Al-Resheq said on Tuesday the visit of US president George W. Bush to the region has more to do with domestic politics than with the Middle East. "It is clear that the visit of Bush to the region is meant to embellish the tarnished image of the Republican administration before the American electorate who started voicing their rejection of administration's foreign policy especially in the Middle East", said Resheq in press statement he issued and a copy of which was obtained by the PIC... continua / continued

Aljazeera.net
Thousands of Palestinians in Gaza have gathered to protest against the visit of the US president to the occupied West Bank in a bid to push forward talks between Israel and the Palestinians. The protesters gathered in Gaza City on Tuesday, saying that George Bush is indifferent to their condition. Bush will not visit the territory as part of his tour of the Middle East which starts on Wednesday... continua / continued

An American President and the outposts of Zion

Ben White, The Electronic Intifada

This week US President George W. Bush embarks on a tour of some of the US' Middle East allies, including his first visit while in office to Israel. The trip has been presaged by a lot of media guesswork about what exactly Bush and Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert will discuss, and one of the likely topics will apparently be the so-called "illegal outposts." The New York Times last Saturday reported remarks made by Bush in an interview with Israeli newspaper Yediot Aharonot about the need for Israel to dismantle these outposts and the apparent "awkward" nature of the issue for both US and Israeli governments... continua / continued

US illegally detains more Afghans than ever at Bagram military base

David Walsh, WSWS

The US government is continuing its global policy of illegal detention, abuse and torture of prisoners. This emerges from a New York Times article published January 7, which reports on conditions at the notorious Bagram military base in northern Afghanistan’s Parvan province. The US detention center now houses some 630 prisoners, an increase from a total of little more than 100 in early 2004 and some 500 in early 2006, and more than twice the number currently held at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba. The deteriorating military and security situation in Afghanistan is driving the process, notes the Times. All but 30 of the prisoners are Afghans, allegedly captured in raids or on the battlefield.... continua / continued

Cafferty File: Time to IMPEACH Bush and Cheney

CAFFERTY FILE: UNITE THE COUNTRY IMPEACH NOW!

Kristol Debuts With Embarrassing Error In First NYT Column »

So those critics who argued against the appointment of Bill Kristol as a New York Times columnist because of the quality of his work -- rather than merely because of ideology -- will now have yet more proof that they were on to something.
That's because it looks as if Kristol's first column will already require a correction: Kristol seems to have attributed a quote to the wrong author.
In the column, Kristol quotes Michelle Malkin as follows:
Still, as the conservative writer Michelle Malkin put it, “For the work-hard-to-get-ahead strivers who represent the heart and soul of the G.O.P., there are obvious, powerful points of identification.”Only Malkin is now claiming that she didn't write this. Instead, she notes, the quote actually comes from Michael Medved:
It’s not just Christian zealots who recognize Huckabee as “one of us”; I’ve spoken to non-religious Russian immigrant Jews who love him because he’s down-to-earth, plain-spoken and unpretentious non-celebrity. For the work-hard-to-get-ahead strivers who represent the heart and soul of the GOP, there are obvious, powerful points of identification. In this context, his embarrassing fumbles in reacting to Benazir Bhutto’s assassination haven’t destroyed his campaign: anyone who wanted a candidate with foreign policy credentials would have turned away from Huckabee long ago.Not exactly up to The Times's standards, to be sure. Maybe the way to look at this is that the paper's standards were lowered to Kristol's level?
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BCCI, Bush, Bombshells...

BCCI, Bush, Bombshells...
Rather than focusing today's thread header on a post-primary discussion, I want to direct you to something that's gotten overlooked during the past week, and that is the article in the Times UK written about Sibel Edmonds.
It revealed quite a bombshell!
I'm going to aggregate the links for you so that you can read up on it without my interpretation.
First, you need to read this whole Times article here.
Then you need to read Lukery's blog to catch up more on what you missed.
And then at Kos, on the current recommended list, Inky99 has posted a great diary with excerpts from the Times article and from Lukey's blog. (That's where you can push the "Recommend" button and keep the story out there.)
Here's an excerpt from the diary Daily Kos:
Chris Floyd describes this story as "one of the most important stories of the last quarter-century: how American officials sold nuclear arms technology to illegal proliferators -- including ideological allies of al Qaeda -- in return for bribes and other inducements. This widespread corruption has been protected from exposure by the highest levels of the U.S. government, which has gone to enormous lengths to protect the truth from coming out. The entire planet has been put at grave risk by the greed -- and geopolitical gamesmanship -- that lies behind this criminal enterprise, which actually is even more extensive, and goes back further in time, than the newspaper's remarkable revelations." <> Floyd ties this story together with the history of the BCCI, past criminal figures, and the Bush family, including George W. Bush:
Edmonds' revelations should be seen in their larger historical context, as an outgrowth of the activities of BCCI, the "Bank of Credit and Commercial International," a supposed financial group that a U.S. Senate investigation called "one of the largest criminal enterprises in history." BCCI was a prime vehicle for clandestine nuclear proliferation, among many other illegal activities, and was also used by the CIA and the White House for various covert operations, including secret military and financial support for Saddam Hussein. It also paid numerous grandees of the Democratic and Republican parties to front its operations – and gave George W. Bush $25 million to rescue one of his many business failures.
Lukery, spread Sibel's recent bombshell across cyberspace. Yet with the pre-New Hampshire primary debates and buildup, nobody picked up on the story.
Some dots that need connecting in this story are of course George H. Bush, John Kerry's investigation of BCCI and the Iran-Contra affair, and Bill Clinton who stopped the investigation into BCCI after he was elected in 1992. And of course, George W. Bush is a dot there too.
Some other well-known names were revealed by Sibel:
Richard Perle
Douglas Feith
Paul Wolfowitz (possibly)And less familiar names include:
Eric Edelman, Feith's replacement at the Pentagon
former Congressman Stephen Solarz.
The dots all seem to lead in the same direction--information that the BCCI investigation was successfully revealing and that Bill Clinton stopped in it's tracks. They also continue in the direction of one, George W. Bush and many still in his cabinet today.
Then there's a different dot to connect. In an article about Bhutto that someone mailed me, the Express India noted that for months before Bhutto's assassination, Bhutto publicly announced that she would turn over A Q Khan to the IAEA. Here's what they said:
Washington, September 27: Ignoring the sharp reaction back home, former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto stuck to her stand that she would allow UN inspectors to question disgraced nuclear scientist A Q Khan if she returns to power, saying it will dispel the impression that Pakistan is a "rogue" nation. "...If under a PPP government the IAEA makes a request to us to give them access to A Q Khan, we certainly will do that because the People's Party will not cover up or collude in the cover up of proliferation activities," Bhutto said at the Middle East Institute.
and this is what the Express India said about Musharraf:
The Pervez Musharraf's regime has refused to grant access to the US, which is eager to question Khan, the father of Pakistan's nuclear bomb, after he admitted to passing atomic secrets to Libya, Iran and North Korea in February 2004. Bhutto's statement drew an angry response from the government as well opposition parties including Islamist alliance Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal and Imran Khan's Tehrik-e-Insaf, which dubbed it as against national interest.
Was AQ Khan being protected? If so, by who? In 2004, the news had been that A Q Khan had "turned" and was being forthright in helping us. He was released in 2006, yet serious questions still remain.
This, as you can see, is serious business, involving the spread of nuclear weapons and the criminal involvement of the highest officials in our land. It involves a serious coverup and abuses of power by the leadership in our country. And It involves our relationship with other countries, our policies and treaties with other countries, and it includes the dangerous spread of nuclear weapons.
Sibel's allegations would require criminal investigations and charges for some of the top level people in our government! Sibel's says that the West was infiltrated by foreign states seeking nuclear secrets, and furthermore, high level people in our government turned a blind eye to and worse were even helping countries such as Pakistan acquire bomb technology.
This whole matter is quite confusing. It involves a lot of research into the BCCI investigation that Clinton shut down. It involves more investigation into all Luckey's articles about Sibel. And it includes more investigation and research into the Turkish and Pakistan history and the more recent events there as well. Sibel Edmond's allegations seem to connect dots going back at least 20 years to both Bush Presidents and many in their administration, the CIA, and in Congress.
Clearly, we need to group together, research and discuss this, promote it, and get our political representatives and justice department to take action against those involved. With your help, we can dissect more of these facts and post them in the forum and join Lukery in his goal to keep get the information out there.
As Lukery said...we can not afford to let this get buried and hidden. It's too important.
Tags: BCCI, Chris Floyd, George H. Bush, George W. Bush, Iran-Contra, John Kerry, Sibel Edmonds, Times, All tags
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Well it's got to be cnn under duress, it sure as hell won't be fox for sure.

I have put the box on first time this year for any news, going in to watch the primaries in New Hampshire

9-11 Cover-Up, Treason and The Bomb

In a new article just published Saturday in the Times of London based upon information provided by US government whistleblower Sibel Edmonds, a 37-year-old former Turkish language translator for the FBI, we have not only solid evidence of prior knowledge of 9-11 by high up US government officials, but evidence of treasonous activity by many of those same officials involving efforts to provide US nuclear secrets to America’s enemies, even including Al Qaeda.
The story also casts a chilling light on the so-called “accidental” flight of six nuclear-armed cruise missiles aboard an errant B-52 that flew last Aug. 30 from Minot AFB in North Dakota to Barksdale AFB in Shreveport, Louisiana.
The Sunday Times reports that Edmonds, whose whistleblowing efforts have been studiously ignored by what passes for the news media in American news media, approached the Rupert Murdoch-owned British paper a month ago after reading a report there that an Al-Qaeda leader had been training some of the 9-11 hijackers at a base in Turkey, a US NATO alley, under the noses of the Turkish military.
Edmonds, who was recruited by the FBI after 9-11 because of her Turkish and Farsi language skills, has long been claiming that in her FBI job of covertly monitoring conversations between Turkish, Israeli, Persian and other foreign agents and US contacts, including a backlog of untranslated tapes dating back to 1997, she had heard evidence of “money laundering, drug imports and attempts to acquire nuclear and conventional weapons technology.” But the Turkish training for 9-11 rang more alarm bells and made her decide that talking behind closed doors to Congress or the FBI was not enough. She had to go public.
Edmonds claims in the Times that even as she was providing evidence of moles within the US State Department, the Pentagon, and the nuclear weapons establishment, who were providing nuclear secrets for cash, through Turkey, to Pakistan’s intelligence agency, the Inter-Services Intelligence, or ISI, agencies within the Bush administration were actively working to block investigation and to shield those who were committing the acts of treason.
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The Bilderberg Group - Rulers of the World

"The war is not against Bin Laden. We are the enemy"
Interview with investigator and author, Daniel Estulin, on his book, "The True Story of the Bilderberg Group", which describes an annual gathering where the European and American political elite, and the wealthiest CEOs of the world, all come together to discuss the economic and political future of humanity. Highly secretive, the press has never been allowed to attend, nor have statements ever been released on the group's conclusions or discussions. Also discussed are the Council on Foreign Relations and the Trilateral Commission.

Guns and Butter - Nov 28th 2007
CLICK PLAY TO LISTEN

Obama Family in Kenya Watches US Vote

A photograph taken in 1987 of U.S. presidential candidate Barack Obama and his grandmother Sarah Hussein Obama hangs in her home in the village of Nyagoma-Kogelo, western Kenya, Tuesday, Jan. 8, 2008. Barack Obama phoned Kenya's opposition leader as diplomatic attempts to end Kenya's political crisis intensified Tuesday.(AP Photo/Darko Bandic)
KOGELO, Kenya — At the end of a dusty, dirt road lined with mango and mimosa trees, Barack Obama's Kenyan relatives sat outside on plastic chairs surrounded by chickens and drying corn kernels, listening to radio reports from New Hampshire.
Kogelo, the western Kenyan home village of Barack Obama's father, has been spared the political and ethnic violence that has erupted elsewhere in this country following a disputed presidential election. But it was just 90 minutes' drive from a town where torched, ransacked and looted buildings bear testimony to the clashes, and the turmoil in Kenya, as well as his nephew's success in the U.S., was on Said Obama's mind.
Said Obama said his nephew "has proved to be a beacon of hope here and shown that even in difficult circumstances you can make it to the highest height of achievement with just determination and hard work."
Obama's father, also named Barack Obama, won a scholarship to a university in Hawaii, where he met and married Obama's American mother. The two separated and Obama's father returned to Kenya, where he worked as a government economist until he died in a car crash in 1982.
If Barack Obama were in Kenya today, he would "work with the leadership to bring them to a round table and find a solution to the problems that have been ravaging the country," his uncle said.
Barack Obama's forays into diplomacy have touched on Kenya, most recently on Monday when he spoke with Raila Odinga for about five minutes from New Hampshire, asking the opposition leader to meet directly with President Mwai Kibaki, said the U.S. politician's spokesman.
"He urged an end to violence and that Mr. Odinga sit down, without preconditions, with President Kibaki to resolve this issue peacefully," said the spokesman, Bill Burton.
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DoD IG Says the Justice Dept. Is Still Investigating the Alleged Gang-Rape

Pentagon Won't Probe KBR Rape Charges

The Defense Department's top watchdog has declined to investigate allegations that an American woman working under an Army contract in Iraq was raped by her co-workers.
The case of former Halliburton/KBR employee Jamie Leigh Jones gained national attention last month. An ABC News investigation revealed how an earlier investigation into Jones' alleged gang-rape in 2005 had not resulted in any prosecution, and that neither Jones nor Democratic and Republican lawmakers have been able to get answers from the Bush administration...

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best, U.S. worst in preventable deaths

British study's rankings based on access to timely and effective health care
WASHINGTON - France, Japan and Australia rated best and the United States worst in new rankings focusing on preventable deaths due to treatable conditions in 19 leading industrialized nations, researchers said on Tuesday.
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US military not welcome in Pakistan: army

ISLAMABAD (AFP) - The Pakistani military reacted angrily to reports that US President George W. Bush is considering covert military operations in the country's volatile tribal areas bordering Afghanistan.
"It is not up to the US administration, it is Pakistan's government who is responsible for this country," chief military spokesman Major General Waheed Arshad told AFP.
"There are no overt or covert US operations inside Pakistan. Such reports are baseless and we reject them."
The New York Times reported on its website late Saturday that under a proposal being discussed in Washington, CIA operatives based in Afghanistan would be able to call on direct military support for counter-terrorism operations in neighbouring Pakistan.
Citing unnamed senior administration officials, the newspaper said the proposal called for giving Central Intelligence Agency agents broader powers to strike targets in Pakistan.
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Ahahahahahaha

Ron Paul supporters say hello to Sean Hannity

New Hampshire: Sean Hannity chased by Ron Paul supporters
In New Hampshire Sean Hannity flees from Ron Paul supporters after being chased out of a resturant because Congressman Paul was banned from the FOX New Hampshire Debate.

Funhouse Mirror: Looking At America With The New York Times

Winter Patriot
Against all indications, the NYT attributes the actions of the Bush administration to "panic and ideology". It's clear that neither Bush nor Cheney have panicked -- on 9/11 or ever since. They've been sitting quietly, watching the universe unfold -- right into their laps! And it's even clearer that their ideology plays a heavy role in what they have done. So why talk about panic? For that matter, why talk about "this new enemy" without trying to identify it? The Bush administration took less than a day to decide who was to be held responsible for 9/11, less than a month to start bombing Afghanistan, less than two months to pass the enormous and egregious PATRIOT Act, and more than a year to empower a whitewash disguised as an investigation. What does that tell you? The administration was (and still is) heavily populated by members of an extremist group which called for a cataclysmic attack on America, in order to enable their radical agenda, just before the 2000 election....
continua / continued

IRAQ: Killer of U.S. Soldiers Becomes a Hero

By Ali al-Fadhily and Dahr Jamail*
The recent killing of two U.S. soldiers by their Iraqi colleague has raised disturbing questions about U.S. military relations with the Iraqis they work with. On Dec. 26, an Iraqi soldier opened fire on U.S. soldiers accompanying him during a joint military patrol in the northern Iraqi city Mosul. He killed the U.S. captain and another sergeant, and wounded three others, including an Iraqi interpreter. Conflicting versions of the killing have arisen. Col. Hazim al-Juboory, uncle of the attacker Kaissar Saady al-Juboory, told IPS that his nephew at first watched the U.S. soldiers beat up an Iraqi woman. When he asked them to stop, they refused, so he opened fire. "Kaissar is a professional soldier who revolted against the Americans when they dragged a woman by her hair in a brutal way," Col. Juboory said. "He is a tribal man, and an Arab with honour who would not accept such behaviour....
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GI Special 6A5: Petraeus' Bedtime Story

GI SPECIAL 6A5:

Mark Shapiro

Petraeus’ Bed-Time Story:
The Self-Fulfilling Prophecy Of Doom
"My Friends In The 4th Infantry Are Back In Baghdad"
"They Know That The Present Calm Is Waiting To Be Shattered Like A Bottle In A Biker Bar At 0200"
"They Are Scared That, When The Shit Hits The Proverbial Fan, We Won’t Stand A Chance"

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The liar of Washington is not welcome in Palestine

So, how could a man as such be trusted, or even respected?Comment by Khalid Amayreh in Occupied E. Jerusalem

...Then, Bush, a man who has the tongue of a Judas, the heart of a Hitler, and the mind of an imbecile, acquiesced to the Nazi-like blockade the Judeo-Nazi regime of Israel has been imposing on 1.5 million Gazans, ostensibly for the purpose of bullying them to turn against the Hamas-led government. This is the same Bush who continues to speak about "peace" between Israel and the Palestinians while keeping silent in the face of unrelenting Israeli settlement expansion which flies in the face of everything said during the recent Annapolis conference in Maryland...

monkey said:
Kangaroo... now THIS is the part of the article that NAILS it, pardon the pun...

Finally, Bush will travel to Bethlehem for a spiritual encounter with the aura of Jesus Christ, when in fact Bush’s evil discourse ever since his inauspicious arrival at the White house seven years ago constitutes the exact antithesis of everything that Jesus preached. Indeed, Bush’s behaviors and acts are a cancer upon the conscience of Christianity.
Undoubtedly, Jesus will not be proud of George Bush just as Muhammed, the Prophet of Islam, won’t be proud of those who kill innocent people in the name of Islam.

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Citing security, Israel refuses to release data on settlements

Amos Harel, Haaretz Correspondent

The government is refusing to publish a database containing full details about the settlement enterprise in the territories, including outposts and neighborhoods built across the Green Line. In response to a High Court of Justice petition on the matter, the Defense Ministry is arguing that publication would harm state security and Israel's foreign relations. In October 2006, Haaretz revealed the existence of the Spiegel Report - the largest database ever compiled by the state on the settlements, by then special adviser to the defense minister Brigadier General Baruch Spiegel....

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Israel still doesn't have 'smoking gun'

Barely reported: Israel to brief Bush on Iran strike options

US Judge Chastises Department of Justice

Jonathan Saltzman reports for The Boston Globe, "The chief federal judge in Boston has urged the new US attorney general to crack down on prosecutors who commit misconduct and to force Justice Department lawyers to be truthful in court."

CIA Tapes Destroyed as Pressure Mounted

Truthout's Jason Leopold reports, "Harman's letter provides a more thorough account of the possible reasons CIA officials destroyed the videotaped interrogations, which, according to public accounts took place in November 2005, more than two years after Harman sent a letter to Muller voicing disapproval about purging the videotapes. It also suggests intelligence officials heeded prior warnings to preserve the videotapes and destroyed the videotapes only after evidence of the agency's covert interrogation practices were revealed publicly in news reports."