The blunders are so many. The issues so complex. Our government so corrupt. Where does one start? Below is part of my feeble attempt to start to put all of the pieces together ... more to come...
The Misleaders
How (Not) to Withdraw from IraqBy Tom Engelhardt
Lew Rockwell
"While withdrawal was making onto the public agenda, our actual force in Iraq has risen in recent months from approximately 138,000 to about 160,000. So the first "withdrawals" (plural) the administration will be able to announce after the December 15 election – about 20,000 troops – will simply get us back to the levels that Donald Rumsfeld and his planners always meant us to be at.
[...] In the end, ignore (if you can) the whirlwind of withdrawal language that will turn all sorts of non- or semi-withdrawal schemes into something other than what they are, and try to keep your eyes on those shoals of reality."
Strategic Blunders
Bush Offers "Clear Strategy" for DisasterRay McGovern
t r u t h o u t
Is the U.S. Training Iraqi Death Squads to Fight the Insurgency?
Democracy Now!
"ARUN GUPTA: What you're seeing is, I think, really the fruition of U.S. strategy in Iraq. The Pentagon has spent over $10 billion to try to stand up Iraqi military forces, and it's been a complete disaster. So what they're trying to do is they're turning to death squads to fight the insurgency."High Crimes and Low Comedy in the Bush Imperium - Death Mask: The Deliberate Disintegration of Iraq
By Chris Floyd
Empire Burlesque
"Investigative journalist Max Fuller marshals a convincing case for this dread conclusion in a remarkable work of synthesis drawn from information buried in reams of mainstream news stories and public Pentagon documents. Piling fact on damning fact, he shows that the vast majority of atrocities now attributed to 'rogue' Shiite and Sunni militias are in fact the work of government-controlled commandos and 'special forces,' trained by Americans, 'advised' by Americans and run largely by former CIA assets, Global Research reports.2 More US Allies Leaving Iraq, More May Go
We first reported here in June 2003 that the U.S. was already hiring Saddam's security muscle for 'special ops' against the nascent insurgency and re-opening his torture haven, Abu Ghraib. Meanwhile, powerful Shiite militias (including Talibanic religious extremists armed and trained by Iran) were loosed upon the land."
By William J. Kole
The Associated Press & t r u t h o u t
Reuters Business Channel | Reuters.com
"U.S. President George W. Bush said on Monday 30,000 Iraqis have been killed since the Iraq war began and, speaking days before election in Iraq, acknowledged setbacks in efforts to create a democracy there.
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Where is the outrage?
Meet Some Of The Victims In America's War - Collateral Damage ?
In a democratic society we are all responsible for the action of our government."
WARNING - This picture show the bodies of two Iraqi infant's: Meet The Victims Of America's War - Collateral Damage ?
Transitioning to Civil War
Violence in Iraq: A Snake with a Hundred HeadsSPIEGEL ONLINE
"Nightly shootings, daily suicide attacks, and a flourishing kidnapping business have made life in Iraq increasingly unbearable. Are fanatical jihadists and frustrated Saddam Hussein supporters pushing the country toward civil war?"Iraqi insurgency strong and could get stronger
By Peter Mackler
Middle East Online
"Despite US claims of progress in quelling the insurgency in Iraq, it remains as robust as ever and could grow a good deal stronger, according to a new study released Thursday. The study by two veteran defense analysts working for the Washington Institute for Near East Policy also said the US operation in Iraq was at a 'tipping point' that will last for six to nine months."
Defense Industry Profiteering
Sirotablog: The growing problem of defense industry profiteeringBy David Sirota
"If you thought it impossible to top the image of Rep. Duke Cunningham (R-CA) driving around a Rolls Royce and living on a yacht thanks to defense industry cash, just stop and take a look Lloyd Grove's story today in the New York Daily News. Yes, you are reading it right – a defense contractor has gotten so rich off taxpayer cash he actually held a $10 million bat mitzvah for his daughter, featuring 50 Cent, Tom Petty and Aerosmith, among others. That's right - a $10 million. On a bat mitzvah.
What do the Cunningham and $10 million bat mitzvah stories have to do with each other? In their own ways, they each touch on a subject that we rarely ever discuss in America: defense industry profiteering."
The Debate: To Stay? Or To Leave?
The Top Ten Reasons for Staying in (Leaving) IraqMichael Schwartz
t r u t h o u t
Michael Schwartz takes the arguments that remain for war supporters - and that still confound anti-war people - and answers them one by one.U.S. ex-general calls for Iraq pull out
United Press International
"The U.S. general who used to head the National Security Agency says the only way to stabilize the Middle East is to leave Iraq.Murtha predicts most U.S. troops will leave Iraq within a year
AP Wire
"LATROBE, Pa. - Most U.S. troops will leave Iraq within a year, and the Army is "broken, worn out" and may not be able to meet future military threats to the country's security, U.S. Rep. John Murtha, D-Pa. said."Shi'ite Leader Urges Pullout
cctv.com
"Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr is accusing U.S President George W. Bush of violating international opinion by failing to give a timetable for the withdrawal of American troops from Iraq."Most Iraqis Want U.S. Forces Out
By Will Lester
AP/Army Times
"More than two-thirds of those surveyed oppose the presence of troops from the United States and its coalition partners and less than half, 44 percent, say their country is better off now than it was before the war, according to an ABC News poll conducted with Time magazine and other media partners."The Only Way is Out
Remember ... way back ... when Bush answered press conference questions about when the U.S. would withdraw from Iraq by saying, among other things, that if the Iraqis asked us to leave, we would. Well the Iraqi government has asked...several times. The Iraqi people want us out. So how come we're still there?
By Abdul-Ilah Al-Bayaty
Al-Arram
"I think it is of no use all this changing of tactics, like the Cairo Conference or the phony next elections, whose end is that the US decides the destiny of Iraq and escapes liability in waging an illegal war on Iraq. As long as Iraq is not left to its people, America's military, economic, political and moral losses will continue to increase. There is no path before the US but to pull out rapidly and unconditionally, taking with it this monster which it created and called the government and security forces, recognising that all oil in Iraq is the property of the whole Iraqi people, and letting the legal administration pre-invasion -- especially the national army and its resistance groups -- take power and administer the country until free and fair democratic elections can take place.
The people of Iraq will never, however long is the time afforded, recognise the puppet government, its contracts and agreements and laws, as legal or legitimate. In addition, if the US wants to have amicable relations with the people of Iraq, it should pay compensation for all the damage and suffering it caused Iraq."
Sadaam's Trial
Mother of All Trials...Riverbend
Baghdad Burning
"One thing that struck me about what the witnesses were saying- after the assassination attempt in Dujail, so much of what later unfolded is exactly what is happening now in parts of Iraq. They talked about how a complete orchard was demolished because the Mukhabarat thought people were hiding there and because they thought someone had tried to shoot Saddam from that area. That was like last year when the Americans razed orchards in Diyala because they believed insurgents were hiding there. Then they talked about the mass detentions- men, women and children- and its almost as if they are describing present-day Ramadi or Falloojah. The descriptions of cramped detention spaces, and torture are almost exactly the testimonies of prisoners in Abu Ghraib, etc. It makes one wonder when Bush, Rumsfeld, Cheney and the rest will have their day, as the accused, in court."
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