I'MMA LET YOU FINISH
Bunch of liars.
Actually, there apparently are some weird aspects in his personal life. Not that there's anything wrong with that.
His shoes. And his names. An obvious, um, you know.
Avoid.
Maybe he's trying to sell a book...
Hmmm, that's a loaded memory jog that is.
Is Jerry light in the loafers?
That's what Laura Ingraham insinuated to me.
This is a PLANT. Gee Rumsfeld and Bremer saying "Administration Screwed Up" in the middle of the election? Expect to see Bush's "major speech" to include an admission of mistakes on Iraq and a statement that more troops will be sent. see more on my blog at www.ironmouth.com
Has anyone noticed that on the rare occasions someone connected with Bush lets the truth slip, they have to rush out a retraction. It's 1984 all over again.
Why does Bremer hate America?
di you suppose bush will announce thaty he's fired rummy?
Shorter Wolf: "Very damning indictment" = Weirdo.
As a DePauw prof, I can attest that the quote is accurate. Notice that he said "more troops in Iraq at the beginning and throughout" which directly refutes his backpedaling from today.
Something's fishy here. We learned yesterday that the Neocons are trying to destroy Bremer's aspirations to succeed Colin Powell at State in a second Bush Administration, and that they've put Michael Rubin up to that task.
So wow did Bremer's remarks at DePauw -- unnoticed before as far as I can tell -- and at an insurance industry conference yesterday go straight to the front page of the Washington Post? Are the Post Reporters in the habit of reading press releases from the Council of Insurance Agents and Brokers and checking the Greencastle Banner-Graphic's coverage of national security? Or did Michael Rubin and friends give the Post an assist, knowing full well that those of us who've been critical of the war would trumpet Bremer's admissions?
http://www.cnn.com/2004/WORLD/me...feld/
index.html
When asked about any connection between Saddam and al Qaeda, Rumsfeld said, "To my knowledge, I have not seen any strong, hard evidence that links the two."
Bremer's telling the truth. There's at least one old news story from July 1, 2003 where he said very clearly that he needed more troops and that he was in discussion with Rumsie over it.
Google "Bremer more troops."
Is that the right link for Wolf Blitzer? Can you post the quote about what he said about Clarke?
Anybody read Clarke's book in paperback? is the new stuff he added juicy?
the funny thing (not), is, this kind of divisiveness, in the public debate we never had, is precisely what osama wanted.
" Expect to see Bush's "major speech" to include an admission of mistakes on Iraq and a statement that more troops will be sent. "
To send troops into a losing situation would be an electoral disaster. I just don't see the Moron doing that unless it's after Nov 2. It wouldn't surprise me to see him take the same POV as Bremer, that is, if they were to do it over again they would do it differently, but the cause was just. On Thursday I think he will try to moderate himself and tone down the arrogance - going for the female Oprah viewer vote.
RobW -- You've got it. He's going to come out tomorrow -- hat in hand -- and say they made mistakes and they are going to correct them with more troops -- anything to neutralize Kerry.
Remember the speculation that the neo-cons were going to blame Iraq failures on Bremmer? hmmmmmmmmmm....
Paul Bremmer used to be an executive at Marsh, specializing in political risk before he took over Iraq. Marsh is the largest insurance brokerage firm in the world.
Just an FYI on why he would be speaking at an insurance conference.
I hope Blitzer DOES start talking about WEIRD aspects of VJ's life. So much the better for us---- why would the Bushies have appointed such a STRANGE, mistrustworthy fellow to such an IMPORTANT post? If the Bushies start branding their own handpicked folks as liars etc. they are only tearing down their own house of cards. I approve.
Detroit Free Press -
No Al Qaeda link: A new CIA assessment undercuts the White House's claim that deposed Iraqi President Saddam Hussein maintained ties to Al Qaeda, saying there's no conclusive evidence that his regime harbored Osama bin Laden associate Abu Musab al-Zarqawi.
Longer article on Knight-Ridder (subscription) sites.
yes, ccw, but later, Rummy said:
"A question I answered today at an appearance before the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR) regarding ties between al Qaeda and Iraq regrettably was misunderstood.
"I have acknowledged since September 2002 that there were ties between al Qaeda and Iraq."
----
TRANSLATION: " I forgot to drink the kool-aid this morning. But after I had two cups to make up for my lapse, it all came back to me. In other words, everything I've ever said out loud could, regrettably, be wrong"
Atrios,
Dear mentor, what in the hell did you expect?
Someone says someting "off-message" from the administration talking points and the administration reacts.
It doesn't matter how rational, truthful, prescient, or just downright sensible the comments might be, if it isn't in the talking points for "Plan Dubya From Outer Texas," as I have seen the Iraq fiasco labeled, then RoveCo will smear, and slander or threaten as necessary.
Good grief, how many times do we need to see this before we wake up to the need to excise Bush and the neo-cons from the American political scene, as urgently as doctors would excise a serious stomach tumor?
How many more have to die for Chimpy's war mania? It's that easy.
I refer all to Maureen Farrell's column now on BuzzFlash:
The New Right and Old Wrongs: Quagmire, A to Z
http://www.buzzflash.com/farrell...0/
far04033.html
BBC world News was all over the Rummy outburst. They even played a nice quote from back in the day with Rummy being all "AQ=Saddam".
It almost looks like Rummy drew back the curtain and before the bad guys could clamp down, the Viceroy's conscience relieved itself.
I am not expecting much more like that, but it would be nice.
-
the "animals" in this administration are singing "Please Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood" as they sow confusion.
it all depends on what you mean by links or evidence or troop strength or turned corners or democracy or..
Faith-based reality will be Wednesday's proposal.
According to Google News, the news release (here) from the Council of Insurance Agents & Brokers was released 20 hours ago. It is headlined "Bremer Defends Action to Overthrow Saddam Hussein" and starts out:
Ambassador L. Paul Bremer, who spent 14 months as head of the U.S. provisional government in Iraq, said today he is convinced it was necessary to oust Saddam Hussein, but the United States paid a price for not having enough troops in place to secure the country following the brief war.
Bremer, delivering the keynote address to the opening session of the 91st annual Insurance Leadership Forum at The Greenbrier, said when he arrived in Baghdad on May 6, 2003, there was "horrid" looting going on.
"We paid a big price for not stopping it because it established an atmosphere of lawlessness," Bremer said. "We never had enough troops on the ground."
Remember, Bremer was the terrorism expert who famously said (a few months before 9-11) that the new Bush administration was neglecting the terrorism issue. He said it looked like the new Bush team was going to lope along until something happened, and then react.
ithinkhemayhavecontributedtokerry's campaignhe'sprobablyjockeyingfora positioninthekerrycabinetandtryingtosellabookit'
sinterestingthathe'sbringingthisupin theheatofanelectionfranklyheneverreallywasintheloo
pthiskindoftalkdemoralizesthetroopsdidyouhearabout
hiswife
So what IS up here? Seems like Rove can't control all those loose lips out there, eh?
So wow did Bremer's remarks at DePauw -- unnoticed before as far as I can tell -- and at an insurance industry conference yesterday go straight to the front page of the Washington Post?Ken Bode, formerly of CNN and PBS's Washington Week in Review is a visiting professor of journalism at DePauw, John McWethy of ABC is an active alumnus, and Lee Hamilton is also an active alumnus who was on campus the day after Bremer. Perhaps that is why this got exposure.
'" Expect to see Bush's "major speech" to include an admission of mistakes on Iraq and a statement that more troops will be sent. "
[...]
Chi Bob | Email | Homepage | 10.05.04 - 12:53 pm | #'
not in a million years.
He will announce the conclusion of the sammara offensive, continue to draw a connection between 911 and Iraq, identify some schools that have been rebuilt, lie about increased electricty production, and reinforce his resolve to stay the course.
He will NOT admit to any mistakes.
-[
After Shinseki's hastened departure, who the hell wouldn't get the message: telling the Pentagon we're short of troops in Iraq is fatal to your career as a soldier (and maybe as an administrator). Ask for troops is asking for a trip home and a poor performance rating.
Hey "Personal", where did you get the info that Bremer said before 9-11 that Bush admin neglecting terrorism?
I hope JE and JK point out that Bushco is flip-flopping faster than that poor fish Dubya let Barney torture in the Fishing with Roland Martin segment.
Bremer is untouchable. There will be no smear campaign against him. Why? Because he was a former principal in Kissinger's consulting group, that's why. Who knows what kinds of dirt Kissinger has on Papa Bush when he was in China/UN/CIA. Well Kitty Kelly let us know that he had a mistress in NYC, I wonder what other skeletons are in there. And I suspect if he doesn't have dirt on W, he could probably get some.
I love how they just keep bouncing the basketball off of people's heads, and laugh, and laugh.
See if you can 'squeeze out a few' for Kissinger protege Bremer, who is a war criminal, and Rumsfeld, top conspirator and outright traitor.
They come out and do their double talk, so they can refer back to it later, indemnifying themselves in the press.
FUCK 'EM.
--
Was not having enough troops in Iraq part of plan? Sounds crazy but according to Naomi Klien that was a necessary part of the Neocon vision of
recreating Iraq as the ideal corporatist state.
According to Klien, Bremer knew from day one that not having enough troops was part of the plan to faciliate change in Iraq. The idea was to use mass chaos to force Iraqis into accepting a cold bath overnight move towards capitalism.
Sounds Crazy? It is what you have to look forward to in this country if Bush is reelected. But it is why the Neocons moved Jay Garner out and replaced him with more agreeable Bremer.
It is all a part of the Neocon's love of Trotsky inspired "Revolution from Above" batshit crazy lunancy
Read
Baghdad Year Zero
Pillaging Iraq in pursuit of a neocon utopia
by Naomi Klien
http://www.harpers.org/
BaghdadYe...adYearZero.html
nice try xegAr... I see holoscan has learned to repel such volleys.
Bremer isn't turning; KISSINGER is in charge of this whole goddamn conspiracy! He's the spiritual father of the neocons, and Bremer is his golden boy. So when he plays the press this way, he's just following the plan, obfuscation after obfuscation, contradiction after contradiction, lie after lie, hatred for America after hatred for America.
Bremer should be impaled on the WH fence with the rest of the bastards.
--
xegar, I couldn't have said better myself...
-
The single most important change -- the one thing that would have improved the situation -- would have been having more troops in Iraq at the beginning and throughout. We never had enough troops on the ground.
Apply pressure:
I believe that we currently have sufficient troop levels in Iraq
Someone ask Bremer where the 'magic troops' came from.
Mother learns of son's death in Iraq dies from grief. Saddest thing ever...
Nevermind that the USPNAC forces actively created the looting, in furtherance of their GENOCIDE of Iraq.
A US tank knocked the door down at the National Museum. CIA or merc forces burned the Koran/Torah Repository (priceless, irreplaceable illuminated texts) to the ground, burned the National Library building to the ground, and destroyed as much other culture as they could find.
Iraqis would not, under any circumstances, harm Koran, burn their libraries, or destroy their museums. It's the PNAC racists who do the genocide, and who are doing a lot of the bombing as well.
So now Bremer says lack of troops is the reason why Bremer and the WH destroyed all that culture. OK, defense plea entered. Bring on the prosecution!
--
OT: Lawyer sues U.S. for arrest in bombing
Brandon Mayfield, falsely accused in the Madrid case, says he was targeted for his Muslim faith
Tuesday, October 05, 2004 - NOELLE CROMBIE
The lawyer wrongly accused in the deadly Madrid train bombing filed suit in federal court Monday, saying the federal government targeted him because of his Muslim faith and violated his civil rights by searching his home and office, seizing his family's belongings and holding him in jail for two weeks.
The lawsuit -- filed in U.S. District Court in Portland on behalf of Brandon Mayfield; his wife, Mona; and the couple's three children -- challenges the constitutionality of the USA Patriot Act and the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act.
.........
From Portland Oregonian
To: llamajockey
As a prep piece to Klien's[sic?] article, I would refer you to this one from Jim Lobe that appeared on Alternet.
http://www.alternet.org/story/15935/
"Leo Strauss' Philosophy of Deception"
then read article like Kline, or Christopher Scheer's "Ten Appalling Lies..." colunm.
I think this will help explain a few things if you haven't read them.
Have a good day
boilerman10
Quotes from the past-
Democracy is the theory that the common people know what they want
and deserve to get it good and hard. HL Mencken (1880 - 1956)
Interesting timing considering the article in Salon about the neocons plan to pin the whole mess on Viceroy Paul.
TUCSON, Arizona (AP) -- A 45-year-old woman collapsed and died days after learning her son had been killed in Iraq, and just hours after seeing his body ...
Where the hell was Dubya?
Isn't he supposed to be out there doing the "hard work of loving" the families of our dead soldiers?
Or is he on vacation again?
How can you even get outraged about this shit anymore? What is surprising about any of it?
OT -
Check out Crazy Andy's comments on tonight's VP debates. Uck. ("homepage" will take you there, if you dare)...
"Well, I could easily be wrong, but I have a feeling Cheney will crush Edwards tonight. The format is God's gift to Daddy. They'll both be seated at a table, immediately allowing Cheney to do his assured, paternal, man-of-the-world schtick that makes me roll on my back and ask to have my tummy scratched. (Yes, I do think that Cheney is way sexier than Edwards. Not that you asked or anything.) "
Bremer said "Saddam killed more Muslims than any man in modern history and may have killed as many as 300,000 Iraqis during his 35 years in power."
As sulfur smoke began curling around his lips, Bremer added "We can do better than that!"
Check out Crazy Andy's comments on tonight's VP debates. Uck.
Thanks.
How kind of you to post that shit right after I ate lunch.
I just threw up in my mouth...
And in the "real world," I was just told that we need to reelect Bush so he can "finish what he created and keep us safe from more attacks."
I swear to Christ we need to find a way to make cars run on stupid, 'cause it's America's Greatest Natural Resource.
Yeh, isn't Bush the mother-lover in chief?
Hey, check out Bush post-election 2005, via MaxSpeaks... (homepage is the link)
Bremer isn't turning; KISSINGER is in charge of this whole goddamn conspiracy! He's the spiritual father of the neocons, and Bremer is his golden boy.
Hunh?
I thought that Kissinger and the neo-cons would not have much use for each other. While I am sure that Kissinger has taken a "see no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil" position on the war in Iraq, I doubt that he really liked the idea.
He would rather coddle up to dictators and make money from helping them fight their wars than depose a nice, friendly dictator who kept the people fed and kept a lid on chaos like Saddam Hussein.
The neo-cons are a whole other ball of wax. While many of the BushCO types are very much shilling for the military-industrial complex (and the McCain 2000 neo-cons who are not so shilling are also hearing no evil, etc., as their dreams are being put into action ... albeit not very competently on purpose), there is a coherent neo-con "philosophy" of reaction that is very different from Kissingerian "realism".
Not distinguishing between Kissinger and the neo-cons is sorta on the same plane as not being able to distinguish between Saddam Hussein and Al Qaeda, when you think about it (on so many levels, in fact ... nudge/nudge, wink/wink)
What I don't understand is how, considering the recent history of the war in Iraq, the administration can get away from the tactical error it made in allowing the looting. _The resistance armed itself through looting_. That's where they got their weapons. Not securing military technology from being looted was a mistake of gargantuan proportions which we are now paying for with lives, both those of Iraqis and coalition troops. If the U.S. had stopped the looting of weapons, the insurgency wouldn't have this inexhaustable supply of tank shells, mortars, and other devices for IEDs and for use directly in combat.
I suspect that they'll be talking about that gaffe for years in war strategy courses.
Das Said:
'While I am sure that Kissinger has taken a "see no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil" position on the war in Iraq, I doubt that he really liked the idea.'
I saw Kissinger on a news program before the war voicing his opinion that the war was a bad idea. I think it was the McNeil/Lerher News Hour. I'll look around for a transcript, and I also agree that the Neoconservatives are red-headed stepchildren of Kissinger's form of statehood. He only deals with them because in his Realpolitik view they're the current power brokers in Washington.
Node, in fact they didn't secure weapons stores for at least the better part of a year -- in fact it appears that they never did, although by now they've probably been picked clean. It was widely reported in the press, in fact IIRC some reporters walked right into weapons depots themselves and could have picked up AK 47s, RPGs, artillery shells, 50 caliber rifles, just about anything they wanted. The U.S. also didn't bother to secure nuclear facilities, and some of the local peasants went into them and walked off with various useful objects such as barrels which, unfortunately for them, turned out to be radioactive. Damn strange, the whole thing.
strong, hard evidence
Is everyone in this administration a closet homosexual? or do they just read Wonkette too much?
I was just told that we need to reelect Bush so he can "finish what he created and keep us safe from more attacks."
Just like he kept us safe from 9/11. And what, exactly, has he "created" that needs to be "finished," other than a nation that is almost irreparably divided at home and almost universally despised abroad? That is Bush's legacy. It will take generations to undo if he wins this election.
We need a law against incompetance. This administration may be (is) a bunch of liars. But Bremer is a huge incompetent asshole. He may be the single biggest cause of the degradation of the situation in Iraq.
"I thought that Kissinger and the neo-cons would not have much use for each other." --DAS
Guess again. Don't you remember the 911 Commission? Don't you realize that Bremer is Kissinger's boy? Didn't you hear Kissinger saying that 'Iraq is no more. There will be three territories,' or that he wanted to partition Saudi Arabia?
Kissinger, Nixon's WH, where Cheney and Rumsfeld and Powell and Bush and ... all met, and loved HIS idea of taking over America by coup.
"Ya, the people are stupid, just like the half-million Cambodians I killed." --HFK
--
I was just told that we need to reelect Bush so he can "finish what he created and keep us safe from more attacks."
Heh! There would be a certain kind of grim justice in re-electing Bush that would please any blood-thirsty gods, but hey, we are on this earth, too, and such gods tend to hit with a wide hand.
"But Bremer is a huge incompetent asshole. He may be the single biggest cause of the degradation of the situation in Iraq.--Stupid Fat Ass"
That's not incompetence, it is NEGLIGENCE.
He's a very competent war criminal. Since the policy IS civil war, mission accomplished.
Bremer was mainly there to insure the installation of the CIA puppet/terrorist Allawi, the transfer of as much MONEY as they could steal to the USPNAC Off-the-Shelf COVERT fund, and the looting by USPNAC companies.
--
Lie lie lie lie lie
you lie lie lie lie lie
tell me why, tell me why
why'd you have to lie?
" (Yes, I do think that Cheney is way sexier than Edwards. Not that you asked or anything.) "
Oooogh.
Sullivan is like a man wearing dirty socks turned inside out. They look fine to him, but they're stinking up the place.
I posted this in the wrong thread:
The [p]Resident won't be able to hug this mother who lost her son:
"TUCSON, Arizona (AP) -- A 45-year-old woman collapsed and died days after learning her son had been killed in Iraq, and just hours after seeing his body.
Results of an autopsy were not immediately released, but friends of Karen Unruh-Wahrer said she couldn't stop crying over losing her 25-year-old son, Army Spc. Robert Oliver Unruh, who was killed by enemy fire near Baghdad on September 25."
OT: why are you chaps not teaching in the public schools, it sure as hell beats computer games.
More lies, from the lying liars who tell them!
TJ,
Bremer (2/26/01): “What they will do is stagger along until there's a major incident and then suddenly say, ‘Oh my God, shouldn't we be organized to deal with this.’ (AP 4/29/04 via the
AZ Daily Star)
Cervantes said:
'It was widely reported in the press, in fact IIRC some reporters walked right into weapons depots themselves and could have picked up AK 47s, RPGs, artillery shells, 50 caliber rifles, just about anything they wanted.'
You're remembering correctly; here's one example I found about the subject while scanning the Node's archives:
Asia Times
a quote from that article:
'I asked the soldier what was up, and he explained that they didn't have enough troops to guard the ammo dump, but they were making random sweeps to try to keep a lid on the looting. "They're taking these weapons to use them against our forces," he said, not very happy about it. "But look - you saw that we're being fair. We're only arresting people we catch with weapons. Everybody else we're chasing away even though we know they'll be right back about 10 minutes after we're gone." The caught looters, he said, would be taken to what he called an "EPW camp", meaning they were now "enemy prisoners of war". The soldier brought out a stack of green hoods, and the men looked even sicker and sadder, if that was possible.'
And Rumsfeld, our Secretary of Defense, just blew the whole thing off. Huge mistake, and no one's brought him to account for it yet.
http://www.cnn.com/2004/WORLD/meast/10/05/
bremer.rumsfeld/index.html
When asked about any connection between Saddam and al Qaeda, Rumsfeld said, "To my knowledge, I have not seen any strong, hard evidence that links the two."
And of course, this afternoon CNN TV reported that Rummy's already "backing away" (their words) from this statement.
Guess again. Don't you remember the 911 Commission? Don't you realize that Bremer is Kissinger's boy? Didn't you hear Kissinger saying that 'Iraq is no more. There will be three territories,' or that he wanted to partition Saudi Arabia?
Of course I remember the 9/11 commission ... I didn't say Kissinger absolutely refuses to shill for neo-cons ... Node has called this one 100% right, IMHO. It's just that, as I said, comparing neo-cons to Kissinger is like, well comparing Al Qaeda to Saddam Hussein.
Indeed, I am sure that the kool-aid drinking neo-cons' as well as the Kissingerian internal response to the liberal question of "why would Al Qaeda and Saddam Hussein wanna work with each other?" was something along the lines of "well we neo-cons work with ol' Hank" and "well we realists work with the neo-cons" ...
As far as the partitioning of Iraq is concerned, anybody could tell you, based on what happened in both Yugoslavia and Czechoslovakia when they became free, you either have to accept that Iraq will have a dictatorship, Iraq will descend into civil war or Iraq would have to be partitioned from the get-go.
Even the more pipe-dreaming academic PNAC types probably realized this (and I am sure that had McCain been pres, whatever Iraq foray we may have done would have resulted in Iraq immediately being split up), but the BushCO neo-cons, knowing there is profit in chaos, no doubt put the kibosh on any plan involving Iraq being split up and not devolving into civil war.
Certainly the Kissingerian realists realized that partitioning of Iraq was "necessary" in order to achieve their goal of stability -- no matter what the cost. OTOH, the BushCO neo-cons are after profit for their masters, so they have different agendas involving the pipe-dream of a fractious, pseudo-unified Iraq.
BTW - Powell is definitely a man after Kissinger's heart.
Oh yes --- Allawi is not the neo-cons choice to head Iraq. The neo-cons were fairly upfront about who they wanted ... they wanted their old friend from Iran/Contra and white-collar criminal (who smiles like a child-molester), Chalabi in charge.
Allawi was a consolation prize given to the more Kissinger like realists at the CIA for their kindly taking the blame for all of BushCO's SNAFUs.
"Is Jerry light in the loafers?
That's what Laura Ingraham insinuated to me."
Right wingers are obsessed with homosexuality. What's their problem?
"As far as the partitioning of Iraq is concerned, anybody could tell you, based on what happened in both Yugoslavia and Czechoslovakia when they became free,"
When they became 'free.' When was that?
" you either have to accept that Iraq will have a dictatorship, Iraq will descend into civil war or Iraq would have to be partitioned from the get-go."
Absurd. There is zero reason why Iraq could not have developed its own democracy.
This is GENOCIDE. Screw you, das, you're just pimping for the PNAC POLICY all along.
"Even the more pipe-dreaming academic PNAC types probably realized this"
It was the PLAN. It's the only way to keep 16 airbases in the ME.
And Kerry blew the whistle on it.
--
"Oh yes --- Allawi is not the neo-cons choice to head Iraq. The neo-cons were fairly upfront about who they wanted ... they wanted their old friend from Iran/Contra and white-collar criminal (who smiles like a child-molester), Chalabi in charge."
Right, buy every lie, climb every Mountain.
Allawi is CIA. Bush is the spawn of CIA (going back at least to 1964).
Allawi is the transition to civil war PM, since the puppet of Chalabi fell through. Just fine with USPNAC, they thought they could have a puppet, but the purpose has been genocide from the start. Put Negroponte in to help the 20,000 mercs, and get ready for war, war, war.
--
"Certainly the Kissingerian realists realized that partitioning of Iraq was "necessary" in order to achieve their goal of stability --"
Their goal of STABILITY? Ahahaha. Are you an idiot?
--
" (Yes, I do think that Cheney is way sexier than Edwards. Not that you asked or anything.) "
I'm a fairly liberal girl, but this qualifies as way, way, way more information than I needed about Sully's internal world. Eeewwwww!
Since the beginning of the war in March '03, more than 1,030 U.S. Soldiers have died, three times the # that died in the first gulf war. More than 85% of those soldiers died since the resident declared an end to major combat. More than 7,000 soldiers have been wounded, 15 times the number wounded in the first gulf war. Many of these soldiers have suffered permanent, disabling injuries. Nearly 170,000 reservists and National guard troops are currently on active duty compared to 50,000 prior to the eyeraq war. These part time soldiers are taken away from their families, friends, and jobs for long periods of time. The American taxpayer pays the financial costs of this war, congress has already allocated 150 billion for the war. More will be needed as instability grows and hostilities escalate.
Attacks on U.S. and other troops in August averaged 90 per day, 5 times the level of last winter. Everyday at least 2 u.s. soldiers are killed and 30 are wounded. The number of insurgents in Iraq may have quadrupled since last year. Crude Oil production in Iraq is only two thirds of what is was pre war. The administration requested congress in Sept. to shift money alloated for Iraq reconstruction to security, a move indicating trouble, according to some congressional leaders. A U.S. intelligence report provided to the administration in July concluded a gloomy outlook for stability in Iraq, including the possible outbreak of a civil war. Beyond '04, the financial needs of this war may consume another 4 billion per month.
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