This does seem self evident. Very disappointing - being born and raised in England myself.
I'd disagree though that Britain is not an ally...just a bad chapter in our history together.
What the Brits tried, in retrospect, didn't work. You're right to point out why it didn't work.
Some of what the US tried didn't work, either. What's wonderful is that, some of it did, and our people noticed what was working, and replicated it until they figured out how to win.
The flawed British strategy caused much unneeded suffering to the people of Basra. However, we should reserve a bit of compassion for the British troops as well.
In Vietnam, the American military learned the pain of being asked to fight a war, then not being allowed to win.
Now the brave men and women of the British military will have to face that same pain.
We should all remember that the shame for this lies with the British government, not with their valiant troops who fought and died for the people of Iraq, as best as they were allowed.
Thank you for the report Omar and Mohammed.
I think the circumstances you describe further demonstrates what an exceptional man George Bush really is. When everybody else was bailing out, including our best allies the British and Australians (and not a few weak-knneed Americans) he had the gumption and foresight to hang in there. WE HUNG IN THERE! And I couldn't be more proud!
People like W are rare. Abe Lincoln and Winston Churchill come to mind. We need to appreciate them and count our blessings when they happen along.
"We cannot enter into alliances until we are acquainted with the designs of our neighbors."
- Sun Tzu
Nobody in this administration seems to have sat down and asked if ANY of our 'allies' had the same goals? Were they allies because of other goals?
We had the same problem in WW2. The USA wanted to defeat Nazi Germany. France and England wanted their Empires back.
That disunity led to the cold war.
Exclusive: Dr. M. Zuhdi Jasser (Part I of II)
As the West Sleeps, Islamists Work on
Establishing a Worldwide Islamic State
excerpt:
[While we in the West sleep, the spiritual leader of the Muslim Brotherhood (MB), Yusuf Al-Qaradawi, is whispering in Arabic to hundreds of millions of Muslims how to establish Islamic states. In July he wrote two extensive columns (on July 13th and July 22nd) on the subject of the Islamic state in Arabic. Some Islamist apologists who remain ignorant of the threat of the Islamic state argue that the ascendancy of political Islam in the Muslim world
is the better of “other evils” that could arise. Many Muslims and non-Muslims alike across the world, however, believe that it is self-evident that the ascendancy of political Islam will remain a significant security threat to the United States and to the West for decades to come as it has been so obviously so for anti-Islamist Muslims and non-Muslims alike in the Middle East.
This security threat is manifold. The attempt to create “Islamic” states which derive their laws from the theological interpretations of Islam and Sharia by clerics will always give rise to variant forms of internal and transnational movements which are supremacist in their worldview and thus justify various forms of terrorism against non-Muslims. Many in the state department believe that somehow Muslims are sentenced to live under the Islamist rule and rather governments which are pluralistic and are blind to a single religion are not possible under Muslims majority governments. Many of us would beg to differ. While this may be the line which the Muslim Brotherhood would like us to accept without debate, the reality is that a plurality if not a majority of Muslims refuse to subscribe to the religio-political collectivism of the Muslim Brotherhood and the now archaic concept of the Islamic state.
The English discourse over issues related to political Islam by the MB is hypocritically filtered for the Western audience. One need just review the MB’s English website and compare it to their Arabic website. They are not simple translations of one another. Same organization, same ultimate mission, very different messaging for very different fronts in the same conflict. A real debate over political Islam will only occur when we engage the ideas they present to their Arabic audience, as well. The English version
of their message plays a mere peripheral cosmetic role based out of London. The Arabic version stems from deep within their soul and reflects their home base of operations. The major difference between them reflects their dissimulation and hypocrisy. Thus, true anti-Islamist activity must center on their deeply engrained ideologies which are expressed in Arabic.
This requires a “Counter-Project” to refute and confront “the ongoing Project of the Muslim Brotherhood” and it will certainly take some time in its development. MB and current day political Islam took over a century to develop. I pray our response can be developed much more quickly. Just as the MB early on devised a plan as outlined in their project and effectuated at numerous meetings such as the 1993 Philadelphia meeting, so too should anti-Islamist Muslims begin to meet in the West and in Arabic countries and devise mechanisms of exposing and countering the ideologies of Islamist movements most notable of which is the MB. This is our mission at the American Islamic Forum for Democracy. (links @ link..)]
The Muslim Brotherhood "Project"
RTWT!!
==
Not long after Saddam feel from power president Bush was ridiculed week after week in the UK media as well as in the states. Political pressure from the left caused this.
I fear that if Obama is elected the same thing will happen with the US. I doubt if Obama cares about you or your freedom or country. He is a far left elitist. God have mercy on us both my friend if he is elected.
The Brit cover story was that a "softly-softly" approach like that used in the final stages of the conflict with the IRA would work right off the bat in Basra, ignoring the years of very tough love it took to lead up to that.
IAC, this is the straightest and toughest and clearest statement I've seen about how it looked/looks on the receiving Iraqi end. I expect and hope this column will be widely cited.
For my part, I know that watching the Brits in the last few years made me almost spit and scream with frustration.
Tom;
To flesh out that "elitism" charge, you might like to read, It's Not Race, It's Arugula.
"Obama's problem may be less that he is running while black than that he is running to be the first Academician elected as president, a category that is zero for eight in national contests thus far. He is peering into an abyss not of bias, but a large Jackson Hole of rejection by warrior voters. And this problem is more than skin deep."
Tom, vote.
OT;
Amy Proctor has a video up, quoting Dems on McCain. Hillary: "Sen. McCain has a lifetime of experience he brings to the White House; Sen. Obama has a speech he gave in 2002..." [and has been reprising endlessly ever since]. 
Son of West Bank Hamas leader converts; says this will "shake Islam to its roots".
If you unleashed the SAS and the Royal Marines Commandos and took their political gloves off, a different story would have been told. C'est la guerre.
Russia and Georgia at full-scale war as breakaway South Ossetia becomes battlefield
DEBKAfile Special Report
August 9, 2008, 12:21 PM (GMT+02:00)
Latest developments Saturday, Aug. 9, 08
- Georgian president Mikhail Saakashvili asks parliament to declared martial law.
- All men aged 18-50 called to reserve duty as Georgia recalls 1,000 troops from Iraq.
- Government institutions in Georgian capital of Tbilisi are evacuated as the president declares a state of war.
- Georgian town of Gori badly hit by Russian fighters.
- Russian general confirms two of its jets were shot down. Georgia claims one pilot was captured.
- Units of Russian paratroopers have “completely liberated” the South Ossetian capital of Tskhinvali ---
- Russian bombers earlier devastated a Tskhinvali apartment block killing five people.
- Local hospitals are overflowing with casualties. The region’s power, water and telephones are cut off.
- 30,000 refugees have fled the embattled region into Russia.
- Russian foreign minister Sergey Lavrov warned Georgia’s arms suppliers they will be held accountable for the South Ossetia situation.
DEBKAfile’s sources say this is directed at the United States and Israel.
- The two-day death in South Ossetia combat is estimated at 1,600.
- Russian jets struck Georgia’s Black Sea port of Poti, hitting container tanks, a naval base and military logistical center near a major pipeline from Baku.
via GP
Iraqis Given Rousing Ovation.. 
GOOD LUCK TO ALL!! 
==
Moqtada takes credit for car bombings.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/
wp...8080802079.html
No? Then why are the two separate stories woven together?
Excerpts:
At Friday prayers across the country, Sadr's aides announced new details of plans to transform his Mahdi Army militia into a religious and social organization, a step U.S. officials hope will tamp down violence in Iraq. …
Sadr's aides said that the movement's new religious program will be called al-Mumahidoon, meaning "those who pave the way." The name refers to the belief of Sadr's followers that they are preparing for the return to earth of Imam Mahdi, a 9th-century saint revered by Shiites….
Obaidi said the Mahdi Army will not be dissolved but will simply readjust its focus away from fighting. He said he could not comment on the specialized fighting cells.
It remains unclear whether all of Sadr's followers will abide by the permanent cease-fire, but his supporters are working widely to publicize the announcement. Across Baghdad, posters have appeared explaining the orders to disarm.
One poster about al-Mumahidoon reads: "It is a deliberative, cultural, religious, social army, devoted to ideological and scientific jihad and freeing brains and hearts and the human spirit from the Western secular hegemony."
The sign added: "And it strictly bans the use of weapons."
M&O,
Gateway Pundit is reporting a rousing ovation by the crowd in the opening ceremony for the Olympics. The whole world is watching, and they're glad Iraq could make it. The original news clip has been replaced by the Iraqi version, and it works.
This is a welcome back to the land of the living.
Guaran-damn-teed this agreement was made after Tony Blair left office! Brits have been our best ally since WWII when we saved their bacon the first time. Since they've allowed Islamists to emigrate, they're held captive in their own country!
This is a welcome back to the land of the living.
Valerie | 08.09.08 - 10:16 am |
In China? Land of the living dead?
Gimmi a break!
Val, since you are watching the Olympics, would you mind providing a list of sponsors(advertisers)? I am going to boycott any corporation that supports a murderous socialist state by advertising during the Olympics.
WE owe it to the brave Chinese citizens who have been murdered by the State for demanding their freedom.
"If you want to be free, there is but one way; it is to guarantee an equally full measure of liberty to all your neighbors. There is no other."
Carl Schurz
US (German-born) general & politician (1829 - 1906)
They died for you and me, as well as themselves and their fellow Chinese.
As General Powell said, 'there is no gene for freedom'. It is the right and property of every human that is willing to fight for it. You and I are lucky. Some one else died for us, all we have to do is not buy some crappy products from some greedy corporation.
That's not so hard.
Second separatist Abkhazia province joins Russian-Georgian South Ossetia war
DEBKAfile Special Report
August 9, 2008, 6:04 PM (GMT+02:00)
Russian jets bomb Georgian town of Gori
Latest developments Saturday, Aug. 9, 08
- Russian prime minister arrives in North Ossetia ---
- The Georgian president says his forces have repelled attacks in Abkhazia
- The foreign minister of Georgia’s second breakaway province Sergei Shamba said earier Abkhazian forces have launched air and artillery strikes to oust Georgian troops.
- Russian jets earlier bombed Georgian positions in Abkhazia’s Kodori Gorge.
- Medvedev tells Bush only way out of crisis is for Georgian troops to pull out of the conflict zone.
- Georgia claims shooting down of 10 Russian planes, destroying 30 tanks.
- Tbilisi parliament approves 15-day state of war and martial law.
- President Shaakashvili calls for a ceasefire.
- Bush said Georgia is a sovereign nation whose territorial integrity must be respected. Russia must stop bombing Georgian towns.
- He called on Russia and Georgia to stand their armies down, withdraw to the Aug. 6 status quo and support international mediation.
- Some 100,000 Russian troops are deployed to the troubled region.
- They include special forces from Moscow trained in combat behind enemy lines.
- They have taken the South Ossetian capital of Tskhinvali and are spreading across the region.
- All men aged 18-50 called to reserve duty as Georgia recalls 1,000 troops from Iraq.
- Russian fighters continue to pound the Georgian town of Gori.
- Local hospitals are overflowing with casualties. The region’s power, water and telephones are cut off.
- 30,000 refugees have fled the embattled region into Russia.
- Russian foreign minister Sergey Lavrov warned Georgia’s arms suppliers they will be held accountable for the South Ossetia situation.
DEBKAfile’s sources say this is directed at the United States and Israel.
- The two-day death toll in South Ossetia combat is estimated at 1,600.
- Russian jets struck Georgia’s Black Sea port of Poti, hitting container tanks, a naval base and military logistical center near a major pipeline from Baku.
Moscow ultimatum to Washington: Make Georgia move forces out of South Ossetia
DEBKAfile Special Analysis
August 9, 2008, 6:01 PM (GMT+02:00)
Russian president Dmitry Medvedev
As Russian warplanes struck positions in Georgia’s second breakaway province of Abkhazia, Saturday, Aug. 9, President Dimitry Medvedev told President George W. Bush in a phone call that Georgia must withdraw its forces from South Ossetia for hostilities to end. Its leaders must also sign a legally binding document not to use force.
The virtual ultimatum was delivered in reply to the US president’s call on Russia to respect Georgian sovereign integrity and for both sides to accept international mediation.
After deploying 100,000 troops and armor to occupy most of South Ossetia and warplanes to blast the Georgian town of Gori and Black Sea port of Poti, Russia’s ambassador to NATO said Russia does not consider itself to be in a state of war and accused Georgia of ethnic cleansing.
As they spoke, the Abkhazian foreign minister Sergei Shamba announced that the secessionist province had launched air and artillery strikes to oust Georgian troops from its positions in the Kodori Gorge. Russian jets earlier bombed those positions. The Georgian president said his forces had successfully repelled those attacks.
DEBKAfile’s military analysts: Tiny Georgia with an army of less than 18,000, having been roundly defeated in South Ossetia, cannot hope to withstand the mighty Russian army in Abkhazia, even after initial successes. Therefore, President Mikhail Saakashvili, who was planning to join NATO, must consider both breakaway regions lost to Georgia and gained by Russia.
Moscow has thus achieved payback for the US-NATO success in detaching Kosovo from Serbia and approving its independence. The Russians have also signalled a warning to Ukraine, the Caucasus and Central Asia against joining up with the United States and the NATO bloc in areas which Moscow deems part of its strategic sphere of influence
After the severance of South Ossetia and Abkhazia from Georgia, four follow-up Russian steps may be postulated:
1. The two separatist provinces will proclaim their independence, just like Kosovo.
2. Russia will continue to exercise its overwhelming military and air might to force the pro-American Saakashvili’s capitulation.
3. The Georgian president cannot last long in office after suffering this major loss of territory and national humiliation. Moscow aims to make Washington swallow a pro-Russian successor.
4. Moscow’s South Ossetia-Abkhazia victory against Georgia and its Western backers will serve as an object lesson for Russia’s own secessionist provinces such as Chechnya, Dagestan and Ingushettia not to risk defying Russian armed might.
Thank you for saying it: "softly, softly" is appeasement. Nothing more.
"
- Russian jets struck Georgia’s Black Sea port of Poti, hitting container tanks, a naval base and military logistical center near a major pipeline from Baku.
Ricky bin Ricardo | 08.09.08 - 6:28 am | # "
I heard a soldier's call on talk radio recently saying he'd bonded "big time" with his fellow soldiers from Georgia, part of the coalition in Iraq. Does this all mean that we are somehow at war with Russia? Putin and pals seem to be trying to reconstitute the USSR! Gog and Magog come to mind.
btw where are the leftard war protestors condemning the war monger Russians ... screw the left
Does this all mean that we are somehow at war with Russia?
War is such a slippery word. America can only be at war if Congress says we are. Americans might be shooting at Russians and the Russians might be shooting at Americans, but it's not a war unless Congress says it is.
I suspect that Georgia will get some free weapons soon, if they aren't there already. Javelins and Stingers.
I like the word 'conflict' better then war. You don't need permission to have a conflict. Plus conflict covers those situations where everybody is being real mean but stopping short of wholesale slaughter.
This will be one of those conflicts where logistics is important. The Russians are at the end of a long and fragile supply line. 200 Javelins and that supply line is closed. Or even a few hundred kilos of C4 would do it.
One Rail line, one Hard road. Blow any bridge on that route and the Russians have a problem. It goes thru a SERIOUS mountain range, so there will be tunnels as well as bridges.
A Soviet Red Guards Armored division, takes up about 70 Km's of road when in road march order, about 100 Kms in combat order. All these guys need Water and food to stay alive. They need POL (Petrol, OIL, Lubricants) as well as ammo to fight.
I'm not current on what the tables are now days, but IIRC, it runs to hundreds of tons per day.
The Georgians should be able to deal with this on their own, with a few weapons from the arsenal of democracy.
The Russians have a window of about 1 week. 5 days would be better. If they cannot force the Georgians to surrender or negotiate ( the same thing) in that time period, they have serious problems. As in thousands of Russian troops surrounded and cut off.
How do you say 'General Custer, you done fukkked up' in Russian?
As far as us helping the Georgians, that is only a war if the Russians and Congress want it to be. We helped the 'gani's beat the Soviets and that wasn't considered a war. This is no different.
Meanwhile, back at the front;
http://www.reuters.com/article/
w...949449820080809
Rumors are flying. Fog of war.
One is that a main tunnel has been blown and the Russians are surrounded. They had to air lift Paras and special forces in to save their armored division.
It seems that Georgia was thinking ahead and prepped the battlefield. If they have pre-wired the bridges and tunnels, the Russians are well and truely fukked.
whether anyone chooses to believe it or not, this will have huge ramifications for US prestige and influence in the region,Georgia stepped up to help in a major way for them in Iraq, and the world just stands by and does nothing...shameless
I will bet you ten to one the "troublemaker separatists" who started this were much like the ones the ones the Nazis planted in countries to create a crisis that adolf just had to solve. You read accounts of whats going on (and NOT just debka for all the debka haters)and the russian response has been way over the top. This will effect the Iran, Iraq, Afghan and GWOT.
Russia expands war with Georgia to Abkhazia, Black Sea
DEBKAfile Special Analysis
August 10, 2008, 1:01 PM (GMT+02:00)
Russian armor pours into South Ossetia and Abkhazia
Sunday, Aug. 10, Russian soldiers and marines entered Abkhazia by land and from Russian Black Sea naval vessels, which were ordered to block Georgian ports against arms delivery by sea. This opened a third front in Russia’s war with Georgia on Day Three of the armed conflict.
At midday, Ukrainian military circles indicated the possibility of closing Russia’s main Black Sea base of Sevastopol to naval ships blockading Georgian ports. Moscow may well react violently to this counter-blockade against its navy.
In the face of President George W. Bush’s demand for an immediate withdrawal of Russian troops and support for international mediation, Moscow poured an additional 10,000 men and armor into South Ossetia Sunday as well - and Russian jets bombed a military airfield outside the Georgian capital of Tbilisi.
Under heavy fire, Georgia “temporarily” pulled its soldiers from the South Ossetian capital of Tskhinvali, but stayed in the region and denied its surrender. President Mikhail Saakashvili asked the United States to act as mediator with Moscow and appealed to the Russians to stop “this madness.”
Prime minister Vladimir Putin, for his part, accused Georgia of ethnic cleansing. As disputed casualty figures climbed, civilians were increasingly bearing the brunt of the bloodshed and hardship.
Two Georgian towns, Gori and the Black Sea naval, military and oil port of Poti, also took casualties and heavy damage from Russian air strikes.
DEBKAfile’s military analysts: By flouting US demands to accept mediation, Moscow highlights America’s lack of leverage for helping its embattled Georgian ally. The Bush administration has trapped itself in its foreign policy commitment to dialogue and international diplomacy for solving world disputes but is short of willing opposite numbers.
Russia is following Iran’s example in exploiting this commitment to advance its goals by force. Therefore, the Caucasian standoff has profound ramifications for the Middle East and Persian Gulf. Moscow’s disdain for Washington’s inaction will further encourage Tehran and its terrorist proxies to defy the international community and the United States, in particular.
DEBKAfile’s military analysts reported Saturday: Tiny Georgia with an army of less than 18,000, having been roundly defeated in South Ossetia, cannot hope to withstand the mighty Russian army in Abkhazia, even after initial successes. Therefore, President Mikhail Saakashvili, who was planning to join NATO, must consider both breakaway regions lost to Georgia and gained by Russia.
Moscow has thus achieved payback for the US-NATO success in detaching Kosovo from Serbia and approving its independence. The Russians have also signalled a warning to Ukraine, the Caucasus and Central Asia against joining up with the United States and the NATO bloc in areas which Moscow deems part of its strategic sphere of influence
After the severance of South Ossetia and Abkhazia from Georgia, four follow-up Russian steps may be postulated:
1. The two separatist provinces will proclaim their independence, just like Kosovo.
2. Russia will continue to exercise its overwhelming military and air might to force the pro-American Saakashvili’s capitulation.
3. The Georgian president cannot last long in office after suffering this major loss of territory and national humiliation. Moscow aims to make Washington swallow a pro-Russian successor.
4. Moscow’s South Ossetia-Abkhazia victory against Georgia and its Western backers will serve as an object lesson for Russia’s own secessionist provinces such as Chechnya, Dagestan and Ingushettia not to risk defying Russian armed might.
Okay, I have to inform you all that the United Kingdom is no longer the United Kingdom it used to be. We have been taken over by criminals who have the gall to tell us that they are the government. Most Brits do not agree. We are now a nation of mongrels. We have been invaded from outside aided and abetted by our criminal government.
The United States is going the very same way. George Bush is not a hero, he is a puppet for the new world order and the US is in very serious trouble and most likely unless good people stand up are finished as a superpower.
It will not matter who wins the next election in the US it will continue to go the same way as the UK.
The only way forward is to vote for anybody but the criminals that are in power now. Anyone who thinks we have democracy in the west is living on a different planet, it's an illusion and the quicker we do something about it the better.
The best thing for Iraq to say to us is go and go now, otherwise you will be occupied for oil and strategic reasons and not for the stated reason of your security. Iraqi's you are being used as a diversion so that the west lead by new world order can carry on as usual and bring us all into population reduction and who ever is left into slavery.
Don't say you have not been warned.
here's a war for oil the left cab bitch about ...
DEBKAfile’s geopolitical experts note that on the surface level, the Russians are backing the separatists of S. Ossetia and neighboring Abkhazia as payback for the strengthening of American influence in tiny Georgia and its 4.5 million inhabitants.
"However, more immediately, the conflict has been sparked by the race for control over the pipelines carrying oil and gas out of the Caspian region.
The Russians may just bear with the pro-US Georgian president Mikhail Saakashvili’s ambition to bring his country into NATO. But they draw a heavy line against his plans and those of Western oil companies, including Israeli firms, to route the oil routes from Azerbaijan and the gas lines from Turkmenistan, which transit Georgia, through Turkey instead of hooking them up to Russian pipelines."
Georgia reports Russian air raid of NW town of Zugdidi on Abkhazian border
DEBKAfile Special Report
August 10, 2008, 1:38 PM (GMT+02:00)
Russian jets bomb Georgian town of Gori
Latest developments Sunday, Aug. 10, 08
Georgia “temporarily” pulled troops out of South Ossetian capital of Tskhinvali but remains in the breakaway region.
- Saakashvili offers Moscow an immediate ceasefire to stop “this madness.”
- An additional 10,000 Russian troops have entered the region.
- Russian Black Sea warships were ordered to block weapons delivery by sea to Georgia and support Abkhazian rebellion.
- Georgia says Russia dropped three bombs on military airfield near the capital, Tbilisi.
- Tbilisi has asked the US to mediate in the crisis.
yup, so the Russians are cut off? then what, they go nuclear? that would be very helpful for the world.
Peters:
" We don't know how this will develop. A Russian humiliation? A Kremlin success as the world wrings its hands but looks away? A destructive, bloody standoff?
The only thing that's 100 percent clear is which side we should be on. "
Not on the front page of the Washington Post
Framework for Troop Pullout Largely Agreed Upon, US says
http://www.washingtonpost.com/
wp...8080901693.html
Statement made in response to the famed Iraqi rumor mill. This is a work in progress, and getting full approval will be tricky.
I hope the Iraqi politicians and public agree to keep some things private.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/
wp...8080901306.html
John Edwards was once a candidate for vice president. On that basis, the National Enquirer thought it was in the public interest to track down rumors of an affair, and a resulting child outside the protection of proper marriage. The reasoning is all very patriotic: we NEED to know this, because he was being considered for the office of Attorney General, and could be subject to blackmail if he didn’t ‘fess up.
The Repubs are chortling because they hope this will end the man’s political career. The Dems don’t care. Edwards’ wife published a remarkably strange statement “revealing” that she knew about the pregnancy and yet chose to encourage him to run for the office of President, all the while lying about his extramarital activities and encouraging their staff to (unknowingly) support the lies. Now she wants sympathy for lying in response to questions nobody had a right to ask.
The sister of the other woman has publicly demanded a paternity test. The 42-year-old single woman who has used at least three wholly different names in her life, now says she will not allow a paternity test. The Repubs are loving this, hoping that they can get prolonged entertainment from it. They claim it is important to We The People because “if a man will lie to his wife, he’ll lie to the country.”
This entire controversy is irrelevant to the proper governance of a country.
It is a longstanding medical observation that God gave each man a penis and a brain, but not enough blood to run them both at the same time. This reality has the practical implication: his behavior when he is using his brain has very little to do with his behavior when he is using his penis.
Politicians are targets, especially rich, good-looking, charming politicians. They may be great when they are focused on policy, with a good command of the facts, and adept at workable compromises. But once a woman with the right circumstances and intent closes in on them, the blood rushes from that smoothly functioning brain, and anything can happen.
If a man’s public actions are truly public: that is, if his meetings, spending, votes and policy are on full display, we can judge those public actions for their wisdom and select among them for actions to support. We don’t need to know what he’s doing when his brain is disabled.
Georgia has pulled out of the "breakaway" (media's term)area per the Russian demand, and still the Russian onslaught continues - where is the UN, where is the media, where is the left - screw them all
russian aren't going nuke over georgia - sheesh
typos - appreciated your synopsis!
yup, so the Russians are cut off? then what, they go nuclear? that would be very helpful for the world.
Brian Hope | 08.10.08 - 7:19 am |
Maybe, but it won't happen. I don't think the Russians are cut off any more.
There is so much conflicting data that it's impossible to tell what is happening. It is starting to look like the Soviets....er, Russians are going to take Georgia. That will give them control of the only non-Russian pipeline feeding OIL to Europe.
It looks like some goo old 18 th century power politics. The sort that the UN is supposed to prevent. So much for the UN.
I think we are watching the start of Worl War IV ( or V, depending on how you count them).
As Emperor Haile Selassie, King of the Juda, Lion of the desert, Defender of the Relm, Spear of Christ and Keeper of Heaven's Gate said to the League of Nations; "Today it is us, tomorrow it will be you.'
He was correct.
So it is today. If the West stnda by and watches Russia dismember Georgia, then the Russian will move on the Ukraine next. With their bloody hands on the throat of Europe NATO will collapse.
"This entire controversy is irrelevant to the proper governance of a country."
I disagree. It is the single most important factor in a politicians life. If a politician cannot be trusted to stand by their spouse and family, how can they be trusted to stand for America?
The ONLY real requirement for the Oval office is moral courage. Everything else is OJT. The only quality a President can bring to the White House is moral courage. For everything else he has help. Too much help, sometimes.
Georgia has capitulated asking for ceasefire and negotiations, actually they have already ceased fire.
The Ruskies will no doubt get the oil line, territory and some ego stroking after getting crushed in afghanistan and the break up of the SU, I am sure they have been looking for a place to flex their muscles and prove they are bad asses.
I wonder if the world will be as complacent when the Israelis attack a sovereign Iran, since the Iranians are in a state of war with Israel through their Hezbollah and pali proxies. Bomb those Iranians MF s today.
Western Europe's timidity is once again evident. The UN proves it has two enemies, the US and Israel.
Nice Little Read on Georgia/Russia conflict for those who think Georgia got what it had coming
courtesy blackfive
Georgia cracks under Moscow’s military pressure as Russian planes bomb Tbilisi internationational airport
DEBKAfile Special Report and Analysis
August 10, 2008, 7:53 PM (GMT+02:00)
Russian armor pours into South Ossetia and Abkhazia
Russian planes bombed Tbilisi international airport and a military airfield near the capital Sunday evening Aug. 10, after Georgia handed the Russian embassy in Tbilisi a desperate message offering to halt military action in South Ossetia and withdraw its troops from the region.
Russian president Dimitry Medvedev said Gerogia must withdraw its forces unconditionally from South Ossetia and a pledge never to attack the region again. This means the surrender of the breakaway province to Russian rule.
The air raids of the two Georgian airports took place as the US began flying hundreds of Georgian troops home from Iraq, leaving them nowhere to land.
Earlier, Russian forces were reported to be heading to invade the Georgian town of Gori.
During the day, Russian soldiers and marines entered Abkhazia, Georgia's second breakaway province, by land and from Russian Black Sea naval vessels, which were ordered to block Georgian ports against arms delivery by sea. This opened a third front in Russia’s war with Georgia on Day Three of the armed conflict.
At midday, Ukrainian military circles indicated the possibility of closing Russia’s main Black Sea base of Sevastopol to naval ships on their way back from blockading Georgian ports.
The US has drafted a resolution condemning Russia in third UN Security Council session later Sunday.
In the face of President George W. Bush’s demand for an immediate withdrawal of Russian troops and support for international mediation, Moscow poured an additional 10,000 men and armor into South Ossetia Sunday as well - and Russian jets bombed a military airfield outside the Georgian capital of Tbilisi.
Under heavy fire, Georgia “temporarily” pulled its soldiers from the South Ossetian capital of Tskhinvali, but stayed in the region and denied it was surrendering. President Mikhail Saakashvili asked the United States to act as mediator with Moscow and appealed to the Russians to stop “this madness.”
Russian prime minister Vladimir Putin, for his part, accused Georgia of ethnic cleansing. As disputed casualty figures climbed, civilians were increasingly bearing the brunt of the bloodshed and hardship.
Two Georgian towns, Gori and the Black Sea naval, military and oil port of Poti, also took casualties and heavy damage from Russian air strikes. A third town, Zugdidi on Abkhazian border, was targeted Sunday.
DEBKAfile’s military analysts: By flouting US demands to accept mediation, Moscow highlights America’s lack of leverage for helping its embattled Georgian ally. The Bush administration has trapped itself in its foreign policy commitment to dialogue and international diplomacy for solving world disputes but is short of willing opposite numbers.
Russia is following Iran’s example in exploiting Washington's inhibition to advance its goals by force. Therefore, the Caucasian standoff has profound ramifications for the Middle East and Persian Gulf. Moscow’s disdain for Washington’s lack of muscle will further encourage Tehran and its terrorist proxies to defy the international community and the United States in particular.
we will regert this ... mark MY words
US planes flying Georgiamn troops home, Russia bombs airport and airfields ... way too little way too late
The russians should be kicked out of the olympuics
typos_R_us | 08.10.08 - 12:41 pm
A little thought experiment:
Who would you rather see as a US president?
a. Jimmy Carter
b. Benjamin Franklin
I'd take Franklin in a heartbeat as a president. There is no way I'd marry somebody like him.
Ricky bin Ricardo | 08.10.08 - 1:11 pm
I want to hear about all that "soft" power we have. What do we have to convince them to roll those tanks back home?
Daschle? Obma? Kennedy? Kerry?
I'm waiting.
Georgia on My Mind
http://www.bobkrumm.com/blog/?p=1934
God bless the people that are in the way, and the ones who stand up for them.
The Russians should be embargoed.
btw where are the leftard war protestors condemning the war monger Russians ... screw the left
Ricky bin Ricardo
=============================
Yup. I'm waiting for the no blood for oil placards. Waiting......waiting......waiting.............
Let's face it: About all we can do is talk tough to the Russians. We aren't going to war with Russia over Georgia, and they damn well know it. Neither is anyone else in the west. Georgia started this by stupidly sending in troops to South Ossetia, just as the Russians wanted them to do. This gave the Russians the pretext they needed to invade ... to "protect" the ethnic Russian population in South Ossetia.
I hate to admit it, but the Russians warned us that this would happen if we recognized Kosovo's split from Serbia. We can really support the Kosovars claim to an independent state and at the same time deny it to the South Ossetians and the Abkhazis.
Seriously, when you think about it, how is what Russia is doing in Georgia all that different from what we did in Grenada, Panama and Haiti? It's their backyard. We'll "condemn" them in public, but in private I'm willing to bet that an understanding has been reached to the effect that they're pretty much free to do what they want to do in their immediate neighborhood.
Money as a Weapon, front page of the Washington Post
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/26132345/
In Ramadi, a Counterinsurgency in Cash
http://www.washingtonpost.com/
wp...8081002450.html
Very good articles in the print edition, complete with references to the online materials.
Description of the Commander’s Emergency Response Program, the field manual “Money as a Weapon System,” the very real successes, and the next problems: transitioning out of the emergency phase to normality and from small, short-term projects to big, long-term projects.
The Iraqis had real trouble, and we sent them lawyers, guns, and money.
The Thunder Run has linked to this post in the blog post From the Front: 08/11/2008 News and Personal dispatches from the front and the home front.
Yowza! Here's a bitter Dem holding up all the dirty laundry for inspection: Tom in Paine. He truly despises Oblabla, Dean, Pelosi, et al, believe me!
Right now, by any standard including HBO's Comedy Night, Obama as the Democratic Party's presumptive nominee is a joke. And unless there is a fair and open convention the Democratic Party will deserve to get wiped out in November which they most surely will, and then Clinton's voters can say " get over it."
At the risk of being redundant, Clinton didn't make this mess, they did. She didn't try and slant the playing field in Obama's favor, they did. She didn't usurp and trash Democratic Party rules and procedures when they just should have been allowed to play out, they did. And she didn't force Obama to display a phony Presidential seal, renege on every promise he made during the primary season, bribe people with food and a free concert to fake a big turnout at his speeches and prove himself to be a serial liar, he did all that on his own. It's not her responsibility that Obama cant get out of a tie with John McCain when almost any Democratic candidate would be up by double digits. Any candidate but Barack Obama.
It's their mess and its not Clinton's job to help clean it up. And its not up to her supporters to clean up the mess either.
No one doubts that Clinton feels she is the better candidate both for the Democratic Party and for the country. And obviously so do the 18 million who voted for her and saw through Obama's clownish facade from the beginning. The best thing Clinton can do for the country and the party now is to stop making these unequivocal statements of support on behalf of Obama. No one believes them anyway and they are not doing anyone any good. Obama's numbers are getting worse every day because of Obama not because Clinton isn't doing enough.
If the U.S. permits Georgia to go under, every American should regard himself as a duplicitous dirtbag.
Jim | 08.08.08 - 7:50 pm |
Well said.
Dear O and M
The British contribution to the liberation of Iraq has been excellent so far.
Please remember, in a democracy, the leaders can be removed or encouraged to resign and leave office. That was what happended to Blair.
Blair had problems at home, not about supporting Bush necessarily but about other matters, dealing with cash for honours and other areas related to alleged conspiracies of the current PM and his mates.
The British also sacrificed many men/ women and spent money in the war of the Iraqi Liberation. The British policy however, during the Peace period, ie; not in a war of combat differed from that of the Americans.
The Britsh Know the Iraqis well, because of there being former protectors or occupiers and they helped with the After the war policies that have now worked.
Yes! they have had a dialogue with Al Sader's men , as they admit they have. That dialogue had saved lives, Iraqis, and British.
Al Maliky told them to leave the battle for Basra in His ( Iraqi Army- supported by imbedded units of the American Marines) hands.
Like many Americans, the British Joe public do not know the suffering of the Iraqi People under the successive Iraqi Dictatorships.
One man one vote counts here in London, just like it is in Al Sader's City. they have elected some of the trash politicians to ruel the places.
People are manipulated like sheep or even bought to cast their votes.
It may be considered reckless to dismiss the Excellent British Contribution before, during and after Saddam's down fall.
Please remember, it was in London that all of the returning - the opposition to Saddam's regime- Iraqis were meeting.
Some even carry British passports and married to British wives.
The Iraqi should learn not to cut the hands that fed it.
Kind regards
http://www.sotaliraq.com/iraqnew...ws.php?
id=24125
The First Five star hotel to be constructed in Baghdad and the first shopping Mall.
Very soon Iraq will be a huge construction site as I had predicted some months back.
The Process has just began.
The surge helped a great deal and thanks to Mr. Bush, his team and the American and the rest of the Coalition forces' people.
Kind regards
"Russia is following Iran’s example in exploiting this commitment to advance its goals by force. Therefore, the Caucasian standoff has profound ramifications for the Middle East and Persian Gulf. Moscow’s disdain for Washington’s inaction will further encourage Tehran and its terrorist proxies to defy the international community and the United States, in particular."
Ricky bin Ricardo, can you say Gog and Magog?
General Petraeus explained this was a misunderstanding,the Brits did NOT make dishonorable deals to avoid the fight. It's in today's Times. I'm glad to read it,too,this really irked me previously.
I remember watching a babushka griping out a cowed young soldier with a tank in front of the legislative building in Moscow. In memory of that good day, from
http://smr.gov.ge/en/home
Appeal to the Mothers and Wives of Soldiers of Russian Federation
We, the Women of Georgia, mothers and wives of Georgians, Russians, Ossetians, Abkhaz, Armenians, Azeri, Ukrainians, Kurds, Assyrians, Jews, Greeks and of many others;
We appeal to you, to the mothers who have suffered profound grief of Afghanistan and Chechnya.
The Women of Russia, do you hear us?
We have not yet started mourning the dead, as still we have to save those alive.
The Women of Russia!!! Today we share the same pain, the same woe!!! We together face the death, we together look into her eyes through the eyes of our sons, husbands and fathers.
And this pain is worse than death; you know this!
The Women of Russia! Mothers and wives of Russian Soldiers!!!
We, the Women of Georgia call upon you to raise your voices against the bloodshed and brutality of war.
Let us, wherever we are, with our wounded hearts, unite and together raise our voices to hold up to the thread of peace, which will go around the world and shiver the mother earth – our harbor.
We address you to extend a helping hand to protect our children. Today we forward you an appeal and broken thread of peace with the hope that you will stretch it out and it will help us to avert this senseless war.
****************
The Russian army should be used for defense of the Motherland, not to kill its neighbors because they had the nerve to elect man of their own choosing to high political office.
What we have allowed to happen in Georgia is simply disgraceful. What they got for their help for us in Iraq, Kosovo and Afghanistan was a bunch of words and fake concern. Don't really want to look in the mirror tonight, embarrassed to be an American.
Perhaps we should have sent in the 4x100 meter freestyle swim team - they have some stones.
Whatever Putin et al. said has not been consistent with the actions of the Russian army, so says the President of the United States of America.
The full statement is here. When I saw it on TV, the first minute and some was missing.
http://hotair.com/archives/2008/...ian-government/
Seriously, when you think about it, how is what Russia is doing in Georgia all that different from what we did in Grenada, Panama and Haiti? It's their backyard. We'll "condemn" them in public, but in private I'm willing to bet that an understanding has been reached to the effect that they're pretty much free to do what they want to do in their immediate neighborhood.
Dan R. | 08.11.08 - 1:12 am |
Very superficial analysis, Dan. Compare the government, economic, and social contexts in each case. Georgia is no Haiti, and the Russian AF has a far different ROE than the American military.
Dan;
As for the Kosovo, issue I suggest reading everything Totten has written on the subject, and then come back and talk about handing them over to the Serbs. If there is a more pro-American population on the planet than Kosovars, I've yet to hear about it.
Putin just can't stand losing slave states.
http://hotair.com/archives/2008/...ian-government/
Valerie | 08.11.08 - 9:25 pm //
-----------
Thanks, Val, that's quite a link. Here's some other news from the site:
"Presidents of France, Lithuania, Ukraine and Poland, Nicolas Sarkozy, Valdas Adamkus, Victor Yushchenko and Lech Kaczynski, respectively, as well we Latvian and Estonian Prime Ministers, Ivars Godmanis and Andrus Ansip, respectively will arrive in Georgia on August 12."
Just speculating, but maybe the Russians just want Georgians to [be forced to] feel proud Stalin came from there again?
Dan R., If you want to go there stop and think aboutthis;
What was Georgia doing in South Ossiwhatever that was so different from what the Soviets, errrrr......Russians were doing in Chechnya? Puzzle me that?
The Socialist media, who delude them selves into thinking Socialism in America will work out differentthen Socialism everywhere else, don't want to bring that comparison to mind, which is why they are silent on it.
"Communism doesn't work because people like to own stuff."
Frank Zappa
US musician, singer, & songwriter (1940 - 1993)
Jim | 08.08.08 - 7:50 pm |
hameed Abid | 08.11.08 - 12:47 & 12:58 pm |
Brian H | Homepage | 08.12.08 - 5:23 am & 5:27 |
via Iraqi Mojo
"If the United States had not removed Saddam Hussein from power, we would owe Hitler an apology."
via Talisman Gate
The Iraq story is getting boring, and that's a good thing.
==
just read vdh, who brings up the dorks that will come out with these apologies/comparisons etc..
so much for thinking pooty was gonna be a mensch.
i remember when three mile island went down and all the german hippies were out on the roads with signs to close down the nukes in europe.
good job. now gazprom owns germany, and the eastern europeans are hosed again.
this is where what kinda people are from?
http://www.sotaliraq.com/iraqnew...ws.php?
id=24158
Dear O and M
This storey is worth reading- sorry it is in Arabic.
1- A shia boy marries his sweet heart a sunny girl. he from Al Jihad District- she from Al mahdiah district.
The wedding was through the streets, with music and dancing, just like what it was in Baghdad, before the militias and the lawless controlled the streets, since 2003.
2- A girl from Al Ghazalia area, removes her hijab and other forced muslim dresses and walks freely in the town.
3- The hairdressors are back in Business. except for one who could not reopen his Hairdressing Salon in Asia Ditrict. he is still frightened and must be helped His name is Mustafa Yousef.
4- The music shops are reopened again and they are selling the muisical tapes and other formerly 'forbidden' goods.
Normal life is definitly returning to Baghdad albeit caustiously.
Kind regards
http://www.sotaliraq.com/iraqnew...ws.php?
id=24152
Dear O and M
Please read this excellent storey of the girl taxi driver recently started work as a taxi owner giving her services to the women only.
Kind regards
via MNF.. (also available in Arabic)
via FJI.. (videos)
==
pardon if a repeat (just got back
& haven't had time to catch up)..
via The Mudville Gazette
Why Not Ossetian Independence?
==
The devil went down to Georgia, he was lookin for land to steal!
OT..
if you haven't already..
please sign the petition..
thanks.. 
==
Typos, trust me ... I'm not taking up for Russia. But the fact is that all this is going on in their own backyard and neither the US or Europe is going to do anything militarily to challenge them, just as Russia never dreamed about militarily contesting our actions in Grenada, Panama, and Haiti.
The most forceful thing we could do would be to kick them out of the G-8 and cut off their credit, but then they'd just shut down their gas pipelines and let Europe freeze this winter.
Unfortunately, our failure to develop new sources of energy over the past 30 years has now put us in the position of being able to do nothing to punish Russia except to howl "condemnations" to the microphones of the world press and maybe propose yet another toothless UN Security Council resolution .... which the Russians will then promptly veto.
OT.. via GP
"Everybody is a Georgian today"
excerpts:
[It's obvious to those nations who suffered under the Soviet boot who they trust to help protect them from the Russian threat.
President Saakashvili singled out John McCain for his
support of Georgia today at a massive rally in Tbilisi.
The crowd roared! (video)]
[In a show of defiance to the Russian attacks, 100,000 people packed the main Rustaveli avenue of Tbilisi, where a sea of red-and-white Georgian flags waved above the crowds.
President Mikheil Saakashvili told a rally that Georgia would quit the Russian-led Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS), a grouping of former Soviet states, and urged Ukraine to follow suit.
Georgia has received strong support from other former communist states with the leaders of Ukraine, Poland and the Baltic states travelling to Tbilisi where they addressed a mass rally.
"You have the right to freedom and independence. We are here
to demonstrate our solidarity ... freedom is worth fighting for," shouted Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko in live pictures carried by Georgian television.]
==
OT;
but interesting:
Speechwars gives graphs of uses of one or two words by McCain and Obobblehead, in all speeches since the start of April.
"But the fact is that all this is going on in their own backyard and neither the US or Europe is going to do anything militarily to challenge them, just as Russia never dreamed about militarily contesting our actions in Grenada, Panama, and Haiti."
A big difference is that the Soviets were unable to do anything about America enforcing the Monroe Doctrine. Bush is UNWILLING to do anything to save Georgia. If he was more then loud talk, there would have been U.S. Air Force fighters over Georgia, clearing the sky of Soviet, re....Russian aircraft.
A smaller difference is that ALL the regimes the USA changed were dictators. Georgia is a democracy. Although that might be a bigger ifference in the long run. It's to early to tell, since the Soviet, er......Russian drive seems to have stalled. Rumors are that thousands of Red Army, er....Russian Defense Forces troops died. Logistics are a problem also. there are more RDF troops in Georgia then there are US troops in Iraq and Afghanistan combined. The go thru a lot of food, water, ammo, fuel, etc. Then there is the looting and rapine. It' takes time to gang rape a 14 year old virgin. Or even a 20 year old not so virgin. The Red Army has certain traditions to uphold, even if it's not called the red army any more.
Dan, there ARE NO 'new' sources of energy. We have been working on fusion reactors for OVER 50 years. In another 50 years, we will STILL be working on them. The simple FACT ( of physics, who wins an election makes no difference) is that When measured on an energy per volumne cost efficiency basis, NOTHING beats gasoline.
Several other forms of petroleum are more powerful, but by the time you figure storage, handling and distribution costs in the are higher then gasoline. And it is the price of gasoline that is driving this discourse, NOT some sort of perverted notion that Humans are destroying the Ghia.
All those highly touted solutions are old tech and were tried and discarded BEFORE gasoline was even invented. Look it up.
Being delusional about energy sources is not going to help anything.
Rebuilding an Air Force from the Ground up -- via the Washington Post
http://www.washingtonpost.com/
wp...8081202874.html
moneyshot:
Iraqis, accustomed to U.S. helicopters that hover over their cities round-the-clock, wave excitedly when they see aircraft with the Iraqi flag.
Moscow agrees to George Truce --- Russian attacks continue after statement.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/
wp...8081200365.html
The reason why Russia’s empire fell apart in the first place is on lurid display. The ham-handed, over-controlling, vicious, paranoid, lying killers from the Communist era are unfit to govern anything bigger than their own personal households, and we aren’t sure about that much.
The Washington Post, spinning wildly, trying to make Obama’s foreign policy remarks look something other than feckless.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/
wp...8081202935.html
Georgia’s president, and the Russian attempts to mischaracterize their long-planned blitzkrieg into Georgia as a peacekeeping effort.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/
wp...8081203050.html
******************
I've even read the suggestion that the Russians are entitled to some equivalent of the American Monroe Doctrine--a wildly off-key misapplication. There is nothing inherently wrong with large national units.
However, we also believe that the just powers of a government are founded on the consent of the governed. And, where a government acts against the interests of the governed, it is the right of the people to alter or abolish it.
If the Russians did not act like slavers toward their neighbors, their neighbors would not have felt compelled to throw them out and keep them out.
There is no reason why there should not be an Eurasian Union, but for the truly spectacular, persistent malfeasance of the Russian government.
Fron Foxnews
JERUSALEM — The United States has rejected an Israeli arms request that would have improved Israel's capability to attack Iran's nuclear facilities, a frontpage report in Israel's Haaretz newspaper said on Wednesday.
The U.S. warned Israel against attacking, saying such a strike would undermine American interests, the paper said. The unsourced report also says the U.S. demanded that Israel give it a heads-up if it decides to strike Iran.
Defense Minister Ehud Barak did not deny the Haaretz story and refused to discuss it in an interview with Israeli Army Radio,
"It would not be right to talk about these things," Barak said, according to Reuters.
Iran is a "threat to the whole world order, and there are many actions to be made in the realm of intelligence and preventive measures," Barak said.
The United States "does not see an action against Iran as the right thing to do at the moment," the defense minister said, but shared Israel's view that "no option should be removed from the table".
Israel believes Tehran will be capable of building a nuclear bomb by 2010, and has been pushing for greater international pressure on Iran to stop building nukes.
Both the U.S. and Israel have said they would prefer a diplomatic solution to the standoff but have not ruled out other options — including a military one.
Jumblatt deserts Lebanon’s pro-Western camp, signs pact with pro-Iranian Hizballah
DEBKAfile Exclusive Report
August 13, 2008, 1:38 PM (GMT+02:00)
Lebanese Druze leader Walid Jumblatt
The fervently pro-US, pro-Israeli Druze leader, Walid Jumblatt, has decided to hold out no longer. He has thrown in his lot with the most extreme pro-Syrian, pro-Iranian, anti-Israel force in Lebanon, the Shiite Hizballah, which has gained veto power over the government in Beirut unopposed.
DEBKAfile’s Middle East sources disclose that over last weekend, Jumblatt quietly signed a “defense cooperation pact” with Hassan Nasrallah, affording Hizballah a strong foothold in the Lebanese Druze bastion of Mt. Chouf.
Drawing the hostile noose around northern Israel ever tighter, Lebanese president Michel Sleiman was due in Damascus Wednesday, Aug. 13, to celebrate the thaw in relations between the two countries.
Neither Israeli ministers, sunk in an acrimonious contest over the succession to Ehud Olmert, nor the United States in the dying days of the Bush presidency, have lifted a finger to arrest Lebanon’s swift slide into the Iranian-Syrian orbit.
Jumblatt, after watching pro-Western strategic positions crumble in his country, decided to join forces with Hizballah to shield his ancestral mountain domain from Syrian domination.
The Druze and Hizballah militias agreed to set up a joint commission for coordinating military operations. Hizballah is represented by its security and intelligence commander, Wafiq Shafa (who was in change of the recent prisoner swap with Israel) and the Druzes by Akram Shahaib.
The joint security patrols for the Druze communities of the Chouf, will also give Hizballah a military presence on its third strategic Lebanese peak, after Mt. Sannine and Jebel Barukh.
Russia masses naval force opposite Georgia’s third sensitive region, Ajaria
DEBKAfile Exclusive Report
August 12, 2008, 1:31 PM (GMT+02:00)
Georgian president addresses mass rally in Tbilisi
While the world’s attention was fixed on the Russian-Georgian contest over two breakaway regions of South Ossetia and Abkhazia, DEBKAfile’s exclusive military sources reveal that Russia has massed a fleet of warships and marine forces opposite the Gerogia's semi-autonomous Black Sea region of Ajaria.
Moscow is preparing to punish what it regards as Georgian president Mikhail Saakashvili’s further provocations by occupying this coastal strip on Georgia’s southwestern border with Turkey.
The appearance of Ukraine’s president Viktor Yushchenko alongside Saakashvili, leaders of the pro-Western Orange and Rose Revolutions, at a huge national rally outside the Georgian parliament in Tbilisi Tuesday night, Aug. 12, may well be seen by the Kremlin as over the top. It came hours after Russian President Dimitry Medvedev’s gesture to the European mediation bid of ordering the Russian military operation in Georgia halted there and then.
Half of Ajaria’s ethnically Georgian population professes Islam, in contrast to the country’s Christian majority. The other half is Russian.
Ajarian has come to mean a Georgian Muslim.
The Russian Black Sea buildup is deployed opposite the Ajurian capital of Batumi, an important port for the shipment of oil from Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan. Its oil refinery handles Caspian oil from Azerbaijan.
When Saakashvili was elected president five years ago, the region’s leaders refused to recognize his authority and maintained close ties with Moscow up until May 2004 when, after Ajurians demonstrated against Tbilisi, he ordered them to obey the Georgian constitution and disarm.
Russia maintained a military base at Batumi which it agreed to close by November 2007.
DEBKAfile’s sources report that by recovering the base, Moscow will not only punish the Georgian president, but also profit from the turmoil of the past week in three ways:
1. A third semi-autonomous province will be hacked off Georgian territory after the loss of South Ossetia and Abkhazia.
2. Russia will gain a strategic Black Sea foothold at Turkey’s back door.
3. It will also control a gateway to Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan, Azerbaijan and Armenia.
Russianarmor rolling and truce broken
by the way for all the russian apologists, site after site and agency after news agency has reported that the russians had been planning this for some time, their "peacekeepers" were preparing the battle space and stirring up unrest, forcing Georgia to act.
Looks like Iran and Russia are calling the shots right now, while the world has its collective thumb up its rear.
Ukraine may be next as hapless western allies try and figure out what to do
US military planes and ships to deliver humanitarian aid to Georgia .... finally
Bush orders US Air Force-Navy humanitarian airlift to Georgia
DEBKAfile Special Report
August 13, 2008, 7:07 PM (GMT+02:00)
Bush starts to remove the gloves
He demanded that Russia open all routes to these deliveries and to civilian transit.
DEBKAfile’s military sources report that the strong military actions a furious US president George W. Bush ordered Wednesday, Aug. 13, after seven days of Russian-Georgian warfare, amount to a bid to break the sea, land and air blockade Russia still maintains against Georgia in violation of the EU-brokered ceasefire.
The first direct US-Russian military clashes in Georgia are now possible if the Russians fail to give way when challenged by US air transports and vessels heading for Georgia. For seven days, Russia has exerted exclusive mastery of Georgia’s skies, sea and land routes.
Flanked by the secretaries of state and defense, Bush said that Robert Gates as head of the military had already sent the first US Air Force transport with humanitarian and medical aid on its way to Georgia.
Our military sources report that the US air corridor has a short distance to fly from US bases in Italy and Turkey.
The US president accused Moscow of violating the less than one-day old ceasefire fire in its conflict with Georgia, by sending Russian tanks and APC’s to the east of the Georgian town of Gori, threatening the capital Tbilisi, bombing the Black Sea port of Poti and sinking Georgian vessels.
Bush reiterated US support for Georgia’s democratically-elected government and territorial integrity and declared Russia must cease all military acts and withdraw to positions held before the conflict flared. Russian must keep its word and act to end this crisis, if it wants to achieve its aspirations in the international community.
The Bush statement Wednesday followed reports of Russian tanks entering Gori after the ceasefire, and some 15 armored personnel carriers heading out of the devastated ghost city and blocking the highway connected South Ossetia to the rest of Georgia. Russian “irregulars” were reported killing, burning and looting in Gori and destroying ammunition dumps. A Georgian checkpoint has been placed outside Tbilisi.
Russia was also said to have shot down two Georgian spy drones over the breakaway province.
http://www.sotaliraq.com/iraqnew...ws.php?
id=24274
Dear O and M
There are many Iraqis stranded in Egypt and Jordan and Syria and Lebanon who want to go back to Iraq right now.
However, some have not been working and were living on handouts or borrowings or even some women and girls selling their bodies to survive.
This news item of the PM sending his Airoplane to bring home some of them from Cairo free of cost is really touching.
My own recommendations to the Iraqi Government at this Juncture is to allocate several millions of dollars form the recent widfall of the Oil sales , to be voted on by Parliament and to charter at least 100 Aircrafts form other airlines to be organised by a Professional entity to start the mass evacuation of Iraqi to go home, from all these places, for the willing, able and disabled, free of charge NOW.
If the Parliamentarians are on Holidays, get them back and recall some of the clowns and have an emergency session for this purpose alone.
Any Bullshit about the budgetary restrictions should be waived.
And if there will be two or even three Billions of Dollars to be spent on these poor and not so respected Iraqis to come home with their heads raised so high and their self respect restored by their elected goverment then it will be worth every dime, fils or dinar.
No pussy footing should be used as pre-texts to delay their returns. The PM Flight has a technical fault? My foot.
Lack of ADEQUATE staff employed by Iraq Airways to cope with the influx of Iraqis? My other foot? What a joke?
When I read this article, sorry it is in Arabic, I thought what a bunch of showers, playing with the lives of these voters and their families,like a ping pong game, using the familiar red tape and causing so much delays, heartaches and sufferings and disppointments.
I once wrote on these pages, some of the Iraqis could not organise a 'piss up in brewry', and this incident alone proved me right.
Kind regards
Ricky bin Ricardo: thanks for all the updates..
via GP
The United States of America stands with the democratically elected government of Georgia
[Russia has stated that changing the government of Georgia is not its goal. The United States and the world expect Russia to honor that commitment. Russia has also stated that it has halted military operations and agreed to a provisional cease-fire. Unfortunately, we're receiving reports of Russian actions that are inconsistent with these statements. We're concerned about reports that Russian units have taken up positions on the east side of the city of Gori, which allows them to block the East-West Highway, divide the country, and threaten the capital of Tbilisi.
We're concerned about reports that Russian forces have entered and taken positions in the port city of Poti, that Russian armored vehicles are blocking access to that port, and that Russia is blowing up Georgian vessels. We're concerned about reports that Georgian citizens of all ethnic origins are not being protected. All forces, including Russian forces, have an obligation to protect innocent civilians from attack.]
[video @ link]
==
hameed Abid | 08.13.08 - 1:39 pm |
copy & paste article to translate (select Arabic
to English first) from Arabic to English here..
==
OT.. re: bg | 08.13.08 - 2:12 pm |
"cut & run"
excerpt:
[Abkahzian separatist forces backed by Russian military might pushed out Georgian troops and even moved into Georgian territory, defiantly planting a flag.
"The border has been along this river for 1,000 years," separatist official Ruslan Kishmaria told AP on Wednesday. He said Georgia would have to accept the new border and taunted the retreating Georgian forces, saying they had received "American training in running away."]
CONGRATULATIONS DEMOCRATS, EVIDENTLY AQ ET AL ARE NOT
THE ONLY ONES WHO APPRECIATE YOUR BRAND OF PATRIOTISM
IN SUPPORT OF LIBERATION..
==
WSJ, By Bing West, August 12, 2008; Page A21
The War in Iraq Is Over.
What Next?
The war I witnessed for more than five years in Iraq is over. In July, there were five American fatalities in Iraq, the lowest since the war began in March 2003. In Mosul recently, I chatted with shopkeepers on the same corner where last January a Humvee was blown apart in front of me. In the Baghdad district of Ghazilia -- where last January snipers controlled streets awash in human waste -- I saw clean streets and soccer games. In Basra, the local British colonel was dining at a restaurant in the center of the bustling city.
For the first time in 15 trips across the country, I didn't hear one shot or a single blast from a roadside bomb. In Anbar Province, scene of the fiercest fighting during the war, the tribal sheiks insisted to Barack Obama on his recent visit that the U.S. Marines had to stay because they were the most trusted force.
The war turned around in late 2006 because American troops partnered with Iraqi forces and tribal auxiliaries to protect the population. Feeling safe, the population informed on the militias and terrorists living among them. Then, in the spring of 2008, Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki attacked the Mahdi militia of radical Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr that controlled Basra and half of Baghdad. The militia crumbled under pressure from Iraqi soldiers backed by coalition intelligence and air assets.
The threat in Iraq has changed from a full-scale insurgency into an antiterror campaign. Al Qaeda in Iraq is entrenched in northern Mosul, where it may take 18 months to completely defeat them. By employing what he calls his "Anaconda Strategy," Gen. David Petraeus is squeezing the life out of al Qaeda in Iraq. The mafia-style militia of Sadr has been splintered.
The competition among Iraqi politicians has shifted from violence to politics, albeit yielding a track record as poor as that of our own Congress. After failing for two years to deliver basic services, both Shiite and Sunni politicians are stalling on legislation to hold provincial elections because many of them will be defeated. While irritating, these political games have not blocked U.S. gains.
Americans should praise rather than slight our military's achievements. Civil war has been averted. The Iraqi army has thrown the militia out of the port of Um Qasar, thus ensuring stable oil exports. Al Qaeda fought to make Iraq its base in the Arab Middle East. Instead, it is being hunted down.
Iran has emerged as the major threat to stability in Iraq. While its goal was to control a weak Iraq after the American army was driven out, Tehran overplayed its hand. Iran supplied the rockets to attack Iraqi politicians in Baghdad in April and supported Sadr's militia. But hundreds of thousands of Iraqi Shiites died fighting Iranians in the '80s, and those memories are still fresh. In southern Maysan Province, American and Iraqi units are waiting to hunt down terrorists returning from Iranian training camps. Iraq, backed by some American forces in remote desert bases, is poised to emerge as a regional counterweight to Iran.
Yet the progress in Iraq is most threatened by a political promise in the U.S. to remove all American combat brigades, against the advice of our military commanders. Iraqi volunteers working for
a nonsectarian political party in Baghdad asked me, "Is America giving up its goals?" It's an unsettling question.
With victory in sight, why would we quit? The steady -- but not total -- withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq is freeing up forces to fight in Afghanistan. But Afghanistan is not the central front in the war on terror. Al Qaeda is hiding in Pakistan, a nation we are not going to invade.
The Iraqis aren't yet confident enough to stand entirely on their own; al Qaeda's savagery still imposes too much fear, while Iran is training terrorists next door. In counterinsurgency, the people must know they are protected. Gen. Petraeus has proven that intimidation can be defeated by placing American soldiers among the population. Wars are won by confidence, but also by procedures that take time to mature; and the Iraqi offensive against Sadr's militia in Basra last April revealed an atrocious
Iraqi command and control system.
We are withdrawing as conditions permit. For instance, in the infamous Triangle of Death south of Baghdad, Col. Dominic Caraccilo has spread his rifle companies across 22 police precincts. Over the next year, he plans to pull out two of every three companies, leaving the population protected by Iraqi forces, backed by a thin screen of American soldiers.
If implemented on a countrywide scale, this model would reduce the American presence from 15 to five brigades over the next few years. They can be comprised of artillerymen, motor transport and civil affairs as well as infantrymen. By calling these residual forces "Transition Teams," we can remove the political argument in the U.S. about the exact number of combat brigades, and allow our commanders flexibility in adjusting force levels. This change of names rather than of missions is a way to save face and bring Americans closer together.
The problem is not American force levels in Iraq. It is divisiveness at home. While our military has adapted, our society has disconnected from its martial values. I was standing beside an Iraqi colonel one day in war-torn Fallujah when a tough Marine patrol walked by. "You Americans," he said, "are the strongest tribe."
But we cast aspersions on ourselves. The success of our military should not be begrudged to gain transitory political advantage.
In 1991, our nation held a parade after our military liberated Kuwait. Over the course of more than five hard years, our troops have brought stability and freedom to 25 million Iraqis, while crushing al Qaeda in Iraq. Regardless of disagreement about initiating the war back in 2003, Americans should unite to applaud the success of our troops in 2008.
A stable Iraq keeps faith with the million American soldiers who fought there, sets back Iran's aggression, and makes our enemies in Afghanistan and elsewhere fear us. It's time we stopped debating about yesterday and displayed national pride in our soldiers.
God Bless Soldiers everywhere for putting THEIR
lives on the line to protect us ALL from terrorism!
==
Here's the VFF page for reports from their embed tour. Read them all!
re: bg | 08.13.08 - 2:12 pm |
"This Is Not 1968" .. [video]
==
Actually, it wouldn't be all that hard. A B-2 to cave in the tunnel and knock down a bridge or three and the land route for logistics is pretty much done.
A sub to close off the ports and the Soviets, errrr......Rusians have to resupply by air. The USAF hasn't had an ace in a while, now is their chance to get a few easy kills.
http://www.khaleejtimes.com/Disp...on=opinion&
col=
Using air power has diplomatic advantages as well. With only a few hundred US troops on the ground, it's not like even the Soviets, errr....Russians can claim we are "invading" Georgia. Especially after they just sent in most of the 58th Army.
Cut their supply lines and see how hungry that Army gets. See how tough they are when their MBT's IFV's and MLRS's run out of fuel and ammo. Plus with control of the air, we can go after the commanders.
Soviet, er....Russian tactics are strictly top down. The Jr. officers are NOT allowed to think. They are there to make sure the conscripts carry out orders. Kill the commanders and there are no orders. Cut off the supplies and you will have a mob of hungry, leaderless, unarmed men. When that happens you feed them, collect their small arms and send them home.
See how long Putin lasts after that.
The whole deal should take no more then a year or two.
bg | 08.13.08 - 2:25 pm |
bg | 08.13.08 - 5:47 pm |
Many thanks.
If the USA leaves Iraq , however, conveneient it is for political appologists and dithering cowards after the next Election in November, then, the USA's credibility within its own allies, including NATO's Countries will be Zero.
It will not deserve the position of Leadership in the world, and will be treated with contempt and disrespect.
For along time to come.
The choice is clear, either the USA respects its leaders promises or it did not.
What we are talking about is reliable friends and allies and not lame ducks powered by cheap political gains for few years.
How can we rely on the USA's leaders when the majority of the congressmen and women, send in thousands of troops and spend billions of dollars and then in one fell swoop deny them their VICTORY and agree with The Iranian Leader Mr Khamenie that he would send them packing home with tails between their legs?
He will rejoice in their withdrawl whatever will be the justifications back in the USA?
That potential error of judgement will haunt the USA for ever. Trust me.
Kind regards
Liars.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/
wp...1300449_pf.html
moneyshot:
OUTSIDE GORI, Georgia, Aug. 13 -- A day after Russia agreed to stop its offensive and pull its troops out of Georgian territory, Russian forces took over the frontline Georgian city of Gori on Wednesday, seized munitions at Georgian military bases and set up positions along the country's main east-west highway. Paramilitary fighters accompanying the troops looted homes and stole cars, witnesses said.
**************
http://freeinternetpress.com/sto...?
sid=17967#more
moneyshot:
Corsi's "The Obama Nation" lacks major revelations and has been dismissed by Obama's campaign as a series of lies from a serial liar. Parts of the book have also been disproved by the mainstream media. In 2004, Corsi co-wrote "Unfit for Command," in which Swift boat veterans criticized Sen. John F. Kerry's Vietnam War record. That book was also widely disproved.
*****************
I read “Unfit for Command” after reading a remarkably weak rebuttal of the book written by Washington Post staff, followed by at least two articles in the Post that claimed that the Post had “debunked” the book. Shortly after that, I saw an interview with the author of John Kerry’s “autobiography” who calmly answered questions in a manner that admitted the “autobiography” was full of self-promoting falsehoods.
Now we are in a situation where people are being killed and whole governments are being measured, and the Washington Post manages to accuse others of lying, and tell a major lie itself (“That book was also widely disproved.”), both in front page articles.
Russia’s War is the West’s Challenge
http://www.washingtonpost.com/
wp...8081303364.html
by Mikheil Saakashvili
How to Stop Putin
Charles Krauthammer
http://www.washingtonpost.com/
wp...8081303365.html
excerpts:
1. Suspend the NATO-Russia Council established in 2002 to help bring Russia closer to the West. Make clear that dissolution will follow suspension. The council gives Russia a seat at the NATO table. Message: Invading neighboring democracies forfeits the seat.
2. Bar Russian entry to the World Trade Organization.
3. Dissolve the G-8. Putin's dictatorship long made Russia's presence in this group of industrial democracies a farce, but no one wanted to upset the bear by expelling it. No need to. The seven democracies simply withdraw. (And if Italy's Silvio Berlusconi, who has been sympathetic to Putin's Georgia adventure, wants to stay, he can have an annual G-2 dinner with Putin.) Then immediately announce the reconstitution of the original G-7.
4. Announce a U.S.-European boycott of the 2014 Winter Olympics at Sochi. To do otherwise would be obscene. Sochi is 15 miles from Abkhazia, the other Georgian province just invaded by Russia. The Games will become a riveting contest between the Russian, Belarusan and Jamaican bobsled teams.
… Reaffirm support for the Saakashvili government and declare that its removal by the Russians would lead to recognition of a government-in-exile. This would instantly be understood as providing us the legal basis for supplying and supporting a Georgian resistance to any Russian-installed regime. …
******************
The airlift is also a start. But I would add something: talk about it. In a week when Russia set out to grab, among other things, control of an oil pipeline, I have watched the cost of oil (and gasoline) continue to drop.
This has happened despite the Democrats' cries that "we can't drill our way out of this."
One reason the oil markets peaked was that people began to bet that the United States would not handle the imbalance between its needs and its ability to procure oil in the future. Once we started talking about it seriously, those concerns began to subside, a little. We will, of course, still have to act.
Also, once we began to start talking seriously about our oil problem, solutions began to appear.
The Russians may have imperial ambitions, but they are unfit to rule an empire. They are bad stewards of the public trust.
The Russians could have world-wide influence and prestige if they learned how to behave like decent neighbors. All they have done so far is prove beyond a doubt that they are unfit for the world leadership.
Oh, I hope so.
http://stateminister.blogspot.co...to-
georgia.html
Humanitarian aid, guards, guns, and cameras.
The wrong response
http://www.daybydaycartoon.com/2...8/08/14/
#004778
Kat, nicely pulling together discussion about the cyber war at Castle Argghhhh!
http://www.thedonovan.com/
archiv...tion_war_2.html
Laughing Wolf, at Blackfive, on weapons systems being deployed by the Russians.
http://www.blackfive.net/main/20...ia-updat-
1.html
Basra and the Brits
excerpt:
[In the new Prime Minister's sights was victory in British
elections, even if it meant a lack of victory in Iraq.
In other words, Mr. Brown chose to pursue precisely the path that most of the American political establishment urged on President Bush at the same time. Mr. Bush resisted the James Baker-Lee Hamilton Iraq Study Group path to retreat, and both Iraq and the American strategic position in the Middle East are far better for it. Mr. Brown took the path of least political resistance, yet now finds himself under criticism for having allowed the proud British military to fail in its duty. Barely 14 months in office, Mr. Brown is struggling to hold on as PM long enough to even contest the next election in 2010.]
there but for the RESOLVE of BUSH went US..
==
Brian H | Homepage | 08.13.08 - 5:52 pm |
thanks!!
God Bless Soldiers everywhere for putting THEIR
lives on the line to protect us ALL from terrorism!
==
Valerie | 08.14.08 - 7:53; 8:26; 8:32; 8:47 am |
thanks for the ops & comments..
==
hameed Abid | 08.14.08 - 5:30 am |
thank you & you're welcome..
==
typos_R_us | 08.14.08 - 3:03 am |
wasn't Syria's air space supposedly protected by Russian Radar
System when Israel managed to take out their nuke caché??
==
via GP
Georgian Female Reporter Shot
Live On TV- Continues Reporting!
==
via AFID
The Muslim Brotherhood Shows its Cards
excerpt:
[It's the Ideology not the Party!
Oh, all right, now I get it. There’s clearly no association between the MB and all these Islamist organizations! Hardly. At the risk of being trite, if it looks like a duck, acts like a duck and sounds like a duck, what is it?
Salam must think his readers have no capability of independent thought. Very few people I’ve ever met actually believe the MB has membership cards that it gives to it members internationally. He, however, admits to exactly what makes them brethren organizations—their shared religio-political ideology and Islamist ideological mindset.
He dismisses their shared ideology as a manifestation of “mainstream moderate Islamic thinking.” Sorry, but this is not Islamic ideology (related to the religion). It is actually Islamist ideology related to establishing Islamic states and the Islamization of governments (i.e. establishment of governmental shar’ia). That is a distinction which Islamists will never make in the west since it will expose their long term goals while disrobing their false religious cloak.
Being a part of the MB does not mean carrying a card of the party in 2008. It simply means following the political ideology of Islamism (political Islam) in your native country as taught by the forefathers and legacy of the MB ideology over eighty years ago by Sayyid Qutb and Hassan al-Banna and all of their succeeding protégés.
Salam and his MB leadership can deny the connections of organizations like CAIR and MAS, from here to eternity, in order to help their brethren, but until we begin seeing these American Muslims join our effort to frontally counter Islamist movements and their ideologies of political Islam, they will remain part of the Islamist brotherhood whether they publicly accept it or not. The inconsistencies above in Salam’s denial are evidence enough.]
Dr. M. Zuhdi Jasser (still wish he
were running for president.. )
==
bg | 08.14.08 - 11:49 am |
Yes. The USAF has MUCH better weapons AND men then the Russians. That doesn't matter since we don't have politicians with 'nads to turn them loose. Wankers, the whole lot.
I watched Gates announce the US surrender this morning. He looked like Chamberlain, only instead of betraying Czechoslovakia, he was betraying Georgia.
Shortly after (an hour or two) the Russians resumed their advance. Georgia will fall within the next 48 hours or less. This will be seen in the future as a big a crime and as stoooopid as Chamberlain's 'peace in our time'. It will lead to another major war. Russia will keep taking little countries until we either stop them or they take us too. We could have ended it in Georgia on the cheap, but now we are in for a real war.
"You were given the choice between war and dishonor. You chose dishonor and you will have war."
Churchill's remark after Chamberlain returned from signing the Munich pact with Hitler
"Never give in--never, never, never, never, in nothing great or small, large or petty, never give in except to convictions of honour and good sense. Never yield to force; never yield to the apparently overwhelming might of the enemy."
-Winston Churchill
There is no common sense in the world anymore.
First example:
If these people living in the country of Georgia want to be part of Russia, why not just move to Russia? They live in a country called Georgia, don‘t they.
Second example:
If Muslims of the west want sharia law why not move to an Islamic state? I'm sure you will get your wish for someone, other than you, to have control over your speech, actions, beliefs, your will and your thoughts. Why stay in a country that believes in total freedom. Especially a country like Denmark???
Third example:
Obama and the Media say people who don't vote for Obama, won't vote for him because he is black. Yet they never mention that 92% of Black Americans are voting for him only because he is black. That's not racism???
Forth example:
We need to help the oppressed of the world more. We just should not have liberated the Iraqi’s from their murderous regime. Why, were they unworthy?
Fifth example?
We need to send more money to corrupt regimes to help the people they oppress. Sure, the money would get to the people (wink) ???
Sixth example:
Liberals want us to pay more taxes to help the needy, yet, they declare every tax deduction possible. Their mortgage, their children, their dinners, their travel, their clothes etc. If they really wanted to pay more for the needy why do they declare anything at all????
I think patrolling the Iranian border might soon be much easier.
The Remote Zap-A-Matic. Can you imagine a few Predators and Raptors flying around with these?
"Achmed! Why is your head on fire?!?!"
"If they really wanted to pay more for the needy why do they declare anything at all????
Centra | 08.14.08 - 6:43 pm |"
They don't want to pay for anything. They want you to pay for it. If you have a problem with that, they send guys with guns over to talk to you about it.
It's called Socialism.
"Socialism is like a dream. Sooner or later you wake up to reality."
- Winston Churchill
Today’s Wall Street Journal has a headline: “Evidence in Georgia Belies Russia’s Claims of Genocide.” (link not yet available.)
And the description of the Russian army’s activities in the Washington Post doesn’t sound at all like peacekeeping or defense of anything.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/
wp...8081400779.html
The US response so far
http://www.washingtonpost.com/
wp...8081401611.html
Give them time to think it over, but remind them that they have something to lose: the loss of prestige and co-operation from their neighbors is real. First, we start by sending our Secretary of Defense and humanitarian aid …
excerpts:
But Russia will be punished in other ways, he said, as the United States reviews its bilateral relationship, and because other countries near Russia's borders in Eastern Europe and Central Asia have "a higher incentive to stand with us now than they did before, now that they have seen what the Russians have done in Georgia."
"We have crossed the Rubicon," Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk said as representatives from the two governments initialed the accord in Warsaw. In exchange, U.S. officials said, the administration agreed to supply Poland with a U.S. Patriot antimissile battery. While U.S. officials emphasized that the U.S. antimissile system would be directed toward Iran -- not Russia -- the Poles had made clear that they wanted the Patriots as protection against possible Russian aggression in the future. …
Although Georgia and Russia each assert that the other began the fighting, the Bush administration and its European partners have said that question is immaterial when compared with Russia's "disproportionate" assault on Georgia. …
Gates said the United States has canceled its participation in a multinational naval exercise with Russia that was to begin today, as well as in a U.S.-Canadian-Russian exercise that would have begun next week.
The Pentagon has sent aid-laden C-17 cargo aircraft -- one Wednesday and another yesterday -- to Tblisi. Although Gates left open the possibility that additional U.S. military assets, including naval hospital ships, might be sent to Georgia, he said no decisions will be made until a 12-person military humanitarian-assessment team determines the need and any distribution difficulties.
He said that he expects no confrontation with Russian troops and that Russian commanders are being kept apprised of the locations and activities of U.S. personnel.
Gates vigorously disputed suggestions that the United States had been caught unaware by the flood of Russian military assets into Georgia on Aug. 6. South Ossetia and Abkhazia had been flashpoints during the month of August over the past several years, he said.
Oh, yes, and they have an editorial from a Russian intern, Olga Ivanova, who believes everything the Russian government has been saying:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/
wp...8081403048.html
**********************
Folks, be nice. She's probably got family back home.
bg,
I tried googling Noor Majeed, the little girl who was born with her bladder on the outside of her body. She was to be taken to Boston for surgery. I can find no updates. Have you heard anything? Can you find something?
Thanks,
Amid all this news, a story does make it out of Iraq.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/
wp...8081403162.html
The real story is in the response to the bombing:
“Col. Ali al-Zahawi, Iskandariyah's police chief, said a shortage of female police officers in the town helped the assailant go undetected. He said three policemen became suspicious when they noticed the bomber's thick clothes on a brutally hot evening. When they approached her, she detonated her explosives, killing the three policemen and several pilgrims. A female suicide bomber struck at nearly the same location during last year's pilgrimage, he said.”
"The army will replace the police in Iskandariyah after this security violation," said Capt. Muthanna Ahmad, a spokesman for the Babil province police. "The police are not capable to deal with the suicide attacks. They don't have detectors and the necessary equipment for these kind of attacks."
**************
If the Iraqi ladies want to retain the ability to wear black clouds in public, then large numbers of the Daughters of Iraq must be deployed for security purposes.
I think it would also be helpful if the ladies of Iraq were to publicly discuss what kind of clothing would be modest enough to be religiously acceptable for ordinary wear at a market, and yet also be demonstrably harmless.
We see you.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/
20080...ssination_teams
A Senior US military intelligence office in Baghdad on Wednesday provided Iraq’s national security advisor with several lists of assassination teams’ attempted targets, and granted an interview with The Associated Press, saying that Iraqi Shiite assassination teams are being trained in at least four locations in Iran by Tehran's elite Quds force and Lebanese Hezbollah and are planning to return to Iraq in the next few months to kill specific Iraqi officials as well as U.S. and Iraqi troops.
***************
I agree with ED MORRISSEY at HOT AIR that the sourcing if this information is interesting, as is the level of specificity. I hope the Iraqis can take a hint, because it has already been established that Iran cannot.
"Folks, be nice. She's probably got family back home.
Valerie | 08.15.08 - 8:24 am |"
As if the Georgians didn't. If the Russsians kill her family, good. It will save us the trouble and ammo.
It is past time for being 'nice' to Russia or Russians. We tried that for 40 years and it didn't work. Reagan was tough and it worked. After the Soviet Union fell, we went back to being nice. See what that got us?
Lets try tough again, it seems to work out better. A good start would be destroying the 58th Army. Then tell the Russians ANY Russian outside of Russia is fair game, including bubble headed interns.
Let them wallow in their own filth for a generation and see if they don't have an attitude adjustment.
Appeasement NEVER prevents War. NEVER. In the entire recorded history of the human race. What prevents war is being bigger, stronger, faster, tougher and smarter then the enemy. That and not just a willing to kick their arse but eager.
Nobody starts fights with someone bigger, stronger, faster, tougher and smarter then they are that likes to fight. It just doesn't happen. So it is with nations.
"Si vis pacem, para bellum"
("If you want peace, prepare for war!")
- Flavius Vegetius Renatus
via GP
ROTFLMBO!!
==
Kafir | 08.15.08 - 8:43 am |
sorry kafir.. albeit i found several stories re: baby Noor, none
were updates re: Noor Majeed.. but i'll keep an eye open..
==
typos_R_us | 08.15.08 - 9:57 am
C'mon typos, we've always distinguished between individual people and the government of their country.
Individual Russians and their families are going to find out that returning the old KGB back to power is bad for business ... and everything else human beings want.
Meanwhile, word is getting out about this shameful episode, namely support from Estonia, use of cluster munitions by the Russians against civilians, and a long list of abusive actions by Russia.
http://georgiamfa.blogspot.com/
Saashkavili: Tiblisi surrounded, airlift requested.
The Georgian President is not a happy man. Can't say I blame him.
Unbelievabobble. This, folks, is the new Iranian INTERIOR MINISTER, trying to pull a clumsy fast one on Oxford University: The Incoherent Diploma.
I won't bother with example excerpts, just read it, in all its illiterate glory. Hilarious.
OT.. via GP
Jesse Jackson Urges President Musharraf to Step Down
Official: 460 militants, 22 troops die in Pakistan
excerpt:
[Pakistan's top civilian security official vowed Friday to "wipe out" Islamic militants in a volatile tribal region where the government says more than 460 insurgents and 22 troops have died in 10 days of fighting.
Interior Ministry chief Rehman Malik said Pakistani intelligence have reports that about 3,000 armed militants are present in the northwestern region of Bajur, which borders Afghanistan. He said they included Pakistanis, Afghan Taliban and Central Asians.
"We will wipe them out," Malik told a news conference in Peshawar. "We will not surrender before them."
Pakistani army helicopter gunships and jets have been pounding militant positions in Bajur since the fighting broke out Aug. 6 when scores of insurgents attacked a military outpost. The region is regarded as a stronghold for Taliban and al-Qaida.
The insurgent attack followed a Taliban threat to retaliate against the government for launching military operations in other frontier regions where it has earlier sought to use dialogue to reach peace with militants _ a controversial policy that appears in danger of collapse.
Alongside Malik at a news conference, provincial Gov. Owais Ahmed Ghani said some 219,000 residents have been displaced
by the fighting in Bajur and promised to provide them food and shelter.]
APPEASING TERRORISTS IS A DEAD END..
what is wrong with people?? after many decades (more like centuries) of the samo samo, how much more proof do they need?? the terrorists get a point here, HOW MANY TIMES HAVE THEY TOLD THE ENTIRE WORLD THE CHOICE IS: CONVERT OR DIE = PERIOD, END OF CONVERSATION.. GAH!!
==
"If they really wanted to pay more for the needy why do they declare anything at all????
Centra | 08.14.08 - 6:43 pm |"
They don't want to pay for anything. They want you to pay for it. If you have a problem with that, they send guys with guns over to talk to you about it.
It's called Socialism.
"Socialism is like a dream. Sooner or later you wake up to reality."
- Winston Churchill
typos_R_us | 08.15.08 - 7:19 am | #
Yes that is the hypocrisy of the whole thing. It also goes for the other examples I gave. Hypocrisy and loss of common sense go hand in hand.
You want to pay hirer taxes, so you say, yet you can now, and have always have been able too, but you didn't. Hypocrisy and the people that fall for the rhetoric have no common sense!!!
Another example:
You should not use the term Islamic terrorism, it offends Muslims. Yet isn't it Muslims who are committing the majority of terrorism and aren't they doing it to be a martyr for the cause of Islam or while screaming Allah Akbar? But we are to believe it has nothing to do with Islam?! Forget talking about Mohammed and all the terrible things he did.
I know all Muslims are not terrorists we see that with the Iraqis and other Muslims who want at least a little free speech and liberty. They need to work on women’s rights big time.
Children, children. Let's all calm down. Soon Oblama will be president of the US, and all problems will then be taken care of in short order.
After all, haven't we all been hearing his sage words of wisdom for the past week on how he will handle the situation in Georgia?
/sarc--- as if that is necessary
I'll bet that stupid SOB is shitting his silky panties right about now.
PHELPS WON!!
==
Kafir;
Here's some somewhat updated info on baby Noor: http://www.wsbtv.com/video/64676...7637/
index.html
bg;
Apparently Phelps was designed for the water; he has big flappy size 14 feet, and 'wingspan' 4" longer than his height, and is double-jointed in the chest area which makes his dolphin start etc. far more efficient. He's some kinda alien!
MNF..
U.S. helps Iraq's air force fly again..
[Col. Abdul Karim Aziz, a fighter pilot who survived the war between Iraq and Iran during the 1980s, had all but given up hope of flying again when his mother told him in 2005 that it was time to get back in the air.
"When the war began, I didn't think of coming back," said Aziz, 49, speaking about the March 2003 U.S.-led invasion of Iraq. Referring to the American military, he added: "I didn't like the friendly side."]
[Building an air force takes years, if not decades. And rebuilding Iraq's has been a particularly challenging mission, U.S. officials say.
Though small, modest and devoid of firepower, the Iraqi air force has a solid foundation and has given Iraqis something to be proud of, U.S. officials say. Iraqis, accustomed to U.S. helicopters that hover over their cities round the clock, wave excitedly when they see aircraft with the Iraqi flag.
The Iraqi air force currently has 76 aircraft,
most donated by the U.S. and other nations.]
FJI..
==
re: Valerie | 08.15.08 - 8:24 am |
Evidence in Georgia Belies
Russia's Claims of 'Genocide'
==
can actually say i drove phelps in my cab two years ago in a2. no sh.t!
he was drinking chocolate milk and going to hoover street to fish out. couldnt have looked more normal.
heard there's no press for him in chicomland. ha!
anybody catch the hot softball ladies. victoria gilardo, daaamn.
catch this?
http://english.eluniversal.com/
2...5A1912039.shtml
hugolito finally goes all the way. blood to follow..
summer's ending quick this year.
http://www.sotaliraq.com/iraqnew...ws.php?
id=24378
Dear O and M
The above subject is dear to my heart.
Some of the Iraqi children will remain illiterate along with mothers and fathers, if no schools are provided near their homes.
How can Iraq wake up when its wealth- its people cannot read and write and add up?
A major programme of travelling classrooms and libraries should be started now to educate the future Iraqi generations and eliminate illiteracy.
Kind regards
http://www.akhbaar.org/wesima_ar...0815-
51955.html
Dear O and M
The Iraqi food, music and dance are alive and well abd preserved by the The Iraqi Jewish community in Israel.
Please watch the vedio and the interviews.
I could smell the food and taste it from here.
They should be allowed back in groups to visit their birth placse and temples and Synagoges on Individual bases.
Kind regards
Brian H | Homepage | 08.16.08 - 1:20 am |
Thanks, but I wonder if that's the same baby Noor. None of the other reports mention her having Spina Bifida.
This makes me wonder just how many children have been taken out of Iraq for life-saving surgery.
It also makes me incredulous that some Iraqis can't realize that these are not the acts of "occupiers."
Dear O and M
There are two solutions to the Iran problem.
1- Sit around and do nothing and let it dictate the terms and issue threats of strangulations and destructions of the world energy, or;
2- Do something quick by using, as I wrote here before, two to three tactical nuclear weapons on selected sites - with minimum collatoral damge if that is possible- and demand that the regime to surrender or be the next target.
Negotiations, engagement, visiting, and giving incentives, are a complete waste of time, which is running out slowly but surely.
You are not dealing with rational human beings here and expecting reasonable behaviours in return. Trust us we Iraqi Arabs know the Persians menatlity very well over many centuries past.
They respect you only when you slap them on their faces and stand up to them from strength.
One negotiates with a willing party wanting peace but not with a party intent on destroying others out of arrogance, vengeanace and disdain.
I bet when Solana came to them with the latest incentive package, they were laughing all the way to QOM and discussing it with Muqtada Al-Sadr and Osama Bin Laden, boasting of how to deal with these frightened and spineless Western Leaders with no guts?
Kind regards
Kind regards
hameed Abid | 07.05.08 - 5:14 am | #
p2 | 08.16.08 - 4:36 am |
["citizens in uniform"]
hmmm, isn't that (more or less) the Obamaster's plan??
excerpt:
[The armed forces, therefore, according to the decree issued by Chávez last July 22nd, in the practice will be responsible for enforcing by means of arms the failed socialist constitutional reform. To that end, in order to dilute the country into its militia-like organization, will "prepare and organize the people for integral defense." In addition, it will "forge alliances or coalitions with the armed forces of foreign countries." The ongoing military revolution will have not borders. At the end, there is one single purpose -retired military officer Chávez Frías will boast his five-sun insignia appropriate for his new rank of commander in chief, awarded by himself, and not by the grace of God.]
OBAMA’S NON-CITIZEN MILITARY DREAM
Obama’s ‘Civilian Security Force’
[Advocates of limited government are concerned about comments by Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) regarding his national service plans and views on the “burden of global citizenship.”]
NOT "just words"..
words used to disguise the fact that Obama's underlying agenda comes straight from Hitler & the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem's playbook..
==
re: bg | 08.16.08 - 11:17 am |
Senator Obama, Citizen of the World
excerpt:
[European socialists and Middle Eastern Muslims are wildly enthusiastic about Senator Obama, because he styles himself a citizen of the world who, like all liberal-progressive-socialists, aims for world government.
American liberal- progressive- socialism, in the person of Senator Obama, is a carbon copy of European socialism, and Islamic jihadists recognize that socialism offers no opposition to their ruthless jihad to enslave the entire world.
For historical perspective, let's look to one of France's leading socialist theoreticians, the late Jean- François Revel. As I wrote
at the time of M. Revel's death in May, 2006:
Jean- François Revel, who died last week at the age of 82, was that exceedingly rare person: a French intellectual who didn't despise the United States, an intellectual who understood the cancerous prognosis of liberalism.
Revel's 1983 "How Democracies Perish" described liberalism's debilitating effect on confronting the threat of domination by the Soviet Union. His observations apply equally today in our long-term struggle against Islamic jihad.]
RTWT!!
i hear the chimes of Socialistic Marxism (Political Correctness) & Sharia Law (Political Islam) wedding bells echoing throughout the land(s)..
==
via GP
Russian Soldiers Caught On Tape Robbing Georgian Bank
==
++
Official Announcement:
The government today announced that it is changing it's emblem from an Eagle to a Condom because it more accurately reflects the government's political stance.
A condom allows for inflation, halts production, destroys the next generation, and gives you a sense of security while you're actually being screwed.
==
Watch for the Americans to be pulling out sooner rather than later.
We have a couple of wusses running for President who have no clue what to do.
RWR
www.rightwingrocker.com
Egypt: Iran should reassure West on nuclear issue
excerpt:
[Speaking after a meeting between Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak and Saudi King Abdallah in the Mediterranean city of Alexandria, spokesman Suleiman Awwad defended Iran's right to use nuclear technology for peaceful purposes but said the Islamic Republic should give more assurances to the international community.
Iran has refused to comply with repeated international demands
to halt nuclear enrichment, a process that can be used to produce fuel for nuclear weapons or nuclear energy.
"Iran should not present on a silver platter the justifications and the pretexts for those who want to drag the region down a dangerous slope," he said, noting the case of Saddam Hussein who didn't adequately refute claims over Iraq's supposed weapons of mass destruction.
"Iran owes the international community transparency and flexibility," he said. "The Gulf is extremely worried and the
Middle East is watching the standoff."]
glad to hear neighborhood countries speaking out..
==
Way to go MIKE!!!!!!
I AM SO PROUD!!!!
http://www.akhbaar.org/wesima_ar...0817-
52070.html
Dear O and M
This picture tells the storey in any langauge.
Approximately four millions Iraqis- shiites have decended on Karballa City to carry out freely their yearly pilgrimage on foot- most of them- walking several hundred Kilometers over sevral days with their children helped enroute by others with food and drinks and sleeping facilities etc.
These freedoms of movements and religious ceremonies were forbidden to these simple believers, came to the majority of the Iraqis with the onset of the American Liberation of Iraq, March/April 2003, and the establishment of Freedom and Democraciy, the Rule of Law and Human Rights,in Iraq.
For any asshole who does not want the Americans in Iraq for now and for the foreseeable future--
PISS OFF.
Let the people decide.
Kind regards
http://www.akhbaar.org/wesima_ar...0815-
51954.html
Dear O and M
Habits die hard.
Please watch the vedio of an Iraqi/ jewish lady in Israel pouring the tea in the istikans- special Iraqi tea Cup- the Iraqi way, exactly like my mothers and sisters are now doing in Baghdad. And listen to that flute - the Iraqi Naye -being played by an Iraqi Jew in Israel. They all love to go back and visit their roots in Mesoupotamia. Bilad Al Rafidain. They all drank the waters of Dijla and Furat.
When we were in London Organising the first Iraqi free elections, several Jewish Iraqis came and registered with me/us to vote in my/our Station. We accepted their documents and they had voted.
It should be a simple matter for them to visit Iraq by special permissions from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of both Israeli and Iraqi, until full diplomatic relations are restored after a peace treaty such as that of Egypt and Jordan and Mauretania.
May be Iraq would get the help of Jordan or Egypt to assist these people as individuals to make the pilgrimage to the land of their ancestors which they are still proud of, as we all are.
What suggestions would your readers have please?
WHAT ARE THE METHODS THAT ARE NOT SO EMBARRASSING OR CONTROVERSIAL TO USE FOR THESE PEOPLE TO GET BACK TO THEIR ROOTS AND STOP THEM CRYING AS THIS LADY IN THE VEDIO HAS DONE?
Kind regards
http://
gatewaypundit.blogspot.co...t.html#comments
Barak never used one of words specifically stated in the question, in is answer.
The words in the question were, ignore, negotiate, contain and defeat.
He used confront, what the hell does that mean?
http://www.sotaliraq.com/iraqnew...ws.php?
id=24460
bg | 08.16.08 - 8:57 pm |
Dear O and M
Once again The Iranians are showing their teeth and they are showing how, once America leaves Iraq ( In their dreams?) they will fill the vacuum thus created and occupy Iraq or sorry I may be wrong they will protect their Islamic Neighbour from other Islamic nations who may be eager to win it over.
Now that the Arabs are waking up to this fact, by stopping their support to creating the killings of one Iraqi by another. They have started to accept that Iraq could be OK, and that there would never be a Shiite Crescent so long as Iraq has the Sunnies and the Kurdish and other minorities like the Christians and Yazidis and Mendais and Jewish people within its borders treated equally under the constitution.
It is high time the Arabs showed their support to the Elected Governement of Iraq with no conditions.
I am so happy to hear that the Kuwaitis and Saudis are winning and financing major projects in Iraq - A major drainage schem in Baghdad and the International airport in Najaf, and the UAE Nationals are investing billions of Dollars in the North of Iraq. DEMAC for example.
The Egyptians will soon be there too.
The Jordanians/ Palestinians already are in Place and The Libyans are coming in toe too.
The Bahrainis will be welcome and the rest from the Sultanate of Oman, Qatar and Yemen will be pouring in shortly.
There are billions of dollars worth of projects to be had, and the next budget 2009 will be around $80-100 billions which must be spent within twelve months.
They will miss the boat if they do not get their fingures out now, as the country is starting from Zero and needs everything.
The trade so far with Iran has reached three billions or more and a talk of a free trade Zone on the border is going on as we speak.
The Syrians will soon benefit from the flow of Iraqi Oil through its mediteranian Port of Tartus and allowing goods to be transhipped through its terretory to Iraq, by lorries, trains and cars etc.
SO, which is better for the Arabs, carry on dreaming of another dictatorship in Iraq or trade with Iraq as is and make profits?
Kind regards
Kind regards
http://www.sotaliraq.com/iraqnew...ws.php?
id=24447
Dear O and M
Muqtada Al Sader is at it again. He is inciting his Saddrists killing units to target the Americans on Iraqi Soil, giving complete disregards to Law and Order, International Treaties , UN resolutions and other norms.
For this alone he should be arrested, discredited and put on trial for Treason and for hostilities to the will of the majority of the Iraqi people and their elected Government.
Enough is Enough in treating this young and deluded boy with softly softly, kids gloves lest there will be a backlash from his poor and illiterate supporters.
'Gayfhah' and thus he must be stopped soonest.
The arrest warrant on him back in 2003/4 must be reactivated and let whatever will be will be.
He is getting to be an embarrassment and bringing shame all os us by his confused and brainless behaviour and contradictory statements.
Let the Anaocnda Strategy work faster on his and his followers.
Kind regards
The first forum between the two presumptive presidential candidates, hosted by Rick Warren of Saddleback Church, made the front page of the Washington Post today.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/
wp...8081602322.html
Headlines: “Key Constitutency is at play at Candidates’ Faith Forum” and “Obama, McCain discuss faith at California Forum”
The description is confined mostly to the questions and answers, and it leaves out the question about what political risks the candidates have taken. When McCain was asked that question, the audience (who had already heard the question and Obama’s answer) started chuckling before he could answer.
Translation: McCain won this one at a walk. Don’t read this article. There’s nothing here to see.
Whoops! George Will says “A Race McCain Could Win.”
http://www.washingtonpost.com/
wp...8081503101.html
And, a major miscalculation by the Obama Campaign:
The Obama people believe that McCain has squandered an opportunity to make a positive case for his own election in the many months since he secured the votes for the Republican nomination.
**************
John McCain’s positive case for his own election has been building for decades, and it was on appealing display last night. Those who turned off the TV after Obama’s portion missed something important.
http://iraqalaan.com/bm/Economy/...nomy/
4561.shtml
Dear O and M
Now this is a great news item in my birth place- Babylon'
A new International commercial Airport - the largest in the Middle East - will be built in Babylon by the Saudi Investors AL Issa Company. Also Chemical industries projects, Agricultural products to grow wheat, barly and rape seed, corn and others.
Using modern machinery and methods.
Prince Saud Bin Abdulla Companies will be represented. 10% of the profits from the growing of food will be allocated for the widows and orphans and the disabled in Babel.
God be with you good people. You are most welcome in Iraq. Especially in the Cradle of Civilisation area-Babylon.
Kind regards
http://www.iraqdirectory.com/Dis...Ar.aspx?
id=6698
Dear O and M
The Nato countries should work on this idea above to secure their gas Energy supplies from Iraq via Turkey.
Iraq should forget the Arab Gas pipelines via Syria and sell its Gas directly. Getting involved with the rest of the Arab world in this trade deal is a pain in the neck and time wasting due to the red tape and other political and corrupt deal makings associated with it.
That way any reliance by EU on the Energy supplies from Russia will be unnecessary. Iraq has enough Gas reserves to supply a good percentage of the European Energy needs for many years to come.
In any case it is cheaper from Iraq and very accessible now and can be defended, baring a Nuclear Attack.
What is needed is few far sighted private companies and politicians to help them to build up and invest in the Infra Structure quickly and liquify it or otherwise send it on.
Kind regards
hameed Abid | 08.17.08 - 10:45 am |
Better hyurry. Afghanistan and Pakistan are also options for a pipeline as well as China. Stoopid Russians. Think that they can control the supply by controlling the pipelines? WE will just build new ones they can't control. Of course,that takes time and there is nothing to prevent the Russians from invading another country.
The stain on their military is the price they pay. However it is hard to be angry with the British. They have been our buddies for 200 years, helping each other in every major war. We all have made mistakes in this war, but this is forgivable.
They stood by us and by Iraq even when the political costs were so great.
hameed Abid | 08.17.08 - 6:58 am |
I put this to another Iraqi blogger as well. Who would have thought that Shia Islam in Iraq would be liberated by a bunch of secular Christians and Jews?
The legend is that the Mahdi will return, Jesus Christ at his side, and deliver peace and justice. I say it's an allegory. The Mahdi is democracy, and Jesus represents the Christians that delivered it to the Shia.
hameed Abid | 08.17.08 - 10:10 am |
Hameed,
I keep saying that some smart Iraqi is going to recreate the hanging gardens of Babylon, the tower of Babel, and the Garden of Eden and make enough money through tourism to make the oil sheiks envious.
Iraq is a treasure trove for Biblical tourism. If not equal to, then second only to Israel. If you build it, they will come.
I agree completely, Greg. The Brits are our most steadfast allies. Although we might disagree with the way they handled business in Basra, at the same time we should always remember to look at the bigger picture and appreciate them.
Yeah "Right Wing Rocker", I'm sure that a "wuss" like John McCain, a man who endured 5 1/2 years of unimaginable abuse in a North Vietnamese prison camp without breaking, could probably kick your sniveling little ass with no trouble.
You're an idiot.
Kafir | 08.17.08 - 3:25 pm |
Very soon we should be receiving American tourists in Baghdad and Babylon.
They have reached Erbil via Turkey and posssibly Sharm Al shaikh in Egypt and Jordan via Israel.
I only pray and hope that I will live long enough to be in Baghdad to receive some of you ITM readers on the Tigris River and go on a little boat trip for a River Ride - and land at Abu Now'as Street, where you shall be fed with the Iraqi fish ,selected live from a tub full, and cleaned and prepared, then cooked the Masqoof way on an open fire and washed down with a bubbly or a pint of Diyna Baghdadi brewed Beer or a glass of Iraqi wine brewed by the Iraqi monks up North.
As for these so called religious militias, they can go to hell.
Kind regards
http://www.akhbaar.org/wesima_ar...0817-
52126.html
Dear O and M
Follwing my comment above regarding the Sadrists and Al Mahdi Army to attack the American forces, which are currently on a request to stay on in Iraq, as guests of the elected Iraqi Government and people until it is able to stand on its own two feet,
The above defiant message is dangerous.
I am sure there are Laws in Iraq and clauses to activate the anti terrorism Laws against these irresponsible purchased idiots, however, camoflaged they are with their religious turbans.
The Government must show no mercy with these incitors, otherwise it will be considered to have failed in carrying out its duty to uphold Law and Order.
How can any body give it credibility if it allows such obvious hostile and reckless acts and statements to be declared openly without some legal or punitive maesures or accountability?
To qoute a well known Lady, I am not amused?
Kind regards
hameed Abid | 08.17.08 - 7:47 am
Hameed,
Your post reminds me of something I read at another blog. A soldier attended a graduation of young men who would be Iraqi Army, and the celebration sounded exactly like the Jewish weddings I have attended in the United States. The Jewish people I know are from Europe, the former USSR, mostly.
I'm Catholic, and our traditions are very different, the parallels were very striking, for me. This guy noticed the same things.
Jews celebrate like Muslims.
http://www.sotkurdistan.net/
Dear O and M
For many months I hear of the so called 'The Government of Kurdistan'
What a load of rubbish. How can one have a Government within a Government?
How many countries have recognised it and established diplomatic relations with it?
It may as well declare its independence and stop receiving what is allocated to it from the Iragi budget?
The Iraqi Kurds must really grow up and stop playing like spoilt kids with dreams that are not attainable in this day and age.
They cannot have it bothways. Either they are Iraqis or they are an Independent entity called Kurdistan.
To play on the two ropes as they say in Iraqi, is or could be a dangerous game, others can play it too.
Think about it my dear friends , relatives and countrymen, as I am begining to doubt your sincerety and allegiance to the mother country Iraq whom the Americans and their allies spent Billions and lost thousands of lives to liberate.
Kind regards
I've followed your blog for a long time.
This attack on the British is just an easy target. We stayed over long, and our forces have done plenty in Basra, with very limited resources. British troops on the whole have done a good job, and have tried to help you.
The problems in Iraq, almost ALL come from Iraqi's, or from foreign scum from other Islamic or Arab countries. What am I to say as I watch British soldiers trying to deal with the assholes from the factions?
Your OWN people think its clever to blow up markets full of civilians, to kill and main children, and to commit acts that are sublevel of humanity, and sub civilised behaviour.
We have been fighting this war for years, perhaps the biggest problem here is that people like you think its those soldiers jobs, and not yours. The only guaranteed thing we see is its cheap and easy to Blame the Americans, or in this case the British for the scum bag animal behaviour from every Iraqi street corner.
We went in thinking removing Saddam was the right thing to do. Little did we realise that you'd need a murdering son of a bitch like him to keep all the other murdering slime in line.
To put this bluntly, Before you pitched this stupid attack on the british, did you carefully consider the question. If things got bad in Basra between 2004 and Spring 2008, what the fuck did Iraqi's do in that time. This is not Britain's job. The fact they were left because you people are fucking useless hopeless, and untrustworthy, to do this dirty job. When the medhi army and friends started shit in Basra, you could not find an Iraqi Policemen, or members of the Iraqi army anywhere. Oh, except when they fired on their friends of course.
British soldiers have learned to their cost that they are as likely to be shot in the Back by Iraqi Police as they are by Sadr's cretinous fools.
And you mock us for being 'untrustworthy'.
We stayed too long, but LONG enough for you to sort your own house in order, something you still fail to do.
Iraq has cost many Allied soldiers lives, and attacks on them mean they need to come home now. If all you want to do is kill one another and skulk round in the shadows pits below the level of humanity, so be it.
If you good people are going to start waving your forked tongue in our direction, then I agree with you, by all means, send our young brave boys home, because you are not worth one more British Soldiers life.
Hameed: "I only pray and hope that I will live long enough to be in Baghdad to receive some of you ITM readers on the Tigris River"
==================
I hope you will count me in, Hameed. I would love to tour the Cradle of Civilization.
Louise and Hameed,
HEY...
I had the idea of turning
the"PALACES" INTO A
"BED AND BREAKFEST"...
Years ago...
could be haunting....
and yet excitng that the
Insane Man is gone....
And respect to ALL the troops
OT;
someone at Hot Air was musing, wondering about what the art genre was that characterizes Obobblehead's ads and websites, and a commenter called "coldwarrior" nailed it: Socialist Realism". (Remember the noble worker, wrench in hand, gazing out into the distant sunrise?)
Greg;
200 years is a bit of a stretch; remember the war of 1812-14?
DS | 08.17.08 - 9:15 pm |
biting the hand that feeds you.. another human flaw.. i understand how you feel, as America has long suffered from the "damned if it does; damned if it doesn't" reactionary syndrome.. *sigh*
==
hameed Abid | 08.17.08 - 6:58 am |
via GP
3 Million Shiites Mark Pilgrimage In Karbala
==
OT:
Amazing, but Merkel has just given Putin the Big Finger, wants Georgia in NATO ASAP.
From about 11 months ago, and very much worth the reread, Kagan's Return of History. E.g.:
The current order, of course, is not only far from perfect but also offers no guarantee against major conflict among the world ’s great powers. Even under the umbrella of unipolarity, regional conflicts involving the large powers may erupt. War could erupt between China and Taiwan and draw in both the United States and Japan. War could erupt between Russia and Georgia, forcing the United States and its European allies to decide whether to intervene or suffer the consequences of a Russian victory.
DS | 08.17.08 - 9:15 pm |
Dear Sir
Well said. This summed up what I as an Iraqi living in Great Britain have been saying and writing about.
It is such a pity some individuals have not seen to it that you are - The British and American and other Coalitions Forces, thanked and honoured and indeed treated with the respect you justly deserve.
Please read what I wrote nearly three years ago on 28/08/2005.
http://amillionthanks.vox.com/li...igh-
school.html
It is still applicable today, if not more so.
Please do not lose heart, we the 'silent majority' of Iraqis appreciate what your sacrfices and money and what you have done for our freedom and dignity and for the Law and Order and tthe training you have given us.
Please look at it as investment.
As for some ignorant folks, please do not waste your ink and time on them. They are a waste of space.
Ignorent is a bliss for them, and let them wallow in it.
There should be an official statement from one of our elected leaders to put this unhappy episode to bed, once and for all.
Forget the political correctness and come out with it openly. The majority of Iraqis are thankful and grateful to the USA/UK and their Coaltion partners for helping them get rid of Saddam's dictatorship Regime and getting a constitution voted for by the majority.
The majority of the Iraqis are grateful for their liberation and their representatives ( if indeed they are representing the people) should state it for the whole world to read and hear, as I have been doing personally without prompting or being paid for it.
Just stating the obvious and being fair and very grateful.
Sir, thank you for your contribution on this blog.
Kind regards
08.17.08 andrea/minnesota | 08.17.08 - 11:16 pm - 9:52 pm | Louise |
Dear Louise and Andrea
You are most welcome.
We will organise a scheduled tour once we know what everyone wants to
see.
I will talk to some people in London at the week End, as we are holding our First Cultural Festival between 23-25th August In Ealing - London W7 1JJ. with The Iraqi Minister of Education Dr. Maher Dally Ibrahim.
The agenda will contain:-
Plays and Films
Fashion shows showing folkloric cloths and garments wear.
Poetry Reading by selected poets
Iraqi Maqamat- songs and music and Dance by Al Chalghi Al Baghdadi Group.
If anyone can make it please be our guest. Just call me.
Kind regards
Sweeping for bombs isn’t easy.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/
wp...8081702580.html
***************
Bless ‘em.
Brian H | Homepage | 08.17.08 - 11:59 pm
Yes. That art style from the Obama campaign is very recognizable to me, only I thought of it as "Russian memorial overkill." The guy's a Red Diaper baby from the Smash Monogamy era. What's so lurid about the whole thing is that the Obama Campaign doesn't seem to recognize how radical it really looks and sounds.
I think their entire strategy is to scoop up first-time voters. If so, the proper strategy is an extended history lesson from now until November.
hey have been our buddies for 200 years, helping each other in every major war.
When they wern't burning down the White House (1812, IIRC. Or 1814)
The British have their own interests. One of their interests is in keeping the Russians on the other side of the Channel. Thwy really aren't strone enough to do that, so they try to stay allies with the USA, which IS strong enough to do anything it wants with Russia. Including folding them and opening them up like a breech loader.
The Brits (professional FSO's and higher government bureaucrats ) see America as the unlitamte big brother. As long as they can keep the USA interested in Englands's survival, England will survive.
So the Brits had no direct interests in Iraq. They were there because the English can read a spreadsheet as well as anyone. The USA is gradually shifting it's interest (attention, focus, whatever) from Europe to the Pacific Rim. Anyway you want to measure it, the Percentage of US assets, tourists, trade, etc. goung west is going up, while that gong east is going down. Europe is still ahead in most cases, but a trend is a trend.
The Brits have been at this a long time, so they understand trends.
So while England doesn't have an interest in Iraq, they do have an interest in America, which means so long as America thinks it has an interest in Iraq, England will be there too. The English think that the job in Iraq is about as done as it will get. I agree.
By the time the next President does the oath thingie, we should be down to uder 10,000 troops in Iraq. The Iraqi Army is in better shape now then when it fough off Iran in the 80's. Iran is in worse shape then when it fought off Iraq in the 80's so keeping US troops in Iraq makes no sense. Especially now that Putin is doing his Hitler act and US troops will be needed to keep the Soviets, errr....Russians out of Poland, Unrainke, the Baltic states, etc.
WE are about 2 to 3 years away from WW5. Because the cowards in the White House won't fight a small war in Georgia, America will fight a world wide war that starts in Europe (surprise!).Instead of 10 to 50 thousand dead, it will be 40 to 800 million dead.
hameed Abid | 08.17.08 - 6:57 pm |
Hameed,
I know that many (most?) Kurds harbor a desire to have an independent homeland. I also know that about two seconds after they declared their independence, they would be invaded by Turkey and I'm pretty sure a lot of Kurds understand that as well. I don't think the Kurds are that stupid.
The Iraqi constitution does provide for regional governments. Several provinces can join together under one banner but still be part of Iraq. It is my understanding that is what has happened with Suleimaniyah, Erbil, and Dohuk. This is what I think of when I hear "the government of Kurdistan."
The U.S. went through a lot of gyrations trying to determine where the line was between the federal and the state government, not the least of which was the US Civil War. I imagine Iraq will have to endure similar tumult (but hopefully not war) in order to draw those lines themselves.
I've always said that having a Kurdish regional government in Iraq is the closest thing the Kurds are going to get to a homeland for the next two hundred years.
I think they should quietly start bringing Kurds in from Turkey, Iran, and Syria. Then, when the ME is a peaceful as Europe, declare their independence if it suits them at that time.
via GP
Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf Resigns! (Video)
excerpt:
[Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf, facing impeachment
by parliament, has announced that he is resigning.
In a national televised address he said he was confident the charges against him would not stand, but this was not the
time for more confrontation.
The charges against the president include violation of the constitution and gross misconduct.
He has been one of the United States' strongest allies in its war against Islamist extremism.
His political rivals swept to power last February in national and provincial elections after months of political confrontation and worsening militant violence.]
i fully expect Islamists to not only be celebrating (along with the Dhimmicrats), but the ramping up of the Muslim Brotherhood/AQ global agenda.. 
==
hameed Abid | 08.17.08 - 6:16 pm |
"I only pray and hope that I will live long enough to be in Baghdad to receive some of you ITM readers on the Tigris River and go on a little boat trip for a River Ride"
Count me in as well!
I too pray for the time when we can all celebrate and look to the future of such a great and proud country that has been freed from tyranny.
I have visited the streets of Berlin, and danced across the former wall. And soon I will be dancing with Iraqi's celebrating their new found Freedom.
-
MNF
Kirkuk Police Academy Training Females in Northeastern Iraq
[“We need these females badly,” Lt. Col. Muid, a cadre at the academy said. “It is our religious custom not to touch our women, so we cannot search females. Our female IPs will be extremely important to use at checkpoints and government buildings throughout the province.”
The cadre pointed out that they would also be bringing a different perspective to policing.
“Women think differently than men,” he said. “They will bring fresh ideas to how we conduct business.”]
gentlemen, i'm impressed!!
you go ladies!!
==
Iraqi Freedom Minute [videos]
Freedom Journal Iraq [videos]
==
there they go again..
they = radical Islamists
==
Debka reported earlier, and foxnews just confirmed the Russians have placed short range missiles in South Ossetia ...
Medvedev: "Aggression" against Russian citizens will meet crushing response
DEBKAfile Special Report
August 18, 2008, 2:19 PM (GMT+02:00)
With no sign of a Russian military withdrawal from Georgia, Monday, Aug. 18, Russian president Dimitry Medvedev said, “Further aggression against Russian citizens will have a crushing response.”
The pro-Moscow South Ossetian president Eduard Kokoity asked for a permanent Russian base in the breakaway province – not international observers - fired his government and declared an emergency. Medvedev’s promise to French president Nicolas Sarkozy Sunday to begin pulling Russian troops back midday Monday did not specify where the new lines would run or whether the reinforcements dispatched after the Georgian invasion of Tskhinvali of Aug 7 were included.
The ceasefire agreement which both signed mandates Russian withdrawal to “pre-conflict positions.” Moscow insists on “additional security arrangements” for its pullout, a clause embodied in the ceasefire accord.
Western pressure building up on Moscow to honor the ceasefire agreement found Russian troops in control of the towns of Gori north of Tbilisi and Senako to the West – both inside Georgia proper. They have since thrown up checkpoints on the Gori-Tbilisi road. Attempts by United Nations Security Council members to secure endorsement of the French-mediated ceasefire were stalled by disagreement over the status of the breakaway enclaves of South Ossetia and Abkhazia, both of which were invaded by Russia after the conflict flared.
DEBKAfile reported earlier that the Russian forces had created two “security strips” on the Georgian side of the two enclaves’ borders ahead of the ceasefire agreement.
US officials told the New York Times that Russia had also moved SS-21 missile launchers to a point near Tskhinvali, putting them within range of the Georgian capital, Tbilisi. US secretary of state Condoleezza Rice is due in Brussels for NATO crisis talks Monday after harshly condemning Moscow’s behavior.
Russia considers nuclear missiles for Syria, Mediterranean, Baltic
DEBKAfile Special Report
August 17, 2008, 9:25 AM (GMT+02:00)
Russia's nuclear-capable Iskandar missile
DEBKAfile's military sources report Moscow's planned retaliation for America's missile interceptors in Poland and US-Israeli military aid to Georgia may come in the form of installing Iskandar surface missiles in Syria and its Baltic enclave of Kaliningrad.
Russian Baltic and Middle East warships, submarines and long-range bombers may be armed with nuclear warheads, according to Sunday newspapers in Europe.
In Georgia, Russian troops and tanks advanced to within 30 km of Tbilisi Saturday, Aug. 15. A Russian general said Sunday they had started pulling out after president Dimitry Medvedev signed the ceasefire agreement with Georgia and president George W. Bush called again for an immediate withdrawal.
After routing Georgia over the breakaway enclaves of South Ossetia and Abkhazia, Moscow appears to be eying Poland, the Middle East, and possibly Ukraine, as the main arenas for its reprisals.
One plan on the table in Moscow, DEBKAfile's sources report, is the establishment of big Russian military, naval and air bases in Syria and the release of advanced weapons systems withheld until now to Iran (the S-300 air-missile defense system) and Syria (the nuclear-capable 200 km-range Iskandar surface missile).
Shortly before the Georgian conflict flared, Moscow promised Washington not to let Iran and Syria have these sophisticated pieces of hardware.
The Iskander's cruise attributes make its launch and trajectory extremely hard to detect and intercept. If this missile reaches Syria, Israel will have to revamp its anti-missile defense array and Air Force assault plans for the third time in two years, as it constitutes a threat which transcends all its defensive red lines.
Moscow's war planners know this and are therefore considering new sea and air bases in Syria as sites for the Iskander missiles. Russia would thus keep the missiles under its hand and make sure they were not transferred to Iran. At the same time, Syrian crews would be trained in their operation.
DEBKAfile's military sources report Syrian president Bashar Assad will be invited to Moscow soon to finalize these plans in detail.
Military spokesmen in Moscow said Saturday and Sunday that Russian military planners to started redesigning the nation’s strategic plans for a fitting response to America's decision to install 10 missile interceptors in Poland and the war developments in Georgia.
The chairman of the Israeli Knesset foreign affairs and defense committee, Tzahi Hanegbi, spoke out strongly Sunday, Aug. 17, against treasury plans to slash the defense budget. He warned that the military faced grave confrontations in the coming year - possibly on several fronts.
As I look at this whole mess in Georgia, I can't help but wonder if this hasn't been an attempt by Russia to distract the west from dealing with Iran. Don't get me wrong, it serves Russian strategic interests to exert influence on its borders. But their response has been way over the top.
WOW!
http://memri.org/bin/articles.cg...=sd&
ID=SP202608
In his August 4, 2008 column in the liberal Arab e-journal Elaph, Saudi columnist Saleh Al-Rashed argued that the Gulf states should urge the West to attack Iran before it acquires nuclear weapons.
Following are excerpts from the column:
A Nuclear Iran is Like a Nuclear Bin Laden
"'One cannot avoid the inevitable' - this adage came to mind when I read the pronouncement by Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps commander Mohammad 'Ali Ja'fari, who said: 'My country is easily capable of closing the Straits of Hormuz, the main passageway for oil freighters, if the country is attacked due to its nuclear program.'
"In my estimation, confronting this country, which is trying to gain the time necessary to acquire nuclear weapons, is unavoidable. The possession of nuclear weapons by a state like Iran, which is ideological to the core, is more or less like Osama bin Laden having a nuclear bomb. They are two of a kind. Despite the difference in their turbans and in their religious beliefs, the end result is the same."
Ricky bin Ricardo | 08.18.08 - 3:43 pm
===========================
I'm sure Iran factored into it, but just how, I don't know. Whether Putin wanted to divert attention away from Iran or whether he thought nobody would notice because all eyes were on Iran, I really can't say. I just hope someone is still fixing to deal with the Mad Mullahs.
That "anonymous" was me. I forgot to put my name and stuff in the comment thingy. I'm at work. (Shame on me.)
Georgians solicit donations for Russia--
http://russiangeorgianwar.blogsp...-to-
russia.html
so they won't need to pillage.
via GP
Russian Tanks Bust Through Police Car
Barricade In Georgian Village (Video)
==
Valerie | 08.18.08 - 4:52 pm |
WoW is right!!
and i thought i was happy hearing about this..
==
OT..
Dhimmis dream for America coming to fruition,
well for one of their staunch allies at any rate..
Venezuela to nationalize Cemex unit
[Chavez on Monday said Venezuela would soon take
over Bank of Venezuela "for the good of the people."
"The government will not stop, now or ever,"
Chavez said of his socialist agenda.
"While I'm in power, with your help and God's, Venezuela will march down the road of equality, social justice and socialism."]
==
OT.. ht Nahanni via GP
Question:
are the Democrat Party and their
presidential candidate "patriotic"??
Answer:
beyond a shadow of a doubt NO!!
==
C. Jordan | 08.18.08 - 12:01 pm |
You too are most welcome in Baghdad.
For some of you may be a trip to Iraq combined by a visit to The Holy Land via Jordan's Petra and the Pyramids in Egypt too.
We will be working on it. Watch the Space.
Kind regards
http://www.akhbaar.org/wesima_ar...0819-
52194.html
Dear O and M
There are hundreds of Iraqi Doctors returning home due to the improved Salaries and Security conditions.
This one is operating on an Iraqi bomb victim at Al Kindi Hospital. Baghdad.
My Advice to the Iraqi Authorities is to offer the same incentives to the Iraqis such as ;- The Urban Planners , Architects , Landscape Architects, Interior Designers, and Structural, Civil Engineers, Electrical Engineers and Mechanical Engineers and Public Health Engineers , and Fire Fighting Planning Experts and Access Consultants- Institute a new Law to be called -Disability Discrimination Act- or as DDAas in the USA- to help the disabled and the infirm, use the new and old buildings, and Town Planners and Quantity Surveyors, Land Surveyors and Project Managers as soon as possible.
These are now spread and disbersed everywhere in the World and wish to come home to rebuild it.
They must be encouraged to get back and the initiative must come from the Government through each respective Minister, by securing their safe arrivals proving with safe houses even if temporary, and ensure their safe movements initially along with their wives and children. Provide school fees for their kids to go to private schools or remain where they are for now and be paid for by the government.
Setting up another toothless Committee from civil servant's mentality individuals, to trade in useless debates is no use. You will be only creating more red tape and obstacles and further delays. Tommorw may too late.
Get the private sector to seek them, organise them and use one or two of those private sector Project Managers to get them home, with their heads raised high.
The brief to these private companies must be short and succinct and clear-such as;-
'Get these qualified people back home within a specific time (say three/six months) or else no fees will be paid. And the contracts are cancelled.
Hope some one sensible and loves Iraq is reading this post and heeding this sincere advice.
Kind regards
http://iraqalaan.com/bm/Close-up...e-up/
4698.shtml
Dear O and M
This article about a day at the lives of the women of the Arab Marshes.South of Iraq. See How they work hard and listen to this:- they collect the products of their animals, dry it by the open sun rays and create ( Muttal) and use it in the fire to cook with.
RECYLING at its best. It has been going on for more than five thousands years.
Note too how they use the Burdy from the plants to make 'Kharit' special wholesome meal to eat.
Saddam drained and dried up these Marches.
Thank you Canada for reviving these Marshes along with the others.
Kind regards
http://iraqalaan.com/bm/Economy/...nomy/
4610.shtml
Dear O and m
The Electricity has now reached parts the Marshes for the first time ever.
Man landed on the Moon and equipments controlled by him reached Mars, and some parts in Iraq- the third wealthiest reserve Oil country in the world live in these awful backward and primitive conditions.
Clearly there is plenty to do by the elected and non-elected Iraqis and their newly found genuine friends.
Kind regards
OT:
I have a great idea for a YouTube video poking fun at Obama. I think I have the skills and the tools, but I’ve never done it before and would like it to be of good quality. If anyone here has experience with this sort of thing and would like to collaborate on it, please give me a way to contact you.
Thanks.
The bar isn't that high;
http://www.youtube.com/watch?
v=h...feature=related
This is amusing, sort of, at least it is short;
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V...h?
v=VIWZwZysy8I
This might be the pick of the litter;
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e...h?
v=eJGHQA0aizQ
Heh, kafir I think he's doing that well on his own...
"McCain Will Be The Next POTUS"
http://www.smalldeadanimals.com/
...0.html#comments
Even needed the announcer to help him finish his meandering blubbering.
Just recall the polls during the last election; they had the lurch as a shoo in.
heh!
OT.. update re: bg | 08.19.08 - 1:56 am |
via GP
as regs would note.. i have often noted correlations between our
external enemies (Islamists) & the enemy from w/in (namely the
Democratic Party), and albeit unassuredly, have even stated the
enemy from w/in may be more of a danger to US.. sadly, i am now assured they most certainly are..
Obama's Invesco Tickets Picture Upside Down US Flags
they not only echo & embolden our global enemies, but
afford them moral support via their despicable actions..
to the Obama's & Democratic Party..
i am deeply disturbed by the fact that so many in past & present wars have given of their lives & limbs to afford you & others the freedoms you so take for granted..
you should be as deeply ashamed to
call yourselves 'American' as i am..
America is winning the hearts & minds of the oppressed..
Democrats have won the hearts & minds of their oppressors..
God Bless America..
God Bless Soldiers everywhere for putting THEIR
lives on the line to protect us ALL from terrorism!
==
minor correction re: bg | 08.19.08 - 12:08 pm |
you should be as deeply ashamed to call
yourselves 'American' as i am of you..
==
OT.. re: typos_R_us | 08.19.08 - 10:32 am |
..and the winner is..
==
via GP
Iraq Gets Automated
excerpt:
[Haider Ajina:
The installation and spreading of ATM machines in Baghdad is a testament to the security situation in the Capital. I find it hard to believe that any one would risk installing ATM machines let alone use them if security around them is suspect. Even on the streets of small town USA we are cautious about getting cash from an ATM machine. Iraqis in Baghdad are feeling secure enough to walk up to a machine and withdraw cash in a public place. This is just another piece of evidence that the surge (operation Rule of law to Iraqis) was and is successful beyond many expectations.]
==
via MNF
Leaders in Tarmiyah Reaffirm Their
Stand Against Extremists, Militants
excerpt:
[Sheiks, local government officials and Iraqi Security Forces from the Tarmiyah area banded together to publicly reaffirm their stance against al-Qaida in Iraq at the Bukhari Hall in Tarmiyah, Aug. 14.
[snip]
“Al-Qaida has tried to terrorize the population and make them cower with these attacks invoking their grip of fear on them,” said Lt. Col. Thomas Boccardi, 2nd Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 25th Infantry Division. “Tragedy results in two types of responses: it either galvanizes people, or it makes them cower. This attack had a galvanizing effect.”
[snip]
“This oath will show the media savvy al-Qieda operatives a crystal clear picture that there is no terrorist sanctuary in Tarmiyah, and the people will not bend to terrorists any longer,” said Boccardi. “The significance of this event was the reaffirmation of the locals to stand up against terrorism. Senior leaders of tribes, local governments and Iraqi security forces all stood up and said: ‘We will not fear, and we’ll stand up against al-Qaida.’”
[snip]
The message put out by the leaders of Tarmiyah is a lasting one in that it was broadcast nationwide so their fellow countrymen could bear witness to their stand against the terrorists.]
Godspeed Iraq/is!!
==
via MNF
Leaders in Tarmiyah Reaffirm Their
Stand Against Extremists, Militants
excerpt:
[Sheiks, local government officials and Iraqi Security Forces from the Tarmiyah area banded together to publicly reaffirm their stance against al-Qaida in Iraq at the Bukhari Hall in Tarmiyah, Aug. 14.
[snip]
“Al-Qaida has tried to terrorize the population and make them cower with these attacks invoking their grip of fear on them,” said Lt. Col. Thomas Boccardi, 2nd Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 25th Infantry Division. “Tragedy results in two types of responses: it either galvanizes people, or it makes them cower. This attack had a galvanizing effect.”
[snip]
“The people of Tarmiyah, after four years of torture, kidnappings and public slaughters, just really want to live out their lives in peace,” said Otu, an Arabic interpreter for Coaliton forces. “They can’t tolerate terrorist activity anymore and face the risk of publicly condemning al-Qaida.”
[snip]
“This oath will show the media savvy al-Qieda operatives a crystal clear picture that there is no terrorist sanctuary in Tarmiyah, and the people will not bend to terrorists any longer,” said Boccardi. “The significance of this event was the reaffirmation of the locals to stand up against terrorism. Senior leaders of tribes, local governments and Iraqi security forces all stood up and said: ‘We will not fear, and we’ll stand up against al-Qaida.’”
[snip]
“It took some time to remove the stigma of our presence,” said Boccardi, “We had to [win] the hearts and minds of the people and help them understand that their “muqawama” [the good fight, or resistance] was fighting against terrorism as opposed to fighting Coalition forces.”
[snip]
The message put out by the leaders of Tarmiyah is a lasting one in that it was broadcast nationwide so their fellow countrymen could bear witness to their stand against the terrorists.]
Godspeed Iraq/is!!
==
Dear O and M
Iran has not stopped meddling in Iraqi Affairs.
Al Mahdi Army and its death squads supported by Iran's Al Quds Brigade has killed many innocent people. both Shiites, Sunnys, christains and Mendais and Yazidies and possibly even Jews.etc.
It is high time , not only to isolate Syria by a high wall to copy that Of Israel's, but to build a wall alongside the Iranian Border too.
The sooner the better.
Use all the Electronic Gadgets available for early warnings systems and CCTV with helicopters with infra red lights for night vision detections etc.
The isolation of Iraq from both of these two unfriendly and 'axis of evil' countries physically will be worth every fils, penny, cent or dime.
If only 10 lives are saved then it is worth it.
Iraq should seriously consider this practical suggestion without procrastinations or further delays.
No security could be achieved one hundred per cent, but this will surely help.
Each Province should contribute to its cost relative to the length at their area, from its real or supplementary budget or be financed from the Fedral Budget.
The design is very simple:- Concrete tee beams one meter wide and the walls 400mm at the bottom narrowing to 150 mm at the top.
Perhaps with Moats 5000mm wide and 4000 deep on both sides or some other method of construction.
Kind regards
http://edition.cnn.com/2008/WORL...sque/
index.html
Dear O and M
The above in English is the work of the Criminals the Mahdi Army. Using a Mosque for killing and torturing and probabaly raping innocent people.
For this alone Muqtada Al Sader and any of his supporters should be put on a trial for Genocide and crimes against humanity and should be hanged after a trial.
He should be extradited from Iran and brought back to Baghdad to stand trial.
The more I learn about this idiotic criminal the more I feel disgusted and angry at the lack of resolve of the Government and the Judiciary not to deal with him approbpriately like any other criminal.
Why is it that God is so forgiving to him and hard on the rest of the population?
This is not politics, its crimes against Iraqi men and women, that we are talking about.
What do your ITM readers think please?
Kind regards
Hameed Abid | 08.19.08 - 8:04 pm |
He is the last living direct descendant of the Prophet Mohammed.
He is also as evil as evil gets, which just shows that blood wills out.
Right now Iran is doing the correct thing with Mookie. They are holding him hostage and controlling his minions thru him.
America should have thought of that first.
The problem with killing him is that if it turns out to be a mistake, you cannot unkill him.
At this moment, he is not a serious treat, not even a major nuisance. He has the potential to become both a nuisance and a threat, so we keep an eye on him.
He also has the potential to be a major asset. So we keep an eye on him.
While the USA COULD fight the rest of the world, it would be stupid to do so. It's better to gather allies and fight our enemies one at a time. Our enemies know this as well and will not make it easy, although Iran might not care.
"I won't take my religion from any man who never works except with his mouth."
Carl Sandburg
US biographer & poet (1878 - 1967)
What do your ITM readers think please?
Hameed Abid | 08.19.08 - 8:04 pm |
Hameed, you should know by now that everyone
of us want him as dead as anyone else by now..
there's absolutely no difference between
Saddam & Sadr.. one down, one to go..
==
via GP
"resolved to pursue the fight against
terrorism, for democracy and liberty"
[watch/listen to entire video]
Viva La France!!
==
Hameed Abid | 08.19.08 - 8:04 pm |
excerpt:
[The horrific scene at this southwestern Baghdad mosque is what officials say was the work of a Shiite militia known as the Mehdi Army. Residents who live near the mosque say they could hear the victims' screams.]
via Iraqi Mojo
Sadr's Ministry..
==
..and the winner is..
==
bg | 08.19.08 - 12:56 pm //
-----------
Canada to David Cholesterol: "All moved to Canada"? No, thanks. Our Conservative government is doing just fine, thanks. Try Venezuela, though; I hear it's recruiting for its citizen army.
Hameed Abid | 08.19.08 - 6:50 am
Clearly there is plenty to do by the elected and non-elected Iraqis and their newly found genuine friends.
Kind regards
Hameed Abid | 08.19.08 - 7:00 am | #
I know through my Iraqi friends in Canada that there was an Initiative to revive the Arab Marshes with Canadian Money and expertise.
http://www.sotaliraq.com/iraqnew...ws.php?
id=24670
If you read this news item ( out today) you will see there was A committee ( another one who designed a horse and turned out to be Camel?) has been formed in the Basrah Province for months. This committee has just began looking at the training of the Marshes' women ( 20 Nos.) to teach them Health Hygene, the Environement, Sewing, Weaving and other handicrafts , from several of the Marshes areas. What about teaching them how to read and write and add and subtract, or perhaps Computer skills as icing on the Cake?
Glad to see some movements in this direction. But please tell me why they were asleep all of this time? And the poor ladies were left to suffer?
They should be ashamed of themselves, however, one supposes, better late than never.
Kind regards
The Washington Post keeps saying Russia’s intentions aren’t “clear.” The Wall Street Journal says otherwise.
http://online.wsj.com/article/
SB...0258855111.html
America must choose Between Georgia and Russia
By SERGEY LAVROV
August 20, 2008
Mr. Lavrov is the foreign minister of the Russian Federation.
**************
It doesn’t get any clearer than this.
Hameed Abid | 08.19.08 - 8:04 pm |
Hameed,
Here's what I think: I think the Anbar Awakening was a result of AQ's cruelty and barbarism. While there's also a similar awakening among Shiites to the militias, I still think they have a lot of sympathizers. Therefore, this sort of thing needs to go on a little longer until Iraq's Shia fully wake up and truly understand the evil that is in their midst.
When this happens, it will be like getting two birds with one stone. Not only will the Shia militias (including the Badr brigades) find themselves on the outside of Shia society, Iranians coming across the border will find no safe haven among the Shia either.
typos_R_us | 08.19.08 - 8:22 pm
bg | 08.19.08 - 9:25 pm
Dear Typos and Bg.
Thank you for your comments.
What I am alluding to is to apply the Law on him equally as to the others.
Let his trial be open and transparent so that his followers can hear and see what he has to say for himself and how he justifies his or his followers criminal actions.
His arguement would be to fight the occupiers?
Please tell me who these occupiers are?
The Coalition Forces, had a fight in an open war with Saddam's Regime and won.
Saddam and his army were defeated.
They are here in Iraq at the request of the Iraqi elected Government via the United Nations.
I tell you all of these brave and dedicated soldiers would rather be amongst their loved ones in the States or Europe or elsewhere.
As Much as I love Iraq it is not the Seychelles or the Lake Districts in England. It is hot, hostile and dangerous. its majority of its people are friednly and different, and poor.
I visited the USA and it is far better than Iraq. Safe, secure, rich and dynamic and what is more freer, for now at least.
So, for the enlisted men and women they would rather be back home.
As for Mooky being used by Iran, it is just as well. Birds of the feather stick together.
They deserve each other.
Do not worry The USA is not losing much when they could not steer him to their way of thinking. He would have been a liability, as he has turned out to be for our PM and Sistani. he is a loose Canon.
Killing him would probably make him a myrter, but putting him on an open trial, by the UN criminal Court of justice in the Hague, perhaps even with Karadzic is a real possibility.
Has anyone thought of that?
It will really be neat.
Kind regards
Hameed Abid | 08.19.08 - 8:04 pm |
Hameed,
I'm all for the wall. God knows we need one right here in the USA. However, like I said in my last post, you've also got to take care of the Iran's Iraqi collaborators.
As long as the Shia hold any kind of allegiance to Iran, the wall's effect will be minimal.
http://www.sotaliraq.com/iraqnew...ws.php?
id=24669
Dear O and M
Now this is something to be really proud of. The Minister of Labour and Social Affairs ordering the speedy implemnetation of teaching and training the Iraqi blind people how to use the Computer and the Internet.
GREAT Sir, well done. and a big THANK you.
Kind regards
Hameed, I could go with the Jail part, as long as it's not a Turkish jail. Mookie would have too much fun there.
"Many that live deserve death. And some die that deserve life. Can you give it to them? Then be not too eager to deal out death in the name of justice, fearing for your own safety. Even the wise cannot see all ends."
J. R. R. Tolkien, The Lord Of the Rings, Book Four, Chapter One
British scholar & fantasy novelist (1892 - 1973)
Truth about South Ossetia Wars
http://www.nebog.com/truthaboutwar.htm
Fox News: 12 Year Old Girl Tells the Truth about war Georgia - Video Censorship For the Americans
The answer Condoleeza Rice! - Video
Truth about South Ossetia War - Video
Saakashvili's crimes in S. Ossetia
As made a video in Gori-Georgia
Kafir | 08.20.08 - 8:04 am |
Thank you for your thoughts. I agree.
Yesterday I had an Iraqi from Basrah in my house for a cup of tea.
We discussed his family and tribe and their thoughts about the recent attacks on the Lawless Jaysh Al Mahdi - jaysh means Army in Arabic. by the Iraqi Army supported by the British- SAS and the Americans marines imbeded within.
He was in Basrah about six months ago at the height of the operations there. His brothers and Cousins who accompanied him everywhere told him that if they- The Iraqis Military could kill 200 of these Mehdi Army pigs, the rest the shoeless cowards will flee and seek shelter in Iran or other safe houses in the rest of the country.
He said and sure enough, there were around 250 of them killed and the rest took flight and ran away like all the cowards do when there is a danger.
He said although, it is not yet fully cleaned up from these criminals, the situation in Basrah is good now.
The Shiites in Baghdad and many in London, USA and EU have made it clear to me on many Occasions that Al Saderists, who were empowered by their gun totting Mahdi Army's behaviours, killing on names and sects. or ability to pay dollars, and terror tactics and intimidatons of the ordinary citizens have lost their credibility with their traditional supporters due to their greed and unlawful killings and rapings of the frightened populations. Almost exactly like Al Qaeda's fate in Anbar. They were cruel and heartless beasts inspired by their aggresive and hateful misguided leader Mooky and his henchmen.
All of that had happened before the Bush administration sent their surge.
Now the majority of the Shiites have realised who their boy is , simply an instrument of desent in the hands of the Mullas of Qom. A hired hand with ruthless streaks and an embittered loser. Za'atoot. who was according to his own mother speaking to a mother of one of my friends, who went to pay respect when his father was murdered, brainless- Mukhabbal- in Iraqi slang. Deranged.
Let us hope that the PM and the Independent legal system will deal with him and his remaining windbags, using the full weight of the Law. And get rid of those who incite hatred and have complete disregards to any civilised and honourable, dignified behaviours and the Arab and Kurdish hospitality in treating the invited guests- The Colaition forces in Iraq in this case- with the respect and compassion they all deserve.
kind regards
Sergey | Homepage | 08.20.08 - 10:49 am |
Here in the States there was a TV show about a Police dective. He had a saying he would use with witnesses that offered him the 'truth'. "Ma'm, I just want the facts and nothing but the facts."
You see his job was to figure out the 'truth'.
The facts are that what Georgia was doing in S. Ossetia was NO DIFFERENT from what Russia was doing in Chechnka. Not in the slightest.
The facts are that it was S. Ossetia militia that started the whole thing by murdering a truck full of Georgian troops.
The facts are that the Russian army was training for their invasion in July, which is also when the cyber attacks on Georgia by Russian hackers started ( although I suspect you already know that).
With all these facts in hand it is easy to develop a 'truth ' that runs like this;
Russia is scared and think that by taking back the former Soviet slave states, they can make themselves safe. So the first step is to pick a small weak nation and invade it, thinking that this will create fear in all the other former Soviet slave states.
So they manufactured an 'incident' that was timed to take advantage of the attention on the Olympics.
Georgia was chosen because it had a small weak military and was a strategic objective because of the pipeline. There also is the fact that logistics favor the Russians in Georgia, so long as NATO stays out.
The whole plan will backfire on Russia big time. Russia has a 2nd rate military. It's enough to over run a 3rd rate military, but it doesn't scare a real military.
So no fear factor there, which means other then cutting the pipeline, Russia has made their strategic position worse. Much worse. Russia has shown it is a nulketeny ( sp?) nation, barbarians and not to be trusted. The G8 will be G7 again soon. I'm hoping that The UNSC seat will be taken from Russia. After all, by invading Georgia, Russia is in breach of the UN Charter, which means they no longer are a member of the UN, by international law.
Once a treaty is breached, it has to be re-done, if the other parties want to. I'm sure India would love to have that seat. Or Japan, or Brazil.
America could pull all it's technicians from the Siberian OIL fields, wich will cut production by about 5% immediately and 25 % over the next decade.
Yes, Decade. The Moroons in the Kremlin think that next week the west will forget all about Georgia. We won't.
I'm, trying to get EVERY poster on the internet to add these two things as a tag line;
There still there? 12 days now.
As the count of days mounts, who 'they' is will become something every human on this planet knows. So much for Russian 'glory and prestige' when 4 BILLION humans think of Russian as another way of saying barbarians and fools. Russia will become the laughing stock of humanity.
Hameed Abid | 08.20.08 - 7:36 am |
Hameed.. i have been posted article's re: the Marshlands progress for the past few years.. so i don't understand the 'better late than never' comment.. here's a few more random sample's..
Water returns to Iraqi marshlands [05]
USAID: Marshlands [07/08]
UNEP's Iraqi Marshlands Project [07]
(ps: seems many of links that used to be readily available via the
net seem to have either been moved elsewhere or deleted from net.. gah!!)
==
Head's up, Omar & Mo! Look what I just found; http://www.iraqthemodel.com/
It doesn't look like it's from you guys, but if it's not, someone is stealing your thunder!
What I am alluding to is to apply the
Law on him equally as to the others.
Hameed Abid | 08.20.08 - 8:06 am |
oh me too.. Saddam got a more than deserved
fair trial, Sadr should be no less deserved..
==
typoz;
It's "nekulturny", meaning uncivilized, unrefined, crude, or primitive, depending on the context.
Some are, some aren't. Putin's iron fist is starting to show what he is, of course, for those who were in doubt.
Russia's client couldn't get it up.
http://web.israelinsider.com/Art...urity/
13071.htm
Report from Tbilisi
http://www.city-journal.org/2008.../
eon0820mt.html
Michael J. Totten
bg | 08.20.08 - 1:06 pm |
Dear Bg
Thank you for the links.
My comment were directed at the slow and couldn't care less attitude of the Basrah Governate Committee as mentioned in the Arabic article within my post.
How they were sitting - for a longtime- on Donor's money without spending it for the purposes it was donated for.
Has corruption got a hand in this inaction, one wonders?
Kind regards
bg | 08.20.08 - 1:21 pm |
Thank you for your comments.
I was wondering why it took the Basrah Governate so long to start spending the donated money from Canada.
Was corruption a factor or was it the Militias who are now dead, thanks be to God?
Kind regards
Hameed Abid | 08.20.08 - 11:34 am
Prosecution of al-Sadr for his crimes would be a major sign that Iraq has achieved the rule of law -- and therefore real sovereignty -- within its own borders.
There is a very short blurb in today's Washington Post, the only Iraq-related item in the print edition, that there was a bad raid by the Iraqi army, that killed an Iraqi government employee and started a gunfight with local police.
This latter story may be true, in whole or in part. One thing is certain: the Iraqi Army will make mistakes because it is a human institution. There will be painful stories of failure by people in your government from time to time. The goal is for Iraq to be strong and stable enough to withstand its mistakes, investigate them impartially, and correct them with justice, wisdom, and mercy.
In this fullness of time, both al-Sadr, and those involved in the raid, must account for their actions. And, those who judge them must take care to avoid deciding their guilt prematurely.
Iraq has a worthy tradition of jurisprudence, and I expect to see that tradition re-root itself in the new Iraq. Certainly Iraq has made a good beginning. The notion of "Iraq for Iraqis, all Iraqis" is not just a slogan, it is a means of securing what we like to call "liberty and justice for all."
Dear All
Another Iranian Poppet has gone to Russia to ask for protection from his own people. Or the perceived Enemies of Iran. In another wrd the 'whole world community-
He says he represents Iran too.
The Russian on their way now- will use The Port of Tartus - East Med. for their own base for Nuclear Missiles- and provide an umbrella for Syria. Do they know something , we do n't?
He should be arrested and put into trial for crimes against humanity in Syria just like Saddam's men and his Chemical Ali are being tried now.
His bad treatment of the Kurdish Syrians is legendry.
The Storey of some Lebanese being arrested by the Syrians at check points when in Beirut and their names being changed and have disppeared without trace in the Prisons of Demascus or Alleppo and other cities is very disturbing.
I have a friend in Beirut- A Christian he asked me to tell the world lest ghe will be traced and killed by Syrian sypethesiers. whose brother has been obducted by the Syrian's secert service for the past 18 years or so.
They cannot trace him because he does not appear on the Syrians prisoners lists. His mother is going mad. Since they gave him a new name which his family does not know.
It really is evil. Imagine you have a son you name him and he is known by this name. And a Syrian Mukhabarat- Secret service Policeman- chnaged his name at the time of his arrest. How do you find him for Jail visits, if allowed?
What can the West or for that Matter Russians do to help these unfortunate people in Syrian prisons or mass or unknown graves perhaps?
This should be one of the items to be discussed and resolved with Syria IF and when they reach a Peace treaty with Israel and the West
What do your readers think, please?
Kind regards
typoz;
It's "nekulturny", meaning uncivilized, unrefined, crude, or primitive, depending on the context.
I got the 'n' part right. At least as far as the spelling. I claim a 10-ring for the rest.
They left yet? 13 days and counting
http://edition.cnn.com/2008/WORL...drid/
index.html
Dear O and M
We the 'Silent Iraqis' send our sincere condolences, to the families , relatives and friends of those Spanish people who died in the air crash.
God be with them and may give comfort to them all.
Kind regards
At last! An Explanation! What the Russians really are doing is desperately fighting along side us in the GWOT! It's just that American's are too stupid to recognize reality!
http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Cen...a/
JH19Ag04.html
Nevermind the sale of nuclear whatchamacallits to Iran, or the brand of all those old guns in Iraq, pay no attention to those "Chechen irregulars" that have been let loose in Georgia.
Pay no attention to the mess the Russians left in Afghanistan, or to the way the US-led effort in Iraq has turned around. Pay no attention to how much better life is for ordinary people in countries friendly to the US. The Americans know nothing about warfare, or peace, or prosperity. Americans are stupid.
http://www.sotaliraq.com/iraqnew...ws.php?
id=24754
Dear O and M
This news Item is sad, but necessary.
The son of Mr. Adnan Al Dulaimi should not treat himself as if he is above the Law.
If my simple and Poor family members comply with the Laws of the land and;
If the Prime Minister's family and all other leaders of the Other parties comply with the Laws, then why should his Son violate it and expects to get away with it?
It is not Saddam's era anymore my dear fellows.
These alleged crimes must be proven in an open Court of Law with the right to defend himself. He was caught red handed and must be treated as a suspect, innocent until proven Guilty.
If it was proven he was guilty He should get the punishment he deserves in order to set a deterrant example for the others of his position and importance.
He should have upheld and respected the Law and human rights and not break it.
His followers will have to adjust their behaviours and actions towards the others to be within the laws.
The law and justice must be seen to be done equally on everybody and no exceptions should be encouraged or set precedents.
Good luck Judges, God helps you.
Kind regards
http://www.sotaliraq.com/iraqnew...ws.php?
id=24745
Dear O and M
It is great to read that Amanat Baghdad is repairing the Traffic lights at all the Major cross roads in Baghdad to help control the smooth flow of the congested Baghdadi Traffic..
The use of the Solar energy to power some of them is of particular interest and will contribute positively to mitigate the Global warming effect.
Well done good people. Keep it up.
Kind regards
Posting at the Sarcastic Idiocy Forum is the only way science has of bringing Bert Convy back from the dead.
http://www.thesif.net/SIF/index.php?
Very soon, the american military will be in a war in every continent. Then mission will have been accomplished!
http://edition.cnn.com/2008/WORL...iraq/
index.html
Dear O and M
Glad to read that the USA and Iraq are nearing a positive conclusion of their negotiations for the future Economic, Educational, Military and Political relationships.
It is as well to remind my fellow Iraqis that the inward investments of the world to Japan, Germany, Italy, South Korea, Great Britain and Israel has come about only because the American forces are on their grounds to protect these investment.
We all know 'Capital is Coward', Ra's Al mal Gaban- in Arabic, and therefore, if the Iraqis are keen to rebuild their country with outside assistant, Transfer of Technology or Managemnt and Scientific and Banking and Insurance Expertise, financial Investment and Capital, they should sign this Pact with the USA without further procrastinations, haggling and/or delays, Sovreignty apart.
The Iraqi Parliament should debate and approve this pact before it becoming effective as the American Congress will have to do eventually.
Good Luck to both USA/Iraq and the free world.
Kind regards
re: Valerie | 08.20.08 - 9:14 pm |
In Country
[I have arrived in Tbilisi, Georgia, after a long slog overground from Baku, Azerbaijan. This country is rougher than I expected. Downtown Tbilisi is wonderfully exotic and charming, but the outskirts and the border region have been much more brutally Sovietized than anything I saw in Eastern Europe, including Albania. It is shocking to see. Georgia aches with past and present oppression from Moscow.]
'Baku to the Future'
[After a trip to a refugee camp in the middle of Baku - think the timeless West Bank media shows - I naturally started to think of it in terms of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict. Every time I was given more information, I felt less informed.
At the end of the trip, our group was told matter-of-factly by Azeri officials that Russia was using Armenian bases to bomb Georgia. If true, this puts their Nagorno-Karabakh dispute into starkly American terms and reveals how Russia works to establish control over the region at the expense of the West.]
==
via GP
Obama Says US Is Just Like Russia In Invading Countries
[Democrat Barack Obama scolded Russia again on Wednesday for invading another country’s sovereign territory while adding a new twist: the United States, he said, should set a better example on that front, too.
The Illinois senator’s opposition to the Iraq war, which his comment clearly referenced, is well known. But this was the
first time the Democratic presidential candidate has made
a comparison between the U.S. invasion of Iraq and Russia’s
recent military activity in Georgia.
“We’ve got to send a clear message to Russia and unify our allies,” Obama told a crowd of supporters in Virginia. “They can’t charge into other countries. Of course it helps if we are leading by example on that point.”]
Dear Iraqis.. i believe i can safely state (not excuse) that the majority of Americans had no idea of your sufferings under Saddam pre-war..
that said..
i also believe we've made up for it via the sacrifices made
to liberate & form a decent democracy for all Iraqis..
so please trust me when i say we desperately need to hear from you now (post war) more than ever if we are to not only deem it worthwhile, but to help prevent an Obama Presidency..
an Obama Presidency would not only result in a horrendous loss for Iraq/is, but to the worthy endeavor of coalitions helping to bring about future freedoms to all of the oppressed people's around the globe who are looking to you as an example of what could be..
God Bless Iraq & the Iraqi Forces!!
God Bless America & the COTW!!
==
Buddy | 08.21.08 - 12:59 pm |
good, because we are not only way behind the enemy in that
category, but it's exactly where we need to be.. and for quite
some time to come..
==
That will get shot down REAL quick. OIF was done under UN chapter 7 mandate with other nations participation. Georgia wasn't. Ohhhh......BAMA has to know this, so I wonder if he was pandering to his moonbat base?
"And so, my fellow Americans: ask not what your country can do for you - ask what you can do for your country. My fellow citizens of the world: ask not what America will do for you, but what together we can do for the freedom of man."
John F. Kennedy, Inaugural address, January 20, 1961
35th president of US 1961-1963 (1917 - 1963)
JFK, the first Neo-con.
Saudi Anti-Terror Cartoons
http://www.memri.org/bin/latestn...cgi?
ID=SD203108
My hat off to the Saudi's for taking a stand against the murders and criminals!
Omar....Mohammed.....where are you?
OT..
C. Jordan | 08.21.08 - 9:11 pm |
ht Anne via GP
O' Hail the Messiah Lord Obama
OBAMA ANTHEM LYRICS
All hail the messiah
Obama, Obama
The path to the new socialist motherland
Our savior, our savior
Obama, Obama
The leader more famous than Lindsay Lohan
Bow down and praise the one
Give him your money and your guns
Give us a country
That makes your wife proud
Lord Barry heal the bitter ones
White and Clinging to faith and to guns
Hope for the change of the hope of the change!
ht Anon via GP
Beware Charismatic Men Who Preach 'Change'
wow..
==
Woah!! i don't recall reading about this.. 
Son of top Hamas leader converts to Christianity
excerpt:
["I know that I'm endangering my life and am even liable to lose my father, but I hope that he'll understand this and that God will give him and my family patience and willingness to open their eyes to Jesus and to Christianity. Maybe one day I'll be able to return to Palestine and to Ramallah with Jesus, in the Kingdom of God," Masab said.
[snip]
"You Jews should be aware: You will never, but never have peace with Hamas. Islam, as the ideology that guides them, will not allow them to achieve a peace agreement with the Jews. They believe that tradition says that the Prophet Muhammed fought against the Jews and that therefore they must continue to fight them to the death."
Masab slammed Palestinian society as "an entire society [that] sanctifies death and the suicide terrorists. In Palestinian culture
a suicide terrorist becomes a hero, a martyr. Sheiks tell their students about the 'heroism of the shaheeds.'"]
Son of Hamas Leader Turns Back on
Islam and Embraces Christianity
excerpt:
[JONATHAN HUNT: Why, after 25 years, did you change?
MOSAB HASSAN YOUSEF: I believe that all those walls that Islam built for the last 1,400 years are not existing (sic) anymore. They don't recognize this. They built those walls and made people ignorant because they're afraid. They didn't want people to discuss anything about the reality of Islam, about the big questions of Islam and they asked their followers, the Muslims, 'Don't ask about those certain questions.'
[snip]
JONATHAN HUNT: Hamas members torturing other Hamas members?
MOSAB HASSAN YOUSEF: Hamas leaders! Hamas leaders that we see on TV now, and big leaders, responsible for torturing their own members. They didn't torture me, but that was a shock for me, to see them torturing people: putting needles under their nails, burning their bodies. And they killed lots of them.
JONATHAN HUNT: Why were they torturing people?
MOSAB HASSAN YOUSEF: Because they suspected that they had relations with the Israelis and (were) co-operating with the Israeli occupation against Hamas ... So hundreds of people were victims for this, and I was a witness for about a year for this torture. So that was a huge change in my life. I started to open my (eyes), but, the point (is) that I got that there are good Muslims and bad Muslims. Good Muslims, such as my father, and bad Muslims, like those Hamas members in the jail torturing people.
So that was the beginning of opening my eyes wide. [more @ link]
that will hopefully put a few more nails in Hamas' coffin!!
==
The use of the Solar energy to power some of them is of particular interest and will contribute positively to mitigate the Global warming effect.
...
Hameed Abid | 08.21.08 - 9:45 am //
======
Actually, the main benefit of solar street lights and signals is that they become independent of the grid, and thus more reliable.
As for global warming, the sun has gone into an abnormally long quiet phase between cycles, which suggests that there may be a many-decades-long cool period facing us. Iraq will be happy, but global cooling is economically far more damaging than warming.
Suicide bombers kill 67 at Pakistani arms factory
excerpt:
[Suicide bombers killed 67 people at Pakistan's largest arms factory Thursday in one of the country's deadliest terror attacks, adding to turmoil from political squabbling that is threatening to tear apart the ruling coalition now that Pervez Musharraf has quit as president.
The twin bombings, which also wounded more than 100 people,
hit one of Pakistan's most sensitive and heavily guarded military installations, underlining the threat posed by Islamic militants to the Muslim world's only nuclear-armed nation as well as its war-ravaged neighbor, Afghanistan.]
do they want peace?? hell
no, they want the nukes!!
THEN THEY WILL CELEBRATE DEATH IN EARNEST!!
==
re: bg | 08.22.08 - 1:15 am |
i'm praying no harm comes
to him.. hope you will too..
==
Split looms in Pakistani coalition government
[Pakistan's governing coalition was due to hold make-or-break talks on Friday to save the alliance between the country's two main parties, as concern grew that squabbling was keeping them from tackling critical problems.
[snip]
Investors and allies hoped the resignation of close U.S. friend Pervez Musharraf as president on Monday would end wrangling that has distracted attention from the nuclear-armed country's deteriorating economy and militant violence.
But the party of assassinated former prime minister Benazir Bhutto and its old rival and main coalition partner, the party of former prime minister Nawaz Sharif, have failed to agree on the restoration of judges Musharraf purged last year.
Frustration with the deadlock is growing.
"It is truly tragic that Pakistan has fallen repeatedly into the hands of leaders unable to put their own interests on the backburner and place those of the country at the forefront," the News newspaper said in an editorial.]
united they stand, divided they fall..
bet they also have axing Musharraf remorse..
==
http://www.akhbaar.org/wesima_ar...0822-
52367.html
Dear O and M
This picture of the hundreds of the Sadrists demonstrators is really brilliant. It shows that given the protection of the Police those who disagree with the governments policy are entitled under the constitution to exercise their rights, to show their anger and disagreement, democratically, peacfully and in a civilised fashion.
They have shown their dissent which they are entitled to under the Constitution and good luck to them.
Now if you compare this with the situation under the previuos Iraqi dictatorships and opressive regimes since the begining of time, you will notice the difference.
That difference is very healthy and should be encouraged. For if we all think alike and act the same, we will become Zombies and sheeplike, guarded and organised by the Shephards and the Sheep dogs.
All of those who demonstrated yesterday, except those who may have committed crimes went home free.
That is democracy and freedom at work.
This is brought about by the Liberation of Iraq lead by the Americans and the British.
I am not advocating that Mooky has straightened himself up, far from it.
How could one expects that the tail of the dog to become straight when its DNA suggests it is always bent?
Well done! The Minister of Interior and the PM.
let them shout until they become hoarse. who cares?
Perhaps 90% of them do not read and write and understand arithmetics.
Their shouting will not change things as they have no teeth anymore, and what is more, they cannot use blackmail again against the Elected Government.
Good luck Iraq. Thank you the USA and the Coalition.
We will get there eventually.
Kind regards
Dear O and M
I have just read about a great idea attributed to The 25th Division's 2nd Stryker Brigade to help the adolescent appreciate their country and engage them in good causes rather than leave them to outside influences.
This idea is to use the schools holidays boys and some girls if they want to , to sweep the roads, gather the rubbish/Garbage, participate in team building workshops, plant trees, paint walls, remove graphitee, paint the kerbs and lay the pavements and sew the grass seeds and carry out other renovating projects.
They get paid 10 dollars a day, which will help their poor families' finances during the 8-10 weeks break.
It is called Summer Youth Hire programme.
It is working and effective. please visit Taji Markets for evidence etc.
Why not make it happen all over Baghdad? And other cities, towns and villages in the whole of Iraq?
I do hope some one will read this message and do something about it before Ramadhan.
What a way to earn Their own 'Eidiahs'. and have food on their floors/ tables - if they have them?
Kind regards
http://www.shaqlawa.com/smf/inde...p?
topic=37086.0
Dear O and M
This picture of the ladies of Baghdad tells the storey even better than the text.
No black gowns or black headgear. dyed hair- Blonde usually, like Nancy Ajjram or Very Black like Haifa Wahby- or streaked, and some wearing -including the students - jeans and short skirts and having their hairs cut short and showing it.
Some go to Jordan or Demascus or Cairo and cut their hairs at the Salons there. They should start doing that in Baghdad.
They are worth it, aren't they?
Well done brave ladies.
Tell the Mehdi Army, the insurgents and Al Qaeda to Offski.
Kind regards
http://www.sotaliraq.com/iraqnew...ws.php?
id=24792
Dear O and M
As a result of the PM's recent visit to Germany a group of German businessmen/women have arrived in Baghdad and met with him again, this time in Baghdad.
His reply is that he thanked them for coming and wished them well with their work.
He also extended the invitation to all Companies in the world to come to Iraq and help rebuild it.
How many American Canadian Companies will take this offer?
How many are interested in working with me there?
Kind regards
Hameed Abid.. thanks for the inspiring posts!!
more here & in the following..
MNF (also available in Arabic)
FJI (video reports)
==
Hameed..
albeit my first reaction to this, that it comes from the discredited New York Times is rationally legit, any insight from your end..
thanks in advance..
==
Woah!! i don't recall reading about this..
Son of top Hamas leader converts to Christianity
...
that will hopefully put a few more nails in Hamas' coffin!!
==
bg | 08.22.08 - 1:15 am |//
============
I'm shocked, bg! I posted this 11 days ago:
Son of West Bank Hamas leader converts; says this will "shake Islam to its roots".
Brian H | Homepage | 08.09.08 - 2:14 am |
But then, I didn't provide the generous "excerpts" you did.
Yon says, "However history finally judges him, President Bush will be remembered for two decisions. In 2003, he invaded Iraq. And in 2006, he did not surrender.
Whether or not the first decision was right seems difficult to answer definitively without falling back onto ideological bias, partisan politics, or wishful thinking. Reasonable people likely will disagree about that decision for as long as the event is remembered. If Iraq falls apart or again becomes a tyrant state, then Bush was a brash, imperialistic President invading a sovereign nation without cause, who made things worse and spent lots of money and lives in doing so. If Iraq becomes a stable and prosperous nation even vaguely similar to the United Arab Emirates or Qatar, then most fair-minded people likely will judge Mr. Bush as a little-understood visionary who paid a moderate price to dramatically improve an important region of the world.
But few reasonable people who have been paying attention can disagree that the second decision was correct. In January 2007, one prominent Senator predicted that the Surge would only deepen the sectarian conflict in Iraq. "I am not persuaded that 20,000 additional troops in Iraq is going to solve the sectarian violence there: In fact, I think it will do the reverse."
Now it's difficult to tell exactly what Senator Obama thinks about the Surge, for each remark he makes on the subject seems to veer in a different direction without ever actually going anywhere."
Al Qaeda at 20. Kinetics, not doing so well. Non-kinetics, some long-term strategies and prospects.
Brian H | Homepage | 08.22.08 - 3:34 pm |
sorry BH, i was away for a month & a half & had to re-assimilate..
so i probably missed it.. should have known one of the regs would
have picked up on it..
==
Bush consults with Iraqi on troop withdrawal
excerpt:
[President Bush and Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki spoke Friday by secure video as work on a plan to withdraw U.S. troops from Iraq by 2011 continued.
"There are still discussions ongoing," said White House spokesman Gordon Johndroe. "It's not done until it's done. And the discussions are really ongoing. And ongoing and ongoing. But hopefully drawing to a conclusion."]
[The deal being discussed by U.S. and Iraqi negotiators sets a course for American combat troops to pull out of major Iraqi cities by next June, with a broader exit two years later from the long and costly war that began in March 2003.
The dates could be adjusted if security and political progress in Iraq deteriorate.]
like i've said many a time.. we haven't got a clue as to what has been, what is, or will continue being discussed behind the scenes.. i mean, as if Bush & Maliki et al haven't been discussing every aspect of the mission ad nauseum long before any of it hits the media spinners.. all i know is the COTW Troops & Iraqi Forces, not to mention the citizens, are doing a tremendous job.. Godspeed to all!!
==
Brian H | Homepage | 08.22.08 - 3:47 pm |
excerpt:
[But this view is not shared by top counterterrorism officials in
the United Kingdom and the United States. A 2007 U.S. National Intelligence Estimate concluded that al-Qaeda was growing more dangerous, not less.]
i agree, it's far from over..
to shut the alarm off and roll back
to sleep one be catatrophic imho..
American Children – Next Terrorist Target?
excerpt:
[Al-Qaeda has publicly asserted the "right" to kill 2,000,000 American children, Rassa explained, and has warned that "operations are in stages of preparation" now. He played vivid videotapes confiscated in Afghanistan, showing al-Qaeda terrorists practicing the takeover of a school. The trainees issue commands in English, rehearse separating youngsters into manageable groups and meeting any resistance with violence. Some "hostages" are taken to the rooftop, dangled over the edge, then "shot."]
School invaders don't take hostages
terrorists have no time limit, they say what they mean & mean
what they say.. question is: do we mean what we say when we
say "WE SHALL NEVER FORGET"
==
Hameed Abid | 08.22.08 - 8:23 am |
Aide: Iraq's al-Sadr may stay in Iran for years
Hmmm, what do you think about that?
Hmmm, what do you think about that?
Kafir | 08.22.08 - 8:23 pm |
i think Sadr is dead from an overdose & will never return to Iraq..
if he does i will gladly eat crow, you can even put me down for a
second helping (sort of like double or nothing.. oh geez.. what if
Sadr has a double?? uhg, what a repulsive thought that was)!!
==
Kind regards
Hameed Abid | 08.22.08 - 8:38 am | #
Hameed, we should get the Stryker Brigade to implement the same program in the US. get the hooligans off the streets during the summer and clean up our run-down cities. Plus teach them work ethics, marketable skills, pride, and most important, the idea of self help.
Also, I find evry informative that Michael Yon has gone to Georgia. Is this a sign that Iraq is so peacefull now that war correspondants are looking for action elsewhere. Even Michael Ware, the CNN dude, is in Georgia. A very good sign.
Why even Obamma and the Dems hardly ever mention Iraq.
OT..
PA Democrat Phillip Berg Seeks Injunction
against Candidacy of Barack H. Obama..
he's not one of those bitter people who
clings to guns or religion is he??
==
OT..
Exurban League: Excuse me, but your flank is showing
too funny!!
==
OT.. pardon if a repeat..
PA Democrat Phillip Berg Seeks Injunction
against Candidacy of Barack H. Obama..
he's not one of those bitter people who
clings to guns or religion is he??
==
thewiz | 08.22.08 - 10:27 pm |
Totten & Breitbart are Georgia too..
(that's if i read it right.. )
==
more re: bg | 08.22.08 - 11:27 pm |
via GP
Obama Lawsuit
excerpt:
[A prominent Philadelphia attorney and Hillary Clinton supporter filed suit this afternoon in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania against Illinois Sen. Barack Obama, the Democratic National Committee and the Federal Election Commission. The action seeks an injunction preventing the senator from continuing his candidacy and a court order enjoining the DNC from nominating him next week, all on grounds that Sen. Obama is constitutionally ineligible to run for and hold the office of President of the United States.
Philip Berg, the filing attorney, is a former gubernatorial and senatorial candidate, former chair of the Democratic Party in Montgomery (PA) County, former member of the Democratic State Committee, and former Deputy Attorney General of Pennsylvania. According to Berg, he filed the suit--just days before the DNC is to hold its nominating convention in Denver--for the health of the Democratic Party.
"I filed this action at this time," Berg stated, "to avoid the obvious problems that will occur when the Republican Party raises these issues after Obama is nominated.".
Berg cited a number of unanswered questions regarding the Illinois senator's background, and in today's lawsuit maintained that Sen. Obama is not a naturalized U.S. citizen or that, if he ever was, he lost his citizenship when he was adopted in Indonesia. Berg also cites what he calls "dual loyalties" due to his citizenship and ties with Kenya and Indonesia.]
better stock up on popcorn for this years DNC!!
==
OT.. just heard via news on the radio..
it's been confirmed, Biden will be Obama's VP candidate..
makes sense to me now, Biden is the grandstanding
nut who wanted to split Iraq in 3, i think he still does..
aside from that, this is great, 2 self idolizing
talking bobble-heads for the price of 1.. :P
==
bg | 08.22.08 - 2:25 pm |
The situation with the awakening is very interesting.
Some of them supported and harboured Al Qaeda and the Insurgants and may have participated in attacks and IED's planting against the Coalition Forces and the Iraqi Civilians and army or police, who disagreed with them.
Remember, the command economy of iraq previously and the style of dictatorships work by terror, fear, intimdations and opression,as apposed to the democratic means of consent.
My view is that the Iraqi Central Government should take them all back into the main stream, they are the sons of iraq and they should be made welcome in, the Security Forces
and the Army and retrain them to serve the Country and be useful citizens for their communities and poor families, realtives and friends.
Forgetting vengeance and retaliations.
There may be those amongst them, who are alleged to have committed crimes of varying degrees.
These should be arrested and tried in open Courts and be allowed to defend themselves.
Condemning the whole community and /or the whole area and accusing them all of collaborating and acting against the Coaltions and the Iraqi Forces, may be unjust or could be interpreted as ' Guilty until proved innocent' which is contrary to the Constitution and natural justice, in the Sharia laws and in the civil laws of civilised nations, which Iraq is aspiring to become, in due course, we hope.
Condemning all of these people because they are Sunnis without proof is pure stupidity and biased and twisted, unsafe judgement.
For your information I am not a Sunni but two of my Nephews married to two Sunni ladies from very good families and they are at our Houses at present in Baghdad with their lovely children.
Very clever too.
Hope this answers your question bg.
Kind regards
It's just Reuters/Zogby, but McCain by 5%!
And check out the table @link showing what the last month has done to O'blahblah!
Sadr a "marjaa"? I doubt Islam could survive the embarrassment. Even "ayatollah" is ludicrous; but of course the fix may be in. It could be that Iran wants a fool in place for strategic purposes.
So the day may come when the Iranian Shiite Heresy declares that "This 'ere pig's ear is a silk purse!"
Duh.
Iraqi Stance Led to Bush Shift on Pullout
U.S. Officials Cite Assertiveness by Prime Minister
http://www.washingtonpost.com/
wp...8082203077.html
I doubt that George Bush really thinks of this as a change of position. Rather, the same logic and goals are being applied to a positive change in circumstances.
THIS is the kind of change we want:
“A key factor, they said, was the increasing assertiveness of Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, who has been buoyed by the recent effectiveness of Iraqi security forces and has grown more confident in their ability to keep violence low.”
**************
Say what you will about the man, George Bush delivers on his promises.
No headline in the Post about Biden as VP, yet.
M&O
I’ve been telling you that the notion of fairness for all of our citizens in our society is recent.
Here’s proof.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/
wp...8082203119.html
The legal requirement that black people be treated the same as whites under the law has been in effect since the Constitutional amendments enacted after end of the civil war, but full acceptance into society is something that has come only with effort, and only within the lifetime of people now living.
The same is true of women, only that’s an even more recent development.
The lessons we have learned are very clear and fresh in the minds of everybody over about 30. That is why the people at this site, and our president, have been so adamant about equal rights for all people: we see anything less as being a huge mistake.
Oh, yeah it's 14 days, and they haven't left, yet. The Washington Post is saying that the Russians are are staging a substantial retreat -- maybe. I will believe that when I see it from more reliable sources.
Brian H | 08.23.08 - 7:42 am |
Sadr could not be regarded as 'marja'a' even in a million years, even if the all theological Universities of Iran gave him Doctorates, certainly not before he answers for the crimes he incited and ordered his follwers to commit unlawful Acts, and pays for the occupation of Government- Publicly owned= buildings rent free.
The people of Iraq will wait but will not forget.
The murder squads and kidnapers and blackmailers should be made to account for their terrorism on his indirect or possibly even direct orders, especially for their handywork 'wara al saddah' behind the Eastern Berm in Baghdad - Sadr City.
Kind regards
Kafir | 08.22.08 - 8:23 pm |
If he stays there it is for the good of the whole of the Iraqi people.
If he dies there it is good riddance to a bad rubbish.
The Iranians are too clever to pitch their tents with an idiot - Mukhabbal ' in the Iraqi slang.as attested to by his own mother.
Very soon the Iranian leaders including Mooky will be looking for Rat holes just like Saddam had done before them.
History repeats itself, as they are going the same way as did Saddam, having totally misjudged the resolve of the free world to defend its interests by all means.
The USA Fighting Ships are on their way there now.
NATO is building up the Northern front in Afghanisan to hit Iran from that direction too.
Kind regards
Biden
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!!!!
he's not one of those bitter people who
clings to guns or religion is he??
==
bg | 08.23.08 - 12:13 am //
==========
Nah, probably to She Who Rides Broomsticks.
Hameed Abid | 08.23.08 - 11:26 am |
Perhaps Iraq should test its relationship with Iran by requesting his extradition.
i must concur that bho's deciding for plugs biden came dwn to similarity. they are both so stuck on themselves that they went for the familiar.
i think he just lost the election as he couldnt have done more to piss off the pumas rooting for herself.
whooopie! yay fer us!!
as for the summer hire; that is a natural reaction anywhere near an army (spelled: ARMY!!) base because the troops fear nothing more than a basebrat!!
my first summer hire job was at the kilbourne kaserne outside of hqusareur. They had me in there all summer long with a box of magic markers crossing out the line
must be cashed within 90 days that was printed on all the chase manhattan checks that came from the states in big stacks. 8 hours a day for half the summer. they actually broke summer hire into two segments because they knew that we had to lay in the grass sometime before football season and the two a days/!!
dont be surprised if all those Americans square that whole country away for years to come!!
OT.. via GP
Illegal Alien From Egypt Arrested
Testing Drone At Night In NYC
But, don't worry...
Despite the fact that this Egyptian who entered into the US on a Sudanese passport, built a drone airplane capable of carrying 600 pounds of explosives, tested the drone at night, on a tarmac, officials believe he has no ties to terrorism.
*sigh*.. i am yet again compelled
to ask, how stupid are we?? gah!!
==
so, how many minutes after johnny mac is declared the winner do you guess we'll begin liberating the iranians?
got any cavespace, bro?
playertwo | 08.23.08 - 4:31 pm |
Ahmadinejad as he's being dragged from his hidey-hole: "Don't tase me, bro!"
so, how many minutes after johnny mac is declared the winner do you guess we'll begin liberating the iranians?
got any cavespace, bro?
playertwo | 08.23.08 - 4:31 pm//
=======
About 53.5 ...
The two-month runup to the Inauguration should be quite exciting this year.
Luttwak: "... Europe’s holiday from serious geopolitics is over."
Kings of War:
"at wondered earlier ‘does war work?’ which raises the question, it seems to me, ‘for what?’ They’ve certainly humiliated Georgia, particularly President Saakashvili to whom Don Putin had taken an extreme disliking. But has it brought them any closer to the restoration of Russia’s control of its one-time imperial possessions? No, it has put that goal even farther from realization. In fact, it has made it all the more likely that in the long-term Russia, alone and friendless with an undiversified resource economy, in the throes of long-term demographic decline, and an army haunted by past glories will end up draining its material resources eastward to feed Chinese industry, its human resources westward to feed the service and knowledge sectors of places more comfortable and free, while to its south violence and instability fed by the confluence of migration, narcotics, terror and Islamic radicalism will burgeon."
Me: don't undertake vast projects with half-vast plans. Can Putin keep his super-bluff going? It needs to be called.
The Maliki gov't is insisting on a deadline for U.S. troop withdrawal while simultaneously demanding the disarmament of Sunni patrols.
Not a good idea. IMO, Maliki doesn't yet accept that sovereignty doesn't grant a democratic government absolute power over its citizenry. The Sunni patrolmen and the U.S. troops provide the assurance that Maliki currently can't that the Sunnis won't be targeted for revenge or ethnic cleansing by the Shia majority.
There are checks and balances in every democratic government, and Iraq currently needs more than most.
England is led by a bunch of left wing nut jobs called Nu-Labour. Gordon Brown is a weak kneed dithering idiot who I am sure will be totally rubbished in our next election, should we get one, and I'm not certain that will happen. We should never have got involved in the illegal war in the first place and I'm also certain that given time, if we don't all become new world order slaves that the UK will bring to justice Mr Blair and hopefully the USA will also bring their war criminal to justice. I can't wait to see the people in court and pay the price for killing over 100,000 innocent people in Iraq.
If the British truly don’t see themselves as part of the war, it would’ve been better for everyone to have the British admit it and tell the Americans and Iraqis that they wanted out. Then we would’ve thanked them for what they did, gave them a nice send-off, and struck them off the list of reliable allies, just like Spain.
To fight alone, knowing that you’re on your own, is much better than to have an ally on your side that strikes deals behind your back and exposes your flank to the enemy.
That is why many Americans here in America want death for our traitors, even more than enemies captured on the battlefield.
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