Don't Be An Asshole
Incredible work Matt.
Well done on spreading the word, albeit so sour and heartbreaking.
thank you, matt.
Matt,
Do you ever sleep? Great work!
b real over at Moon of Alabama had this comment today:
over the w/e, spent some time w/ an out-of-town friend who is army, now working retention. first met him in a death-defying episode on a class IV spill on a rain-charged costa rica river. our raft flipped a few minutes into the hours long trip, casting all six of us into the bolder-strewn, churning water, being held underwater by the current for what seemed an eternity. he had just returned from qatar, guarding med facilities. we were the first back into the raft, working desperately to steer the large raft away from the large rocks while locating & retrieving our companions. in an adrenaline surge, he grabbed someone by the life jacket & yanked him straight out of the water right into his face, knocking himself back into the raft, nearly unconscious, broken front tooth. we all survived, a bit beat up & worn down. but that experience created a bond among us & one i don't take lightly. over the past two years we have met on several occasions & i have witnessed just one example of the affect of this war on those who wage it. at the time in costa rica, there were long conversations about the events transpiring in iraq. a large number of the soldiers, i was told, were aware of the bullshit reasons that sent them there. morale was not high, but they had a job to do. my friend talked of getting out, of fighting against being sent back, of giving up on his goal of completing 20 years service. he & his wife had another child. on two occassions when we met later, it was easy to see how much of a toll this was taking on him. you would be talking to him & suddenly he was somewhere else, staring blankly off into space. nervously chain-smoking. forgetting he had ever been introduced to my girlfriend in previous encounters. i worried for him. later, word came a few months ago that he found a way to stay home by moving into recruiting. actually, it turns out, he's in retention, which is even tougher, getting soldiers to reup. recruiters, he told me, can get away w/ lying b/c new recruits usually don't know any better. but those who have been there, well, they have firsthand knowledge of what's going on, and you can't bullshit them. the goal for first-timer retention is 65%, 85% for two-termers. recruiters are getting into fist-fights over recruits, he said. the draft is coming, he said w/ certainty. if it was up to the military, they'd prefer an all-volunteer force, but this is impossible now. gone this time were the vacant stares, the nervous chain-smoking, the short attention span. instead of expressing a contempt for the mission, this time it was "i'm totally behind this mission. the reason we got in there was complete bullshit, but we're there now." and iran, unlike saddam, really is a threat. and talk of super-soldiers. exoskeletons to enable a man to lift 3x his own weight. optical implants. the navy's nearly perfected synthetic blood. justifications for the '91 invasion, the turkey shoot on the highway of death (it's unfortunate that cnn had to show that), the sanctions, the war on terra. although this was only one individual encounter, i personally felt a setback this w/e at a time when other signs point to increased resistance to the war machine, to the mendacious imperialist idiot-logues. we talked at length about the counter-recruiting movement, u.s. hegemony & militarism, and the more plausible reasons why we are in iraq, but this wasn't the person i met in costa rica. then, i was told, i would have fit right in in the bull sessions around the barracks. now, removed for two years from the frontlines, i am being told that the mission is rational. i will be sending him two books soon - walden bello's dilemmas of domination & smedley butler's war is a racket. counter-brainwashing, if you will.
Matt, yd, and ff:
thanks for all you do.
I looked at the PFD format, and that would make a great display. Print up all 90 pages, and 10 pages of pictures of war, post all on four 40" by 60" foamboard, add headers, and then cover with clear plastic (and the only place I have found that is walmart - I hate walmart).
I probably will do this at some point in time, and just like my list of Iraqi civilian names, to see it all laid out at once will be stiking.
In a dispatch posted at 5:18pm Mecca time Tuesday afternoon, Mafkarat al-Islam reported that Iraqi Resistance forces had shot down a US Apache helicopter over the city of al-Hadithah in western Iraq.
The correspondent for Mafkarat al-Islam reported witnesses as saying that the helicopter had plunged to earth in the area of the giant al-Hadithah dam, north of the city after catching fire.
Residents of the city told Mafkarat al-Islam that a rocket of unknown type struck the helicopter after it had rocketed a wheat storage facility. That American attack followed an Iraqi Resistance assault in which mortar rounds were fired into the US base located west of al-Hadithah near the grain storage area.
The correspondent reported that the attack on the helicopter was a part of a Resistance plan to bombard the US base with the intention of getting the Americans to send up helicopters that they could hunt down, since it is standard US practice to order helicopters into the air to do reconnaissance following bombardments.
An Iraqi Resistance bomb exploded by a column of armored four-wheel drive vehicles near the al-Jihad neighborhood of Baghdad on the highway leading to Saddam International Airport at about 9am local time Tuesday morning. That type of vehicle is typically used by foreign contractor profiteers and mercenaries serving the US occupation forces.
Residents of the al-Jihad neighborhood who witnessed the attack told Mafkarat al-Islam that the bomb was planted by the side of the Airport Road and that it blew up, setting one of the vehicles on fire and killing three foreigners and wounding a fourth.
In a dispatch posted at 3:05pm Mecca time Tuesday afternoon, Mafkarat al-Islam reported that Iraqi Resistance fighters attacked a US truck convoy hauling provisions and equipment for US occupation forces in the Tuz Khurmatu area, 255km north of Baghdad.
The Kirkuk correspondent for Mafkarat al-Islam reported residents of Tuz Khurmatu who witnessed the attack as saying that a number of Iraqi Resistance fighters armed with light and medium weapons, including RPG7 rocket-propelled grenades and BKC machine guns, attacked a convoy of six military trucks.
G8 summit.
http://image.guardian.co.uk/sys-.../05/
bell512.jpg
Four Marines Wounded By Car Bombs In Hit
7.5.05 By SINAN SALAHEDDIN
Two car bombers wounded four U.S. Marines in the western town of Hit, a U.S. spokeswoman said.
BAGHDAD, Iraq - A U.S. soldier from Task Force Liberty was killed and two were wounded Tuesday by a roadside bomb northeast of Baghdad, the military said.
The explosion occurred about 1:05 p.m. in Diyala province, the military said in a statement. No further details were released.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/
20050...HNlYwMlJVRPUCUl
Bush Falls Off Bike in Scotland
The Associated Press
Wednesday, July 6, 2005; 4:07 PM
GLENEAGLES, Scotland -- President Bush collided with a local police officer and fell during a bike ride on the grounds of the Gleneagles golf resort while attending a meeting of world leaders Wednesday.
Bush suffered scrapes on his hands and arms that required bandages by the White House physician, said White House spokesman Scott McClellan.
President George Bush waves at onlookers as he arrives at Prestwick airport in Scotland for the G8 Summit at Gleneagles, Wednesday July 6, 2005. (AP Photo/Alastair Grant POOL) (Alastair Grant - AP)
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The police officer was taken to a local hospital as a precaution, McClellan said. Police said the officer suffered a "very minor" ankle injury.
It was raining lightly at the time.
The officer was on a security detail. He is a member of the police department of Strathclyde, a nearby town, McClellan said.
The president was concerned about the officer's condition, and talked with him for some time after the collision, McClellan said. The president also asked White House physician Richard Tubb to monitor the officer's condition at the hospital.
The fall did not affect the president's schedule. Dressed in a tuxedo, he attended a dinner hosted by Queen Elizabeth at the annual Group of Eight economic summit. He showed no signs of distress.
Judith Miller goes to jail!
Now, I can have my "Judith Miller goes to jail for the wrong reasons" party!
Y.D.
Please have the PDF of the past two years published as a book. It would be very powerful to be able to hold in your hands a statement of the sheer violence of warfare such as that. It would also be easier to give as a gift and it might change some minds--it is much harder to get someone to go to a website if they don't see the need to reassess their views.
If you need help finding a publisher, I would be willing to help; I have several contacts who might be interested.
07/06/05 DoD Identifies Army Casualties
Staff Sgt. Scottie L. Bright, 36, of Montgomery, Ala., and Cpl. Lyle J. Cambridge, 23, of Shiprock, N.M., died on July 5, 2005, in Baghdad, Iraq, when an improvised explosive device detonated near their HMMWV during patrol operations.
07/06/05 Aljazeera: Fighting persists across Iraq
US military vehicles also come under attack during the day. South of Kabala a US vehicle was damaged by an explosive device, and a truck near al-Khalis was set ablaze by a second explosive device.
DoD Identifies Army Casualty
The Department of Defense announced today the death of a soldier who was supporting Operation Iraqi Freedom.
Pvt. Anthony M. Mazzarella, 22, of Blue Springs, Mo., died July 5, in Taji, Iraq, when the HMMWV in which he was riding accidentally rolled over. Mazzarella was assigned to the Army's 1st Battalion, 13th Armor Regiment, 1st Armor Division, Fort Riley, Kan.
Car bombs kill many in Iraq
by
Wednesday 06 July 2005 6:19 PM GMT
One Iraqi soldier died in this attack in Kirkuk
Thirteen people were killed and 30 wounded late on Wednesday in two almost simultaneous car bombings in the central Iraqi town of Jbeila, some 100km south of Baghdad, police said.
Lieutenant Ali al-Shammari said the bombs exploded within a few minutes of each other in the vicinity of a car market in Jbeila, near the city of Hilla.
The second blast came as rescue workers were arriving at the scene. Thirteen of the wounded were in serious condition, a hospital source said.
In other incidents of fighting across Iraq, at least four Iraqi policemen and one US soldier was killed.
Aljazeera reported that an American soldier was killed and two others wounded in an explosion in Diyali.
Policemen killed
In western and southern Baghdad, four Iraqi policemen, among them an officer, were killed, and 10 others were wounded in two attacks by gunmen.
In the north of Baghdad, police carried out a raid and arrested 36 people, a source in the Iraqi Interior Ministry said. The raid was carried out in the al-Hussainia district.
Two prominent figures have also died in the day's violence. In Baghdad, a source in the Defence Ministry said armed men had assassinated Lieutenant-Colonel Rahim Amin al-Hilfi, an officer of the Badr Brigades.
And unidentified gunmen in Tal Afar killed local municipal council member Abd al Karim Sulaiman al-Ahmad.
Elsewhere Iraqis have gone to the streets to demonstrate. In Riyadh, near Kirkuk, hundreds of Arab residents rallied in protest against the detention of former Iraqi army officer Major-General Nayef al-Obaidi.
US military vehicles have also come under attack during the day. South of Kabala a US vehicle was damaged by an explosive device, and a truck near al-Khalis was set ablaze by a second explosive device.
Aljazeera + Agencies
By
You can find this article at:
http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/
...59A01E09753.htm
oh oh al ciaeda stikes in london,bin lADEN REORTED OVER THE CITY LEAVING ON MAGIC CARPET:I think it was dastardly and Muttley meself.
" A terror group linked to al Qaeda says it carried out a series of terror attacks on London that have left a number of people dead and hundreds injured.
A previously unknown group calling itself "Secret Organisation al Qaeda in Europe" said it carried out the attacks as revenge for British "military massacres" in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Two London hospitals have reported a total of 185 wounded after a series of blasts hit locations across the city on buses and Tube stations.
Metropolitan Police Commissioner Sir Ian Blair said there was evidence of explosives at at least one of the six sites."
Finally Tony can hold his head up high. He always sounded a little disappointed that he was left out. Still, with enough effort he has managed to make us a terrorist target. Good for him.
Idiot.
"Secret Organisation al Qaeda in Europe"
sounds like a load of bollocks if you ask me.psyops.Interesting timing eh!G8.
You reckon? Sounds like a standard Al-Q operation doesn't it? Coordinated, relatively low investment, high profile, aimed to embarrass governments at inoportune times. What advantage would Blair have in setting up a bombing on the morning of his legacy-creating Olympics/G8 triumph?
Unless you don't think there are any nutjobs out there with the will and the means to knock together a few bombs.
I bet the Arabic for the name sounds a lot less silly than the translation to a native speaker.
Of course, it could have been the French...
who knows,just like Madrid we will never know.move along nothing to see here.Ask Morgan Reynolds.
Surely saying "We'll never know" is just soliphism? Not to mention extremely paranoid. What is incredible about some Islamic nutcases finally getting round to bombing London? I travelled on the tube regularly for years and often commented on how ridiculously easy it would be to get a bomb on board and even to leave it there. It is all pretty extensively cctv-ed so we'll no doubt have some grainy images before long.
Now, if they wanted to make a real impact they should have blown up a few dozen electricity sub-stations.
At least 40 killed, 300 wounded in London bombings
Four London Blasts Kill 40, Injure 300
AP - 18 minutes ago
LONDON - Three blasts rocked the London subway and one tore open a
packed double-decker bus during the morning rush hour Thursday,
sending bloodied victims fleeing after what a shaken Prime Minister
Tony Blair called "barbaric" terrorist attacks. A U.S. law enforcement
official said at least 40 people were killed and London hospitals
reported more than 300 wounded. Blair said the "terrorist attacks"
were clearly designed to coincide with the opening of the G-8 summit
in Gleneagles, Scotland. They also came a day after London won the bid
to host the 2012 Olympics
* Eyewitness accounts: 'Half the bus was in the air' at Guardian
* Blair Statement at 10 Downing Street London Blasts Timeline at BBC
* Slideshow: Deadly Blasts Hit London
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