It is about time Michael spoke up. So things aren't as they seem, now are they, Michael? They are violent and far more under the control of the Shi'ite underground than anyone else.
Iraq govt split over hostages, militia threat
Wed Nov 15, 2006 1:35 PM EST
http://ca.today.reuters.com/news/newsArticle.aspx?type=topNews&storyID=2006-11-15T183550Z_01_IBO132069_RTRIDST_0_NEWS-IRAQ-COL.XML&archived=False
...Briefing senators in Washington, the U.S. commander for the Middle East said Maliki was determined to tackle the militias and was optimistic Iraq could be stabilized as U.S. forces trained and equipped their Iraqi counterparts.
BODY COUNT
Another 55 unidentified bodies, most of them tortured and shot, were found in Baghdad, an Interior Ministry source said.
More than 40 other deaths were reported, including those of six U.S. soldiers and 12 people killed by a car bomb in Baghdad.
Maliki played down the mass kidnap. He has said militia groups nominally loyal to fellow Shi'ites in government can be dealt with through negotiation in good time.
"What happened was not terrorism, rather it was due to dispute and conflict between militias from one side or another," he said in televised remarks. He later said the government's response had been strong and vowed to catch those responsible.
The language is finally clearing up, Michael. Wouldn't you say, Mr. Ware? It's not terrorism. These are not terrorists. Mr. Maliki doesn't even call them insurgents. Why is it General Abuzaid is telling Mr. Maliki he'll have to wait until the Democratic leadership takes their place to know how to quantifiy any reduction in troop numbers? The good General made some interesting statements including setting Senator McCain straight, how an increase in troop numbers would be a MISTAKE. A mistake, Mr. Ware. He said the Iraqis would have to stand up and be counted and take control of their government. I don't know, Mr. Ware, how about this 'idea;' the Iraqis already have control of their government and can enter the middle of Baghdad and dance to the tune of loyalty on all fronts as if ghosts. What does Michael Ware think about that theory? Even your talking head generals...
BRIGADIER GENERAL DAVID GRANGE (RET.), CNN MILITARY ANALYST: Well, they could very well, in fact, be a part of the security force, or they could just buy uniforms off the street, which is very easy to do.
But it's obviously a result of detailed reconnaissance, casing the target, planning the ingress and egress routes where they're in cahoots with security forces that manning the -- the checkpoints. These are -- this is secured by an Iraq -- by Iraqi organization. And it's really kind of done to discredit and embarrass the Iraqi government.
... seem to think it's an inside job. I disagree that it is to embrass the Iraqi government. Not at all. It is to embarass the USA Military and let them know who the bosses really are. The Shi'ite nation already has it's own forces. They are just waiting for everyone to wake up to that fact. Obviously, the words of Mr. Maliki reveal same. What do you think Mr. Ware? Hm? Three years is a long time and hundreds of thousands of unregistered weapons and high quality explosives from the formerly secured UN Bunkers makes a fairly substantial military wouldn't you say, Mr. Ware?
Spiderman Marks is wasting his time and energy:
MARKS: Excuse me -- that there are a number of Iraqi security forces that make up the aggregate total.
But you really need to get into the -- into the top leadership and say: Look, actions like this are unacceptable. You know it. You control the streets.
And, as David indicated, clearly, these folks could have been Iraqi security forces, or they could have been guys that came in off the street. But, most importantly, you need to get down to the noncommissioned-officer level, those that actually execute the tasks on the ground, and make sure you can identify those -- those individuals, as best you can, that are with you and those that aren't with you, because the key challenge right now is corruption within the Iraqi security forces, and, I would argue, even more broadly, within the government.
OOOoooohhhh, my, my, my, aggregate total. Such big words. It must something important to say? You'll excuse Mr. Marks, but, your aggregate total is a fantasy. The forces that kidnapped those people knew exactly what they were doing and they had the permission of those surrounding them to do it. Aggregate, my eye. Are you trying to fantasize the ability of a 'strick force' so small that it could pull off any mission in broad daylight? A Shi'ite strick force, highly trained like a Swat Team. I wonder where the Shi'ites got the training, from watching "The A Team" on reruns or from the USA Training Missions there.
Give.
Me.
A.
Break.
DAMON: They were not. Instead, insurgents wearing Iraqi uniforms were conducting an operation of their own.
Posing as a member of Iraq's security forces is easier than you would think. Just head to Baghdad's so-called thieves market. And, as long as you have $23, you can walk into the market dressed as a civilian, and walk out dressed like a member of Iraq's security force. The tailors here once made uniforms for Saddam Hussein's regime.
Nice little slight of hand. I doubt sincerely the uniform makes the man. These uniforms for all we know are legitimately going to Iraqi forces or those they approve of. Showing a show of men making uniforms is meaningless to me. Putting on an Iraqi forces uniform is too simply an answer. The people involved in Baghdad that can come and go as they please are doing so with permission. A uniformed person would have to have munitions and training. Did I hear of any extraordinary 'free lancing' training camps in Iraq? No. These people are being trained in the country and sometimes in places like Jordan, Germany and sent back to serve. What is so incredible is that when they are trained abroad they are sent back to Iraq across An Albar Province without weapons en masse to be killed along the way. It's moronic. The entire set of
circumstances are moronic. You want to try this one again, I don't buy it !
FEMA
Another crony adventure. The modular homes were purchased without a care as to whether they were ever going to be used or not. It was simply a purchase BECAUSE they could not because they should. This is no surprise. What, something like $8 million wasted? That's small potatoes for Bush.
IRAN
Bush is outsourcing his responsiblity on Iran and North Korea. Of course the USA has to meet one on one with both these nations as well as in multiple party talks with allies of the USA. Just because that hasn't happened doesn't mean it's right or a manner in which the USA should conduct itself.
IAEA report 'does not prove Iran building N-weapon'
http://www.gulfnews.com/region/Iran/10082917.html
Dubai: The confidential International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) report is inconclusive and not proof that Iran is building a nuclear weapon, though there are concerns over an increase in uranium enrichment, according to leading British think-tanks.
"The fact remains that Iran is doing nothing illegal under its Non-Proliferation Treaty obligations," Frank Barnaby, a nuclear issues consultant for the Oxford Research Group told Gulf News.
"Under article four of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation treaty it is entitled to develop peaceful nuclear energy, actually other signatories are meant to be helping it. This is a lot of fuss about very little. We cannot say if Iran is building a nuclear weapon, which even if it was, would still be years away."
The IAEA report on Tuesday indicated that uranium enrichment levels seemed to be under five per cent nowhere near the 90 per cent needed for nuclear weapons production.
We should also be meeting regularly with Palestinian authorities and Israel in joint talks, not just for Prime Minister Olmert to come here so Bush can say, it's Israel that is the reason for the war. That is basically what he wanted the people watching his moves to believe. He is running out of excuses to be in Iraq and to support a war that has no direction and no results. So, in last ditch efforts he is showcasing the Prime Minister to say, "Hey, did you all forget?" No one forgot. But, most of us don't see it Bush's way. We believe Bush's wars and gross lack of diplomacy while frittering away American resources and even arming the oppositon forces only serves to make matters worse.
Israel vows to hit back after Sderot rocket death
http://www.gulfnews.com/region/Middle_East/10083018.html
Sderot, Israel/Cairo: An Israeli woman was killed by Palestinian rocket fire from Gaza yesterday, sparking warnings by the Jewish state it would expand its lethal four-month offensive in the coastal strip.
Fatima Slutsker, a 57-year-old mother of two, died of wounds sustained when a rocket fell in a street in the town of Sderot, five km north of Gaza, police and medics said.
A 24-year-old man was seriously wounded in the strike, one of six rockets to fall on Sderot in the morning hours, one of them not far from the house of Defense Minister Amir Peretz who lives in the town.
In a statement, the defence minister vowed that the Jewish state would strike against those behind the rocket fire.
"These organisations will pay a heavy price," he said.
After meeting with security officials, Peretz "ordered the army to continue its offensive operations in line with government policy," his office said, without elaborating.
THIS IS the result of patience and persistence. I am hoping the Palestinian Unity government is not a faux attempt and the end is reaching a conclusion.
Abbas: Middle East peace begins with Palestine
http://today.reuters.co.uk/news/articlenews.aspx?storyid=2006-11-15T203957Z_01_L15554877_RTRUKOC_0_UK-MIDEAST.xml&type=worldNews&WTmodLoc=World-C3-More-6
By Wafa Amr
RAMALLAH, West Bank (Reuters) - The creation of a Palestinian state through negotiations with Israel is the key to achieving a wider peace in the Middle East, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said on Wednesday.
The moderate leader, who has been trying to cobble together a coalition with governing Hamas Islamists that might prompt Western power-brokers to ease an aid blockade on his people, called on Israel to enter comprehensive regional peace talks.
"This is the hour of truth, because peace in this region will not be achieved except by Israel's full withdrawal from the Arab and Palestinian territories that were occupied in (the Middle East war of) 1967," Abbas said in a speech.
"I appeal to the Israelis: Do not waste this chance for peace. Enough with the shedding of the blood of our sons and yours," he said.
Ah, see Glen Beck and exclusive from the Middle East called "Get mad as hell they are teaching children to hate and become suicide bombers."
Hm.
Well, that is nothing new. Israel has known about that for decades. I've seen the cartoons and the children blowing up. There is little nothing we can do about that. It is upto the nations allowing this kind of propaganda to exist that is the issue. I doubt much anti-semitism would be tolerated in the USA for long, it's considered a hate crime.
Mosaic is sometimes a good source of news from the Middle East:
http://www.linktv.org/mosaic/streamsArchive/index.php4
But, even the 'special' series; "Insight into the Middle East, Parts 1, 2 and 3" are narrated by white guys. Credentialed white guys, but, you don't hear someone like the anchors from al Jezeera headlining here.
So one is really left to speculate what this mess is over there. The Madris Schools are mostly closed in Saudi Arabia and they are being scrutinized elsewhere.
Zawahiri Was Target in U.S. Attack on Religious School in Pakistan
http://blogs.abcnews.com/theblotter/2006/10/zawahiri_was_ta.html
Ayman al Zawahiri was the target of a Predator missile attack this morning on a religious school in Pakistan, according to Pakistani intelligence sources.
ABC News has learned the raid was launched after U.S. intelligence received tips and examined Predator reconnaissance indicating that al Qaeda's No. 2 man may have been staying at the school, which is located in the Bajaur region near the village that is thought to be al Qaeda's winter headquarters.
Despite earlier reports that the missiles had been launched by Pakistani military helicopters, Pakistani intelligence sources now tell ABC News that the missiles were fired from a U.S. Predator drone plane.
Giuliani
He should run. He is probably the only Republican with half a chance of winning the national election. At least he wasn't there for all the corruption.
LAPD
Another use of force that terrifies the public. Right or wrong it will go on and on.
Rumsfeld
KING: So consider this, outgoing Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, his reputation already bruised, is facing a new threat tonight. Some of his critics are pressing to put him on trial for alleged war crimes. They say they have new evidence linking Mr. Rumsfeld to torture programs at Abu Ghraib prison and Guantanamo Bay. And they want to take their case to Germany, of all places. Here's CNN's Brian Todd.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Not content with his political demise, some of Donald Rumsfeld's antagonists want him to pay a legal price.
PLAINLY. He served at the president's pleasure. Everyone can decide if Rumsfeld alone was the fault of American policy in Iraq and Afghanistan. I say not. As much as Rumsfeld had a say in the events with our military he also did not have a say:‘Cheney cabal hijacked US foreign policy’
By Edward Alden in Washington
Published: October 20 2005 00:00 Last updated: October 20 2005 00:19
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/afdb7b0c-40f3-11da-b3f9-00000e2511c8.html
In a scathing attack on the record of President George W. Bush, Colonel Lawrence Wilkerson, chief of staff to Mr Powell until last January, said: “What I saw was a cabal between the vice-president of the United States, Richard Cheney, and the secretary of defense, Donald Rumsfeld, on critical issues that made decisions that the bureaucracy did not know were being made.
RUMSFELD is an interesting character, however, there are far bigger fish to fry.
Voting Irregularities
It's interesting you want to talk about this now, because then Democrats talk about it they are called complainers and 'conspiracy theorists.' I tell you what I could not believe, the way after elections on Tuesday the eleven undecided seats in the House were dropped like hot potatoes. They were never scrutinized to the extent they should have been as to why those seats took so long for results. But, the attention fell to the Senate and we all know the outcomes there. I don't believe their is a reason for computer balloting in the USA. Eventually, the plan will include voting from your home computer with a justification that the nation will be able to vote and increase 'the base.' I don't see how that will ever work without a polling place and there is so much possiblity for misuse and corruption it's out of the question. We need a paper ballot system and that is all we need.
Veterans returning to the job market
To begin the job market isn't really overloaded with opportunity. In the past when veterans were hurting for jobs the federal government would give tax credits that meant something so employers would have not just an incentive to hire veterans but would be aware of the need. The problem this time is that a lot of the returning veterans will be National Guard troops. They left well paying jobs because their country called. Most of those jobs have been filled and possibly under Bush's policies outsourced. So, it's going to be a challenge to get these veterans back into the job market but not impossible.
enough
