TRAPPISTS IN WINNEPEG: Decades ago, when I was a super-devout Catholic, I took a greyhound bus from Mpls to Winnipeg,Canada, to make a week's retreat at the Trappist monastery there.

HISTORICAL BACKGROUND: St.Benedict founded his Order around the 5th century, intending they should spend their lives mostly in silence, working in the fields, and chanting the psalms at different times during the day.

Over the centuries, the Benedictines (long the only order of monks in the Western Church) got not so much corrupt as mediocre. They spent most of every day comfortably indoors, chanting elaborate psalmody, and making elaborate books.

Around 1200, St.Robert got exasperated with the spiritual mediocrity, and founded the Cistercians, who went back to spending hours in the fields. They were great farmers. Also, they admitted the monastery serfs (skilled in agriculture) to be lay-brothers. Also, rich people died and left their property to the austere Cistercians, hoping to sneak into heaven.(The first cowboys were Spanish Cistercians, who figured out how to manage large herds of cows on horses.)

Cistercians got very rich, and, almost inevitably, very corrupt. Thomas More, in 16th century ,was furious because the Cistericians were pioneers in converting crop-farms into sheep-farms, gobbling up the commons from the peasants. "Sheep," he said, "are eating men." More was told about a couple of Cistercians who turned Jewish; he said he'd be more astounded if they had turned Christian.

Around the 18th century, rich abbeys were handed over (for their income) to nobles, and the monastery at LaTrappe,France, was inherited by a noble named deRance. As nominal abbot, he had a religious conversion experience, and founded an austere new order called Cistercians of the Strict Observance, or 'Trappists'.They became famous for keeping almost-complete silence; they communicated by sign language. (Their voices did not atrophy; they spent hours every day chanting--as it were, they talked only to God.)

The House in Winnipeg was only a priory, under an abbot in Quebec.I met the young prior who complained, "These monks have no responsibility; they live to a hundred. I have to care for their souls, and also for a thousand-acre farm.My life-expectancy is about 5 years."

He also complained about the old French abbot in Quebec. There they still farmed without new machinery,so he couldn't understand why the Winnipeg daughter-house wanted a dispensation from wearing robes in the fields. "Regularly, one of our monks gets sucked into the farm-machinery."

The thousand acres was originally just outside Winnipeg. Then the city grew out to them,so their land was now worth a fortune. (After monkery went out of fashion, I wondered if the few remaining monks might have sold out and retired as millionaires.)

One monk was 'guest-master' so he could talk to us. He had been a philosophy prof in Belgium, and joined the monks so he'd have time to pray. Then a bachelor farmer died and left the monastery a couple of dozen prize holstein cows, each worth thousands of dollars. This poor Belgian was put in charge of them. "They're so stupid that I have to follow them around to deliver the calves. I actually had more time to pray when I was a professor!"

He came in from the field one day exasperated. "A bull just mounted a mare; with my luck there will be offspring, and I'll be delated to Rome for witchcraft."

Another fellow had just left the Order (on friendly terms) and was staying in the guest-house till his job-seeking letters bore fruit.
His story: "I was an Irish salesman in Shanghai when the Communists took over. I saw trucks full of Christians being hauled off to be shot. They were singing happily on their way to martyrdom. I was so awestruck that I later joined the Trappists to pray against Communism."

He had several good stories about Trappist life. As a novice he was helping an old monk straightening out the altar after Mass. There was a fine linen altar-cloth, and then a rough muslin cloth for folding the fine cloth into, for protection. The old monk was folding the fine cloth OUTSIDE the protective cloth, so the novice signalled him, "Why?" The old monk signalled back, "We've always done it this way."

Every evening the monks sing a transcendentally beautiful SALVE REGINA just before they retire. A spotlight plays on the Virgin statue; visitors love to come to watch.

Trappists eat no meat, but a lot of legumes. They retire to a cell about the size of a men's room booth, sleeping on straw mattresses laid over wood--sleeping soundly after their field-work. These cells are in a dormitory; so after they retire, the legumes take hold and repeated farts are heard. This guy lay there laughing at these earthy sounds after the sublime SALVE, and said one reason he had to 'come out' was to tell this story.

But that wasn't his main reason for leaving. The monks rose at 1AM, chanted and read for a couple of hours, then had Mass before breakfast.The church (in winter Winnipeg) was unheated. Just before Communion, they threw themselves on the stone floor to recite the Confiteor (confessing their sins). One morning there was a delay in Communion, and this fellow fell asleep. He awoke to find himself lying on an awful cold stone floor."I heard an angelic voice as clear as a bell;
it said, 'Let Communism win !' " So he returned to the world.

There are still some Trappists around the world; since Vatican II they don't keep complete silence, and the psalms are somethimes chanted in the vernacular. (One monastery is in Snowmass,CO, near the luxury ski-resorts.) But where once a monastery had many dozens of monks, now there are just a few. Who knows about the future?
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I can't resist repeating this old chestnut:
In an order where monks could speak only one sentence each year:
--the 1st year this new monk said, "The food is awful!"
--second year: "It's too cold !"
--third year: "I'm getting out !"

The abbot: "I'm not surprised--ever since you came, all you've done is complain !"

 
INDONESIAN TERRORISTS CAUSE 53 CHRISTIAN CASUALTIES with bombs containing nails,etc. JerusalemPost

Bushies gloated in '02 that they had destroyed an alQaeda training-camp in Afghanistan. But every sensible person knew that they were recruiting new terrorists all over the Muslim world of 1200 million people.

The hundreds of jungle-islands of Indonesia, peopled by Muslims who hate America, likely to hide and help terrorists, are a perfect training-ground for terrorists.

Bushies now prattle about how we have to stay in Iraq to prevent that country from offering shelter for terrorists. But (a) terrorists don't NEED Iraq [see above], and (b) Iraq will be controlled by Shiites & Kurds, who are hostile to mainly-Sunni terrorists, and (c) we are now training terrorists in techniques of guerilla war..for instance, they've bought a lot of shoulder-mounted anti-plane missiles, and are learning how to aim them. Then they can move to first-world countries and bring down clumsy airliners. (Israel is now mounting decoys, at $1 million per plane, on planes flying to known terrorist locations. U.S. can't afford to do this, what with its priceless, useless Pentagon.)

 
ltr to USATODAY: Your cartoon(30D) shows ancient '2005' losing his pension, unable to retire. I'm reminded that GOPs controlling all 3 branches of fed. government profess to worry about retirees losing some of their social security money in 5 or 10 years--but then they let company CEOs drain off millions when they retire, while their workers are losing their pensions RIGHT NOW!

 
GLOATING OVER BUSHIE DISASTERS: a former Clinton aide has listed the disastrous blunders of the Bushie camp in '05. GUARDIAN

He starts with attempted Bushie interference with courts in case of poor Mr.Sciavo, who pulled the plug on his wife after decades of pointless intervention...2 in 3 Americans condemned the Bushie interference.
One entertaining point in this case was when Dr.Frist (Senate leader) wrongly diagnosed Ms.Sciavo from a TV picture !

 
EMBARRASSING IRAQ PSEUDO-SOVEREIGNTY: Iraq govt. ran prisons where inmates were tortured. Now U.S. troops are 'embedded' in Iraq police-forces.

U.S. GENERAL CONTRADICTS RUMMY: Pace said that U.S. troops in Iraq should intervene if they witness abuse of prisoners. Rummy said no.
Pace repeated 'YES!'
NYTIMES
(Rummy doesn't want to admit that we are in control of Iraq still, long after we pretended to hand over control to 'sovereign govt.' On the other hand, Pace doesn't want U.S. blamed for such abuse, since everyone KNOWS we're still in control. Also, our attempt to pacify Sunnis is undermined by Shia/Kurd militias' abuse of Sunni prisoners.)

 
PAKISTAN MADRASSAS DEFY GOVT-- 12,000 schools for boys (recruiting many foreigners) have been accused of fomenting 'Islamism', which in turn produces terrorists.

So Pak.'s dictator has ordered them regulated; but one in three have defied the govt. So govt. backed down from forbidding foreign students, has settled for 'urging' foreigners to get out.

The 'madrassas' were once funded by CIA, wanting to encourage guerilla-fighters vs. Soviets in Afghanistan. Now the fanatic young men are more likely to attack Americans or Britons. FinTimes

This is a good illustration of the fact that Muslim autocrats 'allied with U.S.' rule (more or less effectively) populations who hate U.S. And yet Bushies chatter about forcing 'democracy' on Muslim nations ! Let's hope they fail.

 
NEW PRIME MINISTER WILL BE SHIITE: The big win by the Shiite parties guarantees that they will name the new PM (the real honcho of parliamentary govt.)

But Jaafari, the present PM, has been ineffective in countering insurgent attacks; he has annoyed Americans by allowing embarrassing abuse of prisoners; besides, he has annoyed Kurdish alliance-partners by not supporting their grab for oil-soaked Kirkuk region.

So the new PM might be a less-devout Shiite, one less strongly tied to Iran, one more approved by Kurds & Americans. REUTERS

 
BUSHIES INVESTIGATE LEAK ABOUT THEIR SECRET EAVESDROPPING ! reuters

One good thing about Americans is their propensity to blab. Govt. outrages are leaked. (Not much is done about the outrages--but Bushies' rage shows how much the leaks upset them.)

 
BIGGEST IRAQ REFINERY SHUT DOWN: Because of shortage of refining capacity, Iraq has been IMPORTING GASOLENE ! Now the biggest refinery they have is closing, because tanker-drivers refuse to risk their lives going there to pick up petrol. FORBES

Bushies are always talking about 'benchmarks of success' in Iraq. Here is another benchmark for their FAILURE to counter insurgent attacks. One more reason for Iraqis to tell us "Thanks for nothing. Get out !"
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DOVES CELEBRATE FAILURE? Hawks say that we doves are mainly concerned that Bush should fail, not that Iraq should do better.

We're concerned for both outcomes. But we must hope for spectacular Bush failure in Iraq--because otherwise the demented Bushie neocons would want to go ahead with their plans to rule the world. (See MEGALOMANIC NEOCONS below.) What we'd really like is to see Bushies have to bugout of Iraq--then having Iraq succeed on its own.

 
Letter printed on Pentagon profligacy:

http://coloradoan.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20051230/OPINION03/512300315/1014/OPINION

On 10Sept'01, Rummy admitted they couldn't account for $2 million millions. Events the next day wiped that story from natl. consciousness.
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CORRECTION TO MY LETTER: 4 YRS WAS FROM Oct.01
(start of bombing in Afghan war).

Cost of BOTH wars until Sept.'05: $252 billion.
ChristSciMonitor
http://www.csmonitor.com/2005/0829/p15s01-cogn.html

Pentagon budget ranged from $320 bn in '02 to $390 bn. in '05, totalling well over $1200 billion in the 4 years.

Pentagon budget was well over FOUR times the cost of both wars.

 
RENDITION=TORTURE OUTSOURCED:
U.S. is close to admitting it sent terror SUSPECTS to Syria, famous for its torture-methods. GUARDIAN

Meanwhile, Bushies denounce Syria for various outrages, building a case for bombing the hell out of them to show Bushie machismo (because they don't dare bomb Iran).
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WHOOPS--SPOKE TOO SOON ! Sources in Turkey and Germany say that U.S. is sounding them out seriously about bombing alleged 'nuke sites' in Iran early in '06 ! United Press Just because a sane U.S. govt. 'wouldn't dare' to bomb Iran, that shows nothing about this regime !

One hears that Iran is heavily infiltrating troops into Iraq; when they get bombed, they should be able in retaliation to 'open up a second front' against our vulnerable GIs, (allied with Sunni insurgents).

With all their new oil-money, Iran's rulers could purchase completed nukes from Pakistan (which just renewed its alliance with Iran), or from Russia,China, or North Korea--or from India, which badly needs Iranian natural gas. These nukes would be very easy to hide under mountains, and then Iran would have formidable 'second-strike deterrent' power vs. Bushies: "You can destroy our cities, but our survivors can make you regret it." (Iran already has some long-range missiles.)

In fact, the ruling mullahs of Iran might be unworldly enough not to mind sinful Teheran being destroyed. They might accept the 'Taliban' model: ruling over rubble.
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Israel is talking openly of bombing Iran. Whichever country does the bombing, Iran will retaliate against both. Oil is now back up to $60 a barrel; we'll see if such speculation (involving Iran's retaliation--say, mining the strait of Hormuz to block oil tankers' passage) doesn't jack up that price a lot more.

 
THE PUZZLING IRAQI KURDS:After WWI, the allied victors promised to set up a homeland for the millions of world's Kurds. Of course the Western powers betrayed the Kurds, dividing their territories among neighbor countries: Iraq, Turkey, Iran, and Syria.

After GulfWarI, Bush-Daddy encouraged the Iraqi Kurds & Shiites to rebel against Saddam, then didn't back them. Saddam massacred Shiites and Kurds in revenge. U.S. then moved to 'protect' Kurds & Shiites at least from air-attack, by enforcing 'no-fly' zones against Saddam.

During the decade or so before our invasion, the Kurds used this protection to organize strong military forces to defend against Saddam. (They also fought civil wars against each other--but now these have been settled.)The Shiites in the South, with the same protection, did little to organize their own defense.

What's puzzling is that ISRAEL has involved itself in helping the Kurds train their army. Now the Israeli naturally feel friendly to the only MidEast Muslim group not hostile to Israel ! But the puzzling thing is that TURKEY is presumed to be an ally of Israel...and Turkey very much opposes any successful independent Iraq/Kurdistan, because this would encourage resistance by the 1 in 5 Turks who are Kurds--indeed a Kurdish/Turk 'resistance' force has taken refuge in the mountains of Iraq.

Iran and Syria, of course, also want to hold down their Kurds; they would not like an Iraq/Kurdistan with a lot of oil (with much more oil to be made available when the Kurds take over the oil-soaked Kirkuk region, as they are determined to do--the Sunnis are fiercely opposed to this takeover, and even the Kurds' Shia 'allies' have not welcomed it.
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Iraqi Kurds welcomed the U.S. invasion, and there has been so little resistance there to our occupation that we have not had to station many troops there. The Sunni insurgents have also not been able to attack the Kurds, presumably because of the 75,000 well-trained Kurdish 'peshmerga'. (Insurgents, though, have been able to disrupt oil exports from the Kurdish North, which must be piped to Turkish ports.)

When our 'all/Iraq native militia' voted this month, a surprising number of votes went for the Kurdish slate, suggesting that a disproportionate number of 'all/Iraq' forces are actually Kurdish militiamen loyal first of all to Kurdland (if necessary, many of them say would turn on their Arab 'colleagues', mainly Shia.)

When we say we are training the 'all/Iraq' army, we are in fact training Shia & Kurdish militia whose first loyalty does NOT go to any central Iraq govt.

We've all been fascinated by the Sunni/Arab assaults on Shiite/Arabs.Especially since the Shia/Kurd coalition controlled the central govt. until Dec, and since it looks like a similar coalition will do so for the next four years. It seems it's clearly Shia/&/Kurds vs. Sunni/Arabs.

We have not paid attention to the distinction between Iraqi Kurds (20%) and Iraqi Arabs (80%). As noted, the Kurds have a trained army of 75,000; the biggest Shiite militia has 15,000. The Kurds already see themelves as an independent ministate; by a huge majority, they want to secede from Iraq altogether. But they don't dare enrage Turkey in that way; so they're willing to settle, for now, for DE FACTO (unofficial) independence.

This is accepted as a fait accompli even by the Sunni/Arabs; what Sunnis resist is a looming similar Shia ministate, with 60% of Iraqis and most of Iraq's oil, a ministate surely allied with Shia Iran.
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Once again, why are the Israelis so involved with Iraq/Kurd independence?Why are they willing to antagonize their old ally Turkey?More speculation on this later. For now, one might well read this complex analysis in AsiaTimes on this general issue.
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Here's a wild thought: Sunni & Shiite Arabs in Iraq will go into a major civil war, showing their primitive savagery. Then the civilized Kurds--secular and friendly to U.S. & Israel--would somehow be put in control of all Iraq, with all its oil. (After all, the 20% Sunnis managed to control Iraq for 80 years.)

But would Turkey stand for that? More important, would Iran betray its Shia brothers in Iraq to let alien Sunni Kurds take over? (One does hear that Iran is actually friendly to the Kurds. But still... !)

 
ELECTION REVEALS IRAQ SPLIT: 9 in 10 in populous Shiite provinces voted for a Shiite slate; 9 in 10 in underpopulated Sunnis provinces, for a Sunni slate; 9 in 10 Kurds for a Kurdish slate. Only 9% voted for an 'all/Iraq' slate.

The Iraqi flag is hardly ever flown. Instead, pictures of clerics in Shiite-controlled locations, and the separate flag of Kurdistan in Kurd regions.
Shiites and Sunnis have sometimes intermarried. Observers like Juan Cole still have hopes for a united Iraq, but...
LATimes
One could wish for a peaceful split, as when Czech Republic split from Slovakia. But considering that the SunniArab region has almost no oil...and that Kurds & Shiites hate Sunnis for what Sunni Saddam did to them...it seems that it will be Yugoslavia all over again, with bloody ethnic cleansing. (Shiite family was just warned to move out of Sunni area--then massacred.)
All caused by Bushie invasion.
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Bushies now claim our troops must stay on as peacemakers. But that's like the Brit army staying on to keep the peace in Ulster..when that army sided in a bloody way for centuries with one of the contending parties.
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Thousands of Kurds are moving into oil-soaked area near Kirkuk. (Previously, Saddam chased Kurds & Turkomen out, planted Arabs.)
The place is now a 'time-bomb'.

The only plausible peacemakers in Iraq would be some non-Christian, non-Muslim troops--e.g., Chinese.

 
MEGALOMANIA OF 'NEOCONS': an analysis by a Cambridge don lays out the mad hubris of the D.C. neocons. GUARDIAN They dreamed (and still dream!) of controlling the world by superior U.S. technology.

He suggests that the looting of museums,etc., right after Iraq invasion, was deliberately encouraged by Bushies, as a way to erase national memories so they could implant a new free-market culture in Iraq. [Lyons: instead they have set up two new primitivist Talibans in Iraq, one Sunni and one Shiite ! ]

He notes that the Iraqi insurgents have (at least for now) refuted neocons' world-controlling hubris. But (says Lyons) when they have infantry robots available (so they don't have to worry about sentimental relatives of soldiers), they may expect to impose a 'Darth Vader' empire on the world.

Lyons: In Sept.02 they issued an incredible document threatening preemptive first strikes on any 'hostile' nation that dares to try to catch up with them in weapons. [Natl.Security Strategy]

Of course the main result of such crude tactics was probably to trigger in other nations a speedup in development of second-strike deterrents (e.g., war-germs)--so the nations could tell U.S.:"You can destroy our cities--but our survivors can make you regret it." (No.Korea hurried to develop nukes, and now Iran is doing so.)

Like Hitler, Mussolini, Stalin, and the Japanese generals, neocons must first squash dissent at home. So far, not much progress--but when they have enough robots, they can take over U.S. in an open coup.

(They'll need competent technicians by the tens of thousands in this project. They WON'T find them among the ever-less-competent U.S. youth.But with super-salaries they should be able to enlist super-technicians from all over the world.)

 
THE FARCICAL 'ALL/IRAQ' MILITIA: The formidable Kurdish 'peshmerga' soldiers have infiltrated our self-styled militia, and are preparing to fight their Arab 'colleagues', if necessary, to seize oil-soaked Kirkuk region and defend their de-facto independent Kurdland. [ Knight-Ridder, cited by 'Times-Argus' ]

Shiites are also infiltrating their militia-men into the mythical natl. army, ready to pull out to defend ministate Shialand. As a unified nation, Iraq has been killed by Bushie invasion. (This should have been foreseen, after the 'balkanization' of Yugoslavia when Tito died.)

 
COALITION NOW UNWILLING: Originally, U.S. could pressure 38 countries to send 50,000 troops to Iraq (a merely symbolic average of about 1000 per nation). Now, after Bulgaria and Ukraine have pulled theirs out, it's 27 nations with a trivial 22,000 troops.

Originally Poland said it would pull out all its troops. Then,after U.S. pressure, it now says it will pull out only 40% of its troops. Those remaining will NOT be in combat, only training Iraqi militia (how many do you think speak Polish & Arabic ??!)

All the remaining 'coalition partners' plan to pull out in '06.LATimes

Bushies (actually, our unlucky GIs) will stand ALONE in pushing for 'total victory'.

 
FED KEEPS RAISING SHORT-TERM INTEREST RATES, 'to fight inflation'.But these 2 year rates have been higher than 3-yr, 5-yr rates for a while, and now, for the first time in 5 years, they are higher than TEN-YEAR RATES.
Typically, investors demand a higher rate for a longer-term loan, to hedge against unpredictable long-term rates. So this type of 'inversion' is usually seen as a predictor of slow growth or even recession. (In fact the DowJones dropped by 100 pts, 1%, just yesterday.)

Explanation? A large SAVINGS SURPLUS all over the world, with too few investment opportunities. [ This is likely from worldwide EXCESS PRODUCTIVE CAPACITY--i.e., shortage of consumption among those with money--perhaps prefiguring world Depression. ]

Till now, U.S. consumers have been spending the increase in their housing prices..but new-home sales dropped over eleven percent just last month (!) [ REUTERS,28Dec. ]

If home-owners get the idea that the bubble has finally burst, they may flood the market with their houses, temporarily lowering the prices by a lot. This will depress the hysterical consumption of the recent past.(Consumer confidence has recently risen--but what do they know?)
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Highest number of Homes on the market since 1986 ! [USATODAY,30D]
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CRUDE OIL RISES again to $60 a barrel [ Boston.com ](in spite of optimism about extra- warm weather lowering demand for heating oil.)
Fed may count this as encouraging inflation. But people who pay more for gas & oil HAVE LESS TO SPEND on other things. What we face is STAGFLATION (rising prices in one sector without any job-increases.)



The danger over next decade is DEFLATION (possible recession) , NOT inflation.
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IRAQ & VIETNAM WARS COMPARED: a letter notes several drawbacks to Viet war that we don't face in Iraq--e.g., VCong backed by Commie giants China & Soviet.

But in Iraq we face several new drawbacks:
--Large number of religious fanatics willing to indulge in suicide bombings.
Important advantages: no 'getaway' plan needed./ Bombers can't be captured and tortured to betray their handlers.
Terrorists can recruit some unknown portion of 1200 MILLIONS of Muslims scattered around the world.

--Very sophisticated roadside bombs. U.S. military needs tons of supplies--convoys vulnerable to roadside bombs. (Many GIs wounded each day since end of September!)

--Insurgents never run out of explosives. Funding from neighboring Muslim countries.

 
One Quin Roberts (COLORADOAN, 27D) juggles guesstimates about Iraq casualties in our war. Such figures are only guesses. But some figures are sure: nearly 2200 of our GIs won't come back 'when it's over over there.' Besides these GIs killed, thousands are returning minus a leg, arm, eye, or face, shell-shocked or with brain-damage.

These figures are definite, and they tell only what's happened so far.15 GIs were wounded on each 'quiet' day during the recent election week.[UnitedPress,19Dec] If Bush 'stays the course, seeking total victory', thousands more GIs will be killed, maimed, or wounded--and for what?

 
FIFTEEN THOUSAND WMDs SCATTERED AROUND U.S.: 4 years after 9/11, GOP govt. (they control all 3 branches!) have made no moves to increase safety precautions at U.S. chemical plants. (This is partly because plant-corporations, resisting regulation, have paid in so much slush-money to GOP.)

If one of these were blown up by terrorists, tens of thousands of American casualties would result. NYTIMES

This is a perfect example of the way the Bushies show little concern for Homeland Safety--except as an excuse to undermine our constitutional rights.
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HOUSE DEMS CONDEMN HOMELAND SEC. DEPT: Dept spokesman-defender notes that they have FOR FIRST TIME--after 4 years--agreed to pursue fed. regulations for chemical plants--that is, to endorse Congressional moves to regulate these plants--EVENTUALLY. [AssocPress, cited by COLORADOAN/no link available]

 
OUR OTHER WAR: TALIBAN BUYS ANTI-PLANE MISSILES, strangely, from non-Muslim guerillas in Sri Lanka ! Taliban uses money from selling opium poppies from Afghanistan--$ also from Arab allies. Apparently some of these missiles are going also to Iraq guerillas; Pakistan source says that once these missiles go into use, effect on US planes will be great. AsiaTimes
(Perhaps these missiles will counter U.S. move to substitute air-power for GIs on the ground in Iraq.)

After all, shoulder-mounted missiles provided by US to Afghan 'freedom-fighters' once helped to drive Soviets out of Afghanistan.

Taliban is stepping up attacks considerably in Afghanistan. These include suicide-bombings, copied from Iraq insurgents. (RockyMtnNews)
US is cutting troop-numbers in Afghanistan; this is not from optimism.
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HELICOPTER CRASHED in Baghdad on 26D,killing 2 GIs.REUTERS
Observers will pay attention to any US planes brought down, perhaps, by ground-to-air missiles. If guerillas get trained to use these things accurately, they can move to first-world countries.

"Airliners produce so much heat they'd suck those critters off the assembly-line." On the other hand, decoys have been designed to lure the missiles away from the plane; but these are very expensive, and therefore have not yet been installed on US airliners.

 
VOTES OF 'SECURITY FORCES' LARGELY COUNTED: a surprising number of 'Kurdish' votes--and few Sunni votes, as expected.

U.S. worries that Sunnis are under-represented among our native militia.
One worry is that Kurds intend to grab the oil-soaked area around Kirkuk.
NYTIMES
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It's said that that arch-crook & liar (& perhaps a spy for Iran?) Chalabi will take over the dismal Iraq oil industry. FinTimes (He has a degree in economics, and probably has close contacts in foreign oil companies--whose help Iraqis need desperately in restoring their decrepit oil infrastructure.)

 
NOBODY NOTICED $2 MILLIONS OF MILLIONS 'LOST TRACK OF' BY PENTAGON. This was announced by Rummy--guess when? the day before 9/11.

Over two trillion dollars: This comes to about $8000 for every American man,woman,child. [ CBS ]

Critics say that's just 'normal slippage' for Pentagon. A million millions here, a million millions there--it seems OK, but it adds up to real money.

 
6 BUSH ERRORS:
One Wm.Lind is enough respected by UnitedPress that they print his 'outside views.' He considers (& refutes) the six assumptions mentioned by Bush recently:

1) "Terrorists haven't manpower or firepower to defeat us--unless we surrender."This shows no understanding of guerilla war; guerillas win all ties.
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2) "Americans have steadfast pol. will to succeed." But support for the war, among people & Congress, is in freefall.
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3) "Pol. progress will enable us to pick out terrorists from ordinary Iraqis."But hostile Shiite/Kurd govt. will NOT persuade Sunnis to turn in guerillas!/ Our own intelligence is marginal.[Lyons: an understatement--our forces don't speak the language!]/Also, intell.is useful only if we're trying to split Baathis insurgents from Zarqawistas. But Bush's statement lumps them together.
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4) "We can train native militia to counter insurgents."But the men we are training are NOT loyal to 'all/Iraq' govt, but to Shiite & Kurd militias who want REVENGE vs. all Sunnis.
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5) "Foreign meddling can be neutralized."But this guy claims that Iranian infiltration is massive and growing.He claims that many 'insurgent' attacks are actually Iranian!(Lyons: why would Shiite Iranians be helping enemy Sunnis?)
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6)"We can help Iraqi forces get organized to counter guerillas."But anyone who is seen to get our help is tarred as a collaborator with invaders.

 
Over 105 casualties yesterday and today. One province gov. abducted, another attacked. Oil-pipeline exploded. USATODAY

Bushie flaks (& tame US media) chattered earlier about high violence UNTIL election (hinting it would lessen later). Now they'll likely chatter about high violence UNTIL new govt. is formed.

Truth is, violence will continue unabated until US makes a deal with Saddamite leaders of one wing of insurgency.
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UKRAINE pulled out its last 800 troops from Iraq. All Bulgarian troops pulled out. Poland waffling, but pulling out some troops. ABC/News
More & more obviously, it's the Coalition of the UNwilling.

 
MANY ATTACKS SINCE ELECTION: A monstrously-huge Abrams tank destroyed. /

One young leader of a protest vs. election was abducted, tortured & killed--apparently by Kurdish Peshmurga.

One Sunni leader, commenting on Sunnis' ill-advised collaboration with election: "We went to a wedding, and it turned into a funeral."
ABC/NEWS

 
POLL OF IRAQIS (Oct/Nov): 2in 3 opposed to our presence there.
60% disapprove of US conduct (most disapprove strongly.)
[Since only 20% of Iraqis are Sunnis, many SHIA must also disapprove.]
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26% say "Leave now!"
19% say "Leave after new govt (from Dec.election). "
[Sydney,Australia NINE/NEWS ]

 
TO TODAY'S VETERANS: THANKS FOR NOTHING ! Americans now dare to condemn the Iraq war, and demand that we bugout. But almost nobody dares to criticize the ordinary GI..instead we peaceniks chant, "Support the Troops! Bring them home !"

When a woman lets her husband brutalize her AND HER CHILDREN, we sympathize with her suffering--but we also criticize her for passively ENABLING the abuse of her children--even if she thinks that staying with the brute is HER DUTY.

Analogously, let us ask if army (and especially air-force) enlistees--suffering themselves--are not ENABLING war-crimes ? Wars are made by awful old men like Cheney and Rummy and Bush..but they count on thousands of enlistees to actually implement their bellicose plans.
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I served in Korea, during the war, in 1952-3. Like most soldiers at the time, I had a non-combat job--but I SAW what war was like (interviewing front-line GIs, returning from front lines wounded or half-crazy--and viewing thousands of refugees in Inchon,including homeless children who sometimes died of cold in the streets.)

I was drafted--but I didn't have to be..I could have had a fellowship in grad school and stayed out till I was 26, when the army wouldn't have grabbed me. But, after 16 years of Catholic schooling in the Midwest, I thought that OurLadyOfFatima had intimated that Stalin was THE ANTICHRIST, and I wanted to serve (however feebly--athsmatic and nearly blind) in the battle against him. What a sucker I was !

Of course when I got to Korea, I realized (a) that Stalin was too stupid to be the anti-Christ; he was foolish to rouse the somnolent US to a war frenzy, by backing No.Korea's invasion of the South;also I realized (b) that we were there to protect one awful dictator (Syngman Rhee) from another dictator in No.Korea. I also realized (c) that stupid (or traitorous) Gen.MacArthur had sucked Red China into the war against us, so the war was now unwinnable. But this enlightenment came too late.
-----------
I have opposed every one of our frequent--needless and pointless--wars since then. They have been in defense of our Empire, not of our freedoms! And I have admired the young men who refused out of principle to serve in these wars, perhaps avoiding the draft by fleeing to Canada, or even going to prison--but certainly not enlisting.

'...refusing out of principle' : I certainly have NOT admired the youths--like Cheney, Rummy, and Bush in the 60s--and like so many of our mesomorph youths today who are 'spectator-cheerleaders' for war--who blather on supporting our wars, but then prudently avoid combat.
--------------------
In the movie "EMILY" [earlier labelled 'Americanization of Emily'] Paddy Cheyevsky laid out my position neatly. James Garner plays a hyper-manly marine who, fighting heroically in the Pacific, comes to think all wars are foolish and wrong. He gets a letter from his admiring younger brother, determined to follow him by enlisting.

Garner's character at once pulls strings to get himself a non-heroic job as an admiral's pimp in London, to dramatize for his brother his rejection of the illusion of military heroism.
------------
I'll go so far as to say that PHYSICAL BRAVERY is often a VICE today, not a virtue--since it may lead young men to ENABLE wicked old pols like the Bushies to ravage humanity. (Of course I admire noncorrupt policemen, and especially firemen, for their benevolent courage.)
-------------
Nevertheless, we do feel intense sympathy with our troops, just as we sympathize with the misguided woman who enables her husband to abuse her and her children.
A letter to NYT from a GI returning from Iraq recounts the scandalously ill-equipped vehicles alloted to U.S. troops there. As one father of an Iraq GI put it: "The Bush-team care for our troops in the way Tyson cares for its chickens."
================================
Our future wars will NOT, typically, require much physical, manly courage. Already pilots stationed in Kansas, jumping after breakfast into their B-52s, could fly off to bomb the hell out of Afghanistan (from the safe stratosphere), then return to Kansas to play with their children in the evening. And our pilotless drone planes ('Predators') are now missiling (with pseudo-precision) alleged hideouts of Iraqi insurgents, enraging the surviving relatives of innocent bombing victims.

The Pentagon has now developed ingenious robot infantrymen. When these are in full production, our Empire can decimate rebels around the world without any Americans risking their lives...GIs (male or female) will control the robots (seeing through cameras mounted on the robots) from safe postions far away. (Stupid Bushes started this Iraq war too soon !)

(A submarine able to destroy a dozen cities in a day could even now be staffed by mean old Irish women.)

These infantry robots will also enable the Pentagon to take over U.S. in an open coup. We've always been comforted by the thought that American GIs wouldn't fire on Americans. But American robots won't hesitate.

(Our handgun fans brag that they will defend us from tyrants. But black humor will prevail when they face heroically a line of the tyrant's impassive robots.)
---------------------
So high-testosterone youths are now necessary to enable ruthless old men to launch unjust, foolish wars. But soon the old villains can use robots instead, and these youths will be redundant--just as male prowess is now redundant in industry.

 
AN O'HENRY-TYPE STORY: As I age, very early memories replace recent ones (like where my car is).
-----------
When I was in High-school (before 1946), my father sold AAA memberships on the road from Cresco--for very low pay. We always had enough money for a turkey on Thanksgiving and Christmas--except for one year.

Dad was out on the road, and we had hardly a penny. (My older brother Bob--always able to come up with some money--was in the Navy.)So I went out the day before Thanksgiving and managed to sell a couple of magazine subscriptions. I dishonestly kept all the money (hoping I could send it in later) and bought a turkey.

Then Dad came home; he had sold a membership, and was also keeping the money temporarily. He also had bought a turkey !
So I could return my turkey and send in the money.
---------------
There was only one other holiday crisis. I had bought 50 baby chicks and a few baby ducklings to raise for food. Practically all of them died; we had three chickens and one duck at Christmas time. To spare our feelings, we traded them to someone for a large goose. Mother was up in Mpls in the hospital. My sister absent-mindedly BURNED THE GOOSE. We had pancakes for Christmas.
----------
Later, my father succeeded as a salesman, even winning a national prize. Every one of my siblings ended up quite prosperous. So we could enjoy recalling those harsh early times.

Recently, I was telling some friends how poor we were--one of the women there was now quite prosperous, but had come from an impoverished Finnish/French family in the Northern Peninsula of Lake Michigan.
I said, "Get this--even after times got better--with ten people, we had ONE BATHROOM !"
This woman stared at me, and said, "Bathroom? What's 'bathroom'?"

She won the 'poverty memories' contest, hands-down.

 
BELATED WHISTLE-BLOWER: [NYTIMES] L. Wilkerson was a combat helicopter pilot in Vietnam, saw how "bestiality takes over people who are asked to use force for the state." (Lyons: notice how he still uses the euphemism 'using force' instead of the more accurate 'slaughtering civilians'.)

Then he ended up as Colin Powell's top aide in '03. He saw how Cheney and Rumsfeld hi-jacked foreign policy, in which Bush was not well-versed, and not very interested. He resigned in protest just as Bush was running for re-election. (He was especially shocked by the US abuse of Iraqi prisoners, which he saw as caused by top people's policy.)

But he blew the whistle only recently, even reproaching his boss Powell for excessive loyalty, for bending over backwards to work 'damage control' after Bush outrages.

Why didn't he resign earlier? Loyalty to Powell, whom he saw as 'the only sane person in the Bush-team.' Question: Why hasn't Powell (ejected with no medals or rewards) blown the whistle? Excessive loyalty? or Blackmail by the Bushies?

 
"CUT A DEAL WITH SADDAMITE INSURGENTS !" urges a sensible-sounding think-tank analyst. U.S. has been talking with these Baathists. UnitedPress

What kind of a deal would they accept?

Saddamites would want us to quit fighting them--in fact, let them take control openly of the Sunni/Arab region. In return, they'd wipe out the fanatic Zarqawists who are now slaughtering Shiites, perhaps enraging Shiites till they turn on all the Sunnis (outnumbering them 3 to 1).

But would Saddamite leaders setttle for an empire of sand only, between two oil-rich ministates (Kurdland and Shialand) ? If not, they'd demand GUARANTEE of 'fair share' of future oil money. What cards would they hold?
--vs. Kurds: their ability to sabotage oil facilities in North. (Of course, Kurds could drive out all Arabs from the oil-soaked Kirkuk region.)
--vs. Shiites: they'd control Tigris & Euphrates rivers before they get to Shialand. (But if Kurds ally with Shiites, then Kurds control these rivers before they get to Sunni/Arab land.)

To get 'fair share' of oil money GUARANTEED, Baathist rulers of middle region would demand that Shiites/Kurds cede to them some oil-rich territories.

It seems very unlikely that the Shiites, exasperated by murderous Sunni attacks on their mosques, etc--and triumphant in dominating the new govt. for the next 4 years--would ever give up any oil-rich lands to the hated Baathists.And the Kurds don't seem likely to give up claims to any part of Kirkuk region.

So it's very doubtful that we could 'cut a deal' with the Baathists that would end the insurgent attacks, letting Bush 'declare victory' before he has to bugout.

 
SOMALIA: the Muslim 'nation without a state'--for years, no controlling central govt. !
BBC
Bushies profess to worry about Iraq turning into a chaotic place available for alQaeda staging and training, if/when we bugout.

But Somalia already offers alQaeda all the opportunity it needs for staging and training terrorists.

So do the hundreds of jungle-islands in Indonesia. Indonesia has over one million Muslims, mostly hostile towards US.There is a strong alQaeda type contingent in Indonesia, wanting to set up a fundamentalist-Islamist regime there. Warnings were just issued about possible terrorist attacks during these holidays. CBC/NEWS )
Pentagon bombers/missiles are, of course, useless against individual terrorists hiding out in Somalia and Indonesia.)

(Also, coming Iraqi ministates Shialand & Kurdland will hardly want to harbor their enemy alQaueda. The Sunni/Arab region ?
US will likely allow the Saddamite wing of insurgency to take over this region openly; they will then likely slaughter their erst-while allies, the alQuaeda Zarqawistas, to prevent them from further enraging Shiites--who outnumber Sunni/Arabs 3 to 1, who are backed by formidable Iran, whose militia are now being trained by US ! )

We can bug out without this worry ! Terrorists DON'T NEED Iraq as training-ground, and they can't take it over. (Indeed, we're now helping terrorists get trained in fighting us in Iraq, so they can later make trouble elsewhere.)
-----------------------
US must quit dreaming of eliminating alQaeda 'nests' overseas, and concentrate on minimizing and mitigating attacks on our oh-so-vulnerable Homeland. "We are out hunting foxes elsewhere, while we leave the doors open on our henhouse."

 
RUMMY ANNOUNCES SHIFT FROM US COMBAT TROOPS TO GIs TRAINING NATIVE MILITIA. reuters The hope is obviously to cut GI casualties (2 killed today) and help GOP polls.

Trouble is: the so-called 'all/Iraqi' troops we're training are actually
--a) sometimes guerilla infiltrators;
--b) often loyal to Shiite/Kurd militias--so we're setting up troops to be used by coming Shiite mini-state (with most of Iraq's oil, most of its population, and allied to our arch-foe Iran!)

 
SEVERAL HUNDRED THOUSAND SUNNIS marched to protest the recent elections (which they called 'fraudulent') promising to install Shia religious parties in strong control of Iraq for the next 4 years. ABC/NEWS
(Other sources said '10,000 marched.")

Meanwhile, insurgents caused about 56 Iraqi casualties today, and killed 2 GIs. Boston.com

 
BOMBS IN FOR GIs? As noted here yesterday, US bombing/strafing missions in Iraq went up from one a day earlier this year to four a day now.
Columbus FreePress notes that NYTIMES & WashPost have run NO stories about the escalating air-war against Iraq insurgents--actually against anyone in the region bombed or strafed.(Nor has USATODAY told this story.)People wanting the truth about the war had better expose themselves to other media than these mainstream papers.
(Seymour Hersh in NEW YORKER--cited by Canadian GLOBAL RESEARCH-- has told the story of the random, brainless bombing Pentagon is indulging in).

WashPost later ran a story on civilian casualties of our air war.
----------------------
Nixon stepped up the incredible tonnage of bombs dropped on Vietnam during the phony 'Vietnamization' that was supposed to beat the Cong with Vietnamese casualties instead of US casualties. This 'strategy' didn't work then and it won't work now.

 
"BUSHIES MUST & WILL NEGOTIATE WITH SADDAMITE GENERALS IN INSURGENCY", to get them to help wipe out the mad Zarqawites--says analyst.

The Price of Saddamite cooperation? --first, a date certain for GI bugout.
--second, protection from revenge by goon squads of triumphant Shiites, who will definitely control 'all/Iraq' govt. for 4 years--AND will control the pseudo-all/Iraq militia. UnitedPress
(Who says Shiites will agree to this, when the Saddamites have been letting Zarqawist allies slaughter Shiites?)

Also, says Lyons, the Saddamites will demand that they be allowed to take over the middle (Sunni/Arab) region openly.

Saddamites will also demand GUARANTEE (not just promises) of a 'fair share' of future oil-money. (Otherwise they will take over just a region of sand!)The only such reliable guarantee would be ceding them some oil-rich lands (most of which are already claimed by Shiites & Kurds.)

These Shiite/Kurd concessions are not bloody likely--nor therefore, is Saddamite cooperation.

Bushies will not likely succeed in this covert 'bugout described as victory'.
---------------
Advisers to Saudi King Abdullah say Iraq is on the way to partitition
UnitedPress
(into 3 ministates--or into Kurdland, Shialand, and no-man's-land (the chaotic Sunni/Arab region--which may end up a 'nation without a state' like Somalia.)
-----------
UnitedPressNewstrack says there is growing evidence that Zarqawist influence in Europe is strengthening..(thanks to Bushie blunders in Iraq).

 
LOSERS THREATEN BOYCOTT: Sunni & Allawite (secular) leaders denounce expected election results as fraudulent, threaten to boycott the new Assembly. Shiite leaders say the new assembly can proceed without the boycotters.

In spite of heavy Sunni turnout, Shiites expected to get 120-130 seats, (compared to 140 seats in previous temporary assembly). Allawites will get few. So Shiites can easily form a new govt. in coalition with Kurds: 184 seats needed. GUARDIAN

(Of course the Shiite MPs who are followers of Sadr could defect from the Shiite super-majority..they've been siding with Sunnis...indeed, with insurgents! They may be able to force Shiite MPs to demand GI bugout.)

U.S. 'ambassador' (acting like ruler) is upset over sectarian pattern in voting.
-------------
Why the heavy Sunni voter-turnout? They should have foreseen that they'd land only 1 in 5 seats in the new Assembly--i.e., they'd end up as powerless (facing hostile Shiite/Kurd supermajority) as if they'd boycotted the vote entirely.

Sunnis have claimed that they are actually the Iraqi majority, not just 20% as observers have said. They may have believed their own propaganda, and are now outraged to find that they ARE in fact a small, powerless minority.

Now they'll be even more likely to give up on political process, and back the guerillas even more fervently.

 
RUMMY HINTS TROOP CUT: R. said that addition might be cancelled of two planned brigades, that GI numbers will not just be cut to 138,000 after the election, but may be cut even below that. FORBES

Gee, that doesn't seem the road to Bush's goal of Total Victory. Once again, there aren't enough US troops there now to hold off the insurgents.
A partial bugout will leave remaining troops more vulnerable--unless they're pulled back into 'safe' areas, abandoning pretence that they're fighting the guerillas.

Perhaps this is Bushies' strategy: aiming for 'total victory' of GOP in Nov.'06. They realize that GIs in Iraq are useless, serve only as targets.
So they'll pull them out gradually, testing after each stage for lower GI casualties and higher GOP polls.
-------------
BLAIR PREDICTS CUTBACK OF BRIT TROOPS in Shiite South...
because Iraqi militia, he says, are taking over security. But violence has INCREASED in South, and observers say that the all/Iraq militia has been infiltrated by ruthless Shiite militia. REUTERS

AnABC reporter said on TV that Western reporters don't dare go into Southern Shiite area; they must rely on Iraqi reporters.
==============
"WHEN YOU DON'T KNOW WHAT TO DO, BOMB !" It may be that Bushies are trying to replace GIs with bombs, as U.S. stupidly tried in Vietnam, toward the end. Missions each month went from 35 last summer to 120 in Oct/Nov. SeattlePostIntel That's 4 missions every day!

In Vietnam, one observer commented: "Gen.Westmoreland's strategy--if "Thump'em!!" can be described as a strategy--has not proved effective."

Of course, such indiscriminate slaughter helps the insurgents recruit more terrorists....

 
PROF. CALLS SECULAR IRAQ A DELUSION: A former Baghdad native, he says that after Saddam's army & police were dismissed (by nincompoop Bushies) people turned to the sectarian mosques for help. ChristSciMonitor

As noted below, one Iraqi observer said Bushies have created a Sunni 'Taliban' and a Shiite 'Taliban'.

 
7 in 10 U.S.JEWS OPPOSE THE WAR IN IRAQ; 6 in 10 disagree with the present U.S. 'war on terror'. 54% call themselves Democrats; only 16% say they're Republicans. HAARETZ

One wonders why the Bushie neocons are thought to be pawns of Israel.
Perhaps the very wealthy Jews, whom the pols would fawn on, have different opinions from ordinary Jews.

 
"CALL THE BUGOUT 'STRATEGIC REDEPLOYMENT' ! "
Lawrence Korb ( a former defense honcho) says we mustn't be hypnotized by only 2 options: 'Stay the Course !' or 'Out now !'

His plan features redeploying our forces elsewhere to meet more ugent threats--or bringing them home to rebuild. Sounds like bugout to me !
CtrForAmerProgress
==========
Wesley Clark (former top general for NATO) starts out with usual ritual, saying we can't just bugout. Then he lists all the fatal blunders by the Bushies; then he calls for them to seriously reform their efforts. (He demands more Arabic linguists; but US doesn't HAVE many more !)

Then he says that IF Bushies can't reform their efforts, (and they certainly can't or won't) THEN Americans would be right to demand quick bugout.
UnitedPress Yeah !

 
"BUSH HAS CREATED 2 NEW (IRAQI) TALIBANS !" said one observer of the Dec.election. People voted for their sect (Kurd/Sunni-Arab/Shia) not as Iraqis. Where Iran has a secular populace ruled by Mullahs, Iraq is a religious people now ruled by their religious leaders.
(Needless to say, guerilla attacks will NOT lessen!)
"This election was supposed to be Iraq's birth; instead it is the FUNERAL of (united) Iraq !" INDEPENDENT

 
BUSHIES JACK UP PENTAGON $, CUT HELP FOR ORDINARY AMERICANS: They had trouble with the latter cuts--Senate was tied 50-50 (with at least one GOP breaking ranks). Never mind, Cheney voted to break the tie. GUARDIAN

 
RAPTURE EVERYWHERE ! The strange President of Iran thinks the Shiite Messiah will come shortly, and calls for elimination of Israel (which has dozens of nukes! If Israel goes, so go all the Muslim nations of the MiddleEast. ) This guy thinks he speaks with and for Allah. [ChristSciMonitor, cited by ABC/NEWS ]

Meanwhile, some Jewish sects wait for the early coming of their Messiah.
Other Zionists quote the Talmud to show that Yahweh promised the whole Holy Land to the Jews..so they can kill to defend it.

Meanwhile, Bush has said several times that he gets directions from God.
Forty million books have been sold here telling about the quick coming of the Rapture. (And that's for the believers who read--perhaps a small proportion of Rapture believers!)

Could we talk to Someone Else up there who shows more good sense?
---------------
What's shaping up is not a 'war between civilizations', but a medieval-type war between groups of fanatics--armed with war-germs and nukes.

 
WOUNDED GIs INDICATE INTENSITY OF ATTACKS:
Chatter about 'peaceful election week'--15 GIs wounded each day this week.
Week before, 9 a day./1st Dec.wk: 11 per day./Nov: 17each day/
Oct: THIRTY EACH DAY! UnitedPress

Pentagon admits 7000 altogether wounded so seriously they can't return to combat. (UPI analyst: that means impaired for life, or facing serious problems for years.)

Other stories have said German hospital was receiving 23 a day.

 
SO MUCH FOR 'SECULAR BAGHDAD' ! (mixed-sect/relatively secular) 90% of the votes have been counted. The religious Shiite party was far ahead, then came the religious Sunnis (anti-American). [Together they pulled almost 80% of the votes!]

Far behind came Allawi's secular party. NYTIMES (He enraged Sunnis by approving of the Fallujah atrocity; others he enraged as a US puppet, and as head of a really corrupt regime.) Chalabi did terribly (he helped Bushies pre-war deceive themselves about WMDs; he has been indicted for fraud in Jordan; he was accused of leaking US secrets to Iran.)

Shiite religious coalition (including Sadr's ferociously anti-American group) will get more than 1/3 of seats--which bars any coalition taking over without them.

Sunnis' only hope of getting any real influence was alliance with secular Allawites. Now they'll be as powerless, basically, as when they had almost no delegates in the previous assembly. They are at the mercy of Shiites/Kurds. If the Baathist leaders of insurgency don't stop Zarqawistas from slaughtering Shiites...

 
NEW POLLS: [but see wildly contradictory poll at end, below !]

After Bush's speeches, 41% approve of him, vs. 56% disapprove.

52% "Invasion was a mistake."

61% disapprove of his handling of Iraq.

Only 40% say we're going to win. (But 69% say we CAN win.--they may be thinking we could nuke Iraq.)

"We will keep troops in for 1-3 years.":82%
"We should pull out in '06.": 59%

62%: "Our native militia can't control insurgents."

63% : "Iraq will be a terrorist base."

57% (vs. 43% earlier)see Iraq as NOT a part of war on terror.
53% see Iraq project as SEPARATE from'war on terror.'

56% (vs.41%) disapprove of Bush on economy--even after gas prices have sunk to $2-gallon.

UPSETTING: 44% approve of Patriot act, plus 18% who say it doesn't go far enough ! On the other hand, 2 in 3 say they wouldn't sacrifice civil liberties even for 'war on terror'. (Very likely they don't understand Patriot act.)
CNN


Before, people usually liked Bush, tho they disapproved of his policies.
But now, after 3 smirking speeches, 53% have an unfavorable view of the man himself. USATODAY (Which of his flunkies will dare to tell the king to stay out of people's view when he has no clothes?)
===============
A startlingly different poll ! MSNBC [WashPost/ABC poll]

B's General approval: up from 39% to 47% (52% disapprove).

Approval on Iraq: up from 36% to 46%.

Approval on economy: up from 36% to 47%.

Approval on 'war on terror': up from 48% to 56%.

(All these increases are from GOP or conservatives: NO improvement from Dems, independents,or moderates.)

Optimistic on Iraq: up from 46% to 54%.

'Who's better to handle big issues?" Dems 47%,GOP 42% (but gap is down.)

Majority: "Iraq has contributed to natl.security."

"Iraq not worth it.": 52%. (But 'worth it' up from 39% to 46%).

"B.has no plan for Iraq success." : 60%

"Cut troops" up from 47% to 52%.
"Gradual withdrawal" up from 29% to 40%.
"Out now": down from 18% to 12%.
-----------------
These polls contradict each other so strongly that one is tempted to say that someone is lying !

 
[These crucial points bear repeating.]
INVISIBLE ELEPHANT (ltr to COLORDOAN--link not available.)
There is an elephant in our living room, being ignored by our journalists. A good example is a pretty sensible column (18Dec) by Jonah Greenberg. He notes that our present GOP government (they control all 3 branches!) now shamelessly spend far more than they take in in taxes. They are now the party of super-big government.

But Greenberg never mentions the agency offending most with swollen budgets: the Pentagon. GOP shovels to Pentagon almost $500,000 millions each year (over $1200 millions each DAY!) This budget is larger than our national deficit; it's as if every other government agency is living within its means. We should refer to 'the Pentagon deficit'.

Also, all the Pentagon's staggering expenditures overseas--e.g. for oil--count as imports, unmatched by our puny exports and thus contributing to our monstrous Trade Deficit.

"Ah, but a huge Pentagon is needed to fight terrorists." Nonsense. Terrorists are enraged INDIVIDUALS, scattered all over the world, of various races and colors--individuals anonymous until they attack. Bombers, missiles, ships, and tanks are useful only against national governments. And terrorists are attacking their 'host' governments fiercely. After the attack on British Transport, will the Pentagon bomb London?

To ward off terrorist attacks on our oh-so-vulnerable Homeland (and to mitigate those that get through) we need strong police-forces, firemen, and especially more nurses. (We already face an urgent shortage of nurses, even before the inevitable pandemic started by war-germs.) We need inspectors for the thousands of huge ship-containers entering our ports each day--each of which could contain materials for a nuclear bomb, or a 'dirty bomb' which could render Wall Street or the Chicago loop uninhabitable for months or years, without needing any chain reaction...and so on. To understand the wretched condition of our Homeland Defense, read the NYTIMES series AN INSECURE NATION.

Yet our GOP government will not fund Homeland Defense properly, after spending all those billions on the useless Pentagon. (By the way, our two current wars cost only a small part of our yearly tribute to the Pentagon! All the rest goes to 'miscellaneous'.)

We give more to the Pentagon than most nations --combined!--spend on war. And we have recently waged war often. Yet we haven't won a single real war for 40 years.The Pentagon is not really a war-machine; it's a financial device for shovelling trillions to war-corporations.

We pride ourselves on our hi-tech bombers and missiles. We are like the dumb leopard who perished while trying to use his awesome teeth and claws against a huge horde of angry hornets.

 
ONLY 2 DOZEN KILLED TODAY.(How many maimed or wounded?)
ABC/NEWS Magic pacifying effect of election is not yet obvious.

"THE ONLY WAY TO LOSE HERE IS TO QUIT !" said Cheney in Iraq.
REUTERS
NOT SO..we will render ourself worse off (which is the best def. of losing) by staying in the fight. We'll go on recruiting guerillas (from among enraged victims of our awful tactics) and training guerillas--who might strike elsewhere including America. [They tried and failed bombing Jordan earlier, but recently they managed that with great new skill.]

We'll go on showing the world that our government is not just wicked but also incompetent: too dumb to know when to pull out.
(One can only hope that GOP candidates will also suffer in Nov.'06.)

And of course--though chicken-hawk Cheney may not even let himself think of this--we'll sacrifice tens of thousands MORE of GIS killed, maimed or wounded--for each year we 'stay the course'.

Congressmen should reflect that the extension of this war will be mismanaged by the same '3 stooges' who blundered into it: Cheny, Rummy, and Rice.
-------------
They didn't 'cherry-pick' Cheney's GI audience well. One GI said, "We don't see many gains."/Another asked, "What benefit?"/
When Cheney ended with hawk slogan: "These colors don't run !"
there was no applause, only one whistle. Boston.com

 
NEW POLL: 56% (down from 71%): "Stay till Iraq is stable." (vs. 36%: "OUT NOW !"
Why Stay? only 1 in 10:"..to fight terrorism'/ ony 3% "..to defend natl security." ABC/NEWS
Implication: they're not fooled by Bush rhetoric ("Better fight them there than here!".) That's good news.

But they don't want us to be humiliated, as in Vietnam. Apparently they are willing to sacrifice more GIs for the dream that the spectre of humiliating defeat will go away !

Same poll: "War was mistake." 34% up to 53%,now down to 49%.
"War was right thing to do." Down from 64% to 42%.
---------------------
Long-run trend: Americans now know that we have little to gain from 'prevailing' in Iraq, & little to lose from failure--so: the more casualties, the lower goes support for the war.
But also they wrongly feel that in case of doubt you should 'stay the course'.
But that's like saying, as truck hurtles down mountain road, that you should keep foot on accelerator, rather than move it to the brake!

 
An expert at UnitedPress describes an optimistic possibility of our inevitable bugout, and a pessimistic one:
--optimistic: We get 'Pope'Sistani to call for our pullout, after election this week. We should shout 'hallelujah!' and bug out, worrying only about harrassing attacks as we pull out our huge mil.apparatus toward Kuwait.

--pessimistic: Israel or US is dumb enough to bomb Iran, which then attacks our GIs in Iraq, with devastating and humiliating (for Bush) effects.

This guy says that 'behind closed doors' there is a consensus that we have to pull out in '06 (to save GOP House seats in Nov.'06). And Powell agrees (below) that our army CAN'T maintain present force levels for long.

 
COLIN POWELL OUT OF HIDING: interviewed by BBC, he now says:

--We CAN'T KEEP ALL THE TROOPS NOW THERE. But we'll have to keep mil.presence in Iraq for YEARS. (People noted in poll below who say we should stay 'till Iraq is stable' should realize that means 'years', with thousands of GIs each year killed, maimed or wounded.)

--Powell also says our intelligence people didn't pass on their prewar doubts about WMDs to top Bushies. WashPost
Bush-shit. Then why did Bush later award CIA head Tenet a 'Freedom Medal' ? ! (One suspects they didn't pass on these doubts to poor POWELL ! )
---------
Powell admits that Rumsfeld & Cheney slid things to Bush without Powell noting it. (His assistant described them as a Pentagon 'cabal' who hijacked foreign policy from State Dept. It's pretty obvious that they went around Powell's obstructive good-sense.)

He also admits that careful StateDept. prewar studies about difficulties of occupying Iraq were ignored.

He admits that "public opinion world-wide is against us."BBC/NEWS
---------
Question: Why hasn't Powell blown the whistle earlier? He got dumped without any rewarding goodies--not even a Freedom medal! Could he be black-mailed into silence by the Bushies ?

 
IRAN/CHINA DEAL: $70,000 MILLIONS OVER 30 YEARS. Iran would ship liquified natural gas to China, and China would help develop new oil fields (Iran's present fields are depleting rapidly.) Boston.com

Naturally the Bushies will be furious; but China doesn't seem to fear their wrath.

 
NEW US ARMY APPROACH: As 2d div. returns, they will be 'responsible' for a far larger area of chaotic Sunni/Arab region.That means they must count more on our native militia to counter the guerillas. (The hope is that as GIs are less visible, the hatred for them will lessen.)

US troops will emphasize reconstruction more. One general: "Just killing & training our native army to kill just moves Iraqis from the fence into the insurgents." Duh !

But an anonymous officer said: "Our native army is often corrupt and underequipped." NYTIMES One reason they're underequipped is US fear that many are really loyal to some Shiite/Kurd militia,NOT to the all/Iraq forces--and they might use any hitech equipment in a coming civil war. (That fear should also make our generals hesitate to TRAIN these guys in military skills. But that's a risk we have to take.)

 
SUNNI POLS SAY ELECTION WAS 'SUCCESS': Of course; some of them got elected, have 4 years of guaranteed salary. REUTERS

Of course they have a higher chance now of being murdered. But they must have decided that the assured higher salary--plus the chance for graft !--is more important.

OR: they could be representing the insurgents (just as the 'Irish Nationalist' MPs in Brit Parliament spoke for the Ulster-Catholic interests, at the same time their undercover people for decades kept bombing England & Ulster ! )

None of this upbeat talk means that the insurgent attacks (esp. on GIs!) will lessen in the near-future.
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By 21Dec, Sunnis saw how badly they got outvoted, even in Baghdad!
Now they denounce the election as fraudulent.

 
IRAQ VS. ULSTER (ltr to rMtnNews):
M.Fumento's denunciation of 'US pullout' plans for Iraq [RMN,17D] notes that the British army has 'prevailed' by staying in Ulster until the insurgents agreed to lay down their arms. So also, he thinks,we can prevail if we don't pull out.

He doesn't note that 44% of Ulster population is now Catholic--and gap is closing; so those backing IRA now have real hope of securing their rights instead by political means. Only 20% of Iraqis are Sunnis; they are hated more and more by the Shiites (60% of Iraqis, controlling most of the oil) who will dominate the new government. Sunnis have no real hope of benefitting from politics. So the insurgents will continue their attacks; Iraq may well sink into civil war.

He also doesn't note that the Brits have been stuck in Ulster for decades, costing their government billions of dollars. Nor does he note that Brits are planning to pull out of Iraq, despite the fact that 'their Shiite' area is getting more and more chaotic: a bugout from despair, not from hope.

US media are trumpeting hope because the Sunnis voted; but the IRA backers voted, and indeed sat in London parliament--but for decades kept right on bombing, in England and Ulster. Some Sunnis have said they intend a similar strategy.

The Brit experience in Ulster does NOT offer hope of our 'total victory' in just a few years.

 
A SAD DAY FOR DEMS: GOP carried a House resolution calling absurdly for 'total victory' in Iraq. What's awful: only two in three House Dems voted against it ! (some squishy Dems voted 'present').

One Republican said, "Not going for victory is against American character."
CNN

Pentagon hasn't had a real victory in a real war for 60 years.
--------------
GoodNews! Frist needed 60 votes in Senate, to ram through a cutoff on debate on the infamous Patriot Act.. He got only 52--so there's at least a delay.

 
COLLEGE GRADS LESS LITERATE NOW: 41% were 'proficient' in reading comprehension in '92, but only 31% in '03. NYTIMES (After 17 years of school, practically ALL should be proficient in reading, for God's sake !)

And yet college grades are quite high--usually averaging about B-.
Obviously the colleges--and the profs--are corrupt.
[I myself graded too laxly; but I figured that adults knew how little a 'B' now meant. To apply old standards after grade inflation--this would be like paying people in '1930s dollars', in 1970. And I graded more toughly than my colleagues. But I am ashamed that the collapse of American education happened on the watch of my generation of teachers.]

I taught before and after 1970. Things were bad before--but student performance plummeted after 1970. Philosophy profs would not DREAM of assigning reading lists now as difficult as in the '60s.

Hippies in the 60s had several social suggestions:
--Good ones: less competition, less greed, less militarism.
--Bad ones: less discipline, less logic.

Americans rejected the good suggestions, went for the bad ones.

One obvious reason: the young now spend their time watching TV and playing computer games, not reading. Reading failures also account for problems applying math to real situations. The real problem must be expressed in words, before figuring in numbers can proceed.

I predict that soon youths will see their 'degreed' older siblings and cousins working at restaurants, unable to compete with educated foreigners who work much cheaper; they will see the increased price of going to college; they will realize they can't declare bankruptcy to avoid paying back college loans--therefore, fewer will enroll in College. Already fewer males are going to college; soon women will catch on.

Young Americans must look forward to lower incomes than they once expected. They're like the youth at the end of the 20s--expecting prosperity and facing the Great Depression. So, like their ancestors, they must learn to SPEND LESS. And the biggest avoidable expenditure is for large families. Luckily, the 'morning-after pill' should help them to avoid unwanted pregnancies.

Look out for right-wing attempts to hamper the use of this magic pill, claiming that flushing out a newly-fertilized egg is a form of murder ( ! )
-------------------------------------
For more on a full democracy's tendency to undermine education, read the chapter on democracy in DEMOCRACY, RIGHTS AND FREEDOMS (available by interlibrary loan).

 
ANOTHER 'DOG-BITES-MAN' STORY: Illinois Supreme Ct. just overruled a lower court to block a huge payment due from PhillipMorris.
It turns out that an important vote was from a judge who got BIG BUCKS from PhillipMorris buddies.

Needless to say, this judge did NOT recuse himself from deciding a case where he had an obvious conflict of interest. ChiTribune

 
AFTER-GLOW OF ELECTION: Sunnis voted--and US media hope strongly this means a lessening of insurgent attacks. Here,predictably, are my less sanguine expectations:
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Sunnis may regret giving more legitimacy for 4 years to a hostile majority in Parliament. They are expected to get only one in five seats. OxfordPress

Assume that the central Shia coalition will get the most votes, almost half of the seats. (If their share of seats is even more, they may choose to rule alone--disastrously ! )Look for these further possibilities:

--The dominant Shia 'party' could form a coalition with Sunni members, and thus move toward healing the main rift. (Of course if they then penalize the Kurds--e.g., by refusing to grant them the oil-soaked Kirkuk region--that might hurry the inevitable deFacto secession of the Kurds--and their armed takeover of the Kirkuk region. This would end the alliance between Americans and Kurds. )

[--However, remember that the Zarqawista Sunnis will continue to slaughter Shia. Even if they don't provoke Shia into wholesale slaughter of Sunnis and full civil war, they could enrage Shia MPs so they don't make the important concessions that would be demanded by the Baathist wing of the insurgency:

--The Baathists want to to take over openly the middle Sunni/Arab region. (Then, it's hoped, they would turn against their erstwhile alQuaeda allies.)

--Baathists will call for a fair share of future oil-monies to be GUARANTEED to the Sunni mini-state. (Why would they rely on Shia/Kurd promises, when practically all of the oil is in the regions that will be grabbed by the Shia & Kurd ministates?) The only form imaginable of such a guarantee would be ceding some oil-soaked territory to the new Sunni ministate. ]

Once we see what kind of concessions to the Sunnis would be necessary to break up the Baathist/Zarqawista alliance, we see the extreme improbability of such concessions by the much- aggravated Shia.

(On the other hand, Sadr's 'party' seems to be pro-Sunni, even pro-insurgency. They are now part of the Shiite-coalition. IF they get a large portion of seats, they might be able to swing votes to enable these concessions. But we should remember that conciliatory amendments could be vetoed by 2 in 3 voters in 3 Shia regions.)

The 'secular' Shiites (Allawi, Chalabi) probably won't land enough seats to be likely partners in a coalition.

OR: more likely, the Shias will form a coalition like the one they have now with the Kurds. This would enrage the Sunnis, and cement the alliance between Baathist & alQaeda insurgents, with attacks increasing. (Attacks vs. GI-occupiers will continue in any case, since 45% of Iraqis approve of these. If attacks on civilians lessen, that will leave more resources available to attack the GIs.)

It's extremely doubtful that the provoked Shia will grant the concessions needed for peace with Sunnis. After all, they can instead bolster their militias (now getting military training from the Americans ! ) and set up their deFacto ministate (OKd by the present constitution.)
-------------
So we should look to see what officials are named by the new parliament, and what constitutional amendments are passed--that will take months. In fact, the mere counting of the votes will take weeks.

In the meantime, the Baathists might think they should UP the attacks--since this threat is their main card in negotiations.
---------------------
It's very unlikely that Americans will see 'total victory' as more likely by Nov.'06.

 
DUMB PROPAGANDA MOVE: Bushies have hired big PR & Advertising firms to plant pro-American media stories in various countries. [ ABC/NEWS ]
Of course the news got out; the Pentagon admitted it--now ANY story that reflects well on America will be automatically discredited, all over the world. STUPID !

 
ANALYSTS AT NYTIMES WARN that Bush's demand for 'total victory' in Iraq will backfire IF
--insurgent attacks continue; and/or
--necessary compromises (between Sunni/Arabs and Kurds and Shiites) are NOT made. (to pacify Baathist insurgents so they'll turn on their erstwhile Zarqawista allies.)

Well, both of these unhappy situations will likely prevail.

 
VOTING CEREMONY: 'Democracy' will spread all over the world. Ordinary people are eager to 'vote'. In Iraq and Afghanistan, they brave dangers in order to vote.

Of course Iraqis voted under Saddam also. And Iranians voted under the mullahs. And Russians voted under Stalin. And Egyptians just voted under Mubarek.And Zimbabwe has voted under Mugabe. But everyone knows these were fake, crooked elections.

But now, in many places, intelligent potentates go to the trouble to stage seemingly HONEST elections. Why? Because the powerful have discovered that they can manipulate 'honest' elections so they aren't threatening.
-------------------
[One common 'justification' for democracy uses two false claims:--
1) "The ordinary person understands his own true self-interest best." That's obviously false. e.g., heavily-schooled Americans think that the best way to defend themselves from terrorists is to shovel $1200 millions each DAY to the Pentagon, whose bombers, ships,etc. are useless vs. INDIVIDUAL terrorists.
About half of Americans (enough almost to win elections) give Bush credit for his performance on 'the war on terror', even though every expert deplores the GOP refusal to fund adequately protections for Homeland Security.)

--(2) "The ordinary person cares for his own future self-interest,more than anyone else." But the ordinary person nowadays, befuddled by TV,often doesn't care much about the future-in-general--so he doesn't care much about his own distant future. Intelligent and fairly benevolent rulers--or rulers who care for the collective future interests of the nation--might care for O.P's future interests more effectively than he does ! ]

(These 2 claims, IF they were true, would suggest that giving power to the majority will at least assure the 'greater good for the majority'. But they're not true.)
---------------
So, when ordinary people want intensely to go through the ceremony of voting, and their rulers see they can allow this without undermining their power, we can bet that 'honest elections' will spread all over the world.

The world, of course, will continue to be ruled by transnational corporations and their political puppets. The 'voting in honest elections' is ONLY a ceremony. (Some day even Saudi Arabia might get sensible enough to allow women to vote.)
-----------
Is this 'merely-ceremonial-democracy' better or worse than open autocracy? In many cases, its results are the SAME as from autocracy.

And sometimes open autocracy is a nightmare: e.g., Pol Pot's regime, Mugabe's regime, North Korean regime.

But sometimes the pols running 'democratically' for office feel it's necessary to hold some absurd and dangerous position, in order to manipulate dumb voters: e.g., in America:

--to win in '04, GOP had to stir up bigotry against gays and preach 'abstinence' as the best way to counter AIDS;(Lyndon Johnson said of Texas voters: "Tell the white Texan that he's better than the Negro, and he'll empty his pockets for you !")
GOP has to line up with nuts who think that flushing out a fertilized egg is murder--so they try to hamper use of magic 'morning-after pill' just because it MIGHT flush out a fertilized egg. Thus the birth of millions of unwanted babies--harmful for the whole society-- is assured.

--In order not to lose big in '04, Dem pols (slavishly following the polls) had to mute their criticism of nutty Iraq fiasco.And to pacify the feminists--who often do the most work for Dem.party-- Dem pols must pretend that the 9-month-foetus is the property of its mother, to be disposed of as she pleases--right up till it's all the way out of the womb.

--Local school-boards, to stay in office, must not enforce real academic standards. (Whereas in openly 'Communist' countries like China, academic standards can be ruthlessly enforced.Result? Chinese workers will be outcompeting Americans more every year. The corporations don't care; they can automate or outsource production even with an inferior US workforce.)

In such cases, 'democracy' might have WORSE results than autocracy.
----------------
For more on this issue, see my DEMOCRACY, RIGHTS AND FREEDOMS:WHAT ARE THEY? WHAT GOOD ARE THEY? (available at ColoStateU library, and elsewhere by interlibrary loan).

 
Ross Baker (USATODAY) worries that the quick pull-out of our troops would impugn our honor, because our Iraqi allies would be put at peril. That assumes that the insurgents will take over all of Iraq, as the North Viets took over all of Vietnam.

In fact, Iraq will likely split into 3 mini-states. Our Shiite and Kurd allies can retreat into Shialand and Kurdland, in no danger.Only our Sunni/Arab allies are in danger when we hand over the middle region to the Baathist insurgents. This small number in danger can be moved to other Sunni nations, with their extra expenses paid by U.S. That's a lot cheaper than continuing our involvement.

Many of our 'allies' have made a lot of money from corruption under Bushies' lax and corrupt supervision. They'll come out ahead.

And our allies will face roughly the same dangers if we wait 3 years before the pullout--only tens of thousands more of our GIs will by then be killed, maimed or wounded.

 
NEW PEW POLL (cited by NYTIMES)

56% (vs. 33%):"We're making progress toward Iraq democracy."
BUT 50% (VS. 33%): "This election will NOT lead to stable Iraq."

50% (vs. 33%):"We're losing ground in preventing civil war."

50-50:"We're defeating insurgents militarily."
[Lyons: Absurd ! It's an impasse; and guerillas win all ties. Our own generals admitted explicitly that we COULD NOT beat insurgents militarily.]
=====================
NEW ZOGBY POLL: BUSH DOWN AGAIN TO 38% approval.
55% in his red states now say he's doing a fair/or/poor job.

Only 24% of Independents approve of Bush. (Many of these are right-wing.These are the swing votes that decide elections.)

Only 34% of Catholics approve now. Thank the Blessed Virgin ! (Of course, all along, only the every-week Catholics backed him, not the sensible 'cafeteria Catholics'.)

Only 38% of vets or families of soldiers approve.

'The INTENSITY of his opponents is remarkable.'
---------------
AngusReid poll:
"Iraq will never be a stable democracy." Agree 47%
"We want a withdrawal date." 55%
"Did we do the right thing in invading?"/48% to 48%

 
'ONLY CHANCE' ? NYTIMES editorial says this election tomorrow is Iraq's only chance at unified democracy. But of course this chance is microscopically small. Everyone knows that, as a unified country, Iraq is dead. What lies ahead are 3 ministates--without or after a grisly civil war.
--------------
'SUBSTANTIAL, BUT NOT COMPLETE WITHDRAWAL' recommend 2 from Brookings think-tank. NYTIMES

But we have too few troops there now. If our mission stays the same, then the remaining few troops will be slaughtered. We'd have to give up the pretence that we're fighting the insurgents, and pull back the few remaining GIs into safe positions--to serve just as a 'trip-wire' to prevent conventional invasions (by Baathists or by other nations).

 
WHY DON'T WE COUNT THE MAIMED/WOUNDED? Americans, strangely, don't count those wounded on highways. Many can tell you that 40-60 thousand are killed, but not that 2-3 million more have been maimed or wounded each year--many with brain-damage that might be worse than death.

Similarly, we don't really pay attention to how many GIs have been maimed or wounded in our current 2 wars. That's why Pentagon can get away with underestimating the number. Pentagon says 16 thousand--but 25 thousand more have been evacuated, seriously impaired.That's over 40,000 casualties SO FAR (by the official def., which includes the wounded!) InfoClearinghouse
--------------------------
That's really silly. Except for their relatives and friends, the war-dead don't get mourned by Americans--well, we might think of them briefly while we're shopping the 'MemorialDay' sales. But for decades we'll face those maimed or wounded vets: legless, armless, faceless, blinded, brain-damaged--or the thousands of those shell-shocked.

Or rather, we will studiously AVOID facing these poor souls.Most Americans think that in Gulf War I (1990), there were few GI casualties. But in fact about one in seven returning vets of that war (100,000)claimed some symptoms from delayed 'Gulf War Syndrome'. QUAESTIA

 
DID YOU KNOW THAT UNDER 'PATRIOT ACT', feds could--without any regular search-warrant--break into your home, snoop around, and not have to tell you they did for a month or more? (Blackmail, like torture, has always been a favored tool for tyrants.)
You might want to sign this petition backing up Senators who say they'll filibuster against renewal of this disgusting Act.
-----------------------------
FROM MOVEON.ORG:
Now is the time to take a stand on the Patriot Act. Senators from both parties have vowed to fight reauthorization--by filibuster if necessary--until it includes needed reforms. Can you help us reach our goal of 250,000 signatures to show support for filibustering the Patriot Act?
Stop the Patriot Act
Dear MoveOn member,
Last night we learned that the Defense Department has been secretly collecting intelligence on small peace groups, like one gathering at a Quaker Meeting House in Lake Worth, Florida.1 It's a jarring reminder of the ongoing erosion of our civil liberties. This Friday, the Senate is expected to vote on a new and even more dangerous version of the Patriot Act.2
A bipartisan group of senators have agreed to fight the Patriot Act—by filibuster if necessary. The law currently goes too far in curtailing our freedoms and they're fighting back. This is the time to act.

This is a huge moment. Senators from both parties are standing together to protect privacy and liberty in a time of war—and they're ready to go all the way. It's important to support them and to show those who are still on the fence how important this issue is to you. Will you help us reach 250,000 signatures on our petition so we can hand deliver them in time for the vote?
http://political.moveon.org/patriotact/?id=6534-1284432-nnGU5YHWEPE5HDcey92bTQ&t=2
-------------
That's why a bipartisan group of senators, including Republicans Larry Craig, John Sununu, Lisa Murkowski and Democrats Russ Feingold, Dick Durbin and Ken Salazar, have been working to fix the Patriot Act. They have vowed to fight the most egregious provisions and re-authorize a filibuster if necessary. We need to show them that we have their backs.
The Patriot Act that the president wants them to pass now goes too far and doesn't protect the privacy of innocent Americans. It doesn't address some of the biggest problems in the law. For example:

--The government can obtain your private records, like medical, library, school, and other records—without showing any connection between your activities and a suspected foreign terrorist. Some 30,000 National Security Letters ("NSLs") are issued each year to obtain private records, and the recipients of those NSLs are under a gag order that is almost impossible to overturn. But the Patriot Act does nothing to address these abusive powers.

--The government is allowed to get "sneak and peek" search warrants to search a home or business and doesn't have to tell the owner of the premises for a month . This power can be used in cases that don't have anything to do with terrorism.

Right now, the Patriot Act is just bad law about to get worse--and leaders in the Washington are actually willing to try to block it. We can't let our only chance to fix it slip away without a fight.
Hundreds of thousands of signatures on a petition like this will show the Senate how serious Americans are about protecting their constitutional freedoms. Will you sign the petition and show your support for filibustering a Patriot Act that doesn't include privacy protections?
http://political.moveon.org/patriotact/?id=6534-1284432-nnGU5YHWEPE5HDcey92bTQ&t=3
===========
What's shameless is that our GOP rulers in D.C. REFUSE TO FUND adequate Homeland Security provisions to protect us from terrrorist attack--but then they use the crisis as an excuse to castrate our constitutional civil liberties. And right-wing Americans, who have chattered for decades about their devotion to liberty, go right along.

For a detailed description of the awful state of our Homeland Preparedness, see the series AN INSECURE NATION in NYTIMES