3D WAR BETWEEN KURDS & SUNNI/ARABS? [ INDEPENDENT ]
Actual Kurdland is very peaceful. But the area just outside--especially the oil-soaked KIRKUK area--is being contested, violently. So far the Kurds are being driven out by the Sunni insurgents.

However, already in Baghdad the Shia have turned on the Sunnis (tho they kill only retail so far, while the Sunnis are killing them wholesale with bombs.) Sooner or later, you'd think, the Shia & Kurds will join forces and wipe out Sunnis anywhere near their areas. After all, they control the Parliament and the police-force, and together they outnumber Sunni Arabs FOUR TO ONE !

US is trying to get the secular, Saddamite branch of the insurgents to make a separate peace; then the Sunni/Arab region (between Kurdland on the North and Shialand on South) could be turned over to them openly, and together the Americans & Saddamites could perhaps wipe out the jihadist wing of the insurgency.

But the jihadists are cleverly committing awful anti-shia bombings, stirring up the Shia to enrage ordinary Sunnis by retaliation (retail, but horrifying by its use of torture). Then perhaps the Saddamites wouldn't dare make peace with the Shia-dominated government.

US is pandering to insurgents lately by pretending that the main violence problem is from Shia militia--while in fact, Shia and Kurds are the main victims ! US 'cleverness' will likely result in a TWO-FRONT war, with GIs being attacked both by the Shia militia AND the Sunni insurgents (who manage steadily to kill about 2 GIs each day, wounding 30 others (10 seriously) each day.

Already GIs are being sniped at and rocketed from within 'Sadr City', the lair of the followers of Shia honcho Moqtadr Sadr. US doesn't dare implicate him directly, because his supporters are the main Parliamentary support for US puppet Maliki. So they announce that he has 'lost control' of his militia, who have allegedly turned into simple bandits.

For a long time, Brits controlled Southern Shia region without much violence. But now some Shia militia are attacking them, and Blairites HAVE HAD TO DENY that their generals are demanding that Iraq troops be WITHDRAWN, moved to beleaguered Afghanistan. (Such denials may be 'trial ballons' to see how the withdrawal idea goes over).

Maybe the GIs are threatened both by Sunnis and Shia, and also by numerous bandits ! And the Brits may follow other nations in our 'coalition of the unwilling' by bugging out.

What a furnace for our poor GIs.

 
ANOTHER BOMB IN KABUL: Critics used to say Pres.Kharzai was really only the 'mayor of Kabul', since his writ didn't run outside. Now he (& NATO & US) can't guard the entrance of his Interior ministry. REUTERS

I was remembering how dumb we thought the Serbs were: they supported Milosovec still, despite his losing 3 wars. But millions of Americans still support Bush, who is losing in Iraq and Afghanistan, & also in the fabled War on Terror--his own appointees say that the Iraq war has helped terrorist leaders to recruit & train new volunteers.

 
PENTAGON RULES ! The Senate just agreed, UNANIMOUSLY, to shovel [more than ]$450,000,000,000 to the Pentagon for '07. NOT ONE Senator disagreed, Democrat or Republican ! Science Daily

How could this UNANIMOUS agreement happen in such a partisan Senate ? (at least 22 in House--facing election--dissented, whereas 394 went along.)

With HALF-A-MILLION MILLIONS in its purse, Pentagon could ruin any pol who dared to disagree ! And the dumb US voters don't object, because it's all borrowed money, not paid by them--YET ! We borrow from China and Japan to shovel the money to the war-contractors (the amount spent for our actual wars is a small portion of these luscious appropriations.)

Why worry? The Pentagon fund is now not much bigger than what we have to pay to our bond-holders each year for interest !
-------------------------
THE GOOD NEWS: The Pentagon now has infantry robots (besides drone planes). They could easily take over the US openly, dispensing with the pretext of constitutional democracy.
(US GIs wouldn't fire at Americans; US robots won't hesitate. Black humor would be when our gun-nuts try to use their handguns to 'defend our freedom' vs. tyrant's line of impassive,disposable robots ! )

But why should they bother with a coup, a junta? As long as our obsequious pols pay them this staggering ransom every year, they might as well keep up the constitutional pretext. So literally, this money is the price of (pretended) freedom.

 
TAR-BABY BUSH: (ltr to COLORADOAN):

Why in the world are his handlers letting 'tar-baby' Bush come toColorado? Several races are close here. His embrace will be deadly--we could see nasty Dem ads, for instance, showing him kissing MarilynMusgrave!

You can bet Bush won't be displayed to crowds of ordinary people. He'sgoing to a posh reception to raise hundreds of thousands of dollars from wealthy Coloradoans, who are not at all averse to having the country runby a fool friendly to their cause.

I've always said: Wealthy Republicans may be the smartest Americans; the dumbest are surely the millions of OTHER Republicans.

 
LET'S HEAR IT FOR SCHADENFREUDE ! [sp?] (delighting in another's pain).
One GOP Rep. Foley from Florida has resigned, JUST BEFORE ELECTION, because of an embarrassing set of e-mails he sent to a male page. That promises an extra seat for Dems.

Dems need only 15 new seats to control the House, and start investigating Bushie crimes!
Experts think they'll get more than 15--but never understimate the power of billions and of low Rove-like cunning--perhaps a new terrorist emergency! So Dems had better take all this good news as energizing hope, NOT as justifying lazy complacency !

In Colorado, one of the most promising races is for 4th district seat of ineffable Musgrave.
(I understand there is a picture of scapegoat 'W' KISSING Marilyn ! And one hates to think that she'll be helped--EVEN IN 4TH DISTRICT by her early announcement that the top issue today is to stop gays from saying they're married !)

ANGIE PACCIONE has raised over a million dollars, and has the backing of powerful national Dems. We have a lot of progressive-candidate friends this year--but I at least will devote my time AND MONEY solely to this one crucial race.

I got a tip about a great idea from some online org.: each activist gets the name of,say, a dozen progressive (Dem or Unaffiliated) voters, and then writes to each a HANDWRITTEN letter explaining the HISTORIC importance of this election, and reminding them to please come out and vote.

That right-wing rag, RockyMtnNews, today spent over half a page ENDORSING DEM RITTER FOR GOVERNOR ! That should bring out Dem voters, before perhaps paralyzed by hopelessness.
In fact,a reformed House could force Bush to 'cut and run'. In fact, that's what happened to Nixon: the House cut off most of the money for the Viet war ! (after ten pointless years and a quarter-of-a-million GI casualties, that didn't seem premature.)

 
IRAQI ARABS HATE GIs !
Two different polls show this--like several previous polls ignored by US media. One poll says 61% of ALL Iraqis, including Kurds, APPROVE OF KILLING GIS ! this feeling is even stronger among the Arabs—in fact we have hardly any troops in ‘Kurdland’—so the hatred is extremely dangerous in the Arab sections where our troops are fighting.

[the 20% of Iraqis who are Kurds (friendly to US) have already seceded de facto from Iraq. Kurds will welcome a permanent US base there, to protect them from a possible TURKISH invasion.] But both the Shiite and Sunni Arabs want us OUT, either in 6 months or a year.

Many Iraqis think the escalating civil war between Sunnis and Shia is being deliberately caused by Americans (an old imperial tactic is ‘divide & conquer’.) This is unlikely. It’s always sounder to assume Bushies are stupid, not cunning.

Two possible American reactions:
a) our troops must have misbehaved terribly, to provoke such a bloody reaction among people we’re supposed to be helping! OR

b) The fault is with the crazy, ungrateful Iraqis.

IN EITHER CASE, it would be insane to KEEP our poor GIs in this harsh, hostile place—rather it WILL BE insane, because Bush is going to do it.

Ordinary Americans have NOTHING TO GAIN (vs. the oily friends of the Bush family) by continuing the war UNDER THE SAME TEAM OF LOONS who bungled us into the war.
But most Iraqis think US occupiers will refuse to leave ;(we’re building permanent bases there, besides a half-billion-dollar embassy !) so Iraqis will go on killing the GI invaders.
-----------------
WashPost

·also a Univ.of Maryland poll.

 
JUST WHAT THEY WANTED !
"We did what [the terrorists] wanted us to do, for the reasons they wanted us to do it--and with just the result they wanted." This is how one terror expert summed up the CONSENSUS conclusion about Bush's war from 15 BUSH-APPOINTED intelligence agencies. ChrSciMonitor

Our pullout from Iraq, it is said, would encourage jihadists worldwide.
But what's NOT said is this:
the LONGER WE STAY WITHOUT PREVAILING--
the more Americans are pointlessly killed, maimed or wounded-
the greater will be the jihadists' energizing sense of victory !

You can bet the VietCong celebrated especiallly their driving us out
AFTER TEN YEARS of US floundering,
with a QUARTER OF A MILLION US casualties.

 
"WRONG TO CRITICIZE ATTACKING THOSE WHO WOULD HARM US!" says Bush.
CNN
The dumbbell thinks that's an obvious truth; after all, everyone knows that 'the best defense is always an offense.'. So of course he wouldn't heed HIS OWN INTELLIGENCE APPOINTEES who say that our misguided Iraq war has helped terrorist leaders RECRUIT AND TRAIN NEW VOLUNTEERS !
-----------------------
Same link says that the proportion of Americans who support AFGHAN war is down from 90% to 50%, with 48% now opposing this loony lunge into the Afghan meatgrinder. Our people are waking up, tragically slowly.

 
DISPARATE AMOUNTS ! Bushies allocated $400 millions to protect city transports from terrorists. USATODAY

Sounds like a large sum? For every DOLLAR allocated here, GOP Congress shovels ONE THOUSAND DOLLARS to Pentagon, whose bombers are useless vs. terrorist INDIVIDUALS.

 
CAIRO STREET OPINION: You can tell feelings of ordinary Cairenes by noting the most popular names (& relative prices) of various DATES sold during Ramadan !

This year the most popular name (& highest price) is for dates named NASRALLAH (even though he is a Shiite, & Egypt is Sunni !) SeattlePI

Lowest price is for dates named Olmert or Bush.

Hezbollah leader Nasrallah won the hearts of ALL Muslims, even Sunnis!--by 'winning' the war vs. Israel. (When foreign invaders don't win, they lose; when native defenders don't lose,they win.
Israelis were chased out of Lebanon for second time.)

 
SUNNI INSURGENTS BLOCK ROADS TO BAGHDAD !
US spokesmen talk about blocking access to Baghdad, to minimize violence there--but haven't managed to DO that. But it turns out the the insurgents have the same idea--only in reverse--to block the areas they control from our forces !

Around Baquba, they're driving out Kurds & Shia, and killing those who sell cigarettes !
Talking about being in control ! NewZealandHerald

 
ASSSISTED SUICIDE:
Dying in America is a financial nightmare. One penniless relative: 4 days in hospital: $68,000./ Nursing home, $5400 a month, plus haircuts,etc./

Most medical expenses are in the last 6 months of life. Medicare is smart to pay 100% for hospice then, instead of hospital. But MDs balk at certifying 'only 6 months to live'.

Medicaid is available--IF you can devote 50 hours of phone-time to find out the rules !

GOP tried to abolish bankruptcy for individuals--NOT of course for corporations! But Dems forced them to allow ch.7 bankruptcy still for people earning less than median pay. But then you have to pay a lawyer !

We face a huge wave of boomers moving into old-age. If only those who desire it would be allowed assisted suicide ! It doesn't shorten life, just cuts short long deaths.

Anyone can commit suicide, unassisted--but it takes some skills, skills often lacked by people near the end.(And any helping relative goes to prison!) As things are, you have to decide on suicide at the first suspicion, say of Alzheimers. With assisted suicide, you could wait till you're sure.

Suicide-options saves people in their 70s (like myself) from blight of remembering horrible situation of relatives in late 80s.
-----------------
The Catholic bishops will scream, of course, as will the formidable nursing-home and hospital lobbies, wealthy allies of the bishops. But the health-insurers should enlist on the side of permission--as should the government, faced with staggering medicare/medicaid deficits.

We once faced staggering embalming bills; now even the Catholic bishops accept sensible cremation. I predict that within ten years, with necessary precautions (as now hold in Oregon) assisted suicide will be an accepted institution everywhere.
---------------
MY OWN PLANS: When I know I face Alzheimers or incurable cancer--then, after goodbyes to friends and relatives, I'm off to Vienna, where I will OD on luscious pastries and great beer--
then, if still necessary, into the Blue Danube.

 
THEY DIE FOR NOTHING? NOT !

Our own spy agencies now confirm officially what sensible people have said all along: Bushies' loony Iraq project has WORSENED terrorist threats, by recruiting NEW terrorists from among enraged Muslims worldwide. [ NYTIMES ]

In other words, it's just NOT SO that thousands of GI's (SO FAR!) have been killed, maimed, or psychologically crippled for nothing.

In fact, their endeavor is making things worse; their suffering is for LESS THAN NOTHING !
----------------------------------
In fact, the spy agencies said that our Iraq project was the MAIN, PRIMARY factor in spiking up the number of terrorists ! [WashPost]
===================
McCain's spin: he says that our NONSUCCESS is what ENCOURAGED terrorists.But actually it was our needless invasion of a sovereign Muslim nation, followed by our atrocities there--this is what changed many Muslims who disliked us passively into ACTIVE TERRORISTS, eager to die killing Americans.

McCain (preparing for '08 presidential campaign) is trying to disassociate himself from bungling Bushies. He did say later the obvious truth that we needed far more GIs there. But he didn't say that at the time of decision ! [ He didn't protest when the poor honest Army honcho was FIRED for saying the same thing. ]
(Given our simultaneous attack on Afghanistan, the need for many more troops would mean that the Iraq invasion was completely impossible.)

In fact, early on McCain was absurdly optimistic about our 'liberation' getting a friendly reception from Iraqis--so a lot of occupation-troops wouldn't be needed; his aides said publicly that Iraqis would be SO GRATEFUL as to make the whole Muslim world rethink their hostility towards us !

At that time, on this site, I reproached such dreaming, fearing that the Iraqis hated us more than they hated Saddam. This turned out to be true.

 
BOMBERS USELESS VS. TERRORISTS:
Slogan is "We'll bomb nations harboring terrorists."
Terrorists are bombing THEIR OWN governments.
Islamists just shelled a Pakistan military base.
SeattlePI
AIPOWER USELESS IN AFGH. says Brit Major, describing desperate shortage of resources for Brit forces. INDEPENDENT

Blairites, after stupidly following Bushies into this volcano, now won't support adequately the poor saps stuck there.

 
FORMAL IRAQ PARTITION DELAYED FOR 18 MONTHS: alJazeera
But of course KURDS have already gone far in implementing DE FACTO SECESSION; and Shias will follow suit, not waiting for formal OK.

Sunnis demand constitution be amended (presumably to reverse present OK for 'federalist' partition); but this can happen only with consent of absolute majority of members--and Kurds & Shia control Parliament by a super-super-majority !

Iraq as one country is doomed. US hates this, because, while KURDLAND will be friendly toUS, inviting a US base to protect them from growling Turkey--new Shia ministate (with most Iraqis, most of the oil, and the only seaport) will be allied with hated IRAN.

Once again, the true winner of Bush's Iraq campaign is IRAN !

 
'US CAN WIN WAR OF IDEAS!' says Bungle-Rummy. UnitedPress

NO--all US hawks have to offer is hallucinations.

 
WOMEN AS THREAT: An indication of the deep fear many men feel of women:For at least 50 years (1870-1920) a freed male slave could vote here, but NOT a rich, EDUCATED woman !

One of the reasons why Islamists are reacting against modernism is that governments everywhere have realized that women are better suited to contribute economically (and perhaps easier to manage) in the 21st century; testosterone poisoning is now a real issue.

American women outnumber men in colleges--a historical first ANYWHERE !

Not only are heavy muscles irrelevant in industry; now war departments are ready to replace male 'cannon-fodder' with dispensible infantry ROBOTS. These could be managed from a safe distance by women.

Our present Gender Revolution is the most basic in history; it will also be the most painful--but it is inevitable.

 
'Iraq shows that Hobbes was right !" H. said that NOTHING is worse than bloody anarchy, not even harsh tyranny. Iraq is (like Beirut and Bosnia earlier) WITHOUT an effective govt. Our puppet regime does not rule outside its safe Green Zone HQ. Observers predict that killings will average 3000 a month or more. Small wonder that some Sunnis are calling for Saddam to be put back in charge. UnitedPress

US troops are unable to contain the slaughter; they can only be killed or maimed themselves.
(Six GI & nine Danish casualties just today,23Sep. SeattlePI )

 
RICH MAN'S WAR, POOR MAN'S FIGHT: Of the 3000 GIs killed SO FAR in Iraq & Afghanistan, 34% were from families in the lowest income level; only 17% came from the top income level. USATODAY (In WW II, the dead came equally from rich & poor groups.)

No surprise there. I see strapping young GOP war-fans on campus; they're not enlisting. They're smart chicken-hawks.

 
AS ALWAYS, SUNNI SLAUGHTER SHIA WHOLESALE [ GUARDIAN ] by bombs, while Shia kill Sunni only retail. Yet US spokesmen constantly remind us of the killings by Shia.

 
WHAT'S IMPORTANT TO MARILYN? (Musgrave is running for re-election as repr. from rural, right-wing Colorado 4th district--she has MILLIONS to spend, but is basically in a tie with ANGIE PACCIONI.)

Letter to Greeley Tribune:

American voters are 'agin'ers': actual voters are often people angry about something. But strangely they reject negative slogans: pols opposing abortion have to say they're 'pro-life'; if they oppose punishing abortion, they say they're 'pro-choice'; anti-war people say they work for peace; and anti-gay pols say they're pro-marriage.

Marilyn Musgrave says the most important issue facing us is 'defending marriage'.Let's strip away the non-negative code: she says that our most important issue is NOT our staggering deficits or our looming Medicare crisis; NOT low wages, or high foreclosures, or falling house-prices, or people without health-insurance ; NOT rising crime or rampant divorce, or STD's or teen-age pregnancies; NOT 3000 GIs killed so far in two winless wars--no, the vital issue is to stop gays from saying they're married !

 
"YOU'LL RETURN TO STONE AGE !" US honcho threatened Pakistanis after 9/11, "if you don't cooperate fully in suppressing Taliban." Dictator Musharref thought that threat was 'rude'.REUTERS


Until then, Pakis were in bed with Taliban.But of course Paki govt. PRETENDED to cooperate (to avoid being bombed !); but 5 years later, Kharzai of Afghanistan and Musharref are still trading charges that "YOU GUYS are sheltering Taliban ! T. leaders are hiding out in YOUR country."

Once again, bombing threats don't work to implement our will around the world. After all, the Islamists who are still helping Taliban would WANT Musharref's govt. weakened by US bombs. They themselves have tried twice to kill him.

M. just made some kind of a deal with tribesmen on the Afghan border. Critics say he actually made a deal with Taliban themselves. And Americans admit that IF this deal doesn't in fact reduce Taliban infiltration into Afghanistan, they'll cover up for Musharref.

M. & Bushies are stuck with each other. Once again we see a 'coalition of the unwilling."

Meanwhile Taliban is resurgent in Afgh., swamping the silly NATO forces who keep issuing huge body-counts of Taliban killed. What counts is how many Taliban are left.

 
PAPAL-TYPE APOLOGY: People ask why Muslims see Ben XVI's apology as inadequate.

Suppose the reverse. "'Your Savior had sex in the desert with goats,' said the Grand Ayatollah.
"Understand, this is not MY opinion; I'm quoting an ancient emperor."

Then later "I regret intensely that some took offense at my earlier remark. I was just trying to start a dialogue."

 
'BATTLE VEERING AWAY FROM FIGHT VS. US TO FIGHT AMONG FACTIONS', says US honcho. SeattlePI

Aw, c'mon ! Insurgents go right on killing 2 GIs every day and wounding 20, [UPI Benchmarks]
These guys are so strong and confident that they can carry on the war with US at the same time they're slaughtering Shiites !

 
LATINO COMMIE CHAVEZ said that our President is the Devil. Such an awful slander ! Whatever his faults, Lucifer is smart.

 
DEFLATION AHEAD: Interest rates for 10-year bonds drops, are below bond-rates for 2 years ! Blooomberg
This unusual phenomenon is called 'inversion': usually long-term bonds must pay higher interest, because chance of inflation rises with number of years.'Inversion' means that LONG-run prospects are for LOWER rates, i.e., for deflation,not inflation. (Savvy long-term investors can't find better opportunities, so they setttle for low-interest bonds.)

At the same time, College-fund managers noted ruefully that they could find few good investment opportunities for their surplus billions. (Corporations are now floating in surplus cash !)

The basic problem: Megatech results in excessive productive capacity, worldwide. (aggravated by automation, cheap ocean transport, outsourcing). That is, MORE goods and services can be produced than the people-with-money are willing and able to buy, at needed prices (forget the irrelevant destitute!)

Chatter is now about free trade: but every country is obsessed with its need for EXPORTS (to dump its surpluses) , and is threatened by IMPORTS which compete with its local firms.Soon, we'll go back to 'beggar thy neighbor': high tariffs on imports,devalued currencies--making a country's exports cheaper around the world, imports more expensive--and subsidies for exports. Then we're ready for another Great Depression.

Right-wingers chatter about the 'surplus-aged' problem, the relative shortage of young workers. However:
a) more robots can replace workers;

b) immigrants would LOVE to replace workers, even more than they have;

c) more work can be outsourced overseas--as it is now, even at FAST-FOOD RESTAURANTS !

d) we're lucky we'll have all these aged consumers to mitigate the excess productive capacity.

A tip: keep your money in cash (govt. guaranteed CDs are least-unsafe) not stocks.

 
"CRAZY AND MONSTROUS,what we did there!" says Israeli officer about the ONE MILLION cluster bomblets(provided by Pentagon) scattered by Israelis over Southern Lebanon.Understatement.
HAARETZ

Israel's press is, apparently, far less TAME than ours.
If you Google ISRAEL + "CLUSTER BOMBS', you'll find many, many references--but among US mainstream media in the first dozen or so, ONLY ABC.

Shocking but not surprising.
--------------
"Israeli targets are combatants," says a Zionist. That's like Hezbollah saying, "We fired rockets at Haifa and prayed "Oh, Allah, please see to it that only Israeli soldiers are hurt." Then later:
"Our targets were only combatants."

 
PREVENTING CIVIL WAR? Hawks now say we can't pull our troops out of Iraq because they and only they 'prevent a civil war'.

After our Iraqi forces failed miserably to stop the Baghdad slaughter, we moved in thousands of GIs, backed by awesome Stryker tanks and helicopters. Result? 6500 Iraqis killed in July and August ! (NYTIMES).

UN expert says that TORTURE in Iraq NOW, some say, is WORSE THAN UNDER SADDAM--and that's going some ! InternatlHeraldTribune

Neither our troops nor our puppet central government can stop this ONGOING civil war; (under Sadddam, Sunnis and Shias got along tolerably,even marrying into each other's families.)

The only result of our 'staying the course' will be maintaining or increasing our GIs ' casualty rates: 2 a day killed, 19 a day wounded.

 
THE REAL THREAT: SUNNI INSURGENTS !
Usual slaughter in Baghdad & elsewhere. Attacks on GIs have risen. Six GIs killed Sun-Wed.
Most specific attacks described are obviously Sunni (car-bombs, suicide bombs, Shia targets,rockets). GUARDIAN

Sunnis are killing Shias wholesale(with bombs & rockets); Shias killing Sunnis retail--by gunfire.

Yet Americans keep insisting that the main danger now is from 'intersectarian attacks'--hinting about Shia attacks on Sunnis.

Why this strange spin? Perhaps it's a sign that Bushies have decided to side with Sunnis vs. Shia; they have finally realized that their chatter about majoritarian democracy have put Shia (60%) in power--and Shia will be allied with our hated foe IRAN.

Obviously Sunni insurgents have not yet been pacified;
result might be a two-front war posing Shia also against us !

 
SUPERMAN FACES KRYPTONITE:
We need nurses, not bombers.

Five years after 9/11, amid much chatter by the Bush-team about their protecting us
from terrorists, we read that the vaunted 'bioshield project' has failed—
the effort to develop vaccines and medicines designed to counter possible
germ-warfare against our Homeland. [USATODAY,19Sep ]
Germ-war is ‘the poor nation’s H-bomb’.These germs can be developed in sinks.

The daanger from pandemics, natural or man-made, is real :
WHO warns us of the still-dangerous avian flu germs, and we hear in South Africa of
a TB strain impervious to known medicines. Also, there is the swift, mysterious spread over the whole U.S. of virulent e-coli germs. These natural dangers are sobering reminders of the greater danger from designer-germs deliberately spread by terrorists.

We have always felt safe about germ-war, because we counted on our hi-tech medical and pharmaceutical industries to protect us. But in fact we are in the same situation as primitive countries: our only protection is QUARANTINE.
Superman has not noticed the kyptonite lying around that nullifies his super-powers.

Quarantine doesn't work unless people showing strange new symptoms are quickly diagnosed. Poor, uninsured Americans often postpone reporting sickness to expensive MDs or overburdened emergency rooms.

We already face, and have for years, a crucial shortage of nurses, mostly because
nurse-trainers are so underpaid, and overburdened nurses often leave the profession. The Bush team and GOP Congress should have--but haven't—subsidized heavily the recruitment and training of nurses and other health personnel.
Our health-systems in impoverished regions are inadequate.

Infected 'martyr' terrorists could enter through our unprotected Northern borders, to start pandemics in impoverished areas which would spread, undiagnosed, to well-to-do areas.

The feds paid $6 billion for this failed bioshield project—
apparently all of it shovelled to one corporation! But that's chump-change
compared to the annual $400 billion Pentagon budget ($1200 each DAY !),
spent for billion-dollar bombers USELESS vs. INDIVIDUAL terrorists.

Bush's polls have risen again, among GOPs.
Sadly, they seem to have fallen again for his pose as BIG DADDY PROTECTOR.

 
"TALIBAN FAR TOUGHER THAN EXPECTED !" says Brit minister. 23 Brit/Canadians killed in Afgh. this month. WashPost

Surprise ! What should not surprise anyone is that Britain & America have plunged into a cauldron they didn't expect. Bush's America is a blinded bull-elephant lunging around near cliffs, with the Brit poodle prancing nearby.

 
GIs MAIMED OR WOUNDED: now about NINETEEN a day, with 9 a day injured
so seriously that they're not returned to their units.
Over the whole war, TWENTY THOUSAND wounded (half that number injured seriously?)

UnitedPress is about the only mainstream media source that tries to count the wounded, not just the dead (around 2 a day). Of course that's just in Iraq; [Smaller numbers of ]GIs suffer about the same RATE of casualties in Afghanistan.

Pentagon wants to keep a lid on those 'wounded' numbers, with the collaboration of most of the
tame US media--and that's fine with most Americans, who want to ignore the wounded.

That's really silly; dead GIs will be remembered basically only by their friends and relatives (the rest of us will shop on Memorial Day).

But the maimed GIs: the legless, armless, eyeless or blinded, faceless, or brain-damaged GIs--and the huge numbers of shell-shocked GIs--these poor guys will haunt us for decades.

 
LEGENDARY INFAMY: the topic ' dlyons harms the democrats' [Boston.com ] has now attracted 64 comments and 962 readers. It's said that dlyons is descended from Genghis Khan, and is older than Noah, and taught 'General Gau' in China how to make chicken. (Actually, Genghis was my youngest son--a hellion from the beginning !)

Another topic: "dlyons--Mr. popularity ?" now has over 800 readers. [ Boston.com ]

Many comments are profanely unfriendly. But I do value the readers of the topics I actually wrote or contributed to.

 
WAR WITH IRAN: TIME MAG (25Sept), cited by INFOCLEARINGHOUSE

Thousands of airstrikes at all their KNOWN nuke-development sites; NOT a foot-soldier invasion--Bushies don't have enough troops for their 2 present fiascos!
Hope is just to delay Iran's nuke-development for a couple of years.

The Price? crude-oil-price doubles at least, triggering world recession. In Iraq it's said,"America owns the air; but Iran owns the ground." GIs would be slaughtered. (Maybe neocons want that !-- to legitimate nuke attack on Iran.)

Bushies preach sanctions (to excuse war as 'last resort'); nobody's fooled this time; Chirac of France just said, "No sanctions !"

 
DANGER OF NEXT-WORLD BELIEFS:
An interlocutor on Boston.com msg.bd. told me to quit attacking Catholicism and find a religon of my own. I replied:

I neither have nor need a religion. Especially I object to the 'Abrahamic' religions: Christianity, Judaism and Islam.
If you believe (on shaky evidence) that
1) the Creator of the Universe spoke in great detail to some human prophets;

and that 2) IT--not He or She-- laid out detailed instructions on how to live (what specific claims to believe, what foods not to eat, what forms of sex to avoid, about killing, lying, stealing, coveting--how to treat the poor--statues or other gods NOT to be worshipped,etc.) ;

and that 3) IT threatens with awful next-world punishment any people who veer from the detailed directives in (2) (even merciful Jesus pronounced an awful curse on people who refused to help the poor !)

and that (3) the next life is far more important than this one (Paul said something like this: "The sufferings of this world are NOT TO BE COMPARED with the glory of the next ! " )

If you believe these things, then it makes sense to torture and kill anyone who would mislead others into veering from the directives in (2) and risking their souls in the all-important next life.

(The torture is 'aggressive interrogation' to get heretics to name their secret colleagues.
(The Popes recently condemned torture, reversing centuries of enthusiastic use; the Spanish museum of Inquisitorial torture devices is impressive; just looking at such devices made Galileo sensibly recant his foolishness about the earth revolving around the sun.)

In the 60s I got an instructive response from my Irish mother-in-law when I told her about the napalm we were dropping on Viet civilians. She had thought napalm was a tranquilizer; when I explained what it really is, she gulped hard, then retorted gamely: "We have to use those things on the godless Communists. In the next life, God will make it up to the innocent people we hurt here." A great comeback!

 
TROOPS MOVED to Baghdad FROM ANBAR, the largest Iraq province, the size of Wyoming--where one in three GI deaths have occurred. Military honcho said, in classified report, that Anbar was basically lost. Commander says NO, his mission is NOT to beat the insurgents, but just to TRAIN the native soldiers to fight the insurgents ! He has enough troops to do that; (he admits that he'd need a lot more troops to FIGHT the insurgents.) !!!!

After all, say the generals, the insurgents in Anbar will not be beat by military ALONE, but by socio/economic improvements. The Catch-22 is that these improvements can't take place until the insurgent attacks are stopped ! UnitedPress

In other words, beating the insurgents there is not a sufficient condition for prevailing--but it is an absolutely NECESSARY condition. And it's not going to happen.

 
FIASCO is a book by a veteran Pentagon correspondent, describing the insane blunders of the Bush-team in Iraq. FinTimes

Chastened hawks now admit these blunders, but say, "Forget the past; what do we do now?"
Of course they say we must 'stay the course', with the continued war to be run by the SAME TEAM OF LOONS who bungled us into the war to begin with !

 
HAWKS FLY OVER THE RAINBOW:
Two columns in DenverPost(17Sept--no link) are instructive to compare. Linda Chavez, an old-time hawk flak, starts out with this amazing admission: "We're on the verge of losing the war in Iraq."
Indeed we are. [Hundreds of casualties today, Sunday. REUTERS ]
The only remedy? send over more GIs--before the Nov. election !
(16,000 more said to be needed to avoid losing huge Anbar province.)

More GIs in Iraq will mean more casualties; but we can't fight wars if we won't risk American deaths, for God's sake ! That, she thinks, is NOT a reason to avoid wars--just a reason to send more troops into the meat-grinder, in order not to dishonor by defeat the 3000 Gis killed already in our 2 wars.
'Coalition' commanders in Afghanistan are also pleading for more troops !
She's demented.

And then J.A. Farrell warns that the hawks now want us to invade formidable Iran, which would require restoring the draft. We'd lose 3 wars at once, instead of the current 2.

The desperate hawks seem to be flying high into the clouds of fantasy.

 
PRESTIGIOUS IRAQ STUDY GROUP: Biggest name is James Baker, cunning adviser to Bush Daddy. Foreign policy wonks hope this group can figure out a mid-course correction in a project seen as a disaster.

Baker has gone on record affirming what everyone (outside the Bushies) already knows: that the costs of this fiasco were severely underestimated: they foolishly dismissed Saddam's army (impoverishing the trained military leaders who promptly turned to lead the insurgents!)
They didn't secure the weapons depots (leaving the insurgents with tons of explosive available !)
and they DIDN'T SEND ENOUGH TROOPS.

Baker says our bugout now would trigger a civil war. (too late--it's already happening! And US troops can't stop it.)
WashPost

None of the mistakes Baker mentioned is correctible now...Unless we go for partition of Iraq into Kurdland, Shialand and Sunni/Arab land. This latter region we'd have to hand over OPENLY to secular Saddamite insurgent-leaders, then help them turn on their erstwhile jihadist allies and destroy them.

Trouble is, the oil-rich ShiaLand would be allied with our hated Shia regime in Iran !
That would make it all-too-obvious that the WINNER of Bush's war is Iran.

 
JORDAN KING REFUTES BUSHIE CLAIMS: This knowlegeable guy is stalwart US ally, and is coming to visit his masters in DC soon.

Nevertheless he says that US reaction to terrorism has empowered terrorists.
SeattlePI

Everyone knows this is true, except 'W'. Let's hope God tells him soon about this obvious fact.

 
FIFTEEN HUNDRED BODIES SHOWED UP IN AUGUST AT MORGUE, JUST IN BAGHDAD ! (That's better than EIGHTEEN HUNDRED showing up in July.)

(We're told that civil war threatens but is not yet real.)

And these figures exclude those blown to bits by bombs. CNN

 
BIGMOUTH BENNY:
Benedict XIII put his foot in his papal mouth in a big way:"Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached." WOW.
USATODAY
He hastened to explain that this wasn't HIS opinion, only a quote from an ancient emperor. Not quite good enough, Cecil ! (By the way, the disrespectful headline above is NOT MY opinion; it's a quote from a guy I met in a bar.)

You can bet that 1300 millions of Muslims will hear about this quote.

I used to think the Roman Church did more good than harm in the world, calling for help to the poor. But today's hierarchy is concerned only to forbid effective forms of family planning, to stop gays from saying they're married, and to stop aged, doomed people from cutting short a long death by euthanasia. So I enjoy pontifical statements that discredit this institution.

But in this case I worry about the coming sufferings of millions of Catholics who live in Muslim regions ! And inflaming Islamists might increase the killings of US GIs in Iraq & Afghanistan.

 
BLAIR WHINES FOR MORE NATO TROOPS, lest Afghanistan become a 'failed state'.
INDPENDENT
It is already a failed narco-state. It's also a FAILED BUSH/BLAIR project--another one besides Iraq.

 
SIX GIs DEAD ON THURS/FRIDAY /plus THIRTY WOUNDED, ONE MISSING (suicide attack on US post Thursday.)

GIs pulled from 'almost-lost' ANBAR province to Baghdad. (Added troops have NOT stopped Baghdad violence.) SeattlePI

FAR TOO FEW GIs in Iraq. Beefing up one region means undermanning another.

That's what so DUMB about 'moderate doves' calling for GRADUAL withdrawal: that would put remaining GIs in MORE peril ! Generals must order 'Attack to the Rear' to Kuwait and friendly Kurdland, and bug out all at once.

POPE'S STUPID REMARK will inflame Islamists even further, as has nasty US role in bombing Shiite Lebanon. Who knows how fast our Iraq situation will deteriorate further?

IF GOP suffers disaster in Nov.elections, even Bushies might see we have to bugout.

 
BUSH OPTIMISTIC ABOUT ELECTION, BASED ON PERFOMANCE OF ECONOMY !

US GLOOM: 4 years ago, 61% thought they'd be better off in 5 years; now fewer than 50% think so.(Sharpest downturn in 40 years).

'Satisfied with state of country?" 50% then, lower 30's now. FinTimes


It seems the Dems before Nov. would do well to ask people
"Are YOU better off since GOP got control of ALL THREE FEDERAL BRANCHES ? "

(The rich are far more optimistic, of course--but they're a small minority.)
---------------
Bush also thinks Israel won the recent Lebanon war. He listens to God--Who seems not to be a very reliable informant.

 
LYONS FOR POPE? Someone on Boston.com msg bd has suggested this. That selection would be a huge improvement on the present Recumbent--I'd be styled Pope CONTRACEPTUS I --

but I don't think it's likely, and here's why:

After the death of the last Archbishop of Canterbury, the Anglican elector-bishops gathered in an upper room (along with their Jewish, Muslim and atheist government controllers) and sat for a while in prayerful silence.

Suddenly a beautiful white dove flew in a window, and said, loudly and clearly, "ELECT LYONS ! ELECT LYONS ! ELECT LYONS "

More silence. Then the Archbishop of York spoke up: "Must we heed every passing pigeon?"
It's all politics.
--------------------------
One guy wants me to be Pope. Others have suggested that I repair to a nice, protective Home, where I can be any dignitary I want.

 
INFAMY: The 'thread' denouncing dlyons now has over 800 readers.
If I can't have fame,I'll have to settle for infamy.
BOSTON.COM

(About my post on BIGMOUTH BENNY: I couldn't resist taking a poke at Pope Ratzinger. )

 
REGULAR BAGHDAD CARNAGE on Wed. & Thurs: two GIs killed and 'dozens' of Iraqi casualties from bombs & gunmen, in spite of US rushing back thousands of extra GIs into Baghdad.
Canada.Com

SUICIDE BOMBER STRIKES AT US BAGHDAD POST, KILLS TWO, INJURES 25. (6 returned to duty Thursday nite). CNN (What's unusual here is that the number wounded is given. Usually Pentagon counts on Americans' tendency to ignore the wounded, and shuts up about those wounded.)

Five GI deaths reported on Thursday.

Bushies would love to report fewer GI casualties before election--but insurgents may not agree to this.
---------------
276 GIs have died in Afghan conflict. GUARDIAN
2676 have died in Iraq.GUARDIAN
That's a total of 2952--let's say nearly THREE THOUSAND dead so far in Bush's two wars--both of which he's LOSING !

 
'OUTRAGEOUS AND DISHONEST' said an international agency about a GOP Congressional report on how close Iran is to producing nukes. REUTERS

Ho-hum--'outrageous and dishonest' are the properties we EXPECT in GOP utterances nowadays.

 
"NOT OUR FAULT" says Pakistan dictator Musharref about the resurgence of Taliban in Afghanistan.
Before 9/11, Pakistan was biggest sponsor of Taliban; but then, the thought of US bombs made Musharref turn into an anti-terrorist devotee--at least in talk.

"Talilban are bigger danger than AlQaeda !' M. says plausibly, because they have roots among Afghan peasants. (US & NATO have had almost 5 years to wean peasants away from Taliban. Not likely.)

A Brit said that a deal between M and pro-Taliban tribe in Pak. give 'terrorists' a free hand.
The same Brit demanded that M close the private schools teaching fanaticism. Understandably, M. is reluctant to further enrage the Islamists--already they have tried twice to kill him.
REUTERS

Pakistan is a great example of the irrelevance in our present emergency of the money-stuffed Pentagon and its billion-dollar bombers. Pak. is definitely a country that has (and probably still does) harbor terrorists. Should we bomb Islambad? Islamists would love this--getting rid of a sinful, secular modern city. This is a typical situation, where 'nation harboring terrorists' would love to get rid of terrorists, but can't. Same is true of Britain. Should we bomb Britain?
-----------------------
Allies say they're killing lots of Taliban around Kandahar--but Taliban are showing up openly in a huge Western province (twice the size of Maryland), making Nato generals fear a possible 'second front'. This province is inhabited by Pashtun tribe, friendly to Taliban.

Only 1600 NATO troops are available in the whole vast Western region. NATO commander demanded 2500 more troops from Nato members--but they politely declined to send in more men into this meat-grinder. (Poland will send in 1000 more troops,but not till next February.
By that time....)
SeattlePI

 
ONE HUNDRED SIXTY IRAQI CASUALTIES ON WEDNESDAY.

US has been saying that murder rate DROPPED after it rushed GIs back into Baghdad.
But it turned out THEY WEREN'T COUNTING DEATHS FROM CAR-BOMBS !
REUTERS
---------------
US honcho says they're 'STIFLING' (tho not defeating) insurgency in ANBAR. SeattlePI
_________________
Bush & Cheney fondly thought that the insurgency would wither when they 'DECAPITATED' alQuaeda by killing Zarqawi. Instead, Sunnis are now able to kill many Shia AND STILL KILL/MAIM THE SAME NUMBER AS EVER OF GIs EVERY MONTH ! UnitedPress
===========
Kofi Annan, UN honcho, just toured the Middle East. Most leaders there say that our invasion of Iraq has been catastropic, disastrous for them , destabilizing the region. NYTIMES
Ironically, one reason advanced by Bushies for toppling Saddam was that he might destabilize the region ! These leaders might think Bush was the one who should have been toppled.

 
AMERICANS UNDERESTIMATE THE REAL COST OF WARS because they ignore the ills that affect vets later (e.g. 'AgentOrange' from Vietnam.)

DADDY BUSH'S GULF WAR: Americans think this was a costless war for GIs involved. But a recent survey showed that 30% of Gulf war veterans later showed a bad set of symptoms, compared to 16% of military personnel serving elsewhere at the same time. USATODAY

LOU GEHRIG'S DISEASE: This is a 'fate-worse-than-death' ailment, involving slowly increasing paralysis, till you can't speak, and finally you can't breathe. A long death. The rate of this disastrous ailment was higher among Gulf War vets than among military serving elsewhere. EntrezPubMed

What was accomplished? We saved the oil-wells from Saddam and returned them to autocratic oil-Sultans of Kuwait. Were they grateful? One sultan, spending the war elsewhere in luxury, was asked why he wasn't in Kuwait fighting for his country. He replied complacently, "We have our white slaves fighting for us."(Kuwaiti wealthy gave money to lobbyists to get our Congress to go to war.)

The ordinary Kuwaitis experienced close contact with our troops. Result: More hate Americans than almost any other Arab population. (87% of all Arabs supported AlQaeda's attempt to expel Yanks from MiddleEast.) Bluprint polling.

When US came back into Kuwait (for anti-Saddam war), Kuwaiti govt. had to clear out natives from the area US would use.
-------------
How should we feel about these US veterans of GulfWarI? Not gratitude--they didn't fight to protect our freedom, but to protect our commercial empire. But we should feel pity for these misguided and abused enlistees.
===========
But at least Daddy Bush had enough sense not to overthrow the Baathist autocrats who were holding together the disparate races & sects in the artificial country called 'Iraq'(created by Brits in 1920)--the tyrants preventing civil war. Not so his loony son.

 
CONFUSED ABOUT THE CONCEPT:
"Successful anti-missile-missile test weakens Chinese deterrent." UnitedPress
These writers have not thought through the concept of SECOND-strike deterrent.China is NOT going to launch a FIRST-strike at us, nor at Russia. In either case, their cities would be promptly wiped off the map by our thousands of H-bombs. That's OUR second-strike deterrent !

No, China is developing nukes so they can assure us they can RETALIATE vs. any nutty first-strike from us. They hope our rulers will be sane enough to be deterred by this threat.

Now suppose we do develop missiles that could shoot down (fairly primitive)intercontinental missiles without sophisticated decoy devices. (After spending hundreds of billions, we still don't have assurance about this.)

If we attack China first, do you seriously think, with their cities destroyed, that they'd be less likely to launch their missiles in retaliation just because our missiles MIGHT hit and neutralize theirs ? !

Besides, there are so many ways their retaliation-nukes could hit our country without any intercontinentals being launched. For instance, freight ships on the sea could launch nuke-tipped cruise-missiles at our shores, where a very large proportion of Americans live. (We're not even pretending to develop anti-cruise-missile-missiles.) Rembember, we're asking what would happen if we have already destroyed Chinese cities.

And there are non-nuke ways of retaliating vs. US, by a country that has been mainly destroyed by us. The most likely is a germ-war attack. (This form of retaliation is open to many poor countries, not just to mighty powers like China.)

We can destroy any two countries in a day, with our thousands of H-bombs.But we would likely regret it.

 
More on the 'ANBAR LOST?' story. DefenseNews
The upsetting assessment was a classified report by the top Marine intelligence guy in the area. (Report leaked?)

He said that SIXTEEN THOUSAND more troops were needed, that the (Shia) central govt. had no power in this all-Sunni district, that the biggest influence was AlQaeda !

The Marine Commander said he agreed with the assessment, but not with the media's interpretation. "WE'RE WINNING THIS WAR !" He said he had enough troops for their mission, which was [only] to train Iraqi troops to take over. !

Puzzling how these mainly Shia troops could take over in this fanatically Sunni area, the biggest Iraq province !--where MANY US Marines have been killed or maimed--while training Iraqi troops ? !

 
MISSILES VS. AIRLINERS:
45% of our people expect an imminent attack on our airliners by shoulder-fired missiles. (USATODAY, 12Sep.) These missiles are relatively cheap, easy to hide, easily smuggled into US in large numbers in one of the thousands of huge ship-containers entering our ports every day, uninspected.

The incompetent Bush-team fusses over explosive-laden toothpaste and shoes that suicidal terrrorists might smuggle into planes--while the missile-terrorist doesn't have to board the target plane at all ! He could stand on a roof-top near Chicago's Midway airport, fire the missile at a low-flying plane , and duck back inside almost before the heat-seeking missile hit the plane.

Israel mounts a counter-device on all planes, military and civilian. The Bush-team won't mount these on our civilian planes because they're 'too expensive'. (But a single hit on a plane here would incur enormous costs in passenger-confidence.)

Meanwhile, they shovel each DAY over $1200 millions to the Pentagon, whose billion-dollar bombers are useless against terrorist individuals.

Dumb or just not caring, the Bush-team are not reliable protectors of our Homeland.

 
Only 29% APPROVE OF CONGRESS' PERFORMANCE.
But typically, Americans hate Congress in general, but vote for THEIR Congressman.

On the other hand, 53-55% say they're 'anti-incumbent', would vote for the challenger.
(Previously this meant trouble for party controlling Congress.)

And in primaries, an unusual number of incumbents got dumped or are in trouble.
SeattlePI

 
"How stop terrorism?" asks a hawk-type expert. "We must stop the indoctrination of young Muslims." But how would we do this, while still respecting free speech? Any line we draw (e.g., to forbid incitement to riot) can be broached by clever propagandists.

This guy says we might still be in Iraq in 25 years. In a fit of honesty:
"The war is not lost. But it's getting close." UnitedPress

 
'Bush somewhat or a lot to blame for 9/11" up from 32% to 45%.
"Clinton also to blame" down from 45% to 41%.
UnitedPress

We'll see what effect the propaganda piece 'ROAD TO 9/11' has.
Likely,Bush's speaking campaign will INCREASE his negativity.

 
ANBAR LOST ! A USMarines report was discussed today admitting they had lost control of the vast Iraq province of Anbar ! REUTERS
Talk about not protecting Iraq's borders!
Talk about leaving space for alQaeda !

 
61 CASUALTIES AT GOVERNOR'S FUNERAL ! (Brit honcho said that if ordinary Afghans give up on Kharzai's govt. as effective,they'll move over to support Taliban. When US/Kharzai can't protect a governor's funeral... ! ) REUTERS

 
EUROPEANS DESPISE BUSH:
77% reject his foreign policy. "Who cares?" Well, their objective view is likely CLOSER TO TRUTH than the view of US loyalists.

82% of Americans think we should lead the world; European agreement has sunk from 62% to 37%. (They see that Americans generally are too ignorant to choose good leaders.) WashPost

Not only are Americans unable to know WHICH WAY to lead the world; our rulers are also incompetent at getting and keeping leadership position !

Europeans are very worried about terrorists. However, they see that Bush doesn't know what to do about them: : for every dollar Bushies spend on anti-terror, they shovel ten dollars to Pentagon, whose billion-dollar bombers are useless against terrorist individuals.

 
CLASS-WAR'S OVER: THEY WON !
Pundits used to say that Marx's gloomy predictions, of inevitable conflict between workers and owners, were falsified by the owners--who were smart enough to share just enough with the workers to avoid revolt. But those pundits didn't foresee the insatiable, short-sighted greed of our present owner-class, nor the TV-addled dumbness of our workers.

Result: 19 in 20 of our population had almost NO increase in real income since 1970. But the income of the top one in 100 almost doubled in that time; and those getting over $5 million a year saw their incomes multiply by five, while their tax-rate plummeted down ! (Paul Krugman in rMtnNews,11Sep. Link not available).

Some think the new inequality gap is between elite workers (graduate engineers) and ordinary, uneducated workers. BUT elite workers are threatened by outsourcing, just as ordinary workers were harmed by automation and importing. And the top 1 in 100, and the $5 million-a-year crowd--these are NOT workers; their main income is from stocks and property they OWN.

So Marx was right in thinking that workers as a class now have reason to unite in revolt against owners; but they are rendered so tame by right-wing propaganda that this is unlikely. If they did revolt they would probably go, not for humanistic socialism, but for something like National Socialism--Naziism. (The Nazis worked hand-in-glove with the owners.)

Those elite who care for feckless ordinary workers should advise them on how to spend less--especially by having fewer children--since they'll be getting less. (All hail the morning-after pill ! ).

 
ON BOSTON.COM there are 'message boards' where people can exchange views (& insults).
Under 'national news' and 'iraq' you will find many discussions started by dlyons. That's me.
The board responders include many zionist hawks. I've had a lot of fun puncturing their arguments. BOSTON


Scroll down to NATIONAL NEWS

The discussions I've started have hundreds of readers.
[click on '50 new discussions' to move from page to page ]

One discussion is ABOUT me ! under POLITICS: DlyonsHarms the Democrats.
This has over 400 readers.

My (rather overstated) topic ZIONIST TRAITORS has over 900 readers.
[use search function to find this...on Sept.3]

 
ISOLATING IRAN ? Bushies have ordered oil companies not to cooperate in developing Iranian oil-sources. Big French company TOTAL defies Bushies, says 'let US companies obey DC.'
FinTimes

US is now biggest trading partner with Egypt. (You'd think so, with huge US subsidy going to Murbarek's govt. !) But Egyptian honcho predicts that within 8 years, CHINA will take US place. FinTimes

More and more it is Bush's America, NOT IRAN, that is being isolated from sane outside world.

 
ltr to Ft.CollinsCOLORADOAN
As usual, Jonah Greenberg(10Sept--no link available) pretends to 'give both sides' before his predictable attack on 'the left'. He agrees that we can't lean on analogies with the foolish appeasement of Hitler in the 1930s. But his real opposition is to the 'lefties' comparing our Iraq & Afghan campaigns with the disastrous fiasco in Vietnam.

He notes some new factors, such as the 'bad guys' having powerful new destructive weapons to them. (He doesn't draw the corollary that Iran has powerful new ways to retaliate for any first strike at their country.)

Above all, he doesn't note the main lesson we should have learned in Vietnam: that airpower doesn't work very well against 3d world natives defending their country vs. 'superpower' invaders. We dumped over 5 million tons of explosive on Vietnam, on an area about the size of New Mexico--still, they drove us out. Awesome Soviet airpower had no restraints imposed on them in Afghanistan by queasy 'free-press' media; but they were chased out too.

One difference between Johnson & MacNamara back then and the Bushies now;back then they didn't have the experienced limits of airpower to guide them;the Bushies had this experience available, but ignored it. And their Isreali allies also ignored these limits, trying vainly to defeat Hezbollah by airpower alone.

In the 1940s we had a competent intelligence service to spy on Hitler and Japan. Now our CIA, ashamed to have been perverted by the Bush-team into false certainty about Iraq, insists correctly that they DON'T know much about Iran, about the side-effects of bombing them.

In fact our present shortage of qualified intelligence personnel is pretty well incurable, in the next few years. Too few of our elite youth are interested enough in the outside world to learn foreign languages and come to understand alien cultures. Collectively, their psychology needs a complete makeover, if we hope to understand the dangers and possibilities, say, in the MiddleEast.

Until we know what's going on in the MiddleEast, we should pull out of there, concentrating on defending our Homeland from new attacks by terrorist individuals; against these individuals our snazzy bombers are useless.

Bush's US is not a paper tiger; it's more like a blinded Bull elephant, lunging recklessly around awful cliffs.

 
WHY HAS US LOST WORLD SUPPORT? (PewPoll)
2 IN 3 SAY BECAUSE OF IRAQ WAR; 46% because of our alliance with Israel. /58% oppose Iraq war./
but 52% want INCREASE IN 'DEFENSE' BUDGET. argh.

On the other hand, more than before are 'isolationists': we should mind our own business.
InfoClearinghouse

Americans may be finally realizing that the 'outside world' is a place we just don't understand.

 
IF WE BUGOUT OF IRAQ, says Bush predictably, 2666 GIs will have died for nothing.

But if we stay his course, continuing this winless war UNDER THE SAME TEAM OF LOONS who lied us into it--then by '08 we may be able to say that 4000 GIs died for nothing.

 
"A BREATHTAKING ACCOMPLISHMENT', gushed Rummy about our campaign in Afghanistan. But today, 4 years after we supposedly chased Taliban out of the country, they're somehow back in force.

"Fighting here," says a Brit general, " is more intense and ferocious than in Iraq, on a daily basis."

(Popular Province-governor killed by suicider on 10Sep. WashPost Earlier a suicider killed many (4 GI casualties) in center of Kabul ! )

A given US GI in Afghanistan has about the same chance to be killed or maimed as a GI in Iraq.

Top Canadian army honchos concede they can't beat Taliban by force. 'That never was the strategy; we have to rebuild the country." [Toronto Star, cited byInfoClearinghouse ]
Howver,the top NATO commander said that the international effort of afghan reconstruction is 'on life support.'
--------------------------
Already planning in '02 a war in Iraq, Bushies were simply insane to start another war in snakepit Afghanistan, graveyard of many would-be invaders--most recently the Russians.. And Britain's Blair was equally crazy to commit his inadequate forces in both pointless, winless wars. Canada was goofy also to get involved.

Breathtaking folly.

 
JORDAN'S KING (US puppet) warns that any war with IRAN would open up a Pandora'sBox that the MiddleEast would NOT recover from. TIME MAGAZINE

Would that his Bushie masters will heed him.

 
AFGHAN FIASCO: Our 'other' war just won't go way. The worst Taliban attack yet was a suicide bomber who struck a US convoy near the US embassy in Kabul--killing 2 GIs, wounding 2 more. SeattlePI (We don't really care how many NON-Americans were blown up.)

We used to call Kharzai the 'mayor of Kabul' because the writ of this so-called President didn't run outside the city. Now it seems he can't even control his own capital. One wonders if he still relies on US bodyguards, not trusting Afghans to come near him.
---------------------
Sucker Brits: 19 Brits killed in the last week ! Brit general says 'it might take 10 years.'INDEPENDENT. What fools they were to follow Bushies into Afhganistan. They're now pleading desperately for more eqipment, more troops from SOMEWHERE

..you can bet there won't by any more American troops sent in ! Our troops are swamped in Iraq !

We'll see if Brits are saps enough to sacrifice their troops in that nasty place for 10 years.
They tried invading Afgh. 3 times in 19th century--in one episode, not a single invader survived.
Slow learners.

 
4 TIMES AS MANY ROAD BOMBS NOW AS IN JAN'04--and they're better designed.
But the number of US casualties has stayed the same--except for a recent rise.
Bomb-tips from US-friendly Iraqis have diminished.

US IS STUDYING THE PROBLEM..that is, Bushies have shoveled over $3400 millions (most likely to corporations) to study the problem. WashPost

 
104 US NUKE REACTORS SAFE FROM TERRORISTS?Who knows? Nuke Regulatory Committee (which says "Yes, of course!")is completely under control of the nuke-power corporations--who don't want to spend extra money on precautions. UnitedPress

This article discusses only the chance of a big Cargo-Plane being crashed into the protected reactor itself--NOT the much more likely chance that a small plane, loaded with explosives, could be crashed into the--unprotected--radioactive WASTE-PLANT of one or more nuke plants. There is NO protection from this danger. (Our skies are full of unregulated, easy-to-steal small planes.)

Govt. advises familes less than 10 miles from a plant to keep a medicine in their cabinets against cancer from radioactivity.

And right-wingers wonder why new nuke plants are generally not acceptable in 'my neigborhood'.

 
FINALLY, OUT IN THE OPEN: Shia leaders have proposed a law to allow deFacto secession of the Southern Shia region, analogous to the already-accomplished secession of Kurdland in the North. [ Agence-France-Presse, cited by InfoClearinghouse ]

[Mainstream US media have, as expected, ignored this crucial development--except LATimes ,which has a thorough discussion of the pros & cons. (which matter little; one way or another, Shia WILL secede, and set up army, like Kurd PESHMERGA, to prevent Sunni attacks. ]

Practically all the oil is either in the Kurd region or in the Shia region (60% in Shia area); the SunniArabs will have little. The proposed law will probably pretend to share oil-money with them, but once the regions are separately governed, how could this promise be enforced? (The 'central govt', puppet to the Americans, will shrivel and wither.)

Already being discussed is division of Baghdad into Sunni area (West of Tigris river,home of 'GreenZone' where our irrelevant puppet govt. of 'all-Iraq' is hunkered down..and home of now-silly half-billion-dollar US embassy.) ...and non Sunni-area, East of river.

One problem: who will get the Kirkuk area, soaked with oil but not within the present boundaries of 'Kurdland' ? I'd guess the Kurds will grab that area; who could stop them? The Kurds are the closest allies of the Americans (and, strangely enough, of Israelis! ) The Americans are not going to fight to give the Kirkuk oil to the SunniArabs !

The sooner the better with the separation of SunniArabs from Shia..eventually, less slaughter.

 
86 Iraqi casualties Thurs 7 Sept: ABC
As usual, casualty figures broken into different incidents, not totalled. Bad news last.
Headline, 1st part is about SMALL, PARTIAL handover of 'Iraq forces' to Maliki regime.
(ABC TV/NEWS said 100 casualties on Thursday).

---------------
US says violent deaths in Baghdad down 50% since we took back security-project there from feckless Iraqis; morgue says 1500 corpses in July and 1500 in August.
SeattlePI

Generals trained to kill are also willing to lie.

 
REJECTION: Both the Fort CollinsCOLORADOAN and the DenverPost have often printed my pieces (the Post just this month)--
but they both rejected, without comment, the following piece.
This may be because the myth of 'victory thru airpower' brings in billions to Colorado corporations producing air-weapons.
-----------------------------------------
SHOCK-AND-AWE EXPERIMENT:Hezbollah were sensibly surprised when Israel responded to the (fairly trivial) kidnap of 2 soldiers with its spectacular bombing campaign against Lebanon. The foreseeable costs of such a campaign were considerable: increased anti-semitism in Europe, the possible weakening of the powerful zionist lobby in America; the uniting of Sunnis and Shia (when Israel would profit from their mutual hatred), and the disgrace of possible failure.

Of course the true believers in 'victory through air-power' would not entertain the last possibility as real. (It turned out to be VERY real ! )But let's look at the history of airpower.

In WWII, the heavy German bombing of Britain just strengthened British resolve, as the Pearl Harbor bombing mobilized America. The awful fire-bombing of Tokyo--see Kurasawa's movie from the day after!--did not weaken Japanese morale.

The allied bombing did much damage to the Hitler regime-- but some experts said that the cost to the allies, in planes lost and training wasted on airmen killed, exceeded the damage these bombers did.

In Korea, we had complete control of the airspace and seaspace over and around a narrow peninsula. We bombed North Korea flat; one pilot told me "We're digging basements; no buildings are left." Yet the Chinese managed to move down enough explosives and armaments over 400 miles to the 38th parallel--so they could keep a conventional army fighting until we had to accept a tie. (I watched an artillery duel where the Chinese fired $1 million worth of shells at one hill in one night.)

We poured 5 million tons of explosive down on Vietnam, (twice the amount used in all of WWII !) on an area about the size of New Mexico--but they still drove us out.

Awesome Soviet airpower--not restricted by queasy public opinion--didn't prevent their being driven out of Afghanistan.

Bombing seemed to work in Gulf War I, because Saddam was such a military fool. He tried WWI trench warfare; his poor troops got buried alive by US bulldozers!

In the Kosovo campaign, we heard about triumphant airpower. Perhaps we'll never know why Milosovec pulled out; but when he did, his tanks and artillery were still intact. (US pilots, prudent about saving their own necks, flew so high that they sometimes bombed the refugees they were supposed to protect; it turned out that often the tanks and bridges they thought they were bombing were fake decoys.) The bombing of factories in Serbia owned personally by the Milosovec gang might have had some effect; but that makes this campaign untypical. (Many experts since have said that this campaign did NOT show effectiveness of airpower alone.)

We all know how Clinton's attempt to bomb alQuaeda was really bombing empty tents.

The only sure triumph for air-power was when 2 A-bombs shocked the Japanese into surrendering. So then the slogan went around that airpower had to 'shock and awe' an enemy into capitulating, with a 'short, sharp shock'. Rumsfeld planned a shock-and-awe attack on Iraq, but world opinion (and American horror) prevented that...and we know how tons of bombs and missiles since then have only recruited more insurgents among the enraged surviving relatives.

BinLaden says that at Tora-Bora he survived the 500-lb bombs peppering his area simply by lying on the ground till they stopped.
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Perhaps the Hezbollah kidnapping gave the Israeli air-force (US rushed to provide them with bunker-buster bombs) the chance to stage a real experiment in shock-and-awe. They would simply destroy the modern, prosperous country of Lebanon IN A WEEK OR TWO, shocking the Lebanese into disarming Hezbollah.

It was a sound 'Shock/Awe' experiment, and its failure is informative.. The Westernized middle-class fled from Lebanon, leaving Hezbollah in prestigious control.. The continual
(if inaccurate) Hezbollah rocketing showed the world that their war-capacity was not much impaired by all the Israeli bombs. ( 250 rockets hit Israel on the last war-day.)

That's why the Siamese twins (Pentagon & Israel) wouldn't allow a quick cease-fire. They just couldn't believe yet that their awesome bombers had failed.Then the Israelis had to send thousands of ill-prepared conscripts intoLebanon,incurring many casualties. For the second time, Israel has had to pull out from Lebanon; a Wall Street Journal writer predicts the greatest military humiliation in Israel's history.

The Pentagon will never face facts; bombing is about their only talent. But it should finally be clear to the rest of us that airpower is a paper tiger.

What's next? Tactical nukes, and infantry robots. And our Homeland (whose protection is shamelessly neglected by the Bushies) will endure suitcase nukes and war-germs. These won't awe us, they won't defeat us--but they will sure shock us, perhaps into accepting a dictator.

 
Suppose a candidate has been supporting Bush policies--
Would that make you more or less likely to vote for that candidate?
Less likely: 55% /More likely 40%. CNN

 
"Maliki regime collapsing before our eyes" says observer. UnitedPress They don't control areas right outside the Green Zone.

4 separate conflicts:
--Sunni insurgents vs. US.(insurgents damaging US forces as much as ever.)
--Shia militia striking back at Sunnis.
--US, Maliki forces vs. Sadrite militia.
--Sadrite forces vs. Badr (Shia) forces.

--If significant Shia forces (i.e., Sadrites) go into full opposition to US, then essential US supply routes would be cut.
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Another view: UnitedPress
PROGRESS IN IRAQ ? On the one hand, there is political progress: a govt. comprised of all the groups (Kurds, SunniArabs, and Shia) working at economic agreements.Still, history shows that other govts. even less fragile-seeming have come apart in days.
Oil production is down since '05. 138,000 Iraqis have been displaced (ethnic cleansing).

As Iraq weakens, Iran gets stronger "making confrontation more,not less, likely."
[Confrontation would be with the US. What the hell does he mean by this? That the Bushies would attack Iran if they saw it getting too strong? What about Iran's powers of retaliation?]

One is reminded of chaotic anarchy a few years ago in Lebanon, when main govt. collapsed.
(That anarchy ended when Syria took over. Now that Syria has pulled out, anarchy again threatens Lebanon.)

 
'AlQAEDA UNDER A LOT OF PRESSURE' says Abizaid reassuringly--but then: "It is active in Pakistan, and Egypt, and is capable of worldwide attacks."

Meanwhile, govts. of Pakistan and Afghanistan are snarling at each other, each blaming the other for not controlling Jihadists. Haveeru

Not so very reassuring--especially when you realize that AlQuaeda itself is not the main problem: it's hundreds or thousands of terrorist volunteers AROUND THE WORLD who are not under AQ's control, but are inspired by the same heroic, unselfish hate for US.

 
NEEDED: BRAINS ON THE GROUND
Ralph Peters sensibly reminds us that we shouldn't rely too much on 'victory through airpower'.
USATODAY
He says we must fight wars with enough 'boots on the ground'.

But Peters doesn't note that we need accurate intelligence in current wars with native insurgents. We rely too much on 'observation from the sky'--but we need BRAINS on the ground.

Trouble is, we don't have the necessary large cadre of Americans understanding foreign languages and alien cultures. So we don't have a competent intelligence service. And we couldn't muster this cadre in just a year or a few years. It would take a complete psychological makeover of our elite youth to get them interested enough in the outside world to study languages and cultures. The former CIA chief was understating the problem when he said we could NOT develop a competent intelligence service in less than five years.

Rumsfeld said once "You don't go to war with the forces you want, only with the forces you have." But without adequate forces (including intelligence forces telling us precisely whom to attack ) sensible leaders don't start 'wars of choice' at all !
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The new 'security' position of Bushies admits that the danger is from independent small groups and individuals (so that bombing is not a very sensible response). It also calls for more people with language-skills and knowledge about Islamic culture. WashPost

But it doesn't say HOW we're going to effect this revolution in attitudes (more interest in outside world among our elite youth, more qualified personnel in our intelligence agencies) in the next few years.

 
US CONTROL LOST IN VAST ANBAR PROVINCE ?
That would mean control lost over large portion of border with Syria.
Interpress, cited by InfoClearinghouse
(also, of course, in Baghdad.)

 
TALIBAN NOW RUNS HALF OF AFGHANISTAN, because of Brit & US blunders, says ThinkTank.
GUARDIAN

 
'binLaden wants to set up CALIPHATE in Baghdad' says Bush. REUTERS
binLaden is a Sunni; the last caliph in Baghdad was a Shia, MURDERED BY SUNNIS.
Shia now control 'central govt' in Baghdad, and will soon secede to form an independent ministate, allied with powerful Shiite Iran.

bin Laden's ambitions (Bush's version) are not likely to be fulfilled. But of course when Bush was told, just before invasion, about Shia & Sunnis in Iraq, he said, "I thought they were Moslems."

 
IRAN'S PRESIDENT IS PURGING LIBERAL PROFESSORS:
SeattlePI

So why are GOP pundits so hostile toward him? That's one of their dreams.
(In both cases, 'liberal profs' are so powerless as to be negligible.)

 
MESSAGE-BOARD DEBATES: Readers here might want to skim my many debates with dumb hawks on BOSTON.COM message-boards.

Especially they might look at my inflammatory piece ZIONIST TRAITORS, which now has attracted over 50 frothing responses and over 700 readers.
BOSTON

 
TWO SURPRISES:

1) "STAY IN IRAQ !" advises Iran honcho Khatami. USATODAY
Of course he'd say that; he likes to see us wallowing in this quagmire. If we pulled our troops out of Iraq, many hawks here would want us to send the poor guys to invade Iran's oilfields !
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2) Brit general says they have ONLY 6 MONTHS (else, he says, ordinary Afghans will switch loyalty from Kharzai's puppet government to the Taliban.)USATODAY

This is an amazing statement; they WON'T defeat Taliban in six months.
Perhaps this general is warning Kharzai's corrupt team that the British people (now lined up against Blair and his hawk Laborites) will soon demand that Brit troops be pulled out of Afghanistan and Iraq, the two fiascos Blair entangled them in, as Bush's poodle.

 
ONE HUNDRED IRAQIS KILLED EACH DAY THIS WEEK
(OVER 50 IN BAGHDAD, DURING THE BIG US CRACKDOWN
THAT WAS SUPPOSED TO PACIFY THE CAPITAL) latimes

Again, don't ask about the number wounded.

 
"200 Taliban killed this weekend !" says NATO. "They're lying !" says Taliban. CNN
Both sides are liars as well as killers.
We should not be cheered by the number of enemies said to be killed--
only by the low number of those left fighting !

When 'coalition' spokesmen tell how many US or Brit troops are killed or maimed, we know that the number is at least that or more. But when they count the insurgents or Taliban killed, they usually mean that that many bodies were found, perhaps after a bombing ; subtracting the children, and some of the women--the rest are counted as 'enemies dead'.

 
ETHNIC CLEANSING PROGRESSES: 160,000 have relocated,mostly in Baghdad--with Sunnis on West Side, and Shia,Kurds,and Christians on the East side. SeattlePI

Sooner or later,the anti-Sunni forces will attack in force, since they outnumber Sunnis 4 to 1, and will get military ideas & help from war-veteran Iran army. I'd guess that Sunnis will be driven out of Baghdad, which will become part of Shia ministate. (Of course the US generals are now siding with Sunnis. )

(How embarrassing that will be for US (half-a-billion-dollar) embassy on the West side ! )
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US SPOKESMEN ACCUSING IRAN MORE OPENLY of 'causing trouble' in Iraq.
But on-the-spot Americans (anonymously) say there is little evidence of that. The most openly anti-US force, theSadrites, are also anti-Iran, and against the coming secession of the Shiites from central govt, forming separate ministate (allied of course with Iran.) [ SeattlePI,analysis,3Sep. ]

Question is, why the openly-phony accusations vs. Iran ? It looks like increasingly desperate attempt to excuse coming bombing of Iran by Israel / America (with disastrous results for all parties concerned !)

 
DEMS LOOKING GOOD IN HOUSE RACES: WashPost Some independent pollsters are (anonymously) saying Dems have 75% to 90% chance to win House.

But then people remember the millions of excess GOP dollars, and the formidable GOP 'get-out-the-vote' teams (in last election, voters showed up with lists compiled by their Pentecostal churches !)

However, various negative factors might lead these volunteers not to work so hard, might lead GOP voters to stay home

Everything hinges on whether Dem activists get complacently lazy or hopefully energized.

Unhappily, NO national lists of vulnerable GOP incumbents includes the ineffable Musgrave.

Once again, I'd advise Dem activists, in or out of 4th Colorado District, to devote time & energy & MONEY ! mainly to backing ANGIE PACCIONI !
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A strange new possible tactic ! A 527 (independent) TV ad attacking Musgrave seemed crude and counterproductive. It occurred to me that such counterproductive negative (independent) ads might be paid for by the candidate being attacked ! in the hope of triggering a backlash.
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DEMS UPHILL FOR SENATE CONTROL, BUT WELL-OFF FOR HOUSE CONTROL.
USATODAY

 
ONE-PARTY RULE: Those aware don't like the GOP years-long control of ALL 3 FEDERAL BRANCHES. LATimes
But many Americans DON'T KNOW WHO CONTROLS CONGRESS, don't know WHO IS TO BLAME for all out troubles.

First job for Dems is to INFORM the ignorant that GOP has for years controlled all 3 federal brances. What fools the anti-abortion Republicans are; after all this span of GOP control, RoeWade is still in control !

 
US HAS LOST GREAT INFLUENCE IN MIDEAST by its blunders in Iraq, Afghanistan, and LEBANON, says former US ambassador to NATO.
UnitedPress

Then he goes on to list many radical changes in our policies that, together, MIGHT help--tho the situation may be beyond help. But even these first steps have no chance of being implemented by the Bushie loons.

No doubt our Mideast position IS beyond help.

 
DEMS HAVE GOOD CHANCE TO RETAKE CONTROL OF US HOUSE OF REPS:
(by winning 15 more seats).
UnitedPress

That's why Dems in No.Colorado who want to 'make a difference' would do well to give most of their time and money to the campaign of ANGIE PACCIONE, running against vulnerable Marilyn Musgrave.

 
GREAT NEW POLLS: Nearly 2 in 3 Americans now realize that the Iraq fiasco has INCREASED danger to US (60% !)

This is new:'Dems would be better (than GOP) at protecting US.' (47% vs. 40%)http://www.csmonitor.com/2006/0901/dailyUpdate.html

Large majorities of Americans a) don't trust Bush, b) don't have confidence in his leadership, c) disagree with him on 'the issues most important to me.'
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Earlier, the unpopularity of the war lowered Bush's approval. But now his new series of speeches defending the war may backfire : the suspicion and contempt people now feel for Bush may actually lower (even further ! ) approval for the war he defends !

 
SUNNIS STILL MAIN ATTACKERS:
Iraq story (in USATODAY 1Sep) quoted the usual remarks lately from our generals, suggesting that the main violence problem is no longer from the Sunni insurgents, but from (Shia) militias.

However, the insurgents are killing GIs at about the same rate as ever (fourteen killed in the last few days). And most of the civilian deaths are in Shia neighborhoods (NOT killed by Shia militia ! ) (Over THREE HUNDRED casualties in one half-hour ( ! ) on 31Aug--mainly in Shia area SeattlePI )
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DEATHS ARE UP 50%; 78% OF ATTACKS ARE AGAINST GI's (obviously by Sunnis). This from the official Pentagon report required by Congress (released just before long weekend, as is the usual trick to deemphasize bad news.) Big attack on 1 Sep.AGAINST SHIAS ! Pentagon admits that the Sunni insurgency is still 'potent and viable'.So much for Pentagon hints that the main problem now is from (Shia) militias. NYTIMES
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Why this new spin from our generals? It looks as if the Bushies have finally realized that they have set up a Shia government that will be allied with hated Shia Iran. So. belatedly, they're TURNING ON THE SHIA. Our forces have attacked areas controlled by the firebrand Shia Moqtadr Sadr.

This won't appease the Sunni insurgents. The result might be two-front war, with GIs being attacked by Sunni insurgents AND by Shia militia !
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PERHAPS the reason behind this strange US move is to provide excuse for BOMBING IRAN !
(Americans would more likely believe Iran is helping SHIA killers than helping Sunnis kill Shias ! )

But so far these hints have been too subtle to reach most Americans.
--however, our Bushie generals may be trying to TRIGGER AN ACTUAL SHIA INSURGENCY, willing to sacrifice GIs in a TWO-FRONT WAR, just to excuse bombs vs. Iran.

(You can bet that after Iran IS bombed, there WILL be a 2-front Iraq war, with Iran openly involved--and that GIs will be slaughtered.)