Dan Lyons

DOG agrees?

SURGE was supposed to reassure people at least in Baghdad.
Recent poll: NOT ONE there FELT SAFE.
Not one across country expected improvement next year.
USATODAY,31au
Long, devastating USATODAY editorial:
http://blogs.usatoday.com/oped/

--Gen.Petraeus says it would take TEN YEARS to end civil war.

--16 intel agencies agreed sectarian groups remain unreconciled/security forces can’t act alone/govt. will get ‘more precarious’.

--GAO report:
--only 3 of 18 ‘benchmarks’ met;

--contradicted Bushies that sectarian conflict is lessening;
--number of Iraqi units able to operate independently
is SHRINKING !

--3 units in Baghdad have dubious loyalty to govt.

SO editorial concludes we have to pull out
without prevailing.
-------------
Bush said once that he’d stay in Iraq even tho only his dog and his wife agreed. I don’t know about Laura, but I’d hope his dog had better sense.

SadritesLayingLow,BUT..
Thousands are following Sadr’s orders to cease mil.action for 6 months.

(those disobeying will be exposed as ROGUE fighters)

BUT..if US & govt. forces attack THEM.

(as they probably will)…
REUTERS,30Au

NO MAGIC FIXES in Iraq, says top diplomat.

But ONLY a QUICK-MAGIC fix would satisfy US voters now.

54% of IOWA GOP want OUT NOW.

SHIA KILL SHIA:
Dozens killed or wounded near Shia Shrine.
(Govt & Americans absent.)

http://www.latimes.com/news/printedition/asection/la-fg-shiites29aug29,1,3723269.story?coll=la-news-a_section

US is clearly siding with Badrites vs. Sadrites.
but Sadrites seem to outnumber Badrites by far.

BOTH SIDES ARE FRIENDLY WITH IRAN,
which will eventually throw its weight on 1 side or other.

Iran says they AND SAUDI ARABIA (their enemy!) will fill in the power-gap eventually. They may hope that S.A. will bring order to SunniAnbar, while Iran restores order to SouthIraq Shia district.
But US will have to get out of the way.

VICIOUS VIRTUES, PART ONE:
'HE'S A REAL FOOL, BUT YOU HAVE TO ADMIRE HIS UNSELFISH PLUCK!"
Do you have to?

Virtues are human traits admired by most humans:E.G. COURAGE (physical and moral), STRONG SELF-DISCIPLINE,ENERGY,CLEVERNESS,
INDEPENDENCE, UNSELFISHNESS, LOYALTY, GOOD SENSE, KNOWLEGE and WISDOM.
When all these traits are found in a good father or mother, in a statesman, in a brave, dedicated soldier, we tend to admire them unequivocally.
But let us ask when we SHOULD admire EACH of these traits.

These ‘virtues’ can be divided into two groups. One group (courage, temperance, enterprise, knowledge,unselfishness,etc.) enable you TO do EFFECTIVELYwhatever you DECIDE to do, to do ‘your duty’ EFFECTIVELY for your group—(undeterred by threats of loss of pleasure, or grievous harms to you, or ineptness.)

The other group (good sense, wisdom) enable you to decide CORRECTLY which group, which activity is really worthy of your strenuous efforts.
-----------
The second group (good sense, deep knowledge, wisdom) are sometimes useless—if not backed by the first group--, but are never harmful.

But the splendid villain--or the foolish tame follower of villainous leaders—he is not restrained by cowardice or self-indulgence, or selfishness, or stupidity from doing his harmful job well.Too bad; the resulting situation would not be so bad if he lacked this 1st gp of 'virtues'—which in context should be counted as VICES.

This ‘pseudo-virtues’ could be found in great harm-doers; they are NOT CONSTRAINED from the net-harm they decide to do (perhaps from a ‘noble’ conscientiousness--Harm usually decided by their group or leaders);they're not deterred by cowardice, temptation, selfishness, disloyalty, foolishness in performing tasks.

These ‘admirable’ traits convert them—in this common situation-- from inept harm-doers into effective harm-doers.

Let us consider some American wars and soldiers.: the Mexican war, Spanish-Amer.war, the awful Phillipines invasion, WWI,the Vietnam War, Gulf Wars I and II…all these were bad wars. Wise persons at the time saw this.
[For criteria for good/bad wars, see Part II.]

But thousands of average people (men and women) rushed In
bravely and cleverly, with enormous self-discipline, to fight these bad wars.
(I count myself, in Korean war, among these suckers.)
The sweating cowards, the self-indulgent who couldn’t live without their pleasures, the coldly selfish who had no intention of risking their lives (‘They chose another career’)—they did not share in the guilt of participation in these debacles—unless the coldly selfish preached war-heroism to others to get them to enlist.)

Since knowledge of foreign affairs, and good-sense is so rare (even among our govt’s ‘intelligence agencies’), and full wisdom is even rarer among Americans, we should assume that among US soldiers, true useful forms
Of courage, self-discipline, unselfishness,clevernes would NOT be found. Conventional heroes they may be. But since there are so many more ways to go blindly wrong than blindly right, these heroes usually do harm.

Wicked old men who plan wars—often for insane or cunning reasons—find these thousands of tame, courageous youths essential for carrying out their evil plans.
There’s no solution other than all of us pursuing wisdom vigorously—or rather, since wisdom requires mental talent as well as effort, and since burden of proof lies on those advocating war—we should assume we don’t have wisdom enough when ‘called to duty’ to justify volunteering to kill people.[PartIIfollows.]

VICIOUS VIRTUES, PART TWO:

How tell a good war from a bad war:
Start out ASSUMING that starting a war is bad. Then look for evidence to the contrary.

Let’s start from a simpler case: how tell a good individual homicide from a bad one.

There is by common sense an obvious moral principle:
Don’t kill an innocent victim.

Now this duty is presumptive ,not absolute: if you face a mad killer(perhaps innocent in the eyes of God) in the street, you are entitled to shoot him if you must.
..IF YOU MUST.. if you have a proven non-fatalweapon (like those new lights that disable a killer long enough to handcuff him--or flee, then you must choose that option.)

1)So, the killing must be NECESSARY to prevent a greater evil than it constitutes (your death).—no lesser method than killing lies open to you,
by a very large probability.

2) The killing must also be WORKABLE. You must have probable reason to believe your shot (or your karate attackWILL kill/or disable him,not just enrage him so he will treat your family with even greater cruelty.
You must BE (not just feel) probably sure that the evil to be prevented IS greater than his death constitutes..(You may know he’s unarmed; you may KNOW he’s a harmless neighborhood nut who chases girls home again and again, making sure he never catches them—he should be locked up,not killed.)

2) You must have probable reason to think that NO SIDE-EFFECTS WILL HAPPEN WORSE THANTHE EVIL PREVENTED. (Suppose you know that if you kill him, his vengeful family will successfully kill all your extended family.)
=================
Now apply these principles to starting a WAR:
it’s obviously FARworse, presumably, to kill thousands of innocent enemies,thanto kill one person.
So the restrictions are quasi-infinitely stronger.
1) You must know that your national intelligence is honest and reliable; that they have objective, HIGHLY probable evidence—AT THE TIME OF DECISION--that your starting a war now is the ONLY way to prevent IMMINENT,AWFUL harm/

2)You must know AT TIME OF DECISION that you can WIN the war, or at least stop the enemy from present and future horrors. Most revolutions (including the American) haveNOT had this justification. The fact that you do actually win is not final evidence of this aspect of judgment).

3) You must know that the predictable (preventable) evils wrought on innocent populations will NOTbe outweighed by the horrible results of a bloody war . (Were the wrongs worked by British occupation horrible enough to justify the horrible Revolution? Two in three Americans didn’t think so.)

4) You must have probable, objective, before-hand knowledge that the war will not cause horrible SIDE-EFFECTS worse than the evil to be prevented. (The rise of Stalinism and Hitlerism effected by WWI, and the world epidemics of flu & diptheria could have been predicted after WWI by competent intelligence agencies; the alternative was an early truce with Germany—Americans not involved--that would expand the Prussian empire and preserve the Austrian and Turkish empires. (Perhaps a better result than ‘balkanization’.)
And of course, overthrowing the tyrant Hussein unleashed foreseeable horror of civil war between Sunnis & Shia—and probable chaos outside Iraq’s borders.

5) Historical knowledge of the ‘fog of war’ probably makes any optimistic predictions unreliable—(5 empires rushed eagerly into WWI;
it destroyed all 5 !)
so starting any war begins with a super-strong presumption of evil. And anyone enlisting for such a war should bear this in mind.

Afghans(under Nato’control’) now produce more OPIUM than
3 other producers combined! ‘Frightening’ !

This didn’t happen under TALIBANcontrol.
REUTERS
http://www.reuters.com/article/worldNews/idUSISL20749120070827

BOMB IRAN? They say that FOXrt-wingMedia is preparing Americans for attack on Iran. But US approval is not the issue.

Issue is Iranian retaliation. They now brag they have a 2000-lb ‘smart bomb’. IF we bomb them, they may wipe out our half-billion $ embassy & Iraq ‘govt’ in GreenZone, next door—let alone the slaughter they could inflict on our GIs inIraq.

They would of course cut off their oil exports, crippling the world economy. Also, they could sink freighters in Hormuz strait next door, block huge oil traffic to West.

Oil-hungry China has perhaps warned Bush,”As owners of hundreds of billions of US bonds, we could wreck your economy. Don’t even THINK of bombingIran, our ally!”

Oil-starved Israel , our masters, wouldn't be happy either.

‘US $ GoingToEnemyInsurgents&Gangsters’ says Sunni Seik.
UnitedPress

Who's surprised?

SunnisNOTappeased:

A vague agreement among a few leaders of each sect—
But Sunnis refused to return to cabinet.

MiddleEast Times, 27Au

SupposeWeBugOut --
German writer In rtwing WallStJournal
assesses consequences:
-
-bugout from Vietnam did NOT cause apocalypse !

--Iran would be big Mideast power (Bush’s should have foreseen that Iran would ‘win’ their war !)
--and so on.

None of these consequences would matter much to average American—only to imperialists.

--The loss of American’face’ has ALREADY HAPPENED, no matter how long we wait.

RecordAfghanOpium: esp. in Taliban-controlled province.
UnitedPress

“THEIR fault!” Americans may insist on covering our bugout by announcing that it’s Iraqis’ fault.

That’s OK—we’ll let historians figure this out—
just so we do pullout soon.

SupposeEVERYONE didThat...

“My SUV doesn’t pollute enough to affect the world !
So I’m entitled to drive alone in my SUV.” However,
if you are thus entitled, all the hundreds of millions
in your situation are equally entitled.

And if US is entitled to generate power using thousands of tons of heavy-pollution coal, then China and India are entitled to use even more coal—
for their huge populations.

So everyone is entitled to do that which will--collectively--
cause disaster for the world.
Poor humanity.

What’s worse, the rich countries—causing most pollution--can ward off warming, rising seas SOMEWHAT with dikes. But poor countries like Bangladesh and Egypt will have their populations drowned or displaced and likely doomed.

More evidence that life (and its divine Manager?) are not fair.

IraqisProtectedBySurge?

Iraqis Killed at TWICE THE RATE in ’07 as in ’06!
ABC

# of Iraqis DISPLACED: has DOUBLED in '07.
SeattlePI

GENERALS DISAGREE! : while the generals in Iraq don’t want huge cuts soon in our troop-numbers,
Top Pentagon generals are said to want the force cut in half by end of '08.
Iraq general opposes big cuts:
“The enemy would come back.”
rMtnNews,25au,p. 21
also:
BOSTON.COM

Has enemy been away?

If troops are still being killed,maimed, wounded in Nov. 08,
this will be sad for the 21 GOP Senators & allGOP Reps
who must run in Nov. 08.

Bush dared to quote G.Greene’s book THE QUIET AMERICAN,
(about our nutty intervention in Vietnam)
to somehow excuse our nutty intervention in Iraq!

In the book a self-confident Geology major from Yale,
understanding no foreign languages,
dares to meddle in Vietnamese politics,
his CRIMINAL ignorance causing a lot of deaths—
before this savvy Englishman gets HIM killed, for the common good.

Too bad there’s no way to relieve Bush & his God
(sending them both back to Texas) from decision-making before ’09.

US bombed Brits.
Guardian,24Au

Inevitable. In Viet War, US sometimes bombed Thailand.

No such thing as ‘precision’ bombing. Bombing is by nature INDISCRIMINATE.

‘Attack-Drops’Squandered’ by Iraq govt’, says US pol.
USATODAY,24Au
C’mon ! A slight drop in number of attacks means that Shia should rush to cuddle up to the hated Sunnis, who are still bombing & slaughtering them ?

And knowing this won’t happen,Sunnis won't be pacified.

We should pull out from the middle of this growing civil war.

Only 1500 MRAPS will reach Iraq in’07.
Reuters
So much for Gates’ brag that 3900 (a pathetically small number) would be FLOWN OVER !

MRAPS are supposed to replace thousands of death-trap humvees.

RUPTURED EARDRUMS in GIs, after road-bomb,etc.,
are a clue to brain damage.

The eardrums are inches from the brain—

35% of GIs surviving bombs had ruptured eardrums.
SeattlePI
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/328673_brain23.html

What counts is NOT wound-data from the past,
but thousands of injuries expected in the FUTURE,
if we leave GIs in Iraq !

AMB.:”Benchmarks won’t win war.”
SeattlePI,22Au
Truth is, NOTHING will win this needless, pointless, heartless, brainless war.

The benchmarks (signs of intersectarian reconciliation) were just devices
to SHOW this war is winless.

And their failure shows this very well.

14GisDieInCopter..ALLEGEDLY not from hostile fire.
PakistanTimes
http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2007%5C08%5C23%5Cstory_23-8-2007_pg7_1

Whatever, this will have a dramatic effect on Americans,
just before the fake-optimistic report from Petraeus shows up.

Whatever, this shows that US can’t count on copters to safely replace trucks (vs. road-bombs) for supplies & troop-transport
to a few big‘defensible’ bases,
if that’s the strategy they dream will lower US casualties.

Less Bad if a few DRAMATIC tragedies like this FORCE Bush to pull out, than if an ignored dribble of daily casualties means THOUSANDS MORE total casualties in the next year or so.

4 HIGH IRAQ HONCHOS GONE: (2 killed, 2 kidnapped recently).
UnitedPress

US is NOT protecting govt.officials, Iraqi civilians, bridges, NOR GIs.

‘NOBODY could protect against thousands of anonymous insurgents, sometimes suicidal.’
Right—

Especially helpless are Americans who don’t even speak the LANGUAGE!

so why do we stay there?

No wonder most Iraqis want us OUT quickly.

‘Remove only SURGE troops, isolate war critics’
is current dream of Bushies.
ABC

That would remove possibility of HOLDING areas
SURGE troops allegedly ‘CLEARED’;
SURGE would be rendered pointless—
all those extra GI casualties WASTED.

It’s not clear that removing SOME troops
would lower US CASUALTIES—
so it might not pacify war-critics.

BritPullout’Embarrassing’: says expert.
Insurgents will attack them during their retreat—soon—
to Kuwait.
Brit ‘Pent’ denies this of course.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1107AP_Britain_Iraq.html

Perhaps Brit generals will deal with insurgents, leaving equipment behind
in return for insurgents sparing retreating troops.

ARMY SAYS IT CAN’T PROVIDE MORE SOLDIERS FOR IRAQ past Spring’08.
“Demand exceeds sustainable supply.”
They might choose to subject exhausted troops to more combat-time!
SEATTLEPI

That sounds like we HAVE TO bugout by then.
---------------
However, over HALF of our uniformed military have NEVER gone to Iraq;
they are stationed at 100 or more bases around the world,
for reasons that are not clear.
THOUSANDS in So.Korea, Okinawa, Germany (!)

Not trained for combat? They could at least DRIVE
the supply and personnel trucks,
and thus share the risk of road-bombs.

Let’s hope that Pent. Reluctance to use that huge reserve
(plus GOP worries about ’08 election)
will force Bushies to bug out by next Spring.

Pent.Balked atOrderingMRAPS
They knew BEFORE INVASION that MRAPS were safer vs. road-bombs than Humvees, but…
MRAPS are made overseas, but…
Pent. Ordered MRAPS for Iraqi forces, but not for GIs !
USATODAY
http://www.usatoday.com/news/military/2007-07-15-ied-cover_N.htm

Not enough MRAPS will get to Iraq in the next year,
5 yrs after invasion !

Brits hurt in Afgh: HALF of 1500 frontlineBrits have had medical treatment, then were returned to fight.
SeattlePI

Brit generals worry that many Afgh troops will drop out of military on going home—because, IT’S SAID, they know they’ll never again face INVIGORATING challenges like those in Afgh !
Many return missing an arm or leg.

BritGenerals say they've killed a lot of Taliban;
but what counts is how many are LEFT.

EXTINCT SPECIES:
The Irish Red Deer was unlucky enough that its genes
for gigantic, IMPEDING antlers
were TIED TO some genes that favored survival—
so it went extinct.

“All men by nature want to understand’.
The HUMAN species was unlucky that
the genes for wanting to understand GENERALLY (survival-useful)
were tied to the genes for wanting to understand TECHNICALLY—
which ( by giving them ‘KNOW-HOW’ far beyond the level of
their know-Whether WISDOM)
ultimately doomed this species.

DREAMY PREDICTION:Bushie General:
“We could cut troops by next April if situation CONTINUES to improve.”
ChinaView
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2007-08/18/content_6555525.htm

--They would cut only the extra SURGE troops.
--Situation improving? Sky-high GI casualties, Governors murdered, bridges bombed, copters downed--
900 civilian casualties in ONE DAY!

1 BILLION BULLETS a year fired in our 2 winless wars.
Result: not enough rifle bullets at home for police to train with.

Plenty of handgun bullets, but more expensive.
SeattlePI
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/328169_ammo18.html
GoodNews: Impoverished teen-gangs can’t afford to buy as many bullets.

NukePowerToDirtyBombs:
In his hymn to nuke electric power, (rMtnNews18AU)
Paul Danish never mentions the terrorist threats.

Thousands of privately-owned planes fill our skies, some not so small, some easy to steal.

If some planes were loaded with high explosive and crashed into the 104 waste-ponds holding 60,000 tons of radioactive material,
these ponds would be converted easily into devastating ‘dirty bombs’.

Generals’Fantasies:
They’ll PROBABLY pull out EXTRA troops by Aug. ‘09. That close to election? !

They say most ATTACKS now are by Shia—but they don’t dare say that most US CASUALTIES are caused by Shia.
GUARDIAN,17AU

They seem to have managed to force our GIs to face a two-front war.

“Only a Calamity would justify a rate-cut now”
said a Fed banker--just before Feds cut the rate by a strong half-percent.
http://www.reuters.com/article/reutersEdge/idUSN1643456120070816

Definitions: ‘crisis’ harms only ordinary people;‘calamity’ harms the wealthy.

KURD/SHIA—NOT-SUNNI ALLIANCE:
They’ll have majority in ‘parliament’, can push thru some of Bushies’ silly benchmarks..
but this dramatizes the hopelessness of reconciling Sunnis and pacifying insurgents.
SeattlePI
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/327939_iraq17.html

This alliance is between 2 groups intent on
deFacto secession.

AnotherDumbAirStrike:
Bushie generals launch another air-assault South of Baghdad.

Once again they’ll recruit NEW insurgents among enraged survivors.

They never learn.
Reuters,16AU

GENERAL MIS-SPOKE:
Bushie general said Ninevah could soon be handed over to Iraq forces (being presumably safe.)

Quaeda responded with the most murderous suicide attack (in Ninevah) of the entire war.
SeattlePI,16AU

HowBad If WeStayIn? Bushie generals keep telling us how bad the Iraq situation will be if we pull out—but they don’t predict the situation if we stay in !

We can’t protect villagers, bridges, govt. officials, Sunni allies—and especially we can’t protect our GIs. If we stay in, thousands more GIs will be killed, maimed or seriously wounded.

Most Iraqis want us out.

HowFastCouldWePullout?
Expert says one year (with equipment pulled out also).
Pent. Says 2 years.
Expert says pullout could be quite SWIFT,
IF we were willing to destroy or abandon tons of equipment.
Guardian
http://www.guardian.co.uk/uslatest/story/0,,-6851751,00.html

(All abandoned equipment must be replaced;
how luscious for war corporations !
Win or Lose,they win.)

900 Iraqi Casualties in 1 day !
(500 bodies, almost 400 wounded) near TalAfar
(touted earlier as a ‘success-story’ of clearing insurgents ! ).

Why would Quaeda WANT to wreak such havoc?
--They showed the world that the ‘optimistic’ report
expected from Petraeus is phony.

--The tiny group attacked was a heretical group despised by all other Iraqis as ‘devil-worshippers’. So there won’t be much negative backlash.
TIME MAG

--Quaeda wants to provoke a murderous backlash AGAINST SUNNIS (from Kurds&Shia). That way, secularist Sunni leaders WON’T DARE make a separate peace with America & Shia govt.

WE CAN’T DEFEND BRIDGES, govt. officials, Iraqis, or GIs.
SeattlePI
Bushie generals brag about their attacks on insurgents.
It turns out that offense is not even an ADEQUATE defense !

FAILURE vs. ROAD-BOMBS:

A Pentagon agency says the Pent. Agency to counter Iraq road-bombs is INEPT.
When US comes up SLOWLYwith a technically-neat counter, the insurgents quickly come up with a new tactic that counters the counter.
UnitedPress

In other words, we will NOT be able to lower GI casualties;
even if we pulled back into a ‘defensible’ base, that can be mortared and rocketed, just as GreenZone is today--as is Brit base near Basra

…besides, huge amounts of supplies must come in by copter or by truck, both vulnerable to insurgent attack.

We must pull out all our troops quickly, either to Kuwait (tricky now that we’ve picked a war with the Shia who control South Iraq, the route to Kuwait) or to Kurdland in the North. The latter option is more likely.

Want Your Kid ToBe Scientist?
Not me. I wouldn’t mind if my kid was just ordinarily bright, and would be a flunky in some lab (like Dilbert in the comic strip. )

But suppose I had a kid who was close to a genius, with enormous creativity—a person who might come up with some original and important discovery.

I’d reflect that he couldn’t choose his line of research;
it would need funding from some foundation OR CORPORATION. And she couldn’t choose how her discovery would be USED. It would be OWNED by some agency, and could be combined with other discoveries to
produce any kind of result—usually one that would benefit those in power, with great wealth--no matter how much damage it did to the human race and to the world.

Indeed, my child might get corrupted so he’d cooperate enthusiastically.

If you think I’m imagining science-fiction possibilities, read NEXT, a recent fact-hugging novel by the science-savvy Michael Crichton.

So if I produced such a budding scientific genius, I might do what I could to sabotage her training—I’d hope he’d go into music instead—often math aptitude also means genius in music. (Perhaps she’d go into science with even more determination from my discouragement.)

I first wrote up my theory of LUDDISM (technophobia) in 1979. Then in 2000 I summed up the arguments for my luddism in ch.2 of a book called DEMOCRACY, RIGHTS AND FREEDOMS (available in college libraries by interlibrary loan).

In fact, you could read this chapter by simply clicking on this link:

http://lamar.colostate.edu/~dlyons/chaptwo.htm

THE MOST IMPRESSIVE HUMAN I'VE EVER MET:
I've run this story before--but for any readers who have not read about
Sister Philomena, it's a true story that,in horrible times, reminds us of the fulfilled human potential revealed in saints and geniuses.
At the left here, click on 01/2007, then scroll down to 21 Jan.

“PullGIsBackToSafeBases,& StayON.”

The nuttiness of this idea (now endorsed even by top Dems!) is shown by similar Brit attempt to pull back out of Basra, to 'defensible' base.

--Basra is now engulfed in BloodyAnarchy

--Brit forces aren’t safe; they’re bombarded regularly.

--This would work worse in Baghdad than in Basra.

NYTIMES

Face it—we must pull out ALL our troops, quickly—
even if we have to leave tons of mil. Equipment behind !

What’sIranUpTo?
The devastating ‘molten-shells’ (now destroying our humvees; they will soon be devastating our new MRAPs)—US generals say they’re sure they’re coming from Iran. (Truth is, they MAY be fired by Sunnis, supplied by rich Saudis !)

Suppose Iran IS supplying these. With Bushies itching to bomb them,
how do they dare? Perhaps they think this way:

“We might as well have the game as the name.
Bushies need no justification to bomb the hell out of us—who would stop them? Thus far, they’ve been DETERRED by our great retaliatory powers, and the fear of wrecking the world oil-market.
So we lose no degree of safety by providing the ‘molten shells’.

“Indeed, with ‘molten shells’ we’re demonstrating how we could WIPE OUT the GIs in next-door Iraq if they leave us NOTHING TO LOSE.”

They may be overestimating Bushies’ sanity.

BADRITES: We hear about the Iraqi SADRITES (nominally under Sadr, being attacked now regularly by Americans), but not much about the BADRITES (armed wing of a big Shia party, strong in Maliki’s regime.) Earlier they were based in IRAN, so presumably they are friendly with Iran (more obviously than Sadrites—so why is US attacking SADRITES? )

They are now struggling with Sadrites for control of SouthIraq, the future home of the coming Shia ministate.
Badrites just demanded ‘region’ status for area South of Baghdad, a first step in defacto secession.
ChristSciMonitor

In the coming split, who will control Baghdad (with its half-billion-dollar US embassy!)—Baghdad: between Shia South and Sunni Anbar—Sunnis or Shia (Sadrites or Badrites) ? A top Sunni pol just accused Shia of driving out Sunnis from Baghdad (he doesn’t mention that Sunnis are trying to drive out Shia!)

Probably the toothless, vestigial ‘central govt’ will nominally control Baghdad—financed and controlled by US. But which sect will be driven out of Baghdad in ‘ethnic cleansing’? (Likely, the SUNNIS will not remain.)

This cleansing is ongoing already, at a slow (& bloody!) pace. The longer US stays in Iraq, the more will be killed by the other sect. Perhaps if we left soon, the cleansing would be completed in a quick and less bloody way, preparing way for inevitable ‘3-ministate’ outcome.

InterviewWithInsurgentLeader:
One-sided of course—but a usefully different view from that of the Western Media.
InfoClearance
He claims that US has one million troops, including MERCENARIES;
also, that US PROMOTES sectarian war;
However, # of US casualties (the only statistic Americans care about)
has risen steadily.

GUNS for Shia:
Nearly one million weapons to Shia.
(700,000 from Americans, 100k from black market.)
NYTIMES
We’re bombing Shia neighborhoods, enraging Shia,
then arming them generously.

The later we pull out, the MORE TIME Sunnis & Shias will have to arm for FULL civil war.

GI FATIGUE:
..crippling our efforts.
OBSERVER
Interesting that HALF of world GIs are NEVER sent to Iraq.
Instead, the same poor wretches are sent back again and again.

"The US troop-dragon is mainly TAIL."

StudyIndonesianLanguages!
Our puny intelligence forces had better study Indonesian languages as well as Arabic. (Little chance for either!)
90,000 gathered in a stadium in Indon. To demand a Muslim Caliphate.
[USATODAY,12AU]
Bushies pontificate on (minimal) danger of Quaeda hideout
in Iraq when we bugout—
but the dozens of jungle-islands in Indonesia pose a much bigger threat !

HEDGINGonPULLOUT:
Top Dems say we must keep ‘some’ GIs in Iraq after our pullout from Iraq. One worry is that Shia will slaughter the Sunnis, who number only 1 in 4 Iraqis.
[DenverPost,12Au.]
What good would it do to keep in 'some' GIs?
Americans don’t speak Arabic; if kept on, they can’t spy on Shia to detect the beginnings of genocide. Full force of Americans couldn’t stop murder of Shia governor and of pro-American Sunni sheiks--or the regular bomb-slaughter of Shia.

No doubt the Shia will expel all Sunnis from their ‘region’ in South Iraq, completing the ‘ethnic cleansing’ that is already well underway. Americans can’t stop this process.

Also, Americans allowed the Shia militias to steal nearly 200,000 rifles & AK47s. They are attacking Shia neighborhoods just enough to provoke Shia to attack GIs, but not enough to control Shia.

Only BIDEN understands that the split into 3 ministates (Kurdland,Sunni/ArabLand, and ShiaLand) is inevitable, and is the only real solution to anarchy and genocide.

Also: leaving in ‘some’ GIs will put them at greater RISK—unless they are stationed in friendly Kurdland or in neighboring Kuwait.

Not much hope of intelligent policy from most Dem candidates. One supposes they’re appeasing dumb voters who might not count a PARTIAL BUGOUT as complete, humiliating defeat—IF GI casualties drop—(8 killed yesterday in our 2 winless wars).

ThreatenedBugOut: Australia warns of bugout
if no reconciliation (nevahHappen!)

Provincial Gov. bombed--& PoliceChief,
in office less than a week!
REUTERS

SIXTY-TWO BILLIONS FOR BANKS & StockMkt. ("More available!")
FORBES

Nowhere near that annually for HOMELAND defense.

‘NeedMoreTime’
We already know what Petraeus’ famous ‘SEPT.report’ will say: “We’re doing better, but we need more time!”
SeattlePI
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1107AP_Iraq_The_Message.html
You can SKIP all the words before ‘but’.

One wonders how the GOP Congressmen
who must run in ’08 will react
(their mantra has been ‘Wait till the Sept.Report !’

EXPERTS opposeOil law:
400 Iraqi intellectuals call for postponement of ‘oil law’
(demanded by Bushies)
which would call in (Western) outsiders to own oil industry.
UnitedPress

‘QuitHelpingInsurgents—or face Consequences! ‘ says Bush.
FORBES

He cites these unproved accusations, perhaps, to justify
his future bombing of IRAN.

He doesn’t NEED such justification—who would stop him?
(Only formidable Iranian RETALIATION —and
the wrecking of world oil market--might deter him.)

Such justification WON’T WORK, anyway.
Who’d believe Bushie accusations now?

‘SaddamBad,Usworse!’ Say many Iraqis.
A former Bush honcho in Iraq describes
awful Bushie blunders.
PhilInquirer

Result? We can’t prevail, we must pull out—
the sooner the better.
Civil war DELAYED means both sides have more time
to arm for a bloodier clash.

LyonsTooGloomy?
Admittedly, I cite pessimistic (or realistic) estimates of our Iraq adventure.
But consider: every time a Bushie general, protecting his career,
cites some weak reason for OPTIMISM, it’s reprinted in papers with millions of readers.

I’m just trying to restore some balance for my few readers.

KHARZAI counters Bushie Spin:
“We’ve come a long way in Afgh, but we still have much to do.” –this is WhiteHouse spin.

Kharzai (our puppet Pres.) says the security situation has WORSENED, and we’re no closer to catching BinLaden.
DailyStar (Pak)

US/Sunni Alliance: DODHeadGates says we must ally ourselves with ‘former’ Sunni insurgents who have been murdering GIs.
(Of course Bushies want alliance with Sunni Saudis,
against Shias friendly to hated Iran.)

Again, Bushies are picking a war with Shia, who number 3 in 4 of Iraqi Arabs ! Poor GIs.

He also hints that some GIs will be pulled out THIS YEAR.
Not likely,with Brits bugging out, so GIS will have to secure South Iraq--
we'd have to pull out THRU South Iraq!
Financial Times

There’s real reason to worry about a surge of insurgent attacks in August, designed to discredit Petraeus’ (inevitably) optimistic report in Sept.

But Bushies can’t resist putting a SPIN on the data. If there ISN’T such a surge, they say, that will show our SURGE is working. The hell it will.
USATODAY

Anyway, the military data is pretty irrelevant to ‘success’ in Iraq.
What counts is that the Sunnis & Shia are not at all closer to reconciliation—
so the full civil war, WHENEVER WE LEAVE, is as likely as ever.
(The later we pull out, the more chance both sides will have had
to arm & prepare for bloody civil war.)

KurdOil Law: Kurdish autonomous region passed a law(ignoring central govt.) covering their present area plus oil-soaked Kirkuk area.
It allows Kurds to make separate contracts with outside oil companies.

Sunnis say the law is invalid, because Kurds are (treasonous) allies of ‘Occupation troops’.
ABC

BritsBugOut
Brits used to control Southern Iraq; now their remaining 5000 troops are holed up at defensible Basra airport, ready to be flown out altogether.
Basra itself is in anarchy, with perhaps 2 Shia militias struggling for control.

US begs Brits to stay, because our pullout must be thru SouthIraq.
It looks as if we’ll have to divert troops to Southern Iraq.
GUARDIAN

VS.AID TO US:
The new majority in Japan upperHouse says,
“Cut out aid to US in Afghanistan.”
Guardian

DICTATOR NEEDED ! Borchgrave in UPI.COM says Maliki is completely useless;
“Iraq needs a new military dictator.
Too bad Bushies are dogmatic about democracy.”

AnotherAirStrikeOnNeigborhood:

Bushie generals struck at Sadr slum, streets crowded for pilgrimage.

More provoking of Shia war vs. GIs.
MelbourneHeraldTribune
http://www.news.com.au/heraldsun/story/0,21985,22213820-663,00.html

SLOW MRAPS:
MRAPS to be airlifted to Iraq, 3500 by end of 07. But THOUSANDS are needed to replace death-trap humvees. Too bad Pent. was so slow in ordering them—from small company that can’t make them faster !

Also, ‘MOLTEN SHELL’ attacks are increasing. They do need a suicider, unlike road bombs. But they can pierce even a tank’s armor.
USATODAY,8AU

Bushies’ViewOfIraq:
An ABC writer presents views of Bushie generals and bureaucrats:
“Our army IS making military progress; but so far,
little progress toward reconciliation of sects.”

“We UNDERESTIMATED HOSTILITY
between Shia & Sunni” admits Gates.

This among countless other misestimates !

Shia have murdered/tortured Sunni RETAIL for some time.

Sunnis slaughter Shia WHOLESALE by bombs.

ForgetOilLawForNow:
Iraq has problems far more urgent than UNENFORCEABLE oil law demanded as ‘benchmark’ by Bushies.

Especially SECURITY: 1/3 more Iraqis killed in July than in June.

Twice as many GIs killed in Jy07 as in Jy06.
UnitedPress

StepTowardsSecession: Tribes in Shi South Iraq have demanded recognition of a Southern ‘region’ like the Kurdish region in the North.
UnitedPress

This is the first step towards de-facto SECESSION (like that already accomplished by Kurds). Again, this Shia ministate will have most Iraqis, MOST OIL, the only seaport—and will be friendly to next-door giant IRAN. Bushies will be furious, but they can’t stop this secession process.

The Shia militias will also have the thousands of rifles & K47s gone MISSING from among the weapons we’ve donated to 'central govt’s security forces'.

Outnumbering Sunnis 3 to one, with military advice from Iran, with all these weapons—Shia ministate should be able to defend its borders (after expelling all Sunnis).

A brief History of IraqOccupation, from perspective of an Iraqi TRANSLATOR for Americans,
almost none of whom understand Arabic.
GUARDIAN

Reconciliation?BloodyLikely !

After another dropout,
There are now NO SUNNIS in Iraq cabinet.
SeattlePI,6AU

OilLawMoreUnlikelyThanSecurity!
Says Gates.
UPI.COM
‘Oil Law’ refers to letting Western corps grab the oil.

The other part, SHARING oil $ between factions, is even less likely.

ANTI-SHIA PROPAGANDA: Gen. Says 73% of attacks on Americans were from SHIA militia, (armed, of course by IRAN--he says).
USATODAY6AU
He DOESN’T say, of course,that 73% of US CASUALTIES were caused by Shia.
Most US casualties are from big bombs, which Shia don’t have.

It may be that Bushies have finally managed to pick a war with the Shia
as well as Sunnis (Shia are 3 in 4 of IraqiArab population!)

190,000 rifles missing (including 110k deadly Kalashnikovs!)
among weapons given by US to Shia army.
USATODAY,6AU
You can bet these weapons went to Shia MILITIAS;
so while we’re picking a war with them,
we’re also ARMING them formidably.

More and more Bushie stupidity.

‘PRECISION AIRSTRIKES’ Pentagon constantly refers to these—but civilians in Afghanistan and Iraq constantly allege that these NUMEROUS strikes kill many civilians.

It doesn’t matter what really happens. Natives will believe natives’ version of what happened—not that of infidel invader.

As far as political effect goes, there ARE NO PRECISION AIRSTRIKES—only strikes that RECRUIT more enraged survivors as insurgents.

A VALIANT WOMAN: Annie was one of 22 children from one mother in BallynaKelly, County Clare.
Like her siblings, she shipped out to America in her early teens. (She had never been told about menstruation; she thought she was bleeding to death on the ship.)

Annie could be very nasty, in her peasant way:
She had been nanny to some rich Jewish children (they rode around in their own railway car.) She was angry at the parents; when the children asked her, “Did the Jews kill Christ?” she said, “Yes, and your parents were the worst ones !” (Parents should never antagonize a nanny !)

In Chicago, she married a big (obsolete) blacksmith. She rounded up $1000 somehow for a bribe to buy him a police lieutenancy. That didn’t work, so she rounded up another thousand. That worked.

During the Great Depression, he was the only male on the block with a job, so they fed many families. At Christmas he’d get drunk and hand out $5 gold-pieces to children. Annie followed him and substituted quarters.

After about 4 children, the hospital nun noted that he was also in hospital for an operation. “We could fix the old bull up so no more children; he’d never know the difference !” suggested the nun. But Annie was too tame a Catholic; result: 4 more children.

Annie saw to it that almost all her children went to college;
two girls actually did some graduate work at godless U of Chi !
----------------------------------
She and her ailing husband moved in with a daughter for 5 years before
her death. With many children, they were able to take care of the oldies.
She cooked for them, and played poker with friends.

This daughter & husband had never taken a vacation; but one year they could leave her with a granddaughter & husband, so they took off quickly. She couldn’t believe they’d dare; she kept expecting them back by nightfall.

She hated giving orders to a man (grandson-in-law) or to a pregnant woman (granddaughter) so she was frustrated.
By this time she was in diapers, and the granddaughter told her husband “She’s drinking too much beer; cut down to half-a-bottle at a time.”

Grandma got on the phone to her burly police sons and said, “This guy is drinking my beer!” Calls poured in: “Give her back her beer!” (Easy for them !)
When a full bottle was restored, she pointed to her visiting daughter (a teetotaler for years) and said, “It’s not for me; it’s for (astonished) Mary!”

This was a police dynasty family. A grandson ended up re-elected 3 times as Cook County sheriff.

This grandson-in-law had been raised in an Iowa town where there was only one murder in his childhood.
When he heard what happened overnight in Chicago, he spilled coffee on the breakfast table.