PrimeMinisterDenouncesUSraid:
US attacked Sadr City residential neighborhood with tanks.
Attack was denounced by Maliki,
head of our puppet govt.
Naturally 2 versions: US says only insurgents were attacked;
locals say US fired shells at homes indiscriminately.
SEATTLEPI,

IT DOESN’T MATTER what really happened.
Iraqis will believe LOCALS’ version--backed by PrimeMinister,
NOT that of the infidel invaders.

Bushies seem to be deliberately trying to provoke Shia
to start a SECOND FRONT vs. GIs.

Shia are 3 in 4 IraqiArabs. Suppose they really turn against us—
but the Sunni insurgents don’t quit attacking us.
Then we will have united Shia & Sunni—AGAINST OUR GIs !

 
MRAP VEHICLESprovided--Slowly:
GIs have been riding around in Humvees—with a HOOK on the outside so after being bombed, when the doors won’t open, another truck can jerk doors open—assuming insurgents don’t attack 2d truck !

Safer Mraps have been designed for many months, and a few have been sent over.

They need 17,000 MRAPS to replace the humvees, but it will be months even after DoDhead Gates raised hell, before they’ll be making ‘hundreds’ of them a month.

Be reassured: as ‘fast’ as MRAPS are made, they’ll be FLOWN over to Iraq.
UnitedPress

Oh, for the days of WWII when, with technology we’d now call primitive,
American industry produced tanks and planes and big ships (!) at an amazing speed.

Today's Pentagon cares about its troops the way Tyson cares for its chickens.

 
No.Korea Stops Plutonium Production
Why woudn't they? They now have a few a-bombs hidden under mountains--enough SECOND-STRIKE power to deter any US attack on N.Korea.

They now join the list of nations our thousands of H-bombs cannot blackmail.
To this list we should add any nations that inform D.C. that they have war-germs.

 
IraqCreatesMoreTerrorists !” say half of Amercans. Only 1 in 5 thinks war CUTS the number of terrorists threatening us.

US controls HALF of Baghdad—at height of SURGE. We have nowhere near enough troops to operate in the rest of Iraq and still HOLD all the neighborhoods in Baghdad.
USATODAY

 
Worst 3 months in Whole War !
In April,May,June’07, 329 GIs were killed—
Msnbc


Hundreds more were presumably maimed or wounded
(perhaps flown to German hospital)…
we’re not told the number of seriously wounded,
because Americans don’t really want to hear that.
But sometimes wounds (e.g., to brain) are worse than death.

Bushies say, “We warned you about increased casualties.” But they didn’t tell us these were mainly POINTLESS casualties--‘clearing’ insurgent areas without being able to HOLD them as the GIs have to move on.

US is supposedly ‘buying time’ for Iraqi Sunnis & Shia to reconcile.
No sign of this yet.
Are we supposed to buy TEN YEARS Petraeus says it takes to beat an insurgency?

 
AnotherPipelineBombed:
It looks as if Sunni ability to bomb Shia/Kurd pipelines will put MORE pressure of Shia/Kurds to compromise with insurgents than all US pressure.
SeattlePI

But even that pressure probably won't be enough to cure (justified) hatred that Shia have for Sunnis.

 
BushWon’tYield on Iraq—ignoring 21Senate GOPs who NEED to back down on war to get re-elected.

He’s a D.C. outsider, with clear contempt of Congress.

16 GOP Senators would need to side with Dems, to give a veto-proof majority. Not likely.

Only TWO SITTING SENATORS IN US HISTORY have been elected President !
UnitedPress

Bush basically now has dictatorial powers.

 
Oil over $70 a barrel. Explanation given: refineries trouble. But the less oil is refined(the less demand for crude) , you’d expect, the cheaper the oil !
msnbc

An awful possible explanation: speculators may see that Bushies intend to bomb Iran--wrecking oil market.

Two admirals at top now, with no experience in land-war, only in bombing.
If so, write off survival chances of GIs in next-door Iraq.

Iran spent hundreds of thousands of youths in Iran/Iraq war.
They now have hundreds of thousands more of fighting age.

 
Sept. deadline? Absurd.
--First, many congressmen,like most Americans, have already decided the SURGE is NOT working. Americans clear an area of insurgents, then move, leaving’footprints in sand’ which are soon erased.

Hse of Reps passed OVERWHELMINGLY a resolution to reinstate the Baker/Hamilton commission (which basically said ‘Bug out!”)—a Commission ignored by Bushies.

Petraeus & buddies have already signaled bad news for Sept. He says he will then give a ‘snapshot’ of situation,NOT judging whether SURGE is working. He also says an insurgency takes TEN YEARS to defeat.

But Congressmen running in ’08 and Presidential candidates are not about to endorse a TEN-YEAR campaign !
FinancialTimes

 
Poll: Dems against ‘Dem’ Congress.
Antiwar Dems may force present incumbents into lively primaries.
UnitedPress

 
AGAIN: ‘CLEAR,NOT HOLD’:
Bushies said the SURGE would solve a previous problem: we clear out insurgents from an area, then leave-as they must, with FAR TOO FEW troops--and insurgents sneak back in.

But US officers now say bluntly that Iraqi troops are ‘NOT QUITE READY” to HOLD the newly-secured areas. The average AWOL for Iraqi troops is 25%.

Iraqi checkpoints often wave cars past them,so they won’t blow THEM up.
SeattlePI

That’s part of the reason that 2 top GOP senators have now said that the SURGE isn’t working, that we must bug out. (i.e. withdraw without prevailing).

 
BiggestOpiumProducer:
ONE AFGHAN PROVINCE will be world’s biggest producer of opium, outranking many countries ! When Taliban ruled big part of Afghanistan, they lowered opium production. After NATO took over, opium production leaped. (Part of $ now goes to Taliban !)
GUARDIAN
Practically all of cheap heroin now threatening Brits comes from Afghanistan.
Weren’t they fools to buy into our goofy war there?

 
DOOMSDAY WARNINGS during Viet/&/Iraq war:
Someone has taken a (largely FALSE) apocalyptic warning from CIA during Viet war about disaster if we bugged out, and rewritten it for Iraq…
it fits well with apocalyptic Bushie predictions now if we bug out.
UnitedPress

 
IRAN,BUSHIES TRADE BARBS:

US says Iran is interfering in Iraq.
Iran says US is trying to block alliance between Iran and Iraq govt.


MALAYSIA STAR 27June

Probably both sides, for once, are telling the truth.

Observers say IRAN WILL BE REAL WINNER of Iraq war,
emerging with alliance with Shia ministate.

 
People may shrug off Chavez’ sermon to Venezuelans to prepare for guerilla war vs. US invaders.
GUARDIAN


But consider:
--the POSSIBLE US advantages from invasion: V. has as much oil/gas reserves as SaudiArabia. We now get a significant portion of our oil from V, but Chavez would love to sell more oil to other countries.

--US would fare better vs. V. guerillas than vs. Iraq insurgents:
----A good number of US troops would speak Spanish; hardly any speak Arabic.
----Catholics in V. would not go for suicide bombings.

HOWEVER, it does not follow that Vs. could be wooed away from supporting anti-US guerillas. We’d probably bomb the hell out of them,
thus recruiting thousands of V. supporters of guerillas.

Can we believe Americans would be dumb enough to support another war in this decade?
However, it’s always possible that
IF Congress refused to declare war, Pentagon might take over in an open coup,
recruiting much US support from SUV owners who would approve of ANY MEASURES that promised cheap gas !

We could probably get oil more easily from Canadian oil-sands; but never underestimate rage of D.C. establishment over So.Amer. defiance of our empire.

 
ALL CONGRESSMEN THREATENED by war:
GOP won’t admit that Bushies intend to stay on for foreseeable future in Iraq, and are building permanent bases there. The 21 who must run in’08 might well be ejected, giving Dems a big, veto-proof majority.

But WHICH Dems? Perhaps not the timid mice now in Congress; the anti-war Dems are furious at them, and may make them face real primary threats. That’s why Congress’ popularity is now lower than Bush’s !
UnitedPress/Sieff/26June

 
BIG RAT OVERBOARD:
GOP honcho, Sen. Lugar, has backed Bush on the war with dog-like devotion so far; but now he says--even before Sept.--that the SURGE is not working, that the risks in war-continuation outweigh the benefits, that the war distracts us from other measures we should be taking to protect ourselves.

However, he will not vote with the Dems to end the war !
Dems will soon propose another war-end measure,
just to make GOP Senators vote again for the war.

(21 GOP Senators must run again in ’08.)

MSNBC
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/19426648/

 
CLEARING, NOT HOLDING !
TV chatter of gen. Said that we’ll clear the new areas of Qaeda, then Iraqi forces would HOLD area secure.

But now US general says Iraqi forces are not now ready to HOLD secured areas without Americans.
GUARDIAN



So, as Us MOVES OUT of each ‘cleared’ area (& we must, because we have FAR TOO FEW troops to ‘HOLD’ all of Baghdad—let alone all of Iraq!)—Qaeda will move right back in.
------------------
Several of the Sunni tribal leaders NOW SIDING WITH US vs. Qaeda were at a hotel meeting in Baghdad, when a suicider blew himself up in the lobby.

Qaeda obviously got word of the meeting.

 
Bushies will now at least DISCUSS splitting Iraq, shrinking central govt.
UnitedPress

They hate the idea of an autonomous, oil-rich Shia ministate, with most Iraqis,
MOST OF THE OIL, and the only seaport—a state friendly with HATED IRAN.

But 60% of Iraqis EXPECT split within 5 years. And people are already
voting with their feet, fleeing to areas dominated by their sect.

 
Afghans of course are not Arabs. But just as Arab fanatics like binLaden came in to help Afghans drive out the Soviets,
so they’re now entering Afganistan again—by the dozens or low hundreds--e,g,to train suicide bombers.

They don’t want to be involved in Sunni/Shia war in Iraq.

So they choose Afghanistan as the place to fight Westerners.
SEATTLEPI

 
Brit diplomats to Iraq had real qualifications (e.g., understanding Arabic)—but no power. Their view of US was best expressed in a note pinned to their bulletin board:

‘YEEHAW ! IS NOT A FOREIGN POLICY.”
TIMESONLINE

 
FAR TOO FEW !
Only 17,000 GIs now in Baghdad, at height of SURGE.
UnitedPress

Acc. To Pentagon doctrine, it would take 150,000 GIs to pacify 7 million people in Baghdad.

 
NATO (mainly US planes) killed more Afghan civilians this year than TALIBAN did.
(Karzai denounced NATO for arrogance.)
WashPost

Brit says ‘we’ will 'have to' stay there for years.
Wanna bet? Remember, they threw out the mighty Soviets.

 
US allying with ‘anti-Qaeda’ SUNNI insurgents in Baquba. It’s said they give close intelligence on Qaeda hideouts. On the other hand, someone squealed about campaign so that
Qaeda leaders could escape the ‘noose’ US tried to put around Baquba.

Maliki govt. is furious, says that after Americans leave the area,
the US-armed Sunnis will turn on Shia.
SeattlePI

 
IRAQ SPLIT INEVITABLE:
2 veteran Iraqi observers agree that the only solution is at minimum ‘cantonization’ (as in Switzerland, where some cantons are pure German, others pure French).

Both Sunnis and Shias dream that they can take over whole of Arab Iraq (excluding Kurdland) Only when they realize this is impossible, will rational split into ministates be possible. Now each side is trying to grab as much land as they can before Americans bug out.

People are already voting with their feet, fleeing to areas where their sect dominates.
GUARDIAN

 
VULNERABLE NUKE POWER: An analysis by UnitedPress
says that governments are now thinking seriously about building new nuke power plants.
(to lower CO2 pollution from oil & coal, and to get independent of Mideast OilSultans.)

The analyst very briefly mentions arguments against nuke expansion—e.g., pollution from sabotage. But this danger should be discussed fully!

The radioactive waste-ponds of our 100 nuke plants are unprotected from small airplanes loaded with explosive that could be crashed into them, converting them easily into lethal ‘dirty bombs’.

 
Our puppet KARZAI DENOUNCES ‘AFGHAN LIFE IS CHEAP’ attitude behind indiscriminate air-attacks, mounted of course mainly by Americans.

FORBES

 
AN INCREDIBLE ‘UPPER’:
Most of my posts are gloomy, because they focus on the bloody, pointless war in Iraq.

But this one should help restore people’s faith in human potential.

The billionaire John Templeton is religious, and he set up an annual prize for the best book on science & religion. Because he sees religion as more important than science, he set the annual prize HIGHER than the Nobel Prize for science, an amount over one million dollars.

Now jump to FortCollins,Colorado, to a world-renowned environmental philosopher at Colo.StateU, named Holmes Rolston. Holmes is both a Christian clergyman, and a believer in evolution (which does NOT, he thinks, do away with the need to posit an Intelligence behind evolution.)

Rolston makes a good salary (CSU wants to hold on to him!) And being a Scots-American, he has frugal habits—so he is in no way poor. NEITHER IS HE RICH.

Now Holmes’ book GOD, GENES, & GENESIS won the Templeton prize a couple of years ago—remember, over a million dollars.
-----------------------------
What makes the story incredible is that on the VERY DAY he was awarded the check (by the Duke of Edinburgh) Holmes GAVE EVERY PENNY AWAY (to his undergrad college, Dennison, the school that he says ‘woke me up mentally’.)

Has anyone ever heard a story like this? I believe some saintly do-gooders have done similar things..but not a philosopher !

The human race includes many awful mad villains—but let us celebrate the fact that Humanity also includes people as generous and public spirited as Holmes Rolston !

 
NO SPIKA DA LANGWICH !

FEW SPEAK ARABIC among 1000 US flunkies at half-billion-dollar embassy in Baghdad. Rating language proficiency from 1 to 5, ONLY TEN of these 1000 flunkies rate 3 or above--FOUR YEARS INTO THE WAR !
ABC
America does NOT have an adequate cadre of people interested and informed about other nations.

We should forget MEDDLING in world affairs and concentrate on Home Defense.

 
BIDEN’S PLAN:
The most important part is to split Iraq into 3 autonomous mini-states: Kurdland, Sunniland, and Shialand.

He says we need 17 GOP Senators to side with Dems to make a VETO-PROOF majority rescinding Congress’s foolish authorization of the war.
(That might be possible, with 21 GOP Senators having to run in ’08.)

UnitedPress

 
WHY SURGE HAS FAILED:
1) FAR,FAR TOO FEW troops. Acc. To current Pentagon doctrine, 140,000 GIS would be needed to pacify 7 million in Baghdad, let alone the rest of the Texas-sized country.

2) We have NO RELIABLE INTELLIGENCE about location,plans of Sunni insurgents.
UnitedPress

 
SUNNI EXPLOSIVES: FROM WHERE?
US SAYS they found 1000 bombs just in Baquba. Insurgents seem to have a quasi-infinite supply of explosives. From Where?

True that right after the invasion, US let future insurgents loot huge ammo dumps, hauling off much explosive. But THAT MUCH?

Certainly Shia IRAN is NOT the source of explosives blowing up Shia by the hundreds !
Outside sources might be anti-US & anti-Shia sympathizers in SaudiArabia and (from further away) Pakistan.

 
FOURTEEN GIs KILLED Wed,Thurs. / (how many maimed or wounded?)
Rockets slam into GreenZone (US HQ)--more & more frequent & accurate !./
Sunni Mayor’s Office bombed.

So far, the fabled ‘offensive’ by US troops at Baghdad’s edges
(with Iraq troops not that involved) have NOT lessened insurgent attacks.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/19349522/

 
AMAZING THAT SAMARRA SHRINE WAS UNPROTECTED AGAIN !
FinancialTimes analyst says it’s clear the SURGE is NOT WORKING.
Maliki regime is makingNO real moves toward reconciliation with Sunnis (thanks partly to diabolically clever alQuaeda attacks On Shia, designed to PREVENT any such reconciliation.)

 
US INVASION CHANGED MIDEAST DRAMATICALLY FOR THE WORSE !
http://upi.com/International_Intelligence/

We have NO adequate cadre of people well-informed about other nations.

So we should quit meddling in world affairs,
and concentrate on HomelandDefense !

 
HOW MANY BOMBS LEFT?
1000 car-bombs found in Baquba. US admits there’s no way to stop suicide bombers short of their targets.

80 rockets,etc, have slammed into GREEN ZONE (US HQ) since March—
from residential areas that can’t be attacked by US.
LATIMEShttp://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-iraq21jun21,0,6199777.story?coll=la-home-center

 
THREE HUNDRED Shia casualties from ONE TRUCK BOMB !

http://www.cnn.com/2007/WORLD/meast/06/20/iraq.main/

 
BAGHDAD DEVASTATION:
About 200 casualties of a HUGE bomb (presumably Sunni) next to a Shia mosque in Baghdad. How long before Shias (3 in 4 of Arab Iraqis) turn on ALL Sunnis ? That would delight alQaeda!
-------------------------
More ‘whack-a-mole’: Ten Thousand GIs attack ‘suspected’ hideouts of AQ in Baquba.
They’ve staged these big attacks before (most famously when they wrecked Fallujah.)
But these attacks have not weakened the power of AQ to stage huge attacks,
like the one today in Baghdad.

One interesting aspect: they're NOT EVEN PRETENDING NOW that Iraqi govt. forces had any big role in this offensive.

The only hope would be if the disenchanted SECULAR Insurgents would rat on the AQ forces and lead the Americans to their real hideouts. We’ll see.
----------------------------------

US OFFENSIVE VS. SHIA kills ’20 militants’ says US--kills 36 civilians & wounds dozens more, say locals.
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,20867,21935654-601,00.html

 
OIL LAW OPPOSITION:
US demands that IraqParliament pass law (a) to give Sunnis a share of oil $, and
(b) to open up oil to US corporations.
This move is stalled in Parliament--what's more,

Iraqi union leader OPPOSES this ‘giveaway to US’, and threatens strike. He says the union controls the pipelines and the Basra seaport, and they could shut off the already-puny exports of oil.
REUTERS

 
InternatlHeraldTribune

Story headline: US fights outside Baghdad.
Story content: US attacks Shia Sadrites.

Sooner or later, MANY Shia (3 i n 4 Arabs) will start attacking GIs.
And Sunnis won’t quit.

God help the GIs. Damn the generals.

 
CRAVEN CONGRESS:
Why should Bushies hurry out of Iraq?
Every week we’re stuck there, the popularity of ‘Dem’ Congress goes down,
even below Bush’s !

Congress is revealed as absolutely impotent.
One is reminded of the Roman Senate under the emperors,
especially when Caligula named his horse as a Senator !

Labels: CON

 
BIDEN TALKS SENSE:
Sen.Biden, the PRINCIPLED candidate
--ridicules Hilary’s claim that we’re SAFER now than on 9/11
He sees that Bushies are ‘criminally negligent’ re: Homeland Defense.

--repeats that we’ll NEVER have a strong, sensible CENTRAL govt. in Iraq.
The only solution (as Lyons has said for months) is spltting Iraq into 3 ministates.

--says that ending this war (HERESY ! ) is more important than winning the ’08 election.

 
Bushies emphasize BAD result if we bug out. That means they don’t have any prospect of GOOD results if we stay in, (with thousands of GIs being killed and tens of thousands being maimed or wounded.).
Petraeus reminds us that insurgencies usually last for TEN YEARS.
Amb.Crocker says ‘we’re whacking a lot of moles’. But what counts is
HOW MANY MOLES ARE LEFT !
GUARDIAN

But will Americans’ tolerate GI slaughter for TEN YEARS?

In Nov. 08, they might remember GOP candidates (21 in Senate!) cravenly supporting Bush follies.

We have no real stakes in this war.

Results will be bad whatever we do.
SO WE SHOULD BUG OUT NOW !

 
‘My report will be CANDID’ says General Petraeus.
That’s like hearing from a salesman: “I won’t lie to you…., to be very honest…”
He’s already misled, saying Iraq results so far are ‘mixed’—
Yeah, 4% success, 96 % failure.

On the other hand, if my suspicion is right that they’re already planning invasion of Venezuela,
then in Sept. he might say we should bug out of Iraq, fast.

 
US DISTRACTED FROM BAGHDAD:
USwillAttackQuaeda:
…OUTSIDE Baghdad. So much for emphasis on pacifying Baghdad.

They’re playing ‘whack-a-mole’ again,hitting at Quaeda in one area—so Quaeda simply moves to another area and whacks back. (By the way, this story admitted that most Quaedas are SUNNI IRAQIS, with only some leaders coming from outside.)

In one area emphasized by US, (Shia) ‘attacks’are down
BUT (Sunni) bombings are UP.
This must be what Petraeus calls 'mixed results.
Shia will NEVER reconcile with Sunnis while being BOMBED WHOLESALE.
NYTIMES

 
WorstTalibanAttackEver:
Bus containing police INSTRUCTORS blown up; 35 dead, 35 wounded—
Right in heart of Capital Kabul !

Not only are Taliban now imitating Iraq Insurgents;
they’re getting from somewhere huge amounts of explosives
(probably from our ‘ally’ Pakistan ! )
MALAYSIA STAR

We’re not prevailing in TWO DIFFERENT WARS !

 
Their Real Goal ?
Both Gates & Petraeus (unlike other Bushies) seem like sensible people.
So why are they prolonging the obviously-failed SURGE?

One guess: they’re testing in a few Baghdad neighborhoods their ‘new’ theory of
anti-insurgent war. But why bother, when this war is already lost?

Perhaps they’re preparing for our NEXT war, our invasion of naughty, oil-soaked VENEZUELA. There we’ll have many GIs who speak SPANISH (whereas almost none speak Arabic!) They may figure they can woo away the average Venezuelan from supporting the INEVITABLE INSURGENCY. Also, Catholic V.insurgents might not go for suicide bombing.

One doubts that after invading Venezuela and bombing the hell out of the country(you can bet they will !)-- they can really woo Venezuelans. You can bet potential insurgents are already being recruited and trained--and weapons are being hidden. Venezuelans are quite aware that they’re our next target.

Will Americans be stupid enough to back another aggressive war soon?

 
AIRSTRIKES KILL AFGHAN CIVILIANS—US now professes to give ‘condolence’ pay to victims or survivors. ($400 for serious wound—often followed by death.)
But actual payments are left to local US commanders. So one village gets payments;
nearby village doesn’t.

This does NOT win hearts & minds, essential for our prevailing.
UnitedPress
Forget the payments; quit the INSANE AIRSTRIKES !

 
IraqGIs killed rising to almost 4 a day. About 20 each day are maimed or injured.

UnitedPress.16June

 
DATELINE 2009:
6000 GIs killed so far. Tens of thousands maimed or wounded.

Gen. Says our SURGE is just beginning to ‘bite’.
We must give it a real chance.

 
TWO SUNNI MOSQUES JUST DESTROYED:
One was guarded by Shia guards. Guards took off when bombers showed up.
NatlPublicRadio,16June
That illustrates the extraordinary destructive power of suicide bombers.
If a guard stops them, they might explode right then, killing the guards.
So sane, unheroic guards let them thru.

We can't win against so many lunatics. We should pull out NOW.

 
HOUSE PASSED $37billion for Homeland Defense (vs. $650 billion for Pentagon,
useless to defend Homeland vs. individual, anonymous terrorists.)

Bush says he’ll veto these H.S. $ as EXCESSIVE !
GUARDIAN

 
DESPERATE INSURGENTS?
Increased violence in Iraq SINCE SURGE BEGAN is described by one general as a sign of insurgents’ 'DESPERATION' !

Again, one is reminded of Mark Twain’s cheerfully reconstructed memory of a fight he was in: “I thrust my nose firmly between his teeth, and threw him to the ground on top of me !”

 
‘MIXED RESULTS’ is the most optimistic assessment Gates & generals dare to give about Iraq.

Truth is they face PURE AND OBVIOUSFAILURE.—but they won’t face that.

 
An expert in UnitedPress
calls our reliance on airstrikes (in Iraq and Afghanistan) nothing less than INSANE.

Airstrikes slaughtering civilians are COUNTER-PRODUCTIVE, enraging survivors to support insurgents.

We have DOUBLED our airstrikes this year in Iraq, and have even more airstrikes in Afghanistan. This expert points out that increased airstrikes are LAST RESORT of a DEFEATED army; this doubling shows already that the SURGE has failed.

Why this nuttiness? AirForce bureaucrats don’t give a DAMN ABOUT WINNING the war; they only care about doing the only thing they do, which is bombing.

AGAIN: If we can prevail only by counterproductive airstrikes.
then we can't prevail at all.

 
ONE IN THREE (TO ONE IN TWO) GIs returning from war have MENTAL HEALTH problems (i.e., shell-shock)--
but the Pentagon has provided nowhere near enough psychiatrists and counselors.
USATODAY

(Shortage of $ is cited; we shovel $18,000 MILLIONS each DAY to Pentagon !)

Pentagon cares for its soldiers in the way Tyson cares for its chickens.

 
Before, only Sen.Biden had courage to call for 3 ministates in Iraq. But now--

3 Dem Senators, 3 GOP openly advocate splitting Iraq into 3 ministates, with vestigial ‘central federal’ govt.
(All along, this has been the only workable solution--as I've said for months. Shia would pull back into their region, defend it against ALL Sunnis.
Bloody population exchange would be preferable to ongoing civil war.
US could protect fleeing minorities; but Bushies WON’T; they loathe idea of a rich Shia ministate (most Iraqis, MOST OIL, the only seaport) friendly with hated Iran !)


FinancialTimes

Gen.Lutes once opposed the SURGE, but now of course that he is asking Congressional approval as (toothless, budgetless) war ‘Tsar’, he says it isn’t settled yet if the Surge will succeed. (Of course that IS settled, negatively—and 60% of Americans realize this.)

Violence in Iraq as a whole has increased. Far into SURGE, US is able to protect only 1 in 3 neighborhoods in Baghdad.

 
Why didn’t US guard Samarra Shrine?
One can understand why we’d HESITATE to guard the shrine; because Shia would resent infidel invaders guarding the shrine—and would BLAME us for any further attacks.

But SADR blamed US anyway for the 2d bombing. And resentment of US guards (perhaps accompanying Shia guards) is a far LESSER evil than the heightened war now likely between Sunni & Shia ! (& US guards backing up Shia guards might PREVENT shrine bombings.)

As I’ve said before, Quaeda wants Shia so provoked that they start WHOLESALE killing of ordinary Sunnis (whom they outnumber 3 to 1). This will ENRAGE Sunnis so that the SECULAR insurgents don’t DARE make a separate peace with Americans and Shia govt, joining us in killing alQuaeda.

We don’t know that ALL the Sunnis murdered anonymously have been killed by Shia revenge-seekers. Quaeda has reason to kill Sunnis who are ‘collaborators’ with US & govt…also they have reason to kill Sunnis, BLAMING SHIA.

Diabolical tactics, but clever.


We can't prevail in this snakepit. We should pull out NOW.

 
SHRINE EXPLOSION: SIGNIFICANCE

The second explosion today at the shrine in Samarra means a wave of worries in D.C.:
On ABC/NEWS, D.C.expert MarthaRadditz said she had seldom seen such urgent concern.

Why? Because Bushies have convinced themselves (implausibly) that they can pressure Shia parliament to OK some PRO-SUNNI measures (hoping these will pacify Sunni insurgents !)

But now the worry is a likely rash of Shia attacks on Sunnis, let alone more blockage of pro-sunni measures !

Indeed, Sadr (while calling for peace) has pulled his many parliamentarians out of the place for now..so NO measures can pass !

So much for the ‘necessary benchmarks’ that would counter even GOP disenchantment with this nutty Bushie war.

 
IRAN'S OIL WEAPON:
FormerNatoCommander DenouncesLieberman’s call for attackingIran:
Gen.WesleyClark reminded us that L. has never worn a uniform; (L.is clearly an ISRAELI pawn).

Clark points out that such sabre-rattling HELPS nutty Iran Pres !
UnitedPress,13June

OIL WEAPON:
Iran’s oil is desperately needed, esp. by China and India. (India will build pipeline from Iran to India THRU PAKISTAN, for God’s sake!) (As they use more oil, our prices spike up.)

Iran is cooperating to build 5 new refineries in Iran and other Asian countries. (This would SIPHON off oil from Western users.) Iran is cooperating with Iraq govt. to develop a common oil-field !

Oil experts worry that Bushies, cornered over oil-supplies, might dumbly bomb Iran.
“Who knows what will happen to oil prices then ?!”

Bushies talk of Iran being ‘isolated’. It looks as if US is MORE isolated than Iran !
UnitedPress, 13June

 
SADRITES PULL OUT of Parliament, after cherished ‘GoldenDome’ mosque of Shia in Samarra is attacked FOR SECOND TIME !(1st attack triggered the ‘sectarian’ [Shia] reprisals one hears so much about. Shia kill Sunnis RETAIL; Sunnis kill Shia WHOLESALE.)
Sadr says there’s ‘ONLY ONE ENEMY’ of Iraq, the Americans !—
perhaps he’s trying to prevent Shia attacks on Sunnis.

This pullout will kill any chances for quick passage of the PRO-SUNNI measures US is demanding as ‘benchmarks’ of Iraqi progress.

There was some retaliation vs. Sunnis in Baghdad.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/19200715/

alQaeda has a rational, tho wicked, strategy. US is trying for a ‘separate peace’ with SECULAR Sunni insurgents. Quaeda is trying to PROVOKE SHIA into bloody attacks on Sunni civilians, ENRAGING ORDINARY SUNNIS so much that secular leaders wouldn’t DARE make a separate peace with US & its (misbehaving) puppet Shia govt.

 
US KILLS 'ALLIES':
US kills 8 Afghan police (on our side!) (with airpower) US & govt.say police shot first, but EYE-WITNESSES say US shot first.

US doesn’t trust Afghan police enough to tell them their plans—afraid they’ll SQUEAL to Taliban targets.

http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/2007-06-12-afghanistan-police_N.htm

What really happened doesn’t matter. Afghans will believe their compatriots’ version, NOT that of infidel outsiders.--Especially since so many Afghan civilians have already been killed by indiscriminate US airpower.

 
Afghans Worse Off:
The InternatlRedCross says the situation of Afghan civilians is worsening, from road-bomb attacks, stronger Taliban, cross-fire, and US BOMBINGS.
GUARDIAN


That’s our OTHER unwinnable war.

 
WarReminderCutsHilarySupport:

When people are reminded of Iraq war BEFOREHAND, Hilary’s support (esp. among Dems) drops significantly.
UnitedPress,12JUNE

 
UN says attacks and civilian casualties have risen since Surge started.
WashPost

We know that GI casualties have spiked (two-week period highest ever !) and that IRAQI
Security forces have had more casualties since the feckless Surge.

One predicts that by Sept. ‘deadline’ (endorsed even by GOP legislators!), Petraeus will NOT be able to say SURGE has succeeded.

 
3d BridgeDown in 2 days ! (NPR NEWS12June)

6 down since March. This last bridge-bomb killed nobody; but it forces traffic to go thru a dangerous quaeda-filled area, risking car-bombs.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/19149029/

 
ARMING SUNNI FOR CIVIL WAR?
In Anbar province—completely Sunni--apparently it has sort of worked to arm secular Baathist insurgents (even tho they have killed many Americans) to get them to turn on their fanatic Quaeda allies. Apparently attacks (vs, Americans) have done down in number.

Now US generals want to extend this policy to areas dominated by Sunnis, but containing many Shia. Trouble is, we may be arming these Sunnis to fight against Shia in a full civil war, after we leave (no later, they say, than April ’08).

Indeed, a suspicious mind might wonder if that’s not what Bushies want, to help Sunnis TAKE OVER ALL OF ARAB/IRAQ, with a dictator (‘Saddam-lite’strategy). As I have often noted, Bushies resent Shia friendliness with hated Iran.
The Sunnis would be helped by Sunni Saudi Arabia, as Saudis have openly threatened.

If so, they may be grievously miscalculating. The Shia outnumber Sunnis 3 to 1; and though they now lack military sophistication, Shia could call on their friend Iran for military training.
If a PROXY WAR develops (Saudis/Sunni vs. Iran/Shia) the Saudis have only airplanes to contribute. The Iranians have a huge, combat-trained army that could be inserted or infiltrated, or just offered as combat advisors. And if US/Israel attack Iran to punish it, then Iranian leaders, with nothing to lose, could wipe out our troops efficiently.

 
US generals say Iraqi police riddled with corruption, sectarianism.
LATIMES

One general will rely on ‘converted’ Sunni insurgents instead !
We’ll see how UNSECTARIAN they are .

Can Bushies declare SURGE success by Sept. 'deadline' ? !

 
BUSHIES OBSESS OVER QUAEDA:
There are about 30 groups killing Americans in Iraq, but most US TALK is about alQuaeda.
This has several functions:
--Trying to convince Americans that the enemies are not Iraqis, but foreign alQuaeda agents—while people on the ground say FEW are alQuaeda—most are Iraqis furious at Americans. (Some CALL themselves alQuaeda).
Admitting that most insurgents are IRAQIS would admit that the uprising is caused by Bushie bungles.
SeattlePI
Also, chattering about foreign intruders helps Bushies’ claim that SYRIA is seriously interfering in Iraq.

--Also, admitting that most killers of GIs are SUNNI Iraqis would interfere with our ‘making nice’ to Sunnis, hoping (fondly) to make a SEPARATE PEACE with non-Islamist insurgents.

Some SunniInsurgents now PROFESS to ally themselves with US:
“We hate you as occupiers; but we hate MORE the Quaeda and the Iranians.”
They omit to mention their murderous hatred of Shia compatriots.

We side now with murderous Sunnis from resentment of SHIA friendship with hated Iran.

 
TALIBAN ON MORAL ‘HIGH GROUND’:
They kill some civilians with their road bombs, but far fewer than are killed by our
‘air-support’ missions (necessitated by the huge shortage of allied ground troops).

And the ordinary Afghan is far more furious at the casualties caused by the foreign ‘infidel invader’ than at the Taliban casualties. And winning the ‘hearts and minds’ of Afghans is the key to prevailing.
UnitedPress

Again: IF we can’t prevail without using COUNTER-PRODUCTIVE airstrikes, then we can’t prevail, period.

 
UNBEATABLE SUICIDERS:
Just as a US convoy was passing underneath, a suicide bomber hit a support pier,
and the Americans were buried under the overpass rubble.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/worldlatest/story/0,,-6698763,00.html

This illustrates that we just CAN’T WIN against (an amazing number of) suicide bombers.
But we could just get out: the sooner the better, THE LATER THE WORSE.

 
COPTER ‘AUTOMATICALLY’ SHELLS CIVILIANS:
Army honchos say no human DECIDED to shell; the copter is built so
whenever it is attacked, it responds automatically with flare-shells.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/worldlatest/story/0,,-6698763,00.html

That means that an insurgent needs only to fire at a copter, and a rain of death will come down on any civilians around (recruiting enraged survivors for the insurgency !)
How clever !

 
MORE Iraqi security soldiers killed since our Surge began. Also MORE GIs.
LATIMES

And surely as many or more Iraqi civilians.

But Petraeus says we don’t know yet if the SURGE is working.

 
14 killed at checkpoint (how many wounded?)
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/19140565/
As I’ve said before, checkpoints don’t work, because soldiers there know that IF they stop a suicide bomber, he’ll blow THEM up.

So if they’re sanely unheroic, they won’t stop the bomber; they’ll let him thru to blow up a market.

 
OIL SPIKES FROM HORMUZ STORM:
Oil up to $71 a barrel because Strait of Hormuz (gateway of 1/5th of world oil) and Iran were struck by storm. (full extent of damage not yet known).
REUTERS

..indication of havoc following any serious US/Israel attack on Iran.

 
“OUT NOW ! “ says former BritAmb. To Iraq. "The longer US/Brit stay, the more damage they do to Iraq & surrounding region."

“I used to say ‘We can’t disgrace former casualties by bugging out.
But now, I say, Get Out Now.”

Brit Army Head agrees.
GUARDIAN

 
TURK SHELLING PROTESTED by Iraq govt, after being ignored for several days.
‘Heavy, destructive attack’ vs. Kurd villages allegedly harboring PKK anti-Turk guerillas. Turkey has 1500 troops INSIDE IRAQ BORDERS.

Over the years, Turkey hasn’t been able to wipe out these guerillas, and complains that Kurd regime & US haven’t done it.

They also don’t want Iraq Kurds to get oil-soaked Kirkuk region, helping to set up rich, independent nucleus for a Kurd state (inspiring loyalty from 20% of Turkey population who are Kurds).
TurkishPress

 
STRANGE ALLIANCE: between one US outfit & Sunni insurgents! (These have likely killed Gis before--and may again !)They say they’re fighting ‘alQaeda & Shiite militias’.
US is giving them arms, and helping them attack people THEY SAY are alQaeda. US honcho says, “Nothing else has worked.”

GIs say they don’t trust their new ‘allies’.
MSNBC


Real reason Bushies are now siding with Sunnis VS. SHIA; they hate Shia friendship with hated IRAN !

 
Afghan NATOvs.USbombs:
NATO CHIEF WARNS ABOUT CIVILIAN CASUALTIES:

He notes obvious fact that indiscriminate killings (mainly by HEAVY US airstrikes) may turn the populace against foreigners and endanger the NATO mission.
REUTERS8June

 
OIL TURMOIL: Iraq Parliament has been sitting on an 'oil' law demanded by US, giving to hated Sunnis a 'fair share' of $ from oil harvested on Shia and Kurd lands.
(And of course it would open up Iraq oil to huge WESTERN corporations !)

Now a new player: Iraqi unions objecting to latter provision. They threaten strikes, and Malike regime threatens arrests.
UnitedPress

After inevitable split into 3 ministates (Kurdland, Shialand, and SunniArabLand, how willl toothless 'central govt' ENFORCE this sharing?

 
GRIM WAR HONCHO: Bushies nominate a new (toothless, budgetless) war honcho without replacing Hadly, who will duplicate the role.

This Gen. Lute (after 3 generals refused the post) was grim about Iraq prospects.
He said the conflict can’t be won militarily. And he admits little or no progress in prevailing in a NONmilitary way !

Eveyone acknowledges that reconciling Sunnis & Shia (to get Sunnis to call off their slaughter of—so far--over 3500 GIs—with rate increasing) is NOT going to happen in the foreseeable future —certainly not by the Sept. ‘deadline’ that Bushies first announced.
WashPost, 8June

One expert says the longer we stay in, the more we benefit alQuaeda in the long run.
Another says, “Our presence is CREATING more insurgents than we’re killing.”

 
USELESS CHECKPOINTS:
Among other bombings, one killed 5 Thursday at a checkpoint.
Put yourself in the position of troops manning checkpoint; you see a suspicious vehicle or person. You stop them; if they are suicide bombers, they explode right then and kill you.

Prudence would dictate that you NOT stop them, but let them through.

Suicide bombers are horribly effective at destruction, though not, perhaps, at helping their side.

'Staying the course' we just endanger our GIS pointlessly at the hands of these madmen.

 
A study by US Surgeon-general says
--most Iraq GIs would NOT REPORT a colleague who KILLED or injured a civilian unnecessarily.

--Most believed in torture.

--Most did NOT think Iraqis should be treated with respect.

--A large minority admitted injuring Iraqis or destroying property unnecessarily.
(More probably did so, then lied to surveyors.)

--Shell-shocked GIs were more ruthless, unsurprisingly; and shell-shocked increased with length of Iraq service or number of times GIs returned.

GENERAL’S REACTION: a disapproving MEMO.


UnitedPress

Small wonder that most Iraqis, by far, want GIs OUT.
51% APPROVE OF ATTACKING GIs.

We should stay on to HELP Iraqis ??? !!

 
A letter-writer wants evidence how a person practicing abstinence can get pregnant or STD. That’s easy: a youth cannot decide to SUCCEED at abstinence, only to try.

Given youthful hormones, many attempters FAIL at abstinence; would-be abstainers may NOT have condoms or morning-after pills at hand.

So such failed attempters may be MORE likely to contract pregnancy or disease.

 
TBcaseMORAL:
This guy claims he was told he was NOT contagious. He was probably told he was not VERY contagious…but likelihood was NOT ZERO !

This illustrates a point of rational prudence: we’re to multiply PROBABILITY by STAKES. (e.g., buying a $1 ticket giving one chance in thousand of a million-dollar win is prudent.)

Even a TINY risk of a CATASTROPHE should be avoided, This guy risked CATASTROPHE if he had communicated DRUG-RESISTANT TB to people on his plane, and then they communicated it to others. TB is easy to share.
(Indeed, that is what a suicidal terrorist might do.)

He deserves condemnation, not sympathy.
------------------
Bushies, in invading Iraq, risked predictably and strongly (for no real gain) enraging at least one in ten thousand Muslims, worldwide—which would produce ONE HUNDRED THOUSAND terrorists or supporters. An insane gamble--with the lives of OTHER Americans !

 
TURKSsaid toInvadeIraq !
An unofficial Turk said they had sent in less than 10K troops in a ‘minor’ excursion—but if Kurds fight back, then a MAJOR incursion.
SEATTLEPI

Iraq govt. denies this; but 3 eyewitnesses said a helicopter with troops landed in Kurdland, then took off again in a couple of hours. Just a warning?

Will US do back their old ally Turkey?
Or defend their only ally in Iraq, the Kurds?

Again: the price of ignorant meddling in Mideast snakepits.

 
US claims it controls now (at height of SURGE) only one in three Baghdad neighborhoods.
Killing dropped at SURGE start--is rising again now.
REUTERS

 
GeneralsDenyIraq=Korea
2 Former generals ridicule Bushie assertion of parallel between Iraq & Korea.
They say the real parallel is Iraq=Vietnam, where we were chased out ignominiously.
UnitedPress

 
GENERAL CLAIMS SUCCESS:
In one tiny (2 miles by 2 miles) neighborhood in Iraq.
Gen. ascribes success to Iraqi forces—but there are FIVE THOUSAND GIs assigned to this tiny area.
UnitedPress 6June

There is no way we could flood all of Baghdad (let alone all Iraq !) with this many US troops !

The fact that they count THIS as a success....!

 
SUPPORT for DemocracyWEAKENS:
..to only 43% . Sunnis want a dictator; half of Shia want theocracy.
(Objective observers could have predicted that majoritarian govt. wouldn’t work
where 4 in 5 hate the 1/5th Sunni minority, which is heavily armed and in implacable , unbeatable insurgency.)

Paradoxically, only one in 3 want US pullout immediately; yet huge majority oppose US presence, and 51% think IT'S OK TO ATTACK GIs !
42% think they’re already in civil war.

6 in 10 support unified govt. in theory—but predict a split within 5 years.
USATODAY

Why not split NOW--intoKurdland, SunniArabLand, and Shialand ? ! Because Bushies loathe thought of oil-rich Shialand friendly with hated Shia Iran !

 
US bombs doubled in Iraq since last year; civilian casualties from bombs increasing; one agency says 50 civilians a month.

Far MORE bombs dropped in Afghanistan (over protests from our puppet Kharzai!)

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1107AP_Iraq_Airstrikes.html

Bombs recruit enraged surviving relatives into the insurgents.
But bombing is Pentagon’s main (only?) talent, so it goes on.

The TOP honcho over both wars, Adm.Fallon, knows nothing about ground-war;
his specialty is bombing.

 
ANALYSIS OF KURD/TURK DILEMMA
IN UnitedPress

Kurdish guerillas just shelled Turkey from Iraq, killing 7 Turk soldiers !

 
Majority says ‘Don’t cut war-funds !’
(But they do want pullout timetable!)
USATODAY5June
They just don’t understand that funds for war are a SMALL PART OF STAGGERING PENTAGON BUDGET: $650 billion this coming year =
$18,000 MILLIONS each DAY!

Pentagon could pay for war (even with funds cut) from petty cash !

 
AMERICANS KNOW SURGE HAS FAILED:
6 IN 10 say the Surge is not going to succeed.
(All Petraeus says is that THEY DON’T YET KNOW…
Another general says THEY WON’T KNOW evenby September ! )

A majority say the war is NOT making our Homeland safer.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/19037437/

 
3 kidnapped said Dead:
ID for 3 soldiers (1 already known dead) was shown on internet. Insurgents bragged that 4000 GIs searching couldn’t find the men, even with big money rewards offered.
US says search will continue.

Actually, these deaths, if confirmed, would bring relief to Bushies. Each US prisoner gets FAR MORETV coverage (and more troops distraction) than any one GI killed.
NYTIMEShttp://www.nytimes.com/2007/06/05/world/middleeast/05iraq.html?_r=1&ref=world&oref=slogin

This is very much a TV war !

 
DOUBLE-CROSSING TURKEY ?

Both the Iraqi Kurds and Turkey (enemies to each other) are allies of US/Israel. But Turkey claims that ‘PKK’ Kurdish guerillas have been attacking in Turkey. Turkey just upped its shelling of the Kurd/Iraq area where the PKK supposedly hides out.

In spite of repeated Turkish requests, US has NOT ‘hunted down’ PKK rebels. It looks as if they have support from Kurd/Iraq govt, and even from US.
REUTERS, 3June

It looks as if US chose to double-cross Turkey (Israel also: Israelis are training Kurdish troops.)
Some US planes penetrated Turkish air-space recently, perhaps as a warning.

All we need now is a WAR now with big, powerful Turkey,
to add to our present 2 LOSING wars.

 
Armor-piercingShells:
Bushies say ‘HUNDREDS ’ of GIs in Iraq have died from ‘EIPs’ (very portable mortars shooting cleverly-machined MOLTEN-METAL shells that can penetrate armor even of tanks!)-- and they hint that these came from IRAN (presumably to Shiite insurgents,--though they admit some have been found in SUNNI caches).
IF SHIA really have killed hundreds of GIs, that means we are now involved in a hopeless TWO-FRONT war, with perhaps 100% of Iraq population. (Sunnnis are 1 in 4; Shia are 3 in 4 of Iraqi/Arabs). 7 GIs were killed by bombs today. (how many wounded?)

Now at least one ‘EIP’ has been found in AFGHANISTAN !
Did it come from Iran? One US officer says it may be left over from the fight
vs. the RUSSIANS. There’s no way of knowing.
(A previous story said it was designed by the Ulster IRA).
SeattlePI

It's just as likely that EIPs come from anti-US SUNNI Pakistanis (with access to fine machining) as from Iran.

 
Bushie ‘terrorist’ chatter is dangerously foolish. The 2 plots ‘uncovered’ never reached beyond the ‘talk’ stage.

What stops most people from awful crimes is NOT the fact that they’re WRONG, but the fact that they’re UNTHINKABLE.

Now Bushies have made big attacks on our Homeland THINKABLE; one in 4 young US Muslims do NOT condemn suicide bombings universally. So Bushie chatter has made ‘COPYCAT’ attacks on our Homeland more likely.

 
AMERICANS ON BOTH SIDES: at least 3 allied with the Islamists in No.Somalia, and (a few) ‘special op’troops fighting alongside the govt. anti-Islamist forces.

North Somalia was formerly peaceful. Now the insurgency is strong enough to attract US destroyer shells. (One version says the area is unihabited; another says shells hit near a village—possibly recruiting enraged survivors into the Islamist force.)

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/19008660/

An expert says the new Islamist forces are disturbing.

More evidence that the Bushie line is absurd, worrying about Quaeda forces taking over if we bug out of Iraq—they have plenty of OTHER sites to set up trainng camps.

Besides, once Iraq splits, the secular Saddamites will take over in Sunni/Arab region (with backing of US & SaudiArabia) and the Quaeda forces, outnumbered, will be slaughtered.

 
Commentator backs up Cordesman in saying the Dem bill does NOT back down on accountability-benchmarks for Iraq.

Most of these bench-marks are utopian: e.g., the Kurds & Shia sharing oil-money with the Sunni they hate /or / admitting high-ranking Saddamites into govt.

But one benchmark makes sense (& is inevitable anyway !): allowing split into‘semi-autonomous’ regions (Shia vs. Sunni/Arab). This actually would legitimze deFacto secession of SHIA (a proposal only Sen.Biden has the nerve to propose openly). Kurds have already seceded.
UnitedPress

Now: how will IMPOTENT central govt. ENFORCE ‘fair-sharing of oil$’ with Sunnis, imposing it on ‘semi-autonomous’ Kurds & Shia?

Thinking of this, Sunni insurgents will NOT be appeased ! (Appeasing insurgents is supposedly the AIM of these benchmarks.)

 
Another bridge (one strategically important) severely damaged in Baghdad.
(Bridges are supposed to be easily defended from ground attack ! )

Also, another copter (millions of dollars) went down (nobody injured).
WASH.POST

 
DESTROYER SHELLS SOMALIA:US had ‘actionable intelligence’ that TWO OR THREE terrorists had landed on the coast of Somalia. (Our Navy was supposed to prevent this.)
So one of our destroyers shelled the area. An officer of our allied army said that 6 of his soldiers were wounded, but he didn’t know if any terrorists were killed.
MSNBC
This news from Somalia and the horrific news from Lebanon (govt. army shelling refugee camp to root out some Qaeda agents FROM IRAQ in the camp) show the fallacy of saying "we must STAY in Iraq LEST Qaeda gets respite to organize to attack other countries (PERHAPS OUR HOMELAND !"

Qaeda is using our continued presence in Iraq to LEGITIMIZE their actions among many Sunnis--as resisting the hated Occupation. (We’re told that some Sunni sheiks have turned against them—but no effect has shown up yet, say in lessening of bomb-attacks on Shia.)

They have the extra resources to move outside Iraq with their WAR-TRAINED activists—and our troops’ presence CANNOT STOP THEM.

Nobody knows why terrorists have not yet attacked our Homeland since 9/11--but Bushies have left us vulnerable in many ways--terrorists will attack when they decide to--and our troops in Iraq will NOT deter them.

Indeed, tieing up Natl.Guard troops and equipment in Iraq leaves our Homeland even MORE vulnerable !

 
GOPworriesOverWar:
In one GOP region,only 5% support the war.
Bush’s latest fund-raiser was a relative flop.
His popularity is now 28%

But Cheney says, “We weren’t elected to help GOP!”
And Bush says we may stay inIraq as inKorea (for 50 years ? !)

21 GOP Senators must run in ’08.
Dems could end up with a veto-proof 60-Senator majority !

GOP may return the compliment:
"WE weren't elected to prevent Bushies from admitting catastrophic blunder ! "
FinancialTimes

 
“IRAQ A CALAMITY’
says ancient hawk Brzezinski. We’re heading toward a clash with Iran and with ALL ISLAM. (1000 millions !)
We need to negotiate a bugout.
FinancialTimes

 
SNAKEPIT MEDDLING:
KURD/TURKEY WAR?
Turks accuse PKK (in Iraq) of backing bombings in Turkey on behalf of beleagured Kurd minority in Turkey. Turks have stationed forces on Iraq border, and general says they’re ready to invade Iraq/Kurdland, either to go after PKK only OR TO ATTACK KURDISH GOVT.

Americans are alarmed that the ONLY now-peaceful area of Iraq might be ready to blow up.
GUARDIAN

Again: the price of our lignorant meddling in mideast snakepit.

 
ONLY 7700 MRAPS?
Pentagon is finally contracting to turn out ‘more-or-less mine-proof’’ vehicles to replace DEATH-TRAP humvees. But when ? not till Feb ’08 [by which time we may have bugged out !]—and then only 7700—at over one million dollars each-- for 160,000 GIs.
UnitedPress

 
PARTS OF ANBAR CONTROLLED BY INSURGENTS:
Former US ambassador admits this; it’s said that Anbar can be rescured ONLY by Sunni (not Shia)soldiers—and there must be a non-Shia-partisan running the Defense Dept. (This must be Okd by Shia/Kurd Parliament !)
Iraqi General wounded.
US brags of increase in number of govt. troops recruited inAnbar.

BAKU SUN

US general openly talks of hopes for separate peace with non Qaeda Sunnis.
USATODAY,1JE.
This APPEASEMENT policy explains the US attacks on Shia areas.
It’s a great gamble; we could very well end up attacked by SUNNI AND SHIA guerillas.

About Anbar recruits: media worries about Shia soldiers actually loyal to Shia militia.
But Anbar recruits may be pro-insurgents infiltrating the army!