Dan Lyons

“US ground&air ASSETS” killed some civilians.
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/09/28/world/middleeast/28iraq.html?_r=1&oref=slogin

Aren’t Pentagon euphemisms marvelous? They didn’t want to say that
our planes BOMBED another residential neighborhood.
------------
StateDept.Honcho admitted that contract with Kurds with Hunt oil
(Hunt is a big Bushie honcho) was perhaps illegal,
since it was not Okd by central govt.

This contract shows that Bushies accept deFacto secession of Kurds.
They want to block similar move by Shia, producing a rich ministate with most Iraqis, MOST OIL, & the ONLY SEAPORT, allied of course with Iran.

Sadr speaks in favor of keeping central govt. The Badrite Shia seem to be even more close to Iran. Yet US bombs Sadrite neighborhoods, favors Badrites. Goofy !

CLEAR,NOT HOLD
NATO honcho worries that Afghan territory
taken from Taliban since last winter
May be taken back by Taliban this winter.

Regions CLEARED by NATO troops can’t be HELD by Afghan govt. forces
GUARDIAN
http://www.guardian.co.uk/afghanistan/story/0,,2179312,00.html

Same problem in Iraq—as extra SURGE troops are withdrawn, the regions they cleared will likely NOT be
HELD by Iraq govt. forces.

If so, then the whole SURGE is shown to be pointless waste of GI blood.

(Iraq situation is WORSE: Govt. forces weakened by sectarian splits.)

Suiciders’Morality
We loathe suiciders because they slaughter indiscriminately
innocent civilians.
But so do our airplanes.
The evil lies in the inevitable indiscriminacy of BOMBS,
not in suiciding as such.

There’s not much moral difference between suiciders and heroes who undertake hopelessly fatal missions.

Do we think plant-&-run road-bombers are less immoral than suicider?

Suiciding is very effective because bomber is not then available
to be tortured to get him to squeal on his allies.

(Captured spies have always taken cyanide pills for the same effect.)

We loathe Quaeda suiciders especially because they DELIBERATELY set out to slaughter innocent civilians.

MalikiDenouncesPartition:
SeattlePI
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1107AP_Iraq.html
Of course; his whole govt would be rendered toothless.

But the partition is inevitable, as well as desirable.

Shia & Sunni are voting with their feet,
Fleeing to areas where their sect dominates.

200,000 weapons mislaid
In ’03, thousands of weapons were supposed to go the Iraqi ‘army/police’. But 200k of these can’t be traced.

Petraeus was in charge then, but he has not been cited in the investigation.
SEATTLEpi

We wonder how insurgents are so bountifully supplied
with explosives and weapons. But GIs watched in'03
while truckloads of high explosive were hauled off in trucks.

UNTHINKABLE-->THINKABLE
Many people are not blocked from an action merely because it’s wrong—
wrong acts are committed every day.
If they refrain, it’s probably because the act is simply unthinkable.

But the range of unthinkable acts is shrinking. In respectable USATODAY,28sept, a full-page ad shows a handsome young actor with a fetching smile and blood spattered on his face; the caption is
‘AMERICA’S FAVORITE SERIAL KILLER.’

I believe America has more serial killers than all of the other nations combined. It’s just one more wrong, but eminently thinkable, action.
Indeed, if it gets publicity, serial killing is probably attractive to many.

Our First Amendment helps to drive many of our youth mad; then our Second Amendment arms them.

SenateMovesTowardIranWar !
NYTIMES
77 to 22 ! (Most Dems !) they voted to call Iranian army a ‘terrorist’ group, (which implicitly authorizes us to attack them).

Sensible guys like Biden tried to warn them of this folly, but they still voted that way.

Peaceniks should not support the Dems as such;
MANY are pawns of crazy,revenge-bent Zionism.

USATODAY headline: “19,000 militants killed.”
--The generals actually mean “19,000 killed who WE THINK were militants.”
(Locals often say many of thosse we killed were innocent civilians--whose relatives then support insurgency !)

--What counts is how many insurgents are LEFT. And from their frequent attacks it seems that enough are left, with enough access to explosives, to frustrate the generals.
(They caused 150 civilian casualties just yesterday!)
SeattleTimes,27Sept

CRAZY ZIONIST REVENGE:
Lieberman has proposed an actual war declaration
vs. Iran ! It won’t pass, but is designed to test
how many Zionist pawns there are in Senate.

The war-zionists are not really motivated by concern for Israel’s welfare or survival, but rather are out for REVENGE against those who insult Israel, like Saddam and the mad Iranian President.

A philosopher has noted that HATRED IS AS UNSELFISH AS IS LOVE—that is, hatred is NOT concerned to benefit the hater, only to hurt the one hated.
(Suicide bombers are a perfect example of this phenomenon.)

If we OR Israel attack Iran, they will attack Israel of course, as well as our GIs and other US interests. Iran can mount a bloody but ineffective non-nuke rocket attack on Israel (like the desperate Nazi V2 attacks on London at end of WWII.) They might of course use germ-weapons or ‘dirty bombs’.

Iran can also make oil spike up over $100 a barrel. Israel needs oil just as US does.

One bit of good news: if savvy speculators thought our bombing of Iran was a real likelihood, they’d spike up oil FUTURES immediately. Instead, oil is dipping down below $80. Let’s hope this growling is all bluff.

TenAttacksIn2Days
Quaeda assassinating Sunni ‘collaborators’ with US;
UnitedPress
We HEAR that SunniSheiks have turned vs. Quaeda—

but so far, Qaeda shows little sign of weakening.

(93% of Sunnis OK killing GIs. Some new ‘allies’ !)

Nearly $200,000MillionsFor ’08 Iraq,Afghan war:
GUARDIAN

But that’s only HALF of Pent.annual budget;1300MILLIONS EACH DAY.

ShiaBombsFound/SaudiSuiciders
REUTERS(So.Africa)

It looks as if Bushies have succeeded in ‘picking a war’ with Shia militia.

If the ‘moltenMetal’mortar shells are from Iran, they’re probably intended as a warning of the devastation Iran could work vs. our GIs if we bomb Iran.

NEWSWEEK 12AugSept ran a story on the seemingly unlimited supply of Iraq suicide bombers, claiming most are Sunnis from S.Arabia.
(amid all the growling at Iran, Bushies are silent
about these foreigners interfering in Iraq,
about Saudis harboring terrorists).

AnotherPipelineBomb (2d this week)
http://www.reuters.com/article/worldNews/idUSL234974820070925

Saddamite oil officials (forced into insurgency by Bushies)
are experts at bombing pipelines.

SaferNukePower?
True, nuke power doesn’t pose IMMEDIATE threat that oil/coal power does..but the REMOTE threats…!

Turns out that that the huge proposed Nevada dump for nuclear wastes is right on an earthquake fault-line !
GUARDIAN
http://www.guardian.co.uk/usa/story/0,,2176842,00.html

103 n-WASTE ponds are vulnerable to terrorists’ explosive-laden planes crashing into them.

Better go with wind/sun/thermal/wave power.

900-mileIran/IraqBorder US is trying to patrol,
to stop ALLEGED Iranian ‘molten metal’ bombs
from entering Iraq. (S.Arabian border also long. We don't really know where these lethal bombs come from, who's using them.)

But huge number of Iranian pilgrims and commercial trucks must come through each day.

Such guarding must be mainly symbolic
(started only after 5 years of war).

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

(If we bomb Iran, there’ll be no way to stop retaliatory Iranian slaughter of GIs in Iraq.)

It's a bloody, WINLESS war.

BasraAttacked: Pol.HQ bombed.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/apmideast_story.asp?category=1107&slug=Iraq

Basra is 2d-Iraq city, the only seaport.
Brits bugged out; security vacuum;
will GIs be sent in, diluting our efforts elsewhere?

‘Reconciliation’ mtg bombed: 60 Sunni & Shia casualties. CNN

http://edition.cnn.com/2007/WORLD/meast/09/25/iraq.main/?iref=mpstoryview

Looks like Quaeda has infiltrated the militias, so they know exactly when/where such mtgs will take place.

IranRemindsBushies OfRetaliationPower against GIs in Iraq.
REUTERS
http://www.reuters.com/article/wtMostRead/idUSBLA42460020070924

If we bomb them, and they then slaughter our GIs,
Bushies will nuke them, WRECKING WORLD OIL ECONOMY--
some consolation to GIs' survivors !

“Qaeda terrorism is a world-wide threat on internet—
so we should bomb Iran—a Shia nation hated by Qaeda--
and keep our troops tied up in Iraq.”

This is crazy message of a right-wing commentator on UnitedPress.

(We’re told that Sunni secularists--our new 'allies--are blasting Quaeda
in Iraq—so it will shortly be no threat there.)

One is reminded of 18th-century clergy: "Cow disease is a real threat;
SO we must burn all suspected witches !"

Independents-->Dems
GUARDIAN
http://www.guardian.co.uk/uslatest/story/0,,-6942164,00.html

If most Indies register as Dems, that will tilt Dem primaries toward OBAMA. (GOP will stay right-wing in primaries, will suffer in elections.)

Why 46GOP Senators continuing war,
when only 35% of people want this?

Red States (prowar) have extra Senators.
Wyoming has as many as California!

TooFewTroops?
A BritGen.,at war’s start, said we’d need 400k troops.(We used 600K troops in Gulf War I.) Rummy tried this time with less than 200K. Disastrous for occupation.
(USATODAY,23Sept)
So of course any call for giving our wretched troops extra time off
can be squelched by remembering our shortage even now.

The only alternatives are:
a) staying on, continuing high (& pointless) GI casualties right thru ’08 election.
b) Pulling out completely, as soon as possible.

Dem attempts at 'compromise' are simply feckless.

“NoIranWar’saysAdmFallon.
http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/2007-09-23-iran-fallon_N.htm

Could be sincere, could be cover for coming
‘PearlHarbor’ bombing.

“FoodCompaniesWorry
That ConsumersWon’tAcceptHigherPrices’/ rMtnNews,22Sept.
Actually the price of crops is a small part of the price of
manufactured, advertised cereals. But companies would love to use
rising crop-prices as EXCUSE to raise store prices.

But consumer might switch to cheaper versions. (In Great Depression,
My mother switched from canned salmon on Fridays to Tuna.)

That’s why we DON’T face real INFLATION
from some (temporary) price increases, while wages don't rise.
Analysts guess that people will begin to buy LESS GAS
when price reaches $3.50 a gallon.

IDENTIFYING UPWARDS, IN General:
Few Wyoming citizens are black; but when imported black football players at the university win, all Wyoming stands taller; when they lose, Wyomingites sag.

They identify with ‘their’ team;
research shows this is biological.
One So.American losing soccer team needed police protection
from fans enraged because ‘they made US lose!”

College students don’t mind huge sums spent on ‘our’ varsity teams, even tho these $s come out of university funds that could be better spent. It’s said that the highest pay for military leaders goes to football coaches at the academies !

Fat fans DON’T PRETEND they’ll sometimes be great athletes themselves; instead, it’s enough for them to imagine ‘me and them together.”

Similarly Americans identify with ‘their’ soldiers, though they have no relatives serving.
One right-winger says, “Americans are not anti-war, just anti-losing.”
But how did I lose when our troops fled from Vietnam?
Only thru my ego-identification with our ‘military team’.

Catholic peasants identify with their patron saint,
tho their own conduct may vary greatly from the saint’s.
(Many Catholics were mortally offended when the Pope abolished
'their patron' Philomena as a saint.

-----------
And middle-Americans identify with the wealthy, thinking of ‘us winners’ vs. ‘those losers (the poor)”.

Identifying with Wealthy
Middle Americans support subsidies for the wealthy, which do themselves harm, because they see the world as divided into ‘us winners’ (me & Gates—with his $57 billion) vs. ‘those losers’(the poor).

These middle-saps DON’T imagine they’ll some day be wealthy themselves; instead, right now, they get great ego-boost
by thinking of themselves as among ‘us winners’, not ‘those losers’(the poor).

To see how loony this identification is (favoring interests of the ‘fellow-winners’ wealthy over their own interests):

Imagine a line starting with 0 for the absolutely destitute, then over 4 inches to the right for well-to-do household with $60k net-worth (assets minus debts).

On that line, the poorest billionaire is 67,000 inches to the right—
about ONE MILE to the right! And 82 mere billionaires didn’t make into Forbes’ top ten !

If the destitute are ‘losers’, SO (relatively) is the household with $60k net worth--only 4 inches (& perhaps one job-loss) from destitution.

"DEMS FAIL!"
Headlines say this
about the Senate not passing end-war bills.

But headlines should say
GOP SENATORS CONTINUE TO BACK BUSH,
BLOCK END-WAR BILLS.

If $ collapses,whoLoses?
Those Americans who depend on imported goods—
e.g., oil. (Now $84 a barrel.)
Even Canadian/Mexican/Venezuelan oil.
In other words, SUV/truck owners.

What about heating oil? We can dress warmer in the winter.
The oldies who die from hypothermia—
an easy death—may be luckier than
those who survive to go to ‘HOMES’.

Those who spend mainly on US-grown food,US medical care,etc.,
will not lose much. Outsourcing overseas (a form of import) will become less popular—there may be more jobs for ordinary Americans.

BUSH ‘HOPES’FOR DIPL.IRAN SOLUTION:
But ‘arms-option’ remains on table.
This seems to be a perfunctory formula,
So when they bomb, they can say
they first tried peaceful negotiation.
(Who'd believe them?)

One is reminded of medieval Dominicans,
who first ‘tried’ persuasive sermons on the heretics;
then if they didn’t heed these, said, “Burn them !”

The greatest black-humor was in Mexico, where
priests would preach Christianity to Indians in LATIN,
then enslave them because they weren’t heeded.

LOSING 2 WARS, says former CIA analyst:
ChinaView,17Sept

WANT, SHMANT
Army wants 10k new, safer MRAP vehicles for Iraq GIs. But given its present methods, only 1300 a month will be produced, BEGINNING IN DECEMBER. That means the END of ’08 before all GIS have this new protection.
USATODAY,19Sept

And it’s not clear that the new vehicles will be safe
vs. new ‘molten-shell’ mortar of insurgents.

Remember WWII when US industry quickly produced huge numbers of planes, ships and trucks our army needed, plus many for our allies ?

It was a different America. Everyone was expected to buckle down.
Govt. wouldn’t dare ask that now;
people ‘support’ this goofy war only as cheerleaders, not as participants.

#of Iraqis fleeing Homes Surges DuringSURGE:
NYTIMES

LatestPolls(after Petraeus’& Bush speeches):
54% “out as soon as possible”(vague)

but 53% approve of P’s plan (20k out by next July)
(did they understand that this is only 1/8th of GIs there now?)

16% :’more optimistic now’.
39% ‘stay till stable’
(FOX TV influence)
(67% of GOP say ‘progress!”/21% of Dems, and 31% of ‘independents’.
(REAL progress? or 1 step forward, several back?)
REUTERS

Thousands of Sunnis recruited,trained byUS as police--
but NOT given weapons !
-------------------
NewAlliesOrInfiltrators?
It sound sensible to recruit Sunnis who SAY they’re now US allies. But how can we ‘vet’ them—not even understanding ARABIC !--
to make sure they’re not really insurgents INFILTRATING Iraq police,etc.

It was dumb to force all Saddamite officials into insurgency—
but By NOW they may be convinced insurgents.

(New explosion of pipeline, fouling Tigris river, shows that at least some Saddamite oil experts are still ruthlessly willing to harm Iraq.)

BushiesCan’tProtectOilLines.
A bomb went off under a 7-ft-buried line near Iraq’s largest refinery,
Spilling oil into Tigris River
(threatening water supply of all cities downhill,
Including Baghdad..
GUARDIAN.18Sept.

(Bushie blunders forced Saddam’s OIL EXPERTS into insurgency;
they know JUST HOW to blow up crucial pipelines !)

USdiplomats’MainProtectorExpelled:
BLACKWATER personnel shot 8 Iraqis; govt expelled them from Iraq.

This leaves our diplomats unprotected—
Or else GIs must desert other posts to do this job.

This will NOT help get Congress approval
For continued GI presence!

It must be that some Iraqi pols think US will stay despite any provocation;
Others think we will bugout regardless of their activities.
Both groups think nothing they do will affect outcome.

(Half-billion-dollar embassy contains 1000 functionaries,
ONLY TEN of whom understand Arabic adequately.)

IranAttack:RussWorry
A Russ honcho said that a bombing of Iran would have disastrous consequences in the Muslim world
(over ONE THOUSAND MILLIONS of people).

US expert says we would lose support (e.g..) of Turkey and Egypt.
(they wouldn’t dare support us after such a bombing.)
Bloomberg

Apparently AdmFallon says he’d resign before consenting to bomb Iran.
So let’s hope it’s all bluff.

(Perhaps Bushies dream that huge Sunni majority worldwide
wouldn’t mind our bombing SHIA Iran.

They’re wrong. When Shia Hizbollah humiliated Israel,
all the Sunni populations celebrated.)

IRAQwill disappear, replaced by 3 ministates. Best sign of that is that
Hunt Oil (an ally of Bush) is signing a separate contract with Kurdistan (ignoring ‘central govt’s objections.)
So says Paul Krugman (rMtnNews17Sept)

He also thinks Bush intends to work the same trick the right-wingers pulled after Viet fiasco; say that our glorious troops were denied chance at victory
by treasonous peaceniks. (German Military used same trick
to explain losing WWI;this set the stage for Hitler.)
------------
Krauthammer, on the other hand, gives Petraeus’SURGE credit for alleged Sunni turn against Quaeda. (More explanatory might be Quaeda’s sending a box full of the heads of children of Sunni Sheiks !)

Of course now the Bushies CAN’T claim that our pullout would mean
"Quaeda taking over Iraq" !

Even Krauthammer admits the inevitability of partition.

OPTIMISM: Wards,MorgueNearlyEmpty’
In Baghdad, but not in other parts of Iraq.

REUTERS

for civilian-death tendencies all over Iraq, see

http://www.iraqbodycount.org/

Both sides recognize that US media people cower in GreenZone,
not photographing rest of Iraq.

On the other hand, ‘If it bleeds, it leads’.
Our TV pictures will still show explosions, blood.
So this (one month) drop in civilian casualties
May not register with typical Americans--nor with Congress.

US killed down to 2+ a day, plus many more wounded.
(Average since Feb. about 3+ a day).

BELGIUM SPLITTING?
After centuries of 'unity', they'll split into Flanders & Wallonia.
If THESE ethnic groups need to split,
then OF COURSE Sunnis & Shia will split,
resulting in 3 ministates.

BritsAbandonIraqAllies?
Insurgents kidnap former interpreter.
UnitedPress
Will fleeing Americans also abandon allies,
as they did in Vietnam?

(A perceptive Viet-era cartoon:
Pompous US diplomat tells Viet ally thru translator:
"We will of course always stand up for our allies."
Translator's version :"Run for your life!")

FRENCH RT-WINGERS WARN OF WAR VS. IRAN
But atomic-inspector head says ONLY with SecurityCouncil approval
(never happen !)
[SeattlePI,17Sept]

French are not very dependent on OIL (having bet on Nuke Power!)
But Israel, America, and China ARE.

Attack on Iran would send oil prices thru the roof.
Would China allow this?

NATIONALunityNOTthe issue:
Main Shia party begs Sadrites to rejoin the Shia alliance..
without it, they don’t even control the parliament
(without agreement of Kurds, who have defacto seceded from Iraq).

NATIONAL unity (including Sunnis!) is a fond dream;

these pols are worried that even the PRETENCE of
a FUNCTIONING central govt. is fading.

'Ruling' coalition now holds only 83 of 275 Parliament seats.

High price to pay for snubbing Sadrites,
to appease Bushies.

BloodForOil: The latest to bring this charge (of open deception about WMDs etc) against the Bushies is not a peacenik, but right-winger Greenspan.

This motive would be rational, tho wicked.

The main point, though, is that the world is NOT getting much oil from Iraq—as everyone should have expected (once Bushies drove Saddam’s oil experts into the insurgency—they knew just how to sabotage the pipelines.)

But Bushies can’t give up the DREAM of Iraq oil.

QuaedaHasLastWord:
MilitantsStepUpAttacks:
Reuters

Bush just hasn’t got it yet: every time he brags that
Baghdad (or even Iraq) has been ‘partially pacified’,
Quaeda insurgents effortlessly step up their attacks.

They always have the last word.
--------
Bushie generals brag they got the guy that killed our top ally.
Is he really the killer? Nobody knows.

But the world does know that US couldn’t protect
even their most visibleSunni ally,
who posed with Bush the week before !

GATES:LongStay
GUARDIAN
http://www.guardian.co.uk/uslatest/story/0,,-6925980,00.html
The mission would be changed to
1) border security: presumably trying to prevent IRANIAN infiltration (and to allow Saudi Sunni penetration);
2) Fighting terrorists: mainly fighting Sadrites, assuming that Quaeda will be crushed by Sunni Sheiks—a huge assumption !
Gates compared a long stay in Iraq with
our 55 yr stay in Korea— forgetting that
GIs have NOT been ATTACKED
in So.Korea since 1953 !

If we really fight all the ‘terrorist’ insurgents,
GI CASUALTIES will continue to enrage Americans.
This will NOT be acceptable !

3) Bolstering “IraqiArmy’, i.e., bolstering the Badrite Shia militia
vs. Sadrites—forgetting that the Badrites might be MORE CLOSELY allied
with Iran than are the Sadrites !

In other words, this new ‘changed mission’ is as incoherent as the old one.

ShiaSheiksVs.Militias?
Bushie generals say some sheiks are suggesting their troops be armed & legitimized by US
(as Sunni-sheik-forces in Anbar are),
so they can ward off gangsters and Badri/Sadri quarrelers—
and THEY SAY, guard vs. Iran.
SeattlePI
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1107AP_Iraq_Shiite_Sheiks.html

US worries that they might not be sincere—that we might end up with a 4th quarreling shia militia—actually friendly with Iran !

(They’re more likely to be sincere than SUNNI sheiks, when 93% of Sunnis OK killing GIs.)
This process will take years, even if it succeeds. It took ignorant Bushies nearly 5 years to recognize TRIBAL power.

Petraeus is criticized by SEVERAL MILITARY SUPERIORS;
with Adm.Fallon it’s ‘ARMAGEDDON’;
with the Joint Chiefs, disagreement, and even with Gates.
SeattleTimes

One theory:
Fallon wants to attack IRAN (2 aircraft carriers over there ‘at the ready’),but he knows he’d have to have SOME backup of the air-blitz by land-troops.

(As an admiral he has no idea of HOW MUCH troop backup would be needed against the militarily-sophisticated Iranian military, and the thousands of suicide-volunteers that would be available ! Nor does he care about
the slaughter of remaining GIs in next-door Iraq that would result from an Iran attack.
---------
Petraeus’ main interest, perhaps, is in attacking CHAVEZ of Venezuela.
(This project might seem to IMPROVE our oil supply; Fallon’s would spike up gas prices enormously and immediately !)
He is interested in perfecting a ‘friendlier’ style of occupation,
that wouldn’t trigger such a fierce insurgency in Ven.(Boy is HE wrong !)

P.is practicing those tactics in Iraq, knowing full-well they won’t really work there, perfectly willing to sacrifice thousands of POINTLESS US casualties
to carry out his experiment.

Ah, the distractions of the lure of empire.

All this is from an attempt to see SOME SEMI-RATIONAL reason
for Petraeus’ silly position (“KeepBuyingTime till PigsFly.”)

(aside from saving Bush’s ego—and this shouldn’t seem so important, because promotions after ’08 will NOT depend on Bush.)

RealGoal ofSURGE was to buy time until
--Sunnis/Shia make nice together;

--until PIGS FLY.

“Ass-kissing little chickenshit’-- Admiral Fallon so described
his underling Petraeus.

Apparently Fallon wants to pull out most GIs from Iraq—why?

Perhaps so they can be free to back up air-attack on Pakistan and/or Iran. Gulp.
IPShttp://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=39235

SadritesOutOfAlliance
Leaves dominant Shia group with only 50% of parliament,
needing support from outside parties.

Legislators denounce Bushie habit of blaming troubles
on ‘Iran, Syria, & our govt’—
when problems are from Bushie bungles.

30 casualties from Baghdad bomb,
just after Bush bragged about more peaceful Baghdad.
REUTERS

‘Support’rolesNotSafer !
Bush tries to pacify critics by saying that more GIs will be moved
from ‘combat’ roles to ‘support’ roles.
But support roles in this war (e.g., supply trucks or copters)
areNOT necessarily any SAFER from bombs than combat roles.

So no assurance that CASUALTY NUMBERS OR RATES drop—
and that’s what Americans care about !
WashPost

UNLESS this is CODE for pulling back into central bases—
which must be dangerously supplied—
so this also might NOT lower casualties.

BritBugout:
Half their troops will flee SOON to Kuwait,
where they SAY they’ll still have role In Iraq war.
UnitedPress

Crowded Kuwait won’t have room for US troops
when THEY pullout.
US will have to flee to KURDISTAN,
hoping to escape by TURKISH port.

We’ll see if Turks allow that,
while some US troops remain in Kurdistan
to prevent Turks from conquering there.

We’ll see if Brit version of ‘gradual’ pullout
lowers Brit CASUALTY-RATE.

Iran/IraqTies
Much to Bushie frustration, brisk trade goes on, with Iraq buying huge amounts of Iranian goods, and Iran investing in
Iraq’s crippled electrical system.

If anything, the Shia Badrites (backed by Bushies vs. Sadrites)
are even closer to Iran !
SeattlePI

Bushie invasion removed 2 of Iran’s enemies: Saddam & Taliban.
Iran will definitely WIN Bush's dumb war.

Now they may bomb hell out of Iran,
Deluding themselves that will cover this huge blunder.

Cordesman Partly Right:
“We can’t disentangle from Iraq, for 4 reasons” he says
--vs GRADUAL pullout: the fewer troops left would be more at the mercy of insurgents, liable for MORE CASUALTIES; (this part of his case is persuasive—but it does not bar COMPLETE, SUDDEN PULLOUT.)

--Oil: a huge portion of world’s oil supplies; but Bushies hint at BOMBING IRAN, with same huge portion.
Most Iraq oil is in future Shialand, which WILL be allied with Iran.

“--A restored Iraq would balance influence of Iran;” But this only if Iraq were run again by Sunni dictator—and that won’t happen.
Both Shia factions (Badrite & Sadrite) are ALLIED closely with Iran.

Anyway, the world won't see 'RESTORED IRAQ' ever, only 3 ministates.

US is building a FUTILE WALL between future Shialand and Iran, presumably to stop Iranian infiltration to help Shia in coming open civil war with Sunnis.

Shia outnumber Sunni 3 to 1, and they WILL get military guidance and weapons from Iran’s huge, war-hardened military. (You can bet that a huge system of weapon-hiding tunnels is being built in Iran, in case US does bomb 1200 sites in 3 days--alaPearlHarbor!--as one Pentagon plan has it.)

--“Dealing with Quaeda and Sadrites (!) by mere airpower…is absurd.” (He’s right there !)
Of course it's equally absurd to think Iranian power can be countered just by airpower !

BangorDailyNews,cited in USATODAY,15Sept

COUNT VOTES & $
Bush declares OPEN WAR on Congress,
vowing no real troop-cutdowns right thru ’08 election.

--PEACENIKS like me will give NO MONEY to Obama or Hilary,
who advocate LIKE BUSH ‘merely partial pullback.’
(No assurance that # of CASUALTIES would diminish !)

--21GOP Senators who must run in ‘ 08 are between rock & hard place:
----If they don’t push for REAL withdrawal (allied with Dems)
they won’t get re-elected;

----If they do side with Dems, they won’t get re-elected--
because the moron GOP voters in their RED districts won’t back them
in primaries.

----(2d alternative is worse; at least if they win the primaries they’ll get a chance at LONGER public spotlight for their meaningless chatter--
tho wasting backers' millions.)

--If Dems do take Presidency & filibuster-proof legis.majority in ’08,
Dem Pres must take ugly step of complete bugout in Iraq.
Dem leg. Majority may well disappear in ’10,
in (unreasonable) gut reaction of dumb voters to open bugout.

--If Dem Party is unscrupulous enough, it may benefit (in ’10 & ’12 elections) from yielding control of Congress & WhiteHouse to GOP in ’08,
so GOP takes blame for ugly bugout.

Who's really to blame? Dumb Voters.

MIL.ADVISORS splitONremainingTroops:
One guy said, “Petraeus is not likely to admit failure
of HIS Surge strategy!”

Pessimist officers worry about POINTLESS strain on troops.
NYTIMES

HelplessSelfishness: Well-to-do Americans don’t care about welfare of the ordinary person or (of course) of the ‘unworthy’ poor.

They (and the really wealthy) care only to minimize taxes.

But then the ordinaries/poor can’t even buy crap from Walmart—and EVERYONE suffers from a recession.

RedefinedObjective:
Bush ‘redefines’ goal in Iraq..so he can call it Victory & bugout.
When you can’t make goal regular way, you move goal-posts.

MarkTwain redefined his 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.”

Bush can call a bugout a victory—but he won’t really pull out,
leaving that ugly action to next (Dem) Pres,
so Dem Congress will have only 2 yrs after ’09.

NotEnoughTroops?
Russ analysts say Bush Iraq strategy must fail, because he’s committed NOT ENOUGH troops to succed.
UnitedPress

One US legislator put it very well: “If GIs are there to fight insurgents, there are nowhere near enough of them in Iraq;
if their main function is to serve as targets, there are way TOO MANY.”

Bush (backed by GOP legislators) can defy most Americans and Dems by NOT REMOVING troops, but he dare not send MORE troops, after the spectacular failure of the SURGE to improve things in Iraq.

PetraeusGIVES THE GAME AWAY:
“I don’t know how long it will take
to beat insurgency”, says Petraeus,
“but I DO know that
America WON’T stay the course for 10 years.”

USATODAY13Sept

Earlier he had said that insurgencies take 9/10 years to defeat.

In other words, sooner or later we’re going to
bugout (withdraw WITHOUT PREVAILING.).

SO the sooner the better, the later the worse.

TOP ALLY KILLED
US can’t even protect our TOP ALLIES
(this poor guy met with Bush last week!)

http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/story?id=3596631

MEANDERING TOWARD FAILURE:

Petraeus warns against RUSHING to failure in Iraq.

USATODAY13sEPT

He wants to go SLOWLY toward failure—
Dripping GI blood at every leisurely step.

LittlePressureForReconciliation
Shia govt relies on Bush to keep troops in whatever they do—
so they’re certainly not going to make important concessions
to hated Sunnis(former oppressors, present bombers) !

“Iraq after we pull out will be like Iraq now: a split between Kurds and Arabs,
civil war among the Arabs.”
SeattlePI

NoOil-Sharing! Kurds write oil-contracts IGNORING central ‘govt.’
UnitedPress

Bushies attack Shia neighborhoods, but arm Shia army (militia). If they were rational, we’d guess they’re arming BADRITES to conquer SADRITES
(both camps allied with hated Iran) !

“IranRocketHitsUSBase” SAYS GENERAL.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB118967629265226253.html?mod=googlenews_wsj
This might very well be true; but we’d hardly believe it based on claims
byBushie generals !

Bushies want to bomb Iran so badly they can taste it.

But they don’t need excuse—who would stop them?

And the excuses are pointless: no sensible person would believe
any controversial claims these liars make !

The more Bushies rant about Iran,the more POPULAR Iran gets among the US-loathing Iraqi majority.

StillAnotherRtWingerForSplit: David Brooks, a smarmy right-winger, just helped break the taboo on advocating partition of Iraq into 3 ministates. (Like it or not, it’s happening.)

"All we can do is to inhibit the violence while Iraqis feel their way to partition."

Some Sunni Shieks,says hawkish VincentCarroll in rMtnNews,12Sept, now say their main enemy now is NOT alQuaeda (was it ever?)
but the Shia govt. we support in Baghdad !

AMAZING GOP POLs' LOYALTY to Bush/Cheney,
after CH. said
“We did not get elected to help the Republican Party!”

Of course the truth is NOT loyalty to these party traitors,
but fear of the coming GOP primaries. If they dissent,
infinite dollars, coming covertly from war corporations,
can raise up primary rivals—
and the remnant of GOP voters are the right-wing nuts.

Note that the more honest GOP legislators like Hagel & Warner are simply not running again.

STORMS THREATEN OIL REFINERIES
One can deplore threat to lives & houses
without deploring threats to Gas Supply.

The whole point of ‘war vs. drugs’ is to make drugs
MORE EXPENSIVE,to deter future addicts--
even at COST OF MORE SUFFERING for present addicts.

SUV owners are just as addicted to gas as addicts are to cocaine.

At least high gas prices will cut super-dangerous
SUV-miles driven by teens.
---------
Hurricanes threatening Gulf, plus oil sabotage in Nigeria & Mexico,
make world ever more dependent on OPEC,
which INCLUDES IRAN!

Dare they bomb Iran?

OUTsaysObama !
He calls for removal of ALL COMBAT BRIGADES from Iraq
by end of ’08.
GUARDIAN
http://www.guardian.co.uk/Iraq/Story/0,,2167496,00.html

Thus he dramatizes difference between him and HAWK HILARY.
He realizes Bushies intend to leave troops in
as time-bomb for next (Dem) President to have to remove.
--------
OOPS--like Hilary, Obama wants to leave in thousands of GIs (to train Govt. forces (Shia Militias!) and to guard US diplomats (cowering in their half-billion-dollar embassy; of 1000 functionaries there, only TEN understand Arabic adequately !)

RussSuperbomb:
This is powerful as an A-bomb,but without nightmare radiation.
UnitedPress

So much for AmericanEmpire. No nation will obey us to defy Russia now.
(We can’t punish Russ, since they have thousands of H-bombs
as 2d-strike deterrents.)

(A firm alliance between superpowers Russia, China, and US WOULD rule the world—and the world needs ruling--but their rulers are too stupid for that.)

Instead, an apocalyptic war between them is most likely.

‘SoldiersBackPetraeus’?
That’s what our tame media reports.
In fact, Generals censor soldiers’ blogs,

and soldiers know they can get rewarded
BY OFFICERS WHO CONTROL THEIR LIVES/DEATHS—

just as generals agree with Bushies to protect their promotions.

2 GIs critical of war killed in truck accident.

Men under COMMANDER-IN-CHIEF are unlikely to express
different opinions.

US HQ mortared /10 casualties/

US attacks Sadrite neighborhood again.
SeattlePI
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/331324_iraq12.html

The first point shows WEAKNESS of proposals to CUT GI CASUALTIES
by pulling back to ‘safer’ (and useless) central bases. These can be rocketed, mortared—
and the trucks or copters supplying them are vulnerable to bombs and missiles.

The 2d point shows that we may be CLUMSILY trying to help Shia Badrites prevail over Sadrites..it will backfire, since Sadrites outnumber badrites by far.

HowWill ItEnd? Another hawk predicts ‘soft partition’ (unadmitted, deFacto split between Kurdland, Shialand, and Sunni/ArabLand—mainly the Anbar province—with vestigial, toothless central govt.)
KoreaHerald

That’s what Lyons has been predicting,and advocating, for months and months.

We Just Can't !
A sensible USATODAY editorial [2 million circulation!] starts out asking
the 2 questions vital to deciding
whether we COULD ‘stay the course’ in Iraq:

--Could we ‘succeed’ in the TIME-RANGE US voters will accept?
(No—success, even if possible, would take many years)

--How many troops will be needed in the next couple of years?
(At least 140,000 by NEXT JULY…after that, who knows?)

Then general facts
and the grisly report from ONE RECENT DAY
are cited to show that our commitment CANNOT BE
“as open-ended as Petraeus/Crocker are asking for.”

TRUST GENERALS'VIEW?

Gen.Petraeus & colleagues are ambitious men, with possible promotions
IF they say what their Bushie bosses want.

During the Viet war, one question was this: why do lower-level commanders tell optimistic story to their generals, but pessimist story to journalists.?

“Because our careerist generals want to hear only the good news,
which they can pass on to their D.C.bosses.”

Note how Brit generals felt free to denounce Blair/Bush strategy
ONLY AFTER THEY RETIRED !

SAFER,BUT USELESS?
LessenedFuture USCombatRole, says Iraqi honcho.
CNN,11Sept.
He understands that the main concern of bushies is to lower the awful rate of US casualties before ’08 election.

To do that, they might have to pull troops back into ‘safe’ bases and render them USELESS in the battle vs. Quaeda.
(Similarly, Brits have pulled back into a safe,useless role in Basra.)

This might not work.’Safe’ Bases can be rocketed, mortared.
(60 soldiers were just rocketed at their base INSIDE ISRAEL !)

They need enormous amounts of supplies, and neither trucks nor copters are safe suppliers.

Who’sOurEnemyInIraq?
The headline on R.Peters column in USATODAY11SEPT, SAYS”The enemy has become our ally, and in many cases
our allies have become the enemy.”

It would be more accurate to say that, fearing a rich Shia ministate allied with Iran, the Bushie generals have deliberately PICKED A WAR with former Shia allies (e.g., bombing neighborhoods in Sadr City).

And there is very little sign that the Sunni insurgency has weakened.
(93% of Sunnis approve of attacks on GIs.--our new allies ? !)

So our poor GIs now face a two-front war.

HawkFinally AgreesWith LYONS !
Ancient Hawk C.Krauthammer explicitly calls for split of Iraq into 3 deFacto ministates (as Kurdland is already deFacto independent.—with vestigial, toothless ‘central govt.’

He notes that the tribes are separating on their own,
without anyAgency drawing borders etc.
RMtnNews,10Sept.p.35

What an admission of despair for Bushies, who hate idea of rich Shia ministate in South, allied with Iran (no matter which faction wins).

K cites JosephBiden (for a long time now) and several scholars as noting this inevitable tendency.

LYONS has discussed this forbidden topic for months and months.

Then incredibly, K. says this tendency means we SHOULDN’T pull out,
lest the partititioning ‘descend into chaos’.
He thinks the Bushies, trying to sabotage this necessary movement, must remain in charge? !

BUGOUT, not SURRENDER:
GOP mouthpiece McConnell says a limiting date for final pullout would be
the date of SURRENDER.
B.S ! 60% of Americans disagree.

We bugged out of Vietnam(pulled out without prevailing),
but surrendered to nobody.
We had little at stake, so lost very little.

Shame is NOT in our bugging out,
but in our BARGING INTO
Needless, pointless, heartless, brainless, WINLESS wars
like Vietnam & Iraq & Afghanistan.

QuaedaLuredUSintoIraqWar, say experts,
thus undermining our Mideast influence.
Reuters,10Sept

HOMELAND won’t be safe from terrorists for a generation.

Precautions vs. terrorists are EXPENSIVE ;

We can’t afford them while we shovel
$1300 MILLIONS a DAY to Pentagon,

USELESS vs. anonymous individual terrorists.

SEVENTY%: of Iraqis
(EVERYIraqi interviewed in Baghdad & Anbar, our ‘success’ regions’ !)
say “SURGE has worsened security”
plus 11% ‘No improvement’.

47%: ‘GIs out NOW !”

57%:’OK to attack GIs.’

Only 6 in 10 oppose split into 3 ministates.
SeattlePI
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1107AP_Iraq_Security_Poll.html

Like it or not, split is inevitable.

Baghdad pseudo-govt.(mouthing Bushie line)
wantsNO TIMETABLE.
‘Not ready yet’
Not ready for US pullout—or even for TIMETABLE !
SeattlePI
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/331011_iraqwar10.html

unlike the batteries, these guys are NEVER-READY !

5 MexicoPipelinesSabotaged !
MSNBC,10September
We should remember that binLaden called for terrorists to attack
vulnerable oil facilities WORLDWIDE.

Such news makes the world all the more dependent
on reliable IRANIAN oil—makes it all the nuttier
to consider bombing Iran.

‘SurgeWorking/NeedsMoreTime’
We could have predicted Bushie-CAREERIST Petraeus’ report months ago.
USNEWS&WorldReport
http://www.usnews.com/usnews/politics/bulletin/bulletin_070910.htm

60% of Americans, undeceived, now want
a pullout-timetable.[USATODAY,10Sept]

His report should have read,
“Surge hardly working; more time won’t really help.”

Bushies admit they’ll pull out extra SURGE troops BEFORE Iraq army is ready. Whatever areas they’ve ‘cleared’, they WON’T HOLD.

PROGRESS ‘UNEVEN’: 83 GIs killed in August
[probably 240 seriously wounded]
(looks good only against 100 a month killed in previous3 months)

Civilian deaths spike up inIraq.

No improvement in services like electricity, even in Baghdad.

One in Six Iraqis have fled their homes, half to other countries.

Mixed Neighborhoods now ‘cleansed’ ethnically.
SeattlePI

AFGHAN SECURITY WORSE;
’Let’s talk to Taliban LEADERS!”
says our worried puppet Kharzai.
http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5iD4sc2lGx1ZZh1gns8egu-fK8uFg

Taliban says it's ready to talk to Kharzai./10Sept

Bush is only leader inUS history who is losing 2 wars at once—
also, the world ‘war vs. terrorism' in general/

ANOTHER NUT HEARD FROM:
RUMMY says our afghan project 'a big success' !

WHY WEAK? Why did binLaden say US is ‘weak’?
It’s true that our Pentagon efforts have been ineffective:
We haven’t WON a REAL WAR for 60 years.

But why would b.L. remind us of this?
If it would have any effect it would strengthen the minority here who says we mustn’t ‘bugout’.

That’s what he wants. The longer we ‘stay the course’, incurring tens of thousands MORE casusalties, WITHOUT ultimately prevailing, the MORE HUMILIATION we incur.

His nasty remark however also strengthens the Dem pols like Obama who say we must pullout of Iraq IN ORDER TO CONCENTRATE on capturing b.L. on the border of Afghan/Pakistan.

(Shia) CorruptionWorseThanTerrorism, says prominent Shia ayatollah. He calls for stop to use of mosques to preach support for sectarian pol. Parties.

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1107AP_Iraq_Shiites.html
Will he be heeded?

PROGRESS ‘UNEVEN’: says Petraeus.
Highest GI & civilian casualties; 3 bridges blown; and no progress toward ‘reconciliation’ & pacification of Sunni insurgents—indeed,
new attacks from SHIA enraged by our bombing their neighborhoods.
Some Sunni shieks SAY they’re now aligned with US vs. Qaeda. So far this has NOT lowered US casualties.

One step forward, 10 back. I GUESS ‘uneven’ !

BinLaden says we’re weak; Thompson blames dissenters.
Actually, our main weakness is goofy GOPs blindly following their demented President--("We're kicking ass in Iraq!" he says.)

FEWER JEWISH ZIONISTS:
Non-orthodox US Jews (the large majority) are falling out of love with Israel.

http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3446492,00.html

KickingAss?

The incumbent nincompoop says ‘We’re kicking ass’ in Iraq.
http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/

This tiny foot is hardly felt by this huge insurgent Butt.

Around the world, only one in four people want US to ‘stay the course’ in Iraq.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/Iraq/Story/0,,2164450,00.html

About the same minority of nuts as in US.

3 BRIDGES blown up
SeattlePI

Bridges are supposed to be easy to guard.

PARTIAL PULLOUT?
‘SymbolicStanddown’ of a small % of GIs in Iraq, either at Xmas this year, or next Spring.
FORBES,7Sept

Nobody seems to notice this dilemma with a PARTIAL bugout:

Either the REMAINING troops will be MORE AT RISK, if they continue their active role—(assuming that the withdrawn troops are not superfluous—
in fact there are nowhere near enough GIs NOW to solve the ‘security’ problem—especially now that GIs must take on also the role of bugged-out Brits in Basra--and Iraqi army won’t be ready for at least 2 years.)

OR they will be pulled back to cut down GI casualties,which enrage voters,--
22killed,probably 60 seriously wounded THIS WEEK !
At the price of having almost no useful role in fighting insurgents.

And it’s not clear that even pulling back to ‘safe’ bases (which must be SUPPLIED, at risk of road-bombs) will lower the crucial figure of GI casualties each month.

“Pol.impasseWorstObstacleToUSpullout” says new report.
NYTIMES
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/09/06/washington/06cnd-cong.html

And nobody has pretended there has been ANY progress regarding this impasse.

As for ‘security’ progress, 7 GIs were killed yesterday, with probably another 20 maimed or seriously wounded. No results so far from 'depriving them of safe sanctuary'.

Rejoicing at BadNews?
I’ve been accused of joy over bad news for our army in Iraq.
Not so—I’m aware that this bad news is bad for our GIs and for Iraqis;
It doesn’t harm Bush at all.

However, I am pleased that this bad-news changes from
‘It’s CLEAR that our war there is winless’ to
“It’s SCREAMINGLY OBVIOUS that our war there is winless.”

Such evidence bounces right off the Bushies.
But it may convince enough GOP legislators (running for office I n ’08) that they should face the music, and join a veto-proof majority to demand that
ALL our troops be brought home SOON.

Bushie says we’ll have to stay on in Iraq even under a new President,
to maintain a ‘credible presence in the Mideast’.(USATODAY6Sept)
(We have two AIRCRAFT CARRIERS there already!)

Do YOU care ENOUGH about this ‘credible presence’
to sacrifice several THOUSAND MORE GIs in Iraq
(killed, maimed, or seriously wounded)?

Probably not, unless you’re a fanatic ZIONIST
(a tiny minority with enormous lobbying power.)

Many Jewish Americans are NOT that brand of Zionist.

HomelandSecurityDept.Deficient in progress in most parameters, after 4 yrs.
UnitedPress

Besides mis-spending $, the Dept gets far few billions to misspend—
about one $ for every 10$ going to Pentagon,
which is useless vs. anonymous, individual terrorists.

(the Pentagon is famous for wasting trillions !)

Corrupt, sectarian Iraqi police should be disbanded completely, and reformed, said a new report.

The army showed promise, but would not be ready to operate alone
for 12-18 months.
[Natl.PublicRadio]
Too close to elections here !

8GisKilledIn2Days.(3by nightmare'molten shell'.)

Maliki has half his cabinet posts empty.
He thinks it unlikely that Sunni members will return.
SeattlePI
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1107AP_Iraq.html

Even PRETENCE of 'reconciliation govt.' has faded.

THE GENDER-REVOLUTION:
MALE FEMINISTS:
A man who was bullied as a boy often tends to have sympathy with all underdogs of every kind—and women have been the most noticeable underdogs all thru history, in every culture
(the Christian cultures have been bad, but the least bad.)
[This man might also enjoy hearing how barefoot natives can bring down copter gunships with shoulder-missiles—
as long as the copters are not from HIS nation.]

But all that automatic male superiority is changing:
women are now often the superiors of men, in important human roles.
In America, for the first time anywhere in history, significantly more women are finishing college and taking grad degrees than men !

US women still work for less than men in comparable roles.
That institution hurts men more than women.
The underpaid women get the jobs; their male rivals, indignant at low pay,
end up unemployed, which is much worse.

WHOSE FAULT IS IT THAT WOMEN ARE REPLACING MEN IN IMPORTANT ROLES?
Many men blame the women.

However, many of these women would, if possible, prefer the ‘subordinate’ role of wife/mother.
But since a significant number of modern men tend to wander off
and not support their children, fathers tend to warn their daughters that they must get training in public careers in case they have to support their families. (Otherwise the burden may fall on the wife’s father!)

WHOSE FAULT IS IT THAT TRADITIONAL MALE ‘VIRTUES’ ARE NOW LESS SCARCE & MARKETABLE?
Think of muscles. It’s awe-inspiring to see a huge digging machine replacing many, many muscular human workers.

Think of technical skills. It may be so that males,
on the average, have innately more aptitude than females
in acquiring such skills.
(This seems more true in US than in other nations, suggesting that
the extra aptitude is NOT innate, but culturally taught.)

But even if men have more innate aptitude for high technical skills than woman do, past technical improvements make (e.g., ) computer-programming easier than it once was, so more women can do this.

(I know a woman making lots of money because she has the talent to query databases; she can figure out how the writers were thinking and thus can phrase useful questions.)

Not only that, it was innovations in computer communication that enabled
an MD in India—possibly a woman--to read a Sonogram in US, replacing a US MD—who would expect MUCH higher pay.

Even in war, robots may do the fighting, guided perhaps
by women operating back at a safe distance.

Who made these first innovations that made muscles and fierceness unscarce, and also high technical skills? OTHER MEN !

The worst enemies of the average male worker are
the technical MALE geniuses,
at the bidding of male OWNERS,
who have empowered women to compete better with men.

And the men should feel more threatened by the pay-gap between male and female workers than women do.
Single mothers often manage somehow, on low pay,
to survive with their children (tho it’s getting harder
what with sky-high medical costs,etc.)

Men who high-handedly neglected to develop reading skills as boys may end up completely unemployed.
This happened once with Irish immigrants (the women were welcomed as maids and nurses; the slobbish men were often unemployed, except as police, firemen, criminals, or laborers)
then with US blacks—
now it’s happening among whites—
only now there is no ‘first-rung’ on the ladder up
(available manual labor jobs).
(Criminality is still a first-rung up—
but female whores are more in demand than male whores.)

This reversal of superior-roles is happening all over the world
(inMuslim societies last!) This is the most basic revolution in history
(Even inferior men used to feel automatically superior to the other half
of the human race—no more.)

This gender-revolution will involve more suffering than any revolution. (Enraged males will attack women.)
But it is unstoppable—because
the male rulers of the world have decided to back it.

WhatCountsAsIraqVictory ?
One in three polled answered a different question,
saying victory is IMPOSSIBLE.
(A dim 11% said we’ve already WON there!)

Some said victory would be a secure Iraq;
others say a democratic, stable Iraq.
UnitedPress

Neither outcome is in fact possible in foreseeable future.

‘WeMayHaveToSendTroopsToBasra’, now that Brits have bugged out there, says US gen.

(India/Zee.com)
We have far too few troops to ‘do the job’ in the rest of Iraq;
our failure will be more assured when we stretch our forces thinner
by this expansion of our role.

TrickySpeechwriters: Bush said, “Now (a)those who don’t want us in Iraq, who don’t care about what happens there—those people (b) will say there’s been no progress there.”

His writers are counting on his dim remnant of supporters to think
“If all (a) is (b) then all (b) is (a).” [like: If all spaniels are dogs, then all dogs are spaniels.]
In other words all those despairing of the project MUST want it to fail.

Truth is: a GOP Senator could WISH fervently for Bush’s project to succeed, but he could note the cold fact:
--Reconciliation between Sunnis and the Shia/Kurd majority is NOT POSSIBLE IN THE FORESEEABLE FUTURE. Our troops there will NOT prevent the oncoming full civil war

If he keeps the troops there, pointlessly sacrificing tens of thousands MORE GIs (killed, maimed, seriously wounded) then GOP legislators who have to run in ’08 may join with Dems to form a veto-proof majority
and cut off funding for more war.

On the other hand, these poor GOPs may realize that, voting for war’s end, they may have to face a primary rival, financed secretly by the war-corporations—so they may face defeat however they vote.

Let’s hope that despair will make them see they might as well vote their conscience to end this loony enterprise soon.

INNOCENT MUSLIMS: There are one billion Muslims worldwide, 1000 millions. It’s hard to visualize a number like that. Think of it this way:

If (God forbid!) there are 100,000 Muslim terrorists (& sympathizers), that’s only 1 in 10,000. Practically all Muslims (9999 in every 10,000) are innocent.

We have every reason to fear terrorists, of every race & color and language, worldwide. We should set up expensive Homeland Defense measures; but we can’t afford to, as long as we shovel $1300 MILLIONS per DAY to the Pentagon, pretty useless against anonymous, individual terrorists.

But we should remember that practically all Muslims are sane and innocent. (Surely 1 in 10,000 white Americans are crazy—like Timothy McVeigh—but NOT all in the same direction…that’s the difference.)

3MINISTATES INEVITABLE:
ETHNIC CLEANSING PROCEEDS:
Baghdad mixed neighborhoods continue to split into all-Sunni or all-Shia.

Our mighty SURGE hasn’t helped.
LATIMES
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-surge4sep04,0,3817546.story?coll=la-home-center

Inevitable outcome: split into 3 ministates,
exposure of‘central govt’ as toothless.

NO POLIT.PROGRESS
NO BENCHMARK LAWS proposed for reconvened Iraq parliament.

Only a bare quorum even showed up.

Leaders of different sects had a month to meet, agree and propose such laws,
But…

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

Only an intelligent, benevolent, ruthless dictator could force these sects to agree. As is so often the case, no such ruler is available.

“IRANwelcomesGift of Basra” say German commentators
on Brit bugout from Basra, Iraq’s only seaport.
[Iran allies will take over Basra.]
deSpiegel

USATODAY VS.PENTAGON:
This paper, with 2 million readers, has set out
to expose the perhaps-criminal negligence of the Rumsfeld team
heading the Pentagon, in regard to underfunding or just refusing to acquire body armor and improvement of the death-trap humvees to protect Iraq GIs from road-bombs—accounting for half of the 3700 GI deaths.

Read the whole article to get this incredible story.

I’d just note here the black-humor responses
of Pentagon acquisition officers to Congressional needling on this issue.

The best response: “From the get-go we [worked to get these improvements] into the field as soon as possible.”
[The speedup dates to ’04, 2 YRS AFTER INVASION]--
“There is a great sense of urgency,
and THERE ALWAYS HAS BEEN.”

About one improved vehicle, two top Pent.brass said they’d never heard about it ! And when grilled, one said the question was ‘irrelevant’.

But one Congressman unwittingly gives the best explanation:
spending to protect GIs may be URGENT BUT NOT SO IMPORTANT, compared to acquiring weapons for FUTURE WARS.

In other words, the Pentagon slush-funds
($1300 MILLIONS each DAY)
are already spoken for by the war industries making super planes, etc. (counter-productive in a war vs. individual insurgents.)

These legislators just don’t understand that the Pent. Is NOT a war-machine, as much as a machine for shoveling trillions to favored war-corporations.
------------
Desperate Gates is outsourcing to non-Pentagon experts the counter-road-bomb project. [UPI.com, 4Sept]