News from the Colonies - America's War in Iraq [Archive] - Page 2

Tiassa

05-07-04, 04:50 PM

Amid Savagery and Calm
Polish TV crew killed in shooting; al-Sadr leaves Najaf to preach

A veteran Polish journalist and colleague have died after a gunmen shot up their car. Waldemar Milewicz, 47, was killed in the initial attack; Mounir Bouamrane, 36, died in the second pass. Cameraman Jerzy Ernst was injured in the attack, shot in the arm.

Polish network TVP led its midday news broadcasts with a tribute to Milewicz, who once said of the dangers of covering international conflicts, "You can get killed in downtown Warsaw."

Meanwhile, over in Kufa, Moqtada al-Sadr made the short trip from Najaf under heavy guard--including anti-aircraft weapons--to preach strong condemnations of the United States and the Coalition occupation to an enthusiastic crowd that chanted "Yes to freedom! Yes to independence!"

Al-Sadr's blistering address capitalized on the prison scandal:"What sort of freedom and democracy can we expect from you when you take such joy in torturing Iraqi prisoners? . . . . [Bush's] statements are not enough . . . [The guards] must be punished in kind." (BBC (http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/3693001.stm))Despite seeking to arrest the Iraqi cleric, US troops did not intervene in his travel.

Also on Friday, Sheikh Sadreddin Kubanji appealed to al-Sadr and his supporters to leave Najaf: "The Najafis will be responsible for protecting Najaf."
_____________________

• BBC. "Polish TV crew attacked in Iraq." May 7, 2004. See http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/3693389.stm
• BBC. "Cleric urges Sadr to leave Najaf." May 7, 2004. See http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/3693001.stm

Tiassa

05-08-04, 06:07 AM

Did he say "slaves"?
Cleric goes insane at Kufa

Just as I never thought it would actually come to the WMD scandal President Bush has called down from the heavens, nor did I expect ....

I mean ....In a sermon at Friday prayers in a Kufa mosque, al-Sadr rejected Bush's apology for the abuse. And an al-Sadr aide, Sheik Abdul-Sattar al-Bahadli, offered worshippers in Basra up to $350 for the capture of a British soldier - adding that anyone capturing a female soldier can keep her as a slave - apparently in retaliation for the treatment of Iraqi prisoners. (Guardian Unlimited (http://www.guardian.co.uk/worldlatest/story/0,1280,-4064803,00.html))Understand, my first reaction was, "Okay, this war is out of hand!" But ... compared to what?!

Slaves?!

I think this is evidence that militant religious fundamentalism just isn't smart. I mean . . . .

A note to Moqtada al Sadr -

Quite simply: Such open misogyny and a call for slavery are among the things you can do that will most quickly see the patient clearance given your religious fanaticism among pacifists who recognize the reality of resistance to an illegal military occupation revoked. Welcome to the twenty-first century; you ought to try it out before you make your exit. I seriously doubt there is a middle ground left to find in your dispute with the occupiers. In all honesty, I will be very surprised if the Bush administration tolerates you into June. And before you shoot your mouth off, you might wish to consider what the world will allow the Americans and British to do in retaliation if anyone takes you up on the slavery bit.
____________________

• Guardian Unlimited. "Bremer First Heard of Abuse in January." May 7, 2004. See http://www.guardian.co.uk/worldlatest/story/0,1280,-4064803,00.html

invert_nexus

05-08-04, 06:28 AM

Making statements like that will cost him whatever political capital he might have gained from the prisoner scandal. You gotta love those fanatics.

hypewaders

05-08-04, 07:29 AM

Hyperbole is commonplace in Arab political rhetoric. We can hear "Death to America", and endless fantasies demeaning toward Americans the more we listen. There will be a cornucopia of phrases to take out of this peculiar Arab rhetorical context. Very often what sounds like the radicalism is just the time-honored Arab political style of venting collective emotion, which even prominent moderates are compelled by political culture to engage in from time to time, lest they be perceived as bland and uncaring in the Arab thoughtstream. European speech is commonly made more appealing with crafty understatement, while Mideastern tastes often respond to more intense verbal spice.

This may be a flaw from a Western perspective, from which even widely respected Arab journalists and leaders can come off as sophomoric and reactionary, but it remains intrinsic nonetheless to Arab discourse. I know that Tiassa has not done so, but there is often deliberate exploitation of this cultural difference, such as when Israeli pundits quite familiar with this concept export selected Arab rhetoric to American audiences in order to deliberately apply a stigma of depravity and intransigence to their Arab opponents. Even unintentionally, typical hyperbole like "keep a female GI as your slave" can cause a lot of misunderstanding. These miscues make me wince, just as when GIs generically call their detainees "Ali Babas".

It is necessary and beneficial that more of the world, and especially Americans, take heed of Arab media- but for understanding to increase, an ear for this significant cultural difference is an important prerequisite. I'm not trying to get on your case T, it's just an opportunity here to note one of the sources of so much misunderstanding between the Mideast and America. Arabs have rhetorical habits that can easily offend Western ears, just as we have many cultural habits that are easily ofensive to Arabs. Wherever we effectively interface, these differences have to be put into a fitting perspective if they are not to impede greater cooperation and coexistence.

Kunax

05-08-04, 06:45 PM

Danish soldiers has been in a 2 hour firefight near Al Qurnah, no danish soldier where kill but a Lituanian was wounded when 1 of his bullet exploded, Prior to the ambush local iraqie had warned to Danish patrol of a impending ambush.
1 Iraqie was capture and it is said he says he belongs to the Moqtada Sadrs milits.

In other new, supplemental to tissas.
Heavy fighting new Basra, when 100s of iraqie attack Brithsh forces, 2 iraqie and 7 soldier belived dead, this is thougth to be related to imam Moqtada Sadr speach the day before.

only 9 dead, seems a bit low.

DeeCee

05-09-04, 07:45 PM

I will be very surprised if the Bush administration tolerates you into June.
Tiassa.
Not like you to make assumptions.
It appears increasingly likely that Mr Sadr has the backing of the IGA as well as a significant chunk of the populace.
It may not be possible to stop him.
only 9 dead, seems a bit low.
Well it is said that 98% of humans are not designed to be killers.

Dee Cee

Tiassa

05-09-04, 08:24 PM

Not like you to make assumptions.

Er ... well ....

It appears increasingly likely that Mr Sadr has the backing of the IGA as well as a significant chunk of the populace.
It may not be possible to stop him

Oh, we can always stop him. Whether or not what he has created can be stopped is, I admit, its own question. It doesn't seem wise--inasmuch as we attempt to consider sympathetically the conventional wisdom of the Bush administration--to let this man complicate the US general election in November.

If he's still a problem in November, the people will blame Bush for not dealing with him. If Bush has him whacked in June (no later than July 1) there's time for other scandals to pile on (thereby diverting attention from an Israeli-style assassination or Clintonesque missile strike) and by the time the voters get around to the problem of what comes in al-Sadr's wake, Bush might even be able to mount a pro-PNAC campaign push to remind folks of how violent and turbulent the Middle East is, and how America needs to tame it.

The administration cannot afford such a campaign liability come the end of July, when the Democrats get together in Boston. The last thing Bush wants to give them is even the tiniest handle to jiggle, else they might manage to flush him early and leave the war in the crapper, in lame-duck status not only from November, but from August until January.

Of course, all this says more about my opinion of the Bush administration than anything else.

invert_nexus

05-10-04, 02:47 AM

U.S. urges U.N. envoy to alter Iraqi self-rule plan

WASHINGTON — The Bush administration is pressing U.N. Envoy Lakhdar Brahimi to change his proposal for a transitional Iraqi government when limited self-rule is given to Iraqis June 30, Iraqi and U.S. officials say.

Instead of a government that is nonpolitical, the administration is pushing for one that gives prominent roles to people with ties to political parties, the officials say. New thinking in Washington is that a transitional government of technocrats would not be strong enough.

In particular, the administration is said to be wedded to a large role for Adnan Pachachi, the former foreign minister who has guided the process of writing Iraq's transitional constitution, and to figures tied to political groups loyal to Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Husseini al-Sistani, Iraq's leading Shiite cleric.
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/nationworld/2001923794_iraqdig09.html

What the hell? Technocrats? Was that the plan? How would that work? The guy with the best computer is in charge? Talk about experimental politics.

Tiassa

05-17-04, 07:40 AM

IGC President slain in bomb attack
Dawa Party leader took rotating office May 1

Izzedine Salim, a leader of the Iraqi Dawa Party and the President of the Iraq Governing Council, has been killed by a suicide explosion in Baghdad.

Witnesses said a convoy of five white Nissan vehicles was passing through the Harthiya neighborhood toward a checkpoint into the Green Zone, where U.S. authority and the Governing Council have their headquarters, when a red Volkswagen Brazil sped up to the convoy and exploded.

The blast was so forceful that it flung the car Salim was apparently riding in on to the other side of the street. It left 17 charred and burning vehicles on both sides of the median.

"I saw five burned bodies, completely burned," Mohammed Leith, 21, who lives about 100 yards from the explosion. "The one who did this is creating chaos. He only killed Iraqis. Even the Governing Council members are Iraqis too." (Wilson & Chan)

Salim is the second IGC member to be assassinated. In September, gunmen killed Akila Hashimi.

Comment:

What strikes me is the witness' words:

"Even the Governing Council members are Iraqis too."

A telling phrase, isn't it?

Salim had advocated the continued operation of the IGC; he disagreed with UN envoy Brahimi's technocrat-plan, and sought a continued role for the unpopular, appointed interim body after the June 30 handover.

On the other hand, and the British can tell the Americans all about this, as I understand it, the legend of Michael Collins and the 20th-century history of the Irish Republican Army includes the days of walking up to a politician on the street and shooting him point-blank in order to have your say.

And we all know how that went. Of course, Westerners were mortified when they woke up one morning and realized that the later troubles in Northern Ireland had killed something like 3,500 people in thirty years.

Thirty-five hundred? Hell, that's a fairly easy number by twenty-first century standards. You can damn near hit that number with a suicide bombing.

It's the thirty-year part that worries me more. And we can't expect Daniel Day Lewis in the movie version. Except maybe in a peripheral role as a Member of Parliament.
____________________

• Wilson, Scott and Sewell Chan. "Iraqi Governing Council President Killed in Attack." Washington Post, May 17, 2004. See http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A32354-2004May17.html

goofyfish

05-17-04, 07:17 PM

"Sarin Nerve Gas Bomb Explodes in Iraq"

Everyone's reporting it now.

But they continue to fail to mention that al-Zarqawi was known to have laboratories being used to manufacture chemical and that Pentagon wanted to take them out (http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/4431601), but would have ruined the phoney justifications for the war.

"The Iraqi Survey Group confirmed today that a 155 millimetre artillery round containing sarin nerve agent had been found,” said Brigadier General Mark Kimmitt, the chief military spokesman in Iraq.

"The round had been rigged as an IED (improvised explosive device) which was discovered by a US force convoy. A detonation occurred before the IED could be rendered inoperable. This produced a very small dispersal of agent,” he said. (Full text here (http://news.google.com/news?hl=en&edition=us&ie=UTF-8&q=sarin+iraq&scoring=d))

You see folks it was all worth it. Saddam had a couple pounds of gas somewhere, and he was going to blow it up in your basement. So 200 billion dollars, thousand and thousands of deaths, destroying a country, torture, and everything else was all worth it. Now off to the next war, pay no more mind to Iraq, that's so yesterday. Pay no attention to the torture. Pay no attention to the complicity of the White House. Pay no attention to the public emasculation of Colin Powell by "Emily." Pay no attention to the plunging stock market. Pay no attention to the killing of the Iraqi Council member.

Keep your eye on the sarin bomb. See how shiny it is. You are relaxed. Relaaaax.

:m: Peace.

Tiassa

05-17-04, 07:39 PM

What slays me right now about the Sarin thing is that apparently they found mustard gas several days ago, and what the situation suggests is that some idiot somewhere has accidentally come across what investigators couldn't find.

Even if it's just the odd shell lying around that nobody in twelve years figured out was there ....

And the Miklaszewski article ... downright creepy. On the other hand, we should probably treat the "undercutting" of the case for war with the same skepticism people seem to express at the idea of breaching contract in order to preserve tax breaks.

goofyfish

05-17-04, 08:14 PM

...twisting one up and fantasizing about Bush bringing it up in a press conference,
and some reporter that actually has a pair speaking up and asking, "...and your point is?"

:cool: Peace.

Tiassa

05-19-04, 04:41 PM

What?! Another #@*%ing wedding?! (Or, "Love in a War Zone.")
Reports: 40 dead after U.S. hits Iraqi wedding party

Yet another wedding party has been crashed by American troops, this time to the tune of forty dead.

The details are sketchy; the BBC article is difficult to understand:

The US military is investigating reports that a helicopter opened fire on a wedding party in western Iraq killing more than 40 people.

Early reports from Iraq suggested the attack happened after guests fired in the air as part of celebrations.

But US officials said their information was that coalition forces came under hostile fire about the same time in the remote area near the Syrian border.

They returned fire, killing a number of people, a defence official said. (BBC (http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/3730423.stm))

But the wedding party was in Ramadi, and the returned fire near Qaim. Whether a reporting error or just a crappy response by U.S. officials I don't know, but it really does seen a non-sequitur.

One witness told al-Arabiya that the U.S. dropped "more than 100 bombs on us," with the effect of leveling the village. Iraqi police have told the Associated Press that between 42 and 45 people were killed.

Comment:

Inside sources tell me that the Bush administration is officially worried that the string of wedding-related incidents might damage the President's election bid by undermining his family-values platform.

Nonetheless, I would advise my Muslim neighbors to just stop having weddings. We have jokes about marriage being the death sentence, but it appears that being Muslim gets you on the fast-track.
_____________________

• BBC News. "Iraqi wedding party hit by US." May 19, 2004. See http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/3730423.stm

goofyfish

05-19-04, 07:01 PM

Perhaps it was a Gay-Muslim wedding?

The last wedding we crashed we justified in the same manner - hostile gunfire. The truth, it turned out, was that the most technologically sophisticated army in the history of the world was not able to distinguish between hostile fire and the traditional celebratory gunfire which takes place at Afghan weddings. Do they not mention during military training that this is not a big video game and therefore you should consider whether someone is an enemy or not before you blow them away?

:m: It bogggles the mind.

Tiassa

05-24-04, 06:43 PM

Signs of progress: "Fore!"
Kabul Golf Club hopes to get back into the swing of things

A welcome sign of progress from Afghanistan; Mike Collet-White reports for Reuters from the Kabul Golf Club.

Before teeing off, mind the bombed out barracks to your left. Don't aim for the fairway; there isn't one. The greens are actually black; a mixture of sand and oil. The clubhouse is collapsing and has no walls . . . .

. . . . For a decade or so the nine-hole course set among rugged hills and mountains on the outskirts of Kabul has been abandoned and the grass has turned to dusty desert and scrub.

While there are no bunkers, the ball veers off at impossible angles when it hits a rock on lands in a ditch.

The water feature has dried out, but the rules still apply if you land in it.

The good news: you can use a tee for every shot.

Now two players, who have been part of the on-again off-again history of the club that reflects Afghanistan's recent past, want to rebuild it.

Source: Reuters (http://reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=oddlyEnoughNews&storyID=5237268)

I hope this dispels all rumors of a liberal media conspiracy. See? Good news does come home from the war fronts.
____________________

• Collett-White, Mike. "No Grass, No Greens, But Golf Is Back in Kabul." Reuters, May 24, 2004. See http://reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=oddlyEnoughNews&storyID=5237268

invert_nexus

05-24-04, 08:14 PM

Maybe the PGA tour will make it part of their regular courses. :p Add the element of danger to the game. Probably increase the ratings. Hell, I might even watch golf if there's the possibility of watching Tiger Woods getting hit by sniper fire.

Tiassa

05-25-04, 12:17 AM

The calm voice: "And Tiger makes his way into the bunker--man, you really can't tell it from the fairway, can you? And, oh--my goodness. It would appear that an IED hidden in the bunker has gone off. Tiger seems to have lost a leg and will be going into shock soon. This really makes that short game a challenge ...."

Tiassa

05-26-04, 07:45 PM

Conscience or wisdom?
al-Shahristani says, "No, thank you."

http://images.usatoday.com/news/_photos/2004/05/26-iraqpm-inside.jpg (http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/iraq/2004-05-26-iraq-politics_x.htm)
The smartest man in Iraq? "Scientist al-Shahristani was jailed under Saddam
Hussein's regime — reportedly for refusing to help build a nuclear weapon."
(USA Today (http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/iraq/2004-05-26-iraq-politics_x.htm) via AP/60 Minutes)

The Associated Press reports this morning that Hussain al-Shahristani, the apparent leading candidate for the post of Prime Minister of Iraq, has advised UN envoy Lakhdar Brahimi that he does not want the job. "Mr. Shahristani could serve his country well in a number of positions in government . . . Mr. Shahrestani (sic), however, has himself clarified tht he would prefer to serve his country in other ways," said a statement by Brahimi's office.

Comment:

al-Shahristani is the latest in a historical truism. Sometimes--perhaps in general--the people most fit to lead a political body are also smart enough to not want to do the job.

Einstein turned down the presidency of Israel; it wasn't where he could do the most for the world.

And it's difficult to find fault with the reason, but let's face it--in addition to this being a decision of conscience, as it is represented by Brahimi, one is compelled to wonder if perhaps al-Shahristani is simply addicted to the idea of being alive.

And nor will I fault him for that. To give one's life for a cause can certainly be noble, but who pretends that the interim government of Iraq will be particularly safe and secure? If al-Shahristani is intended by any circumstance of God or nature to lead Iraq, he will get his chance. But taking an appointed executive position in a theater stricken by bad blood and warfare, perhaps al-Shahristani feels he can do more for Iraq if he's not blown up by dissidents, insurgents, guerillas, or terrorists.

I suppose the question is, even by a perception of the situation from afar and through the press--with the IGC being cut down, contractors being beheaded, clerics resisting the occupation, and bombs bombs bombs by the scores, would you want to be the occupation-installed Prime Minister responsible for satisfying the bloodthirsty and also the insatiable?
_____________________

• Associated Press. "Ex-Iraqi exile turns down government post." May 26, 2004. See http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/iraq/2004-05-26-iraq-politics_x.htm

orestes

05-26-04, 08:17 PM

About that blown up wedding, they say now that it wasn't a wedding; that it actually was hostiles. We'll never know for sure, but it just goes to show you how facts can be misconstrewed so badly (or just flat lies told) in the fog of war.

DeeCee

05-26-04, 08:19 PM

To give one's life for a cause can certainly be noble, but who pretends that the interim government of Iraq will be particularly safe and secure?

Well I can think of at least one person.

"Iraqis are sick of foreign people coming in to their country and trying to destabilise thier country and we will help them get rid of these killers"
GW Bush, Al Arabiya TV this week.

I shit you not he really did say that :D
Dee Cee

Tiassa

05-26-04, 08:34 PM

About that blown up wedding, they say now that it wasn't a wedding; that it actually was hostiles. We'll never know for sure . . . .

Unfortunately true. The one thing that sticks with me right now, though, is how we manage to blow up the people and miss the gear. We apparently killed 41 people at an alleged wedding party, yet enough weapons and "dormitory-style" accommodations were left over after a village was destroyed to make the American case. And it seems to me--though this detail may be flipped around in the coverage--that the US showed that evidence only after the "wedding video" turned up.

In the meantime, the practical problem is well-expressed by Kamran Shafi (http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=story_27-5-2004_pg3_4), and also by the headline of a Chicago Tribune story carried at Texas A&M (http://www.thebatt.com/news/2004/05/26/News/U.Credibility.In.Iraq.Said.To.Be.hanging.By.A.Thre ad-683298.shtml).

DeeCee

05-28-04, 12:27 AM

Hmm. Yet another member of the IGC gets hit.
A member of Iraq's US-appointed Governing Council has escaped unharmed after gunmen ambushed her convoy. Salama al-Khafaji was on her way to Baghdad when the attack happened in the town of Yusufiya, Governing Council members said.

Funny thing is.
Ms al-Khafaji was returning from the holy city of Najaf, where she took part in mediation efforts to end fighting.
She was part of a Governing Council delegation helping to broker a deal between US soldiers and Shia militiamen loyal to radical cleric Moqtada Sadr.

And they say Islam has no respect for women. Sounds like she's been given a fair splash of responsibility.
So why hit her?
Perhaps she's a bad negotiator maybe a random ambush or just marked by another group of armed militia. There's plenty of those after all.
Whatever. Just thought you all might like to know.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/3755537.stm

Oh I take it back. She's not such a bad negotiator after all.
The US-led coalition is suspending offensive operations in the Iraq holy city of Najaf, after radical Shia cleric Moqtada Sadr offered a truce.
Nice to see some politics amidst the fighting.
Lets hope all parties stay true to their word.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/3752393.stm

A little ray of hope?
Dee Cee

Undecided

05-29-04, 09:13 PM

A reminder that the war in Afghanistan is not over, and its still presenting large problems:

Four US soldiers have been killed in action in southern Afghanistan, the US military says.

The deaths occurred in the province of Zabul, which has seen regular attacks by Islamic militants.

"Four US service members assigned to the Combined Joint Special Operations Task Force - Afghanistan were killed in action today... ," the statement said

The US military acknowledges that an insurgency in the south and east of the country has gathered pace - more than 700 people are said to have died in violence in Afghanistan since last August.

'Taleban insurgency'

Suspected Taleban militants have attacked Afghan government targets in the southern province of Helmand, killing at least seven Afghan soldiers.

Local officials said four Taleban fighters were also killed and a number captured during the clashes at Musa Qala early on Sunday.

Correspondents say there were several apparently co-ordinated raids on government buildings and military and police posts.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/3761027.stm

Afghanistan is otherwise the forgotten front, but really the only legitimate front in this "war on terrorism". If the US fails in Afghanistan the domino effect could reach Iraq soon enough. I believe that Afghanistan should be voting soon, that should be interesting considering most people can't read. The warlords still reign supreme outside of Kabul, and the Taliban are gaining strength again in Afghanistan. This low level insurgency is like water on a rock.

Tiassa

05-30-04, 03:01 AM

Article Source: Washington Post - http://www.washingtonpost.com/
Article Link: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A64710-2004May28.html
Article Title: "An Iraq Pledge to Watch Closely," by Colbert I. King
Article Date: May 29, 2004

Any article that opens with a comparison of Nixon's "Vietnamization" speech of November 3, 1969, and President Bush's remarks at the US Army War College last week will be covering, such as it is, familiar territory.

As if the textual comparison was not enough:

As we observe this Memorial Day weekend celebration and the dedication of the National World War II Memorial, George Bush's pledge to prepare Iraqis to take over their country's security should not be overlooked. If ever a presidential declaration deserved close tracking and constant appraisal, especially by Congress, Bush's pledge to Iraqize that country's defense is it.

Richard Nixon said much the same thing about Vietnam during the first year of his presidency. 'Course, there's a world of difference between saying and doing. After the launching of Vietnamization, it took four years and an additional 15,000 Americans killed in action before U.S. troops were finally withdrawn from ground combat. And the troops came home only because Americans, war-weary and deeply divided, lost confidence in the White House and its Pentagon advisers, and demanded that Congress impose limitations on U.S. military action.

Source: Washington Post (http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A64710-2004May28.html)

And while the refrain is enough to make war advocates groan and cover their ears--or eyes, such as it is in print--King's article raises questions that, perhaps if taken out of the Vietnam-comparison context, might bear some weight with the weary bandwagoners.

In an appraisal that came in decidedly on the low side, Bush admitted to Monday's national television audience that "the early performance of Iraqi forces fell short." Fell short? "Some refused orders to engage the enemy," said the U.S. commander in chief. Mr. Bush was way too kind. Would that it were only fear on the battlefield.

What about those Iraqi police who cooperated with the insurgents? I'm referring to reports of Iraqis turning over their weapons and the buildings they were guarding. How about those Iraqis who turned their guns on us? Failures of that kind cannot be chalked up to lack of training or unit cohesion, as Bush suggested this week. Something else may be afoot.

Guns are as plentiful in Iraqi homes as sand in the desert. Yet, with a couple of notable exceptions cited in Bush's speech, Iraqis are not showing much stomach for taking on and dismantling the terrorist forces, illegal militias and Saddam Hussein loyalist elements that Bush brands as enemies. Could it be the other way around: that the Iraqi people see the Western occupation -- not Arab militias and guerrillas -- as standing between themselves and their future as a self-determining, Islamic nation? A tougher question still: Even if the Iraqis were capable of dealing with the insurgents by themselves, would they? Does the insurgency have their enmity or their quiet admiration?

Source: Washington Post (http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A64710-2004May28.html)

And war critics ought to take note, as well, as former points of the war party turn up on our side of the aisle: Not showing much stomach? Not long ago, that was a war-party defense of the slow progress; now it is a point of argument for criticism.

However, the similar arguments demand different responses. Poor initiative in building democracy? That's almost to be expected; the people have lived ... how long? ... under tyrants. They're conditioned against that kind of initiative; it will take some getting used to. I was particularly resentful of the idea that the Iraqis might in some way be lazy; perhaps, but we skip right past a known issue in order to call them lazy?

In the present, however, the response is simple, and still lends to hard criticism of the war: They are deciding they don't want to die.

I admit I'm not a military expert, but isn't this what we call "poor morale"? Does the reluctance of some Iraqis in service reflect doubts about either the legitimacy of American-sponsored missions or perhaps a simple lack of faith in "the security situation"? Neither option is encouraging for Bush--is there a third? Sure, they're insincere cutthroats plotting for a future massacre "when we least expect it."

I suppose it's possible ... but at some point we need a bit more hopeful an outlook, don't we?

Lastly, I wanted to razz Mr. King for his closing appeal:

So we have another Memorial Day with U.S. troops far from home being killed and wounded as they provide manpower in another country's "defense." And what will be the killed-in-action total as of Memorial Day 2005?

Source: Washington Post (http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A64710-2004May28.html)

I'm not entirely sure we need to worry about the numbers-to-be come this time next year. At least not in that context. Certes, opinion columns live and die by such appeals to emotion, but relying on Memorial Day in such a manner is a bit thin.

Casualty numbers going in were lower than I expected. Since the Mission Accomplished stunt ... I'm still of the opinion that it's a war and we can expect casualties. At this point, I still feel that the luxury of arguing over Pentagon photo-release policies, such as the Silicio issue of recent days, is appropriate, and we can still muddle about whether or not Vietnam comparisons are accurate. But there's a transfer of authority scheduled, an American election coming up, and Iraqi elections allegedly in early '05. Depending on how those things go, I think it irresponsible to wonder what the casualty count will be come next memorial day because regardless of what it is, we might see the bulk of them coming after the political cycle. It may turn out that the period between June 30 and the Iraqi elections will be a comparative cake walk to the period that comes just after. Or it could be just the opposite. And that in and of itself is a huge obstacle to predicting casualty rates over a given period, and hinging that period on "Memorial Day" ... doesn't seem quite right.
____________________

• King, Colbert I. "An Iraq Pledge to Watch Closely." Washington Post, May 29, 2004; page A27. See http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A64710-2004May28.html

Tiassa

06-06-04, 03:48 AM

Picture of the Day: Showdown in Sadr City
5 US troops dead in Sadr City; Allawi calls on Iraqis to confront insurgents

http://media.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/images/I17365-2004Jun05 (http://media.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/images/I17365-2004Jun05L)
Sadr City: Armed followers of Shiite cleric Moqtada Sadr take up positions in the streets of Baghdad's Sadr City neighborhood. Click image to enlarge. (Karim Kadim/AP)

The story so far.

In American movies, all a character has to do is show some sort of weapon, and people begin to clear the area. The classic scene is usually a western (cowboy) archetype--a forlorn whistling soundtrack a la Morricone, spurs jangling, and mothers through the town catch their breath, draw their children close, and scurry away from the center of action. It's high noon, and time for a showdown in the street. A saloon patron emerges blinking into the sunlight, and, seeing the coming fight, turns directly around and orders another drink. Silence falls. The wind swirls, and a tumbleweed bounces through the background. Draw!

Well, the above picture stands in stark contrast to the fantasy of the cowboy-hero.

In the small version shown above, the first thing that struck me was a sense of absurdity over the fighters' postures. Taking up positions? I thought. What kind of "position" is that?

Cannon-fodder. Naturally, I took a look at the larger frame.

And, certes, it's not high noon. Nor are the townsfolk scurrying for cover. The pace seems unhurried, the glance back casual. In fact, the only thing about this picture that resembles a cowboy western is the little boy crouched by the gate. What would his mother say? One wonders if it is the same in Iraq as we are familiar in the United States: "Salim! Come away from there now or I'll tan your hide!"

That boy is actually the reason I mention this picture. It's one of the best photos I've seen from this entire war; violence in the foreground, humanity in the background. The weapons are symbols of violence, the boy represents a universal human urge to see what's going on. The picture is art in and of itself.

And now for something completely different.

And violence remains in the foreground. U.S. troops in Sadr City took RPG, mortar, and rifle fire as well as put up with hidden explosives. Five American soldiers died and five wounded in three clashes.

The Sadr City casualties brought the number of US troops killed in combat in Iraq to 601. At least three Iraqis were killed in a gun battle following the first attack. A second attack killed the five American soldiers and injured another five when an IED exploded near passing Humvees.

Meanwhile, Prime Minister Ayad Allawi gave his first address to the Iraqi people, declaring that Iraqis cannot accept foreign occupation, although he added that the US troops and their allies are a necessary presence.

"Targeting the multinational forces of the United Nations, which are led by the United States, with the aim of expelling them from Iraq will inflict a major catastrophe in the country, especially if that happened before Iraq completes the rebuilding of its security and military institutions . . . .

". . . . Let us all be one hand, act as one man, with our heads held high, to defeat terrorism and terrorists . . . This is the duty of all Iraqis, and I call on you to firmly confront these murderers and criminals and to cooperate with the public services to wipe out those evil forces." (Ayad Allawi)

Source: Washington Post (http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A16836-2004Jun4.html)

Comment:

I just wanted to know ... what is the UN's name for this operation? So far, all I can find is UNAMI, and that's not a military operation.
______________________

• Cody, Edward. "5 U.S. Troops Killed in Baghdad Attack." Washington Post, June 5, 2004; page A01. See http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A16836-2004Jun4.html

Tiassa

06-09-04, 10:33 AM

Article Source: New York Times (http://nytimes.com/)
Article Link: http://nytimes.com/2004/06/09/international/middleeast/09KURD.html
Article Title: "Kurds Threaten to Walk Away From Iraqi State," by Dexter Filkins
Article Date: June 9, 2004

As the United States and its allies, the United Nations, and the rest of the world look toward the June 30 deadline with hope, the latest turn of the screw can be filed under T for "Things We Didn't Need."

Massoud Barzani and Jalal Talabani, regarded as the two primary Kurdish leaders involved in the formation of a new Iraq, wrote to President Bush this week that they would "refrain from participating in the central government" if Shiite leaders make good on their intentions to strike from the interim constitution parts that grant the Kurds veto power in the permanent constitution debate.

The Shiite leaders consider the provisions undemocratic, while the Kurds contend they are their only guarantee of retaining the rights to self-rule they gained in the past 13 years, protected from Saddam Hussein by United States warplanes.

In their letter, Mr. Talabani and Mr. Barzani wrote that the Kurdish leadership would refuse to take part in national elections, expected to be held in January, and bar representatives from going to "Kurdistan."

That would amount to something like secession, which Kurdish officials have been hinting at privately for months but now appear to be actively considering. "The Kurdish people will no longer accept second-class citizenship in Iraq," the letter said.

The two leaders also asked President Bush for a commitment to protect "Kurdistan" should an insurgency compel the United States to pull its forces out of the rest of Iraq.

To assure that Kurdish rights are retained, Mr. Talabani and Mr. Barzani, whose parties together deploy about 75,000 fighters, asked President Bush to include the interim Iraqi constitution in the United Nations security resolution that governs the restoration of Iraqi sovereignty.

Source: New York Times (http://nytimes.com/2004/06/09/international/middleeast/09KURD.html)

While the parties led by Mr. Talabini and Mr. Barzani field about 75,000 fighters, the Bush administration appears to have turned down the Kurdish requests after rumblings from an even larger potential problem, Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani. The prominent Shiite leader threatened serious consequences in response to any such move. An unnamed senior official in Washington said he expected the Kurds and Shiites to reach an agreement eventually, and downplayed the letter as a threat of the Kurds abandoning the new Iraq.

Adil Abdul Mahdi, Iraq's finance minister and a leader of one of the country's largest Shiite parties, said Tuesday that the country's Shiite leadership was determined to remove the provisions that could allow the Kurds to veto the permanent constitution, even at the risk of driving them away. "It's not against the Kurds, it's against the procedure," Mr. Mahdi said.

Source: New York Times (http://nytimes.com/2004/06/09/international/middleeast/09KURD.html)

Comment:

Duck ... duck ... Mr. President, don't you get tired of being the goose all the time?
______________________

• Filkins, Dexter. "Kurds Threaten to Walk Away From Iraqi State." New York Times, June 9, 2004. See http://nytimes.com/2004/06/09/international/middleeast/09KURD.html

(A free registration is required for New York Times links. Also, NYT links break after about a week, so I hope to find this one out on the wire somewhere to give a more generally-accessible link.)

Tiassa

06-14-04, 01:54 AM

Three hostages dead in Iraq
Lebanese Shi'a tortured, killed in "grisly circumstances" - Two Iraqis dead - Some good news

Iraqi insurgents have reportedly tortured and killed by "grisly" means a Lebanese construction worker. Hussein Ali Alyan, a Shi'a Muslim, is said to have been tortured before his death. His body was recovered with those of two Iraqis in Baghdad.

Also in hostage news, some good news: seven Turkish contractors taken hostage in Fallujah have apparently been released. Turkish officials say the men, shown earlier in the week in a videotape released by their captors, are in good health. The militant group responsible for the kidnappings demanded that Turkey end its business dealings in Iraq.

Comment:

Is there really much to say? I hear there's a war going on in Iraq. My sincere condolences to the families of the dead, and my best wishes to the living, but ....

Perhaps it's time to look at my fellow Americans and remind them: This is what you wanted. At least, three quarters or thereabout.

Is there a hostage watch online somewhere? I'll have to look around.
____________________

• BBC News. "Three hostages killed in Iraq." June 12, 2004. See http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/3800889.stm

hypewaders

06-16-04, 08:45 AM

Iraqis are finding their democratic voice, and proclaiming "Hit The Road, Americans" (http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/I/IRAQ_US_POLL?SITE=NEKEA&SECTION=HOME)

So true to form, Busheviks are suppressing the polls, are claiming they're misunderstood, increasing and toughening forces, as Iraqis and Americans begin to very audibly boo the Bush Administration off the political stage. Join in the chorus, and let's usher them out fast, before this gets completely out of hand, people.

DeeCee

06-19-04, 06:02 AM

Ah well.
After the downfall of the brutal dictator Saddam Whatsit it appears things in Iraq are getting back to normal.
The new defence minister, Hazim al-Shalaan, yesterday said Iraqi forces would raid suspected hideouts. "The time has come to punish those responsible. The coming few days will witness decisive battles. We will chase them from house to house; we will cut off their hands and we will behead them," he said.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/international/story/0,3604,1241671,00.html

Charming.
Dee Cee

Tiassa

06-29-04, 04:32 PM

Article Source: Washington Post (http://www.washingtonpost.com/)
Article Link: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A13226-2004Jun28.html
Article Title: "Executive Branch Reined In," by David Von Drehle
Article Date: June 29, 2004

The United States Supreme Court has ruled against Bush administration policy suspending due process for Guantanamo prisoners of the War on Terror.

Liberal or conservative mattered little in the ultimate outcome. The court roundly rejected the president's assertion that, in time of war, he can order the "potentially indefinite detention of individuals who claim to be wholly innocent of wrongdoing," to quote the court's opinion in the case of foreign prisoners held at the U.S. base in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. In fact, the administration's claim to such power over U.S. citizens produced an opinion signed by perhaps the court's most conservative justice, Antonin Scalia, and possibly its most liberal, John Paul Stevens.

"The very core of liberty secured by our Anglo-Saxon system of separated powers has been freedom from indefinite imprisonment at the will of the Executive," Scalia wrote, with Stevens's support.

In this way, the court's rejection of the executive-power arguments in the cases might be seen as part of a reemergence of the other branches of government from the shadow of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. As the justices suggested several times in their opinions, emergency measures that might have been within the president's power in the days and weeks just after 9/11 now must be reconciled withAmerican norms of due process . . . .

. . . . Justice Sandra Day O'Connor wrote, the "indefinite detention" of a prisoner "could last for the rest of his life." And that, the court said, is too long to do without the basics of due process.

Only Justice Clarence Thomas embraced the administration's positions without reservation, referring in a dissenting opinion to "the breadth of the President's authority to detain enemy combatants, an authority that includes making virtually conclusive factual findings" that the Supreme Court is powerless to "second-guess."

Source: Washington Post (http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A13226-2004Jun28.html)

Comment:

I should mention at the outset that the justices did apparently refer outside the history of the United States in this decision, a practice I have publicly detested regarding the now-emasculated Bowers v. Hardwick decision of the 1980s. However, there seems a difference between reaching back to English common law in lieu of any other precedent and what has taken place in the present disputes:

"The defining characteristic of American constitutional government is its constant tension between security and liberty," Justice David H. Souter wrote.

And so the opinions drew heavily on some of the oldest and weightiest precedents in the book. Starting with King John's promise in the Magna Carta, signed in 1215, that "no free man should be imprisoned . . . save by the judgment of his peers or by the law of the land," the justices traced the limits on executive power through English common law, on through the Federalist Papers and down a long a line of precedents forged in some of the darkest hours of the nation, including the Civil War and World War II.

"We have long since made clear that a state of war is not a blank check for the President when it comes to the rights of the Nation's citizens," O'Connor wrote in a painstakingly nuanced opinion ordering a hearing for U.S. citizen Yaser Esam Hamdi, who was taken captive in Afghanistan.

Source: Washington Post (http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A13226-2004Jun28.html)

This is a proverbial line in the sand, but it may as well be etched in stone. Consider a simple idea: "If we destroy the things that make this nation free, the terrorists win." It's an almost metaphysical argument, but one reasonably anchored in apparent reality. If the American response to terrorism is to stifle its own greatest aspects, what more could the terrorists ask? Total destruction? In some cases yes, but we must bear in mind more proper notions of terrorism: stateless, or subject to a state; trading violence for persuasion; specific cause--it's not necessarily "freedom" that a terrorist hates, but rather the terrorist may contemptuously judge the manifestation of another's freedom. After all, freedom means a great many things to a great many people, and it is important to remember that the American definition of freedom is not only a stick that some like to whack others with, but is also a standard we set for ourselves, and if we forfeit that freedom, we forfeit the fight and everything else previously relevant becomes more extraneous than it already is.

What's the sound bite? "If we throw away our freedom, the terrorists win."

And this is, while not the exclusive line drawn, one of the fixed and firm boundaries marking something we cannot throw away without giving over to the terrorists.
____________________

Notes:

• Von Drehle, David. "Executive Branch Reined In." Washington Post, June 29, 2004; page A01. See http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A13226-2004Jun28.html

See Also:

• Hamdi v. Rumsfeld et al. - http://laws.findlaw.com/us/000/03-6696.html
• Rasul v. Bush et al. - http://laws.findlaw.com/us/000/03-334.html
• Rumsfeld v. Padilla - http://laws.findlaw.com/us/000/03-1027.html

The Executive Branch, acting pursuant to the powers vested in the President by the Constitution and with explicit congressional approval, has determined that Yaser Hamdi is an enemy combatant and should be detained. This detention falls squarely within the Federal Government's war powers, and we lack the expertise and capacity to second-guess that decision. As such, petitioners' habeas challenge should fail, and there is no reason to remand the case. The plurality reaches a contrary conclusion by failing adequately to consider basic principles of the constitutional structure as it relates to national security and foreign affairs and by using the balancing scheme of Mathews v. Eldridge, 424 U.S. 319 (http://laws.findlaw.com/us/424/319.html) (1976). I do not think that the Federal Government's war powers can be balanced away by this Court. Arguably, Congress could provide for additional procedural protections, but until it does, we have no right to insist upon them. But even if I were to agree with the general approach the plurality takes, I could not accept the particulars. The plurality utterly fails to account for the Government's compelling interests and for our own institutional inability to weigh competing concerns correctly. I respectfully dissent. (Justice Clarence Thomas - Hamdi v. Rumsfeld et al, June 28, 2004)

hypewaders

07-05-04, 11:04 PM

Mark Fiore's Sort-of-ocracy (http://www.markfiore.com/animation/sortof.html) is a fairly good summary of progress since "Mission Accomplished" and "Iraqi Sovereignty".

I should probably add personal reflection on the link: Har har, *sob*

hypewaders

07-06-04, 01:26 AM

Iraqi PM Backs Strike on Fallujah (http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/3868927.stm)

Could an American leader campaign on this platform, or is this somehow more effective in Iraq? "I will direct all foreign air strikes on our Homeland!" "We bomb because we care." "I feel your pain." "Oops". "More Bodyguards, Please."

Tiassa

07-06-04, 06:59 PM

Article Source: BBC News (http://news.bbc.co.uk/)
Article Link: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/3871949.stm
Article Title: "'Friendly-fire' US pilot punished"
Article Date: July 6, 2004

Revisiting a tragedy of the Afghani Bush War, Major Harry Schmidt, 38, of the United States Air Force, has been found guilty of misconduct and dereliction in events leading up to the deaths of four Canadian soldiers in an infamous April, 2002 incident.

Maj Harry Schmidt, 38, forfeited $5,672 in pay and was found guilty of "wilful misconduct" and dereliction of duty.

He was said to have acted "shamefully" by ignoring orders and lying.

Maj Schmidt had said he mistook the Canadians for Taleban gunmen in the April 2002 "friendly-fire" incident, which provoked outrage in Canada . . . .

. . . . A US-Canadian inquiry into the incident - the worst "friendly-fire" case in the Afghan campaign - found Maj Schmidt and his co-pilot had decided to bomb their target without waiting for their commander's permission.

As well as the four deaths, several Canadian soldiers were also hurt in the attack.

Source: BBC News (http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/3871949.stm)

Comment:

Perhaps this might need its own topic. More links may be required. But at this point I can only look to my Canadian neighbors and say ... "Well? What do you think?"
____________________

• BBC News. "'Friendly-fire' US pilot punished." July 6, 2004. See http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/3871949.stm

hypewaders

07-16-04, 05:02 PM

The "new!" "Improved!" Iraq's puppet Prime Minister Allawi (http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2004/07/16/1089694568757.html?oneclick=true) has apparently taken to putting suspects against a wall, and personally shooting them. If not for oil, and if not for zionism, then this is what American soldiers are killing and dying for. Stop the Bushit. (http://www.stopthebushit.org/)

non-subscriber link (http://www.commondreams.org/headlines04/0716-01.htm)

Undecided

07-16-04, 10:18 PM

Well, Saddam jr. may be in the works. I can see Allawi suspending (note I didn’t say cancel) elections (indefinitely) and become “defacto” ruler. The Americans may have played a very good ruse on us, considering that the Brits installed a monarchy to shut the Iraqi’s up, this time they seemed to employ a kinder, gentler, dictator…for now.

Tiassa

07-16-04, 10:55 PM

Aaaaah, Baghdad!

hypewaders

07-18-04, 10:43 PM

"The Americans may have played a very good ruse on us,.."

Actually, it's a tired ruse, and the world isn't going to play along this time.

Undecided

07-19-04, 02:28 PM

I don’t think the Iraqi’s are going to play along this time; they are already killing many of these government officials. Mr. Allawi wasn’t a Saddam mobster, and part-time CIA agent for nothing… now that’s a resume!

Kunax

07-21-04, 11:10 AM

short news from ME (DK source)

Demands of sanctions vs Israel.
150 nations voted for a resolution urging israel to remove the wall only the US, australian, microasian, Marshall-islands and Palau voted against, 10 abstient.
But a UN-resolution have no legal weight, as only the 15 countries in the security councel can enforce sanctions and the US has Veto power - with the US at the helm(veto power) it does not matter what the world says israel can do as the please.

Danish camp Eden have been attack with rocket for a 2nd time in as many day, no one was hurt, no rebel have been found yet, even with the help of the local police and the national guard - douth they ever find anything.

Shiskabab anyone...
the head of 1 Paul Johnson was found in a fridge in saud arabia, the body has not been found yet - sadly i think we see more people losing there head in the future, as it worked on the filipines.

Kunax

07-22-04, 05:24 AM

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/3914529.stm follow up on the israel thing from yesterday.

Tiassa

07-22-04, 05:54 AM

Source: BBC News (http://news.bbc.co.uk/)
Link: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/3916075.stm
Title: "US had contact with bounty hunter"
Date: July 22, 2004

Just a curious piece out of Afghanistan. American Jonathan Idema faces charges of kidnapping, torture, and operating a private jail. While Mr. Idema and his fellow accused maintain they were abandoned by the US government, American officials admit to detaining a prisoner handed over by his organization while attempting to separate themselves from the bounty hunter:

"We did receive a detainee from Mr Idema or his party," said Major Jon Siepmann, spokesman for the coalition forces.

"The reason we received this person was that we believed that he was someone that we had identified as a potential terrorist and we wanted him for questioning," he said.

But forces strenuously deny that Mr Idema was working for the military in any official capacity and insist that he is a mercenary.

They argue that they were not aware of Mr Idema's "full track record" prior to his arrest earlier this month along with two other Americans and four Afghans.

Eight prisoners were freed from a makeshift jail in Kabul they are alleged to have run.

Mr Idema and his co-accused argue that they have been abandoned by the US authorities

Mr Idema argues that he was working with the knowledge of the US defence secretary and that the US government had abandoned him.

Source: BBC News (http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/3916075.stm)

Comment:

Interesting, to say the least. Most cynical Americans wouldn't put such a situation past their government, especially at a time when that government is coming under increasing international criticism for its handling of wartime detainees. Nonetheless, the flip-side is Mr. Idema; at best he's a carpetbagger, at worst a pox on human rights--in either case, he finds himself in a disreputable position.

What I would like to know is if there is any connection between the prisoner delivered to the American military and Mr. Idema's arrest, or did the government turn a blind eye to the fact that he was operating in this capacity at all?
____________________

• BBC News. "US had contact with bounty hunter." July 22, 2004. See http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/3916075.stm

Kunax

07-22-04, 06:24 AM

that was it the news yesterday to(TV), I think it has a high chance of being stuffed away in some dark corner never to be seen again, like so many other thing before it.

But forces strenuously deny that Mr Idema was working for the military in any official capacity and insist that he is a mercenary.

That is a good line. Official they are not working with mercs. Yet they did know of them and did recieved min. 1 prisoner, meaning they have uses them and continued to allow there precens(sp?).

Tiassa

07-22-04, 07:46 AM

Source: Washington Post (http://www.washingtonpost.com/)
Link: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A4065-2004Jul21.html
Title: "War Funds Dwindling, GAO Warns"
Date: July 22, 2004

This ain't good:

The U.S. military has spent most of the $65 billion that Congress approved for fighting the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and is scrambling to find $12.3 billion more from within the Defense Department to finance the wars through the end of the fiscal year, federal investigators said yesterday . . . .

. . . . Already, the GAO said, the services have deferred the repair of equipment used in Iraq, grounded some Air Force and Navy pilots, canceled training exercises, and delayed facility-restoration projects. The Air Force is straining to cover the cost of body armor for airmen in combat areas, night-vision gear and surveillance equipment, according to the report.

The Army, which is overspending its budget by $10.2 billion for operations and maintenance, is asking the Marines and the Air Force to help cover the escalating costs of its logistics contract with Halliburton Co. But the Air Force is also exceeding its budget by $1.4 billion, while the Marines are coming up $500 million short. The Army is even having trouble paying the contractors guarding its garrisons outside the war zones, the report said.

Comment:

It's a hard target to resist in a political year. Senator Kerry's campaign has weighed in already, of course: "George W. Bush likes to call himself a wartime president, yet in his role as commander in chief, he has grossly mismanaged the war on terrorism and the war in Iraq . . . . He went to war without allies, without properly equipping our troops and without a plan to win the peace. Now we find he can't even manage a wartime budget."

But I think the sound bite misses the point. According to the Post story, the GAO report notes errors in Pentagon troop projections, including a decline to 99.000 by September 30. Among the implications and complications of keeping troop levels over 130,000 for the foreseeable future is the fact that the larger number of troops will be operating in a manner that is lest cost-effective than they would in a more peaceful environment. So in addition to taller troop numbers, there appears to be a higher logistical cost per troop as well.

And given that higher troop levels also mean higher costs in contracts under Halliburton--well, there we see a possible issue of mismanagement, but more than mismanagement I think the real issue behind the incorrect projections is politically-motivated dishonesty on the part of the Bush administration. Few disagree that Bush understated the magnitude of commitment, and that deception still haunts our troops overseas.

Strange, then, that the Democrats should choose the softer criticism. Of course, there is also the consideration that the American electorate is such a collective dullard that it is a wise choice to go with "mismanagement," which, while having more syllables than "lies," is actually an easier concept for people to grasp. A liar is a complex issue. An idiot is a simple issue.

So none of it bodes well for our troops abroad; their boss is f@cking up spectacularly and the opposition is pitching sliders at the corners when all we need is to throw strikes.

The Pentagon is taking a political angle, aiming after bureaucracy: they have the money, but they need more authority from Congress to wrangle it loose from its various accounts. Meanwhile, the GAO, which is supposed to be apolitical, may well be covering Congress' asses. Of course, it may just be telling the truth:

"We believe that the deferral of these activities will add to the requirements that will need to be funded in fiscal year 2005 and potentially later years and could result in a 'bow wave' effect in future years," the report cautioned. "Activities that are deferred also run the risk of costing more in future years."

A "bow wave" refers to a time when deferred costs confront Congress all at once, making it impossible to meet the demands.

Histrionics? The "bow wave" they refer to is the kind that can shatter or sink ships. Grim, and hopefully overstated.
____________________

• Weisman, Jonathan. "War Funds Dwindling, GAO Warns." Washington Post, July 22, 2004; page A01. See http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A4065-2004Jul21.html

Undecided

07-22-04, 01:49 PM

This is why the US is losing, her own inability to control herself, and her inability to know what she is doing. To think that 20,000 men or more are making the US dig much deeper into its pockets, worsening that already wild budget deficit and literally stealing $65 billion + from social programs in the US, or badly needed infrastructure programs. Soon America will have to start deciding fighting the so called” war on terrorism” or economically surviving. Unless those ridiculously high tax cuts come down, along with expenditure Americans future retiree’s will be working to a familiar note of motivation Arbeit Mact Frei.

Tiassa

07-26-04, 07:47 AM

Source: BBC News (http://news.bbc.co.uk/)
Link: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/3926395.stm
Title: "Senior Iraqi official shot dead"
Date: July 26, 2004

How large a military presence must the United States and its partners show in order to protect every Iraqi public official?

One thing that can be said in the wake of the American handover to the interim Iraqi government is that the insurgents have stepped up to the challenge. In addition to what is now the "usual" taking of hostages, insurgents are aiming for higher-value targets. Egyptian diplomats, for instance.

And as the shooting in general goes on, the new Iraqi government certainly is a popular target. If people can sit around and pop you as you walk out the front door of your home, it might become difficult to replace you.

Musab al-Awadi, the ministry's deputy chief in charge of tribal affairs, was killed along with two of his bodyguards, a ministry spokesman said.

The men were attacked as they left Mr Awadi's house in the al-Baya area of the capital.
____________________

• BBC News. "Senior Iraqi official shot dead." July 26, 2004. See http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/3926395.stm

Tiassa

08-03-04, 02:40 AM

Source: Washington Post (http://www.washingtonpost.com/)
Link: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A35404-2004Aug2.html
Title: "Md. Unit Returns to U.S. After Iraq Prison Scandal"
Date: August 3, 2004

About 100 members of the 372nd Military Police Company returned to American soil Monday evening, ending a tour of duty that found it in the middle of the Abu Ghraib prisoner abuse scandal . . . .

. . . . Family members and military officials said Monday that the unit's notoriety, which began when the scandal became public in the spring, should not follow the rest of the soldiers as they try to resume their civilian lives. They served courageously in their twice-extended tour and were not part of the abuse captured in stunning detail in photographs published around the world, relatives said.

In brief remarks to reporters last night, Capt. Donald J. Reese, the commanding officer of the 372nd, said the scandal "definitely made it more difficult" for the unit to fulfill its duties in Iraq.

"But we got through it," he said. "I'm sure the military justice system will sort through it all." Reese declined to comment further on the abuse case, saying "the investigation is still ongoing."

During a speech to his soldiers, Reese said, "It's been a long, difficult deployment. . . . I'm proud of every soldier standing here today."

Source: Washington Post (http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A35404-2004Aug2.html)

Welcome home. 'Tis good to have you back again.
______________________

• Davenport, Christian. "Md. Unit Returns to U.S. After Iraq Prison Scandal." Washington Post, August 3, 2004; page B02. See http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A35404-2004Aug2.html

Tiassa

08-08-04, 05:24 PM

Source: CNN.com (http://www.cnn.com/)
Link: http://www.cnn.com/2004/WORLD/meast/08/08/chalabi.warrant.ap/index.html
Title: "Judge: Warrants issued for Chalabi and nephew"
Date: August 8, 2004

Iraq has issued an arrest warrant for Ahmed Chalabi, a former governing council member, on counterfeiting charges and another for Salem Chalabi, the head of Iraq's special tribunal, on murder charges, Iraq's chief investigating judge said Sunday.

The warrant was a new sign of the fall of Ahmed Chalabi from the centers of power. Chalabi, a longtime exile opposition leader, had been a favorite of many in the Pentagon but fell out with the Americans earlier this year.

His nephew, Salem Chalabi, heads the tribunal that is due to try Saddam on war crimes charges.

Source: CNN.com (http://www.cnn.com/2004/WORLD/meast/08/08/chalabi.warrant.ap/index.html)

Ahmed Chalabi has already spoken with CNN via phone, although his comments are not available online as of this writing. However, Ahmed Chalabi has furiously denounced the charges, explains that this is a political setup, and refers to matters in which he conducted himself properly on behalf and with the knowledge of the Iraq Governing Council. Additionally, Chalabi accused the judge who issued the warrants of trying to undermine Saddam Hussein's tribunal.

The head of that tribunal, Salem Chalabi--nephew of Ahmed--has been named as a suspect in the June killing of finance ministry director general Haithem Fadhil. Coincidentally, Iraq reinstated the death penalty on Sunday, and Salem could be eligible for execution if convicted.

Comment:

Okay, so I say "coincidentally". But it's a fine word, is it not?

Imagine that on September 10, 2001, you were reading a novel that essentially contained the history of the American War on Terrorism from September 11, 2001 to the present Iraqi Bush Sideshow. It's fiction, say. Speculative. Political. Highly controversial.

Just think about it for a moment.

Sean Hannity in his radio nest is screaming for bonfires; Bill O'Reilly calls it literary garbage, and then claims to have never published a novel himself while forgetting to remove it from his website's merchandise page. Revenge of the Clintonites, rage the Hillary-haters. A left-wing conspiracy to poison the well against the Bush administration. A weapon of mass delusion, howl the neocons. Some dude in Idaho blames the Jews and burns Joe Lieberman in effigy.

Would the novel be ... believable?

Would it be anything other than a wild, speculative farce? A caricature of an embittered author with nothing more to give?

Truth, indeed, is stranger than fiction, as fiction must necessarily start making sense at some point. But the gap 'twixt hither and thither is absurdly accentuated, and even celebrated. Plot twists suitable for dime adventures abound, and this latest wrenching seems straight from the invisible hands of cartoon animators. Whether classic Daffy Duck or the abysmal Clerks venture, the gag is best in an illusory, two-dimensional universe.

Bearing in mind that this leftist was born of a discord between two teachings, one of which was mistakenly phrased in the form of a question°, I'm wondering how far gone this country will be in twenty years, when my daughter is aiming to get her college degree in whatever, and how abysmally dim will our students have to be if they aren't in the streets tearing it up? I mean, let's be honest here: this is three years into what may be a half-century operation or longer. The War on Terror will only end with the collapse or near-collapse of the United States. By the time our government has killed a significant enough portion of the Islamic population to frighten the rest into a new kind of submission, there will be plenty of folks around the world with a bomb in their pocket and a grudge to pick with our leaders and the people who endorse them. And we will also, by that time, have developed a fairly-efficient way of killing people and making excuses for it simply out of practice.

In the meantime, though, this is a fairly young venture, and bound to bear some bitter and ugly returns. But does such a statement begin to cover the range of unanticipated liabilities collected along the way?

This is a very grimly comedic situation. Ahmed Chalabi was America's boy for a while, but not so much so that he could be entrusted to lead the liberation of Iraq after Congress appropriated $98m for the purpose of overthrowing Saddam Hussein during the Clinton administration. And now perhaps some liberals might smirk and think of what Sean or Bill or Rush might say if a guest of Hillary Clinton's at the State of the Union Address had fallen so far from grace so quickly or publicly. In the long run, though, liberals should spend about four seconds at the maximum on that notion, as there are certainly more important things to worry about. Hangovers, for instance. Not that I'm hung over at the moment, but still, it's a more important consideration of what rabid conservatives would have to say were Clinton or, presumably, Kerry in the same situation.

I would introduce the Bush administration to the Pooch, but I think they all know it ... er ... intimately.
____________________

Notes:

° two teachings, one of which ... a question - The two teachings were, (1) a Lutheran children's creed, acquired during various ill-fated attempts to entrust my brother's and my consciences to Christ: "God first, others second, self third"; (2) "Do you want to be able to spend your money on what you want or do you want the government to make you take care of people that don't deserve it?" The second represents the essence of my father's attempt to develop my appreciation of capitalism and the Republican Party. Then again, how could he possibly compete? Even without people trying to get you to believe in God at the same time other people are trying to get you to believe in Republicans, there's still Mr. Spock to contend with. No, not Dr. Spock, the baby-thinker. I mean Mr. Spock, the guy with the pointy ears. What, you've never seen Wrath of Khan? Or what about Star Blazers? I'm thinking of the time they captured and released the Gamilon pilot, or in the third series when--and I can't even remember his name--died opening the bay by hand in order to fire the weapon into the Sun and save the solar system. I mean, really ... what chance did my father have?

• Associated Press. "Judge: Warrants issued for Chalabi and nephew." CNN.com, August 8, 2004. See http://www.cnn.com/2004/WORLD/meast/08/08/chalabi.warrant.ap/index.html

hypewaders

08-08-04, 09:30 PM

To Iraqis, Jordanians, and to anyone anywhere vaguely familiar with Ahmed Chalabi's career prior to being seated at the Right Hand of the 1st Lady at the last State-of-the-Union, there was not surprise, but amazement at the Bush Administration's torpid realization that he is an unreliable crook. I think Chalaby's fall made perfect embarassing sense here in America's neocolonialist amatuer hour.

Tiassa

08-09-04, 04:25 AM

Truth, indeed, is stranger than fiction, as fiction must necessarily start making sense at some point. But the gap 'twixt hither and thither is absurdly accentuated, and even celebrated. Plot twists suitable for dime adventures abound, and this latest wrenching seems straight from the invisible hands of cartoon animators. Whether classic Daffy Duck or the abysmal Clerks venture, the gag is best in an illusory, two-dimensional universe.

Aw, hell. Just because ... ten points to anyone who guesses the gag referenced in that paragraph.

Undecided

08-11-04, 04:32 PM

America’s little adventure in Najaf poses a serious challenge to American power and the future of the Middle East:

American commanders say they have killed hundreds of the militiamen in the past week; Mr Sadr’s spokesmen claim their casualty count is much lower. What is clear is that any final assault would be hugely risky. The outrage among Shias might be uncontrollable if, say, an American shell hit the Imam Ali mosque, the holiest place in the city—which is, of course, where many of Mr Sadr’s men are dug in. Already, the Iraqi authorities are struggling to impose a night-time curfew in the Shia slums of Baghdad, where renewed unrest has been triggered by the fighting in Najaf. There are many frustrated, unemployed young men in Iraq, ready to take up arms—and plenty of guns. The repercussions could also spread beyond Iraq’s borders. On Wednesday, Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, denounced the American military operation in Najaf as “one of the darkest crimes of humanity” and said that Muslims across the world would respond to it.
---------------------------------
Mr Sadr has promised to battle on “to the last drop of my blood” and has urged his men to fight on even after it has been shed. Though they are no match for the American marines in terms of training and weaponry, they make up for it in fanatical determination.
-------------------------------
If, in fact, American commanders and Mr Allawi are bluffing when they say they are poised to crush Mr Sadr’s rebels, this would be just as dangerous, since Mr Sadr seems determined to call their bluff, come what may. If the risks of triggering a wider conflagration force America to pull back from the brink, the Shia militiamen and all the other insurgent groups across Iraq would claim a resounding victory.
------------------------------
Ayatollah Khamenei’s remarks are a sign of increasing strain in relations between Iraq and the Shia theocratic government of Iran, even though some members of the new Iraqi government have strong links with Iran and several of the most senior figures, including Mr Allawi himself, are themselves Shias. Some of Mr Allawi’s officials have accused Iran of arming and encouraging the insurgents: last week Hazem Shalaan, the Iraqi defence minister, called Iran the “first enemy” of Iraq; and this week he claimed that Iran was sending weapons to Mr Sadr’s fighters. Iran has since invited Mr Allawi to visit Iran, in the hope of defusing the tensions between the two countries. But a bloodbath in Najaf might cause a serious setback in relations, if not worse.
-------------------------------
Thus it now looks like America’s forces are inevitably heading for a showdown, or a backdown, against Mr Sadr’s rebels. If they can be crushed swiftly and without triggering a violent backlash across the rest of the country, then a positive outcome is still imaginable. But the stakes are very high indeed.
---------------------------------
http://www.economist.com/agenda/displayStory.cfm?story_id=3083683

It is painfully obvious that if the US even touches that mosque with a weapon the war in Iraq will spread to unknown an proportion at least that’s the expectation. It would be like the Muslims in Rome in the 1400’s ready to attack Catholic rebels in the Vatican. The US seems to have gone way too far with its bluff, because now the US along with the interim Iraqi government has now put themselves in a deep dark corner. As stated in the article if the US pulls back from Najaf then it will be perceived as a victory for Al-Sadr, and his popularity will raise to challenge that of Al-Sistani whose own fate rests with a heart operation in London. The recent agitation in Sadr city in Baghdad (where the Shi’a outnumber the Sunni in Baghdad) is a indication of a future that is very possible in Iraq, and Iran who is the defender of Shi’a Islam that is a true wild card.

Tiassa

08-13-04, 05:18 PM

Source: Scotsman.com (http://news.scotsman.com/)
Link: http://news.scotsman.com/latest.cfm?id=3339889
Title: "Kidnapped British Journalist Freed in Iraq"
Date: August 13, 2004

British journalist James Brandon was tonight recovering at a British base in Basra after he was released by Iraqi militants 24 hours after he was kidnapped and threatened with execution . . . .

. . . . It is believed he was freed following the intervention of radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr and Mr Brandon’s mother Hilary confirmed that he is in good spirits . . . .

. . . . “I’m OK, I’m recovering,” he said.

“I’ve been released thanks to (al-Sadr’s) Mahdi Army, because they intervened and negotiated with the kidnappers.”

He refused to comment on the nature of his release, but confirmed that he had not been wounded by a gunshot as had earlier been suspected.

Mr Brandon said: “Initially I was treated roughly, but once they knew I was a journalist, I was treated very well" . . . .

. . . . A spokesman for al-Sadr said: “We apologise for what happened to you – this is not our tradition, not our rules. It is not the tradition of Islam.”

Source: Scotsman.com (http://news.scotsman.com/latest.cfm?id=3339889)

Never let it be said there's not good news buried in this topic, too.
_____________________

• Gammell, Caroline and David Stringer. "Kidnapped British Journalist Freed in Iraq." Scotsman.com, August 13, 2004. See http://news.scotsman.com/latest.cfm?id=3339889

Tiassa

08-17-04, 03:24 PM

Source: Reuters (http://reuters.com/)
Link: http://reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml;jsessionid=5RPAFHBMLBXXYCRBAEZSF EY?type=topNews&storyID=5998826
Title: "Army Won't Pay 15 Pct of Halliburton Bill"
Date: August 17, 2004

The U.S. Army will withhold payment on 15 percent of future invoices of Halliburton Co.'s logistics deal in Iraq due to a billing dispute that could cost the company $60 million a month, the military said on Tuesday.

Linda Theis, a spokeswoman for the Army Field Support Command in Rock Island, Illinois, said the 15 percent withholding would be applied from Wednesday to invoices filed by Halliburton unit Kellogg Brown and Root, the Army's biggest contractor in Iraq.

"We notified the company today. The withhold will not affect any past invoices but will be applied to future ones from tomorrow, August 18," said Theis.

Halliburton, which was run by Dick Cheney from 1995-2000 before he became U.S. vice president, said the company would fight the Army's decision and argued the 15 percent withholding should not apply to any of its Iraq work, which according to government estimates could top $18 billion.

"Halliburton is confident the government action is not justified and expects that its legal arguments will be upheld in litigation," said a company statement.

The 15 percent withholding is being implemented under Federal Acquisition Regulations which Theis said were commonly used and not done specifically to target KBR.

Source: Reuters (http://reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml;jsessionid=5RPAFHBMLBXXYCRBAEZSF EY?type=topNews&storyID=5998826)

Comment:

With friends like Halliburton, Bush doesn't necessarily need political enemies. I think the real test is whether that potential $60m price tag can be trusted as legitimate. While I have no problem believing Halliburton's revenues might decline by that portion, I'm still unsure whether any of it trespasses on "legitimate" receipts brought by appropriate pricing.

Perhaps if Halliburton hadn't played the role of "crony" so openly, I might have some sympathy for "the little guy" against the "big evil government regulators," but they did so I owe them none of that sentiment.

I can see how some might think Halliburton "deserved another chance" after changing CEO's, especially in light of false financial statements made during the tenure of former CEO Cheney, but just as a Christian is expected to forsake sinful behavior as part of forgiveness and redemption, so the people have the right to expect Halliburton to conduct itself with a small measure of dignity and forthrightness at least.

Hmm ... maybe we can blame this on the French?
____________________

• Pleming, Sue. "Army Won't Pay 15 Pct of Halliburton Bill." August 17, 2004. See http://reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml;jsessionid=5RPAFHBMLBXXYCRBAEZSF EY?type=topNews&storyID=5998826

DeeCee

08-20-04, 09:37 AM

Government documents show that the US military medical system failed to protect detainees' human rights, sometimes collaborated with interrogators or abusive guards, and failed to properly report injuries or deaths caused by beatings.

There is a substantial and well supported article on these issues in the current edition of the Lancet.

http://www.thelancet.com/journal/vol364/iss9435/full/llan.364.9435.review_and_opinion.30574.1#top

Registration is required I'm afraid but a useful synopsis resides here.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/Iraq/Story/0,2763,1287158,00.html

When your doctors put aside the objectivity they have sworn to uphold it is indeed the beginning of the end.
I am very disappointed and intend to pursue these issues with certain medical practioners of my aquaintance.
Dee Cee

Tiassa

08-20-04, 08:27 PM

I hesitate to wonder aloud lest the whisper reach the ear of some soulless network pimp, but what would Hawkeye Pierce have done?

DeeCee

08-21-04, 02:21 PM

what would Hawkeye Pierce have done?

The right thing I guess.
I remember when that sentiment was the ethical baseline of medical practice.

How times change :(
Dee Cee

Undecided

08-29-04, 05:08 PM

Well it seems that there is a colony we have forgotten…Afghanistan:

KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) -- An explosion tore through the office of an American security contractor in the heart of the Afghan capital Sunday, killing seven people, including two Americans, officials and witnesses said.
-------------------------------------
The explosion hit the office of Dyncorp Inc., a U.S. firm that provides security for Afghan President Hamid Karzai and works for the U.S. government in Iraq, said Nick Downie of the Afghanistan NGO Security Office.
-------------------------------------
"Two Americans, three Nepalese and two Afghan nationals, including a child, have been confirmed dead."
--------------------------------------
Karzai and U.S. Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad expressed shock at the Kabul attack. An embassy statement described the contractor as also helping train Afghan police
--------------------------------------
NATO forces patrolling Kabul have warned that anti-government militants, including the ousted Taliban, could try to mount spectacular attacks in a bid to disrupt landmark presidential elections scheduled for October 9.
-------------------------------------
"It was a very, very big explosion, and there were a lot of injured," said Ahmad Emal, a young shopkeeper watching from behind the police cordon. "These foreigners should leave the residential areas."
-------------------------------------
http://www.cnn.com/2004/WORLD/asiapcf/08/29/afghan.explosion.ap/index.html

How quickly we forget about that other “liberated” place, now that elections are supposedly coming up (after how knows how many delays) the frequency of Afghani attacks should increase to disrupt the election process. About the election I wouldn’t really call it one if the only place where a fair election can be held is in Kabul. Also how many real parities are there going to be on these elections? The attack against Dyncorp is symptomatic of the privatization of the military (otherwise known as mercenaries), which has little laws to control their actions.

Tiassa

08-29-04, 09:57 PM

Source: Washington Post (http://www.washingtonpost.com/)
Link: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A42712-2004Aug28.html
Title: "The Tribunals Begin"
Date: August 29, 2004

THE UNITED STATES has not conducted trials by military commission since World War II -- and those were hardly a model of fairness. So it's no surprise that the military tribunals that got under way last week at Guantanamo Bay Naval Base in Cuba had some anomalies . . . it is crucial that the military process delivers trials that are fair, and appear to be fair to reasonable observers.

The initial signals on this score are mixed . . . .

. . . . Officials need to exercise the discipline -- a discipline the Bush administration has rarely shown to date -- of taking the long view and doing the right thing without being forced.

Source: Washington Post (http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A42712-2004Aug28.html)

The Washington Post editorial board sounds off on the tribunals of suspects at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. The opinion is broadly-considered; it would be inappropriate to leave intact the suggestion that the editorial focuses entirely on the Bush administration; while the article notes that Congress is "once again ... missing in action", and discusses the ups and downs of the tribunal process so far along, the most identifiable theme is, indeed, to demand what has not been apparent so far and lay responsibility for that at the feet of the Bush administration.
_____________________

• Washington Post. "The Tribunals Begin". August 29, 2004; page B06. See http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A42712-2004Aug28.html

Kunax

09-08-04, 08:51 AM

ever sinve d. 20 march last year an increasing number of americans have been freed from the burden of paying tax, today that number rounded 1000 to a total of 1002.

On the other hand iraqies seems to be dropping like ducks in a shooting gallery, yesterday over a 100 was kill compared to 0 americans, all that fancy equipment must be paying off.

Tiassa

09-08-04, 04:02 PM

Now that is tax reform--one American at a time.

Tiassa

09-13-04, 06:52 AM

Source: New York Times (http://www.nytimes.com/)
Link: http://www.nytimes.com/2004/09/13/international/asia/13herat.html
Title: "Afghan Crowds Loot and Burn Over Governor's Dismissal"
Date: September 13, 2004

HERAT, Afghanistan, Sept. 12 - Violent demonstrators ransacked and burned at least four United Nations office compounds and a human rights office here on Sunday as they clashed with the national police and army in an angry protest at the removal of Gov. Ismail Khan by the central government.

Four people were killed and up to 50 wounded, most of them civilian demonstrators suffering from gunshot wounds, doctors at the provincial hospital said. Fifteen American soldiers and two national army soldiers were injured, mostly from stones and bricks hurled at them, said Anne Bodine, an American State Department official based in Herat.

Source: New York Times (http://www.nytimes.com/2004/09/13/international/asia/13herat.html)

The news isn't the best from the colonies.

The reasons for Khan's removal are not immediately apparent. Afghan President Hamid Karzai told reporters in Kabul that the change was necessary and in the bests interests of both Mr. Khan and the people of Herat. Mr. Khan complied with his dismissal, and has apparently refused an opportunity to continue serving the government in Kabul.

The new governor, Sayed Muhammad Khairkhwa, comes from the same faction--Jamiat-i-Islam--as Mr. Khan, who made a televised appearance to ask the people for calm.

The violence and extensive damage was a major blow to the central government of President Hamid Karzai, which had sent 1,000 soldiers and hundreds of national police officers to secure the area for the arrival of the new governor from Kabul. Now, with the Oct. 9 elections nearing, the United Nations' activities will be severely hampered in the whole western part of the country . . . .

. . . . Among the offices looted and burned were those of the United Nations refugee agency, the World Health Authority and the International Office of Migration, as well as the Afghan Human Rights Commission. The offices of the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan were also looted and nearby cars burned. The police station was strewn with rocks, and only held because some of its 90 officers were local residents. An orthopedic center of the International Red Cross alone stood untouched on the street.

Two adjoining streets were littered with debris and abandoned office material. Ten United Nations vehicles were set on fire in one compound, two more in another. Packets of medical equipment, syringes and plastic vials were scattered across the World Health Organization courtyard, and a United Nations car had its windows smashed and its radio ripped out. A United Nations pickup truck was overturned and burned in the main street, and barricades of smoldering tires, burned air conditioners and computers blocked the road in several places.

Source: New York Times (http://www.nytimes.com/2004/09/13/international/asia/13herat.html)

Four people were reported killed, and 50 injured. Mr. Khan, in his televised remarks, criticized the national army for firing at demonstrators and causing deaths. The wounded apparently blame the army for the trouble. Juma Ahmadi, a painter, assisted a friend to the hospital: "We were just walking home from work and they shot at us; my friend got shot in the leg."

At the looted compounds, police officers were under orders to not shoot, and thus could not prevent the damage.

"They were shouting 'Death to America,' 'Death to Karzai,' 'Death to the army,' " said Gul Muhammad, 26, a soldier from Parwan in central Afghanistan. "You could not talk sense to them. They were not listening."

Source: New York Times (http://www.nytimes.com/2004/09/13/international/asia/13herat.html)

• • • •

While the present telling of the story focuses on Afghan issues, and while nobody can in any way blame the American presence for this trouble, we can surely enough expect to be blamed for it. But more than blame, the important aspect insofar as American interests are concerned is that we cannot on the one hand trust George W. Bush to tell us how well things are going, while to the other we can only do so much to fix the situation. Liberty will not descend to a nation, reads the epitaph. A nation must raise itself to liberty.
____________________

• Gall, Carlotta. "Afghan Crowds Loot and Burn Over Governor's Dismissal". New York Times, September 13, 2004. See http://www.nytimes.com/2004/09/13/international/asia/13herat.html

neoclassical

09-13-04, 01:57 PM

The situation didn't need fixing in the first place. Now we've got Vietnam II: The Crusaders Return to Arabia.

Great.

Tiassa

09-13-04, 09:24 PM

The News Ain't Good
Wave of violence in Iraq takes heavy toll

We can start with Baghdad. I tried to follow this story as it developed yesterday, but gave up because my one question about the idea of firing into the crowd simply was not addressed until I found this Washington Post article early this morning.

In Baghdad, the scene of some of the most intense fighting in months, at least 27 people were killed and 107 were wounded.

A U.S. military helicopter fired into a crowd of civilians who had surrounded a burning Army armored vehicle in the capital, killing 13 people, said Saad Amili, spokesman for the Health Ministry. Among those killed was a Palestinian journalist reporting from the scene for the Arab satellite network al-Arabiya.

The U.S. military said it was trying to scatter looters who were attempting to make off with ammunition and pieces of the Bradley Fighting Vehicle, which had been hit by a car bomb early in the morning on Haifa Street, a troublesome north-south artery west of the Tigris River.

Source: Washington Post (http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A15899-2004Sep12.html)

For some reason, my mind wanted to dither over whether 13 died in the general fracas or in that one shot; it appears to be the latter.

This is not good news, now matter how you cut it. There are legitimate concerns to having the functional ammunition from a Bradley looted by the mob, but what will be remembered on the ground is that the United States military fired into a crowd and exploded additional ammunition on the ground with the result of 13 deaths.

A surge of violence across Iraq has left more than 80 civilians dead dead, with reports that American strikes are killing women, children, and in Fallujah, a doctor.

The violence continues today, and as with each resurgence of major violence (as if a car bomb or donkey-rocket is somehow minor?) we take a moment to wonder if this is the flashpoint where things really go to hell.

The Associated Press reports on the situation at Tal Afar:

U.S. troops barred anguished crowds from returning to their homes in the besieged city of Tal Afar on Monday as residents described corpses scattered across orchards and the collapse of essential services such as water and electricity.

U.S. troops and Iraqi forces on Sunday overran Tal Afar, one of several Iraqi cities they say had fallen into the hands of insurgents, after a nearly two-week siege that forced scores of residents to flee and left a trail of devastated buildings and rubble.

Source: MSNBC (http://msnbc.msn.com/id/5993764/)

At checkpoints around Tal Afar, the crowds are desperate to return home, to seek loved ones and attempt to recover their lives. But US troops will not permit this, "for their own safety". Hazem Saleh, deputy head the Kurdish Democratic Party, told the AP that the police and paramilitary presence in the city was insufficient to maintain order if the thousands of displaced residents return home at once. He said, "There are still bodies lying in the battlefields (and) orchards". With no government offices or hospitals working in Tal Afar, "Who would take them away?" Water and electricity services are not operating, and US and Iraqi forces are still hunting militants within the city.

U.S. commanders said they moved in on Tal Afar at the behest of regional officials who lost control of the city, populated mainly by Iraq’s ethnic Turkish minority known as Turkmen. American intelligence believed Tal Afar had become a haven for militants smuggling men and arms from across the Syrian border.

Turkmen officials have said that 58 people were killed during a 12-day assault by U.S. and Iraqi government forces. Turkmen residents who fled the city to nearby Mosul spoke of bodies lying under the hot sun and wrecked buildings.

Source: MSNBC (http://msnbc.msn.com/id/5993764/)

Nonetheless, around Tal Afar, the people are trying to keep their hopes up. One mother, cooking eggplant for her family in a Red Crescent camp, said, "It is hard here, but I am in peace because there are no tanks and planes firing at us."

So, yeah ... there is a glimmer of hope: Iraqi civilians have not yet given up.
____________________

• Spinner, Jackie. "At Least 80 Civilians Die in Iraqi Violence". Washington Post, September 13, 2004; page A01.
• Associated Press. "Crowds beg for return to city under siege". MSNBC.com, September 13, 2004. See http://msnbc.msn.com/id/5993764/

hypewaders

09-13-04, 10:43 PM

Back when this war was in foreplay, and we were saying "Don't do it!", the warheads were chanting that we could never stir up the bad blood in Iraq like we did over there in (Marley Sings):

"Viet-Nam,
Vietnam,
Vietnam,
Vietnam..."

But here we go...

DeeCee

09-14-04, 02:41 PM

For some reason, my mind wanted to dither over whether 13 died in the general fracas or in that one shot; it appears to be the latter.

Nope. At least five of the fatalities died waiting for medical assistance.
You can wait a long time for first aid when triggerhappy gunships are in the vicinity..

Get your eyewitness account here....

Time didn't exist. The streets were empty and silent, and the men lay there dying together. [One of the injured men] slid down to the ground, and after five minutes was flat on the street

http://www.guardian.co.uk/Iraq/Story/0,2763,1303827,00.html

Dee Cee

neoclassical

09-14-04, 04:43 PM

Apparently the Christian-Jewish Crusaders have not managed to root out the opposition, so they're staging My Lais until they can break the citizenry.

Generally a failing tactic.

hypewaders

09-14-04, 06:39 PM

"Generally a failing tactic."

Specifically, a failed one. There can be no salvaging Iraq for any US government designs from here on. Not that this attack is any different from many others. Americans do need to experience, as graphically and personally as possible, what is being done in our names, with our taxes:

http://image.guardian.co.uk/sys-images/Guardian/Pix/pictures/2004/09/14/ghthttckaa.gif

Tiassa

10-21-04, 05:05 AM

The Seattle Post-Intelligencer offers a full-page .pdf: "The Cost of War (http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/dayart/20041021/iraq220041021.pdf)". Just lots of little data bits assembled according to someone's priorities of relevance.

Tiassa

10-24-04, 08:19 AM

Source: New York Times (http://nytimes.com/)
Link: http://www.nytimes.com/2004/10/24/international/middleeast/24BODIES.html
Title: "Dozens of Iraqi Soldiers Found Shot to Death"
Date: October 24, 2004

A Grisly Morning at Baquba

Policemen discovered on Sunday morning the bodies of about 50 Iraqi soldiers who were killed in an ambush by insurgents the previous night in a remote part of eastern Iraq, Iraqi officials said.

The bodies were found near the Iranian border, about 30 miles east of the restive city of Baquba, which has been wracked by guerilla warfare since the American invasion. The soldiers were going home on leave. It is unclear who killed them, or how such a brazen and deadly ambush could have been mounted by guerillas on American-trained Iraqis.

New York Times (http://www.nytimes.com/2004/10/24/international/middleeast/24BODIES.html)

According to police officials in Baquba, the soldiers appear to have been taken from a bus returning from Kirkush and executed them with shots to the head. The bodies were then arranged into four rows.

An Iraqi government spokeswoman, however, told the AP that insurgents fired rockets at the buses; an AP reporter at the site said the charred vehicles remained, as did human remains and pools of blood.

It seems unclear, as well, whether these soldiers were part of the Iraqi National Guard or the new Iraqi Army. The attack and its outcome have raised questions of why the soldiers were unable to defend themselves, and also whether or not they were sufficiently protected for travel.

In other news, Ed Seitz, a State Department security officer, perished in a rocket attack at Camp Victory near Baghdad International Airport, and a car bomb exploded near an American convoy at Mosul, with no reported casualties.
______________________

Notes:
Wong, Edward. "Dozens of Iraqi Soldiers Found Shot to Death". New York Times, October 24, 2004. See http://www.nytimes.com/2004/10/24/international/middleeast/24BODIES.html
See Also
Vick, Karl. "Bodies of 49 Iraqi Troops Found Dead in Eastern Iraq". Washington Post, October 24, 2004. See http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A58312-2004Oct24.html

Al-Mahdawi, Faris. "Rebels 'Execute' 49 Iraqi Troops, Kill U.S. Diplomat". Reuters, October 24, 2004. See http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml;jsessionid=2VW3LIPQHSQECCRBAELCF FA?type=topNews&storyID=6590092

Tiassa

10-26-04, 05:32 PM

Aftermath: Barbs fly in wake of ING recruit deaths
Allawi: Shows "gross negligence"

interim Prime Minister Ayad Allawi on Tuesday blamed foreign troops helping secure the country for "gross negligence" in the massacre of 49 Iraqi National Guard recruits last weekend.

Allawi, in a weekly address to the Iraqi National Assembly, said his government had launched an investigation into the deaths of the U.S.-trained soldiers, who were lined up and executed by insurgents shortly after sunset Saturday near the main training base in Kirkush, 75 miles northeast of the capital.

"A terrible crime was committed in which a large number of the ING were martyred," Allawi said. "We think this shows, in addition to gross negligence on the side of some of the multi-national forces, it shows the kind of insistence to hurt Iraq and its people."

The rebuke was an unusual public condemnation of U.S.-led forces from the prime minister, who has such a cordial relationship with U.S. commanders and officials that he is often criticized by the Iraqi people for being too close to the Americans.

Washington Post (http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A63772-2004Oct26.html)

The headlines around the world are ... unsettling.

• Iraqi PM accuses US-led military of negligence in Iraqi soldier massacre (http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/afp_world/view/113678/1/.html) (Channel News Asia)
• Iraq blames US-led forces for massacre (http://www.swissinfo.org/sen/Swissinfo.html?siteSect=143&sid=5298432) (SwissInfo)
• Allawi accuses U.S. for soldiers' massacre (http://www.aljazeera.com/cgi-bin/news_service/middle_east_full_story.asp?service_id=5227) (Aljazeera)
• US to blame for massacre: Allawi (http://www.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,4057,11201063%255E1702,00.html) (news.com.au)

Hey, at least this time Aljazeera was nicer about it than the Australians. ( :bugeye: )

So ... just so we have the story straight, though, the general consensus seems to be that Iraqi National Guard recruits being transported from a training session, left unarmed and without an escort, turn up dead--executed--along the way.

I am aware of the saying that strategy is for the armchair generals while logistics is what the professionals worry about. It seems to me there's a failure of some sort on the part of the US-led coalition, but whose decision was that failure? The American war planners at home? American officers in Iraq? Was this decision somehow made by the Iraqis?

And why was the decision made? Was it a "strategic" oversight or a logistical necessity? Is this one of those things that comes about in part because, for all our might and numbers, we're still short manpower for logistical necessity?

As the folks at news.com.au (http://www.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,4057,11201063%255E1702,00.html) have it translated, "The killings represent the epitome of what could be done to hurt Iraq and the Iraqi people." A much more gripping translation, but how "spectacular" is this ... uh ... "victory" (I feel so dirty!) for the people who killed these forty-nine ING recruits? They simply murdered forty-nine unarmed people. Calling this the epitome of what could be done to Iraq and the Iraqi people might be an overstatement, though if that translation of the PM's words is the more accurate, that's certainly Mr. Allawi's right.

But ... I think the bombing of the children was a little more sinister. That's just my opinion, though, and from the far side of this side of the Pond. Given that certain parts of the insurgency depend on a specific form of irrationalism, is there not some risk, in making this the "epitome" of anything, of encouraging the less rational?

Yes, it's sick. And it's pretty big. But in the end, somebody murdered forty-nine unprotected, unarmed people. In a country teeming with warfare, that's not particularly hard to do, or at least when you consider the alternative of attacking American troops and wondering whether you're putting up a fierce enough fight to get airplanes to drop bombs on you.
____________________

Notes:
Spinner, Jackie. "Allawi Blames U.S. for 'Gross Negligence'". WashingtonPost.com, October 26, 2004. See http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A63772-2004Oct26.html

news.com.au. "US to blame for massacre: Allawi". October 27, 2004. See http://www.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,4057,11201063%255E1702,00.html

Tiassa

12-05-04, 10:04 AM

"Kill Zone" - The Unnecessary Beating of a Dead Horse
Tillman revisited: Friendly-fire casualties result of various factors

From the armchair perspective, reading the Washington Post's summary of the events leading up to the death of Pat Tillman is a little like recalling any of a number of video games I've played in my day. There is something surreal about it, but perhaps that's just the armchair.

Additionally, let me say that the Post's series title, "In the Kill Zone", is just a tad extraneous, or just another excuse to run Tillman's Arizona Cardinals pictures on the website.

Dozens of witness statements, e-mails, investigation findings, logbooks, maps and photographs obtained by The Washington Post show that Tillman died unnecessarily after botched communications, a mistaken decision to split his platoon over the objections of its leader, and negligent shooting by pumped-up young Rangers -- some in their first firefight -- who failed to identify their targets as they blasted their way out of a frightening ambush.

The records show Tillman fought bravely and honorably until his last breath. They also show that his superiors exaggerated his actions and invented details as they burnished his legend in public, at the same time suppressing details that might tarnish Tillman's commanders.

Washington Post (http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A35717-2004Dec4.html)

The Post has taken pains to get us the gory details.

Up on the ridge, Tillman and Rangers around him began to wave their arms and shout. But they only attracted more fire from Baker's vehicle . . . .

. . . . "Ranger! Ranger! Cease fire!" one soldier on the ridge remembered shouting . . . .

. . . . Then Tillman "came up with the idea to let a smoke grenade go." As its thick smoke unfurled, "This stopped the friendly contact for a few moments," the Ranger recalled.

"We thought the battle was over, so we were relieved, getting up and stretching out, and talking with one another."

Suddenly he saw the attacking Humvee move into "a better position to fire on us." He heard a new machine gun burst and hit the ground, praying, as Pat Tillman fell.

A sergeant farther up the ridge from Tillman fi