VIDEO: Halliburton Truck Driver Catches Ambush in Iraq

Halliburton Truck Driver Catches Ambush in Iraq. Marked as: Mature,

Halliburton does not arm its civilian truck drivers, who in Iraq are often the target of insurgent attacks. In one case, on September 20, 2005, a Halliburton convoy of four trucks was ambushed north of Baghdad. All four trucks were struck by IEDs and were disabled. Their US National Guard escort was thought to have abandoned the disabled vehicles, leaving the unarmed truck drivers defenseless. Three of the four truck drivers were executed by the insurgents while the surviving driver, Preston Wheeler, caught the event on video. It was 45 minutes before the US military arrived again at the scene. However, in a statement by senior military officials in Iraq, an investigation revealed that troops did not abandon the civilians and were “exiting the kill zone” during the ambush.

This video speaks completely for itself. All questions as to why diplomats, dignitaries, and journalists don’t leave the green zone are answered in this video taken by the survivor of the Halliburton convoy.

FEITH, on his skewing of Iraq intel: “…and in presenting it I was not endorsing its substance.”

Jeez, the prez (Bush) of the U.S. has surrounded himself with some pretty sorry bastards. Makes me wonder about him. He and his cronies are skanky-like-skunks.

Lizz Winstead, in a Huffington Post blog (“Have a Little Feith in Him”), brings to our attention the fact that the intel we used to sell ourselves on the Iraq (Civil) War was skewed by the Pentagon.

Read the Washington Post Story for yourselves: Official’s Key Report On Iraq Is Faulted

Douglas J. Feith is one of the culprits in this horrendous scandal of lies:

Intelligence provided by former undersecretary of defense Douglas J. Feith to buttress the White House case for invading Iraq included “reporting of dubious quality or reliability” that supported the political views of senior administration officials rather than the conclusions of the intelligence community, according to a report by the Pentagon’s inspector general.

Feith’s office “was predisposed to finding a significant relationship between Iraq and al Qaeda,” according to portions of the report, released yesterday by Sen. Carl M. Levin (D-Mich.). The inspector general described Feith’s activities as “an alternative intelligence assessment process.”

and:

At the time of Feith’s reporting, the CIA had concluded only that there was an “evolving” association, “based on sources of varying reliability.”

In a telephone interview yesterday, Feith emphasized the inspector general’s conclusion that his actions, described in the report as “inappropriate,” were not unlawful. “This was not ‘alternative intelligence assessment,’ ” he said. “It was from the start a criticism of the consensus of the intelligence community, and in presenting it I was not endorsing its substance.

Feith, who was defense policy chief before leaving the government in 2005, was one of the key contributors to the administration’s rationale for war. His intelligence activities, authorized by then-Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld and his deputy, Paul D. Wolfowitz, and coordinated with Vice President Cheney’s office, stemmed from an administration belief that the CIA was underplaying evidence of then-Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein’s ties with al-Qaeda.

This is the most evil, baldfaced lying and CYB (cover your bahookie) that America has ever witnessed. Here is my response to Lizz Winstead’s blog on Huffington Post:

“This was not ‘alternative intelligence assessment,’ ” he said. “It was from the start a criticism of the consensus of the intelligence community, and in presenting it I was not endorsing its substance.”

Oh my God! Appropriate words of comment on this statement are simply eluding me. I’m almost speechless upon reading that one short statement from Feith. I suppose the thing for me to do is to cut loose and go feral, in my best native West Texan:

“What a chickenshit son-of-a-bitch!” [my words] I believe this is the lying-est administration in the history of America.

This is how Feith simultaneously admits that he lied about intel, and got us into a stupid war turned civil war, got 3000 US troops killed, bankrupted our country, killed 650,000 Iraqis, forced 3.4 million (3,400,000) Iraqis to flee their homes or country, and is unhinging the entire Middle Eastern region of the world.

I am truly sickened by these disgusting sots – these Publicans, as I call them. They are vile, repugnant, amoral, and totally lacking any conscience. In feral West Texas we call them sorry bastards.

Denny – http://abovethefold.wordpress.com

Gen. Tommy Franks, by the way has called Feith, “the fucking stupidest guy on the face of the earth.”

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Lizz Winstead is a terrifically funny writer, author, and comedienne. Take a look at some of her routines on her MySpace site.
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As of this moment HuffPo has not yet posted my comment, but they usually do, sometimes hours later.

“Impeach Bush,” say two New Mexico lawmakers!!

This is the first legislative attempt, to my knowledge, suggesting that impeachment proceedings should proceed against U.S. President George E. Bush:

SANTA FE (AP) — Two New Mexico lawmakers have introduced a measure calling on Congress to impeach President Bush and Vice President Cheney.

State Sens. John Grubesic of Santa Fe and Gerald Ortiz y Pino of Albuquerque, both Democrats, said the resolution is a serious effort to try to trigger impeachment proceedings.

New Mexico, where lawmakers are meeting until March 17, would be the first state to pass the resolution, they said.

The measure alleges that Bush and Cheney conspired with others to intentionally mislead Congress and the public about the threat posed by Iraq in order to justify the war.

It also cites the administration’s warrantless wiretapping program and alleges the torture of prisoners and the denial of constitutional rights to enemy combatants.

READ MORE HERE

While U.S. Speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi has said that “Iimpeachment is off the table,” these two New Mexico Lawmakers, are hoping to change some minds, perhaps Pelosi’s, over time.

After Congress impeached Clinton over his lying about his sex life, shouldn’t we begin to give some thought to doing the same to Bush who has lied about WMD, terrorist connections between Iraq and 9/11, that Congress had the same level of intel that the White House had prior to the Iraq invasion, that nobody could have anticipated that an insurgency could erupt from within Iraq, that the war would cost the U.S. a mere $50 Billion, that the oil revenues in Iraq were adequate to pay us back for the cost of the war, yada yada, ad nauseum, yada yada to as recently as two weeks ago Bush was claiming that the reason for the Iraq War [now Civil War] was that once Iran gets nuclear weapons, Saddam Hussein would have begun to obtain Nuclear weapons, too.

The last lie about Iranian nukes, therefore, Iraqi nukes simply falls flat on its face. Bush should be impeached for this one statement, alone. For this to be a valid reason for the war, we would have to have known about Iranian efforts to obtain nukes before the war. If we had truly known this for a fact at that time, then Iran would have been the natural target for a pre-emptive strike, rather than Iraq.

George W. Bush’s lying has gotten 3,000+ American troops killed, 600,000 Iraqi’s killed, cost the U.S. $800,000,000,000 (800 Billion $$$$$$) (8/10 of one Trillion dollars)!!!!!!! And this is not counting the estimated 1/2 trillion in cost to take care of the returning wounded and disabled U.S. troops over their lifetimes.

Seriously, George W. Bush has lied about some huge things that have had and will have some huge consequences in this, our real world.

If we fail to impeach Bush for his lies then we are saying that it is a hanging offense to lie about one’s private sex life (between consenting adults), but it is okay to cause a civil war, make up shit to get us into wars that will kill U.S. troops and Innocent Iraqi Citizens, and leave our children and grandchildren indebted to pay off our bills for a completely unnecessary war, and leave our military capacity so strained that we wouldn’t be able to fend off a serious attack in any major U.S. city.

Bush hasn’t the guts or the decency to raise taxes on his friends, the real beneficiaries of the war, to avoid draining the country’s wealth, driving us into bankruptcy, and handing our children and grandchildren over into financial slavery to pay for the Bush Follies.

George W. Bush is the liar of largest consequence the U.S. has ever known. We should give serious thought to his coming impeachment.

STATE OF THE UNION: Chill the Beer and Break out the Popcorn

Chill the beer and break out the popcorn. It’s that time of year again. I’m not referring to Martin Luther King Day, nope. President’s Day, nope. Ground Hog Day, nope. Nope, It’s time for our Dope’s annual State of the Union Address to Congress. Tuesday night. Be sure to tune in for the hilarity as MSNBC is doing all day coverage on Tuesday, pre, present, and post State of the Union Address!!!

You almost have to feel sorry for someone like Bush, who is so defeated, delusional, and in charge of a walking disaster in Iraq. He can’t, with honesty, say much of anything positive about his administration. Bush is our Dope, and we are stuck with him and his idiot cronies for another two years. You could feel pity for him in all of his mess, except that he is so willfully belligerent in his wrongness. He is in desperate need of good, accurate diplomatic advice, but he has only this carnival-esque coterie of an Administration to advise him now.

The Repub. Party has mucked-up the hunt for Bin Laden, Afghanistan, Iraq Civil War, the national debt, the trade deficit, energy policy – done nothing here, global warming, New Orleans, relations with every country in the world, threatening any country they feel like insulting on a particular day, ignoring the Iraq Study Group Report.

This State of the Union Address of 2007 will be fun to watch if only to glean more ammunition with which to embarrass Mr. Bush. If we are lucky we may hear a sentence or two that ring true, but not many. Politically, Bush cannot afford to be honest about anything for the sake of his Repub. party. He’s a salesman, for sure, and he’ll give it his best effort, but he won’t sell many of us. We’ve heard all of the lines and lies, been insulted when we disagreed or called his hand, and we’re sick of his unnecessary militarism.

I will throw myself on the floor laughing hysterically if he tries to tie Iraq to 9/11 one more time.

Bush is a Dope, but he’s our Dope, and we are stuck with him – as off he goes, wallowing around the world muddying all he touches for the next two years.

This may be the last good laugh this nation gets to enjoy for a long time to come, as we try to untangle Bush’s grotesque national and international messes.

So chill the beer and break out the popcorn.

KEEP THE IMPEACHMENT TOOL VERY CLOSE AT HAND

If you haven’t looked at THE HUFFINGTON POST lately, you absolutely must do so. Arianna Huffington has put together a first rate newspaper. I read the site very often during the day. And occasionally I post a comment or two.

Today on Huffington Post, one of their posts pointed to an article in the NYTIMES: Leading Senator Assails Bush Over Iran Stance

The new chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee on Friday sharply criticized the Bush administration’s increasingly combative stance toward Iran, saying that White House efforts to portray it as a growing threat are uncomfortably reminiscent of rhetoric about Iraq before the American invasion of 2003.

Senator John D. Rockefeller IV, the West Virginia Democrat who took control of the committee this month, said that the administration was building a case against Tehran even as American intelligence agencies still know little about either Iran’s internal dynamics or its intentions in the Middle East.

“To be quite honest, I’m a little concerned that it’s Iraq again,” Senator Rockefeller said during an interview in his office. “This whole concept of moving against Iran is bizarre.”

I agree 100% with Rockefeller on this point. As of 2003 Iran was completely willing to help us stabilize Iraq, but the Bush Cabal turned them down, flat-out cold. And now Bush wants to invade Iran!!! Ya, right, we can see how well that has worked for us in Iraq.

My Huffington Post comment to the Rockefeller story went:

If the President so much as looks at Iran cross-eyed, then i believe we should put impeachment back on the table and start the proceedings immediately.

Quite a bit off topic, but on my mind lately, If we had put the trillion dollars that the iraq war will cost us into research on alternative energies, we wouldn’t have to think about the middle east in terms of “national interest” anymore. We could be oil independant of the entire middle east, and probably completely energy self sufficient in a few years.

Denny

If the White House Cabal keeps this up, we’ll be wishing for a coup by the U.S. military, as the impeachment process will move too slowly to avert the ensuing world war that will erupt as the major powers of the world converge on the middle east to protect their own national interests from usurption by the U.S. Iran knows that we haven’t the necessary troops to adequately do the job, and they are laughing at our saber-rattling.

The White House cabal is talking pure trash. It’s time for the U.S. to take some serious steps to move us away from our middle east oil dependancy. If we had not offered such huge tax cuts to the wealthy, and had not obligated ourselves to the tune of a trillion dollars in Iraq, we could have made some major strides in the realm of alternative fuels.

I suggest that we keep the impeachment tool very close at hand. These guys’ entire foreign policy seems to revolve around oil profiteering, at the expense of all and anyone else. There’s no telling what they’ll try to pull in the next two years.

UPDATE: Schweitzer Hammers Bush on Iraq in Nat’l Dem Radio Address

David Sirota has an excellent blog posted on the Huffington Post about Brian Schweitzer, the Governor of Montana, delivering this week’s Democratic Radio Address. Gov. Schweitzer covers some of the same topics I’m covering in today’s blog. He agrees on the topic of alternative fuels. They are doing it in Montana, the Big Sky Country. Huffington Post has the text of his address.

We are doing it here in Texas also, to a limited amount, solar, wind and methane recovery. BUT, our own Repub. Governor is trying to fast track the permits to let the utility companies build 11 new coal-power plants USING THE OLD DIRTY COAL TECHNOLOGY!!! Repubs all need to have their heads examined. At the very least we should schedule them for MRI’s to see if they test positive for brain cells. This is absolutely brainless (or corrupt) on Perry’s part.

“Now, he is in the garbage of history.”

“Saddam Hussein executed in Baghdad” reads the A.P. headline today. It’s a very interesting read.

Now, he is in the garbage of history,” said Jawad Abdul-Aziz, who lost his father, three brothers and 22 cousins in the reprisal killings that followed a botched 1982 assassination attempt against Saddam in the Shiite town of Dujail.

I’m hopeful, for the sake of the Iraqi people, that the symbolic act of executing Saddam by hanging will crystalize some vision of national unity in the zeitgeist of the Iraqi people.

This event in Iraqi history would seem to be one in which everyone in their country will remember exactly where they were when they heard the news, much like when the U.S. heard of Pearl Harbor, JFK’s death, or the 9-11 attacks. Better examples might be the Fall of the Berlin Wall, VE-Day, or Richard Nixon’s resignation. Saddam’s hanging seems to be of importance, enough so that it could be said to be a moment of nationalism. Not a call to arms, but a call to Peace. Perhaps it won’t happen immediately, but this will signal a change of direction. We can hope, for the sake of the Iraqi people.

Saddam Executed by Hanging

Iraqi state television is reporting that Saddam Hussein has been executed by hanging in Baghdad.

UPDATE: READ THE STORY FROM THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

U.S. hands Saddam Hussein over to Iraqis to be hanged

Just in from CNN and Reuters News: The U.S. has just handed Saddam Hussein over to Iraqi authorities to be hanged. Presumably this will happen today, or no later than tomorrow. Saddam’s defense lawyers have been asked not to come to Baghdad, and have been told to pickup his personal belongings. Reuters story: Saddam transferred to Iraqi custody: defense lawyer

On McCain Trip to Iraq, Graham is Shocked by the Violence

Lindsey Graham was shocked by the violence during his recent trip to Iraq:

The first time I came here with Sen. McCain we went rug shopping. Yesterday, we moved around in a tank. It’s one of the most dangerous places on the planet.

I ask you, the reader, how did we, in three years time, go from “mission accomplished” to a civil war in Iraq that is threatening to break out into regional civil war? We all know pretty much who let this situation devolve into total chaos. Those folks should be brought to accountability, and I’m referring to Bush, Cheney, and Rumsfeld, for starters.

They went into Iraq with too few troops to secure the peace, the munitions, the peace, the militias, the peace, the explosives, the peace, and even our own weapons shipments to ourselves in Iraq!!

And now Laura Bush wants to blame G.W.’s low numbers on the media!! watch the video

It is not encouraging coverage for sure. There’s no doubt about it. But I do know that there are a lot of good things that are happening that aren’t covered. And I think that the drum beat in the country from the media, from the only way people know what is happening unless they happened to have a loved one deployed there, is discouraging.

Ha! What a total crock. The media and the Iraq Study Group have taken it on the chin for not leaving the secured “Green Zone” area of Baghdad -for hiring contract “stringers”, but Graham and McCain and company traveled in a tank! for protection. I am laughing out loud at Laura Bush’s whine about all the good things that are happening over there. Like? Like how could we know, because it’s too dangerous to go find any good news. I mean, who’s going to go out of the green zone to visit Iraqi retirement centers to see how the needlepoint and woodcarving classes are working out?

Or, maybe she meant good things happening in the U.S. Okay, yes then that’s true, there are good things happening. But most Americans are not so shallow as Laura and George, as to not pay some attention, and not to feel some grief and remorse that we’ve gotten 650,000 civilians killed in Iraq, to date, and the end is nowhere to be seen. And most of us also feel dismayed that we elected an individual who is so totally incompetant to the highest office in the land, the U.S. Presidency.

Her husband is a joke and she blames the media for not attending classes at retirement centers and daycare facilities. Ha! Laura, Honey, there’s a war going on out there, you should ask your husband what it’s all about and what his role was. (God, I’d like to eavesdrop on that conversation. It’d be funnier than your typical birds and bees talk.)

Peace Out, Denny

credits to: HUFFINGTON POST, THINK PROGRESS, & YAHOO NEWS

EDIT: Here’s more info on the Laura Bush interview, from Media Matters

By 2040 Greenhouse Gases … Open Arctic Sea in Summers

!!!! Alarm Bells – anyone hear them over the din of Limbaugh, FOX News, Coulter, DeLay, Iraq, Iran, Afghanistan, body counts, ….?
By 2040, Greenhouse Gases Could Lead to an Open Arctic Sea in Summers ANDREW C. REVKIN of the NY Times is writing about an article from the journal Geophysical Research Letters,

Basically, we’ll have shipping lanes from Atlantic to Pacific oceans north of Canada. Folks will be buying land in northern Canada, and building ports and fuelling stations up there, as the polar bears begin to run out of territory. The problem will continue to get worse as the darker colored ocean waters will absorb more heat than the white ice. Ironically, the winters will be colder, as blowing winds pick up more cold from the melted waters than from the frozen ice.

You really need to look at the map in the Times article to see how huge this summer ice melt will be. Almost the entire northern polar ice cap will be melted in the summer, leaving a small amount of summer ice to the north of Eastern Canada and Greenland.

Meanwhile, in my home state of Texas, we are being hijacked by the pinheaded Governor Rick Perry who is fast tracking the permits for 11 new coal-burning power plants. These are not the new, cleaner coal burners, he is letting them build 11 OLD TECHNOLOGY COAL PLANTS!!!!!!

With the foresight and intelligence of Rick Perry, I’m starting to think that he’s ready for the national scene in ‘08. Yeah, that’s the ticket, “PERRY FOR PREZ IN ‘08.” It would be a relief to get him out of Texas. Poor Washington.

If only we’d simply forgotten about Iraq after we’d finished up in Afghanistan, we could have gone to war against global warming.

IF ONLY WE’D DEVELOPED AN ENERGY POLICY IN THE 70′S.

If only we’d been as smart as Brazil. They were quick to react to the oil embargoes of the early 70’s, and started on a national program to convert their vehicles to ethanol. By last year the transition was complete. Every vehicle in Brazil runs on ethanol produced from sugar cane, which has a higher per acre yield than corn. In fact, Brazil is now an exporter of ethanol.

If only, … aaaahhhhh, But no, the U.S. is still dependent on Middle Eastern oil, and getting worse, and soon to be competing with a China on the fast track to consumerism and demands for more oil. So we are trying to permanantly embed ourselves in the Middle East to bring democracy to the region, rid it of WMD, kill hundreds of thousands of innocent people so that we preserve our own national interests over there. Can you spell oil with me kids, O-I-L. Very Good!

My how the time flies when I’m off on a good rant. Thank God and Little George Bush that we’re winning in Iraq!!! We’re winning? Right? Little George????

WHITE HOUSE NEEDS LESSONS IN DIPLOMACY

I am not getting my hopes up that the ISG Report will get Bush 43 motivated to do anything that will lead to success in Iraq and the region. From David E. Sanger of the New York Times: Dueling Views on Diplomacy Pit Baker Against Rice. This article is a must read for its clues as to why we must talk with Syria and Iran. However, one day following the delivery of the Iraq Study Group Report, Bush has stated flatly that we will talk with neither Syria nor Iran.

The United States should engage Iran, Mr. Baker contended, if only to reveal its “rejectionist attitude”; it should try to “flip the Syrians”; and it should begin a renewed quest for peace between Israel and the Palestinians that, he maintained, would help convince Arab moderates that America was not all about invasions and regime change.

As to Baker’s and Bush’s diplomatic styles, Sanger quotes Dennis Ross:

“They start from completely different places,” said Dennis Ross, the Middle East negotiator who worked for Mr. Baker years ago and left the State Department early in the Bush administration. “Baker approaches everything with a negotiator’s mindset. That doesn’t mean every negotiation leads to a deal, but you engage your adversaries and use your leverage to change their behavior. This administration has never had a negotiator’s mind-set. It divides the world into friends and foes, and the foes are incorrigible and not redeemable. There has been more of an instinct toward regime change than to changing regime behavior.”

Absolutely true! When the neocons will accuse their own fellow Americans of being traitors and terrorists for disagreeing with the president or for asking the hard questions before the invasion, that’s hardcore fundamentalism at work. There is some kind of evil lurking in those people.

These two paragraphs are key to the depth of Baker’s wisdom, that sageness that one acquires in direct proportion to the amount of gray that one has in one’s hair. What a terrific panel.

CBS News White House correspondent Bill Plante reports:

But this president may not be in much of a hurry to accept Baker’s ideas about that — or much else. Asked if Baker would help implement the report, a spokesman for Mr. Bush said, “Jim Baker can go back to his day job.”

This is worse than dumping cold water on this distinguished group that has travelled around the globe and spent almost a year of their lives in this service to their country. The President and the entire white House severely need of diplomacy lessons.

It’s too early to tell what effect the mentoring of the ISG Report will have on Bush 43, but sadly, I am not optimistic.

IRAQ STUDY GROUP REPORT IS RELEASED

Okay here’s my initial thoughts, having downloaded the IRAQ STUDY GROUP REPORT, but not read it, having watched the late morning news, and having watched the Press Conference with Tony Snow. By the way you can download the report, free at the Baker Institute.org – ISG Report Or visit their homepage – BAKER INSTITUTE HOME.

I saw almost none of the presentation to the President, but did see the Tony Snow press conf. He was his typical smug, ape-ish self, stiffarming, denying, and evading nearly every question asked. Judging from Snow, the Bush White House may still be in denial as the the dire situation in Iraq. Snow: “The President believes in the transformational power of liberty.” This is Ideological-Speak for “Hopefully we can find our way through all of this to stay the course.”

Bush is a strongwilled individualist, too much so to rethink this whole scheme of things. Too, putting yourself in Bush’s shoes, this mess is so humiliating and embarassing that it is going to keep him trapped in an angry and defensive mode of thinking. His presidency is not only lameduck, its thought processes are essentially shutdown. This is an embarassment to the United States, that we have one individual so hopelessly out of touch and yet in charge. Hopefully, with some time, he can figure his way out of this funk and move into a mode of dynamic leadership, leading the U.S. into a new diplomatic mode.

Again I’ll say that Snow was definitely stiff-arming the press, as expected, for a President in denial, “We have not been saying, ‘Stay the Course,’ for several months now.” I laughed aloud at this from Snow. They appear to have been living in a parallel universe for some time now. It has been less than one month since we’ve heard, “Stay the Course.” In fact we heard it multiple times from Bush himself only last week on his “diplomatic” trip to the Middle East.

I think it would be helpful to the President for him to stand before the American People in something of an early State of the Union Address on Iraq, and speak some pragmatic, non-ideological truth, apologize, and ask for national cooperation as we try to fix Iraq for the Iraqi People. There is a short window for Bush to seize the day on this mess. Perhaps extend the Iraq Study Group one year at a time, and use some or all of the members as a governing board to oversee the task. He can still pull this thing out of the fire and be a President with an important legacy.

But this President is not a dynamic leader. He’s a Lone Ranger, a unilateralist, a “my way or the highway” cowboy from Texas. Initially, two generals sugested that we need 500,000 troops to invade Iraq. One was fired and one was completely ignored.

Bush will adhere to ideology and refuse a change of course in regards to the Israel-Palestine conflict, the Iraq mess, and probably won’t attempt diplomatic talks with either Iran or Syria.

Based upon Bush’s history as an ideologue, and upon his inept grasp of reality, I am only mildly hopefully for our success in Iraq, or in the recovery of Bush’s administration. This is a failed administration whose only note of accomplishment is the stock market, but this comes at the expense of: 1. a record national debt 2. record national personal debt 3. record trade deficit 4. immigration problems 5. a failed war on terror 6. a failed war in Iraq 6. Bin Laden is still on the loose 7. Al Qaeda is growing 8. global warming 9. American jobs and wages

And finally, short of a totally self-reinvented George W. Bush, we are in dire need of a regime change in the Executive Branch of the U.S. Government. We don’t have the luxury of waiting two years for a new administration. Iraq demands our immediate attention, as do other serious problems.

Please, please, please Mr. President, please prove me wrong.

RUMSFELD MEMO: Iraq — Illustrative New Courses of Action

On the day before elections 2006, Secretary of Defense, Donald Rumsfeld wrote this memorandum entitled: Iraq — Illustrative New Courses of Action. Bush interviewed Robert Gates the day before this and Rumsfeld resigned two days later. It isn’t known whether Rumsfeld knew of Bush’s interview of Gates at the time of this memo. This is the text of the classified memo:

Nov. 6, 2006

SUBJECT: Iraq — Illustrative New Courses of Action

The situation in Iraq has been evolving, and U.S. forces have adjusted, over time, from major combat operations to counterterrorism, to counterinsurgency, to dealing with death squads and sectarian violence. In my view it is time for a major adjustment. Clearly, what U.S. forces are currently doing in Iraq is not working well enough or fast enough. [emphasis added] Following is a range of options:

ILLUSTRATIVE OPTIONS

Above the Line: (Many of these options could and, in a number of cases, should be done in combination with others)

¶Publicly announce a set of benchmarks agreed to by the Iraqi Government and the U.S. — political, economic and security goals — to chart a path ahead for the Iraqi government and Iraqi people (to get them moving) and for the U.S. public (to reassure them that progress can and is being made).

¶Significantly increase U.S. trainers and embeds, and transfer more U.S. equipment to Iraqi Security forces (ISF), to further accelerate their capabilities by refocusing the assignment of some significant portion of the U.S. troops currently in Iraq.

¶Initiate a reverse embeds program, like the Korean Katusas, by putting one or more Iraqi soldiers with every U.S. and possibly Coalition squad, to improve our units’ language capabilities and cultural awareness and to give the Iraqis experience and training with professional U.S. troops.

¶Aggressively beef up the Iraqi MOD and MOI, and other Iraqi ministries critical to the success of the ISF — the Iraqi Ministries of Finance, Planning, Health, Criminal Justice, Prisons, etc. — by reaching out to U.S. military retirees and Reserve/National Guard volunteers (i.e., give up on trying to get other USG Departments to do it.)

¶Conduct an accelerated draw-down of U.S. bases. We have already reduced from 110 to 55 bases. Plan to get down to 10 to 15 bases by April 2007, and to 5 bases by July 2007.

¶Retain high-end SOF capability and necessary support structure to target Al Qaeda, death squads, and Iranians in Iraq, while drawing down all other Coalition forces, except those necessary to provide certain key enablers for the ISF.

¶Initiate an approach where U.S. forces provide security only for those provinces or cities that openly request U.S. help and that actively cooperate, with the stipulation being that unless they cooperate fully, U.S. forces would leave their province.

¶Stop rewarding bad behavior, as was done in Fallujah when they pushed in reconstruction funds, and start rewarding good behavior. Put our reconstruction efforts in those parts of Iraq that are behaving, and invest and create havens of opportunity to reward them for their good behavior. As the old saying goes, “If you want more of something, reward it; if you want less of something, penalize it.” No more reconstruction assistance in areas where there is violence.

¶Position substantial U.S. forces near the Iranian and Syrian borders to reduce infiltration and, importantly, reduce Iranian influence on the Iraqi Government.

¶Withdraw U.S. forces from vulnerable positions — cities, patrolling, etc. — and move U.S. forces to a Quick Reaction Force (QRF) status, operating from within Iraq and Kuwait, to be available when Iraqi security forces need assistance.

¶Begin modest withdrawals of U.S. and Coalition forces (start “taking our hand off the bicycle seat”), so Iraqis know they have to pull up their socks, step up and take responsibility for their country.

¶Provide money to key political and religious leaders (as Saddam Hussein did), to get them to help us get through this difficult period.

¶Initiate a massive program for unemployed youth. It would have to be run by U.S. forces, since no other organization could do it.

¶Announce that whatever new approach the U.S. decides on, the U.S. is doing so on a trial basis. This will give us the ability to readjust and move to another course, if necessary, and therefore not “lose.”

¶Recast the U.S. military mission and the U.S. goals (how we talk about them) — go minimalist.

Below the Line (less attractive options):

¶Continue on the current path.

¶Move a large fraction of all U.S. Forces into Baghdad to attempt to control it.

¶Increase Brigade Combat Teams and U.S. forces in Iraq substantially.

¶Set a firm withdrawal date to leave. Declare that with Saddam gone and Iraq a sovereign nation, the Iraqi people can govern themselves. Tell Iran and Syria to stay out.

¶Assist in accelerating an aggressive federalism plan, moving towards three separate states — Sunni, Shia, and Kurd.

¶Try a Dayton-like process.

Whew! Sounds like Rumsfeld is fed-up and frustrated with the slow progress in Iraq, and with his boss, Mr. Bush! They should have implemented many of these strategies over 2 years ago.

YUP, REPUBLICANS LOST IRAQ WAR!

I’m beginning to be a fan of a lot of the Huffington Post’s writers, Cenk Uygur being one of my favorites. He’s a lawyer, and co-host of THE YOUNG TURKS, a morning show on Air America. He wrote a blog piece for the Huff-Po folks, entitled: THE REPUBLICANS LOST IRAQ, to which I replied:

You said it so lucidly Mr. Uygur. The blame for losing the Iraq War rests squarely on the Republican shoulders. Anyone who tried to inject sanity into their jingoistic monologue was scorned as a traitor. From day one I was incensed by Ann Coulter calling anyone who openly disagreed with the President, ON ANY TOPIC, an unpatriotic traitor. We all should have been rounded and tried like terrorists, in Ann’s and Rush’s and O’Reilly’s insane, reptilian worldview.

I am concerned that Democrats will now be roped into the “blame pool,” having won both houses. However Rumsfeld’s latest leaked memo written two days before he resigned, and the fact that most of the mainstream media now call it a Civil War, should limit the Democrat’s liability for the calamity ahead. Watch, though, the neocons will still be grousing that if they had been given enough time they would have pulled Iraq out of its current funk. (Hey neo-knotheads, it’s gone on longer than the America’s involvement in W.W. II.

The failed Republican – neocon approach has ignited a searing fire in the bellies of future generations of Middle Eastern jihadists. They will rightfully blame the U.S. for the 650,000 civilian deaths in Iraq.

The best approach to the Iraq situation would have been to grant more time to the initial weapons inspectors, and to a diplomatic solution.

I feel that your main point, Mr Uygur, needs to be hammered out loudly and firmly for the media and the world to hear, and remember. Say it loud! Say it proud! REPUBLICANS LOST IRAQ!

I feel that this bears repeating as a mantra for a while, vain and arrogant as it may sound, as a dose of reality to Republicans, neocons, their followers, and the rightwing media who have been pounding the terrorist war drums for the last five years. We need to drum this truth, into their heads.

If you have not yet checked out the Huffington Post, you need to do so, daily, or hourly if you are like me. It updates several times an hour, tracks the main wireline news, and has the best bloggers out there. It’s a national treasure. Give them a visit.

I’ve got several posts to get pasted up in the next few days – maybe Tuesday, or so. Thanks for your patience, Denny.

BUSH’S IRAQ CIVIL WAR

 

BUSH’S IRAQI CIVIL WAR

It’s official, now, contrary to the Bush administration (We’re still winning, ya right.)

NBC, MSNBC characterized it as “civil war” this morning. The Huffington Post and the LA Times began last week.

I said it to myself last September or October, but it may have actually been
so back in the summer (2006). It would depend upon whose definition you
use. By September, 2006, it seemed to have spun into Civil War, purely
looking at the situation, listening to the bodycounts rise, listening to the
Whitehouse/neocon spin versus the reality of the television images, judging from
the gut of the American People. We felt it, we knew it then.

The media coverage of the war has been sanitized from day one, as the
Whitehouse declared the coffins of returning killed American Service Men and
Women to be off limits to the media. The Whitehouse would like to keep
sanitizing the images that we see on the news, but they can no longer do so.

The Bush fellas would very much like to see the declaration of Civil War
stalled until a month or so after the Democrats take over the Congress.
But it won’t wait, Mr. Bush.

Five Sunni insurgency car bombs blowup on Thanksgiving
day in a Shia neighborhood, killing 200, plus or minus. The next day the Shia
militia retaliates, dousing 6 Sunni’s in gasoline, torching and killing them
while the Iraqi army looks on. Next day, RPG’s pound American
positions. The Iraqi Civil War is here, and now.

This in no way resembles the neighborhoods in which either you, Mr. Bush, grew up in. Nor does this scene resemble the neighborhoods of Iraq before you invaded the country, Mr. Bush. These scenes resemble no other neighborhood or street, that I know of, and certainly neither Midland nor Arlington,Texas.

Wake up and see the coffins of American and Iraqi bodies, Mr. Bush. This
THING that is consuming Iraq – it is now a civil war. Your arrogance, deception,
delay, stubbornness, and stupidity created this THING. As you were advised, “You break it, you own it!”
THIS IS HEREBY YOUR IRAQI CIVIL WAR, MR BUSH. Quit being such a coward and own up to the facts.

 

“Our Wile E. Coyote Moment in Iraq” – by Larry Arnstein

Larry Arnstein, a partner in the hilarious Ironic Times , also writes for the Huffington Post, Arianna Huffington’s wonderful online news-blog magazine. Mr. Arnstein’s latest piece, Our Wile E. Coyote Moment in Iraq, satirizes our current situation in Iraq, comparing George W. Bush to the Wile E. Coyote of the RoadRunner cartoons, who has just rollerskated over the edge of a cliff, yet hangs momentarily in thin air, not yet comprehending that there is no earth under him, and that he is freefalling. The Wile E. Coyote-in-Chief has not yet seen the desperation of his situation, nor that of his party, this country, nor most of all, the plight of the innocent people of IRAQ.

This was my response on The Huffington Post:

It makes you want to cry doesn’t it? Or wail and pound the earth with your fists. One day five car bombs driven by Sunni’s blowup and kill 200 or so Shiites, wounding hundreds more, and the next day, horror of horrors, the Shiites douse 6 Sunni’s with gasoline and torch them as the Iraqi army looks on.It seems that the Huffington Post and the LA Times are now the first two newspapers to call it a civil war. Most people are still asking the question, “Is it, or is it not, a civil war, yet?”

The U.S. military is already stretched so thin that we can’t adequately police Iraq. And the Wile E. Coyote-in-Chief wants to bomb both North Korea and Iran.

Until his last day in the administration, Rumsfeld was proclaiming to the heavens how successful the U.S. forces were in the initial Iraq war. And now, the Iraqis simply can’t hold it together, implying that it’s their own fault. Not so however, as to both the initial war and the civil war. For starters, any WMD that might have existed, tens of thousands of tons of conventional explosives, and hundreds of thousands of firearms have disappeared into the deserts of the middle east. HOW? We didn’t go in, in the initial war stage, with enough troops. We didn’t disarm the militias, secure the weaponry, or the country.

The Iraqis don’t deserve this. They are paying a fiercely high price for the U.S.’s stupidity and arrogance. We either didn’t do our homework on Iraq and the region’s politic, or we lied our way into this war, turned civil war. Outside forces have destabilized Iraq, just as the U.S. is now doing the same to Pakistan and Iran.

Wile E. Coyote-in-Chief will hit the bottom of this chasm in a cloud of dust. He’ll look up just in time to see the Acme Anvil fall on his head, and that of the Republican Party, and the nation.

This quagmire will get far worse before it gets better. Tony Blair is getting outbefore September of 2007,  in time to go into hiding from the press. Same with Rumsfeld. Bush’s Daddy’s friends and the new Sec. of Def. Gates will have their hands full trying to salvage younger Bush’s presidential legacy. Like Wile E. Coyote, and O.J. Simpson, it may be too late to save Bush, our nation’s pride, or the people of Iraq.

“Beep! Beep! Mr. Bush!!”