Clipmarks | masbury's 'iraq' clips

How the Surge has left us wounded

Fri, 04 Jul 2008 22:29:28 GMT

clipped by: masbury
clipper's remarks: "If we accept the mainstream narrative on its face, the surge worked. It transformed the U.S. troop presence from being counterproductive to being indispensable for maintaining stability. But can we continue with anything close to the current level of troops deployed over there?"

Clip Source: www.huffingtonpost.com

The Simple Arithmetic of a Fraudulent Surge

From its inception, the Iraq war strategy was like a plan to fly across the Pacific without enough fuel to get to the other side. The surge made the plane fly faster.

can we continue with anything close to the current level of troops deployed over there?

clearly, "No."

1. "Mullen's Choice: Troops For Afghanistan Or Troops For Iraq,"

2. "Iraq Troop Boost Erodes Readiness, General Says,"

3. "U.S. deploys more than 43,000 unfit for combat,"

4. "US Sent Medically Unfit Soldiers to Iraq, Pentagon Acknowledges,"

5. "Pentagon Ends Time Limit On Guard, Reserve

6. "Col.: DOD delayed brain injury scans,"

feared veterans would blame

ailments on

bomb blasts

7. "Scientists: Brain injuries from war worse than thought,"

9. "Invisible Wounds of War,"

300,000 individuals currently suffer from PTSD or major depression and that 320,000 individuals experienced a probable TBI [traumatic brain injury]

Tags: surge, iraq

More Bushco connections to Iraq oil deals

Thu, 03 Jul 2008 05:57:26 GMT

clipped by: masbury
clipper's remarks: Perks for Hunt Oil, whose owner gave $35M to the Bush library.

Clip Source: thinkprogress.org

Oversight Committee: Despite Denials, Administration Knew About Bush Donor’s Oil Contracts»

The Bush administration has repeatedly claimed that it plays no part in contract negotiations between Western oil companies and Iraq. But the New York Times reported last week that the State Department actually had an “integral role” in the awarding of no-bid contracts to develop Iraq’s oil fields.

Today, the administration received another blow to its credibility, as the House Oversight Committee released documents further connecting it to Iraqi oil deals, this time through Dallas-based Hunt Oil. Hunt Oil is owned by Ray L. Hunt, a former Halliburton board member who has donated $35 million to the Bush presidential library.

“This is a serious matter because of the widespread suspicion in Iraq and other nations that the United States went to war to gain access to Iraqi oil,” the committee wrote.

Tags: iraq, oil

Bush Admin directly involved in Iraq oil contracts

Tue, 01 Jul 2008 04:32:23 GMT

clipped by: masbury
clipper's remarks: "American government lawyers ... provided template contracts and detailed suggestions on drafting the contracts" Ugh. The spoils of war.

Clip Source: www.democracynow.org

U.S. Advisers Helped Iraq Draw Up Oil Contracts

The New York Times reports a group of American advisers led by a small State Department team played an integral part in drawing up contracts between the Iraqi government and five major Western oil companies to develop some of the largest oil fields in Iraq. The disclosure marks the first confirmation of direct involvement by the Bush administration in deals to open Iraq’s oil to commercial development. The Times recently reported the original partners in the Iraq Petroleum Company—Exxon Mobil, Shell, Total and BP— as well as Chevron, are on the verge of getting no-bid contracts to service Iraq’s largest oil fields. In their role as advisers to the Iraqi Oil Ministry, American government lawyers and private-sector consultants provided template contracts and detailed suggestions on drafting the contracts.

Tags: oil, iraq

Battle over future of US in Iraq

Sat, 21 Jun 2008 21:30:08 GMT

clipped by: masbury
clipper's remarks: US demands immunity for its soldiers and contractors; Iraq parliament may refuse

Clip Source: www.huffingtonpost.com

Talks began in March but Iraqi officials were outraged over the initial U.S. demands _ especially immunity for U.S. soldiers and security contractors.

Some commentators likened the U.S. position to the Iraqi-British treaty of 1930, which gave Britain virtual control of the country and is widely seen here as a humiliation.

Battle Shaping Up Over Future Of US Role In Iraq

the two sides remain far apart on core issues, including the number of bases where the United States will have a presence, and U.S. demands for immunity from Iraqi law for American soldiers and contractors

Other obstacles include U.S. authority to detain suspects, fight battles without Iraqi permission and control of the country's airspace.

Iraq's parliament must sign off on the deal by year's end _ and approval is by no means certain.

"Iraq has another option that it may use," al-Maliki said

"The Iraqi government

has the right to demand that the U.N. terminate the presence of international forces on Iraqi sovereign soil."

Tags: iraq

Exxon Mobil, Shell, BP to Get No-Bid Oil Contracts in Iraq

Fri, 20 Jun 2008 00:41:49 GMT

clipped by: masbury
clipper's remarks: Big oil got its baby back, after 36 years of waiting.

Clip Source: www.democracynow.org

Exxon Mobil, Shell, BP to Get No-Bid Oil Contracts in Iraq

The New York Times reports four Western oil companies are in the final stages of negotiations on contracts that will return them to Iraq for the first time in thirty-six years. Exxon Mobil, Shell, Total and BP—the original partners in the Iraq Petroleum Company—are among the corporations in talks with Iraq’s Oil Ministry for no-bid contracts to service Iraq’s largest oil fields. The Times reports it is not clear what role the United States played in awarding the contracts. Americans continue to serve as advisers to Iraq’s Oil Ministry.

Tags: oil, energy, war

Army official fired for questioning $1B payout to KBR

Wed, 18 Jun 2008 19:25:18 GMT

clipped by: masbury
clipper's remarks: Told Iraq contractor to improve "chaotic" performance, held up payment on questionable charges

Clip Source: www.democracynow.org

Army Ousted Official for Questioning KBR Contract

The New York Times reports the Army official who managed the Pentagon’s largest contract in Iraq says he was ousted from his job when he refused to approve paying more than $1 billion in questionable charges to the former Halliburton subsidiary KBR. Charles Smith said that he was forced from his job in 2004, after informing KBR officials that the Army would impose escalating financial penalties if they failed to improve their chaotic Iraqi operations. Although KBR’s performance in Iraq has come under fierce criticism from lawmakers, the Pentagon recently awarded the company part of a ten-year $150 billion contract in Iraq. Until last year, KBR was known as Kellogg Brown & Root and was a subsidiary of Halliburton, the Texas oil services giant, where Vice President Dick Cheney previously served as chief executive

KBR has repeatedly gouged the taxpayer, and the Bush administration has looked the other way

Tags: military, iraq, war

Sen. Obama, please don't be McCain on Iran!

Wed, 18 Jun 2008 01:55:17 GMT

clipped by: masbury
clipper's remarks: Face the absence of evidence of nuclear weapons, and call out McCain on following the WMD-scare George Bush followed with Iraq.

Clip Source: www.lonestaricon.com

Iran stopped researching nuclear weapons in 2003.

The U.S. intelligence community knows this.

The U.N. International Atomic Energy Agency knows this.

The international community knows this.

If Iran researched nuclear weapons in secret until March 2004 as documents allege, the IAEA will investigate the matter with due diligence.

And if Iran is caught red-handed, she will comply with the IAEA processes accordingly.

In the meantime, as the Democratic nominee for U.S. president, Obama must change his tune from that of his Republican adversary Sen. John McCain on this issue.

Obama must say that McCain is lying about Iran just like the Bush administration lied about Iraq.

Neither Republican has any proof either Middle Eastern country has nuclear weapons.

Iran is smarter than to launch a nuclear strike on Israel anyway because the Jewish state would retaliate with her own secret nuclear arsenal.

Tags: obama, mccain

Iraqi Prime Minister: Might "demand" US forces leave

Sat, 14 Jun 2008 05:36:07 GMT

clipped by: masbury
clipper's remarks: If Bush Admin insists on security deal that compromises Iraqi sovereignty

Clip Source: rawstory.com

Iraqi PM suggests US might be asked to leave

Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al Maliki suggested that US forces might be asked to leave if the two countries cannot agree on the new status of forces agreement, McClatchy reported Friday.

Maliki, seen above, made the comment after pressure from Shiite lawmakers who feel that Iraq’s sovereignty is threatened by US forces and after talks over the status of forces agreement “reached an impasse,” according to McClatchy.

“Iraq has another option that it may use,” Maliki said during a visit to Amman, Jordan. “The Iraqi government, if it wants, has the right to demand that the U.N. terminate the presence of international forces on Iraqi sovereign soil.”

Tags: maliki, iraq

Iraqi leaders: No gains possible until US troops withdraw

Thu, 12 Jun 2008 04:45:58 GMT

clipped by: masbury
clipper's remarks: "The anarchy and chaos in Iraq is linked to the presence of the occupation, not withdrawal from Iraq," Renounce surge; question whether US public is hearing what Iraqis want; "nothing of this could be made possible until the troops withdraw from Iraq."

Clip Source: www.truthout.org

Last week, for the first time, two Iraqi members of Parliament (MPs) testified before the House Foreign Affairs Committee. They spoke bluntly.

"The anarchy and chaos in Iraq is linked to the presence of the occupation, not withdrawal from Iraq," Nadeem Al-Jaberi, an MP and co-founder of the Al-Fadhila party, testified.
Under questioning by Republican Congress members, Al-Jaberi repeatedly renounced the "success of the surge," and added, "What we strive for is establishing a balanced relationship between the two countries. But nothing of this could be made possible until the troops withdraw from Iraq."

In fact, Al-Jaberi told Truthout, not only do most Iraqis strongly oppose the kind of agreement that President Bush hopes to negotiate with Prime Minister Nouri Al-Maliki, which would keep US troops in Iraq on a long-term basis; they see a complete troop withdrawal as a precursor to any diplomatic negotiation.

Tags: iraq

Iraq cost: Loss of power, prestige, influence

Wed, 11 Jun 2008 23:43:49 GMT

clipped by: masbury
clipper's remarks: Why Iraq policy has made America less powerful; major changes recommended by bi-partisan panels; greater emphasis on soft power and patience, less "hectoring"

Clip Source: www.mcclatchydc.com

"America's strategic position in the world has worsened," said Josef Joffe

"From a coldly realist perspective, Iraq was the wrong war against the wrong foe at the wrong time."

"Since 9/11, the United States has been exporting fear and anger rather than the more traditional values of hope and optimism. Suspicions of American power have run deep," Richard Armitage, deputy secretary of state under Bush

The removal of Saddam Hussein strengthened Iran and "by entangling itself in an interminable civil war, the U.S. has lost power to spare,"

U.S. credibility also has been undermined, at home and abroad, by the administration's false claims about Saddam Hussein's weapons of mass destruction and ties to al Qaida prior to the Iraq war.

Several recent blue-ribbon panels recommended that the next president make major changes in how the United States deals with the world.

war on terrorism has inflamed suspicions of U.S. motives

Tags: iraq, war on terror

Secret Bush-Iraq security agreement faltering

Wed, 11 Jun 2008 23:29:27 GMT

clipped by: masbury
clipper's remarks: "Iraqi lawmakers say the Bush administration is demanding concessions that are unacceptable, among them: dozens of semi-permanent bases from which U.S. forces can launch missions with no prior consent from Iraq's government; complete immunity for U.S. troops and security contractors; control of Iraq's air space; and no guarantees the United States will defend Iraq against a foreign attack."

Clip Source: www.mcclatchydc.com

U.S. security talks with Iraq in trouble in Baghdad and D.C.

A proposed U.S.-Iraqi security agreement that would set the conditions for a defense alliance and long-term U.S. troop presence appears increasingly in trouble, facing growing resistance from the Iraqi government, bipartisan opposition in Congress and strong questioning from Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama.

The U.S. is apparently scaling back some of its demands, including backing off one that particularly incenses Iraqis, blanket immunity for private security contractors.

On Capitol Hill, top Democrats and Republicans complain that Bush is rushing the negotiations to try to tie his successor's hands.

Some Iraqi parliamentarians are now saying that Iraq has a third option besides extending the U.N. mandate or agreeing to the proposed Status of Forces Agreement: telling the Americans to go home.

"It seems from the draft

that the Americans have something else in their mind

Tags: iraq, war

BBC: $24 BILLION missing in Iraq

Wed, 11 Jun 2008 23:23:51 GMT

clipped by: masbury
clipper's remarks: Equal stack of $1's would rise 1500 miles.

Clip Source: www.juancole.com

A BBC investigation concludes that as much as $24 billion has gone missing in Iraq, and much of it may have been embezzled by private companies and corporations brought there by Bush:

Henry Waxman who chairs the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform said: "The money that's gone into waste, fraud and abuse under these contracts is just so outrageous, its egregious. "It may well turn out to be the largest war profiteering in history." . . '

If you stacked singles up into the air in the amount of $24 billion, it would rise 1500 miles high. That is roughly the distance between New York City and Dallas, Texas-- one dollar bill at a time.

In fact, all the $2 trillion or more that the US will spend on the Iraq War, including a lifetime of medical and psychiatric care for thousands of damaged veterans, will have been spent for no national purpose, but only so as to line the pockets of Friends of George and Friends of Dick. War is welfare for the right wing of the Republican Party.

Tags: war, iraq

92% of max Bush contributors not giving now; Iraq concern

Tue, 10 Jun 2008 19:51:55 GMT

clipped by: masbury
clipper's remarks: "I always considered myself a Republican, primarily because of a belief in smaller government. And if you want a smaller government, you don’t want wars — especially wars that can be avoided."

Clip Source: thinkprogress.org

Citing Iraq opposition, former Bush donors are reluctant to donate to McCain.»

A CQ analysis shows that only about 8 percent of the 62,800 donors who gave the maximum contribution of $2,000 to Bush in 2004 had given to McCain as of April 30. Moreover, at least 46 of Bush’s 2004 donors have contributed significantly to both Obama and Clinton but are not listed as McCain donors. One, a lifelong Republican who donated $2,000 to Bush in 2004, said that he will not donate to McCain because of the senator’s fervent support of the Iraq war:

I always considered myself a Republican, primarily because of a belief in smaller government. And if you want a smaller government, you don’t want wars — especially wars that can be avoided.

Tags: bush, republicans, politics

Bush's Iraq security bribe: $50B for 50 US bases, US autonomy in-country

Fri, 06 Jun 2008 21:58:14 GMT

clipped by: masbury
clipper's remarks: Iraqis take to the streets

Clip Source: www.juancole.com

The intrepid Patrick Cockburn reveals that the White House is more or less blackmailing the Iraqi government into signing a security pact with George W. Bush. At stake is $50 bn. of Iraqi money held in the US Federal Reserve, at least $20 bn. of which could be lost to Iraq if the government of Nuri al-Maliki declines to sign on the dotted line. Cockburn also reveals that the Iraqis wanted to diversify their receipts from oil sales away from dollar holdings into euros, and that the Americans vetoed the move. Bush wants 50 bases in Iraq and the prerogative of the US military to act unilaterally and with impunity inside the country.

large demonstrations against the security agreement, barely covered by the US press, last Friday, and Iraqi religious and political leaders are coalescing against it

Postcolonial states of the Arab world, which only attained real independence from Britain and France with great difficulty and in living memory, are touchy about

kowtowing to imperial demands

Tags: iraq

Senate Report: Bush Knew Intel on Iraq was False

Fri, 06 Jun 2008 00:24:54 GMT

clipped by: masbury
clipper's remarks: Investigation finally yields the official report.

Clip Source: www.huffingtonpost.com

More than five years after the initial invasion of Iraq, the Senate Intelligence Committee has finally gone on the record: the Bush administration misused, and in some cases disregarded, intelligence which led the nation into war. The two final sections of a long-delayed and much anticipated "Phase II" report on the Bush administration's use of prewar intelligence, released on Thursday morning, accuse senior White House officials of repeatedly misrepresenting the threat posed by Iraq.

In making the case for war, the Administration repeatedly presented intelligence as fact when

it was unsubstantiated, contradicted, or even non-existent

As a result, the American people were led to believe that the threat from Iraq was much greater than actually existed. ... There is no question we all relied on flawed intelligence. But, there is a fundamental difference between relying on incorrect intelligence and deliberately painting a picture to the American people that you know is not fully accurate

Tags: bush, iran