Clipmarks | sahara's 'iraq' clips

Limited US attack on Iranian Revolutionary Guards Bases in Sight

Sun, 10 Aug 2008 18:00:11 GMT

clipped by: sahara
clipper's remarks: Tehran would view a US attack on the IRGC bases as a casus belli and might react in ways and on a scale unanticipated in Washington.

Two days ago, Iran’s defense minister Gen. Mostafa Mohammad-Najjar warned: “Iran’s Armed Forces are fully prepared to counter any military attack with any intensity and to make the enemy regret initiating any such incursions.”

According to DEBKAfile’s Iranian and military sources, the IRGC had by mid-May completed their preparations for a US missile, air or commando assault on their command centers and bases in reprisal for Iranian intervention in Iraq. These preparations encompass al Qods’ arms, most of them undercover, in Iraq, Afghanistan, Lebanon and Sudan. At home, the Revolutionary Guards have evacuated their key bases together with manpower and equipment to regular army sites or temporary quarters in villages located in remote corners of eastern and northern Iran.

Clip Source: www.debka.com

Our Washington sources report that president George W. Bush is closer than ever before to ordering a limited missile-air bombardment of the IRGC-al Qods Brigade’s installations in Iran. It is planned to target training camps and the munitions factories pumping fighters, missiles and roadside bombs to the Iraqi insurgency, Lebanese Hizballah and Palestinian terrorist groups in Gaza.

Iran is geared up for counteraction.

US intelligence estimates that Tehran’s counteraction will likewise be on a limited scale and therefore any US-Iranian military encounter will not be allowed to explode into a major confrontation. Because this US assault is not planned to extend to Iran’s nuclear installations, Tehran is not expected to hit back at distant American targets in the Persian Gulf or at Israel

DEBKAfile’s Iranian sources report, however, that Iran’s military preparations for countering an American attack are far broader than envisaged in Washington

Tags: war, nuclear, usa, god, help, us

Get Out! (Iraq)

Fri, 08 Aug 2008 14:56:29 GMT

clipped by: sahara

Clip Source: news.aol.com

Iraq and the U.S. are near an agreement on all American combat troops leaving Iraq by October 2010, with the last soldiers out three years after that, two Iraqi officials told The Associated Press on Thursday. U.S. officials, however, insisted no dates had been agreed.

The proposed agreement calls for Americans to hand over parts of Baghdad's Green Zone -- where the U.S. Embassy is located -- to the Iraqis by the end of 2008. It would also remove U.S. forces from Iraqi cities by June 30, 2009, according to the two senior officials, both close to Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki and familiar with the negotiations.

the Shiite cleric will call on his fighters to maintain a cease-fire against American troops -- but may lift the order if the security agreement fails to contain a timetable for a U.S. withdrawal

This move is meant to offer an incentive for the foreign forces to withdraw," al-Obeidi said.

U.S. Military Hoped for Virtually Unlimited Freedom of Action in Iraq

Thu, 07 Aug 2008 13:37:45 GMT

clipped by: sahara
clipper's remarks: This was reported in June...

According to Cockburn's reporting, "President Bush wants to push [the security pact] through by the end of [July 2008] so he can declare a military victory and claim his 2003 invasion has been vindicated." (Note 13) A prime beneficiary of the acceptance of a military agreement that the Iraqi people do not believe respects their rights or serves their interests would probably be the vast, privatized U.S. military/intelligence complex, positioned to profit from repressing the resistance sure to follow. If the Bush administration's goal is achieved through secret deals and pressure tactics it would only confirm the widespread view that its commitment to democracy is primarily self-serving. In Iraq as elsewhere there are many who would welcome a genuine American commitment to liberty and human rights but believe that U.S. actions contradict its rhetoric.
So much to decipher here!

Clip Source: www.gwu.edu

Washington D.C., June 13, 2008 - Recently declassified documents show that the U.S. military has long sought an agreement with Baghdad that gives American forces virtually unfettered freedom of action, casting into doubt the Bush administration's current claims that their demands are more limited in scope. News reports have indicated that the Bush administration is exerting pressure on the government of Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki to accept a U.S.-Iraq security plan by the end of July 2008. According to these accounts, the plan would give the U.S. more than 50 military bases in Iraq, provide complete freedom of action to conduct military operations, allow complete freedom to arrest and detain Iraqis, and grant U.S. forces and contractors total immunity from Iraqi law

According to the slides, U.S. requirements for Iraq included:

Use of Iraqi facilities

Contracting

Entry and Exit of forces

Taxation

Security requirements and support

The Current Plan

Likely Fallout

Read the Documents

Tags: war, iraq, freedom

Freeeeeedom! of Information (National Security Archive)

Thu, 07 Aug 2008 13:28:46 GMT

clipped by: sahara
clipper's remarks: So much information, great site!

National Security Archive Electronic Briefing Books provide online access to critical declassified records on issues including U.S. national security, foreign policy, diplomatic and military history, intelligence policy, and more. Updated frequently, the Electronic Briefing Books represent just a small sample of the documents in our published and unpublished collections.

A tax-exempt public charity, the Archive receives no U.S. government funding; its budget is supported by publication royalties and donations from foundations and individuals. On March 17, 2000, Long Island University named the National Security Archive as winner of a Special George Polk Award for 1999 for "piercing self-serving veils of government secrecy" and "serving as an essential journalistic resource."

Clip Source: www.gwu.edu

The National Security Archive is an independent non-governmental research institute and library located at The George Washington University in Washington, D.C. The Archive collects and publishes declassified documents acquired through the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA)

November 5, 2007
The Record on CURVEBALL
Declassified Documents and Key Participants Show the Importance of Phony Intelligence in the Origins of the Iraq War

Update - June 26, 2007, 1 p.m.
Full Report Now Available

June 21, 2007
The CIA's Family Jewels
Agency Violated Charter for 25 Years

The September 11th Sourcebooks
Primary sources on the War on Terrorism

Nixon Meets Elvis
Documents and photos from the extraordinary meeting

May 14, 2008
Electronic and Classified Records are Overwhelming the National Archives, According to Senate Testimony of Archive Director

June 13, 2008
U.S. Military Hoped for Virtually Unlimited Freedom of Action in Iraq
Drafting of U.S.-Iraq Security Agreement Began Nearly Five Years Ago

Clip Source: www.gwu.edu

Tags: freedom, knowledge

Surge! Coming Soon to a Neighborhood Like Yours!

Sun, 03 Aug 2008 01:55:33 GMT

clipped by: sahara
clipper's remarks: As I have been reading recently, Blackwater is looking to get some domestic contracts here in the US. Won't we all feel safe when Blackwater guards are patrolling our streets...

Clip Source: blog.puppetgov.com

Clip Source: blogs.abcnews.com

Are neighborhoods in this country in need of an Iraq-style "surge"?

ABC's David Wright checks in after Senator McCain's appearance at the Urban League.

"Answering a question about his approach to combatting crime, John McCain suggested that military strategies currently employed by US troops in Iraq could be applied to high crime neighborhoods here in the US. McCain called them tactics 'somewhat like we use in the military...You go into neighborhoods, you clamp down, you provide a secure environment for the people that live there, and you make sure that the known criminals are kept under control. And you provide them with a stable environment and then they cooperate with law enforcement.'

The way he described it, his approach sounded an awful lot like the surge

Tags: miltary, industrial, complex

My, How Things Change...

Sun, 27 Jul 2008 15:05:49 GMT

clipped by: sahara

Clip Source: www.gwu.edu

Shaking Hands: Iraqi President Saddam Hussein greets Donald Rumsfeld, then special envoy of President Ronald Reagan, in Baghdad on December 20, 1983.

Shaking Hands with Saddam Hussein:
The U.S. Tilts toward Iraq, 1980-1984

National Security Archive Electronic Briefing Book No. 82

Edited by Joyce Battle

February 25, 2003

Donald Rumsfeld (who had served in various positions in the Nixon and Ford administrations, including as President Ford's defense secretary, and at this time headed the multinational pharmaceutical company G.D. Searle & Co.) was dispatched to the Middle East as a presidential envoy. His December 1983 tour of regional capitals included Baghdad, where he was to establish "direct contact between an envoy of President Reagan and President Saddam Hussein," while emphasizing "his close relationship" with the president

Rumsfeld also met with Iraqi Foreign Minister Tariq Aziz, and the two agreed, "the U.S. and Iraq shared many common interests."

9 in 10 Female Marines Experienced Unwanted Sexual Contact

Tue, 22 Jul 2008 13:39:44 GMT

clipped by: sahara

Clip Source: www.msnbc.msn.com

Carolyn Schapper, seen July 3 at her home in Washington, D.C., says she was harassed in Iraq by a fellow Army National Guard soldier to the point that she began changing clothes in the shower.

YORK, Pa. - It took Diane Pickel Plappert six months to tell a counselor that she had been raped while on duty in Iraq. While time passed, the former Navy nurse disconnected from her children and her life slowly unraveled.

Depression, anxiety, problem drinking, sexually transmitted diseases and domestic abuse are all problems that have been linked to sexual abuse, according to the Miles Foundation

Since 2002, the foundation says it has received more than 1,000 reports of assault and rape in the U.S. Central Command areas of operation, which include Iraq and Afghanistan

In most reports to the foundation, fellow U.S. service members have been named as the perpetrator, but contractors and local nationals also have been accused

Support an Iraq Referendum

Sat, 19 Jul 2008 01:35:34 GMT

clipped by: sahara
clipper's remarks: We are continually told that we must stay in Iraq to prevent a sectarian blood bath. But the Iraqi people don't seem to share this fear, and perhaps with good reason. A study of violent attacks in Iraq indicates that the sectarian violence has largely subsided, and that most of the remaining violence is directed at the occupation, and at government officials who are perceived to be collaborating with US. forces. http://www.countercurrents.org/lin190308.htm

This would seem to indicate that violence in Iraq could dwindle away to nothing, if only we would leave.

Of course, no one can guarantee what will happen in Iraq if U.S. forces depart. But the same is true for the opposite position. It's possible that the violence will continue precisely because the occupation continues.
It's time to cut through the pointless, circular debate. It's time to ask the Iraqi people what they want, NOT what U.S. politicians want. The Iraqi people should decide. That's democracy, isn't it?

Clip Source: www.downsizedc.org

President Bush thinks U.S. military personnel should stay in Iraq for decades, the way they have in Korea. John McCain says he's willing for U.S. troops to stay in Iraq for one hundred years, assuming, he says, that there's no violence. But if Iraq becomes peaceful, why would U.S. forces be needed at all?

Shouldn't we ask the Iraqi people what they want?

ABC News polled Iraqis in September of 2007. It found that 79% oppose the occupation, including 80% of Shiites, and 95% of Sunnis. http://abcnews.go.com/US/story?id=3571504&page=1

Another poll conducted in February, 2008, shows that 77% of Iraqis remain opposed to the U.S. occupation, including 77% of Shiites and 95% percent of Sunnis. http://www.reason.com/news/show/126866.html

Below is the text of the letter we will send on your behalf:

Please pass a resolution asking the Iraqi government to hold a public referendum on whether or not the U.S. occupation should continue.

[Your personal comments here]

Get Involved!

Tags: iraq, war, freedom

McCain/Obama~amabO\niaCcM

Mon, 07 Jul 2008 15:02:03 GMT

clipped by: sahara

Clip Source: massdiscussion.blogspot.com

How Screwed Are You?

In 30 years, America could be in a state of foreclosure--unable to fund education, national defense, Medicaid, and homeland security.

America will be screwed due to Washington's fiscal immorality and lack of leadership.

Collection of Obama Flip-Flops

FISA

The Surge

Nuclear Power

Vouchers

DC Gun Ban and 2nd Amendment

Withdrawal from Iraq.

Welfare Reform.

Gay Marriage.

Mental Health Exceptions for Late-Term Abortions

PATRIOT Act:

Promised to repeal Patriot Act, then voted for it.

Jerusalem

Meeting with Foreign Leaders

Rev. Jeremiah Wright

Donations from Lobbyists and Special Interest PACS

Decriminalization of Marijuana

Public financing

Clip Source: howinsaneisjohnmccain.blogspot.com

McCain's Flip Flops

Torture

Special Interests

Campaign Finance Laws

Jerry Falwell

Iraq

1/22/03:

We will win it easily

1/4/07:

I knew it was probably going to be long and hard and tough

Abortion

Bush's tax cuts

Ethanol [hat tip Carpetbagger]

Gay Marriage [hat tip anon]

Gun control

Housing Relief

The Estate Tax

Wiretaps

Immigration Reform

Offshore drilling

Tags: flip-flops, president, elections

UAE Scraps Iraq Debt

Sun, 06 Jul 2008 16:56:09 GMT

clipped by: sahara
clipper's remarks: What a generous move. Seriously!

Clip Source: www.breitbart.com

The United Arab Emirates said on Sunday it was waiving Iraq's debt of nearly seven billion dollars and also named an envoy to Baghdad during a visit by Iraq's premier to the oil-rich Gulf state

President Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed al-Nahayan told Nuri al-Maliki the UAE has "decided to write off all debts owed by Iraq totalling four billion dollars... plus accrued interest," the official WAM news agency said.

An Emirati official, confirming the decision, told AFP the debt and interest amounted to just under seven billion dollars.

The UAE, a close US ally, also named its current envoy to India as ambassador in Baghdad, an Emirati official said

Before the UAE announced the debt writeoff, the US State Department had said Iraq's debt has been reduced by 66.5 billion dollars over the past three years, including a total of 42.3 billion dollars cancelled by Paris Club members

50 billion to 80 billion dollars remain, with a "significant majority" owed to Arab countries.

Tags: iraq, uae, debt

The Big Promise of Elections '08 = More War! More Debt!

Sat, 14 Jun 2008 17:49:16 GMT

clipped by: sahara
clipper's remarks: Both McCain and Obama have made it clear, (as Obama has stated) "War with Iran is not off the table." But if we listen, both have also spoken about going into Pakistan, about "protecting Israel" no matter the cost, and even if it involves military action. So what the elections have come down to, on both the left and the right, is that there is no anti-war candidate left, nor is there one who seems to have any ideas that will rescue the economy and recover the increasing deficit.

Clip Source: www.washingtonpost.com

Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama issued a pointed warning yesterday to Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf, saying that as president he would be prepared to order U.S. troops into that country unilaterally if it failed to act on its own against Islamic extremists

"When I am president, we will wage the war that has to be won," he told an audience at the Woodrow Wilson Center in the District. He added, "The first step must be to get off the wrong battlefield in Iraq and take the fight to the terrorists in Afghanistan and Pakistan."

Clip Source: www.counterpunch.com

And what was the first thing he did after his astounding victory? He ran to the conference of the Israel lobby, AIPAC, and made a speech that broke all records for obsequiousness and fawning.

Clip Source: www.crooksandliars.com

McCain promises voters ‘more wars’

The presidential candidate who sang “Bomb bomb Iran” is already looking towards the war after the war in Iraq.

Sen. John McCain told a crowd of supporters

There’s going to be other wars.

Tags: elections, democrats, republicans, same, war, economy

A Deal To Keep Iraq Under US Control

Sat, 07 Jun 2008 15:01:16 GMT

clipped by: sahara

Clip Source: www.independent.co.uk

Bush wants 50 military bases, control of Iraqi airspace and legal immunity for all American soldiers and contractors

deal being negotiated in Baghdad would perpetuate the American military occupation of Iraq indefinitely, regardless of the outcome of the US presidential election in November

The terms of the impending deal, details of which have been leaked to The Independent, are likely to have an explosive political effect in Iraq. Iraqi officials fear that the accord, under which US troops would occupy permanent bases, conduct military operations, arrest Iraqis and enjoy immunity from Iraqi law, will destabilise Iraq's position in the Middle East and lay the basis for unending conflict in their country

The timing of the agreement would also boost the Republican candidate, John McCain, who has claimed the United States is on the verge of victory in Iraq

The Iraqi government wants to delay the actual signing of the agreement

Dick Cheney has been trying to force it through

Tags: iraq, empire, backlash

C-Span: U.S.- Iraq Security Agreement

Fri, 06 Jun 2008 20:34:24 GMT

clipped by: sahara

Clip Source: www.youtube.com

[Video]

Al-Ilyan is one of three leaders of the Iraq Accordance Front, parliament's largest Sunni Arab bloc with 44 of the house's 275 seats. Last year, he played a prominent role in the Sunni decision to walk out of the Cabinet in protest of al-Maliki's policies

Al-Jaberi is a senior member and former secretary general of Fadhila, a Shiite party that controls the Basra provincial government. The group, which holds 15 seats in parliament, withdrew last year from talks to join al-Maliki's cabinet after complaining of U.S. interference. Party leaders said their decision was in part caused by al-Maliki's failure to give them the country's top oil post, which they held under the previous administration

Clip Source: www.youtube.com

Ron Paul Opening Statement to Iraq Lawmakers (1/2)

[Video]

Tags: iraq, politics

Antiwar Radio, Great Interview

Sat, 31 May 2008 16:54:59 GMT

clipped by: sahara
clipper's remarks: Three parts.

Clip Source: www.youtube.com

[Video]

Clip Source: www.youtube.com

[Video]

Clip Source: www.youtube.com

[Video]

Presidential candidate Rep. Ron Paul M.D. discusses the economic consequences of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, the scars of PTSD and the administration's betrayal of wounded veterans, how nice it would be if the War Party had to clean up the DU, why the U.S. should withdraw from Iraq as soon as physically possible, the role of the Military-Industrial-Complex in determining foreign policy, the likelihood and possible consequences of war with Iran for our troops in Iraq, our economy, and our liberty, why all the tax money spent militarily "securing" recourses is being wasted due to a mistaken and outdated mercantilist understanding of economics, the failure of the Congressional Democrats to check the war powers of the president, why U.S. intervention on behalf of Israel is bad for us, bad for them and bad for their neighbors, America's deteriorating relationship with Russia and China and why the U.S. government should stay out of Darfur.

Tags: president, paul, politics

Pentagon IG Report Signals Fraud

Wed, 28 May 2008 13:45:27 GMT

clipped by: sahara

Clip Source: www.ombwatch.org

Federal budget sensei Stan Collender reads this WaPo story on the mismanagement of $15 billion Iraqi reconstruction funds and wonders if something more than incompetence isn't at work.

The Pentagon's own inspector general confirmed that this lack of concern for procedural safeguards was blatant and commonplace. That makes it hard to come to any conclusion other than that they were ignored rather than expedited or poorly executed.

It's also hard to come to any conclusion other than that the spending of taxpayer funds in Iraq bordered on, or actually was, simple and straightforward corruption.

Given the magnitude of the spending involved, Iraq may be the Bush administration's contribution to the biggest public corruption scandals of all time like Boss Tweed in New York, James Michael Curley in Boston, and Teapot Dome.

Tags: american, tax dollars, deception