Saturday, July 21, 2007

Israel Plans to Drop Nukes on Iran’s Nuclear Program - The Largest Minority

Israel Plans to Drop Nukes on Iran’s Nuclear Program - The Largest Minority

Iraq attacks hit new high | WORLD | NEWS | tvnz.co.nz

Iraq attacks hit new high | WORLD | NEWS | tvnz.co.nz

Here are the tables of statistics dropped in the article link:
Attacks on:

Infrastructure........6

Civilians..........1278

Iraqi forces........976

Coalition forces...3212

Total..............5472

Daily average.......176.5 * JANUARY 2007 (31 days)-------------------

Attacks on:

Infrastructure.......19

Civilians...........897

Iraqi forces........946

Coalition forces...3301

Total..............5163

Daily average.......166.5 * FEBRUARY (28 days)-----------------------

Attacks on:

Infrastructure.......16

Civilians...........740

Iraqi forces........850

Coalition forces...2955

Total..............4561

Daily average.......162.9 * MARCH (31 days)--------------------------

Attacks on:

Infrastructure........9

Civilians...........826

Iraqi forces........937

Coalition forces...3112

Total..............4884

Daily average.......157.5 * APRIL (30 days)--------------------------

Attacks on:

Infrastructure.......13

Civilians...........875

Iraqi forces........966

Coalition forces...3051

Total..............4905

Daily average.......163.5 * MAY (31 days)----------------------------

Attacks on:

Infrastructure.......23

Civilians...........932

Iraqi forces........987

Coalition forces...3423

Total..............5365

Daily average.......173.1 * JUNE (30 days)---------------------------

Attacks on:

Infrastructure.......12

Civilians...........763

Iraqi forces........889

Coalition forces...3671

Total..............5335

Daily average.......177.8

Washingtonpost.com Special Report: Clinton Accused

Washingtonpost.com Special Report: Clinton Accused

Sunday, July 15, 2007

Video: Sean Smith in Iraq | Video | Guardian Unlimited

Video: Sean Smith in Iraq | Video | Guardian Unlimited

And here, at the end of this video, is one of those "Iranian bomb factories". But wait, it's in Baghdad!

And listen to what our soldiers have to say to the politicians extending their tours in Iraq.

Informed Comment on Al-Qaeda in Iraq

Informed Comment

Ned Parker of the LA Times reports that of 19,000 "insurgents" held by the US military in Iraq, only 135 are foreigners.

Think about that when you hear Bush say that the US is fighting "al-Qaeda" in Iraq or that "al-Qaeda" would take over Iraq if the US left. The foreigners just are not that important to the guerrilla war. Only .7% of detainees are foreigners, and unless they run faster than Iraqis, that is likely their percentage share in the "insurgency," too.

The US is fighting Iraqis in Iraq, who are nationalists of various stripes, whether religious or secular. They are Sunni. They haven't given fealty to Bin Laden and are not "al-Qaeda."

So if they aren't from Iran, where are they from? Saudi Arabia--- 45%! Only 15% are from "Syria and Lebanon," and I'll bet you that all but one of those are Sunni. 10% are from North Africa, which is only about 14 guys. North Africa is Sunni.

That is, the numbers Parker pulled out of a US officer in Iraq demolish the entire image that the Bush administration and the Washington press corps has been presenting of the war."

AlterNet: Health & Wellness: The Best Health Care Is Reserved for Congress

AlterNet: Health & Wellness: The Best Health Care Is Reserved for Congress:
I have been looking for this info!

"here is an employee/insurance deal in the U.S. that includes unlimited doctor office visits of your choosing; covers all accidents, routine exams, physical therapy, labs and X-rays; and the like; unlimited hospital visits and stays; certain chronic care and rehab; full prescription coverage; and unlimited specialty consultations. For the employee and the entire family. There are no deductibles, no co-pays, and only a $35 monthly fee taken from an annual salary of $158 thou. Thirty-five dollars!

The group awarded this insurance looks forward to a full pension and continued coverage until their deaths. Quite a few, most in fact, were millionaires before they took on their jobs that got them such a perk. Who gets this coverage? It would be nice if it were the underprivileged or the chronically ill and debilitated or our veterans.

But no. For starters, the 535 members of the U.S. Congress, and add to that the few hundred in the upper executive and judicial branches of government. They are also members of a demographic group where seven were arrested for shoplifting, nineteen for writing bad checks, and eighty-four for drunk driving. This bunch also has an overrepresentation of felony indictments, and a few ended up serving time."

And, they are also the very same group who keeps such credible healthcare proposals and bills like John Conyers' HR676 and Barbara Lee's HR3000 holed up in committee, year after year, denying them access to a public hearing and floor vote. In 2005, the president and his cronies up on the Hill voted to slash $10 billion over the next decade from Medicaid. Their own medical benefits stayed intact.

Could it be they don't believe that the rest of America should share in what they are so fortunate to have? ... the billions spent on the Iraqi campaign yearly would have given similar healthcare benefits to four out of every five Americans for a year.

US Senate unanimously passes threatening measure against Iran

US Senate unanimously passes threatening measure against Iran

A little publicised amendment to the defence spending bill denouncing Iran for the “murder” of US soldiers in Iraq was proposed by Independent Democrat Joseph Lieberman and passed unanimously in the US Senate on Wednesday. Republicans and Democrats all lined up to support the White House’s unsubstantiated accusations that Tehran is funding, training and arming Iraqi militias, “who are contributing to the destabilisation of Iraq and are responsible for the murder of members of the United States Armed Forces”.

For all their antiwar posturing, not a single Democrat, including the leading presidential contenders Hilary Clinton, Barrack Obama and Joseph Biden, opposed the amendment. Having supported the Bush administration’s crimes in Iraq, the Democrats are lending credibility to another campaign of lies, half-truths and disinformation aimed at justifying a new military adventure.

The vote demonstrates once again that the differences between the White House and the Democrats are purely tactical. What unites all factions of the American political establishment is their defence of the strategic and economic interests of US imperialism in the Middle East.

Friday, July 13, 2007

Crooks and Liars » Report: DoD No Bid Contracts Has “Put Troops At Risk”

Crooks and Liars » Report:

Is it the antiwar folks who are putting our troops at risk - or is it the people who sent them to iraq?

DoD No Bid Contracts Has “Put Troops At Risk”
: "A study completed in late June by the Pentagon’s Inspector General concludes that the Department of Defense (DoD) has risked the lives of U.S. troops in Iraq due to malfeasance in awarding and monitoring contracts for badly-needed armored vehicles.

The study, which was requested by Democratic Congresswoman Louise Slaughter of New York, found that since 2000 the DoD has awarded “sole-source” contracts valued at $2.2 billion to just two companies, Force Protection, Inc.(FPI) and Armor Holdings, Inc (AHI).

Inspector General auditors found that the Marine Corps Systems Command (MCSC) made these two companies the sole providers of armored vehicles and armor kits for troops, despite knowing that other suppliers may have produced the equipment so desperately needed in Iraq substantially faster. Both manufacturers fell far behind delivery schedules, while AHI also produced inadequate and faulty equipment."

Thursday, July 12, 2007

A Dead Iraqi is Just Another Dead Iraqi… You Know, So What?’ - CommonDreams.org

A Dead Iraqi is Just Another Dead Iraqi… You Know, So What?’ - CommonDreams.org:

"The publication in The Nation magazine of a series of in-depth interviews with 50 combat veterans of the Iraq war from across the US. In the interviews, veterans have described acts of violence in which US forces have abused or killed Iraqi men, women and children with impunity.

The report steers clear of widely reported atrocities, such as the massacre in Haditha in 2005, but instead unearths a pattern of human rights abuses. “It’s not individual atrocity,” Specialist Garett Reppenhagen, a sniper from the 263rd Armour Battalion, said. “It’s the fact that the entire war is an atrocity.”"

Saturday, July 7, 2007

McCamy Taylor's Journal - Homegrown Terrorism: When Christians Attack, the Press Keeps Quiet

McCamy Taylor's Journal - Homegrown Terrorism: When Christians Attack, the Press Keeps Quiet:

Over 60 right wing plots discovered in US since 2001.

"Why is the mainstream media so obsessed with pretending that religious fanatics are all Muslims? Only two of the terrorist attacks on US soil have occurred at the hands of Arabs. All the abortion clinic terrorists are Christians. The Branch Davidians were a Christian sect. The Oklahoma City bombing was not committed by anyone named Abdul. A Christian recently was caught with napalm at Jerry Falwell's funeral (note how CNN, which loves to magnify the scope of Muslim terrorism, downplays this crime):"