Last week, Maliki and his cronies were blocked by Sadr’s fighters. This week, US forces are taking their place, maintaining a siege force around Sadr City and attempting to defeat Sadr’s Mahdi army with both air strikes and sweeps into this Baghdad nationalist stronghold.
Reports of air strikes on Sadr City neighborhoods appear daily in Iraqi sources but get almost no attention here – and the civilian death toll mounts – again with barely a word in the US press.
During the night from Saturday to Sunday, April 5 to 6, the US forces went from raids and arrests to large-scale attacks, based on the following reports: AP reported five killed and 17 wounded, including women and children, in "clashes" in Sadr City, then reported that at least 20 people died and 50 were wounded. Continuing into Sunday, AFP said a US airstrike killed nine people at 8:00 in the morning, a strike the US army confirmed, and that another airstrike involving two missiles at 11:00 in the morning, which wasn’t "immediately confirmed".
And news just in at GorillasGuides reports:
There is very heavy fighting going on in Sadr city. The Americans have it under siege and are refusing all access to the city. American helicopters have bombed the city repeatedly. American snipers are being deployed on the roof tops. Imam Ali spokesmen say they are now desperately short of medical supplies. The Red Crescent attempts to get emergency medical supplies to the city which we reported yesterday have failed because the Americans will not let them through.
There are reports that the fires caused by the American bombing of the Jameela market are spreading and that there is no water being pumped to the city.
CrooksandLiars has more.
Sadrists in Baghdad are describing these attacks as “collective punishment:”
The official spokesman for the Sadrist bloc (in parliament), Saleh alAkili told AlHayat, "The announcement issued by Maliki about stopping the [arbitrary] searches and arrests was an attempt to throw sand in our eyes", explaining: "The arrests have not stopped, in spite of Maliki’s announcement to that effect. And the American forces continue to spread terror among the people of Sadr City, stationing themselves in force at the entrances of local streets, carrying out nighttime raids, arresting hundreds of Sadr City youths, without warrants.
Yesterday, western media sources were claiming some success for the US attacks but today’s news of rocket rounds hitting the green zone and a nearby base – killing 3 US soldiers and wounding 31 others.
US military spokesmen continue to claim that the attacks on US forces are Iranian backed or inspired:
Nobody claimed responsibility for the Baghdad attacks, but U.S. commanders have blamed what they call Iranian-backed rogue militia groups for launching missiles against American forces.
The absurdity of this continued attempt to blame Iran for attacks on US forces when it is Cheney’s pals Hakim and Maliki who are the ones most closely allied with Iran suggests a possible line we can expect to hear from Petraeus and Crocker in their testimony this week:
Iranian forces were involved in the recent battle for Basra, General David Petraeus, the US commander in Iraq, is expected to tell Congress this week.
Military and intelligence sources believe Iranians were operating at a tactical command level with the Shi’ite militias fighting Iraqi security forces; some were directing operations on the ground, they think.
Petraeus intends to use the evidence of Iranian involvement to argue against any reductions in US forces.
While Petraeus tries to spin his latest tales, Sadr’s supporters will gather in Baghdad for a mass march to call for an end to the US occupation:
"Time has come to express your rejection and raise your voices loud against the unjust occupier, the enemy of the peoples and humanity and against the horrible massacres which have been committed against our people," Sadr said in the statement.
He called on demonstrators to carry national flags to show their unity and demand the independence of their country, Sadr said.
The appearance of Petraeus in Washington will present an opportunity for Democrats to speak up for an end to our war of occupation as Ira Chernus writes in the latest TomDispatch:
Wise Democrats would heed the words of media critic Norman Solomon: "Arguments over whether U.S. forces can prevail in Iraq bypass a truth that no amount of media spin can change: The U.S. war effort in Iraq has always been illegitimate and fundamentally wrong." The longer we stay in Iraq, the longer we perpetuate the wrongs we have done, regardless of whether we achieve military success by anyone’s measure.
We are uninvited intruders in Iraq. We invaded the country on false pretenses. It’s long past time for us to admit that truth and leave. The longer we stay, the longer we tell the world that invasion and occupation are okay with us, and the longer we leave America’s moral reputation around the world in tatters. When our troops leave, we will set an example for countries that have occupied, or might be tempted to occupy, other lands. And we can begin to heal from our moral bankruptcy, not to mention our impending financial one.
If Democrats take that approach, they will shift the terms of the debate. Then they can speak truths about the war that the American people might be prepared to understand. They can pose hard questions — and not ones of military strategy either — that the administration simply cannot answer.
The question is whether they will have the guts to make that argument.
Update: Our friend CTuttle is the new lead blogger at Main and Central – make sure you visit him there often!
Photo: U.S. Air Force photo by Tech. Sgt Jeffrey Allen 4/6/08
Related posts:
- Lessons Learned in VA and NJ: Is Rahm Emanuel Orchestrating 2010 Democratic Massacre?
- Torture: Obama Heeded Maliki on Abuse Photos, Says McClatchy; What That Says for Our Occupation
- FDL Book Salon Welcomes Thomas Ricks – The Gamble: General David Petraeus and the American Military Adventure in Iraq, 2006-2008
- Remember Iraq or Ray Odierno is Still Wrong
- Spinning the Death of a 12 Year Old – Journalism Fail
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yo
Siun! Erdla popped in at M&C!
It’s Crocker, not Croker! I like to call him, Crock o’shit, myself! *g*
some signs i put up recently in orange county, CA:
http://freewayblogger.blogspot…..ounty.html
put a few up in LA yesterday too. anyone see them? back in the bay area now. y’know, if this whole country was the size of California, I could cover it all by myself.
Shhhheeeeeeet.
A related question is whether WE will stand up, too, and say ENOUGH! It’s not just a ‘they’ thing– it’s all of us.
I want the Democrats to ask where Betrayus and Crockashit’s supervisors are. I want Gates and Rice to testify. This underling approach to the region is absurd. Every time questions get close to the real issues at hand, the response will be: “that’s above my paygrade, Senator.”
It is ridiculous for an operational commander like Iraqi Jesus to have a direct relationship with the Oval Office — let’s get the CentCom commander, the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs, and the Secretary of Defense on the dais. Stop taking strategic talking points from the tactician in the field.
Senators can look like the big thinkers they want to be if they will simply ask these minions to run along and take a note to their bosses that their presence is sought by the United States Senate, now.
Siun, I’m very wary of the Dem response as evidenced by this quote…
Read my Beating the War drum post, Siun!
CTuttle – refresh the page … I had misplaced my reminder to firepups to visit you at M&C … congratulations on the new home. I am so glad you are writing there … Lurch is so missed and it would have been so sad to see his place go dark. I’m sure your work will not only keep the lights on but continue to enlighten us all!
I see the military is still trying to explain what happened to one of our B-1 bombers…
http://www.gulf-times.com/site…..rent_id=56
As usual, no one knows what has happened. LOL Maybe Betrayus can help out with this? Oh nevermind. Mr. SpinDoctor is not available for comment.
Once again!
I find our forces to be on the wrong side, as I see this as a fight against interlopers by Patriots.
it is not our business how they chose to govern their country.
IT NEVER WAS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
The news sources have been boiling today … from the increased seige activity in Sadr City and continued air strikes … to today’s hits on the Green Zone with US troop casualties. Looks like Petraeus has decided to fight Sadr directly … and the outcome is not likely to be good.
Mahalo, Siun! *g*
Here we go loop de loop.
from the “the glass is half full” department.
good news: we’re not bombing iran.
Yet! 8-(
Exactly, but try telling that to the knuckle draggers who drool down their necks and pee down their legs as they walk!
CTuttle adds the essential word …
as Petraeus engages US forces in a direct battle with Sadr and at the same time blames Iran, are we seeing just a justification to keep troops there or a move to build the case for an attack on Iran?
I would like a Senator to ask Crocker how many people
KissingerBremer hired are still on Crokers payroll.Here’s the NYT/AP “evidence” — look for Cheney to be quoting this soon (my bold).
Shit, we couldn’t attack the Grand Duchey of Fenwick.
Well, we could but they’d probably capture some sort of uber-weapon and beat our a**.
Q
Gen. Petraeus likely to push for flexibility
yeah, well, hugh had predicted that if it was going to happen the most likely times were this weekend and, i think, early may (at the time of the new moon). if we make it through this new moon, that’s still a bit of good news in my book.
This seems to be an effort by the Maliki government, which apparently can’t get its own Army to fight Sadr, to draw (willingly, it seems) the Pentagon into a full-fledged Civil War.
Isolating Sadr
This is just the sort of “mission creep” that is widely feared by saner heads in the military. If we can’t eliminate the paltry 10,000 or so Al Qaida in Iraq…can we really take on a militia that consists of almost 100,000 troops, with tens of thousands of young boys willing to take the place of everyone that falls? And if we thought that Al Qaida in Iraq with their accented foreign fighters were able to blend in with the communities, think of just how much a force with symapthizers across the country will be able to shift to guerilla warfare.
This is the likely result whether or NOT Sadr acquiesces. If he does he’ll simply lose control and the militias will go underground…a la the Irish Republican Army. And we’ll also see just how many sympathizers exist within the Iraqi National Guard.
Yea,
The Mouse That Roared.
Just wait until a Democratic President tries to send an incountry ambassador and an operational field commander to testify on Capitol Hill — the GOP will go wild about being disrespected, and the media will go along.
the USS Lincoln is on it’s way to join the fifth fleet – several months before the USS Truman needs to be relieved.
the carrier positions have not been update since the 2nd, though, so that is the most recent info i have.
In The Mouse That Roared, for example, the Duchy seeks to stop American counterfeiting of Pinot Grand Fenwick. Grand Fenwick’s formal protests are ignored by U.S. State Department employees, who think the documents are pranks. Grand Fenwick then plans an attack on the United States, certain this will lead to immediate defeat followed by generous American aid. The Grand Fenwick Expeditionary Force (consisting of 20 bowmen selected from 700 in the Duchy and three men-at-arms selected from 20 who have the right to carry spear and mace), clad in chain mail and armed with longbows, arrive in New York during civil defense drill and can find no one to fight. Ultimately they take prisoners and return to Grand Fenwick. One captive is the inventor of the Q-bomb, and the Duchy finds itself the possessor of the only working model of this devastating weapon. Grand Fenwick forms an alliance of small nations, the Tiny Twenty, and uses its control of the bomb to obtain world peace.
They attacked us in Basra and they attacked us at Gleiwitz!
The
FatherlandHomeland will not be safe until we have defeated these foes on our doorstep – eleven time zones away.Why is my right arm channeling the IOC’s former
GenralissimoPresident?Heh, by attacking Iran, doesn’t that necessitate the need to keep the troops there, M’dear? *g*
won’t have much choice if the escape route is blocked.
of course that would mean the supply route is also blocked.
As I pointed out last Summer -from the Pentagons own data of locations of vehicles hit with EFP’s 60% of them occurred in areas outside of Shi’a Militia control….many in areas that are now given over to Sunni Paramilitary groups run by Sheiks that we provide weapons and financial support to.
Not reassuring news …
sorry, siun… i’m on overload this week. please don’t take my sarcasm as lack of concern for the people of sadr city.
According to Gorilla Guides, U.S. forces were preventing Red Crescent workers from getting aid into Sadr City. But, when they can… (a link, if you’re able to give…)
oh Selise! understood completely
On the “Iranian” IEDs … btw .. ages ago, markfromireland wrote about how simply these IEDs are to make and how the necessary ingredients are readily available in Iraqi markets … a fact our MSM never seems to have understood.
especially as fallon gave his resignation on march 11 and the uss lincoln left for deployment to the fifth fleet on march 13.
i do not like the timing one bit.
Laura .. thank you for reminding us all of the importance of supporting the Red Crescent. There was a report today that Maliki was going to allow ambulances into Sadr City – which is still on curfew after almost two weeks!
Whether the US forces blocking all access to Sadr City will also allow the ambulances to get through is an open question.
Hey General, Betrayed any troops lately? /s
I wonder if MoveOn has anything planned for Iraqi Jesus Week?
How about food supplies?
Aargh, that was thoroughly debunked by several MG Generals on the ground, the critical aspect of the EFP’s are the copper discs, which first Bergner, and later Betrayus glommed on. I can’t find the articles right off, but, in essence, they stated that the Iraqis did manufacture the necessary discs… The foundation of the BS claims were that the Iraqis did not have the machine shops capable of producing them, until, ah-ha, they’d found one outside of Basra with many copper discs at various stages of manufacture…
Heh, I owe ya a Coke…! *g*
I’m not sure what is getting in Fern but the curfew has been pretty complete.
Not on the curfew specifically but from the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs:
Running Hand-To-Hand Urban combat in a million-person district using helicopter gunships? Just how long does al Maliki think his own forces will put up with the “occupiers” slaughtering fellow Shiites?
what Chernus implies, but fails to state in no uncertain terms, is that the USA will never allow another country to do what we do unless it benefits the US– i.e. invade and occupy.
(btw, the only poor Afghans that welcomed the Americans into their country were those privileged few– the oil barons, etc.)
All the others left were hopeful, but war-ravaged and tired.
How must all these Iraqi and Afghan citizens feel now after the soft touch of American imposed “democracy”?
without even knowing how efps are made, it seemed a little suspect that the people who, we were told, were on the verge of making a nuke were somehow incapable of making an efp.
just did not compute.
I think it is clear that US efforts are succeeding and that the increased violence is because these Iranian backed militias are getting desperate. . .
Just channeling David Petraeus here or every other general that’s been in charge in Iraq for the last 5 years.
Spot on, as usual…! 8-)
Anyone that can make a calypso steel-drum can manufacture these shaped-charges…it doesn’t require a special lathe or computer-guided machine tools.
New Report up at GorillasGuides … I’ll add a link in the post but here’s the text:
Bwahaaa! Well no one can say that this guy doesn’t have a sense of humor. Are there any parties that don’t have a militia?
They can even be hand-hammered into the necessary specs…! This is reminiscent of the ‘Aluminum Tubes’…!
I’m sure at this point the Pentagon will again be putting up the directions on how to make a nuclear bomb. Hey, they’re just itching to start bombing another country and what better way then to give our enemies the recipes they need so the Pentagon can say, “How dare you make a nuclear bomb under our noses!” to justify bombing the crap out of whoever they chose.
Akin to us, thinking there’s no way we’d attack Iran…? 8-(
Who makes these decisions? Was this done on Maliki’s own initiative, or as instructed by the Americans?
Sadr City, Baghdads little Palestine.
Hmmm, Friday (night?), new moon, a bomber, stuff blowing-up…
So officially, ‘Nothing to see here, move along’?
‘A series of loud explosions were heard in many parts of Doha on Friday night and people living near the air base said the blasts were so strong that it shook the ground and they fled their homes, assuming that an earthquake had struck.
“Around 9.15pm, we heard loud explosions following which the ground shook and the walls and the ceilings of our portacabins rattled as if they were being shaken by some violent force,” they said.
“We ran out and saw bright flashes, fire and smoke in the direction of the air base.”’
Most of the credible reports I’d read, said it caught us flat-footed, in other words Maliki instigated it, but, with Cheney having just departed the region, I’m not sure! Any input, Siun?
These are US attacks on Sadr City …
Maliki has no “own initiative”
For Sadr City, but, what about Basra? The initial assault on Sadr’s militia!
The decision to attack Sadr and his movement was – to my mind – a clear deal between Cheney, Maliki and Hakim. They all met a week prior to the attacks and Cheney wanted to get approval of provincial elections in the Fall but Hakim knew his folks would lose in those elections … so the agreement was a trade – elections but first we wipe out the opposition likely to win.
Thinking that Maliki – who has no power on his own – would do any of this without explicit US approval and support is a mistake.
This is one of the most grotesque aspect of the war(s).
I thank Siun, FDL, GG, Dahr and others for getting the news out.
I remember months, years ago when there were those who asked for warnings to be placed before there were pictures broadcast or posted– as though the horror should not be seen, heard or experienced by us lest it disturb our sensitivities. It didn’t matter, though, when media here broadcast all day and night the pictures of Saddam or his dead sons.
The fact is that people are being torn apart into tiny shreds and families (if they are lucky enough to be alive) are left to pick up the pieces and NOBODY here reports any of it. Orphans, hungry folks, homeless folks, sick and burned and shattered folks, hopeless folks– all left with silent screams that we cannot even see unless we look for it.
I guess the media and the west are just taking their cue from Bar and her son.
For Shame.
Sorry – I misinterpreted the context. I was thinking about the attacks on Sadr City.
Erica Goode and Michael Gordon have a Sadr City piece up now at NYT.
Except when there is a crying need for a scapegoat on the eve of important Congressional hearings with the comedy duo of Petraeus and Crocker.
I stand corrected…
Maliki is not an independent actor … he has no power and no support. With the Badr Brigade forming the backbone of his “army” (read militia) and his total dependence on US support for his survival, the idea that he’d come up with these plans on his own makes no sense.
Heh, *sheepish grin* My Bad! *g*
I blame it on one too many brews now…! ;-)
Speaking of lessons not learned, the State Department dumped some news out with the trash on Friday. From page D-02 of Saturday’s WaPo:
This morning, buried at the end of a story about the death of an Assyrian Orthodox priest, the WaPo added this note (p. A-20):
“Is our diplomats learning?” The answer, sadly, is “Apparently not.”
Can contracts like this be cancelled after we take the WH in January? Can all these people they are installing be fired? I certainly hope so.
Glad Crocker will testify. That will probably be as impressive as last time:
“Er… ummm… ahh…
Well…
ummm umm uh…
the, um, thing, um, err, uh,
depends on, uh, ummm, what you mean,
mmmm… by…. err…
is…”
etc.
And I am sure the Iraqi people will welcome Blackwater’s new contract, eh?
CTuttle – it’s a confusing arena .. hard to keep track (esp after brews!)
I recommend Missing Links as a very good source of news (and Badger, the author is very good at tracing how various stories are twisted between so-called news sources like Michael (spit) Gordon.
Aloha, Hmmm! Haven’t seen ya in a while!
well, now i see that the debkafile is reporting on the uss lincoln’s deployment (first reporting on it i’ve seen searching w/ google news) and saying war tensions have shot up:
since debka is widely seen as an outlet for propaganda… how should i interpret this? does it mean there will be no attack on iran?
Aloha CT! Yes, very busy around here lately. Congrats on your M&C stuff, very good work there. Looks like Pele may pay a visit in Halemaumau pretty soon – they think lava is slowly rising in that vent… exciting!
CrooksandLiars has some video … here
Without seeing the actual contracts, one can’t say for sure. However, I would be very confident in saying that there are probably all kinds of clauses in contracts like these that provide reasons for discontinuing the contact — and issues like the gang rapes of female Blackwater employees by their male coworkers would likely provide an executive branch official ample reason for terminating the contract, if they were so inclined.
Of course, if the contract were so iron-clad that the US couldn’t back out of it, there might be some creative ways to “employ” the Blackwater security personnel. Picking up litter along the road from Baghdad to Basra, for instance, or sweeping the floors in the Green Zone offices. It’s solid security work: gotta make sure that trash doesn’t contain any bombs, or bomb-making materials, don’tcha know.
Being assigned duties like that might make it very difficult for Blackwater to recruit employees . . . and that would make me smile.
Cheney and Petraeus thought that 30,000 “Iraqi” troops would be enough to cow a few stray militia gunmen in Basra. For all I know Maliki may have fed them this line but it didn’t take much for them to believe it. It just goes to show that even after 5 years in country they are as clueless as ever about even the simplest fundamentals of Iraqi politics. When things went kerblooey, they blamed Maliki not themselves for misreading the situation. I’m not sure what excuse they are going to come up with for misreading the situation in Baghdad and Sadr City.
Exciting from afar! She’s kicking out a lot of vog, and I’m keeping my eyes peeled on Mauna Loa!
here are the 2 House Committees – and I don’t see much –
Spratt on Armed Services will beat them up over costs
and maybe Jackson-Lee will take up Solomon’s advice on Foreign Affairs Comm., but just don’t see anyone stepping up with the correct argument
-although I did like Pelosi’s pre emptive warning to both witnesses
Armed Services
Foreign Affairs
i have trouble seeing that the attack on sadr city is in preparation for provincial elections. how could this possibly strengthen the hands of the puppet gov?
When I was thinking about a headline, I kept thinking that Petraeus et al have once again forgotten the lesson of Vietnam .. that fighting a locally supported nationalist movement is always a losing proposition.
Frank Rich is so good on the success narrative today, mostly the use McCain is giving it. Makes a swell analysis, of course. Maybe the Bush guys should be reading his facts if they want to know what is going on.
Selise … Maliki and Hakim know that they will lose control or at the least significant power if the provincial elections are held … trying to wipe out Sadr’s forces and power ahead of time is the game … which they are losing.
Thanks, Siun, I bookmarked it! You should read the report from the newly reconstructed ISG, that I posted on… Finally, they seem to get it, in that they recommend either; a conditioned withdrawal or a unconditional withdrawal… So much for a Stay the Course or Surge mentality…! ;-)
I believe that the US assault is aimed at the march. They are seeking to crush the Sadr movement so that the million-man protest next week wont happen. They are desperate to stop it.
I hope they fail. I hope the protest is a bigger deal than Sadr hopes. I hope it is deeply embarrassing to Petraeus and crushing to Maliki. I’d like to see the collapse of the puppet government in Iraq.
Anything to demonstrate to McCain, Betrayus, Cheney, and Bush that the disaster of Iraq is NOT going to get fixed by a continued US presence there. That Iraq is NOT fixable by US forces. That Iraq is a disaster that belongs fully and 100% to Bush, Cheney, Condosleeza, McCain, and Lieberman and cannot be passed onto the next Administration.
A pox on the press for blowing off Iraq and going along with the lie that Iraq is settling down and that the surge is working.
Only the Iraqi people can fix their country which we broke.
(After the West inserted itself and did more map drawing exercises– we think we’re real good at that!)
There are lots of politicians there, but we of almighty hubris bear much of the blame– especially now; right now.
How many times have Iraqis, Afghans, Iranians, Jordanians, Syrians, Palestinians, Saudis, Yemenis, Libyans, etc……. come into our domestic politics?
never, unless we could use them or we covet what they have.
Think about it folks.
Uck, drag re. the vog — bad there in H-town, or just over leeward side? At least teh quakes aren’t looking totally scary — though as a survivor of the ‘06 Puako quake, I note there was a tiny wiggle there today. Hmmm.
Short term I think the goal is to suppress the fire so that Petaeus and Crocker don’t have to explain this obvious example of the “surge” not working in the very heart of their area of control.
is the goal to prevent the elections (too much violence/turmoil), or is their goal voter suppression? or to prevent the mahdi army from being able to prevent vote stealing by maliki/hakim, or something else?
Heh, didn’t even notice it today, it’s been breezy of late, so it’s mostly Kailua town bearing the brunt of the vog!
hugh and praedor – those seem like reasonable alternative explanations to me.
Badger at Missing Links frequently links to
roadstoiraq
you can use google translation to translate any interesting links to english
Sadly, not if Obama has anything to say about it. He’s all in favor of keeping Blackwater and other thug mercs in Iraq.
There are no candidates that have Iraq right. They are ALL for some form of McCainian “victory”.
Roads to Iraq often has interesting pieces and good translations of info but I find Badger and GorillasGuides more helpful for analysis … just saying.
Seems like we are once again taking sides in the civil war. Too bad the Al Sadr negotiated cease fire blew up before Iraq Jesus came to testilie.
I thought the idea of Maliki’s announcement was to get the Sadrists at large to get Mehdi to take a pill, ideally to get the Sadrists to disown the Mehdi entirely, in order to avoid the Sadrists losing their standing for the elections. Kind of a stupid idea. And wouldn’t necessarily stop the demonstration either. So that’s what the attack on Sadr City is for, to prevent the demonstration, or if that fails, to distract from it.
http://www.informationclearing…..e19676.htm
Coke?! Don’t make me come in there. *g*
Busted, I broke the Coca-Cola Boycott! ;-)
from CT’s earlier link, our ‘goals’ in iraq are:
Bomb Iran…
http://www.informationclearing…..e19687.htm
oh, and that’s from the US institute of “peace” (my scare quotes).
i could not make this shit up.
Captain Obvious asks: “How’s that working for ya?”
Heh, It woulda been easier to link to M&C…! ;-)
As Petraeus spins his lies, it’s going to be very important that we call and write and fuss as much as possible to point out how wrong all this is … the drumbeats on Iran, the continued air strikes and attacks on Sadr City where children die daily from our actions … I hope everyone will be very busy this week countering the lies.
And what exactly is the US?
Impossible, unless we leave.
Under the best of circumstances, it’s not up to us.
if you want bring youtubes into it, here’s another one to break your heart.
(for the youtube-less, it’s yoo saying there is no law saying the president can’t have the testicles of the child of a detainee crushed as part of the “interrogation”).
Have been off and about all day, tried the link and it did not work– but thank you selise.
I did hear Lindsay Graham spouting the same bs today.
(sounds almowt good if one has been sleeping for a good long while, unlike most folks right here at FDL)
I definitely didn’t think the ‘Peace’ was apropo! Now, if Dennis Kucinich was part of it, I’d believe it…! ;-)
bushco: we’ll destroy iraq to save it…………..
my bad, sorry. :(
it’s gonna take a bit to change old habits, you may need to remind me a few times. i may be slow, but i’ll catch on.
almowtalmost.
zzzzzzzzz.
ES, you did read it, right? They do a good job of arguing the pros and cons of those goals…!
Jebus… Unfrikinbelievable!
i.e. “We’re gonna Democratize the ever lovin’ shit outta you”.
our ‘goals’ in iraq are:
• Prevent Iraq from becoming a haven or platform for international terrorists
• Restore U.S. credibility, prestige and capacity to act worldwide
• Improve regional stability
• Limit and redirect Iranian influence
• Maintain an independent Iraq as a single state
In who’s world, Orwell?
hehehehehehehe – how ya like us nowwwwwww?!
Not yet. I just want us out of Iraq, period.
Nor, slitting a nose or cutting off an ear, or pouring acid on them, or doping them up, or…….! 8-(
Selise … I had not seen that before …
what have we become
i’m with you. when the weather gets a bit warmer, i’ll start wearing my fav t-shirt again.
Does anyone actually think the U.S. corporate media is going to report anything negative? They know there role and nothing short of a break up of these media monopolies will change anything. There is no legitimate 4th Estate in the U.S. corporate media. They are corrupt and complicit from top to bottom.
Amen Brother!
Yes. Letters to the editor, calls/faxes to reps, but even more, talking to our friends, family and neighbors. People seem surprised (!) at the idea that we are committing war crimes. We need to make sure those around us hear the news. Lord knows they’re not going to find it in their newspapers….
In the most grossly inapplicable term I can remember making in, like, forever – added to favorites.
Thank you selise.
Jeez.
That monster should be disbarred only after he is tried for war crimes and granted immunity from any insanity defense.
IMHO.
Precisely Laura … spreading the word to folks we know is so important.
Leaflets put up in public places. The media will not tell Americans what is being done in their name and by the Republican Party. It’s time for guerilla journalism that reaches the masses.
I am sure that this has been discussed but I just have to say it again cause it feels so good. Andrew Sullivan was right.
“The latest revelations on the torture front show—the memo from John Yoo—as well as revelations from Phillippe Sands’ book, mean that Donald Rumsfeld, David Addington and John Yoo should not leave the United States any time soon. They will be at some point indicted for war crimes. They deserve to be.”
That goes for Junya and Darth, too.
YES!
i don’t have it in me to try to answer that one right now. that is a very deep dark pit.
And facebook it and myspace it and youtube and…..
Imagine what it would look like if each of us posted a youtube to the Iraqi people telling them we know we are committing war crimes, we are sorry and we are working to stop it. IMAGINE!
got that youtube from glenn.
Start tonight Laura. Print up an indictment of the Republican Party and how they are dangerous to the health, safety and welfare of families and the nation at large. There are innumerable examples of their hypocrisy, greed, callous disregard, authoritarian anti-democratic mindset. Expose them and their failed conservative ideology for what it is, a sham and a disgrace. Put up ten copies on light poles, information kiosks, courthouse and church doors. If everyone began doing the same the walls would come tumbling down.
I am a cspan junkie.
I like watching all of the inaction/action.
I think it was my duty while I was otherwise occupied.
For reasons beyond my control, I did not watch that testimony and I am horrified.
I wish and hope that this gets out to everybody in this otherwise busy and largely somnambulent USA.
Thank you Selise.
;(
maybe it is collective punishment because Cheney wants
ChalabiMaliki / al-Hakim to have control of the spigot – and would be willing to take on Sadr City on their behalf –but it could also be there are still enough first string dunderheads at the Pentagon who somehow think they have a peahen hope of controlling Sadr City and are attempting it in anticipation of Congressional testimony
so you’ve “softened it up” with your aerial campaign – there are up to 2 million people in Sadr City ferchrissakes, now what ?!?!?
the late great Steve Gilliard on this murderous lunacy
I wish I was smarter, better, nicer in every way.
Siun, you do an incredible job and I so appreciate what you do to enlighten all of us.
I want to do much more to stop the madness.
Thank you.
I guess we must move on, but my heart is heavy.
Until and unless we get our foreign policy honest and correct, we cannot put our own house in order.
Wexler and others in Congress are asking for your questions for Petraeus.
Write your congressperson with a question you want them to ask Petraeus this week.
Hello Siun – the news from GG just makes me sadder and sadder – I am curious what will happen for the million man demonstration on 4/9. I am really afraid that we just flatten Sadr City and all who remain. Keep up the good work – now that i have registered I hope to visit more often