Category: Iraq

Bush Administration Running Attack Ads Against….Republicans?

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Well, it appears that an Astroturf group loaded with money from Bush contributors, Freedom Watch, is doing its bit to try to extend the war in Iraq: It’s running attack ads against Republicans who are going weak kneed on the war.

Seriously, this is being run through either current, or former, or soon to be former *cough* Rove *cough*Bush political operatives.

Quoting Politico:

“For those who believe in peace through strength, the cavalry is coming,” said former White House Press Secretary Ari Fleischer, who is a founding board member of the group.

The big ad buy, funded by high-profile Republicans who were aides and supporters of President Bush, reflects a furious public relations battle that will unfold as Congress debates the crucial progress report by Gen. David Petraeus, which is due Sept. 15.

BTW, there is no Petraeus report. The Bush White House is writing the report with “input” from Petraeus.

FWIW, Tom Matzzie of Americans Against Escalation in Iraq has written their spokesman, Ari Fleischer, a thank you note, in which an analysis of the first ad buy is made, 37 targeting Republicans vs. 4 Democrats, and only one of the Democrats is not sharing a District with a Republican.

BTW, one of the people that they are targeting is Mitch McConnell, Republican leader of the Senate.

This is truly a WTF moment, and typifies Bush’s idea of loyalty. Even if it does not backfire, and I think that it will, because it shows how narrow and petty Bush and His Evil Minions&trade are, it gets these folks voting pro-war, and makes them vulnerable.

He’s crossing a line, a very big one, and it might be enough to shake some Republicans loose from mindlessly goose-stepping with him.

Adviser: Britain withdrawal could end up ugly – Military News, news from Iraq, photos, reports from the war – Military Times

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Stephen Biddle, who appears (quick Google) to be one of the more reality oriented members of the foreign policy establishment, though he worked on the current “surge” policy with Petraeus, is suggesting that a British from Iraq will be ugly and violent, with Shiite forces attacking them on the way out in order to create bragging rights that they “pushed the British out”?

If what he says is true, and I am not convinced, these people already largely control Basra, and there are very real advantages to facilitating the UK exit, it’s irrelevant, because it will be a factor whenever the troops pull out.

We cannot fix what was broken in Iraq.

More Real Journalism

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It should be noted that McClatchy was pretty good before the invasion too. They were pretty much alone on covering the claims of Bush and His Evil Minions™ and comparing them to reality.

This article follows this course. It not so subtly calls the Whitehouse and Pentagon Liars.

And while top U.S. officials insist that 50 percent of the capital is now under effective U.S. or government control, compared with 8 percent in February, statistics indicate that the improvement in violence is at best mixed.

U.S. officials say the number of civilian casualties in the Iraqi capital is down 50 percent. But U.S. officials declined to provide specific numbers, and statistics gathered by McClatchy Newspapers don’t support the claim.

More at the story.

There is No Patreaus Report

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You know how all of Bush and His Evil Minions™ have been talking about David Petraeus’s report on progress in Iraq? It now appears that there is no such thing as the Petraeus Report. Instead, “Despite Bush’s repeated statements that the report will reflect evaluations by Petraeus and Ryan Crocker, the U.S. ambassador to Iraq, administration officials said it would actually be written by the White House, with inputs from officials throughout the government.”

But it gets EVEN BETTER. It appears that the Bush administration won’t even let Petraeus testify before congress at a public hearing. “Senior congressional aides said yesterday that the White House has proposed limiting the much-anticipated appearance on Capitol Hill next month of Gen. David H. Petraeus and Ambassador Ryan C. Crocker to a private congressional briefing, suggesting instead that the Bush administration’s progress report on the Iraq war should be delivered to Congress by the secretaries of state and defense.”

I guess that they are afraid that the good General might tell the truth.

Old US Tradition: Leave Your Native Allies to Die

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This is sad, and likely repeated thousands of times. Iraqi interpreters and other people who helped US forces are simply being cut loose to be killed by various militias and insurgents in Iraq.

We did the same thing in Viet Nam, and Republicans in the congress are trying to do the same with Filipino soldiers who fought the Japanese during WWII.

If there is anything that we should do, it is allow these people to come to the United States as refugees.

al-Maliki Wants Gen Petraeus out

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I appears that al-Maliki has asked George W. Bush to dump Petraeus.

Word is that he’s upset that the General is arming Sunni militias to fight the Jihadists.

My guess is that the real word is that it will be too difficult for him to do ethnic cleansing in Baghdad if these people get weapons.

SCIRI, al-Maliki’s base tortured Iraqi prisoners during the Iran-Iraq war. His security forces have been murdering and ethnically cleansing Sunnis.

The last thing he wants is something that gets in the way of this.

On the bright side, if he succeeds, I think that it will flip a number of Republicans who value their seats more than they fear Karl Rove, so maybe it will get us out.

House Votes to Ban Permanent Bases in Iraq

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Good news from the Gavel,
the House has passed a ban on permanent bases in Iraq.

Today, the House passed H.R. 2929, Banning Permanent U.S. Bases in Iraq. This bill states that it is the policy of the United States not to establish any military installation or base for the purpose of providing a permanent stationing of United States Armed Forces in Iraq. It also states that it is the policy of the United States not to exercise U.S. control of the oil resources of Iraq. The measure bars the use of any funds provided by any law from being used to carry out any policy that contradicts these statements of policy.

This is significant in a number of ways:

  • Bush will threaten a veto, making it clear that he does wants permanent basis (though he’ll probably use the micro-management commander-in-chief excuse).
  • This veto is likely to be successfully overridden.
  • It’s a direct challenge to the “it’s not abut oil” lie.
  • Because it forbids expenditures, it’s is clearly in the purview of the congress, even in the view most hacktacular of pundits (OK, maybe not…they are pretty hacktacular.
  • It’s a marvelous club to use in the 2008 elections.

Denmark evacuates Iraqi employees and their relatives – International Herald Tribune

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I read this story about Denmark evacuating Iraqi employees and their relatives in the IHT.

If the US behaves in a historically consistent matter, we will leave the tens of thousands of translators and other Iraqis hanging out to dry, where many will die, and more will become stateless refugees.

This is distressing for both ethical reasons, these people have risked their lives for us, and for pragmatic reasons, each time we do this, it makes it more difficult to recruit members of the indigenous population to help us.

The fact that we do not allow anyone who has already risked life and limb to help us entry into the US is largely an artifact of bigotry, and to be fair, the US military is far worse about this than the State Deartment, which is already making noises about getting its employees into the US.

Why Should We Believe the US Military Now

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You know the saying, fool me once, shame on you.

Fool me twice, shame on me

U.S. says Iraqi militant nonexistent
The man known as Abu Omar Baghdadi is an actor and the group a front for Al Qaeda in Iraq, the military says.
By Tina Susman
Times Staff Writer

July 19, 2007

BAGHDAD — In March, he was declared captured. In May, he was declared killed, and his purported corpse was displayed on state-run TV. But on Wednesday, Abu Omar Baghdadi, the supposed leader of an Al Qaeda-affiliated group in Iraq, was declared nonexistent by U.S. military officials, who said he was a fictional character created to give an Iraqi face to a foreign-run terrorist organization.

An Iraqi actor has been used to read statements attributed to Baghdadi, who since October has been identified as the leader of the Islamic State of Iraq group, said U.S. Army Brig. Gen. Kevin Bergner.

Bergner said the new information came from a man captured July 4, described as the highest-ranking Iraqi within the Islamic State of Iraq.
…..

Bush has purged the military of anyone who might tell an unfortunate truth to the public.

If we want our government to work, we will need to de Bushify the bureaucracy and military after he is gone.

The problem is, that we need to de Bushify the courts too, and the Constitution makes that difficult.

Murdoch and Blair Colluded on Selling Iraq War

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This defines Rev. Smiler, and history will be most unkind to him.

How Murdoch had a hotline to the PM in the run-up to Iraq war

By Andrew Grice, Political Editor
Published: 19 July 2007

Tony Blair had three conversations with the media magnate Rupert Murdoch in the nine days before the start of the Iraq war, the Government has disclosed.

Details of the former prime minister’s contacts with Mr Murdoch have been released under the Freedom of Information Act. After trying to block disclosure for four years, the Government backed down in a surprise change of heart the day after Mr Blair resigned last month.

Sounds like Gordon Brown threw his dear friend Tony under the Bloody bus.

……

In Alastair Campbell’s diaries, published last week, the former spin doctor described a Downing Street dinner for Mr Murdoch and his sons, James and Lachlan, in 2002. “Murdoch pointed out that his were the only papers that gave us support when the going got tough. ‘I’ve noticed,’ said TB,” Mr Campbell wrote. Lance Price, Mr Campbell’s deputy, called Mr Murdoch “the 24th member of the [Blair] Cabinet“. He added: “His presence was always felt. No big decision could ever be made inside No10 without taking account of the likely reaction of three men, Gordon Brown, John Prescott and Rupert Murdoch. On all the really big decisions, anybody else could safely be ignored.”

….

Well, there’s always hoping that he’ll share a cell with Bush and Rumsfeld.

Indications of a PERMANENT Presence of US Troops in Iraq

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This article makes it very clear that the United States plans to never leave Iraq.

The facilities involved are extensive, expensive, and permanent.

Inside spacious, air-conditioned “Kingpin,” a new air traffic control center at this huge Air Force hub 50 miles north of Baghdad……

“We’re the busiest aerial port in DoD,”…..

Early this year, with little fanfare, the Air Force sent a squadron of A-10 “Warthog” attack planes — a dozen or more aircraft — to be based at Al-Asad Air Base in western Iraq. At the same time it added a squadron of F-16C Fighting Falcons here at Balad……

Those big bombers were moved last year from distant Diego Garcia in the Indian Ocean to an undisclosed base in the Persian Gulf…..

The weaker of Balad’s two 11,000-foot runways was reinforced — for five to seven years’ more hard use. The engineers next will build concrete “overruns” at the runways’ ends. Balad’s strategic ramp, the concrete parking lot for its biggest planes, was expanded last fall. The air traffic control system is to be upgraded again with the latest technology.

This folly is going to kill a lot of US troops. It fuels the insurgency.

Once Again, The Japanese Bomb Pearl Harbor, and We Attack New Zealand

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There is an interesting story in the Los Angeles Times.

It appears that the bulk, if not the outright majority of the foreign fighters in Iraq killing our boys are Saudi.

Not Syrian. Not Iranian. Saudi.

About 45% of all foreign militants targeting U.S. troops and Iraqi civilians and security forces are from Saudi Arabia; 15% are from Syria and Lebanon; and 10% are from North Africa, according to official U.S. military figures made available to The Times by the senior officer. Nearly half of the 135 foreigners in U.S. detention facilities in Iraq are Saudis, he said.

Impeach Dick Cheney today. Impeach George W. Bush Tomorrow.