Category: War

Crap!!!! Dems to Cave AGAIN

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This is bullsh&%:

Democrats now are expected to allow Senate Republicans to attach tens of billions of dollars for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan to a $500 billion-plus government-wide spending bill. That move would be in exchange for GOP support on the huge spending measure.

The war money would not be tied to troop withdrawals, as Democrats want. But it would let Democrats wrap up their long-unfinished budget work and go on vacation before Christmas. It also would spare them from criticism during the holiday recess by President Bush for leaving work without providing money for the troops.

If they want to filibuster, make them talk. No more of this courtesy of withdrawing the bill because you can’t get cloture. MAKE THEM TALK.

What’s more, make them talk on Christmas day.

Mitch McConnel Hates Our Troops

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In an interview with the Grayson County News-Gazette, he said the following:

“I won’t tell you everything is great in Iraq; it is not. But we want to keep a steady flow of funds so that we don’t disrupt the military,” said McConnell. “Unfortunately, most of our friends on the other isle are having a hard time admitting things are getting better; some days I almost think the critics of this war don’t want us to win. Nobody is happy about losing lives but remember these are not draftees, these are full-time professional soldiers.

Gee…So I guess he thinks that “full-time professional soldiers” don’t have parents, or wives, or Fiancées, or children, or girl friends.

Or maybe he’s trying to say that it was OK for him, as a draftee in the late 1960s, do give another soldier a hand job in the shower to get out, because he was a draftee, nto a “full-time professional soldier”.

Oh, well.

Here’s How it Works, We Take Iraqi Officers to the US For Training, and They DESERT

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Big surprise there, bombs are not going off daily, nor are death squads roaming the street. All we have is an occasional mall shooter.

So, we train them there, then take the most promising back to the US for more estensive training, and they go missing.

They desert, they seek asylum, or they seek asylum in Canada, as a brigadier general did earlier this year.

Things have to be going swimmingly there.

Hate Crime Expansion Defeated in Senate

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Basically, it was attached to an emergency spending bill funding Iraq, could not get the votes in the house, because about 30 Dems would not vote for a war funding bill under any circumstances.

This means that the bill is dead for this year, though I think that it will come up again next year.

I can’t help but think that this is a shot across the bow of Pelosi, who has been rather timid compared to Reid on challenging Bush on Iraq.

Expanding the law to cover hate crimes against gays has to be a huge issue in her district, and it being pulled is going to result in her office catching hell from her constituents.

Honestly, I think the that Bush will veto anything that this is attached to anyway, so we need to wait for a Dem president, so the anti-war congressmen have made the right decision.

Military Takes Control of Contractors, State Department Bozos Who Screwed Up Contractors Get Bonuses

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The military has basically taken control of oversight of contractors, “The agreement requires all State Department convoys in Iraq to coordinate their movements with the military’s main operations center in Baghdad, sets minimum standards for training the contractors and outlines when armed guards may use force in self-defense.”.

In related news, “two key deputies who worked closely with the security contractors, Kevin Barry and Justine Sincavage, received quiet promotions“, and “On November 20, an internal cable, listed as State 158575, went out to State employees announcing the recipients of bonuses ranging from $10,000 to $15,000 for “outstanding performance.” Among them: Kevin Barry and Justine Sincavage.”

My head hurts.

US National Intelligence Estimate Says That Iran Has Shuttered It’s Nuclear Weapons Program

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Iran shuttered its program in 2003, and it remains shut down to this day.

I’m not sure why the CIA, NSA, DIA, etc. are pushing back against Dick Cheney and rest of the war porn chicken hawks, but it’s good that they are.

I’m not sure why the DNI, who has been adamant about not releasing NIEs, chose to release this. My guess is that someone in the press got a hold of it.

White House Attempting to Foist Permanent Military Presence in Iraq, Chris Dodd Says No Bloody Way

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The White House and the genocidal ethnic cleansers Iraqi government have released a statement of principles that amounts to an agreement to have US troops in Iraq FOREVER.

Chris Dodd has released a statement vehemently disagreeing with this:

Frankly, it’s hard to believe that the Administration is just beginning to figure out what the future bilateral relationship with Iraq should look like after more than four years of military occupation. But, this declaration of principles is more notable for what it doesn’t say than what it does. It does not require Iraqi leaders to make substantive progress on their political benchmarks nor does it end US military involvement in Iraq. Indeed, Senator Dodd is fearful that the lack of clarity on the long-term presence will be used as a justification by this Administration for a permanent military presence in Iraq, at precisely the time when we should be declaring the opposite. In a Dodd Adminsitration, there will be no permanent bases in Iraq.

Update:
Obama and Clinton have now declared themselves to be members of the “No Permanent Bases” caucus too.

Rumsfeld Torture Case Dismissed

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French prosecutors have dismissed a torture case against Donald Rumsfeld based on “customary immunity”…Funny thing though…I’ve never heard them claim this immunity with Israelis. (FWIW, I do believe that Sharon should have spent some time in the clink for his roll in the Sabra and Shatila massacres, because he was at the very least criminally negligent).

My guess is that this came straight from Sarkosy.

Iraqi Army Detains Mercenaries Private Security Contractors

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The New York Times is reporting that 43 Contractors have been taken into custody. It appears that the contract that they had was for resupply, and that these guards covered the resupply contract, and were not a part of any American security contract.

At this point, none of the detained are believed to be American.

I think that this is a shot across the bow of all the contractors by the Iraqi army.

US Spending on Afthan Aid Inadequate and Incompetent

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Oxfam complaining about this. It appears that in addition to not spending enough money, $4.4 billion in Afghanistan since 2002, as versus $35 billion in 2007 alone for military efforts, too much is spent on, “profits of companies and subcontractors, on non-Afghan resources and on high expatriate salaries and living costs,” (up to ½ million/year for each contractor).

Additionally, “Some two-thirds of U.S. foreign assistance bypasses the Afghan government that officials say they want to strengthen”.

It’s almost as if there were a conscious decision among Bush and His Evil Minions™ to treat this as an opportunity for political payback to incompetent contractors who are political allies.

Federal Grand Gury Investigates Involvement in Iraqi Deaths

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Finally, but given the degree to which the State Department has sabotaged this investigation from the beginning, I do not expect any indictments to come of it.

Update: We now have reports that the Gand Jury is investigating other Mercenaries Security Contractors in addition to Blackwater:

The Washington grand jury has issued subpoenas to several private security firms, including Blackwater, a legal source briefed on the probe said yesterday. Authorities are seeking company “after-action” reports and other documents that may shed light on specific incidents, he said.

The source, speaking on the condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the probe, declined to say which incidents have been targeted, but he said the investigation ranges well beyond Blackwater. Private security companies in Iraq “have been shooting a lot of people,” he said.

Emphasis mine.

I think that if there is ever a fair accounting of the actions of the mercs in Iraq, a lot of people are going to be called to account.

Senate Looks Ready to Cave on Iraq

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CQ is reporting that Carl Levin, Daniel Inouye are floating a spending bill without restrictions.

This is wrong, and worse, it is a mistake.

Voting against the war is the right thing to do morally and politically, and these morons can’t seem to get it through their heads that caving to Bush hurts the country and the Democratic party.

Don’t back down, make it harder on the Republicans. Make them really filibuster. Declare on every talk show that the Republicans are filibustering money for the troops.

Not one step back.

Possible Resolutions to the Conflict Involving Israel

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Here is another posting, cleaned up a bit, of mine from a Yahoo group that I’m on called JOINint*
Someone asked a question, and her is my rather pessimistic answer:

Please, someone, anyone, show me how we can save Israel AND make a true and lasting peace with our cousins, the Arabs?

There are two solutions that would currently work work:

  • The liquidation of the state of Israel.
  • The ethnic cleansing of the Palestinians in areas under Israeli control.

To my mind, neither are acceptable, so the question is how one finds a solution that does not involve either,

Given the current state of affairs, I do not see any positive developments.

However, the primary driver on this issue is oil, and this will be changing. Current predictions see Iran no longer exporting oil in less than 30 years, and Saudi Arabia production may very well have already peaked.

If the center of oil production moves elsewhere, and/or the world economy transitions from an oil economy, which I see as happening sooner rather than later, the interest in appeasing Arab sensibilities vanishes.

Much of this conflict is driven by the perception in the Palestinian community that time is on their side by virtue of both demographics and by what they see as significant unequivocal international support for their rights, look at your average vote in the General Assembly of the UN, and when their perception changes, a settlement will come.

Basically, when the Arabs run out of oil, no one will care about them, most of their support in the international arena has been bought in some form or another, and when the House of Saud in particular, and the Arab world in general runs out of this currency, the interest in their concerns will vanish.

Hopefully, in this transition/decline, a settlement can be reached, because if not, I see the ethnic cleansing of the disputed territories as a distinct possibility only a bit after that.

One thing that goes unremarked on is that the views of Israeli society are changing.

In 1980, if one had been at a party, and suggested ethnic cleansing Arabs, people would have looked at you like you had taken a dump in the punch bowl, and you would never have been invited back.

Today, there would doubtless be a ferocious discussion/argument, but the discussion of this tactic has become socially acceptable. This is a change in attitude that is profoundly troubling.

Note that any prediction of the future is at best imprecise. I do not see the House of Saud surviving, and in its fall there are any number of outcomes, both bad and good, that are beyond anyone’s power to predict.

Certainly, this will result in a movement of the center of Arab thought, probably back to Egypt. In the early 1900s, Cairo was the center of Arab and Islamic intellectual discourse, before Saudi basically prostituted the Cairo academics and intellectuals.

*Jewish Opinions, Ideas, and News, International It spun off from another group when it descended into right wing agitprop.

Outsourcing Terrorism, Yet AGAIN

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We lost bin Laden when we outsourced combat to Afghan tribes, and now we are proposing outsourcing to Pakistani Tribes.

A new and classified American military proposal outlines an intensified effort to enlist tribal leaders in the frontier areas of Pakistan in the fight against Al Qaeda and the Taliban, as part of a broader effort to bolster Pakistani forces against an expanding militancy, American military officials said.

If adopted, the proposal would join elements of a shift in strategy that would also be likely to expand the presence of American military trainers in Pakistan, directly finance a separate tribal paramilitary force that until now has proved largely ineffective and pay militias that agreed to fight Al Qaeda and foreign extremists, officials said. The United States now has only about 50 troops in Pakistan, a Pentagon spokesman said, a force that could grow by dozens under the new approach.

Let me get this straight. In a nuclear armed nation that is teetering on the brink of anarchy or revolution, somehow it’s a good idea to arm and train yet another group of people who will be usurping the most essential monopoly of the state, organized violence.

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