US Invasion of Iraq-Updates

mrmom2

mrmom2

Senate Member
Mar 8, 2005
5,380
6
38
Kamloops BC
 
Ocean Breeze

Ocean Breeze

Hall of Fame Member
Jun 5, 2005
18,399
95
48
A Reality Check from Iraq - As an Iraq War veteran, I disagree with how President Bush has assessed the war and how we should be conducting it. The president has mischaracterized the debate as a simplistic black and white challenge: "Is the sacrifice worth it?" But this mischaracterization clouds the debate and avoids two essential questions: What are the real conditions on the ground? And what must be done to win this war? - Unfortunately, the president continues to obscure the truth of the current conditions in Iraq
Click to expand...
 
Ocean Breeze

Ocean Breeze

Hall of Fame Member
Jun 5, 2005
18,399
95
48
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/4688619.stm

signs of new cooperation between Iraq and Iran. Apologies have been made and it seems a new start is desired by both nations. But one can be certain that politics is playing a part here ....as we don't know what they will discuss ........apart from what is made "public" Interesting twist in the dynamics.


( and this is pi**ing the US off..........as if it is any of the US business. The US seems to forget its own PROPAGANDA......and that being that Iraqis are now "FREE." "FREEDOM " entitles them to independant decision making, forming new alliances.....and restoring old relationships. the US has NO say in what the new Iraqi gov't does, says etc........( although it most likely is still pulling strings from behind the scenes.....in its usual pattern of dirty,lying underhanded methods :twisted:
 
Ocean Breeze

Ocean Breeze

Hall of Fame Member
Jun 5, 2005
18,399
95
48
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/in_depth/4689809.stm

Brit soldiers killed and another "suicide bomber" killed at least 50. :cry:

The invasion itself has created the environment for these acts to take place. Don't think "suicide bombings" were the rage before the USG invaded. Each death, and bombing, kidnapping is the responsibility of the US invasion. Destabilize a country, and dastardly acts follow....in a chaotic environment.
 
moghrabi

moghrabi

House Member
May 25, 2004
4,508
4
38
Canada
Re: RE: US Invasion of Iraq-U

Ocean Breeze said:
moghrabi said:
Iraqis Sell Their Blood To Survive

http://www.world-crisis.com/news/1147_0_1_0_M/
Click to expand...


http://www.world-crisis.com/news/1147_0_1_0_M/

Mog. : is this the item you were referring to??? Desparation.. is now evident.
Click to expand...

Exactely. Imagine selling your blood to survive. They call it democracy. Yes it is a democracy of who is going to line up first to sell the first quart of his/her blood for $10 if not less.
 
Ocean Breeze

Ocean Breeze

Hall of Fame Member
Jun 5, 2005
18,399
95
48
Re: RE: US Invasion of Iraq-U

moghrabi said:
Ocean Breeze said:
moghrabi said:
Iraqis Sell Their Blood To Survive

http://www.world-crisis.com/news/1147_0_1_0_M/
Click to expand...


http://www.world-crisis.com/news/1147_0_1_0_M/

Mog. : is this the item you were referring to??? Desparation.. is now evident.
Click to expand...

Exactely. Imagine selling your blood to survive. They call it democracy. Yes it is a democracy of who is going to line up first to sell the first quart of his/her blood for $10 if not less.
Click to expand...

It is heart breaking. :cry: It is hard to phathom what it is like ,living under these conditions. ....when a situation is so unstable/volatile.-----and desperate.
 
Ocean Breeze

Ocean Breeze

Hall of Fame Member
Jun 5, 2005
18,399
95
48
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/4690257.stm

the turbulence continues. :(

One could say that bush and goons "liberated" all the terrorists, suicide bombers to now cause havoc in Iraq. He destabilized the country (he calls it "freedom"/"democracy" ) and created a "free" environment for this to take place. Meanwhile the malignancy of "terrorism" has spread ......as all deadly malignancies do. the web(network) of terrorism seems to have expanded....to the point where one cannot pinpoint who the leaders are.

amazing that those war planning "geniuses" did not factor in all the possibities as they rushed so enthusastically to invade a nation that posed no threat to them. Insanity, personified. :evil:
 
Ocean Breeze

Ocean Breeze

Hall of Fame Member
Jun 5, 2005
18,399
95
48
'Iraq has been an absolute gift to al-Qaida'

July 24, 2005

BY DANICA KIRKA Advertisement



LONDON -- Car bombs at an Egyptian luxury hotel. Explosions in London subways. Suicide blasts in Baghdad.

With the frequency of terror attacks apparently mounting, experts searching for common threads behind the attacks suggest that the war on terror is being waged against an ever-increasing well of recruits, bound together by motives and cause -- rather than a single al-Qaida mastermind.

With havens in Afghanistan under pressure and their finances under scrutiny, militants may take philosophical guidance from the likes of Osama bin Laden but are largely relying on their own resources in carrying out operations, experts said Saturday.

''They all want to be part of this phenomenon,'' said Loretta Napoleoni, author of Terror Incorporated: Tracing the Dollars Behind the Terror Networks, as she explained the terror wave. ''It's not like someone is telling [the militants], 'You bomb on the first of July.'"

Anger over the U.S.-led war in Iraq and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict also seems to be providing some inspiration, despite early arguments from Bush administration officials that fighting insurgents in Iraq would help prevent them from launching attacks on Western targets. The war has instead turned into a recruiting tool, experts said.

Few links between London, Egypt



The constant images on Arab-language networks of dead and dying civilians -- coupled with U.S. soldiers conducting operations -- have only heightened sensitivities.

''Iraq has been an absolute gift to al-Qaida,'' said Paul Rogers, a professor of peace studies at England's Bradford University. ''[Al-Qaida] seems to have no difficulty in getting more and more recruits.''

The attack Saturday in Egypt came only two days after four bombs partially detonated on three London subway trains and a bus, causing no deaths but spreading panic two weeks after four suicide bombers hit similar targets, killing 52, not counting the bombers.

Magnus Ranstorp, a terror expert at St. Andrews University in Scotland, said few definitive links between the attacks in London and Egypt were likely.

However, the attackers may have taken note of the London attacks and opted to accelerate their plans -- hoping to make the terror more widespread.

''It's more about the timing -- to overwhelm the West,'' Ranstorp said.

He also said al-Qaida itself has long been divided into two camps -- one that favors targets on secular regimes in the Middle East and another favoring targets among the ''crusaders'' of the West.

What's more, no Arabs have been blamed in the London attacks. Three Britons of Pakistani descent and a Briton of Jamaican descent were identified as the suspected suicide bombers in what has been seen as a ''homegrown'' operation.

'They can be hit anywhere'



The Red Sea resort city was thought to be one of the safest places in Egypt -- a factor that would have made it harder to carry out any attack without surveillance, expertise and planning. The complexities involved suggest the attacks were planned long ago.

''For an attack of this size and nature to happen in such a regionally important center destroys the image of its tight security and sends a clear message to authorities that they can be hit anywhere,'' said Dia'a Rashwan, an Egyptian terrorism expert. ''We can't blame a small, amateurish group for this.''

The attacks in London and Egypt also could be seen as an attempt to demonstrate al-Qaida's prowess in the face of the U.S.-led war on terrorism, said Mustafa Alani, a security analyst at a Dubai-based think-tank, the Gulf Research Center.

''They're saying this war is not winnable,'' Alani said. ''If you look at the map of al-Qaida operations, they stretch from London to Bali to Istanbul to Mombasa to Saudi Arabia and Iraq.''

AP
Click to expand...
 
Ocean Breeze

Ocean Breeze

Hall of Fame Member
Jun 5, 2005
18,399
95
48
A Way Out Of Iraq?
Robert Dreyfuss
July 25, 2005


Robert Dreyfuss is a freelance writer based in Alexandria, Va., who specializes in politics and national security issues. He is a contributing editor at The Nation, a contributing writer at Mother Jones, a senior correspondent for The American Prospect, and a frequent contributor to Rolling Stone. His book, Devil's Game: How the United States Helped Unleash Fundamentalist Islam, will be published by Henry Holt/Metropolitan Books in the fall.

Unnoticed by the mainstream media, the man who might hold the key to a political solution of the war in Iraq appeared last week in Washington, D.C., where he met quietly with U.S. government officials and experts on Iraq and made a brilliant presentation at the Middle East Institute. Those looking for an exit strategy for Iraq (see my two-part series for TomPaine.com, The Vietnam Solution and An Iraqi Peace Process ) take note.

Aiham Al Sammarae, Iraq’s former minister of electricity, has stepped forward in Iraq as a key link between the Iraqi resistance and the occupation authorities. At tremendous risk to his own life, Sammarae has opened a dialogue with various Iraqi resistance groups, and he has offered to broker talks between those organizations and either the United States or the Iraqi interim government, or both. Currently, Sammarae, an engineer and CEO of KCI Engineering Consultants, heads the National Assembly for the Unity and Reconstruction of Iraq, an organization of Iraqis seeking to prevent the breakup of the Iraqi state and to find a nonsectarian solution for Iraq’s divisive politics.

Sammarae delivered an astonishing speech and then spoke to me afterward, making it clear that if the United States wants to negotiate a political solution in Iraq, it could do so with an opposition that is neither faceless, nor invisible, nor disorganized. When I asked him about the reception he received from the U.S. government, he smiled, and said, “It was mixed. It depends on who you talk to.” Behind the scenes, other sources say that there are people in the State Department and elsewhere in the U.S. government who are thinking hard about an exit strategy in Iraq and who might be receptive to Sammarae’s ideas. Others, predictably at the Pentagon and in the White House, vociferously oppose anything other than the stay-the-course view espoused by President Bush.

According to Sammarae, he and his colleagues have identified 11 major resistance groups, a number of smaller ones and individuals. Each, with the exception of Abu Musab Al Zarqawi’s group, has been invited without preconditions to participate in an opening to seek negotiations with the U.S. occupation forces. Several of the most important resistance leaders gave Sammarae a formal letter declaring their willingness to pursue talks with Baghdad and Washington, based on certain demands. These include a fixed timetable for the withdrawal of the U.S. occupation army and the reduction of Iranian influence, both overt and covert, in Iraqi affairs. “The resistance wants the Americans out,” he said. “And they want the Persians out.”

“We’ve been talking to the insurgents for a long time, probably since a year ago,” he said. “We began by talking to three major groups, and some smaller ones.” When I asked him to put a face on the resistance, he named four major groups: the Jaish Muhammad (Army of Muhammad), Jaish Mujahidin (Army of Freedom Fighters), Jaish Al Islami (The Islamic Army), and the Ansar Al Sunnah (Supporters of the Sunnah). Most of them include former Iraqi military officers, and many are comprised largely of Baathists, especially the Jaish Muhammad, said Sammarae.

He strongly criticized the de-Baathification of Iraqi politics (the pet project of Pentagon favorite Ahmad Chalabi), since up to four million Iraqis were members of the party, and the vast majority of them had nothing to do with human rights abuses or war crimes. And he denounced the U.S. decision to disband the Iraqi army, which sent up to 400,000 armed men and experienced commanders into the underground. Under the right conditions, said Sammarae, 70 percent of those military men would return to their barracks and to their units virtually overnight, if called.

Contrary to the conventional wisdom about Iraq, Sammarae said that the majority of Iraqis want a secular, nationalist state. Even in the Shiite community, he said, the ultra-religious parties and militias, especially those tied to Iran, do not command majority support. Many Iraqi families are intermarried and multi-ethnic, and he calls himself a “Sushi,” since his family is part Sunni and part Shiite. “Many, many Iraqis are Sushis,” he said.

The situation in Iraq is critical, he said. Various paramilitary groups are building their forces and trying to control the security organs of the government. Despite Iraq’s democratic veneer, the leaders of the current interim regime will not easily give up power if they lose a future election, and they are arming themselves and fortifying their political position.

The absence of coverage of Sammarae’s presentation at the Middle East Institute is stunning. It ought to have generated a barrage of questions at daily briefings at the White House, the State Department and the Pentagon. Although it may be a thin reed, what Sammarae said represents a critical opening for exit strategy talks between the United States and the resistance.
Click to expand...


how sad that the USG listens to no one, and in it's overwhelming ARROGANCE......persists in its own stubborn way as if it has the only "right" solution to this. But then again..... any ideas than their own ,might fowl up their underhanded other agendas..--part of which is most likely to maintain "control" in Iraq and its resources.......behind the scenes. (transparent as it is)
 
Ocean Breeze

Ocean Breeze

Hall of Fame Member
Jun 5, 2005
18,399
95
48
Let's Go Terror

By Yassin Musharbash

The terror in Iraq seems to be getting worse by the day. Now, a new guide has appeared on the Internet advising would-be terrorists on the best way into the country. It isn't easy, but a disguise of jeans and a Walkman may be just the ticket.



The cover of the terrorist travel guide recently found on the Internet.
Warning that entering Iraq is a journey fraught with peril, the author of the four-page pamphlet tells his readers, "It's a long and difficult route. It's no bed of roses." But by taking certain precautions, the chances of the dangerous tour ending in success are tremendous. Best of all, by following the author's tips, martyrdom, honor and paradise await.

Found recently on the Internet, the brochure is a travel guide for the jihad, a how-to for the mujahedeen. Entitled "This is the Way to Iraq: To All Who Want to Join the Mujahedeen in the Land of Two Rivers," the pamphlet was written by "The Islam Doctor." It's goal: to help would-be terrorists overcome the difficult task of sneaking into the country. It was posted on a Web site affiliated with al-Qaida.

At this point, experts and analysts have little reason to dispute its authenticity, especially since it confirms many of the assumptions about how foreign terrorists sneak into Iraq. In other words, it is another piece in the puzzle of the strategy followed by terrorists in their mission to turn the country into a living hell for the United States military, its allies and, above all, for Iraqi civilians. Indeed, dozens of the suicide bombers have been identified as having come from foreign countries -- most of them from Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Jordan and Syria -- and the number of foreign fighters in Iraq may number in the thousands. How they got there, despite all the attempts to prevent their entry, is at least partially explained by the new "travel guide."

Secrecy is paramount

The introduction, for example, explains that jihad wannabes -- following the appropriate physical and spiritual preparation, of course -- should turn to the middlemen who are present "in many Arabic countries" and who have "good connections to the jihad groups" in Iraq. Who those people are is also explained: preachers and prayer leaders in radical mosques -- or, in terrorist-speak, "Muslims who follow the example of our ancestors." The document, however, urges caution and the utmost secrecy when approaching the travel agents of terror. But it is also encouraging: "hundreds, even thousands" have followed this route into Iraq.



AP
On Sunday, yet another violent attack killed dozens in Iraq.
Another option for contacting potential go-betweens is the Internet, the guide explains further. "I impart to thee, brother: many of them can be found on the Internet!" Generally they aren't the "stars of the forums," preferring to stay in the background, because they are being pursued by the authorities and are very busy, the author continues. For that reason, the faithful need to be especially careful of impostors who claim to be collecting money for the jihad. One should only hand over money when absolute trust has been established.

Only after the soon-to-be-terrorist is in possession of the name and address of a contact person should the journey begin. And the document is clear about where to start: Syria. "Enter the country through Turkey," the recruits are advised -- the need for medical treatment is a possible excuse. A disguise as a tradesman also works. The author imparts important advice to ease the border crossing: "bring jeans and a Walkman ... playing whatever music." In other words, pop instead of prayers -- jazz before jihad jingles.

Go in groups

It is important to remain inconspicuous, the recruits are told, because the Syrian border guards are paying closer attention now than ever before to who travels in and out of the country. For this reason, it's better not to try traveling on to Iraq on one's own. After all, it is almost exclusively the lone wolfs that get caught, the document claims, while groups are often ignored.


NEWSLETTER
Sign up for Spiegel Online's daily newsletter and get the best of Der Spiegel's and Spiegel Online's international coverage in your In-Box everyday.





From Syria, the journey leads into Iraq. Intermediaries escort in only "small groups of fighters" at a time, meaning it could take awhile before one's turn comes. And once in Iraq, obedience is paramount. "Don't ever say 'I will never carry out a suicide attack' or 'due to special circumstances I can only undertake this work' ... !" From the get go, recruits must be prepared for anything.

Most mujahedeens are assimilated by the al-Qaida cells operating in Iraq, the guide explains further. They have connections to other al-Qaida groups "in Arab countries and in non-Arab countries abroad." Other groups, however, expect terrorists to find their own path to the front.

Who wrote the guide?

It's unclear who is hiding behind the pseudonym "The Islam Doctor," although he doesn't conceal his extensive experience in the jihad business. He also makes it clear that one doesn't necessarily have to travel to Iraq to become a mujahedeen. It doesn't matter whether one heads to "Chechnya, Afghanistan, Iraq or your own country, which may be ruled by unjust tyrants." Such an internationalist viewpoint seems to point towards an author with connections to al-Qaida, as does a reference to a speech by Osama bin Laden. In contrast, the Iraqi resistance, made up of former Baathists and ex-Saddam soldiers, is focused more on Iraq itself. While the author avoided mentioning Abu Musab al Zarqawi, the al-Qaida man in Iraq, his missive appears to be a how to guide for the jihad.



AP
Many foreign terrorists have been able to find their way into Iraq via Syria.
Interestingly, the paper confirms two conflicting assumptions about the role played by Syria. On the one hand, it warns that the Syrian authorities are attempting to chase down potential terrorists as they travel into Iraq, but on the other, it says the border guards look away on occasion. Indeed, Syrian president Bashar Assad, has come under pressure from the United States recently for allegedly not working hard enough to tighten up the country's border with Iraq.

But whatever the importance of the document, it probably isn't the only one of its kind. It is, however, an explosive find. After all, one of the most often-asked questions in Islamist discussion forums is how to get to the "battlefield of the jihad." Now, there is an easy-to-find answer to that question.
Click to expand...
[/quote]


Seems bush has shot himself in the foot....with his lust for Iraq. What is it he says about nations that foster terrorism??? Try looking in the 360 degree mirror : Georgie boy.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top Bottom