Posts with the tag Iraq

Protesting HCR 362 at Nancy Pelosi’s House

Laura Schneider — Wed, 23 Jul 2008 01:21:13 EDT

antiwarblog.com
July 20, 2008 in News by Eric Garris

Over 100 San Francisco antiwar activists protested against the Iran blockade bill, HCR 362, at Nancy Pelosi’s house on Saturday. The protest was emotional, and three people were arrested for trespassing.

This coverage was the lead story on KRON Channel 4’s evening news. The main speaker is Marc Joffe, a local libertarian supporter of Antiwar.com.

Update: Here is an additional report from Janet Weil of CODEPINK:

No Rubber-Stamp Military Decisions from Obama

Liz — Tue, 22 Jul 2008 09:10:46 EDT

The Republicans and Obama nay-sayers continue to try to box Obama in with their either/or mentality and Obama continues to refuse their bait. Their strategy for their opponents for the past 8 years has been to box the opponent into position and then play a "gottcha" game from that vantage point. And then if the opponent changes their viewpoint, they are called "flip-floppers". In the Republican mentality, it is better to be wrong and continue down that path than to be seen as a "flip-flopper". Their strategy does not work with Obama. It must be very frustrating for them because they have had such great success with this strategy for the past

Yesterday there was a great article on Obama's end game in Iraq that appeared in the Huffington Post. Here is an excerpt from that article.

". . .Speaking about his support for a timetable for troop withdrawal, Obama said he wasn't changing his position by saying he would take into account the assessment of military commanders on the ground.

"What I will refuse to do is to get boxed in into what I consider two false choices," he said. "Either I have a rigid timeline, come hell or high water, and I am blind to anything that happens in the intervening 16 months, or, alternatively, I am completely deferring to whatever the commanders on the ground say, which is what George Bush says he's doing, in which case I'm not doing my job as commander in chief. I'm essentially, simply rubber-stamping decisions that are made on the ground. . . "

http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/Story?id=5417331&page=2

In answer to Mel's question

Laura Schneider — Sun, 20 Jul 2008 23:42:48 EDT

Mel's question:

Today's military is all voluntary. While I may not agree with the Iraq war, what do you expect our soldiers to be? There is a HUGE difference. What is it?

--------------------

McCain is passive-aggressive and evil

Liz — Sat, 19 Jul 2008 07:44:42 EDT

He tries to leave the impression that he is "nice" but he is so evil and devisive that he, himself, leaks Obama's schedule.

It's the same old Republican double standard. McCain had one of his famous temper tantrums when the press reported that his son was serving in Iraq saying that the coverage would make him a target.

As far as I'm concerned, anyone who makes less than $250,000 a year and who votes for McCain is a fool.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/07/18/mccain-leaks-details-of-o_n_113682.html

Iraq in perspective

Liz — Fri, 18 Jul 2008 19:29:04 EDT

I'm leaving soon for a party. enjoy your forum tonight here is some humor to close out the day:

Just a funny Observation about Petraeous

Liz — Fri, 18 Jul 2008 18:46:51 EDT

I am watching Race to the White House with David Gregory

I find it hilarious that the mainstream neocon pundit twerps like Gregory are trying to put Obama in their little Republican "what if" boxes.

Example: "What if General Petraeous advises that Obama keep the troops on the ground longer than 16 months? Is he going against that advice?"

LOL Two-faced SOBS. Here is the exact reply that I would LOVE to hear Obama and/or one of his surrogates make:

"Considering his history, in that George Bush (military expert that he is) fired no less than five generals who dared to disagree with him, and kept looking until he found Petraeous who would say 'yes', here is what I would do. On my second day in office I would fire Petraeous and I would rehire one of the real and qualified generals or admirals like Fallon and get their opinions."

Learning from the history of Iraq: How we could have avoided this debacle.

Laura Schneider — Fri, 18 Jul 2008 12:29:51 EDT

First, like Yugoslavia, there never was a real country formed by nationalism named Iraq in the sense that Americans understand national identification. Iraq was a territory inhabited by warring tribes, religions and cultures united by a powerful dictator through force.

1. We can’t win militarily because there is no military solution.

2. We can’t win politically because we don’t control all the actors in this debacle and we have no viable political solution.

3. We can’t win in Iraq financially because we can’t afford it.

It’s not our country — most Iraqis don’t really feel like it’s their country either — and we can’t “liberate” them, then tell them they are free so long as they vote for whomever we quietly back and run for political office, do what we want them to do, and like whom we tell them they can like. Then we chide them for not being aggressive enough in fighting for their national self-reliance. We can’t make them fight for their country if they don’t believe it is in their greater interest over and beyond their tribal or religious interests and connections.

When you don’t learn from history, you are doomed to repeat it. Most Americans know very little about Islam and have no idea who Imam Ali (ra) is (“ cousin of the Prophet (pbuh – to us, Mohammed), husband of his daughter Fatima, father of Hassan and Hussein and the second person ever to embrace Islam. The term Shia or Shi'ite derives from a shortening of Shiat Ali or partisans of Ali.”). “Ali is the central figure at the origin of the Shia / Sunni split which occurred in the decades immediately following the death of the Prophet in 632. Sunnis regard Ali as the fourth and last of the "rightly guided caliphs" (successors to Mohammed (pbuh) as leader of the Muslims) following on from Abu Bakr 632-634, Umar 634-644 and Uthman 644-656. Shias feel that Ali should have been the first caliph and that the caliphate should pass down only to direct descendants of Mohammed (pbuh) via Ali and Fatima, They often refer to themselves as ahl al bayt or "people of the house" [of the prophet]” (The Origins of the Sunni/Shia split in Islam, by Hussein Abdulwaheed Amin, Editor of IslamForToday.com, http://www.islamfortoday.com/shia.htm). Christians should be able to relate to the “people of the house” concept by our understanding of Christ’s lineage being of the “House of David.”

Should McCain be called McCopy not McSame

Mike Johnson — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 21:33:24 EDT

McSame copy Obama on Afghanistan by adding troops? Nooo that could not be possible. He had tocome up with this idea on his own. Remember Senator McCain is the foreign policy expert. After all he talked about the current events involving Czechoslovakia two days in a row. I guess that "internets" homework he was given did not include how to goggle. Did he not get security briefings back in '92 and '93 as Czechoslovakia was breaking up into the Czech Republic and the Slovak Republic?
Somebody better tell Gramps while he was napping earlier this month, the Czech people got upset about a plan between the US and Czech governments (not Czechoslovak) about the missile defense deal. At least he remembered to call the people from Russia Russians and not Soviets.
I'm sure Fixed Noise will report that McSame was going to make this announcement all along, but had to wait until after the last of the surge troops were pulled from Iraq. I wonder what took him so long to make the announcement since this "expert" on Iraq announced a while back in a town hall meeting that troops were already back to pre-surge levels.
What I can't figure out though is if McSame was going to balance the budget by the money we would be saving after "victory" in Iraq, how is he going to accomplish this if the troops are just going to be re-deployed to Afghanistan where they should have been all along.

On Occupations and Blockades!

marsha — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 18:00:33 EDT

Iraqi nationalism is making it harder for the administration to keep our troops in Iraq past Dec.'08.

Please urge your senators to require congressional approval for any agreement... We can't hamstring Sen. Obama before he is even sworn in as president... Our senate can't be allowed to leave any more of a mess for Barack.
God knows he will have enough to do.

Thanks to anyone who sent an email.
I read today that some of our representatives are rethinking the sanctions/blockade strategy.

We have a voice... if we use it for good, we help our country and ourselves.

peace to you,
marsha

Diplomacy First

marsha — Mon, 14 Jul 2008 20:52:37 EDT

Is Barack doomed to be a war president?
Bad enough he will be going in with the problem of Iraq and Afghanistan hanging over his head like a chandelier after an earthquake... but now Iran too.
Remember Diplomacy????
Colin Powell, Henry Kissinger, James Baker III, Madeleine Albright, and Warren Christopher have all called for diplomacy.

Barack will use diplomacy.
I want diplomacy. I have taught my children. If you have to fight, it is because you don't have the intelligence to resolve the problem without violence. Civilized people work out their differences. Are we so intellectually stunted that we cannot work around our opposition and thereby avoid the bankruptcy of our country, the death of our young people and decline of our civilization?

More than 200 congressional representatives support a blockade of Iran.
Forgive me... but isn't that how we got Pearl Harbor?

I may be wrong but I thought a blockade by anyone other than the full UN was an act of war..
So.... check with your legislators... are they helping Barack?
Are they helping us??? Are they helping you???? OR are they helping the defense industry?
Barack will need us to keep our representatives in line... otherwise he will be playing catch-up his entire presidency.

Peace to you all,
marsha

One comment on the value of visiting Iraq

Liz — Mon, 14 Jul 2008 13:23:28 EDT

The only possible value it might have in building troop morale (and if that is the case, then fine, I'm all for it). However you can learn all you need to know about Iraq by watching some of the videos created by our service people and government contractors and reading some of the financials associated with payouts to no-bid contractors. You don't need a "three-day tour" paid for by the American taxpayer to know and understand what a house of cards that Iraq is. I do and I don't consider myself to be half as smart or half as educated as Obama. I'm sure he gets it and more.

Reports of Mosque Surveillance Concerns Muslims

funkfresh01 — Sun, 13 Jul 2008 22:55:45 EDT

http://religion.info/english/articles/article_385.shtml

Source: Religioscope
Author: Richard Cimino

While there have been allegations in the past of government investigation of mosques on issues relating to terrorism, the recent report, first featured in the San Diego Union-Tribune newspaper, is said to be the first confirmation that surveillance is taking place.

An article in the Los Angeles Times (May 29) reports that information about the alleged spying surfaced in a case about classified files concerning terrorism that were stolen from a secure office used by military and civilian law enforcement officials at Camp Pendleton. Some of these classified records referred to the surveillance of Muslim communities in Southern California, specifically, the Islamic Center of San Diego. The records alleged that the mosque had been monitored as part of a federal surveillance program targeting Muslim groups, according to the Union-Tribune article.

The FBI's Plan to ‘Profile’ Muslims

funkfresh01 — Sun, 13 Jul 2008 17:28:30 EDT

http://www.salon.com/opinion/feature/2008/07/10/muslim_profiling/index.html

Source: Salon
Author: Juan Cole

The U.S. Justice Department is considering a change in the grounds on which the FBI can investigate citizens and legal residents of the United States. Till now, DOJ guidelines have required the FBI to have some evidence of wrongdoing before it opens an investigation. The impending new rules, which would be implemented later this summer, allow bureau agents to establish a terrorist profile or pattern of behavior and attributes and, on the basis of that profile, start investigating an individual or group. Agents would be permitted to ask "open-ended questions" concerning the activities of Muslim Americans and Arab-Americans. A person's travel and occupation, as well as race or ethnicity, could be grounds for opening a national security investigation.

The rumored changes have provoked protests from Muslim American and Arab-American groups. The Council on American Islamic Relations, among the more effective lobbies for Muslim Americans' civil liberties, immediately denounced the plan, as did James Zogby, the president of the Arab-American Institute. Said Zogby, "There are millions of Americans who, under the reported new parameters, could become subject to arbitrary and subjective ethnic and religious profiling." Zogby, who noted that the Bush administration's history with profiling is not reassuring, warned that all Americans would suffer from a weakening of civil liberties.

Final Bush Defeat in Iraq. We will have no long term presence in Iraq

Liz — Sat, 12 Jul 2008 23:28:26 EDT

We didn't hear much about that in the mainstream media this week did we? Of course not.

Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki’s demand for a timetable for complete U.S. military withdrawal from Iraq, confirmed Tuesday of this week by his national security adviser Mowaffak al-Rubaie, has signaled the almost certain defeat of the George W. Bush administration’s aim of establishing a long-term military presence in the country.

THIS IS HUGE. AND WHAT DO WE AMERICANS HEAR? A MENTION HERE AND THERE. OUR AMERICAN MAINSTREAM MEDIA HAS BEEN TOO BUSY FOCUSING ON MORE IMPORTANT NEWS: THE CASTRATION FANTASIES OF JESSIE JACKSON INSTEAD.

SOURCE:

http://ipsnorthamerica.net/news.php?idnews=1578

Will the day come when most Americans stop reading or listening completely to the noise and misinformation fed to us via the neocon media arteries? Perhaps.

Putting a human face on a technical war.

Laura Schneider — Fri, 11 Jul 2008 11:31:38 EDT

One of the problems with modern warfare is that we view the death and destruction from a video game perspective. Seeing a bomb hit its target on a TV screen does not show the mangled bodies and precious lives destroyed.

I remember in the first Gulf War, when CNN and others were covering the actual events in real time, watching the videos released by the military of planes launching bombs and seeing them hit their targets on a screen. it looked just like a video game.

But the reality of war is that it is about death and destruction and tattered lives and desperation and hopelessness for the victims of the war.

This is one reason why I object to this administration's decision to block the media from showing the flag-draped coffins coming back home from war. It hides the human suffering and the true cost of this war -- our sons and daughters and fathers and mothers and brothers and sisters and cousins and friends.

I can imagine both the pride and the grief that these families feel. I have seen that pride in Marie and Sandi and others on this blog whose names I don't know, in addition to my relatives who have service members serving in combat. One of the things I am most grateful for is that our country (and my generation) learned from Viet Nam that you don't punish the soldier for the war. We are proud of our soldiers and contractors who risk their lives to protect us.

It is both enraging and sad to see the sacrifices that our soldiers, their families and the victims of this war and all that they have suffered.

We must end this war.

I Got The News Today...

Diana M. Painter — Tue, 08 Jul 2008 11:55:19 EDT

"Joseph never came home."

Some mornings I remember what is really important, to day is one of them.

"Iraq Vet in Famous Press Photo Dies from Overdose"

At Last! The Iraqis are shouting it. GET OUT!

Liz — Tue, 08 Jul 2008 07:40:35 EDT

I read several months ago where the majority of the Iraqi government has said that they want the US to get out of Iraq. No one, at least in the Bush administration seemed to hear it. Now maybe they will.

The Iraq Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki demands a US withdrawal time table.

This morning we have in the Huffington Post that "Iraq said for the first time yesterday that it wanted to set a timetable for the withdrawal of US troops from its territory." (This is not the first time they have demanded a timetable. It may be the first time that a member of the American media has reported it, but it is not the first time. I'll find my previous post and quote from that source.)

Go here for today's article:

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/iraq/article4288108.ece

The Bush Administration Moves One Step Closer to Impeachment

Liz — Mon, 07 Jul 2008 18:13:33 EDT

I've thought this before, as I'm sure many of you have as well. Each time when we hear about one more stupendous revelation regarding one more horrendous thing thing that this administration has done against humanity, we say: "This time they have REALLY done it. . ."

It has almost come to the cynical point with me that I think they will have murder small children front of us and then laugh about it before our Congress could be moved off their self-serving asses to begin impeachment proceedings. Honest to God! What more does this administration have to do to prove themselves worthy of impeachment?

Well, today on Huffington Post, I read one more thing:

" . . . We now know that the torture of prisoners was the result of a policy set in the White House by former Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, Vice President Dick Cheney, and Rice -- who actually chaired the torture meetings. The Pentagon has also acknowledged that it had authorized sexualized abuse of detainees as part of interrogation practices to be performed by female operatives. And documents obtained by the American Civil Liberties Union have Rumsfeld, in his own words, checking in on the sexualized humiliation of prisoners. . . "

READ THE FULL ARTICLE: "Sex Crimes in the White House" by Naomi Wolf

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/naomi-wolf/sex-crimes-in-the-white-h_b_111221.html

Then call your representative in Congress and demand that they begin impeachment proceedings.

Must See Video : Media Caught In The Act

FreedomOfSpeech — Fri, 04 Jul 2008 10:13:56 EDT

The You Tube Video is called Barack-Iraq-Gate: Anatomy of a Media Smear and it exposes CNN's Jessica Yellin who is the sole person responsible for the negative story about Barack Obama and his position on Iraq.

This is what the Media do all the time, but the only difference was that Jessica "LYIN", er, Yellin was so sloppy and so obvious, she pretty much gave herself away and got caught. Watch the video.

Obama and Iraq

Armen — Fri, 04 Jul 2008 07:12:01 EDT

So Obama stated today that he reserves the right to change is mind on Iraq policy once he has visited with commanders in the country next week. I am not sure how I feel about this, up until now I have agreed with all of Obama’s policy, but I don’t really like the change in stance on Iraq because it seems like it is pandering too much to the middle and is ruining the ideals of which his campaign originally stood for. I understand the need for it since we must stabilize Iraq since we caused the mess, but still it is hurtful to see some of the glimmer come out of the Obama campaign. Well maybe I am wrong, this might be the most progressive move since it really takes all angles into account, not just my views. But I do hope that this is not a bastion for other future policy changes.