Facts on the ground have overtaken delusions and lies. Here's a quick round-up from media and blogosphere, painting a picture of Iraq descending into anarchy and chaos amid increased incidents of mass murder, rape and other war crimes by an illegal US occupation.Iraq is continuing to deteriorate. The bloody curse of the Bush/Cheney/Rumsfeld/Rice fiasco is reaching a pure descent into Hell, yet the mainstream corporate media is still providing a veneer of credibility to Bush, when all around the world is crumbling.Maureen O'Dowd writes:
Baghdad Erupts in Mob Violence
BAGHDAD, July 9 — A mob of gunmen went on a brazen daytime rampage through a predominantly Sunni Arab district of western Baghdad on Sunday, pulling people from their cars and homes and killing them in what officials and residents called a spasm of revenge by Shiite militias for the bombing of a Shiite mosque on Saturday. Hours later, two car bombs exploded beside a Shiite mosque in another Baghdad neighborhood in a deadly act of what appeared to be retaliation.While Baghdad has been ravaged by Sunni-Shiite bloodletting in recent months, even by recent standards the violence here on Sunday was frightening, delivered with impunity by gun-wielding vigilantes on the street. In the culture of revenge that has seized Iraq, residents all over the city braced for an escalation in the cycle of retributive mayhem between the Shiites and Sunnis that has threatened to expand into civil war.
The violence coincided with an announcement by American military officials that they had formally accused four more American soldiers of rape and murder, and a fifth soldier of "dereliction of duty" for failing to report the crimes, in connection with the deaths of a teenage Iraqi girl and three members of her family. ...
Another bleak report, this one from the Rubicon:Former US soldier charged with killings, rape in Iraq
A former US soldier discharged from the Army with a personality disorder has been accused in court of raping an Iraqi woman and killing her and her family in March, US officials have said.Former Private first class Steven Green, 21, who was stationed in Iraq with the 101st Airborne Division, appeared in court in Charlotte, North Carolina, and is expected to be sent to Kentucky where he has been charged with the attacks that took place in Iraq.
Green faces a possible death penalty if convicted. He has been charged as a civilian, but could be brought back on military duty and charged as a soldier, a defence official said.
According to a statement by the US attorney in Kentucky, Green is charged with going to a house near Mahmudiya with three others to rape a woman living in the house. ...
That criminal negligence starts at the top, negligence of Iraqi civilians and American soldiers alike. George Bush is the commander who first set the tone, notably in his juvenile challenge three years ago:The bloodshed and chaos in Iraq is beyond description. Making the task harder for working journalists on the scene is the fact that travel and access are restricted. Bush, meanwhile, wages another war on any media that dares to tell the truth about his quagmire.Anybody who wants to harm American troops will be found and brought to justice. There are some that feel like if they attack us that we may decide to leave prematurely. They don't understand what they are talking about if that is the case. Let me finish. There are some who feel like the conditions are such that they can attack us there. My answer is, bring 'em on.
"Let me finish," he whines. It's well past time to interrupt his swaggering speeches—and his feckless military adventures. Bring the American militia home now. It's the only way to bring the killing to an end.
As of today, these are the numbers of the dead:And in Afghanistan, 317 American soldiers and 91 other coalition soldiers have died.
- 2,543 American military personnel
- 226 other coalition military personnel
- at least 341 coalition contractors
- more than 100,000 Iraqi civilians—at least 38,901 deaths have been fully documented in online media reports
- about 9,000 Iraqi military (during the invasion)
- at least 91 journalists
Clearly —Bush, his Neocon gang, the war hawks of both parties in Congress, and Bush supporters throughout the nation were wrong about Iraq amid a cacophony of jingoistic crowing, boycotts of French fries and Dixie Chicks. Dead wrong!Seven Questions: Covering Iraq
Reporting from Iraq has become one of journalism’s most difficult and dangerous jobs. FP spoke recently with Rod Nordland, who served as Newsweek’s Baghdad bureau chief for two years, about the challenge of getting out of the Green Zone to get the scoop.FOREIGN POLICY:
Are Americans getting an accurate picture of what’s going on in Iraq?Rod Nordland: It’s a lot worse over here [in Iraq] than is reported. The administration does a great job of managing the news. Just an example: There was a press conference here about [Abu Musab al] Zarqawi’s death, and somebody asked what role [U.S.] Special Forces played in finding Zarqawi. [The official] either denied any role or didn’t answer the question. Somebody pointed out that the president, half an hour earlier, had already acknowledged and thanked the Special Forces for their involvement. They are just not giving very much information here.
FP: The Bush administration often complains that the reporting out of Iraq is too negative, yet you say they are managing the news. What’s the real story?
RN: You can only manage the news to a certain degree. It is certainly hard to hide the fact that in the third year of this war, Iraqis are only getting electricity for about 5 to 10 percent of the day. Living conditions have gotten so much worse, violence is at an even higher tempo, and the country is on the verge of civil war. The administration has been successful to the extent that most Americans are not aware of just how dire it is and how little progress has been made. They keep talking about how the Iraqi army is doing much better and taking over responsibilities, but for the most part that’s not true.
FP: How often do you travel outside of the Green Zone?
RN: The restrictions on [journalists’] movements are very severe. It is extremely dangerous to move around anywhere in Iraq, but we do. We all have Iraqi staff who get around, and we go on trips arranged by the U.S. State Department as frequently as we can.
As Iraq fell apart, Thom Friedman still had the nerve to ask: "What does being right have to do with anything?" Let him go to Iraq! He will at least learn what being wrong has to do with everything!
The Existentialist Cowboy
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15 comments:
In law, duty of care means that someone is culpable for acts or omissions that could forseeably harm someone. If it is estimated that you could have seen it coming, particularly if you are in an occupation or some other role in which people are expected to know their stuff, you are always responsible. It doesn't matter if you intended the outcome or not.
Iraq was predictable. The left and most of the world saw it coming, yet somehow the Administration was caught by surprise. Good intentions are no excuse for negligence. Hold them accountable.
You are correct. Bush had credible "warnings" and contrary advise —all material to the issue. You may find the following link interesting: Gen. Zinni: 'They've Screwed Up'
Zinni: "Zinni says Iraq was the wrong war at the wrong time - with the wrong strategy. And he was saying it before the U.S. invasion. In the months leading up to the war, while still Middle East envoy, Zinni carried the message to Congress: “This is, in my view, the worst time to take this on. And I don’t feel it needs to be done now.”
But he wasn’t the only former military leader with doubts about the invasion of Iraq. Former General and National Security Advisor Brent Scowcroft, former Centcom Commander Norman Schwarzkopf, former NATO Commander Wesley Clark, and former Army Chief of Staff Eric Shinseki all voiced their reservations.
Zinni believes this was a war the generals didn’t want – but it was a war the civilians wanted."
Bush cheery picked the intelligence and he cheery picked the military and strategic advise.
I still fear that Bush tags all of this with religious markers. Right or wrong - WWIII or not - he believes he and his other pseudo-Christian cronies are going to be 'raptured' up into heaven, leaving nothing worth caring about behind. This lends him an aura of invincibility - he becomes a super-hero; untouchable by human hands, hearts or minds. We mean absolutely nothing to the man. Iraq - in its broad outline - means nothing either. Within the framework of this rapture mythology - Iraq represents the birthplace of Adam - the garden Bush plans to settle his soul into - sans all those yucky Iraqi’s and all that blood and sand, of course. And in keeping with the apocalyptic scheme - I still say either Bush or Cheney is hiding a blue turban somewhere in the recesses of their closets. Either that - or they've given it to Mel Gibson for safe-keeping.
I would hope that the right wingers would crawl back to the holes they came from. It's that bad. Perhaps they should take a paper bag with them, their head should be spinning from all the spin.
But seriously, a lot of people who suppoerted the war said that things are not going to be peachy at first - it's going to take time. I say to them, yes, but everything ends sometime, and the Coalition of the willing will be all gone by then. I don't think they can take credit for peace.
The Fat Lady Sings, I don't think Bush believes any of that at all - he just pretends to be a born-again Christian for political reasons. He also surely knows that with all the DU he has been spraying on Iraq, that garden will be a garden of poison where nothing will be able to live or grow. He cares nothing for the future generations, all he is interested in is satisfying his exponentially lust for power and money, and to hell with the consequences.
Ooops! Typo of omission! I meant "exponentially growing lust for power and money", of course. :)
Since day one of the Iraq war the Bush administration has tried with mixed success to avoid a comparison to the quagmire of Vietnam. Now that Iraq has had its My Lai equivalent in Haditha, and now this rape/murder incident (four more soldiers have been charged in connection with that incident as I write), what credence can attach to the claim of a campaign to win the hearts and minds of Iraqis? The only logical comparison with Vietnam is now; Vietnam was never this bad.
What objectives are being pursued that could, even if achieved, counterbalance this misery? The idea of democratising the Middle East has become laughable, as Iraq's neighbours' attitudes towards US interests only become more negative with each passing day. It has become the foreign policy equivalent of banging one's head against the wall, its only conceivable benefit being that it will feel so good when it finally stops.
Fuzzflash, I stand corrected and duly chastised on the matter of quantitatively measurable devastation of the Vietnam war WRT the debacle in Iraq. There does seem to be a different and more sinister quality to the current war on the axis of morality and ethics. Has 9/11 not demonized and dehumanized the 'sand nigger/raghead' even more than the 'gook' of the Vietnam era? Was there anything like the wholesale mercenary profiteering of Halliburton in Vietnam? If so, such malfeasance has faded from my aging memory. Further, while the domino theory was an inadequate justification for US troops being in Vietnam, it was not the naked theft of resources that is the obvious motive for BushCo™'s gang of pirates.
Polar bears are sadly threatened as global warming strips them of their habitat. My Gravatar was photographed from the conning tower of SSN Connecticut as the irate bear attacked the rudder of that nuclear submarine. A futile act, but well justified in my opinion. I really lucked into the perfect symbolism when I found that image through a creative commons search for a polar bear graphic.
I haven't read Margaret Atwood, so I can't comment, but her contemporary, friend and literary rival Margaret Laurence lived about a block from where I am right now. I haven't read her either, but apparently she came to loggerheads with the local conservative Christians over controversial themes in her novels, so maybe I should. The local library has everything she (Laurence) ever wrote. For a small village, Lakefield has been a hotbed of literary activity since the 19th. century, when it was the home of both Susanna Moodie and Catherine Parr Trail, who wrote of their respective experiences as pioneers here. It's a great place to live.
Vierotchka wrote:
He also surely knows that with all the DU he has been spraying on Iraq, that garden will be a garden of poison where nothing will be able to live or grow. He cares nothing for the future generations...
That's consistent with Dick Cheney's portfolio. A link to a story about that was posted on NPR "How's Bush Doing?" board: The Veep's Curious Investment Portfolio
Len, I know you have expressed doubts about what hit the Pentagon. A new witness has come forward with some very interesting things to say. The radio interview is slow but excellent. This latest person, Sam Denner, is very credible to me because his observations are detailed and consistent, and provide a good explanation for known evidence discrepancies. Even though this puts me in the lunatic class with some people, I can't accept the official version. Anyway, I recommend his story and interview to people.
Damien wrote:
I know you have expressed doubts about what hit the Pentagon.
Indeed! And the burden of proof, of course, is with whomever puts forward a theory —the "official" conspiracy theory for which there is no hard evidence whatsoever.
From your link:
He also saw a second plane overhead and wonders if it was controlling the plane that hit the Pentagon.
He walked the lawn and picked up small pieces of debris with others.
He did not see any bodies from the aircraft.
Danner is very ill now with lymphoma, which may be the result of DU exposure at the Pentagon on 9/11.
I don't believe that there were ANY bodies from Fight 77 found at the Pentagon. Briefly, none of the names that were found on the flight manifest are accounted for in anyway. My source is the the official website of Arlington National Cemetary —the site of the funeral. Only one the "remains" that were said by Arlington to have been buried in a common urn with "terrorists" was "named" as having been on the flight; the remain was said to have been the child of a couple on the flight. But it was not positively identified.
The only other remains were said to have been Pentagon employees or "hijackers" but that's not in any way credible since there are NO names of "terrorists" on the flight manifest, only ticketed passengers with traceable backgrounds. None of the names on the flight manifest match the names of the terorists (like Hani Hanjour, the alleged terrorist pilot, for example).
The most famous name on the Flight 77 manifest is Barbara Olson, wife of Solicitor General Ted Olson.
Where is Barbara Olson?
DU would also explain the fact that whatever struck the Pentagon pentrated numerous rings of very thick stone or heavy masonry walls. A 757 nose would not have penetrated a single wall, let alone the several to "ground zero".
The Bush cover story falls utterly apart. Danner is a credible witness among others who have stated that whatever hit the Pentagon was NOT a 757.
It's too bad that Bush chose to obstruct the investigation and, hence, justice. Every OTHER crash involving aircraft is investigated thoroughly by the FAA. Not this time!
Yes, Len, the whole Pentagon explanation is dodgy. I've never bought the Hani Hanjour story: a guy who does acrobatics with a 757, yet a month before can't convince a hire company that he can fly a cesna. The official explanation is just not good enough and you are completely correct: it's their theory, they need to prove it.
The pleasant aspect of the Sam Danner account is that it directly challenges the claim that witnesses saw a Boeing 757 hit the Pentagon. Actually, it's an interesting question as to which you prefer when you have contradictory evidence: eye witnesses or the laws of physics. Mostly, you've got to go with Newton and Co.
Fuzzflash, re "Rummy-on-the-spot" there are some comments by me on this here. There are some interesting details. Rumsfeld alleges he only became aware of the hijackings after the Pentagon hit (9.41 am approx). But this account is nonsense for several reasons. Richard Clarke, in his book Against All Enemies, has both Rumsfeld and Gen. Richard Myers in a White House directed videoconference beginning at approximately 9.12am. He's quite specific about that. Secondly, VP Cheney was removed by the Security Service to the PEOC (Pres.Emergency Operating Centre)about 9.02am. It was quite clear by then that the US was under terrorist attack. People have been asked to believe that it took 40 minutes(!) from that time to inform the Sec. Defense. Total nonsense, of course.
There's a personal note to this as I followed 9/11 as it occurred. Australian TV stations crossed to the US at 11.00pm Aussie time (9.00am US eastern time). I was able to hear descriptions of the crash into the North WTC tower and see the damage. I also watched Flight 175 hit the south WTC at 9.03 IN REAL TIME. If I as a foreigner, 12,000 miles away, knew at 9.03am that the US was under attack, then it is absolutely certain that Pres.Bush knew exactly that same fact. Yet he sat around in that classroom for a further 27 minutes!!
(Read between the lines here. My contempt for this man is boundless.)
Only time will tell on this tangled and dishonest tale.
Fuzzflash, there's no tenacity, just criminality in the genes! A few hundred years ago the Brits took all their serious criminals (handkerchief stealers, Irish pamphleteers and the like) and decided to teach them a lesson. So they sent them to Bondi. Ha!Ha!Ha!
There's been a couple of other posts at my blog that may interest you: An Arabist translator who says the bin Laden audio/videos are all fake. And some more on makram chams. Turns out the Lebanese Quickie Mart manager not only had dealings with Mohamed Atta and Marwan Al-Shehhi, but also Zacharias Moussaoui.
Yes, I have to be careful with my 9/11 instincts. Smirking Chimp recently ran a 9/11 story and I practically took over the comments section, dumping reams of undeniable evidence (no-one else had anything useful to say.) Very satisfying. I posted under a pseudonym but I'm easy to spot. Just follow the massive paper trail.
Halliburton
Just to finish this of, and for your general interest Len, Fuzzflash, and others: there's been another Pentagon witness come forward.
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