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GENERAL DAVID "BETRAY-US" Praises Surge, Spins Lies Before Congress To Support Bush Regime Iraq War For Profit! - One More Excuse To Stay There - RI10

posted Wednesday, 12 September 2007

GENERAL DAVID

 

"BETRAY-US" 

 

Praises Surge,

 

Spins Lies

 

Before Congress 

 

To Support Bush

 

Regime Iraq War

 

For Profit! – One

 

More Excuse To

 

Stay There - RI10

 

 

 

 

 

Tabacco: “Why”, you ask, “would General David Petraeus lie to Congress and the American people about success in Iraq and present a rosy picture when that success and that rosy picture are both false?”

To simplify, Tabacco presents multiple reasons:

1 – General Petraeus’ boss is the Commander-in-Chief, president George W. Bush. To protect and advance their own careers, most Generals will lie to their own mothers. Why would anyone expect Petraeus to be different? (See the Insanity Definition again!)

2 – General Petraeus achieved his current status precisely because he could be counted on to represent the Bush Regime. Were he an honorable man, who would tell the truth regardless of the instructions of the Commander-in-Chief, he would not be a US General in the first place.

3 – General Petraeus is a military man. Military men need very little justification to go to war. Policemen go out of their way to find lawbreakers. Judges are in a position to judge guilt and innocence and punish convicted defendants. Firemen earn their salaries by being available to put out fires. Schoolteachers would be useless if people stopped having children. What would Maury & Jerry Springer do without those idiots, who would do anything for their 15 minutes of fame! Newscasters would be lost if people stopped committing illegal, immoral and scandalous behaviors. Doctors are totally dependent on illness, disease, physical anomalies and mental disorders. None of these people want the end of war, crime, fires, ignorance, scandals and disease respectively. Without these plagues, people like General Petraeus would not only be out of work, they would also be bored to tears. But don't ask his advice on war!

To sum up the three (3) reasons in a single word:

 

S-E-L-F-I-S-H-N-E-S-S




 
logo

Petraeus Praises "Surge" Results, Warns

Against Quick Withdrawal From Iraq

Tuesday, September 11th, 2007
http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=07/09/11/1424201

General David Petraeus, President Bush's top war commander in Iraq, testified Monday in what has been described as the most anticipated Congressional testimony by a general since the Vietnam War. He praised the results of the so-called surge and called for current U.S. troop levels to continue well into next year. We play excerpts of the hearing and get reaction from journalist Rick Rowley. [includes rush transcript]

In what has been described as the most anticipated Congressional testimony by a general since the Vietnam War, President Bush's top military commander in Iraq, General David Petraeus, came before Congress Monday to praise the results of the so-called surge and to call for current U.S. troop levels to continue well into next year.

Petraeus testified before a joint House committee alongside Ryan Crocker, the U.S. Ambassador to Iraq. Their testimony comes at a time when the United States has a record 168,000 troops in Iraq. Military officials predict the total will soon top 170,000.

On Monday, Petraeus recommended a partial troop withdrawal.

    * Gen. David Petraeus, testifying before Congress.

Petraeus characterized it as a "very substantial withdrawal" but the Wall Street Journal reports the pullback plan is essentially the smallest he could offer because many of the troops were already scheduled to be rotated out of Iraq next August.

Many analysts compared Petraeus' testimony to that of another general from another generation. Forty years ago, President Lyndon Johnson's top commander in Vietnam, General William Westmoreland, testified before Congress praising the success of U.S. efforts.

On the morning following his testimony the cover of the Washington Post read "Commander Reports of Steady Success to Cheering Congress".

On Monday, General Petraeus and Ambassador Crocker shared a similar message and warned against any substantial troop withdrawal.

    * Ambassador Ryan Crocker, testifying before Congress.

General Petraeus later accused Iran of carrying out a proxy war in Iraq.

    * Gen. David Petraeus, testifying before Congress.

Critics of the military's policy in Anbar have accused the U.S. of fueling the sectarian civil war in Iraq by funding former Sunni insurgents. It is widely known the U.S. is paying the former insurgent forces but General Petraeus denied the U.S. was directly arming them.

    * Gen. David Petraeus, testifying before Congress.

Protesters from CodePink and other groups repeatedly interrupted Monday's proceedings. Former CIA analyst Ray McGovern was arrested after he shouted out a request that Petraeus and Crocker be sworn in before testifying. Nine others were also arrested including Cindy Sheehan and CodePink's Medea Benjamin. Several of the interruptions were captured on national television.

    * Protesters interrupt Petraeus Iraq War Report

The Rev. Lennox Yearwood, Jr., of the Hip Hop Caucus was arrested outside the hearing as he attempted to watch General Petraeus' testimony. After police refused him entry, witnesses said six capitol police tackled Yearwood without warning.

* Rev. Lennox Yearwood, Jr., being arrested by Capitol police.

Yearwood was then arrested and charged with felony assault of a police officer. The minister was injured in the incident and police had to remove him from the Capitol in a wheelchair. To talk more about General Petraeus' report we are joined by filmmaker and journalist Rick Rowley of Big Noise films. He has just returned from Iraq where closely tracked the situation in Anbar province.

    * Rick Rowley, independent filmmaker with Big Noise films. He was in Iraq earlier this summer and produced a piece on the US partnership with Sunni tribes in Al-Anbar province.

RUSH TRANSCRIPT

This transcript is available free of charge. However, donations help us provide closed captioning for the deaf and hard of hearing on our TV broadcast. Thank you for your generous contribution.
Donate - $25, $50, $100, more...

AMY GOODMAN: In what's been described as the most anticipated congressional testimony by a general since the Vietnam War, President Bush's top military commander in Iraq, General David Petraeus, came before Congress Monday to praise the results of the so-called surge and to call for current US troop levels to continue well into next year. Petraeus testified before a joint House committee alongside Ryan Crocker, the US ambassador to Iraq. Their testimony comes at a time when the United States has a record 168,000 troops in Iraq. Military officials predict the total will soon top 170,000.

On Monday, Petraeus recommended a partial troop withdrawal.

      GEN. DAVID PETRAEUS: Based on all this and on the further progress we believe we can achieve over the next few months, I believe that we will be able to reduce our forces to the pre-surge level of brigade combat teams by next summer without jeopardizing the security gains that we have fought so hard to achieve.

AMY GOODMAN: Petraeus characterized it as a very substantial withdrawal, but the Wall Street Journal reports the pullback plan is essentially the smallest he could offer, because many of the troops are already scheduled to be rotated out of Iraq next August.

Many analysts compared Petraeus' testimony to that of another general from another generation. Forty years ago, President Lyndon Johnson's top commander in Vietnam, General William Westmoreland, testified before Congress praising the success of US efforts. On the morning following his testimony, the cover of the Washington Post read, "Commander Reports of Steady Success to Cheering Congress".

On Monday, General Petraeus and Ambassador Crocker shared a similar message and warned against any substantial troop withdrawal. This is Ambassador Crocker.

      AMB. RYAN CROCKER: I cannot guarantee success in Iraq. I do believe, as I have described, that it is attainable. I am certain that abandoning or drastically curtailing our efforts will bring failure, and the consequences of such a failure must be clearly understood by us all.

      An Iraq that falls into chaos or civil war will mean massive human suffering well beyond what has already occurred within Iraq's borders. It could well invite the intervention of regional states, all of which see their future connected to Iraq’s in some fundamental way. Undoubtedly, Iran would be a winner in this scenario, consolidating its influence over Iraqi resources and possibly territory. The Iranian president has already announced that Iran will fill any vacuum in Iraq.

      In such an environment, the gains made against al-Qaeda and other extremist groups could easily evaporate, and they could establish strongholds to be used as safe havens for regional and international operations. Our current course is hard. The alternatives are far worse.

AMY GOODMAN: Ambassador Crocker, testifying on Monday. General Petraeus later accused Iran of carrying out a proxy war in Iraq.

      GEN. DAVID PETRAEUS: In the past six months, we have also targeted Shia militia extremists, capturing a number of senior leaders and fighters, as well as the deputy commander of Lebanese Hezbollah Department 2800, the organization created to support the training, arming, funding and, in some cases, direction of the militia extremists by the Iranian Republican Guard Corps Quds Force. These elements have assassinated and kidnapped Iraqi governmental leaders, killed and wounded our soldiers with advanced explosive devices provided by Iran and indiscriminately rocketed civilians in the international zone and elsewhere. It is increasingly apparent to both coalition and Iraqi leaders that Iran, through the use of this Quds Force, seeks to turn the Iraqi special groups into a Hezbollah-like force to serve its interests and fight a proxy war against the Iraqi state and coalition forces in Iraq.

AMY GOODMAN: When General Petraeus and Ambassador Crocker spoke of success stories in Iraq, they largely focused on the situation in Anbar province, where former Sunni insurgents are now fighting al-Qaeda alongside US troops. This is Ambassador Crocker.

      AMB. RYAN CROCKER: Six months ago, violence was rampant, our forces were under daily attack, and Iraqis were cowering from the intimidation of al-Qaeda. But al-Qaeda overplayed its hand in Anbar, and Anbaris began to reject its successes, be they beheading school children or cutting off people's fingers as punishment for smoking. Recognizing that the coalition would help eject al-Qaeda, the tribes began to fight with us, not against us, and the landscape in Anbar is dramatically different as a result.

      Tribal representatives are on the provincial council, which is now meeting regularly to find ways of restoring services, developing the economy and executing a provincial budget. These leaders are looking for help to rebuild their cities, and they are talking of attracting investment. Such scenes are also unfolding in parts of Diala and Nineveh, where Iraqis have mobilized with the help of the coalition and Iraqi security forces to evict al-Qaeda from their communities.

AMY GOODMAN: Critics of the military's policy in Anbar have accused the US of fueling the sectarian civil war in Iraq by funding former Sunni insurgents. It's widely known the US is paying the former insurgent forces. But General Petraeus denied the US was directly arming them.

      GEN. DAVID PETRAEUS: We have not armed tribes. We don't have weapons to give them. We have never given weapons to tribes. What we have done is applaud when they have asked if they could point their weapons at al-Qaeda instead of at us, and we have then worked very hard to try to help them tie into national institutions, because that's the piece that makes sure that there is some mitigation of risk, that we are not merely allowing tribes again to turn their weapons on al-Qaeda and then turn them on, say, other Iraqis.

AMY GOODMAN: Protesters from CODEPINK and other groups repeatedly interrupted Monday's proceedings. Former CIA analyst Ray McGovern was arrested after he shouted out a request that Petraeus and Crocker be sworn in before testifying. Nine others were also arrested, including Cindy Sheehan and CODEPINK’s Medea Benjamin. Several of the interruptions were captured on national television.

      REP. JIM SAXTON: Let me just -- [inaudible]

      PROTESTERS: [shouting] [inaudible]

      REP. JIM SAXTON: Notice the disturbance. Remove them and take them into custody. Take them into custody. There will be order.

      PROTESTER: [inaudible] How can you thank him for his service, when we’re slaughtering the Iraqi people and US soldiers every day? [inaudible]

      REP. JIM SAXTON: Where's the sergeant-in-arms?

AMY GOODMAN: The Reverend Lennox Yearwood, Jr. of the Hip Hop Caucus was arrested outside the hearing, as he attempted to watch General Petraeus' testimony after police refused him entry. Witnesses said six Capitol police tackled Yearwood without warning.

      REV. LENNOX YEARWOOD, JR.: No, no. For what? No. What kind of arrest? Ow!

      WITNESS: Hey, take it easy! Easy! Easy! He's a nonviolent man! He's a minister! He's a minister!

AMY GOODMAN: Reverend Yearwood was then arrested and charged with felony assault of a police officer. The minister was injured in the incident, and police had to remove him from the Capitol in a wheelchair.

To talk more about General Petraeus' report, we're joined by filmmaker and journalist Rick Rowley of Big Noise Films. He has just returned from Iraq, where he closely tracked the situation in Anbar province. In a few minutes we'll broadcast a report that Rick shot in Anbar province, but first your comments on the testimony of Ambassador Crocker, Rick, and General Petraeus.

RICK ROWLEY: Well, when General Petraeus says that they're merely applauding these tribes from the sidelines, he's lying. I mean, while we were embedded with the Americans, we saw American military commanders hand wads of cash to tribal militias. And when he says that they are facilitating their integration into the country’s security forces, what he means is they're pressuring Iraq's government to incorporate these militias wholesale into the police forces. In fact, that's one of the promises that these tribes are given, that after working with the Americans for a few months, they'll become Iraqi police, be armed by the Iraqi state and be put on regular payroll. So it's completely disingenuous, what he’s saying.

AMY GOODMAN: Explain who these militias are in Anbar province that the US troops are working with.

RICK ROWLEY: Well, it's been widely reported that these are former insurgents who were fighting Americans in the past. And that, you know, is troubling for American soldiers. But the far more troubling issue for Iraq is that many of these groups are war criminals, who are responsible for sectarian cleansing in the region.

We spent a month and a half in the country, and we crisscrossed Iraq. I was traveling with David Enders and met with the production support of Hiba Dawood, and we found entire communities of refugees who had been displaced by exactly the same tribes that the US had been working with in other parts of the country.

So, you know, it's one thing for Americans to call this a reconciliation process and say that, you know, we're fine with working with people who used to be fighting with us, but it's an entirely different thing for them to be funding groups who are already responsible for sectarian cleansing and are arming themselves for a sectarian civil war.

AMY GOODMAN: Well, we're going go to break and then go to your report and then talk to you afterwards. Rick Rowley is an independent reporter with Big Noise Films. He just returned from a month and a half in Iraq.



EXCLUSIVE Report From Iraq: U.S. Fueling

Sectarian Civil War in Anbar by Funding

Former Insurgents to Fight Al Qaeda

Tuesday, September 11th, 2007
http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=07/09/11/1424208

When Gen. David Petraeus spoke of success stories in Iraq, he largely focused on the situation in Anbar province where former Sunni insurgents are now fighting Al Qaeda alongside U.S. troops. In a U.S. broadcast exclusive, we air a report from Anbar by independent filmmaker Rick Rowley that exposes how the U.S. is fueling sectarian civil war in Iraq by funding the former Sunni insurgents. [includes rush transcript]

When General David Petraeus and Ambassador Ryan Crocker spoke of success stories in Iraq during their congressional testimony, they largely focused on the situation in Anbar province where former Sunni insurgents are now fighting Al Qaeda alongside U.S. troops. Critics of the military's policy in Anbar have accused the U.S. of fueling the sectarian civil war in Iraq by funding former Sunni insurgents. It is widely known the U.S. is paying the former insurgent forces but General Petraeus denied the U.S. was directly arming them.

In a U.S. broadcast exclusive, we air a report from Anbar by independent filmmaker Rick Rowley of Big Noise films. This piece is excerpted from an expose that aired on Al Jazeera English [ Watch full report: Part I || Part II ]. It was produced by Rick Rowley, David Enders and Hiba Dawood, with support from the Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting.

    * Report from Anbar
    * Rick Rowley, independent filmmaker with Big Noise films.

RUSH TRANSCRIPT

This transcript is available free of charge. However, donations help us provide closed captioning for the deaf and hard of hearing on our TV broadcast. Thank you for your generous contribution.
Donate - $25, $50, $100, more...

AMY GOODMAN: To talk more about General Petraeus' report, we're joined by filmmaker and journalist Rick Rowley of Big Noise Films. He has just returned from Iraq, where he closely tracked the situation in Anbar province. In a few minutes we'll broadcast a report that Rick shot in Anbar province, but first your comments on the testimony of Ambassador Crocker, Rick, and General Petraeus.

RICK ROWLEY: Well, when General Petraeus says that they're merely applauding these tribes from the sidelines, he's lying. I mean, while we were embedded with the Americans, we saw American military commanders hand wads of cash to tribal militias. And when he says that they are facilitating their integration into the country’s security forces, what he means is they're pressuring Iraq's government to incorporate these militias wholesale into the police forces. In fact, that's one of the promises that these tribes are given, that after working with the Americans for a few months, they'll become Iraqi police, be armed by the Iraqi state and be put on regular payroll. So it's completely disingenuous, what he’s saying.

AMY GOODMAN: Explain who these militias are in Anbar province that the US troops are working with.

RICK ROWLEY: Well, it's been widely reported that these are former insurgents who were fighting Americans in the past. And that, you know, is troubling for American soldiers. But the far more troubling issue for Iraq is that many of these groups are war criminals, who are responsible for sectarian cleansing in the region.

We spent a month and a half in the country, and we crisscrossed Iraq. I was traveling with David Enders and met with the production support of Hiba Dawood, and we found entire communities of refugees who had been displaced by exactly the same tribes that the US had been working with in other parts of the country.

So, you know, it's one thing for Americans to call this a reconciliation process and say that, you know, we're fine with working with people who used to be fighting with us, but it's an entirely different thing for them to be funding groups who are already responsible for sectarian cleansing and are arming themselves for a sectarian civil war.

AMY GOODMAN: Well, we're going go to break and then go to your report and then talk to you afterwards. Rick Rowley is an independent reporter with Big Noise Films. He just returned from a month and a half in Iraq.

[break]

AMY GOODMAN: We turn to Rick Rowley's report. This piece is excerpted from an expose that aired on Al Jazeera English. It was produced by Rick Rowley, David Enders and Hiba Dawood, with support from the Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting.

      RICK ROWLEY: Amman. It's Friday, and we're still only in Amman. The papers are full of stories about a sheikh from Anbar who's changed the course of the war in favor of the Americans. Abu Risha’s lieutenants have agreed to bring to us their stronghold in Ramadi, but we've been unable to speak with Abu Risha directly, and our contacts in Amman have discouraging opinions about his movement.

      Moyad Abu Subiah has written about the resistance in Anbar since the war began.

      MOYAD ABU SUBIAH: [translated] I’ve never heard of anyone named Sattar Abu Risha. Maybe there is a Sattar Abu Risha. Maybe there are many Sattar Abu Rishas.

      RICK ROWLEY: Moyad said that Abu Risha was a ghost, a name that the Americans had attached to a public relations campaign. But that evening we finally spoke to the ghost. Abu Risha was not in Ramadi after all. He was right here in Amman behind elaborate security in the top floor of the Marriott Hotel.

      SHEIKH SATTAR ABU RISHA: [translated] If you want to introduce me, I am head of the Iraq Awakening Council, leader of all the Iraqi Arab Tribes. I am real. I am not a ghost. And to the terrorists, I say that I will be in Anbar in five days, and if they want to see me, I am ready for them.

      RICK ROWLEY: Abu Risha claims that he has secured most of Anbar province, a truly amazing victory. Anbar is the stronghold of the Sunni insurgency in Iraq. More US soldiers have died there than in any other province. Much of Anbar has been under the direct control of insurgents since 2004. And in Anbar's most famous town, Fallujah, two all-out invasions, dozens of air strikes, tens of thousands of arrests and three years of curfews and continuous American raids have not ended resistance.

      But the Americans claim that their alliance with Abu Risha now has turned the tide in Anbar. Attacks have dropped, roads have reopened, and al-Qaeda is retreating. Abu Risha has become a symbol of American success, and his alliance has become their template for fighting the insurgency everywhere in the country. They call this new strategy “reconciliation”.

      We embedded with the military to see this process for ourselves. Sixteen clicks upriver from the gates of Baghdad, the Seventh Cavalry, Custard's old regiment, is negotiating an agreement with the sheikhs from the Falahi, Zobai, the Tamimi, Obeidi and Jumaili tribes. They sign their names to a satellite map of the region, indicating the areas they are promising to protect.

      UNIDENTIFIED 1: So what I’m hearing is if an IED -- if I come back to the house, then I’ll just blow the house up, OK? Somebody is responsible. And I want to know who I talk to.

      UNIDENTIFIED 2: No more meetings. Right now we find out who is responsible for this area.

      UNIDENTIFIED 3: Here maybe is an insurgent [inaudible].

      UNIDENTIFIED 1: The next thing I ask is we're all going to sign this. We've all agreed.

      INTERVIEWER: [translated] Which tribes signed the agreement today?

      SHEIKH NADIM: The Tamimi, Zobai, Al Obeidi, Al Jumaili, Falahi. Most tribe in Taji.

      INTERVIEWER: [translated] How many of these tribes were once involved in fighting the Americans?

      SHEIKH NADIM: [translated] Your time up is. It's $100 for an extra minute.

      RICK ROWLEY: The first tribe in Taji to ally itself with the Americans was the Falahi, and that deal ended attacks in that region overnight. The Falahi are the Americans' closest allies here, and they helped to bring the other tribes to the table today. Captain Wohlgemuth took us out to what was once the most dangerous stretch of road in his region.

      CPT. MARTIN WOHLGEMUTH: Pretty safe.

      RICK ROWLEY: Two months ago his unit faced an average of four attacks a week here.

      CPT. MARTIN WOHLGEMUTH: As we come through, you'll be able to see the security here. I mean, these guys do a fantastic job standing out here every day. Twenty-four hours a day they're on security.

      We’ll dismount here, and we'll start walking through the neighborhood, and you'll get an idea of the change.

      Just asking how many bullets they have, how they’re doing.

      RICK ROWLEY: Although Captain Wohlgemuth and his troops call their new tribal allies “freedom fighters”, the Americans are well aware that yesterday they were called “insurgents” and that the diplomatic task of holding together this new alliance is both delicate and daunting.

      CPT. MARTIN WOHLGEMUTH: Every one of these guys shot at us at one time in their life.

      Oh, there you go. Look at the freedom fighters. Salaam Aleikum.

      RICK ROWLEY: The Army uses a combination of incentives to keep their alliance together.

      CPT. MARTIN WOHLGEMUTH: I owe him $1,800 for the --

      RICK ROWLEY: Captain Wohlgemuth hand out money for construction projects, and he offers help to families trying to get their relatives out of jail.

      CPT. MARTIN WOHLGEMUTH: Yeah, he’s asking where his son is. Tell him we're going to work to get him released.

      The problem was, when we came in here, we arrested everybody. If they had more than a weapon in their house, they went to jail. But now they're -- “Can you please help us? You know, our fathers, our sons” -- everybody is in jail. Everybody has a relative in jail. And we can make some huge friends if we can help to release them.

      IRAQI CIVILIAN: I swear to God we didn’t do anything! I swear to God he is innocent!

      RICK ROWLEY: Captain Wohlgemuth says the reconciliation strategy is working in Taji and other parts of Iraq. He claims there is one man to thank for that.

      CPT. MARTIN WOHLGEMUTH: Sattar Abu Risha, a living legacy in his own right. He's probably better known as Lawrence of Arabia to the Americans. His legacy is what allowed this to happen in a lot of different places. And it’s happening in Amiriya, they've got freedom fighters. In Abu Ghraib, they’ve got some freedom fighters. And they all say it's generally because of that, because he was first one to really do it. The major sticking point is trying to get the government of Iraq to buy into groups of armed Sunnis so close to Baghdad.

      RICK ROWLEY: The Shiite-dominated Iraqi government has fiercely criticized the US military's reconciliation process. Saad Mutaleibi, Prime Minister Maliki's head negotiator working with former insurgents, worries that the US is strengthening factions that threaten the government in Baghdad.

      SAAD MUTALEIBI: You bring a small crocodile at home, and you think you're going to turn this into a pet. A crocodile will never be a pet. That crocodile will grow and then becomes a monster within the house.

      RICK ROWLEY: In some places, the Iraqi government is effectively blocking the Americans' efforts. The tribal alliance that was supposed to secure Abu Ghraib fell apart in August after the Iraqi government refused to hire the Sunni militia members into the police force.

      As our appointment with Abu Risha in Ramadi approaches. We are told by his lieutenants that his plans have changed. Five days have passed, and he is not in Ramadi waiting for the terrorists. He is in Dubai on a business trip.

      Sheikh Ali Hathem from the Dulaimi tribe, the largest and most important tribe in Anbar, has an explanation for Abu Risha’s absence. He says that Abu Risha is no longer welcome in Ramadi. Ali Hathem says that Abu Risha is not the leader of all the Arab tribes of Iraq, but claims he is a conman who has received millions of dollars in construction contracts from the Americans who have tried to turn him into a symbol of their success.

      SHEIKH ALI HATHEM SULIEMAN: [translated] This is nothing new for us. The Americans like to create characters, like Disney cartoon heroes. Talk is cheap. When they get a rid of al-Qaeda, what will happen to these weapons? They will create a deadly conflict between the tribes.

      RICK ROWLEY: On the ground, America's Sunni tribal strategy has powerful critics on all sides. Back in Taji, Captain Wohlgemuth's reconciliation efforts are subjected to a horrifying test.

      VOICE OVER RADIO: PBF, I’m getting word right now that it was a car bomb down in Jerf al Milla, over.

      UNIDENTIFIED SOLDIER: Oh, shoot! Let's go!

      RICK ROWLEY: As Captain Wohlgemuth's men arrive on the scene, his Sunni tribal allies draw their weapons on Shiite Iraqi Army officers, who they blame for letting a car bomber through their checkpoint.

      CPT. MARTIN WOHLGEMUTH: I want you to get on the speaker. Everybody goes home, or they go to jail right now.

      Jedi Five Dagger Six, go. Hey, Roger, you're about to have a civil war on your hands. The problem is that V-bed went right through that IE checkpoint, and nobody stopped it, and nobody searched it. And now, every person in this town is going to kill those guys.

      RICK ROWLEY: Captain Wohlgemuth's alliance survived its first attack, but across the country the US strategy is contributing to sectarian tensions.

      UNIDENTIFIED 4: [translated] We were attacked because we wanted safety and peace. Now we are caught between two sides, between al-Qaeda and people calling themselves the Mahdi Army.

      RICK ROWLEY: Fighters in Taji talked as much about the Mahdi Army, Cleric Muqtada al-Sadr’s Shiite militia, as they did about the al-Qaeda enemy the Americans have enlisted them to fight.

      UNIDENTIFIED 5: [translated] The Mahdi Army has no mercy at all. They are not Muslims. They are all Iranian.

      RICK ROWLEY: The bombing was almost certainly carried out by Sunni groups opposed to a Sunni tribal alliance with the Americans. So why were people here afraid of the Shiite Mahdi Army? There weren't any Shiites in the town of Falahat. The so-called freedom fighters told us that the Shia had gone. Even the new American base in Falahat was in a Shia family's old house. Why had the Shia families left?

      We found them in this slum on the outskirts of Baghdad. This stronghold of the Shiite militia is considered too dangerous for the international media. We are the first camera to film with these internal refugees. The Sadr office says that 14,380 refugee families have already registered with them in this neighborhood alone. That's between 150,000 and 140,000 people. Shiite residents, who left Falahat, now crowd into these tiny cinderblock houses.

      SHIA REFUGEE: [translated] There were threats before the attacks, to leave the place. They left a note saying we did not belong here. Then they bombed the houses. Two mortar shells hit my house. One exploded, the other is still there. So we had no choice but to leave. It took fifteen days to empty out the whole area. There were 15,000 houses. Now, we don't own anything.

      RICK ROWLEY: There are no schools here and no doctors. None of these cinderblock houses have running water. And residents walk in 120-degree heat to get polluted tap water from a hose. The Iraqi government provides no aid to these people. The UN doesn't exist here. And foreign NGOs will not even let their staff visit these neighborhoods.

      The scale of this crisis is astronomical. Nationwide, campaigns of terror and sectarian cleansing have forced between four and six million Iraqis to flee their homes.

      Adnan Ali Al-Kadhimi, the Deputy Director of the Iraqi Red Crescent, says that even though attacks on the US military have decreased in Anbar, Shia families have not been able to return home.

      ADNAN ALI AL-KADHIMI: Very small numbers had managed to return. But then, they did not stay for long. And immediately after they faced the danger, they had to scale back.

      RICK ROWLEY: As time passes, the new sectarian divisions solidify and become more permanent.

      UNIDENTIFIED 6: [translated] Families who tried to go back were killed on the way. A woman and her little daughter went back to pick up their food fashion and were killed, right on the main street.

      RICK ROWLEY: The road home for the Shiite families of Taji is made more difficult by the Americans' new strategy. The refugees say they know exactly who it was that bombed their houses and cleansed the Shia from the region: Sunni tribes American soldiers are working with.

      SHIA REFUGEE: [translated] It was the local tribes, the Falahat.

      RICK ROWLEY: Back in Taji, the alliance with former Sunni insurgents has produced some remarkable results. Americans can now walk on foot through neighborhoods where six months ago even tanks were not safe. But the town’s former Shiite neighbors cannot. To the US military, the so-called Sunni freedom fighters may be selfless patriots taking their villages back from al-Qaeda, but to some Shiite refugees and to Prime Minister Maliki's administration, many are former war criminals responsible for sectarian cleansing, who are using American support to arm themselves for civil war. Saad Mutaleibi says that America's new allies include some of the country's worst war criminals.

      SAAD MUTALEIBI: Oh, definitely. The other groups, like the group, the Amiriya group, is notorious for beheading people and killing and major atrocities. And these people are sitting in Amiriya with the American support now. And the Iraqi army or police cannot enter that area. These efforts are tactical moves to resolve today's problem, but in essence you're adding another problem with another layer to the problems of Iraq.

      RICK ROWLEY: Captain Wohlgemuth remains optimistic, but he is quick to recognize the complexities of his mission.

      CPT. MARTIN WOHLGEMUTH: I do know Abu Risha left the country. Abdul Sattar, he left the country, and there’s been a lot of bickering and a lot of fighting. A few of the fighters have left. I don’t think it’s -- it certainly hasn't disintegrated.

      RICK ROWLEY: With other armed Sunni groups attacking his allies, frictions between the Shiite Iraqi army and the freedom fighters and the allegations that the local tribes are using American support to arm themselves for civil war, his soldiers face a complex diplomatic mission, one they did not imagine and have not been trained for.

      CPT. MARTIN WOHLGEMUTH: The one thing that we ask is that the people back home remember that these are very young kids that they're sending off to do -- to be politicians and policemen and diplomats. It's done every day by soldiers, by soldiers that are very young, seventeen years old sometimes, without a lot of experience, without a lot of training, without a lot of support.

AMY GOODMAN: That report produced by Rick Rowley, independent filmmaker with Big Noise Films. He traveled around Iraq for the last month and a half, one of the rare unembedded reporters. Rick, summarize and talk about the rest of your travels, what Iraq is like right now, and how you traveled.

RICK ROWLEY: Well, although Dave Enders and I spent a month and a half traveling around the country not embedded with the American Army, we still -- we were embedded virtually everywhere we went. The only way to travel was to embed with the Iraqi militias that actually run the country. I mean, that is the biggest change from our last trip there, was that now the entire country is run by one militia or another. So in Najaf, we went with [inaudible], with al-Hakim’s militia, the Badr Brigades. In Basra, we went with the Fadila militia. In Baghdad, 60% to 70% of Baghdad is run by the Mehdi Army. So, I mean, the Americans now have become one of many militias in the country. And, I mean, they control ever-shrinking islands of green zones in a country that is rapidly sinking into civil war.

And the fact that Anbar is the one success story, it’s the one piece of good news in this incredibly black report from Iraq, I mean, it's only good news for American soldiers, because they have -- they're hiring now Sunni insurgents to become part of their force. But, I mean, these people are still locked into a sectarian conflict that is going to make the country indescribably worse in the years to come.

AMY GOODMAN: And the man that President Bush met with, Abu Risha, in Anbar?

RICK ROWLEY: Well, Abu Risha turns out to be somewhat of a red herring. I mean, he is a symbol and a sort of figurehead that the Americans have put on this whole process. But, I mean, you know, we met him in the top floor of the Marriott Hotel in Anbar, and he never actually made it to Ramadi on that trip.

AMY GOODMAN: He was in Jordan, Amman.

RICK ROWLEY: He was in Jordan, not in Iraq. He never -- you know, and he made these bold statements about how he was in five days time going to take the land road to Ramadi and sit there and wait for the terrorists to come and meet him. Instead, he went to Dubai and conducted some kind of business.

His business card says that he's a construction contractor. And so, the rumors are that he's gotten $75 million in American construction contracts in order to be the figurehead for this movement. But certainly, I mean, even in Falahat, the Americans talked about Abu Risha, but the freedom fighters --

AMY GOODMAN: The so-called.

RICK ROWLEY: The so-called freedom fighters recognize that he’s a fake.

AMY GOODMAN: And you're the only journalist who went into the refugee camp. Describe again the refugee camp we saw in your piece.

RICK ROWLEY: Well, the refugee camp -- this is in Shola on the outskirts of Baghdad -- it's run and protected by the Shiite Mahdi Army. And the Sadr office there says it has up to 150,000 people there who have all been forced out of their homes in places like Taji and Anbar. There are camps like this around the country that receive, you know, absolutely no support from anyone. The Iraqi government doesn't provide any services. The UN is not there. And, you know, Iraqi domestic and international NGOs can't really function there. The Iraqi Red Crescent received less than half of the budget it requested. So it’s -- you know, and there are four to six million Iraqis who have been forced from their homes during the course of this conflict.

AMY GOODMAN: And these refugees attacked by the Sunni insurgents that the US is hailing?

RICK ROWLEY: Yeah, exactly. We found an entire village that had been -- well, the Shiite component of an entire village that had been relocated to this refugee camp, this slum on the outskirts of Baghdad right next to a garbage dump.

AMY GOODMAN: I should clarify, the only Western journalist.

RICK ROWLEY: Yeah -- well, yes. The only cameras in there.

AMY GOODMAN: And finally, the feeling you had as you left Iraq, comparing it to the times that you have been there before.

RICK ROWLEY: It's infinitely worse than it was the last time we were there. I mean, the Tigris River is bloated with corpses. The city of Baghdad is divided up into armed camps. There are snipers who take people out as they enter and leave neighborhoods like Al-Amiriya. I mean, you know, we heard Petraeus and Crocker say that staying is hard, but leaving is worse. I would flip that on its head in saying leaving is going to be hard, there's going to be violence when the US leaves, but staying is infinitely worse.

AMY GOODMAN: Rick Rowley, I want to thank you for being with us and sharing this report. Rick Rowley, independent filmmaker with Big Noise Films, just back from Iraq.



As Nation Marks Sixth 9/11 Anniversary, a Look at

"Why America is Losing the War on Terror"

Tuesday, September 11th, 2007
http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=07/09/11/1424212

Today marks the sixth anniversary of the 9/11 attacks that killed nearly 3,000 people. In the aftermath of the attacks, the Bush administration launched the so-called "war on terror." Is the world a safer place as a result? We speak with Georgetown law professor David Cole, co-author of "Less Safe, Less Free: Why America Is Losing the War on Terror." [includes rush transcript]

Today marks the sixth anniversary of 9/11. In what has become an annual ritual, bells will toll at 8:46am to mark the moment Flight 11 crashed into the North Tower of the World Trade Center.

Nearly three thousand people were killed in the attacks. In the aftermath, the Bush administration declared a so-called "war on terror."

In the name of preventive security, the administration legitimized warrantless surveillance, detentions, and torture, and launched wars against Afghanistan and Iraq. Is the world a safer place as a result?

Across the globe we've seen a fourfold increase in suicide bombings and a threefold increase in terrorist attacks. Less than one-tenth of the detainees in Guantánamo Bay have been found to have links to Al Qaeda or the Taliban. Not one of the 80,000 Arab and Muslim men who underwent Special Registration has been convicted of terrorism-related crimes.

Leading constitutional scholars David Cole and Jules Lobel have just published a critique of the Bush administration's post 9-11 policies. It's called "Less Safe, Less Free: Why America is Losing the War on Terror". Read article in The Nation]

    * David Cole, professor of law at Georgetown University and the legal affairs correspondent for The Nation. He is co-author with Jules Lobel of the new book "Less Safe, Less Free: Why America Is Losing the War on Terror".

Related Links:

      LessSafeLessFree.net

      " Why We're Losing the War on Terror" (The Nation)

RUSH TRANSCRIPT

This transcript is available free of charge. However, donations help us provide closed captioning for the deaf and hard of hearing on our TV broadcast. Thank you for your generous contribution.
Donate - $25, $50, $100, more...

AMY GOODMAN: Six years ago today, the planes hit the towers of the World Trade Center. At the time of our broadcast right now, 8:46 a.m., bells are tolling around the city to mark the moment Flight 11 crashed into the North Tower of the World Trade Center.

Nearly 3,000 people were killed in the attacks. In the aftermath, the Bush administration declared a so-called “war on terror.” In the name of preventative security the administration legitimized warrantless surveillance, detentions and torture, and launched wars against Afghanistan and Iraq.

Is the world a safer place as a result? Across the globe, we've seen a four-fold increase in suicide bombings and a threefold increase in terrorist attacks. Less than one-tenth of the detainees in Guantánamo Bay have been found to have links to al-Qaeda or the Taliban. Not one of 80,000 Arab and Muslim men who underwent special registration has been convicted of terrorism-related crimes.

Leading Constitutional scholars David Cole and Jules Lobel have just published a critique of the Bush administration's post-9/11 policies. It's called Less Safe, Less Free: Why America is Losing the War on Terror. David Cole is a professor of law at Georgetown University and legal correspondent at The Nation, joining us now from Washington, D.C., where another attack occurred on this day six years ago. Welcome to Democracy Now!, David Cole.

DAVID COLE: Thanks, Amy.

AMY GOODMAN: Well, talk about the situation. Talk about September 11, [2001], the day after, and what was launched by the Bush administration.

DAVID COLE: Well, I think, you know, what we owe to the memory of the victims of this day is a response that is principled and a response that is effective. And I think what the Bush administration launched the day after was neither principled nor effective.

On September 12, in fact, there was a meeting in the White House, and Bob Mueller, the head of the FBI, was saying that we have to round up the people who were responsible for supporting the 9/11 hijackers, and we have to do it fairly and legally so we can bring them to justice. And John Ashcroft interrupted at that point and said, “Wait a minute, wait a minute. We need to prevent the next attack from occurring. And if we can't bring them to justice, so be it.”

And they took John Ashcroft's advice, not Bob Mueller's advice, and decided to throw out the rules in the name of preventing another attack, with the result being that we haven't brought anybody to justice and we've captured very few terrorists. Those that we have captured, we can't bring to justice, because the way in which we captured them, either by disappearing them or by interrogating them, using torture, has immunized them from being held accountable.

AMY GOODMAN: Talk about Guantánamo right now, that part of the so-called war on terror. Who has been held there of the over 700 men? Who has been found guilty?

DAVID COLE: Right. Well, we’ve had over 775 people held at Guantánamo. These are people who initially we were told were the worst of the worst. They wouldn't even give us their names. They refused to give them any hearings whatsoever, because they said, “We're sure they're all the worst of the worst. There's no point in having any hearings.”

What we now know, after they were forced to provide hearings by a Supreme Court that ruled that the rule of law actually applies at Guantánamo, after they were forced to give hearings, the hearing tribunals -- these are the military hearing tribunals, which, as your listeners know, are no model of due process -- nonetheless, those tribunals found that only 8%, 8% of those held at Guantánamo, are fighters for either the Taliban or al-Qaeda. It's a very small percentage.

No one has been -- the only person who's actually been tried -- no one's been tried. And the only person who they have a conviction against is David Hicks, the Australian, and they only got that conviction by basically giving him a get-out-jail-free card if he pled guilty to an offense. But no one has been brought to justice. And I think it's largely because they can't bring people to justice when the evidence they have is tainted by the very tactics we used to get it.

AMY GOODMAN: That's Guantánamo. What about the number of people here who have been arrested after, well, this day six years ago, after September 11, 2001?

DAVID COLE: Right. Well, if you look -- I recently reviewed John Ashcroft's memoir of his time at Justice. And he said, you know, right after September 11th, his job was to prevent the next terrorist attack from occurring. And he told President Bush he would do that. But he says candidly in the book, “We had no idea where the threat was.”

So what did they do? They went out and rounded up Arabs and Muslims in the first two years after 9/11. They've admitted to detaining over 5,000 foreign nationals in preventive detention antiterrorism measures. They sought out 8,000 young men for FBI interviews, simply because they are from Arab and Muslim countries. And they required 80,000 to register with INS, be fingerprinted, photographed and interviewed, again, simply because they came from Arab and Muslim countries, no other criteria for suspicion. But the theory was we might find a terrorist here.

Of the 5,000 detained, zero today stand convicted of a terrorist offense. Of the 8,000 sought to be interviewed by the FBI, today zero stand convicted of a terrorist offense. And of the 80,000 brought in for special registration, none convicted of a terrorist offense. So the government's record there is, in what is really the largest campaign of ethnic profiling since World War II, is zero for 93,000.

AMY GOODMAN: Can you talk, David Cole, about the conviction of Jose Padilla?

DAVID COLE: Well, the conviction of Jose Padilla is an interesting case. Of course, this is the man who the government arrested at O'Hare Airport, originally held him as a material witness. When that was challenged in a New York court, they swept him into military detention, where he was held incommunicado for several years. When that military detention was challenged and it was going go to the Supreme Court, where it looked like they would lose, they swept him out of military detention and put him on trial in Florida.

But this is the man who they originally claimed was responsible for a radiological dirty bomb plot, they subsequently said was responsible for plotting to rent apartments in the United States and blow them up, and they ultimately tried in Florida not for dirty bombs, not for any kind of terrorism within the United States, but essentially for attending a training camp in Afghanistan. And they were -- and from their perspective, they were fortunate in obtaining a conviction against him.

But they essentially couldn't try him on the charges that they laid out in press conferences, again, because what was the evidence for his involvement in these plots? The evidence was either obtained from him when he was held incommunicado for two years, or it was obtained from Khalid Sheikh Mohammed when he was waterboarded, made to fear that he was drowning in order to get him to talk. And you can't use that kind of evidence in a court of law.

AMY GOODMAN: David Cole is our guest. He has written with Jules Lobel the new book, Less Safe, Less Free: Why America is Losing the War on Terror. David Cole, talk about what we saw in the last weeks: President Bush at an all-time low in popularity, but in the last days of Congress, the Democrats joining with Republicans on the issue of warrantless wiretapping. Where do we stand on surveillance?

DAVID COLE: Well, where we stand on surveillance is, we had a president who, in direct violation of a federal criminal statute, ordered, authorized warrantless wiretapping on Americans. When that was disclosed, it was challenged in the courts. A court held that the program was unconstitutional. The President then terminated the program, rather than defend it in court, and argued in court that the case was moot, but then went to Congress and got Congress, a Democratic Congress, to give him essentially carte blanche to engage in the very warrantless wiretapping that he had been illegally engaging in for five-plus years prior to that period of time. So it was a very, very disappointing response from a Democratic Congress, who clearly was afraid. They were afraid of being perceived as soft on terrorism.

But I think, you know, the point of our book is the Bush administration has acted tough on terrorism, but it hasn't actually successfully engaged in a preventive strategy that works. It's engaged in a preventive strategy that thrusts aside the rule of law, that sacrifices the legitimacy of the enterprise of trying to keep us safe, and that has fueled anti-Americanism around the world, making it more difficult for to us get the help we need from other countries and from other communities and making it much easier, of course, for al-Qaeda and al-Qaeda wannabes and al-Qaeda look-alikes to find willing adherence.

AMY GOODMAN: The Pentagon's new rules, the issue of accountability.

DAVID COLE: The Pentagon -- well, the Pentagon has still never been -- no one high up has been held accountable for the atrocities at Abu Ghraib, which can be directly linked to the decision in the White House to relax the constraints on interrogation practices. And I think until the world sees us holding people responsible, not low-down people, but higher-up people, the people who made these policy judgments, until the world sees us as holding these people responsible, they're not going to -- you know, they're not going to buy it.

The Army, the military, has, in fact, now adopted in its field manual rules that ban the use of coercive interrogation. They should have done that at the outset, but they have now done that. But, of course, at the same time, the President has authorized the CIA to continue to use the very tactics that the Army has rejected, the CIA continues to use in its black sites around the world.

AMY GOODMAN: David Cole, the Justice Department claims on its website, lifeandliberty.gov, to have charged more than 400 people in terrorism-related cases. Its own inspector general has said that they're inflating those numbers. What are those numbers?

DAVID COLE: Those numbers are, indeed, very inflated. The key word there is “related.” They say terrorism-related cases. When you actually look at those cases, the vast majority of them have no terrorism charge in them whatsoever. Both the Washington Post and New York Times did an exhaustive study of all the cases, and they found that there were only thirty-nine convictions that had any terrorism charge in them whatsoever. All the rest were minor cases of credit card fraud and lying to an FBI agent, in which the government labels them as terrorism, but doesn't actually try it or prove any kind of link to terrorism in the trial. Even as to the thirty-nine convictions that actually have a terrorism charge, virtually all of those are under a very broad statute that makes it a crime to provide material support to terrorist groups, regardless of the nature of the support, regardless of your intent.

AMY GOODMAN: David Cole, we're going have to leave it there. I want to thank you very much for being with us. Wrote with Jules Lobel the new book, Less Safe, Less Free: Why America is Losing the War on Terror.




CONSPIRACY THEORISTS
 
Another Sophist Trick Unmasked


As Blacks have appropriated “nigger” or “nigga”, as homosexuals have appropriated “fag”, “queen”, “miss thang”, Tabacco has appropriated “Cut & Run” and “Conspiracy Theorist”. The pejorative dismissive won’t work on me. Name-calling is far from either legitimate logic or a persuasive argument. Those, who name-call without any supporting evidence, are merely appealing to emotional weakness, not intellectual analysis. There are laws, which focus on CONSPIRACY, notably RICO:

The Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (commonly referred to as RICO Act or RICO) is a United States federal law that provides for extended penalties for criminal acts performed as part of an ongoing criminal organization.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Racketeer_Influenced_and_Corrupt_Organizations_Act

The RICO Law, in and of itself, proves that conspiracies do exist. The act of calling someone a “conspiracy theorist” proves nothing. The name-caller has a much greater burden of evidence. He must prove either that a conspiracy does not exist or that the allegation of a conspiracy is not supported by the facts. Merely calling someone a “Conspiracy Theorist” is neither necessary, nor sufficient nor persuasive. Remember that the Congress, which passed RICO, were also “conspiracy theorists”!

When anyone calls you a name, simply reply, “Fine! Now that you’ve gotten that out of your system, where is your supporting evidence?” I may be a “conspiracy theorist”, but prove that I am WRONG. Conspiracies do exist. The burden of proof is on the accuser, not the accused in both instances:

A – Allegations of a Conspiracy

B – Allegations of being a Conspiracy Theorist


The question is NOT, “Do conspiracies exist?”. The question is why Nancy Pelosi and the majority of the members of Congress are not actively pursuing IMPEACHMENT of George W. Bush, Dick Cheney and other members of the Bush “team” together with General David Petraeus and other military officers, who have publicly lied and supported this unconscionable war.

Anyone, who thinks that Petraeus’ spinning of progress in Iraq is not part of a “Conspiracy”, please identify yourself. All of my Readers could use a good laugh about now.

“Merely following orders” is not an acceptable excuse to commit atrocities and war crimes. The Nazis didn’t get away with that defense at Nuremberg (Nürnberg). The Bush QuasiCons or Neocons must not be allowed to get away with it today.

General David Petraeus (General David Betray-US) owes fealty to the American people and to his own honor to DISOBEY this Commander-in-Chief. Other Generals have spoken out against this War. Admittedly they were retired. Even listening to current high military brass, who support the War and that rosy picture, is both time-wasteful and insane! Listening to VESTED INTERESTS is rarely constructive to making an informed decision.

One may entertain NEGATIVES, uttered by Vested Interests. The best way to find out the Truth about Peter is to ask Paul. Then go to Peter, tell him what Paul said about him, and ask him what he knows about Paul. Then interpolate the negatives gathered by each on the other. Exaggeration is likely; but few Negatives will be omitted if you use this strategy. But asking Peter about Peter or Paul about Paul is a waste of time.

Ultimately, it is irrelevant whether the War is going “well” or “badly”. That is not the question! Remember that this War is totally without merit. Bush is NOT attempting to take democracy to Iraq. He is bringing DOLLARS and OIL to America’s Corporate Interests and himself.

When your next-door neighbors are fighting, do you call the cops to break it up or do you ask, “Who is winning?” Winning and Losing are not the issue; the issue is the FIGHT! Lest someone suggest the United States represents the police, may I remind you that when drug dealers get busted and both drugs and ill-gotten gain are recovered, it is still illegal in America for the police to keep the proceeds. If the United States represents the police, why are we keeping the Iraqi proceeds? Not only are we, the USA, keeping the proceeds, but we also initiated the drug deals.

Disaster Capitalism may not have been invented here, but it certainly has been perfected by Americans. US cities issue traffic tickets, not to make travel safer, but to fill their coffers. Americans build jails, not to house an already overcrowded penal situation, but to incarcerate a larger penal population, which generates both jobs and dollars for the States. Therefore once new prisons are built, more arrests must be made to fill the new cells. Prisons are a GROWTH INDUSTRY in America.

But the ultimate example of Disaster Capitalism is to start Wars for the purpose of PROFIT, while using morality, ethics and fairness as Excuses to pacify the electorate. The US repeats the ridiculous warning that if we leave Iraq, there will be Civil War. Civil War is a result of our Invasion, not our Withdrawal! This is the ultimate in Chutzpah and Evil! Those, who support George W. Bush, must be mighty proud of themselves!


Tabacco: I consider myself both a funnel and a filter. I funnel information, not readily available on the Mass Media, which is ignored and/or suppressed. I filter out the irrelevancies and trivialities to save both the time and effort of my Readers and bring consternation to the enemies of Truth & Fairness! When you read Tabacco, if you don’t learn something NEW, I’ve wasted your time.


In 1981's 'Body Heat', Kathleen Turner said, "Knowledge is power".

 
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T.A.B.A.C.C.O.  (Truth About Business And Congressional Crimes Organization) – Think Tank For Other 95% Of World

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1. Tabacco left...
Wednesday, 12 September 2007 9:40 am :: http://tabacco.blog-city.com/

JESSICA YELLIN, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Kitty, today's, the president's top men in Iraq today faced stinging questions about the future of the war and when U.S. troops can finally come home.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

YELLIN (voice-over): This time, the biting questions came not only from Democrats, but also from Republicans deeply skeptical of the strategy in Iraq.

SEN. CHUCK HAGEL (R), NEBRASKA: Are we going to continue to invest American blood and treasure at the same rate we are doing now, for what?

SEN. RICHARD LUGAR (R), INDIANA: The surge must not be an excuse for failure to prepare for the next phase of our involvement, whether that is a partial withdraw, a gradual redeployment or some other option.

SEN. NORM COLEMAN (R), MINNESOTA: Americans want to see light at the end of the tunnel. Can we get a longer-term vision? Can we get a longer-term plan? Can we say that, yes, we can be down to half our troops in three years?

YELLIN: The day's questioning prompted several frank admissions from Ambassador Crocker.

RYAN CROCKER, UNITED STATES AMBASSADOR TO IRAQ: It is no exaggeration to say that Iraq is and will remain for some time to come, a traumatized society.

There is an enormous amount of dysfunctionality in Iraq. That is beyond question. The government, in many respects, is dysfunctional, and members of the government know it.

YELLIN: Democrats, including several presidential candidates, piled on the pressure.

SEN. JOSEPH BIDEN (D-DE), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: It's long past time we level with the American people.

SEN. BARBARA BOXER (D), CALIFORNIA: I ask you to take off your rosy glasses.

SEN. BARACK OBAMA (D-IL), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: There are no good options. There are bad options and worse options.

YELLIN: But General Petraeus held his ground. He refused to estimate when all combat troops would leave Iraq, even when asked what he would tell the president.

SEN. ROBERT MENENDEZ (D), NEW JERSEY: And, if he pressed you, clearly, you would be able to give him some timeline, like two years, five years?

PETRAEUS: Sir, I would be doing a disservice to our soldiers if I tried to lay out a specific timeline.

YELLIN: For the first time, the general showed signs that testifying for two days was taking its toll.

PETRAEUS: And, obviously, we all want -- you know, I'm as frustrated with the situation as anybody else. This is going on three years for me, on top of a year deployment to Bosnia as well. So my family also knows something about sacrifice. MENENDEZ: And I appreciate that sacrifice.

YELLIN: Through it all, General Petraeus and Ambassador Crocker stuck to their message that a rapid withdrawal would have disastrous results.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

YELLIN: And, today, the buzz on Capitol Hill has been all about compromise. Democrats and moderate Republicans have been in intensive talks to see if they can agree on any plan that would force a change of strategy in Iraq, short of forcing a timeline for withdrawal -- Kitty.

PILGRIM: Thanks very much, Jessica Yellin.

Well, the Bush administration officials tonight said President Bush is expected to announce plans to withdraw some of our troops from Iraq by next July. Now, the president is likely to make a prime-time speech later this week.

http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0709/11/ldt.01.html

Republished by Tabacco


2. Tabacco left...
Thursday, 13 September 2007 9:39 am :: http://tabacco.blog-city.com/

SILLIEST EXCUSE OF THE YEAR AWARD - GOV. ARNOLD SCHWARZENEGGER OF CALIFORNIA!

Republicans hold the electorate in high disdain. That was made abundantly clear in the following move by the GOP California governor. GOP "Excuses" are now so lame because they no longer feel the need to provide plausible ones. Read on!

  • Schwarzenegger Vetoes Troop Withdrawal Vote on State Ballot

In California, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger has vetoed a measure that would have allowed Californians to vote on whether to call for an immediate withdrawal from Iraq. The question would have gone on the presidential primary ballot in February of next year. Schwarzenegger says he issued the veto because the voting would divide Californians. http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=07/09/12/1410227

"Schwarzenegger says he issued the veto because the voting would divide Californians." - Is Arnold serious! "divide Californians" from what? THE WAR!

Incidentally, governor, all votes "divide" the electorate (in case you haven't noticed). Arnold, you are a piece of SHIT; and I don't think any further explanation is necessary! Californians should be ashamed of themselves for replacing a Democrat, Gray Davis, with this pariah! But then New Yorkers elected Rudy Giuliani, Ed Koch and Mike Bloomberg. So I guess it's a draw!

Tabacco