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POPSOfficial Says Fraud Loophole Was A ‘Mistake’ The U.S. has spent about $102 billion on rebuilding Iraq and Afghanistan over the last five years. Federal investigators have uncovered about $14 million in fraud. WTF?--there's gotta be a LOT more than that missing or corrupted.
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POPSREALITY CHECK! There is a frightening new global trend of denial... Europeans think that they don't need to limit fishing... Car companies don't think they need to improve fuel economy standards... Bush thinks he can increase spending and cut taxes at the same time... Jingoists think we are winning the war in Iraq... Democrats think Hillary Clinton has enough experience to win an election... Polluters think that Global Warming won't really happen... Evangelicals think Jesus is coming back soon... Fundamentalists think they can win the war against modernity... The truth is: we're stuck with this world. The rules DO apply. No free passes. You have to face the music sometime. We must choose realism over comfortable delusion. Unfortunately, for now, wistful thinking will rule the day until we let it all collapse around us. Then we'll stand there scratching our heads saying: How could this happen?
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POPSThe Center for public integrity I found the center for public integrity site through another article, but when I went to the site I found they had been doing investigative journalism projects into things that are frequently described as rumors or hearsay, They are a non profit organization based in Washington D.C. When I went to the home page, I thought there were a few more projects that deserved attention. The investigations are ongoing.
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POPS$700 billion defense policy bill passes Passed yesterday. Almost no mention of it. All efforts to halt or limit the war deleted. News report confusing. The leaders of the Democratic Party appear to believe, as others have suggested, that there best way to win the most in the 2008 elections is to NOT do anything to oppose the war -- because that might backfire against them. Yet, take advantage of the fact there IS strong anti-war feelings that will hurt the Republican Party. (With an assumption that the anti-war "lefties & liberals," have no choice but to vote for them anyhow; since there is no way the "lefties & liberals" would vote Republican. This COULD BE very astute, and the way candidate/Senator Hillary Clinton would like the most, she being a "centralist," and not wanting to be labeled "lefty or liberal." Those who die between now and then are dying for politics 2008. Also in today's news: Obama was a drug dealer.
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POPSUS, Iraq deal sees long term US prescence Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Malikai said there have, since 1990, been UN restrictions that have imposed on the leadership of Iraq as 'punishment' for the invasion of Kuwait, that need to be lifted, before the international forces mandate could be renewed. Imposed on the Leadership in 1990? A lot has changed in then. So why are the United Nations suddenly supposed to be calling the shots? Seems like so-one will be comig home, the name will just change from being Troops-To security forces.
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POPSWounded-troops tally not even close to reality Apparently, the discrepancy comes as a result of time. Troops whose wounds are discovered after they return home are not added to the official tally. Rep. Bill Pascrell (D-N.J.), founder of the Congressional Brain Injury Task Force, said the total number of Americans who may have suffered head injuries in combat maybe total as many as 150,000 — about 10% of the 1.5 million troops have served in Iraq “I am wary that the number of brain-injured troops far exceeds the total number reported injured,” he says.
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POPSAP Challenges photographers detention Not only were the accusations false, and meaningless, there was his photographic record, to show what he was doing as a journalist in Iraq. They wave proof he is innocent. The US Military has notified that intends to submit a complaint against Hussein so that he could be bought before the Iraqi Justice system as early as Nov 29. 19 Months for a complaint?
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POPSUS Drops plan to force Diplomats to Iraq The positions that were to be filled by 'Diplomats' have been filled by volunteers. The Foreign Service Employees protested sending unarmed civilians. Give them a gun. They are de facto members of the Military. They are protected by the same 'Executive Privilege. Remember Blackwater didn't lose one diplomat. No Doubt The Commander in Chief also considers himself to be a civilian.
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POPSIraq Vets may suffer depression, stress Being sent away as their countries heroes, That war is 'noble, be given the blame when they return because the real culprit cannot be brought to trial while cowering behind security laws. They didn't start it. Just like Vietnam, but hotter, drier, and longer.Talking about respect for the troops is a political stunt, for which there is absolutely no evidence apart from lip service,while the real support comes from other veterans, or charitable organizations. Business isn't charitable. Families? The person they sent away, never comes back, "There we're no V'day heroes in 1973" A line from the song Khe Sanh by Jimmy Barnes from Cold Chisel an Australian Band. The song says in a line: If I'm not welcome here, I'll go and live somewhere else, preferably overseas. There isn't often that option.
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POPSHouse passes $50Billion Iraq withdrawal bill The Administration says "The votes put interests of radical interest groups against the needs of the military" The majority of of the house represents only radical interest groups? Pharmaceutical companies aren't radicals, they have the Lobby groups that can give them as much respect as money can buy. By their definition anyone against the US presence in Iraq is a radical. Of course war isn't radical. To Dictator it is a Natural Habitat.
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POPSReport puts hidden war costs at $1.6 Trillion A family of four would be paying $16,500 to fund the war from 2002 to 2008, and the report speculates on the war continuing until 2017, where it estimates the expenditure to be $3.5 Trillion, at 46,400, per family. The Bush budget figures are likely to be specific spending allocations, without as much accounting for "co-lateral damage", even when the damage is to US Citizens.
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POPSThe Foreigner's Gift:The Americans, the Arabs, and the Iraqis in Iraq
Yes, a poisoned Palestinian political culture opted for Hamas in a free election in early 2006. This is what it is: an expression of the malady of Palestinian politics. The larger case for democratic reform is bigger, and nobler, than the state of Palestinian politics. The Bush Doctrine brought about a veritable reversal in the realm of ideas: here was a conservative President asserting that freedom can travel to distant shores, that we can take it to strangers beyond, and here were his liberal critics at home falling back on a surly argument that Iraq, Lebanon, and other Arab and Islamic domains offer insurmountable obstacles to the spread of freedom. Those in the know—and those who pretend to be—have written and spoken about the influence exercised by the Egyptian thinker and pamphleteer Sayyid Qutb (executed by the Nasser regime in 1966) on the course of modern Islamism. This is good as far as it goes. What is needed is a more sustained analysis of the depth of Egyptian radicalism
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POPSThanks and Praise Well, this is different. A momentary exhibition of freedom of religion in, of all places, Iraq.
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POPSKurds promise response to Turkish strike The PKK, Turkey, Iraq,and the U.S. are all fighting for the same area in the 'relatively peaceful' north. Why? to prevent the other three gain a tactical advantage over the others U.S. officials fear this could 'destabilize' one of the few areas that has not been destabilized by the invasion. They are concerned about the fact that they do not have the capacity to order Turkey and the PKK to act is a manner that is likely to assist the U.S. achieve their objectives. The Iraqi government is now beginning to realize that U.S. interests are not those of the Iraqi people. If they were, more Iraqi civilians would be alive today, as opposed to being co-lateral damage.
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POPSBush to Democrats "We are at War"
Bush blames the democrats for poor veterans programs, due to their unwillingness to rubber stamp military spending. He talks about allowing the likes of Hitler, and "Lenin, and the consequences. The dictator is here, and the consequences are patently obvious, and immediate. The War is the Second American Civil War. The Aristocracy vs The People. Just look at the real defense of the U.S. homeland. There hasn't been a whit. Katrina, California, The National guard, the poverty that is consuming more, and more people who thought they had a secure lifestyle and income. The absolute assumption of power despite the will of the majority, the preparedness to act in a criminal manner. A) Because the laws that are enacted particularly absolve them, or B) Because there is confidence of enough reasonable doubt to avoid conviction, The absolute disregard for the constitution that endowed them with power, corrupt election practices, genocide, prejudice..... FALSE FLAG ATTACKS. The people are A
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POPSJury awards father $11m for military funeral case Protesting at a funeral shows lack of respect for both the living and the dead. To call such a display of spite, and hate a protest, devalues the word, and can infer any war protest is the province of fringe elements and fanatics. One of the reasons there should be war protest, is for the SAKE of the military who have been or will be killed in conflict, and their relatives. They offer to risk their lives for the sake of their family and their country, but are used as cannon fodder for the political and financial advantage of those that send them. Troops learn of a situation on a 'need to know basis' and are told they need to 'know' nothing but what is directly related to a direct order, they fight for their comrades, and are not sacrificed, they are spent.
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POPSU.K investigating 'Shell Shock'-Brain injuries They are studying battle related shock trauma, and brain damage- A syndrome that is compared to being punch drunk. also perhaps whiplash. I wonder what more they need to know. A case of scientists trying to qualify something that is patently obvious. The original Title included the phrase 'possible' brain damage. I can't see where they have any right to doubt. Of course the standard line, is that victims 'recover' after a few months.
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POPSArmy to review Iraq contracts for fraud Will the review be independent? It seems like a situation where 'classified' information could create a sacrificial goat. While they may ascribe guilt, those pulling strings, know how to keep a low profile. They're looking for a Patsy
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