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POPSWhose Iraq Predictions Have Come True? The American people deserve better. Being asked to endorse such a farce is beyond insulting. Clearly, the rosy predictions of the neoconservatives from before the war are not coming true. Far from it! With a straight face, one official estimated the TOTAL cost of reconstruction in Iraq would be just $1.7 billion. Turns out that we spend more than that in ONE WEEK. Our friends are not pitching in to cover the cost. Expenses are not being covered by oil from a grateful and liberated Iraqi people. Rather, big corporate interests are benefiting, the price of oil has more than quadrupled, and the American economy is on its knees and sinking fast. No one predicted the exact course of this war before it started. But to continue to listen to the foreign policy advice of those that were the MOST off-base will only lead to more foreign policy disasters.
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POPS Limited US attack on Iranian Revolutionary Guards Bases in Sight Tehran would view a US attack on the IRGC bases as a casus belli and might react in ways and on a scale unanticipated in Washington. Two days ago, Iran’s defense minister Gen. Mostafa Mohammad-Najjar warned: “Iran’s Armed Forces are fully prepared to counter any military attack with any intensity and to make the enemy regret initiating any such incursions.” According to DEBKAfile’s Iranian and military sources, the IRGC had by mid-May completed their preparations for a US missile, air or commando assault on their command centers and bases in reprisal for Iranian intervention in Iraq. These preparations encompass al Qods’ arms, most of them undercover, in Iraq, Afghanistan, Lebanon and Sudan. At home, the Revolutionary Guards have evacuated their key bases together with manpower and equipment to regular army sites or temporary quarters in villages located in remote corners of eastern and northern Iran.
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POPSU.S. Military Hoped for Virtually Unlimited Freedom of Action in Iraq This was reported in June... According to Cockburn's reporting, "President Bush wants to push through by the end of so he can declare a military victory and claim his 2003 invasion has been vindicated." (Note 13) A prime beneficiary of the acceptance of a military agreement that the Iraqi people do not believe respects their rights or serves their interests would probably be the vast, privatized U.S. military/intelligence complex, positioned to profit from repressing the resistance sure to follow. If the Bush administration's goal is achieved through secret deals and pressure tactics it would only confirm the widespread view that its commitment to democracy is primarily self-serving. In Iraq as elsewhere there are many who would welcome a genuine American commitment to liberty and human rights but believe that U.S. actions contradict its rhetoric. So much to decipher here!
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POPSFreeeeeedom! of Information (National Security Archive) So much information, great site! National Security Archive Electronic Briefing Books provide online access to critical declassified records on issues including U.S. national security, foreign policy, diplomatic and military history, intelligence policy, and more. Updated frequently, the Electronic Briefing Books represent just a small sample of the documents in our published and unpublished collections. A tax-exempt public charity, the Archive receives no U.S. government funding; its budget is supported by publication royalties and donations from foundations and individuals. On March 17, 2000, Long Island University named the National Security Archive as winner of a Special George Polk Award for 1999 for "piercing self-serving veils of government secrecy" and "serving as an essential journalistic resource."
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POPS Support an Iraq Referendum
We are continually told that we must stay in Iraq to prevent a sectarian blood bath. But the Iraqi people don't seem to share this fear, and perhaps with good reason. A study of violent attacks in Iraq indicates that the sectarian violence has largely subsided, and that most of the remaining violence is directed at the occupation, and at government officials who are perceived to be collaborating with US. forces. http://www.countercurrents.org/lin190308.htm This would seem to indicate that violence in Iraq could dwindle away to nothing, if only we would leave. Of course, no one can guarantee what will happen in Iraq if U.S. forces depart. But the same is true for the opposite position. It's possible that the violence will continue precisely because the occupation continues. It's time to cut through the pointless, circular debate. It's time to ask the Iraqi people what they want, NOT what U.S. politicians want. The Iraqi people should decide. That's democracy, isn't it?
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POPSThe Big Promise of Elections '08 = More War! More Debt! Both McCain and Obama have made it clear, (as Obama has stated) "War with Iran is not off the table." But if we listen, both have also spoken about going into Pakistan, about "protecting Israel" no matter the cost, and even if it involves military action. So what the elections have come down to, on both the left and the right, is that there is no anti-war candidate left, nor is there one who seems to have any ideas that will rescue the economy and recover the increasing deficit.
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POPSHe's the Commander for Iraq. He may be a hero, but thank goodness he claims not to have any political aspirations! Petraeus graduated from West Point in 1974, earned a M.P.A. in 1985 and a Ph.D. in international relations in 1987 from Princeton University’s Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs, and served as an Assistant Professor of International Relations at the U.S. Military Academy from 1985 to 1987, but does not know the answer to that question?????! Read the Constitution, Peaches!
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POPS...The Company He Keeps Scheunemann's PNAC bio states that during his time working on the Hill, he "was involved in Senate deliberations concerning the use of American military power in Somalia, the Korean Peninsula, Iraq, Haiti, and Bosnia. He also served as coordinator for Senate Republican policy on UN reform, congressional-executive war powers, NATO enlargement, global climate change, economic sanctions, ballistic missile defense, and technology transfers to China." Scheunemann helped draft what would later become one of his claims to fame—the 1998 Iraq Liberation Act, which made the toppling of Saddam Hussein an official U.S. policy goal and authorized $98 million for the Iraqi National Congress, a loose grouping of Iraqi dissidents led by Ahmed Chalabi that has been widely blamed for channeling false intelligence about Iraq .
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POPSWAR IS OVER CONTINUED: For American politicians to suppose that without us it would thrive and grow in Iraq is just proof of their ignorance. Our presence in Iraq is the only thing that made al-Qaeda viable. Our occupations of Iraq and Afghanistan are the principal selling points in al-Qaeda propaganda. Whatever someone imagines we gain by staying in Iraq and Afghanistan is far outweighed by what we are losing. We are losing lives in dribs and drabs, and we are losing treasure at an alarming rate. We have severe internal problems that our military presence in the Middle East aggravates. Our military is on the verge of being broken. Some Nobel laureates estimate the war will end up costing us $3 trillion. Well, plain and simple, we can't afford it. If we don't change direction in this country, we're going to end up impoverished and bankrupt, and you know what? Iraq and Afghanistan will still be the messes they are today.
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POPSBetting On Iraq (literally) It goes on to state: If things ultimately turn out well for the people of Iraq, they should also turn out well for anyone who bought Iraqi currency at today's prices. Place an order for Iraqi dinars now. Your choice of Crisp Uncirculated notes or Low Priced Used Circulated notes. Guaranteed Delivery. Guaranteed Authentic. Place an order for Iraqi dinars now. Hmmmm...
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POPSThe Great Betrayal On controlling America’s borders and halting the invasion through Mexico, McCain collaborated with Senate liberals in the McCain-Kennedy amnesty, which was rejected only after a national uprising. When 190,000 Arizonans petitioned in 2004 to put Prop 200 on the ballot, requiring proof of citizenship before an individual could vote or receive welfare benefits, John McCain led the GOP congressional delegation in opposing it unanimously.Unsurprisingly, Juan Hernandez, the open-borders chatterbox and former adviser to Vicente Fox, has turned up in McCain’s campaign. On the three issues that have ravaged the Bush presidency—the misbegotten war in Iraq, the failure to secure America’s borders, and the trade policy that has destroyed the dollar, de-industrialized the country, and left foreigners with $5 trillion to buy up America—McCain has sided with Bush.
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POPS"Surrender Should Not Be An Option" The American people voted for a humble foreign policy in 2000. They voted for an end to the war in 2006. Instead of recognizing the wisdom and desire of the voters, they are chided as cowards, unwilling to defend themselves. Americans are fiercely willing to defend themselves. However, we have no stomach for indiscriminate bombing in foreign lands when our actual attackers either killed themselves on 9/11 or are still at large somewhere in a country that is neither Iraq nor Iran. Defense of our homeland is one thing. Offensive tactics overseas are quite another. Worse yet, when our newly minted enemies find their way over here, where will our troops be to defend us? The American people have NOT gotten the government they deserve. They asked for a stronger America and peace through nonintervention, yet we have a government of deceit, inaction and one that puts us in grave danger on the international front. "Mission Accomplished".
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POPSEating babies, poisoned bullets? Not so much Sgt. Zac King, 21, of Jacksonville, Fla., and a member of the 2-82nd, said one tale was spun specifically about his unit. After their arrival in Iraq earlier this year, the 2-82nd moved into a town that was deserted by residents who believed the troops dyed their berets with blood. “They believed it so much they evacuated the town,” he said.“I think it’s just natural misunderstanding of a foreign army,” Benfield said. But, he warned, the stories, though often amusing, can be dangerous. “Insurgents, bad guys who don’t like us, use these stories to their advantage,” he said in rallying the populace against Americans.
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POPSGirls and Women Women of Iraq have gradually let go of most of their 20th century gains and privileges in the last 4 years of occupation. Iraq turned from a modern country of educated and working women into a divided land of Islamic and ethnic warlords who compete in canceling women from the social realm........Read more Islamic Sharia law: a constant threat against the rights and freedom of women in the Middle East
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POPSTold to wait, a Marine dies When a clinical social worker called the next day, Jonathan, 25, told again of his suicidal thoughts and other symptoms. And then, with his stepmother listening in, he learned that he was 26th on the waiting list for one of the 12 beds in the center's ward for post-traumatic stress disorder sufferers. Four days later, on Jan. 16, he wrapped a household extension cord around his neck, tied it to a beam in the basement, and hanged himself. In life, Jonathan Schulze didn't get nearly what he needed. But in death, this tough and troubled Marine may help get something critical done. Please, read the rest of the article, it is very disheartening. My condolences to the family, it's just sad.
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POPSTroops 1, Puppet Government 0 O’HANLON: … and it doesn’t answer the questions about political progress. KARL: In fact, there’s been almost no political progress on the national level, and U.S. officials know military gains won’t mean much if the Iraqi government doesn’t get its act together, which is one reason the Pentagon doesn’t even want to use the word “winning.” You’re not ready to say we’re winning, that the surge is working – ROBERT GATES : (From tape.) I think — I think that those end up being loaded words. I think we have been very successful. We need to continue being successful. KARL: Today, Defense Secretary Gates said that the reduction in violence would not have been possible without the surge of 30,000 additional troops into Iraq, but, Charlie, those troops are going home in the coming months, raising the question of whether the violence will go up when they leave. GIBSON: Jonathan Karl tonight reporting from the Pentagon, thanks
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