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POPS War's Over Indicator #52 Berlin-style walls put in place to keep Shias and Sunnis apart, have been gradually coming down. A 5-metre high barrier separating the Shia area of Abu Safeen and the Sunni zone of al-Fudal, was removed almost two months ago. Violence has yet to return. Baghdad’s civic planners seem intent on making connections. But the small steps they have taken so far pale next to the grand plan for a metro. A train line under Baghdad was first flagged under Saddam Hussein during the 1970s, but shelved owing to three decades of war, blockades and invasion. One of the new proposed subway lines would run 11 miles from Shia-dominated Sadr City in the east to Adhamiya in north Baghdad. The other would traverse 13 miles and link mixed central Baghdad to the primarily Sunni western suburbs. Both lines would have 20 stations each and run through a patchwork quilt of sectarian neighbourhoods, which largely remain divided, despite the security improvements.
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POPSGen. David Petraeus beats megastar Angeline Jolie.... People in the *real* world know who is truly important. No disrespect to Ms. Jolie, but her influence is minimal when it comes to life & death issues. This is also true of Crews, Baldwin, Franken, Hayden, etc..... Celebrities are useless when it comes to getting things accomplished. Nice article that gives credit where credit is due.
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POPSWhen will they ever Learn, when will they ever learn, when will they ever learn
Previously, I've offered the Bush gang some undeserved advice. It was simple and even more obvious with time. Whatever instinct they have to do something, then don't. Do the opposite or do nothing. Everything they touch turns to dust. Just a few: Iraq, Afghanistan, Guantanamo, Abu Ghraib, Iran, Venezuela, Bolivia, Cuba, waterboarding, rendition, POWs, Dollar, Oil, Economy, Hamas, Gaza, West Bank, Katrina, civil rights, prisons, racism, FEAR. Only one state has prospered and at the US expense. It's economy roars ahead based on false security and terrorism. Iraq's government partly rules Baghdad's Green Zone. Now Lebanon's government may in time rule a Beirut Green Zone. Only Israel benefits. Bush ignored the democratically elected Hamas in Gaza. Then the US provoked a Hamas military takeover. Why? So Israel could practice judicial assassination and Hamas wouldn't talk peace? Never. And when Hamas through Carter offered the peace to the Zionists? The lamest excuse ever?
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POPSContractor Atrocity--It's Lying ... and It's Murder: How KBR Electrocuted US Troops
"... and marines in Iraq and Afghanistan. These deaths did not come while the soldiers were on patrol or by unexpected encounters with downed "hot" wires. These "accidents" happened in facilities used as base camps for U.S. units, camps that were to have been completely refurbished - including the wiring - under terms of a $30 billion no-bid contract awarded to the one-time Halliburton subsidiary KBR (formerly Kellogg-Brown-Root). The deaths reportedly all were the result of shoddy workmanship in the grounding of electrical sources, both in permanent structures and in machinery when in use. The problem is not new: in 2004, Army units in theatre were alerted concerning the potential for accidental electrocution. American electricians working for KBR in the war zone observed and notified KBR and even the Defense Contract Management Agency (DCMA), the office that monitors contractor performance, of numerous instances of poor workmanship by undertrained and underpaid Iraqi and Afghan "e
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POPSIraqi Air Force Lifted By Support Missions In 1991, the Iraqi air force had 16 bombers, including Tu-22 and Tu-16; 360 fighter ground attack craft, which included J-6, MiG-23, Su-7, and Su-20; and 275 fighters, including the MiG-21, Mirage and MiG-29. Today, it has 17 reconnaissance planes, three transport planes and only several aircraft for training. Despite the shortage, the recovery of the Iraqi air force over the past few years is considered a successful endeavor for Iraq-U.S. relations. Since November 2006, the U.S. Air Force has been aiding Iraqi military commanders in an effort to get the fledgling branch to solely take on military operations. "We will continue our relations and future as friends," said Gen. Barzanji, he added that "Iraq will one day be a good example for the rest of the Middle East."
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POPSF-18 Pilot Returns Home To Canine Friend From Iraqi War Zone Dennis met Nubs in the Al Anbar Province where the dog ran wild at an Iraqi Border Fort. When Nubs was a puppy, an Iraqi sliced off most of his ears in an attempt to make the dog tough and more alert. Another time, Nubs was stabbed with a screwdriver, and Dennis nursed him back to health. When Dennis' unit, the Border Transition Team, moved camp 70 miles away, Nubs somehow tracked them to their new location two days later. It was against the rules to keep the dog in camp, and friends jumped in to bring Nubs to San Diego. “Once he found us there, it seemed like this was supposed to have happened,” Dennis said Saturday. “After he walked all that distance, it seemed like he was supposed to end up in San Diego.” Dennis said his first outing with Nubs will be a jog on the beach. “It will consummate the whole journey, going from the sand of Iraq to the sand of San Diego.”
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POPS4,000 GI's Dead - I Ain't No Senators Son, Son Some folks are born made to wave the flag, Ooh, theyre red, white and blue. And when the band plays hail to the chief, Ooh, they point the cannon at you, lord, It aint me, it aint me, I aint no senators son, son. It aint me, it aint me; I aint no fortunate one, no, Yeah! Some folks are born silver spoon in hand, Lord, dont they help themselves, oh. But when the taxman comes to the door, Lord, the house looks like a rummage sale, yes, It aint me, it aint me, I aint no millionaires son, no. It aint me, it aint me; I aint no fortunate one, no. Some folks inherit star spangled eyes, Ooh, they send you down to war, lord, And when you ask them, how much should we give? Ooh, they only answer more! more! more! yoh, It aint me, it aint me, I aint no military son, son. It aint me, it aint me; I aint no fortunate one, one. It aint me, it aint me, I aint no fortunate one, no no no, It aint me, it aint me, I aint no fortunate son, no no no,
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POPSConfusing Tragedy In a war zone, and ordered to shoot, but guilty of murder? Something is missing from this picture.
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POPSHas the Iraq war suddenly disappeared?
It would seem so if you get your news solely from the mainstream media. Hardly a mention of the 5 American soldiers who were killed in Northern Iraq by a roadside bomb, the other day. http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080128/ap_on_re_mi_ea/iraq_080119205312 The anchors are all whooping it up over the presidential race. When they do get serious, the talk turns to how the economy is taking a dive. Anything to take the American viewer away from the illegal war. But for the ones who are still losing loved ones. It will never vanish for them. And also for those Iraqi unfortunates who haven't the means to escape from the Bush/Neocon created HELLHOLE they call home. It will take at least a 100 years, if ever, for the nightmare to fade. Oh, there are articles of the pain and suffering because of this Illegal-War but you have to hunt for them. In case you're still interested, read this sad tale for starters: http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2008-01-24-smalltowns_N.htm
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POPSBlackwater dropped blinding tear gas on Iraqis, US soldiers in 2005 Use of CS gas in war is prohibited by the 1997 Chemical Weapons Convention (signed in 1993), as it could trigged retaliation with more toxic substances such as nerve gas. "A 1975 presidential order allows their use by the United States military in war zones under limited defensive circumstances and only with the approval of the president or a senior officer designated by the president," Officers and soldiers who were hit by the CS gas, some of whom asked not to be identified because they were not authorized to discuss the incident, have described it with frustration. They said no weapons were being fired or any other violence that might have justified Blackwater’s response.
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POPSIraq War Purpose Revealed: War for Permanent Bases It was not about 'terrorists", it was about the neoconservative blueprint for a "new middle east" that required permanent millitary bases. This shows the pretext was a lie, and consistent with the Project for New American Century's own policy paper written in Sept. 2000.
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POPSHow Blackwater Sniper Fire Felled 3 Iraqi Guards Of course the U.S. goverment made a half hearted counterclaim. From the article: "The U.S. government reached a different conclusion. Based on information from the Blackwater guards, who said they were fired upon, the State Department determined that the security team's actions "fell within approved rules governing the use of force," according to an official from the department's Bureau of Diplomatic Security. Neither U.S. Embassy officials nor Blackwater representatives interviewed witnesses or returned to the network, less than a quarter-mile from Baghdad's Green Zone, to investigate."
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POPSForget ROE, just die for the left
It's so easy to judge the actions taking place in a war zone from the comfort and safety here in the States. All the armchair generals over here want to condeme contractors for simply wanting to survive deadly confrontations. If you have not been in country, do not think you can expect to know what goes on. Anytime in convoy your life is in question, I thought it was simply either good luck or bad luck, depending on if your convoy came under attack and by what means. I still think so, but some things were understood, if attacked, you fight for your life because you knew it was over if you didn't, you either got shot or if captured getting beheaded on video. Being here and trying to judge someone's actions over there is just asinine. There's alot to be said about walking a mile in someone's shoes before judging them. The Iraq war has morphed into a political agenda, the Democrats and major media outlets play these armchair generals. Winning is not an obtion they embrace.
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POPSHEADLINE: U.S. Family, attacked by foreign Mercenaries in AMERICA. After watching the video, just Imagine if this was a US Family, attacked by foreign Mercenaries in our America. Blackwater, is probably just the tip of the iceberg, when it comes to the secrecy that goes on beyond scrutiny within the neocon Whitehouse. (Cheney quote in Sept 2001 - "The dark side, we'll spend time in the shadows and in the intelligence world... a lot of what needs to be done here will have to be done quietly, without any discussion, using sources and methods that are available to our intelligence agencies.") I wonder what he meant by that..? Perhaps the wheels turning inside the head of Dick Cheney, gave him visions of TELEPHONE TAPPING OF US CITIZENS, TORTURING THOSE WHO GOT CAUGHT IN HIS WEB OF TYRANNY, BUILDING POWERFUL MERCENARY ARMIES PAID FOR BY WE THE TAX PAYERS AND CHERRY PICKING INTELLIGENCE IN ORDER TO STRIKE PREEMPTIVELY, SOVEREIGN NATIONS WITHOUT THE PESKY QUESTIONS THAT WOULD HAVE BEEN ASKED BY A CONGRESS IN A FREE SOCIETY. (MORE BELOW)
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POPSBlackwater draws guns on U.S. Soldiers More: Testifying before Congress last week, 38-year-old Blackwater chief Erik Prince vigorously defended his company's "dedicated security professionals" In deflecting questions about a drunken Blackwater operative who allegedly shot and killed a bodyguard for Iraqi Vice President Adel Abdul Mahdi in the Green Zone on Christmas Eve last year, Prince said that the employee, later identified as Andrew Moonen, had been fined and fired. But on Friday House Oversight Committee chairman Rep. Henry Waxman released a letter to Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice recounting evidence that Moonen was able to return to Iraq and worked there for another company.
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POPSIraqi's killer called drunk in Green Zone incident If I was drunk and accidentally killed someone in the US I would up for manslaughter at the very least. evedentlly being drunk in Iraq is a good enough excuse to get a get out of jail free card courtesy of the US. The response from embassy diplomatic below is sickening. This is why we have so many friends. The acting ambassador at the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad suggested that Blackwater claim that the shooting was accidental, apologize for it and pay the dead Iraqi man's family $250,000, lest the Iraqi government bar Blackwater from working there, the report said. Blackwater eventually paid the family $15,000, according to the report, after an embassy diplomatic security official complained that the "crazy sums" proposed by the ambassador could encourage Iraqis to try to "get killed by our guys to financially guarantee their family's future.
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POPSIraq Criminal Investigation: $6 Billion Pentagon Contracts More: Representative John Kline, a Minnesota Republican and retired Marine colonel, said he was “doubly, triply, quadruply appalled” at the “clear breakdown in leadership” that allowed some Army contracting officers to corrupt the procurement system. He said it was inexcusable that it took so long for the Army to put adequate checks in place.
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POPSIraq’s Curse: A Thirst for Final, Crushing Victory A bloodthirsty sectarian war centuries in the making has only just begun. It's going to get much worse before it gets better. Caught in the middle of the civil war are the Americans. To Iraq’s factions, they are the weakest of all the armed groups in one crucial respect: their will is ebbing and their time here is limited. That leaves Iraqis more motivated than ever to cling to their weapons, preparing for what many see as an inevitable plunge into the abyss. “Everyone — the Sunni, the Shia — is playing the waiting game,” an Iraqi leader told me over dinner at his home in the Green Zone. “They’re waiting out the Americans. Everyone is using time against you.”
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