Open thread …
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March 24, 2006
OT 06-25
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via ArmsControlWonk the Lonton Times has published a Birtain written negotiation plan of the Europeans and the U.S. versus Iran, Russia and China
Our own assessment here is that the Iranians will not feel under much pressure from PRST on its own, and they will need to know that more serious measures are likely. This means putting the Iran dossier onto a Chapter VII basis. We may also need to remove one of the Iranian arguments that the suspension called for is ‘voluntary’. We could do both by making the voluntary suspension a mandatory requirement to the Security Council, in a Resolution we would aim to adopt I, say, early May.
In return for the Russians and Chinese agreeing to this, we would then want to put together a package that could be presented to the Iranians as a new proposal. Ideally this would have the explicit backing of Russia, China and the United States as well as the E3, though Nick will want to consider the scope of presenting this in that way.
Looks like the timing is right for a culmination before the U.S. election…
Bases in Iraq? No…
Bush’s Requests for Iraqi Base Funding Make Some Wary of Extended Stay
Asked at a congressional hearing last week whether he could “make an unequivocal commitment” that the U.S. officials would not seek to establish permanent bases in Iraq, Army Gen. John P. Abizaid, the commander in charge of all U.S. forces in the Middle East and Central Asia, replied, “The policy on long-term presence in Iraq hasn’t been formulated.” Venable, the Pentagon spokesman, said it was “premature and speculative” to discuss long-term base agreements before the permanent Iraqi government had been put in place.
…
Through the end last year, the administration spent about $230 million in emergency funds on the Balad base, and its new request includes $17.8 million for new roads that can accommodate hulking military vehicles and a 12.4-mile-long, 13-foot-high security fence.
…
Projects at the base include an $18-million aircraft parking ramp and a $15-million airfield lighting system that has allowed commanders to make Balad a strategic air center for the region; a $2.9-million Special Operations compound, isolated from the rest of the base and complete with landing pads for helicopters and airplanes, where classified payloads can be delivered; and a $7-million mail distribution building.
Other bases also are being developed in ways that could lend them to permanent use.
This year’s request also includes $110 million for Tallil air base outside the southeastern city of Nasiriya, a sprawling facility in the shadow of the ruins of the biblical city of Ur. Only $11 million has been spent so far, but the administration’s new request appears to envision Tallil as another major transportation hub, with new roads, a new dining hall for 6,000 troops — about two Army brigades — and a new center to organize and support large supply convoys.
The administration also has spent $50 million for Camp Taji, an Army base north of Baghdad, and $46.3 million on Al Asad air base in the western desert.
…
Walsh pointed to a $167-million request to build a series of roads in Iraq that bypass major cities, a proposal the administration said was needed to decrease the convoys’ exposure to roadside bombs, known as improvised explosive devices, or IEDs. Walsh’s subcommittee cut the budget for the project to $60 million.
Speaking of Gramsci
Americans have never really understood ideological warfare. Our gut-level assumption is that everybody in the world really wants the same comfortable material success we have. We use “extremist” as a negative epithetic. Even the few fanatics and revolutionary idealists we have, whatever their political flavor, expect everybody else to behave like a bourgeois.
Posted by: Uncle $cam | Mar 24 2006 13:39 utc | 4
U$,
there’s one catch to our assumption that the world wants to live like us: if the Chinese started using petroleum products at the same rate as the USA, there would be *none left* for any of the rest of the world, and we would all have to huddle like sheep to keep warm and eat our own offspring for lack of fertilizers and transport.
Posted by: ralphieboy | Mar 24 2006 13:44 utc | 5
It’s getting ugly in France, wonder if the authorities are taking cues from Bushco and planting bombs by provocateurs john necro-ponte style.
Posted by: Uncle $cam | Mar 24 2006 13:58 utc | 6
since this is an open thread, I’ve been looking through some ephemera related to American politics in 1925-ish. The article exerpts talk about the coming depletion of American oil, and predicts all oil will be gone in the U.S. in twenty years.
Interesting in light of today, but also in view of WWII and the mention of the Japanese not bombing the oil storage at Pearl Harbor those twenty years plus or minus later.
I also saw some things about the fight for Iraq between France, England, Italy, the U.S. and Japan. Germany was not an issue in this fight. Mussollini was already leading the fascists in Italy and claiming he had no designs on invasion of anyone.
In the meantime, there was a campaign in California called EPIC, or “End Poverty in California,” because so many ppl were seriously suffering. Upton Sinclair was the candidate for Gov. of CA. in this group and he was a professed socialist.
He was also endorsed by a group that called itself Progressive Republicans for Democratic Candidates or something like that. In other words, Republicans were willing to endorse Sinclair to try to solve the problems of poverty in light of the robber barons’ continued exploitation.
interesting, at least to me.
We are certainly living in different times. Another photo dealt with the death of Lenin and showed a clutch of men who were possible successors in an informal photo. Four of five of them were mentioned. A guy in the center was not mentioned. His name was Joseph Stalin. Was the paper so ignorant, or was the omission on purpose?
Of course, we can go back an construct a history based upon events. But in the midst of events, isn’t it amazing how wrong people can be, and sometimes for the best of reasons (and sometimes for the worst.)
Posted by: fauxreal | Mar 24 2006 14:55 utc | 7
Apropos to not much. This morning I had an email from my mom (in her 80s)who just came back from a visit to Egypt. This made me laugh:
“I have forgotten to tell you about a thing that
happened in Egypt. We were at a temple and this vendor selling scarves
came up to me and said “American!! Boosh (and he pointed his thumb up).
I said “Yes American and Bush (and pointed my thumb down) He laughed and
laughed and went back to the other vendors and told them what I had said
and as I walked away I heard a chorus of laughing.”
Posted by: beq | Mar 24 2006 14:58 utc | 8
I heard somewhere that the thumbs up in the ME meant something like “fuck you”.
Posted by: citizen | Mar 24 2006 16:03 utc | 9
Yes, and the American gesture for “okay!”: the thumb and index finger forming a circle means “You asshole!” in Germany. You can get fined for making rude hand gestures here in traffic. But for that, you are less likely to get shot.
Posted by: ralphieboy | Mar 24 2006 16:11 utc | 10
Me too but I can’t swear the source was reliable. I also heard that a word that approximately sounds like “bush” meant the same.
Posted by: beq | Mar 24 2006 16:12 utc | 11
@beq
The same sort of thing happens to me all the time here in South Korea (although they pronounce his name more like “Boo-Shi”.) They tend to assume anyone with white skin is American (“Miguk-saram”, much to the consternation of the Canadians, French, Irish… and well, the majority of light-complected aliens here), and often give you a “Boo-Shi” accompanied by a thumbs-up sign.
If you respond as your mother did, you’ll invariably get one of two reactions. The first one is a look that makes it clear that they assume you must not have understood them (I’m in one of the last stronghold cities of Confucianism, and open negativity about one’s leaders is something of a faux pas, especially to the older generation), and the other is a slightly puzzled look, followed by a moment’s consideration, and then once they determine that you are “safe”, they share many of the concerns they have about the Bush administration with you (which are almost always the same ones I have.)
I haven’t gotten gales of laughter, yet. At least not for that.
Posted by: Monolycus | Mar 24 2006 16:13 utc | 12
More and more I feel fellowship with Kafka and his friends who laughed, hard, when they saw the ugly truth in print. Ugly, but printed.
Bush Lied. Again. Yesterday.
Sure, I’m obsessed. Why shouldn’t I be? The most powerful man in the world tells bald-faced lies that result in the death of tens, possibly hundreds of thousands of people and the mainstream media which is charged with informing citizens of such things pretends it hasn’t happened. It keeps happening, and nobody seems to think it’s a big deal. Well, I do. On a day when the Washington Post editorial board found the president’s press conference to be “sometimes blunt, sometimes joking and sometimes unpolished” but “sounded authentic,” I found it to be “lying.”
Posted by: citizen | Mar 24 2006 16:25 utc | 13
[King] Bush shuns Patriot Act requirement
In the statement, Bush said that he did not consider himself bound to tell Congress how the Patriot Act powers were being used and that, despite the law’s requirements, he could withhold the information if he decided that disclosure would ”impair foreign relations, national security, the deliberative process of the executive, or the performance of the executive’s constitutional duties.”
Of course not one goddamned media outlet picked this story up.
Bugmenot :
Username: me@privacy.net
Password: boston
Also see: Permanent U.S. Military bases in Iraq?
Posted by: Uncle $cam | Mar 24 2006 16:34 utc | 14
this poll has been up since yesterday referencing charlie scheen radio address and cnn coverage of 9/11. seems the percentage of those not believing the gov scenario has been holding at over 80%, at present it’s at 83% w/15,600 votes in. the least i’ve seen it is 81%. very interesting.
Posted by: annie | Mar 24 2006 18:10 utc | 16
re France, Jerome has done some excellent stuff on it @eurotrib, beg. w/diary last wkend on why Act so problematical.
Posted by: jj | Mar 24 2006 18:51 utc | 17
Fast history:
Ben Domenech Resigns
In the past 24 hours, we learned of allegations that Ben Domenech plagiarized material that appeared under his byline in various publications prior to washingtonpost.com contracting with him to write a blog that launched Tuesday.
An investigation into these allegations was ongoing, and in the interim, Domenech has resigned, effective immediately.
Apropos of an earlier discussion on racism, this story from the Taipei Times and Suburban Guerrilla of an Israeli hospital that decided to treat an unter-ethnicity baby as, yes, collateral:
The mother, who is Arab but has not been named, gave birth to triplets prematurely in January. As the children’s father is a Palestinian resident of the West Bank, the hospital demanded payment of 10,000 shekels (US$2,120) because it said it was not certain of recovering the costs of treating the babies from Israel’s national insurance fund even though their mother is a legal resident of Jerusalem.
When the woman said she was unable to pay, the hospital said it would keep one of the three children, a girl, as a “guarantee” until the money was found.
Don’t think the hospital won’t learn it’s lesson after this scandal:
The woman’s family told Haaretz that she was turned away from two other Israeli hospitals because she was unable to pay a deposit of about US$70,000 before being admitted.
I wonder if they made her sign an agreement in which she had to assign rights to her baby as collateral?
Posted by: citizen | Mar 24 2006 22:55 utc | 19
Apropos of an earlier discussion on racism, this story from the Taipei Times and Suburban Guerrilla of an Israeli hospital that decided to treat an unter-ethnicity baby as, yes, collateral:
The mother, who is Arab but has not been named, gave birth to triplets prematurely in January. As the children’s father is a Palestinian resident of the West Bank, the hospital demanded payment of 10,000 shekels (US$2,120) because it said it was not certain of recovering the costs of treating the babies from Israel’s national insurance fund even though their mother is a legal resident of Jerusalem.
When the woman said she was unable to pay, the hospital said it would keep one of the three children, a girl, as a “guarantee” until the money was found.
sorry – close tag
Posted by: citizen | Mar 24 2006 22:56 utc | 20
re b-‘s post on Benny’s “resignation” – isn’t that sweet – writing ignorant hate filled screeds is no obstacle to employment by WaPo – just make sure the bile you spill is yr. own. Hideous.
Posted by: jj | Mar 25 2006 2:53 utc | 21
@jj
“It was a setup. Those liberals at the Washington Post wanted to destroy Domenech and therefore pulled him into the light where the left could attack him with completely false charges. It was financed of course by George Soros.”
That is what some of the comments at REDSTATE.org say. Domenech whined at redstate that all was a mixup and had some “explanations” for the plagiats (i.e. the editors did it.) Only when those Soros paid lefties at the National Review Online didn´t take that and put out recent examples of plagiarism Domenech couldn´t address, some of the commentators turned against him.
Astonsishing to see how most of those folks defended on of their stars without regard to facts.
Civil war( R U Ready)in Iraq, Patrick Cockburn
The battle between Sunni and Shia Muslims for control of Baghdad has already started, say Iraqi political leaders who predict fierce street fighting will break out as each community takes over districts in which it is strongest.
“The fighting will only stop when a new balance of power has emerged,” Fuad Hussein, the chief of staff of Massoud Barzani, the Kurdish leader, said. “Sunni and Shia will each take control of their own area.” He said sectarian cleansing had already begun.
Many Iraqi leaders now believe that civil war is inevitable but it will be confined, at least at first, to the capital and surrounding provinces where the population is mixed. “The real battle will be the battle for Baghdad where the Shia have increasing control,” said one senior official who did not want his name published. “The army will disintegrate in the first moments of the war because the soldiers are loyal to the Shia, Sunni or Kurdish communities and not to the government.” He expected the Americans to stay largely on the sidelines.
Throughout the capital, communities, both Sunni and Shia, are on the move, fleeing districts where they are in a minority and feel under threat.
Posted by: anna missed | Mar 25 2006 7:07 utc | 23
Put pressure on Russia to agree to squeeze Iran:
Russians Helped Iraq, Study Says
Russian officials collected intelligence on U.S. troop movements and attack plans from inside the American military command leading the 2003 invasion of Iraq and passed that information to Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein, according to a U.S. military study released yesterday.
The intelligence reports, which the study said were provided to Hussein through the Russian ambassador in Baghdad at the height of the U.S. assault, warned accurately that American formations intended to bypass Iraqi cities on their thrust toward Baghdad. The reports provided some specific numbers on U.S. troops, units and locations, according to Iraqi documents dated March and April 2003 and later captured by the United States.
I guess it’s bullshit. Hint – the alleged information was false:
The study offers little analysis of the consequences for the U.S. military of the alleged Russian-supplied intelligence, which was received by what the study depicts as a hopelessly confused Iraqi chain of command.
One document, for example, was sent to Hussein as rumors swirled in Baghdad that the main American military push would come not from the south — as it in fact did — but through Jordan into western Iraq, a misperception that U.S. Special Forces units operating throughout the western desert were seeking to create.
…
“Significantly, the regime was also receiving intelligence from the Russians that fed suspicions that the attack out of Kuwait was merely a diversion,” the study says, citing the March 25 document
Maybe they watched CNN?
Apropos my earlier comment that the Walt-Mearsheimer Harvard study, published in LRB, would not be read by those who need to read it, here is a link to some of what they are up against.
Posted by: ww | Mar 25 2006 8:07 utc | 27
WaPo has an online chat with Chomsky
Arlington, Va.: Why do you think the US went to war against Iraq?
Noam Chomsky: Iraq has the second largest oil reserves in the world, it is right in the midst of the major energy reserves in the world. Its been a primary goal of US policy since World War II (like Britain before it) to control what the State Department called “a stupendous source of strategic power” and one of the greatest material prizes in history. Establishing a client state in Iraq would significantly enhance that strategic power, a matter of great significance for the future. As Zbigniew Brzezinski observed, it would provide the US with “critical leverage” of its European and Asian rivals, a conception with roots in early post-war planning. These are substantial reasons for aggression — not unlike those of the British when they invaded and occupied Iraq over 80 years earlier, at the dawn of the oil age.
…
Wellfleet, Mass.: Mr. Chomsky:
Many fear the country is moving towards a “police state” where the Executive acts according to its desires, without constraint. What possibilities do you see, if any, for the trend towards consolidation of power in the Executive to be thwarted?
Noam Chomsky: The concerns are justified. Thus in this morning’s press it was reported that after signing the new version of the Patriot Act with grandiose flourishes, President Bush quietly issued a “signing statement” that exempted him from its requirement to notify Congress of FBI actions that go beyond court authorizaton. That is yet another brazen affirmation of executive power. There are many others. There is little doubt that this administration is at an extreme in seeking to establish a powerful state executive, free from interference by Congress or public awareness of its actions. The justification is the “war on terror,” but that can hardly be taken seriously. Terror is doubtless a very serious threat, but it is all to easy to demonstrate that it does not rank high in administration priorities.
Though the concerns are valid, we should not exqggerate. The public is not likely to give up the achievements of centuries of struggle easily.
As barflies head out of the bar over the wkend, may I suggest cruising by:
1) Asia Times – I’m not posting links ‘cuz there are quite a few art. worth reading; and beyond that you need to look it over in toto to get the feeling a resurgent Asia, and a declining Hegemon.
2). Listen to interview w/Jim Straub.(Scroll down to 3/13) Whether he lives in Ohio full-time, or spent enough time there to get a read on what’s happening, the rest of us living in reasonably prosperous metropolitan areas are damn clueless. Unfortunately, he paid no attention apparently to the rigging of ’04 Ohio election results; nevertheless, he makes a point I’ve long made – that the rise of Fundie churches in rural & suburban areas are filling the void left by the exit of all other social & economic institutions. It’s very poignant in Ohio.
When planning yr.next wk., plan to tune into a webcast of Dr. David Ray Griffin – esp. 911 diehard believers – 7-10pm P.S.T. @www.kmud.org. Why? He’s the most respected voice & will also be speaking this week to the Commonwealth Club, which is an outfit run by the business elite – as in funded by Chevron etc. – that provides a forum for ideas that are impt. to them. So, it’s now officially okay to bring discussions of Griffin & 911 up from the social sewers.
Posted by: jj | Mar 25 2006 9:14 utc | 29
Dr Rice is now admitting that the US is meeting with Iran to strighten out the Iraq bizzo.
Since it is likely that the bushites have failed in their attempt to get the UN security council to give them a resolution that could be twisted into a post facto rationale for ‘nuking the ragheads’ and their failure to effectively colonise Iraq has become so apparent that bush obsfucations are prompting mirth rather than support, Rice is going for a big roll of the dice.
She is hoping that by sort of ‘fessing up to what the ‘blue’ with Iran has really been about from the beginning, she can attempt to divert responsibility for this bloodbath from amerikans. Let’s face it most would jump at the notion that it was all someone else’s fault and in that way they can go back to the self delusion of being the most caring, generous, and clean living bunch of xtian democrats on the planet. Pull down the shutters and hide from the storm they’ve kicked up.
As well Dr Rice will be hoping to provide the Bushista arse-lickers like Berlusconi, Blair and Howard with a bit of cover while all the rest of the acolytes and asslickers try and put the wood on naysayers to make Iran back down and let USuk steal the oil, well most of it. “After all Iran has more than their fair share anyway Mr Principal, sir.”
US confirms talks with Iran on Iraq
BAGHDAD (Reuters)
The United States will talk to Iran about Washington’s accusations of Iranian destabilization of Iraq, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said on Friday in the first public acceptance of an Iranian offer to meet.
Iran, responding to an overture by Washington last November, said last week it was open to talks on the issue with the American ambassador to Iraq, Zalmay Khalilzad, but until Rice’s comments U.S. officials had given no firm reply.
“I’m quite certain that at some point they will meet,” Rice told a Washington news conference, referring to the planned talks. She added that they would be “at an appropriate time.”
Washington has charged Tehran with meddling in the sectarian strife in Iraq, an accusation denied by Iran, which blames the U.S.-led forces that invaded in 2003.
While U.S. talks with Iran are unusual because the two countries have no diplomatic ties, Rice noted Khalilzad — in his former role as U.S. envoy to Afghanistan — had held meetings with Iranian officials about that country. . . . .”
Posted by: Anonymous | Mar 25 2006 9:50 utc | 30
Since it is likely that the bushites have failed in their attempt to get the UN security council to give them a resolution that could be twisted into a post facto rationale for ‘nuking the ragheads’
The talks between Iran and the U.S. are not because of a failed UN strategy. See the top comment of this thread. It is much more likely part of the setup.
In a few month Rice will say “see we did talk with them, but they are unreasonable”. Just like the Europeans when they made an “offer” to Iran for nuclear talks. The “offer” was nonsense.
Iran and the Irrationality Factor by Tom Engelhardt
What we face, in fact, are two fundamentalist regimes, American and Iranian — each in the process of overestimating the hand it is playing; each underestimating its enemy; each in the grip of a different kind of irrationality. It’s a frighteningly combustible mix. All those people who believe that the administration’s Iran approach is just so much saber-rattling and bluster, part of a reasonably rational plan to create bargaining chips, or force the Iranians to the table on more favorable terms, should divest themselves of such fantasies. We are on the path to madness, which also happens to be the path to $100 a barrel oil and possibly some kind of economic meltdown. Then again, dreams of riches have often gone hand-in-hand with madness. Why not now?
Posted by: beq | Mar 25 2006 14:35 utc | 32
Economic meltdown for us will just be an opportunity to pick up more goodies at bargain basement prices for the Bushlies. Some people made fortunes during the ’29 crash.
Posted by: Malooga | Mar 25 2006 15:58 utc | 33
after reading citizen’s headsup on v for vendetta, I went and watched the thing. pow! y’all should check it out. I realize Moore and followers of his work are annoyed by the mostly unfaithful treatment of v for vendetta by this film, but who cares about authors? all I know is that I felt good to live long enough to see a film like this at this time.
Posted by: slothrop | Mar 25 2006 20:03 utc | 34
Just got back from seeing “V for Vendetta” and totally concur with Slothrop….go see it. You’ll like it; you’ll feel better afterward, I am certain. I could find things to criticize about it, but all secondary. I have no idea what the backstory is that Slothrop referred to above, had not heard much about it, and had no preconceptions when I went to see it.
Posted by: maxcrat | Mar 26 2006 3:26 utc | 35
This is a flash presentation by Chris Floyd. (note that there are warnings re the graphic nature of the photographs, so if you are already over-stressed, don’t watch it).
Make sure you sound is turned on. link
How many have been killed? If they were my children I would be dedicating my life to a Vendetta against Americans.
Posted by: DM | Mar 26 2006 5:31 utc | 36
well, one benefit of the anti-immigrant wedge issue is that it is mobilizing huge, unprecendented masses of demonstrators in this country. More Than 500,000 Rally in L.A. for Immigrants’ Rights. let it become contagious & spread into other issues.
Posted by: b real | Mar 26 2006 6:05 utc | 37
Several pieces lifted from Juan Coles blog, two from Jeffery Gettleman HERE and HERE and this from The Hindu indicate the (ongoing) civil war in Iraq is reaching the classic definition of armed and structured militias clashing in set battles. This is a significant step up in the evolution of the sectarian tit for tat violence of the last year or so.
I’m reminded of an old comedy bit by the late Sam Kinnison. Kinnison was a master of black domestic american humor, and being a former preacher, was well aquainted with the dark side of alteriour motives. So, the joke was about how to get rid of an over moralizing an suffocating wife without being guilt ridden in the process. The trick was to go out every night and overindulge in everything you ever dreamed of — drugs, alcohol, sex, showing up a messed up and slobbering and baby, baby, I dont know whats the matter with me sob story apology every morning — until the moralizing wife cant take it anymore and in a fit of authority says, for your own good, honey, I’m going to have to leave you until you reform yourself. And as Kinneson would say, painless liberation everytime.
Now I would never claim that such a strategy would be consciously be undertaken by the Iraqis, in order to rid itself of the unwanted american shotgun spouse but, the posion pill alternative sometimes presents itself as the only alternative to a stalemated disfunctional relationship — its not that they would choose such a route, but that it is the only natural way that the pressure of the situation can be released — givin the circumstances. The circumstances that have been intentionally created by the bad spouse in relation to its own secret agenda of controling the assets of the other spouse for its own needs. Which have been revealed at the moment of consecration as a negation of the power that has been promised, that no, there are rules to this marrage that may not become you, that you in the end, are beholden to me.
So the alternative vice is assumed as the only avenue of escape, a poison pill swallowed with the clear knowledge that the ravages of the vice may indeed, like chemotherapy, also consume the patient, but also with the knowledge that such suffering is seen by the civilized world as the consequenses of such a marrage in the first place. That civil war in Iraq will be seen and acknowledged by the world as the realization of “the worst case scenario” of the war in Iraq.
Seeing that the administration has already admitted that “if” civil war were to break out, the US military would stay out of the way — what possible credible explanation could follow for the US to remain in Iraq? The domestic logic would have progressed from plausable spouse, to pimped whore, to finally, unabashed sex slave.
Posted by: anna missed | Mar 26 2006 11:17 utc | 38
Powerful, DM.
breal – I had the same thought when I saw the news coverage last night.
Posted by: beq | Mar 26 2006 13:26 utc | 39
well, I’ve been carrying these around for a long time, looks like they might be useful after all. link
Posted by: dan of steele | Mar 26 2006 16:34 utc | 40
dos,
I knew that I was carrying something in my scrotum that could help make the world a better place…
Posted by: ralphieboy | Mar 26 2006 17:21 utc | 41
@dan – thanks for the floyd link – recommended. On the second link, nice to have such useful accessory matter.
On Iraq I (again) agree with John Robb:
US troops, caught between a government that has outsourced security to militias and the guerrillas, will hide by entrenching themselves in their bases. That won’t help. There will be attempts at intervention to prevent wholesale slaughter, but these events will only increase tensions with the militias. Eventually, these militias in combination with the guerrillas will cut supply lines to US bases. Unable to function, there will be an attempt at a belated withdrawal. It won’t be pretty.
I´d estimate two years.
@b: I find myself wondering if these U$ tax-funded mega-bases in Iraq will eventually be manned primarily by Halliburton/KBR’s private security forces. The US Armed Forces and National Guard Units are taxpayer-financed training schools for Dick&Don’s shock troops.
Posted by: catlady | Mar 27 2006 1:24 utc | 44