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October 23, 2007
OT 07-74
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How can the CIA censor her book? FOX News says she’s not an agent! This site has all the legal documents surrounding Valerie Plame’s legal case against the CIA over her new book. CIA censors blacked out 10 percent of the copy, as can seen in this excerpt from the book, and Plame is not allowed to speak freely in her interviews. [Via No Quarter.]
In other news, Plame think it’s entirely possible that the Bush administration could start a war with Iran based on twisted intelligence.
Much more, via
Posted by: Uncle $cam | Oct 23 2007 6:31 utc | 1
While the use of U.S. soldiers on the ground to root out the PKK would be the last resort, the U.S. would be willing to launch air strikes on PKK targets, the officials said, and has discussed the use of cruise missiles. But air strikes using manned aircraft may be an easier option because the U.S. controls the air space over Iraq, the officials said. [ emphasis added]
Posted by: Dismal Science | Oct 23 2007 11:23 utc | 2
Old news perhaps, but for 23 completists everywhere.
Chris Whalen:
Within the financial community, thoughts about mortality have become more common in recent weeks, prompting a number of comments about the state of various financial institutions and their likelihood of failure. Our friend David Kotok of Cumberland Advisers, for example, worries in his usually upbeat missive that the Fed’s decision to waive Section 23A of the Federal Reserve Act (Reg W) and allow Bank of America (NYSE:BAC), Citigroup (NYSE:C), and JPMorgan Chase (NYSE:JPM) to make large loans to their broker dealer units may be a sign of impending trouble.
Kotok sees these loans, which are apparently to support collateralized debt obligations (“CDOs”), as an indication of mounting liquidity problem among the larger Sell Side shops, this despite the highly publicized efforts by the Fed.
Section 23A is one of the most important parts of the Federal Reserve Act. It prohibits “covered transactions” with any one affiliate of a Fed member bank in excess of 10% of the bank’s capital and surplus, and up to 20% in aggregate for all bank affiliates. The purpose of the section is to protect the capital of the bank, even if that means allowing non-bank units or the parent holding company to be decapitalized or even fail in a “market resolution.”
which leads Nouriel Roubini to describe the Fed as “totally disingenous”:
This is a serious moral hazard problem created by the Fed with its regulatory forbearance. Citi alone accounted for 25% of all SIV assets ($400 billion) given its $100 billion (now down to $80 billion given a partial disposal of assets) in seven SIVs. Such banks played a reckless game of regulatory arbitrage by creating risky off-balance sheet SIVs, loaded with risky assets and funded with the most short term asset backed CP in order to avoid the Basel capital charges for similar on balance sheet assets. The whole point of bank capital regulation is that banks that get the lender of last resort support of the central banks need to have enough capital to avoid the gamble for redemption games of playing at a casino with the money of depositors. But banks first avoided those capital charges by creating the off-balance sheet SIVs with lower capital charges and then, when the roll-off of the liabilities of such SIVs occurred amply relied on the Fed’s lender of last resort lending – and on explicit Fed bending of strict rules on how much the banks could re-lend to their affiliated and SIVs – to avoid the losses that they would have incurred by their reckless creation of illiquid SIVs (as well as accepting for repo operations assets whose true quality is dubious as the Fed has not clearly explained what assets it now accepts in its repo and discount window operations). This is moral hazard of the first order: avoid capital regulations via off balance sheet dangerous schemes characterized by serious maturity mismatches, high liquidity risk and gambing for redemption by investing in toxic waste securities; and then get free lender of last resort support when the liquidity roll-off occurs.
So the US banks – sarting with Citi – already obtained – via regulatory forbearance – a significant partial bailout of their SIV mess. So, for the Fed to now pretend that it is not part and parcel of the bailout of U.S. banks in their SIVs operations is totally disingenuous. And since the Fed is in touch with market participants, and since this super-conduit shell game cannot work without the grease of extra liquidity provision by the Fed, the central bank’s claim that it is not involved in this rescue plan is unbelievable. Indeed, in spite of the waving of Section 23A the amounts that banks can relend to their affiliates are still too small to resolve the SIV mess and the illiquidity of their affiliates given the size of these affiliates illiquid assets and liabilities being rolled off. Thus, more regulatory fudging and effective Fed bailout will be necessary to grease this super-conduit scheme.
Note too how it’s all the fault of those pesky Europeans with their Basel regs…
Posted by: Dismal Science | Oct 23 2007 11:42 utc | 3
Hillary says she opposes war Iran without congressional approval.
Is this supposed to comfort anyone? Of course these bought and paid for clowns would approve war if called to, and it would still be yet another illegal war of aggression based on a steaming pile of trumped up bullshit.
Posted by: ran | Oct 23 2007 13:00 utc | 4
Hillary says she opposes war Iran without congressional approval.
Hillary saz fuck international law and treaties. If congress agrees, the U.S. can break any of them.
Homeland Security Presidential Directive
HOMELAND SECURITY PRESIDENTIAL DIRECTIVE/HSPD-21
Subject: Public Health and Medical Preparedness
Purpose
(1) This directive establishes a National Strategy for Public Health and Medical Preparedness (Strategy), which builds upon principles set forth in Biodefense for the 21st Century (April 2004) and will transform our national approach to protecting the health of the American people against all disasters.
…
(3) A catastrophic health event, such as a terrorist attack with a weapon of mass destruction (WMD), a naturally-occurring pandemic, or a calamitous meteorological or geological event, could cause tens or hundreds of thousands of casualties or more, weaken our economy, damage public morale and confidence, and threaten our national security. It is therefore critical that we establish a strategic vision that will enable a level of public health and medical preparedness sufficient to address a range of possible disasters.
…
(15) Currently, the four most critical components of public health and medical preparedness are biosurveillance, countermeasure distribution, mass casualty care, and community resilience. Although those capabilities do not address all public health and medical preparedness requirements, they currently hold the greatest potential for mitigating illness and death and therefore will receive the highest priority in our public health and medical preparedness efforts. Those capabilities constitute the focus and major objectives of this Strategy.
(16) Biosurveillance: The United States must develop a nationwide, robust, and integrated biosurveillance capability, with connections to international disease surveillance systems, in order to provide early warning and ongoing characterization of disease outbreaks in near real-time. Surveillance must use multiple modalities and an in-depth architecture. We must enhance clinician awareness and participation and strengthen laboratory diagnostic capabilities and capacity in order to recognize potential threats as early as possible. Integration of biosurveillance elements and other data (including human health, animal health, agricultural, meteorological, environmental, intelligence, and other data) will provide a comprehensive picture of the health of communities and the associated threat environment for incorporation into the national “common operating picture.” A central element of biosurveillance must be an epidemiologic surveillance system to monitor human disease activity across populations. That system must be sufficiently enabled to identify specific disease incidence and prevalence in heterogeneous populations and environments and must possess sufficient flexibility to tailor analyses to new syndromes and emerging diseases. State and local government health officials, public and private sector health care institutions, and practicing clinicians must be involved in system design, and the overall system must be constructed with the principal objective of establishing or enhancing the capabilities of State and local government entities.
…
(21) The Secretary of Health and Human Services shall establish an operational national epidemiologic surveillance system for human health, with international connectivity where appropriate, that is predicated on State, regional, and community-level capabilities and creates a networked system to allow for two-way information flow between and among Federal, State, and local government public health authorities and clinical health care providers. The system shall build upon existing Federal, State, and local surveillance systems where they exist and shall enable and provide incentive for public health agencies to implement local surveillance systems where they do not exist. To the extent feasible, the system shall be built using electronic health information systems. It shall incorporate flexibility and depth of data necessary to respond to previously unknown or emerging threats to public health and integrate its data into the national biosurveillance common operating picture as appropriate. The system shall protect patient privacy by restricting access to identifying information to the greatest extent possible and only to public health officials with a need to know. The Implementation Plan to be developed pursuant to section 43 of this directive shall specify milestones for this system.
Posted by: b real | Oct 23 2007 14:47 utc | 6
secrecynews: Abraham Lincoln and the Jews
In a remarkable episode from the Civil War that is not as widely known as it might be, General Ulysses S. Grant issued Order No. 11 on December 17, 1862 expelling all Jews from Kentucky, Tennessee, and Mississippi, where his forces had taken the field.
Equally remarkable, President Lincoln did not say he would “stand by” his generals or that “we must give the military the tools it needs” to accomplish its mission. Instead, he rescinded the Order.
A century-old account of General Grant’s short-lived ban on Jews has recently been published online.
During the Civil War, President Lincoln repeatedly suspended habeas corpus and authorized other serious infringements on civil liberties. But there are some things that are not done in America, it appears, even when the survival of the nation is at stake. This was one of them.
…
The most detailed account of the origins and aftermath of General Grant’s Order No. 11 expelling the Jews from the areas under his control seems to be a 1909 book entitled “Abraham Lincoln and the Jews,” self-published by author Isaac Markens (pp. 10-17). That book, long out of print, was recently digitized and published by Google Books and is now freely available.
Posted by: b real | Oct 23 2007 15:05 utc | 7
Interesting in light of b real’s #6
Iran Accuses US of Manufacturing Genetic Weapons
Iran Accuses US of Manufacturing Genetic Weapons
TEHRAN (Fars News Agency)- An Iranian official here on Monday said that the Untied States, assisted by Israel, is seeking to create a genetic and molecular bank to manufacture new types of unconventional weapons.
Addressing an international seminar on ‘The Consequences of the Use of Chemical Weapons against Iran’, Head of the Foundation for the Protection of the Values of the Sacred Defense General Mir Feysal Bagherzadeh said that the US, in collaboration with the Zionist regime of Israel, is forming a bank of the molecules and genes of the different world nations and peoples in pursuit of its hostile goals.
“This is not done in pursuit of humanitarian goals, rather they are seeking to manufacture a weapon which could kill specific peoples in a limited geographical area,” he stressed.
The General further pointed out that the move should be considered as a case of genocide, “because they intend to massacre specific peoples and ethnicities” with the help of this weapon.
He said a number of US experts are running activities and researches in Bosnia and Herzegovina in the same line.
The official also stated that during the recent crash of a Thai plane, the US and Israeli experts were looking for the corpses of Iranian nationals in a bid to provide for their needed genes.
“The US and Israel are seeking to manufacture a new generation of weapons in an effort to immunize themselves and annihilate other nations and peoples,” he reiterated.
Posted by: Uncle $cam | Oct 23 2007 15:38 utc | 8
@Uncle Scam
If you will forgive two cliches, you are a man after my own paranoia and the devil is in the details.
As for Valerie Plame, US spy agencies reserve the right to preview and censor any written material or public speeches for the life of their employees even if they only worked for the agency for one day. So the CIA makes sure that Valerie Plame will not let you get a glimpse of “that old devil” in what she has to say.
In regards to Israel doing research for genetic weapons to use against Iran, it is hilariously stupid as much of the population of Iran is Semitic as in Sephardi or Aryan as in Ashkenazi. Interesting though that Iran would announce it. I could see factions in the US elites interested in such doings but not the Israelis.
Thanks for all the very interesting links.
Posted by: Bugout | Oct 23 2007 16:04 utc | 9
Uncle and Bugout – Every time this topic comes up I remember DeAnander’s comment on this thread.
Posted by: beq | Oct 23 2007 16:25 utc | 10
Now the Great Muzzle Machine is sharpening its claws for Haaretz… ha ha ha, this is just too funny for words.
CAMERA conference: Israel’s Jewish Defamers: The Media Dimension
They used to call Jewish critics of Israeli human rights violations self-haters. Now the new term is “Israel’s Defamers.” It works. It rhymes with self-haters. And it allows a notoriously right wing Jewish media watchdog group, CAMERA, to demonize and blacklist an entirely different group of Jews, those who speak the radical notion that Israel must treat Palestinians as full human beings if it ever, ever wants to see peace or security.
Pass the peanuts please… It definitely is the Beginning of the End when they do this. What complete scumbags.
Posted by: Bea | Oct 23 2007 16:26 utc | 11
I meant the Beginning of the End of the Muzzle Machine, in case I wasn’t clear enough.
Posted by: Bea | Oct 23 2007 16:27 utc | 12
biological weapons
There is no scientific definition of ‘race’. Targeting ppl of a particular ‘race’ gets many excited, so there is a pile of money to be made there. Scientists now pretty much live off grants, from corporations and the Gvmt. They need that dough to keep up their power (and life style.) (Not everywhere.) What is not stated – covered up by all the genomic hype etc. cure for mysterious diseases hoopla – is that is what is being sought is an easy, cheap, more or less invisible, painless way to kill off populations, any group, according to any criteria: race stands out for historic / visibility / fundamentalist / pseudo scientific etc. reasons, it is a *start*. Hitler hadn’t dreamed of that, he just took direct action. And ‘banned’ smoking and liked his men or women blond, hairless, clean. Crazed, co-opted, science is a constant in totalitarian or oppressive regimes. Bush has been working on it.
For the mo, in Iraq, for ex, the occupiers are stuck with starving ppl, driving them out, seeing to it that the water is polluted. (As I have posted many times before, dirty water is the biggest killer, and it is indirect, it can be blamed on any amount of things, at worst disorganization, neglect…) Depleted uranium is used for it powerful punch, and affects everyone, including US soldiers, not that that last point is of much import to the US Gvmt. – it is not an unequal opportunity killer, its use is military. Fancy bugs – bettah.
From the time of recognition of the role of ‘infection’ or ‘bacteria’ bio weapons have been used.
Posted by: Tangerine | Oct 23 2007 17:20 utc | 13
Aljazeera is reporting today that the Mahdi army now controls Basra, after recent fighting. The mayor and police chief have gone into hiding.
Posted by: anna missed | Oct 23 2007 17:57 utc | 14
Evacuees by the thousands joined 300,000 others seeking refuge in shelters, schools and stadiums Tuesday as fierce winds pushed wildfires into new areas of Southern California.
Wasn’t the whole stadium thing a Pinochet idea?
@bugout, you might want to do some research on Rummy and Public Law:
PUBLIC LAW 95-79 [P.L. 95-79] TITLE 50, CHAPTER 32, SECTION 1520 “CHEMICAL AND BIOLOGICAL WARFARE PROGRAM” “The use of human subjects will be allowed for the testing of chemical and biological agents by the U.S. Department of Defense, accounting to Congressional committees with respect to the experiments and studies.” “The Secretary of Defense [may] conduct tests and experiments involving the use of chemical and biological [warfare] agents on civilian populations [within the United States].”
-SOURCE- Public Law 95-79, Title VIII, Sec. 808, July 30, 1977, 91 Stat. 334. In U.S. Statutes-at-Large, Vol. 91, page 334, you will find Public Law 95-79. Public Law 97-375, title II, Sec. 203(a)(1), Dec. 21, 1982, 96 Stat. 1882. In U.S. Statutes-at-Large, Vol. 96, page 1882, you will find Public Law 97-375.
Posted by: Uncle $cam | Oct 24 2007 1:50 utc | 15
Or perhaps, the Insurgents [are] Using Chem Weapons – On Themselves?
oh, and w/regards the above, that Schwarzenegger remark:
“The people are happy. They have everything here,” Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger declared Monday night after his second Qualcomm tour.
Operation Blue Blood
Sounds beautifully close to the Babs Bush’s stunner,
“And so many of the people in the arena here, you know, were underprivileged anyway, so this–this (she chuckles slightly) is working very well for them.”
Posted by: Uncle $cam | Oct 24 2007 2:10 utc | 16
[hoping nobody gets offended]
man tells stranger to get off his ass
Botswana: Man Rapes Pregnant Donkey
A man, who raped an expectant donkey after harnessing it to a tree Friday last week, has disappeared without a trace, Matshelagabedi police said.
The unknown suspect allegedly jumped off the heavily pregnant donkey and disappeared into the darkness of the night when he saw the owner approaching.
…
When he got close to the donkey, the man was shocked to find that the animal was tied to a tree next to an anthill.
Sub-Inspector Inalame Marumoame confirmed the incident and revealed that police were still hunting for the suspect. He said although a report was made by the owner who found his donkey harnessed to a tree, no one has been arrested. “The owner of the donkey reported the matter to us the following day but could not give enough evidence to help trace the culprit. He gave the police a wire suspected to have been used to tie the donkey’s legs,” said Marumoame, who revealed that the suspect also left a wheel barrow near the harnessed donkey.
…
Although the wheel barrow was later claimed by its owner, no one amongst the family members accepted responsibility for the alleged crime. The officer said: “Members of the family that claimed the wheel barrow denied any knowledge regarding the offence. When we told them about the crime, they explained that the wheel barrow was used by different people in the neighbourhood hence it was difficult to know how it ended up at the scene.”
Marumoame said the complainant also destroyed evidence when he unleashed the donkey before reporting the matter to the police. He said had Khunou reported the matter on the same day, the police could have managed to arrest the suspect. The officer revealed that even the veterinary officer who was called to examine the donkey only came after two days. “The vet became available after two days which was too late to examine the donkey suspected to have been raped,” he said. The officer said police questioned a local lunatic in relation to the offence, but later released him because there was insufficient evidence to link him to the crime.
Marumoame however called upon the public to help the police to arrest the suspect.
bonus zoophilia flashback story tonite: Man forced to marry goat in southern Sudan
Feb 24, 2006 (MALAKAL) — A certain Mr Tombe was caught having an intimate relation with a goat belonging to a Mr Alifi at Hai Malakal — Upper Nile State, southern Sudan — on February 13. Tombe was ordered to pay the goat’s dowry and take the animal as his wife .
Mr Alifi said: “It was around midnight when Tombe came to do his nonsense on my goat, and I was already in bed inside my house. Suddenly , I heard the goat make a loud noise. Immediately, I rushed outside to find Mr Tombe was naked and engaged in a relation with my goat . When I asked him what are you doing there, he fell off the back of the goat, so I captured and tied him up”.
Alifi then brought some elders to decide the fate of the goat defiler.
“They said I should not take him to the police , but rather let him pay a dowry for my goat because he used it as his wife.”
[mr. tombe, as of latest rpt, is now a widower]
Posted by: b real | Oct 24 2007 3:50 utc | 17
@17,
I guess they’ll have to keep their ass indoors from now on
Posted by: jony_b_cool | Oct 24 2007 6:07 utc | 18
Jim Rogers Shifts Assets Out of Dollar to Buy Yuan
“I’m in the process of — I hope in the next few months — getting all of my assets out of U.S. dollars,” said Rogers, 65, who correctly predicted the commodities rally in 1999. “I’m that pessimistic about what’s happening in the U.S.”
Rogers, delivering a presentation late yesterday at an investors’ meeting organized by ABN Amro Markets in Amsterdam, said he expects the Chinese currency to quadruple in the next decade and that he is holding on to commodities such as platinum, gold, silver and palladium.
Posted by: Rick | Oct 24 2007 7:03 utc | 20
The Southern California Fires:
I Told You So
I HATE TO SAY I TOLD YOU SO, BUT PRESIDENT BUSH HAS JUST DONE TO SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA WHAT HE DID TO LOUISIANA!
President Bush gambled with the Mississippi river region. He literally bet the safety of all those people living along the Mississippi River and the city of New Orleans itself that he could send the National Guard on his little war in Iraq. Bush bet he could take all those resources intended to protect New Orleans from a natural disaster and spend them on his war in Iraq, and he LOST that bet, and in the process, he destroyed New Orleans. The damage from Katrina was orders of magnitude worse than it would have been had the levees been properly maintained, and the resources left in place to deal with the catastrophe.
I warned at the bottom of this article that Bush had likely stripped the rest of the nation for not only National Guard but the material resources needed to deal with disasters.
Malibu is sadly proving the point. Most of the California National Guard is in Iraq, along with most of their heavy equipment and supplies. And, just as funding was cut for flood control to pay for the war, federal funding for wildfire prevention was cut, again to fund the war.
[SNIP]
Posted by: Rick | Oct 24 2007 8:00 utc | 21
OOps – Turkey strikes at Kurdish militants in northern Iraq-1
ANKARA, October 24 (RIA Novosti) – Units of the Turkish army have crossed the Iraqi border in a special operation against Kurdish militants, local newspapers said Wednesday.
The Yeni Safak newspaper reported that Turkish commandos supported by helicopters were chasing militants from the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), and F-16 Falcon fighter-bombers and artillery were delivering pinpoint strikes at militant bases about 50 kilometers (30 miles) deep into the Iraqi territory.
Did anyone catch this last week? More sleight of hand on Iraq promises.
Lt. Col. Donnelly said that even though the number of combat brigades in Iraq will drop by one with the departure of the 3rd Brigade of the 1st Cavalry [in December], the total number of soldiers in northern Iraq will remain almost constant. That is because later in December, a unit arriving from Fort Hood — the 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment — has substantially more soldiers than the unit it will replace.
link
Remember that Presidential promise in Sept to bring home one brigade by the end of 2007? Total brigades in Iraq will drop from 20 to 19, while total number of soldiers remains almost the same.
Posted by: small coke | Oct 24 2007 9:13 utc | 23
Of course, Mr. Marco Polo did not even bother to hear my reply, he continued…
– Entertainment has become so available and cheap these days.
– Oh really ? What kind ?
– You know…
And I saw that twinkling smile in the corner of his eyes, overshadowing his horizontal mustache…giving it some brightness, some light…some force…some male power…
– No I don’t(playing dumb as usual)
– You know, ever since…
– Ever since ?
– Ever since, you know, Iraq …
– What do you mean ?
– Ever since…there are so many “poor” Iraqi women around…
He needed say no more…I understood. Perfectly, understood
If there is one aspect of the Occupation that I detest most…
If there is one consequence of the American Occupation that I loathe the most, it is that one…
Of course, I hate all of its aspects, but this one is the hardest to swallow…
That of seeing young and old Iraqi women, selling themselves…
Posted by: Debs is dead | Oct 24 2007 9:36 utc | 24
Luxary items … toys, milk powder, fruits and vegetables …
The guidelines by which the defense establishment is working state that those items essential to prevent hunger will not be blocked, while “luxury” items will not be allowed.
“Oil, they’ll get from us. Balsamic vinegar – no,” a security source said.
In recent weeks Israel has blocked the transfer of merchandise into the Strip, including cigarettes, electric appliances, furniture, toys and calves for slaughter (supply of the livestock will apparently be renewed shortly). The supply of some cheeses as well as milk powder for babies has been stopped, as has carbon dioxide for soft drinks. The supply of fruit and vegetables has been curtailed, and Israeli farmers unable to market their produce to the Strip have to sell in Israel, leading to a fall in prices. Shipments of sugar too are now being scrutinized after terror organizations tried to use sugar sacks to transfer potassium to Gaza for use in explosives.
The sanctions are raising protests from rabbis and the Orthodox parties because of the disruption of produce that observant Jews choose to import during the shmitah year.
turkey has crossed the border 30 miles in with commandos,helecopters and f-16’s first reported by the russians now backed up by bloomberg.still can’t seem to figure out how to link.now the guardian also.shit meet fan
Posted by: lori laidella | Oct 24 2007 11:03 utc | 26
opps sorry no guardian as of yet.anyone with any more info?
Posted by: onzaga | Oct 24 2007 11:08 utc | 27
also wondering about the fires in san deigo.one of our largest ports with a very large mexican population.will they be able to get fema benefits? like the poor blacks in new orleans? (also a very large port city)will they have to show their papers for help?turning new orleans red has certainly worked out for the rebubs.funny how the predominantly black neighborhoods are not receiving financial help as fast as other neighborhoods.also money in these neighborhoods for basic services,electric,water,transportation,and stricker rules for rebuilding than more affluent neighborhoods,are adding extra stumbling blocks,the quadrupling of rents on available housing and lack of jobs,another obstacle not surprising that the city is turning red.i think the only safe port city in the us is in texas.
Posted by: onzaga | Oct 24 2007 11:32 utc | 28
re #24 by Debs, about 20 years ago a Boston Globe “conservative” columnist, then with 2 daughters but as a youth stationed in the Caribbean, put on the editorial pages that poor countries had 2 compensating virtues: “good bread and young prostitutes”.
Saw no protesting letters next few days. (I sent one, seems likely others did too.)
On environmental subject, here is UK/Independent article from yesterday:
‘Carbon sinks’ lose ability to soak up emissions
begins:
“A dramatic decline in the ability of the Earth to soak up man-made emissions of carbon dioxide, and a corresponding acceleration in the rate of increase of greenhouse gas in the atmosphere, have been detected for the first time by scientists.
The discovery that more carbon dioxide from human activities is lingering in the air rather being absorbed by the world’s forests and oceans has alarmed scientists who believe that it signals a potentially dangerous turn of events for the global climate.
They fear that a much-anticipated “feedback” in the global climate – when increases in carbon dioxide in the air trigger further increases in atmospheric concentrations of the gas – has already begun to occur decades before many predicted.
“We always said that these feedbacks would happen in the future, but what this study shows is that these feedbacks are happening right now,” said Josep Canadell, executive director of the Global Climate Project in Canberra, and the lead author of the study.”
Isn’t it amazing that everything always happens faster than predicted? Hmm. What are the implications for current predictions?
re #24 by Debs, about 20 years ago a Boston Globe “conservative” columnist, then with 2 daughters but as a youth stationed in the Caribbean, put on the editorial pages that poor countries had 2 compensating virtues: “good bread and young prostitutes”.
Saw no protesting letters next few days. (I sent one, seems likely others did too.)
On environmental subject, here is UK/Independent article from yesterday:
‘Carbon sinks’ lose ability to soak up emissions
begins:
“A dramatic decline in the ability of the Earth to soak up man-made emissions of carbon dioxide, and a corresponding acceleration in the rate of increase of greenhouse gas in the atmosphere, have been detected for the first time by scientists.
The discovery that more carbon dioxide from human activities is lingering in the air rather being absorbed by the world’s forests and oceans has alarmed scientists who believe that it signals a potentially dangerous turn of events for the global climate.
They fear that a much-anticipated “feedback” in the global climate – when increases in carbon dioxide in the air trigger further increases in atmospheric concentrations of the gas – has already begun to occur decades before many predicted.
“We always said that these feedbacks would happen in the future, but what this study shows is that these feedbacks are happening right now,” said Josep Canadell, executive director of the Global Climate Project in Canberra, and the lead author of the study.”
Isn’t it amazing that everything always happens faster than predicted? Hmm. What are the implications for current predictions?
also wondering about the fires in san deigo.one of our largest ports with a very large mexican population.will they be able to get fema benefits? like the poor blacks in new orleans? (also a very large port city)will they have to show their papers for help?turning new orleans red has certainly worked out for the rebubs.funny how the predominantly black neighborhoods are not receiving financial help as fast as other neighborhoods.also money in these neighborhoods for basic services,electric,water,transportation barely exists if at all,and stricker rules for rebuilding than more affluent neighborhoods,are adding extra stumbling blocks,the quadrupling of rents on available housing and lack of jobs, are the topping on the cake. its not surprising that the city is turning red. i think the only safe port city in the us is in texas.
Posted by: onzaga | Oct 24 2007 11:44 utc | 32
sorry for the rants,have lots of friends and family scattered throughout these calif areas,having been raised there.have only heard from one so far and the news was not good.i may have evacuees comming to stay in new orleans with me.how strange is that.anyway just a bit stressed knowing what they are going through and feeling their panic.i think i’ll take a sleeping pill and try to deal with it when i wake up.
Posted by: onzaga | Oct 24 2007 12:19 utc | 33
Anybody else here find it interesting that, the destroyed Potrero community near San Diego is the location where Blackwater planed to put their massive mercenary training facility. And now all the homes are destroyed?
Further, a Blackwater land grab? This fire exploded just as the people of Potrero were preparing for a recall election on December 11 to kick out the planning group members who approved Blackwater’s base. With ballots scheduled to be mailed in early November to less than 600 registered voters in this historic vote-by-mail recall, Potrero residents were preparing for an intense campaign over the next six weeks.
But the actual landscape — and the political landscape — of Potrero have been transformed over the last 48 hours.
citizens of San Diego County who are trying to block Blackwater from building a mercenary base on the California border
You don’t say?
I’m starting to hear on the news that authorities believe some of these fires were deliberately set.
Posted by: Uncle $cam | Oct 24 2007 12:29 utc | 34
I know. I know. This is just mean. But Richard Mellon Scaife is in divorce hell, and it’s costing him.
Now who said MOA never brings you good news?
Posted by: ‘citizen’ | Oct 24 2007 13:28 utc | 35
Just for this one sentence:
Every three hours, U.S. intelligence gathers enough information to fill the Library of Congress, according to a 2004 report in “Technology Review,” a journal published by Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
CIA Stealth Venture Fund Focuses on Spy Gadgets Even `Q’ Adores
Posted by: Alamet | Oct 24 2007 21:48 utc | 36
Uncle – Don’t know the geography of southern CA. Potrero area seems to be largely rural and very near the Mexico border. Would you know where exactly was the proposed Blackwater training area? Had the land been purchased?
Fire started early morning Oct 21 near the Harris Ranch , and is identified in news reports as “Harris fire”. A steel building blew up at the Harris ranch onion & garlic processing plant in May, apparently a welding accident.
Posted by: small coke | Oct 24 2007 22:21 utc | 37
OMFG, Uncle —- that went through my head today, but the other possibility I thght. more likely was that guys from the building industry that’s going in the toilet set them…one of course doesn’t exclude the other…
As a reference point, recall a month or two ago when huge swaths of Greece were on fire? Those were thought set by the development forces so they could win the right to develop the land, freshly cleared of the forests. Maybe that’s where StinkyWater got the idea…(google fires in greece set by developers). Here’s one link from de Spiegel:
Greece on Monday continues battling devastating blazes that have turned vast swaths of the country to smoldering ash in the last four days. Thousands of firefighters, including 4,000 members of the Greek army and dozens of helpers from a number of European countries, continue struggling against high winds and walls of flame at times shooting 100 meters (300 feet) into the air.
At least 63 people have been killed in the blazes — the worst in Greece in living memory — with two more dying on Monday, and firefighters on Monday had to scramble a helicopter in an effort to rescue people trapped in the southern Greek village of Frixa. A fire department spokesperson also said there were 11 people trapped near the village of Aigialia, in the northern Peloponnese.
With Greek officials suspecting arson in many of the blazes, a prosecutor on Monday announced he was looking into whether deliberately setting fires could be prosecuted under the country’s anti-terrorism and organized crime laws. Since early Sunday morning, fully 89 new fires have broken out, dozens of them serious.
Hundreds of villages have been completely destroyed all across the country and thousands of people are now homeless. Many of the fires were concentrated on the Peloponnese in southern Greece over the weekend, but there is hardly a corner of the country that has been spared. …
…
Rumors of arson have surrounded many of the fires that have swept through Greece all summer. Due to strict zoning laws, no construction is allowed in designated forest land. But inexact maps of forested areas mean that land scorched by fire often becomes disputed and claimed by developers (more…).
Posted by: jj | Oct 24 2007 23:46 utc | 38
Thanks for the good news, citizen. As I recall even his sister called him ~a drunken guttersnipe.
Posted by: jj | Oct 24 2007 23:47 utc | 39
One other dimension to the StinkyWater issue that Uncle raised. (That name won’t come up in google search & seems appropriate 🙂 ) They were lobbying Gov. Schwarznegger-Kennedy for state contracts, but Dems. fighting it last I heard. The Big thing to watch is to see if they get a contract for fire-fighting/or post-fire security, etc…. If so, setting massive fires is just a greedy fascists way of lobbying… See they gotta have bases in Ca – hell, just too damn hard to set off an earthquake & they don’t own bioweapons labs, yet…
Posted by: jj | Oct 24 2007 23:53 utc | 40
Confirmed Arson investigation:
Home Searched In Calif. Wildfire Arson Investigation
California authorities and FBI agents searched a home Wednesday as part of an arson investigation into one of the wildfires devastating Southern California, a law enforcement official said.
The search was conducted in Orange County by the Orange County Sheriff’s Office and the FBI, the official said. The official, speaking on condition of anonymity because the investigation was continuing, would not say what was taken.
“FBI Los Angeles is assisting Orange County fire officials and sheriff’s office in an ongoing investigation into the source of some of the fires,” FBI spokesman Richard Kolko said. He referred all other questions to local authorities.
The fires, now in their fourth day, have destroyed 1,500 homes and caused at least a half-million people to flee, in what has become the largest evacuation in state history. At least 1,200 damaged homes were in San Diego County, which is just south of Orange County, and officials believe that number will rise.
Twenty-one firefighters and at least 24 others have been injured. One person was killed by the flames, and the San Diego medical examiner’s officer listed five other deaths as connected to the blazes.
Thousands of people remained in emergency shelters, where many had an agonizing wait to find out whether their homes had survived.
Some ominous points:
–Mexican firefighters have entered the country to ‘help.’
–A caller to a local San Diego radio station said they were prevented from returning to their homes by officers with guns drawn.
–Residents still have not been allowed to return to the town of Ramona(pop 35,000) in north San Diego County that was evacuated two days ago, even though the fires are now far away and the wind has died down.. They have now claimed that they are not letting people in because of no power and contaminated water supplies, even though another caller heard from a friend still in town that power and water were available.
Now were being told the fires are arson
Fox saying its al Qaeda terrorism
Authorities 4 years ago said al Qaeda plotted this
All one has to look at is: who benefits?
I believe more than Blackwater is going to be benefitting.
It will be very interesting to see who they pin these fires on, now that its officially being said to be arson.
Posted by: Uncle $cam | Oct 25 2007 2:17 utc | 41
They sure as Hell won’t blame them on StinkyWater…of course, it’s possible that contractors/their Latin employees set several to get more work, then StinkyWater decided they didn’t want to be left out – seems to me that there are an unusually large number that all happened in dispersed locations @same time…a few decades ago a fire was set by fireman to get overtime pay…
Posted by: jj | Oct 25 2007 4:04 utc | 42
some more details on the ONLF’s recent retaliatory attacks on ethiopian forces in the ogaden (in which they claim to killed more than 250 soldiers, including 13 officers) — Analysis: TPLF regime Indulging in Delusion
– – – –
1hr 44min lecture by peter dale scott on The Rise of Al Qaeda (date is sept 24) — available in video webcast or audio stream
Posted by: b real | Oct 25 2007 4:40 utc | 43
Picked up another bit of interest to those following Ca. wildfires. When Bu$hCo raids your states Nat’l Guard Troops – the poor kids who signed up for one weekend a month to help fight fires, floods, etc. to pay the mortgage – they don’t just take the kids. Feds also steal their equipment. And they DO NOT return the equipment. So, the fires are raging so totally out of control, not just ‘cuz this is Santa Ana winds season, but ‘cuz they don’t have the equipment they need to fight the fires…
Posted by: jj | Oct 25 2007 6:54 utc | 44
JJ, et all,
Here’s another thing to think about, how nefariously clever,would it be to have Blackwater offer their helicopters and planes and other equipment for the express use of saving these communities? That would be one hell of a pr plus for them. Would it not?
Posted by: Uncle $cam | Oct 25 2007 7:42 utc | 45
This is somewhat funny. The pesky sovjet communists fight for free movement of capital in the U.S.:
Russian Finance Minister slams West for double standards
In Washington for a meeting of the G8 industrialized nations, Aleksey Kudrin stressed that sovereign wealth funds should be subject to free movement of capital. He added “We do not want there to be any such restrictions.”
It’s claimed that G8 members such as the U.S. will block any purchase of its strategic objects though.
“Russia is often blamed for not being a liberal state but now the U.S. itself is suddenly found not to be a liberal state, so they wouldn’t like to see their own dollars being invested in their own economy,” states Evgeny Nadorshin, Chief Economist at Trust Bank in Moscow.
58 comments: Did Pelosi threaten Conyers?
Pelosi has threatened the removal of Michigan Rep. John Conyers from his chairmanship of the House judiciary committee if an impeachment inquiry were even opened, according to reliable congressional chatter.
or political aphemia?
Posted by: Uncle $cam | Oct 25 2007 11:33 utc | 47
heh, indeed.
Code Pink member gets in Condi’s face and lays some truth on her, pissing douchebag Lantos off.
Posted by: ran | Oct 25 2007 14:59 utc | 48
The Neo-cons might be laying low, but they appear to be succeeding (with the help of the Dems) in provoking the war they have always lusted after:
Afghanistan is lost, says Lord Ashdown
Nato has “lost in Afghanistan” and its failure to bring stability there could provoke a regional sectarian war “on a grand scale”, according to Lord Ashdown.
The former United Nations High Representative for Bosnia and Herzegovina delivered his dire prediction after being proposed as a new “super envoy” role in Afghanistan.
Lord Ashdown said: “We have lost, I think, and success is now unlikely.”
The assessment will be considered extreme by some diplomats but timely by those pressing for more resources for Nato operations.
Lord Ashdown added: “I believe losing in Afghanistan is worse than losing in Iraq. It will mean that Pakistan will fall and it will have serious implications internally for the security of our own countries and will instigate a wider Shiite Shia, Sunni regional war on a grand scale.
“Some people refer to the First and Second World Wars as European civil wars and I think a similar regional civil war could be initiated by this failure to match this magnitude.”
Lord Ashdown, 66, the former leader of the Liberal Democrats, was speaking in advance of a Nato summit in the Dutch town of Noordwijk yesterday.
Posted by: Malooga | Oct 25 2007 15:35 utc | 49
Iran wins major infrastructure contract in Iraq
Iraq has awarded a vital infrastructure contract to Iran that could facilitate its military presence in a developoment that has alarmed the U.S.
The Iraqi Electricity Ministry has selected companies from China and Iran to construct two power plants. The ministry said the awards totaled $1.1 billion and would reduce the constant power outages in Baghdad.
The award to Iran for the construction of a 160-megawatt power plant in Baghdad’s Sadr City has alarmed the U.S. military in Iraq. Military sources said the U.S.-led coalition was concerned that Iran could use the $150 million project to significantly expand its intelligence and military presence in Iraq.
Iran has sought to dominate Iraq’s Shi’ite sector. Teheran has agreed to provide cheap electricity from its own grid to Shi’ite areas of southern Iraq. Iran has also offered to build a large power plant without cost to the Baghdad government between the Shi’ite cities of Karbala and Najaf.
The Chinese power plant would be located in the Iraqi province of Wasit. Officials said the 1,300 megawatt facility, awarded to China’s Shanghai Heavy Industry, would cost $940 million.
Posted by: Malooga | Oct 25 2007 15:40 utc | 50
Malooga @50
Where does Iraq keep its funds? Who are its transfer agents?
US today announces ban on US financial institutions doing biz w/Iran. Will banks comply? Don’t they have offshore and other devices for evading taxes and whatever regulations may not suit them, esp w/ regard to intl transactions?
Posted by: small coke | Oct 25 2007 16:04 utc | 51
Asia Times: Oil: The Sovereignty Showdown in Iraq
The oil game in Iraq may be almost up. On September 29, like a landlord serving notice, the government of Iraq announced that the next annual renewal of the United Nations Security Council mandate for a multinational force in Iraq – the only legal basis for a continuation of the American occupation – will be the last. That was, it seems, the first shoe to fall. The second may be an announcement terminating the little-noticed, but crucial companion Security Council mandate governing the disposition of Iraq’s oil revenues….
The news that the duly elected government of Iraq is exercising its limited sovereignty to set a date for termination of the American occupation radically undercuts all discussion in the US Congress or by American presidential candidates of how soon the US occupation of Iraq may “safely” end….
The political half of that gamble has already been lost, but the Bush administration has proven adamantly unwilling to accept the loss of the economic half, the oil half, without a desperate fight. Perhaps the five super-bases that the US has been constructing in Iraq for as many as 20,000 troops each, plus the ill-built super-embassy (the largest on the planet) it has been constructing inside Baghdad’s Green Zone, will suffice to maintain American control over the oil reserves, even in defiance of international law and the officially stated wishes of the Iraqi people – but perhaps not.
Posted by: Bea | Oct 25 2007 16:05 utc | 52
More from the Asia Times piece in #52:
The prime minister’s announcement that the next renewal of the multi-force mandate would be the last came, in fact, in response to a binding resolution in parliament that the next renewal, unlike previous ones, may not be at the request of the prime minister alone, but only with the advice and consent of parliament. Parliament has voted once already, in a non-binding resolution, to require the United States to set a timetable for withdrawal.
Fragile as it is, the government of Iraq enjoys international legal recognition, and the underestimated Maliki is evidently not without resources when it comes to asserting Iraqi sovereignty over American autonomy within Iraq’s borders. In “Blackwatergate” he found a remarkable pressure point, declaring that no new law would be passed in Iraq until the Blackwater matter was resolved to his satisfaction. Nor was Maliki necessarily whistling in the dark when he warned his American critics, “We can find friends elsewhere.”
The expiration date that Iraq has now set for the operation of a multinational force on its territory coincides almost exactly with the end of the Bush administration.
Fascinating.
Posted by: Bea | Oct 25 2007 16:10 utc | 53
Israel: For Every Rocket from Gaza, A Power Outage Will Be Inflicted Upon All Gazans
According to a Channel 10 report, Israel will cut electricity for an estimated 15 minutes after every Palestinian rocket is fired into Israel. The report further stated that each blackout was intended to be only a symoblic act, and not an act meant to “punish” the Palestinians.
Throughout Wednesday, Palestinians continued to fire rockets into Israeli territory, all of which landed in open areas in the western Negev and caused no damage. In response, IAF planes struck a Kassam rocket cell in northern Gaza moments after its members launched two rockets at Israel. Two of the three cell members were killed. [Note: Real “due process of law” there… but even instant assassinations are not sufficient in Israel’s eyes…]
“It’s clear that we have to cut off … the supply of electricity and the supply of fuel,” Vilna’i told Army Radio Wednesday. “We will dramatically reduce the flow of electricity from Israel over several weeks.”
Barak was also advised to shut down one of the five power lines connecting Israel and Gaza for two hours at night.
“We need to show the residents of Gaza that life does not carry on freely when Kassam rockets land in Israel,” a senior defense official said. “If rockets are fired, then the Palestinians will pay a price.”
Posted by: Bea | Oct 25 2007 16:23 utc | 54
Why Iraqi Farmers Might Prefer Death to Paul Bremer’s Order 81
Good article.
Posted by: Alamet | Oct 25 2007 16:51 utc | 55
Central Bank of Iran breaks with the US dollar
The Central Bank of Iran says the process of converting the country’s dollar reserves to other foreign currencies has been completed.
And a glimmer of hope:
Syrian official affirms Syria”s commitment towards Iraqi displaced persons
(snip)
A Foreign Ministry statement quoted Abdelmajeed as saying during his meeting with the Iraqi Speaker of Parliament mahmoud Al-Meshhadani that the Syrian Interior Ministry was adopting organizational measures concerning Iraqi displaced persons, adding that the country has opened centers to grant needed entry visas for those persons at the border crossings.
(snip)
Posted by: Alamet | Oct 25 2007 16:58 utc | 56
Brian Turner’s sparked an Iraq War poetry fest over on the NYT blogsite. See the comments too.
From his introduction to The Cemetery Poem
I have since been writing poems which try to span the oceans with an imaginative bridgework over the horizon — to bring Americans into the dusty streets of Iraq; to bring Iraqis into American cities and into our homes. I’ll admit — it’s definitely a surreal move, one that I’m still working on, and one I invite comments on.
Posted by: ‘citizen’ | Oct 25 2007 17:40 utc | 57
You will probably have noticed that Bush’s budget request for war on Iraq and Afghanistan, which the Democrats will of course honor, includes 88 million to refit B-2 stealth bombers to carry 30,000 pounds bunker-buster bombs that would be used against Iran.
A funny question here for budget aware people. There are only 21 B-2 bombers. That’s all that has been build. Isn’t $4.2 million per plane an aweful lot of money for some ‘modification’?
The fires in Greece are a special case. About California now, and other places in the past, Spain and France for ex. to *generalize*:
1) Drought. Vegetation becomes a fire cracker, and a tiny spark in the wind sets it all alight. Look at the rainfall in Calif this year. What %? No figures to hand, but easy to google grab.
2) The organization of the territory. Most often isolated houses, ‘villas’, or sprawling villages, with brush, greenery, about; no firewalls; no ditches, dry or wet; roads that service residents only; no major water points, there isn’t enough anyway. Mac Mansion type developments, no thought, no preparation, no defense.
3) The dumbing down of communal services, fire services that are undermanned and strapped. The most glaring mistakes are (world, but based on France) the idea that local services can de dispensed with (they cost) in favor of some super ordinate organism (national, special forces, etc.) – competent ppl can be rushed to hot (sic) spots. While external aid can be vital, with fire, speed and on the spot presence is essential – not only once the fire breaks out, but also before, to prevent it taking hold, nip it in the bud, so to speak. To insist on clearing brush, and make corridors, and have guards who walk about with cell phones. No one wants to pay for that, except the fire men, and their local superiors, who are lowly types.
So it is burn, baby, burn.
Once fires get roaring arsonist often join the party…
Posted by: Tangerine | Oct 25 2007 19:19 utc | 59
@Tangerine – I agreed – the big media problem with the Californian fire is that there is no villian.
Within the U.S. system that is impossible.
The fire thereby must have been ignited by: – Al Qaeda, the CIA, Republicans, Democrats, Bush, Pelosi, Immigrants, Wall Street, …
Well – you’ll get the drift … In New Orleans the media villians were the black people who were the ones who got hurt. In SoCal that is not concentional so people have to look for something else …
The Privatization of National Emergency Response
Former Bush General Touts Privatization of National Disaster Response
“Country Club Fees” Would Guarantee Protection
A retired general now working for a controversial private security company told an audience last night about the services the company plans to provide.
The government does not have the tax base to provide services to everyone in the event of a major catastrophe, retired Brigadier General Richard W. Mills told an audience in Pellston last night.
Mills served as Deputy Director of the Counterterrorism Center (CTC) of the Central Intelligence Agency before retirement this year. At a public meeting at the Pellston High School he presented himself as the executive vice president for strategic development for Sovereign Deed, an 18 month old company that offers private disaster response services.
We can save you, you know, if the $$$ is right!
also …
Dyncorp Mercenaries May Replace Blackwater In Iraq
Posted by: Uncle $cam | Oct 26 2007 1:09 utc | 61
welcome to the magic kingdom, folks. please form a single line & as soon as goofy over here is done inspecting your shoes, most of you will be on your way. enjoy your stay and, remember, keep shopping.
prwatch: “Legitimate Visitors” to U.S. Get the Disney Treatment
Source: The Independent (UK), October 24, 2007
Travelers flying into the United States via airports in Washington DC and Houston are being shown “a sappy seven-minute film made by the folks at Walt Disney showcasing all that is wonderful, scenic and nice about the land of the free.” Eventually, the film will be shown “in the international arrivals halls of all major U.S. airports as well as in visa-processing offices around the world. Major airlines will also be encouraged to show it on aircraft shortly before landing in the U.S.” The movie was made by Disney’s Frederico Tio, himself a Cuban immigrant, and donated to the U.S. government. U.S. public diplomacy czar Karen Hughes praised the film for “creating a warm first impression, and first impressions are important.” A joint U.S. government / Disney press release says the film is part of “a joint vision” by the State and Homeland Security Departments “to enhance border security while streamlining security processes and facilitating travel for legitimate visitors.”
Posted by: b real | Oct 26 2007 4:18 utc | 62
The broken Army muddles forward backwards. Just like 1969.
Posted by: anna missed | Oct 26 2007 4:28 utc | 63
Stopped by kos for first time in months. It highlights 2 Reasons why Radical Extremist Repug Elites Coalescing around the Merely Extremist Right-Wing xDem. Party this election:
1) They’ll reimpose the draft, except it’ll be worse than the Draft ‘cuz it’ll sweep up Everyone up to 43-45 & be called National Service. W/out this Repugs can’t continue to wage their mass slaughter. Anyway, since they’ve bankrupted the state, they now have no alternative but slave labor to keep any of its remaining functions going.
This piece is particularly disgusting piece of work as a) Bozo says it appeals to Idealists b) Bozo says you should have to pay for yr. Bill of Rights, despite the fact that whatever Extremist xDem. elected will be literally tossing the Constitution in the toilet.
I would suggest as an alternative that we discuss that issue AFTER – all the factories are brougt back, so that we’re manufacturing 80-90% of what we need, same % of food is again produced domestically; controls are placed on capital requiring most of it be invested domestically, Predators pay same % of Federal & State Budgets they did in 1970 & likewise the rich. When those who’ve stolen everything, rectify this disaster they foisted on us, we can discuss other matters…How the bloody hell can kosfreaks be so ignorant, insane & self-destructive?
2) Predators don’t want to pay for good medical insurance anymore. They want to implement medical rationing instead, foising cost & risk onto us. Repugs structurally incapable of doing that. Medical Rationing you say? Isn’t that extreme? Well, I could have said culling the herd instead. Same deal.
Posted by: jj | Oct 26 2007 6:53 utc | 64
More on DynCorp…
DynCorp’s Claimed Loss of $1 Billion, WTF
Opps, missing millions, Billion’s, meh, who cares…
Cause, you know, there’s more where that came from…
Posted by: Uncle $cam | Oct 26 2007 7:25 utc | 65
US rendition in Africa: Shadows Whose Fate Can Only Be Guessed At
At his headquarters in a Nairobi mosque, Alamin pointed on the lists to Fazul’s children – Luqmaan, 15, Asma, 13, and Sumaiya, 4 – and his wife Halima. “It is believed that she might lead them to him and the detention of the children might smoke him out from wherever he is. It’s a ridiculous way of doing things. These kids are hostages pure and simple.”
Alamin’s Forum was in contact with the families of those arrested. They included Kenyan citizens that the Kenyan government had now sent back to Somalia, and it was clear that most if not all the prisoners had been sent on from Somalia to Ethiopia in a coordinated rendition operation. These prisoners were being transferred to Addis Ababa for interrogation, led by a team of Americans.
Alamin later told me that one of the women transferred to Ethiopia had just been released and sent back to her family’s home in Tanzania. So I travelled with him to the town of Moshi by Mount Kilimanjaro, to hear her story. Fatma Chande, aged 25, revealed that she had been questioned by US agents once they had touched down in Ethiopia. Most prisoners were told that the Americans had orchestrated the arrest and rendition operation. “The Kenyans told me originally that it is the Americans who wanted my husband, it’s the Americans who were interested in us. The police tried to force me to admit my husband was a member of al-Qaida. I told them he was a businessman. He was nothing to do with al-Qaida. They kept banging on the table. They threatened to strangle me if I didn’t tell them the truth.”
Fatma said the children suffered worst. “When we arrived at the airport, we were handcuffed and our headscarves were pulled down over our eyes. The men were hooded. The children were crying all the time saying `we want to go home, we want to go home’.”
In Ethiopia, FBI agents took her fingerprints and a DNA sample. Other women were interrogated more than she was. “They told me that they were being quizzed about their husbands – the Americans wanted to know what their husbands did, and their connections to al-Qaida”. Fatma said that not only were children held in jail but that at least one woman had gone into labour inside the prison and then “she was brought back to the cells with the baby”. The baby was called Twalha. By now Ethiopia was acknowledging it was holding 41 “suspected international terrorists” in detention, leaving about 40 of those transported to Somalia unaccounted for, including the children. It denied prisoners were being held in secret detention but admitted that neither the Red Cross nor lawyers were being allowed to see the prisoners.
Pfaff: Atheism, Religion and Nationalism
Nationalism is the fundamental cause of what is happening, religion the vehicle of this nationalism and its rationale. Islamic extremism is not directed to converting Christians or “infidels” to Islam, nor does it kill them because they are infidels. From the very start, with Osama bin Laden in Afghanistan and Saudi Arabia, it has been a manifestation of nationalism, to expel the infidel Soviet enemy from Afghanistan, and then the infidel Americans from the holy places in Saudi Arabia.
Al Qaeda wants to “defeat” the United States, as military revenge for its having built bases and waged wars in the Islamic countries. It does not conceivably imagine taking over the United States to impose Islamic religion.
The American “Christian Zionists” who think the Last Days are nigh have a religious vision of the Apocalypse to come, but nationalism drives them as well, since they are convinced that their own country, the United States, is God’s chosen instrument (“God’s Own Country”!) in the divine plan to drive Moslems out of the Christian Holy Land, drive out the Jews too, except for those who see the light and convert to Christianity (“completing their own religion,” the Christian Zionists tell them) and welcome the second coming of the Messiah, who will no doubt arrive wrapped in an American flag, to confirm America’s righteous rule, as God’s agent, over a beatified creation.
How is the chance that you are NOT on this list? More than 755,000 on US terrorist watch list
The US terrorist watch list includes more than 755,000 names and continues to grow, the US Government Accountability Office said Wednesday.
The list exploded from fewer than 20 entries before the September 11, 2001 attacks to more than 150,000 just a few months later, after the Terrorist Screening Center (TSC) was created in December 2003 to keep tabs on terrorist suspects, according to the GAO, the non-partisan investigative arm of Congress.
How is the chance that you are NOT on this [terrorist watch] list?
My guess: if you have posted on this site, you are on the list. Hey, probably just visiting this site, even by accident, is enough!
Posted by: Rick | Oct 26 2007 9:11 utc | 69
The other Naomi:
Talk by Naomi Wolf – The End of America
Talk by Naomi Wolf author of “The End of America: Letter of Warning To A Young Patriot” given October 11, 2007 at Kane Hall on the University of Washington campus.
Posted by: Uncle $cam | Oct 26 2007 9:32 utc | 70
Sy Hersh gave a talk on the 24th in Ireland for Amnesty International. No transcript, but there is an mp3.
Listened to it, lots of interesting bits in there.
– Hersh believes the Dems will likely lose the 2008 presidential election. Bush will pull out some troops next summer and that’s it.
– Afghanistan is lost to the Taliban – no way to change that.
– Bush may attack Iran – there is nothing to hold him back and he is just a believer. Bush is terrified and there is no way to change his mind.
McClatchy has another scoop: U.S. ignores angry reaction to secret poppy spraying test
WASHINGTON — In 2004, U.S.-contracted aircraft secretly sprayed harmless plastic granules over poppy fields in Afghanistan to gauge public reaction to using herbicides to kill the opium poppies that help fund the Taliban and al Qaida.
The mysterious granules ignited a major outcry from poor farmers, tribal chiefs and government officials up to President Hamid Karzai, who demanded to know if the spraying was part of a poppy eradication program. At the time, U.S officials up to the level of Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad denied any knowledge of the program.
…
Now the Bush administration is pressing Karzai to spray real herbicide against what’s expected to be another record opium poppy crop, which is refined into heroin. There’s wide opposition — from Karzai and his government, NATO allies such as Britain with troops in Afghanistan and even major parts of the U.S. government, including the Pentagon, the CIA and U.S. military commanders.
…
The officials who confirmed details of the 2004 spraying for the first time made no secret of their opposition to the program that’s being contemplated.
“It was a dry run,” said a senior State Department official. “People freaked out.”
“The results of those inert tests were: ‘Don’t do this, don’t do this,'” recalled another senior U.S. official. “Every goat with a bad ear and every (legitimate) crop that doesn’t grow will be blamed” on the spraying.
Hersh in the above talk said something like: The Afghanis certainly didn’t like the Taliban. But after what we did the last years they would love them to come back and kick the U.S. out.
Israel: Any deal with the Palestinians must be based on the ‘Road Map’
Israel is demanding that any future agreement between the two sides should be implemented in accordance with the stages set out by the road map. Furthermore, Israel has said any progress toward the establishment of a Palestinian state must meet the first requirement of the plan, which requires Palestinian security to undertake continuous and effective operations to counter terrorism in the territories….
The Palestinian delegation, headed by Ahmed Qureia, say the PA has fulfilled the first stage of the road map by reorganizing its leadership and government. They also say Israel has failed to meet its commitments during the first stage, especially in failing to remove West Bank outposts.
For its part, the Israeli side says that the Palestinians have done nothing to meet their security obligations, and that the evacuation of outposts does not have the same degree of urgency as maintaining security and containing terrorism.
As per usual, the “peace process” is starting with a complete non-starter. Israel “demands” that its terms be met without the slightest regard for the needs of the other side or (apparently) awareness that these very demands by definition will sabotage the process. (Unless that is the intention by design.)
How can the PA possibly be expected to fulfill the responsibilities of a sovereign state without ANY of the institutional or economic infrastructure of a state, starting with freedom of movement??? How can Israel possibly dismiss the Palestinians’ need for freedom of movement (ie, requirement that Israel remove the 500+ roadblocks in the West Bank alone, let alone the iron cage around Gaza) as less important than the need to “stop terror?” How can they possibly fail to understand that the only viable way to “stop terror” is to give people some small modicum of dignity, starting with the freedom to travel from one town to the next and a way, even the most rudimentary way, to make a living and feed one’s children? How hard is it to remove a few roadblocks, and why does Israel persistently up the ante on doing so (ie, remove 10 but surreptitiously establish 24 more, etc.)?
How can Israel be so narcissistic that all it can ever see is its own perspective, its own needs, its own fears? Why do they always see terrorism as completely unrelated to their own behavior, as if it is just genetically programmed into Palestinian DNA and that only by force, indeed only by pain, can it be eliminated from there, as opposed to understanding that changes in Israel’s behavior could have a massive impact as well? And how should the Palestinians, in turn, respond to this?
It’s clear that the “peace process” can founder and flail around and around even on just this one stupid starting point forever — as long as people don’t have a true intention to get beyond it. As my fourth grade teacher taught me, “If there’s a will, there’s a way.” I do remember her wise words often when I watch the ridiculous charade that passes for a “peace process” going on right now between Israelis and Palestinians.
Posted by: Bea | Oct 26 2007 14:11 utc | 73
edward herman: Genocide Inflation is the Real Human Rights Threat: Yugoslavia and Rwanda
We have all heard about “genocide denial” and “holocaust denial” as very bad happenings that have focused attention, indignation, and concern to the point of laws passed to criminalize such behavior in Austria, Belgium, France, and elsewhere. But very little attention has been paid to genocide inflation, where killings are wildly exaggerated and claims of genocide are made based on hearsay, rumor, knowing lies, and otherwise problematic “information.” No indignation has been expressed even over its more egregious illustrations, and no laws have been proposed or passed to punish its practitioners. This is because the focus on denial has been useful to powerful groups and countries in the West, whereas the critics and victims of genocide inflation have been weak and with no political or media leverage. It will be shown below, however, that this pattern not only fails to protect anybody’s human rights, but instead allows the powerful to kill and violate human rights more easily.
herman cites rwanda as an example, concluding
In sum, Rwanda offers an outstanding illustration of how genocide inflation and lies can have immense, even catastrophic, human consequences. Thus, not only did the West fail to intervene to prevent “genocide,” it intervened both before April 6th and after to ensure that the right killers took over and in support of genocide. This also ensured preferential treatment in both Rwanda and the Congo for the killers’ sponsors in the West. This history also shows how magnificently the Western media and NGOs can adapt even in the grossest cases to serve Western political-economic interests. With media and NGO help genocide claims now function as a tool of U.S. expansionism, appropriately labeled “genocidalism,” regularly applied to virtually any target and helping clear the ground for bombing attacks, invasions, occupations and regime change by the United States itself or one of it proxies or clients.
Posted by: b real | Oct 26 2007 14:30 utc | 74
pinr: Intelligence Brief: Arctic Scramble Leads Washington to Reconsider Law of the Sea
More than a decade since it was first signed by President Bill Clinton, U.S. lawmakers are once again debating whether or not to ratify the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (U.N.C.L.O.S.), a comprehensive maritime legal framework to which more than 150 states are signatories. The Bush administration’s latest push for joining U.N.C.L.O.S. comes amidst growing anxieties within Washington over Russian and Canadian displays of strength in the increasingly strategic waters of the Arctic — and the dour prospect of losing rights to the region’s precious hydrocarbons and strategic waterways.
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Under U.N.C.L.O.S., a state is given control and resource extraction rights over an area spanning approximately 200 miles (320 kilometers) from its coast, a boundary which can be pushed even further if geological evidence proves that underwater landmasses extend the continental shelf. Furthermore, while most scientists remain skeptical of claims regarding the Lomonosov so far, Moscow must demonstrate evidence of its claim before its deadline to submit a formal bid before the U.N. in 2009 under U.N.C.L.O.S., which explains the tempo of Russian missions to the region.
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Washington wishes to minimize other states’ ability to make significant gains in the region, but without being an active member of the U.N.C.L.O.S. it is difficult to dispute the claims put forth by other countries. Speaking before the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations on September 27, U.S. Deputy Secretary of State John Negroponte stated this explicitly before the Senate, saying: “Recent Russian expeditions to the Arctic have focused attention on the resource-related benefits of being a party to the [Law of the Sea] Convention…Currently, as a non-party…there is no U.S. commissioner to review the detailed data submitted by other countries on their [continental] shelves.”
U.N.C.L.O.S. has broad support in Washington and the backing of the Bush administration, yet a powerful and vocal group of conservative lawmakers, scholars, and think-tanks are vociferously denouncing the measure. They wish to block ratification — as they have done successfully in the past — on the grounds that U.N.C.L.O.S. would prohibitively hamper the freedom of the U.S. Navy to operate as it sees fit, hurt American maritime interests, and impede significantly upon national sovereignty. Some environmental groups have also come out against ratification, based on the fear that it would lead to increased resource extraction in the region.
Nevertheless, events are aligning to help its supporters push through the bill’s ratification by year’s end.
Posted by: b real | Oct 26 2007 14:45 utc | 75
could somebody help me out? what is the name of the law just passed that allows the president to to decide you are supporting terror or in any way deterring our war effort and any of your friends or relatives who assist you can also be charged. aside from the military commission act, the other one..
Posted by: annie | Oct 26 2007 16:12 utc | 76
annie- is this what you’re thinking of?
Executive Order: Blocking Property of Certain Persons Who Threaten Stabilization Efforts in Iraq
Posted by: b real | Oct 26 2007 17:04 utc | 77
annie – Jane Harman’s H.R. 1955: “Violent Radicalization and Homegrown Terrorism”? Not yet law, but she and other Dems are working to make it so.
thanks guys. b real, that is what i was looking for. b, she and other Dems are working to make it so.
heaven help us.
Posted by: annie | Oct 26 2007 18:15 utc | 79
this article is from monday, but i don’t recall seeing it mentioned here
Steep decline in oil production brings risk of war and unrest, says new study
World oil production has already peaked and will fall by half as soon as 2030, according to a report which also warns that extreme shortages of fossil fuels will lead to wars and social breakdown.
The German-based Energy Watch Group will release its study in London today saying that global oil production peaked in 2006 – much earlier than most experts had expected. The report, which predicts that production will now fall by 7% a year, comes after oil prices set new records almost every day last week, on Friday hitting more than $90 (£44) a barrel.
“The world soon will not be able to produce all the oil it needs as demand is rising while supply is falling. This is a huge problem for the world economy,” said Hans-Josef Fell, EWG’s founder and the German MP behind the country’s successful support system for renewable energy.
The report’s author, Joerg Schindler, said its most alarming finding was the steep decline in oil production after its peak, which he says is now behind us.
The results are in contrast to projections from the International Energy Agency, which says there is little reason to worry about oil supplies at the moment.
However, the EWG study relies more on actual oil production data which, it says, are more reliable than estimates of reserves still in the ground. The group says official industry estimates put global reserves at about 1.255 gigabarrels – equivalent to 42 years’ supply at current consumption rates. But it thinks the figure is only about two thirds of that.
energy watch group report available here
Posted by: b real | Oct 26 2007 18:24 utc | 80
Haaretz on Israeli plans on Gaza – ANALYSIS: Israel’s real intention behind sanctions on Gaza Strip
There is an enormous gap between the reasons Israel is giving for the decision to impose significant sanctions against Hamas rule in the Gaza Strip, and the real intentions behind them. Defense Minister Ehud Barak authorized Thursday a plan for disrupting electricity supply to the Gaza Strip, as well as significantly shrinking fuel shipments. This is supposed to reduce the number of Qassam rocket attacks against Sderot and the other border communities. In practice, defense officials believe that the Palestinian militants will intensify their attacks in response to the sanctions.
As such, the real aim of this effort is twofold: to attempt a new form of “escalation” as a response to aggression from Gaza, before Israel embarks on a major military operation there; and to prepare the ground for a more clear-cut isolation of the Gaza Strip – limiting to an absolute minimum Israel’s obligation toward the Palestinians there.
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Many soldiers will be killed and so will many innocent Palestinians, because the IDF will employ a massive artillery bombardment before it sends infantry into the crowded built-up areas. This will be a “dirty war,” very aggressive, that will have scenes of destruction similar to southern Lebanon in 2006. The sole exception: unlike in Lebanon, the population there has nowhere to run.
IHT reports travel restrictions proposed for former SecDef.
PARIS: American and European rights groups filed a legal complaint in France accusing former U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld of responsibility for torture in Iraq and at the Guantanamo Bay military prison, the groups said Friday.
The complaint was filed with the Paris prosecutor’s office as Rumsfeld arrived in France for a visit, according to the New York-based Center for Constitutional Rights, the Berlin-based European Center for Constitutional and Human Rights and two Paris-based groups, the International Federation of Human Rights and the League of Human Rights.
The rights groups say their complaint could go forward because people suspected of torture can be prosecuted in France if they are on French soil.
German federal prosecutors rejected that request in April, saying it was up to the U.S. to hold any inquiry.
Michael Ratner, president of the Center for Constitutional Rights, said his group had tried to take the case to European courts because “no one (in the United States), not even the Congress, is ready to investigate the torture program,” and because the case could not be brought with the International Criminal Court, as the United States is not a member.
Any chance that France will be more receptive than Germany to pursuing the case?
Posted by: small coke | Oct 26 2007 19:15 utc | 82
The sole exception: unlike in Lebanon, the population there has nowhere to run.
And also nowhere to get medical care, since hospitals can no longer perform surgeries or give anaesthesia. This ensures greatly elevated rates of death and agony should such an attack occur.
In the most grisly of terms, this is a one way to wage war on the so-called “demographic threat.”
Posted by: Bea | Oct 26 2007 19:59 utc | 83
The sole exception: unlike in Lebanon, the population there has nowhere to run.
And also nowhere to get medical care, since hospitals can no longer perform surgeries or give anaesthesia. This ensures greatly elevated rates of death and agony should such an attack occur.
In the most grisly of terms, this is a one way to wage war on the so-called “demographic threat.”
Posted by: Bea | Oct 26 2007 20:00 utc | 84
Well since that unintentionally posted twice, let me at least correct the typo:
“this is one way to wage war on…”
Posted by: Bea | Oct 26 2007 20:02 utc | 85
Is the U.S. trying to get the Turks really, really pissed off?
US steering clear of Kurdish fight
The top U.S. military commander in northern Iraq said Friday he plans to do “absolutely nothing” to counter Kurdish rebels who are staging deadly cross-border attacks into neighboring Turkey.
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Turkey’s state-run Anatolia news agency reported Turkish airstrikes on suspected rebel positions Friday and Ankara has threatened a large-scale offensive into Iraq if U.S. and Iraqi authorities don’t stop the rebels. On Friday, Iraq and Turkish officials held the latest in a series of diplomatic meetings aimed at ending the standoff.
Asked what the U.S. military was planning to do, Maj. Gen. Benjamin Mixon said: “Absolutely nothing.”
The Turks expect the U.S. to do something about those who kill Turkish soldiers and civilians. The U.S. doesn’t do so but has a General throw oil into the fire.
Is this a plot?
The U.S. doesn’t like the Turkish premier very much. It would rather have the “deep state”, i.e. the military take over. Pushing Turkey into a unwinable guerilla war, which the premier does not want, might help to achieve that.
Any other idea why a U.S General is talking so very blunt?
Naomi Klein on why she likes the biz press, despite their dismissals of her book:
Sure, financial editors have to do PR for capitalism. Their reporters, however, have a crucial market role. Investors require reliable information, and it’s their job to supply it. Without this honest reporting, I would never have understood how economic shock therapy programmes relied on external disasters — the very disaster capitalism I now learn, from these same pages, does not exist.
The FT has long explored how politicians harness disasters to push through unwanted economic policies. . .
[A]fter all these years of fruitful (if one-way) collaboration, the FT calls my thesis “ultimately dishonest.” Stinging as this may be, I stand behind the honesty of the FT’s reporting, which has been so very helpful in the evolution of my world view.
Posted by: small coke | Oct 26 2007 20:40 utc | 87
b@86
No explanation, only background. Mixon has been commander for northern Iraq since Sept 06, will leave Iraq in December. He was the general who spoke out publicly last May, asserting that he did not have enough troops to provide security, also criticized Iraqi govt as corrupt and ineffectual, before everyone else piled on.
As far as the PKK, my guess would be that their operations fall more under CIA and covert activities than under regular army. No doubt that Kurds have been stirring up trouble across the Iranian border for years, with US encouragement and arms. Furthermore, two and more can play that game. It seems likely that Iran would also give encouragement and arms to Kurds to make trouble that will complicate any US safe harbor in Kurdish Iraq.
The fact that the pot stirring is spilling into Kurdish Turkey, whether deliberately or beyond the control of the interested second parties, should come as no surprise to anyone. Certainly not to a general of any competence.
Posted by: small coke | Oct 26 2007 21:13 utc | 88
also –
Read somewhere a couple months ago. During Saddam’s time Turkey regularly sent patrols and raids across the border, to control Kurdish cross-border activities in Turkey. Since US occupation, Turkey stopped these military actions, in deference to US military. For some time, they have been privately complaining to the US that about increasing violence along Turkish border w/ Iraq, asking US to police. (Sorry not to provide a source.)
Maybe both sides are quietly agreeing to return to the status ante – Turkey polices the border. But why so publicly?
Posted by: small coke | Oct 26 2007 21:22 utc | 89
this country was founded on christian principles
a comic strip with a few new facts for me about this statement
Posted by: jcairo | Oct 26 2007 22:00 utc | 90
Maybe both sides are quietly agreeing to return to the status ante – Turkey polices the border. But why so publicly?
i seriously doubt the long term goal includes turkey policing the border.
Any other idea why a U.S General is talking so very blunt?
once again reviewing the map, notice ‘free kurdistan’ is larger than both sunni and shia iraq. it also gains access to the black sea and borders georgia, armenia, and Azerbaijan
The process of international recognition of Azerbaijan’s independence from collapsing Soviet Union lasted roughly one year. .. Full diplomatic relations, including mutual exchanges of missions, were first established with Turkey, the United States and Iran…..The armed forces supported the American Operation Enduring Freedom by providing one peacekeeping infantry platoon and Operation Iraqi Freedom with one peacekeeping infantry company.
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2/3 of Azerbaijan is rich in oil and natural gas…In September 1994, a 30-year contract was signed between the State Oil Company of Azerbaijan Republic (SOCAR) and 13 oil companies, among them Amoco, BP, Exxon, LUKoil, and Statoil.[32] As Western oil companies are able to tap deepwater oilfields untouched by the Soviet exploitation, Azerbaijan is considered one of the most important spots in the world for oil exploration and development.
sound friendly enough? my guess is the formation of an independent ‘free kurdistan’ is extremely important to US interests. not only do we expect the region to host our primary bases in iraq, i would imagine this area, w/its close proximity to russia is considered essential to our long term goals. we cannot be seen as invading turkey. we plan on the kurds landing it for us. my guess is the latest incursions have been provocations, supported by, at a minimum, the cia. there is a lot of ground to cover between now and 08.
as for small coke’s querie re ‘why so publicly?’. i think mixon’s words suffice.
“Let me put it to you very clearly,” he answered. The provincial Kurdish authorities have their own Peshmerga militia, Mixon and, “it’s their responsibility” in three northern provinces of Iraq.
in other words, the US is ‘letting’ the kurds carve out america’s plan.
If he were ordered to do something, would he have enough U.S. troops?
“That’s a hypothetical question,” Mixon replied. “I haven’t studied it.
you can bet your bottom dollar the pentagon has.
“We do expect the United States government to use all of the influence they have over the central government and the regional government in the north to deal with this problem,” he said.
somebody should clue him in to the zionist’s map.
Posted by: annie | Oct 27 2007 1:29 utc | 91
Abstract: The prospects for a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict remain poor, largely because of Israeli rigidity as well as Palestinian policies and internal conflicts. The United States has failed to use its considerable influence with Israel to seek the necessary changes in Israeli policies, instead providing almost unconditional support. The consequences have been disastrous for the Palestinians, for Israeli security and society, and for critical U.S. national interests in the Middle East. A major explanation for the failure of U.S. policies is the largely uninformed and uncritical mainstream and even elite media coverage of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict in the United States. In contrast, the debate in Israel is more self-critical, vigorous, and far-ranging, creating at least the possibility of change, even as U.S. policy stagnates. A comparison of the coverage of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict by the two most prestigious daily newspapers in the United States and Israel—in particular the breakdown of the peace process in 2000 and the ensuing Palestinian intifada, the nature of the Israeli occupation, the problem of violence and terrorism, and the prospects for peace today—underscores these differences. While the New York Times has muted the alarm over the dangers of the United States’ near-unconditional support for Israeli policies toward the Palestinian, Haaretz has sought to sound the alarm.
Full study available at the link.
Posted by: Bea | Oct 27 2007 2:38 utc | 92
Please take time to visit this blog by a British doctor of Indian origin who has recently travelled to Palestine for the first time. His trip is detailed on a day by day basis in the blog with LOTS of photos. (Read from the end–DAY 1 backwards to the beginning – last day). After his trip, he published a letter in the British Medical Journal about the boycott issue. You can find it at this link if you scroll way down… there are so many letters…
Recommended!
Posted by: Bea | Oct 27 2007 3:20 utc | 93
@small coke – 88 It seems likely that Iran would also give encouragement and arms to Kurds to make trouble that will complicate any US safe harbor in Kurdish Iraq.
Very, very unlikely – PKK and PJAK, the kurd guerillas in Turkey and Iran work hand in hand. The Iranian army shelled PJAK positions in north Iraq. They lost over 100 people through trouble with their Kurds over the last ~18 month (hardly reported in the ‘west’.)
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A funny headline in todays NYT that somehow doesn’t fit at all with the U.S. General’s position quoted above: Iraq Plan to Add U.S. Troops at Kurdish Border Is Rejected by Turkey
Turkey’s prime minister on Friday rejected an Iraqi proposal that included a military role for the United States in resolving a standoff over raids by Kurdish guerrillas across the rugged border into Turkey.
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The Iraqis proposed positioning American soldiers in border forts in the Qandil Mountains, a jagged area that has never been fully under the control of any government. Although American military officials were part of the delegation taking part in the meetings, it was unclear what role, if any, the military might ultimately agree to.
SecDef Gates at a NATO meeting:
Turkish strikes against Kurdish terrorists on its border with Iraq made little sense without “good intelligence”, said US Defense Secretary Robert Gates Wednesday.
“Without good intelligence, sending large numbers of troops across the border or dropping bombs doesn’t seem to make much sense to me,” he told reporters after talks with NATO defence ministers in the Netherlands.
This applied “for anybody” considering such action, he added.
A war declaration to Cheney?
Incompetence? Really? Really???
TPM
A while back the [House Judiciary Committee] set up a web tipline for tipster with information on politicization and wrongdoing at the Bush DOJ. Today the committee sent an email to all the tipsters alerting them to extremely tight safeguards in place to keep their identities and stories confidential. Unfortunately they put the 150+ email address in the “to:” field in the email, not “bcc:”. So everyone’s email got sent to anyone else. And probably because of pranksters one of the addresses those emails got sent to was to non other than the vice president’s office.
Conflict in Darfur escalated in 2003 after in parallel with negotiations “ending” the south Sudan war. The U.S.-backed insurgency by the Sudan People’s Liberation Army (SPLA), the guerilla force that fought the northern Khartoum government for 20 years, shifted to Darfur, even as the G.W. Bush government allied with Khartoum in the U.S. led “war on terror.” The Sudan Liberation Army (SLA)—one of some 27 rebel factions mushrooming in Darfur—is allied with the SPLA and supported from Uganda. Andrew Natsios, former USAID chief and now US envoy to Sudan, said on October 6, 2007 that the atmosphere between the governments of north and south Sudan “had become poisonous.” This is no surprise given the magnitude of the resource war in Sudan and the involvement of international interests.
Darfur is reported to have the fourth largest copper and third largest uranium deposits in the world. Darfur produces two-thirds of the world’s best quality gum Arabic—a major ingredient in Coke and Pepsi. Contiguous petroleum reserves are driving warfare from the Red Sea, through Darfur, to the Great Lakes of Central Africa. Private military companies operate alongside petroleum contractors and “humanitarian” agencies. Sudan is China’s fourth biggest supplier of imported oil, and U.S. companies controlling the pipelines in Chad and Uganda seek to displace China through the US military alliance with “frontline” states hostile to Sudan: Uganda, Chad and Ethiopia.
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Remarkable that WaPo reports this:
“When we first got here, all the shops were open. There were women and children walking out on the street,” Alarcon said this week. “The women were in Western clothing. It was our favorite street to go down because of all the hot chicks.”
That was 14 long months ago, when the soldiers from the 1st Battalion, 18th Infantry Regiment, 1st Infantry Division, arrived in southwestern Baghdad. It was before their partners in the Iraqi National Police became their enemies and before Shiite militiamen, aligned with the police, attempted to exterminate a neighborhood of middle-class Sunni families.
Next month, the U.S. soldiers will complete their tour in Iraq. Their experience in Sadiyah has left many of them deeply discouraged, by both the unabated hatred between rival sectarian fighters and the questionable will of the Iraqi government to work toward peaceful solutions.
Asked if the American endeavor here was worth their sacrifice — 20 soldiers from the battalion have been killed in Baghdad — Alarcon said no: “I don’t think this place is worth another soldier’s life.”
Then again, they blame the Iraqis. No question asked if the U.S. troops could be the real reason for the observed change.
Imbedded “journalists” tossing softball questions at a press conference? How is that a scandal? I thought that was standard operating procedure for this administration.
FEMA Apologizes After Sham News Conference
You’re doing a heckuva job, Grigori Alexandrovich Potemkin.
Posted by: Monolycus | Oct 27 2007 7:55 utc | 99
#b, 98,
For it to be otherwise, the troops in question would have to be able to put themselves in Iraqi shoes – something no one in the civilian consciousness seems able to do, let alone those trained and indoctrinated to eschew any such thought. So its on too blame the victim (type racism) for their failure to be like you – for your failure in assuming that they would, and robbed you of the success you’ve been promised. Intrinsic failure as such, coupled with the luxury of scapegoatism instead of penalty and atonement breeds the rot of a civilization from within.
Posted by: anna missed | Oct 27 2007 9:22 utc | 100