Studio8 - Uniting the Arts

(with over 2,100 Americans killed in Iraq and nearly 16,000 wounded--Pentagon figures--Paul Sperry asks who made Iraq into a threat?)



Who Made Iraq Into a Threat?



by Paul Sperry


Before he invaded Iraq, President Bush warned us that the terrorists were using Iraq as a base to attack America. After the invasion, we found out that was nonsense on stilts.

Now Bush warns us the terrorists really are using Iraq as a base to attack America, and we have to stay there to defeat them. The terrorists are a "direct threat to the American people," he asserted yesterday.

Here we go again. At least this time he's a little closer to the truth: There are in fact terrorists in Iraq today, and they are killing American soldiers there. But we can thank our president for that – he made the "Iraqi threat" a self-fulfilling prophecy.

At yesterday's Annapolis pep rally, Bush tried to scare the American people into staying the course in Iraq by once again tying it to the war on terrorism and their own personal safety. Now is not the time to cut and run, he insisted; Iraq is no less than the "central front" in the war on terror.

But was Iraq the "central front" before Bush invaded? No, the central front was the Afghan-Pakistani border, al-Qaeda's home base (and it still is, thanks to Bush shifting the military resources needed to finish the job there to his wag-the-dog war in Iraq).

It's high time the White House press corps put down their stenographer's notepads, stopped dictating the president's doublespeak, and started forcing him to own up to the terrible reality he created in Iraq. If there is a threat from Iraq now, he and he alone created it by invading. It's self-evident from the litany of problems he cited in his speech. Just ask him if they existed before he started his unprovoked war:


Mr. President, did Abu Musab al-Zarqawi have Osama bin Laden's blessing before you invaded Iraq? (No, he was just another wannabe.)
Was there an al-Qaeda "base of operations" for Zarqawi to run in Iraq before you invaded? (Nope.)
Were suicide bombers pouring into Iraq from Saudi Arabia, Egypt, and Syria before you invaded? (No.)
Were terrorists beheading Western contractors in Iraq before you invaded? (No.)
Were terrorists blowing up Americans in Iraq at a rate of 2-3 a day before you invaded? (No.)
Was Iraq a magnet for wide-eyed jihadists from all over the world before you invaded? (No, but now they're getting on-the-job training.)
Were middle-aged Iraqi women strapping bombs to themselves to avenge the loss of loved ones before you invaded? (No.)
Was Iraq exporting terrorism to Jordan before you invaded? (No.)
Did terrorists attack Madrid and London before you invaded? (No.)
Did the Iraqi army and police need to be "stood up" and "trained" to keep the peace in Iraq before you invaded their country? (No.)
Were Sunnis and Shi'ites at each others' throats in Iraq before you invaded? (No.)
Was there an anti-American insurgency in Iraq before you invaded?
Of course not. None of these threats existed before Bush invaded Iraq and made it the most violent place on Earth. Thanks to him, America is now a threat to itself.


(Dec.1 from AntiWar.com)

It's high time the White House press corps put down their stenographer's notepads, stopped dictating the president's doublespeak, and started forcing him to own up to the terrible reality he created in Iraq. If there is a threat from Iraq now, he and he alone created it by invading. It's self-evident from the litany of problems he cited in his speech. Just ask him if they existed before he started his unprovoked war:

I been ducking reality lately. Just can't deal with it, want to stick my head in the sand. and hide. Hardly listen to the news the past couple weeks. I been putting my hopes on the Jack Abramhoff investigation. Counting on the corruption issue to turn the tide in congress come 2006. I am sure by 2006 the war in Iraq won't be an issue. We are going to do the Vietnaminization rabbit in the hat trick again. Apparently the military is paying for Iraqi news papers to run their progaganda as "news stories". I almost wish we had a tenth amendment, "freedom from the press"

High Times indeed. Say isn't that a magzine about horticulture?

( MAYBE THE MONGOLIANS CAN WIN IT!)



U.S.-Led Iraq Coalition Steadily Eroding


December 2nd, 2005 @ 5:44am


By WILLIAM J. KOLE


Associated Press Writer

VIENNA, Austria (AP) - Two of America's allies in Iraq are withdrawing forces this month and a half-dozen others are debating possible pullouts or reductions, increasing pressure on Washington as calls mount to bring home U.S. troops.

Bulgaria and Ukraine will begin withdrawing their combined 1,250 troops by mid-December. If Australia, Britain, Italy, Japan, Poland and South Korea reduce or recall their personnel, more than half of the non-American forces in Iraq could be gone by next summer.

Japan and South Korea help with reconstruction, but Britain and Australia provide substantial support forces and Italy and Poland train Iraqi troops and police. Their exodus would deal a blow to American efforts to prepare Iraqis to take over the most dangerous peacekeeping tasks and craft an eventual U.S. exit strategy.

"The vibrations of unease from within the United States clearly have an impact on public opinion elsewhere," said Terence Taylor of the International Institute for Strategic Studies in Washington. "Public opinion in many of these countries is heavily divided."

In the months after the March 2003 invasion, the multinational force numbered about 300,000 soldiers from 38 countries _ 250,000 from the U.S. and 50,000 from other countries. The coalition has steadily unraveled as the death toll rises and angry publics clamor for troops to leave.

Now the nearly 160,000-member U.S. force in Iraq is supported by just under 24,000 mostly non-combat personnel from 27 countries. Britain has the second-largest contingent with 8,000 in Iraq and 2,000 elsewhere in the Gulf region.

In the spring, the Netherlands had 1,400 troops in Iraq. Today, there are 19, including a lone Dutch soldier in Baghdad.

Ukraine's remaining 876 troops in Iraq are due home by Dec. 31, fulfilling a campaign pledge by President Viktor Yushchenko. Bulgaria is pulling out its 380 troops after Dec. 15 parliamentary elections, Defense Minister Veselin Bliznakov said.

In his strategy for Iraq, announced Wednesday, President Bush said expanding international support was one of his goals. He also seemed to address the issue of more allies withdrawing.

"As our posture changes over time, so too will the posture of our coalition partners," the document says. "We and the Iraqis must work with them to coordinate our efforts, helping Iraq to consolidate and secure its gains on many different fronts."

Struggling to shore up the coalition, Bush stopped in Mongolia on his recent Asia trip and praised its force of about 120 soldiers in Iraq as "fearless warriors."

At least 2,110 U.S. service personnel have died since the beginning of the Iraq war, according to an Associated Press count. At least 200 troops from other countries also have died, including 98 from Britain. Other tolls: Italy, 27; Ukraine, 18; Poland, 17; Bulgaria, 13; Spain, 11; Slovakia, three; Denmark, El Salvador, Estonia, Netherlands, Thailand, two each; Hungary, Kazakhstan, Latvia, one each.

Underscoring mounting opposition in nearly all coalition countries, a poll published in Japan's Asahi newspaper this week showed 69 percent of respondents opposed extending the mission, up from 55 percent in January. No margin of error was given.

Japan's Kyodo News service reported Wednesday that Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's Cabinet would decide Dec. 8 to allow its 600 troops to stay for another year, but it could decide later to withdraw troops around May.

A British drawdown would be the most dramatic.

Although Prime Minister Tony Blair's government insists there is no timetable and British forces will leave only when Iraqi troops can take over, Defense Secretary John Reid suggested last month that a pullout could begin "in the course of the next year."

South Korea, the second-largest coalition partner after Britain, is expected to withdraw about 1,000 of its 3,200 troops in the first half of 2006. The National Assembly is likely to vote on the matter this month.

Italy's military reportedly is preparing to give parliament a timetable for a proposed withdrawal of its 2,800 troops. Premier Silvio Berlusconi's government has said it plans to withdraw forces in groups of 300, but in accordance with the Iraqi government and coalition allies.

Poland's former leftist government, which lost Sept. 25 elections, had planned to withdraw its 1,400 troops in January. The new defense minister, Radek Sikorski, visits Washington this weekend for talks on Poland's coalition plans, and the new government is expected to decide by mid-December whether to extend its mission beyond Dec. 31.

"Some formula of advisory-stabilizing mission could remain on a smaller scale, of course, and our commanders are prepared for several variants," Col. Zdzislaw Gnatowski of the Polish army's general staff told The Associated Press.

Air Chief Marshal Angus Houston, head of the Australian Defense Force, has said about 450 troops in the southern province of Muthanna could leave by May. Australia has about 900 troops and support staff across Iraq.

Many coalition members have pledged to stay in Iraq for all of 2006; at least one, Lithuania, has committed to the end of 2007. And the coalition is still drawing new members, most recently Bosnia, which sent 36 bomb-disposal experts in June.

"We are getting letters of gratitude from the U.S. commanders for our peacekeepers' excellent service," said Ilgar Verdiyev, a Defense Ministry spokesman in Azerbaijan, which has 150 troops in Iraq and is one of the few mostly Muslim countries to contribute.

___

Associated Press writers Vladimir Isachenkov in Moscow and Ryan Lucas in Warsaw, Poland, contributed to this report.

Bush's Strategy for Disaster ( Ray McGovern)


http://www.antiwar.com/mcgovern/?articleid=8202



--Z

WHY? WHY? WHY? WHY? WHY? WHY? WHY? WHY? WHY?

This is all I can say anymore. Sometimes I scream it, when no one is around to hear.
Frightening depths of anguish.
Anger, frustration,
no outlet.

I'm like an
ocean tide
caught spinning in a
dense trap.

We gotta get outta this place.
If it's the last thing we ever do.

You know what I mean?
Thanks, always, for the articles Zlatko
H

( MAYBE THE MONGOLIANS CAN WIN IT!)

I am holding out for Deus Ex Machina
Winning is no longer a problem
Its da rapture
Pardon my idiocy professor, I had to listen to Bach today. I mean listen two boom boxes going on either side of me. Almost more than I can bear.

We gotta get outta this place.
If it's the last thing we ever do.

You crack me up hester. but I am already so cracked up it don't take much to shatter me these days. Grateful I have work and a motorcycle a couple of boom boxes and some arkansas polio weed. Jimboloco up on my shoulder like jimmy cricket telling me to get my ass in gear, if nothing else I got make a date with that thursday peace vigil down by the Alamo. Only been to one since the summer. Time Fades Into Next Remember bill king, I hardly see him around anymore, A time when I could really use some bill electric induced reality. Maybe I ought to slip over to litkicks and see what he has been upto. Whose post?
Z
sorry
just say hijack
two aspirin

A conservative Republican businessman outlines Bush's record and offers an exit strategy:


http://www.commondreams.org/views05/1205-30.htm




--Z

I voted for Republican Alfred Landon against Franklin D. Roosevelt.

I guess that makes him about 91. He writes more clearly than I do.

A good letter but not realy an exit strategy?

President Bush (and Vice President Dick Cheney) should be shown the exit door with a proviso to never darken the Oval Office again.

I like his comments about our brain dead President Reagan. Can you believe the lies and nostalgia when he died. Lets put his picture on a ten dollar bill. Lets put Bushies picture on a three dollar bill. Lets put cheney's picture up on the america's most wanted list at the post office.

Alf Landon, maybe he would have prevented that jew Rosevelt from getting us into World War II on the wrong side. Hell I don't know nothing about Landon, he probably have been a great president. I like the letter a lot Z. Truman made his chops busting war profiteers. If we could win enough seats in congress demo/repubs one group of fresh blood coming in who got the honesty to investigate the dirty deals of dirty dick and company. Ah it is sweet to speculate. But incumbents have about a 95% chance of re election I think. The 9-11 report is out, four years and counting to the fire next time. Do you think it will build a fire under congress to do something. I heard Bush giving a stern warning to big corpoarations last night. It ain't nice to steal your employees retirement plans. Got dam he sounded like he was going to swallow his tongue on that one.

oh god I am ranting and raving and typing and I can't stop.

(PUTTING AMERICA LAST)


The report of the 9/11 Commission. Grades for the Bush Administration . . .


(Jason Raimondo)



(link)

http://www.antiwar.com/justin/?articleid=8218




--Z