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| 5/23 |
| 2010/7/20-8/11 [Politics/Foreign/MiddleEast/Iraq] UID:53889 Activity:low |
7/20 Is jblack still on? What about the rest of the pro-war cheerleaders?
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100720/ap_on_re_eu/eu_britain_iraq_inquiry
\_ War is fought for the glory of generals and the economics of the
war machine. Looking for "justifications" for it is like looking
for sense in the necronomicon. Just accept it and move on.
\_ When we fight with Red China, what nation will we use as a proxy?
\_ Pakistan.
\_ Oh, not korea?
\_ Supplying by land >>>> supplying over the pacific; see
any documentary on Guadalcanal.
\_ Taiwan, I assume. Korea would work also, but a bit harder to get
started, for both sides.
\_ Probably Taiwan, but really any country in the region that we
give two spits about and that PRC cares to invade.
\_ How would you supply Taiwan if the PRC blockades the Yellow
Sea and the Balintang Channel?
\_ How does China re-inforce their invasion force in the face
of 13 US aircraft carriers? We both have the same problem,
which would make it kind of interesting. China would be
smarter to pick a fight over a place they can resupply by
land, but they probably don't want to have to deal with
North Korea either.
\_ They're alot closer to Taiwan, and cargo in subs.
\_ The Japanese tried that in Guadalcanal
\_ Those weren't real subs, those were diesel
submersible ships. Also, we broke their code.
\_ Good thing Iraq is a shining example of Democracy and Freedom
in the Middle East. Now everyone there will want to be our ally:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100727/ap_on_re_mi_ea/ml_iraq
\_ There's a bridge in San Francisco I want to sell you. |
| 5/23 |
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| news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100720/ap_on_re_eu/eu_britain_iraq_inquiry KVUE-TV Austin By DAVID STRINGER, Associated Press Writer David Stringer, Associated Press Writer - Tue Jul 20, 2:21 pm ET LONDON - The war in Iraq led to a loss of focus on the threat from al-Qaida, emboldened the group's leader Osama bin Laden, and helped to breed a generation of homegrown terrorists, Britain's former domestic spy chief told an inquiry Tuesday. Making the sharpest criticism so far aired in Britain's inquiry into mistakes made in the Iraq war, Eliza Manningham-Buller, director of the MI5 agency between 2002 and 2007, said Britain's government paid little attention to warnings that the war would fuel domestic terrorism. Manningham-Buller also said Iraq had posed little threat before the 2003 US-led invasion, and insisted there was no evidence of a link between former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein and the Sept. "There was no credible intelligence to suggest that connection and that was the judgment, I might say, of the CIA," she told the inquiry. "It was not a judgment that found favor with some parts of the American machine." The ex-spy chief said those pushing the case for war in the United States gave undue prominence to scraps of inconclusive intelligence on possible links between Iraq and the 2001 attacks. She singled out the then-US Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld. "It is why Donald Rumsfeld started an alternative intelligence unit in the Pentagon to seek an alternative judgment," said Manningham-Buller, who was a frequent visitor to the US as MI5 chief. "Saddam Hussein had nothing to do with 9/11 and I have never seen anything to make me change my mind," she said. Manningham-Buller also indicated that MI5 disagreed with then-Prime Minister Tony Blair over a key justification for the war -- Iraq's purported harboring of weapons of mass destruction. She said the belief that Iraq might use such weapons against the West "wasn't a concern in either the short term or the medium term to either my colleagues or myself." Manningham-Buller, now a member of the House of Lords, was testifying to the inquiry panel in London. Convened by the government, the inquiry aims to examine the buildup to the Iraq war and errors made on post-conflict planning. It won't apportion blame or assign criminal liability for mistakes made, but will issue a report later this year with recommendations for future operations and military missions. Manningham-Buller said the focus on Iraq had far-reaching consequences for the mission to tackle global terrorism. "By focusing on Iraq, we reduced the focus on the al-Qaida threat in Afghanistan. I think that was a long-term, major and strategic problem," she told the panel. She acknowledged the Iraq war vastly increased the terrorism threat to Britain -- with her officers battling to handle a torrent of terrorism plots launched by homegrown radicals in the wake of the 2003 invasion of Iraq. "Our involvement in Iraq radicalized, for want of a better word, a whole generation of young people -- not a whole generation, a few among a generation -- who saw our involvement in Iraq, on top of our involvement in Afghanistan, as being an attack on Islam," she said. She disclosed for the first time that about 70 to 80 British citizens had traveled to Iraq to join the insurgency. Video messages left by the four suicide bombers who killed 52 commuters in the 2005 attacks on London's subway and bus network had referred to Britain's role in Iraq. Manningham-Buller told the five-member inquiry panel that the decision to invade Iraq had likely provided an impetus to al-Qaida. "Arguably we gave Osama bin Laden his Iraqi jihad, so that he was able to move into Iraq in a way that he was not before," she said. The ex-spy chief, giving evidence in a public session, said she had been asked by the British government after the invasion to persuade deputy US Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz to ditch his plan to disband Iraq's army. She said she found she had "not a hope" of changing Wolfowitz's mind. She also acknowledged that the intelligence picture before the Iraq war was incomplete. A previous British inquiry into the Iraq war criticized flawed intelligence used before the invasion. She said MI5 had refused requests to supply "low-grade" intelligence for a government dossier on the case for war, a document sharply criticized in the previous inquiry. Other ex-intelligence chiefs -- including two former heads of the MI6 overseas spy agency -- have given evidence to the inquiry in private sessions. Report Abuse Dick Cheney and George Bush made it clear that there was a link between Saddam and Al-Qaida. The Iraqi people were made to pay for what they did to us on 9-11. There are satilite photos of the weapons of mass destruction being shipped to Syria. Don't you people listen to the Sean Hannity radio program? Saddam was getting yellow cake from @#$% he was close to having a nuke. Look at the map now and use your ole red blue political influence map tricks on the Middle East region. Holy smokes I never dared dream that much penetration into the Middle East would have even been possible! Bin laden failed in the very beginning and he knew it year one. All those years of talk just turned out to be smack at some level. The gamble was that the Muslims would unite and rise up to smite the evil America as a unit. In the face of the American war machine they were like deer in headlights and left thier Iraq brothers to be slaughtered.. The jihad just didn't happen at level he needed it too, the great battle was lost as soon as it began. And now half the Middle East is infested with Americans. Brought the westerners to the homeland and now they will stay. Yeah I would be pissed at the false hero "Bin laden the Great Destroyer of the Middle East!" Maybe but kind of small minded as long term self interests will and have taken priority. Peace be with the innocent victims and shame on humanity! Report Abuse Steve, It's not America's job to be the world police. If we wanted to attack a dangerous nation with WMDs, we should've attacked Iran or North Korea. They actually have WMDs and ballistic missiles capable of hitting out allies - Iraq did not. After the first Gulf War, he wanted to lay low and didn't really bother the US anymore. Iran on the other hand is run by a crazy fundamentalist theocracy and North Korea is run by a nutcase with an inferiority complex. The information contained in the AP News report may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without the prior written authority of The Associated Press. |
| news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100727/ap_on_re_mi_ea/ml_iraq FILE - In this Jan 24, 2004 file photo, fires flare off the gas from crude oil at Iraq's oldest oil processing plant in the northern Iraqi town of Bab AP - FILE - In this Jan 24, 2004 file photo, fires flare off the gas from crude oil at Iraq's oldest oil processing ... It's cash that Iraq, which relies on volatile oil revenues to fuel its spending, can ill afford to lose. "Iraq should take legal action to get back this huge amount of money," said Sabah al-Saedi, chairman of the Parliamentary Integrity Committee. The money "should be spent for rebuilding the country and providing services for this poor nation." The report by the Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction accused the Defense Department of lax oversight and weak controls, though not fraud. "The breakdown in controls left the funds vulnerable to inappropriate uses and undetected loss," the audit said. The Pentagon has repeatedly come under fire for apparent mismanagement of the reconstruction effort -- as have Iraqi officials themselves. Seven years after the US-led invasion, electricity service is spotty, with generation capacity falling far short of demand. Fuel shortages are common and unemployment remains high, a testament to the country's inability to create new jobs or attract foreign investors. Complaints surfaced from the start of the war in 2003, when soldiers failed to secure banks, armories and other facilities against looters. Since then the allegations have only multiplied, including investigations of fraud, awarding of contracts without the required government bidding process and allowing contractors to charge exorbitant fees with little oversight, or oversight that came too late. But the latest report comes at a particularly critical time for Iraq. Four months after inconclusive elections, a new government has yet to be formed, raising fears that insurgents will tap into the political vacuum to stir sectarian unrest. In a sign that insurgents are still intent on igniting sectarian violence, at least six people were killed and dozens more wounded when a female suicide bomber blew herself up near a checkpoint in the holy city of Karbala, local police said. They spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the media. Thousands of Shiite pilgrims are converging on the city, 50 miles (80 kilometers) south of Baghdad, for an important religious holiday marking the birth of a Shiite saint known as the "Hidden Imam" who disappeared in the ninth century. Such mass displays of devotion by Shiites have often been targeted by Sunni extremists. Iraqi lawmakers met Tuesday, but for the second time this month failed to convene a parliament session, leaving wide open the question of when the new government will take shape. Iraq is projected to run a deficit through 2011, according to analysts, with a possibility of a surplus following that hinging on oil prices. Iraq took a financial hit in 2008 as oil prices plummeted on the back of the global financial meltdown. While those prices have since rebounded, Iraq remains at the mercy of international oil markets, with revenues from petroleum sales accounting for over 90 percent of its government budget. The DFI includes revenues from Iraq's oil and gas exports, as well as frozen Iraqi assets and surplus funds from the defunct, Saddam Hussein-era UN oil-for-food program. Iraq had given the US authorization to tap into the fund, which is held in New York, for humanitarian and reconstruction efforts, withdrawing that approval in December 2007. With the establishment of the Coalition Provisional Authority, which ran Iraq shortly after the start of the US invasion in 2003 until mid-2004, about $20 billion was placed into the account. The report found that the Defense Department could not "readily account for its obligations, expenditures and remaining balances associated" with the DFI. Tracing the rest of the money is difficult because of a combination of lax financial controls and management, the failure to designate an organization to oversee the spending and the failure to set up and deposit the funds in special accounts, as required by the Treasury Department. The Defense Department, in responses attached to the audit, said it agreed with the report's recommendations to establish better guidelines for monitoring such funds, including appointing an oversight organization mostly likely by November. The failure to properly manage billions in reconstruction funds has also hobbled the troubled US-led effort to rebuild Afghanistan. About $60 billion have poured into Afghanistan since 2001 in hopes of bringing electricity, clean water, jobs, roads and education to the crippled country. The US alone has committed $51 billion to the project since 2001, and plans to raise the stakes to $71 billion over the next year -- more than it has spent on reconstruction in Iraq since 2003. An Associated Press investigation showed that the results so far -- or lack of them -- threaten to do more harm than good. The number of Afghans with access to electricity has increased from 6 percent in 2001 to only about 10 percent now, far short of the goal of providing power to 65 percent of urban and 25 percent of rural households by the end of this year. As an example of the problems, a $100 million diesel-fueled power plant was built with the goal of delivering electricity to more than 500,000 residents of the capital, Kabul. The plant's costs tripled to $305 million as construction lagged a year behind schedule. The plant now often sits idle because the Afghans were able to import cheaper power from neighboring Uzbekistan before the plant came online. Report Abuse You add that to the 23 Trillion the Pentagram lost, the 13 Trillion the Federal Reserve lost (stole), and hell, we have the worst accountants and MBA's in history. Oh wait, aren't they all graduates from Harvard Business School? It's hard to imagine that a proper accounting for how these finds were used was not in place from the very start. The Republicans and their conservative allies can't pin this one on Obama since it happened on George W Bush's watch. Report Abuse Remember when Halliburton was collecting money for "services not rendered" to our troops in Iraq. I'd bet that, our former vice president, Dick Cheney has a few of those missing 8 billion plus dollars. Report Abuse Just imagine, living in a country like Iraq, where poor civilians are being killed each and everyday b/c of our governments nasty bombs. Its so sad, we drive our cars, live in fancy houses, have jobs, and yet, someone is being killed in iraq b/c of OUR MISSILES. this way I won't have to worry about paying anyone anything; I no longer need my "Name", no longer need "Credit", nor do I need the Federal Government to tell me how I will or will not spend what little I have! You people in Washington have never asked me how the tax dollars are to be spent! You seen and helped cripple the country for the past 25 yrs! The information contained in the AP News report may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without the prior written authority of The Associated Press. |