Iraqi army the best in Latin America

"The Iraqi army, as far as capability goes, I'd stack them up against just about any Latin American army I've dealt with," Col. Ehrich Rose said. Link

db: Fantastic, the troops will be home for Christmas then:

A portrait of Latin American military institutions

First and foremost, these are not war-fighting forces, with several notable exceptions. Warplanes and helicopters are generally inoperable for lack of spare parts and maintenance. Radars hardly exist. Warships sit in harbor, elderly, unreliable, and lacking fuel. Armies are small and ill-equipped, with vintage trucks, nonfunctional armor, obsolete artillery. I have seen soldiers training in sandals, because the army could not afford shoe leather. In several countries the military is a part-time occupation: everyone, from top to bottom, leaves at noon to go off to his or her second job. Link

Iraq: Worst ever month for British troops

A British soldier was shot dead in southern Iraq yesterday, the twelfth to die this month, providing further evidence of an alarming rise in violent attacks. Link

db: Does anybody really believe that when the green light for a troop withdrawal is finally given Iraq will be in a better state than it is today? If not, why are troops still there, getting killed? Could it be that a timely withdrawal - now - would reflect badly on the arch criminal Blair, and that all these dead troops are being 'sacrificed' not in the name of a 'worthy' goal - like bringing security for example - but rather these lads are being 'sacrificed' for politics. Pulling them out now would damage the PM - and George Bush.

Cryptome Shutdown by Verio/NTT

As you would expect from John Young, Cryptome is back up, but for interest.....

[By certified mail, received 28 April 2007.]

VERIOAn NTT Communications Company
Writer's Direct Numberso) 303-645-1912fax) 303-708-2445e-mail: dthompson[at]verio.net
April 20, 2007

Via Certified Mail
John YoungCryptome Org251 West 89th StreetNew Yor, NY 10024
RE: www.cryptome.org

Dear Mr. Young,
This letter is to notify you that we are terminating your service for violation of our Acceptable Use Policy, effective Friday May 4, 2007. We are providing you with two week notice to locate another service provider.
Sincerely,
VERIO INC.an NTT Communications Company

[Signed]
Danna ThompsonLegal Department
Verio Inc.8005 S. Chester StreetSuite 200Englewood, CO 80112

db: Link to Cryptome MIRROR here.

Iraq government raps US Senate

Iraq's government has criticised the US Senate vote to begin withdrawing US troops by October 1.

"We see some negative signs in the decision because it sends wrong signals to some sides that might think of alternatives to the political process," said government spokesman Ali al-Dabbagh. Link

Go Now to Iraq Oh Brave Prince

Prince Harry will be deployed with his regiment, the Blues and Royals of the Household Cavalry, on the frontline in south-eastern Iraq next month despite concerns among military commanders that he might attract fire from insurgents and rogue elements within Shia militias.That was the message last night from the Ministry of Defence, but officials did not rule out a late decision to leave the prince at home when his regiment begins its tour, whatever the consequences for his army career. Clarence House said .................................[db: whatever] Link

db: The tactical benefit to troops on the ground of having this twit deployed amongst them is difficult to see. The strategic value to the propagandists at the MoD and Neo-Labour is easier to grasp. I guarantee one thing, if he does go to Iraq he won't get killed. Which is why the little fucker is "not afraid to die".

This is the third Royal story def brain has published since 2004. It's getting out of hand.

Someone Torture George Tenet Please

"I know that this program has saved lives. I know we've disrupted plots ...I know this program alone is worth more than the FBI, the Central Intelligence Agency and the National Security Agency put together, have been able to tell us." Link

Al-Qaeda to nuke UK, we're toast

Al-Qaeda leaders in Iraq are planning the first "large-scale" terrorist attacks on Britain and other western targets with the help of supporters in Iran, according to a leaked intelligence report.

Spy chiefs warn that one operative had said he was planning an attack on "a par with Hiroshima and Nagasaki" in an attempt to “shake the Roman throne”, a reference to the West. Link

db: Hiroshima or Nagasaki? Iran's Shia working with AQ ... in Iraq ... to kill us all? An axis-of-evil/terrorist nexus - coupled with a failed state and unseasonably hot weather in London. It just doesn't get any worse than this. Although I guess the Neo-Labour crowd will be grateful that these particular column inches are not devoted to Corruption in British government

Crisis Mode Grips World Bank Headquarters

There is a crisis atmosphere at World Bank headquarters here in Washington, with dozens of emergency staff meetings, more calls for the embattled president Paul Wolfowitz to step down, and clearer displays of rebellion inside the Bank.

... Two sources confirmed to IPS that about 110 country directors, their deputies and programme coordinators sent a message Friday saying they want Wolfowitz out.

At issue is a scandal involving excessive pay he coordinated for his girlfriend and then-Bank staffer Shaha Riza at a time when he was spearheading an anti-corruption campaign at the Bank and in its projects. Link

4 Million Iraqi refugees - Not wanted in Europe

European Union nations said Friday there was no urgent need to accept more Iraqi refugees, agreeing only to consider sending more humanitarian aid to Syria and Jordan to take in Iraqis.

German Interior Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble told reporters that EU justice and interior ministers did not consider the current refugee crisis urgent enough for Europe to open its doors to more asylum-seekers from Iraq. Link

Iraq war 'lost' says top Democrat

The US war in Iraq is lost and a further build-up of US troops in the country will not recover the situation, the senior Democrat in the US senate has said.

"This war is lost, and this surge is not accomplishing anything, as is shown by the extreme violence in Iraq this week," Harry Reid, the senate Democratic majority leader, told reporters.

Reid, who held talks with George Bush on Wednesday, said he told the president that he thought the war could not be won through military force.

Only political, economic and diplomatic means could bring success, he said

His comments came as the US defence secretary told Iraqi leaders that US support for the country was not an "open-ended commitment".

Robert Gates was speaking as he left Tel Aviv for his first visit to Iraq since the US decided to send an extra 30,000 troops to the country in what the Bush administration has labelled a troop surge.

On Wednesday at least 180 people were killed in a series of bombings in Baghdad, with one blast near a market killing more than 140 people - the deadliest single bomb attack in the capital since the US-led invasion in 2003.

On Thursday, the violence continued when a suicide car bomber rammed into a fuel truck, killing 12 people and injuring 24 others in the Jadiriya district of Baghdad. Link

Outlandish claim that Bush is a terrorist

The trial began in London on Wednesday of two men accused of leaking a secret memo on the Iraq war in which U.S. President George W. Bush is reported to have threatened to bomb Arabic TV station Al Jazeera.

Prosecutors told the court the Britons, a civil servant and a political researcher, leaked the memo detailing "highly sensitive" talks between Bush and British Prime Minister Tony Blair at the White House on April 16, 2004, because they opposed the Iraq war.

The Daily Mirror reported in November 2005 that the memo quoted Bush as saying he wanted to bomb Al Jazeera, the Qatar-based satellite broadcaster whose coverage of Iraq's insurgency had angered U.S. officials.

The Mirror quoted an unnamed government official as suggesting Bush's threat was a joke, but cited another unidentified source as saying Bush was serious. It said Blair had talked Bush out of the idea.

The White House has described the Mirror report as "outlandish" and Blair's spokesman last year denied allegations about the contents of the memo. Link


db: Not so outlandish; In 2001 Al-Jazeera's Kabul office was destroyed by US bombs. On 8 April 2003 Al-Jazeera's Tariq Ayoub [pic above] was killed when US bombs struck its Baghdad office.

The tragedy of the bridge

Azzaman

Terrorists have destroyed the Sarrafiya Bridge of which millions of Baghdadis entertain good old memories. The bridge, built seventy years ago and the oldest in Baghdad, was hit by a truck bomb explosion on April 12, sending several cars toppling into the River Tigris below.

Scores of people were killed and injured and the search for the dead is still continuing.

The bridge was a symbol of Baghdad and had escaped destruction by U.S. bombers in 1991 Gulf War which destroyed two major bridges in the capital.

We cannot believe the bombing of Sarrafiya Bridge to have been perpetrated by Iraqis because it is difficult to imagine Iraqis intentionally trying to obliterate their own heritage and culture.

The bridge was part of Baghdad cultural legacy and a place where boys and girls, men and women, young and elderly used to cross or spend time on the shores of the Tigris River, contemplating its majestic girders or watching trains and cars pass by. Link

The terrorists who carried out this heinous crime wanted to remove the few remaining landmarks of our heritage which link Iraqis as a nation to their past and give them hope of the future.Link

US Boneheads Murder Afghans

US Military Boneheads: Marines Killed Afghan Civilians

US Boneheads Murder Iraqis

US Military boneheads: "Sorry We Shot Your Kid, But Here's $500"
US Mercenary boneneads: "I Want to Kill Somebody Today"

Bush holds on to Iranian hostages

The Bush administration has decided to hold onto five Iranian Revolutionary Guard intelligence agents captured in Iraq, overruling a recommendation from the State Department to release them because they are no longer useful, according to U.S. officials. Link

International media condemns sailors' stories sale

Commentators in newspapers around the world have sharply criticised the decision to allow the 15 detained British Royal Navy personnel to sell their stories to the media. Link

- Kurt Vonnegut, died April 11

Israel suspends soldier in human shield case

The Israeli army said Friday that it was suspending the commander of troops seen using two Palestinian youths as human shields, the latest evidence that its soldiers still protect themselves with civilians in violation of international and Israeli law. Link

Video via YouTube.

Paul Wolfowitz paying for it

Pressure is mounting on embattled World Bank President Paul Wolfowitz, struggling to retain his job amid a fast-growing controversy over his handling of a well-paying job transfer for a subordinate with whom he is romantically linked. Link

Iraq: Explosion hits parliament cafe, MP's killed

An explosion has hit a cafeteria at the Iraqi parliament, killing at least eight people, at least two of them MPs, the US military has said.

Police said they believed a suicide bomber was involved. Twenty-three people were injured in the attack.

The cafe, in Baghdad's highly fortified Green Zone, is for MPs and their staff, some of whom were having lunch there.

Earlier, a bomb on a bridge in Baghdad killed at least eight people and sent several cars into the River Tigris. Link

db: It's the beginning of the end. From the insurgent perspective this represents a spectacular success, in the face of which Bush will have only one response: kill lots more Iraqis.

Cash for honours stories

Most probably Neo-Labour authorised the sale of the 'hostages' story because it was a good diversion away from the real story - which is how the hapless Brits came to be captured in the first place, and given that the former 'hostages' could be relied upon henceforth to refrain from ever saying again anything in the slightest bit positive about Iran or Iranians they could be roped into serving the overarching past present and future British-American government policy of 'meddling with Iran' . A media soaked with stories of Iranian brutality/torture/inhumanity must have seemed attractive to Neo-Labour, and I guess they thought allowing the 'hostages' to sell their stories for cash would have populist appeal. They got it all wrong, fantastic.

Bush: Define isolated

From Bush news conference - Tuesday

Q: Mr. President, good morning. You've talked about...

BUSH: Good morning. Good morning. That's a good way to start.

Q: You've talked about the consequences of failure in Iraq. And you've said that the enemies would follow us home. I wonder, given that it seems like that's not exactly a ringing endorsement of people who are charged with the responsibility of keeping America safe, so...

BUSH: What was that again?

Q: Well, you say that the enemies would follow us home. If...

BUSH: I will. That's what they did. Just like September the 11th. They plotted, planned and attacked.

Q: But I wonder in your own mind, how does that vision play out? How do they follow us home? Because we‘ve spent so much money and put so much resource into making this country safe.

BUSH: They - I'm not going to predict to you the methodology they'll use. Just you need to know they want to hit us again.

_________________________________________________________________

Q: The conservative newspaper columnist Robert Novak recently wrote that, in 50 years of covering Washington, he's never seen a president more isolated than you are right now. What do you say to critics like Novak who say that you are more isolated now than Richard Nixon was during Watergate?

BUSH: How did he define isolated ?

Link