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Commander: Contractors violating U.S. trafficking laws

BY CAM SIMPSON

Chicago Tribune

WASHINGTON - The top U.S. commander in Iraq has ordered sweeping changes for privatized military support operations after confirming violations of human-trafficking laws and other abuses by contractors involving possibly thousands of foreign workers on American bases, according to records obtained by the Chicago Tribune.

KRT Wire | 04/23/2006 | Commander: Contractors violating U.S. trafficking laws

 Who can keep these murderers in check?  Who was keeping them in check?  Were things in Iraq really THIS bloody before the invasion?  CIVL WAR???  holy crap Mr. Bush….this is kinda a 180 from “democracy in the Middle East.  Yeah yeah look at Afghanistan and Lebanon, and Morroco and Libya.  Good Good.  ok, so LOOK at Afghanistan.  Look at Libya.  LOOK AT IRAN.  North Korea?  LOOK AT IRAQ.  I think Democracy is a wonderful Idea.  I am not a facist who thinks my wonderful ideas must be forced on anyone else.  The difference between hard and soft power.  America has lost most of it’s soft power if you will, that is the ability to attract other by the legitimacy of U.S. policies and the values that underline them.  We are in a state of Hard Power, Force.  (Donald Rumsfield professes not to even understand the term soft power.)   Was George Washingon elected?  no, he was a countries war hero.  Not an interim president who’s government is ready as soon as he runs out of friends for the buddy system.  My point is if you are going to be a real democracy, you can’t have it forced on you.  You have to take it yourself.   Iran has this chance.  Bush recently asked for and recieved 75 million from congress to infiltrate Irans government and promote freedom.  Brilliant Idea, in the first or second inning…..we have just sat down for the Seventh Inning Scretch, Hary Cary is Singin Take me out to the Ball Game.  Even Though we have been grand slammed on 9-11, Iran is about to go Nuclear, and if you dont know what that means then you are reading this post by mistake, and you can click on Iran link to the right.  But still we listen and sing the song, hoping for Georgie and Congress to pull their heads out of their asses.  Is it too late?

“If advised the senate is about our weakness, multiply our enemies will” - $

Jim Sinclair’s Commentary

 

Is this a new discovery for the US intelligence service? All they had to do was listen to King Abdullah of Jordan two years ago and they could have saved a fortune on deep cover operations.

 

Spy Chief Warns An Iraq Civil War Could Spread
Whole Middle East Could Be Drawn Into Larger Battle if Secterian Violence Spreads
By KATHERINE SHRADER, AP

WASHINGTON (March 1) - A civil war in Iraq could lead to a broader conflict in the Middle East, pitting the region’s rival Islamic sects against each other, National Intelligence Director John Negroponte said in an unusually frank assessment Tuesday.

“If chaos were to descend upon Iraq or the forces of democracy were to be defeated in that country … this would have implications for the rest of the Middle East region and, indeed, the world,” Negroponte said at a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing on global threats. 

Negroponte served as U.S. ambassador to Baghdad before taking over as the nation’s top intelligence official last April. 

Iraqis have faced a chain of attacks and reprisals since bombs destroyed the gold dome of a revered Shiite shrine in Samarra last week. Hundreds, if not thousands, have died, including more than 65 who were killed Tuesday by suicide attackers, car bombers and insurgents firing mortars. 

President Bush condemned the surge in violence and said Iraqis must make a choice between “a free society or a society dictated … by evil people who will kill innocents.” Later, in an interview with ABC News’ “World News Tonight,” he said he did not believe the escalation of civil unrest would lead to a general civil war. 

Negroponte tried to focus on progress in Iraq , but he acknowledged a civil war would be a “serious setback” to the global war on terror. 

“The consequences for the people of Iraq would be catastrophic,” he said. “Clearly, it would seriously jeopardize the democratic political process on which they are presently embarked. And one can only begin to imagine what the political outcomes would be.” 
Saudi Arabia and Jordan could support Iraq ’s Sunnis, Negroponte said. And Iran, run by a Shiite Islamic theocracy, “has already got quite close ties with some of the extremist elements” inside Iraq , he added. 

While Iraq ’s neighbors “initially might be reluctant” to get involved in a broader Sunni-Shiite conflict, “that might well be a temptation,” Negroponte said. 

Still, he told senators he is seeing progress in the overall political and security situation in Iraq . “And if we continue to make that kind of progress, yes, we can win in Iraq ,” he said. 

Democrats noted that Negroponte wouldn’t go quite as far as Bush did in his January State of the Union address. “We are winning,” Bush said then. 

James Jeffrey, the State Department coordinator for Iraq , told reporters Tuesday that Iraqi security forces have managed to establish a normal and calm situation _ “by Iraq standards.” The level of violence, he said, was about the same as before the shrine bombing. 

At the Senate hearing, Lt. Gen. Michael Maples, director of the Defense Intelligence Agency, painted a similarly stark picture of Afghanistan.  While the government has made progress in disarming private militias, Maples said, his agency estimates that violence from the Taliban and other anti-coalition groups in Afghanistan increased 20 percent last year. 

“Insurgents now represent a greater threat to the expansion of Afghan government authority than at any point since late 2001, and will be active this spring,” Maples said in his written statement. 

Afghan insurgents increased their suicide attacks almost fourfold and more than doubled their use of improvised explosive devices, he said. 

Also at the hearing: 

Negroponte would not provide an updated assessment of the number of nuclear weapons believed to be in North Korea’s arsenal, although a former DIA head has previously said Pyongyang has one or two. 

“We assess that they probably have nuclear weapons, as they claim that they do, but we don’t know for a fact that they’ve got such weapons,” Negroponte said. To provide a number “would merely be an extrapolation or a speculation on our part.” 

That was my prediction in 2002/2003 when Bush asked for 70 Billion for war and the GOP punchline was “cakewalk”.  Well, after the 6th installment of 60-90 billion more for war, with rebuilding projects recieving an F in 6 out of 7 categories from our own gov’t, you can see we still have a long way to go.  How much longer can we not give a rip where the money is going to come from???  here’s a clue

WASHINGTON (AP) - The country’s two overseas wars and its homeland defense could cost as much as $10 billion a month this year - nearly 50 percent more than last year, the White House estimates.  The rising price tag for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and questions about military strategy for Iraq and possibly Iran, are expected to come up Tuesday as Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld appears before the Senate Armed Services Committee.

Guardian Unlimited | World Latest | War Costs, Defense Budget Rising

Last month, in a major embarrassment for the Bush administration, it emerged that some US intelligence agencies had doubts about his testimony a full year before the March 2003 invasion of Iraq. The revelation was seized upon by war critics as fresh proof that the White House distorted intelligence to make its case for war.
Unknown News

What the hell is Cindy Sheehan thinking?  Calling for the troops to come home.  Is she crazy?  Doesn’t she know that when we leave Iraq will turn from a peaceful place to chaos???   Well, it seems that Condoleeza (no, not the exxon mobile oil tanker) has joined the liberals in their call to start bringing the troops home.  I am very dissapointed.  Just 6 weeks after Sheehan was jailed for protesting without a permit (land of the free) and with the the Zieg Hail republicans demonizing anyone who thinks we should bring the troops home, equivilating them as unpatriotic…..how unpatriotic is it to call to start bringing the troops home now?  Common sense and logic naver fails.

for all you people who think Abu-Gharaib was like Ernest goes to Camp and had underwear pulled over their heads….you are about to know the truth.  I bet most of you won’t even look.  See the underwear incident is all you can handle.  I’m talking about people being forced to slam themselves into a wall until they knock themselves out (kinda like a husband who beats his wife but makes sure not to leave any bruises), Wire shock treatment to male and female genitalia, homosexual rape, and over 3,000 other pieces of video, audio, and pictures.  Do patriotic tough on terror conservatives like rush limbaugh, who routinely downplayed the abu-gharaib prisoner mistreatment scandal, and who also knew what really happened, go to heaven?  Is he in touch with humanity?  Does he realize these acts are evil?  Should not these acts be condemned by Mr. Limbaugh, who routinely expects muslims to condemn islamic terrorist attacks?  Are you a hypocrite, Mr. Limbaugh.  I anxiously await to listen to your show, and see how you will cram the BS back into the bull.  I know you can do it!  U Da Man

US judge orders release of Iraq abuse pictures

By Geneviève Roberts

Published: 30 September 2005

Finally a Shiite Ayatollah has called for his followers to meet Sunni terrorism with resistance and if necesary retalliation.  For the longest time I have heard the administration sy repeatedly that cival war in Iraw is the worst case scenario.  Now, with my ear to the ground with war supporters, they are saying that civil war is necesary and was always inevitable.  Can someone show these guys how to admit a mistake?  Who wants to say “if we cut and run, the country will fall into chaos”  ummmm I hate to break it to you guys, but daily bombings in the streets and school teachers being shot in their classroom and blood painted on walls IS chaos.  Why should we keep American soldiers in that chaos?  If the Americans leave, doesn’t that mean no more will die?  We did them a favor, the coutnry will continue to follow the per-determined course of arab-nations who have their gov’t temporarily toppled.  I’m starting to think that the right wing slogan of support the troops means “support the troops right to be a soldier and die if necesary.”  Of course that is what any brave soldier faces, death.  And of course the soldier has no decision but to follow the orders that are given to them.  It is policy.  So if we are asking for a change in policy, and the troops will follow the new orders.  What’s the big deal?  Mission is already accomplished….is it not?  When the troops get the orders to leave, will the people who wanted them to leave be the new patriots and the new troop supporters???

The administration and the Pentagon have really gotten themselves in trouble this time.  What do the righties say to this?

AMERICAN DEAD IN IRAQ MAY BE CLOSER TO 9,000

Iraq is a bloody mess with the official Pentagon tally at June’s end around 2,000 American soliders dead - “more than we can bear” in New York Mayor Giuliani’s famous words about World Trade Tower casualities after 9/11. Yet Pentagon numbers include those found dead in combat or during other active-service duties, but may not reflect soldiers who die en route to hospitals, or later on while under care. Estimates based on anecdotal evidence (and extrapolations from official-to-actual in a few instances where discrepancies have been proven?) produce a number much closer to 9000 than 2000.

An article on Indymedia Baltimore cites TBR News, as stating, “U.S. military personnel who died in German hospitals or en route to German hospitals have not previously been counted. They total about 6,210 as of 1 January, 2005.The ongoing, underreporting of the dead in Iraq, is not accurate. The DoD is deliberately reducing the figures. A review of many foreign news sites show that actual deaths are far higher than the newly reduced ones.”

Indymedia concludes, “Iraqi civilian casualties are never reported but International Red Cross, Red Crescent and U.N. figures indicate that as of 1 January 2005, the numbers are just under 100,000.” - ST

To cut to the chase:
 
Kurds: Primarily tribal - opposed to Turkey - with significant oil interests.
 
Sunnis:-Former members of Saddam Hussein’s Bath party now forbidden from holding official positions.
 
Shia: Supporting the interests of Iran. Business people seeking full control of the oil in the south, fractionalized with militias and including Motada al-Sadr and the Medhi Army.
 
The Sunnis feel they have been ostracized and believe they are also being marginalized without powers and influence. 

Cooperation between the Kurds and the Shia is tenuous at best. Early on in the Iraq war the government declared the Kurds oil contracts novated. Kurds never forget.
 
Like all situations in which form is constructed without substance, this constitutional effort will not hold. The Iraqi constitution is about as transparent as the current government.
 
This is certain to impact the dollar negatively. The  dollar negative is the fact that the new constitution and new democratic government was to be the lynchpin for the US to exit Iraq.