how much more good news can we take?

Today, the Pentagon announced that American troops had killed Abu Qaswarah, the No. 2 leader of al Qaeda in Iraq, in a raid in Mosul. U.S. military officials hailed the death of Qaswarah, also known as Abu Sara, as “a major disruption to the terror network, particularly in northern Iraq,” according to the AP.

However, this is at least the third time that U.S. officials have announced the capture/killing of a “No. 2″ leader of al Qaeda in Iraq in the past few years. On each occasion — including when they killed the No. 1 leader — they similarly hailed it as a major victory:

Sept. 2005: U.S. and Iraqi officials announce that they killed al Qaeda in Iraq’s No. 2 leader — Abdallah Najim Abdallah Mohammed al-Juwari, known as Abu Azzam. A spokesman for Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari said that Azzam’s death was a “painful blow” to al Qaeda.

June 2006: U.S. and Iraqi officials announce that they have killed Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the No. 1 leader of al Qaeda in Iraq. President Bush called his death a “severe blow” to the terrorist group.

Sept. 2006: Iraqi authorities capture Hamed Jumaa Farid al-Saeedi, known as Abu Humam or Abu Rana, al Qaeda in Iraq’s No. 2 leader. Iraqi national security adviser Mouwafak al-Rubaie said that the arrest left the terrorist organization suffering a “serious leadership crisis.” “Our troops have dealt fatal and painful blows to this organization,” he added.

Al Qaeda continues to remain resilient in the face of these attacks from the U.S. military, who are trying to undo a situation created by Bush’s invasion. No matter how many times troops kill top leaders, new ones emerge, because the insurgency continues to be, in part, fueled by the U.S. occupation. As counterterrorism analyst Evan Kohlmann said in 2005, “If I had a nickel for every No. 2 and Nov. 3 they’ve arrested or killed in Iraq and Afghanistan, I’d be a millionaire.” (Think Progress, "For at least the Third Time, Officials Take down a 'No. 2' leader of Al Qaeda in Iraq," 15 October 2008)

one step forward, two steps back, down ina babylon

• Soldiers stopping cars hand out leaflets warning drivers to check their vehicles before they set off, because of bombs which can be easily and quickly attached with magnets.
• Concrete anti-blast walls still surround almost every significant building here, and stretch along streets where there are markets bringing relative safety, but turning the pavements - where the vendors' stalls are - into narrow, claustrophobic canyons.
• There are numerous sandbagged machine-gun posts. There is even one looking out from the walls of the ministry of agriculture compound.
• Residential districts are protected with chicanes of concrete bollards, coils of rusting razor-wire, oil drums filled with concrete, sawn-down trunks of date palm trees and more check-points, protected with sandbags.
• One day, our anonymous BBC car is waved on by two policemen, but then everybody is doing urgent U-turns and heading back the way they came.
• The street is cordoned off - there has been a roadside bomb. Two people are dead and two cars are wrecked - their bonnets thrown up and twisted, tyres blown out, dents in their doors from the impact of the explosion.
• Shopkeepers are sweeping up glass from their front windows. One man - still in shock - rails against the American occupation. "Is this the freedom they brought us?" he asks. And he curses the bombers: "How can people call themselves Muslims and do this?"
• The next day, two bombs - one in a car in a car-park, the other by the roadside - kill 16 people. They were out shopping and at least 50 more were injured, but it barely makes the news. Baghdad is getting better now, is it not?
• It is getting better, but this could simply be the eye of the storm, like the calm circle in the middle of those dramatic satellite photographs of hurricanes.
• The second stage of this hurricane could be revenge. Thousands of people have been threatened, burned, bombed and shot from their homes.("Painfully slow progress in Iraq," BBC, 11 Oct. 2008)
  

the label is balkanization

• WASHINGTON - Satellite images taken at night show heavily Sunni Arab neighborhoods of Baghdad began emptying before a U.S. troop surge in 2007, graphic evidence of ethnic cleansing that preceded a drop in violence, according to a report published on Friday.
• The images support the view of international refugee organizations and Iraq experts that a major population shift was a key factor in the decline in sectarian violence, particularly in the Iraqi capital, the epicenter of the bloodletting in which hundreds of thousands were killed.("Satellite images show ethnic cleanout in Iraq," By Maggie Fox, Health and Science Editor, Reuters, Fri Sep 19, 2008)
  

assassination attempts continue "routinely"

• BAGHDAD -- A suicide bomber tried to assassinate politician Ahmad Chalabi on Friday night, killing six of his guards when he rammed his car into the Shiite Muslim politician's speeding convoy, Chalabi's spokesman said.
• Chalabi, who has survived at least three previous attempts on his life, was returning to his home in the west Baghdad district of Mansour when the bomber in a sport utility vehicle struck, spokesman Iyad Kadhim Sabti said. At least 17 people were wounded, including nine of Chalabi's guards, police said. Chalabi was unharmed....
• Despite a drop in violence in the last year, assassination attempts targeting civil servants and prominent individuals continue to occur routinely in Baghdad. Earlier Friday, gunmen with silencers killed a civilian advisor to the Defense Ministry, Abdul Amir Hassan Abbas, as he drove through east Baghdad, police said.("Iraq politician Ahmad Chalabi survives assassination attempt," By Ned Parker and Saif Hameed, Los Angeles Times Staff Writers, September 6, 2008)
  

it is victory in America!...

...or something. Never mind that the Iraqi political process is creaking to a halt. Never mind that Awakening Councils are not going to be happy that al-Maliki's government has assumed control of Anbar. Gen. Petraeus is worried about the continued existence of al-Qaeda there.

• Al Qaeda remains a dangerous force in Iraq despite a general decline in violence and U.S. troops must continue to confront the militant group, the outgoing top U.S. general in the country said. General David Petraeus told al Arabiya television he believed recent success in reducing violence had restored the United States' image with Iraqis. Troops initially greeted as liberators but later viewed as occupiers were now again accepted as friends. In the interview recorded on Monday and scheduled for broadcast later on Friday, Petraeus was asked whether al Qaeda had been defeated in Iraq. "You will not find any military leader who will say this ... all we can say is al Qaeda is still dangerous," he said. Petraeus' comments were translated into English from an Arabic transcript of the interview sent to Reuters. "It is certain more of these crimes will be committed, and we must continue working to confront these attacks," he said.(from Democracy Arsenal, originally story, from "Qaeda undefeated in Iraq, work to be done -Petraeus," 05 Sep 2008,
  Reuters, By Mohammed Abbas and Waleed Ibrahim)

Balkanization in Iraq hits refugees

	Photo 1 of 4
A Palestinian girl pushes a baby in a stroller through the Palestinian housing complex comprising of 16 apartment blocks, lined by two streets of shops, most of them closed, in the Baladiyat district of Baghdad, Iraq, Sunday, Aug. 24, 2008. In recent months sectarian violence has dropped sharply across Iraq, however Iraq's Palestinians, who number about 11,000 and have come under attack by Shiite gunmen in the past, remain one of the most vulnerable groups, a U.N. official says. (AP Photo/Karim Kadim)

just a reminder why iraq matters in domestic elections...

...our tax dollars at work.

• One of America’s biggest military contractors is being sued by a Nepali labourer and the families of a dozen other employees who say they were taken against their will to work in Iraq. All but one of the Nepalese workers were subsequently kidnapped and murdered.
• According to the lawsuit filed in Los Angeles, the Nepalese workers were recruited in 2004 in their home country by KBR and its Jordanian contractors, Daoud & Partners, to work as kitchen staff in a luxury hotel in Amman. Once they reached the Jordanian capital, however, their passports were taken from them and they were sent to Iraq. While travelling in an unprotected convoy, the Nepalis were kidnapped and later executed.
• “It doesn’t appear that any of them knew they were going to Iraq,” said Matthew Handley, a lawyer representing the only survivor and the families of those who were killed. “A few were told they were going to work at an American camp ? They thought they were going to work in America.”("Halliburton sued under human traficking laws," by Chris in Paris, AmericaBlog, 8/28/2008)

and there is not enough water in Baghdad at the moment, either

It is difficult to continue to be amazed or outraged by the colossal failure of checks and balances in this.

• The National Security Archive released a report Friday Aug. 22, 2008 that sheds even more light on the premeditated lying and deception that took the United States to war in Iraq. The findings are based on new evidence compiled by Dr. John Prados and published by the National Security Archive. See "White Paper" Drafted before NIE even Requested , "Scoop" Independent News, Aug. 24, 2008.

• Most notably, Prados shows the depth of the deception perpetrated against citizens and Congress regarding the alleged threat to U.S. security posed by Iraq. It had appeared that the White House rewrote the Oct. 1, 2002 National Intelligence Estimate and then issued that doctored report to Congress on Oct. 4, 2002. Prados reveals convincing evidence that the Oct. 4 White Paper had already been written by July 2002. He shows that it was only slightly altered after the final NIE arrived. This White Paper served as the basis for the war.

• The unavoidable conclusion is that the Bush-Cheney White paper "justifying" the invasion was developed a full three months in advance of the intelligence data and analysis that should have served as the basis for that justification. The National Security Archive summed it up succinctly:

• "The U.S. intelligence community buckled sooner in 2002 than previously reported to Bush administration pressure for data justifying an invasion of Iraq,

• "The documents suggest that the public relations push for war came before the intelligence analysis, which then conformed to public positions taken by Pentagon and White House officials. For example, a July 2002 draft of the "White Paper" ultimately issued by the CIA in October 2002 actually pre-dated the National Intelligence Estimate that the paper purportedly summarized, but which Congress did not insist on until September 2002." National Security Archive in "Scoop' Independent News, August 24, 2008.

• The seemingly endless war in Iraq has become a total disaster on multiple levels for all involved. The awful toll in human deaths and casualties is largely ignored but real nevertheless. Over 4,000 U.S. soldiers have been lost in battle and tens of thousands injured. In excess of one million Iraqi civilians are dead due to civil strife unleashed by the invasion. The U.S. Treasury is drained and the steep decline in respect for the United States around the world is just beginning to manifest.

• The United States political establishment responds with collective denial on a scale that's incomprehensible. In the presidential campaign, the only sustained public commentary on the war comes from the Republican presidential candidate John McCain who makes the bizarre claim that U.S. is "surrendering" with victory in clear sight. McCain touts the surge without noting that 4.0 million Iraqis are "displaced from their homes." Nearly ten percent of Iraq's population is either dead or injured and there are 5.0 million Iraqi orphans.

• This pathological view of victory claims the "surge' is a success in the context of a devastated population in an obliterated nation lacking in the most essential supplies and services; a nation where death continues on a shopping spree. ("National Security Archive Stunner," by Michael Collins, Washington, DC, August 25, 2008, OpEdNews
  

working?

should i stay, or should i go?...

...or, cut-and-run?

Bush's evolving rhetoric on US-Iraq timetables

By The Associated Press – 17 hours ago

Changes in the Bush administration's rhetoric over the past 16 months on a timetable for withdrawing U.S. troops from Iraq:

April 3, 2007:

_ "I think setting an artificial timetable for withdrawal is a significant mistake. It is — it sends mixed signals and bad signals to the region and to the Iraqi citizens. Listen, the Iraqis are wondering whether or not we're going to stay to help. People in America wonder whether or not they've got the political will to do the hard work." — President Bush.

___

April 27, 2007:

_ "And if the Congress wants to test my will as to whether or not I'll accept the timetable for withdrawal, I won't accept one. I just don't think it's in the interest of our troops. I think it — I'm just envisioning what it would be like to be a young soldier in the middle of Iraq and realizing that politicians have all of a sudden made military determinations. And in my judgment, that would put a kid in harm's way, more so than he or she already is." — Bush.

___

Sept. 6, 2007:

_ "The prime minister says: What Iraq and her people now need is time, not a timetable. They seek our patience, not political posturing. They require resolve, not our retreat. We're going to succeed in Iraq. If given a chance, liberty will succeed every time, and liberty will help yield the peace we need." — Bush.

___

July 15, 2008:

_ "There's a temptation to let the politics at home get in the way with the considered judgment of the commanders. That's why I strongly rejected an artificial timetable of withdrawal. It's kind of like an arbitrary thing, you know — 'We will decide in the halls of Congress how to conduct our affairs in Iraq based upon polls and politics, and we're going to impose this on people' — as opposed to listening to our commanders and our diplomats, and listening to the Iraqis, for that matter." — Bush.

___

July 18, 2008:

_ "In the area of security cooperation, the president and the prime minister agreed that improving conditions should allow for the agreements now under negotiation to include a general time horizon for meeting aspirational goals." — White House statement that first raised the possibility of timelines.

___

Aug. 21, 2008:

_ "Well, we have always said that the roles, missions and size of the American forces here, the coalition forces, was based on the conditions on the ground and what is needed. We have agreed that some goals, some aspirational timetables for how that might unfold are well worth having in — in such an agreement. ... And I have to say, if I could just make the point, the reason we are where we are going, talking about this kind of agreement, is that the surge worked, Iraqi forces have demonstrated that they are strong and getting stronger." — Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, in Baghdad.

good view of post-surge Baghdad, from March 2008

Baghdad, 5 years on (part 1 of 3): City of walls

Baghdad, 5 years on (part 2 of 3): killing fields


Baghdad 5 years on (part 3 of 3): Iraq's lost generation

just in case we all forgot

(I guess it isn't vacation time, and time for loony attack ads in that part of the globe.) Thanks and a tip of the hat to Mr. Linkins and the Washington Independent.

• Here's another one for your Stuff You'll Be Surprised No One's Talking About file, a story from the Washington Independent, "Taliban, al Qaeda Unchecked in Pakistan." Note the word Taliban! That's right people, they are getting the band back together!
• Here's the mothereffing lede!

• Al Qaeda and the Taliban are executing suspected U.S. informants in Pakistan in a campaign to terrorize potential spies and reinforce the authority of the militant organizations across the country's vast and volatile tribal belt.

• I mean: wow. If I had Robert Gates across the room from me, this is the sort of KABOOM I'd lay on the man, if i were a reporter!
• Here's a pull that Spencer Ackerman highlighted in his tout of this piece:

• CIA operatives are shackled by a Pakistan restriction requiring them to work under its ISI [Inter-Services Intelligence - the largest intelligence organization in Pakistan] directorate, according to Keller and other former agents. CIA and ISI relations have been marred by mutual distrust in recent years. U.S. intelligence is particularly concerned that ISI elements are sympathetic to the Taliban -- if not Al Qaeda.

• Brother, there is your state sponsorship of al Qaeda Nation, right there! I mean to tell you people, there are few predictions that I am willing to make in this life. I'm not a betting man by nature. But if we are ever so lucky to get some sort of final analysis done on our post 9/11 partnership with Pakistan, it is going to come out that the ISI was, at all times, LOUSY with not just al Qaeda sympathizers, but with de facto agents of al Qaeda as well. (Jason Linkins, HuffPost Reporting From DC, "TV SoundOff: Sunday Talking Heads," August 17, 2008)
  

McClatchy: last home of real, investigative reporters?

CONFRONTING IRAQ

See our interactive media guide on Iraq.

BLACKWATER

See our timeline and interactive guide to Blackwater's activities in Iraq. Also read stories from McClatchy newspapers on the Blackwater controversy.

can someone do the math?

it seems to me, that with 30 in and 45 out a day, less than 1% recidivism, and some 21,000 currently being held, that we are talking a large percentage of iraqis have either been held in prison by the usa, or have someone in their family who has, over the past 4 years. (One of the crimes for which Saddam Hussein was rightly decried was the massive use of incarcerations.)

• BAGHDAD — The U.S. military said Saturday it has released more than 10,000 detainees in Iraq so far this year _ more than in all of 2007 _ as it continues to try phase out its running of Iraqi prisons.
• The military said about 21,000 people remained in custody, and it is currently releasing about 45 detainees and detaining 30 a day.("More than 10,000 detainees released in Iraq,"by SELCAN HACAOGLU, AP, August 2, 2008)

analysis of how's it going: posting from Helena Cobban

thanks to Juan Cole's Informed Comment for a link to Just World News by Helena Cobban

• This, from Reuters in Baghdad today:
  

Three female suicide bombers killed 28 people and wounded 92 when they blew themselves up among Shi'ites walking through the streets of Baghdad on a religious pilgrimage on Monday, Iraqi police said.

In the northern oil city of Kirkuk a suicide bomber killed 22 people and wounded 150 at a protest against a disputed local elections law, Iraqi health and security officials said. One security official said the bomber may also have been a woman.

The attacks mark one of the bloodiest days in Iraq in months...

• At the discussions I attended Friday in Washington with a group at USIP, and also with former Iraqi PM Iyad Allawi at Carnegie, a number of those who spoke warned with great intensity that the situation in Iraq remains very difficult for Iraqis, very politically fragile, and heavy with the threat of new waves of violence. Those who did so included Charles Knight and Rend al-Rahim at USIP, and Allawi at Carnegie.
• I record the latest spikes of violence with an incredibly heavy heart and no thought of schadenfreude. But they do, certainly, undercut the claims of those who have been crowing "the surge has succeeded."
• "Succeeded" for whom? Not yet at all for Iraqis, though the casualty figures among US troops are sharply reduced.
• Once again I urge that instead of looking at whether Bush's adoption of the surge "worked" or not, it would be far better to look at the costs and consequences of the fact that for 18 months now he has steadfastly refused to follow the excellent recommendations put forward by the Iraq Study Group back in December 2006.
• Those recommendations-- or something even more decisive than them-- are just as valid and urgent today as they were back then.
• But just look at the costs that have been imposed-- on the Iraqis, as well as on US citizens-- by Bush's failure to undertake the transformative and very urgent diplomatic and political moves that the ISG recommended.
• $180 billion of US taxpayer money... 1,110 US service-members killed... and an Iraqi casualty toll among civilians and security forces that is in the tens of thousands over the past 18 months.
• To which, today, add a further 50 Iraqi civilians.(July 28, 2008, "Bush's 'Surge': How successful?," posted by Helena Cobban)

"enemies with benefits"

thanx and a tip of the helmet to Washington Independent for pointing to Army of Dude for the following (the full article is worth visiting):

• Don't tell the pathetic non-serving members of the old media (and new media), but the surge wasn't wholly responsible for the drop in violence seen in Iraq over the last year. I have outlined the three main reasons violence has subsided, but one of the more important aspects is still largely misunderstood and mischaracterized by the punditry across the country.
• The 'awakening group' movement first appeared in Anbar in late 2005 (or if you're John McCain, it started in a time warp before and after the surge) and has since grown to a large, lethal force that battles elements of al-Qaeda in Iraq and the Islamic State of Iraq. That is usually where the media narrative leaves you, insinuating that these groups are patriotic volunteers casting out the demons of al-Qaeda. What they don't mention is both the original motivations for these groups and their history of battling American soldiers. One of the latest to operate (and propped up by my unit in Diyala Province) is the 1920 Revolution Brigade. I covered their nationalist history a year ago, citing their name was a throwback to the 1920 revolution to oust British influence. So this group in particular didn't start in 2005, 2006 or even 2007, but in 2003 for one reason: to attack and kill Americans. (Army of Dude: Reporting On Truth, Justice And The American Way Of War, Sunday, July 27, 2008, "Enemies With Benefits")
  

venn of shame

Click here for a text-only version.

uh, oh: this afghan thing is not going to be a walk in a (poppy) field, is it?

John Moore/Getty Images

POPPY FIELDS FOREVER A crop in Helmand Province in 2006. An unlikely coalition of corrupt Afghan officials, timorous Europeans, blinkered Pentagon officers and the Taliban has made poppy cultivation stubbornly resistant to eradication.

• On March 1, 2006, I met Hamid Karzai for the first time. It was a clear, crisp day in Kabul. The Afghan president joined President and Mrs. Bush, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Ambassador Ronald Neumann to dedicate the new United States Embassy. He thanked the American people for all they had done for Afghanistan. I was a senior counternarcotics official recently arrived in a country that supplied 90 percent of the world’s heroin. I took to heart Karzai’s strong statements against the Afghan drug trade. That was my first mistake.

Enlarge This Image

Véronique de Viguerie/WPN

• Over the next two years I would discover how deeply the Afghan government was involved in protecting the opium trade — by shielding it from American-designed policies. While it is true that Karzai’s Taliban enemies finance themselves from the drug trade, so do many of his supporters. At the same time, some of our NATO allies have resisted the anti-opium offensive, as has our own Defense Department, which tends to see counternarcotics as other people’s business to be settled once the war-fighting is over. The trouble is that the fighting is unlikely to end as long as the Taliban can finance themselves through drugs — and as long as the Kabul government is dependent on opium to sustain its own hold on power. ("Is Afghanistan a Narco-State?," by THOMAS SCHWEICH, July 27, 2008, New York Times)

since we have recently had a dispute over chronology of the surge....

...I thought this might be a relevant post

• In a presentation yesterday at the American Enterprise Institute, escalation architect Frederick Kagan repeated his claim that sectarian cleansing has not affected the drop in violence in Iraq. Kagan called it a “myth”:

The bad news from this perspective is that the sectarian areas of Iraq is still mixed. The good news is that the sectarian areas of Iraq are still mixed. And there is a myth out there that the violence has fallen because all of the cleansing is done. That is absolutely not the case.

• Watch it:

• Kagan makes the same claim in his new report, “Iraq: The Way Ahead“:

One of the persistent myths about the reasons for the success of coalition efforts in 2007 is that the killing stopped because the sectarian cleansing was completed. This myth is absolutely false. Baghdad remains a mixed city. The traditionally Sunni neighborhoods of Adhamiya, Mansour, and Rashid remain predominantly Sunni, and Shiite enclaves in East Rashid remain Shiite. Shia have moved into some parts of the Sunni neighborhoods, and many sub-districts within neighborhoods that had been mixed are now much more homogeneous. But the key components of a mixed Baghdad remain.

• Kagan’s claim is contested by major news organizations and the U.S. military’s own data. In December 2007, the Washington Post published the maps below, comparing the sectarian make-up of Baghdad’s neighborhoods in April 2006 and November 2007, and revealing the transformation of the city resulting from sectarian cleansing:

• The Post’s distribution of sectarian enclaves corresponds closely with these graphs, provided by Multi-National Force-Iraq (MNF-I), that chart sectarian violence in Baghdad between July 2006 and July 2007, which is the period in which the U.S. military escalation, also known as the Baghdad Security Plan, took place.
• The August 2007 National Intelligence Estimate on Iraq also rebuts Kagan’s mythmaking. One of the NIE’s judgements was that where some “conflict levels have diminished,” it was due to sectarian “separation.” (Think Progress, Wonk Room, "Escalation Architect Fred Kagan Doubles Down On His Claim That Sectarian Cleansing In Baghdad Is A ‘Myth,'" By M. Duss on Mar 25th, 2008 at 5:47 pm)

more problematic than his belief that Iraq and Pakiston share a common border

• McCain keeps boasting about being "right" about the "surge" and saying Obama was "wrong."
• Look, it is more important that McCain was consistently wrong. He was wrong about the desirability of going to war against Iraq. He was wrong about it being a cakewalk. He was wrong about there being WMD there. He was wrong about everything. And he was wrong about the troop escalation making things better. The casualty figures dropped in al-Anbar, where few extra US troops were ever sent. They dropped in Basra, from which the British withdrew. Something happened. Putting it all on 30,000 extra troops seems a stretch. And what about all the ethnic cleansing and displacing of persons that took place under the nose of the "surge?" McCain has been wrong about everything to do with Iraq. And he is boasting about his wisdom on it! (Juan Cole, Informed Commment, July 22, 2008, "Troop Agreement Misses Deadline; Provincial Law Misses Deadline; Bombings in Mosul, Diyala, Fallujah")

bombing is never a shortcut to winning hearts and minds

At least 13 Afghan police and civilians have died in two incidents involving international forces, officials say.

International forces have been involved in a series of controversies of controversies

Four Afghan police and five civilians died in an apparently mistaken air strike by international coalition forces in Farah province.

Separately, the Nato-led Isaf said it had "accidentally" killed at least four civilians in Paktika province. (BBC, 20 July 2008, "Coalition 'bombs Afghan police'")

why wasn't this on the tv news; in the newspapers, etc?

People carry photos of the anti-American cleric Muqtada al-Sadr during a protest in Baghdad's Shiite stronghold of Sadr City, Iraq, Friday, July 11, 2008. (AP Photo/Karim Kadim)

BAGHDAD (AP) — Hundreds of followers of a radical Shiite cleric in Iraq have taken to the streets to protest a proposed security agreement between Iraq and the United States.

The supporters of cleric Muqtada al-Sadr say the proposed deal would lead to a permanent U.S. occupation of Iraq.

They held their protest Friday in the southern city of Kufa and shouted slogans such as: "No to America."

Such demonstrations have become a weekly event, usually following prayers held in local mosques on Fridays. (AP, "Some Iraqis protest security deal with US," 11 July 2008)

Things are better; can we go now?

It is the PM's first public suggestion of a deadline for US withdrawal from Iraq

Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri Maliki has raised the prospect of setting a timetable for the withdrawal of American troops from Iraq.

Talks are continuing on a new security deal, but the US has said it opposes setting any timetable for withdrawal.

The UN mandate under which US troops stay in Iraq expires at the end 2008.

Correspondents say Mr Maliki may have an easier time getting the support of Iraqi MPs by proposing a deal which includes a withdrawal timetable. (Monday, 7 July 2008 15:53 UK, BBC,"Iraq floats US pullout timetable")

the surge is...

...fill in the blank.

Here is the point: the surge of a 21st army against pipe-bomb insurgents will always "work," in the short run. An invading/conquering army has control of the air, the main arteries, and backup. Insurgents have..., well, time. Until the sides talk and recognize each other's strengths, then the situation that produced the insurgency--lack of jobs, ethnic cleansing, etc.--continues. Of course, the Maliki government will announce the success of the current program, because their continued "success" depends on American, well, continuance. Yet:

1. The insurgency is mainly against American targets, and our allies. Don't we expect at least some decline if those targets are no longer there?
2. The main reason for the decline in violence has little to do with our troops, and everything to do with walls, surveillance, etc., which has resulted in a MORE balkanized Baghdad, and a more balkanized Iraq. Which means, of course, that what we claimed we are fighting for (well the fourth attempt to explain what we were fighting for; remember: Get rid of WMD's?--fake; stop Saddam Hussein from providing safe haven for Al Qaeda?--fake; bring democracy to the Middle East?--fake {and ludicrous}), that is, a stable, unified government is, get this, NEVER GOING TO HAPPEN. Three separate governments, yes; three governments unified in a very loose federation, possibly. But the only thing these folks are unified in, is, that US troops need to leave. Now.
3. The longer we stay, the strong Iran is in the region.
   

'Weak institutions'

Millions in development money have notoriously gone to waste in the seven years since the fall of the Taleban, the BBC's Alastair Leithead reports from Kabul.

Afghan people on improving life

Many countries spend a chunk of their aid through the government or on a trust fund set aside to fund National Solidarity Programmes in more than 22,000 districts of the country.

Mr Eide believes more should be spent this way.

In Kabul on Sunday, he will outline to the government and donors that they have got to be more co-ordinated and to deliver development more effectively and efficiently.

"We also have to see how we can spend our money in a way that builds Afghan capacity," he said.

"We see how weak the institutions are - that we have to make sure we correct."

Corruption is a major issue and the words auditing and accountability will be buzzing around the room at the first monitoring board meeting since the Paris conference, our correspondent says.

The UN head in Afghanistan is trying to take control of an aid effort that many think has been missing the mark, when winning people over to the government, and keeping the Taleban at bay, is so vital for the future, he adds. (Sunday, 6 July 2008 07:27 UK, BBC, "UN to urge revamp of Afghan aid")

thought for the day

from "[Rick] Shenkman: Why the American People Were So Easily Bamboozled by the Bush Administration," in Informed Comment, by Juan Cole, Monday, June 23, 2008

• As we head into the Fall campaign and listen to the debates about the war we should keep in mind the limits of public opinion. If we don't begin to address the problem of gross public ignorance there will be more Iraqs.
• One poll finding we should all keep in mind is this. Even after the 9/11 Commission reported that there was no connection between Saddam Hussein and the Sept. 11 attack 50 percent of the country persisted in believing there was. The implications of this are mind boggling.
  

as Queen Anne said after the latest battle victory and loss of life in the War of Spanish Succession....

...How many more victories can we take?

• Defence Secretary Des Browne said: "We've had a very difficult time over the last 10 days. We've lost nine soldiers altogether in three separate incidents."
• He added: "The Taleban are losing in Afghanistan, I know it may not appear like that at the moment, but we are enjoying a degree of success."
• The latest deaths are the biggest single loss of British lives in Afghanistan since an RAF Nimrod crash in 2006 which killed 14 servicemen.
• BBC News defence correspondent Caroline Wyatt said the feeling among British military leaders was that the Taleban were being outgunned and that their command-and-control was disintegrating.
• The problem is that this has driven the Taleban to measures such as the latest explosion which are very difficult to defend against, she said. (18 June 2008, BBC, "Woman soldier among Afghan dead")

and what kbr wants....

• The Army official who managed the Pentagon’s largest contract in Iraq says he was ousted from his job when he refused to approve paying more than $1 billion in questionable charges to KBR, the Houston-based company that has provided food, housing and other services to American troops.
• The official, Charles M. Smith, was the senior civilian overseeing the multibillion-dollar contract with KBR during the first two years of the war. Speaking out for the first time, Mr. Smith said that he was forced from his job in 2004 after informing KBR officials that the Army would impose escalating financial penalties if they failed to improve their chaotic Iraqi operations.]
• Army auditors had determined that KBR lacked credible data or records for more than $1 billion in spending, so Mr. Smith refused to sign off on the payments to the company. “They had a gigantic amount of costs they couldn’t justify,” he said in an interview. “Ultimately, the money that was going to KBR was money being taken away from the troops, and I wasn’t going to do that.”
• But he was suddenly replaced, he said, and his successors — after taking the unusual step of hiring an outside contractor to consider KBR’s claims — approved most of the payments he had tried to block.
• Army officials denied that Mr. Smith had been removed because of the dispute, but confirmed that they had reversed his decision, arguing that blocking the payments to KBR would have eroded basic services to troops. They said that KBR had warned that if it was not paid, it would reduce payments to subcontractors, which in turn would cut back on services. ("Army Overseer Tells of Ouster Over KBR Stir," The New York Times, by JAMES RISEN, June 17, 2008)

meanwhile: not so clear sailing in Afghanistan

And as Juan Cole points out below, it is not at all clear that this was the Taliban instead of a more scary general insurgency.

• Pushtun guerrillas mounting an insurgency against the Karzai government and against NATO troops in the Pushtun areas of Afghanistan staged a daring prison break on Friday. They set off bombs at a prison in Qandahar, killing 15 prison guards and allowing 1100 inmates to escape, including 400 captured guerrillas. Although the US refers to the guerrillas as 'Taliban' it is not clear that they are seminary students are actually linked to the Taliban movement of the 1990s. Many appear to be disgruntled Pushtun villagers.

• The jailbreak spoke eloquently of the weakness and incompetence of the Karzai government, which many observers believe is in the process of collapsing under the weight of its own corruption.
• The collapse seems to be accelerating even though the number of foreign troops in the country has grown enormously, to some 30,000 US and 30,000 NATO soldiers. Foreign donors recently pledged $20 bn in aid, though $10 bn of that came from the US and European donors seemed distinctly wary of having their money go into the pockets of the Afghan bureaucrats and those of their extended families.
• In May, more US and allied troops were killed by guerrillas in Afghanistan than in Iraq. (JUan Cole, Informed Comment, "Saturday, June 14, 2008, Massive Guerrilla attack in Afghanistan; 4 Marines Killed")

i need to see this...soon (please come my way)

From Sgt. Brent Sammann, an active-duty soldier in the US Army:

Sgt. Brent Sammann, US Army
(Click for full-size image --
check out the two flags)

I'm a first-hand witness to the exploitation by KBR and other companies lending their services to the war effort -- services us soldiers are fully capable of doing ourselves.... The military is being overcharged by these companies on a regular basis. Also, the poor service and treatment we get from some of their employees who make three times as much as those of us serving our country that are not in it for the money but are trying to make the world a better place for everyone.

From SPC (P) Johnny Rhodes in 3/2 SCR Infantry based in Diyala, Iraq:

After being awake for 3 days I may be a little bit out of it, so excuse any rambling or incoherence on my part. Off the top of my head, I can easily say that KBR in particular is of no help here in my area of Iraq. They do, jobs soldiers could do, get paid way better for it, but the work is almost always substandard.... at any given time there are hordes of these guys tying up the phones and internet, cramming the chow hall, etc. Which makes the soldiers have to wait. And wait. And wait. They also paid way more than me, for a job, I could do with my eyes closed.

From Brenda Clampitt, of Baton Rouge, LA, the wife of a soldier stationed at Camp Adder in Tallil, Iraq:

[My husband] drives the trucks and Humvees and escorts the KBR around where they need to go. He doesn't understand why they get paid way more then he does when [he and his fellow soldiers] are the ones doing the protecting, and are the ones getting shot at and blown up. He has seen soldiers die in front of him; he has seen lives destroyed and the country torn apart. My husband would serve his country whether he got paid or not, that is just how he is. He loves his country and wants to protect it but he sees first hand what is going on over there and he doesn't like it.... I myself am sick and tired of this war. It is dragging on and on and it is all about the money. I am not anti war. But I am FOR everything your movie is about.

Today's lead editorial in the New York Times, titled "Interrogation for Profit," decries "one of the Bush administration's most blatant evasions of accountability in Iraq -- the outsourcing of war detainees' interrogation to mercenary private contractors" and calls on Congress to approve "measures to make war-zone contractors liable for criminal behavior." The editorial concludes: "The way out of the Iraq fiasco must include an end to the outsourced shadow armies."

This indictment has the same urgency of War Inc. Especially with John McCain reminding us that it's "not that important" to him when our troops come home. (from Arianna Huffington, "War, Inc: Cusack's Savage Satire Strikes a Chord with Soldiers and Their Families," June 12, 2008)

hookergate goes on and on

A BBC investigation estimates that around $23bn (£11.75bn) may have been lost, stolen or just not properly accounted for in Iraq.

• For the first time, the extent to which some private contractors have profited from the conflict and rebuilding has been researched by the BBC's Panorama using US and Iraqi government sources.
• A US gagging order is preventing discussion of the allegations.
• The order applies to 70 court cases against some of the top US companies.

War profiteering

• While George Bush remains in the White House, it is unlikely the gagging orders will be lifted.
• To date, no major US contractor faces trial for fraud or mismanagement in Iraq.
• The president's Democrat opponents are keeping up the pressure over war profiteering in Iraq.
• Henry Waxman who chairs the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform said: "The money that's gone into waste, fraud and abuse under these contracts is just so outrageous, its egregious.
• "It may well turn out to be the largest war profiteering in history."
• In the run-up to the invasion one of the most senior officials in charge of procurement in the Pentagon objected to a contract potentially worth seven billion that was given to Halliburton, a Texan company, which used to be run by Dick Cheney before he became vice-president.
• Unusually only Halliburton got to bid - and won.

Missing billions

• The search for the missing billions also led the programme to a house in Acton in West London where Hazem Shalaan lived until he was appointed to the new Iraqi government as minister of defence in 2004.

Judge Radhi al Radhi: "I believe these people are criminals."

• He and his associates siphoned an estimated $1.2 billion out of the ministry.
• They bought old military equipment from Poland but claimed for top class weapons.
• Meanwhile they diverted money into their own accounts.
• Judge Radhi al-Radhi of Iraq's Commission for Public Integrity investigated.
• He said: "I believe these people are criminals.
• "They failed to rebuild the Ministry of Defence , and as a result the violence and the bloodshed went on and on - the murder of Iraqis and foreigners continues and they bear responsibility."
• Mr Shalaan was sentenced to two jail terms but he fled the country.
• He said he was innocent and that it was all a plot against him by pro-Iranian MPs in the government.
• There is an Interpol arrest out for him but he is on the run - using a private jet to move around the globe.
• He stills owns commercial properties in the Marble Arch area of London. ("BBC uncovers lost Iraq billions," By Jane Corbin," BBC News, 10 June 2008)

lest we forget....

Some specifics from Rockefeller's statement (emphasis [Arianna Huffington's):

• Statements and implications by the President and Secretary of State suggesting that Iraq and al-Qa'ida had a partnership, or that Iraq had provided al-Qa'ida with weapons training, were not substantiated by the intelligence.
• Statements by the President and the Vice President indicating that Saddam Hussein was prepared to give weapons of mass destruction to terrorist groups for attacks against the United States were contradicted by available intelligence information.
  
• Statements by President Bush and Vice President Cheney regarding the postwar situation in Iraq, in terms of the political, security, and economic, did not reflect the concerns and uncertainties expressed in the intelligence products.
• Statements by the President and Vice President prior to the October 2002 National Intelligence Estimate regarding Iraq's chemical weapons production capability and activities did not reflect the intelligence community's uncertainties as to whether such production was ongoing.
  
• The Secretary of Defense's statement that the Iraqi government operated underground WMD facilities that were not vulnerable to conventional airstrikes because they were underground and deeply buried was not substantiated by available intelligence information.
  
• The Intelligence Community did not confirm that Muhammad Atta met an Iraqi intelligence officer in Prague in 2001 as the Vice President repeatedly claimed.
  

So much for the tired claim that "everybody in the world" agreed that Iraq had WMD, was a "grave and gathering threat," was in league with Al Qaeda, etc., etc., etc. (Arianna Huffington, "The Big Story You May Have Missed During the Obama v. Clinton Finale," June 9, 2008)

My response to May 09, 2008, "Obama Needs a History Lesson," By Jack Kelly, from RealClearPolitics

Posted by: balkanization

Date: 05/10/2008 03:17PM

Sorry, Mr. Kelly, weak history on the part of the pundit on this one. Orwell made the point that one's enemies today are allies tomorrow in his 1984, written in 1948 -- get it? -- which is a date relevant to two of Sen. Obama's and your examples. Everyone concerned was aware that ally Russia/Joseph Stalin had been and could be an enemy. Still, as Churchill noted when asked why he a staunch anti-Communist would work with Stalin; he replied he would work with the devil himself, if he thought it could bring down Hitler faster. (Which means, of course, that your view, Mr. Kelly, also goes against Churchill's.)

The problem, of course, is that keeping to a hard-and-fast view of who the enemy is (dog-headed, enemy to mankind, eats babies, etc.) means living in a non-existent world. It means that we identify an enemy -- USSR invading Afghanistan for example -- and then support those resisting that enemy unreservedly -- weapons to the Taliban, etc., with little sense that roles can change. It turns out, in the real world, the enemy is not dog-headed, eating babies, etc. Diplomacy is as much a part of realpolitik as iron and blood.

Perhaps there is nothing all that new in what Sen. Obama said. But it makes a lot more sense that Mr. Kelly's Medieval mantras.

obama leads in superdelegates according to abc

I made the following post on abc (for some reason I don't know how to spell gaugeing):

Superdelegates want what is best for the party; but their best way of gauging that is to look at the popular vote and the pledged delegate count. Sen. Obama leads in those two categories and, oh yes, he leads in amount of money raised by large numbers of people sending in small amounts. Superdelegates are not directing this parade; they are simply joining in.

So Sen. Obama and his organization have shown they have the moxie to win. Sen. McCain and his policies will certainly benefit the super-rich; but the idea that John and Cindy are less elitist than Barack and Michelle is laughable. The latter might have more education; but folks, that used to be a good thing.

I appended the following to a petition for an inquiry demanded by John Kerry (at least I tried to; his website doesn't appear to work too well_.

I am quite concerned about the growth of what Eisenhower warned about: the growth of the military-industrial complex. Particularly egregious are no-bid and cost-plus contracts going to a small group of semi-private firms. If these firms are then "planting" the military support of policies that benefit the bottom line of these firms, this is EXACTLY what Pres. Eisenhower warned against. Separation of Public and Private when one is discussing War is just as essential as separation of Church and State.

The original:

• Help get an investigation of the Pentagon pundit program

• Nearly two weeks ago, the New York Times reported on a covert Pentagon plan in, “an effort to transform the analysts into a kind of media Trojan horse — an instrument intended to shape terrorism coverage from inside the major TV and radio networks." The goal of this program: get coverage favorable to Bush Administration policies.

• But since that story, there's been little effort to find out more about this program, and essentially zero coverage of the revelation on television news.

• With a near total blackout on the story from the television news networks, we need the American people to demand answers!

• Co-sign the letter John Kerry wrote to the GAO demanding an investigation and help us get answers.
  

"President Bush should be out here watching this ramp ceremony to see what it is really like," said one soldier, who asked not to be identified.

"The people who created this war need to be thinking about the families of these 18-year-olds who are dying."

("Car bomb targets US patrol, kills Iraqi," By BRADLEY J. BROOKS, Associated Press Writers, 29 Jan. 2008)

it appears that the surge + arming sunni tribal militias = relative calm to one or two provinces. it does not appear if it can bring peace to the entire country. what about an expanded jobs program to rebuild the country, a pull-back to western anbar as usa interest are really in kuwait and saudi arabia, not iraq, and an acceptance of, well, balkanization? we already appear to have accepted ethnic cleansing in baghdad.