Current Article

Four Days in Iraq: And this Means the Surge is Working?

By Larry Johnson on November 26, 2007 at 10:43 PM in Current Affairs

If fourteen car and roadside bombs in four days is your idea of success then I give up. You should immediately sign up for the Joe Lieberman fantasy tour. While you are at it, keep those eyes on the skies because I bet the rapture is imminent. (Please remember to tell Joe that since he is a Jew that Jesus will not be favorably disposed to catch him up with the rest of the saved. Unless he accepts Jesus he is getting left behind, no matter how deeply he believes things are swell in Iraq.)

Yes it is true that the level of violence is down in Iraq. But that is like saying that the explosions on Omaha Beach were not as bad as the fire bombing of Dresden. Truth is no sane person would want to be in either locale.

We also need to be honest with ourselves. If we were experiencing one terrorist bombing a day in America would Bush or any member of Congress have the balls to tell the American people that things are better? Would that be considered a tolerable state of affairs. If you have a shred of intellectual honesty you know that the answer is not only “no”, but “No Way in Hell”. Well catch this factoid boys and girls–Iraq is racked by at least three bombings a day.

Let’s look at what happened in Iraq over the last four days. (I am referring to the period starting Friday, 23 November thru Monday, 26 November.)

You can follow the links to the icausalties.org news archive page and read the reports for yourselves.

Friday, 23 November 2007

Five bombings that kill 37 people across Iraq and 32 shot or murdered in sectarian violence.

Al-Qaida hijacks Iraqi Humvees and kills 18 U.S. backed Sunnit fighters in southern Baghdad

Bomb Kills 13 at Baghdad Pet Market

Eight decomposed bodies found in Kut

Bomber strikes police checkpoint in northern Iraq killing 13

Three bodies with signs of torture pulled from the Tigris

Gunmen on a motorbike kill doctor in Kut

Manager of a grain company kidnapped

Car bomb kills two worshippers in Jurf Al Sakhar (south of Baghdad)

Iraqi school guard, wife beheaded as children watch

Cholera spreads in Baghdad

Two suicide car bombs kill nine people in Mosul

Saturday 24 November 2007

Three Bombs and one mortar killed 25 while 8 executed in sectarian attacks.

Mortar fire kills 1 Iraqi, wounds 2 at military base in Balad

6 bodies found in Baghdad on Friday

Roadside bomb wounds 2 in central Baghdad

Policemen’s body found in Tuz Khurmato

Roadside bomb kills 3 policemen near Samarra

21 killed in Mosul bomb atttacks

Two bodies showing signs of torture found in Falluja

Sunday 25 November 2007

Three bombings kill 10 and wound more than 20 and 25 Iraqis are murdered in sectarian violence.

Five bodies found in Baghdad

Car Bomb Kills 9 in Baghdad

Al Qaeda kills at least 10 neighborhood police in southern Baghdad

Roadside bomb wounds 2 civilians, Iraqi soldier killed in Northern Baghdad

Gunmen kill guard in eastern Mosul

Roadside bomb wounds 6 people in Mosul

Al-Qaeda group kills nine abducted officers

Monday 26 November 2007

Three bombs kill two, wound dozens and 20 more Iraqis are killed in sectarian attacks.

3 bodies found in Mosul

Roadside bomb kills 1, wounds another in Mosul

Suicide truck bomb kills 1 Iraqi soldier, wounds 5 others southwest of Kirkuk

Gunmen kill 1 man, wound another in Hilla (south of Baghdad)

Gunmen kill policeman in Kut (southeast of Baghdad)

Roadside bomb wounds 2 people in southern Baghdad

Gunmen murder 11 family members of Iraqi journalist in east Baghdad

4 Bodies found in Baghdad,

Oh, and how about that political progress. These stories tell it all:

Political Progress:

11/26/07 AFP: Iraq Kurds defy Baghdad on oil deals

The autonomous Kurdish regional government in northern Iraq defied Baghdad on Monday, vowing to sign more contracts with international oil firms despite the national government’s opposition.

11/26/07 Reuters: U.S. and Iraq agree on talks for future relationship

The United States and Iraq have agreed to start formal negotiations next year about the future relationship of the two countries, including the size and role of American forces, the White House said on Monday.

11/26/07 timesonline: American-backed killer militias strut across Iraq

A 50% cut in car and roadside bombs, shootings and rocket and mortar attacks since June has brought hope that some of the 5m Iraqis driven from home may soon be able to go back. Yet many…are too frightened of the new militias and the ethnic cleansers

11/25/07 LATimes: Baath reform spurs uproar in Iraq parliament

Reforms that would ease curbs on former members of Saddam Hussein’s Baath party rejoining Iraq’s civil service and military appeared headed for legislative gridlock after attempts today to read a draft bill in parliament disintegrated…

11/26/07 AP: Iraqi Shiites denounce draft legislation

Shiite legislators on Monday denounced a draft bill to ease curbs on ex-Saddam Hussein loyalists in government services, dampening hopes of progress for the U.S.-backed legislation aimed at promoting national reconciliation.

Shirin

Wow! All that without even mentioning the hundreds – thousands? – of bombings and other acts of violence committed every day by the Americans!
http://thumbsnap.com/v/78mn2yFc.jpg 1Watt

will this deal to talk about permanent bases be the final straw for Sadr’s support for Milaki?
Sandy

Excellent points, Larry, and I’m glad you said it. Whitewashing, just as Shirin says. Who are we kidding here?
Shirin

For a daily rundown on events in Iraq, including “security incidents”, take a look at this great site.

Every single day the tireless posters research and post security incidents, news and views, and commentary on the Iraq situation. The blog was started in 2003, and is and will remain an invaluable resource for research on what happened, who said what, who did what, and when.
Shirin

While we are talking about The Surge™, take a look at this typical event – the kind of thing that has occured multiple times a day, and yet somehow these kinds of things rarely seem to make it into the American media. And when they do – well, just read this:

The version that was reported in the American media:

“A suspected insurgent and improvised explosive device cell member was identified among the killed in an engagement between Coalition Forces and suspected IED emplacers just north of Samarra…. During the engagement, insurgents used a nearby house as a safe haven to re-engage coalition aircraft. A known member of an IED cell was among the 11 killed during the multiple engagements. We send condolences to the families of those victims and we regret any loss of life.”

The version reported by the Iraqis who were there:

“Abdul al-Rahman Iyadeh, a relative of some of the victims, revealed that the “group of men” attacked were actually three farmers who had left their homes at 4:30 A.M. to irrigate their fields. Two were killed in the initial helicopter attack and the survivor ran back to his home where other residents gathered. The second air strike, he claimed, destroyed the house killing 14 people. Another witness told reporters that four separate houses were hit by the helicopter. A local Iraqi policeman, Captain Abdullah al-Isawi, put the death toll at 16 — seven men, six women, and three children, with another 14 wounded.”

This kind of thing happens several times a day just about every day all over Iraq, including in densely populated urban areas. Often, the “target” is a single person – ONE INDIVIDUAL – who is “suspected” of something or other, and who may or may not be present at the time of the attack. The result: MAYBE – or maybe not – they kill the guy they were after. Definitely, they kill numerous men, women, children, and elderly people who just had the misfortune of being there at the time. And then they “express condolences” and blithely move on to their next mass killing.

Back in 2003 they dropped two one-ton bombs on a building in Mansur, an upscale district of Baghdad (where, coincidentally, a number of family members and friends live) because there was supposedly a rumour that Saddam might be in that building. They killed AT LEAST twenty six Iraqis who were just going about their business, including an entire (Christian) family of five – mother, father, three kids – who thought they were safe in their home. Of course, Saddam was nowhere near the place.

By what rational thought process…by what mental logic…by what moral calculus do you decide how many men, women, children, and elderly people it is reasonable to remove from the world forever in order to – maybe – kill one SUSPECTED “bad guy” who may or may not even be there? How many children’s lives is it OK to terminate forever order to – MAYBE – get one person who MIGHT be a “bad guy”, and who MIGHT – or might not – be there at the time? And then add insult to grievous injury by making some meaningless pro-forma statement of fake condolence?

And then on top of it all to tell the world that all those children, all those women, all those elderly people, and all those farmers going out to irrigate their fields – every single bloody one of them – is a terrorist.

Who ARE the terrorists here, anyway?
Shirin

Oh yes, and let us be very clear about what constitutes a “bad guy” in this situation. A “bad guy” is someone who is a threat to the heavily armed troops who forced their way into the country by the use of massive, extremely deadly and destructive violence, and who have, for going on five years massively killed, maimed, and destroyed in order to maintain their presence and to impose the will of their government on the people of that country.

In other words, the “bad guy” in this story is the person who is defending his family, his city, his country against a massively violent foreign invading force.

Swap identities for a moment…………..

OK, NOW who is the bad guy?
Thinker

Ok couple of interesting points here, Larry.

First off, the problem is this World run by accountants offering globalisation as the unifying force underpinned by corporate edict.

Its ok if there are 22 school shootings next year, coz that’s less than 26. That’s what the accountants say. So if Iraqi’s are being murdered at 500,000 a year, 400,000 is an improvement. 400,000 dead is good news and an acceptable statistic?

Ok I have stretched your point which was the releasing “good news” about troop morality figures which actually isn’t good news at all to show we are on the same page.

You talked of Jewish Joe being accepted by Jesus. What would Jesus have done if he were the American President? Well firstly he would not have been the President, because though none of the writers of the traditional Canon had the guts or insight to mention it, he was fighting the accountants in his age. The accountants used scripture to determine policy and Jesus saw about undermining that determination and exposing double standards and greed.

So if Jesus were alive today, I think he would be at this precise place, because this place is a haven for those who recognise and expose the greed and double standards of those who will go to any lengths to secure their self importance.

To conclude, with regards your little piece Larry, Jesus would have said “who amongst you is good [pure] enough to judge and kill one of God’s creatures on the grounds they were evil?” Those of absolute importance could not fathom anything ouside their ambition. Those that follow see them as surrogate Gods.

PrchrLady

Very well saudm Thinker… yes, Jesus would never have started this or any other war. I can almost hear Him asking bushco whose children should be bombed first??? God doesn’t like evil, and it will be repaid.

Kathleen

Grew up in the Catholic church. Who knows for sure if Jesus existed. But if he did sounds like a great guy. Really like the scene where Jesus turns over the merchandise tables in the temple.

Let’s be straight up if you really challenge the powers that be in a substantial and effective way, the powere that be will kill you. Jesus, Gandhi, Martin Luther King, Kennedys, Malcolm x.

Have been wondering who would Jesus Impeach? My holiday bumper sticker would say Where would Jesus Shop? I have turned into quite the cynic, sorry.
Teaeopy

If President George W. Bush and his followers wish to use biblical justification, they should read and consider Matthew 7 (found among many places at BibleGateway.com – Passage Lookup: Matthew 7).

Shirin

Even more to the point, Thinker, who amongst you would travel half way across the world into someone else’s land to kill hundreds of thousands of God’s creatures who had never ever come anywhere near you, let alone presented a threat to you?

GSD

Talk about the soft bigotry of low expectations.

-GSD
Yogi-one

Yes, Larry the dayz of Easy Money in Iraq are coming to a close.

That’s why they want to invade Iran.

They might be able to “perfect” old Joe yet. It would probably take quite a bit of that sacred manna God bestows on His ~~Jihadis~~ Holy Warriors (that would be “Money” – the one thing that Jesus seemed not too much to care for in the temple, but -ahhh- we can bypass that for now, wink, wink).

It would be a comedy if it wasn’t such a tragedy…

Cee

I said folks were fed up the other day

November 27, 2007

On Hamas, Saud al-Faisal Agrees with Colin Powell who Agrees with Brent Scowcroft who Agrees with Zbig Brzezinski who Agrees with Eric Shinseki who Agrees with Christine Todd Whitman. . .

This tidbit just appeared in Robin Wright’s recent reporting on the Annapolis Summit in an article titled “Iran: The Uninvited Wildcard in Mideast Talks”:

Iran will still have leverage in the event of peace, Arab officials concede. Saudi Foreign Minister Saud al-Faisal said yesterday that any peace agreement would eventually have to include Hamas, since it controls Gaza and half the Palestinian Authority. Moreover, the two major Palestinian parties — Hamas and Fatah, which controls the West Bank — would need to join a national unity government, he said.
An agreement signed by Israeli and Palestinian leaders would need ratification by their respective parliaments, and Hamas still controls the Palestinian parliament.

“Unless you bring Hamas in tune with what is happening on the peace side, you are really not fulfilling a basic requirement,” Faisal said. “One man cannot make peace; not even half a people can make peace,” he told a roundtable of U.S. journalists. “There has to be consensus about peace among the Palestinians for this to go smoothly.”

I just thought it worth noting that people ranging from former Secretary of State Colin Powell to former New Jersey Governor and Bush administration cabinet member Christine Todd Whitman (who headed the National Democratic Institute election monitoring mission of the 2005 Palestinian elections) to former US Army Chief of Staff Eric Shinseki to former National Security Advisors Zbigniew Brzezinski and Brent Scowcroft to former Senators Nancy Kassebaum Baker, Gary Hart, Lincoln Chafee, Larry Pressler, Birch Bayh and many others from both sides of the aisle agree with the Saudi Foreign Minister

http://www.thewashingtonnote.com/

Shirin

Hamas is the party that the Palestinians chose in a free and fair election, held at the insistence of the Bush regime (specifically her brilliance, Condi Rice) to lead and represent them. Israel and the Bush regime have been collectively punishing the Palestinians ever since for the crime of democratically electing the people THEY wanted instead of the corrupt quislings and puppets who would act for the benefit of Israel and the Bush regime.

Hamas, of course, was not invited to the Annapolis charade. Neither was any true representative of the Palestinian people invited to the conference that is supposed to decide their fate. But then, if you know the history of the so-called “peace process” then you know that this is standard operating procedure.

In the mean time, Israel has announced that in addition to continuing to collectively punish the people of Gaza by starvation, deprivation of medicine and medical equipment, and imprisonment in what has been described as the largest open-air prison on earth, they will cut electricity to Gaza.

I have two dear, dear friends in Gaza. One of them is a physician and a former Fulbright scholar, and one of the most intrinsically kind and moral people I have ever known. His wife is a beautiful, intelligent, and sensitive woman. The other is a computer scientist who works for the police department. For two years I acted as his “adviser” as he worked hard at two jobs, one with the Women’s Empowerment Center, helped support his beloved elderly father, fell in love, lost his main job, despaired of ever being able to marry, and finally, with the help of his brothers (and he would say, by the will of God), he gathered enough money to marry and start a household, found a good job in another city, and married. Each of my friends has a new baby girl. They will now be punished by having to live now, and managing new babies, without electricity.

And all for exercising their democratic right to choose their own leaders.

Cee

We all need to pray for their babies and others like them. No electricity means no clean water.

I watched a special on the Science Channel (Surviving Urban Disasters) the other evening that showed how to sterilize water. Collect the water, cover the top and use a straw or whatever to allow steam to escape as the water is heated over a fire or candle. Collect the steam that drips from the straw into a container. Clean water.

Pass this on to your friends. I had no idea how to do this.
Montag

Shirin,
Rashid Khalidi has been very critical of Hamas for running in the elections (a major concession by them to begin with!) without being willing to recognize Israel (not that they’d get a damn thing for this concession). They insisted on falling between two stools and taking the Palestinian people with them. To be fair to Hamas, I don’t think they were counting on actually WINNING the election, just getting a respectable number of seats and serving as “the loyal opposition” in Parliament. The problem is that the result was 100% predictable.

Of course this criticism doesn’t justify the reaction to the victory by Hamas, just that Hamas shouldn’t be shocked, shocked, that the U.S. and Israel weren’t delighted by the result and chose to vent their displeasure upon the Palestinians as a whole.

The hypocrisy of the Israelis in condemning Fatah as a hopelessly corrupt organization and then dropping dead from surprise when the Palestinians refused to vote for them beggars the imagination. Don’t they even listen to their own propaganda anymore? Oh right, it’s intended purely for foreign consumption.

Shirin

Well, Montag, I have enormous respect for Rashid Khalidi. However…

Hamas may not have explicitly stated “Hamas regognizes Israel”, but saying it recognizes Israel is relatively meaningless. What is far more valuable is that Hamas has stated clearly the terms on which it will make peace with Israel, and the terms are no less reasonable than the terms demanded by international law – an end to the occupation of Palestinian land, withdrawal to the pre-1967 boundaries (with minor adjustments to make the boundary more manageable for both sides, and a free, independent, and sovereign Palestinian state in the West Bank, Gaza, and East Jerusalem.

Clearly, that is still, as it has been for many decades, far too much to ask for peace.
Shirin

The abject cluelessness of Condi Rice:

“Ms. Rice, who had heralded the election as a symbol of the new stirrings of democracy in the Middle East, was so blindsided by the victory that she was startled when she saw a crawl of words on her television screen while exercising on her elliptical trainer the morning after the election: ‘In wake of Hamas victory, Palestinian cabinet resigns.’

“I thought, ‘Well, that’s not right,’’ Ms. Rice recalled. When the crawl continued, she got off the elliptical trainer and called the State Department.

“’I said, ‘What happened in the Palestinian elections?’ Ms. Rice recalled. “And they said, ‘Oh, Hamas won.’ And I thought, ‘Oh my goodness, Hamas won?’“
Cee

http://www.counterpunch.org/loewenstein06122006.html

Setting the Record Straight on Hamas

II. Hamas accepts a two-state solution. When asked by Newsweek-Washington Post correspondent Lally Weymouth on 26 February 2006 what agreements Hamas was prepared to honor, the new Hamas Prime Minister, Ismail Haniyeh answered, “the ones that will guarantee the establishment of a Palestinian State with Jerusalem as its capital with 1967 borders.” Weymouth went on, “Will you recognize Israel?” to which Haniyeh responded, “If Israel declares that it will give the Palestinian people a state and give them back all their rights then we are ready to recognize them.” (5) This view encapsulates the Hamas demand for reciprocity.”

Shirin

Thanks Cee.

And isn’t it interesting how this declaration, which Hamas made repeatedly and clearly after the election, has been studiously ignored in favour of the lie that they refuse to recognize Israel.

JamesL

“If we were experiencing one terrorist bombing a day in America would Bush or any member of Congress have the balls to tell the American people that things are better?”

That says it all there. And it also says a great deal about the dismally diminished capacity of present day Americans for imagination and compassion. If one can’t manifest the wit to imagine what it would be like to live in a place where the President says one terrorist bombing day is good, then one will not likely be capable of preventing the infinite accumulation of enemies.

Shirin

Why all this focus on the “terrorist” bombings? Am I the only one who cares about the tens of American bombings that are taking place, mostly unreported, on a daily basis? You guys are paying for those bombs, for the fuel that gets those bombs to their destinations, and you are paying the salaries of the people who are transporting and dropping those bombs on people who for the most part are, at worst, trying to defend themselves against heavily armed foreign forces who have invaded their country.

Put the shoe on the other foot for a moment, please, and see how you would feel about it if the roles were reversed.

ybnormal

I have to wonder if the question of whether or not the ‘surge’ is working, will go down in history as one of the flim flam red herrings of all time. As advertised, it was supposed to provide breathing room which for some unknown reason was supposed to allow the Iraq government to get it’s shit together. After 4 f***ing years that’s the best strategy we can come up with? Breathing room?

We in the U.S. of course, think we’re in some high ground position to dictate benchmarks to another country, when we’ve got our shit together so well we have the ‘wisdom’ to bomb and destroy others pre-emptively without evidence of any reason.

What are the results of this breathing room? Sadr’s Mahdi Army took the opportunity for some breathing room, likely to re-group and rest up until the ‘surge’ is over. The Iraq government got to breathe on vacation, then came back and now appears to be breathing with Bush to keep U.S. troops in Iraq for some undetermined amount of time. WTF?

Most importantly, what about all the massacred dead Iraqi people? What did breathing room do for them? Naturally they can’t answer because they’re dead.

Congress, like a gambling addict, keeps betting billions on the long shot, in the vain hope that a fantasy payoff will justify all the lives and resources already lost and wasted.

Recent history has proven there is no coherent believable strategy on how to ‘win’ anything in Iraq. If Congress wants to leave things like impeachment off the table, along with leaving their balls up in their intestines, then we’ll have to live with it. Meanwhile, the least they could do is take war funding off the table. It’s time to leave.

And BTW it must really suck to be Lieberman. To be honest I don’t quite follow the Joe/Jew/Jesus train of thought part of the post. He’s a pathetic whiner who sounds like he’s constipated. I don’t really give a rats ass what his religion or genetic history is. It must also suck to be everyone else in Congress who continues to finance death.
http://joyhollywood.blogspot.com Connie L

Joe Lieberman is so pathetic that I can’t even stand the thought of watching him on anything. Will the media finally do their job and tell the people in this country the truth. It doesn’t look like it.
Cee

We can’t forget about Afghanistan either. I remember why the Taliban was able to take over before.

“Some men enjoy playing with dogs, some with women. I enjoy playing with boys,” said Allah Daad, a one-time mujahedin commander in the northern Afghan province of Kunduz.

The boys are kept by powerful older men, made to dance at special parties, and often sexually abused afterwards. Known as “bacha bereesh” – literally, “beardless boys”, they are under 18, with 14 the preferred age.

“When I was young, I had a bacha bereesh who was the best in the region,” recalled Allah Daad, 44. “He danced like a flying pigeon…. Nobody could take his place afterwards. I kept him for three years, then left him when he matured.”

http://www.nowpublic.com/crime/sex-abuse-boys-afghanistan

Shirin

The Taliban were able to take over because they kept young dancing boys?

G Hazeltine

From the link: “It took the Taliban to stop the farming of poppies for the production of Opium. It took the Soviet Union to give liberation to women. But theTaliban’s decline in influence in the north with its oppressive moral code, has allowed a repulsive cultural tradition to resurface.”

We need to be very careful with stories like this, which feed so easily into the prejudicial narratives we are fed about Muslims, and others.

The Taliban, with their ‘oppresive moral code,’ eliminated opium production, and apparently these practices. So the Afghans are inherently corrupt – their ‘repulsive cultural traditions’ can be controlled only by the ‘repressive moral code’ of the Taliban.

On the other hand we have our own ‘cultural traditions’ regarding the sexual activities of powerful men. Dating back to the Greeks perhaps.

Further, it seems useful to keep in mind our recent past. When my grandmother was a girl ‘proper’ women did not go out with their heads uncovered. Most black adults were former slaves. There was a bounty on Indians in California. She wasn’t able to vote until she was in her forties.

Cee

We need to be very careful with stories like this, which feed so easily into the prejudicial narratives we are fed about Muslims, and others.

I agree. Others like Trent Lott?

Cee

The people were complaining about the rape of women and young boys by the warlords.

Kathleen

Thanks Larry. The reality on the ground in IRaq is terribly disturbing. Our invasion of Iraq based on what George Galloway calls a “pack of lies” created an environment for a genocide to take place, and most Americans could care less. Oh we will march, e-mail, call, blog, comment, stand on street corners with impeach signs, but I ask myself what does this really do? How does this change the reality on the ground the hell on earth that we created for the Iraqi people? I am ashamed of my country and I no longer wonder why they hate us.

I was playing with some numbers in my head the other day…3% of the population of Iraq are now dead I million), one seventh of the population displaced (4 million) . If you applied those same ratios to the U.S. population it is astounding. 9million dead and 42 million displaced. I know my numbers are ball park but why don’t we get it? Why don’t Americans feel deeply for the Iraqi people, especially since we are responsible. Frightening

Larry and all tonight my 2 daughters and I will be attending Former Attorney General John Ashcrofts talk at Univ of Colorado. Marcy Wheeler has given me her suggestion for a pertinent question “who was it that called Mrs. Ashcroft in the hospital? Was it President Bush or Vice President Cheney?”

I will be asking this question.

My daughters and several friends are willing to ask a few. My suggestions are. Which program were they trying to get you to sign off on? And What was it about this program that you, Comey, Mueller and others were willing to resign over?

Do you have any suggestions?
Pingback: appletree » Blog Archive » News from Iraq: Novemeber 27, ‘07
Fred C. Dobbs

And the noise which will emanate from the Right Wing Conspiracy Front will be that the Surge worked until the day that a Democrat was inaugurated, immediately after which things in Iraq (among others) went to Hell in a Prada bag.

Meanwhile the Fed is busting its collective ass to stave off the identifiable event of the start of a Recession (which has been underway for everyone except Federal workers, health care and the Ownership Class for two years now). Bernanke’s nose looks like a Sequoia sticking out of his face…

(“If we can JUST make sure the slide in the Dow happens on 21 JAN 08, then we can blame the Democrats for the Recession…amd no one will be able to compare Shrubbie to Hoover!”)

The ONLY Hope For America is that the striking Writers in Hollywood (and other nests of Secular Hoomanists) stay out on strike and return the airwaves to REAL ‘Murrican Entertainment, like: “Leave It To Beaver,” “I Love Lucy,” “Dragnet,” “Wagon Train,” et al, all available in re-runs and CERTIFIED FREE of LIBERAL AGENDA-ADVANCING CONTENT!

See ya on the breadlines, in the soup kitchens, and in BushBurgs (like Hoovervilles, but with satellite TV and WiFi) in a year or two.

MEP

Hello Fred this is OT but have you taken note that MSC is in the process of topping off the tanks?

Fred C. Dobbs

Thanks for the tip.

No, I hadn’t heard, but I have been on the Beach since April and I only call my Union office about once a month. I have been working a “Paper Hat” job in Las Vegas due to slow Shipping and haven’t kept up.

Are they topping up tanks just at Jebel Ali, Fujairah and Diego Garcia, or all around the area?

Extra loads into Sasebo, Yokosuka and Sigonella usually tell you where the carriers are headed.

Is it primarily MSC spot charters or is the work being done by the usual suspects (USNS PAUL BUCK, USNS LAWRENCE GIANELLA, aka the T-5′s, et al) and filling up the Combat Stores ships (ie, USS CAMDEN and her Ugly Stepsisters)?

Also, knowing where the SS PETERSBURG and/or SS POTOMAC is/are located can be illustrative.

And, of course, sniffing out M/V’s LOPEZ, PHILLIPS, WILLIAMS, BAUGH and LUMMUS can give one an idea of what Uncle Sam’s Miguided Children have in mind for the near future.

Lastly, are they buying JP-5, JP-8 or MOGAS? This may tell you if the coming action will involve Land Vehicles in great numbers.

Sorry, I haven’t been involved in the Dry Cargo side in awhile. My last Kuwait non-tanker run was a RO/RO full of trucks, trailers and HUMMV’s in early 2005.

Wish we had a line into Defense Fuels at Fort Belvoir. I could USE a little War Risk Overtime to tide me over during the coming economic downturn…

Who controls the POL controls the battle!

Or:

You can’t Kick Ass without our Gas!!

MEP

Tried to do a link but it didnt work. Go to uk.reuters.com and search “U.S. Navy steps up fuel deliveries to Gulf forces”, mostly mentions JP5.

Fred C. Dobbs

Interesting. The 235,000 BBL lift is the exact capacity of a T-5, and the 147,000 BBL could be the MV MONTAUK, which usually provides POL to Diego Garcia, Wake and Kwajalein.

In 2003 we were using the T-5′s for short-haul and back-haul loads, Intra-Gulf, that might normally be done by big barges or smaller, local tankers on regional spot charter market. Hopefully they are beyond that now, as it was grinding work…

The “bump” in total tender can also be caused when one particular ship is in the yard for its biannual yard period,” or when one T-5 is supplying McMurdo or Thule.

Some of this is seasonal shifting in prices and demand due to refinery ops. They use heating oil in other places, for instance, and most refiners crack that in preparation for the heating season. The JP products would be right after that, along with DFM-76 (Diesel Fuel, Marine), which most USN Diesel powered ships use.

So, nothing definitive there, but a good place to look! Thanks for the tip.

mudcat

It’s the deadliest year of the occupation so far. Fact.

Expose, confront, ridicule and prosecute. That’s what needs to be done.

Kathleen

Who would Jesus impeach?

Teaeopy

Hypocrites, for sure. He’d look closely at how others were done unto.

TeakwoodKite

The cases are Boumediene v. Bush, 06-1195, and Al-Odah v. U.S., 06-1196
Donovan Fraser

Again, “the surge” is a false term. If you start out with not enough troops to control the reality on the ground ( against your generals recommendations) and then 5 years later send in enough troops to do so you are not coming up with some brilliant plan to win. You are in fact doing what you should have done 5 years ago! the idiocy was going to war in the first place and we ALL know this. this plan should be more accurately described as “OPERATION LOWERED EXPECTATIONS” .

this “the surge is working ” mantra repeated by the right and some bone headed presidential candidates (McCain and others) is beyond crazy. I would say to them ” no shit sherlock, you flood an area with our troops violence goes down, but where are you going to get a million troops to patrol every street in Iraq”? a draft? didn’t think so.

We should take the billions of dollars a month contractors are getting and start paying the Iraqis back for blowing their country to hell back along with a formal apology for being so fucking stupid. I know this could never repay for the loss that has been forced on them, but it would be a start. We would make friends in far greater numbers this way than occupying their land.
Ah one can dream…
Shirin

“you flood an area with our troops violence goes down”

Actually, I am not so sure violence is down in reality. Attacks on American troops seem to be down, internecine violence seems to be down (though I doubt that is really due to The Surge™, as much as it is due to a number of other factors). However, The Surge™ has also involved a several-fold increase in both the amount and magnitude of the violence committed against Iraqis by The Troops. Aerial bombings, one of the most indiscriminate methods of killing and destroying, have increased several-fold, with a concomitant increase in Iraqi deaths. But conveniently, most of those deaths are, as usual, not counted by the promoters of The Surge.

And on another topic, I just spoke to a dear young friend of mine in Erbil. He called to announce to me that he will be married in a few weeks to a very beautiful lady he saw working in the pharmacy. Here is what he told me:

The price of a barrel of kerosene is $150. (Kerosene is a necessity for heating homes, and other uses.)

The price of liquid gas is $12.

Kurds are still somewhat divided regarding Bush, but the majority hate him.
http://www.food4humanity.org HoosierHoops

The Surge is working..
Wal-Mart has announced the opening of 10 new super centers through-out Iraq..( Candle lit of course, for there is no electricity)
Target is planning for high growth and expansion..
Martha Steward is planning a 3 week wirlwind tour of the outlying areas of Bagdad promoting her new houseware and bedroom linen product lines.
Oprah is filming a 3 part series for her popular daytime show Dec.3rd-5th in Falluja.. Dr. Phil has expressed interest in joining her.
You can’t walk down any street without seeing signs declaring ‘ opening soon..Toys R Us’
John Deer, General Motors, Ford and scores of other dealerships are rushing to gain a foothold in Iraq.
Recently a large Building size poster of Bush was displayed in Bagdad inscribed with the words, ‘What…me worry?’

http://noquarterusa.net/blog/ Leslie

Good one Hoosier. Yup, soon there’ll be a Starbucks on every corner. Course there won’t be any Iraqis left to buy $3 coffee, but that’s a minor detail.

Teaeopy

And there’ll be no reason not to bring the laptop, since no one will have the least interest in intercepting wireless traffic, or in stealing/confiscating the laptop.

Kathleen

Romney’s “mukaka moment”.

http://www.firedoglake.com/

Amy (the best thing going,well besides Diane Rehm) Goodman focused on the middle east summit today.

http://www.democracynow.org/

Teaeopy

I’d like to see Romney’s statements about Muslims get all the attention they should, but, given the bizarre and contradictory positions taken toward Islam by the Bush administration and by many Republicans and Democrats, I don’t know how much his remarks will stand out.

On one hand, we get various versions of “‘they’ attacked ‘us’”. On the other hand, US blood, treasure, and honor are put on the line to uphold the Coalition-fostered Islamic Republic of Iraq, the Constitution of which establishes Islam as a foundation of law. There’s religious, cultural, ethnocentric, xenophobic bias underlying it all, that’s for sure, and it’s so sweet to those who crave it that no amount of harm is enough to make them let go of it. The harm that’s done falls heavily on Islamic populations, but the harm done to the USA and some Coalition partners is also immeasurable and unjustified.

Shirin

Here, for your reading pleasure (and possible enlightenment) is a somewhat condensed version of the daily rundown of reported “security incidents” for today, compiled for the invaluable website Iraq Today.

Please check this website out.

#1: American troops killed up to four bank staff on their way to work in Baghdad on Tuesday after firing on their minibus. The shooting happened in the city’s northern Shaab district, a Shiite militia stronghold, as the driver was collecting employees for the Rasheed bank.

#2: A roadside bomb targeting a U.S. convoy wounded three civilians in the Karrada district of central Baghdad.

#3: Around 1 p.m., a bomb was planted inside a car at Mansour neighborhood near the master of Milk injuring 2 people.

#4: Iraqi soldiers killed a gunman who was trying to attack a checkpoint in southern Baghdad’s Saidiya district.

#5: Early morning, a roadside bomb exploded at Salman Back ( south of Baghdad ) injuring one taxi driver

#7: Police found ( 3 ) unidentified bodies in the following neighborhood in Baghdad : ( 2 ) were found in west Baghdad ( Karkh bank ) ; 1 in Bayaa and 1 in Doura. While (1) was found in east Baghdad ( Risafa bank ) in Zafaraniyah.

#8: A former sheriff’s deputy from Chisago (Chis-sah’-go) County has been killed while working as a security contractor in Iraq. DynCorp International says William Juneau (ju-NO) was killed Monday when his military convoy was hit by an improvised explosive device about 50 miles outside Baghdad.

Diyala Prv:
#1: A suicide bomber wearing an explosive belt blew himself up at a police checkpoint on the main road between the town of Buhruz and the city of Baquba, some 65 km northeast of Baghdad…The attack, which occurred at about 11:20 a.m. (0820 GMT), killed three policemen and three civilians at the checkpoint… Seven people, including three policemen, were also wounded during the blast.

Another three women were killed when random gunfire broke out in the chaos after the blast.

Wednesday morning, a suicide bomber was wearing a vest filled with explosives targeted the headquarter of Diyala police in Baquba killing 7 ( three civilians and 4 policemen) and injuring 13 others ( 6 policemen and 7 civilians ) .

Baquba:
#1: East of the city, mortar rounds apparently targeting a local radio station instead landed near homes in the vicinity, killing two people

#2: a roadside bombing killed one civilian, police said.

an improvised explosive device went off on Tuesday morning in a main street in al-Salam district near a Kia-modeled vehicle, killing a civilian and seriously wounding three others,” according to the same source.

#3: Armed clashes that took place on Tuesday morning between al-Qaeda gunmen and al-Aankabiya tribesmen in al-Salam district’s al-Bu Aziz village, northern Baaquba, left Sheikh Hadi Muhammad Jassim, a chieftain, killed, and two other villagers wounded,”

Basra:
#1: A huge fire broke out in an oil pipeline following clashes between two tribes in northern Basra, a source from the South Oil Company said on Tuesday.

Salah ad Din Prv: (Suleiman Bec?)
#1: Two Multi-National Division – North Soldiers were killed as a result of injuries sustained from an explosion near their vehicle while conducting operations in Salah ad Din province, Nov. 27. Additionally, two Soldiers were wounded and transported to a Coalition medical facility for treatment.

Around 9.30 a.m., a roadside bomb targeted an America patrol in an area of about 2 km of Suleiman Beck of Tuz Khurmatu (east of Tikrit) . Eyewitnesses said that a Humvee was destroyed. Also they saw a helicopter came to the scene taking the killed and injured soldiers with them

#2: Around 9.30a.m., a roadside bomb exploded on the road of about 2 km of Suleiman Beck of Tuz Khurmatu (east of Tikrit).No casualties reported.

Baiji:
#1: During a U.S. operation Monday against al-Qaida in Beiji, 155 miles north of Baghdad, American troops shot at a vehicle speeding toward a roadblock…Two men in the vehicle were killed immediately, and a child traveling with them died later of his wounds.

Tikrit:
#1: The bodies of four men were found shot near the city of Tikrit, 170 km (105 miles) north of Baghdad, a Salahuddin province official said.

#2: Monday night, gunmen killed Ahmed Hassan ( the mayor of Al-Zihour neighborhood )in Tikrit using silencer guns.

Hawija:
#1: Gunmen killed a policeman in a drive-by shooting in the town of Hawija, 70 km (45 miles) southwest of Baghdad, police said.

Mosul:
#1: A car bomb wounded four civilians in Mosul, police said.

#2: The bodies of four people with gunshot wounds were found dumped in the west of Mosul, 390 km (240 miles) north of Baghdad, police said.

Al Anbar Prv:
Ramadi:
#1: The civilian driver of a vehicle was killed when U.S. troops opened fire on his vehicle as it sped towards a checkpoint in the city of Ramadi, 110 km (70 miles) west of Baghdad, on Sunday.
oldtree

truth is such a whining nagging demon from hell….and we might want to listen to on a more exclusive basis. you put it just the way the old “NEWS” profession would have. Why, where, how where and when, facts. on the ground. no opinion, facts.

move it over to our candidates; “mafia mayor” “religious cult bigot” “I am who I am”, “I am the Klan”, “I am your christian savior” “I have been experienced”
why do none of our candidates in the front have a single statement of freaking truth? does it frighten them to make promises to return to reality and the rule of law?

I think that we may be secure in our understanding that we will never be party to the truth if no one is willing to speak it in such a volatile point in history. A point that may dictate if there will be history.

PrchrLady

Very wise words, Oldtree. We do need to got back to those days, days when people still used ‘common sense’ in their lives. These days, so few seem to look beyond the immediate gratification of whatever they want to do, or are doing, to even understand the world around them.

oldtree

and I don’t mean to equate truth with anything like facts. with facts each person can determine truth. but with truth you can determine nothing
http://noquarterusa.net/blog/ Leslie

You know all this talk about benchmarks and the surge working are BS. Since Bush and Maliki just reached a deal for the US to stay in Iraq forever, in order to ensure a Shiite-led government.

Sure, Bush supports democracy: As long as the guy he likes gets elected!

Shirin

Except that Maliki was never elected, nor was his make-believe “cabinet”. He was appointed, and even then only after Bush rejected the first choice, Ja`fari, and Condi and Jack Straw showed up in Baghdad to make sure the second choice would be someone acceptable to the empire.

This is not even a decent parody of a make-believe democracy.
Donovan Fraser

they can sign anything they like. it isn’t worth the paper it is written on.
much like our treaties with the Native american Indians. pure theater, nothing more.
The next president is going to spend his or her whole first term fixing what this numbnut has sewn.

note to president Bush:Eat bigger and herder pretzels next time!

bob h

A big factor in the “reduced” violence is that the Shiite militias have been told to cool it. It is not the surge but the sufferance of the Shiite leaders that is responsible. When they turn the switch to “on” again, the surge triumphalism will collapse.
mudkitty

A big factor in reduced violence is ethnic cleansing.
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