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Wednesday, February 28, 2007
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Prospect of defeat looms for British Army
Blair poodling for Bush could produce Brit defeat on two fronts; see the movie THE QUEEN to see Blair moving from promising dynamic new labor leader to FLUNKY for th Monarchy; Blair's legacy is now Flunky to corrupt Monarchy in UK, and Bush's Poodle
http://www.zmag.org/content/print_article.cfm?itemID=12227§ionID=74
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US Generals "Will Quit" If Bush Orders Iran Attack
a lot of interesting information here, esp first part that US military might resist orders to attack Iran; this comes initially from Brit intelligence and London Times
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/022607J.shtml
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Afghan Bombing Sends a Danger Signal to U.S.
bomb that went off near Cheney in Afghan signals Bush-Cheney failure on Afghan policy; they didn't take enough troops or mobilize enough countries to take down al Qaeda and Taliban and then took eyes off ball and troops into Iraq morass and there is al AQ and Taliban comeback; Bush-Cheney have failed wretchedly on every front....
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/02/28/washington/28security.html?hp=&pagewanted=print
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Tuesday, February 27, 2007
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Tuesday, February 20, 2007
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Sunday, February 18, 2007
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Saturday, February 17, 2007
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Monday, February 12, 2007
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Friday, February 09, 2007
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Wednesday, February 07, 2007
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Tuesday, February 06, 2007
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Sunday, February 04, 2007
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Friday, February 02, 2007
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Intelligence Report Predicts Spiraling of Violence in Iraq; Escalation Doubled
new intelligence report indicates things are just getting worse and worse in Iraq
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/02/02/world/middleeast/02cnd-intel.html?ei=5094&en=491eb97eea8c48bd&hp=&ex=1170478800&partner=homepage&pagewanted=print
But not much on sensational news from yesterday that the "surge" may be double of what was announced; from Center for American Progress
"IRAQ: Escalation Doubled
A report released yesterday by the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office (CB) shows that the real troop increase associated with President Bush’s escalation policy could be as high as 48,000, more than double the 21,500 soldiers that Bush has claimed. Moreover, despite administration assertions that the escalation would cost $5.6 billion, the CBO report estimates that "costs would range from $9 billion to $13 billion for a four-month deployment and from $20 billion to $27 billion for a 12-month deployment." The new facts about escalation come just as Congress is set to receive a long-delayed National Intelligence Estimate (NIE) on Iraq, the first such document from the U.S. intelligence community since 2002. According to the Washington Post, the NIE "outlines an increasingly perilous situation in which the United States has little control and there is a strong possibility of further deterioration." ESCALATING THE ESCALATION: Combat units being sent to Iraq need to be backed up by "substantial support forces, including personnel to staff headquarters, serve as military police, and provide communications, contracting, engineering, intelligence, medical, and other services.” According to the CBO, while the Pentagon has specified the number of combat troops being deployed as part of the escalation, it has "not yet indicated which support units will be deployed along with the added combat forces, or how many additional troops will be involved." The CBO’s low estimate envisions at least 15,000 additional support personnel. The alternative scenario “would require about 28,000 support troops in addition to the 20,000 combat troops.” CBO REPORT CONTRADICTS TESTIMONY: The CBO report appears to contradict testimony to Congress by Army Chief of Staff Peter Schoomaker, who said at a Jan. 23 hearing that the 21,500 increase included four support battalions. “Right now, we do not anticipate there will be increased combat service support requirements over what is now embedded inside of the brigade combat teams we have." But the CBO report considers Schoomaker's claim and rejects it. "Army and DoD officials have indicated that it will be both possible and desirable to deploy fewer additional support units than historical practice would indicate," the report states. "CBO expects that, even if the additional brigades required fewer support units than historical practice suggests, those units would still represent a significant additional number of military personnel." An aide to House Armed Services Committee Chairman Ike Skelton (D-MO) echoed this point. "While Schoomaker initially said it wouldn’t take extra support troops, CBO doesn’t believe that is possible," the aide said.$200 BILLION MORE: New estimates of the cost of escalation come on top of the $379 billion that Congress has already appropriated for the Iraq war. Yesterday, the Bush administration announced it will request an additional $100 billion "to cover war operations in Iraq and Afghanistan for the rest of this year," about $80 billion of which will be spent on Iraq. "That would come on top of $70 billion Congress already approved for the wars this year." For 2008, the administration will ask for an amount "larger than the $100 billion in the fiscal 2007 request," Reuters reports.TAKING AIM AT IRAN: Former National Security Adviser Zbigniew Brzezinski testified yesterday, “If the United States continues to be bogged down in a protracted bloody involvement in Iraq, the final destination on this downhill track is likely to be a head-on conflict with Iran and with much of the world of Islam at large." Indeed, U.S. pressure on Iran has increased significantly in recent weeks. The U.S. government has accused Iran of "helping Iraqi militants make lethal bombs to attack US troops," authorized the U.S. military to "kill or capture Iranian military and intelligence operatives inside Iraq," raided an Iranian liaison office in Iraq and detained several diplomats, and dispatched a second U.S. naval carrier battle group to the Persian Gulf. This past week, the Bush administration said it was investigating whether Iranians had trained the attackers who killed five U.S. soldiers in Karbala. (No "direct evidence" exists, only a "working theory" that the Iranians were involved because the attacks were sophisticated. Former CIA official Bruce Riedel calls this argument "a little bit tenuous. The Iraqi insurgency has shown a great deal of sophistication over the last four years.") For all this bluster, Iran is "mentioned but is not a focus" in the new Iraq NIE, and the Los Angeles Times reported that "[e]vidence of Iranian involvement in Iraq’s troubles is limited." Moreover, as a New York Times editorial stated yesterday, while few doubt Iran's malign intent in Iraq, "more threats and posturing are unlikely to get Iran to back down. If Mr. Bush isn’t careful, he could end up talking himself into another disastrous war, and if Congress is not clear in opposing him this time, he could drag the country along."
Under the Radar
SCIENCE -- OIL LOBBY OFFERS $10,000 PAYMENTS TO GLOBAL WARMING DENIERS TO REBUT THE FACTS: The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), the most authoritative group on global warming, reports today that human activities were "very likely" the main cause of warming in the past 50 years. The Guardian reports that there is a well-heeled orchestrated movement going on below the radar to confuse the public about the IPCC's report. The oil lobby is so desperate to push back on the new climate change study that it has been offering to pay global warming skeptics to speak out. The Guardian reports, "Scientists and economists have been offered $10,000 each by a lobby group funded by one of the world's largest oil companies to undermine a major climate change report due to be published today. ... The letters were sent by Kenneth Green, a visiting scholar at [American Enterprise Institute], who confirmed that the organisation had approached scientists, economists and policy analysts to write articles for an independent review that would highlight the strengths and weaknesses of the IPCC report." AEI has received more than $1.6 million from ExxonMobil. As Al Gore's An Inconvenient Truth noted, there have been no peer-reviewed scientific articles published in recent years that express any doubt that humans are contributing to climate change. Yet more than 50 percent of news media coverage of the issue includes the oil industry's position on the subject. MILITARY -- DEFENSE DEPARTMENT TINKERS WITH U.S. TROOP CASUALTY COUNT: The New York Times reports today, "Statistics on a Pentagon Web site have been reorganized in a way that lowers the published totals of American nonfatal casualties in Iraq and Afghanistan." On Monday, the Defense Department's website listed a total of 47,657 "nonmortal casualties" in Iraq. But on Tuesday, "the same page no longer showed a total for nonmortal casualties. The bottom line is now 'total -- medical air transported,' and the figure is 31,493." The new figure no longer includes minor injuries, gastrointestinal illnesses, or mental illnesses. Paul Sullivan of Veterans for America "said the changes actually meant the Pentagon was trying to conceal the rising toll of injuries and illness." Earlier this week, the Veterans Affairs Department also revised the casualty number on its website at the request of the Defense Department. ENVIRONMENT -- CHENEY SET TO VISIT GLOBAL WARMING HOT SPOT: Vice President Cheney's determination to ignore global warming will soon be put to the test. The White House has announced that Cheney will travel to Australia and Japan this month "to discuss issues of mutual interest including Asian security and the global war on terror." A few days ago, the Washington tipsheet The Nelson Reported revealed, "The Vice President and Mrs. Cheney will visit Japan as part of an Asian tour which will take them to Tasmania for fly fishing, sources confirm." Cheney's fishing trip will show him the impact of climate change first-hand. The warming of Tasmania's waters has led to "exceptionally rare" development of coral reefs and "the invasion of about 30 species of fish from warmer areas." In December, arid lands fueled the worst wildfires in years, 15 of which raged across state forests and burned more than 280,000 hectares. Extreme weather patterns have turned the country into a "freak show. In 2006, every month except "September saw a long-term monthly rainfall or temperature record broken. May saw the lowest temperature for the month ever recorded. June experienced the lowest total rainfall. October set records for the hottest day, coldest night, warmest night and lowest rainfall."
Think Fast
A new international climate report reveals that "there can be no question that the increase in greenhouse gases are dominated by human activities." White House official Sharon Hays called the report "significant," but stopped short of saying whether it would change President Bush's policy on greenhouse gas emissions.
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Thursday, February 01, 2007
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