Chirac: Bush Said Invasion Of Iraq Was Biblical Mission To Stop Armageddon

The president of the United States, in a top-secret phone call to a major European ally, asked for French troops to join American soldiers in attacking Iraq as a mission from God.

Now out of office, Chirac recounts that the American leader appealed to their ‘common faith’ (Christianity) and told him: ‘Gog and Magog are at work in the Middle East…. The biblical prophecies are being fulfilled…. This confrontation is willed by God, who wants to use this conflict to erase his people’s enemies before a New Age begins.’

This bizarre episode occurred while the White House was assembling its ‘coalition of the willing’ to unleash the Iraq invasion. Chirac says he was boggled by Bush’s call and ‘wondered how someone could be so superficial and fanatical in their beliefs.’

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SADDAM HANGED FOR BUSH’S CRIMES

Below you will find enough evidence that George W. Bush is the enemy of the Iraqi people, not Saddam Hussein as he would like us to believe…

While the majority of Iraqis know that the current Sunni-Shiites tension did not exist before 2003, no one can deny that after five years of U.S. occupation, sectarian tension is now a reality. Sectarianism is another disaster that was brought to Iraq by the war and occupation of Iraq.

The U.S.-led invasion did not only destroy the Baath political regime, it also annihilated the entire public sector including education, health care, food rations, social security, and the armed forces. The Iraqi public sector was a great example of how millions of Iraqis: Arabs and Kurds, Sunnis and Shiites, Muslims and Christians, religious and secular, all worked together in running the country. The myth that the former Iraqi government was a “Sunni-led dictatorship” was created by the U.S. government. Even the Iraqi political regime was not “Sunni-led,” let alone the rest of the public sector. A good way to debunk this fairy tale is through a close look at the famous deck of cards of the 55 most wanted Iraqi leaders. The cards had the pictures of Saddam, his two sons, and the rest of the political leadership which most Iraqis would recognize as the heads of the political regime. What is noteworthy is that 36 of the 55 were Shiites. In fact, the two vice presidents were a Christian and a Shiites Kurd.

Tens of thousands of Iraqi civilians also have been killed since the U.S.-led invasion on March 20, 2003, although estimates of a specific figure vary widely because of the difficulty in collecting accurate information.

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Four US soldiers killed in Iraq

Excerpt Four more US soldiers have been killed in Iraq, bringing the death toll since the invasion in 2003 close to 4,000.

The US military said that in the latest incident on Saturday, three soldiers died when their vehicle was struck by a roadside bomb north-west of Baghdad.

Another soldier died from injuries sustained in an attack south on Friday.

The latest deaths would bring the total of US fatalities to 3,996, according to a count kept by the independent website icasualties.org.

Global protests against Iraq war

Excerpt Tens of thousands of protesters across the world have taken part in a day of protests demanding the withdrawal of US and British troops from Iraq and Afghanistan.

The World Against War action was organised to mark the fifth anniversary of the US-led invasion of Iraq on March 20.

In London, police said that 10,000 activists had rallied at Trafalgar Square before marching the short distance to parliament. Organisers said that between 30,000 and 40,000 people had gathered.

A spokesman for The Stop The War coalition said that five years after the invasion of Iraq, military action had only managed to make the world "a much more dangerous place".

"Estimates suggest as many as one million people have died violent deaths as a result of the occupation of Iraq," Paul Collins said.

He said that Gordon Brown, Britain's prime minister, was sending more troops to Afghanistan and claimed "this hidden war is fast becoming a disaster mirroring Iraq".

Demonstrators outside parliament waved placards which said "Troops out of Iraq and Afghanistan", "Don't attack Iran" and "Freedom for Palestine".

'War crimes'

Caroline Lucas, the Green Party's member of the European Parliament, called for Tony Blair, the former British prime minister, and Gordon Brown to be prosecuted for war crimes.

"They need to know you cannot bomb your way to peace," she said.

Tony Benn, a former Labour Party minister, said that Britain's involvement in Iraq, where the country has 4,100 troops, and Afghanistan, where it has 7,800, had caused "devastation".

But Britain's foreign office disputed Stop the War's conclusions.

"In Iraq, there is clear evidence we are making steady progress, particularly in terms of security," a spokesman said.

"In Afghanistan, Nato forces are winning the struggle against the Taliban."

Elsewhere in Europe, around 500 people opposed to the US presence in Iraq marched through Stockholm city centre in freezing rain carrying banners with messages including "Yankees Go Home" and "Five years of war, one million dead."

"I'm here because I think it is extremely important to demonstrate against American policy in Iraq, especially now that the media is focusing less on the tragedy there," Leif Staalhammer, a 67-year-old actor, said.

'Sorrow and anguish'

In Los Angeles, organisers said that up to 10,000 people took to the streets of Hollywood, many carrying banners denouncing George Bush, the US president, and calling for an end to the conflict.

Police said that around 2,000 protesters had turned out for the rally.

Ron Kovic, a Vietnam war veteran whose book Born on the Fourth of July was turned into a film with Tom Cruise, joined the march down Hollywood Boulevard in his wheelchair.

***

The march ended on Sunset Boulevard where organisers said that they hoped several California politicians and actors would join the demonstrators.

"We've been in the war for five years, right now we're about to be in a recession, and trillions of our dollars are going to a war we don't want to be in," one protestor told the crowd.

Demonstrations also took place Saturday across Canada, including in Toronto, where 1,000 people protested against parliament's decision last week to extend Canada's 2,500-strong deployment to Afghanistan.

Christine Jones, co-chairwoman of the Canadian Peace Alliance, said parliament's vote on Afghanistan was misguided.

"Afghanistan is worse off because of the military occupation and Canadians are more opposed to the war than ever before," she said.

The three trillion dollar war

Excerpt: The cost of the Iraq and Afghanistan conflicts have grown to staggering proportions

The Bush Administration was wrong about the benefits of the war and it was wrong about the costs of the war. The president and his advisers expected a quick, inexpensive conflict. Instead, we have a war that is costing more than anyone could have imagined.

The cost of direct US military operations - not even including long-term costs such as taking care of wounded veterans - already exceeds the cost of the 12-year war in Vietnam and is more than double the cost of the Korean War.

And, even in the best case scenario, these costs are projected to be almost ten times the cost of the first Gulf War, almost a third more than the cost of the Vietnam War, and twice that of the First World War. The only war in our history which cost more was the Second World War, when 16.3 million U.S. troops fought in a campaign lasting four years, at a total cost (in 2007 dollars, after adjusting for inflation) of about $5 trillion (that's $5 million million, or £2.5 million million). With virtually the entire armed forces committed to fighting the Germans and Japanese, the cost per troop (in today's dollars) was less than $100,000 in 2007 dollars. By contrast, the Iraq war is costing upward of $400,000 per troop.

Most Americans have yet to feel these costs. The price in blood has been paid by our voluntary military and by hired contractors. The price in treasure has, in a sense, been financed entirely by borrowing. Taxes have not been raised to pay for it - in fact, taxes on the rich have actually fallen. Deficit spending gives the illusion that the laws of economics can be repealed, that we can have both guns and butter. But of course the laws are not repealed. The costs of the war are real even if they have been deferred, possibly to another generation.

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Killings by war veterans on the rise

AP Story

At least 121 Iraq and Afghanistan war veterans have committed a killing or been charged in one in the United States after returning from combat, The New York Times reported Sunday.

The newspaper said it also logged 349 homicides involving all active-duty military personnel and new veterans in the six years since military action began in Afghanistan, and later Iraq. That represents an 89-percent increase over the previous six-year period, the newspaper said.

About three-quarters of those homicides involved Iraq and Afghanistan war veterans, the newspaper said. The report did not illuminate the exact relationship between those cases and the 121 killings also mentioned in the report.

***
The 121 killings ranged from shootings and stabbings to bathtub drownings and fatal car crashes resulting from drunken driving, the newspaper said. All but one of those implicated was male.

About a third of the victims were girlfriends or relatives, including a 2-year-old girl slain by her 20-year-old father while he was recovering from wounds sustained in Iraq.

A quarter of the victims were military personnel. One was stabbed and set afire by fellow soldiers a day after they all returned from Iraq.

This is another hidden cost of Mr. Bush's wars. They train these guys to be cold blooded killers, then they are placed in a pressure cooker like Iraq and some eventually snap. Since money is so tight, due to the fact all the money in the war budget is needed in the warzone, soldiers are being discharged without the proper mental health treatment they should be provided. So you have war veterans being released back into the community and some are mentally unstable. In other words it is a tragedy waiting to happen.

Ol' Crazy McCain says we should occupy Iraq for a 100 years

Republican Presidential hopeful John McCain along with his war mongering, neocon buddy Joe Lieberman at a campaign event in New Hampshire. What I would like to tell old man McCain is if you want to be in Iraq for a hundred years, go to Iraq, get citizenship and move the hell over there. You can stay as long as you want. Oh yeah and take Lieberman and the rest of the cowardly neocons with you. Good Riddance!!!!

Man these old white guys is something else. They actually think that they have the god giving right to just take over someones country and just stay there as long as they want regardless of what the occupied people want. Those arrogant assholes need to be chased out of Washington.

NEWS BELOW THE RADAR: 3 US troops killed, Calls for impeachment grows, 9/11 Investigations obstructed, Israel and US Election, Christian Extremism.

Three US soldiers killed in Iraq
Three US soldiers have been killed in Iraq, the US military announced on Thursday, making them the first American casualties of the new year. A military statement said two soldiers were killed in a small-arms fire attack while conducting operations in Diyala province on Thursday. Another soldier was wounded.

Move to Impeach Cheney Gains Support in Congress
A House Resolution to impeach U.S. Vice-President Dick Cheney, Dennis Kucinich's H.R. 333, is gathering more support. The national impeachment continues to grow and generate increasing interest since being referred to the House Judiciary Committee last month, a Kucinich spokesperson said.

9/11 Investigation obstructed by the CIA and Bush Officials
The commission’s mandate was sweeping and it explicitly included the intelligence agencies. But the recent revelations that the C.I.A. destroyed videotaped interrogations of Qaeda operatives leads us to conclude that the agency failed to respond to our lawful requests for information about the 9/11 plot. Those who knew about those videotapes — and did not tell us about them — obstructed our investigation.

Election power of the Israel lobby
pro-Israeli groups are set to play a major role in the forthcoming election battle, both in terms of funding candidates and by publicly criticising any candidate critical of Israel or the US's relationship with it.

Christian extremism raises alarm
A hate-crime trial reconvenes Friday in a case that's dividing Sacramento and drawing attention from organizations that monitor extremists. Alex Shevchenko has been arraigned for a hate crime tied to the assault and eventual death of Satender Singh in July. According to prosecutors, Mr. Shevchenko and Andrey Vusik taunted Mr. Singh in a park because they thought he was gay.

2007 Deadliest for US Troops in Iraq

The second half of 2007 saw violence drop dramatically in Iraq, but the progress came at a high price: The year was the deadliest for the U.S. military since the 2003 invasion, with 899 troops killed.

American commanders and diplomats, however, say the battlefield gains against insurgents such as al-Qaida in Iraq offer only a partial picture of where the country stands as the war moves toward its five-year mark in March.

Two critical shifts that boosted U.S.-led forces in 2007 -- a self-imposed cease-fire by a main Shiite militia and a grassroots Sunni revolt against extremists -- could still unravel unless serious unity efforts are made by the Iraqi government.

Iran also remains a major wild card. U.S. officials believe the neighboring country has helped quiet Iraq by reducing its flow of suspected aid to Shiite fighters, including materials needed for deadly roadside bombs.

But Iran's apparent hands-off policies could come under strain as Shiite factions -- some favoring Iran, others not -- battle for control of Iraq's oil-rich south.

The Pentagon, meanwhile, will increasingly look to the uneven Iraqi security forces to carry the load in 2008 as demands for an American exit strategy grow sharper during the U.S. election year.

Britain, the main U.S. coalition partner in Iraq, is gradually drawing down its forces and other allies, including Poland and Australia, are contemplating full-scale withdrawals in the coming year.

Read More Here
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It's a shame these guys and girls will not get to see 2008 because of lies told by George Bush and Co.

The Cost of War

Number Of Iraqis Slaughtered In U.S. War On Iraq 1,139,602

Number of U.S. Military Personnel Sacrificed (Officially acknowledged) In U.S. War And Occupation Of Iraq 3,896

Cost of U.S. War and Occupation of Iraq $478,951,779,066



Source

The Vote for Endless War

On Tuesday, December 18, Republicans and Democrats in the Senate combined to give President Bush $70 billion to carry the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan into next summer. Only 23 Democrats and one independent supported an amendment by Senator Feingold that would have required the safe redeployment of troops from Iraq. Here are the senators who voted to end the war:

Akaka (D-HI) Boxer (D-CA) Brown (D-OH) Byrd (D-WV) Cantwell (D-WA) Cardin (D-MD) Durbin (D-IL) Feingold (D-WI) Harkin (D-IA) Kennedy (D-MA) Kerry (D-MA) Klobuchar (D-MN) Kohl (D-WI) Lautenberg (D-NJ) Leahy (D-VT) Menendez (D-NJ) Murray (D-WA) Reid (D-NV) Rockefeller (D-WV) Sanders (I-VT) Schumer (D-NY) Stabenow (D-MI) Whitehouse (D-RI) Wyden (D-OR)

Next summer, when the money runs out, a cutoff of funds will be unimaginable. The election will be too close. So our troops are committed till the end of the president's term; after all the talk, the Democrats have ended by obeying him. This capitulation marks the climax of one of the most extraordinary displays in history of a complex phenomenon: power wielded in the face of popular rejection, and power surrendered in spite of overwhelming public support. A president whose policy was disapproved by more than half of the American people chose to defy a majority whose midterm victory he himself had called "a rout." And the majority, saying they wished things were different, pleading the necessity of 60 rather than 50 votes, but never exacting reprisals or driving a hard bargain against defectors from their own ranks--the majority, again and again, backed down.

This definitive result of the 110th Congress will confirm the popular feeling that George W. Bush believes in his disaster more than the Democrats believe in anything.


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This Iraq debacle has got to be one of the biggest waste of money since the Vietnam War. It's a damn shame Americans never learn.

UK has left behind murder and chaos, says Basra police chief

Blunt assessment delivered as British hand over security to Iraqis

The full scale of the chaos left behind by British forces in Basra was revealed yesterday as the city's police chief described a province in the grip of well-armed militias strong enough to overpower security forces and brutal enough to behead women considered not sufficiently Islamic.

As British forces finally handed over security in Basra province, marking the end of 4½ years of control in southern Iraq, Major General Jalil Khalaf, the new police commander, said the occupation had left him with a situation close to mayhem. "They left me militia, they left me gangsters, and they left me all the troubles in the world," he said in an in an interview for Guardian Films and ITV.

Khalaf painted a very different picture from that of British officials who, while acknowledging problems in southern Iraq, said yesterday's handover at Basra airbase was timely and appropriate.

Major General Graham Binns, who led British troops into the city in 2003, said the province had "begun to regain its strength". He added: "I came to rid Basra of its enemies and I now formally hand Basra back to its friends."

But in the film, to be broadcast on the Guardian Unlimited website and ITV News, Khalaf lists a catalogue of failings, saying:

Basra has become so lawless that in the last three months 45 women have been killed for being "immoral" because they were not fully covered or because they may have given birth outside wedlock;

The British unintentionally rearmed Shia militias by failing to recognise that Iraqi troops were loyal to more than one authority;

Shia militia are better armed than his men and control Iraq's main port.

-----Snip-----------

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Looks like America has a hell of challenge on their hand, if we don't get run out there we will be there for decades trying to fix this.

Stop paying for Bush's Wars

How much of your tax payment this year would you like to allocate for waterboarding in Iraq or an invasion of Iran? Around the world, people are puzzled as to why the U.S. public allows the Bush administration to wage illegal wars and usurp our power. Why do we tolerate it and continue to pay for it?

Over the past year, millions of U.S. citizens have voted, lobbied, marched, and taken direct action to end the war in Iraq. Courageous soldiers, such as members of Iraq Veterans Against the War, have taken the risk to speak out. Yet Congress continues to appropriate billions of dollars for the war.

How do we up the ante of resistance? It is time for taxpayers who oppose this war to join together in nonviolent civil disobedience and show Congress how to cut off the funds for this war and redirect resources to the pressing needs of people. Chris Hedges wrote in The Nation, “I will not pay my income tax if we go to war with Iran… I will go to court to challenge the legality of the war.”

Through the looking glass in Iraq

by Hazel Burke, Unknown News November 9, 2007

I happened to catch a few minutes of "Lou Dobbs Tonight", which featured as (repeat) guest, Lt. David Grainger. The big "news" is that just as public opposition to the Iraq War has reached a new low of 68%, the U.S. is starting to do remarkably well. Wow! Good news, eh?Not. The only metric provided was that U.S. troop deaths have fallen sharply in recent months. That is how our success is being measured. And according to the Lt. Grainger, if we were to withdraw our troops the situation would deteriorate."We must reinforce success," he asserted. So that means that because our troops are not dying as fast as they were, they have to stay in Iraq! Wow! That's not good -- especially because this debacle is costing $200 billion a year and the U.S. public national debt just hit $9 trillion, up from $5.6 trillion at the start of the Bush "presidency" (presiding over a series of failures is the actuality).

We have seen casualty reductions before. They resulted from a shift in tactics from offense to defense ("force protection missions".) In fact, there have been reports that some troops are writing fake action reports, just going out to a safe place and waiting for the end of their shift to roll around. Those troops are probably in the tiny majority, but undoubtedly U.S. commanders have been ordered to reduce troop deaths for political reasons.There have also been reports of a major escalation in the air war, something which receives little coverage in Der Homeland. So, a shift from ground offensives to aerial bombardment can easily account for a temporary reduction in ground-combat troop deaths.The (near) completion of ethnic cleansing may account for some reduction in violence. As may the reports of armloads of cash handed out to former "insurgents" in an attempt to buy loyalty from those who previously fought against and killed American soldiers.All in all, not even counting Abu Ghraib, there is not a bit of glory in this war, and there is no victory in sight. We cannot leave because we are succeeding they say, and our success is measured by how few American soldiers are dying each month.According to the pro-war crowd we must continue to spend $200 billion a year to support what can at best be deemed a long term stalemate. In fact, a long term U.S. presence in Iraq amounts to a defeat for America. That is the truth about guerrilla war. The invaders are bled dry and eventually they leave. The guerrillas have nowhere to go and are motivated for reasons other than money. Strategically too, a long term occupation of Iraq is a total disaster because it destabilizes the Middle East and encourages people to hate America and all that it stands for.

Right now what America stands for is threatening and invading countries with oil, the use of internationally banned torture techniques and secret prisons where people disappear permanently, and an inability to manage its economy and finances (America has earned a reputation for gigantic financial frauds, and for rarely prosecuting rich white executives.)In the end the Iraqis don't need to defeat our soldiers, they just need to wait for the oil sheiks and the Asian exporters to cut off our financing. When the U.S. is no longer deemed creditworthy (any minute now), our global military empire will disband and disappear.Even worse for BushCo, did you hear about the Nazi war criminal that is still being sought? Sixty years after
the end of WWII and the people of Israel are still rounding these guys up and trying them! That ought to give the leaders of any soon-to-be ex-superpowers something to think about!I have long advocated turning over the American leadership to the International Criminal Court for trial as part of the Middle East peace process. We don't have enough money to pay reparations, but we could put on a helluva show with these blowhards on TV in orange jumpsuits and manacles!

UK should pay more fo the mess they helped create in the ME

Is it me or does anyone else think that the United Kingdom is not paying their fair share of the of the mess that they helped create in Iraq. UK has spent a total of $13 Billion on the military operations and rebuilding in Iraq so far. Now conservative estimates say the US has spent nearly $450 Billion.

Now if both countries were forced to pay for the Iraq war based on the size of their economies, then you would have to agree the UK is getting off big time compared to what the the American tax payers are paying. Based on GDP our economy is $13 Trillion annually and the UK is $2.1 Trillion annually. The US economy is 6 times that of the UK's economy so that means for every $6 dollars we pay the UK should have to pay a dollar. So if the Iraq war cost for the US and UK is $ 463 Billion so far, the UK should be required to pay approximately $66 Billion of that cost.

This should also apply to troop levels, if the "coalition of the killing" agree that they need a 170 thousand troops in Iraq then the UK should chip in approximately 28.3 thousand soldiers based on their population. The UK population is 60 million and ours is 300 million. The US population is 5 times that of the UK, so for every 5 soldiers we contribute the UK should be required to contribute 1 soldier. I think this should apply to all the original "coalition of the killing" partners because without their complicity the war criminal George Bush couldn't have pulled this war off.

In no way am I in support of the Iraq war and the atrocities that have taken place because of the invasion. The point I'm trying to make is the so called coalition countries should also have to pay equally for their leaders decision just like the American people will have to pay for our idiot's decision even after he's long gone. The additional money should go strictly to rebuilding, security and reparations for the Iraqi people.

Bush's goal: Ethinic Cleansing of Iraq

The number of Iraqis fleeing their homes has soared since the American troop increase began in February, according to data from two humanitarian groups, accelerating the partition of the country into sectarian enclaves...The effect of this vast migration is to drain religiously mixed areas in the center of Iraq, sending Shiite refugees toward the overwhelmingly Shiite areas to the south and Sunnis toward majority Sunni regions to the west and north.

It is now obvious that one impetus behind the "surge" was to accelerate the "ethnic cleansing" of Iraq. Given the manifest failure to establish a strong central government to serve as a client state, the conquerors now find it easier to deal with separate ethnic enclaves, which can police themselves, shake out their own internal conflicts (however bloodily) and thus establish some kind of solid leadership that can cut deals and guarantee investments. Most of the measures taken during the "surge" seem aimed precisely at ethnic cleansing: the increased support of the Iraqi government security forces -- which are largely Shiite militias -- has been matched with what some see as the lunatic policy of arming Sunni militias.

The latter is indeed a lunatic policy -- if your aim is to establish security and political rapprochement in Iraq. And although the leaders of the United States are indeed a gang of depraved moral idiots, they are not lunatics. Even they could see the folly of such a course -- again, if the aim was actually security and political cohesion. Thus one can only conclude that this is not their aim, that their aim is indeed to exacerbate ethnic conflict, to foment more violence, in what amounts to a stealth operation of ethnic cleansing.

This serves two main purposes: first, as noted above, it will help shake the country out, eventually, into more manageable enclaves -- each one stronger and more cohesive than the current government (which is largely a fictional notion at this point), yet weaker, and more malleable, than any stable and legitimate central government would be. And since the only kind of central government that could achieve stability and legitimacy in the eyes of all Iraqis would be one which was genuinely sovereign, truly independent from American domination, we will never see such a government in Baghdad as long as U.S. troops are in Iraq.

Which brings us to the second purpose of the "surge's" arming of sectarian gangs: to maintain a level of violence and chaos that would "justify" the continuing presence of American troops in Iraq. A permanent military presence is one of the overriding goals of the invasion, set down long before the war, before 9/11, even before the loser Bush was given the presidency by five Supreme Court justices (two of whom had family members working for the Bush operation). Therefore, to the Bushists, any measure is justified that will keep American troops in Iraq -- including fomenting bloody sectarian conflict and carrying out ethnic cleansing.

This in turn is tied to another of the chief war aims: the "oil law" that will open Iraq's sumptuous resources to predatory Western investors. This can only be can only be guaranteed by the presence of American troops, backing up some compliant puppet state or "semi-autonomous enclave." Again, a genuinely sovereign, truly independent government would never give away the nation's patrimony to Bush and Cheney's oil baron cronies and their European comrades.

And so the strategy behind the "surge" becomes clear: A united, independent Iraq cannot be allowed to exist, because such a state would not permit a permanent American military presence nor sign away the nation's oil wealth. Therefore, Iraq must be torn apart -- by sectarian strife, ethnic cleansing, terrorism and "counterinsurgency" warfare. And violence must continue until this shake-out is completed, in order to justify the continuing American presence.

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Excerpt

Muqtada al-Sadr: The British are retreating from Basra

The British Army has been defeated in Iraq and left with no option but to retreat from the country, claims radical Shia cleric Muqtada al-Sadr. Violent resistance and a rising death toll among UK troops has forced a withdrawal, he said in an interview with The Independent.
"The British have given-up and they know they will be leaving Iraq soon," Mr Sadr said. "They are retreating because of the resistance they have faced. Without that, they would have stayed for much longer, there is no doubt."

-snip-

The British have realised this is not a war they should be fighting or one they can win," Mr Sadr said. "The Mehdi army has played an important role in that." He also warned that Britain's involvement in the invasion of Iraq had made the UK a less safe place to live. "The British put their soldiers in a dangerous position by sending them here but they also put the people in their own country in danger," he said. "They have made enemies among all Muslims and they now face attacks at home because of their war. That was their mistake." His comments came during two separate meetings with The Independent at the Sadr movement's headquarters in Kufa, a holy Shia city, 100 miles south of Baghdad, and site of the Grand Mosque where Mr Sadr often preaches fiery Friday sermons. The streets were eerily devoid of cars, which are, in effect, banned in an effort to prevent bombings. Senior Shia leaders are high on the list of targets for Sunni extremists.

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Excerpt

Iraq Occupation - By the numbers

1,000,985 - Number of Iraqis killed so far

3,684 - Official number of US Military personnel sacrificed so far

27,186 - Official number of US Military personnel wounded so far

$451,132,611,431 - Taxpayer's money spent on the war so



far.Source/

New Strategy for Iraq: Bring Back the Draft!

You youngsters out there who don't seem to give a fuck about what's going on in DC, on the video first you have Gen. Petreas proclaiming the war in Iraq could last at least a decade, then you have Bush's new war czar Gen Lute say we should be discussing the draft. My question is what would you do if the draft is reinstated.

Roadside bomb attacks at a all time high

Roadside bomb attacks in Iraq reach an all-time high
By Kim Sengupta
Published: 09 August 2007
Roadside bomb attacks on American troops in Iraq reached an all-time high last month, accounting for more than one third of all combat deaths.
The increase in the number of casualties caused by the explosive devices comes at the height of the "surge' of US forces which, the Pentagon claims, is broadly a success. Washington and London have blamed Iran for supplying the devices which have been used with lethal effect against American and British troops.

Snip


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I wonder how General Patraeus will try to spin this news when he gives his progress report next month. He will most likely take the easy route and blame it on Iran. A person today have to be damn near retarded to join the military under George Bush and risk life and limb for this bullshit war.