Comments on: Bold Afghan Raid On U.S. Base Casts Doubts
Afghans Question Whether U.S. Military Is Losing Ground Against Taliban Insurgents
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This is just one more consequence of the moronic invasion of Iraq. Our attention and resources have been diverted from the country where terrorists are based to a country that posed no threat to us. Now Al Qaeda and the Taliban are taking back Afghanistan.
Thanks Bushies!- Reply to this comment
- We are like babes in the woods and little more than unwitting tools in the hands of the various factions that have been killing each other in that part of the world for centuries. Ask the Brits how they did over there. Ask the Russians how they did. We will do no better. Rudyard Kipling told us all about it long ago in his famous poem.
"At the end of the fight a tombstone white
With the name of the late deceased
And this epitaph drear, a fool lies here
Who tried to hurry the East." - Reply to this comment
- Nine American soldiers and 15 wounded.
Way to go CBS. This happened SUNDAY! Everyone else had it one day later- Yesterday. It''''s only news to people who solely get their news here...
Posted by Impeach__W
Speaking of which, here is another story you will not see in the Corperate US media:
BBC uncovers lost Iraq billions
By Jane Corbin
BBC News
A BBC investigation estimates that around $23 billion may have been lost, stolen or just not properly accounted for in Iraq.
The BBC''s Panorama programme has used US and Iraqi government sources to research how much some private contractors have profited from the conflict and rebuilding.
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 Presdient George W 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 Democratic 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, it''s egregious.
"It may well turn out to be the largest war profiteering in history."
(cont) - Reply to this comment
- (CONT)
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 $7bn that was given to Halliburton, a Texan company which used to be run by *** 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.
He and his associates siphoned an estimated $1.2bn 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 warrant 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. - Reply to this comment
- Taking everything together, Iraq,
Afghanistan and the exploding or
imploding or whatever of his
U.S. economy the end of Bushdung''s
presidency is beginning to look a lot
like the final fireworks show at your
favorite ballpark stadium.
All that Bush and his repubs need now is
footage of General Petraeous running for
his life knocking over pigeon displays
and diving under a pomegranite stand to
excape a woman would-be suicide bomber. - Reply to this comment
- Here%u2019s a question for any of the Kool-Aid drunks. The Bush gang says that Iran is a significant threat to Israel and we cannot allow them to develop %u2018nu-clear%u2019 weapons. Why are we putting Israel%u2019s national security above our own?
The last time I checked Israel could take care of its self. I lived there when they conducted the air strike on Iraq%u2019s nuclear facility. Once again which is the greatest threat to the United States a terrorist network that has already attacked the US and killed 2,700 Americans, Iraq or Iran?
As long as we blindly support Israel there will never be peace in that region. Consider the parable that was used to explain the situation to me. A desperate man jumps from a burning building to save himself. He lands on his neighbor, breaking the neighbors back. How do you treat the neighbor? Do you say, %u201CYou should not have been walking where you were.%u201D Or do you embrace the neighbor and try to seek help for him? Much of Israel%u2019s problems have been a result of their own actions. - Reply to this comment
- Success in Iraq:
In addition to the terrible toll of Americans and Iraqis killed and wounded, the war in Iraq has diverted attention and resources from critical problems here in the U.S., where the housing market has been crippled, the stock market has tanked, gasoline has soared past $4 per gallon, unemployment is increasing and an extraordinary number of debt-ridden working families are staring into a financial abyss.
Even as oil companies are enjoying staggering profits, many Americans - in July - are already worried sick about the potentially ruinous cost of heating their homes next winter.
And then there%u2019s the so-called war on terror.
The latest news is that Al Qaeda, the terror network that actually did attack the U.S., has successfully regrouped in the tribal areas of Pakistan and has reconstituted its ability to institute terror attacks from the region.
For an administration joined at the hip to the oil industry, the lure of Iraq%u2019s enormous reserves was stronger even than the impulse to conquer an enemy that murdered more than 2,700 civilians on Sept. 11, a toll greater than the number of Americans killed by the Japanese at Pearl Harbor.
(cont) - Reply to this comment
- (cont)
Referring to Al Qaeda members who regrouped in Pakistan, The Times reported:
%u201CCurrent and former military and intelligence officials said that the war in Iraq consistently diverted resources and high-level attention from the tribal areas. When American military and intelligence officials requested additional Predator drones to survey the tribal areas, they were told no drones were available because they had been sent to Iraq.%u201D
Who knows how long it will be before the U.S. disengages in any significant way from Iraq. What you can take to the bank is that this country will not make any major advances in energy policy, in health coverage, in rebuilding its infrastructure, in improving its public schools or in curtailing runaway public and private debt until our open-ended commitment to this catastrophic multitrillion-dollar war comes to an end.
How long will it take before that finally sinks in?
New York Times Bob Herbert - Reply to this comment
- The problem with the rdical right wing-nuts is they cannot tell a Muslim for a radical Islamist, to them they are all the same. Here is the issue with that:
They want to take on all the worlds 1.2 billion Muslims, I would prefer to deal with bin Laden and Al Qaeda in Pakistan.
Look at where their strategy has gotten us today. Bogged down in Iraq at $177 million a day, threatening Iran with bin Laden safe in Pakistan running his mouth. He is using our invasion of Iraq as a recruiting tool. People do not blow themselves up because they hate our freedom, they do it because they have become radicalized and want us out of Islams second most sacred country.
If you say leaving Iraq is ''cutting and running.'' Just remember this, bin Ladens rational for 911 was our bases in Saudi Arabia, Islam''s most sacred country, we no longer have bases in Saudi Arabia.
Also cutting and running from who in Iraq? The Defense Departments own study says that Al Qaeda''s pre-Surge presence in Iraq represented less than 2% of the total insurgency!
These wing-nuts refuse to acknowledge any other religion or culture, all others are corrupt. So they remain completely ignorant of the culture and dynamics of the region; that''s how you end up invading the wrong country. - Reply to this comment
- Burn the poppy fields.
- Reply to this comment
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