[Thanks to David Honish]

“The Mujahideen In Iraq, We Have No Problem With American People”
“Our Problem Is With Bush And His Government…”

So we ask all the fathers and mothers in America, ‘You don’t want your sons killed in Iraq?’ We don’t want your sons killed in Iraq. We don’t want our sons killed, also. So we ask all fathers and mothers in America, ‘Why (do) your sons kill our sons?’

August 22, 2006 The Christian Science Monitor (Excerpts)

The night before Jill Carroll was released, Abu Nour, her chief captor who claims to be a leader of the Sunni insurgency, ordered her to do one final interview. He’d done about a dozen previous interviews, covering similar topics, but had later destroyed those notes. What follows are excerpts from his last interview, in broken English, with Ms. Carroll.

*****************************************************

We can continue for 10 years

The American soldier comes from America. He left his country, his family, his children, his wife. He cannot see them, maybe six months or more. This is very big problem because they are men…

The mujahideen, (we) can (leave) our homes for 20 minutes, hit the American soldier, and come back home. So we (have fought) continuously now three years, and we can continue 10 years or more. But Americans cannot continue one year. It is impossible.

I have maybe 2,000 mujahideen in all Iraq, in all towns… If I divide this into groups of 20, I have 100 groups. So this means I have 100 operations in a week. So in a month I have 400 operations. So if in every operation I kill only 2 soldiers, I kill 800 soldiers in a month.

So (President) Bush is very tired because of this number of operations … so we are sure that the American army cannot continue in Iraq.

When the American army took me they hit me. They hit me all over my body. They took my money… The problem is how the American soldiers are dealing with the people.

Why (does the) American government say the mujahideen are terrorists? Sometimes when we try to hit the American soldier, or Iraqi soldier, sometimes we kill women and children in this operation. We don’t want to kill the women or children, but this is war…

I want to send a message to the American people.

The mujahideen in Iraq, we have no problem with American people. Our problem is with Bush and his government…

(It’s) no problem for Iraq, for the mujahideen government in the future, to send the oil to America and America to send to (the) Iraqi people the money or the cars or the computers or anything because the technology in America is very good.

We maybe go to America in the future to visit America. Maybe send our sons as students in American universities. We want to build our country. We don’t want the war with any country.

We want to build our country like the UAE (United Arab Emirates) because we know our country is very rich. We have a lot of oil, and two rivers. So we can build our country in a short time.

So we ask all the fathers and mothers in America, ‘You don’t want your sons killed in Iraq?’ We don’t want your sons killed in Iraq. We don’t want our sons killed, also. So we ask all fathers and mothers in America, ‘Why (do) your sons kill our sons?’

Iraq is very tired (after the) war in Iran and after that war in Kuwait and the war now.

We want to build the country very good and give every person a big house and a top car and make (it possible for) him to travel to the US and Europe and live like the other people in the world – like (the United Arab) Emirates people or Qatar people.

(The) American government or (President) Bush says we are terrorists in Iraq. If we finish this war, (he says) we (will) go to America to make problems in America.

This is not true. We want to build our country.

IRAQ WAR REPORTS

Maryland Soldier Killed Near Baghdad

Spc. Thomas J. Barbieri, of Gaithersburg, Md., 24, an 82nd Airborne Division Paratrooper, was killed when he was engaged by enemy forces with small arms fire south of Baghdad Aug. 23, 2006. (AP Photo/U.S. Army)

Utah Marine Killed

U.S. Marine Cpl. Adam Galvez of Salt Lake City was killed in Iraq on Aug. 20, 2006, by an improvised explosives device. (AP Photo/Galvez family)

MND BAGHDAD SOLDIER KILLED IN BY SMALL ARMS ATTACK

8/24/2006 HEADQUARTERS UNITED STATES CENTRAL COMMAND NEWS RELEASE Number: 06-08-02CL

BAGHDAD: A Multi National Division Baghdad Soldier died of wounds after his patrol was attacked by terrorists using small-arms fire at approximately 12:15 p.m. today in Baghdad.

Wednesday: U.S. Soldier Killed During Raid South Of Baghdad

8.24.06 By ELENA BECATOROS, Associated Press Writer

One U.S. soldier was killed Wednesday during a raid south of Baghdad.

Thursday: MND Baghdad Soldier Killed By Roadside Bomb

August 24, 2006 Multi National Corps Iraq Press Release No. 20060824-02

A Multi National Division Baghdad Soldier died at approximately 8 a.m. today when the vehicle he was riding in was struck by an improvised explosive device south of Baghdad.

Five Oklahoma Soldiers Wounded

August 24, 2006 Oklahoma City (AP)

Five Oklahoma Army National Guard soldiers have been injured in Iraq by an improvised explosive device.

The soldiers are members of the 1345th Transportation Company based in Midwest City and Enid. Colonel Pat Scully, spokesman for the guard, says they were injured shortly after midnight Wednesday while operating near the Mosul area in northern Iraq.

They were identified as Specialist Mathew Herndon of Kingston, Sergeant Kelsey Birdsall of Marietta, Specialist Christon Stone of Midwest City, Sergeant Larhonda Johnson of Marietta and Specialist Jacob McNeely of Gainesville, Texas.

Johnson and McNeely were treated for minor injuries and returned to duty. Injuries to the other three were more extensive. But Scully says they’re expected to fully recover.

A Fresh Candidate For Biggest Fool In Command:
British Officer Thinks Movements Of His Force Will Be Surprising

8.24.06 By Ross Colvin, (Reuters)

British troops abandoned their base in Iraq’s southern Maysan province on Thursday, which has been under almost nightly attack, and prepared to head deep into the marshlands along the Iranian border to hunt gun smugglers.

“We are going to do what the Long Range Desert Group did in North Africa. We will live in the desert. We will be mobile and able to strike when we want.

“We will have surprise on our side,” [Major Charlie Burbridge] said.

[Surprise were good, were it possible, but his great-grandfather’s quaint natives now read Reuters too, and see what he babbles, and have cell phones, and other means of tracking every move this idiot in command thinks he will keep surprising. The surprise will come when the resistance teaches him lessons to take home, if he live; especially that he is not directing some war movie, or starring in one. From Lawrence of Arabia to Burbridge Of The Marshlands; how the Empire has declined into verbose senility.]

Burbridge said the new-look battle group would consist of 600 fighting troops and “would disappear into the marshlands and desert” to disrupt smuggling from Iran.

[And they may well disappear into the marshlands and desert, although one hopes not trying to do both at the same moment, marshlands and desert being rather opposite, but perhaps disappear never to be seen again? There is some history of that experience for British troops seeking to occupy Iraq; graves there full of them, or what bones are left of them, the rest of their existence in this world having indeed “disappeared.”]

After British Troops Hand Over Base,
It’s Stripped Bare;
[So Much For The Bullshit Happy Talk At The Propaganda Ceremony]

August 24, 2006 THE DAILY TELEGRAPH

The first British army camp to be handed to Iraqis was looted almost bare within days of the soldiers’ departure.

The transfer last month was widely heralded as a signal that Iraq would soon be ready to run itself.

But a British soldier said that as the last men drove away, they saw pick-up trucks being filled with valuable equipment.

Most items that could be removed were taken, including air-conditioning units, water filtration systems, chairs, bedding and kitchen utensils.

When the commander of British forces in southeast Iraq, Brigadier James Everard, discussed the matter with the province’s governor he was told that the camp had “largely gone.”

Military sources believe much of the looting was done by off-duty Iraqi soldiers and government officials. British officers privately say they blame the governor for much of the looting and believe some of the air-conditioning units are now in his private office.

The Iraqi and British governments had described the transfer of Camp Smitty on July 30, a base outside Samawah, as a key step in handing control of security back to Iraqis. But the looting casts doubt on official insistence that coalition troops are only withdrawing when local authorities are ready to assume their responsibilities.

British officials insisted the withdrawal was done only after rigorous assessment of the local government and Iraqi security forces.

Defense Secretary Des Browne said it was a step toward “building a stable and democratic future,” and the Iraqi prime minister, who attended a handover ceremony in Samawah, had called it a “great national day.”

The camp had been intended for use as an Iraqi army base.

“If There’s Anywhere It’s Going To Fly Off The Handle It’s In Baghdad”

August 24, 2006 Julian Borger in Washington, The Guardian [Excerpt]

“All that happy talk about getting down to 100,000 by the end of this year, that’s not on the cards for this year,” said John Pike, the director of GlobalSecurity.org, a military thinktank in Washington.

“Instead, they might bump up the numbers even further … They are going to do whatever it takes to keep a lid on this damn thing in Baghdad, because if there’s anywhere it’s going to fly off the handle it’s in Baghdad.”

Look At Who’s Getting Attacked In Iraq:
Next Time Somebody Tries To Feed You That Stupid Bush Propaganda About How U.S. Troops Are In Iraq To Keep “Sectarian Violence” And “Civil War” Under Control, Cram This Up Their Ass With A Sharp Stick:
The War In Iraq Is Between The Occupation And Iraqis Fighting For Their National Independence

[Thanks to Phil G, who sent this in.] [BBC]

OCCUPATION ISN’T LIBERATION
BRING ALL THE TROOPS HOME NOW!

THERE IS ABSOLUTELY NO COMPREHENSIBLE REASON TO BE IN THIS EXTREMELY HIGH RISK LOCATION AT THIS TIME, EXCEPT THAT A CROOKED POLITICIAN WHO LIVES IN THE WHITE HOUSE WANTS YOU THERE, SO HE WILL LOOK GOOD.
That is not a good enough reason.

Staff Sgt. David Chastain of 4th Battalion, 320th Field Artillery, 4th Brigade Combat Team, 101st Airborne Division, directs soldiers during a raid on an apartment in east Baghdad August 3, 2006. REUTERS/U.S. Navy photo by MC1 Keith W. DeVinney, Combat Camera/Handout (IRAQ)

AFGHANISTAN WAR REPORTS

Soldier With Local Ties Dies In Afghan Attack;
Among Survivors Are Grandparents In Mount Pulaski, Chestnut

August 18, 2006 THE COURIER

HUBER HEIGHTS, Ohio: “Quiet.” “Well respected.” “Hero.”

Those are just a few of the words former Mount Pulaski resident James White used to describe his 19-year-old son, Jim Jr., “J.P.,” killed Aug. 11 in Afghanistan.

Among his survivors are grandparents in Mount Pulaski and Chestnut.

White, an Army private first class, of Huber Heights, was one of three soldiers killed when his platoon was attacked in northeastern Afghanistan last week. He was a member of the First Battalion, 32nd Infantry Regiment, Third Brigade Combat Team of the 10th Mountain Division based at Fort Drum, N.Y., near Watertown, Ohio.

White was a 2005 graduate of Wayne High School in Huber Heights, where he had been a member of the Reserve Officers’ Training Corps.

James White said Monday he learned of his son’s death last Friday afternoon.

“We didn’t know what to do,” White said. “We didn’t want to call our parents and tell them over the phone.” So the family made the more than four-hour drive to Mount Pulaski, from where they moved 10 years ago, to break the news to relatives there.

“It was a long ride to be driving and crying,” White said. “He was a wonderful kid. Very well behaved and well respected with people. Quiet.”

Just before his 18th birthday, James Jr. told his father he was ready to enlist in the military.

“We talked it over. I asked him if he was sure that is was what he wanted,” White said. “He was sure.”

Last July, his son shipped out for boot camp at Fort Drum in New York. In March, his platoon was deployed to Afghanistan. The family last saw him in June. He came home for his twin sister April’s graduation. He left on Father’s Day.

“He never feared going back,” James White said. “He just told me he was doing his job. He was proud to serve his country. I believe that he’s a great hero.”

Aside from his father and twin sister, White is survived by his mother Robin and sister Denise of Huber Heights and grandparents John and Janet White of Mount Pulaski and Ron and Amy Phipps of Chestnut.

Ron and Amy Phipps said they would head to Ohio this weekend to attend services. A memorial service in Mount Pulaski at a later date is being considered.

“He didn’t show any fear at all,” said Ron Phipps, retired after a career in the military and who hails from a family with several generations of veterans. “It was just kind of a blow to me. I really haven’t accepted it yet.

“I’ve been around this all my life. I’m used to it. But I never thought it would come this close.”

Amy Phipps said today her grandson was “very loving … very giving,” and leaves many area friends and family.

“He felt he had to protect his family by going over there to keep terrorists from his parents and grandparents. He was here New Year’s.”

Also killed during the Aug. 11 attack were 19-year-old Army Pfc. Andrew Small of Wicasset, Maine, and 26-year-old Army Spc. Rogelio Garza Jr. of Corpus Christi, Texas.

White is the second soldier with Logan County connections to die in the Mid East.

Army Staff Sergeant Daniel G. Gresham, 23, of Lincoln died in February 2005 in Iraq when an explosive device detonated.

White’s funeral will be at 10 a.m. Monday at Marker & Heller Funeral Home in Huber Heights, with the Rev. Darrell Perry officiating. Burial will be in Dayton National Cemetery. Visitation will be from 1 to 5 p.m. Sunday. Memorials may be made to Wayne High School ROTC at Wayne H.S. AFJROTC, 5400 Chambersburg Road, Huber Heights, Ohio 45424.

Wisconsin Airman Killed

Senior Airman Adam Servais was killed by insurgents in Afghanistan Aug. 19, 2006. Servais, 23, of Onalaska, Wis., had been a member of the Air Force Special Operations for four years and was assigned to Hurlburt Field in Florida, said his aunt Maggie Tracey, of Genoa, Nev. (AP Photo/Family photo)

Foreign Occupation Soldier Killed,
Four Wounded In Zabul

Aug 24 ASADABAD, Afghanistan (Reuters)

A NATO soldier was killed and four wounded when Taliban guerrillas attacked them in the southern province of Zabul, a defence ministry spokesman said.

More Stupid Occupation Liars Caught:
Butchered “Al Qaeda” “Enemy Fighters” Turn Out To Be Civilians

Aug 24 ASADABAD, Afghanistan (Reuters)

Seven suspected al Qaeda members were killed in a clash in eastern Afghanistan on Thursday, the U.S. military said, although Afghan officials said the dead were civilians.

A child was also killed and a woman wounded.

Afghan officials said the seven killed in the attack in Shegal district, to the east of the provincial capital, Asadabad, were civilians.

“These were civilians that were shot dead,” said senior provincial police officer Abdul Saboor Allahyar.

Provincial officials had earlier said seven civilians, including some village elders, were killed in an air strike but Allahyar said they were killed in ground fire.

The U.S. and Afghan troops captured four men from the compound while other “enemy fighters” fled, the U.S. statement said.

An investigation had been launched to determine the identity of the seven dead, it added.

Assorted Resistance Action

Aug 23 AFP

An Afghan soldier was killed in a clash that erupted in southern Afghanistan after the militants attacked an army post, a commander said.

Three Afghan soldiers were wounded in the attack 70 kilometres (43 miles) north of the provincial capital Qalat and two army vehicles were destroyed.

Zabul is among the quieter provinces of southern Afghanistan. [That’s supposed to be the good news.]

“Wherever You Find The Taliban, The Brits And Canadians Can’t Go”
“They Are Too Scared To Come To This Area”
“Kandahar Is Lost”

21 August 2006 By Nelofer Pazira, The Belfast Telegraph UK [Excerpts]

Fear permeates Kandahar. Eyes watch every passer-by, every car. Everyone is suspect. People shrink away from me when I ask to interview them. They run when they see a camera. The few brave souls who agree to talk do so either anonymously or because they are desperate.

There is no war, no shooting, no rockets.

At least not yet, although the Taliban wave is reconquering Afghanistan, and fighting is spreading through Kandahar province.

Only a few months ago, the city of Kandahar was on the road to prosperity. Newly-paved streets with proper signs – one even named after Queen Soraya, wife of the 1920s reformer King Amanullah Khan – a park with a playground for children and several smart guesthouses were part of the new image. Near the Kandahar market, the foundations of many new modern buildings and houses had been laid.

But six months ago it all came to an end. The Taliban were coming back. All construction stopped. Fear spread like a fire. Then came a series of suicide attacks and printed decrees, often hung on the walls of local mosques, ordering the people to stop supporting the government.

Then it was announced NATO would replace the US forces, a decision which encouraged the Taliban. People in Kandahar talk about a power vacuum of which the Taliban took full advantage. They had five years to organise and returned in force.

“Now the Taliban are everywhere,” says Alia, a nurse in Kandahar’s Polyclinic Hospital.

In the Panjwai district of Kandahar province, the Taliban have even been using loudspeakers, taunting Canadian troops to attack them.

In the past week, Canadian soldiers travelled to Panjwai but can only hold the city centre.

Maiwand, the site of a great British military defeat during the Second Afghan War in 1778-1880, is now the seat of resistance to the government, and NATO.

“They have continued to issue decrees announcing that the killing of all those working with the current government or any of the foreign agencies – especially the military – is an “Islamic duty”. In neighbouring Helmand province, a leaflet pinned to the wall of a mosque says the Taliban will give $1,000 (£680) to anyone who brings them the head of a government worker or a foreigner.

“Farmers now let the Taliban stay in their homes,” says Wali, who works part-time for the ROSHAN mobile phone company. “Wherever you find the Taliban, the Brits and Canadians can’t go.”

If the Americans leave, Kandahar will fall in a week.

In the crowded streets, where shops are filled with goods imported from Pakistan, Iran and China, where young boys sell large square blocks of ice and bottled water, foreigners are no longer welcome.

No NATO patrol can pass through here.

“They are too scared to come to this area,” says my guide Ahmedallah.

So the Taliban don’t attack the market because there are no foreigners – or perhaps, as the Kandaharis claim, because this place is their nest.

Kandahar is lost. [To the foreigners, that is.]

TROOP NEWS

What The U.S. Majority Thinks:
1. Bush Full Of Shit About Iraq Being Part Of “War On Terror”
2. War On Iraq A Mistake And Going Badly
3. We Don’t Like Bush

[Thanks to Phil G, who sent this in.] [Looks like civilians are finally catching up to U.S. troops in Iraq.]

August 23, 2006 By CARL HULSE and MARJORIE CONNELLY, The New York Times Company [Excerpts]

WASHINGTON, Aug. 22: Americans increasingly see the war in Iraq as distinct from the fight against terrorism, and nearly half believe President Bush has focused too much on Iraq to the exclusion of other threats, according to the latest New York Times/CBS News poll.

The poll found that 51 percent of those surveyed saw no link between the war in Iraq and the broader antiterror effort, a jump of 10 percentage points since June. That increase comes despite the regular insistence of Mr. Bush and Congressional Republicans that the two are intertwined and should be seen as complementary elements of a strategy to prevent domestic terrorism.

Public sentiment about the war remains negative, threatening to erode a Republican advantage on national security.

Fifty-three percent said going to war was a mistake, up from 48 percent in July; 62 percent said events were going “somewhat or very badly” in the effort to bring order and stability to Iraq.

Mr. Bush’s overall standing was nevertheless unchanged from the previous week, with 57 percent disapproving and 36 percent approving, far below the level Republicans in Congress would like to see as they prepare for elections in November.

The opinion of 51 percent that the war in Iraq was separate from the war on terror was a considerable shift from polls taken in 2002 and the first half of 2003, when a majority regarded Iraq as a major antiterror front. As recently as June, opinion was split: 41 percent said the war in Iraq was a major part of the fight against terror, and 41 percent said it was not a part at all. Now only 32 percent consider it a major part of the terror fight, while 12 percent rate it a minor part.

Do you have a friend or relative in the service? Forward this E-MAIL along, or send us the address if you wish and we’ll send it regularly. Whether in Iraq or stuck on a base in the USA, this is extra important for your service friend, too often cut off from access to encouraging news of growing resistance to the war, at home and inside the armed services. Send requests to address up top.

“Some Of These Guys Have Gone To Iraq Two Or Three Times, And They Feel They’ve Done Their Bit”

August 24, 2006 Julian Borger in Washington, The Guardian [Excerpts]

The US marine corps has been forced to call up its reserves for compulsory service in Iraq and Afghanistan because it has not been able to find enough volunteers – a reflection of the strain the two wars are putting on America’s armed forces.

Gary Anderson, a retired marine colonel and now a Pentagon adviser on Iraq, said the call-up reflected the strain the Iraq war was putting on the force. “We’re in Afghanistan, the Horn of Africa, and we still have commitments in the Far East. I think if Iraq was the only game in town, it would be different,” he said.

“Quite frankly some of these guys have gone to Iraq two or three times, and they feel they’ve done their bit … It’s going to put a strain on them. Both people and equipment are getting worn out.

“There’s an old saying: long wars ruin armies, and I think that’s an accurate statement.”

IRAQ RESISTANCE ROUNDUP

(Graphic: London Financial Times)

Assorted Resistance Action

8.24.06 By ELENA BECATOROS, Associated Press Writer & Reuters & (KUNA) & BBC & VOI

A car bomb targeting a police patrol in Azamiyah wounded four people, included two policemen. In the Azamiyah neighborhood, guerrilla fighters opened fire on a police patrol, killing one policeman and wounding another, police said.

Elsewhere in the capital a roadside bomb exploded next to an Iraqi police patrol, wounding two policemen.

To the north, a bomb in a minivan killed three policemen and wounded a minivan driver in Baqouba, about 35 miles northeast of Baghdad, police said.

On the outskirts of that city, a roadside bomb struck an Iraqi army convoy, killing three soldiers and destroying their armored vehicle, said Baqouba army commander Brig. Salman al-Talabani.

The resistance killed three policemen on Wednesday at a checkpoint in Balad.

Two booby-trapped cars blew up within 15 minutes in the Iraqi capital on Thursday killing two people and bringing number of explosions in the city today to three.

A security source said one of the cars blew up near a security checkpoint in the district of Al-Aathamiah, killing one civilian and wounding nine people including four members of the Iraqi Special Security Squad. Fifteen minutes later, another bomb-laden vehicle went off in the district of Zayounah in the eastern side of the city, killing on civilian, wounding four members of the same squad and one civilians. The blast inflicted massive damage.

A police chief in charge of patrols in eastern Baghdad survived a car bomb attack in the city that injured five officers travelling in his convoy.

FORWARD OBSERVATIONS

Anniversary:
The Rebellion Of Company A;
“One Of Hundreds Of Mutinies Among Troops During The War”

Carl Bunin, Peace History Aug 21-27

August 25, 1969

Company A of the 3rd Battalion the 196th Light Brigade refused to advance further into the Songchang Valley of Vietnam after five days of heavy casualties; their number had been reduced from 150 to 60.

This was one of hundreds of mutinies among troops during the war.

“He (President Nixon) is also carrying on the battle in the belief, or pretense, that the South Vietnamese will really be able to defend their country and our democratic objectives (sic) when we withdraw, and even his own generals don’t believe the South Vietnamese will do it.”

James Reston in the New York Times

The Jealous Suicide Bomber

From: Richard Hastie
To: GI Special
Sent: August 19, 2006
Subject: The Jealous Suicide Bomber

The reason the suicide bomber kills Americans in his own country,
is because he is jealous of America’s freedoms.

Mike Hastie
Vietnam Veteran
August 19, 2006

Photo and caption from the I-R-A-Q (I Remember Another Quagmire) portfolio of Mike Hastie, US Army Medic, Vietnam 1970-71. (For more of his outstanding work, contact at: (hastiemike@earthlink.net) T)

“You Think Arabs Are Dumb? Try Doing Long Division With Roman Numerals”

August 24, 2006 From: Z
To: GI Special
Subject: Vonnegut speaks

From: Kurt Vonnegut, ‘A Man without a Country,’ pages 76-77

**********************************************************

More than a decade before his Gettysburg Address, back in 1848, when Lincoln was only a Congressman, he was heartbroken and humiliated by our war on Mexico, which had never attacked us.

James Polk was the person Representative Lincoln had in mind when he said what he said. Abraham Lincoln said of Polk, his president, his armed forces’ commander-in-chief:

“Trusting to escape scrutiny, by fixing the public gaze upon the exceeding brightnes of military glory — that attractive rainbow, that rises in showers of blood — that serpent’s eye, that charms to destroy — he plunged into war.”

Holy shit! And I thought I was a writer!

Do you know we actually captured Mexico City during the Mexican War?

Why isn’t that a national holiday?

And why isn’t the face of James Polk, then our president, up on Mount Rushmore along with Ronald Reagan’s?

What made Mexico so evil back in the 1840s, well before our Civil War, is that slavery was illegal there.

Remember the Alamo? With that war we were making California our own, and a lot of other people and properties, and doing it as though butchering Mexican soldiers who were only defending their homeland against invaders wasn’t murder.

What other stuff besides California?

Well, Texas, Utah, Nevada, Arizona, and parts of New Mexico, Colorado, and Wyoming.

Speaking of plunging into war, do you know why I think George W. Bush is so pissed off at Arabs? They brought us algebra. Also the numbers we use, including a symbol for nothing, which Europeans had never had before.

You think Arabs are dumb? Try doing long division with Roman numerals.

The Historical Origin Of ‘Progress Is Being Made?’
5,000 Troops Killed And Wounded Daily While On The Offensive Was Considered ‘Normal Wastage’

From: David Honish, Veteran
To: The Denton Record, Denton, Texas
Copy: GI Special
Sent: August 24, 2006

Sir John French commanded the British Expeditionary Force in France at the start of WWI. He was replaced by B.E.F. First Army commander Douglas Haig, after Haig had schemed for promotion by telling King George V that French was “a source of great weakness to the army, and no one had confidence in him anymore.”

Haig was a devotee of spiritualism and fundamentalist religion. As a young officer he attended seances to have a medium put him in touch with Napoleon.

As commander of the B.E.F. he was under the influence of a Presbyterian chaplain. Haig believed the chaplain’s sermons confirmed Haig’s belief that he was in direct communication with God, and had a major part to play in a divine plan for the world.

Haig believed his troops shared his religious convictions, and so were inspired to bear the suffering for their war which Haig directed.

Haig’s presumption of shared beliefs was responsible for his attitude towards casualties. In the First Battle Of The Somme, 5,000 troops killed and wounded daily while on the offensive was considered “normal wastage” by Haig.

Does this sound like anybody else we know who says God told him to invade Iraq? As a psychiatric nurse, I find it interesting to note how often I have observed religiosity as a component of serious mental illness.

SUPPORT THE TROOPS! BRING THEM HOME NOW!

What do you think? Comments from service men and women, and veterans, are especially welcome. Send to contact@militaryproject.org. Name, I.D., withheld on request. Replies confidential.

OCCUPATION REPORT

This Is Not A Parody:
Collaborator Official Says Too Much Violence On Iraq TV

August 24 SA

BAGHDAD: Iraq’s Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki has banned television channels from broadcasting gory images of daily bloodshed in the country, the interior ministry said in a statement.

During a visit to the ministry on Wednesday, Maliki issued an order prohibiting broadcasters from showing “blood and killings that magnify the horror” and warned of legal action against those violating the order.

DANGER: POLITICIANS AT WORK

[Thanks to Mark Shapiro, who sent this in.]

CLASS WAR REPORTS

The Venezuelan Government Just Loves Giant U.S. Multinational Corporations;
And They Just Love Venezuela;
Halliburton, Morgan Stanley, Master Card, Ford, GM, Happily Lapping Up Huge Profits

[Thanks to Katherine GY, The Military Project, who sent this in.]

The resilient ties with the United States are too much for some of Mr. Chávez’s critics on the left, including Douglas Bravo, a former Marxist guerrilla commander who was once close to Mr. Chávez, but who has broken with him over Venezuela’s heavy reliance on energy companies from rich industrial countries.

“If you look at its speech and discourse, this is a revolutionary government,” Mr. Bravo said in a recent interview with the newspaper El Nacional. “But if you look at what it has accomplished, it is a neoliberal government.”

08/16/2006 SIMON ROMERO, The New York Times [Excerpts]

CARACAS

“Capitalism will lead to the destruction of humanity,” President Hugo Chávez said this month in a speech in Vietnam, during an overseas tour that included stops in Iran and Belarus. The United States, he added, “is the devil that represents capitalism.”

In Caracas, signs with American brands are everywhere, in contrast to political billboards criticizing the foreign policy of the United States.

For instance, non-oil exports to the United States climbed 116 percent in the first three months of the year, according to the National Statistics Institute.

Venezuela also maintains close ties to Wall Street banks, with Morgan Stanley and Credit Suisse advising the governments of Venezuela and Argentina on their coming sale of $2 billion of bonds.

The growth in economic ties has touched several sectors, even if political tensions have left American companies generally hesitant to call attention to their good fortune or to offer detailed comments on their operations.

Regulatory filings show that Venezuela’s economy, which grew 9.6 percent in the first half of the year, is lifting profits for many American companies.

Most delicately, oil services companies like Halliburton, an emblem of the Venezuelan government’s distaste with American foreign policy, are at the forefront of the deepening interdependence.

With 10 offices and 1,000 employees in Venezuela, Halliburton recently won a contract to assist Petrozuata, a venture between Venezuela’s national oil company and ConocoPhillips, in extracting oil from fields in eastern Venezuela.

Melissa Norcross, a Halliburton spokeswoman in Houston, declined to comment specifically on activities in Venezuela, but noted that the company had operated in the country for more than 50 years.

In its July filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, Halliburton reported that its energy services group, which helps companies drill for oil, hit double-digit sales growth in Venezuela in the first six months of 2006, offsetting a decline in Mexico.

General Motors, Ford and other car manufacturers are trying to meet soaring demand, with sales up 28 percent in July from last year. G.M., Venezuela’s largest car manufacturer, said this month that it would invest $20 million to expand output by 30 percent, adding 600 new workers.

Here in Venezuela’s frenetic capital, the pervasive presence of American brands and advertising for American products stands in contrast to the colorful murals heroically depicting Mr. Chávez and Simón Bolívar, and billboards emblazoned with slogans taunting President Bush. (One reads: “Mister Danger, Let Us Make Love and Not War.”)

The resilient ties with the United States are too much for some of Mr. Chávez’s critics on the left, including Douglas Bravo, a former Marxist guerrilla commander who was once close to Mr. Chávez, but who has broken with him over Venezuela’s heavy reliance on energy companies from rich industrial countries.

“If you look at its speech and discourse, this is a revolutionary government,” Mr. Bravo said in a recent interview with the newspaper El Nacional. “But if you look at what it has accomplished, it is a neoliberal government.”

Some government policies have unexpectedly benefited American companies.

For instance, after Venezuela restricted access to foreign currency for trips abroad to prevent capital flight during a sharp downturn in the economy in 2003, MasterCard profited because travelers were still allowed to spend up to $2,500 on their credit cards outside Venezuela.

Though MasterCard has recently stopped breaking out figures for Venezuela, it credited the exchange controls with helping to raise its gross dollar volume in the country by 82 percent, to $460 million, in the third quarter of 2005.

“We’re going to have to pass on this one,” Janet Rivera, a MasterCard spokeswoman, replied when asked about operations in Venezuela.

Other American companies continue betting on Venezuela, even as Washington looks at tightening trade ties.

The agricultural giant Cargill spent $10 million in July to acquire a Venezuelan flour-milling concern, though it has also expressed concern over delays in being able to send dividends to its Minnesota owners.

The AES Corporation of Arlington, Va., owner of the utility that provides electricity to Caracas, is enjoying growth of 5 percent a year here, said Andrés Gluski, a Venezuelan who heads AES’s operations in the region.

“There is no question that the stronger economic system in Venezuela has helped our business,” Mr. Gluski said.

But the biggest beneficiary of Venezuela’s commercially robust relationship with the United States is, paradoxically, the government itself, which directly controls the oil producer Petróleos de Venezuela.

Despite persistent criticism of Mr. Chávez’s economic policies from his political opponents, Venezuela enjoyed a $27.6 billion trade surplus last year with the United States, by far the largest market for its oil.

“I’m reticent to attract much attention to this subject,” said Edmond Saade, president of the Venezuelan American Chamber of Commerce and Industry, with 1,200 members. “But really, we’d like to leave well enough alone.”

Received:

“Liar Pace”

From: Paul G
To: GI Special
Sent: August 16, 2006
Subject: 56 Iraqis Die in Attacks on Marketplace (fwd)

News story:
“Fallouja Police Lt. Mohammed Alwan said that the force, which he estimated had increased to more than 2,000, had now shrunk to 100. He said insurgents had killed dozens of policemen in their homes and also attacked relatives in a weeks-long intimidation campaign.”

What kind of idiot would want to be a cop in Falluja?

An anonymous Fallouja police major says this,

“A Fallouja police major who spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of reprisals said that at least 1,400 policemen had left their jobs since Friday, 400 of them above the rank of officer.”

while,

“Marine Lt. Lawton King, who is stationed in Fallouja, called those figures “inaccurate.” He said 32 police officers had been assassinated since January and that “substantially fewer than the exaggerated 1,400" officers had failed to report for work.”

What ever the figure is, if Lawton acts like his commander, Liar Pace, the anonymous source has more credibility.

P&L,
Paul

OCCUPATION ISN’T LIBERATION
BRING ALL THE TROOPS HOME NOW!

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