Lost Laughter and Broken Lives

Sattar Hashim keeps a memorial to his son, Hassan, center photo, who was killed with 33 other boys by a bomb on their Baghdad block in 2005.
This Bomb’s Lasting Toll: Lost Laughter and Broken Lives will be in the New York Times sunday edition.

This is just a tiny glimpse into what the Iraqi people are experiancing on a daily basis now. And while there is no mention it gives the indications of Wartime PTSD setting in into the civilian population and growing.

More than 3,000 Iraqis are dying every month in this war — roughly the total deaths in the Sept. 11 attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon or all the American troops killed since the war began. But behind the headlines and statistics, most of the war is experienced in Iraqi living rooms and on blocks like the one here, where families struggle with the intense pain of loss.
And while American war planners discuss the way ahead, Iraqis on this scarred block are stuck in the past on the morning of July 13, 2005, when time stopped and the war truly began for them.
“Our life now, it’s not a life, it’s a kind of dream,” said Qais Ataiwee Yaseen, whose two boys, ages 8 and 11, were killed that day. “Life has no taste. I even feel sick of myself.”

I keep getting the "We are not responsible for the deaths that are done by the Terrorists" from those who say they are supporters of this War, rather than just admit they Only Support the little chimp, and except what is done as they follow like sheep.
We Are Responsible For Every Death and Maiming and All the destruction of their Country, 'We' the people of this country wether for or against, and our guilt gets bigger, if that can be possible for all that has occurred because we have Held No One Accountible!!!

“I pray to God that no one in this world will ever have to face such a scene,” he said, remembering the scene as he sat in his sparely furnished living room with the curtains drawn. “As if they had been scattered on the ground. Legs. Arms. Heads. Bodies still burning.”
His son died in a hospital operating room several hours after the explosion.

And in our arrogant, simplistic minds many ask "Why do they Hate Us"! Why folks indeed, we've been treating others like crap for years and on occasion Blowing the Hell out of others!! Along with installing and supporting their 'leaders{?}' in power because it served some short term empty policy of a few control freaks and it was easy to do because We Ask No Questions and Believe the Bullshit!

The pain caused strange things to happen. Mr. Yaseen lost his knack for numbers and found himself fumbling in front of customers at the hardware store where he had worked for years. Eventually, he quit. Reading and writing became difficult for Zahra Hussein, the mother of 11-year-old Hamza. She had lost her ability to concentrate and some of her eyesight.
Hadi Faris, Hamza’s father, stopped his work as a driver. He could not control his thoughts, and concentrating on the road and split- second decisions was too onerous.
“I kept thinking how life is cheap, how so many innocent people are killed,” he said, sitting in front of a kerosene heater in a small guest room.

Are we, as a Nation, going to payback, which really is impossible, these people who's lives and cultures We Have Destroyed??

Life became empty and quiet for the children who were left.

Mr. Yaseen is haunted by the helplessness he felt that morning when he found his younger son, Ali, still alive. He was badly burned and missing his feet.
“I said to myself — two feet, it is nothing,” he said. But within several hours the child was dead.
“I did not have the ability to do anything for him,” Mr. Yaseen said. “To save him.”
Memories rush back at inconvenient moments. Mr. Yaseen has one in which his older son, Abbas, who loved bugs, begged him not to put poison down for the ants, saying, “They also have families and houses.”

“I’m like a dead man,” said Mr. Yaseen, crying into his hands. “I have no ambitions. I have no goals in life. I have lost everything.”
His wife and daughter have moved out, and he has retreated into his apartment, a 12-foot by 14-foot room. He stopped shaving. The room is now piled with baskets of laundry, old children’s toys and a metal bassinet.
“I live in this room,” he said. “I sleep in this room. I eat in this room. This is my whole life. As if I’m in prison.”

This is the Reality of living in a War Theater, a War Theater We Created and by our presence sustain!! But we have also unleased the Pandora's Box of Sectarian Hatreds, once quelled as they lived together in relative togetherness, working, marriages, schools................. The Hatreds for our Invasion in their Country have brought about Hatreds of each other and those that work with us.

Three Shiite families from Diyala, a violent province north of Baghdad, arrived with the stunned look of refugees who just lost everything but their lives.
“There are no smiles on their faces,” Ms. Hussein said. “You can tell they lost somebody.”
Attacks on Shiites by Sunni militants started to wear, and families on the block began asking about the backgrounds of newcomers.

For Adel, the 12-year-old whose friends were killed, memories returned in spurts. Some time after the July attack, he took his bicycle to the balcony of his house and threw it off. He was angry about what happened, Ms. Hussein said. A month ago, his life became even more isolated: a guard and a teacher from his school were killed, and Adel’s father began keeping him home.

Does anyone think there will be 'Forgiveness', 'Understanding', 'Care' or 'Love' for us by these people whom We Have Destroyed, Not For Decades Folks, Not For Decades, If Ever!!!

The Failed Policies will Haunt Us and the World for Decades

Leahy Introduces Bills To Combat War Profiteering, Public Corruption

U.S. SENATOR PATRICK LEAHY

CONTACT: Office of Senator Leahy, 202-224-4242 VERMONT


---------------------------------------------
Incoming Judiciary Chairman Leahy Targets Corruption In First Bills Of 110th Congress


WASHINGTON (Thursday, January 4) – Signaling a renewed emphasis on combating corruption at home and abroad, incoming Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.), introduced a package of bills Thursday targeting corrupt officials and private companies seeking to defraud American taxpayers and troops.

“Americans want the culture of corruption to end. From war profiteers and corrupt officials in Iraq, to convicted Administration officials, to influence-peddling lobbyists and, regrettably, even members of Congress, too many supposed public servants have been serving their own interests, rather than the public interest,” said Leahy.

Many Democratic Senators joined Leahy in reintroducing a bill creating criminal penalties for war profiteers and cheats who would exploit taxpayer-funded efforts in Iraq and elsewhere around the world. The War Profiteering Prevention Act of 2007 builds on earlier efforts by Leahy, who is also a senior member of the Appropriations Committee, to crack down on this type of rampant fraud and abuse. It is similar to legislation Leahy introduced in 2003, that was subsequently passed by the Senate as part of an appropriations bill but later torpedoed by the White House and the House Republican leadership, which stripped out the Leahy provision.

Also on Thursday, Leahy joined with Senator Mark Pryor (D-Ark.), on another anti-corruption measure aimed at strengthening the tools available to federal prosecutors in combating public corruption. This bill gives investigators and prosecutors the statutory tools and the resources that they need to ensure that serious and insidious public corruption is detected and punished, including extending the statute of limitations on some of the worst crimes.

“The American people staged an intervention during the November elections and made it clear that they would not stand for it any longer. They expect the Congress to take action, and these bills are a good first step toward meeting that call,” Leahy said. “We need to restore the people’s trust by acting to clean up the people’s government.”

# # # # #

Below are Senator Leahy’s statements on the War Profiteering Prevention Act of 2007 and the Effective Corruption Prosecutions Act of 2007 and, as well as summaries of the two bills and background information detailing a few examples of the fraud and war profiteering that have already occurred in Iraq and elsewhere.

Statement of Senator Patrick Leahy
On Introduction of the War Profiteering Prevention Act of 2007
January 4, 2007

Mr. LEAHY: Mr. President, today I am reintroducing a bill that creates criminal penalties for war profiteers and cheats who would exploit taxpayer-funded efforts in Iraq and elsewhere around the world. Last year, despite the mounting evidence of widespread contractor fraud and abuse in Iraq, the Republican–controlled Senate would not act on it. Instead, the Congress took a terrible misstep in seeking to end the work of the Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction. I have been proposing versions of this bill since 2003, when it did pass the Senate. Unfortunately, this crucial provision was stripped out of the final version of a bill by a Republican-controlled conference committee.

There is growing evidence of widespread contractor fraud in Iraq, yet prosecuting criminal cases against these war profiteers is difficult under current law. We must crack down on this rampant fraud and abuse that squanders American taxpayers’ dollars and jeopardizes the safety of our troops abroad. That is why I renew my efforts for accountability and action with the introduction of the War Profiteering Prevention Act of 2007. I am pleased to join with Senators Bingaman, Kerry, Harkin, Rockefeller, Dorgan, Wyden, Schumer, Cantwell, Bill Nelson, Clinton, Lautenberg and Menendez to introduce this legislation.

Widespread Fraud and War Profiteering in Iraq

Congress has sent billions upon billions of dollars to Iraq with too little accountability and too few financial controls. More than $50 billion of this money has gone to private contractors hired to guard bases, drive trucks, feed and shelter the troops and rebuild the country. This is more than the annual budget of the Department of Homeland Security.

Instead of results from these companies, we are seeing penalties levied for allegations of fraud and abuse. At least 10 companies with billions of dollars in U.S. contracts for Iraq reconstruction have paid more than $300 million in penalties since 2000, to resolve allegations of bid rigging, fraud, delivery of faulty military parts and environmental damage. Seven other companies with Iraq reconstruction contracts have agreed to pay financial penalties without admitting wrongdoing.

In 2005, Halliburton took in approximately $3.6 billion from contracts to serve U.S. troops and rebuild the oil industry in Iraq. Halliburton executives say that the company received about $1 billion a month for Iraq work in 2006. In addition, last month, we learned of new plans to spend hundreds of millions more to create jobs in Iraq.

Last year, the Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction found that millions of U.S. taxpayer funds appropriated for Iraq reconstruction have been lost and diverted. Yet we continue to send more taxpayer funds to Iraq, without accountability.

Too much of this money is unaccounted for, and many of the facilities and services that these funds were supposed to pay for are still nonexistent. We in Congress must ask – where did all the money go? We need to press for more accountability over the use and abuse of billions of taxpayers’ dollars sent as development aid to Iraq, not less.

Accountability is Long Overdue

A new law to combat war profiteering in Iraq and elsewhere is sorely needed and long overdue. Although there are anti-fraud laws to protect against the waste of U.S. tax dollars at home, no law expressly prohibits war profiteering or expressly confers jurisdiction on U.S. federal courts to hear fraud cases involving war profiteering committed overseas.

The bill I introduced today would criminalize Awar profiteering@ – overcharging taxpayers in order to defraud and to profit excessively from a war, military action, or reconstruction efforts. It would also prohibit any fraud against the United States involving a contract for the provision of goods or services in connection with a war, military action, or for relief or reconstruction activities. This new crime would be a felony, subject to criminal penalties of up to 20 years in prison and fines of up to $1 million, or twice the illegal gross profits of the crime.

The bill also prohibits false statements connected with the provision of goods or services in connection with a war or reconstruction effort. This crime would also be a felony, subject to criminal penalties of up to 10 years in prison and fines of up to $1 million, or twice the illegal gross profits of the crime.

The measure also addresses weakness in the existing laws used to combat war profiteering, by providing clear authority for the Government to seek criminal penalties and to recover excessive profits for war profiteering overseas. These are strong and focused sanctions that are narrowly tailored to punish and deter fraud or excessive profiteering in contracts, both at home and abroad.

The message sent by this bill is clear -- any act to exploit the crisis situation in Iraq or elsewhere overseas for exorbitant gain is unacceptable, reprehensible, and criminal. Such deceit demeans and exploits the sacrifices that our military personnel are making in Iraq and Afghanistan, and around the world. This bill also builds on a strong legacy of historical efforts to stem war profiteering. Congress implemented excessive-profits taxes and contract renegotiation laws after both World Wars, and again after the Korean War. Advocating exactly such an approach, President Roosevelt once declared it our duty to ensure that “a few do not gain from the sacrifices of the many.”

A Fresh Start

Our Government cannot in good faith ask its people to sacrifice for reconstruction efforts that allow some to profit unfairly. When U.S. taxpayers have been called upon to bear the burden of reconstruction contracts – where contracts are awarded in a system that offers little competition and even less accountability – concerns about wartime profiteering are a grave matter.

Combating war profiteering is not a Democratic issue, or a Republican issue. Rather, it is a cause that all Americans can support. When I first introduced this bill in 2003, it came to be cosponsored by 21 Senators. The Senate Appropriations Committee also unanimously accepted these provisions during a Senate Appropriations Committee markup of the $87 billion appropriations bill for Iraq and Afghanistan for Fiscal Year 2004, and this provision passed the Senate. Passing bipartisan war profiteering prevention legislation was the right thing to do then, and it is the right thing to do now.

I am hopeful that in a new year, and with a new Congress, we can make a fresh start and forge a bipartisan partnership on this important issue that will result in passage of this bill. I ask unanimous consent that a copy of the bill be printed in the Record.

# # # # #

War Profiteering Prevention Act of 2007

§ Criminalizes war profiteering, which is defined as materially overvaluing any good or service with the specific intent to excessively profit from the war and relief or reconstruction activities

§ Statute would strengthen the tools available to federal prosecutors to combat war profiteering by providing clear authority for the Government to seek criminal penalties and to recover excessive profits for war profiteering overseas.

§ Prohibits any fraud against the United States, Iraq, or any other foreign country involving a contract for the provision of any goods or services in connection with a war, military action, or relief or reconstruction activities.

§ Subjects violators to up to 20 years imprisonment and a fine not to exceed the greater of $1,000,000 or twice the amount of any illegal gross profits, or both.

§ Prohibits making a false statement in any matter involving a contract for the provision of any goods or services in connection with a war, military action, or relief or reconstruction activities.

§ Subjects violators of this provision to up to 10 years imprisonment and a fine not to exceed the greater of $1,000,000, or twice the amount of any illegal gross profits, or both.

§ Creates extraterritorial jurisdiction over offenses committed overseas, and covers any person in the United States or abroad who violates its provisions.

(Background Information)

Billions Of Taxpayer Dollars Lost
To Fraud And Waste In Iraq And Elsewhere

The United States has spent more than a quarter of a TRILLION dollars during its four years in Iraq.

Over $50 BILLION -- more than the annual budget of the Department of Homeland Security -- has been spent to hire private contractors to guard bases, drive trucks, feed and shelter the troops and rebuild the country.

BILLIONS of taxpayer dollars are unaccounted for, according to a finding by the special inspector general examining the Iraq reconstruction effort.

Since 2000, 10 companies with billions of dollars in U.S. contracts for Iraq reconstruction have paid more than $300 MILLION IN PENALTIES to resolve allegations of bid rigging, fraud, delivery of faulty military parts and environmental damage in connection with other projects.

Examples of Fraud and Waste - Custer Battles, Halliburton and Bechtel

CUSTER BATTLES is accused of bilking the government out of $50 MILLION

Custer Battles billed the government nearly $10 MILLION when its actual costs were less than $4 MILLION, according to a government investigation.

Custer Battles over billed electricity costs by $326,000 - Actual electricity charges of $74,000 were billed at $400,000.

Custer Battles over billed for trucks that did not run by $572,000 – Actual purchase price of $228,000 for faulty trucks were billed to government for $800,000.

The two largest government contractors in Iraq -- Bechtel Corp. and Halliburton Co. -- have been fined several times in the past four years.

HALLIBURTON CO. averaged about $ 1 BILLION A MONTH from the government for work in Iraq in 2006, according to executives. The company took in $3.6 BILLION last year from contracts to serve U.S. troops and rebuild the oil industry in Iraq.

A pattern of fraud, waste, and corruption by Halliburton in Iraq emerged through news reports between December 2003 and May 2004. In December, a Pentagon investigation found evidence that Halliburton's Kellogg, Brown & Root (KBR) had overcharged the U.S. government some $61 MILLION for fuel deliveries from Kuwait to Iraq. In January, Halliburton admitted to the Pentagon that two of its employees took up to $6 million in kickbacks for awarding a Kuwaiti-based company with work in Iraq. Then in early February it was reported that the company had agreed to repay the U.S. government some $27 million for meals that were never served to American troops.

Bills From Five-Star, Beachfront Hotel And Drivers Paid to Haul Empty Trucks - In May 2006, the Coalition Provisional Authority's inspector general started raising questions about the bills that Halliburton had racked up at a five-star beachfront hotel near Kuwait City. And 12 Halliburton truck drivers claimed they risked their lives driving empty trucks in Iraq while their employer billed the government for hauling absolutely nothing.

Investigation of Overcharging And Potential Connection to Nigeria Bribery Scheme - Federal authorities are also investigating whether Halliburton broke the law by using a subsidiary to do business in Iran, whether the company overcharged for work done for the Pentagon in the Balkans and whether it was involved in an alleged $180 million bribery scheme in Nigeria. The company admitted in 2003 that it improperly paid $2.4 million to a Nigerian tax official.

BECHTEL CORP. paid more than $110,000 to the Environmental Protection Agency and the Energy Department in 2000 and 2001 to settle alleged safety and environmental violations. Bechtel has prime construction contracts in Iraq worth more than $2 billion.

Fines Exceeding $86 Million - Bechtel hired three subcontractors in Iraq that have been fined more than $86 million in the past four years, though none had been banned from getting new contracts.

Others Punished For Waste, Fraud and Abuse Of Govt. Contracts

American International Contractors Inc., paid $4.7 million in fines in 2000 after pleading guilty to bid rigging on a U.S.-funded water project in Egypt, according to published reports. AICI has part of a $325 million contract to rebuild Iraq's transportation systems, has a share of a $500 million contract for emergency construction needs in the Pentagon's Central Command region, which includes Iraq and Afghanistan, and is in a partnership that has a $70 million construction contract at Al-Udeid air base in Qatar, used to support troops in Iraq.

Fluor Corp., paid $8.5 million to the Defense Department in 2001 to settle charges it improperly billed the government for work benefiting its commercial clients, according to published reports. Fluor and AMEC created a joint venture that has $1.7 billion in contracts to rebuild Iraq's electricity, water, sewer and trash removal infrastructure.

Great Lakes Dredge & Dock Co., paid a $969,000 fine in 2002 for environmental damage in the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary, according to published reports. Bechtel awarded the company a subcontract to clear the Iraqi port of Umm Qasr.

Northrop Grumman Corp., whose Vinnell Corp. subsidiary was awarded a $48 million contract to train the new Iraqi Army last year, according to published reports. Northrop Grumman has been penalized $191.7 million in the past four years, including $750,000 paid to the Pentagon in 2000 in a case involving allegations of providing faulty replacement parts for the JSTARS airborne surveillance system.

# # # # #

Statement of Senator Patrick Leahy
On Introduction of the Effective Corruption Prosecutions Act of 2007
January 4, 2007

I am pleased to join with Senator Pryor today to introduce the Effective Corruption Prosecutions Act of 2007, a bill to strengthen the tools available to federal prosecutors in combating public corruption. This bill gives investigators and prosecutors the statutory tools and the resources they need to ensure that serious and insidious public corruption is detected and punished.

In November, voters sent a strong message that they were tired of the culture of corruption. From war profiteers and corrupt officials in Iraq to convicted Administration officials to influence-peddling lobbyists and, regrettably, even members of Congress, too many supposed public servants were serving their own interests, rather than the public interest. The American people staged an intervention and made it clear that they would not stand for it any longer. They expect the Congress to take action. We need to restore the people’s trust by acting to clean up the people’s government.

The Senate’s new leadership is introducing important lobbying reform and ethics legislation. Similar legislation passed the Senate last year, but stalled in the House. This is a vital first step.

But the most serious corruption cannot be prevented only by changing our own rules. Bribery and extortion are committed by people bent on getting around the rules and banking that they won’t get caught. These offenses can be difficult to detect and even harder to prove. Because they attack the core of our democracy, these offenses must be found out and punished. Congress must send a signal that it will not tolerate this corruption by providing better tools for federal prosecutors to combat it. This bill will do exactly that.

First, the bill extends the statute of limitations for the most serious public corruption offenses. Specifically, it extends the statute of limitations from five years to eight years for bribery, deprivation of honest services, and extortion by a public official. This is an important step because public corruption cases are among the most difficult and time-consuming cases to investigate and prosecute. They often require use of informants and electronic monitoring, as well as review of extensive financial and electronic records, techniques which take time to develop and implement.

Bank fraud, arson, and passport fraud, among other offenses, all have 10-year statutes of limitations. Since public corruption offenses are so important to our democracy and these cases are so difficult to investigate and prove, a more modest extended statute of limitations for these offenses is a reasonable step to help our corruption investigators and prosecutors do their jobs. Corrupt officials should not be able to get away with their ill-gotten gains just by winning the waiting game.

This bill also facilitates the investigation and prosecution of an important offense known as federal program bribery. (Title 18, United States Code, section 666). Federal program bribery is the key federal statute for prosecuting bribery involving state and local officials, as well as officials of the many organizations that receive substantial federal money. This bill would allow agents and prosecutors investigating this important offense to request authority to conduct wiretaps and to use federal program bribery as a basis for a racketeering charge.

Wiretaps, when appropriately requested and authorized, are an important method for agents and prosecutors to gain evidence of corrupt activities, which can otherwise be next to impossible to prove without an informant. The Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) statute is also an important tool which helps prosecutors target organized crime and corruption.

Agents and prosecutors may currently request authority to conduct wiretaps to investigate many serious offenses, including bribery of federal officials and even sports bribery, and may predicate RICO charges on these offenses, as well. It is only reasonable that these important tools also be available for investigating the similar and equally important offense of federal program bribery.

Lastly, this bill authorizes $25 million in additional federal funds over each of the next four years to give federal investigators and prosecutors needed resources to go after public corruption. Last month, FBI Director Mueller in written testimony to the Judiciary Committee called public corruption the FBI’s top criminal investigative priority. However, a September 2005 Report by Department of Justice Inspector General Fine found that, from 2000 to 2004, there was an overall reduction in public corruption matters handled by the FBI. The report also found declines in resources dedicated to investigating public corruption, in corruption cases initiated, and in cases forwarded to US Attorney’s Offices.

I am heartened by Director Mueller’s assertion that there has recently been an increase in the number of agents investigating public corruption cases and the number of cases investigated, but I remain concerned by the Inspector General’s findings. I am concerned because the FBI in recent years has diverted resources away from criminal law priorities, including corruption, into counterterrorism. The FBI may need to divert further resources to cover the growing costs of Sentinel, their data management system. The Department of Justice has similarly diverted resources, particularly from United States Attorney’s Offices.

Additional funding is important to compensate for this diversion of resources and to ensure that corruption offenses are aggressively pursued. My bill will give the FBI, the United States Attorney’s Offices, and the Public Integrity Section of the Department of Justice new resources to hire additional public corruption investigators and prosecutors. They can finally have the manpower they need to track down and make these difficult cases, and root out the corruption.

If we are serious about addressing the egregious misconduct that we have recently witnessed, Congress must enact meaningful legislation to give investigators and prosecutors the resources they need to enforce our public corruption laws. I strongly urge Congress to do more to restore the public's trust in their government.

I ask that a copy of the bill be printed in the Record.

# # # # #

Effective Corruption Prosecutions Act of 2007

Provides federal investigators and prosecutors the statutory tools and the resources needed to ensure that serious and insidious public corruption is detected and punished.

Extends the statute of limitations for the most serious public corruption offenses, including bribery, deprivation of honest services, and extortion by a public official, from five years to eight years.

Facilitates the investigation and prosecution of a key federal statute used for prosecuting bribery involving state and local officials, as well as officials of the many organizations that receive substantial federal money

Authorizes $25 million over each of the next four years to give federal investigators and prosecutors needed resources to go after public corruption.

# # # # #

IVAW Deployed has arrived at the gates of Fort Lewis

By Dennis Kyne @ Camp RESISTANCE!

Please support this move....as troops are gathering to support Ehren Watada in his stand against the lies that have gained our nation nothing more than death and despise.

Purple Heart, 'Winner' Darrell Anderson returned from 18 months in hiding when he heard that Lt. Watada had refused to deploy. Darrell Anderson would have deployed to his third tour had he not gone north. Anderson asked me to get on the ( IVAW Deployed ) with him and get to Fort Lewis to open up Camp RESISTANCE!!!

We are here, in the mud. It is not warm here...nor dry.....however, you should stand with us....in support of a man who stands up against the military mahine and a nation of millions who don't have the foggiest notion that our troops do not want to serve in this war. Lt. Watada is speaking for thousands of enlisted soldiers like Darrell Anderson and myself, a fifteen year veteran of the Army. Watada is a true leader.....leading and doing....he knows he should never ask enlisted soldiers to do things he would never do....that is part of the requirement. NEVER ask nor order your troops to do things that you wouldn't do. There are more violators of this rule in the military now, than ever (or at least in my 15 years.) Lt. Watada is not one of them...and with that, the soldiers, who have always followed good leaders....will follow Lt. Watada.. Mike, Damon, Ethan and I, slept on the rig last night...it was night one of Camp RESISTANCE!!!

There is a RESISTANCE!!! going on. Thousands of troops are refusing to deploy....please let everyone know we are here.....working from the wi fi hot spot, let them know they should stand here too. If not for a month as we will, than for a day or even an hour.

We are at off ramp 119, gates of Fort Lewis.

We are meeting up at the gates of Fort lewis to support the Lt. Why? We have had enough...we want the war to stop....we want the government to stop using the troops as pawns in their game. If you know of a veteran who is opposed to this war, please help them get here....if you are ok with the weather, please get here also.
I, personally, will always think it an honor and a privilege to have served the United States people...I know Ehren does too. It is with that same pride and honor that I, personally, ask you to do something for this man....who has, without question stood, with more integrity in his little pinky, than most of these Generals have in their entire skin. I am honored to know his family, they are a wonderful display of family values...something we don't see a lot of.

To support him.... ( Thank You Lt.) you will find the news to follow the days up to the trial......
live from Camp RESISTANCE!!!

Military Contractors,i.e. Mercenaries, Fall Under UCMJ Now!

Well Well Well, looky here, found over at the MoJo blog.
Military Contractors Lose Their "Get Out of Jail" Card

Five years into the war on terror, American military contractors have finally lost some of their immunity from prosecution for dirty deeds done on the federal dime.

They now can be Court Martialed.

This means that if contractors violate the rules of engagement in a warzone or commit crimes during a contingency operation like Iraq, they can now be court-martialed (as in, Corporate Warriors, meet A Few Good Men). On face value, this appears to be a step forward for realistic accountability. Military contractor conduct can now be checked by the military investigation and court system, which unlike civilian courts, is actually ready and able both to understand the peculiarities of life and work in a warzone and kick into action when things go wrong.

The Law Catches Up To Private Militaries, Embeds

The addition of five little words to a massive US legal code that fills entire shelves at law libraries wouldn't normally matter for much. But with this change, contractors' 'get out of jail free' card may have been torn to shreds. Previously, contractors would only fall under the Uniform Code of Military Justice, better known as the court martial system, if Congress declared war. This is something that has not happened in over 65 years and out of sorts with the most likely operations in the 21st century. The result is that whenever our military officers came across episodes of suspected contractor crimes in missions like Bosnia, Kosovo, Iraq, or Afghanistan, they had no tools to resolve them. As long as Congress had not formally declared war, civilians -- even those working for the US armed forces, carrying out military missions in a conflict zone -- fell outside their jurisdiction. The military's relationship with the contractor was, well, merely contractual. At most, the local officer in charge could request to the employing firm that the individual be demoted or fired. If he thought a felony occurred, the officer might be able to report them on to civilian authorities.

Actually this is coming about Real Late in this Debacle! As these clowns have been doing as they please, including torture, killings, whatever, their ctions have put Military Personal in Extreme Danger! That danger comes from the Retaliations that Atrosities bring about as well as the Easier Recruitment of others to join in the Insurgency/Guerilla War trying to disingage the Occupiers from their Country!
It also leads to a Much Less Secure 'National Security', for not only this Country but any Considered Friendly Nations of!

Back when the Vietnamese just wanted us Out, today it's a Continuation of the already long running Guerilla War, long before 9/11, that has been waged by the fanatical extreme 'Criminal Terrorist' for a veriaty of reasons but more like because of our Policies, on the Foreign Front, and the Support we have given to so called leaders in the Countries that Suppress their fellow Countries Citizens!

And for every story that has been deemed newsworthy, there are dozens that never see the spotlight. One US army officer recently told me of an incident he witnessed, where a contractor shot a young Iraqi who got too close to his vehicle while in line at the Green Zone entrance. The boy was waiting there to apply for a job. Not merely a tragedy, but one more nail in the coffin for any US effort at winning hearts and minds.

It's bad enough, for the troops, when one of their own Royally Screws Up, but to have High Paid Guns doin the Screwin it's Fanatical!!!

So what happens next? In all likelihood, many firms, who have so far thrived in the unregulated marketplace, will now lobby hard to try to strike down the change. We will perhaps even soon enjoy the sight of CEOs of military firms, preening about their loss of rights and how the new definition of warzone will keep them from rescuing kittens caught in trees.

Take a trip over and read the report, it's worth it.

Fort Carson Visited by Congressional Staffers Today, Tomorrow

PTSD,Fort Carson, NPR Investigation, Congressional Investigation

Last week, NPR reported on the fall-out of a 6 month Fort Carson, Colo., investigation: the Army plans to court-martial of one of the troops who spoke out on soldier intimidation and harrassment directed at those seeking help for PTSD.
Today comes more fall-out as congressional staffers descend upon Fort Carson to do a bit of investigating of their own:

Experts: Iraq vets wrongly diagnosed

'Personality disorder' assessment allows for quick honorable discharge but tags veterans with a label that is hard to remove.

Former Army Pvt. Jason Harvey, shown here in Iraq, was diagnosed with depression and post-traumatic stress disorder. Harvey said he later was forced to agree to a diagnosis of a personality disorder. 'They played me like a fiddle,' he said.



Vet plagued by combat stress, not the label he was discharged under

William Wooldridge 'Our lives are destroyed, and the military blames it on us.'

RIP Janet, RIP!!

Dale is a Brother Vietnam Veteran, Janet is his wife. They are both Extreme Activists for Veterans and have been for as long as Dale had joined the Brother/Sisterhood of Dedicated, Patriotic Service to Country.

She will be Missed but Not Forgotten!

The Failed Policies will Haunt Us and the World for Decades


The Last Diary

by Janet G
Wed Jan 03, 2007 at 10:36:09 PM EST
This is Dale


Janet died in my arms last night at 2400 hours. Her body and heart gave out. She loved you people and the debate. I loved her for years. She fought everyday for Veterans. At the last of her life she told me never stop the fight. This I do promise I will fight for Veterans and America. She wanted to see one thing to see Bush and company held for justice for the lifes they have taken on their lifes. She stood tall never left a veteran behind. So I say for her my love my light Goodbye Kos keep the fight up. America needs you. And to the trolls I say from my heart go away you are the Danger to our Country. God Bless America and You We The People

Visit the Diary and read the messages and thoughts, and if compelled leave your own.

Imagine: Blog Crawl 1-03-07

PTSD Combat: Winning The War Witin

22,000 Returning Vets Discharged With Personality Disorder

A counselor with the San Diego-based Military Counseling Project, said many service members discharged because of personality disorders, medical issues and other grounds are in fact struggling with post-traumatic stress.

The Nation-Blog

Keith Ellison and the Jefferson Koran

And despite foolish attempts to cast Ellison's choice as somehow anti-American, as John Nichols writes in The Online Beat, it's Ellison himself who will be paying tribute to the Founding Fathers, in part by declaring his loyalty to the Constitution while clutching a copy of a Koran that was once owned by Thomas Jefferson.

Third Planet Report

Third Planet Report Year in Review

You can now get my weekly radio show broadcast --The Third Planet Report-- broadcast from The Farm in Summertown, Tennessee.
This week's show is a year end review
featuring a round table discussion by Ramon Bloomfield, Neal Bloomfield and
I; an interview with Stephen Gaskin on the state of the world; and some
music recently recorded by James Kohn and yours truly.
One of the shows contains an interview with Elizabeth De La Vega, a former assistant US Attorney about her book US v. Bush in which she describes how she would go about presenting an indictment of Bush and co-conspirators to a hypothetical grand jury.

ePluribus Media

Bush: The "All But" Decider

For years, the neoconservative anvil choir told us that if we set "timelines" for leaving Iraq, the evildoers would lie low and wait until we left. George Casey proposed what became known as the "stand up/stand down" strategy, and spoke about the possibility of a near term troop draw down, the violence in Iraq actually increased.

Elequity

Australia: The Pharma Corps Cash Cow?

The Australian Federal Government did a little backflipper exercise on a cervical cancer ‘vaccination’ last year. As it stands - all girls of approximately high school age are to be given ‘free vaccinations’ starting around Easter next year.

NION - Never In Our Names

Hell Is For (Muslim) Children

More than 60 minors, some as young as 14, have been held as prisoners at the US detention centre for suspected terrorists at Guantanamo Bay, according to a London-based human rights group.

HELP Save Hope!!

New YouTube Video To Help Save 1-800-SUCIDE
January 03, 2007
Greetings!

New YouTube Video To Help Save 1-800-SUCIDE Please watch this video


that was made to explain some of the troubles 1-800 SUICIDE has been having with the federal government. After trying for over 2 years to get the federal governement to take action and pay KBHC/1-800 SUICIDE's claim SAMHSA/HHS denied the claim, funded a competing government owned hotline, and is trying to hijack the phone numbers by going to the FCC and asking them to take away our lines.

Watch the video Take action today visit Save 1 800 Suicide

Please pass this information along so together we can have our voices heard.
We thank you for your support in the past and hope you will continue to support during this critical fight. We wish the best in the coming New Year. The Kristin Brooks Hope Center Board of Directors Visit Our Website
H. Reese Butler II
KBHC

-----

email: Hopeline
web: Hopeline

Just One, Long Term, Tragic Legacy WE Have Given Iraq and Region

There's a video {I placed the download links below}, or you can view in Quicktime, Flash, or Windows Media at the site also, Watch It.
This Is What We Have Given The People Of Iraq Starting In '91 and Escalated these last couple of years!
Just one of Many Tragedies, think there won't be Royally Pissed People from the Region, Think There Isn't Already!!!!!!!

Illness Takes No Break for War

The United States’ various wars in Iraq have already seen the birth of one new disease, Gulf War Syndrome. GWS has been primarily identified in veterans from the 1991 Persian Gulf War.

Besides this sickness, there have been countless cases of what is now known as Depleted Uranium Sickness, an enormous rise in cancers, particularly in young children, as well as an explosion of other diseases.


Quicktime

Flash

Windows Media


Juwan is just one young girl among many sick Iraqi children who are failing to find treatment in Iraq today. Since the conclusion of the 1991 war and the initiation of the 2003 invasion of Iraq, illness was rampant due to the crushing sanctions imposed by the United Nations and backed primarily by the US.

Prior to the 1991 war, healthcare, literacy, employment, and many other measures of a country’s development were some of the finest in the world.

Today many are desperate to find effective and functional healthcare for their children. With the primary focus on re-establishing security and defending Iraq’s oil revenues, this goal seems far from reach.

For more stories about illness and healthcare in Iraq, see this story, from the children’s ward in Baghdad Hospital, or this interview with a family who’s child is living with the pain of Depleted Uranium sickness.

If you've never visited Alive In Baghdad I suggest an occasional stop over for some Great Video Journalism on the Realities of War, they have a number of Reports at the site, sign up for their newsletter and support their efforts!

God how I Hate Viewing, Reading, Knowing of these sorts of Long Lasting Effects Of Any War that Man Wages On Others, and there are Many, lasting for Years and taking tragic tolls!
And when done With No Logical Reasons and Against Others That Have Done Nothing To Deserve That Which We Do, DESTROY, it makes the Extreme in 'Human Rights Violations' againts those who share this Planet and are No Differant than Us!!
Ever wonder where the 'Criminal Terrorist' come from and why?
Next time Don't Ask "Why Do They Hate Us", there are Thousands of reasons!!!

And....

Don't anyone forget, we're using the Same Ordinance in Afganistan and anywhere we send our Military!!

Tin Soldiers.......'The Surge'

OR




The Failed Policies will Haunt Us and the World for Decades!!

Tin Soldiers.......

Tin Soldiers

from the album Distant Thunder by Mark Wenning

Ten tin soldiers
waiting in line
tough and tested
and the there were nine
Nine tin soldiers
don't have to wait
someone suggested
and then there were eight
Eight tin soldier
believing in heaven
prayed real hard
and then there were seven
Medivac medivac
please come soon
take me back take me back
please have room
Seven tin soldiers
taught all the tricks
caught in a crossfire
and then there were six
Six tin soldiers
with no place to hide
from the in coming
and now there are five

CHORUS
I feel warm blood
in my palm
it's real my blood
I am calm
it flows - I hope
I feel no pain
I know - I hope
it's not in vain

Five tin soldiers
there's not many more
got in a firefight
and now there are four
Four tin soldiers
and it's too dark to see
snagged a tripwire
and then there were three
Three tin soldiers
brave and true
and then they got mortared
and then there were two

CHORUS
Will you die for your country
or for good or evil?
Will you die for the movies
will there be a sequel?
Unwarranted action
provockeing destruction
men killing men
fulfilling their function
The kiss of death for a piece of pride
saddle up, saddle up
saddle up and ride

Two tin soldiers
started to run
when a sniper got lucky
and then there was one
One tin soldier
threw down his gun
walked all the way home
and then there were none

CHORUS
See to the end of the story
run to the end of that road
forget the guts and glory
the pain you'll never know

The section of lyrics below belongs as a chorus just before the seventh stanza -- they don't appear in the song as presented, but should:

Medivac medivac
please come soon
take me back take me back
please have room


With the coming 'Surge' {i.e. Escalation} and over 3000 U.S. Military Personal Killed, how many More will be added to the Earth, as well as the Iraqi Innocent................

A Lynching...... Riverbend

Baghdad Burning

... I'll meet you 'round the bend my friend, where hearts can heal and souls can mend...
Sunday, December 31, 2006

A Lynching...

It's official. Maliki and his people are psychopaths. This really is a new low. It's outrageous- an execution during Eid. Muslims all over the world (with the exception of Iran) are outraged. Eid is a time of peace, of putting aside quarrels and anger- at least for the duration of Eid.

This does not bode well for the coming year. No one imagined the madmen would actually do it during a religious holiday. It is religiously unacceptable and before, it was constitutionally illegal. We thought we'd at least get a few days of peace and some time to enjoy the Eid holiday, which coincides with the New Year this year. We've spent the first two days of a holy holiday watching bits and pieces of a sordid lynching.

America the savior… After nearly four years and Bush's biggest achievement in Iraq has been a lynching. Bravo Americans.

Maliki has made the mistake of his life. His signature and unhidden glee at the whole execution, especially on the first day of Eid Al Adha (the Eid where millions of Muslims make a pilgrimage to Mecca), will only do more to damage his already tattered reputation. He's like a vulture in a suit (or a balding weasel). It's almost embarrassing. I kept expecting Muwafaq Al Rubaii to run over and wipe the drool from the corner of his mouth as he signed for the execution. Are these the people who represent the New Iraq? We're in so much more trouble than I ever thought.

And no- not the celebrations BBC are claiming. With the exception of a few areas, the streets are empty.

Now we come to CNN. Shame on you CNN journalists- you're getting lazy. The least you can do is get the last words correct when you write a story about an execution. Your articles are read the world over and will go down in history as references. You people are the biggest news network in the world- the least you can do is spend some money on a decent translator. Saddam's last words were NOT "Muqtada Al Sadr" as Munir Haddad claimed, according to the article below. If anyone had seen at least part of the video they showed on TV, you'd know that.

""A witness, Iraqi Judge Munir Haddad, said that one of the executioners told Hussein that the former dictator had destroyed Iraq, which sparked an argument that was joined by several government officials in the room."

"As a noose was tightened around Hussein's neck, one of the executioners yelled "long live Muqtada al-Sadr," Haddad said, referring to the powerful anti-American Shiite religious leader."

"Hussein, a Sunni, uttered one last phrase before he died, saying "Muqtada al-Sadr" in a mocking tone, according to Haddad's account.""

From the video that was leaked, it was not an executioner who yelled "long live Muqtada al-Sadr". See, this is another low the Maliki government sunk to- they had some hecklers conveniently standing by during the execution. Maliki claimed they were "some witnesses from the trial", but they were, very obviously, hecklers. The moment the noose was around Saddam's neck, they began chanting, in unison, "God's prayers be on Mohamed and on Mohamed's family…" Something else I didn't quite catch (but it was very coordinated), and then "Muqtada, Muqtada, Muqtada!" One of them called out to Saddam, "Go to hell…" (in Arabic). Saddam looked down disdainfully and answered "Heya hay il marjala…?" which is basically saying, "Is this your manhood…?".

Someone half-heartedly called out to the hecklers, "I beg you, I beg you- the man is being executed!" They were slightly quieter and then Saddam stood and said, "Ashadu an la ilaha ila Allah, wa ashhadu ana Mohammedun rasool Allah…" Which means, "I witness there is no god but Allah and that Mohammed is His messenger." These are the words a Muslim (Sunnis and Shia alike) should say on their deathbed. He repeated this one more time, very clearly, but before he could finish it, he was lynched.

So, no, CNN, his last words were not "Muqtada Al Sadr" in a mocking tone- just thought someone should clear that up. (Really people, six of you contributed to that article!)

Then again, one could argue that it was a judge who gave them that false information. A judge on the Iraqi appeals court- one of the judges who ratified the execution order. Everyone knows Iraqi judges under American tutelage never lie- that explains CNN's confusion.

Muwafaq Al Rubai was said he was "weak and frightened". Apparently, Rubai saw a different lynching because according to the video they leaked, he didn't look frightened at all. His voice didn't shake and he refused to put on the black hood. He looked resigned to his fate, and during the heckling he looked as defiant as ever. (It's quite a contrast to Muhsin Abdul Hameed's public hysterics last year when the Americans raided his home.)

It's one thing to have militias participating in killings. This is allegedly the democracy the Americans flaunt. Is this how bloodthirsty and frightening we've become? Is this what Iraq stands for now? Executions? I'm sure the rest of the Arab countries will be impressed.

One of the most advanced countries in the world did not help to reconstruct Iraq, they didn't even help produce a decent constitution. They did, however, contribute nicely to a kangaroo court and a lynching. A lynching shall go down in history as America's biggest accomplishment in Iraq. So who's next? Who hangs for the hundreds of thousands who've died as a direct result of this war and occupation? Bush? Blair? Maliki? Jaffari? Allawi? Chalabi?

2006 has definitely been representative of Maliki and his government- killings like never before and a lynching to end it properly. Death and destruction everywhere. I'm so tired of all of this…

Casualties of War

Faces of the U.S. Military Killed in Iraq

As photo box loads read the left side box than follow those directions, also with tabs above for further information.

3000

As of today,

3000

U.S. servicemen and women have lost their lives in Iraq.

The New Year will ring in for thousands of families who only know that:

The deceased Soldier’s name is being withheld pending notification of next of kin.

History: U.S. and Iraq

I got extremely sick and tired, loooong ago, about our 'Choices of Responsibility' in the Actions of those, we hire and pay, into power supposedly leading this Nation, and the brokers behind the scenes, skimming off the public troth, that we all know exist, and what they do In Our Names! Everything done, in a Democracy, wether good or bad is done In Our Names and We Are As Responsible As They Are!

One can't grab their share of resposibility, of any good actions/policies, by grabbing the flag and drapping themselves in some sort of Patriotic goody goody feeling, cheering "We're Number One", and than scream "I'm Not Responsible" for the bad done 'In Our Names'! In a true Democracy, something we still haven't obtained, the Whole shares The Responsibility Equally!

I don't belong to a lot of online boards, not enough time and one gets really tired really fast of reading idiotic responses from lazy lamebrains who try and act like their guro's, limbaugh being only one. And a guro he is to a group of {add any label one wants here, they are numourous}, that give their empty racist/bigotted thoughts with nothing to back them up or attempt to back them up with the empty thoughts of others equally lamebrained {add guro name here, they to are numourous also}, making a damn good living off these sheople as they lead them like the herders they are. And the lazy fools, who refuse to think for themselves, suck this bullshit up!

Lets take a look at our dealings with Saddam, who won't RIP, I'm sure. You can take your pick of Many tyrants and dictators who over the years we've supported with a total disregard to the countries citizens they led. Paying lip service about 'Human Rights' and 'Freedom' and 'Democracy', which we seem to think that by Destroying Others Countries and Their People', they will except and embrace with Open Arms these self instilled ideologies, we say we would like many of these countries to have, hell we pay lip service on our own soil to many of our own!

U.S. and Saddam:

First take a quick walk down memory lane with a short but historically filled video that Eric, over at bushflash put together shortly after Saddam was captured:

Thanks For The Memories
There's much more to the relationship but this gives one an idea of what has been going on all these years.

One thing about this technology, even for the lazy, one needs only read or view something get backtrack links or grab names, reports, files, whatever out of the read or view and do quick backtracks themselves, retrieving the evidence or the pros and cons, the Real Lazy, like the limbaugh himselve or his wanna-be's seem to find this exhausting as they don't even attempt to gig deeper

Now lets take a look at some of these parts of the Documented Known history:

Front page of Italian Newspaper Corriera della Sera


As Dean Hartwell, political scientist, you can visit his site Here, writes:

Hussein's Bloody Hands Drip on United States

With the execution of Saddam Hussein, the United States has lost an ally-turned-enemy. What it has gained remains to be seen.
When Hussein invaded Iran in September 1980, the Carter Administration applauded. When he used chemical weapons during that war, the Reagan Administration looked the other way. When he told us he would invade Kuwait in 1990, the Bush I Administration said we would stay out of it.

The same man whom Donald Rumsfeld went to make peace with in 1984 as an emissary of the Reagan Administration was our new punching bag from Desert Storm on. Several times under Presidents Bush I and Clinton we bombed Iraq, ostensibly for disobeying United Nations resolutions. Yet we had hid our anger over his previous transgressions, like the invasion of Iran, because they favored us. Whether we admit to it or not, we assisted Hussein in his early crimes.

If the Iraqis ever do switch to a democracy, they ought to consider the lack of principle the United States has shown in dealing with Saddam Hussein. A nation that says it opposes invasions of other nations and the murder of its people cannot hold the hand of one who commits these crimes. Even if the nation shakes off the hold of the dictator, it cannot shake off the blood from his hands.

Now Hartwell does a quick writeup of our involvement in the crimes of Saddam, and as I said above one only needs to pick certain things and find the proof of themselves, it's all out there and documented, hell with this technology it's even hard to scrub the evidence, the facts, the talking points on news video's, you name it it can be found.

Lets visit another recent post of points:

Source: Juan Cole

But the following comes from Black Listed News

Top Ten Ways the US Enabled Saddam Hussein

The tendency to treat Saddam and Iraq in a historical vacuum, and in isolation from the superpowers, however, has hidden from Americans their own culpability in the horror show that has been Iraq for the past few decades. Initially, the US used the Baath Party as a nationalist foil to the Communists. Then Washington used it against Iran. The welfare of Iraqis themselves appears to have been on no one's mind, either in Washington or in Baghdad.
The British-installed monarchy was overthrown by an officer's coup in 1958, led by Abdul Karim Qasim. The US was extremely upset, and worried that the new regime would not be a reliable oil exporter and that it might leave the Baghdad Pact of 1955, which the US had put together against the Soviet Union (grouping Turkey, Iraq, Iran, Pakistan, Britain and the US). (Qasim did leave the pact in 1959, which according to a US official of that time, deeply alarmed Washington.)

Iraq in the 1940s and 1950s had become an extremely unequal society, with a few thousand (mostly Sunni Arab) families owning half of the good land. On their vast haciendas, poor rural Shiites worked for a pittance. In the 1950s, two new mass parties grew like wildfire, the Communist Party of Iraq and the Arab Baath Socialist Party. They attracted first-generation intellectuals, graduates of the rapidly expanding school system, as well as workers and peasants. The crushing inequalities of Iraq under the monarchy produced widespread anger.

If one visits the title link, or the Juan Cole link, one will find more backtrack links and information to each item listed below:

1} The first time the US enabled Saddam Hussein came in 1959. In that year, a young Saddam, from the boondock town of Tikrit but living with an uncle in Baghdad, tried to assassinate Qasim. He failed and was wounded in the leg. Saddam had, like many in his generation, joined the Baath Party, which combined socialism, Arab nationalism, and the aspiration for a one-party state.

2} After the failed coup attempt, Saddam fled to Cairo, where he attended law school in between bar brawls, and where it is alleged that he retained his CIA connections there, being put on a stipend by the agency via the Egyptian government. He frequently visited US operatives at the Indiana Cafe. Getting him back on his feet in Cairo was the second episode of US aid to Saddam.

3} In February of 1963 the military wing of the Baath Party, which had infiltrated the officer corps and military academy, made a coup against Qasim, whom they killed. There is evidence from Middle Eastern sources, including interviews conducted at the time by historian Hanna Batatu, that the CIA cooperated in this coup and gave the Baathists lists of Iraqi Communists (who were covert, having infiltrated the government or firms). Roger Morris, a former National Security Council staffer of the 1960s, alleged that the US played a significant role in this Baath coup and that it was mostly funded "with American money.". Morris's allegation was confirmed to me by an eyewitness with intimate knowledge of the situation, who said that that the CIA station chief in Baghdad gave support to the Baathists in their coup. One other interviewee, who served as a CIA operative in Baghdad in 1964, denied to me the agency's involvement. But he was at the time junior and he was not an eyewitness to the events of 1963, and may not have been told the straight scoop by his colleagues. Note that some high Baathists appear to have been unaware of the CIA involvement, as well. In the murky world of tradecraft, a lot of people, even on the same team, keep each other in the dark. UPI quotes another, or perhaps the same, official, saying that the coup came as a surprise to Langley. In my view, unlikely.

4} In 1968, the civilian wing of the Baath Party came to power in a second coup.

5} The second Baath regime in Iraq disappointed the Nixon and Ford administrations by reaching out to the tiny remnants of the Communist Party and by developing good relations with the Soviet Union. In response, Nixon supported the Shah's Iran in its attempts to use the Iraqi Kurds to stir up trouble for the Baath Party, of which Saddam Hussein was a behind the scenes leader. As supporting the Kurdish struggle became increasingly expensive, Mohammad Reza Shah Pahlevi of Iran decided to abandon the Kurds. He made a deal with the Iraqis at Algiers in 1975, and Saddam immediately ordered an invasion of Iraqi Kurdistan. The US acquiesced in this betrayal of the Kurds, and made no effort to help them monetarily. Kissinger maintained that the whole operation had been the shah's, and the shah suddenly terminated it, leaving the US with no alternative but to acquiesce. But that is not entirely plausible. The operation was supported by the CIA, and the US didn't have to act only through an Iranian surrogate. Kissinger no doubt feared he couldn't get Congress to fund help to the Kurds during the beginnings of the Vietnam syndrome. In any case, the 1975 US about-face helped Saddam consolidate control over northern Iraq.

6} When Saddam Hussein invaded Iran in 1980, he again caught the notice of US officials. The US was engaged in an attempt to contain Khomeinism and the new Islamic Republic. Especially after the US faced attacks from radicalized Shiites in Lebanon linked to Iran, and from the Iraqi Da`wa Party, which engaged in terrorism against the US and French embassies in Kuwait, the Reagan administration determined to deal with Saddam from late 1983, giving him important diplomatic encouragement. Historians are deeply indebted to Joyce Battle's Briefing Book at the National Security Archives, GWU, which presents key documents she sprung through FOIA requests, and which she analyzed for the first time.

7} The US gave practical help to Saddam during the Iran-Iraq War:

8} The Reagan administration worked behind the scenes to foil Iran's motion of censure against Iraq for using chemical weapons.

9} The Reagan administration not only gave significant aid to Saddam, it attempted to recruit other friends for him.

10} After the Gulf War of 1991, when Shiites and Kurds rose up against Saddam Hussein, the Bush senior administration sat back and allowed the Baathists to fly helicopter gunships and to massively repress the uprising. President GHW Bush had called on Iraqis to rise up against their dictator, but when they did so he left them in the lurch. This inaction, deriving from a fear that a Shiite-dominated Iraq would ally with Tehran, allowed Saddam to remain in power until 2003.

Now these are just a couple of recent postings but all of the above has been known and followed, by many, over the years. Giving voice of opposition to these practises of destructive policies as the majorities ignored what was going on 'In Their Names'!
This is the history of our Nation, not only as to the above, but in the Policies set forth under the guise of 'National Security' which has only made 'National Security' even less than 'Secure' but giving Wealth and Power to the Military Industrial Complex and Rampent Growth of the Corporate Mindset of a Capitalist Society run amouk!

Throughout our history there have been, and continue to be, Voices of Opposition to what has been going on, knowing full well they themselves Share In The Responsibilities of the Actions set forth, believing that which we teach and say has a deeper meaning and truth and when we sway from our words of describing ourselves not only do we suffer the consequences but those consequences effect many many others as well!

Oh by the way, Saddam isn't the only one, while you might still be wondering where oh where bin Laden might be and Why He Hasn't Been Brought To Justice!