On The Eve Of 9/11, Could It Have Been Prevented? {Added Video Report}

According to an FBI informant Yes!
FBI Informant Says Agents Missed Chance to Stop 9/11 Ringleader Mohammed Atta
Undercover Operative 'One Million Percent Positive' Attacks Could Have Been Prevented

This was just on the ABC World News, video report not yet up, but is one more of the Brian Ross Investigative Unit.

On the eve of the eight year anniversary of the 9/11 attacks, an FBI informant who infiltrated alleged terrorist cells in the U.S. tells ABC News the FBI missed a chance to stop the al Qaeda plot because they focused more on undercover stings than on the man who would later become known as 9/11 ringleader Mohammed Atta.

Snip

According to Assaad, Shukrujumah, whose father ran the mosque, invited the undercover FBI operative to meet him at his home, but the FBI told him to stay away. Instead, Assad says the agency assigned him to set up and sting what he calls wannabe terrorists, ending any hope of infiltrating the real al Qaeda terrorists.

Former national security official Richard Clarke, now an ABC News consultant, said the case is "yet another example of the way the system broke down prior to 9/11."

"If the system had worked," Clarke said, "we might have been able to identify these people before the attacks."

This all started going down in early 2001

former undercover operative Elie Assaad says he spotted and became suspicious of Atta in early 2001, when he was sent by the FBI to infiltrate a small mosque outside Miami. Atta was there with Adnan Shukrujuman, an al Qaeda fugitive who now has a $5 million U.S. reward on his head.

Which means to me that not only weren't they not paying attention, in the White House, to the intelligence reports they were given and getting, someone in the FBI Administration wasn't paying attention, or worse, to what was coming in from the field of operations by the informants and operatives.

"I was right, I was a hundred percent right," Assaad says of his suspicions. He says that when he learned that Atta was one of the 9/11 hijackers, when the FBI asked if he could identify any of the attackers, he was "very upset, angry" and cried.

"I curse on everybody," Assaad says. "I destroyed half of my furniture. Uh, I went crazy."

The FBI's focus on stings, which Assaad has worked in at least 10 states and overseas since becoming an operative in 1996, are being questioned by many counter-terrorism authorities, who wonder what the true value of the stings are. Since 9/11, the stings have largely targeted people that are more aspirational than operational.

Which if above is true, it seems to show they were being ordered to go after soft targets and not hard intelligence even after 9/11.

After a 2006 sting, then-Attorney General Alberto Gonzalez praised Assaad – who was still unnamed at the time – for disrupting a group preparing a violent attack, resulting in the indictments of seven men on terror charges.

Snip

Another video of a later meeting shows Assaad counting out $1000 for the leader of the Miami group.

After three trials, including two mistrials, five of the seven men were convicted.

With the increase of hatreds now, towards not only our countries policies but our countries people, and with the new administration, lets hope policies across the spectrum have changed and tightened to the reality. As we now have to work harder, with other countries, on the growth in the threat of criminal terrorism, while we still have two ongoing occupations, creating even more wide spread hatreds!

Added ABC News Video Investigative Report

Right Wing Militia's, Out Of Control? The Vipers!!

Two short discussions, reports, about the Domestic Terrorist within, the known and unknown Militia's, and the connection to those packin in Phoenix and elsewhere, in the large crowds for a Presidential Visit. With Children in that crowd! Incompetent gunowners misusing their interpretation of the Laws, and their total lack of common sense and civility in a civil society, as well as using those Children and the Crowd of Innocent Civilians as Human Shields should anything happen, making the possibility of that easier, looking an awful lot like Insurgents and Criminal Terrorist in our Wars of Choice, or those label as Terrorist anywhere!!



And On Rachels Show:



When This Occurs

I want to see Video's, readily available in todays world, not only of those packing and being interviewed about their twisted points of ideology, but of The Children Near and Around Them, and Pointed Out By The Talking Heads, equally incompetent by not even considering this obvious fact!!

When Protest Becomes Intimidation

Leave The Guns At Home

Try a thought experiment: What would conservatives have said if a group of loud, scruffy leftists had brought guns to the public events of Ronald Reagan or George W. Bush?

How would our friends on the right have reacted to someone at a Reagan or a Bush speech carrying a sign that read: "It is time to water the tree of liberty"? That would be a reference to Thomas Jefferson's declaration that the tree "must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants."............

Moyers on Gun Violence 6.12.09 and.........

BILL MOYERS: Finally, you know by now that in our nation's capital on Wednesday, an elderly white supremacist and anti-Semite is alleged to have walked into the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum with a rifle and killed a security guard before being brought down himself. 88 years old!

You will know, too, of the recent killing in church of Dr. George Tiller, one of the few doctors in the country still performing late term abortions. It was evidence that violence works. His family has now announced that his Kansas clinic will not be reopened...........Rest Found Here

And a most recent arrest in a brutal double murder by members of a fringe radical anti-immigration group

Sheriff: Arizona home invaders wanted all dead

The Web site for the Minutemen American Defense lists Forde as the group's leader and Bush as its operations director. Forde is from Everett, Wash., but has recently been living in Arizona.......

Head of a minuteman group arrested for double homicide

Forde is known for being the head of the minutemen group M.A.D., where she is listed as the National Executive Director.

The photo is of Shawna Forde during an operation along the border, courtesy the website of Andrew Ong.

"If you look at her history closely, and you know what we know, she is at best a pyschopath," says Sheriff Dupnik referring to Forde during a press conference Friday.

Forde's organization is not directly connected to the more commonly known minutemen organization, Minutemen Civil Defense Corps or the Minutemen project run by Chris Simcox and James Gilchrist.......

And those with her as well as others who had contact with her, especially this organization she was an apparent high ranking officer of, had to know her as the police describe her!

And these groups form and act in the Name, and under the flag of, this Country, the United States of America!

The United States for which many of us have served to protect and defend the constitution of, with many now serving and dying in two long running occupations!

First Strikes: Bombing Civilians

The discussion on the Bill Moyers Journal, last night, shows the problem with War, Wars of Choice, Occupations and especially Guerilla/Insurgent Warfare, of which all conflicts are, and have been, now for many years, and will continue to be!

And why there is Criminal Terrorism and the rise of!

Bill Moyers Journal, January 30, 2009

Bill Moyers sits down with historian Marilyn Young, author of the forthcoming "Bombing Civilians: A Twentieth-century History" and former Pentagon official Pierre Sprey, who developed military planes and helped found the military reform movement.

Watch the Discussion

Sprey says:

Does it kill the person it's intended to kill? Not often. And when it does, it usually kills a bunch of other people around. And that, of course, raises the problem that the Predator and the missiles become a recruiting tool for the opposition and — beyond a shadow of a doubt — recruit more opposition than we get rid of by killing the one person at the table that we wanted to kill.

Read the Transcript, some cuts from:

BILL MOYERS: Marilyn, what did you think last weekend when four days into the Obama administration we read those reports of the strikes in Pakistan?

MARILYN YOUNG: My heart sank. It absolutely sank. It had been very high. I had been, like I think the rest of the country, feeling immensely encouraged and inspired by this new administration and by the energy and vigor with which he began. And then comes this piece of old stuff on approach to a complicated question that in comes in the form of a bomb and a bomb in the most dangerous of all places. And, yeah, my heart sank, literally.

BILL MOYERS: Our military, Pierre, says it's sure that it's striking militants in Pakistan and Afghanistan. And that they're not targeting civilians. Can they be sure? From your experience, can they be sure?

PIERRE SPREY: I'm sure that their purpose is to strike militants. I have no doubt of that whatsoever. But with the weapons they use and with the extremely flawed intelligence they have.

MARILYN YOUNG: Yes.

PIERRE SPREY: I'd be astonished if one in five people they kill or wound is in fact, a militant.

BILL MOYERS: What do you mean "flawed intelligence"?

PIERRE SPREY: You can't tell with a camera or an infrared sensor or something whether somebody's a Taliban. In the end, you're relying on either, you know, some form of intercepted communications, which doesn't point at a person. It just, you know, points at a radio or a cell phone or something like that. Or, most likely, you're relying on some Afghani of unknown veracity and unknown motivation and who may, may very well be trying to settle a blood feud rather than give you good information.

Further On:

BILL MOYERS: I don't understand that because George W. Bush defined this as a war on terror. And I think Obama must be using the same invocation, you know?

PIERRE SPREY: Exactly.

BILL MOYERS: This is all part of the war on terror. He said it in his inaugural address.

PIERRE SPREY: Yes, he said that. I was appalled. You talk about our hearts sinking.

PIERRE SPREY: 9/11 was not an act of war.

BILL MOYERS: What was it?

PIERRE SPREY: It was a criminal act. It was a simple.

MARILYN YOUNG: Right.

PIERRE SPREY: Criminal act by a bunch of lunatic fanatic violent people who needed to be tracked down and apprehended and tried exactly as you would with any other lunatic violent person, like we do with our own domestic terrorists, like the guy who bombed the Oklahoma federal building.

BILL MOYERS: Federal building. Right.

PIERRE SPREY: You know? Exactly the same thing we did to him is what we should have launched on a huge basis, of course, on a huge international police basis and not called it.

MARILYN YOUNG: And there would have been totally international support.

PIERRE SPREY: It's not a war.

MARILYN YOUNG: Right.

PIERRE SPREY: We, by calling it a war, we have glorified al Qaeda. We have glorified the cause of violent radical Islam. All that tiny minority have become heroes. And we made them heroes. We made their propaganda. We made their case for them.

An American tragedy made into a political commodity

Olbermann: Republicans have hijacked 9/11

In a Special Comment, Keith Olbermann talks about the politicization of the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, especially by the Bush administration and the GOP who use the event to terrify Americans into thinking the only safe option is to vote Republican “or this will happen again and you will die.” Full story

Keith puts the Truth of what 9/11 has turned into, not only as a political tool but a reach for extreme power, throwing out All the Good Will being shown and offered from Around The World, including from the Innocent People of the Countries We Now Occupy! Where we could have joined forces with the World and used all that resources to go after the Criminal Elements of Criminal Terrorism we instead have Fanned the Fires of Hatred and Created more who are and will be bent on acts of Criminal Terrorism for years to come, Blowbacks a Bitch!!

Meth Heads - Alleged Assassination Plot

"A bunch of meth heads get together, we don't know why they do what they do. ... People do lots of stupid things on meth."

Q and A of Charges

Tharin Gartrell, left, Shawn Robert Adolph, center, Nathan Johnson, right

Adolf was wanted on seven outstanding warrants totally more than $1 million.

Read the Criminal Complaint Vs. Adolph

Read the Criminal Complaint Vs. Gartrell

More Reports at CBS4 Denver


There is one organization that tries to follow the possibilities of Criminal Terrorism within our borders, and that's the Southern Poverty Law Center. They follow the reports, they research suspected hate groups and hate speech, they bring lawsuits when the need is seen, they are there to hopefully make this a better and safer society for us all and they have been for a long time.

Do We Need Change, You're Damn Right We Do, And The World Needs Us To Change, Now!!

Assassins? Criminal Terrorists? Terrorists!

I had planned on putting up another post covering what's good about people and the dedication of, but with the breaking news last night, 8-25-08, we probably are seeing a continuation of recent reports about the reality of the world we live in. A reality that's been mostly under the surface of this countries citizens but has been rearing it's ugly face these last few years, pushed on by what we as a society have been allowing to come across our airwaves in the name of 'free speach'!


The story line broke, on some of the interactive boards, with an initial report from a local Denver Colo. News Channel CBS 4 Denver Colorado about the arrest of a couple of very suspicious characters and has grown from there into a possible assassination attempt on the Democratic Candidate for the Presidency at the Democratic National Convention.


This first video contains the first three reports from the CBS 4 News Site as the story was growing:

Gartrell, who has no known address, was being held at the Arapahoe County jail on $50,000 bail on drug and weapons charges. The jail said he was due in court Thursday.

This video is the initial Police Press Conference giving further details about the arrests, those arrested, 4, and some of what was found as evidence and much more:









If these reports are true, about one or more are talking, are these methheads just blowing smoke to make themselves look like big tough guys to whoever they hang with or whatever groups they might belong to?


If so they lit a huge fire for that smoke, they crossed the big line from local charges to extremely damaging federal charges by just mentioning any type of plot of an assassination attempt on a Presidential Candidate!

The Secret Service, FBI, ATF and the joint terrorism task force are all investigating the alleged plot. Dudley didn't say what tied the men together but said more arrests were possible.

While putting this together I revisited the CBS 4 News Site and they had this video report from this morning posted: Speaking to one of the suspects





Wether true or not, about a planned plot of assassination, we are about to find out much more at a Press Conference slated for about 4PM today, 8-26-08.




We've had a number of reports recently about terrorism within our own borders or the possibility of. Grey Hawk has compiled a few of them and placed a post over at ePluribus Media with a shoutout This is a call for action and more researchers. on these recent incidents and possible past incidents that may not have hit the MSM radar. Visit the post and if possible help out compiling any suspicious reports or timelines.


We recently had this report:


Jail inmate charged in McCain office threat


Than we heard little about it. What I wonder about this report was how it was possible for a prison inmate to mail two letters, with the addresses obviously sending them to a Presidential Candidates campaign headquarters in this day and age of 'Homeland Security' and possible threats without the prison staff checking the letters out as to intent.



We had this recent report:


Man arrested with weapons at Pelosi hotel


Apparently he is still being held as of sunday night. Wether or not this was a possible threat, he had two long guns and two pistols, it was reported that he was a businessman. Well if I had his name in my business contacts a big question mark would go right beside his name. Again, in this day and age of 'Homeland Security', why didn't he inform the hotel staff about the guns, ask they be locked up, and made the arrangements with the supposed gun shop he apparently said were going to prep them for his coming hunting trip, this businessman lacked simple common sense, or there's more to the story.


And we had this Very Tragic recent incident Man charged in Tenn. church shooting that killed 2 of which, with all the information that has come from, can only be labeled as Pure Criminal Terrorism!


And another Very Tragic incident that has left many with questions as to intent: Murder of Arkansas Democratic Party Chairman Bill Gwatney at a local political party headquaters!


Very recently we've had a lacky rightwing fringe group, supposedly not tied to the GOP Presidential Campaign, pay for and run an ad trying to connect the Democratic Presidential Candidate to a 60's radical and labeling the candidate as a terrorists supporter: Obama asks Justice to investigate 'terrorist' ad


Well there are alot of people, in this country, that have been waiting years to get answers as to why the present Administration, and others, have been protecting a known terrorist within our borders when a South American country has been demanding his extradition to stand trial for a Mass Murder, the blowing up of a commercial airline: When America's Ally is a Terrorist, and who those others are in the protection of this known criminal terrorist!


There is one organization that tries to follow the possibilities of Criminal Terrorism within our borders, and that's the Southern Poverty Law Center. They follow the reports, they research suspected hate groups and hate speech, they bring lawsuits when the need is seen, they are there to hopefully make this a better and safer society for us all and they have been for a long time.



Do We Need Change, You Bet We Do, And The World Needs Us To Change!!

Before 9/11 - Taliban - al Qaeda

The National Security Archive has just released a Load of Files Electronic Briefing Book No. 253 Posted - August 20, 2008 under the title: 1998 Missile Strikes on Bin Laden May Have Backfired with a subtitle: Extensive 1999 Report on Al-Qaeda Threat Released by U.S. Dept of Energy,
Taliban Told U.S. They Wanted to Bomb Washington


With backlinks to the PDF's and more links in the sidebar on the left.

On the tenth anniversary of U.S. cruise missile strikes against al-Qaeda in response to deadly terrorist attacks on U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania, newly-declassified government documents posted today by the National Security Archive (NS Archive) suggest the strikes not only failed to hurt Osama bin Laden but ultimately may have brought al-Qaeda and the Taliban closer politically and ideologically.

I've just glanced through some but the same questions come up that have with the remembering the reports on the Taliban and al Qaeda prior to 9/11, the many unanswered questions from the commission on 9/11, the dodging of questions and outright lies from some within the government, especially the administration, at the time and since, with more added as the policies of the administration exploded into the negatives for this country and it's national security and now negative standing amoung nations on this planet.


One question keeps growing, "With all this country must have known, through it's extremely well financed and technology advanced Intelligence Agencies, how were the acts of 9/11 allowed to happen?"!


The reasons given, intelligence sharing etc., are just to simplified to carry any weight, not after being told, and shown some, for years what our monies were buying and suspecting much more that was not told in the interest of National Security.

A 400-page Sandia National Laboratories report on bin Ladin { this is a big pdf download }, compiled in 1999, includes a warning about political damage for the U.S. from bombing two impoverished states without regard for international agreement, since such action "mirror imag[ed] aspects of al-Qaeda's own attacks" [see pp. 18-22 {pdf}]. A State Department cable {pdf} argues that although the August missile strikes were designed to provide the Taliban with overwhelming reason to surrender bin Laden, the military action may have sharpened Afghan animosity towards Washington and even strengthened the Taliban-al-Qaeda alliance.

Following the August 20 U.S. air attacks, Taliban spokesman Wakil Ahmed told U.S. Department of State officials {pdf} "If Kandahar could have retaliated with similar strikes against Washington, it would have." Such an attack, although unfeasible at the time, was at least in part actualized by al-Qaeda on 9/11.

Following the 1998 embassy bombings, the U.S. sought to extradite bin Laden to Saudi Arabia or possibly Egypt, but failed to get bin Laden out of Afghanistan because, at least according to the U.S. Department of State {pdf}, Saudi Arabia and Pakistan were unable or unwilling to apply enough pressure to coerce Taliban Supreme Leader Mullah Omar to surrender bin Laden.

The lengthy Sandia report compiled by Dr. Gary W. Richter {pdf} synthesizes an impressive volume of public-source information available on bin Laden into a coherent summary of the al-Qaeda terrorist threat following the August embassy bombings. The report concludes that the bombings did not take U.S. intelligence and diplomatic services by surprise, as the U.S. in 1998 had capable counterterrorism intelligence gathering and interdiction capabilities. However, according to the report, in retrospect, the August 20 retaliatory cruise missile strikes may have caused long-term political harm to U.S. national security and counterterrorism interests [see pp. 18-22 {pdf}]. The report contains extensive timelines, biographies and issue summaries and is useful for researchers interesting in the evolution of al-Qaeda and the American response.

The see pp. 18-22 above are small pdf's giving some quick interesting bullet points.


Read the Documents. This link is the same as the very first above. There are a number of documents at the bottom of the page to sort through.
Note: The following documents are in PDF format. You will need to download and install the free Adobe Acrobat Reader to view.


Under Document 1 dated December 6, 1999 ou will find some information and backlinks along with these bullet points:

* The "war" against terrorism will never be "won," as terrorism will always be a global problem.

* The August 7, 1998, embassy bombings should not be taken as an indication that U.S. counterterrorism efforts are entirely ineffective.

* The August 20, 1998, retaliatory cruise missile strikes did little to help solve the problem posed by bin Laden and may ultimately prove to have done more harm than good.

* The risk of future attacks by Osama bin Laden or his associates using weapons of mass destruction (WMDs) is not insignificant.

* The root cause of the militant threat is the widespread and deep-seated discontent among a large segment of the Islamic world, as opposed to the actions or agitation of any one individual or group of individuals. As such, diplomatic options are likely to be the most effective strategies at reducing the threat.

And:

* The U.S. was not "blindsided" by a new threat, as much was already known about al-Qaeda, including its anti-American aspirations and the existence of an East African al-Qaeda cell. [page 18]

* Members of this East African cell had been identified before August 7, and were under "intense scrutiny." It is likely "that this campaign of disruption had done much to dissipate the threat." [page 18]

* In response to the ongoing surveillance, threat evaluation and disruption operations, the members of this cell "felt themselves to be at "100% danger." [page 18]

* "In retrospect there were also specific indications of a bomb plot," however "it seems as if threat assessment personnel in Washington did not take the warning signs as seriously as did the embassy personnel in Nairobi." [page 19]

* The number of bombings prevented far exceeds the number of bombings that were not stopped by U.S. security efforts. [page 18]

And:

* High cost

* International criticism

* Questionable justice in that the strikes "killed only (or nearly only) individuals who were innocent of the embassy bombings"

* Reputational damage from disregarding alliances

* Questionable effectiveness in destroying or disrupting al-Qaeda or perspective terrorists

* Possible diminished impact for any future U.S. strikes by "demonstrating how little [the U.S] could achieve (e.g., limited physical damage)," by depleting ammunition, providing adversaries with an opportunity to observe and reformulate strategies based on observed vulnerabilities, and convincing bin Laden that the U.S. is unwilling to use higher-cost forms of force that would put U.S. personnel at risk

* "The attack provoked a new round of terrorist bombing plots."

* Bin Laden received a good deal of publicity and "appeared to many as an underdog standing firm in the face of bullying aggression."

* The Taliban's poor control over Afghanistan "may mean that they shouldn't bear responsibility for the acts of those on their soil."

* The U.S. may have given away the moral high ground by mirroring certain aspects of bin Laden's strategy with the attacks, and the U.S. bombed targets in independent third-world countries without concern for the sensitivities or sovereignty of those nations.

And:

* Justified under domestic law

* Calling attention to the bin Laden-Taliban connection, which complicated the Taliban's ability to gain international recognition as well as their future ability to justify support for Muslim fundamentalist groups

* Demonstrated U.S. resolve, dedication to dealing with terrorism as a matter of national security, and the reach of U.S. military power

* Provides incentives for nations to cooperate in U.S. counterterrorism activities, if for no other reason but to avoid unilateral action

* May deter terrorists and nations from harboring terrorists

There's alot of reading and research that can be found and added to the already known and suspected.


Where Iraq fits into all this sits only in the minds of those who wanted an invasion an regime change for years before, those who once supported that dictatorship, and saw wealth and extreme power in toppling their once friend and allie, and controlling a country in the center of the region to grant expansion of that extreme wealth and power.


What the invasion and occupation of Iraq has accomplished is far beyond what any extremist anywhere in the region or not hoped for, total unrest and hatreds. One needs only look at Afghanistan today, the Pakistan border region and Pakistan, the continuation of actions in the Iraq theater, the push back by the Iranians and their preparations to ward off attack by anyone, Guerilla Insurgents reportedly flowing into the border region from all over and waging growing destructive attacks on Nato forces and the Afghans, and the growing Criminal Terror attacks in other points outside of these theaters.


Where we once might have had friends an allies we created enemies.


Where we had the chance to better relations with the other powers they are ignoring us and recently sticking our own actions right back in our faces, they will allie with the region those few wanted to control, against us.


And we as a Nation will move on in our Apathy, holding No One Accountable, an with no knowledge of what the future brings, only knowing it will not be what it should have been!

Church Shooting, Another Terrorists Attack!!!

Just like School Shootings and one can name a whole range of Tragic incidents that fall under the Exact Description we give of Terrorism, in the Theaters of Iraq and Afghanistan and around the World. Nobody has stopped Terrorists Attacks in this Country, this one for the Hate against what the shooter was led to believe about a Political Ideology he didn't understand, nor even his own!!

Chief: Church gunman says he acted out of 'hatred for the liberal movement'

The church, like many other Unitarian Universalist churches, promotes progressive social work, such as desegregation and fighting for the rights of women and gays. The Knoxville congregation has provided sanctuary for political refugees, fed the homeless and founded a chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union, according to its website.

Karen Massey, who lived two houses from Adkisson's home, told the Knoxville News Sentinel of a lengthy conversation she had with Adkisson a couple years ago after she told him her daughter had just graduated from Johnson Bible College. She said she ended up having to explain to him that she was a Christian.

"He almost turned angry," she told the newspaper. "He seemed to get angry at that. He said that everything in the Bible contradicts itself if you read it."

In one of the earlier breaking news articles they said the police found a 'manifesto' in his vehicle at the church. The quote about comes from an earlier report that's linked from the link title above.

Will we start seeing more of these attacks? Have we already but nothing was left and the shooters were killed? Is this a result of the Hate Speech News we get from outlets not giving Real News but opinions of a few who make money for themselves and others, huge amounts? So Many Questions??????

IF?

Thing about this Incident, if the guy had approached this church looking for Help, they probably would have reached out and givin what was needed, instead he blows a number of people away in front of the children of those attending, creating even more trauma!!

Iraq's WMD's = Gravely Ill American Soldiers {Updated}

US soldiers assigned to guard a crucial part of Iraq's oil infrastructure became ill after exposure to a highly toxic chemical at the plant

They were bleeding from the nose, spitting blood.

There apparently were hundreds of American soldiers at this site that were contaminated.

And who do they and others accuse

Langford is one of nine Americans who accuse KBR, the lead contractor on the Qarmat Ali project and one of the largest defense contractors in Iraq, of knowingly exposing them to sodium dichromate, an orange, sandlike chemical that is a potentially lethal carcinogen. Specialists say even short-term exposure to the chemical can cause cancer, depress an individual's immune system, attack the liver, and cause other ailments.

And

"Hundreds of US troops, who may not even know of their exposure to sodium dichromate that could one day result in a horrible disease, cancers, and death," he said.

What is 'Sodium Dichromate':

Sodium dichromate is the same substance that poisoned residents in Hinkley, Calif., an incident made famous by the movie "Erin Brockovich" in 2000.

It's one of the extremely dangerous chemical's, potential killers, that industries world wide use, and they know the dangers of exposure to, and under responsible corporations is used with guarded caution and safety checks.

Langford and his former colleagues have said KBR supervisors initially told them the chemical was a "mild irritant". The company, however, eventually acknowledged that sodium dichromate was a potentially deadly substance and moved to clean up the site.

Of course KBR denies and says the safety of the workers and troops are of the "highest priority", what else would war profitteering, incompetent corporate officials say, after all they heed their investors not the worker, troops, or country paying them under the no-bid contracts!

And

The Pentagon has said that the troops' exposure to sodium dichloride at the Iraqi facility did not appear to pose any long-term threat.

But

In yesterday's hearing, however, Langford described for the first time how soldiers guarding the facility had the same symptoms as those who had dangerous levels of exposure to the chemical, complaints that are the foundation for the workers' lawsuit.
"The chromium of Iraq is going to be the same thing as Agent Orange of Vietnam," Langford said after the hearing. "I want something done for them."

Along with one of KBR's own

Edward Blacke, who served as KBR's health, safety, and environmental coordinator for the Qarmat Ali project, said he saw soldiers with "continuous bloody noses, spitting up of blood, coughing, irritation of the noses, eyes, throat, and lungs, shortness of breath."

And

Max Costa, chairman of the Department of Environmental Medicine at New York University, told the committee that ordinary blood and urine tests would not have detected heavy levels of sodium dichromate exposure after a few days. He said that the military would have had to conduct a highly specialized red blood cell test within four months of the exposure to determine the soldiers' risk of illness.
"Most people don't get it right," said Costa, after the hearing. "It is not an established test that medical labs normally do."

Pee in a cup, "You're alright, don't worry!"!

And as we've found out already over and over and over..........................., once again, we've gone through all this before,

But Dorgan said yesterday that the Pentagon has not done enough to monitor the health of the soldiers and ensure that KBR and other contractors are putting safety first.

And what does the esteem congress have to say

"It is almost unbelievable," the senator said during the hearing. "We know that there has been exposure of workers and soldiers to a deadly chemical, and there has been, in my judgment, lack of accountability by those who caused the exposure and lack of accountability at the Department of Defense, regrettably."

Lack of Accountibility??

No F'in S**t Einstein, what have the People been saying all along!!

I give kudo's to the present Congress, at least they are doing their jobs, the jobs that weren't done by the previous Congress. Investigating, Hearings and Oversite as these things keep coming forward, and not a whisper was heard about any of these in the Halls of the 109th Congress.

But the reason you all are there is 'Accountability', from the Top all the way Down, including your own!

Dorgan began investigating the workers' allegations of sodium dichromate exposure after The Boston Globe reported on the case in March.

ACCOUNTABILITY

ACCOUNTABILITY

ACCOUNTABILITY

It's in the Constitution and the Laws of this Country,Use It or We Loose It!!

DPC Hearing
The Exposure at Qarmat Ali:
Contractor Misconduct and the Safety of U.S. Troops in Iraq
Friday, June 20, 2008
10:00 a.m. to 11:30 a.m.
608 Dirksen Senate Office Building

The Exposure at Qarmat Ali: WMD's Iraq = KBR

The Exposure at Qarmat Ali:

Additional hearing information is available here

Oversight and Accountability Project

Staff at the DPC Oversight and Accountability Project work with whistleblowers, non-profit groups, Executive Branch agencies, and their colleagues on Capitol Hill to protect U.S. taxpayers, uncover waste, fraud and abuse, and hold government officials accountable.
The DPC has focused on contracting abuses in Iraq and in the Gulf Coast region following Hurricane Katrina, pre-war intelligence failures, and continuing homeland security vulnerabilities, among other issues.
Learn more about the Oversight and Accountability Project and access materials related to hearings held by the DPC.
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We are a nation that likes to pride itself on truth, justice, freedom and humanity. {NO MORE!}

Give Some Traffic To the articles. Just picked them up and they were posted in the last 20hrs. or so:

Ark. man, others blame KBR for contaminants in Iraq

An Arkansas man who worked as a contractor in Iraq says he lost his job after warning workers they were being exposed to a cancer-causing chemical there.

Ed Blacke, a former safety inspector for Houston-based contracting giant KBR, says his exposure to sodium dichromate in 2003 gave him chronic thyroid problems and early signs of cancer. He said supervisors initially ignored his warnings about contamination at the Qarmat Ali water injection plant near Basra, Iraq.

Democrats accuse KBR of knowingly exposing workers to deadly chemical at Iraqi water plant

Senate Democrats are accusing defense contractor KBR of knowingly exposing its employees and U.S. troops to a potentially deadly chemical in Iraq in its rush to get the country's oil infrastructure up and running.

Former contractors say Ind. soldiers were exposed to carcinogen

Indiana National Guardsmen who provided protection to defense contractors at a water pumping plant in Iraq were exposed to a potentially deadly chemical, two former workers at the site said Friday.

Troops copped cancer dust

"People are potentially exposed to something that may be very dangerous," says a memo detailing minutes from an August 8, 2003 meeting

These aren't just local rags here in the states, just these few are in the International Edition of the New York Time, from Australia, and google gives some 93 others under 'Sodium Dichromate'.

Is There An Election Coming??

If so, looks like the 'boogeyman' will be letting our Troops follow it back to the homeland, or the scare is being germinated in the populace:

Intelligence Officials: Dozens of Europeans Have Trained in Terror Camps in Pakistan
Officials Fear This May be the Beginnings of a New Breed of al-Qaeda-Affiliated Terrorism

Dozens of white Europeans have trained in terrorist camps in Pakistan's tribal regions in recent months, U.S. intelligence sources tell ABC News, in what officials fear may be the beginnings of a new breed of al-Qaeda-affiliated terrorism.

Back to serious, I buy this report, We've raised the Hatred Level Around The World.

These clowns aren't getting 'Recruited' they're joining up and I doubt that they are of an unintelligent breed, like say with an 'R' after their names!

One wonders what 'Blackwater' may be doing under the sheets in the name of this country and ours, anywhere in the World!!

They don't need a rush or fox or o'really!

It Was Top Down, Stupid (And I Shall Add 'Criminal Terrorism'!)

The Bush administration's "bad apples" theory goes sour.

When the Abu Ghraib scandal hit in the summer of 2004, two of the administration's most senior lawyers—White House Counsel Alberto Gonzales and the Defense Department's General Counsel Jim Haynes—stood before the world's media and laid out the official explanation for newly aggressive interrogation within the U.S. military: It was the result of a bottom-up request from an aggressive combatant commander at Guantanamo; it was implemented within the law and on the basis of careful legal advice; and it produced useful and important results. These new techniques had been essential in getting vital security information from men they labeled "the worst of the worst."

Read the rest Here


Newt the Impaler

"Vlad" Gingrich is molesting the Constitution in the name of national security again. This time he's on a tirade about the recent Supreme Court decision that grants prisoners held at young Mr. Bush's pleasure in Guantanamo the right to a habeas corpus hearing.

Commander Jeff Huber, U.S. Navy (Retired) writes at Pen and Sword, Jeff's novel Bathtub Admirals

Read the rest Here


Clear Evidence of War Crimes: Stern Letters to Come?

After years of disclosures by government investigations, media accounts, and reports from human rights organizations, there is no longer any doubt as to whether the current administration has committed war crimes. The only question that remains to be answered is whether those who ordered the use of torture will be held to account.

Maj. General Antonio Taguba (Ret.), who led the Army’s 2004 investigation into the prison abuse scandal at Abu Ghraib. (From the foreword of Broken Laws, Broken Lives).US Army Report of Abuse of Prisoners In Iraq

Read the rest Here


WaPo: General Accuses WH of War Crimes (Update x2)

The story is blowing up, since AP published its story at midnight Eastern last night, and our own MeteorBlades became the first blogger to cover the breaking news. PHR's report was briefly featured as the top story on CNN's homepage this morning. CNN's "Situation Room with Wolf Blitzer" aired additional coverage from Pentagon correspondent Barbara Starr tonight during the 5:00 p.m. Eastern time slot.

Read the rest Here


CIA Gave Torture Tips to Pentagon

Senior spook: "If the detainee dies, you're doing it wrong."

Read the rest Here


Blackwater is Still in Charge, Deadly, Above the Law and Out of Control

Think Blackwater's days are numbered? Think again. Jeremy Scahill explains why its slaughter of Iraqis has not stopped the notorious mercenary firm.

Jeremy Scahill's bestselling book: Blackwater: The Rise of the World's Most Powerful Mercenary Army

Read the rest Here


We are a nation that likes to pride itself on truth, justice, freedom and humanity. {NO MORE!}

Tell the world: My America Doesn't Torture!

National Security? Supplying 'Guerilla Fighters' Worldwide!

U.S. Foreign Policy: Raising the Hatred Levels and Numbers who than will seek Retaliation, than supplying them with the needed equipment to make the 'Criminal Terrorism' easier!

National Security? Supplying 'Guerilla Fighters' Worldwide!

What This Country Has Brought On Itself!

An Update to my post from last night, I also expect a Video report following a local TV Stations nightly news from the area, with the family press conferance.

Body identified as former Marine Hall
(Last updated: March 12, 2008 11:14 AM)

The Charlotte County Sheriff’s Office has notified Eric Hall’s family this morning that the remains found in a culvert Sunday was the former Marine.

A detective from the agency notified the family at 10 a.m. and relayed the cause of death has not been determined.

Becky Hall, Eric’s mother, plans a press conference at noon.

The family scheduled a military memorial service at noon Thursday at the Faith Lutheran Church, 4005 Palm Drive, Punta Gorda.

I certainly hope this Country is out of it's collective Denial, about Vietnam, and it's Apathy as to this World we live in, much of it created by our past policies and now the present, for the Future is Here!

What is happening now, as to these Conflicts Of Choice, the Choice to invade Iraq, based on Lies and cherrypicked intelligence, and to walk away from Afganistan, once again, not fullfilling our promises, once again, not only as to bin Laden but putting the resources necessary to help this country that has long suffered the ravages of invasion and occupation, which after helping the Afgan's, bin Laden included, in the Soviet Invasion we up and walked away from the promises made than!

No one knows what may be coming from the rise of Hatreds we have created, the tens of thousands of Iraqi's killed and maimed, the country destroyed, the torturing of others {and don't tell me we've only done it three times, That's BullShit!}, the Millions Displaced........................................................................................!!

But we also better be prepared, and Pay the Cost of, as well as have an Understanding, of what we have created in some who we've sent into another 'Hell On Earth', for all of them they have been changed for life, for some they will live the present over and over!

The following is no excuse but it is one of many tragic incidents that have already occurred with more to follow. How do I know, and I'm not the only one, because we've been living with the results of another conflict from not long ago and some of us know the reasons why, we're a part of the 'Focus Groups', little georgie!

Mom of Auburn Slaying Suspect Apologizes
The mother of the man charged with killing an Auburn University student said her son was an Iraq war veteran who was changed after his service, and offered an apology to the freshman's family.

Catherine Williams, the mother of suspect Courtney Lockhart, made the apology to Lauren Burk's family in an interview with Columbus, Ga., television station WTVM.

Over at Police One we find part one, of a three part report Titled: Exclusive: Cops back from the war: What problems do they pose? By Chuck Remsberg, Senior PoliceOne Contributor

Thousands of American law enforcement officers have been called to military service in Iraq and Afghanistan, and authorities are increasingly focusing attention on how well some of those can reintegrate into domestic policing once they return home.

He adds a few instances of recent report:

• In Texas, an officer recently back from reservist deployment to Iraq, opened fire on a suspect who was running through a crowded shopping center. The rounds narrowly missed the officer’s partner and one lodged in a van occupied by two children. “Everyone believes he should not have fired,” the officer’s attorney told USA Today. “His assessment of the threat level was wrong. He was assessing as if he was back in the military, not [as] a police officer.”

• In Georgia, an officer who’d served in Iraq with the National Guard was sentenced to more than 12 years in prison after pleading guilty to voluntary manslaughter. He was part of a misdirected drug raid in which an elderly woman was killed. His lawyer says he was undergoing treatment for post-traumatic stress disorder, a condition afflicting a significant percentage of returning vets.

• In Nevada, a trooper who’d been in Iraq as an Army Guardsman, pleaded guilty to felony reckless driving and was sentenced to 2 to 12 years. According to the New York Times, he was driving 118 mph when he slammed into another car, killing four people and critically injuring another.

Adding the obvious, at least for some:

No one claims that all—or even a majority—of post-deployment veterans are menaces to society once they pin a badge back on and resume patrol duties. But by the same token, says Dr. Stephen Curran, a Maryland psychologist who counsels officers, “You can’t just put people back in [law enforcement] jobs, give them their guns and expect that things are going to be fine. Getting back into the flow of things is a challenge.”

A Symposium was put together where more than 200 police and mental health professionals representing 73 federal, state, county and city agencies in seven states attended.

Drawing on the panel’s presentations, Part 1 of this exclusive series examines the roots of post-deployment adjustment problems. Part 2 will explore the challenges these present to officers, their families and their departments when they come home. In part 3, we’ll look at measures knowledgeable observers believe are necessary to assure a successful transition back to the streets.

The subtitles of this report are WAR ZONE REALITIES. and CASUALTIES OF THE MIND.

You should go over and read the report, it isn't that long and touches on a number of points you should start understanding better, not only as those who serve in Law Enforcement but as to many of the Returning Veterans, serving Multiple Tours thus Mutiple Years in Combat Theaters!

I, or anyone, could add so many reports of Tragic incidents that have occurred, in these last Five Years, past to recent, and I'm afraid for Many Years To Come!

Some may have already seen this report from our State Department China's human rights rating upgraded by U.S. State Dept.
It takes the country off the list of worst human rights offenders but still notes serious concerns.

Once upon a time others paid attention to these reports, even those who knew we weren't as perfect as we believe we are.

Want to know what the rest of the World, most of which were Solidly Behind Us after 9/11, and felt our pain, many already having lived through their own tragedies of Criminal Terrorism or a better phrase long running Guerilla War on a Global Stage for many years, they will Laugh, not a Funny Laugh, but a Laugh of Sad Knowledge of our now Very Public Hypocrisy, not only as to 'Human Rights' but Total Disregard of the Human Life of Others as long as We Get What We Want and Need in our Arrogance and Materialistic Lives!!

Ever wonder the Why of No American POW's in either raging conflict, hint: They Knew What We Were Doing Long Before We Got The News!

What we practice opens wide what others can and will do, with impunity, to our Soldiers and Civilians wherever they may be!

We can No Longer Condemn others, nor seek sympathy from allies or the marginal, we have joined the ranks of the once Condemned!

Better start the realization Now, your children, your granchildren, and if you live long enough, your great granchildren will want answers as to the World We Have Left Them!!

One Reality will be able to start for you Tomorrow, visit Iraq Veterans Against The War - Winter Soldier to find out where you can View or Listen to the Testimony of Iraq and Afganistan Veterans

Untill than you may want to listen to this:

For Former Combatants, A Plan for Peace

Fresh Air from WHYY, March 10, 2008 · Bassam Aramin and Zohar Shapira, the co-founders of Combatants for Peace, talk about their mission to end the cycle of violence in Israel and Palestine by bringing together individuals who previously fought against each other.

A former member of the Palestinian Fatah movement, Aramin began a seven-year sentence in an Israeli prison at age 17. He now works as a clerk at the Palestinian National Archives.

Shapira served as combatant and commander in an elite unit of the Israeli army for 15 years. He now is a teacher in a Waldorf school in Israel.

Currently around 450 Palestinians and Israelis are members of the group.

You can Listen with this Link

In the above one of the Combatants For Peace talks about his 10yr old Daughters Death.

You can listen to a previous 31/2 min. NPR report, from January 22, 2007, on that tragedy with this link.

Both bring up the NRP Player.

A few, I'm sure, will understand why I've added these to the above, a Few!!

Combatants For Peace

I did two Posts on this group of Israelli and Palestinian Ex-Combatants shortly after they were formed and a Veterans For Peace member was invited to Israel to meet with them.

You can read those posts Here and Here

The YouTube Video's don't play no more in these posts, but you can find same at their site, link in the posts.

Wanna Good Read....

Start here, Report says war on terror is fuelling al Qaeda, if you hadn't already, or if nobody else has latched on to this story to grab the attention of.

Now this sounds very familiar, oh ya, tens of thousands of us, in this country, and millions more around the world were saying Very Similar as the War Drums started beating more rapidly, by the MSM and the administration, about Iraq, and frankly many thought that Afganistan would be heading in the same direction after it was invaded.

You see we have a history of Rhetoric that we don't follow through on, especially in Afganistan, anyone remember what happened after the Soviets were forced out.

Those of us who have the experiance of Invasions of little countries, whose people did nothing to deserve the death and destruction, understand what the invaded will do, and in Iraq it was written well before 'The Shock and Awe', and in Afganistan, if we followed our past policies, it was sure to develope!

Now in the short Reuters report above we find this:

A report by the Oxford Research Group (ORG) said a "fundamental re-think is required" if the global terrorist network is to be rendered ineffective.

What is the Oxford Research Group, ORG for short:

Oxford Research Group (ORG) works to promote a more sustainable approach to security for the UK and the world. We combine detailed knowledge of root causes of conflict with an understanding of political decision-making, and we build trust through facilitating constructive dialogue between policy-makers, academics, the military and civil society.

The report is written by Professor Paul Rogers and released this month. They have monthly reports that you can receive in your in-box if you sign up.

Who is Professor Paul Rogers,

Global Security Consultant to Oxford Research Group and Professor of Peace Studies at the University of Bradford, takes a step back from the heat of the moment to provide a concise monthly overview of the international security situation, focussing on the 'war on terror', the related conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan, and the implications of US and UK foreign policy for the majority world.

These briefings are now published in English and Spanish, and you can subscribe below to receive these briefings by email as they are published each month.

The reports are called Towards Sustainable Security: Oxford Research Group International Security Report 2007

You can purchase the most recent report at their online store, or read about what others will sure to be reporting, but probably not the Media here in the States.

There's a link, in the above, for a report in August that you can download in PDF form or just read it here Iraq After the Surge August 2007 - Paul Rogers

The Professor starts this report out with this,

In late 2006 the Baker-Hamilton Report recommended a change of policy for the Bush Administration over Iraq. The two main proposals were that the United States should work towards a large-scale military withdrawal from the country and that it should do so in parallel with an engagement with regional powers to ensure that a post-withdrawal Iraq would not degenerate into wholesale violence and civil war. Such a diplomatic engagement would necessarily include countries such as Saudi Arabia and Iran.

Now once again something sounds very familiar,

The two main proposals were that the United States should work towards a large-scale military withdrawal from the country and that it should do so in parallel with an engagement with regional powers to ensure that a post-withdrawal Iraq would not degenerate into wholesale violence and civil war.

Yep, the same tens of thousands here, and millions around the world, Focus Groups All, started saying similar, once again, after the big bad 'Shock and Awe' started destroying the Iraqi's Country as well as the Iraqi People!

Even before the Inevitable coming Guerilla/Insurgent War!!!

Many were saying it than, if you like the bush weren't listening! Many have been saying it since than, all these years now of Death and Destruction! And Sadly my thoughts are that we have passed the point of any reasonable outcome, with minimal BlowBack!

To many have been Killed and Maimed! To much has been Destroyed, especially the lives of the Iraqi's and their Children, the ones who will survive! To much Hatred has been added to that which already existed from our long time failed policies and backing of tyrants!

The hatreds will fuel the BlowBack now for decades, and it only takes a few to wage the coming destructive havic, and there's certainly much more than a few!

We Were Right, Fascism Started Long Ago Here!!

The run towards a fascist Ideology, for lack of a better more modern name, started many years ago.

Many of us recognized this and have fought ever since to hold it at bay.

We will still manage to do that even in these time, but the future will be bleak, thanks to those we've allowed to take over Our Government, and Do Nothing To Oust Them from their seats of power!!

Navy to Alter Swastika-Shaped Barracks

CORONADO, Calif. (AP) -- The Navy will spend as much as $600,000 to modify a 40-year-old barracks complex that resembles a swastika from the air, a gaffe that went largely unnoticed before satellite images became easily accessible on the Internet.

Trying to remember if these were the barracks I lived in while in Counter Insurgency/S.E.R.E., before my last year In-Country 'Nam, back in '70, don't think so.

But who knows what Nixon was doing at the time, he was Bombing Cambodia, do remember that!


Now as to what's coming: Now Why Didn't Millions, around the World, Think This!!

Iraq PM warns of terrorist threats

Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki warned the U.N. General Assembly Wednesday that the continued flow of weapons, suicide bombers and terrorism funding into his country would result in "disastrous consequences" for the region and the world.

BECAUSE WE F**King DID. RIGHT FROM THE BEGINNING!!!!!!!!!

And Still See This Future for the coming generations!!!

Now Why Didn't Millions, around the World, Think This!!

Iraq PM warns of terrorist threats

Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki warned the U.N. General Assembly Wednesday that the continued flow of weapons, suicide bombers and terrorism funding into his country would result in "disastrous consequences" for the region and the world.

BECAUSE WE DID. RIGHT FROM THE BEGINNING!!!!!!!!!

Rebuilding Iraq in the Saddam Mold

As everyone already knows General David Petraeus will be visiting Congress to give -his-{nope} -gwb's-{nope} cheney's report on the -surge-{nope} escalation, long ago passing any discription for the word 'surge'.

As we also already know the -surge-{nope} escalation was brought on to give time for what everyone one refers to as the political process to take hold. That doesn't seem to be what's happening and frankly many thought it wouldn't.

Sunnis, Shiites and Kurds drift further apart as U.S. battles insurgents

And lets make clear those 'insurgents' are not all al-Qaida, and al-Qaida is still a small presence within that country. Although when one doesn't understand who their fighting everyone comes under one umbrella and labeled the same, and it works great for PR back here.

Another 60,000 flee every month.
They leave behind a Baghdad radically altered from before the war, when Shiites, Sunnis, Kurds and Christians lived side by side. Now, a neighborhood becomes calm only after its minority community has fled. Armed men keep outsiders away.

As many already know, one we've followed, who's been living in and posting about, Riverbend and her family, have finally gotten out as well, to Syria, to join the already well over 2.5million refugee's living in neighboring countries, with some 2million refugee's still living within the borders of Iraq.

You can watch video's on the refugee's plight Here, Here and Here, you will find a few links in the description for written reports as well at each.

Ethnic Cleansing Has Been Going On With The Occupation Forces Unable To Stop It!

Before his trip to Congress General Petraeus wrote a letter to the troops.

We are now over two-and-a-half months into the surge of offensive operations made possible by the surge of forces, and I want to share with you my view of how I think we’re doing. This letter is a bit longer than previous ones, since I feel you deserve a detailed description of what I believe we have -- and have not accomplished, as Ambassador Crocker and I finalize the assessment we will provide shortly to Congress.

I don't want to speak bad about Petraeus, he seemed to have a real care for his troops and the intelligence his rank requires. But if he's allowing himself, redux Vietnam, to be controlled by the civilian leadership we've gone down this road already, in the past and to many times in the near past and present.

We need Real Truth from the General, All Layed Out In Plain English, not what's reported to be a short opening report than just answering questions, and lets hope this won't be another attoney general like testimony.

I for one do not want to watch another General, like General Powell, sit in the limelights and spin a tail of 'once upon a time'!

Lets take a look at a few recent reports ourselves, before we hear the -Petraeus-{nope} -bush-{nope} cheney report this week.

Alliances are made in Guerilla/Insurgent Wars, and they are broken, than made with others or even with the same. Friends become enemies, enemies become friends, and the circle goes round and round the longer the conflict goes on. This happens, especially as an occupying force tries to get some sort of control, because a power vacume has been created and this being readily recognized causes diiferant forces and individuals to want to fill that vacume and take local control or total control. Occupying forces and puppet governments cannot fill that void nor control, for long, what will eventually take place.

This first video, of once rogue Iraqi forces, shows what are now considered Elite Forces working side by side with American forces, but still fighting the mostly sectarian conflict with our military troops helping them. New friends, once enemies, how long will the friendship last.

I don't watch CBS News, sorry Katie, but one I try to catch, when I find out she's got a report up is Lara Logan. This young lady is a throwback to great journalism. She gets out of the Greenzone and right into the middle of the story, and you understand what she's reporting and what she leaves out verbally, but is still there in her reporting.

Rebuilding Iraq in the Saddam Mold


Iraq's Military Elite Among World's Best

Iraq's best soldiers are caught in the middle of constantly shifting alliances that make this war increasingly complicated for them - and for the United States.

As one commander says in the report:

"The way they surgically take down these targets, the way they treat everyone with respect and dignity, they are phenomenal and I would put them up against anybody," says a Green Beret commander.
"Even Americans?" asks Logan. "Even Americans," he replies.

Be careful what you say commander for it may come to be.

Remember everyone, we helped install Saddam, gave him the support to build his military and special forces, that surpressed his internal enemies and any others deemed the need to surpress and control, they did the dirty work.

Here is another great reporter that also takes her shots outside of the relative comfort of the Greenzone, Martha Raddatz, and gives some very moving and important reports, and like Logan you understand the point even if she doesn't say the decriptive words. There are to few, in todays multi-media, that are actually professional journalists reporting what really are the important stories. Alot of 'pretty faces' but lacking the needed drive of a professional.

Here's a report from Raddatz that should make everyone stop and think.

Children and War!


Bringing Order to Iraq

Inside an Iraqi facility imprisoning kids accused of trying to kill Americans.

Exclusive Tour of Iraqi Youth Detention Center

Military Boosts Detention Programs to Counter al Qaeda Youth Recruitment

The children, aged 11 to 17 years old, are accused of crimes ranging from theft to killing Iraqis or Americans.

These kids{?} were born under a surpressive regime we once supported, they grew up under extremely tight sanctions, and they've so far survived the destructive devestation of the invasion and occupation. They have grown well beyond their years, for their childhoods never really existed.

And as said in the report:

Doug Stone. "We have IED builders ... have those that have been behind ... parts of assassination groups."

It only takes a few, who don't become model citizens, that take out in search of the means for revenge, Criminal Terrorism, only a few!

You may want to re-visit these reports as well:

The Next Jihadists: Iraq's Lost Children

Iraqi Kids Drawn Into Jihad

We are looking at the possible future we, as we like to think of ourselves 'responsible adults' are leaving, for others to contend with! Not the same vision that our parents, and theirs, had of the World to leave to their children.

The Real News sent out links to a recent video reports, from Iraq, by Pepe Escobar.

Based in Sao Paulo, Brazil, Pepe Escobar writes The Roving Eye for Asia Times Online. He has reported from Iraq, Iran, Central Asia, U.S. and China.

Part 1

Why did President Bush go to Iraq?

Pepe Escobar says the "surge" is failing.

"This trip is part of a campaign of manufacturing consent about success in Iraq and diverting attention from the obvious failures of the surge plan. Which is something that, especially Americans, have no idea because American mainstream media does not show what's really happening on the ground in Iraq."

Part one of a two part interview, Senior Editor Paul Jay talks with Pepe Escobar.

Part 2

Does Bush want Saddam without the mustache?

Pepe Escobar on the fate of the Maliki government and the quest for a new oil law

"Nobody is in control of this process and this government is finished. In fact it's been finished for a few months now."

In part two of a two part interview Pepe Escobar talks with Senior Editor Paul Jay about the current state of Iraqi leadership.

This is one of Escobar's recent books Globalistan: How the Globalized World is Dissolving Into Liquid War

And his most recent book 'Red Zone Blues' hasn't been released yet, but is listed here, Red Zone Blues at Barnes and Nobles.

General Be Completely Honest To This Country and Especially To The Troops In Your Care, We Can See Through The Political Spin, So Please Don't!!