Operation Free

We are packing our bags and heading east next week to join the Copenhagen Climate Change Conference. A delegation of veterans from OpFree will be there to make sure the world understands the grave threat climate change poses to global security. We know that climate change makes the world a more dangerous place and that dependence on oil makes America vulnerable. That's why it's time for America to get on the team with the rest of the world and lead by example to combat this threat

We'll be livecasting our press events and updates from the conference.

To keep up to date on activities, sign up here for reminders to watch and/or listen to our broadcasts: "Live from Copenhagen with Operation Free."

Our veterans will bring personal stories and a front-lines perspective to the national security threat, a vital and oft-overlooked aspect of the ongoing negotiations. Most of the veterans served during the current conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan. We hope you'll join us in Denmark.

Thanks for all you do,

Operation Free

Jon Powers

July 14, 1958 in Iraq-CIA-U.S.

A group of Iraqi army officers staged a coup in Iraq and overthrew the monarchy of King Faisal II (who had ascended to the throne at age four). The new government, led by Abdul Karim el Qasim, was ousted in 1963 by a coup helped by the CIA and led by the Arab Socialist Ba'ath Party—later dominated by Saddam Hussein.

Saddam Hussein: whom we knew as a brutal street thug, connected to the right family, U.S. ideology of the time, and more importantly, for him, connected to the right people in the U.S. and CIA!

1958: Coup in Iraq sparks jitters in Middle East
A group of Iraqi army officers have staged a coup in Iraq and overthrown the monarchy.

Baghdad Radio announced the Army has liberated the Iraqi people from domination by a corrupt group put in power by "imperialism".

From now on Iraq would be a republic that would "maintain ties with other Arab countries". It said some 12,000 Iraqi troops based in neighboring Jordan have been ordered to return................

And how does a certain, important even then, Iraqi resource play into this coup:

While Iraqis are celebrating on the streets of Baghdad, the news is a cause for concern for western powers worried about their oil interests and instability in the region.

And in those days in the history of the World it was cold, as in cold war mentality.

Officials in Washington fear the Iraqi coup will mean the end of the Baghdad Pact whose members include Turkey, Persia and Pakistan. It was intended to stem the influence of the Soviet Union in the region.

There are fears the Iraq coup will have a domino effect and that the pro-Western oil regimes of Kuwait, Bahrain and the Trucial States may fall to Arab nationalists.

And the CIA, with one Saddam Hussein on the payroll, took it from there:

Iraq's coup leader and prime minister, Abdul Karim el Qasim, was ousted and killed in 1963 in a coup led by the Arab Socialist Ba'ath Party.

And as they say, "The rest is History!", or some would now say, "The history that was is our present!".

Gold Star Dad, 4th of July

John Scripsick Comments on Bush's July 4th Visit

Former President Bush visits Oklahoma for the 4th of July, 2009. John Scripsick, who lost his son in the Iraq war, wrote an op ed piece saying "I wonder what Bush will say in his 40 minutes speech. I'm sure it will be sprinkled with patriotism, independence and how we were only attacked once during his presidency."

Condi, Condi, Condi.......................

You gotta get your ducks all in a row there before tooting those horns:

At a press conference she and Zebari said the negotiators were close to signing the deal but cautioned it had not yet been clinched.

Everyone says how intelligent you are, and after all you're the Secretary of State with a whole department working for you, or are they being allowed to.

Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari said on Thursday after a meeting with US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice in Baghdad that the agreement was concluded and that it would be discussed Friday by the Political Council for National Security.

Really?

"I was surprised when I heard about the meeting of the council," said Hadi al-Ameri, lawmaker and a top Shiite leader from the powerful Supreme Iraqi Islamic Council (SIIC), a key party of the ruling Iraqi government.

Could the surprise trip and the horn blowing have anything to do with trying to sell how great the 'surge' worked or is working?


If so you had better go back, as well as the talking heads controlling the talking points, and study up on the reasons for the policy known as 'the surge', and how it all came about and was sold, and let the Iraqi Government in on the Policy.


Seems they have different idea's, like getting the occupiers the hell out, and continuing the ethnic cleansing we unleashed:


Iraq Takes Aim at Leaders of U.S.-Tied Sunni Groups

The Shiite-dominated government in Iraq is driving out many leaders of Sunni citizen patrols, the groups of former insurgents who joined the American payroll and have been a major pillar in the decline in violence around the nation.

It seems you've overlooked a few things of extreme importance in trying to make your boss look good, or more than boss.

While the crackdown appears to be focused on a relatively small number of leaders whom the Iraqi government considers the most dangerous, there are influential voices to dismantle the American backed movement entirely.

“The state cannot accept the Awakening,” said Sheik Jalaladeen al-Sagheer, a leading Shiite member of Parliament. “Their days are numbered.”

Looks like, while not being consulted on extremely important and highly touted meetings, the Iraqi Government leaders are forging ahead with their own agenda and it don't look promising for your plans.


Although could this

Visiting Lebanese Prime Minister Fouad Seniora and Iraq's Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki on Wednesday agreed, among other things, on the export of Iraqi crude oil to Lebanon during talks in Baghdad.

be the wanted, by the cabal and friends, long awaited oil pipeline to Israel as well?


I really don't think so, you see Israel has more than just egg on their faces,

However, the impression that Israel had helped bolster the Georgian military was one the Israeli Foreign Ministry was anxious to avoid. Last Saturday it reportedly recommended a freeze on the further supply of equipment and expertise to Georgia by Israeli defense contractors. (Israel doesn't supply foreign militaries directly, but its private contractors must get Defense Ministry approval for such deals.) The Israelis decided to refrain from authorizing new defense contracts, although those currently in effect will be fulfilled. Israel stressed that the contracts are to provide equipment for defensive purposes. But if the Israelis were looking to downplay the significance of military ties, they weren't helped by comments like Yakobashvili's — or by Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili's enthusing at a press conference earlier this week that "the Israeli weapons have been very effective."

and something tells me that Israel's neighbors are going to be searching out more sophisticated weapons for their National Security arsenals and guess where they'll be doing their shopping.


Though apparently Israel might have had a feeling for the near future

Israeli officials say that, in anticipation of a showdown between Georgia and Russia, Israel began to scale back the involvement of Israeli companies in Georgia as early as the end of 2007. Georgia's Yakobashvili charged this week that Israel, "at Russia's behest," had downgraded military ties with Georgia, a decision he branded a "disgrace.",

I don't think you're going to get what you think you are. What seems to be growing is the examples and proof of the extremely failed administration policies you've been a part of all along.


Iraq is still very unstable, Afghanistan is growing in danger, the border with Pakistan and Pakistan itself spiralling out of control.


The only thing you all are getting is the perpetual conflicts sought from the growth of the hatreds and the increased enemies, who not only despise the policies our representatives set forth but us as well.


Hell of a Strong National Defense you've all created, Worldwide!!

Basra Breaking?

A few days ago we get this:

U.S. Wants British 'Surge' In S. Iraq: Paper

And why, because:

It quoted an unnamed senior U.S .military source saying: "Three big militias are currently engaged in a particularly bloody battle in southern Iraq.

And the U.S.

"If they do not have enough troops, then they will be offered U.S .Marines to help out.

"The feeling is that if southern Iraq is hugely unstable, it will affect the success of the surge in the north and destabilize the whole country."

Today we get this:

Heavy fighting in southern Iraqi oil hub

Heavy fighting erupted on Tuesday in the southern oil city of Basra where Iraqi security forces launched a major operation at dawn against powerful militias, military officials and witnesses said.

"There are clashes in the streets. Bullets are coming from everywhere and we can hear the sound of rocket explosions. This has been going on since dawn," resident Jamil told Reuters by telephone as he cowered in his home.

Who was it that said Iraq is Stable?

Two powerful factions of Iraq's Shi'ite majority, the Supreme Islamic Iraqi Council and the Mehdi Army militia of Moqtada al-Sadr, are fighting for power in Basra along with a smaller Shi'ite party, Fadhila.

Basra is Iraq's second city and gateway to the Gulf. Its oil fields are the source of most government revenues.

Will these unstable questionable alliances be starting to break down?

And can the Iraq Governments?? forces gain control or stalemate or join the fighting factions?

Holloway said Iraqi troops had been sent from across Iraq to reinforce the 14th Iraqi Army division in Basra.

Where will this leave the rest of the country?

Too Much BLOOD for OIL!!!!

Keith Olbermann | Bush's Legacy: The President Who Cried Wolf

Keith Olbermann writes: "Only this president - only in this time, only with this dangerous, even messianic certitude - could answer a country demanding an exit strategy from Iraq, by offering an entrance strategy for Iran. Only this president could look out over a vista of 3,008 dead and 22,834 wounded in Iraq, and finally say, 'Where mistakes have been made, the responsibility rests with me' - only to follow that by proposing to repeat the identical mistake ... in Iran."


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Big Oil Wins Iraq's Petroleum Resources
The long discussed plan to hand over most of Iraq’s oil assets to big foreign oil companies is about to happen. When people can't figure out what Bush means when he claims victory in Iraq, this is what he is talking about.

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William Rivers Pitt | Politics in the Service of War

William Rivers Pitt writes: "In a sense, there was a time when the war in Iraq seemed to serve American politics, albeit in a gross and cynical manner. The war served the politics of those who knew that fear, uncertainty and rampant nationalism would help them win elections. The war served the politics of those who knew their radical policy ideas would never see the light of day without that fear and uncertainty. The war served to distract the populace from a series of mistakes and deliberate misdirections, thus defending the political standing of the perpetrators. It worked, for a time, until the inherent flaws within the DNA of these cynical abuses of power overwhelmed the whole."


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How Republicans win if we lose in Iraq
Bush and the GOP are shifting tactics just like Nixon did with Vietnam -- to win the next election, not the war.
Rosa Brooks
January 12, 2007

IF YOU THINK the growing similarity between Iraq and Vietnam is tragic but inadvertent, you're not being cynical enough.

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Number Of Iraqi Civilians Slaughtered In America's Rape Of Iraq - At Least 655,000 + +


Number of U.S. Military Personnel Sacrificed (Officially acknowledged) In America's Rape Of Iraq 3,017


The Rape of Iraq Costs $357,490,957,418
See the cost in your community