THE US, THE UN AND THE IRAQIS THEMSELVES, V. 7.0

And before we undertook this the British performed this task for about fifty years.



You are mistaken on a few important details. They were long range air-to-air missiles for the then new F-14 fighter aircraft we had recently sold to the Shah. We sold a batch of first generation (obsolete) missiles, designed particularly for this aircraft, to an Israeli broker at exhorbatant prices. He in turn sold them to the Revolutionary government in Iran (which was then threatening to close the Persian Gulf to oil traffic). Reagan used the profits to finance counter-revolution in Nicaragua. The missiles were bugged so that they could never have been used effectively against us - we could remotely deceive the guidance and disable the fuse. We also cut off most of the supply of spare parts fot the aircraft so that few of the approximatly 100 F-14 aircraft the Iranians had were ever servicable.


Oil was certainly a, or perhaps the, major factor governing our policy over the last thirty years in the region. However the prospect of a paralysis among the autocratic governments in the Islamic world, accompanyed by a risisng tide of terrorist fanaticism - as well as OPEC's demonstrated inability to control the price of oil, did change that focus with respect to Iraq. Some here evidently don't believe this, but there is ample evidence to demonstrate the truth of it. In this case less mental effort is required to cling to a rather old and worn prejudgement than to think about and understand a new situation, and many people do just that.

Anyone noticed that our bases in Saudia Arabia are, well, not there so much anymore? Just when the ones in Iraq spring up?

Cycloptichorn

http://www.heraldsun.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5478,12767098%255E1702,00.html

Red Cross demands prison riot inquiry
By Sammy Ketz
05apr05

THE International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) is demanding an investigation into a riot at the US-run Camp Bucca prison camp in southern Iraq.

Meanwhile, an Iraqi general was kidnapped in Baghdad and the US military announced the deaths of four of its troops, while the country's splintered Sunni Arab community quarreled over a vice presidential candidate.
"We are asking the US army to investigate the cause of the riot which happened at the (Camp Bucca) detention centre," ICRC spokeswoman Rana Sidani said.

The US military announced early today that 12 Iraqi prisoners and four US prison guards were wounded when inmates rioted at Camp Bucca last week, torching tents and hurling rocks in Iraq's largest US-run detention centre.

The riot at the desert camp in southern Iraq, where more than 6000 prisoners are held, was first reported by radical Shiite cleric Moqtada Sadr's movement, and was confirmed by the ICRC.

The US military said initially it was unaware of the violence and came forward with details only after the ICRC revelations.

The violence erupted when inmates "protested the transfer of unruly detainees to another compound", the military said.

"During the disturbance, the detainees chanted, threw rocks and set several of their tents on fire. The disturbance was brought under control with only minor injuries to four guards and 12 detainees."

The ICRC spokeswoman said at least 14 detainees were lightly wounded, possibly more, when US soldiers fired rubber bullets to end the riot as an ICRC delegation visited the camp.

"We heard shots and saw smoke," Ms Sidani said.

"It lasted one hour. We were 1km from the incident. We asked the American forces what happed and they told us they had problems with the prisoners.

"The soldiers fired rubber bullets and at least 14 detainees were lightly wounded."

The ICRC warned that a tense atmosphere existed in Camp Bucca, where many detainees are ignorant of their legal status and complain about living conditions.

"The detainees complained about their conditions at the camp where they are living in the desert in tents where it is hot in the day and too cold at night," Ms Sidani said.

"Many of the detainees complained they were not aware of the reasons for their internment or its duration. The Americans consider them 'security detainees'. There is no clear trial or legal process. In this climate, it takes one incident to ignite things."

The US military and Iraqi Government reviews every 90 days the more than 10,000 detainees to determine whether they are still viewed as a security threat, should be forwarded to a criminal court or released.

The prison population has swelled since the US-led offensive on Fallujah last November.

Sadr follower Saheb al-Ameri, secretary general of the Shahidallah charitable organisation, said the unrest was provoked by the refusal of prison authorities to give medical treatment to a detainee who had fallen sick and who was a member of the Sadr movement.

Other inmates became violent and US soldiers then fired rubber bullets and beat some prisoners, wounding 70 to 100 of them, he said, adding that since the riot, inmates have had no water or electricity.

Camp Bucca was the site of a huge riot on January 31 that spread through four compounds, housing more than 2000 detainees, and ended with US soldiers firing into a crowd and killing four detainees.

The latest riot comes almost a year after details emerged of the Abu Ghraib prison scandal that sullied the reputation of the US detention system in Iraq.

In other violence, the general commanding the Iraqi interior ministry's 1600-strong armoured brigade was kidnapped in Baghdad today as a pair of bombs ripped the capital, killing a civilian and wounding six others, security sources said.

Brigadier General Jalal Mohammed Salah and an undetermined number of bodyguards were seized in the upmarket western Mansour district at 11:30 am (1730 AEST), a ministry official said.

A US soldier died in a bomb blast in southern Baghdad, the US army said.

Two US soldiers and one Iraqi soldier were killed yesterday in an intense firefight with rebels northeast of Baghdad, the military said.

The troops had been backing two Iraqi army battalions searching for weapons caches in Diyala province, an insurgency stronghold, when they came under fire, the military said.

US air support was called in, along with more US reinforcements, the statement said, adding that the US and Iraqi forces were continuing their hunt for weapons and militants.

The US military also said a marine was killed in action in the western province of Al-Anbar yesterday.

Meanwhile, Iraqi Sunni politicians were meeting to decide on a candidate for vice president the day before the fourth session of the country's newly elected parliament, which expected to nominate its three-man presidential council tomorrow.

Shiites and Kurds, who dominated the January elections, are still trying to form a government, are trying to reach out to the embittered community, which is accused of leading the relentless insurgency.

I dont know where I get these fantasies from George, perhaps the same place as William Clark who writes in an article titled "The Real Reasons Why Iran is the Next Target: The Emerging Euro-denominated International Oil Marker"

as follows

"Similar to the Iraq war, upcoming operations against Iran relate to the macroeconomics of "petrodollar recycling" and the unpublicized but real challenge to US dollar supremacy from the euro as an alternative oil transaction currency ... Candidly stated, Operation Iraqi Freedom was a war designed to install a pro-US puppet in Iraq, establish multiple US military bases before the onset of Peak Oil, and to reconvert Iraq back to petrodollars while hoping to thwart further OPEC momentum towards the euro as an alternative oil-transaction currency ... From a purely economic and monetary perspective, a petroeuro system is a logical development given that the European Union imports more oil from OPEC producers than does the US and the EU accounts for 45% of imports into the Middle East ... One of the Federal Reserve's nightmares may begin to unfold in 2005 or 2006, when it appears international buyers will have a choice of buying a barrel of oil for $50 dollars on the NYMEX and IPEor purchase a barrel of oil for 37 to 40 euros via the Iranian Bourse ... A successful Iranian bourse would solidify the petroeuro as an alternative oil-transaction currency, and thereby end the petrodollar's hegemonic status as the monopoly oil currency ..."

I haven't met Mr. Clark and don't know his credentials or qualifications. So far, I'm not impressed. He appears to be in the grip of an unrealistic and somewhat paranoid fantasy that is quite inconsistent with the facts.

Yeah, everyone who disagrees with George is 'in the grip of an unrealistic and somewhat paranoid fantasy.'

Or is it the other way around? Time will tell...

Cycloptichorn

If I may offer my .02c worth of humble pie. It was never the danger of oil being traded in Euros; if anybody bothers to do the math, the US economy is stronger and healthier than all the Euro countries put together. Additionally, Japan and China has their cash invested in the US dollar, and they're not about to let the dollar take a free-fall. Now add the economies of the US, Japan, and China together, and what have we got? Doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out that the Euro would never support the trade of oil in the world markets, because they don't have enough in their total economy to support it. But, our invastion of Iraq was about oil. Our country that makes up only five percent of the world's population consume the most oil. With our entrenchment in the middle of the Middle East, the oil producing countries will be very careful about how they manage their oil and politics.

I didn't give a link

here it is

http://globalresearch.ca/articles/CLA410A.html

Steve, You probably missed my earlier post; trading oil in Euros will only weaken their currency; there just isn't enough economic production to support it. Most of the strongest economy of the Euro are struggling with their own economy. When the Euro starts to circulate in the world economy, they will be trading with monopoly money, because there's nothing to back it up. BTW, I really hope this happens, though, because it'll take the deflation out of the US dollar and transfer it to the Euro.

Iraqi Sunnis Fail to Settle on Candidate for Vice President
By EDWARD WONG

Published: April 5, 2005


BAGHDAD, Iraq, April 5 - The main Sunni Arab political groups failed today to settle on a candidate for vice president, possibly prolonging the negotiations over installing a new government, a senior Iraqi official said.

The political stalemate came as American and Iraqi officials reported a wave of violence that resulted in the deaths of four American troops and at least one Iraqi Army officer.


Two of the Americans and the Iraqi officer were killed in a pitched battle on Monday with dozens of insurgents in eastern Iraq, the American military said.

The battle began at 4 p.m., when two battalions of the Iraqi Army came across the guerillas during a search operation for weapons in a remote part of Diyala Province, the military said. The American forces sent in air support and troops from the 278th Regimental Combat Team.

The battle was the most recent in a string of engagements in which American and Iraqi troops fought large bands of insurgents. Last Saturday, 40 to 60 insurgents made a coordinated assault on Abu Ghraib prison. Last month, Iraqi and American forces raided a lakeside training camp that housed scores of insurgents north of Baghdad. Earlier, an American convoy repelled an attack by dozens of insurgents in the town of Salman Pak, southeast of Baghdad.

American military officials say it is unclear whether the insurgents have changed their tactics and taken to large-scale operations.

The military said a soldier with Task Force Baghdad died this morning when his vehicle hit a roadside bomb while on patrol in the southern part of the capital. A marine died Monday from an explosion in Anbar province, the restive desert region dominated by Sunni Arabs west of Baghdad.

Leaders of the main Shiite Arab and Kurdish political blocs, which hold more than two-thirds of the National Assembly seats, say it is crucial to bring the former governing Sunni Arabs into the political process in order to dampen the insurgency.

But today, on the eve of the assembly's fourth meeting, Sunni Arab leaders could not agree on which politician to nominate for one of the two vice-presidential posts. The three Sunnis who have been contending for the spot are Sheik Ghazi al-Yawar, the interim president; Adnan Pachachi, a former foreign minister; and Sharif Ali bin al-Hussein, a member of the Hashemite dynasty.

The assembly is likely to vote Wednesday on which Sunni to install as vice president, as it seeks to appoint the president and the other vice president, said Ahmad Najati, the personal secretary for Sheik Yawar.

The president will likely be Jalal Talabani, a top Kurdish leader, and the other vice president will likely be Adel Abdul Mehdi, a deputy head of the Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq, a powerful Shiite party.

It has been nearly 10 weeks since the elections, and negotiations between the major political parties to form a government have dragged on. Among ordinary Iraqis, the residual optimism from those elections has eroded, and the day-to-day workings of ministries have slowed. Last Sunday, the assembly named a speaker and two vice-speakers, but those are largely ceremonial positions, and the move did not resolve the impasse.

If a presidency council is appointed on Wednesday, it would be a significant step toward forming a government. The council will have two weeks to select a prime minister, who would then put together a cabinet.

The top American military commander in the Middle East, Gen. John P. Abizaid, has warned that violence could increase if a government is not installed soon.

An Interior Ministry official said that about 50 armed Shiite Arabs blocked off a road southeast of Baghdad today and detained 40 Sunni Arabs in retaliation for a kidnapping incident the previous day, in which seven Shiites were abducted by extremist Sunnis. Someone reported the presence of the roadblock to the police, who sent officers to scour the area, the official said. The police found 13 of the detained Sunnis in nearby homes, he added.

The incident underscored the increasingly sectarian nature of the violence taking place throughout the country.

Officials in Babil province, south of Baghdad, said today that the police from the town of Musayyib had found a mass grave in their area. In the grave were the corpses of 10 policemen and Iraqi Army officers, all blindfolded and with their hands tied. They were killed with several bullets to their heads, the officials said.

Two different insurgent groups posted Internet videos today showing the separate killings of an Iraqi soldier and an Iraqi man whom guerillas accused of being a spy for the for the Iraqi police, The Associated Press reported.

Reporters Without Borders, an advocacy group for journalists, said today that it was urging the Iraqi government to release Wael Issam, a reporter for Al Arabiya, an Arab satellite network based in Dubai.

Mr. Issam was arrested on March 28 at Baghdad International Airport, and videotapes of footage he recently shot in Iraq were seized, the group said in a written statement. No reason was given for Mr. Issam's arrest, the group said.

This evening, a car bomb exploded at an Iraqi Army checkpoint in Baghdad, but there were no immediate reports of casualties, the Interior Ministry official said.


Robert F. Worth reported from Baghdad for this article and Christine Hauser from New York.

Well you're probably more of an economist than I am ci and I agree a currency is supported by economic strength. At the moment the euro zone countries are struggling. It has taken longer than anticipated to absorb E Germany. But in the long term the EU will certainly challenge the US in terms of economic strength.

You mentioned China and Japan holding US Treasury bonds. Sure they do but doesn't that put them in a strong position? Suppose they do start to give the euro a whirl and sell dollars?

The main factor in all this surely is the dollar as the world reserve currency and IMF and World Bank trading loans in dollars. This gives the United States a tremendous advantage, especially as oil too is traded almost exclusively in dollars. (only the US govt can legally print dollar bills, though many have tried ) The European Central Bank see an oportunity to establish the euro as an alternative. [And frankly the US has so ****ed off so many people in the last few years that many countries would welcome an alternative currency say for oil trades...makes economic sense too re. European imports to middle east and Europe using most middle east oil].

That's my take anyway.

Quote, "You mentioned China and Japan holding US Treasury bonds. Sure they do but doesn't that put them in a strong position? Suppose they do start to give the euro a whirl and sell dollars?" They can do that freely, but think what will happen to the Euro? To much Euro circulating in the world's economy only makes the Euro "cheaper," because there isn't ever going to be enough productive capacity to back up those Euros. When that happens, the US dollar will gain strength. I hope it happens.

Oh, by the way, one more consequence of too much Euro is inflation. It's a matter of simple supply and demand. Too much money chasing limited goods and services.

c.i., the danger in my mind of the PetroEuro isn't in the effects on our overall economy as much as it is upon our govt' itself, who doesn't pay for oil as it stands right now.

Get what I'm saying?

Cycloptichorn

Cyclo, I know "exactly" what you are saying. Our national debt is spiraling out of control, and at the hand of our "conservative" administration.

Yeah, but I was specifically referring to the fact that when the gov't wants to purchase oil, it... prints more money.

This saves them a huge amount of money overall. Tanks and army vehicles don't run on good wishes.

But if the standard were the Euro, we can't very well print up a bunch of Euros to pay for oil... it would have the net effect of adding a huge bill on to the already out-of-control gov't spending.

This is one of the reasons I believe Iraq was chosen for invasion; because it accomplishes several purposes at once, not the least of which protecting the stranglehold that the oil companies have on our economy and gov't. And who, who could be in our gov't that would have an interest in doing so? Hmm?

Cycloptichorn

But apart from replenishing the National Petroleum Reserve and providing fuel to the armed forces and other like things, the government doesn't purchase much oil. Private entities do that. The government "prints money" literally only to replace what is in circulation. Figurtively it does so when it issues bonds that others wish to buy. The vagueness of your assertions here masks the many errors they contain.

They are vague only because they have been expounded upon in the previous pages many times by myself and others.

I know the gov't doesn't purchase a ton of oil for other purposes; but given the reserve, armed forces, the naval forces, and our military stationed around the world, the US gov't uses a hell of a lot of oil.



And, to buy oil from the Mideast. Works out quite convienently.

Cycloptichorn

cyclo wrote

"Yeah, but I was specifically referring to the fact that when the gov't wants to purchase oil, it... prints more money. "

The US can get away with this because of the reserve status of the dollar, something the ECB wants the euro to emulate.

I'm no economist I admit freely, but my understanding was, from reading articles by those who should know, that if Iraq had managed to move out of dollars-for-oil and into euros, and particularly if other oil producing countries then followed their example, the US economy (balance of payments, trade deficit) would receive a crippling burden.
Certainly the US uses more oil per capita than any other nation. If it had to pay for it in Euros instead of dollars....well, perhaps c.i. is right and we would suffer inflation in Europe. But America would surely be the poorer?