US AND THEM: US, UN & Iraq, version 8.0

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So that memo would have not prevented any sharing of information unless there were already indicted criminal investigations involving those individuals cited your link.

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A real effort should be made. More troops should be sent in to gain control over the streets. Maybe the draft should be brought back. This war is in no way a war fought by the United States. It is a war fought by the administration which is sending its mercenary army into theaters around the world. Not to protect America, not to protect its vital interests. Just for political gains.

I'd say: Send in more troops. Equip the troops. Prohibit torture. Punish those who trespass. Recognize the Geneva Conventions. Make an EFFORT to win the hearts and minds of the Iraqis. Oppose Sharia law. Stop Iraqi death squads. Fight the existance of secret torture centers, whether run by the Iraqi secret police or the CIA. Protect human rights.

Otherwise, the whole Iraq episode will turn out to be a catastrophic failure.

oe, Well stated. Nothing like creating anything worse than the debacle in Iraq, then trying to correct it. On matters of this kind, people's memories are long when their own kin are killed and mistreated. This administration will never learn that lesson.

Those youths know that their rewards in fighting you, the USA, is double than their rewards in fighting some one else not from the people of the book. They have no intention except to enter paradise by killing you. An infidel, and enemy of God like you, cannot be in the same hell with his righteous executioner.

~when the forbidden months are past, then fight and slay the pagans wherever ye find them, seize them, beleaguer them, and lie in wait for them in every stratagem (of war)"; and peace be upon our Prophet, Muhammad Bin-'Abdallah, who said: "I have been sent with the sword between my hands to ensure that no one but Allah is worshipped", Allah who put my livelihood under the shadow of my spear and who inflicts humiliation and scorn on those who disobey my orders.

~to kill the Americans and their allies -- civilians and military -- is an individual duty for every Muslim who can do it in any country in which it is possible to do it.

Once again, we repeat our call and send this clear message to our Muslim brothers, warning against fellowship with the Crusaders, the Americans, Westerners and all idols in the Arab Gulf. Muslims should not associate with them anywhere, be it in their homes, complexes or travel with them by any means of transportation.

Prophet Muhammad said "I am free from who lives among idols".

No Muslim should risk his life as he may inadvertently be killed if he associates with the Crusaders, whom we have no choice but to kill.

Everything related to them such as complexes, bases, means of transportation, especially Western and American Airlines, will be our main and direct targets in our forthcoming operations on our path of Jihad that we, with Allah's Power, will not turn away from.

Few days ago the news agencies had reported that the Defence Secretary of the Crusading Americans had said that "the explosion at Riyadh and Al-Khobar had taught him one lesson: that is not to withdraw when attacked by coward terrorists".

We say to the Defence Secretary that his talk can induce a grieving mother to laughter! and shows the fears that had enshrined you all. Where was this false courage of yours when the explosion in Beirut took place on 1983 AD (1403 A.H). You were turned into scattered pits and pieces at that time; 241 mainly marines solders were killed. And where was this courage of yours when two explosions made you to leave Aden in less than twenty four hours!

But your most disgraceful case was in Somalia; where- after vigorous propaganda about the power of the USA and its post cold war leadership of the new world order- you moved tens of thousands of international force, including twenty eight thousands American solders into Somalia. However, when tens of your solders were killed in minor battles and one American Pilot was dragged in the streets of Mogadishu you left the area carrying disappointment, humiliation, defeat and your dead with you. Clinton appeared in front of the whole world threatening and promising revenge , but these threats were merely a preparation for withdrawal. You have been disgraced by Allah and you withdrew; the extent of your impotence and weaknesses became very clear. It was a pleasure for the "heart" of every Muslim and a remedy to the "chests" of believing nations to see you defeated in the three Islamic cities of Beirut , Aden and Mogadishu.

An effort by the United States. Not just by its military. Nobody is sacrificing anything. People go on about their jobs, and the war is just a television series you watch in the evening, beer in hand. If you care A LOT, you put a yellow ribbon sticker on your car.

A real effort should be made. More troops should be sent in to gain control over the streets. Maybe the draft should be brought back. This war is in no way a war fought by the United States. It is a war fought by the administration which is sending its mercenary army into theaters around the world. Not to protect America, not to protect its vital interests. Just for political gains.

Plus, you share your armchair advice from the perspective of those who long approved of the status quo under Saddam. Why, yes, Saddam was tyrannous, but it was a good kind of tyranny, homegrown tyranny, with the edges polished by lucrative contracts and sleazy kickbacks for Europeans willing to look the other way and willing to keep on cashing Saddam's checks ... it's no wonder your governments had no compassion for the suffering Iraqis throughout the 90's ... you were well-fed and well-greased ... you were far from the abuses, so why should you care ... but now you've suddenly discovered morals ... for the Americans. How convenient. How typically Old European.

The scale of the shipments involved dwarfs those previously alleged by the Senate committee against UN staff and European politicians like the British MP, George Galloway, and the former French minister, Charles Pasqua.

In fact, the Senate report found that US oil purchases accounted for 52% of the kickbacks paid to the regime in return for sales of cheap oil - more than the rest of the world put together.

"The United States was not only aware of Iraqi oil sales which violated UN sanctions and provided the bulk of the illicit money Saddam Hussein obtained from circumventing UN sanctions," the report said. "On occasion, the United States actually facilitated the illicit oil sales.

But you're probably in a better position demanding those things if you refrain from doing so yourself.

And maybe I'm still in awe of the speed with which Old Europe has pronounced China 'cured' of its human rights problems.

WhoodaThunk wrote:

And maybe I'm still in awe of the speed with which Old Europe has pronounced China 'cured' of its human rights problems.

Never happened, Whooda. Never happened. Don't believe everything you read in the right wing rags.

And that's supposed to be a justification for violating the Geneva Conventions, for disregarding human rights, for disappearing people from within allied nations, for denying access to prisons and for sanctioning torture?

That's how you think that the hearts and minds can be won? By blaming others?

Yes, Europe messed up in the Balkans. If you think pointing that out will suffice to win the "War on Terror", so be it. I'll disagree.

Britain opposes Bolton tactic on UN reform
By Philip Sherwell in Washington
(Filed: 27/11/2005)

Britain has rejected a proposal by John Bolton, America's combative ambassador to the United Nations, to block the upcoming UN budget as a tactic to push throughdisputed reforms.

The rare public disagreement between the two close allies comes as the showdown over reforms at the UN's New York headquarters becomes increasingly acrimonious...

Mr Bolton, a long-time and vocal UN critic, arrived in New York four months ago with a reputation as an uncompromising tough talker. Privately, British diplomats express surprise that he has not made greater efforts to cultivate them or build alliances. "You're either with him or against him," said one.

By MARTIN WALKER
UPI Editor

WASHINGTON, Nov. 23 (UPI) -- This will not be a happy Thanksgiving for President George Bush, but he need just look across the Atlantic to know it could be worse. His only reliable ally, Britain's Tony Blair, now seems to be facing the full-scale parliamentary inquiry into the Iraq war -- its justification, conduct and aftermath -- that Bush has been able to avoid.