THE US, THE UN AND IRAQ, ELEVENTH THREAD

By Justin Huggler

Published: 10 April 2003
Eleven civilians were killed when US jets bombed a house in Afghanistan yesterday, as the innocent continued to die in America's other war.

Eleven civilians were killed when US jets bombed a house in Afghanistan yesterday, as the innocent continued to die in America's other war.

At least four of those killed were women. One man was wounded but survived.

The "tragic incident" was a mistake, said Douglas Lefforge, a spokesman at the US military headquarters in Bagram air base, near Kabul.

Innocent Afghan civilians have been killed by American bombs in a series of incidents. During the war against the Taliban in 2001, US forces repeatedly bombed civilian areas of towns, killing hundreds. Since the regime fell, Afghan civilians have continued to die in supposed pinpoint attacks launched by American troops trying to hunt down Taliban and al-Qa'ida fighters.

Sorosaist mimics say:

Bush-Cheney invaded Iraq for Iraq's oil even though those two failed to force the Iraq government to sell their oil to us at BELOW the prevailing market price;

If you cannot reduce ALL the mass murders of civilian non-murderers throughout the world, you ought not try to reduce any mass murders of civilian non-murderers anywhere in the world. Justification of a selective rather than a total war sucks and falls flat;

Progress toward an accomplishment, like enabling the Iraqis to defend themselves without our help, is worthless without its accomplishment.

...
You don't understand the oil angle.

Cheney and Bush don't want the price of oil to drop. They are heavily and personally invested in the oil industry, with many connections and clients. When the price of oil is up, they make much more money.

...

Cycloptichorn

Cycloptichorn wrote:

...
You don't understand the oil angle.

Cheney and Bush don't want the price of oil to drop. They are heavily and personally invested in the oil industry, with many connections and clients. When the price of oil is up, they make much more money.

...

Cycloptichorn

Sorosaist mimics say:

Cheney and Bush don't want the price of oil to drop, because when the price of oil is up, they make much more money, even though their connections and clients have to pay much more money for their oil.

http://ibdeditorials.com/IBDArticles.aspx?id=275526219598836

The Soros Threat To Democracy
By INVESTOR'S BUSINESS DAILY | Posted Monday, September 24, 2007
Democracy: George Soros is known for funding groups such as MoveOn.org that seek to manipulate public opinion. So why is the billionaire's backing of what he believes in problematic? In a word: transparency.
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George Soros & MoveOn.org: Exclusive Series
http://ibdeditorials.com/series4.aspx
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How many people, for instance, know that James Hansen, a man billed as a lonely "NASA whistleblower" standing up to the mighty U.S. government, was really funded by Soros' Open Society Institute , which gave him "legal and media advice"?

That's right, Hansen was packaged for the media by Soros' flagship "philanthropy," by as much as $720,000, most likely under the OSI's "politicization of science" program.

That may have meant that Hansen had media flacks help him get on the evening news to push his agenda and lawyers pressuring officials to let him spout his supposedly "censored" spiel for weeks in the name of advancing the global warming agenda.That means the public makes decisions about issues without understanding the special agendas of groups behind them.

Without more transparency, it amounts to political manipulation. This leads to cynicism. As word of these short-term covert ops gets out, the public grows to distrust what it hears and tunes out.

The irony here is that Soros claims to be an advocate of an "open society." His OSI does just the legal minimum to disclose its activities. The public shouldn't have to wait until an annual report is out before the light is flipped on about the Open Society's political action.

From The Sunday TimesJanuary 13, 2008

Anti-war Soros funded Iraq study
byBrendan Montague

A STUDY that claimed 650,000 people were killed as a result of the invasion of Iraq was partly funded by the antiwar billionaire George Soros.

Soros, 77, provided almost half the £50,000 cost of the research, which appeared in The Lancet, the medical journal. Its claim was 10 times higher than consensus estimates of the number of war dead.

The study, published in 2006, was hailed by antiwar campaigners as evidence of the scale of the disaster caused by the invasion, but Downing Street and President George Bush challenged its methodology.

New research published by The New England Journal of Medicine estimates that 151,000 people - less than a quarter of The Lancet estimate - have died since the invasion in 2003.

"The authors should have disclosed the [Soros] donation and for many people that would have been a disqualifying factor in terms of publishing the research," said Michael Spagat, economics professor at Royal Holloway, University of London.

The Lancet study was commissioned by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and led by Les Roberts, an associate professor and epidemiologist at Columbia University. He reportedly opposed the war from the outset.

His team surveyed 1,849 homes at 47 sites across Iraq, asking people about births, deaths and migration in their households.

Professor John Tirman of MIT said this weekend that $46,000 (£23,000) of the approximate £50,000 cost of the study had come from Soros's Open Society Institute.

Roberts said this weekend: "In retrospect, it was probably unwise to have taken money that could have looked like it would result in a political slant. I am adamant this could not have affected the outcome of the research."

The Lancet did not break any rules by failing to disclose Soros's sponsorship.
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/article3177653.ece

It's easy to blame the fact that the vast majority of people disagree with your position on some shadowy, nebulous figure of doom; but inaccurate.

Mellon-Scaife and Murdock perform exactly the same function for the Right-wing, yet you never say a word about them.

It's a substitute for critical and incisive analysis of your opponent's actual position; shooting the messenger is always a logical fallacy, Ican.

Cycloptichorn

The cultivation of opium poppies whose product is turned into heroin is spreading rapidly across Iraq as farmers find they can no longer make a living through growing traditional crops.

Afghan with experience in planting poppies have been helping farmers switch to producing opium in fertile parts of Diyala province, once famous for its oranges and pomegranates, north- east of Baghdad.

BAGHDAD - A female suicide bomber struck black-clad worshippers today as they prepared for Shiite Islam's holiest day, killing at least nine people.

The attack highlighted insurgents' increasing use of unconventional tactics in a province that has defied the national trend toward less violence.

Jan 17 (Reuters) - Following are security developments in Iraq at 0600 GMT on Thursday.

BAGHDAD - The bodies of five people were found in different districts of Baghdad on Wednesday, police said.

SALAHUDDIN PROVINCE - Three U.S. soldiers were killed and two wounded by small arms fire during operations in Iraq's northern Salahuddin province on Wednesday, the U.S. military said.

MOSUL - U.S. and Iraqi forces killed seven insurgents loading a vehicle with weapons in Mosul, 390 km (240 miles) north of Baghdad, the U.S. military said.

BAGHDAD - U.S. forces killed three insurgents and detained nine suspected militants on Tuesday and Wednesday during operations targeting al Qaeda in central and northern Iraq, the U.S. military said.

SULAIMAN PEK - An insurgent was killed on Wednesday while he was trying to rig a car with explosives in the town of Sulaiman Pek, 160 km (100 miles) north of Baghdad, police said.

The greater reliance on air power has raised concerns from human rights groups, which say that 500-pound and 2,000-pound munitions threaten civilians, especially when dropped in residential neighborhoods where insurgents mix with the population. The military assures that the precision attacks are designed to minimize civilian casualties -- particularly as Petraeus's counterinsurgency strategy emphasizes moving more troops into local communities and winning over the Iraqi population -- but rights groups say bombings carry an especially high risk.

"The Iraqi population remains at risk of harm during these operations," said Eliane Nabaa, a spokeswoman for the U.N. Assistance Mission for Iraq. "The presence of individual combatants among a great number of civilians does not alter the civilian character of an area."

Baghdad

Six civilians were injured in two IEDs that targeted the civilians in Nahrawan district southeast Baghdad around 7,00 am.

Around 7,30, gunmen driving a car threw a grenade nearby Sardar car lot near the high way in Nahdha neighborhood east Baghdad. No casualties were reported.

Two civilians were killed and ten others were injured in an IED explosion in Waziriyah neighborhood east Baghdad around 8,00 am.

the American army base in Shaab neighborhood north Baghdad was targeted today with three mortar shells today morning. the US aconfirmed the news about the attack saying that the attack didnt cause any injuries or deaths.

Three civilians were injured in three IEDs explosions in Palestine Street east Baghdad around 9,30 am.

Two mortar shells hit the green zone downtown Baghdad around 7,00 pm. No casualties were reported.

Police found five anonymous bodies in Baghdad. Three of the bodies were found in Rusafa, the eastern side of Baghdad in the following neighborhoods (2 bodies in Jisr Diyala and a body in Shaab). The two others bodies were found in Karkh, the western side of Baghdad in the following neighborhoods (1 body Bayaa and 1 body in Doura).

Kirkuk

The police of Khurmato town south of Kirkuk city found a body of a civilian today morning. Police said that the body was of a man named Najeeb Lateef Mohammed who was kidnapped by gunmen yesterday night adding that sings of torture was obvious on the body.

A policeman was injured in an IED explosion that targeted a police patrol on Baghdad Kirkuk Street south of Kirkuk city today morning.

Diyala

Eight civilians were killed and seven others were wounded when a woman wearing an explosive vest detonated herself inside a local market in Khan Bani Saad town, 10 Kms south of Baquba today morning.

Nainawa

The spokesman of the police in Nainawa province north of Baghdad said that five civilians were injured when a suicide car attacked a patrol of the MNF in al Malyah neighborhood east Mosul city today afternoon.

Six civilians were injured in clashes between the Iraqi army and gunmen in al Noor neighborhood northeast Mosul city today afternoon.

2008 McClatchy Newspapers

and BBC just reports :

Bomber hits Pakistan Shia mosque
A suicide attack at a Shia mosque in the Pakistani city of Peshawar has left 10 people dead and at least 20 wounded, officials have said.