New Leaked Report About Iraq War Shows 15,000 More Civilian Deaths ~ That's About Five 9/11's ~ Good On Us!!

Iraq, Iraq Study Group, Irving Kristol, Israel, Military Industrial Complex, Neocons, Think-Tanks

GUARDIAN UK

Iraq war logs: secret files show how US ignored torture

• Massive leak reveals serial detainee abuse
• 15,000 unknown civilian deaths in war
Full coverage of the Iraq war logs

A grim picture of the US and Britain’s legacy in Iraq has been revealed in a massive leak of American military documents that detail torture, summary executions and war crimes.

Almost 400,000 secret US army field reports have been passed to the Guardian and a number of other international media organisations via the whistleblowing website WikiLeaks.

The electronic archive is believed to emanate from the same dissident US army intelligence analyst who earlier this year is alleged to have leaked a smaller tranche of 90,000 logs chronicling bloody encounters and civilian killings in the Afghan war.

The new logs detail how:

• US authorities failed to investigate hundreds of reports of abuse, torture, rape and even murder by Iraqi police and soldiers whose conduct appears to be systematic and normally unpunished.

• A US helicopter gunship involved in a notorious Baghdad incident had previously killed Iraqi insurgents after they tried to surrender.

• More than 15,000 civilians died in previously unknown incidents. US and UK officials have insisted that no official record of civilian casualties exists but the logs record 66,081 non-combatant deaths out of a total of 109,000 fatalities.

The numerous reports of detainee abuse, often supported by medical evidence, describe prisoners shackled, blindfolded and hung by wrists or ankles, and subjected to whipping, punching, kicking or electric shocks. Six reports end with a detainee’s apparent death.

As recently as December the Americans were passed a video apparently showing Iraqi army officers executing a prisoner in Tal Afar, northern Iraq. The log states: “The footage shows approximately 12 Iraqi army soldiers. Ten IA soldiers were talking to one another while two soldiers held the detainee. The detainee had his hands bound … The footage shows the IA soldiers moving the detainee into the street, pushing him to the ground, punching him and shooting him.”

Reckless Administration May Reap Disastrous Consequences

Robert Byrd

by US Senator Robert Byrd
Senate Floor Speech – Wednesday, February 12, 2003

To contemplate war is to think about the most horrible of human experiences. On this February day, as this nation stands at the brink of battle, every American on some level must be contemplating the horrors of war.

Yet, this Chamber is, for the most part, silent — ominously, dreadfully silent. There is no debate, no discussion, no attempt to lay out for the nation the pros and cons of this particular war. There is nothing.

We stand passively mute in the United States Senate, paralyzed by our own uncertainty, seemingly stunned by the sheer turmoil of events. Only on the editorial pages of our newspapers is there much substantive discussion of the prudence or imprudence of engaging in this particular war.

And this is no small conflagration we contemplate. This is no simple attempt to defang a villain. No. This coming battle, if it materializes, represents a turning point in U.S. foreign policy and possibly a turning point in the recent history of the world.

This nation is about to embark upon the first test of a revolutionary doctrine applied in an extraordinary way at an unfortunate time.

General Barry McCaffrey Exposed For The Ultimate Spineless Shill That He Is

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THE NEW YORK TIMES

November 30, 2008

One Man’s Military-Industrial-Media Complex

In the spring of 2007 a tiny military contractor with a slender track record went shopping for a precious Beltway commodity.

The company, Defense Solutions, sought the services of a retired general with national stature, someone who could open doors at the highest levels of government and help it win a huge prize: the right to supply Iraq with thousands of armored vehicles.

Access like this does not come cheap, but it was an opportunity potentially worth billions in sales, and Defense Solutions soon found its man. The company signed Barry R. McCaffrey, a retired four-star Army general and military analyst for NBC News, to a consulting contract starting June 15, 2007.

Four days later the general swung into action. He sent a personal note and 15-page briefing packet to David H. Petraeus, the commanding general in Iraq, strongly recommending Defense Solutions and its offer to supply Iraq with 5,000 armored vehicles from Eastern Europe. “No other proposal is quicker, less costly, or more certain to succeed,” he said.

Thus, within days of hiring General McCaffrey, the Defense Solutions sales pitch was in the hands of the American commander with the greatest influence over Iraq’s expanding military.

“That’s what I pay him for,” Timothy D. Ringgold, chief executive of Defense Solutions, said in an interview.

President-Elect Barack Obama's Press Conference | Dec 1 2008

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Part Two

Good Ol' Charlie Gibson Gets In One Final Bootlicking Of President George "W/Torture" Bush

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HOLLYWOOD REPORTER

Charles Gibson aboard for Bush interview

cg

ABC anchor will boat to Camp David with first family

By Paul J. Gough

Nov 25, 2008, 06:18 PM ET

NEW YORK — During the same week Barbara Walters interviews the president-elect in Chicago, ABC’s “World News” anchor Charles Gibson will interview President George W. Bush and first lady Laura Bush during the holiday weekend.

Gibson will ride with the first family on Marine One from the White House to Camp David, then interview Mr. and Mrs. Bush there. Gibson will ask about the past eight years, the couple’s future plans and if they have any advice for Bush’s successor, Sen. Barack Obama, and his family.

The interview will air on Monday’s “World News With Charles Gibson” plus that show’s webcast, “Good Morning America” and elsewhere.

Best New Rules Ever

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tcbred1

An Open Letter To: People Who Ever Thought This War Was a Good Idea | Subtitle: You Know Who You Are

Stories

A LETTER FROM THE EDITOR:

You don’t get to sneer about how the evidence was there.

You don’t get to scoff about how even Bill Clinton, Germany and France thought there were WMD’s.

You don’t get to shriek about media-elite liberals just Bush-hating, conspiracy theorists whining about Halliburton, and Saddam gassing his own people:

…Not when our leaders were so fully unprepared for this war that there was no legitimate flank or rear security support for the thousands of vehicles, many endlessly breaking down, in that convoy that stretched across the Iraqi desert at the beginning of the war.

…Not when they couldn’t even bribe Turkey into letting us enter Iraq from the north.

…Not when there weren’t enough MRE’s, tanks that would work in the sand and flack-jackets for our troops

…Not when our Marines suddenly became gendarmes on the streets of Baghdad while we completely disbanded both the Iraqi army and police and the country was being destroyed from the bottom up as the looters demolished everything that the precision guided bombs didn’t

…and Dick Lugar had been screaming about the need for a plan post-war Iraq and what to do about the Shiites/Sunnis/Kurds on The News Hour and Charlie Rose virtually every night forthe twelve months leading up to the start of the attack.

…Not when there was no budget for the war, funding was asked for on the eve of the initial strike and there have been no plans to pay for the ever-increasing cost.

…Not when Deputy Secretary Of Defense Paul Wolfowitz is asked to give the number of Americans killed in Iraq during a congressional commitee on April 29 2004 and he’s off by over two hundred soldiers.

…Not when they won’t let us see the bodies at Dover and undercount casualties received in combat by the thousands.

Now bugger off and prepare for the trials.

JT

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The Department of Earth, Wind and Fire ~ Bill Maher ~ Nov 14 2008

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tcbred

Camelot Ⅱ ? Do We Now Have A Cool President? · Bill Maher's RealTime

AEI, Al Qaeda, Ashcroft, Bremer, Britain, Broadcatching, Bush, Bush Apologists, California, Children, CIA, Coalition Provisional Authority, Consensus Journalism, Conservatism, Constitution, Corn, Debates, Democrats, District Of Corruption, Evolution, Framing, Freepers, Global Warming, Gonzales, Gootube, Guns, Habeas Corpus, Healthcare, Hillary, Immigration, Iran, Iraq, Jeff Gannon, Jeff Guckert, Kerry, Luntz, Media Landscape, Moonbats, New York, New York Herald Sun, Obama, Olbermann, Politics, Politics Rundown, Poverty, Republic_Party, Right-Wing Conspiracy, Rosie, Rumsfeld, Shiite, Soldiers, Sunni, Surge, Taxes, Tullycast, Vandenheuvel, veterans, War Criminals, web 2.0, Wingnuttia, Wolfowitz, Youtube

·

tullyrider

TULLYCAST

New Rules Patriot Edition | Bill Maher's RealTime November 14, 2008

AEI, Al Qaeda, Ashcroft, Bremer, Britain, Broadcatching, Bush, Bush Apologists, California, Children, CIA, Coalition Provisional Authority, Consensus Journalism, Conservatism, Constitution, Corn, Debates, Democrats, District Of Corruption, Evolution, Framing, Freepers, Global Warming, Gonzales, Gootube, Guns, Habeas Corpus, Healthcare, Hillary, Immigration, Iran, Iraq, Jeff Gannon, Jeff Guckert, Kerry, Luntz, Media Landscape, Moonbats, New York, New York Herald Sun, Obama, Olbermann, Politics, Politics Rundown, Poverty, Republic_Party, Right-Wing Conspiracy, Rosie, Rumsfeld, Shiite, Soldiers, Sunni, Surge, Taxes, Tullycast, Vandenheuvel, veterans, War Criminals, web 2.0, Wingnuttia, Wolfowitz, Youtube

TULLYCAST3

TULLYCAST3