OpEdNews - Diary: Bush May Oust Top Commander for Backing Troop Withdrawal

"Bush seems all but certain not only to reverse the strategy that General Casey championed, but also to accelerate the general's departure from Iraq."

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DIANE'S NEWS CLIPS begins here :)~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~> Excerpted from: http://www.truthout.org Bush May Oust Top Commander for Backing Troop Withdrawal http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/010207R.shtml General Casey's strategy in Iraq was to transfer responsibility for security to the Iraqis and begin a gradual withdrawal of troops from Iraq. Bush seems all but certain not only to reverse the strategy that General Casey championed, but also to accelerate the general's departure from Iraq. --- Security Firms Granted Full Police Power http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/010207S.shtml Private firms with outright police powers have been proliferating in some places - and trying to expand their terrain. The trend is triggering debate over whether the privatization of public safety is wise. --- Donald Rumsfeld Tops List Accused of War Crimes http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/010207M.shtml A complaint filed in Germany last month has asked a federal prosecutor to begin an investigation, and ultimately a criminal prosecution, of former secretary of defense Donald Rumsfeld, Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, former CIA director George Tenet, and other senior civilian and military officials for their roles in the authorization of policies leading to the torture of prisoners at US detention facilities in Iraq and Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. --- Dean Baker | Iraq War Lie Detector Test http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/010207A.shtml Dean Baker writes: "There has been no shortage of deceptions surrounding the prosecution of the Iraq war, beginning with the original justification - Iraq's weapons of mass destruction. Unfortunately, supporters of the war continue to use deception to advance their agenda. The latest lie is that Congress doesn't have the ability to end the war, because if they cut off funding they would jeopardize the safety of our troops." --- Iraq Civilian Deaths Hit New Record http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/010207N.shtml The number of Iraqi civilians killed in political violence edged to a new record high in December after a big leap the previous month, data from Interior Ministry officials showed on Tuesday. The statistics, widely viewed as an indicative but only partial record of violent deaths, showed 12,320 civilians were killed in 2006 - half of them in the last four months. --- Cindy Sheehan | A Mile of Flags http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/010207B.shtml Cindy Sheehan writes: "On December 31st, our 3,000th child was killed for the lies of another president. While Gerald Ford lies in state, our 3,000th troop will be brought home on his final airplane flight in the cargo area. This fine young example of humanity will be sneaked into the US as if he, and not his commander in chief, were a criminal. His family will be left to mourn alone, and his body will not be guarded night and day. After the funeral (which Bloody George will not attend), he will be forgotten by the country that sent him to die in a war that is as corrupt as the day is long, but his family will never be able to recover from his loss." --- Gene C. Gerard | Bush's Use of Pardons Isn't Very Compassionate http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/010207K.shtml Gene C. Gerard writes: "The White House recently announced that President Bush had issued pardons to 16 individuals. Their offenses included bank fraud, conspiracy to defraud the government, possession of marijuana and cocaine, and mail fraud. During his first term, Mr. Bush issued a mere 31 pardons and commutations. To date, he has issued 113 pardons and three commutations. That's fewer than any two-term president in the modern era." --- Compounds From Household Products Found in Human Blood http://www.truthout.org/issues_06/010207EC.shtml Since 2000, the federal government, environmental groups, and private citizens have been steadily turning up the heat on DuPont with a series of lawsuits and proposed regulatory actions in states across the nation. --- Scientists Find Way to Slash Cost of Drugs http://www.truthout.org/issues_06/010207HA.shtml Two UK-based academics have devised a way to invent new medicines and get them to market at a fraction of the cost charged by big drug companies, enabling millions in poor countries to be cured of infectious diseases and potentially slashing the NHS drugs bill. --- Chris Hedges | America's Holy Warriors http://snipurl.com/16f1n --- Paul Krugman | A Healthy New Year http://snipurl.com/16d49 --- Sunni Grief, Anger Flow at Funeral http://snipurl.com/16d4n --- J. Sri Raman | India Then, Iraq Now: Remembering a Revolt http://snipurl.com/16d4i --- The Court-Martial of Ehren Watada Begins http://snipurl.com/16d42 --- Seven Indicted New Orleans Officers Surrender http://snipurl.com/16f23 _________________________________ [NEWSDISSECTOR] A Year "Memorable For Its Madness" http://www.newsdissector.com/blog/2007/01/02/a-year-memorable-for-its-madness/ _________________________________ http://jablankfort@earthlink.net: Forward: Ritter Book: Israel, Lobby Pushing Iran War The window of truth is finally opening on the Jewish Zionist Lobby in way that is simply unprecedented. More and more people in the public eye are beginning to speak and write about the poisonous influence The Lobby has exerted on US Middle East policies and its degree of responsibility for not only the ongoing oppression/dispossession of the Palestinians, but for the war in Iraq, joining those of us who have been pointing the finger at its nefarious activities for years. With the Democrats and therefore, The Lobby in control over both houses of Congress, with its push for an attack on Iran, it is incumbent that those who are seen as, and purport to be, spokespersons for the opposition to the US war in Iraq, to acknowledge that truth or be held accountable if they continue to provide "damage control" for the lobby - JB "A former United Nations weapons inspector and leading Iraq War opponent has written a new book alleging that Jerusalem is pushing the Bush administration into war with Iran, and accusing the pro-Israel lobby of dual loyalty and "outright espionage."... "In early 2004, Ritter charged in an interview on the Web site Ynet, operated by the daily Yediot Aharonot, that Israeli intelligence had deliberately overstated what it knew to be a minimal threat from Iraq in an effort to push America and Britain to launch a war." Ritter Book: Israel, Lobby Pushing Iran War http://www.forward.com/articles/book-israel-lobby-pushing-iran-war/ Nathan Guttman | Fri. Dec 29, 2006 ....................snip....................... "The Bush administration, with the able help of the Israeli government and the pro-Israel Lobby, has succeeded," Ritter writes, "in exploiting the ignorance of the American people about nuclear technology and nuclear weapons so as to engender enough fear that the American public has more or less been pre-programmed to accept the notion of the need to militarily confront a nuclear armed Iran." Later in the book, Ritter adds: "Let there be no doubt: If there is an American war with Iran, it is a war that was made in Israel and nowhere else." Ritter's book echoes recent high-profile attacks on the pro-Israel lobby by former President Jimmy Carter and by scholars Stephen Walt and John Mearsheimer. Ritter, who recently returned from a weeklong speaking engagement on The Nation cruise, speaks of a "network of individuals" that pursues Israel's interests in the United States. The former weapons inspector alleges that some of the pro-Israel lobby's activities "can only be described as outright espionage and interference in domestic policies." Ritter also accused the American Israel Public Affairs Committee of having an inherent dual loyalty. He called for the organization to be registered as a foreign agent. Representatives for both Aipac and the Israeli Embassy in Washington declined to comment on Ritter's accusations. In his book, Ritter also accuses the pro-Israel lobby of invoking the memory of the Holocaust and of crying antisemitism whenever Israel is accused of betraying America. "This is a sickening and deeply disturbing trend that must end," Ritter writes. According to Ritter, Iran is far from developing a nuclear weapons program and will not do so in the future if the world makes sure that stringent inspections are in place to verify that the Iranians live up to the requirements of the Non-Proliferation Treaty. "If Iran does make a political decision to develop nuclear weapons, it will take them a decade and it won't go undetected," Ritter said. "But it will take the U.S. only five weeks to build up a force capable of destroying Iran by air strikes. It's a timeline of five weeks compared to a decade, so I'm not worried about taking a risk." As for Israeli and American fears regarding Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the Iranian president who vowed to "wipe Israel off the map," Ritter dubbed the leader a "sick joke" and asserted that he does not make the decisions in Tehran. Ritter argues that the Bush administration knows that inspections can solve the Iranian nuclear problem but, at the urging of Jerusalem and its American allies, is in reality pursuing a different goal: regime change in Tehran. "Israel has, through a combination of ignorance, fear and paranoia, elevated Iran to a status that it finds unacceptable," Ritter writes in his book. "Israel has engaged in policies that have further inflamed this situation. Israel displays arrogance and rigidity when it comes to developing any diplomatic solution to the Iranian issue." [snip] Full article >> http://snipurl.com/16d0q --- Hijacking Eid and Hanging Saddam Timing and Hostile Repartee Creates Further Division By Nir Rosen Saddam Hussein became the first modern Arab dictator to die violently since Egypt's Anwar Sadat in 1981. Saddam's hanging at the hands of chubby Iraqi men wearing ski masks is likely to be perceived by many as an American execution and as part of a trend of American missteps contributing to sectarian tensions in Iraq and the region. The trial of Saddam was viewed by detractors as an event stage-managed by the Americans. According to Human Rights Watch, the Iraqi judges and lawyers involved in prosecuting Saddam were ill prepared and relied on their American advisers. American minders shut off the microphones and ordered the translators to halt whenever they disapproved of what was being said by the defendants. Continued >> http://snipurl.com/16d1p ----- Missed this? >> Saddam Takes Secrets to the Grave Those who really have never experienced violence and who have no knowledge of what Saddam Hussein has done in his lifetime, should not try and make the man a martyr, a fighter for liberation or accord him any form of honor. The man was a war criminal and deserved to hang as Robert Fisk's article reminds us. The problem was that there are other war criminals who should have been up there on gallows along side of him and some of them are English speakers, some Hebrew, and we know their names, and we know they will never face a court or be brought to trial. So there was no justice in the truest sense of the word, but the selective execution of someone who, in this instance, was a loser, and his death is convenient for both the US and British governments. - JB HE TAKES HIS SECRETS TO THE GRAVE. OUR COMPLICITY DIES WITH HIM Robert Fisk How the West armed Saddam, fed him intelligence on his 'enemies', equipped him for atrocities - and then made sure he wouldn't squeal We've shut him up. The moment Saddam's hooded executioner pulled the lever of the trapdoor in Baghdad yesterday morning, Washington's secrets were safe. Theshameless, outrageous, covert military support which the United States - and Britain - gave to Saddam for more than a decade remains the one terrible story which our presidents and prime ministers do not want the world to remember. And now Saddam, who knew the full extent of that Western support - given to him while he was perpetrating some of the worst atrocities since the Second World War - is dead. [snip] http://news.independent.co.uk/world/fisk/article2114403.ece _________________________________ Submitted by: http://eddiestinson@gmail.com Cheney Lobbied Congress to Ease Sanction Against Terrorist Countries While CEO of Halliburton http://www.counterpunch.org/leopold07222004.html _________________________________ Sandwiches have been a mainstay of the American dinner for 20 years, but in the past decade there has been a shift toward hot sandwiches aimed at filling the desire for a hot meal. Twenty years ago 5.3% of all dinners included a cold sandwich, while 7.9% included a hot sandwich, according to NPD data. In 2006, cold sandwiches account for only 4.4% of the dinner-hour meal, while hot sandwiches now total 8.9% of the meals, reported South Florida Sun-Sentinel. Full Story http://snipurl.com/16f5h _________________________________ http://www.americanfreepress.net/ | http://dahrjamailiraq.com/weblog/ _________________________________ The benefits of GovBenefits.gov If you need some financial help, try GovBenefits.gov. Hundreds of government programs are listed. You can browse by category, state or even popularity. Don't know what to look for? You don't need to be a wiz to find what you need. With a simple questionnaire, you may find multiple benefits for which you qualify. Alternatively, select an event in your life to see what is available.You may well be entitled to benefits. Don't let the oddly repetitive name dissuade you. By investing a few minutes, you could reap more than expected! TO VISIT TODAY'S COOL SITE, GO HERE: http://govbenefits.gov ----- Microsoft gifts cause stir Microsoft sent computers to about 90 bloggers. The $2,200 laptops were loaded with Vista. When some bloggers disclosed the gifts, others started to complain. They accuse Microsoft of trying to bribe writers. http://snipurl.com/16f2l Be sure to listen to me Monday through Friday. Use my map to find me near you http://www.komando.com/listen/index.aspx _________________________________ eHEALTHY NEWS Four Ways to Reduce Stress With One Simple Do-it-Yourself Acupressure Technique - Address the cause of your stress and learn to relax using this all-natural stress-management program. http://snipurl.com/16f46 ----- Some Supplements Can Make You Fat - This startling finding shows the most common vitamin supplement given to pregnant women -- when put in a pregnant mouse's diet -- can make her offspring fatter. http://snipurl.com/16f4e _________________________________ VIDEO: Missed this?: THE EVOLUTION OF DANCE 6:00 In just under six minutes comedian Judson Laipply performs the biggest dance crazes from the past five decades. http://snipurl.com/16f4m _________________________________ NationalGeographic.com http://lava.nationalgeographic.com/pod/ _________________________________ NASA Astronomy picture of the day http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/astropix.html _________________________________ There are too many people, and too few human beings. ~ Robert Zend