Diary: IRAQ CRACKDOWN "DOOMED TO FAIL"

DIANE'S NEWS CLIPS begins here :)~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~> Excerpted from: http://www.truthout.org

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...IRAQ CRACKDOWN "DOOMED TO FAIL" http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/022607K.shtml Iraqi Shiite militia leader Moqtada al-Sadr says the US-backed security crackdown in Baghdad is doomed to fail and that no security plan would work unless Iraq's government assumed full responsibility for protecting its citizens. Mr. Sadr, once again called on the Americans to withdraw from Iraq. --- Michael T. Klare | Three Charges in the Case for War http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/022607E.shtml Michael T. Klare writes: "I am convinced that Bush has already decided an attack is his only option and the rest is a charade he must go through to satisfy his European allies. The proof of this, I believe, lies half-hidden in recent public statements of his, which, if pieced together, provide a casus belli, or formal list of justifications, for going to war." --- US Generals "Will Quit" If Bush Orders Iran Attack http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/022607J.shtml Some of America's most senior military commanders are prepared to resign if the White House orders a military strike against Iran, according to highly-placed defense and intelligence sources. --- Iranians Worry About Rumors of an American Attack http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/022607G.shtml Marie-Claude Decamps reports from Tehran, where senior officials and private citizens worry about possible American attacks. --- Hersh: Bush Funneling Money to al Qaeda-Related Groups http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/022607A.shtml Seymour Hersh reports that the Bush administration is funding anti-Shiite Sunnis linked to al Qaeda without Congressional approval and without appropriate appropriation. Hersh speculates that the money is coming from the pallet-loads of cash floating around Iraq and has already reached "three Sunni jihadist groups." He says, flatly, that the president is "supporting groups indirectly that are involved with the same people that did 9/11." --- GIs Petition Congress to End Iraq War http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/022607D.shtml Correspondent Lara Logan heard dissension in the ranks from a large group of service members who are fed up and have decided to go public. They're not going AWOL, they're not disobeying orders or even refusing to fight in Iraq. But they are doing something unthinkable to many in uniform: bypassing the chain of command to denounce a war they're in the middle of fighting. --- The Politics of the Man Behind "24" http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/022607H.shtml For all its fictional liberties, "24" depicts the fight against Islamist extremism much as the Bush administration has defined it: as an all-consuming struggle for America's survival that demands the toughest of tactics. Not long after September 11, Vice President Dick Cheney alluded vaguely to the fact that America must begin working through the "dark side" in countering terrorism. On "24," the dark side is on full view. Joel Surnow - the co-creator and executive producer of "24," who has jokingly called himself a "right-wing nut job" - shares his show's hard-line perspective. --- Paul Krugman | Substance Over Image http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/022607C.shtml Paul Krugman writes: "Enough already. Let's make this election about the issues. Let's demand that presidential candidates explain what they propose doing about the real problems facing the nation, and judge them by how they respond." --- E.J. Dionne Jr. | Smearing Like It's 2003 http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/022607F.shtml E.J. Dionne Jr. writes: "The fabricate-and-smear cycle illustrated so dramatically during the case of I. Lewis 'Scooter' Libby explains why President Bush is failing to rally support for the latest iteration of his Iraq policy. The administration's willingness at the outset to say anything - no matter how questionable - to justify the war, has destroyed its credibility. Its habit of attacking those who expressed misgivings has destroyed any goodwill it might have enjoyed. Bush and Cheney have lost the benefit of the doubt." --- Robert Parry | Gore's Other Global Warning: Iraq War http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/022607L.shtml "As Al Gore steps into the national spotlight because of the Academy Awards and his global-warming documentary 'An Inconvenient Truth,' it's worth remembering that in fall 2002, Gore sought to warn the American people about another 'inconvenient truth,' the folly of invading Iraq," writes Robert Parry. --- Welfare State Growing Despite Overhauls http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/022607M.shtml Nearly one in six people rely on some form of public assistance, a larger share than at any time since the government started measuring two decades ago. Few former recipients have become self-sufficient, even though millions have moved from welfare to work. The vast majority have been forced into low-paying jobs without benefits and few opportunities to advance. --- Global Warming: Enough to Make You Sick http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/022607N.shtml The spread of human disease has become one of the most worrisome subplots in the story of global warming. Incremental temperature changes have begun to redraw the distribution of bacteria, insects and plants, exposing new populations to diseases that they have never seen before. --- Israeli Troops Raid West Bank City http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/022607O.shtml Israeli soldiers sealed off Nablus yesterday, placed much of the city under curfew and conducted house-to-house searches for Palestinian militants in the largest military operation in the West Bank in months. --- Tina Richards | Demoralizing the Troops http://snipurl.com/1bg2b --- VIDEO | Hersh: Bush Funneling Money to al Qaeda-Related Groups http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/022607A.shtml Seymour Hersh reports that the Bush administration is funding anti-Shiite Sunnis linked to al Qaeda without Congressional approval and without appropriate appropriation. Hersh speculates that the money is coming from the pallet-loads of cash floating around Iraq and has already reached "three Sunni jihadist groups." He says, flatly, that the president is "supporting groups indirectly that are involved with the same people that did 9/11." _________________________________ Excerpted from: http://www.counterpunch.org

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"AN AMERICAN STRIKE ON IRAN IS ESSENTIAL FOR OUR EXISTENCE." AIPAC Demands "Action" on Iran ... by Gary Leuup Former CIA counterterrorism specialist Philip Giraldi, comparing the propaganda campaign against Iran to that which preceded the war on Iraq, has recently declared, "It is absolutely parallel. They're using the same dance steps-demonize the bad guys, the pretext of diplomacy, keep out of negotiations, use proxies. It is Iraq redux." He's only one of many in his field (including Vincent Cannistraro, Ray McGovern, and Larry C. Johnson) doing their best to expose the Bush-Cheney neocon disinformation campaign according to which Iran is planning to produce nukes in order to commit genocide, while abetting terrorists in Iraq who are killing American troops. Their efforts, and those of many others, are producing results. The mainstream corporate press is far more skeptical about administration claims pertaining to Iran than they ever were towards the equally specious claims made about Iraq on the eve of the 2003 invasion. The American people are now inclined to distrust claims made by nameless officials about Quds Force-provisioned IEDs and EFPs, etc., supposedly smuggled by "meddling" Iranians into Iraq. Unfortunately the Congress dominated by Democrats elected in a popular expression of antiwar sentiment has not taken a firm stance against an attack on Iran based on lies. Maybe given the nature of the power structure it simply can't. Giraldi matter-of-factly sums up the unfortunate politics of situation. .......................snip........................ the American Israel Political Action Committee is the main political force urging---indeed, demanding---U.S. action. That's the AIPAC already under scrutiny for receiving classified information about Iran from Lawrence Franklin, former Defense Department subordinate of Douglas Feith. (That's the neocon Feith who supervised the Office of Special Plans---headed by Abram Shulsky, the neocon specialist on Leo Strauss who currently heads up the Iran Directorate at the Pentagon---that shamelessly cherry-picked intelligence to support the Iraq attack. That's the Franklin who worked in the OSP, and was sentenced last month to 13 years in prison. Feith has not been indicted on any charge and continues to insist in defiance of reason and even a Pentagon internal investigation finding it "inappropriate" that his office's disinformation project was "good government." Small wonder Gen. Tommy Franks, formerly head of the U.S. Central Command, famously called Feith "the fuc*ing stupidest guy on the face of the earth." Congressional investigations are just now getting underway into Feith's role in facilitating the invasion of Iraq.) .........[snip] Full article: http://www.counterpunch.org/leupp02242007.html _________________________________ ... http://www.newsdissector.org _________________________________ .ron corvuswire@verizon.net

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... Rice Says Bush Won't Abide By Legislation To Limit Iraq War Note that Democratic Sen. Carl Levin said, ''We're going to fund the troops as long as they're there.'' Well Sen. Levin, you know full well that as long as you fund the troops, they will remain in Iraq. .ron >> http://www.kotv.com/news/national/story/?id=121151 ----- THE LIE OF THE CENTURY >> http://snipurl.com/fjkq _________________________________

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... http://jablankfort@earthlink.net J Post" Olmert: Prepare for war with Syria The war would be initiated by Israel and blamed on Syria. The truth of the matter, as laid out by Ben-Gurion more than 50 years ago, is that no Israeli government has ever been interested in peacefully co-existing in the region and Jimmy Carter has never been forgiven for forcing Camp David and a retreat from the Sinai on the Begin regime. The current assault by the Israeli wehrmacht in Nablus is an obvious response to the Mecca Agreement. JB >> Olmert: Prepare for war with Syria > http://snipurl.com/199i3 ----- The Australian: Israel's boom scores a victory over war What is not mentioned here and what, predictably, has been completely ignored by the US media, was that, as reported by Yediot Ahronot, the Israelis made excessive use of a stash of US military equipment stored in Israel in waging war on Lebanon last summer and that the US Congress, which should be named, the Knesset West, in its closing session last year, voted to not only replenish the depleted stockpile, but double its size for the next two years, and to extend Israel's ability to draw on several billions of dollars in US loan guarantees until 2011. That not even a breath of a demand has been made by the international community through the UN Security Council, that Israel compensate Lebanon for the billions of dollars of damage it caused in that country, (not to mention the loss of lives,) and the creation of the greatest ecological disaster in Lebanon's history through its wanton destruction of its coastal oil storage containers is a tribute to the power that Israel and the Jewish Zionist lobby exert over global politics at this moment in time. JB >> http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/printpage/0,5942,21286382,00.html ----- US Synagogue hosts event to aid West Bank settlers One of the myths circulated, and no doubt firmly believed by most secular Jewish as well as non-Jewish critics of Israel is that Zionism has nothing to do with Judaism. This is nothing more than wishful thinking as revealed by the late Israeli professor, Israel Shahak in his book, "Jewish History, Jewish Religion.". The most viciously racist segments of both Israeli and American Jewish society are to be found among the Orthodox, the Jewish fundamentalists whose view of the Palestinians is right out of the Torah. The single exception to this, the Neturei Karta, are shunned by every other Orthodox sect. For the majority, think Branch Davidians with political and economic clout. JB > > US Synagogue hosts event to aid West Bank settlers The Associated Press TEANECK, New Jersey: As protesters chanted and waved signs outside, roughly 250 American Jews were able to get information on buying homes in the West Bank during a Sunday event promoted as a way to help Jewish settlers. The sales pitch, organized by the Israel-based Amana Settlement Movement, took place in Teaneck at an Orthodox synagogue, Congregation B'nai Yeshurun. The event drew rebukes from an Israeli group, as well as pro-Palestinian organizations, who say such efforts undermine international peace efforts. The opposition groups believe the gathering represented the first time West Bank homes have been offered for sale in the United States. [snip] Continued: http://snipurl.com/1bdfm ----- Letter writing time: Bisharat: Pro-Israeli lobby is silencing dissent The two op-eds below, that were previously run in the Houston Chronicle appeared in the Sacramento Bee Monday. The first, by UC Berkeley law professor George Bisharat, exposes the tactics pro-Israel groups use to silence criticism of Israel. The second, by Deborah Lipstadt, chastises President Carter for ignoring the Holocaust in his new book, Palestine Peace not Apartheid. Please take a minute to thank the Sacramento Bee for publishing Bisharat's hard-hitting piece. Please go to http://www.sacbee.com/326/v-email/story/19629.html and submit your letter online. Letter should be 200 words or less and include your name, address and telephone (for identification purposes only). Pro-Israeli lobby is silencing dissent ... http://www.sacbee.com/110/story/128103.html ----- Israeli JudeoNazi Pushes for US Armed Confrontation with Iran "The wrong target has been shot," he said. "You get a second chance to shoot the right one.... The original goal of the war in Iraq was WMDs, not democracy, and I tell them this is still true." Of course, Israeli leaders from both Likud and Labour openly called for the US to attack Iraq, but since that has turned out to be a disaster they are pretending otherwise, knowing that in the neither the US media nor the anti-war movement, such as it is, will not call them on it. Here, what the Forward calls a "rightist" and Israel Shahak described as a JudeoNazi, and an Orthodox one at that, has no problem in calling on the US to attack another of Israel's enemies without risking Israeli lives. This is the kind of information that needs to get the widest circulation, along with the fact that the Jewish Zionist lobby in the US has not let up in its own push for a US confrontation with Iran. JB >> http://www.forward.com/articles/israeli-rightist-warns-that-bush-s-iraq-policy-c-1/ Israeli Rightist Warns That Bush's Iraq Policy Could Hurt Effort To Combat Iran _________________________________ Cathy Garger: http://www.mytown.ca/garger Help the US become Radiation Free by 2033! http://www.radiation.org _________________________________ Fyi., A.N.S.W.E.R Excerpt: "The State of Virginia Department of Transportation finally met with us last Thursday afternoon, February 22. At that meeting they demanded that we obtain one million dollars in insurance, hire an engineering firm to determine their traffic and road closure plan, and agree to pay a user fee of thousands and possibly tens of thousands of dollars for before we will be given a permit to march on Route 27 on the way to the Pentagon. We are talking about a stretch of highway under Virginia's jurisdiction that IS ABOUT A 100 YARDS LONG. Please take a moment to send your own letter to the Attorney General of Virginia, telling him that the ongoing obstruction of this demonstration must end, that a permit must be issued for this First Amendment protected activity, without cost and without further delay. By clicking this link > http://snipurl.com/1bdf3 you can see a sample letter which you can customize and send via email through an easy to use mechanism we have set up on the http://www.MarchOnPentagon.org site. _________________________________

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... Save them Tell your senators: support the Global Warming Pollution Reduction Act of 2007! >> http://snipurl.com/1bdtv _________________________________ http://beta.newstrust.net | http://www.showusthewar.com | http://countercurrents.org _________________________________ Learn the lingo I frequently tell parents that children shouldn't have a computer in their bedroom. It should be in a place where you can watch what they're doing. But that's only helpful if you know what they're saying. Children today often use abbreviations online or in text messages. They also use leet, a "language" that uses misspellings and replaces letters with characters and numbers. If you see things that you don't understand in your child's messages, you should investigate. The Internet Slang Dictionary and Translator makes it easy. You can copy and paste text to translate it. Or you can browse the dictionary. I should warn you that the slang can be vulgar. I was shocked by some of it. But it will help you better understand your kids and protect them from the dangers lurking online. And don't forget my 10 Commandments for Kids Online.> http://snipurl.com/sfdd It will help you lay down ground rules for keeping your kids safe. Both you and your children should sign it. Then put it by the computer as a reminder. TO VISIT TODAY'S COOL SITE, GO HERE: http://www.noslang.com 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 10 Ways to Organize Your Desk Effectively - An organized desk can help give you the time to be creative and make those bold plans for success. http://snipurl.com/1bast ----- Why The South Beach Diet Doesn't Work in Schools - An experiment by the creators of the South Beach Diet to revise school lunch menus is proving less effective than desired in fighting the obesity epidemic. http://snipurl.com/1basy ----- The ''Experts'' Are Wrong About Raw Milk - More studies show the health benefits of raw milk, even as the proponents of pasteurization try to emphasize the rare dangers. http://snipurl.com/1bat1 _________________________________ VIDEO: pure morning ... by placebo. we like this song. | 3:53 | http://snipurl.com/17gh2 _________________________________ NationalGeographic.com http://lava.nationalgeographic.com/pod/ _________________________________ NASA Astronomy picture of the day http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/astropix.html _________________________________ I only went out for a walk and finally concluded to stay out till sundown, for going out, I found, was really going in. ~ John Muir, 1913, in L.M. Wolfe, ed., John Muir, John of the Mountains: The Unpublished Journals of John Muir, 1938 _________________________________ Link to: Diane's News Clips http://www.opednews.com/author/author2300.html?entry=diary