Scott Ritter: Reporting from Baghdad

[Raster]

http://www.commondreams.org/archive/2007/09/07/3677/

It should come as no surprise that the Bush administration’s newest military-man-of-substance-turned- political lapdog, General Petraeus, maintains that the situation in Iraq is not only salvageable, but actually improving, due to the “surge” of U.S. combat troops into Iraq over the past year. All the president and his collection of GI Joe hand-puppets ask for is more time, more money and more troops.

There is no reason to believe that the compliant war facilitators who comprise the “anti-war” Democratic majority in Congress will do anything other than give the president what he is asking for. No one seems to want to debate, in any meaningful fashion, what is really going on in Iraq.

Why would they? The Democrats, like their Republican counterparts, have invested too much political capital into fictionalizing the problem with slogans like “support the troops,” “we’re fighting the enemy there so we don’t have to fight them here,” and my all-time favorite, “leaving Iraq would hand victory to al-Qaida.”

There simply is no incentive to put fact on the table and formulate policy that actually seeks a solution to a properly defined problem. Like the Republicans before them, the Democrats today seek not to govern with the best interests of the people in mind, but rather to game the system in order to consolidate political power. Political sloganeering has so trumped reality that any political backlash that is generated from the so-called “Petraeus Report” will be limited to how the Democrats could better sustain a conflict that kills American troops, since no main-stream Democratic leader has expressed a true “get out of Iraq now” policy.

Nearly 4 1/2 years following President Bush’s ill-fated (and illegal) decision to invade and occupy Iraq, few people in a position to influence policy formulation and implementation in America have actually grasped the horrible truth about what has transpired, and what is transpiring, in Mesopotamia today. As the United States places the finishing touches on Fortress America, the new half-billion-dollar Embassy complex in the heart of the Green Zone in downtown Baghdad, and more troops pour into mega-bases throughout Iraq, the reality (and futility) of permanent occupation has yet to sink in. What could be going through the minds of those members of Congress who keep signing blank checks for the president? Is there no oversight of how and why this money is spent? How can someone fund permanent infrastructure one day, then speak of the need to get out of Iraq the next?

<snip, more - more - more>

http://www.commondreams.org/archive/2007/09/07/3677/

[daninthemoon]

1. Scott Ritter is a patriot. I'll always remember him screaming to try

to be heard in the days leading up to this mad war, warning us just how badly we were being lied to.

[pocoloco]

2. And at the same time most of our reps had their heads up

their ass so far they couldn't hear! Hell, we even had one dumb fuck help them write the IWR!

[Peace Patriot]

3. Throw Diebold/ES&S election theft machines into 'Boston Harbor' NOW!

I'm pretty convinced that almost none of the members of Congress were truly elected. Ask them to prove it. They can't. And most of them clearly don't give a fuck what 70% of the American people think. In fact, it was to DEFEAT the great, peace-minded, justice-minded American majority--56% of whom opposed the Iraq War from the beginning (Feb. '03), and an epochal 70% of whom oppose it now--that Diebold/ES&S "trade secret" vote counting was fast-tracked across the country during the 2002 to 2004 period.

And until we undo that, and restore transparent vote counting--which I think can still be accomplished at the state/local level--we are going to get more of the same. More war in the Middle East. A military Draft. No accountability. More fascist/corporate policy of every kind.

[Raster]

4. Shameless KICK -- Let's get this puppy on The Greatest!

Thank Goddess for patriots like Ritter!

Wake up America!:kick:

[bananas]

5. k&r nt

[Raster]

6. Can we get one more for FIVE?!?

One more recommendation to send Scott Ritter to the Greatest?

[jhain]

7. If only they had listened

to Mr Ritter then.........

if only they would NOW.

[0007]

8. We're not leaving Iraq ever. I used to think it was just a matter of time

until the sheeple woke up. When Cheney and Halliburton pulls their interest out of America along with all the other money lords, ya just gotta know things are going badly.

We're in for some tough times and we're so fucked!

[slipslidingaway]

9. Thanks K&R Until the WHY question is discussed there

will be no meaningful solution in Iraq.


None of our leaders and none of the top three candidates will openly debate the real issues of Iraq, the control and profits of THEIR resources, and we are giving them a free pass on this most important topic by not forcing them to address this issue. We support them with our contributions and let them remain silent while our soldiers and many Iraqi's die :(

:banghead: :banghead: :banghead: :banghead:


"The real big three she should be addressing are “Why do Americans keep dying?” “Who is killing them?” and “Why?”

....She won’t go visit one of the American mercenary units in Iraq, the private military contractors who challenge the American military for numerical supremacy. She won’t burrow into the never-never land of legal ambiguity that allows these mercenaries to commit murder at will, to treat Iraq (and Iraqis) as second-class citizens in their own nation, and whose continued abuse of Iraq results in a deep and undying hatred for all things American. Katie may catch a movie in a hardened underground theater on one of the Pentagon’s mega-bases, or go shopping in a PX inside the “Green Zone” to get a “feel” of life for our troops, but she won’t venture up north, into Kurdistan, where other secure outposts of foreign occupation sit, out of sight and mind. If Couric would visit the Iraqi Oil Ministry, she might be shocked to witness the legal maneuvering and exploitation carried out by foreign oil companies (including, directly or indirectly, American oil companies).

Working with local Kurdish officials, small oil exploration and drilling camps are sprouting up all over northern Iraq, where they siphon off the wealth of the Iraqi people. Shipped out of Iraq via Turkey and (surprisingly) Iran, using long-established smuggling routes, these illegal ventures are generating billions of dollars in income for oil companies, and because these ventures aren’t supposed to exist, this income goes unreported. You can’t miss these sites. Any review of Google-Earth imagery would show these facilities springing up like mushrooms over the last few years. The U.S. military knows about them, and yet does nothing. Note to Richard Kaplan (Katie Couric’s producer): If you want to investigate this story, I’ll provide you with the geographic coordinates. Drive up and try to talk your way into the security perimeter. Position Katie well for the camera shot and demand answers. Just look out for the Canadian, South African or American mercenaries who are charged by “Big Oil” to keep this dirty little secret “secret.”

[Boo Boo]

10. "How can someone fund permanent infrastructure one day, then

speak of the need to get out of Iraq the next?"

It's called "bullshitting."

[Gregorian]

11. All four facets of this country have let us down. They all want to consolidate their power.

I'd even say FIVE. Voting, media, legislative, judiciary, executive.

They're only giving us one way out. Without voting there is no other way to make change.

[autorank]

12. "no main-stream Democratic leader has expressed a true “get out of Iraq now” policy." K*R

I guess they have a different interpretation of 2006. We got a majority because of our platform.

Clear message missed, costly results.