The Agonist - Iraq

GOP Talked of Terrorists and Iraq, But Not Veterans, Dead Troops

Fri, 05 Sep 2008 09:09:28 -0700

I don't know why, but I thought maybe for this convention the Republican party would drop their tired fear-and-smear playbook and try something different. I guess I assumed with the American people seeming to have forgotten that we still have well over 100,000 soldiers and Marines trapped in the Iraq quagmire, that the GOP's main speakers would at least make the economy a centerpiece in their poisoning of the national dialog.

Boy, was I wrong.

Not only did they say next to nothing about the economy -- other than Grandpa Fred Thompson implying that Democrats are imagining the economic distress most Americans are feeling -- but they went right back to the most trusted Republican campaign technique: When you have nothing whatsoever to offer the American people, scare the crap out of them.

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Iraq and Afghanistan: Dual Fronts

Tue, 02 Sep 2008 23:00:58 -0700

Escorted by attack helicopters, armoured vehicles and men of the Parachute Regiment, the trucks trundled into Kajaki Photo: PA / REUTERS

Sept 3

British soldiers kill 200 Taliban in Afghan dam operation

British commanders estimate that more than 200 Taliban were killed as they tried to prevent the convoy of 100 vehicles from getting the machinery to Kajaki hydroelectric dam where it will provide a significant increase in energy for up to two million Afghans.

The operation has been described as the biggest of its kind since the Second World War.

For the last five days the force has fought through the heart of Taliban territory to push through the 220 tonne turbine and other equipment that included a 90 tonne crane to lift it into place.

With a third turbine fixed at Kajaki it will mean that the extra electricity could double the irrigation output allowing farmers to plant two crops of wheat a year. With a dramatic rise in world wheat prices this could crucially mean that it becomes more profitable than producing opium which would deprive the Taliban of a major source of revenue.

** Nine Australian soldiers wounded in Afghanistan: military
** Navy SEAL Drowns in Afghanistan
** Iraqi army readies for showdown with Kurds
** How the Bush Administration Underestimated Nouri al-Maliki
** US says troops could quit Baghdad soon

Please post new stories and comments about the coalition's wars in Iraq and Afghanistan on this thread. Prior updates here

Why the Surge has Failed

Sun, 31 Aug 2008 09:06:24 -0700

As we head into the Republican convention, expect the triumphal wing of the Republican Party to promote the success of the Surge. Neocon commentators on FOX News last week – such as Bill Kristol, Fred Barnes and Morton Kondracke – were criticizing Barack Obama for failing even to mention the Surge. They weren’t really expecting him to do so, because “of course” the Surge has been such a success.

This argument about the success of the Surge is John McCain’s antidote to any criticism Obama may direct at him for his early support of the Iraq War and his poor judgment in continuing to defend it. The picture we will receive is of John McCain standing bravely against the countervailing political winds, defending instead an unpopular Surge and an unpopular president, because it was the correct, prescient thing to do.

Is this why Americans die?

Sat, 30 Aug 2008 21:26:34 -0700

Is this why our kids are in Iraq? Was this deal made before any bombs were dropped? Will this lower our debt to China that we incurred because of this war?

Iraq signs $3B oil deal with China

BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- Iraq has signed its first major oil deal with a foreign company since the fall of Saddam Hussein's regime, a spokesman for the Iraqi Oil Ministry said Saturday.

It was the first time in more than 35 years that Iraq has allowed foreign oil companies to do business inside its borders.

The contract with the China National Petroleum Corporation could be worth up to $3 billion. It would allow the CNPC to develop an oil field in southern Iraq's Wasit province for about 20 years, said Oil Ministry spokesman Assim Jihad.

Iraq and Afghanistan: Dual Fronts

Sat, 30 Aug 2008 20:09:27 -0700

Aug 31

Agreement on U.S. withdrawal from Iraq said to be in peril as Maliki ousts negotiators

At the "make-or-break" stage of talks with the U.S. on the withdrawal of American troops from Iraq, Prime Minister Nouri Maliki has swept aside his negotiating team and replaced it with three of his closest aides, a reshuffle that some Iraqi officials warn risks sabotaging the agreement.

The decision on the team negotiating the pact, which the Americans have described as the basis of a long-term strategic alliance between the United States and Iraq, remains so sensitive that it has not been announced. In disclosing the switch to the Los Angeles Times this weekend, a senior Iraqi official close to Maliki also suggested that the two sides remained deadlocked on key issues.

** Standoff over Iraqi town stokes tension with Kurds
** Pakistan to suspend military strikes for Ramadan
** Pakistani Taliban vow to strike during Ramadan
** Afghan commission says US troops fired on first
** US troops to hand over Anbar province's security to Iraqi forces

Please post new stories and comments about the coalition's wars in Iraq and Afghanistan on this thread. Prior updates here

White Paper Justifying Iraq War Written Three Months before Intel Report Arrived

Mon, 25 Aug 2008 01:21:42 -0700

White Paper Justifying Iraq War Written
Three Months before Intel Report Arrived

A war based on deception and fraud Worldpassion cc

National Security Archive Stunner

PR Push for Iraq War Preceded Intelligence Findings

Fri, 22 Aug 2008 10:44:43 -0700

John Prados | Washington D.C | August 22

National Security Archive - "White Paper" Drafted before NIE even Requested
National Security Archive Electronic Briefing Book No. 254

The U.S. intelligence community buckled sooner in 2002 than previously reported to Bush administration pressure for data justifying an invasion of Iraq, according to a documents posting on the Web today by National Security Archive senior fellow John Prados. The documents suggest that the public relations push for war came before the intelligence analysis, which then conformed to public positions taken by Pentagon and White House officials. For example, a July 2002 draft of the "White Paper" ultimately issued by the CIA in October 2002 actually pre-dated the National Intelligence Estimate that the paper purportedly summarized, but which Congress did not insist on until September 2002.

A similar comparison between a declassified draft and the final version of the British government's "White Paper" on Iraq weapons of mass destruction adds to evidence that the two nations colluded in the effort to build public support for the invasion of Iraq. Dr. Prados concludes that the new evidence tends to support charges raised by former White House press secretary Scott McClellan and by the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence in its long-delayed June 2008 "Phase II" report on politicization of intelligence.

[key findings in left sidebar]

Iraq and Afghanistan: Dual Fronts

Wed, 20 Aug 2008 11:00:29 -0700

August 20

U.S. speaks out against Iraqi special forces raid

The U.S. military spoke out on Wednesday against a deadly Iraqi special forces raid on the governor's office in one of the country's most restive provinces, saying it was a "rogue operation."

The Iraqi unit stormed Diyala governor Raad Rasheed Mulla Jawad's office in the provincial capital, Baquba, before dawn on Tuesday, killed his secretary and clashed with the regular army before withdrawing.

"The U.S. was not involved in that raid. It was an element of one of the Iraqi special operations forces... Do we support it in principle? Absolutely not," said Major-General Mark Hertling, commander of U.S. forces in northern Iraq.

Sarkozy tells French troops in Afghanistan to keep fighting

Sarkozy travelled to Kabul with his Defence Minister Herve Morin and Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner for a lightning visit to show support after the 10 were killed and 21 others wounded in a battle with Taliban rebels this week.

"I came to tell you that the work that you are doing here is essential," Sarkozy told the troops at their base at Camp Warehouse on the outskirts of Kabul.

"The best way to be loyal to your comrades is to continue your work, is to raise your heads, to be professional."

** Panjshir left to develop from the ground up
** Iraq invites Russian oil major back
** Iraq official: U.S., Iraq finish draft security deal
** Karzai blames his government for current rise in violence

Please post new stories and comments about the coalition's wars in Iraq and Afghanistan on this thread. Prior updates here

First Rule of SAPRO Is...Don't Talk About SAPRO

Thu, 14 Aug 2008 15:38:04 -0700

Good news: Pressure from Rep. Waxman to enforce Dr. Kaye Whitley's subpoena to testify on how the DOD is preventing and responding to incidents of sexual assault in the military have paid off: after first blocking her from attending a House committee's hearing, the Pentagon is allowing Whitley to testify. Bad news: the DOD continues to ignore a very specific responsibility they have been tasked with in order to fully address this issue.

I expect that people find it hard to deal with emotionally sensitive issues. I may even expect that many people would want to shield themselves from it.

But I won't tolerate elected and appointed officials who run and hide when they not only have the power to do something about it, they have the explicit responsibility of doing something about it.

And when that issue concerns protecting women in the military from sexual assault, it should be absolutely unacceptable for the Defense Department's Sexual Assault Prevention and Response Office (SAPRO), to shirk their responsibilities of doing all they can to address what is a very serious issue, which includes participating in a congressional hearing on why so many alarming reports have been surfacing about the sexual assault rate in the military.

Iraq and Afghanistan: Dual Fronts

Sat, 02 Aug 2008 18:41:24 -0700

Aug 2

An Afghan boy from Helmand Province carried water back to his family’s tent at a refugee camp on the outskirts of Kabul. NYT

Deal with Shia prisoner left Basra at mercy of gangs, colonel admits

British commanders in Iraq made an astonishing secret deal with a Shia prisoner to withdraw from Basra which left the city at the mercy of criminal gangs, one of the UK's senior military officers serving in Iraq has said.

Colonel Richard Iron said the "understandable but inexcusable" deal was one of several "terrible mistakes" the British have made during their occupation of the south of the country.

In an exclusive interview with The Independent on Sunday, Col Iron, who leads the teams mentoring the Iraqi army in central Basra, said the deal had included the release of 120 prisoners and had the effect of leaving the city in a lawless state.

As the Fighting Swells in Afghanistan, So Does a Refugee Camp in Its Capital

On a piece of barren land on the western edge of this capital, a refugee camp is steadily swelling as families displaced by the heavy bombardment in southern Afghanistan arrive in batches

The growing numbers reaching Kabul are a sign of the deepening of the conflict between NATO and American forces and the Taliban in the south and of the feeling among the population that there will be no end soon. Families who fled the fighting around their homes in Helmand Province one or two years ago and sought temporary shelter around two southern provincial capitals, Lashkar Gah and Kandahar, said they had moved to Kabul because of growing insecurity across the south.

** US 'held suspects on British territory in 2006'

Please post new stories and comments about the coalition's wars in Iraq and Afghanistan on this thread. Prior updates here)

A Perspective on the Surge

Tue, 29 Jul 2008 05:17:29 -0700

General Petraeus’s surge is widely credited with bringing down violence in Iraq to a level that allows for political development and the withdrawal of some US troops. The impact of the surge has recently entered into the presidential campaign, but the matter should not be another partisan issue debated with slogans. It is central to understanding developments in Iraq and expectations in Afghanistan, where the principles of the surge are likely to be put into practice. US officials think that they have written the pages of recent Iraqi history, but important passages have been written with Saudi and Persian pens.

The surge increased US troop levels in the Sunni center in order to begin a counterinsurgency program. Based on British and French experiences late in the colonial era, it sought to rid a small area of insurgents through military force then win over local support by providing government services and stimulating economic development. Upon consolidation in one locale, the cycle would be repeated in surrounding areas, spreading out gradually across the country in a manner that counterinsurgency advocates liken to an oil spot spreading across water. Looking at the political and military dynamics reverberating through Iraq over the last two years or so, one can see other forces at work that reduced violence – forces unrelated to the surge and the counterinsurgency principles upon which it rests.

More after the jump

An Ounce of Prevention, No Longer an Option

Mon, 28 Jul 2008 14:14:10 -0700

Last week Dr. Benjamin Brewer, who writes “The Doctor's Office” column for the Wall Street Journal, put a face on a disturbing trend in U.S. health care. A lack of insurance and high health care costs are forcing many Americans to miss out on preventive care: people are skipping check-ups, discontinuing medication, even refusing annual screenings like mammograms and colonoscopies.

For example, a patient of Dr. Brewer's had quit smoking in order to afford gas for his 40-mile commute to work. Unfortunately, he still developed pneumonia. The patient refused to let an ER doctor admit him, in fear of the costs, and he decided not to fill an antibiotic prescription, because his insurance had a $50 drug co-pay, which he said he simply couldn't afford.

Iraq and Afghanistan: Dual Fronts

Sun, 27 Jul 2008 05:46:39 -0700

AFPWomen walk through an archway leading to the shrine of Imam Musa al-Kadhim in Kadhimiyah.

July 27

Closing in on Vietnam spending

The total cost of the Iraq war is approaching the Vietnam War's expense, a congressional report estimates, while spending for military operations after 9/11 has exceeded it.

The new report by the Congressional Research Service estimates the U.S. has spent $648 billion on Iraq war operations, putting it in range with the $686 billion, in 2008 dollars, spent on the Vietnam War, the second most expensive war behind World War II. Since the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, the U.S. has doled out almost $860 billion for military operations in Afghanistan, Iraq and elsewhere around the world.

Shiite Militia in Baghdad Sees Its Power Ebb

The Mahdi Army has been profoundly weakened in a number of neighborhoods, in an important, if tentative, milestone for stability in Iraq.

** NATO repells attack on Afghan district centre, kills dozens
** Governor says NATO air raid kills dozens of Taliban
** AP Analysis: US now winning Iraq war that seemed lost--- A rebuttal from Warren at Blue Girl,Red State
** Turkish warplanes hit 12 outlawed PKK targets in northern Iraq
** Sending more troops to Afghanistan could backfire, experts say

Please post new stories and comments about the coalition's wars in Iraq and Afghanistan on this thread. (More after the jump. Prior updates here)

Surge is Saving Face, ie deception

Sat, 26 Jul 2008 17:58:28 -0700

The surge of American Troops in Iraq coincided with a shift in policy by the Pentagon. The new policy in Iraq was to focus on "training" the Iraqi troops.
U.S. troops were pulled out of Iraqi cities and consolidated at U.S. bases while day-to-day combat duty was mainly turned over to the Iraqi army. The surge of troops was used as part of an expanded training mission to supposedly help strengthen the Iraqi army.

Therefore, US soldiers are now more confined to bases. Thus, with less patrolling the streets of Iraq, it is quite obvious that there is less probability of US soldiers coming under attack and therefore less deaths and casualties.

We Humans Must Figure out how to Make Peace

Sat, 26 Jul 2008 08:26:54 -0700

BY CODY LYON

The afternoon sun had begun to fade, but the Bryant park trees twinkled, offering a sense of shelter, comfort, peace, away from the bustle of sidewalks, the glaring of glass high in the sky towering over the beating nucleus ,Midtown Manhattan.

A conversation carries on by phone, the New Yorker, questions, listens and learns about a friend's trip up north to a city many miles away.

"It went well," said the friend, on assignment in New England, where he'd given a speech, seeking to explain a campaign of tolerance to a younger generation.

"Great" came the response from Midtown from under the trees that twinkled, as he propped his feet on his bicycle, after a job interview, before beginning the journey down 5th Avenue to his soon to be former home in New York's east village.