The WELL: pre.vue.80: US v. Iraq

#41: Gail Williams (gail) Wed 24 Jan 07 10:48

Wed, 24 Jan 2007 10:48:00 PST

Today the Democratic party is in congress, working on a resolution to oppose Bush's "surge" proposal, which, as many have noted, is not the maximum number of troops deployed during this war, and has many earmarks of more of the same with more casualties.

Ron's citation in the post above, from 2004, is fascinating in the light of current events.

So much clarity in hindsight, even then. [Read entire topic]

#40: Cleave the general ear (ronks) Fri 30 Jul 04 19:42

Fri, 30 Jul 2004 19:42:00 PDT

I don't know if this has been mentioned before, but the Center For Defense Information has a very cogent speech by former Marine general Anthony Zinni on the ten worst mistakes the US made in the Iraq war at

http://www.cdi.org/program/document.cfm?DocumentID=2208

There is also a follow-up Q & A session at

http://www.cdi.org/program/document.cfm?DocumentID=2228 [Read entire topic]

#39: Authentic Frontier Gibberish (gerry) Fri 30 Jul 04 18:50

Fri, 30 Jul 2004 18:50:00 PDT

Here's a useful site: http://costofwar.com/ [Read entire topic]

#38: The reheating isn't the crime. (rosmar) Thu 22 Jul 04 19:45

Thu, 22 Jul 2004 19:45:00 PDT

[Read entire topic]

#37: Cynthia Dyer-Bennet (cdb) Thu 22 Jul 04 14:08

Thu, 22 Jul 2004 14:08:00 PDT

[Read entire topic]

#36: All's Well That Ends Now (dsg) Thu 22 Jul 04 13:41

Thu, 22 Jul 2004 13:41:00 PDT

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#35: angie (coiro) Wed 21 Jul 04 16:52

Wed, 21 Jul 2004 16:52:00 PDT

With today's bombing, we have reached the grim milestone of 900 US lives lost in Iraq, and no end in sight.

May their souls rest in peace. [Read entire topic]

#34: angie (coiro) Fri 18 Jun 04 22:37

Fri, 18 Jun 2004 22:37:00 PDT

The Guardian (UK) reports the following:

>>A senior US intelligence official is about to publish a bitter condemnation of America's counter-terrorism policy, arguing that the west is losing the war against al-Qaida and that an "avaricious, premeditated, unprovoked" war in Iraq has played into Osama bin Laden's hands.

Imperial Hubris: Why the West is Losing the War on Terror, due out next month, dismisses two of the most frequent boasts of the Bush administration: that Bin Laden and al-Qaida are "on the run" and that the Iraq invasion has made America safer.

In an interview with the Guardian the official, who writes as "Anonymous", described al-Qaida as a much more proficient and focused organisation than it was in 2001, and predicted that it would "inevitably" acquire weapons of mass destruction and try to use them.

He said Bin Laden was probably "comfortable" commanding his organisation from the mountainous tribal lands along the border between Pakistan and Afghanistan. ...

Imperial Hubris is the latest in a relentless stream of books attacking the administration in election year. Most of the earlier ones, however, were written by embittered former officials. This one is unprecedented in being the work of a serving official with nearly 20 years experience in counter-terrorism who is still part of the intelligence establishment ...

The fact that he has been allowed to publish, albeit anonymously and without naming which agency he works for, may reflect the increasing frustration of senior intelligence officials at the course the administration has taken ...

Anonymous, who published an analysis of al-Qaida last year called Through Our Enemies' Eyes, thinks it quite possible that another devastating strike against the US could come during the election campaign, not with the intention of changing the administration, as was the case in the Madrid bombing, but of keeping the same one in place. "I'm very sure they can't have a better administration for them than the one they have now," he said. "One way to keep the Republicans in power is to mount an attack that would rally the country around the president." ...

The complete story:

<http://www.guardian.co.uk/alqaida/story/0,12469,1242638,00.html> [Read entire topic]

#33: angie (coiro) Sat 29 May 04 17:20

Sat, 29 May 2004 17:20:00 PDT

No, I don't think it implies anything in and of itself. Rather, the stealth release indicates apprehension on the part of tptb; anything that can even vaguely be construed as bad news is being sneaked in the back door. [Read entire topic]

#32: Mr Izzard's oeurvroruevree (woodman) Sat 29 May 04 17:16

Sat, 29 May 2004 17:16:00 PDT

That Tillman was killed by friendly fire is an interesting fact, I guess, but am I wrong in thinking it implies absolutely nothing about Tillman or the Army or the Bush administration or anything else? As I understand it, friendly fire is a fact of life in modern war, and there are always a certain number of casualties from it. [Read entire topic]