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Sunday, October 23, 2011 Syria Sliding Toward Civil War Which really makes it part of WWIII when you think about it (before the thing becomes official with the attack on Iran). "Troops in Syria storm defiant town" September 28, 2011|By Zeina Karam, Associated Press BEIRUT - Syrian troops firing machine guns mounted on tanks stormed a rebellious town in central Syria before dawn yesterday as part of military operations aimed at crushing the six-month-old uprising against President Bashar Assad, activists said. The offensive in Rastan, just north of the central city of Homs and on the highway to Turkey, continued through yesterday morning, leaving at least 20 people wounded, according to the London-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. Rastan has emerged as a hotbed of dissent against Assad’s autocratic regime during six months of antigovernment protests, and alleged army deserters have frequently clashed there with the military and security forces in the past. The Local Coordination Committees activist network, the Observatory, and other groups reported yesterday’s attacks in Rastan. They said the tanks and armored vehicles entered Rastan early yesterday and dozens of troops were deployed. The United Nations estimates that more than 2,700 civilians have been killed in the government’s crackdown on the uprising that began in mid-March, inspired by the Arab revolutions that have toppled autocratic rulers in Tunisia, Egypt, and Libya. The Syrian government’s bloody crackdown has prompted the international community, including the United States and European nations, to impose stiff sanctions on the regime. Assad insists the unrest is being driven by terrorists and Islamic extremists acting out a foreign conspiracy to fracture Syria. Ignoring the mounting death toll from his government’s bloody crackdown, Foreign Minister Walid al-Moallem of Syria told the United Nations on Monday that external critics were to blame for the violence and for causing delays in Assad’s plans for democratic reforms. In a speech to the UN General Assembly, he sought to paint the Assad regime as having been on the brink of wide-ranging democratic reforms when foreign-inspired religious radicals and armed groups forced the Assad regime to put down the rebellion to hold the country together. Moallem said reforms “had to take a back seat to other priorities. Our overriding priority was facing the external pressures which were at times tantamount to blatant conspiracies.’’ The longtime foreign minister said that internal desires for reform “have been manipulated to future objectives which are alien to the interests and express desires of the Syrian people.’’ --more--" Want confirmation of a conspiracy? "Killings of Syrian intellectuals continue with nuclear expert; Engineer is fourth man assassinated since Sunday" September 29, 2011|By Zeina Karam, Associated Press BEIRUT - A Syrian nuclear engineer was assassinated in a hail of bullets in central Syria yesterday, the latest casualty in a string of killings this week of academics and scientists, Syria’s state-run news agency and activists said.... Smells like Mossad to me. Did it in Iraq, doing it in Iran. The dead men came from different religious backgrounds - Shi’ite, Alawite, and Christian - and it unclear whether the killings had any sectarian motives. None of those killed were Sunni, Saleh said. It's not unclear to me when the media basically confirm it with their newspeak. Syria, like Iraq, has a volatile sectarian divide, making civil unrest a frightening prospect. The Assad regime is dominated by the Alawite minority, an offshoot of Shi’ite Islam, but the country is overwhelmingly Sunni Muslim. The agenda-pushing agitators always use that wedge and I'm no longer buying it. Problem is you can always find a few assholes on a local level. --more--" "Angry Syrians pelt US envoy with tomatoes; Assad backers attack diplomat critical of regime" September 30, 2011|By Bassem Mroue, Associated Press BEIRUT - Angry supporters of President Bashar Assad’s regime hurled tomatoes and eggs at the US ambassador to Syria yesterday as he entered the office of a leading opposition figure, then trapped him inside the building for three hours. Truthfully, our politicians deserve it. Heck, they deserve a tar-and-feathering and swim in the harbor. I'm nonviolent, but I will not stop and will step aside and submit to the mob if it is their wish. Then I will be a spectator and witness, right? The Obama administration blamed the Syrian government for the attack in Damascus, saying it was part of an ongoing orchestrated campaign to intimidate American diplomats in the country. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton condemned the attack as wholly unjustified.... Such incidents are usually not spontaneous in Syria, and the attack yesterday came amid accusations by Damascus that Washington is inciting violence in the country. Oh, I firmly believe this is a CIA-inspired effort with regional help from our Saudi partners. The agenda-pushing media's focus on it is all I needed to be convinced. The protesters, who were waiting with eggs and tomatoes when Ford’s delegation arrived, launched the attack as the Americans entered the building. We drop missiles, bombs, and artillery on people, American. In Washington, the State Department said that a rowdy, violent mob tried to attack Ford and several American embassy workers in Damascus. Spokesman Mark Toner said Ford and his colleagues were unharmed and are now safe. However, several heavily armored embassy vehicles sent to help extricate the embassy workers from the situation were badly damaged when the same crowd hurled rocks, White House and State Department officials said. “This inexcusable assault is clearly part of ongoing campaign of intimidation aimed at diplomats … who are raising questions about what is going on inside Syria,’’ Clinton said. “It reflects an intolerance on the part of the regime and its supporters.’’ Sort of like your Iran and Pakistan war rhetoric of late, right? --more--" "Syrian troops battle renegades; 11 protesters killed as army defectors fight with loyalists" by Bassem Mroue, Associated Press / October 1, 2011 BEIRUT - Syrian troops fought intense battles yesterday with hundreds of fellow soldiers who have turned their weapons against the regime of President Bashar Assad, revealing the increasingly militarized nature of an uprising started months ago by peaceful protesters. Across the country, tens of thousands of demonstrators took to the streets as they do each Friday, braving gunfire by government forces who have waged a relentless crackdown.... The army defections as well as reports that once-peaceful protesters are increasingly taking up arms to fight the government crackdown have raised concerns of the risk of civil war in a country with a deep sectarian divide.... There they go again. Syria has a volatile sectarian divide, making this kind of civil unrest one of the most dire scenarios.... Yeah, yeah, I got the point the first time. --more--" "Syrian troops reclaim most of central rebel town" by Bassem Mroue Associated Press / October 2, 2011 BEIRUT - Syrian troops retook most of a rebellious central town yesterday after five days of intense fighting with army defectors who sided with protesters in one of the worst clashes of the 6-month-old antigovernment uprising, a rights group said. Rami Abdul-Rahman, head of the London-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, said the troops spread out across Rastan after defectors pulled out of the town. The army defections as well as reports that once-peaceful protesters are increasingly taking up arms to fight the government crackdown have raised concerns of the risk of civil war in a country with a deep sectarian divide. The outpouring against President Bashar Assad’s regime began in mid-March with rallies by peaceful, unarmed protesters. Attacks by proregime gunmen and Syrian military forces have failed to stop the demonstrators from continuing to take to the streets.... --more--" "Syrian opposition introduces new national council; Accuses Assad of working to start civil war" by Zeina Karam Associated Press / October 3, 2011 BEIRUT - Syrian dissidents formally established a broad-based national council yesterday designed to overthrow President Bashar Assad’s regime, which they accused of pushing the country to the brink of civil war. Syrians took to the streets in celebration, singing and dancing. Yes, at bottom it is ONCE AGAIN about REGIME CHANGE! And get this: Meanwhile, in a restive northern area, gunmen killed the 21-year-old son of Syria’s top Sunni Muslim cleric in an ambush, the state-run news agency reported. The cleric, Grand Mufti Ahmad Badreddine Hassoun, is considered a close supporter of Assad’s regime and has echoed its claims that the unrest in Syria is the result of a foreign conspiracy.... Gee, WHO would have wanted to DO THAT? Syria’s volatile sectarian divide means that an armed conflict could rapidly escalate in scale and brutality.... Until now, the opposition movement has focused on peaceful demonstrations, although recently some protesters have been reported to have taken up arms to defend themselves against military attacks. Army defectors have also been fighting government troops. I've noticed the defectors in Yemen are not accorded the same attention or sympathy in regard to the U.S. butcher Saleh, but that's just me. Yesterday’s killing of the mufti’s son took place in the Saraqeb region of the restive northern Idlib Province as he left the university where he studied. He was shot in the chest and kidney and died later of his injuries. The news report gave no details on who might have been behind the killing. In forming a national council, the Syrians are following in the footsteps of Libyan rebels.... And thus you know it is a western intelligence overthrow. That's not good news for Syria. Are you guys prepared to be smashed by NATO? Although the mass demonstrations in Syria have shaken one of the most authoritarian regimes in the Middle East, the opposition has made no major gains in recent months. It holds no territory and still has no clear leadership. The Syrian opposition consists of a variety of groups with differing ideologies, including Islamists and secularists, and there have been many meetings of dissidents claiming to represent Syria’s popular uprising since it erupted seven months ago. But the new council is the broadest umbrella movement of revolutionary forces formed so far.... The council’s statement said it categorically rejects any foreign intervention or military operations to bring down Assad’s regime but called on the international community to protect the Syrian people from “the declared war and massacres being committed against them by the regime.’’ Libya. --more--" "Syrian troops detaining thousands; Violence in town of Rastan raises fear of civil war" by Zeina Karam Associated Press / October 4, 2011 BEIRUT - Syrian troops going house to house have detained more than 3,000 people in the past three days in the rebellious town of Rastan, which saw some of the worst fighting of the six-month-old uprising recently, activists said yesterday. Over the past week, the military fought hundreds of army defectors who sided with anti-regime protesters in Rastan. The fighting demonstrated the increasingly militarized nature of the uprising and heightened fears that Syria may be sliding toward civil war.... Syria’s opposition movement has until now focused on peaceful demonstrations, although recently there have been reports of protesters taking up arms to defend themselves against military attacks. Army defectors have also been fighting government troops, particularly in Rastan, which government forces retook on Saturday. The fears of civil war, possibly along sectarian lines, were heightened by the assassination Sunday of the 21-year-old son of Syria’s top Sunni Muslim cleric - the latest in a string of targeted killings. The state-appointed cleric, Grand Mufti Ahmad Badreddine Hassoun, is considered a loyal supporter of President Bashar Assad’s regime, heading a host of Sunni clergymen who have been a base of support for the president’s ruling Alawite sect. Say what? So much for sectarian divide s***, sigh. Hassoun, who has echoed regime claims that the unrest in Syria is the result of a foreign conspiracy, accused the opposition of creating the climate for his son’s killing and blamed anti-Assad Sunni clerics for allegedly issuing fatwas (religious edicts) inciting violence against him. “My brothers who were misguided and carried arms, you should have assassinated me because some clerics issued such fatwas. Why did you kill a young man who did nothing and harmed no one,’’ Hassoun, holding back tears, said in a sermon at his son’s funeral in the northeastern city of Aleppo, aired on Syrian television stations. Saria Hassoun’s killing was the latest in a series of targeted executions that included a nuclear engineer, university professors, and physicians. And who would want to kill Syria's brains, huh? Who benefits? The other men, a mixture of Alawites, Christians, and Shi’ites, were all killed in the past week, most of them in central Homs province - one of the hotbeds of antigovernment protests. The regime has accused “terrorist gunmen’’ of carrying out the killings, while the opposition accused the regime of trying to foment sectarian strife to maintain its grip on power. Syria’s volatile sectarian divide means that an armed conflict could rapidly escalate in scale and brutality. Yeah, except a bunch of Sunnis support the Shi'ite Assad, wah-wah-wah. The Assad regime is dominated by the Alawite minority, an offshoot of Shi’ite Islam, but the country is overwhelmingly Sunni Muslim. Alawite dominance has bred resentments, which Assad has worked to tamp down by pushing a strictly secular identity for the state. He has exploited fears of a civil war by portraying himself as the only power who can keep the peace. Yeah, whatever, AmeriKan media. --more--" What do you mean you were duped? "Syrian raises doubts about killing" October 06, 2011|By Zeina Karam, Associated Press BEIRUT - A woman appeared on Syrian state television yesterday saying that she is the young Syrian who was widely reported to have been beheaded and mutilated by security agents while in custody last month. The station said the interview was intended to discredit foreign “media fabrications.’’ Human rights groups, including Amnesty International, and Syrian activists reported last month that 18-year-old Zainab al-Hosni was found dead and mutilated after she was detained in her hometown of Homs. The young woman quickly became a symbol of the 6-month-old uprising against authoritarian President Bashar Assad, with protesters hailing her as the “flower of Syria.’’ I am tired of war propaganda and demonization of official enemies from a mass-murdering, war-criminal accomplice of a media. Last month, Amnesty said the mutilated teenager had reportedly been detained by security agents to pressure her activist brother to turn himself in. Activists said she was the first woman to die in custody since the uprising began in March and it reinforced what witnesses and the UN human rights office said was a fearsome new tactic of retaliating against protesters’ families. You can just smell the stink, can't you? But in the state television interview, a black-clad young woman who identified herself as Zainab al-Hosni said she had run away from her family home in late July because her brothers abused her. She said her family did not know that she was alive and she asked her mother for forgiveness. “I am very much alive and I have opted to tell the truth because I am planning to get married in the future and have kids who I want to be registered,’’ she said. There is a hint in there for AmeriKa's media. She said she decided to speak out after hearing on TV that she had been arrested and beheaded. Her appearance was similar to the woman whose photos were carried by protesters in Homs, but her identity could not be independently verified, as all media are severely restricted from reporting on events in Syria. Amnesty International issued a statement after the interview saying it raised questions about the information the group received that led to its initial report on the death. The rights group said its initial statement on the death was “based on information provided by sources close to the incident itself, who passed Amnesty International video footage of a dismembered body.’’ It was not immediately clear who those sources were. I think I know. The statement went on to say: “If the body was not that of Zainab al-Hosni, then clearly the Syrian authorities need to disclose whose it was, the cause and circumstances of the death, and why Zainab al-Hosni’s family were informed that she was the victim.’’ The episode, and Amnesty’s statement raised the prospect that the story may have been a hoax planted by Syrian authorities, possibly in an effort to embarrass the media and human rights group who have been reporting critically on the government’s brutal crackdown on protesters that has killed nearly 3,000 people in six months. First of all, the media doesn't need any help embarrassing itself. And this laughable notion that it was a Syrian hoax is a scream! --more--" Now back to the regularly-scheduled propaganda: "7 killed as Syrian troops hunt defectors" October 07, 2011|Associated Press BEIRUT - Syrian troops stormed villages close to the border with Turkey yesterday, hunting armed military defectors in clashes that left at least four soldiers and three others dead, activists said. The fighting in the country’s restive northern region of Jabal al-Zawiya, where Syrian military defectors are active, was the latest sign of a trend toward growing militarization of the seven-month-old uprising. The Syrian opposition had until recently focused on nonviolent resistance. But since late July, a group calling itself the Free Syrian Army has claimed attacks across the country and emerged as the first significant armed challenge to President Bashar Assad’s authoritarian regime. The soft coup technique didn't work, so.... The opposition has mostly welcomed the armed group’s formation, and the movement could propel the Syrian revolt by encouraging senior officers to desert the regime. But the escalation could also backfire horribly, giving the regime a new pretext to crack down even harder than it already has. The sectarian divide in Syria, where a regime composed mostly of the Alawite offshoot of Shi’ite Islam rules over Sunnis and others, also means that any insurgency could escalate quickly into civil war. I guess you can SEE WHAT IS COMING given my agenda-pushing articles, 'eh? --more--" "Leading opposition figure, 8 others killed amid widespread protests in Syria" October 08, 2011|By Associated Press BEIRUT - Syrian security forces opened fire on protesters in several parts of the country yesterday, killing at least eight people and wounding scores, while masked gunmen burst into an apartment in the predominantly Kurdish northeast and shot dead one of Syria’s most prominent opposition figures. Another leading opposition figure was beaten up by progovernment gunmen and rushed to a hospital in Damascus, activists said. The slaying of Mashaal Tammo, a 53-year-old former political prisoner and a spokesman for the Kurdish Future Party, was the latest in a string of targeted killings in Syria as the country slides further into disorder, seven months into the uprising against President Bashar Assad. Ads by Google The Next Middle East WarGet this Free Report from a Former Pentagon Official- Don't Miss it! HumanEvents.com/Middle-East-War I think we are in it. Can it be any clearer, folks? Tammo, killed by unknown gunmen in the city of Qamishli, was a member of the executive committee of the newly formed Syrian National Council, a broad-based front bringing together opposition figures inside and outside the country in an attempt to unify the deeply fragmented dissident movement. Qamishli erupted in protests as thousands of outraged people took to the streets and swarmed the hospital were Tammo was taken, many of them shouting “Azadi,’’ the Kurdish word for freedom, said Mustafa Osso, a Kurdish lawyer and activist from the city. Tammo, a vocal regime opponent, had been instrumental in organizing antigovernment protests in Qamishli in recent months. The killing could spark violent protests in the Kurdish region at a time when Syria’s security forces have their hands full in trying to stamp out dissent across much of the rest of the country. Kurds, the largest ethnic minority in Syria, make up 15 percent of the country’s 23 million people and have long complained of neglect and discrimination. Yeah, so who would want to get the Kurds upset? Cui bono? Since mid-March, the Syrian government crackdown has left at least 2,900 people dead. --more--" "Funeral for Kurdish activist draws thousands to Syrian city" October 09, 2011|By Anthony Shadid, New York Times BEIRUT - Tens of thousands of people poured into the streets of a Syrian city yesterday for the funeral of a celebrated Kurdish opposition leader whose assassination the day before unleashed fury in the country’s Kurdish regions and prompted condemnations from the United States and the European Union.... It is truly beginning to smell like a western intelligence agency hit. Mashaal Tammo, 53, was a respected activist who had been released last summer after spending more than three years in prison. Activists and relatives said he was killed by four masked gunmen who stormed his house Friday, and they blamed government forces for his death. The founder of the liberal Kurdish Future Movement Party, Tammo had angered both the government and rivals in the Kurdish community with his outspoken support for a pluralistic democratic state, in which Kurds would be an essential component. Hmmmmmm. Kurds make up about 10 percent of Syria’s 20 million people, concentrated in the remote northeast, which borders Iraq and Turkey, but also in Damascus and Aleppo, the country’s two largest cities. They have long faced harassment and discrimination, and for years many were denied Syrian citizenship. Though the community has sympathized with the uprising, its traditional leadership has yet to decisively enter the fray against Assad, and the government itself, veering between crackdown and concession, had appeared reluctant to provoke the Kurds. And WHICH FORCES WOULD BENEFIT by GETTING THEM INVOLVED? Who wants Assad overthrown? Early in the uprising, the government had informally negotiated with Kurdish leaders, reaching what some had termed “a gentleman’s agreement’’ to forestall mass unrest. Assad even promised to give tens of thousands citizenship in April, though activists say few, in fact, have received it. Then how does Assad benefit from this action? (Answer; he doesn't) The Syrian news agency blamed an “armed terrorist group’’ for Tammo’s death, a phrase it often deploys to underline its view of the uprising as an armed insurgency led by militant Islamists.... The sad fact is that is the truth. When those guys work for the empire it is not a problem. --more--" "Syria vows measures against nations that recognize opposition" October 10, 2011|By ASSOCIATED PRESS BEIRUT - Syria’s foreign minister warned the international community yesterday not to recognize a new umbrella council formed by the opposition, threatening “tough measures’’ against any country that does so. Foreign Minister Walid al-Moallem did not specify what measures Damascus might take. But he went on to say that countries that do not protect Syrian missions could find their own embassies treated in the same way. “We will take tough measures against any country that recognizes this illegitimate council,’’ Moallem said without elaborating. The Syrian National Council, announced last week in Turkey, is a broad-based group that includes most major opposition factions. No country or international body has recognized it as a legal representative of the Syrian people. Bourhan Ghalioun, the opposition council’s most prominent official, said he expects the organization will be recognized “in the coming few weeks.’’ Moallem’s comments came as the council was scheduled to hold two meetings yesterday, one in Cairo and another in Stockholm. Damascus appears concerned that if the Syrian National Council is recognized by the international community, it could play the same role as the National Transitional Council in Libya that ultimately overthrew Moammar Khadafy. Syria’s top diplomat was speaking during a joint news conference with a delegation from the left-leaning ALBA bloc of mostly Latin American countries, which includes Cuba, Venezuela, Ecuador, and Bolivia. The ALBA officials were visiting Damascus to express solidarity with Syria and met yesterday with President Bashar Assad. State-run news agency SANA quoted Assad as telling the delegation that Syria aims to make political reforms, then end armed presence. But past promises of sweeping reforms have not been carried through, and the opposition says it will accept nothing short of his departure. --more--" "EU plans expansion of Syrian sanctions, looks to opposition" October 11, 2011|By Malin Rising, Associated Press LUXEMBOURG - The European Union said yesterday it will reach out to the Syrian opposition movement to determine whether it can play a role in ousting President Bashar Assad, whose crackdown on prodemocracy protesters has killed nearly 3,000 people.... Diplomats said Syria’s opposition needs more work to become an effective political force and gain formal recognition as a legal representative of the Syrian people.... Earlier in the day, Syrian opposition members, including representatives of the newly formed Syrian National Council, said they had agreed on a democratic framework for a future nation and they want international observers to be allowed into the Arab state to examine the situation. Ghied Al Hashmy, a political scientist who participated in a conference in Sweden of Syrian opposition members, including council representatives, said they oppose military intervention but want more political pressure on Syria.... The international community’s unwillingness to get directly involved stems from a mix of international political complications, worries over unleashing a civil war, and plausible risks of touching off a wider Middle East conflict with archfoes Israel and Iran in the mix. That's where the heads of Empire are taking it, yeah. NATO Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen said last week the alliance has no intention of entering the Syrian conflict. Still, the prospect of such an intervention seems to have rattled the Assad regime. Syria’s top Sunni Muslim cleric has warned Western countries against military intervention and threatened to retaliate with suicide bombings in the United States and Europe if his country comes under attack. That's a SUNNI in the land of the great sectarian divide? In a speech late Sunday, Grand Mufti Ahmad Badreddine Hassoun, a state-appointed cleric and Assad loyalist, issued a clear warning to the West. “I say to all of Europe, I say to America, we will set up suicide bombers who are now in your countries, if you bomb Syria or Lebanon,’’ Hassoun said. “From now on an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.’’ It leaves the whole world blind and toothless; however, I can certainly understand where the feeling comes from. --more--" "Tens of thousands of Syrians rally in support of Assad" October 13, 2011|By Albert Aji Zeina Karam, Associated Press DAMASCUS, Syria - Tens of thousands of Syrians thronged a main square of the nation’s capital and nearby streets yesterday in a show of support for President Bashar Assad, as he struggles to quell a 7-month-old uprising. Opponents charge such rallies are staged by the regime. I am really, really, tired of the pot-hollering-kettle, agenda-pushing AmeriKan media. Yesterday’s demonstration was intended to show that Assad still enjoys the support of many Syrians. The gathering was huge in comparison with the almost daily antiregime protests that have been taking place across the country since March.... Organizers said the Damascus rally was also meant to thank Russia and China for blocking a UN Security Council resolution condemning Syria for its brutal crackdown. Their vetoes last week drew heavy criticism from the United States.... You think you can beat both of 'em in a war, AmeriKa? It's going to take nukes, isn't it, you unimaginable bastards? --more--" Did you SEE HOW MANY PEOPLE were in that PICTURE?!!!! Yes, dear American reader, you are constantly being filled with lies, distortions, obfuscations, and omissions from your newspaper. Speak of the devils! "US accuses Va. man of working as Syrian spy" October 13, 2011|New York Times WASHINGTON - The Justice Department accused a Syrian-American man yesterday of secretly working for Syrian intelligence. It said he collected information about people in the United States who were protesting the Syria’s crackdown on its prodemocracy movement as part of a scheme to “silence, intimidate, and potentially harm the protesters.’’ ************* The indictment of the man - Mohamad Anas Haitham Soueid, 47, a resident of Leesburg, Va. - says that he undertook surveillance of protesters against the Syrian regime, including recruiting others to make videos of rallies and interviews with people at the rallies. He also gathered names, phone numbers, and e-mail addresses of protesters and sent the materials to the Syrian intelligence service, the Mukhabarat, the indictment says. Oh, like AmeriKan law enforcement officials did at antiwar protests? It also says that he was working with an official at the Syrian Embassy in the United States, and that in June 2011 the Syrian government paid for him to travel to Syria, where he met with intelligence officials and spoke with the Syrian president, Bashar el-Assad, in private. The Syrian Embassy called the charges “baseless and totally unacceptable,’’ and said they were part of a “campaign of distortion and fabrications against the Embassy of Syria in the US.’’ That I believe. Smells like another FBI frame-up. --more--" "13 killed in fighting with Syrian troops" October 14, 2011|Associated Press RASTAN, Syria - Syrian troops clashed yesterday with armed men believed to be military defectors in a southern village and a northwestern town, killing at least 13 people in the latest sign that the 7-month-old uprising against President Bashar Assad is becoming increasingly militarized, activists said. In an attempt by the regime to show it still had the upper hand, the government took journalists on a tour of a central town where the most serious insurrection in recent weeks drew a crushing response. Many buildings in Rastan were burned, shops were shuttered, and soldiers manned military checkpoints. Several residents told of gunmen who they said terrorized the area. And government escorts displayed rifles and light weapons they said had been seized from gangs or terrorists, not from army defectors. Despite the spiraling violence and continuing protests, Assad said Syria has passed the most difficult period and is working to become “a model to be followed in the region.’’ He was apparently referring to promised political reforms, most of which have yet to be delivered. The comments, to a visiting Lebanese delegation, were reported by the official news agency.... --more--" "UN says Syria deaths top 3,000" October 15, 2011|By Zeina Karam, Associated Press BEIRUT - Thousands of Syrian protesters called on soldiers yesterday to abandon President Bashar Assad’s regime and join a dissident army numbering in the small thousands, as the top UN human rights official warned of a “full-blown civil war’’ in Syria, saying the death toll in the 7-month-old crackdown has passed 3,000. Security forces opened fire at protesters, killing at least 11, including a 14-year-old boy, in what has become a weekly ritual of protests met by gunfire, according to activists. Yesterday’s protests, dubbed “Free Soldiers,’’ were in honor of army officers and soldiers who have sided with the protesters and are reportedly clashing with loyalists in northern and central Syrian cities in an increasing militarization of the uprising. “The army and people are one!’’ protesters shouted in the southern village of Dael, where most of the deaths occurred yesterday. In other locations, some protesters held up banners that read: “Free soldiers do not kill free people asking for freedom.’’ “I will not serve in an army that destroys my country and kills my people,’’ read a posting on the Syrian revolution’s main Facebook page that was meant to encourage defections. Yesterday’s demonstrations were the most explicit show of support so far by the country’s protest movement for the defectors. Faced with gunfire, bullets, mass arrests, and a lack of willingness by the international community to intervene militarily, many Syrians now feel the armed dissidents are their only hope to topple Assad’s regime. The Free Syrian Army, as the dissidents are known, are led by an air force colonel who recently fled to Turkey. The group is said to include more than 10,000 members and is gaining momentum as the first armed challenge to Assad’s authoritarian regime after seven months of largely nonviolent resistance.... Analysts say that until the rebels can secure a territorial foothold as an operational launching pad - much like the eastern city of Benghazi was for the Libyan rebels - the defections are unlikely to pose a real threat to the unity of the Syrian army. Still, the increased military operations have raised concerns that the country may be sliding into civil war. International intervention, such as the NATO action in Libya that helped topple Moammar Khadafy, is all but out of the question in Syria. Meaning it is NOT out of the question! Washington and its allies have shown little appetite for intervening in another Arab nation in turmoil. There also is real concern that Assad’s ouster would spread chaos around the region. What a crock of crap given the last ten years. Syria is a geographical and political keystone in the heart of the Middle East, bordering five countries with which it shares religious and ethnic minorities and, in Israel’s case, a fragile truce. Its web of alliances extends to Lebanon’s powerful Hezbollah movement and Iran’s Shi’ite theocracy. There are worries that a destabilized Syria could send unsettling ripples through the region. Arab League officials said Arab foreign ministers will meet in Cairo tomorrow to discuss the situation in Syria after a request for an emergency meeting by the six-member Gulf Cooperation Council. Several Gulf countries, including Saudi Arabia, have pulled their ambassadors out of Syria to protest the government’s brutal crackdown on the protest movement. They have never been friends anyway. A top UN official warned that the unrelenting crackdown by the Assad government could worsen unless further action is taken. Navi Pillay, the UN high commissioner for human rights, said in a statement issued in Geneva: “The onus is on all members of the international community to take protective action in a collective and decisive manner.’’ While most in the Syrian opposition still reject military intervention, some now say it’s a necessity.... TO WAR!!!!! --more--" "Syrians revive protest effort" October 22, 2011|By Anthony Shadid, New York Times BEIRUT - The death of Moammar Khadafy reverberated across Syria yesterday, reviving protests that had begun to stall and focusing attention on a newly organized, unarmed opposition group seeking to challenge the Assad family’s four decades of rule. With an ambitious task, the Syrian National Council, announced in Istanbul this month, has begun trying to emulate the success of Libya’s opposition leadership, closing ranks in the most concerted attempt yet to forge an alternative to President Bashar Assad and courting international support that proved so crucial in Libya. “The focus of the world will now turn to Syria,’’ Samir Nachar, an activist from Aleppo and leader of the group, said yesterday. “It’s Syria’s turn to receive attention.’’ --more--" Update: Rubio to Syria’s Bashar al-Assad: You’re next, buddy Posted by Rocker at 7:34 PM Links to this post Labels: Neo-Con Plan, Syria, U.N. Iraqis Side Against Syria "In a shift, Iraq urges Syrian president to step down" September 21, 2011|By Michael S. Schmidt and Yasir Ghazi, New York Times BAGHDAD - After months of striking a far friendlier tone toward the government of Syrian president Bashar Assad, the Iraqi government has joined a chorus of other nations calling on him to step down.... The statements from Ali al-Moussawi, an adviser to the Iraqi prime minister Nouri al-Maliki, in an interview with the New York Times yesterday, mark a significant change for Iraq. When the United States and several of its major allies called last month for Assad to cede power, the Iraqi government appeared to be more in line with Iran, which has supported Assad. The same day as the US statement, Maliki gave a speech warning Arab leaders that Israel would benefit the most from the Arab Spring. “There is no doubt that there is a country that is waiting for the Arab countries to be ripped and is waiting for internal corrosion,’’ Maliki said in that speech. “Zionists and Israel are the first and biggest beneficiaries of this whole process.’’ How often do you see the Z-word in the AmeriKan newspaper, 'eh? These types of statements can not have gone over well in the halls of power in USrael. As violence began to spread across Syria in June, Maliki received a delegation of visiting Syrian businesspeople and government officials, including the foreign minister, to discuss closer economic ties between the two countries. At the time, Maliki called on Syrians to stick to peaceful protests and rely on the government to enact reforms. Moussawi said yesterday that the Iraqi government was very worried that if Assad’s government collapses, violence will spill over the border and further destabilize Iraq. And yet they are calling on him and his to step down? Mixed messages from my media in a very strange article. He said the Iraqi government was asking Washington what the US plans were in the event of Assad’s departure. Then the wheels are in motion, 'eh? --more--" Posted by Rocker at 6:11 PM Links to this post Labels: Iraq, Israel, Neo-Con Plan, Syria, U.S. Sunday Globe Special: Occupation Iraq Cut Short "US to slow diplomatic efforts in Iraq" by Michael S. Schmidt and Tim Arango New York Times / October 23, 2011 Beyond the final withdrawal of troops that President Obama announced Friday, U.S. fiscal troubles are dictating a drastic scaling back of plans to expand diplomatic and cultural programs once deemed vital to steadying Iraq and prying it from Iran’s tightening embrace. As recently as this summer, the State Department had planned to establish a consulate in the still-restive northern city of Mosul, with 700 staff members and security personnel. And as recently as the spring, the United States was moving ahead with plans for a consulate in Kirkuk. For more from BostonGlobe.com, sign up or log in below To continue, please sign up or log in to BostonGlobe.com Access the full articles and quality reporting of The Boston Globe at BostonGlobe.com Sign up Unlimited Access to BostonGlobe.com for 4 weeks for only 99¢. Sign up Are you a Boston Globe home delivery subscriber? Get FREE access as part of your print subscription. Start here BostonGlobe.com subscriber Click to continue reading this article or to log in to BostonGlobe.com. --nomore--" "U.S. Scales Back Diplomacy in Iraq Amid Fiscal and Security Concerns" by TIM ARANGO and MICHAEL S. SCHMIDT, October 22, 2011 BAGHDAD — Beyond the final withdrawal of troops that President Obama announced Friday, America’s fiscal troubles are dictating a drastic scaling back of plans for diplomatic, economic and cultural programs once deemed vital to steadying Iraq, building a long-term alliance and prying the country from Iran’s tightening embrace.... Taken together, the shrinking of the United States’ military and diplomatic ambitions underscores the reality that a post-America Iraq is taking shape more rapidly and completely than many Iraqis and Americans had envisioned. That has heartened many Iraqis and Americans, weary of more than eight years of war and occupation, but left others fearful. “The United States should not turn its back on Iraq,” Labid Abawi, the deputy foreign minister, said in an interview on Saturday. “Iraq needs the United States, and the United States needs Iraq.” The shifting relationship comes at a delicate time for Iraq and the region. The country finds itself surrounded by nations undergoing significant change. Iran, which has long sought to increase its influence on its neighbor, has been emboldened by the Arab Spring, which ousted or diminished several Western-leaning leaders. At the same time, Syria has been suffering through months of unrest that Iraqi leaders fear could spill over the border, reopening what was once a thoroughfare for fighters from Al Qaeda. American officials emphasize that they still plan a major increase in diplomatic and cultural programs — the building blocks of so-called soft power — scattering branch offices across the country in the largest diplomatic mission since the Marshall Plan. Soft power is a fancy way to say economic and political coercion. But the expansion of a diplomatic presence will be much smaller than imagined, a victim not only of budgetary constraints but also of a growing awareness that the decision to withdraw American soldiers makes it much harder for diplomats to safely do their work.... The reactions in Baghdad on Friday night and Saturday, after Mr. Obama’s remarks, were muted, a possible reflection of the country’s mixed emotions. Many Iraqis — especially ethnic Kurds, secular intellectuals and Sunnis skittish about Shiite power — have expressed anxiety about what the country might become without an American military presence. But others, like those who recently celebrated the closing of a major American base in Mosul, saw only possibilities in the increasing signs that the United States was definitively pulling back. Students, poets and local officials raised the Iraqi flag on Monday and held placards that read, “Congratulations to the city of Mosul on this great day, the last occupier soldier has left.” One celebrant, Sheik Shakir Ghalib, said: “The day of the end of the occupation means such a great happiness I can’t describe it. The happiness is overwhelming to me. As I see the people of my city celebrate the departure of the Americans from the city of prophets, my eyes cry and we pray for God to bless our martyrs and release our detainees.” The discussions over the last year about America’s future role in Iraq, both within the United States government and between the two countries, have laid bare the diminishing ability of the United States to shape outcomes in Iraq, as well as a relative lack of interest in a Congress consumed by domestic issues. “I guess very thoughtful people believe there should be some residual presence in Iraq,” said Christopher R. Hill, a former United States ambassador to Iraq who now runs the Josef Korbel School of International Studies at the University of Denver. “But there are many Americans who don’t want to hear the word ‘Iraq’ and are not really behind a continued presence.” Given that, Mr. Hill said, “I’m not surprised there is downward gravity about what we really want to see there.” The State Department’s plans still need approval from the Iraqi government and financing from Congress. The department has requested $6.2 billion to finance its operations for the 2012 fiscal year. That is what my printed Globe carried. On Saturday, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton stressed the ties that will remain — and issued what appeared to be a barely veiled warning to Iran. “As we open this new chapter in a relationship with a sovereign Iraq, to the Iraqis we say: America is with you as you take your next steps in your journey to secure your democracy,” Mrs. Clinton told reporters in Dushanbe, Tajikistan. “And to the countries in the region, especially Iraq’s neighbors, we want to emphasize that America will stand with our allies and friends, including Iraq, in defense of our security and interests.” “Obama’s announcement to withdraw all U.S. troops is a victory for the Iraqis, but we have to be aware of Iranian influences and their attempts to exert control over Iraq,” said Haidar al-Mulla, a spokesman and lawmaker with Iraqiya, the political bloc that won the most seats in last year’s parliamentary elections. --more--" Posted by Rocker at 10:05 AM Links to this post Labels: Iraq, U.S. Boston Sunday Globe Stinks "On the menu, but not on your plate" by Jenn Abelson and Beth Daley Globe Staff / October 23, 2011 A five-month Globe investigation into the mislabeling of fish showed that Massachusetts consumers routinely and unwittingly overpay for less desirable, sometimes undesirable, species - or buy seafood that is simply not what it is advertised to be. Americans are so numb to that they can't even smell the stink anymore. In many cases, the fish was caught thousands of miles away and frozen, not hauled in by local fishermen, as the menu claimed. It may be perfectly palatable - just not what the customer ordered. But sometimes mislabeled seafood can cause allergic reactions, violate dietary restrictions, or contain chemicals banned in the United States. The Globe collected fish from 134 restaurants, grocery stores, and seafood markets from Leominster to Provincetown, and hired a laboratory in Canada to conduct DNA testing on the samples.... The results underscore the dramatic lack of oversight in the seafood business compared with other food industries such as meat and poultry. Nationally, mislabeled fish is estimated to cost diners and the industry up to hundreds of millions of dollars annually, according to the National Fisheries Institute, a trade group. Just like any other AmeriKan industry. It happens for a range of reasons, from outright fraud to a chef’s ignorance to the sometimes real difficulty of discerning one fillet from another. But industry specialists say money is commonly the motivator: It’s a way to increase profits - a cheaper fish sold as something more pricey - on the assumption that customers will not detect the difference.... Just like any other AmeriKan industry. Imported fish - most of it frozen - makes up 86 percent of the seafood Americans eat, compared with less than 50 percent in 1980. Last year, the United States imported about 5.5 billion pounds of fish worth almost $15 billion, much of it from China. As consumption of foreign seafood has increased, so has mislabeling, according to industry specialists. Because the sea-to-plate process has become so long and complicated, there are more opportunities for fraud and mistakes to take place. And the absence of regular testing by federal and state agencies has allowed fish substitution to thrive.... I'm glad I rarely ever eat fish. --more--" The Globe makes you about as sick, too. Posted by Rocker at 9:45 AM Links to this post Labels: Health, U.S. Saturday, October 22, 2011 Occupation Iraq: US Returning in 2012 "Negotiations will continue, and some of those troops might find themselves redeployed to Iraq in 2012 or beyond, a US official said yesterday.... Possibilities being discussed are for some troops to come back in 2012.... Other scenarios being discussed include having some US troops come back under the auspices of NATO." Oh, I'll bet the troops are happy as hell to read that. Of course, the article has been totally rewritten from the printed pos I'm staring at in my Boston Globe. Any wonder why I really am sick of reading their s***? Also see: Occupation Iraq: 2012 and Beyond Posted by Rocker at 9:30 PM Links to this post Labels: Iraq, U.S. Occupation Iraq: Decisive Iraqis If you choose not to decide you still have made a choice! "US drops plans to extend Iraq stay" October 16, 2011|By Lara Jakes and Rebecca Santana, Associated Press BAGHDAD - The United States is abandoning plans to keep troops in Iraq past a year-end withdrawal deadline, the Associated Press has learned. The decision to pull out fully by January will effectively end more than eight years of US involvement in the Iraq war, despite ongoing concerns about its security forces and the potential for instability. The decision ends months of uncertainty by US officials over whether to stick to a Dec. 31 withdrawal deadline that was set in 2008 or to negotiate a new security agreement to ensure that gains made and more than 4,400 American military lives lost since March 2003 do not go to waste. I hate to say it, but they already have. The whole thing was based on lies. And what of the millions of dead Iraqis? Will they even enter the view of the AmeriKan media? In recent months, Washington has been discussing with Iraqi leaders the possibility of several thousand American troops remaining to continue training Iraqi security forces. But a senior Obama administration official in Washington confirmed yesterday that all American troops will leave Iraq except for about 160 active-duty soldiers attached to the US Embassy. A senior US military official confirmed the departure and said the withdrawal could allow future but limited US military training missions in Iraq if requested. Both officials spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the issue. Throughout the discussions, Iraqi leaders have adamantly refused to give US troops immunity from prosecution in Iraqi courts, and the Americans have refused to stay without it. Iraq’s leadership has been split on whether it wanted US forces to stay. Some argued the further training and US help was vital, particularly to protect Iraq’s airspace and gather security intelligence. But others have deeply opposed any US troop presence, including Shi’ite militiamen who have threatened attacks on any US forces who remain. Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki has told US military officials that he does not have the votes in Parliament to provide immunity to the American trainers, the US military official said. A western diplomatic official in Iraq said Maliki told international diplomats he will not bring the immunity issue to Parliament because lawmakers will not approve it. Iraqi lawmakers excel at last-minute agreements. But with little wiggle room on the immunity issue and the US military needing to move equipment out as soon as possible, a last-minute change between now and Dec. 31 seems almost out of the question. Regardless of whether US troops are here or not, there will be a massive American diplomatic presence. The US Embassy in Baghdad is the largest in the world, and the State Department will have offices in Basra, Irbil, and Kirkuk as well as other locations around the country where contractors will train Iraqi forces on US military equipment they are purchasing. About 5,000 security contractors and personnel will be tasked with helping protect American diplomats and facilities around the country, the State Department has said. Oh, the TROOPS are leaving but the MERCENARIES are STAYING! The US Embassy will still have a handful of Marines for protection and 157 US military personnel in charge of facilitating weapons sales to Iraq. Those are standard functions at most American embassies around the world and would be considered part of the regular embassy staff. Weapons sales are a main function of our diplomats and embassy? When the 2008 agreement requiring all US forces leave Iraq was passed, many US officials assumed it would inevitably be renegotiated so that American forces could stay longer. So did I. Ads by Google Public Arrest RecordsSee anyone's past criminal history. Unlimited searches. Peace of mind. instantcheckmate.com Israel VacationThere's a little bit of Israel in all of us. Find the Israel in you! www.goIsrael.com My news being brought to me by fascists and supremacists. Great. The United States said repeatedly this year it would entertain an offer from the Iraqis to have a small force stay behind, and the Iraqis said they would like American military help. In other words, we were begging them to let us stay. But as the year wore on and the number of American troops that Washington was suggesting could stay behind dropped, it became increasingly clear that a US troop presence was not a sure thing. The issue of legal protection for the Americans was the deal-breaker. Iraqis are still angry over incidents such as the Abu Ghraib prison scandal or Haditha, when US troops killed Iraqi civilians in Anbar Province, and want American troops subject to Iraqi law. Or the Blackwater killings. Yeah, the Iraqis are so unreasonable for not giving foreign soldiers immunity for killing their friends and families. --more--" Posted by Rocker at 9:15 PM Links to this post Labels: Iraq, U.S. Occupation Iraq: Indecisive Iraqis Maybe the false flag terror attacks by western intelligence agencies and assets can convince them. "After more than eight years of war, many weary Iraqis are ready to see US troops go, and staunchly defend their national sovereignty against an American force they see as occupiers.... Doesn't look like indecision to me. --more--" Nevertheless (sigh): "Iraqis fear power vacuum after US withdrawal; Pullout reveals deep ambivalence over occupation" September 11, 2011|By Michael S. Schmidt, New York Times BAGHDAD - Sheik Kamal Maamouri, the leader of one of the largest Shi’ite-dominated tribes in Iraq, used to call the US troops here occupiers, demanding that they withdraw because he said they killed and imprisoned innocent members of his tribe. But now he is not so sure he wants the Americans to go, at least not yet. Like many others across Iraq, he felt conflicted, and a bit frightened, after it was revealed last week that the United States may keep 3,000 to 4,000 troops in Iraq next year. “The political changes that have occurred here and the security problems have led a lot of Iraqis, including me, to change our minds about the withdrawal of US forces,’’ Maamouri said. That was a view that few Shi’ites, empowered by the fall of Saddam Hussein’s Sunni government, would ever have spoken when it seemed the United States was never going to go. The propaganda stream is running thick. Ads by Google Pro-Israel Americans:Help keep Israel secure by ensuring U.S. support remains strong www.AIPAC.org And that's who is paying for it. “They bring a balance to Iraqi society,’’ he said. Though Iraqis have called for Americans to leave from the start of the occupation in 2003, the prospect of such a drastic drawdown, from the 48,000 troops here now, has revealed another side of the Iraqi psyche. Did I say I was sick of the elite insults? This is a nation that distrusts itself, with little faith in the government’s own security forces or political leaders. Judging by that last sentence they sound just like Americans. It is as if people here never actually believed that the United States would leave, so all along demands for a pullout were never carefully weighed against the potential fallout. I must admit, I never did -- and still don't. This is not to say that Iraqis no longer want to be liberated from a foreign military, which of course they say they do. But Iraqis who once cheered the fall of a dictator recall all too vividly the chaos and bloodshed that came after Hussein’s iron rule was broken. The politics of occupation have not changed. For months, US officials warned the Iraqis that if they did not issue a formal request to stay, and soon, it would become logistically impossible to slow the pullout. After months of stalling, the government agreed to open negotiations to leave some forces behind. Then last week it was revealed that Defense Secretary Leon E. Panetta is supporting a plan to keep as few as 3,000 soldiers in Iraq, enough to provide some training to Iraqi forces, and not much else. From the north to the center to the south, many Iraqis said they were shocked by such a small number and feared that the few Americans would become irresistible targets for violence, unable to safeguard themselves, let alone Iraq. “If the Americans withdraw, there will be problems because there will be no great power in the country that everyone respects,’’ said Mateen Abdullah Karkukli, a 43-year-old Turkmen from Kirkuk. But, reflecting his own mixed feelings, he said, “If they stay, there will be a bigger problem because insurgents and militias will have justification to resume their armed activities.’’ It is not altogether surprising that Kurds or Sunnis, minorities in the Shi’ite-majority nation, would be more apprehensive about an American withdrawal. Kurds worry that a strong Shi’ite-dominated government will upset the virtual autonomy they enjoy in the north. And Sunnis worry about violence from Shi’ite militias. But there is also anxiety in unexpected places, like Babil, a Shi’ite-dominated city where residents have bitterly complained about midnight raids by American forces since 2003. Yeah, stuff like that never gets much print though. Those feelings have not diminished, but they have been overshadowed by concerns that the Iraqi government would not able to fill the vacuum the US forces would leave behind. Who got us in there in the first place? Ads by Google Pro-Israel Americans:Help keep Israel secure by ensuring U.S. support remains strong www.AIPAC.org Oh, yeah, right. “The leading parties now in the government tend to act like dictators,’’ said Maamouri, the tribal leader. “I am afraid if the Americans withdraw from Iraq, these parties will act even more like dictators. Three thousand troops will not be enough to deal with any of the threats facing Iraq.’’ Iraqis have little faith in their government preserving modest gains and in restoring stability because of bombings, assassinations and rocket attacks that are still carried out on a daily basis. And yet we read so little about them in our AmeriKan newspapers. And to a large extent they blame the United States for rupturing their society, and then planning to pull out before repairing the damage it caused. Analysts here say the Iraqi security forces have concentrated so much energy on trying to stop violence within the country’s borders that they failed to guard against an external threat.... Gee, who could that be? “The Iranians.’’ Ready for a World War? --more--" Also see: Occupation Iraq: Iran All In Who are the terrorists again? "More than 20 people killed in terrorist attacks in Iraq" September 15, 2011|By Yasir Ghazi, New York Times BAGHDAD - Terrorist attacks across Iraq killed more than 20 people yesterday, including in Anbar Province, where an increase in violence has heightened sectarian tensions.... And CUI BONO? In Babil Province, south of Baghdad, a parked car packed with explosives was detonated in front of a busy restaurant on the highway connecting the capital and Basra. The restaurant was crowded with travelers who had stopped for breakfast. The police said the blast had killed 13 people and wounded 46 more, including women and children. Absolutely STINKING of an INTELLIGENCE AGENCY OPERATION!! Later, the bodies of three Shi’ite men believed to have been laborers were found along a highway in Babil Province. The men’s hands had been tied, and they had been shot multiple times, the police said. In Baghdad, gunmen killed two police officers at a security checkpoint and wounded a third. Violence in Anbar Province has worsened in recent weeks as the United States has begun to withdraw.... No group claimed responsibility for the attacks yesterday, but US military officials said they appeared to have been the work of the insurgent group known as Al Qaeda in Mesopotamia. Oh, I believe it was "Al-CIA-Duh!" That group has tried to mount attacks on both Sunnis and Shi’ites, apparently in the hope that each will blame and attack the other, plunging Iraq back into civil war. “I have seen a change over time with Al Qaeda in Iraq,’’ said Major General Jeffrey Buchanan, the US military’s spokesman in Iraq, in an interview at Umm Qasr, the port where the Iraqi military was celebrating Navy Day. “They seem to be attacking groups to get a sectarian conflict regenerated. But unlike years past, especially in the worst days of 2006 and 2007, the Iraqi people seem determined to deal with terrorists as terrorists, and not make it a sectarian conflict.’’ Then WE CAN LEAVE, right? --more--" "Sadr supporters call for aid in Iraq; Demands include services, jobs, and oil revenue" by Bushra Juhi, Associated Press / September 17, 2011 BAGHDAD - An anti-American cleric galvanized thousands of followers to rally yesterday for more jobs and government aid in demonstrations that showed his support among Shi’ites, who are vital supporters of Iraq’s political leaders. Caskets carried through the streets of Sadr City in northeast Baghdad symbolized Iraq’s electricity outages, slim food rations, and unemployment. It's called liberation and victory over here. Police estimated that 25,000 protesters turned out in Sadr City, the political stronghold of cleric Moqtada al-Sadr. Similar demonstrations took place in the southern cities of Basra and Najaf. “We want services, jobs, and a portion of the oil revenue to be distributed to people. Immediately, immediately, immediately,’’ Sadrist official Ibrahim al-Jabiri told the Shi’ite crowds in Baghdad. Iraqi and Shi’ite religious flags were hoisted in the air, and protesters held up broken lamps, fans, air coolers, heaters, and generators as a sign of their frustration over electricity outages that have plagued the country since the 2003 US-led invasion. We didn't rebuild s***. So where did all that money go? Sadr is in Iran, where he has been studying at religious schools. He is the fiercest opponent of the US military presence in Iraq. He has repeatedly demanded full withdrawal of US troops by the end of the year, as required under a 2008 security agreement between Baghdad and Washington. Negotiations between the two countries are underway over the possibility that some US troops might remain after the deadline. Though he has mostly lived in Iran for several years, his influence has grown since last fall, when he publicly endorsed Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki to remain in power, even though the Maliki’s party fell short of winning national elections. Most of Sadr’s followers are among the poorest Iraqis, and he has often hammered the government to produce more aid for them. Aren't those the people we went to liberate? At the Basra and Najaf rallies, hundreds of Sadrists also shouted anti-American slogans among their calls for better services. “The people want the occupiers to leave,’’ they shouted. “The people want to reform the regime.’’ Not according to the New York Times. Continued instability in Iraq’s government and security forces, combined with Iran’s growing influence in Baghdad, has led Maliki and President Obama to weigh whether to keep between 3,000 and 10,000 US troops in Iraq beyond the Dec. 31 deadline. Is it not ONLY NATURAL that Shi'ite Iraq would draw closer to their immediate Shi'ite neighbor Iran? Related: Memory Hole: The Dream Vacation Oh, they vacation there? In a letter released early yesterday, 41 experts, former lawmakers, and top officials in the administration of President George W. Bush called on Obama to keep far more than 4,000 troops in Iraq - a figure the White House is reportedly considering. The letter released by the Foreign Policy Initiative, a conservative-leaning group in Washington.... Among the letter’s mostly Republican signers were L. Paul Bremer, who ran the US occupation of Iraq until June 2004 and was then involved in a long and destabilizing struggle to elect a government and write a constitution, and Bush political adviser Karl Rove. --more--" Yeah, let's stay: "The US military said an American soldier died yesterday in a nonhostile incident in northern part of the country. No name or other details were immediately available. The death brings to 4,476 the number of US troops who have died supporting military operations in Iraq since the 2003 invasion, according to an Associated Press count.... --more--" "4 bombs target Shi’ite holy city in Iraq" September 26, 2011|Associated Press BAGHDAD - Bomb blasts ripped through Karbala yesterday, one of the holiest cities in Shi’ite Islam, killing at least 10 people in a community still reeling from a deadly bus hijacking earlier this month that left 22 dead and Iraq’s Shi’ites again feeling hunted.... By who? “Once again, the terrorist enemies of both Iraq and humanity have committed a new crime against the innocent people of Karbala,’’ said Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, a Shi’ite. He called the bombings a “heinous crime,’’ promised that those behind them and the earlier attack on the bus would be punished, and warned people not to be drawn back into sectarian revenge killings. Violence in Iraq has fallen dramatically since the bloodletting of 2006 and 2007, but militant attacks still appear aimed at reigniting the nation’s volatile ethnic and religious divide. The Sept. 12 bus attack targeted Shi’ite pilgrims from Karbala who were headed to a shrine in neighboring Syria. Maliki has been trying to reduce tensions between officials in Karbala and Anbar since the hijacking. Four suspects are being held in the case, and Maliki’s military advisers say at least some foreigners were involved. Oh, I believe that. Yesterday’s bombings in Karbala were meant to raise those tensions further, officials said.... --more--" "Car explosion in Iraq kills 17 attending Shi’ite sheik’s funeral" by Lara Jakes and Qassim Abdul-Zahra Associated Press / October 1, 2011 BAGHDAD - A car bomb exploded yesterday near a Shi’ite mosque south of Baghdad where mourners had gathered for a funeral, killing 17 people, Iraqi officials said. I don't believe any Muslim would do that, even the most pious "Al-CIA-Duh." The explosion triggered new anger at Iraq’s leaders and their armed forces, who will soon take over responsibility for the country’s security as US troops rapidly leave the country. Violence has dropped since the height of Iraq’s bloodshed a few years ago, but Iraqi forces have failed to stop attacks that continue to claim lives daily.... So if you want us to stay you better ask quick! There was no immediate claim of responsibility, but Sunni militants such as Al Qaeda often target Shi’ite mosques and neighborhoods to stir sectarian violence. A hallmark of intelligence agency false flags. Last evening’s blast happened not far from where another strike killed 15 people and wounded 41 last month, police and hospital officials said. In that Sept. 14 attack, a car bomb parked outside a restaurant in the village of al-Shumali exploded as police were eating breakfast inside. The attacks come at a precarious time for Iraq, torn between wanting to assert its sovereignty without the help of US forces while also recognizing that its own soldiers and police are not ready to stop militants on their own. Iraqi leaders are grappling with whether they will formally ask the Obama administration to keep a few thousand US troops in Iraq beyond the military’s Dec. 31 withdrawal deadline. Talks among the leaders of Iraq’s top political groups are expected to ramp up next week. But Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki has signaled that the final decision will be left to Parliament, where most lawmakers have been reluctant to embrace a continued US troop presence that is unpopular with many voters. There are currently about 44,000 US troops in Iraq. There are also about 7,000 private security contractors hired by the US Embassy in Baghdad to protect American government offices and residential buildings in Iraq. --more--" "Donning disguises, Iraqi gunmen seize station in standoff" by Associated Press / October 4, 2011 BAGHDAD - Gunmen disguised as police officers seized control of a police station in western Iraq yesterday morning, killing four people and taking dozens of hostages before Iraqi forces swept in and ended the standoff, Iraqi officials said. The three-hour hostage crisis demonstrated the vulnerability of the Iraqi security forces as American troops swiftly draw down their presence after more than eight years of war.... Then we have lost the war, haven't we? “Some of the terrorists entered my office and one of them picked up my landline phone when it was ringing and said: ‘We are the fighters of the Islamic State of Iraq,’ ’’ said the mayor, Muhanad Zbar Mutlaq. The Islamic State of Iraq is a front group for Al Qaeda. Yeah, it's a CIA FRONT! Two of the insurgents blew themselves up when Iraqi police stormed the station to free the estimated 40 people held inside, said Brigadier General Mohammed al-Fahdawi of the Iraqi army’s Seventh Division in Anbar province. Security forces killed the other two assailants, he said. --more-" "String of blasts kills 10 in Baghdad" October 11, 2011|Associated Press BAGHDAD - A string of explosions targeting security officials and people who rushed to the scene to help the injured killed at least 10 people in western Baghdad last night, officials said. The first explosion came from a roadside bomb in a Shi’ite neighborhood, targeting an Iraqi army patrol, a police official said. Minutes later, a second bomb exploded nearby, targeting a passing police patrol. As firefighters arrived on the scene of the first blast, the third bomb went off. Officials said 19 people were wounded in the attacks. They spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the media. Violence is nowhere near the peaks seen in 2006 and 2007, but bombings and shootings still occur with regularity. As US forces prepare to go home by the end of this year, security will rest in the hands of the Iraqi security forces. Some US and Iraqi officials would like to see American forces stay in Iraq into next year to help maintain the fragile stability and train Iraqi troops. Disagreements over whether to grant the Americans the type of legal protections they are demanding have threatened to derail any plans to have American troops in Iraq past their Dec. 31 departure date. In another incident, six members of a land mine removal team died when a controlled detonation of old land mines went wrong, a police official said. The accident happened near the city of Basra, 340 miles southeast of Baghdad, on Saturday. --more--" "5 blasts across Bagdad kill 22" October 13, 2011|By Asaad Majeed and Dan Zak, Washington Post BAGHDAD - Five explosions targeting local police shook the capital within an hour yesterday morning, two days after Iraq’s leaders requested that at least 5,000 US military trainers remain into 2012 to advise the country’s fledgling security forces.... Local police, whose capability and readiness have been questioned by US and Iraqi officials, are constant targets for insurgents aiming to destabilize Iraq as the American military rapidly withdraws its forces. In a meeting with Iraqi journalists Monday, President Jalal Talabani said Iraq’s political blocs have agreed that 5,000 or more US military trainers are required to assist the country’s local and national security forces. Iraq will not, however, grant immunity from prosecution to military trainers who stay past the Dec. 31 expiration of the countries’ security agreements. “The American side has been approached, and we are waiting for an official response,’’ Talabani said, according to the government-funded newspaper Assabah. Both the US military and the American Embassy declined yesterday day to comment on the number, though it is within the upper range of figures discussed in the past. The radical Shi’ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr, who has steadfastly opposed any American presence in Iraq, shifted his stance following Talabani’s announcement, indicating that he would support “indirect’’ training by the United States because it would mean fewer expenses and better weapons for Iraq. But such training, he said through a spokesman in Najaf, can take place only after the United States reimburses Iraq for damage caused during and after the 2003 invasion. The United States and Iraq agree on the need for continued military training, though Defense Secretary Leon Panetta said last week that any remaining troops must have immunity. We insist our troops can kill anyone, anytime, anywhere. Some liberation? Wasn't that one of the propaganda reasons for invading the place? Since then, officials in Washington and Baghdad have rushed to outline training proposals that would enlist private security contractors, NATO or some other entity that could be legally covered despite the denial of military immunity.... Car bombs, assassinations, and collateral civilian deaths continue to be a daily occurrence in Iraq.... And they called it victory! --more--" Also see: Gunmen assassinate Iraqi finance official Bomb kills 4 Iraqi militia members US has 1st combat death in Iraq since July Wasn't combat declared officially over over a year ago? One thing they did decide on: "Iraq to pay $3b for 18 fighter jets from US" September 28, 2011|Associated Press BAGHDAD - Iraq has signed an estimated $3 billion deal to buy 18 fighter jets from the United States, officials said yesterday, in a measure aimed at protecting its air space alone, after years of relying on help from American pilots. The F-16s aren’t expected to arrive in Iraq until next fall at the earliest, and probably not until 2013, meaning US troops may still be asked to patrol the country’s skies and train its air force for months, if not years, to come. Actually, I don't think so. But US Army Lieutenant General Michael Ferriter called the F-16 deal “a game-changing capability.’’ “It provides the basis for their air sovereignty,’’ Ferriter told reporters in his Baghdad office. There are 44,000 US troops in Iraq, with all scheduled to leave by the end of this year. But concerns about Iraq’s stability and continued attacks have spurred Washington and Baghdad to reconsider the deadline in a drawn-out political process that may not be decided until the 11th hour. Underscoring Iraq’s security gaps, a militant group linked to Al Qaeda issued a list of attacks yesterday that it claimed it carried out in Iraq during the holy Islamic holy month of Ramadan. The Islamic State of Iraq said in the statement that it carried out 68 attacks in the country’s western Sunni-dominated Anbar Province in August and September, killing at least 90 people. The claims could not be immediately verified. Officials in Baghdad and Washington worry that the US military withdrawal will leave behind partially trained Iraqi security forces unable to protect the country from foreign threats, especially during the rash of instability across the Mideast. Iraq has said its air force is not ready to protect its air space alone. Who would they have to protect it from? Israel? --more--"