The Iraq War - Chapter 3

[Miulang]

Re: The Iraq War - Chapter 3

From what I understand, though, Waioli, the KBR contracts are for "logistical" services, not oil drilling services. I'm sure there are other vendors who can feed the troops, erect buildings, etc. for our soldiers just as well as KBR----for less money, too.

I don't know about the oil technology expertise. I'm sure you're right about that. There apparently is at least one other US company that can provide "logistical services" besides KBR---Dynacorp, which had the Defense contract for about 3 years (right after Halliburton got caught with its hands in the double dipper pot).

What is surprising, though, is if there are multiple companies who can compete comparably and the only differentiator is price, how could KBR still get the contract unless somebody knows somebody who knows somebody? Most government businesses would go with the lowest bidder.

Miulang

[waioli kai]

Giuliana Sgrena, released hostage fired on by US

U.S. Forces Fired on Car Carrying Freed Italian Hostage in Iraq

Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, an ally of the United States who has kept Italian troops in Iraq despite public opposition at home, demanded an explanation ``for such a serious incident, for which someone must take the responsibility.'' ...

Someone take responsibility? In this lifetime?

[waioli kai]

Giuliana Sgrena, released hostage fired on by US

U.S. Forces Fired on Car Carrying Freed Italian Hostage in Iraq

BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) -- American troops fired on a car rushing Italian journalist Giuliana Sgrena to freedom on Friday after a month in captivity, killing the Italian intelligence officer who helped negotiate her release and wounding the reporter in another friendly-fire tragedy at a U.S. checkpoint.

Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, an ally of the United States who has kept Italian troops in Iraq despite public opposition at home, demanded an explanation "for such a serious incident, for which someone must take the responsibility." ... ...

The intelligence agent was killed when he threw himself over Sgrena to protect her from U.S. fire, Apcom quoted Gabriele Polo, the editor of the leftist Italian newspaper Il Manifesto, as saying. Sgrena works for Il Manifesto.

Berlusconi identified the dead intelligence officer as Nicola Calipari and said he had been at the forefront of negotiations with the kidnappers. The prime minister said Calipari had been involved in the release of other Italian hostages in Iraq in the past.

U.S. troops took Sgrena to an American military hospital, where shrapnel was removed from her left shoulder. Apcom said Sgrena was fit to travel and would return to Rome on Saturday.

Sgrena, 56, was abducted Feb. 4 by gunmen who blocked her car outside Baghdad University ... ...

http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/inte...P-Iraq.html?hp

... ... ... ... ... ... ...

Someone take responsibility? In this lifetime?

[Miulang]

Re: The Iraq War - Chapter 3

Who do we hold responsible for the imprisonment at Abu Ghraib of civilians that are reported to be as young as 12? And what did the chain of command think these children would disclose?

I'm sure there will be more disclosures of atrocities committed at Abu Ghraib and the other military prisons in Iraq and Afghanistan before all is said and done.

Miulang

[Miulang]

Re: Giuliana Sgrena, released hostage fired on by US

U.S. Forces Fired on Car Carrying Freed Italian Hostage in Iraq

BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) -- American troops fired on a car rushing Italian journalist Giuliana Sgrena to freedom on Friday after a month in captivity, killing the Italian intelligence officer who helped negotiate her release and wounding the reporter in another friendly-fire tragedy at a U.S. checkpoint.

Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, an ally of the United States who has kept Italian troops in Iraq despite public opposition at home, demanded an explanation "for such a serious incident, for which someone must take the responsibility." ... ...

The intelligence agent was killed when he threw himself over Sgrena to protect her from U.S. fire, Apcom quoted Gabriele Polo, the editor of the leftist Italian newspaper Il Manifesto, as saying. Sgrena works for Il Manifesto.

Berlusconi identified the dead intelligence officer as Nicola Calipari and said he had been at the forefront of negotiations with the kidnappers. The prime minister said Calipari had been involved in the release of other Italian hostages in Iraq in the past.

U.S. troops took Sgrena to an American military hospital, where shrapnel was removed from her left shoulder. Apcom said Sgrena was fit to travel and would return to Rome on Saturday.

Sgrena, 56, was abducted Feb. 4 by gunmen who blocked her car outside Baghdad University ... ...

http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/inte...P-Iraq.html?hp

... ... ... ... ... ... ...

Someone take responsibility? In this lifetime?

BTW: It's now been reported that the soldiers who fired upon Sgrena and her body guards were not regular troops...they were a special detail who were flown in to protect our new UN Ambassador, John Negroponte, who was scheduled to be flying to Baghdad around the same time. Not that that excuses us from the fact that innocent people were again killed by our trigger-happy troops.

Miulang

[waioli kai]

no clamoring for any greater truth

no clamoring for any greater truth

Who do we hold responsible for the imprisonment at Abu Ghraib of civilians that are reported to be as young as 12? And what did the chain of command think these children would disclose?

I'm sure there will be more disclosures of atrocities committed at Abu Ghraib and the other military prisons in Iraq and Afghanistan before all is said and done.
Miulang

I would be amazed were signifigantly more disclosures forthcoming. The government seems to have a pretty firm clamp on what passes for reality for the vast majority of the general public. I do not perceive that a majority of the general public of the United States is clamoring for any greater truth than that to which their leaders expose them about the means and consequences of their government's militarism on Earth and beyond.

[Miulang]

Re: The Iraq War - Chapter 3

If, as this story says, Saddam was not actually captured in a "spiderhole" but was captured the day before after a gunfight and then drugged and pushed into the spiderhole the next day as a way of humiliating him and making the Coalition forces look better, then Mungo Bush and his PsyOps and PR teams have done another snow job on the American public. First, it was talk of WMDs (none found). Then it was "isolated incidents of torture" (more revelations coming out daily about atrocities our troops committed)...what next?!

Miulang

[kimo55]

Re: The Iraq War - Chapter 3

"This ain't some jolly freakin' peacekeeping mission"

(let da bodies hit da flo'. let da bodies wave hello)

http://www.palmbeachpost.com/localne...cene_0305.html

********

Excellent video footage of our boys in action and the tools at their disposal.
don't miss helo thunder.

http://www.grouchymedia.com


http://www.grouchymedia.com/other_vi...nder/index.cfm

[Miulang]

Re: The Iraq War - Chapter 3

There will be protest demonstrations held across the country this coming Saturday, March 19, to observe the 2nd anniversary of the Coalition occupation of Iraq. More and more, returned troops are joining in the antiwar movement. The focus of the marches will be that to support the troops, we need to bring them home sooner, rather than later. I plan to be at the protest march in downtown Seattle this Saturday. Honolulu will probably have a small demonstration, too.

In other Middle East war-related news, the new Operations Commander of troops based in Afghanistan, Maj. Gen. Jason Kamiya, is a Hawai'i boy.

Miulang

There are scheduled anti-war activities on March 19 in the following Hawai'i towns: HAWAII: Hilo, Honolulu, Kahului, Pahoa. Here's some information on the Honolulu and Hilo gatherings.

[Miulang]

Re: The Iraq War - Chapter 3

Remember the Coalition's "resounding" victory in Fallujah? Wonder why the press hasn't mentioned that war zone in months? Only about 9,000 residents have been able to return to their destroyed city, many more are living in tents in the hills outside the city, and the reparations that were promised to civilians to aid in rebuilding their shattered lives still has not materialized.

Miulang

[prettyday]

Re: The Iraq War - Chapter 3

I can not stop fuming that if we had this many troops, we did not use them to suffocate the Khyber Pass, the villages, the everywhere in Afghanistan with friendly, but constant coverage. Someone would have blabbed as to Bin Laden's placement. It is just human nature...and that would have given more morale boosting than all the election "such as it is" results in Iraq.

We should have gotten that guy, and yes, put HIS head on a spike.
Oh, it is hard to even talk about this....as for WMD, goodness, ever since...whoever first invaded Iraq (let us not forget British Petrol, etc.,) there has been enough nitro, rifles, detonators, grenades, from all Wars and Engineering that nuclear possiblities are an ironic afterthought.

Not to mention that a country that claims Plum Island is not exactly planning a Utopian existence for the rest of the globe...

So! I would appreciate it, not so much for me, but for the parents, the children and the spouses, oh! also the the lovers of those not married yet but lost over in Iraq, if we stopped trying to come up with a "New! Improved!" reason for making war in that country...

I'll say it! Our government just wanted to keep the approval momentum going...shameful.

[kimo55]

Re: The Iraq War - Chapter 3

Someone would have blabbed as to Bin Laden's placement.

I am still surprised mercenaries of one type or another, from one source or another, have not yet exterminated the roach.

[Miulang]

Re: The Iraq War - Chapter 3

I am still surprised mercenaries of one type or another, from one source or another, have not yet exterminated the roach.

Yeah, if the government contracted with my friend Alec (former Marine Green Beret, now-retired mercenary) and his motley crew, they could have finished Osama off no problem. But the Feds wanted him more for tax evasion and deported him, so now he's in Canada, working as a bodyguard for a Triad head. Alec went all over the world on "assignments"...the Congo, Bosnia, Iraq...you name it, he went there to "liberate" certain people.

Miulang

[kimo55]

Re: The Iraq War - Chapter 3

Yeah, if the government contracted with my friend Alec (former Marine Green Beret, now-retired mercenary).....

cool!
I mean, too bad about da tax t'ing, but cool story.

[Miulang]

Re: The Iraq War - Chapter 3

Billions of dollars have been set aside for the reconstruction of Iraq and post-tsunami Asia, but a good portion has been diverted away from actual reconstruction efforts and into the pockets of crooked government officials and even more crooked construction companies.

"... Transparency International (TI)'s 2005 report, published Wednesday, March 16, is not designed to reassure them. The NGO, which has made tracking corruption its specialty, has chosen to focus on the construction sector this year. "From the hydraulic project in the high plains of Lesotho to the post-war reconstruction in Iraq, corruption is nowhere more deeply rooted than it is in the building and public works sector," asserts TI president Peter Eigen.

The construction market, which covers transportation infrastructure and electric power generating stations as well as private dwellings, is estimated at 3,200 billion dollars a year for the whole world. Transparency International estimates at 10 % - some 300 billion dollars - the sums paid out in bribes and kickbacks. ..."

Why isn't there any accountability for the funds? Where does the buck stop, anyway?? Why aren't we more upset about the graft? Is it because the media is not reporting it, or does the American tax-paying electorate really not care? Some of the funds are our tax money!

Miulang