Elections in Iraq Blog
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Monday January 03, 2005 16:04
by 1 of IMC - Indymedia Ireland
Place your Jan 30th Iraqi elections reports here...
Some suggested primers/sources
BBC's Iraq election at-a-glance
Wikipedia on Iraqi elections
Add your own.
Elections in Iraq
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Jump To Comment: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 80 81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 100 101 102 103 104 105 106 107 108 109 110 111 112 113 114 115 116 117 118 119 120 121 122 123 124 125 126 127 128 129 130 131 132 133 134 135 136 137 138 139 140 141 142 143 144 145 146 147 148 149Osama B L:
An audiotape message said to be made by the terrorist leader Osama bin Laden called for Muslims to boycott elections [in Iraq] next month and endorsed the Jordanian militant Abu Musab al-Zarqawi as Mr. bin Laden's deputy in Iraq.
The tape, broadcast Monday by the Arab news network Al Jazeera, condemned the American-backed Iraqi elections for a constitutional assembly, scheduled for Jan. 30, saying, "In the balance of Islam, this constitution is infidel and therefore everyone who participates in this election will be considered infidels."
- - -
W Bush:
"I don't know where bin Laden is. I have no idea and really don't care. It's not that important. It's not our priority."
- G.W. Bush, 3/13/02
"I am truly not that concerned about him."
- G.W. Bush, responding to a question about bin Laden's whereabouts, 3/13/02
Americas ball of twine unravels
Osama bin Laden and other Islamic Resistance groups have promised to wreck the January 30th election . Earlier this week bin Laden confirmed that Abu Musab al-Zarqawi is the authorised leader of al Qaeda in Iraq.
The growing death toll of US invaders and their collaborators in the past six months indicates the growing proficiency and number of Resistance groups operating in Iraq. Resistance fighters are increasing their use of car bombs and booby trap explosive devices, as well as mortar or rocket fire, and they have the ability to choose the time and place of their well planned attacks, while the US military shiver in their fortified compounds, making only occasional forays to intimidate the Iraqi people .
Even in the so called Green Zone of Baghdad, where the US thieves and murders are holed up , they face deadly daily attacks. Marking the start of the new year, on Saturday a sniper shot dead a security guard working for a Kuwaiti company inside the Green Zone, displaying the vulnerability of their most secure lair.
A video tape released by Al Qaeda yesterday shows the execution of five Iraqi Guardsmen in Ramadi, west of Baghdad, on Dec. 26. The five men are seen lined up, their hands tied behind their backs, and shot. The collaborators fall to the ground but gunmen keep pumping them with bullets as passers by stopped to watch.
"These apostates are allied with Allawi's (CIA agent) apostate government and support the American enemy," said the statement accompanying the video. "They are attacking Muslim homes in Ramadi under the pretext of preventing terrorists from entering Iraq. Anyone who follows them will face the same fate."
The US hope the Iraqi police and National Guard will provide security for the election on January 30th, but mass desertions promise to greatly damage such plans. Resistance fighters have warned election workers against assisting in the "dirty farce" that is the proposed election of US sanctioned candidates. "The sword has become very near to your neck – leave any work that relates to the elections and stay safe. God willing, the hands of the holy warriors will reach those who take part in the elections, the polling stations and those running them".
Since Tuesday, more than 100 Iraqi security force and public servant collaborators have been executed, including the deputy governor of al-Anbar province. 20 police officers have been killed in various attacks . Two local government officials for Diyala province, northeast of Baghdad, were assassinated along with an Iraqi police major outside his home in the capital and Iraqi police found two beheaded bodies in Baghdad along with a note that said they were truck drivers killed because they were working with the US military.
Three roadside bombs exploded in the capital early on Saturday, with one blast killing an Iraqi trucker hauling loads for foreign contractors . Five men in civilian clothes were found shot dead in Ramadi. A note on their bodies said they were security men killed by guerrilla fighters. Today a martyr exploded an explosive laden car into a bus full of Iraqi Guardsmen killing at least 26 and injuring many more.
A statement released by "The media platoon of the Islamic Jihad Army" last December stated:
"It is our duty, as well as our right, to fight back the occupying forces, for which their nations will be held morally and economically responsible, for what their elected governments have destroyed and stolen from our land.
We thank all those, including those of Britain and the US , who took to the streets in protest against this war and against Globalism.
Today, we call on you again. We do not require arms or fighters, for we have plenty.
We ask you to form a world wide front against war and sanctions. A front that is governed by the wise and knowing. A front that will bring reform and order. New institutions that would replace the now corrupt.
Stop using the US dollar, use the Euro or a basket of currencies. Reduce or halt your consumption of British and US products. Put an end to Zionism before it ends the world. Educate those in doubt of the true nature of this conflict and do not believe their media for their casualties are far higher than they admit.
The enemy is on the run. They are in fear of a resistance movement they can not see nor predict.
We will pin them here in Iraq to drain their resources, manpower, and their will to fight. We will make them spend as much as they steal, if not more.
We will disrupt, then halt the flow of our stolen oil, thus, rendering their plans useless.
And the earlier a movement is born, the earlier their fall will be.
And to the American soldiers we say, you can also choose to fight tyranny with us. Lay down your weapons, and seek refuge in our mosques, churches and homes. We will protect you. And we will get you out of Iraq , as we have done with a few others before you. Go back to your homes, families, and loved ones. This is not your war. Nor are you fighting for a true cause in Iraq .
To George W. Bush, we say, "You have asked us to 'Bring it on', and so we have . Like you never expected. Have you another challenge?"
http://www.iraqbodycount.net/
Juan Cole
The elections are set for the 29th. It's an interesting situation. The different sects and factions just can't seem to agree. Sunni Arabs are going to boycott elections. It's not about religion or fatwas or any of that so much as the principle of holding elections while you are under occupation. People don't really sense that this is the first stepping stone to democracy as western media is implying. Many people sense that this is just the final act of a really bad play. It's the tying of the ribbon on the "democracy parcel" we've been handed. It's being stuck with an occupation government that has been labeled 'legitimate' through elections. We're being bombarded with cute Iraqi commercials of happy Iraqi families preparing to vote. Signs and billboards remind us that the elections are getting closer... (put BBC link in as it was only one I could find which listed the practicalities of the elections such as they are, dates, candidate lists etc...
.
graffiti sprayed all over their capitol building in a sort of tekno way no?
"agent smith we're saturated".
All Together Now.
It's rare for any election in the Arab world to be anything but a sham - so what's news?
Elections usually are a sham because minority groups fear the result of a free election.
''Elections, American-occupation style: As-Sabah daily in Iraq conducted a public opinion survey which revealed that a mere 7% of the public know the programs and agendas of the different electoral lists. The names of many candidates on the various lists have not even been announced to the voters for "security reasons." ''
http://angryarab.blogspot.com/2005/01/elections-american-occupation-style-as.html
perhaps Oceania was never at war with Eurasia?
- -
US extends an olive branch to Taliban's 'moderates'
http://www.boston.com/news/world/middleeast/articles/2005/01/02/us_extends_an_olive_branch_to_talibans_moderates/
KABUL, Afghanistan -- Since the US military expelled the Taliban three years ago, it has battled the regime's diehard fighters in the barren mountains and dusty wastes of southern Afghanistan. Now the United States is extending an olive branch to moderate elements of its shadowy foe.
Zalmay Khalilzad, the US ambassador to Kabul, offered amnesty recently to all but those Taliban whose crimes are ''beyond forgiveness." Senior US military officials have backed the proposal and promised not to arrest any Taliban foot soldier who surrenders under the amnesty.
''My message [to the Taliban] is: There's no reason to fight, to stay up in the mountains," Khalilzad said during a press conference. ''Lay down your arms, go to your elders, and tell them you want peace."
Is Allawi Seeking To Delay Iraqi Election? Is Bush Saying No?
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2005/1/4/33810/65649
U.S. Turns Away Fom Arab Reforms
http://www.aina.org/news/20050103162831.htm
Inter Press Service News Agency
After a year of tough talk from U.S. policymakers about the inevitable 'democratization' of the Middle East, Washington appears to be backtracking, along with its Arab friends in the region.
- - -
Fact Sheet: November 6, 2003
President Bush Calls for a "forward Strategy of Freedom" to Promote Democracy in the Middle East
http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2003/11/20031106-11.html
Heroic statements from the rebels who butcher guards and aid workers alike.
since you're so good at it.
http://homepage.mac.com/njenson/movies/ds010405election.html
Quicktime requires
Bush Family Values: The Bush twins have picked Kid Rock to play a teen concert for Daddy's inauguration. The performer of such musical gems as "Wax That Booty" and "Pimp of the Nation" ("There's only two types of men / pimps and johns / There's one type of bitch /And that's a ho"), perhaps it's a fitting choice. After all, wasn't it a Bush--Neil, in particular--who was serviced by prostitutes while traveling in Hong Kong and Thailand (the same country his uncle is photo-opping in today)? And, well, you could say Neil's brother, George, is pimping us all right now...
http://eyeteeth.blogspot.com/2005/01/bush-family-values-bush-twins-have.html
Quote:
'Pimp Of The Nation'
http://www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/kidrock/pimpofthenation.html
I've been a pimp so long I knew gahndi when he had an afro
Pimp, hold my dick like a holster
All the girls want a Kid Rock poster
And be able to both stay looked at
The number one pimp with the number one rap
What's up with that
Well I'm a cool cat
With the rap
That's harder than a pimp slap
And because I do so much pimpin
One day I'll probably walk with a limp
And drive a big Lincoln
Wearin an unbuttoned shirt
And be a fifty-five year old pervert
AMY GOODMAN: What do you see happening with this election? On U.S. television, we repeatedly hear the story that the suicide bombings will increase, U.S. officials saying this as well that the violence will increase, because militants want to stop democracy in the elections.
ROBERT FISK: Sure. I mean, you have got to realize that this is now a constant sort of logo of American and British news-speak in Iraq. They announce that something wonderful is going to happen, an interim governments a new constitution, elections. And then they say that violence is going to increase, that things are going to get worse the nearer we get to it.
In other words the better things to come, the worse things are. The worse things are, the better things are going to become. This is part of the self-delusional policy with which we tried to hide our total failure in Iraq, our total failure even to control the country and allow the citizens of that country to live in safety and security. We don't even give the casualty figures. We don't know, we don't care about them.
Even if the elections take place as I say, which I doubt, still doubt, they will be so hopelessly flawed by the absence of the Sunni population, so accompanied by terror on the part of the U.S. administration, that the Shiites might wipe the floor and set up an Islamic republic, even worse than democracy would be an Islamic republic in Iraq. I don't think they will solve anything.
Ultimately, I think what we are going to see, as we have seen in all Middle East wars of occupation, is the opening of some kind of contact between the Americans and the insurgents.
This is what the French did after years of saying they would never talk to terrorists, they talked to the FLN. After years of saying they would never talk to terrorists, the British talked to the IRA. After years of saying they would never talk to terrorists, the British talked to the militants fighting them in Aden and to EOKA in Cyprus, and indeed, to both militant sides in Palestine that they tried to escape from what Churchill called a hell disaster in 1948.
The Americans will soon, if they have not already, establish contact with the insurgents, and that will mean the beginning of end. It means that the project is over. That they have accepted, as I think, you know, they have already in terms of soldiers on the ground. If you are going to talk to the colonels, and they may -- the majors and the generals in Iraq, they know that the game is up.
does the us army leave in 20 years instead of 50?
heh! yeah, 19 years and that would be hopeful.
thing to remember about the Bush cronies is that they are the guys or were the underlings of the guys that made the Iran-Contra deals in the Reagan/Daddy Bush years.
We know that the Shannon Express type planes 'renditioned' people to Syria (honorary Axis of Evil® member) and we should remember that the Bushies triied to buy off the Taliban before 9/11.
This tells a little about the over-world (as opposed to underworld) and how things really work (minus the mythology on available on SkyNews).
Perhaps, Daddy Bush will ask Papa Bin Laden at the next Carlyle Group shareholders meeting to put the feuds between the two mafia princes to an end?
Then we can all get back to that ol' New World Order thang.
Ive been predicting Cheney's final heart attack for far too long, but time is ticking. What impact would no-Cheney in the White House be?
Lost without a compass? Then time to sit down and negotiate with terrorists, like Daddy did?
all speculation of course
U.S. Rep. Howard Coble, dean of the state's congressional delegation and an avowedly strong supporter of President Bush, says it's time for the United States to consider withdrawing from war-ravaged Iraq.
Coble, a Republican from Greensboro, is one of the first members of Congress -- Republican or Democrat -- to say publicly that the United States should consider a pullout.
The 10-term congressman, head of the House Subcommittee on Crime, Terrorism and Homeland Security, said he is "fed up with picking up the newspaper and reading that we've lost another five or 10 of our young men and women in Iraq."
Coble said he has noticed a shift among his constituents in the 6th Congressional District regarding their feelings about the war. Letters, phone calls and messages that had been overwhelmingly supportive of the war are now about even, his office said.
http://www.news-record.com/news/local/cobleiraq_010905.htm
discussion at
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2005/1/10/31339/5284
Hot Topic: How U.S. Might Disengage in Iraq
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/01/10/politics/10policy.html?ex=1263013200&en=b4b69292d66b0513&ei=5090&partner=rssuserland
Three weeks before the election in Iraq, conversation has started bubbling up in Congress, in the Pentagon and some days even in the White House about when and how American forces might begin to disengage in Iraq.
So far it is mostly talk, not planning. The only thing resembling a formal map to the exit door is a series of Pentagon contingency plans for events after the Jan. 30 elections.
[....]
Already, the president found himself in a rare public argument last week with one of his father's closest friends and advisers, Brent Scowcroft, the former national security adviser. The election "won't be a promising transformation, and it has great potential for deepening the conflict," Mr. Scowcroft declared Thursday, adding, "We may be seeing incipient civil war at this time."
Mr. Scowcroft said the situation in Iraq raised the fundamental question of "whether we get out now." He urged Mr. Bush to tell the Europeans on a trip to Europe next month: "I can't keep the American people doing this alone. And what do you think would happen if we pulled American troops out right now?"
[....]
Few officials will talk publicly about that possibility. But in a speech on Oct. 8, Lt. Gen. James T. Conway, who had just completed a tour as commander of all marines in Iraq, said, "I believe there will be elections in Iraq in January, and I suspect very shortly afterward you will start to see a reduction in U.S. forces - not because U.S. planners will seek it, rather because the Iraqis will demand it."
ya know youre losing the war when even the bullsh*tters find it hard to bullsh*t anymore
- - -
screenshot of
http://www.whitehouse.gov/infocus/iraq/
link found at
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2005/1/11/13755/2258
www.whitehouse.gov - last good news was in Oct 21st 2004
In another significant blow to Iraq's upcoming elections, the entire 13-member electoral commission in the volatile province of Anbar, west of the capital, resigned after being threatened by insurgents, a regional newspaper reported Sunday.
Saad Abdul-Aziz Rawi, the head of the commission, told the Anbar newspaper that it was "impossible to hold elections" in the province, which is dominated by Sunni Muslims and where insurgent attacks already have prevented voter registration.
[....]
An Iraqi at the commission's office in Anbar said the members had resigned and had gone into hiding.
The most serious calls for postponement come from Sunni political forces that oppose not democracy per se, but rather the structure of the transitional political process. Specifically, they object to the electoral system of proportional representation for the new assembly that will choose a transitional government and write a constitution; seats will be allocated not based on geography but on the national vote results. With violence and instability much more pervasive in the Sunni provinces, they worry that polling will be disrupted, hurting Sunni slates' chance of winning enough votes to qualify for seats.
If turnout is much heavier in the Shiite south and Kurdish north than in Sunni provinces like Al Anbar (which includes Falluja) and Salaheddin (whose capital is Saddam Hussein's hometown, Tikrit), the Sunnis, who account for about 15 percent to 20 percent of the population, may win only a tiny percentage of the seats. Then, they fear, their bid for a fair share of power and resources in the new system would be crushed. (That the Kurds and Shiites have been subjected to such treatment by the central government for decades doesn't justify their perpetuating it.)
Sunni political and social leaders are not calling for an open-ended cancellation of the election. They are requesting a one-time postponement of several months, in order to establish the "necessary conditions" for a fair and inclusive vote. They want a more transparent electoral commission. They want citizens to be better informed about the electoral process.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/01/09/opinion/09diamond.html?ex=1263013200&en=0bdbf8f6ca0b9151&ei=5090&partner=rssuserland
US soldiers mistakenly opened fire on Iraqi police and civilians after an ambush south of Baghdad yesterday, killing five people.
The incident came less than 24 hours after a mis-aimed US bomb was dropped on a home in the north of the country, killing another five Iraqis.
[....]
According to Iraqi police, the soldiers shot dead two police and two civilians after their convoy was hit by a roadside bomb in the town of Yusufiya, while a fifth Iraqi died of a heart attack at the scene.
numquam praesedium neque reguim verum amici sunt.
= never can a power stand without true friends.
Whilst over 1,400 articles have appeared on the web relating to the mudslide in California within 24 hours, at the little hamlet called "la conchita" which means something in english, that would get edited straight away, and shock the older more innocent twnikie types amongst you.
http://msnbc.msn.com/id/6812481/
only one article appeared in the Conservative backwood Tory press today (the Daily Telegraph) on the "no way to run a war on terror" theme. Which I think you'll agree ought take its place in the Iraqi election blog. An interesting page 13, "arts section" which greeted the generally well heeled readers of Tory Engurland after passing an eye over the Abu Ghraib photo on page 12 "world news", it is an interview with Former CIA officer Lindsay Moran who has written a damning account of her time with the agency, which she says, is chauvinistic (that can mean sexist in a Tory way or Jingoist in a Tory way) blinkered (like a horse drawing a cart) and has learnt no lessons from September 11. (which one?)
Tom Leonard talked to the defector / traitor / ingrate / woman :-
here is article (edited very long address - an editor)
(you've to log in) [eurgh] = cookies. (surprised they don't call them biscuits or wafers)
please contact your local PSNI office and you'll get paid the big reward in used northern bank notes.
If you live in the ROI you could call into your local parish priest's office and get paid the big reward in used 20punt O Connell da liberatur notes.
Meanwhile, help the survivors of the natural disaster of La Conchita, why has the government still not done anything?
What has UNICEF said about the kids of La Conchita?
Congress passes `doomsday' plan
http://news.bostonherald.com/politics/view.bg?articleid=62564&format=text
With no fanfare, the U.S. House has passed a controversial doomsday provision that would allow a handful of lawmakers to run Congress if a terrorist attack or major disaster killed or incapacitated large numbers of congressmen.
Can you not see that a free Iraq will emerge with its first democratic elections?
Would you prefer the US and Coalition forces had never intervened and Saddam Hussein was still the ruler of Iraq slaughtering Iraqis by the thousands? Would you prefer that Iraq were still under crippling UN sanctions and dept?
Once Iraq has a democratic government a working police and army then US and Coalition Forces can eventually leave. There will be a new democratic ally in the Middle East along with Israel with which to fight Islamic terror and inspire the people of the Middle East oppressed by dictators and tyrants to seek democracy for themselves.
Allawi Group Slips Cash to Reporters
Financial Times/UK
http://www.commondreams.org/headlines05/0111-13.htm
The electoral group headed by Iyad Allawi, the interim Iraqi prime minister, on Monday handed out cash to journalists to ensure coverage of its press conferences in a throwback to Ba'athist-era patronage ahead of parliamentary elections on January 30.
After a meeting held by Mr Allawi's campaign alliance in west Baghdad, reporters, most of whom were from the Arabic-language press, were invited upstairs where each was offered a "gift" of a $100 bill contained in an envelope.
Many of the journalists accepted the cash - about equivalent to half the starting monthly salary for a reporter at an Iraqi newspaper - and one jokingly recalled how Saddam Hussein's regime had also lavished perks on favoured reporters.
You know how many bucks Bush spent on his campaign, his grand alliance with Fox News and the Swift Boat Vets.
Thats what all politicians do in every country in the world.
John Kerry had allies such as Dan Rather on CBS who used faked documents as "proof" that Bush dodged his service in the Texas Air National Guard. His wife and George Soros funded MoveOn.Org.
How about Michael Moore who sat beside Jimmy Carter while they listened to Kerry at the Democrat Nation Convention or what about that Kerry campaign ad that earned hundreds of millions in the cinema- "Farhenheit 9/11"?
You don't think Bertie is cosy with Sam Smith of the Irish Independent and Today FM?
Or that Pat Rabitte is friendly with many Irish Times journalists?
How about the free ride RTE gave to Gerry Adams on The Late Late Show?
What about Duncan Stuart and his Eco Eye show which parrots Green Party claptrap?
This is a great article and reminds me very much of the classic geurilla war strategies the PIRA used to fight the British Army in the North. This is just a short extract
"In attacking first Najaf, then Tal Afar and Samarra, and finally tackling the center of the Sunni resistance in Fallujah, the US was seeking to reverse this process. But these attacks were not designed to restore order; they were, instead, intended to prevent the consolidation of a very orderly anti-American status quo in a constantly expanding set of "liberated" areas.
Ironically, the American attacks in the fall of 2004 underscore the larger contradictions in American policy in Iraq: that the chaos American leaders keep saying they are preventing will, in fact, occur only if US military forces succeed in destroying these nascent city-states.
To see this we need only begin by recalling the description above of the Sadrist regime in Baghdad. While there is ample room for concern that the consolidation of Mehdi power might result in the forcible imposition of fundamentalist orthodoxy, there appears to be little chance that law and order would disintegrate. Without underestimating the thuggish tendencies among the Mehdi and granting that there is currently far too much street crime in Sadr City, the Sadrists are the only effective governing force in the Baghdad Shi'ite community. The removal of US troops would allow Sadrist civilian authority to operate openly and thus consolidate their daily supervision of the militia. This would enhance their ability to control the excesses of the militia and systematically reduce street crime, and would almost certainly result in an orderly (perhaps too orderly) daily existence in the areas they control."
"Out Now" was considered once a dangerous slogan or a utopian hope,depending on your point of view
So what is in the news today? A prediction by none other than Colin Powell that Johnny will be marching home this year. This is probably a trial balloon but it is another sign of how desperate the situation in Iraq is, and why some of the "wise men" in high places know its time for an exit strategy. And fast.
That's why this nutty election is being rushed--to create a pretext for what in an earler war was called "Vietnamization." The Washington Post reports today: "US lowers expectations On Iraq Vote: Process Emphasized, Not Turnout or Results." So there you have it--an "election" being staged just for show. (And a bloody show at that with more casualties today. Five more US soldiers dead in Mosul.)
The U.S. secretary of state is raising prospects that some of the nation's troops may be able to leave Iraq this year.
[....]
"With the assumption of that greater burden, the burden on our troops should go down, and we should start to see our numbers going in the other direction," Powell said. "But I cannot give you a timeline as to when they'll all be home."
http://washingtontimes.com/upi-breaking/20050113-074955-7950r.htm
And he does not travel with bodyguards or stay in the green zone it seems.
"Their rifles are porcupine quills, pointing at every motorist, every Iraqi on the pavement, the Iraqi army pointing their weapons at their own people. And they are all wearing masks - black hoods or ski-masks or keffiyahs that leave only slits for frightened eyes. Just before it collapsed finally into the hands of the insurgents last summer, I saw exactly the same scene in the streets of Mahmoudiya, south of Baghdad. Now I am watching them in the capital. "
Two aides to Iraq's top Shi'ite leader Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani have been killed in separate attacks apparently aimed at inflaming sectarian conflict among Iraqis already divided on whether Jan. 30 polls should go ahead.
A Sistani representative said on Thursday gunmen killed cleric Mahmoud al-Madaen along with his son and four bodyguards. Madaen, Sistani's representative in the ancient town of Salman Pak south of Baghdad, was killed on Wednesday.
Another aide, Halim al-Mohaqeq, a cleric working in Sistani's office in Najaf, was also found dead on Wednesday.
"Sheikh Halim was found drowned in his own blood. Investigations are under way," leading Sistani representative Hamed al-Khafaf said.
[....]
Sunni leaders say that if many Sunnis regard the elections as unfair, this will spark more bloodshed and even civil war.
The reclusive Sistani, Iraq's most widely revered religious leader, commands enormous influence in the country. Sistani has urged Shi'ites to refrain from revenge attacks.
"Do you think that Shi'ite forces cannot storm into southern Baghdad and secure these areas? But we don't want to hand our enemies the civil war they want," a Shi'ite official said.
Via Juancole.com
' According to the Al Furat newspaper, 53 political parties and organizations as well as 30 individuals have asked their names to be dropped from the election lists in a bid to show their rejection of elections under US occupation. '
"But never mind. It is now safe to conclude, even if “heretical,” that al-Qaeda is, like, not what we thought it was, and it is perfectly acceptable for the “liberal” Los Angeles Times to say so, although the far-right will scream bloody flipping murder once again and probably call for a subscription boycott of the newspaper. Far right nut birds like having Osama and al-Qaeda around, it lends legitimacy to their feverish and crack-brained rantings, the stuff of daily talk shows up and down the dial on the “public” airwaves.
Besides, who reads the Los Angeles Times? It stacks up to a hill of beans when compared to the mountain of Fox News, where most Americans get their news in easily digestible one minute chunks, complete with ditzy blondes and “experts” who are former military hard-liners also well vested in myths designed to scare the be-jesus out of gullible saps in the Deliverance States and elsewhere.
Well, maybe I’m a bit harsh. After all, Scheer mentions a “brilliant new BBC film produced by one of Britain’s leading documentary filmmakers [that] systematically challenges [the al-Qaeda Myth] and many other accepted articles of faith in the so-called war on terror.” Unfortunately, this film will never run on American television—and even if it does, it no longer matters because al-Qaeda has served its purpose and journalists, who fancy themselves “heretical,” can safely mention the myth, although leaving out conspicuous details.
"
Secret ballots are the cornerstone of any democratic process. But little more than two weeks before Iraq's first free elections on Jan. 30, the country is finding that secrecy is being taken to new heights.
The identities of many of the candidates haven't been publicly disclosed and are likely to remain secret until after election day, an illustration of the difficulty in mounting an election amid war.
[....]
Candidates' identities are not the only remaining secret in the election. To help prevent them from being attacked, the location of polling places will not be released until about a week before the election. Party platforms also seem to be kept secret. Campaigning has also been limited, with almost no mass campaign events or rallies.
Baker advises administration to consider a phased withdrawal of troops
http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/news/a/2005/01/13/national1623EST0636.DTL
Former Secretary of State James A. Baker III, an architect of the U.S. war with Iraq in 1991, is advising the Bush administration to consider a phased withdrawal of some of the 150,000 U.S. troops in Iraq.
Otherwise, Baker says, the United States risks being suspected of having an "imperial design" in the region.
[....]
"Even under the best of circumstances, the new Iraqi government will remain extremely vulnerable to internal divisions and external meddling," he said.
Still, former President George H.W. Bush's secretary of state said, "any appearance of a permanent occupation will both undermine domestic support here in the United States and play directly into the hands of those in the Middle East who -- however wrongly -- suspect us of imperial design."
Sixteen House Democrats led by Rep. Lynn Woolsey of Petaluma called on President Bush on Wednesday to begin the immediate withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq, just as some administration supporters are starting to question the wisdom of staying the course in the war.
So far, the Bush administration remains publicly unshakable in its position that the elections on Jan. 30 should proceed despite fears about safety for voters in parts of Iraq. The president and other administration officials have said U.S. forces will start withdrawing only once U.S.-trained Iraqi forces can take responsibility for more of the patrolling and the fighting.
The U.S. spent $102 billion through Sept. 30 on the invasion and occupation of Iraq, with costs averaging $4.8 billion a month, the Pentagon comptroller's office said today.
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=71000001&refer=top_world_news&sid=asC2oZAGbhZE
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$350,000,000 pledged aid from USA to Tsunami Relief
$4,800,000,000/mo spent on Iraq War divided by 30 days
= $160,000,000/day spent on Iraq War
$350,000,000 Tsunami Aid divided by $160,000,000/day spent on Iraq War
= 2.2 (rounding up)
[if i have done the maths right...]
The US has pledged for Tsnami Aid what the US spends every two days and 5 hours in Iraq.
According to Chas Freeman, former US ambassador to Saudi Arabia and head of the independent Middle East Policy Council, Mr Bush recently asked Mr Powell for his view on the progress of the war. "We're losing," Mr Powell was quoted as saying. Mr Freeman said Mr Bush then asked the secretary of state to leave.
A senior White House official said he had no knowledge of such an exchange and added: "The president acknowledges there are significant challenges. "He does not characterise them as insurmountable. Others do."