by Robert Fisk

CounterPunch

12/20/04

I know the old argument: Saddam was worse. But must we always compare ourselves to this tyrant when we want to promote our dubious innocence? And must the officers of these occupation armies in Iraq always become indignant at the mere suggestion that their troops have killed the innocent when they must know that they have?

http://www.counterpunch.org/fisk12202004.html


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp

by Robert Higgs

Independent Institute

12/21/04

On the campaign trail last October, Vice President Dick Cheney created a small stir when, speaking of the Iraq war, he declared: 'I think it has been a remarkable success story to date when you look at what has been accomplished overall.' In view of the rampant violence raging in Iraq, the widespread devastation of the country's human and material resources, and the dim prospects for its future peace and prosperity, Cheney?s statement seemed bizarre, and the Democrats seized on it as still another example of the disconnect between the Bush administration and reality. Yet, on closer inspection, we can see that the war has indeed been a huge success, though not exactly in the way that the vice president intended to claim...

http://www.independent.org/newsroom/article.asp?id=1441


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp

Poll: 56% of Americans say Iraq war was a mistake

Washington Post

12/20/04

President Bush heads into his second term amid deep and growing public skepticism about the Iraq war, with a solid majority saying for the first time that the war was a mistake and most people believing that Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld should lose his job, according to a new Washington Post-ABC News poll. While a slight majority believe the Iraq war contributed to the long-term security of the United States, 70 percent of Americans think these gains have come at an 'unacceptable' cost in military casualties. This led 56 percent to conclude that, given the cost, the conflict there was 'not worth fighting' -- an eight-point increase from when the same question was asked this summer, and the first time a decisive majority of people have reached this conclusion." [Post articles may require registration, or use login "info@news-digests.com/news-digests"]

http://tinyurl.com/56oge


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp

Iraq: Resistance is winning, agencies warn Bush

San Jose Mercury News

12/19/04

The CIA, the Defense Intelligence Agency and the State Department have warned President Bush that the United States and its Iraqi allies are not winning the battle against Iraqi insurgents [sic] who are trying to derail the country's Jan. 30 elections, according to administration officials. The officials, who agreed to speak only on condition of anonymity because intelligence estimates are classified, said the battle in Iraq was not lost and that successful elections might yet be held next month. But they said the warnings -- including one delivered this week to Bush by CIA Director Porter Goss -- indicated that U.S. forces had not been able to stop the insurgents' [sic] intimidation of Iraqi voters, candidates and others who want to participate in the elections." [registration required, or use login "info@news-digests.com/news-digests"]

http://tinyurl.com/4h67s


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp

Do you know WHO most of the Homeless are? They are Vietnam vets who could not "re-enter" society......I have known these people personally....and I have watched them die on our streets.

IS THIS WHAT YOU WANT FOR YOUR CHILDREN?

What is being spoken of in this article is soooo sad!! It is just like getting your arms and legs blown off.....to be mentally imbalanced.....and the government "dosesn't recognize this!!"

LET'S STOP THIS WAR NOW!

Annie


http://www.aljazeerah.info/Opinion%20editorials/2004%20opinions/December/17%20o/A%20Flood%20of%20Mentally%20Ill%20Soldiers%20Coming%20Home%20From%20Iraq%20By%20Sam%20Hamod.htm

http://www.christiansciencemonitor.com/2004/1216/p01s01-usmi.html


Informant: NHNE

Marines in Iraq conducted mock executions of juvenile prisoners during the war there last year, burned and tortured other prisoners with electrical shocks, and allegedly warned one Navy medic to keep his "mouth shut" about abuse and threatened to kill another medic if he assisted an injured Iraqi soldier or civilian, according to investigators' records. The new revelations of detainee mistreatment, disclosed today after the ACLU obtained them in a lawsuit against the federal government, for the first time detail case histories in which 11 Marines have been punished for abusing prisoners and two were disciplined for falsely boasting about killing and torturing detainees. Further, the records describe government officials deep in debate about what to do with the bodies of detainees killed while in the custody of U.S. troops and of Navy criminal investigators scrambling to keep up with the growing number of abuse cases after the Abu Ghraib prison scandal became public last spring.

"Heads up," an assistant special agent-in-charge of the Navy's investigative field office in the Middle East warned his superiors in an urgent e-mail dispatched at 6 a.m. on June 14. He was desperate for more investigators.

http://makeashorterlink.com/?K2EC32C0A


US troops used mock executions, electric shocks on Iraqis

US Marines fired a pistol in a mock execution involving four young Iraqi looters and shocked another Iraqi detainee with an electric transformer until he danced, a US Navy document shows. The document dated June 16 detailed 10 substantiated incidents of detainee abuse in Iraq involving 24 Marines dating back to May 2003.

On Monday the Pentagon was forced to admit it was investigating two more deaths in custody in Afghanistan that it had previously acknowledged.

The Marine Corps said 13 Marines were convicted in courts-martial stemming from the incidents, getting prison sentences of up to 15 months.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/200412/s1265943.htm


Files show more US abuse in Iraq

Evidence of more prisoner abuse in Iraq has come to light after the US military was forced to release it by the courts. The documents show that US marines carried out a mock execution, used electric shocks and burned prisoners. American campaign groups obtained the US navy documents by using freedom of information legislation. The navy said those found guilty of abuse had been punished, but added that many allegations - some relating to killings - had been dismissed.

Ten "substantiated" incidents of detainee abuse were detailed, leading to the court martial conviction of 13 marines, and the jailing of some others.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/4096895.stm


From:
Aftermath News
Top Stories - December 18th, 2004

http://tinyurl.com/6n2r4#1


Informant: sash