Bush's Shrinking Safety Zone

[tw]

Who are loyal supporters of George Jr? A bi-partisan senate resolution will condemn this president's denial of reality on "Mission Accomplished". Mental midget's supporters would block that vote. So who so hate America as to do that? From the NY Times of 30 Jan 2007:

Senate Allies of Bush Work to Halt Iraq Vote
The new effort by President Bush’s allies, including Senators John McCain of Arizona and Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, is aimed at blocking two nonbinding resolutions directly critical of the White House that had appeared to be gaining broad support among Democrats and even some Republicans. ...

“There is a lot of pressure on people who could be with us not to be with us,” said Senator Susan Collins, Republican of Maine, the co-author of one resolution along with Senators John W. Warner, Republican of Virginia, and Ben Nelson, Democrat of Nebraska.

Susan Collins of Maine is one of the Republicans who takes centrist positions – who repeatedly demonstrates basic intelligence rather than loyalty to party liars. Why would McCain support liars?

We have the solution created by people without a political agenda. People who can think logically and who work for America rather than for wacko political extremists: the Iraq Study Group. This report was widely critical of Maliki using logic rather than a promise from god.

At another Senate hearing, the leaders of the Iraq Study Group, the bipartisan panel that reported to Mr. Bush and Congress last month, disputed the White House’s contention that most of their recommendations had been incorporated into Mr. Bush’s troop increase plan.

IOW George Jr (and Cheney) lied again. ISG solution means defeat of "Mission Accomplished" might occur on George Jr's watch. George Jr's legacy is more important. Prolong the war. Lie to the nation. We are but fodder for his legacy.

"Mission Accomplished" will be completely decided by end of 2007. Also obvious is a major - a most important - point from the ISG. The only way that Iraqis can obtain peace is training. What do we know? Iraqis get almost no training despite administration (and Rush Limbaugh) lies. Where armor was required, we gave them pickup trucks. Iraqis were not even provided Chevy Suburbans. So where is all that money going? Most all weapons and equipment as provided has disappeared. Just like in Vietnam, major provider of Vietcong weapons was the United States. That was how incompetent Westmoreland was and how incompetent George Jr’s administration is today.

We have less than one year to train them and get out. After 2007, it will be even worse. Any longer and the conflict may expand into neighboring nations. If that is not obvious, well, did you hear why Turkey wants to (and may be encouraged by George Jr) to invade northern Iraq – especially Kirkuk.

We spent tens of $billions and no one knows where all that money went. Even the senate finally sees reality. But McCain and Graham demonstrate Urbane Guerrilla denial. They would even block a non-binding vote to protect a shitbag president. Maybe god talks to others besides George Jr?

[Aliantha]

Most educational institutions do not allow you to submit the same work twice for the purposes of marking, even if it's for different subjects. This may be what some might refer to as plagiarising yourself.

[richlevy]

Originally Posted by Hippikos

Sounds like the Politruks in Stalin's days....

Funny sidebar. In the game Call of Duty, one of the missions is the Soviet retaking of Stalingrad (Leningrad?Moscow?). You start out without any weapons, and each squad has to take orders from political officers. At one point you or one of the other characters have to kill one of the political officers in order to get into position to move forward.

Normally I don't like to deliberately kill characters on my own side in games, but in this case I didn't have any problem.

Originally Posted by tw

Who are loyal supporters of George Jr? A bi-partisan senate resolution will condemn this president's denial of reality on "Mission Accomplished". Mental midget's supporters would block that vote. So who so hate America as to do that? From the NY Times of 30 Jan 2007: Susan Collins of Maine is one of the Republicans who takes centrist positions – who repeatedly demonstrates basic intelligence rather than loyalty to party liars. Why would McCain support liars?

We have the solution created by people without a political agenda. People who can think logically and who work for America rather than for wacko political extremists: the Iraq Study Group. This report was widely critical of Maliki using logic rather than a promise from god. IOW George Jr (and Cheney) lied again. ISG solution means defeat of "Mission Accomplished" might occur on George Jr's watch. George Jr's legacy is more important. Prolong the war. Lie to the nation. We are but fodder for his legacy.

"Mission Accomplished" will be completely decided by end of 2007. Also obvious is a major - a most important - point from the ISG. The only way that Iraqis can obtain peace is training. What do we know? Iraqis get almost no training despite administration (and Rush Limbaugh) lies. Where armor was required, we gave them pickup trucks. Iraqis were not even provided Chevy Suburbans. So where is all that money going? Most all weapons and equipment as provided has disappeared. Just like in Vietnam, major provider of Vietcong weapons was the United States. That was how incompetent Westmoreland was and how incompetent George Jr’s administration is today.

We have less than one year to train them and get out. After 2007, it will be even worse. Any longer and the conflict may expand into neighboring nations. If that is not obvious, well, did you hear why Turkey wants to (and may be encouraged by George Jr) to invade northern Iraq – especially Kirkuk.

We spent tens of $billions and no one knows where all that money went. Even the senate finally sees reality. But McCain and Graham demonstrate Urbane Guerrilla denial. They would even block a non-binding vote to protect a shitbag president. Maybe god talks to others besides George Jr?

That is not why we are about to get out.
Of course they are talking about getting out of Iraq...
The law is about to pass giving us the oil and natural gas and he just got the extra troops to secure it... duh.
That was the whole reason for us being there.
Now that they got it, fuck the Iraqis.

[tw]

Years ago, George Sr's close friend, Brent Scowcroft, was predicting how bad it would get. But no one really thought the George Jr administration was even more incompetant. If you did not notice last month, every previous Sec of State from Carter's, Reagan's, Bush Sr's, Clinton, etc have criticize Condi Rice in public testimony for not doing her job. She is criticized for doing same failures as National Security Advisor.

How deep is the denial? Another example of how much worse Iraq is compared to rosy pictures so often in the news. Remember reality - Americans are attacked as much as 3000 times every day - because the Iraqis love being liberated. From ABC News of 3 Feb 2007:

Quick Highlights of the National Intelligence Estimate Report
A new National Intelligence Estimate paints a grim view of the security situation in Iraq.
Highlights of the report include:
. Civil War
"Civil war" accurately describes key aspects of the conflict, but the report indicates that there is clearly more than just a civil war at hand.

The report says: "The Intelligence Community judges that the term 'civil war' does not adequately capture the complexity of the conflict in Iraq, which includes extensive Shia-on-Shia violence, al-Qa'ida and Sunni insurgent attacks on Coalition forces, and widespread criminally motivated violence. Nonetheless, the term 'civil war' accurately describes key elements of the Iraqi conflict, including the hardening of ethno-sectarian identities, a sea change in the character of the violence, ethno-sectarian mobilization, and population displacements."

. A Deteriorating Situation
The situation in Iraq could grow much worse. Events like the complete defection of Sunnis from the government or the assassination of key political and religious leaders could "shift Iraq's trajectory from gradual decline to rapid deterioration with grave humanitarian, political, and security consequences" that could spill beyond Iraq's borders.

As Lee Hamilton of the Iraq Study Group stated bluntly during Congressional testimony, Maliki is useless and needs to be pressured. But how can this be? On his last trip to Iraq, George Jr said he looked into Maliki's eyes and therefore (somehow) knew.

I looked the man in the eye. I found him to be very straightforward and trustworthy. We had a very good dialogue. I was able to get a sense of his soul; a man deeply committed to his country and the best interests of his country.

Lee Hamilton saw something completely different - by listening to what Maliki said.

[tw]

From the Washington Post of 11 Feb 2007:

Victory Is Not an Option
The Mission Can't Be Accomplished -- It's Time for a New Strategy

The new National Intelligence Estimate on Iraq starkly delineates the gulf that separates President Bush's illusions from the realities of the war. Victory, as the president sees it, requires a stable liberal democracy in Iraq that is pro-American. The NIE describes a war that has no chance of producing that result. In this critical respect, the NIE, the consensus judgment of all the U.S. intelligence agencies, is a declaration of defeat.

Its gloomy implications -- hedged, as intelligence agencies prefer, in rubbery language that cannot soften its impact -- put the intelligence community and the American public on the same page. The public awakened to the reality of failure in Iraq last year and turned the Republicans out of control of Congress to wake it up. But a majority of its members are still asleep, or only half-awake to their new writ to end the war soon.

Perhaps this is not surprising. Americans do not warm to defeat or failure, and our politicians are famously reluctant to admit their own responsibility for anything resembling those un-American outcomes. So they beat around the bush, wringing hands and debating "nonbinding resolutions" that oppose the president's plan to increase the number of U.S. troops in Iraq.

Those with feet in reality knew how bad Iraq is just by reading the Iraq Study Group report and 79 tasks necessary to get out. That report that said "Way Forward" will not work? George Jr pretends it does not exist. He can because, well, read George Jr, Cheney, et al are as divorced from reality as Ronald Cherrycoke.

How divorced from reality are our leaders? Just like in Vietnam, ever major intelligence service said the bombing would not work. So we continued a lost war anyway - since the American soldier is something to be sacrificed. Only 22 Senators had to the balls to vote as American patriots against "Mission Accomplished". Even Hilary Clinton will not fully admit her major leadership fubar. Recently the Republicans (and Henry Reid) voted to protect this mental midget's crusade.

From The Economist of 10 Feb 2007 - and this should concern everyone:

"We are not planning for a war with Iran." So said Robert Gates, America's new defence secretary, on February 2nd. You cannot be much clearer than that. With a weak and isolated president, and an army bogged down in the misery of Iraq, the American Congress and people are hardly in fighting mood. Nonetheless, and despite Mr Gate's calming words, Iran and American are heading for a collision. Although the risk is hard to quantify, there exists a real possibility that George Bush will order a military strike on Iran some time before he leave the White House two years from now.

This is not a source to quibble with. The USS Eisenhower task force was surged to the Gulf recently. Now the USS Stennis is joining 'Ike' to conduct operations close to the Iranian coast.

Does that sound like a president listening to the people? Sounds just like Melvin Laird and Richard Nixon when they also claimed we had no plans to invade Cambodia. What resulted from that invasion? The Khmer Rouge and the killing fields.

Again: lessons from history. When a nation was obviously discontented with Vietnam (especially after Tet exposed the lies), then what did Nixon do? Nixon invaded Cambodia. We were only discontented. Deja vue. We are only discontented with "Mission Accomplished". So far, lessons of Vietnam strongly repeat in "Mission Accomplished". Why would a Cambodian invasion not reoccur as the 'Pearl Harboring' of Iran? After all, George Jr announced the countries he intends to fix - the axis of evil. Iran is next. You are only discontented.

How often would you ask a stranger "When do we go after bin Laden?" How often do you ask such embarrassing questions? Why not? By not doing so, we are tacitly encouraging the mental midget to expand on his legacy. He (actually Cheney) truly believe they are the good guys. Why would anyone dispute this? Even in the Cellar, the discontent is mild. Deja vue Vietnam - or why Nixon thought nothing of invading Cambodia.

"When do we go after bin Laden?"

The rhetoric has started to hype our 'big dics' into supporting more war. This Cover Story scary picture is based in current facts AND from lessons of Vietnam:

[steppana]

Strange how the US forensic experts can find serial numbers (in Microsoft Times font) on tiny fragments from explosives in Iraq which they can trace back to Iran (famous for stamping Microsoft Times font on all its illegal weapons intended for export)...

when the same US forensic experts can't find an aeroplane in the hole in the ground in Pennsylvania nor in the debris at the Pentagon.

I expect they went on a refresher course between 2001 and 2007. That would explain it.

[Hippikos]

Ahmadinejad, being a devote follower of the Hidden Imam Mahdi, would love a US attack and prays for a "mahdaviat" every day. The more chaos the better, it'll only speed up the return of Jezus and the 15th Iman.

The only missing link, in Ahmadinejad's opinion, delaying the Mahdi’s arrival is that the world is still far too peaceful; the degrees of clash and disasters setting the chain of celestial events of "mahdaviat" have to gather speed. The recent mess in Lebanon by his proxies was a component of that uncompromising ideological fixation.

The powers to be in Iran, like Kathami, don't like this scenario and is in the, time consuming, process of deleting Ahmadinejad's power.

As usual, the present US government neither has any idea of the real power politics in Iran or has the patience to wait for that. Rummy the Great fortunately has been dismissed, so that will have a moderate influence on the decision makers, but, all or not pressured by Israel to fare another war by proxy, a stupid attack is still possible and Ahmadinejad gets his way and Kathami will be eliminated.

[Kitsune]

Originally Posted by steppana

when the same US forensic experts can't find an aeroplane in the hole in the ground in Pennsylvania nor in the debris at the Pentagon.

Aw, not this shit, again. Take it another thread. Better yet, take it to the YouTube comments section for the Loose Change video where you'll find some real insightful views.

[tw]

An intelligent leader would have recognized long ago that without 500,000 troops in Iraq and with no plans for the peace, then "Mission Accomplished" was lost long ago. Even the Iraq Study Group laid out the only possible way to reduce the scope of that loss. Instead, and because people such as Urbane Guerrilla and Ronald Cherrycoke lie, then the mental midget president still thinks god must be telling him what to do.

Iraq is an American defeat. That was becoming obvious to anyone (but the most ignorant) by reading posts even here in the Cellar. Also noted in those posts: if we don't do something about Afghanistan, then even that war is lost. In fact, we may be down to our last year to do anything productive in Afghanistan. Logic says Afghanistan should have been lost years ago.

Cellar dwellers were reading that here more than a year ago when posted was that about one-half of Afghanistan was had been retaken by the Taliban. Yes, NATO is in so much trouble that, last year, the British commander only got from Tony Blair one-tenth the number of troops he requested.

Well Afghanistan is so much worse than reported in the press that the president demands NATO countries put more troops into Afghanistan. Wait? What nation spent one half trillion dollars and did not ... well this question is asked repeatedly only by those who have posting nothing but respect for reality: When do we go after bin Laden?

Why does the scumbag president chastise NATO when the mental midget does everything to empower the Taliban? Who is one of the Taliban's greatest enemies? Iran. Who would be more willing than anyone else in the world to attack and destroy the Taliban? Who did the most after September 2001 to help America destroy the Taliban? Iran. Who does the mental midget condemn without even knowing where the country was? Answer obvious.

And so we give Afghanistan back to the Taliban only because the American president is that dumb. So the dumb president chastises NATO for not doing enough to attack the Taliban? Why did the scumbag president (also called Cheney) attack Saddam? And when do we go after bin Laden?

[Urbane Guerrilla]

He's certainly not going to take advice from you, tw. Your antipatriotism has been clear from the moment I rejoined the Cellar.

[Hippikos]

Instead he's taken advice from great chickenhawk patriots like Cheney, Rumsfeld, Wolfowitz and Feith.

The majority of the US population is against the Iraq war, are these all communists?

[tw]

From the NY Times of 20 Mar 2007:

Army Brigade Finds Itself Stretched Thin
For decades, the Army has kept a brigade of the 82nd Airborne Division on round-the-clock alert, poised to respond to a crisis anywhere in 18 to 72 hours.

Today, the so-called ready brigade is no longer so ready. Its soldiers are not fully trained, much of its equipment is elsewhere, and for the past two weeks the unit has been far from the cargo aircraft it would need in an emergency.

Instead of waiting on standby, the First Brigade of the 82nd Airborne is deep in the swampy backwoods of this vast Army training installation, preparing to go to Iraq. Army officials concede that the unit is not capable of getting at least an initial force of several hundred to a war zone within 18 hours, a standard once considered inviolate.

The declining readiness of the brigade is just one measure of the toll that four years in Iraq — and more than five years in Afghanistan — have taken on the United States military. Since President Bush ordered reinforcements to Iraq and Afghanistan in January, roughly half of the Army’s 43 active-duty combat brigades are now deployed overseas, Army officials said. A brigade has about 3,500 soldiers.

George Jr’s legacy is safe. US can no longer respond to an emergency let alone fight a second war. Both were once considered essential to protect America. But George Jr is making America safer – for his legacy.

He is a classic 'big dic'. If the Army had the resources, then our 'big dic' administration would be starting another war. That is their political agenda as defined by Project for a New American Century.

A few years ago was a debate: whether US military doctrine (two simultaneous wars) still existed. George Jr so destroyed US military readiness as to quash that "2nd war" ability years ago. Of course mental midget's Rumsfeld and Cheney denied this. Well that debate is now moot. (Even US Eighth Army in Korea would have serious shortages of equipment and material ... and no backup; should you wonder why America suddenly wants to negotiate with N Korea). US military is now so massively diminished that even a Division Ready Brigade no longer exists.

A Division Ready Brigade is active for 18 weeks in Fort Bragg to deploy with only 18 hours notice out of Pope Air Force Base. Within hours of landing, they are expected to enter combat. This was once considered essential to American security. Even that ability is now gone.

What is necessary as "Mission Accomplished" continues well beyond 2010? Yes, George Jr's administration has already declared that "Mission Accomplished" will continue well beyond 2010. As George Jr said yesterday, "this war is still in the beginning phase". "Mission Accomplished". He was referring to the surge – is what we are expected to think.

How long has so much contempt existed for the American soldier? Well, remember Jessica Lynch and her 507th Maintenance Company? Did you read the entire story? George Jr's people made sure you did not. Col Teddy Spain needed all 20 MP Companies to provide escort for units such as Jessica's. Jessica’s unit was equipped and trained assuming MP assets would be provided. Administration mental midgets took away 17 of Col Spain’s 20 companies as being unnecessary. 507th had no heavy weapons training, no GPS, no radios, no night vision, and no escort. 27 of 33 soldiers were lost.

George Jr hopes you never learn why the 507th drove directly into an ambush in Nasiriyah. They were denied protection and escort that military planning deemed necessary. Protection denied on orders from George Jr's people. Orders came from that high.

Tom and Ray from NPR’s ‘Car Talk’ took a call from Baghdad. The caller was asking for a solution to Humvee bearing problems. Attached armor is destroying wheel bearings every three weeks. Humvees sent to Iraq were never capable of supporting that amour. Is this an isolated event? Of course not. "Making of a Quagmire". Change the details and Vietnam is now "Mission Accomplished". But you don’t need to know these 2005 realities.

Like a spread sheet, each lurker is just learning of “ 2005 Mission Accomplished”. How bad will "Mission Accomplished" be in late 2007? We will finally learn in 2010. Even US Eight Army in Korea is now at risk. The US military is so depleted by George Jr and his 'big dics' that America has even lost our firemen – “Division Ready Brigade”.

Same opinions today existed in 1968 after Tet. If history repeats, then 1968 to 1975 ... we will be massacring American soldiers uselessly until 2014. People were angry but did nothing more in 1968 as Nixon massacred another 30,000 Americans to protect his legacy.

3,000 dead Americans. 23,000 seriously wounded. So little money left that a soldier lying in his own urine could not have sheets for his bed. History says these are the good times; it will get worse.

History also says younger Cellar dwellers will be in my position in 30 years. Don’t forget how so few were posting realities and facts in 2002. You will need that experience in 2040 when a new generation of ‘big dics’ take power to massacre the American soldier for a political agenda – the ‘big dic’ mentality.

New wheel bearings every three weeks. About 10 hours of helicoprter maintenance for every 1 hour of flying. Don’t worry. We’re rich. And they are only soldiers – sacrificial soldiers. After all, they signed up for this. More important – protect George Jr’s legacy. Rush Limbaugh, Ann Coulter, and Urbane Guerrilla will thank you.

[tw]

From the Kalleej Times in Dubai of 2 Apr 2007:

Double or quits
On March 28, the venerable Saudi monarch King Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz told the Arab summit in Riyadh that the Anglo-American occupation of Iraq was illegal. The damage that this has done to America's presence in Iraq, and its credibility in the region, is immense. ...

This public snub was probably the good news. The private snub was if anything worse. King Abdullah sent his national security adviser, Prince Bandar bin Sultan, to tell President George Bush that he was a bit tied up at the moment, and therefore could not fly over for a state dinner on April 17: maybe they could do dinner another time? When your best friend is not free for dinner, it is time to look in the mirror.

The White House chose to grin and deny that any invitation had been sent, but it was impossible to deny the contents of the Abdullah speech. The State Department asked Nicholas Burns, still looking depressed after his non-talks on the nuclear deal in Delhi, to explain on television that the American presence in Iraq had UN sanction as well as the invitation of the Iraqi government. Mr Burns did not dwell on the finer points of both: that the Security Council held another view before the war began, and that the Iraqi government whose invitation he so admires did not exist then. And now comes news that young King Abdullah of Jordan has no time for dinner either. Although the Jordan monarch is so often in America that he could qualify for a frequent flyer programme were he plebeian enough to fly on a commercial liner, he too has sent word that it might be wiser to postpone a planned state visit in September. Would 2008 do?

His exact words (boldface mine) were:

In beloved Iraq, blood is flowing between brothers, in the shadow of an illegitimate foreign occupation, and abhorrent sectarianism threatens a civil war.

That's right. It is an occupation - not liberation. This from a closest George Jr friend?

From the Jerusalem Post of 2 Apr 2007:

Analysis: Are the Saudis seeking peace?
... if Israel thought Rice's optimistic diplomacy earlier in the week was based on some well-established US-Saudi coordination, it came as a total surprise when Jim Hoagland disclosed in The Washington Post yesterday that Saudi Arabia's King Abdullah canceled a mid-April gala dinner with President George W. Bush in the White House.

Hoagland heard from administration sources that Riyadh had decided for now to seek common ground with Iran, Hamas and Hizbullah. It now becomes understandable why the Saudis chose to strengthen Hamas, with the Mecca Agreement, at the expense of Mahmoud Abbas, who just became politically even more sidelined.

If Saudi Arabia has decided to distance itself from the US at this time, then how could Washington expect that now the time was ripe for a Saudi-Israeli rapprochement under an American umbrella?

... What is shaping Saudi Arabia's new diplomatic activism is the rapidly expanding Iranian threat and the weakness of the Western response.

Clear is an entire region rejecting (apparently as irrelevant) George Jr and his wacko extremists. Jordan and Saudi Arabia, considered America's closest Arab allies, have literally backhandedly slapped George Jr's face - and done so publicly so that you know it. Kings of Saudi Arabia and Jordan both cancel dinners? No way around it. That is a direct snub of the scumbag president who has zero credibility in the world.

But it gets worse. Up in Poland, a very pro-American defense minister Radek Sikorski has lost his job. From the Economist of 31 Mar 2007:

Iraq explains why 51% of Poles opposed the missile-defence plan in one recent survey, says Radek Silorksi, an Atlanticist Pole who recently lost his job as defense minister amid a row over hot exactly to negotiate with the United States over missile defences.

... says Mr Sikorski: "This is blowback from Iraq. We used to take things on trust from the United States in the security field" - but that is no longer the case.

George Jr policy was to 'not do as Clinton'. Clinton's Arab/Israeli shuttle diplomacy, et al were condemned, as George Jr people repeatedly said, because Clinton did it. Suddenly Rice is trying to rescue concepts once called the Oslo Accords by doing what? Shuttle diplomacy. Suddenly talks with N Korea are being conducted just as Clinton did ten years earlier - a new treaty almost exactly like one originally negotiated by Carter and vocally rejected by neocons from Project for a New American Century. Suddenly what Clinton was doing is now acceptable?

Too little too late. From the Associated Press of 1 Apr 2007:

Nancy Pelosi, speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives, will convey a message to Syria from Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, that Israel is interested in peace if Damascus stops supporting terrorism, an Israeli official said Sunday.

Pelosi met Olmert Sunday during the Israel part of her Mideast tour, which has drawn
criticism from the White House because of her planned stop in Syria.

"Pelosi is conveying that Israel is willing to talk if they (Syria) would openly take steps to stop supporting terrorism," Olmert spokeswoman Miri Eisin said.

Why is Pelosi doing Shuttle diplomacy? Israel also has little faith in what Rice had to say. The region was ripe for peace when 'big dics' decided to fix things with preemption. Never forget what a Norwegian foreign minister predicted in the first months of the George Jr administration: George Jr would undermine the Oslo Accords. And, of course, that is exactly what the mental midget did.

Why use Pelosi as the negotiator? She is the closest thing Israel can find to an American honest broker; someone who wants peace? Why couldn't Olmert have done same with Condi Rice who was just there last week? George Jr would not know peace if it bit him in the nose he once used for cocaine.

What is the White House response? White House mental midgets tell Pelosi to not convey any message from Israel to Syria. Why is the White House so fearful of peace?

Do not expect anything good to come of events here. A message about 'stopping terrorism' is only a message of 'maybe we can talk'. Nothing more. But the backhanded face slaps of George Jr by Arab leaders is long overdue. Both King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia and King Abdullah II of Jordan canceled visits with one of America's greatest 'worst president'.

Meanwhile, 15 British hostages are now caught up in America's 'big dic' threats - war games conducted in the Persian Gulf off Iran's coast. As Martha Raddatz of ABC News noted:

U.S. naval officials in Bahrain told ABC News that the operation was hastily planned after the 15 Britons were seized Friday, yet the Bush administration would not say publicly that this is the case.

Military operations intentionally created upon White House orders - as if a classic 'big dic' response would solve anything. Military threats made it more difficult for moderate Iranians to gain the upper hand and end an undesirable hostage standoff.

What has now arrived in the Gulf? More US Navy ships including aircraft carriers USS Bataan (of New Orleans / Katrina fame) and her sister ship USS Boxer. Why Marine assault ships and so many mine sweepers? 'Big dic' neocons believe in preemption rather than intelligent negotiation. Even Poland - once most trusting and supportive of any thing American now say Americans cannot be trusted. But you cannot tell that even to 'big dic' advocates in the Cellar. Their response is akin to something about jealousy of Americans or some hidden agenda. The only thing hidden is intelligence among George Jr supporters. When only Pelosi is trusted enough to deliver a message? When even Kings of Jordan and Saudi Arabia are *publicly* too busy for a state dinner?

[xoxoxoBruce]

Originally Posted by steppana

Strange how the US forensic experts can find serial numbers (in Microsoft Times font) on tiny fragments from explosives in Iraq which they can trace back to Iran (famous for stamping Microsoft Times font on all its illegal weapons intended for export)...

when the same US forensic experts can't find an aeroplane in the hole in the ground in Pennsylvania nor in the debris at the Pentagon.

I expect they went on a refresher course between 2001 and 2007. That would explain it.

They found both. In DC they cleaned it up and PA decided not to disturb it except clean up what's on the ground surface.

Munitions are usually designed with small hard parts,extra shrapnel you know. Commercial planes are not, and they can still identify an amazing number of tiny scraps and know exactly where they came from.