The Iraq War in 8 Minutes

[Nbadan]

A new video shot for a London newspaper and the BBC by an embed with the U.S. Army, suggests, in chilling words and images, the absurd position of the U.S. in Iraq, as the people we try to train -- you know, our comrades in arms -- seem more intent on lobbing grenades at us.

By Greg Mitc

(October 22, 2006)

-- Over the years, I have made few requests of readers of this column, beyond hinting that, maybe, you ought to return here from time to time. But now I have to urge you to drop everything, finish reading this come-on, and then link to the video described below. It’s the most revealing little (eight-minute) video I’ve seen yet on our country’s preposterous position in Iraq.

Aptly, it is led, "Iraq: The Real Story." It won’t turn your stomach, in fact, you may even chuckle in spots (like you might have done in reading much of “Catch-22”). But, hopefully, you will end up screaming at the computer screen.

Blackout. New scene. “24 hours on and the marriage of the Americans and the Iraqis looks headed for the rocks,” the narrator explains. We see maybe a dozen Iraqis kneeling on a porch, their hands bound behind them, in custody. Insurgents? Al-Qaeda terrorists? Maybe, at least, those black marketeers? Alas, no. Things have got so bad “the Americans are raiding the offices of the Iraqi Army, their allies, the people they are training.”

Then we see our allies blindfolded and hauled away. Believe me, this image may stay with you awhile as a symbol of the entire war effort.

The video: http://www.guardian.co.uk/video/page/0,,1927660,00.html

[Nbadan]

Is adding a 'new' political spin really a new strategary for Iraq?

Attacking the 'building schools and hospitals' in Iraq myth...

The Times October 20, 2006
Bush tries to impose new terms of victory
From James Hider in Baghdad

A FRESH attempt by President Bush to redefine success in Iraq was undermined within hours by the American military and Iraqi officials.

Mr Bush surprised America by admitting yesterday to growing similarities between the wars in Iraq and Vietnam. But he also emphasised that success should not be measured by the body count, but in terms of the ability of Iraqis to defend themselves, their access to healthcare and education.

“I define success or failure as whether or not the Iraqis will be able to defend themselves. I define success or failure as whether schools are being built or hospitals are being opened. I define success or failure as whether we’re seeing a democracy grow in the heart of the Middle East,” he told ABC News.

Only hours after his statement Major-General William Caldwell, spokesman for the US forces in Iraq, said that the results of a vast security operation to secure Baghdad — the key to this war — had been “disheartening”.

And there is little more heartening news from the results of the $30 billion (£16 billion) to $40 billion American reconstruction effort. Since the invasion not a single Iraqi hospital has been built, according to Amar al-Saffar, in charge of construction at the Health Ministry.

...

Another senior Health Ministry official was surprised that Mr Bush had latched on to healthcare as proof of progress in Iraq. “It is the worst situation that the Ministry of Health has been in in its entire history,” he said. Healthcare had become so dire that half of those who died of injuries from terrorist attacks might have been saved, according to Bassim al-Sheibani, of the Diwaniyah College of Medicine, writing in the British Medical Journal

Times Online

Iraq's health system is in a far worse condition than before the war, a British medical charity says.

- Nov 2004 BBC

"Almost anything is better than being a doctor in Iraq now," said Kadhem, 26, who didn't get the call center job. "The situation is so difficult in the medical field that many of us would quit if we could." Before the war, even most critics of a U.S.-led invasion agreed that if dictator Saddam Hussein were toppled, Iraq's long-struggling health-care system would improve. But 2 1/2 years after the invasion, health care in Iraq is foundering.

- Global Policy

[boutons_]

Meanwhile, hhead's war-profiteering buddies at Halliburton rake in the profits hand-over-fist.

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Halliburton Cited For Iraq Overhead

Costs in Oil Contract Called Extreme

By Griff Witte
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, October 25, 2006; Page D01

Administrative overhead accounted for more than half the costs that a Halliburton Co. subsidiary passed on to the government under a key contract to restore Iraq's oil industry, a figure that critics said was unusually high.

A report released yesterday by the inspector general's office overseeing Iraq spending found that at least 55 percent, or $163 million, of $296 million in total costs rung up by Halliburton unit KBR went to expenses such as back-office support, transportation and security. That percentage was significantly higher than it was on work by other firms in Iraq, and experts said it is far above what is typically found on a government contract."

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn...102401237.html

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dubya/ head/rummy have so ed up Iraq that it is irretrievable.

Impeach dubya/ head/rummy