Posted by zeugma on May 7, 2006, at 16:12:37
In reply to amusing detail, proof that amnesia is rampant, posted by zeugma on May 7, 2006, at 12:14:15
case in point: Iraq and Iran fought each other to a bloody standstill in the 80's. So we go in to Iraq and take it 'out'- not really, we remove saddam but turn it into chaos. And it is a bleeding sore, like this region was during that bloodiest of wars of the 80's, while the U.S. was invading Granada to restore American faith in the army shattered by Vietnam and Beirut:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
US general in Iraq warns Iran on bomb smuggling By Ibon Villelabeitia
2 hours, 39 minutes ago
FORT TARIK, Iraq (Reuters) - A senior U.S. general flew to Iraq's vast desert frontier with Iran on Sunday and vowed to stop what he said was the smuggling of bomb materials from Iran that is wreaking havoc among American troops.
Landing by helicopter under the gun sights of Iranian border guards perched on a watchtower across the frontier, Lieutenant General Peter Chiarelli, the No. 2 U.S. general in Iraq, said U.S. and Iraqi forces securing the border will do "all we can" to stop roadside bombs.Known as improvised explosive devices, or IEDs, the home-made bombs are the largest cause of U.S. casualties in Iraq, where more than 2,400 American troops have been killed since the U.S.-led invasion to topple Saddam Hussein in 2003.
Washington and London say there is evidence components of sophisticated IEDs behind attacks on British forces in southern Iraq were produced in Iran, a charge denied by Tehran.
"We will do all we can to stop IEDs from coming into Iraq," Chiarelli told reporters in the border post of Fort Tarik, a spartan building surrounded by wastes of sun-drenched desert, once trodden by the caravans of the ancient Silk Route.
"We are very concerned about this border because of IEDs. The capabilities of the IEDs we are facing today are much more than what I saw in March 2004. We feel an urgency to stop components of IEDs that are coming from the borders."
Seeking to combat foreign fighters joining the anti-U.S. struggle in Iraq and the smuggling of weapons, the U.S. military has built and equipped 258 border forts around Iraq's porous borders with Iran, Syria, Turkey, Jordan and Saudi Arabia.
Trained by U.S. and other foreign troops, there are more than 20,000 members of the Iraqi National Border Forces.
The United States says the overwhelming majority of foreign fighters are coming across the Syrian border.
TENSION WITH IRAN
Chiarelli said a dispute between Western powers and Iran over Tehran's nuclear ambitions has prompted U.S. and Iraqi forces to be more vigilant along the Iranian border.
U.S. Major Vic Lindemeyer, a border patrol adviser, said smugglers were using the area to transport explosive projectiles and AK-47s into Iraq.
"Rising tension with Iran has cautioned us to be concerned about illegal weapons and equipment in all borders," Chiarelli said, adding U.S. border agents who patrol the U.S.-Mexican border have been sent to Iraq to train the Iraqis.
The Iraqis at Fort Tarik said they had intercepted 1,972 illegals trying to cross from Iran, mostly Iranian pilgrims heading for the holy Shi'ite cities of Najaf and Kerbala.
The 60 Iraqis posted at Fort Tarik, where temperatures climb well above 50 degrees Celsius during the long Iraqi summer, share the building with a contingent of Ukrainian and Polish soldiers, who sweat profusely in their combat uniforms.
Chiarelli and his military entourage were treated to a Bedouin-style lunch of mounds of rice with pieces of sheep, which is eaten with the fingers and standing up.
In one of the turrets of the fort, an Iraqi border policeman fixed his binoculars on a watchtower just across the border manned by Iranian border guards.
He said the Iranians on the tower are normally quiet but today seemed nervous with the arrival of Chiarelli and the media in half a dozen Black Hawk helicopters.
"My job is to keep an eye on the border and defend my country," he said.
____________________________
OK, the Iraqi is defending his country. And we will defend the Iraqis. And if that means going to war with Iran so be it. One war leads to another. And if you think the national debt is bad now, imagine what it will be after a war with iran.And unnecessary. I think that this was planned by some Neocon fool who wants to go to war with the entire Persian Gulf region. Looked at that way, Osama's attack looks like a mere pretext as vaporous as saddam's WMD's. But this way of looking at it does explain why Saddam's in the dock and Osama is roaming the wilds of the Afghan border.
Unfortunately, I did see the smoke from the WTC. If I were a politician in the Bush Admin, I would have said what Richard Clarke said: al Qaeda did this. Take them out, at all costs.
Not what happened, from which I conclude that the Bush Admin is not patriotic, not worthy of my respect, not defending my country.
I will be blocked, but no matter.
One stupidity leads to another.
-z
poster:zeugma
thread:640920
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/poli/20060417/msgs/641025.html