Kudos to Rick Rowley for piercing through the lies and disinformation

Excellent...thank you...

So it’s completely disingenuous, what he’s saying.

SHOCKING!

It's been established that the U.S. is paying the sheiks to put their men to work. I think the rate is $10 per man per day. The men work ostensibly as village security. I haven't heard anyone arguing that this is not going on. Can anybody direct me to the part of Petraeus's testimony where he says this isn't happening?

Otherwise, the only thing new about this story is the spin to discredit Petraeus..

The new stuff in this story is the Shiite refugee camps. I hadn't heard of them until now. Makes sense. Where do the ethnically cleansed neighborhoods go? They don't all die. We just gotta leave. We are making it worse.

Amy Goodman is one of the last true journalist left in the media today. Finally, a story coming out of Iraq that is believable.

moonsha @ 12:

Amy Goodman is one of the last true journalist left in the media today. Finally, a story coming out of Iraq that is believable.

Agreed, she is a journalist in the truest sense of the word. She is neither bought, nor sold, like the corporate whores in the MSM

I will have to watch that whole clip again, because all I could think of the first time was, when is Amy Goodman going to get a decent fucking haircut?

This airs in the Philadelphia region on channel 35, WYBE at 7:00PM.

For some strange reason this show did not air.

All i saw was an intro w/ strange theme music that ran for the whole hour.

This is classic Democracy Now! - An amazing exclusive story that tears apart the mythology and replaces it with reality. My girlfriend has them on her cable now and they are on my local NPR station WDET at 8pm.

In particular, I think this story is very important (and I recommend going to the YouTube links to watch Rowley's entire film) because it shows you what is happening on the ground as a result of throwing the US weight behind the Sunni militias. There was also a great followup story the next day explaining the first Petraus plan, arming the Shiites by creating a special police squad.

Iraq was not a chaotic country. The people knew what they wanted - free elections based on a national survey, the freedom to write their own constitution, protection of their national resources against foreign control, and the occupation ended. To control them, the US forces threw money and arms at anyone who said that they would keep the people in line and do what the US wanted. The Kurd radicals, Shiite radicals, now Sunnis radicals. And suddenly we're shocked that there are radical groups with arms and money. When the Sunnis stop doing what we want, what then? I suppose we could give more money and arms to Al Qaeda (the Mujahadeen, excuse me) again.

You can keep pressing your representatives, Mark. Call them. State your case clearly, point to the evidence you used for to determine your opinion, and most important, ask what the Congressperson's position is and what actions they will be taking.

It does make a difference, and it's easier than most people think. You have more than one vote when you call, email or write a letter. You are considered a representation of many voters that is proportional to the work you go through to contact the Congressperson (email is lowest, then phone, then written letter I believe).

(I do recommend writing this all down before calling though, it makes it a lot easier! :^)

General David Petraeus, said Anbar province showed how Iraq could throw off its violence and move forward.

"A year ago the province was assessed 'lost' politically," he said.

"Today, it is a model of what happens when local leaders and citizens decide to oppose al-Qaeda and reject its Taleban-like ideology."

So true.

Wonder if Mad George will say anything about this in his telecast tonight?

"Ass-kissing little chickenshit"
by kos
Thu Sep 13, 2007 at 08:28:28 AM PDT
In sharp contrast to the lionisation of Gen. David Petraeus by members of the U.S. Congress during his testimony this week, Petraeus's superior, Admiral William Fallon, chief of the Central Command (CENTCOM), derided Petraeus as a sycophant during their first meeting in Baghdad last March, according to Pentagon sources familiar with reports of the meeting.

Fallon told Petraeus that he considered him to be "an ass-kissing little chickenshit" and added, "I hate people like that", the sources say. That remark reportedly came after Petraeus began the meeting by making remarks that Fallon interpreted as trying to ingratiate himself with a superior.

That extraordinarily contentious start of Fallon's mission to Baghdad led to more meetings marked by acute tension between the two commanders. Fallon went on develop his own alternative to Petraeus's recommendation for continued high levels of U.S. troops in Iraq during the summer [...]

The policy context of Fallon's extraordinarily abrasive treatment of his subordinate was Petraeus's agreement in February to serve as front man for the George W. Bush administration's effort to sell its policy of increasing U.S. troop strength in Iraq to Congress.

In a highly unusual political role for an officer who had not yet taken command of a war, Petraeus was installed in the office of Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, a Republican from Kentucky, in early February just before the Senate debated Bush's troop increase. According to a report in The Washington Post Feb. 7, senators were then approached on the floor and invited to go McConnell's office to hear Petraeus make the case for the surge policy.

Fallon was strongly opposed to Petraeus's role as pitch man for the surge policy in Iraq adopted by Bush in December as putting his own interests ahead of a sound military posture in the Middle East and Southwest Asia -- the area for which Fallon's CENTCOM is responsible.

Sheik Abdul Sattar Abu Reesha was just killed by a roadside bomb. I wonder who'll take his place?