Slashdot Mirror

If this isn't the grossest mismanagement of government funds this side of the Atlantic I don't know what is.

• IRAQ
• http://www.occupationwatch.org/reports/archives/20 05/06/us_mismanagemen.html
  Strategic Missle Defence
  New Orleans

I could go on all day.

So are the DOJ offering to pay for all this?

No, You and I are going to pay for all of this.
Along with paying for the occupation of Afghanistan, Iraq plus all the other places the US currently occupies, and most likely will soon attack, invade and occupy, specifically Iran and North Korea, all in the name of democracy and because "They hate our freedom"(tm)

Its like a hidden tax .. call it an information tax for anyone who wants to get into the ISP business.

Yes, it's called "Taxation without representation"

Welcome to the New World Order

>> Tried to murder her??? After the incident took place the same US soldiers applied some first aid to her

Thats just the problem the World has with with you this days. You are shooting first and thinking later.

BTW:
Just try some information from the people in Iraq itself: http://occupationwatch.org/

In order to defeat an insurgent force, US forces must be able to separate insurgents from the population. At the same time, US forces must conduct themselves in a manner that enables them to maintain popular domestic support. Excessive or indiscriminant use of force is likely to alienate the local populace, thereby increasing support for insurgent forces. (From Section 2-66 -- Rules of Engagement.)

Judicious application of the minimum destruction concept [is recommended] in view of the overriding requirements to minimize alienating the population. (For example, bringing artillery or air power to bear on a village from which sniper fire was received may neutralize insurgent action but will alienate the civilian population as a result of casualties among noncombatants.) (From Section 3.43 -- Defensive Operations.)

Infrastructure protection and repair/rehabilitation (for example, electrical power and water, electrical pole repair teams) are critical both for improving the populations' physical well-being as well as for the positive psychological effect it creates. The electrical grid is a good confidence target (very visible), and there is no effect equivalent to the lights going out. "Turning on the lights" in Port-au-Prince contributed to reducing criminal activity (as measured by the murder rate) by about 40 percent in a two-month period (observed in Haiti). (From Section C-37 - Lessons Observed During Past Operations.)

The full extent of the damage inflicted by American bombs, tanks and artillery is only now becoming apparent. The number of buildings destroyed in the fighting is far higher than 200, the figure released last week by the Iraqi prime minister, Ayad Allawi, engineers and commanders say. The city's power lines are so badly damaged that in most of the city, they will have to be ripped out and rebuilt from scratch - a project that will take six months to a year, American engineers say. Damage to the city's water and sewer pipes, already badly corroded before the invasion, is milder but will also take months to repair.

You said that you don't see how one could fight insurents without resorting to torture. The Shiite Iraqis are handling the terrorist attacks quite well, maybe we should take a lesson from them. When someone suicide bombed their mosque, they didn't go firing indiscriminately into Sunni areas, knowing that would only escalate the conflict. Instead, they're working with the Iraqi national guard to step up security and patrols.

U.S. forces began allowing everyone to leave - except for what they called "military age males," men usually between 15 and 60. Keeping noncombatants from leaving a place under bombardment is a violation of the laws of war. Of course, if you assume that every military age male is an enemy, there can be no better sign that you are in the wrong country, and that, in fact, your war is on the people, not on their oppressors,

Greatings from Old Europe

BTW: Sure Offtopic - Only Guerillia Tactics Are Over To Reach You

Not at all - CNN is what we call Pentagon TV here in the rest of the world!

Al Jazeera (only an other kind of propaganda TV)
has probably more here:
Really Full Speech

For really objective information I would highly recommend you in the US:

www.occupationwatch.org
www.alternet.org



BTW: Al Jazeera had also more images of fallen childreen in Iraq as CNN showed you in the US clean video games or faked trailers.

-->This is the point Bin Laden made on you in his tape!

Blix believes the negatives outweigh the positives but.... You seem to habitually state something that supports your opponent's position and ostensibly proves you wrong, only to act like it proved you correct.

How exactly are you defining "ostensibly" in that sentence?

I understand you prefer other selections from Hillary Clinton's speech than the line that NewsMax and I quoted verbatim.

Show me any laws introduced by the Governing Council that restricted women's mobility.

I'll show you a lot more than Decision 137:

While the center of the country has seen much freedom for women in the past, since the American led war, the deteriorating security situation has confined many women to their homes. There has been a great push for greater attention to be paid to women's issues from the International NGOs, the CPA, and some Iraqi elites. However, they are working against fierce resistance, wherein the threat of violence and general lawlessness seriously hampers any possible progress. Women working with NGOs, as well as individual female members of the general population, have been the targets of both random and targeted violence. For example, Yanar Mohammed, the outspoken leader of the Organization of Women's Freedom in Iraq, has received numerous death threats. In April 2004 a leading women's advocate was also killed in a roadside ambush on her way back from a meeting celebrating the March 9th signing of the Interim Constitution. Average women in Baghdad and many other areas also fear rape or kidnap if they leave their homes. ["Climate of Fear: Sexual Violence and Abduction of Women and Girls in Baghdad", Human Rights Watch, Vol. 15, No. 7(E) - July 2003.] The increasing influence of Islamic groups in Iraq has also further restricted the movements and participation of women in the new society. Hence, the huge numbers of qualified women who are invaluable tools for societal advancement in general and women's advancement in particular, have been largely sequestered to their homes by lack of security in the south and especially the center of the country.

The main problem facing women in the south since 2003 has been the strong influence of very patriarchal interpretations and practice of Islam. Many Shiite women have also internalized and accepted such interpretations of Islam. In any case, whether due to conviction or practicality, extremely rarely will one see a women out of the Hijab in these regions, and those who dare uncover their heads are shunned or even have rocks thrown at them. Even Christian women have begun to cover their heads in southern Iraq. ["Iraq: Female Harassment From Religious Conservatives," April 14, 2004, IRIN] There are plenty of educated women in Shiite areas - lawyers, engineers, teachers - however, it is expected that once a woman marries (which every respectable Shiite woman must do), household work will claim priority and usually, the second job will be dropped.

In the Southern and Shiite areas, far fewer NGOs are present than in the North and center of the country but the situation is just as, if not more, dire. The few writings on the Southern areas of Iraq show that violence against women is very widespread and accepted. According to a Boston-based Physicians for Human Rights report, of 2000 families surveyed in Basra, 50 percent reported abuse in their household either in the form of beatings, torture or murder ["Iraq: Women Afraid to Seek Healthcare in south", 5 April, 2004, IRIN]. There have been very few initiatives put in place to provide shelter to these threatened women and to educate these women of their human rights ["Iraq: Focus on Increasing Viole

>without publicly reviewable process, or transparency of any kind.
I take it you have actually heard of Guantanamo?

As for links, how's this report for a start. You might also like to regularly check out some of the articles on Cursor.org for some of the non mainstream news, or Riverbend for real life stories from Iraq.