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The Strange Success of the Surge - From Patrick Cockburn

The ability of America to make unilateral decisions in Iraq is diminishing by the month, but the White House was still horrified to hear the Iraqi prime minister Nouri al-Maliki appearing to endorse Barack Obama’s plan for the withdrawal of American combat troops over 16 months. This cut the ground from under the feet of John McCain who has repeatedly declared that ‘victory’ is at last within America’s grasp because of the great achievements of ‘the Surge’, the American reinforcements sent to Iraq in 2007 to regain control of Baghdad.

The success of ‘the Surge’ is becoming almost received wisdom in the U.S. This is strange since, if the U.S. strategy did win such an important victory, why do America generals need more soldiers, currently 147,000 of them, in Iraq than they did before ‘the Surge’ started? But belief in this so-called victory is in keeping with the American tradition of seeing everything that happens in Iraq as being the result of actions by the U.S. alone. The complex political landscape of Iraq is ignored.

U.S. commentators have never quite taken on board that there are not one but three wars being fought out in the country since 2003: the first is the war of resistance against the American occupation by insurgents from the Sunni Arab community. The second is the battle between the Sunni and Shia communities as to who should rule the Iraqi state in succession to Saddam Hussein. The third conflict is a proxy war between the U.S. and Iran to decide who should be the predominant foreign power in Iraq. The real, though exaggerated, fall in violence in Iraq over the last year is a consequence of developments in all three of these wars, but they do not necessarily have much to do with ‘the Surge’. [More]


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U.S in Libya: Get shot by your own bullets
22 mar  |  By Sean Maguire

There are few people in this world who would defend Gaddafi as a sane and viable leader of Libya; but I think there would be even less that would see the logic in the U.S selling guns to someone as psychotic as him and then parading about as world police.

It's the equivalent of a sheriff giving an outlaw a six-shooter and then acting surprised when he starts popping off the town folk. 

The second one U.S plane gets shot down by one U.S surface-to-air missile, all the military big wigs should get together and make a decision once and for all - "we have to stop shooting at tyrants we've given guns to".

What do you think about Libya? What do you think about the obvious contradictions in U.S foreign policy and how do you think they should be addressed? Tell us and remember...Disqus!  . . read more

Dear America - From Osama Bin Laden
12 sep  |  Your information media, during the first years of the war, lost its credibility and manifested itself as a tool of the colonialist empires, and its condition has often been worse than the condition of the media of the dictatorial regimes which march in the caravan of the single leader. Bush talks about working with al-Maliki and his government to spread freedom in Iraq but he in fact is working with the leaders of one sect against another sect, in the belief that this will quickly decide the war in his favor. And thus, what is called the civil war came into being and matters worsened at his hands before getting out of his control and him becoming like the one who plows and sows the sea: he harvests nothing but failure...

In answer to the question about the causes of the Democrats' failure to stop the war, I say: they are the same reasons which led to the failure of former President Kennedy to stop the Vietnam war. Those with real power and influence are those with the most capital. And since the democratic system permits major corporations to back candidates, be they presidential or congressional, there shouldn't be any cause for astonishment - and there isn't any - in the Democrats' failure to stop the war. You're the ones who have the saying which goes, "Money talks."

[An extract from the latest Osama bin Laden video, which some claim to be a forgery] . . read more

It's the Surge, Stupid
28 jul  |  If you want to be John McCain's vice presidential nominee, you better start talking up the success of the Iraq 'surge'. And if you're serious it wouldn't be a bad idea to say McCain invented the surge idea and maybe even coined the word. . . read more
The pointless battle against binge drinking
5 may  |  By Stephen Myles

Since the days of Alexander the Great, binge drinking has been a very popular past time - leading to him apparently killing a friend and burning down Persepolis while drunk.

Those are some Great shoes to fill.

Yet, governments, schools and the media have repeatedly tried to teach us of binge drinking's dangers. 

Dartmouth University has taken the lead, instigating a new nationwide policy to curb heavy drinking by their students.

Pour me another glass.

Binge drinking is defined as "the consumption of five or more drinks in a row by men — or four or more drinks in a row by women — at least once in the previous 2 weeks. Heavy binge drinking includes three or more such episodes in 2 weeks."

Seems I don't know anyone who isn't a heavy binge drinker.

Do you think this definition should be changed or should we change people's attitudes? Or should you follow HPD's no fools guide to drinking a lot but not dying?  . . read more

Dick doesn't want to pull-out
9 may  |  By Stephen Myles

Dick Cheney - the former U.S Vice-President - has warned Barack Obama against withdrawing from Afghanistan, saying it would create quite a mess. 

He said in an interview with "Fox News" that "I'm not sure that's wise at all."

Hard to take him too seriously.

This is a man who has advocated torture (which wasn't used to catch Osama) so we know he likes to play it a bit rough. 

I suppose maybe we should keep 'em in and consider Dick's idea - the withdrawal method has been out of vogue for decades.

Do you think the U.S should get out of Afghanistan now that Osama is dead? Is his death part of the equation? Tell us and remember...Disqus! . . read more

Bombs for peace? 'UN completely disgraced in Libya'
22 mar  |  Political writer Diane Johnstone gives her perspective on the ongoing Libyan conflict and the real reason NATO and the U.S are behaving as they are. An interesting analysis but occassionally she just states the obvious like when she says this war is for "regime change".

What do you think about her thoughts? Should the West be fighting such a war? Tell us and remember...Disqus!   . . read more

Astonishing Report: We're Executing Gitmo Prisoners and Calling It Suicide
22 jan  |  The three "suicides" in June 2006 were not suicides at all. The men were killed during interrogations in a secret prison block and the murders were disguised to look like suicides- by Andy Worthington . . read more
The World Can't Wait
21 jun  |  This full page advertisement was placed in the New York Times - the drive to impeach President Bush and Vice President Cheney for war crimes is gathering steam. . . read more
So please tell me again: What's the war about?
5 aug  |  When facts are inconvenient, when international law, human rights and history get in the way, when war crimes can't easily be justified or explained away, when logic doesn't help much, the current crop of American political leaders turns to what is now the old reliable: 9/11. We have to fight in Afghanistan because ... somehow ... it's tied into what happened on September 11, 2001. Here's Vice-President Joe Biden: "We know that it was from the space that joins Afghanistan and Pakistan that the attacks of 9/11 occurred."
By William Blum
 . . read more
Cutting the head off LimeWire
14 may  |  By Sean Maguire

Today it has been announced that LimeWire will be forced to pay $105mil to the music industry; effectively ending them as a destroyer of copyright, file sharing and children's morals.

A statement by the U.S government says "that they are pleased with the result and are happy to add one more to the tally of pirates killed in the last month". 

Dr. Peter Cancion-Ladrón from Durham University has come out and said that like al-Qaeda, this may only represent the death of a figurehead and that musical piracy is like a hydra - cut a head off and another will quickly grow in its place.

George W. Bush was shaken at hearing this news and asked "so, how many heads does terrorism have now?" 

Have you been a LimeWire user? Will this shut-down affect your piracy? Tell us and remember...Disqus!  . . read more

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"Government's view of the economy could be summed up in a few short phrases: If it moves, tax it. If it keeps moving, regulate it. And if it stops moving, subsidize it." -- Ronald Reagan (1986)