"Iraqis begin crackdown in southern city; Amarah mayor under arrest; Tensions raised with Sadrists" by Haydar al-Alak, Los Angeles Times | June 20, 2008
AMARAH, Iraq - Iraqi security forces yesterday arrested the mayor of Amarah and a provincial council member, both supporters of Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr's religious movement, on the first day of a military crackdown.
Senior aides to Sadr said his Mahdi Army militia had pledged to cooperate with the Iraqi government offensive in the southern city to avoid putting civilians at risk, but aides said the Amarah mayor's arrest violated the spirit of agreements made in talks with the government in advance of the operation....
At least 700 police officers suspected of criminal activities also were detained and under investigation, said Iraqi Interior Ministry spokesman Major General Abul Kareem Khalaf.
Other local officials were expected to be detained, said defense ministry spokesman Mohammed Askari. Khalaf said he expected the campaign to move outside of Amarah, the capital of Maysan province, even into the region's marshes, long a hideaway for criminals and smugglers....
Members of the Sadr movement traveled to Amarah to monitor the sweep, as all sides sought to avoid a repeat of the Basra operation.
"Moqtada al-Sadr doesn't want to have any incidents that would lead to casualties among civilians, so he is calling for self-restraint and calming down," said Haidar Turfi, a senior movement official in the Shi'ite shrine city of Najaf.
Sadrists had promised to cooperate with the operation so long as Iraqi troops did not make arrests without warrants or commit other human rights violations.
"We were surprised by the violations and the random raids in Amarah," said Hazim al-Araji, a senior Sadr aide in Najaf. "We condemn the latest events that show a deliberate targeting of al-Sadr's movement."
The streets of Amarah were mostly quiet as people went about their business. US warplanes flew overhead. Military vehicles drove down Amarah's main boulevard, Dijilah Street, playing patriotic songs...."
Do you know what this is all about, readers?
"Amara, near the border with Iran..."
Make sense now?
There were reports of rough treatment and especially of arrests.... Sadr’s supporters protested at least two cases in which Iraqi troops seized family members of wanted figures when they could not find the person they were seeking. Iraqi military leaders responded that they had arrested only one relative of a wanted man. The American military has used similar tactics, drawing criticism from Iraqis in and out of the government...."
Finding Weapons
"BAGHDAD - Weapons caches are turning up with increasing frequency in public places - from a bakery to a fish farm - as recent security gains embolden more civilians to come forward with tips, US and Iraqi military officials say....
This is SUCH PROPAGANDA!!!!
It is PSYCH WARFARE against the RESISTANCE and AmeriKan people!!!
Get the resistance to not trust each other or the citizenry, and sell the surge success s*** to 'murkns!!!
"These are people who in the past weren't willing to come forth because of the threats from militias," said Major General Jeff Hammond, the top commander of US forces in Baghdad. "Now they're telling the Iraqi Army they've had it with the militia. 'Don't leave. We want you to stay here.' "
Actually, no, no they don't!
I'm tired of the AmeriKan military and MSM and its LYING!!!!!
Cash rewards are another motivation for tipsters.... Usually acting on tips, Iraqi soldiers have since rounded up rockets, grenades, and other explosive devices from mosques, hospitals, and schoolhouses.
I wonder how much that has cost us.
Many of those weapons were laid out at a former Iraqi air base in southeastern Baghdad on Wednesday as the US and Iraqi military showed off their recent gains but warned there was more work to be done."
If you want to read more on how the successes aren't real, go here
Oh, and about those weapons seized:
"Mahdi commanders were eager to show off their own arsenal... to display weapons ranging from mainly American-made guns, including M16 and M18 rifles, to...."
Wait a minute, wait a minute!!
The Mahdis have MAINLY AMERICAN-MADE WEAPONS?!?
My shitty, Zionist-controlled, lying AmeriKan MSM and government said the Iranians were supplying these guys!!!!
So the U.S is ARMING EVERYONE, huh?
Or another one-day wonder, huh?
"WASHINGTON (AP) — A half-million Iraqis fled their embattled country in 2007, the third consecutive year more Iraqis were displaced than any other nationality, a survey of the world's refugees reported Thursday.
Bush's liberation?
As before, most went to neighboring Syria, and some fanned out into other neighboring countries, the survey by the U.S. Committee for Refugees and Immigrants said. It said the United States accepted few, just over half the 3,000 it had promised to resettle by the end of September.
And Syria gets beat over the head by us.
What a bunch of ungrateful assholes the world must see in AmeriKa!
The report said the office of the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees had referred 10,000 Iraqis for U.S. resettlement. It said the Iraqi exodus "from the violence and instability of their homeland" constituted "the largest refugee crisis of 2007."
Nice going BUSH! That is SURGE SUCCESS, huh?
Thanks for the CONTINUOUS LYING too, MSM!!!
"While the Bush administration and the United Kingdom are busy trying to win the war, they have provided no leadership toward ensuring the rights and well-being of the victims of this war," the report said....
Iraqis were not the only group for which the survey faulted U.S. policies. In its "Report Card" section, it gave the United States an "F," the lowest grade, for returning refugees to their home countries without hearing them out, a practice called "refoulement." China, Iran, Iraq, Russia, Libya and others failed the same category.
Gee, AREN'T YOU PROUD, Americans?
And what is worse, OUR POLICIES have HELPED CREATE THIS CATASTROPHE!!!!
"We gave the United States an F in refoulement entirely for its treatment of Haitians," Merrill Smith, editor of the report, said Wednesday.
Oh, yeah, how are the Haitians doing anyway?
Pfffffttt!
Talk about a FORGOTTEN people.
I can't help feel it is because they are black, readers!
The survey said the United States interdicted 6,400 foreign nationals at sea in 2007, almost all Cubans or Haitians. Cubans but not Haitians were told they had the right to seek asylum. Haitians who did not shout out their fear of reprisals at home were sent back, almost 1,600 in all."
And that is ALL POLITICAL! An "F" is RIGHT!
Of course, U.S. mass-murder is always cleaned up in the Zio-press:
"The killings occurred after a Marine was killed by a roadside bomb. Two other Marines then shot five men near a car at the scene, and several Marines then cleared several houses with grenades and gunfire, leaving women and children among the dead."Look at how they CLEANED the MURDERS UP!!
The soldiers SHOT WOMEN and CHILDREN while they were IN THEIR BEDS!!!!!
But it is ALL GOING TO BE FUNDED -- and WORSE!!!!
Frikkin' DemocraPs!!!
"House OK's $162b more for war; Bill also adds aid for flood victims, the unemployed" by Andrew Taylor, Associated Press | June 20, 2008
And IMMUNITY for WAR-CRIMINAL TORTURERS!!!
Amnesty Bill Covers Torturers, Too; To Be Bundled With War Supplmental (also see comments)
Thanks, DemocraPs!
Thanks a lot, you effin-shameless f****!!!!!!!!!!!
WASHINGTON - A long-delayed Iraq war funding bill sailed through the House yesterday, along with historic increases in college aid for returning troops and help for Midwestern flood victims and the unemployed.
Republican allies of President Bush provided the winning margin in a 268-155 vote to provide $162 billion to fund US operations in Iraq and Afghanistan well into next year.
Democrats opposed to the war, however, succeeded in using the Iraq funding bill as an engine to drive past White House resistance a sweeping revision to GI Bill college benefits and a 13-week extension of unemployment checks for those whose benefits have run out....
Yeah, like Bush's extortion was a good thing!
I'm so sick of the MSM's "journalistic style."
It also spares lawmakers the need to cast more war funding votes closer to Election Day.
And THAT is the IMPORTANT THING!
Yup, Iraq can now DISAPPEAR as an ISSUE this fall!
And why shouldn't it?
According to the MSM, the surge has worked and we've won, end of story.
Sigh. Tired of the agenda-pushing lies!
Most war opponents expressed frustration and a sense of resignation at having to yield to the lame duck president.
AGAIN!!! On SPYING, on TORTURE and on WAR!!!
Not only yielding, but GIVING HIM MORE THAN HE WANTS!
And the Congress is going to stop him on Iran, huh? Impeach him?
Sick of the SHIT FOOLEYS!!!!!!!!
TAR and FEATHER the WHOLE LOT of THEM, and then HANG 'EM!!!!!!!!!
Then the pres goes on to talk about all the other projects funded -- ignoring the war, as usual!!!!
The new GI Bill essentially would guarantee a full scholarship at any in-state public university, along with a monthly housing stipend, for people who serve in the military for at least three years. It is aimed at replicating the benefits awarded veterans of World War II and more than doubles the value of the benefit - from $40,000 today to $90,000.
The GI Bill measure, authored by Senator Jim Webb, Democrat of Virginia, had such extraordinary support from both Democrats and Republicans that White House objections were easily overridden. Administration representatives sought to curb the bill's costs in closed-door talks.
Why?! Doesn't the administration SUPPORT the TROOPS?!
The White House tried much harder to kill the effort to extend unemployment benefits as part of the war funding bill.
Yeah, FUCK US OUT HERE!!!!
I'm so sick of this lying, law-breaking, mass-murdering, war-criminal s***let!!!!!
Just two weeks ago, it appeared the administration would probably prevail. But after the unemployment rate jumped a half-percentage point to a nationwide average of 5.5 percent, House Democrats engineered a veto-proof tally in support of the 13-week extension....
In another key concession, House Democrats dropped a provision to pay for the GI college benefits by imposing a half-percentage point income tax surcharge on incomes exceeding $500,000 for single taxpayers and incomes of at least $1 million earned by married couples....
Does it EVER FUCKING END? Rich don't SUPPORT the TROOPS, huh?
Governors across the country emerged the victors in a battle with the White House to block new Bush administration rules designed to cut spending on Medicaid health care for the poor and disabled.
Why a BATTLE? I thought we were ALL AMERICANS?
Why should the states have to fight the feds, huh?
On war spending, the bill would prohibit US money from being spent on Iraq reconstruction efforts unless Baghdad matches every dollar spent. But negotiators dropped a demand that Bush negotiate an agreement with Baghdad to subsidize the US military's fuel costs so troops operating in Iraq aren't paying any more than Iraqi citizens are."
Yeah, whatever.
Just keep shoveling the money into the rathole!
Because, IT'S ALL GOOD!!!!
"BEDFORD - Reservists have played an active role in the Iraq war since it began in 2003, and about 40 percent of troops there are reservists, said Lieutenant Colonel Sam Poulten, spokesman for the unit and an Iraqi veteran. That's higher than in any other conflict, he said, adding that about three-quarters of the medical corps are now reserves."
To read their experiences and comments, go here
When you signed up to be a reservists, doc, did you think you would be occupying Iraq?
