Life in OUR America, Volume 5, the Livyjr Files Options

[Livyjr]

And speaking of the 2004 presidential elections .....

Here is John Kerry with a post mortem ...

And I myself disagree with him on one thing .....

And that is that his CAMPAIGN botched up big time ...

By not responding to those "SWOOFTIES" .....

Or "SWUFTIES" .....

Or whatever it was that that crowd really was ...

The ones that said they were Swift Boat veterans ...

When one guy with a big beer gut on him that I saw in one of those photographs of the alleged Swift Boat veterans .....

Was wearing a jungle fatigue shirt with a MACV shoulder patch on it ...

MACV being the ARMY REMF's who hung out around Saigon ...

Living the fat, soft life ....

Far from the jungles where the real fighting and dying was taking place .....

And so .......

Veracity not being a MEDIA STRONG SUIT .....

I guess he would do alright for them as much as anyone would ...

And so ....

Anyway, Senator Kerry ...

To me, a Viet Nam combat veteran myself ...

You made yourself look exceptionally weak by remaining quiet while those "SWOOFTIES" ran off their mouths ...

And cowardly as well ....

At a time in OUR nation's history when PERCEIVED qualities such as weak and cowardly were not really in vogue in OUR America .....

And so .....

If it was me ...

I would have been right outside the door of their next meeting ....

Before they got there ...

And as they came in ...

In front of all the media in the world ...

I would be looking each of them in the face ...

And challenging them ...

Right there in front of the TV cameras ....

To prove that they were even in Viet Nam ...

Let alone in combat .....

And to especially prove that they had been anywhere near where I was in Viet Nam ...

And so ...

I WOULD HAVE TURNED THE TIDE ...

Right then and there ...

And so ....

"Kerry: Taking federal money a mistake"

By DOUGLASS K. DANIEL, Associated Press
Last updated: 3:55 p.m., Sunday, April 9, 2006

WASHINGTON -- Was it his campaign's slow response to the swift boat advertisements or the remark that he voted for Iraq war money before he voted against it that John Kerry regrets most from his failed bid for the White House?

Neither, according to Kerry's reflection Sunday on what he considered his biggest mistake when trying to wrest the presidency from George W. Bush in 2004.

"I think the biggest mistake was probably not going outside the federal financing so we could have controlled our own message," the Massachusetts senator said on NBC's "Meet the Press."

The Kerry campaign opted to accept federal money -- and federal spending limits and other rules -- after he won the Democratic nomination.

The nominating convention in Boston occurred more than a month before the GOP renominated Bush, forcing Kerry to begin spending under federal rules much earlier than Bush.

"We had a 13-week general election, they had an eight-week general election."

"We had the same pot of money."

"We had to harbor our resources in a different way and we didn't have the same freedom," Kerry said.

"I think the most important thing would have been to spend more money, if we could have, on the advertising and responding to some of the attacks," he said.

As for other missteps, Kerry said:

"I made some mistakes."

"I know what they are, and I take responsibility for them."

Some political observers believe the Kerry campaign should have acted more quickly in countering an anti-Kerry group, Swift Boat Veterans for Truth, that attacked his Vietnam War record.

The Bush campaign criticized Kerry relentlessly for his remark about voting for and then against an $87 billion bill for the military and reconstruction in Iraq and Afghanistan.

The GOP used Kerry's own words to support the contention that he flip-flopped on issues.

As for a run in 2008, Kerry said Sunday he would make a decision by the end of the year.

[Livyjr]

And speaking of the WAR MONGERS here in OUR America .....

"U.S. seeks to dampen talk of Iran strike"

By NEDRA PICKLER, Associated Press
Last updated: 5:56 p.m., Sunday, April 9, 2006

WASHINGTON -- The White House on Sunday sought to dampen the idea of a U.S. military strike on Iran, saying the United States is conducting "normal defense and intelligence planning" as President Bush seeks a diplomatic solution to Tehran's suspected nuclear weapons program.

Administration officials -- from President Bush on down -- have left open the possibility of a military response if Iran does not end its nuclear ambitions.

Several reports published Sunday said the administration was studying options for military strikes; one account raised the possibility of using nuclear bombs against Iran's underground nuclear sites.

Britain's foreign secretary called the idea of a nuclear strike "completely nuts".

Dan Bartlett, counselor to Bush, cautioned against reading too much into administration planning.

"The president's priority is to find a diplomatic solution to a problem the entire world recognizes," Bartlett told The Associated Press on Sunday.

"And those who are drawing broad, definitive conclusions based on normal defense and intelligence planning, are ill-informed and are not knowledgeable of the administration's thinking on Iran."

Experts say a military strike on Iran would be risky and complicated.

U.S. forces already are preoccupied with Iraq and Afghanistan, and an attack against Iran could inflame U.S. problems in the Muslim world.

British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw, in an interview with the British Broadcasting Corp., said Britain would not launch a pre-emptive strike on Iran and he was as "certain as he could be" that neither would the U.S.

He said he has a high suspicion that Iran is developing a civil nuclear capability which in turn could be used for nuclear weapons, but there is "no smoking gun" to prove it and justify military action.

"I understand people's frustration with the diplomatic process," Straw said.

"It takes a long time and is quite a subtle process."

"The reason why we're opposed to military action is because it's an infinitely worse option and there's no justification for it."

The U.N. Security Council has demanded Iran suspend its uranium enrichment program.

But Iran has so far refused to halt its nuclear activity, saying the small-scale enrichment project was strictly for research and not for development of nuclear weapons.

Bush has said Iran may pose the greatest challenge to the United States of any other country in the world.

And while he has stressed that diplomacy is always preferable, he has defended his administration's strike-first policy against terrorists and other enemies.

"The threat from Iran is, of course, their stated objective to destroy our strong ally Israel," the president said last month in Cleveland.

"That's a threat, a serious threat."

"It's a threat to world peace; it's a threat, in essence, to a strong alliance."

"I made it clear, I'll make it clear again, that we will use military might to protect our ally."

Vice President Dick Cheney told the pro-Israel lobbying group AIPAC last month, "The United States is keeping all options on the table in addressing the irresponsible conduct of the regime."

"And we join other nations in sending that regime a clear message: We will not allow Iran to have a nuclear weapon."

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice stressed in an April 1 interview with British television channel ITV that the United States is committed to diplomacy to solve the issue.

"However," she added, "the president of the United States doesn't take his options off the table."

Pentagon spokesman Lt. Col. Mark Ballesteros said Sunday that the president and State Department are working with other nations "to address diplomatically the troublesome activities of the Iranian government."

"And the U.S. military never comments on contingency planning."

Stephen Cimbala, a Pennsylvania State University professor who studies U.S. foreign policy, said it would be no surprise that the Pentagon has contingency plans for strike on Iran.

But he the administration's hint of military strikes is more of a show to Iran and the public than a feasible option.

"If you look at the military options, all of them are unattractive," Cimbala said.

"Either because they weren't work or because they have side effects where the cure is worse than the disease."

Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., criticized the administration for using "shoot from the hip, cowboy diplomacy" during an appearance on NBC's "Meet the Press."

He said the president should be doing more to get sanctions against Iran.

He said even though the military option must be left open, "it's a terrible option fundamentally, and they know it and everybody else knows it."

------

On the Net:

http://www.whitehouse.gov

[Livyjr]

"U.S. seeks to dampen talk of Iran strike" 
 
By NEDRA PICKLER, Associated Press
Last updated: 5:56 p.m., Sunday, April 9, 2006

Several reports published Sunday said the administration was studying options for military strikes; one account raised the possibility of using nuclear bombs against Iran's underground nuclear sites.

Britain's foreign secretary called the idea of a nuclear strike "completely nuts".

And the Iranians answer back ...

As is their right ...

In a free and democratic world ..

Such as George W. Bush proposes .....

Should exist ....

Here on this earth of OURS ...

As if George were the one in charge of such things as LIBERTY ...

And who gets to have it ...

And who don't .....

And so ....

"Iran accuses US of 'psychological war'"

By Parisa Hafezi

Sun Apr 9, 6:16 AM ET

TEHRAN (Reuters) - Iran on Sunday brushed aside what it called a U.S. "psychological war" against its nuclear programme after a published report described Pentagon planning for possible military strikes against Iranian atomic facilities.

A report by influential investigative journalist Seymour Hersh in The New Yorker magazine, citing unnamed current and former officials, said Washington has stepped up plans for possible attacks on Iranian facilities to curb its atomic work.

The article said the United States was considering using tactical nuclear weapons to destroy Iran's underground uranium enrichment facilities at Natanz, south of Tehran.

"This is a psychological war launched by Americans because they feel angry and desperate regarding Iran's nuclear dossier," Foreign Ministry spokesman Hamid Reza Asefi told a weekly news conference.

"We will stand by our right to nuclear technology."

"It is our red line."

"We are ready to deal with any possible scenario."

"Iran is not afraid of threatening language," he added.

The United Nations has called on Iran to halt uranium enrichment, which the West believes Iran is pursuing to acquire technology to make a nuclear bomb.

Iran has rejected the demand and insists it only wants to make fuel for civilian uses.

Iran's decision in January to resume enrichment prompted Britain, France and Germany to break off 2-1/2 years of EU talks with Tehran and back a U.S. demand to refer Iran to the U.N. Security Council, which can impose sanctions.

Asefi said Iran was ready to continue its cooperation with the International Atomic Energy Agency and said IAEA chief Mohamed ElBaradei would visit Iran by Friday to discuss Iran's cooperation with the IAEA.

"We have always had good cooperation with the IAEA and we will continue to do so," he said.

ElBaradei is expected to provide a report to the Council on Iran's nuclear programme entitled "the process of Iranian compliance" at the end of this month.

ElBaradei has said he has found no proof of a weapons programme in Iran but at the same time has said he cannot give the Islamic Republic a clean bill of health.

An IAEA official has said earlier that ElBaradei would travel to Iran on Tuesday or Wednesday for a day of meetings in Tehran to try to win more cooperation from Tehran.

[Livyjr]

"U.S. Envoy's Car Pelted in Venezuela"

By IAN JAMES, Associated Press Writer

Fri Apr 7, 6:59 PM ET

CARACAS, Venezuela - Supporters of President Hugo Chavez threw eggs and fruit at the U.S. ambassador's car Friday and motorcyclists chased his convoy for miles, at times pounding on the vehicles.

"We're being attacked by groups of motorcyclists while we're traveling in an embassy car," Penn told The Associated Press by cell phone shortly before the motorcycles stopped chasing the four-car convoy.

Penn said the barrage of tomatoes, eggs and other items began when the convoy pulled out and drove through an adjacent market.

"Our car is stained all over," Penn said.

"They were pounding on the cars, including pounding on the ambassador's car while they were driving."

"There was no one stopping them."

He said the motorcyclists chased the convoy for three or four miles.

"The motorcyclists were throwing things at us for at least 10 minutes, and the police did nothing," Penn said.

"It was serious."

And while the Iranians are answering back to America's George .....

And disrespecting him in the process ....

It looks like Venezuela is doing the same ...

And so .....

"Chavez threatens to expel U.S. ambassador"

By NATALIE OBIKO PEARSON, Associated Press
Last updated: 6:17 p.m., Sunday, April 9, 2006

CARACAS, Venezuela -- Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez said the U.S. ambassador was "provoking the Venezuelan people" and threatened Sunday to expel the American diplomat, whose convoy was chased by pro-government protesters.

"I'm going to throw you out of Venezuela if you continue provoking the Venezuelan people," Chavez said in a nationally televised speech addressed to U.S. Ambassador William Brownfield.

Venezuela's acting foreign minister on Saturday condemned the crowd of protesters for pelting Brownfield's car with eggs and tomatoes, but suggested that Brownfield is partially responsible for failing to advise authorities of his travel plans in order to avert such problems.

Chavez's more incendiary comments came after Washington warned of "severe diplomatic consequence" if a similar incident repeats itself.

"If the Washington government takes some measure against Venezuela motivated by provocations, you will be responsible, you will have to leave here, sir."

"I will declare you persona non grata in Venezuela," Chavez responded Sunday.

Chavez accused Washington of seeking to escalate tensions and "looking for another incident."

Chavez said Brownfield was partially responsible for the incident for failing to advise the local mayor's office or the foreign ministry of his travel plans.

The U.S. embassy in Caracas had no immediate response to the president's comments.

Brownfield had visited a ballpark in Caracas' Catia slums, a Chavez stronghold, to donate baseball equipment to a youth league.

The response to his visit Friday was the third time in three weeks that Brownfield has been met by protests.

Earlier, demonstrators burned tires and torched an American flag.

The State Department said the incident Friday "clearly was condoned by the local government," with local officials handing out snacks to perpetrators at the stadium.

U.S. officials accused police of doing nothing, saying a single city police car stayed well behind the convoy while motorcyclists pounded and kicked the ambassador's car.

The Caracas mayor's office denied involvement,

Chavez says the United States of plotting against him, an accusation American officials deny.

The United States, however, has said Chavez is stifling democracy.

[Livyjr]

The Kashmir Telegraph, March 2004, Vol 3, No 10

P E R S P E C T I V E

"Nepal & Bush Administration: Into thin air"

Conn Hallinan

Tucked into the upper stories of the Himalayas, Nepal hardly seems ground zero for the Bush administration's next crusade against “terrorism,” but an aggressive American ambassador, a strategic locale, and a flood of U.S. weaponry threatens to turn the tiny country of 25 million into a counter-insurgency bloodbath.

More than 8,000 Nepalese have died since a civil war broke out in 1996, and the death rate has sharply increased with the arrival of almost 8,400 American M-16 submachine guns, accompanied by U.S. advisers, high-tech night fighting equipment, and British helicopters.

And as George W. Bush continues to make death and destruction America's NUMBER ONE EXPORT .....

Since we don't manufacture anything else over here ....

We have from one of his CLIENT STATES as follows .....

"Nepal opposition, rebels vow more action"

By NEELESH MISRA, Associated Press
Last updated: 5:16 p.m., Sunday, April 9, 2006

KATMANDU, Nepal -- The crisis in this Himalayan nation deepened Sunday as angry crowds demanding the restoration of democracy took to the streets across Nepal in defiance of a daytime curfew, throwing stones at security forces and burning government offices.

With King Gyanendra and his swelling opposition both refusing to back down, the situation appeared to be reaching its most volatile point since he seized absolute power more than a year ago.

The well-armed communist insurgency has allied itself with the political opposition, which vowed Sunday to continue demonstrations indefinitely.

The government warned of harsher measures in response.

Security forces have killed three protesters, including one in Sunday's gunfire, and thrown more than 800 in jail during four days of demonstrations that for the first time brought thousands of workers, professionals and business people into the streets alongside students and political activists.

"Even the parties didn't expect such a massive public participation across the country," said Lok Raj Baral, executive chairman of the Nepal Centre for Contemporary Studies and a retired diplomat.

Across the country and throughout the day, Nepalis protested in defiance of a daylight curfew and official orders to shoot violators on sight.

There were protests in at least four different parts of the capital, Katmandu.

Some demonstrators threw stones at police before being forced back by tear gas.

The private Kantipur television station broadcast footage of police shooting rubber-coated bullets, hitting at least one protester.

The station also showed protesters burning cars in Katmandu and looting city council buildings in a suburb.

The protests, part of a four-day nationwide strike, were to end Sunday but instead the king's opponents announced that they would continue, with no end in sight.

The Maoist rebels' were supporting a strike by the political opposition for the first time, although the two sides struck an alliance late last year.

The rebels' leader, Prachanda, on Sunday announced a nationwide campaign to include defying curfew orders, blockading highways, breaking royal statues and punishing all those who pay taxes.

The demonstrations will be "long-drawn."

"I can't say how this will end," said Ram Sharan Mahat of the country's largest party, the Nepali Congress, one of seven parties that have banded together to oppose Gyanendra.

"The king must restore democracy," he said.

Saturday was the 16th anniversary of the introduction of democracy in Nepal, which came about after dozens of pro-democracy demonstrators were shot by police, prompting a surge of anti-royal sentiment and forcing the late King Birendra to yield much of his authority.

Gyanendra abruptly ended the democratic experiment last year when he reclaimed absolute power from other parts of the government, arguing he needed to bring order to a chaotic and corrupt political scene and end a communist insurgency that has killed nearly 13,000 people in the past decade.

Many Nepalis at first welcomed the king's move.

But the insurgency has only worsened and the economy has faltered.

The latest death came in the town of Banepa, just east of Katmandu, when security forces fired on protesters hurling stones and shouting slogans, said an official who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to talk to the media.

A day earlier, two demonstrators were shot and killed in separate incidents by security forces that were also being pelted with stones.

"The government has no support base ... so the use of force is its last resort," said Baral, the Nepal expert and retired diplomat.

"But force has not been able to scare the protesters."

More than 2,000 people rallied in the southern town of Bharatpur, about 90 miles southwest of Katmandu, angered by the shooting of a demonstrator there by security forces a day earlier.

The government on Sunday said it was cracking down on the protests because communist militants had fired on security forces from among the crowds, despite the rebels' pledge not to launch attacks in the capital during the opposition strike.

Four known Maoists were among the 800 people arrested, and they had told authorities that militants had infiltrated the protests and planned to carry out attacks, Home Minister Kamal Thapa told reporters.

The government's crackdown on the opposition has prompted condemnations from the United States, Japan, the European Union and neighboring India, all of which have been critical of the king's seizure of power.

------

Associated Press reporter Binaj Gurubacharya contributed to this report.

[Livyjr]

And finally .....

"Specter: CIA leak roles must be explained"

By NEDRA PICKLER, Associated Press
Last updated: 5:25 p.m., Sunday, April 9, 2006

WASHINGTON -- President Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney should speak publicly about their involvement in the CIA leak case so people can understand what happened, a leading Republican senator said Sunday.

"We ought to get to the bottom of it so it can be evaluated, again, by the American people," said Sen. Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania, chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee.

In a federal court filing last week, the prosecutor in the case said Cheney's former chief of staff, I. Lewis Libby, testified before a grand jury that he was authorized by Bush, through Cheney, to leak information from a classified document that detailed intelligence agencies' conclusions about weapons of mass destruction in Iraq.

A lawyer knowledgeable about the case said Saturday that Bush declassified sensitive intelligence in 2003 and authorized its public disclosure to rebut Iraq war critics, but he did not specifically direct that Libby be the one to disseminate the information.

"I think that it is necessary for the president and vice president to tell the American people exactly what happened," Specter told "Fox News Sunday."

"I do say that there's been enough of a showing here with what's been filed of record in court that the president of the United States owes a specific explanation to the American people ... about exactly what he did," Specter said.

Libby faces trial, likely in January, on charges of perjury and obstruction of justice for allegedly lying to the grand jury and investigators about what he told reporters about CIA officer Valerie Plame.

Special Counsel Patrick Fitzgerald did not say in the filing that Cheney authorized Libby to leak Plame's identity, and Bush is not accused of doing anything illegal.

"The president may be entirely in the clear, and it may turn out that he had the authority to make the disclosures which were made," Specter said.

But, he added, "it was not the right way to go about it because we ought not to have leaks in government."

The investigation is looking into whether Plame's identify was disclosed to discredit her husband, former Ambassador Joseph Wilson, an Iraq war critic.

Wilson had accused the administration of twisting prewar intelligence to exaggerate the threat from Iraq's weapons of mass destruction.

Sen. John Kerry, the Massachusetts Democrat who ran against Bush for president in 2004, said it was wrong for Bush to declassify information selectively "in order to buttress phony arguments to go to war " and to attack people politically.

"This was not a declassification in order to really educate America."

"This was a declassification in order to mislead America," Kerry said on "Meet the Press" on NBC.

"I think it's a disgrace."

Wilson said Sunday that Bush and Cheney should release transcripts of their interviews with Fitzgerald.

"It seems to me that first and foremost, the White House needs to come clean on this matter," Wilson said on ABC's "This Week."

"My own view of this is that the White House owes the American people and particularly our service people who have been sent into war, an apology for having misrepresented the facts."

The lawyer knowledgeable about the case said Bush instructed Cheney to "get it out" and left the details about disseminating the intelligence to him.

The lawyer, who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the case for the White House, said Cheney chose Libby and communicated the president's wishes to his then-top aide.

"I don't think there's any evidence that the president told the vice president to go leak information to the press," said Sen. John Kyl, R-Ariz.

Kyl said on CNN's "Late Edition" that a better way for the administration to have tried to counter Wilson's claims in a New York Times op-ed would have been to "have all of the press be given" the declassified intelligence material.

It is not known when the conversation between Bush and Cheney took place. '

The White House has declined to provide the date when the president used his authority to declassify the portions of the October 2002 National Intelligence Estimate.

"There has to be a detailed explanation as to precisely what Vice President Cheney did, what the president said to him and an explanation by the president as to what he said," Specter said.

end quotes

I'll say ....

Well said, Senator Spector .....

Well said, indeed ....

[Livyjr]

And while jeffmoskin is out there in what was once sunny California .....

Which has since been transformed into the same type of gloomy place that the REPUBLICANS are trying to install by force of arms all over the world .....

I am actually sitting in a patch of intense sunlight myself up here in the cold country ...

Which New York State Attorney General and GUBERNATORIAL HOPEFUL Eliot "Big EL" Spitzer is telling all the world ...

''Looks like APPALACHIA" .....

And so it does ...

Thanks in large part to him ...

And the "POLICIES" that he is imposing on the people of upstate New York ...

So that he can have his pockets stuffed ...

By those who are making upstate New York into APPALACHIA ...

So that in their own gated communities .....

They can live like kings .....

With "Big EL's" ARM OF PROTECTION wrapped firmly around their shoulders .....

And so .....

But enough about "Big EL" Spitzer ....

What is going on in OUR America today .....

Besides cold and wet weather out there where jeffmoskin is .....

In the LAND OF AH-nold the REPUBLICAN .....

And almost as always .....

To find out what is happening here in OUR America ...

We must wing our way over to America's NEWEST STATE of IRAQINAM .....

To find all of that out .....

"Iraqi troops start rolling out in Ramadi"

By TODD PITMAN, Associated Press
Last updated: 3:52 a.m., Monday, April 10, 2006

RAMADI, Iraq -- The troops didn't go far, the mission didn't last long and the neighborhood wasn't the most dangerous in town.

But when Iraqi army troops moved out on a recent patrol in central Ramadi, they took a crucial step forward, rolling out in their own armored Humvees for the first time.

Until now, this unit has mostly patrolled their small, relatively quiet slice of downtown on foot, leaving the worst parts of the turbulent city center to better-equipped U.S. troops.

American commanders want Iraqi units to operate independently in the more dangerous downtown areas of Ramadi, about 75 miles west of Baghdad.

But they lack equipment -- especially proper transport. '

Though they have their own trucks, they rely heavily on U.S. forces to move around.

In recent weeks, that's begun to change.

The Iraqi Defense Ministry has begun distributing armored Humvees to Iraqi units that look nearly identical to their tan-colored U.S. counterparts.

The Iraqi vehicles are equipped with bulletproof glass and radios, painted outside with the Iraqi flag and chocolate chip camouflage markings.

"This is a huge step," said Marine 2nd Lt. Ryan Hub, who accompanied Iraqi troops on a foot patrol Friday while the Humvees provided back-up.

Tracing a finger along a satellite map of central Ramadi, Hub circled a roughly one-square-mile area near the Marine base which the Iraqis patrol.

He then pointed to other Marine-controlled zones he hoped Iraqis troops would soon patrol in Humvees.

"It means we can extend their battle space," said the 25-year-old from Sumter, S.C.

On Tuesday, the Humvees proved useful as Iraqi forces evacuated a soldier shot in the leg, said Lt. Col. Steve Neary, who commands the Marine's 3rd Battalion, 8th Regiment.

Previously, such tasks would have been carried out by the U.S. military.

On Friday, an Iraqi 2nd lieutenant named Ahmed was in the first Humvee of a four-vehicle convoy leaving a U.S. Marine base.

Marine commanders asked that his full name not be used for fear he could be targeted by insurgents.

Taking a drag off a cigarette a few blocks on, Ahmed was startled to see two of his own vehicles -- they had taken a wrong turn -- coming in the opposite direction.

"Follow me!" he yelled into the radio.

"Follow me!"

Soon, all four Humvees were circling the block in unison, passing rusted-out cars, blown-out apartment blocks and children raising their fists in the air to show support.

Unlike other joint missions, only the Iraqis were radioing their minute-by-minute progress back to base.

Ahmed's role was to provide back-up support for the foot patrol, which swept the apartment complex with several Marines in tow.

Ahmed said if need be, his Humvees could evacuate casualties, or open fire with heavy machine guns.

Such support has traditionally been the job of the U.S. military.

Marines weren't taking chances Friday, though, and had a separate supporting patrol that halted traffic so the Iraqi convoy could move unhindered.

The Iraqis didn't go far.

The base's barbed-wire-topped wall was often visible as the Humvees repeatedly circled past it.

Following the Marines' advice, the Iraqi gunners kept their heads down in their turrets to avoid snipers. '

Less than two hours later, Ahmed was back on base.

"It's baby steps," said Marine Capt. Carlos Barela, commander of Lima Company.

"They're nervous, but that's good."

"If they weren't, they'd be careless."

It was a quiet first trip out, though it might not have been.

Insurgents, apparently, had been watching.

A Marine in a watchtower spotted a man planting a roadside bomb one street over from where the Iraqi Humvees had been circling.

Ahmed praised the newly arrived vehicles, but expressed a deep concern for lack of other equipment.

Although his men had uniforms, kneepads, and aging Kalashnikov rifles, they have no mortars, sniper rifles or rocket-propelled grenade launchers.

Capt. Jabar, an Iraqi commander who directed Ahmed's movements from base, agreed.

"The insurgents are better armed than us," Jabar said.

"The Humvees will help."

"And we can still fight them, but we depend on the Americans for everything" -- medics, logistics, firepower, air support.

Jabar said his 90-man company had only two sets of night-vision goggles.

Another Iraqi commander, who made similar complaints about equipment at an army recruiting drive in Ramadi last week, said his unit had to share armored vests to go on patrols.

Barela said American commanders were aware of the complaints -- and Iraqi soldiers' concerns over pay -- but ultimately, those were issues for the Iraqi Defense Ministry to overcome.

"We could solve all their problems for them, but if we do it all, that's going to make them dependent," said Barela, 35, of Albuquerque, N.M.

"We're standing up a military from scratch."

"There's going to be growing pains."

A lot more training will be needed before Iraqi forces can stand on their own.

In central Ramadi, for example, only Marines are going out on night patrols.

The U.S. command in Baghdad says the Iraqi army numbers about 111,000 troops, and is expected to reach full strength of 130,000 next year.

But they are struggling to retain those who've already joined up.

Some quit because of the hazards of duty, others because of low pay.

Iraqi troops deployed here get one week of vacation after every three-week stint.

"Every month, two, three, five members of each company don't come back," Jabar said.

"At this rate, our companies will be reduced to single platoons."

[Livyjr]

Boy ...

Those IRAQINAMI soldiers have quite a good deal going over there .....

"Ah, hey, Captain ......"

"I have been fighting for three weeks now ...."

"I'm kind of tuckered ..."

"I'm going to take a week off ..."

"See you when I get back ..."

"Don't take no wooden nickels while I'm gone ..."

And so ....

In the meantime ...

Let's go see what George W. Bush's buddy Berlusconi is doing over there in Italy ....

After having done nothing at all about the death of that Calipari dude ...

Who caught a good one right in the head .....

From an American bullet .....

Because he was an enemy of George W. Bush ....

"Italy's Berlusconi Fights to Stay in Power"

By FRANCES D'EMILIO, Associated Press Writer

1 hour, 44 minutes ago

ROME - Italians returned to the polls Monday for a final day of voting to deliver a verdict on conservative Premier Silvio Berlusconi, the billionaire media mogul who failed to jump-start a flat economy as the nation's longest-serving premier since World War II.

Trying to oust the flamboyant Berlusconi from the premier's office was Romano Prodi, an economics professor and former European Union chief who defeated him for the premiership in 1996.

Polls were not allowed to be published in the two weeks before the vote, but earlier surveys gave a slight edge to Prodi.

After 14 hours of voting on Sunday, two-thirds of Italy's 47 million eligible voters had cast ballots, the Interior Ministry said.

Surveys had shown that much of the electorate was unenthusiastic about the race.

Linda Mille, a doctor, said Sunday that she voted for the center-left to boot Berlusconi out of power:

"I don't think there can be anyone worse than Berlusconi."

In Rome, 79-year-old Antonio Recine said he voted for the right, brushing off economic concerns.

"All told, it doesn't seem to me like we're starving here," he said.

A staunch U.S. ally, Berlusconi, 69, founded a business empire that expanded to include Italy's main private TV networks, the Milan soccer team, as well as publishing, advertising and insurance interests.

He was battling to capture his third premiership with a center-right bloc — an often squabbling coalition of his Forza Italia party, the former neo-fascist National Alliance, pro-Vatican forces and the anti-immigrant Northern League.

Prodi, 66, was making his comeback bid with a potentially unwieldy coalition of moderate Christian Democrats, Greens, liberals, former Communists and Communists.

One potential issue — Iraq — was largely deflated before the campaign began, when Berlusconi announced that Italy's troops there would be withdrawn by year's end.

Berlusconi, who won the premiership in 1994 and 2001, had strongly supported President Bush despite fierce opposition among Italians against the war.

Prodi has said he would bring the troops home as soon as possible, security conditions permitting.

The ailing economy was at center stage, although neither candidate offered any bold ideas for its revival.

Berlusconi promised to abolish a homeowner's property tax.

Prodi said he would revive an inheritance tax abolished by Berlusconi, but only for the richest.

He also promised to cut payroll taxes to try to spur hiring.

Critics contended that Berlusconi, instead of helping the economy, used his comfortable majority in Parliament to push through laws to protect his business interests and to help him in his years of judicial woes.

Berlusconi contends the laws benefit all Italians and that he has been the victim of left-leaning prosecutors.

Berlusconi depicted Prodi as a front-man for Communists in a campaign to damage Italian democracy.

Italians were voting under a proportional system, thanks to a law pushed through by Berlusconi's government to increase the chances that his smaller allies would win seats in Parliament.

Hours before the polls opened Sunday, three gasoline bombs were hurled at a polling station in the northeastern town of Vittorio Veneto, and fliers found at the scene denounced both coalitions, police said.

No one was hurt.

___

Associated Press writer Ariel David contributed to this report.

[Livyjr]

Holy Millhouse "Tricky Dick" Nixxon, Batman ...

It looks like we got .....

DIRTY TRICKS FROM THE WHITE HOUSE ....

All over again .....

"Phone-Jamming Records Point to White House"

By LARRY MARGASAK, Associated Press Writer

1 hour, 40 minutes ago

WASHINGTON - Key figures in a phone-jamming scheme designed to keep New Hampshire Democrats from voting in 2002 had regular contact with the White House and Republican Party as the plan was unfolding, phone records introduced in criminal court show.

The records show that Bush campaign operative James Tobin, who recently was convicted in the case, made two dozen calls to the White House within a three-day period around Election Day 2002 — as the phone jamming operation was finalized, carried out and then abruptly shut down.

The national Republican Party, which paid millions in legal bills to defend Tobin, says the contacts involved routine election business and that it was "preposterous" to suggest the calls involved phone jamming.

The Justice Department has secured three convictions in the case but hasn't accused any White House or national Republican officials of wrongdoing, nor made any allegations suggesting party officials outside New Hampshire were involved.

The phone records of calls to the White House were exhibits in Tobin's trial but prosecutors did not make them part of their case.

Democrats plan to ask a federal judge Tuesday to order GOP and White House officials to answer questions about the phone jamming in a civil lawsuit alleging voter fraud.

Repeated hang-up calls that jammed telephone lines at a Democratic get-out-the-vote center occurred in a Senate race in which Republican John Sununu defeated Democrat Jeanne Shaheen, 51 percent to 46 percent, on Nov. 5, 2002.

Besides the conviction of Tobin, the Republicans' New England regional director, prosecutors negotiated two plea bargains: one with a New Hampshire Republican Party official and another with the owner of a telemarketing firm involved in the scheme.

The owner of the subcontractor firm whose employees made the hang-up calls is under indictment.

The phone records show that most calls to the White House were from Tobin, who became President Bush's presidential campaign chairman for the New England region in 2004.

Other calls from New Hampshire senatorial campaign offices to the White House could have been made by a number of people.

A GOP campaign consultant in 2002, Jayne Millerick, made a 17-minute call to the White House on Election Day, but said in an interview she did not recall the subject.

Millerick, who later became the New Hampshire GOP chairwoman, said in an interview she did not learn of the jamming until after the election.

A Democratic analysis of phone records introduced at Tobin's criminal trial show he made 115 outgoing calls — mostly to the same number in the White House political affairs office — between Sept. 17 and Nov. 22, 2002.

Two dozen of the calls were made from 9:28 a.m. the day before the election through 2:17 a.m. the night after the voting.

There also were other calls between Republican officials during the period that the scheme was hatched and canceled.

Prosecutors did not need the White House calls to convict Tobin and negotiate the two guilty pleas.

Whatever the reason for not using the White House records, prosecutors "tried a very narrow case," said Paul Twomey, who represented the Democratic Party in the criminal and civil cases.

The Justice Department did not say why the White House records were not used.

The Democrats said in their civil case motion that they were entitled to know the purpose of the calls to government offices "at the time of the planning and implementation of the phone-jamming conspiracy ... and the timing of the phone calls made by Mr. Tobin on Election Day."

While national Republican officials have said they deplore such operations, the Republican National Committee said it paid for Tobin's defense because he is a longtime supporter and told officials he had committed no crime.

By Nov. 4, 2002, the Monday before the election, an Idaho firm was hired to make the hang-up calls.

The Republican state chairman at the time, John Dowd, said in an interview he learned of the scheme that day and tried to stop it.

Dowd, who blamed an aide for devising the scheme without his knowledge, contended that the jamming began on Election Day despite his efforts.

A police report confirmed the Manchester Professional Fire Fighters Association reported the hang-up calls began about 7:15 a.m. and continued for about two hours.

The association was offering rides to the polls.

Virtually all the calls to the White House went to the same number, which currently rings inside the political affairs office.

In 2002, White House political affairs was led by now-RNC chairman Ken Mehlman.

The White House declined to say which staffer was assigned that phone number in 2002.

"As policy, we don't discuss ongoing legal proceedings within the courts," White House spokesman Ken Lisaius said.

Robert Kelner, a Washington lawyer representing the Republican National Committee in the civil litigation, said there was no connection between the phone jamming operation and the calls to the White House and party officials.

"On Election Day, as anybody involved in politics knows, there's a tremendous volume of calls between political operatives in the field and political operatives in Washington," Kelner said.

"If all you're pointing out is calls between Republican National Committee regional political officials and the White House political office on Election Day, you're pointing out nothing that hasn't been true on every Election Day," he said.

[Livyjr]

Dirty Tricks from the White House .....

Means the REPUBLICANS are in power ....

And so ...

That is what we older people here in OUR America with experience of prior times ...

And Millhouse "Tricky Dick" Nixxon in particular ......

Have come to expect of REPUBLICANS .....

And so ....

They just seem to have a more THUGGISH manner to them ...

The REPUBLICANS ....

And so ...

You seem to get this low stuff more often from them ...

And so ....

But enough about the REPUBLICANS ...

And New York State Attorney General Eliot "Big EL" Spitzer ...

As well .....

The MAN who is turning upstate New York into APPALACHIA .....

With HIS DEFENSE of the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation's complete disregard for the HOME RULE PROVISIONS of the New York State CONSTITUTION ....

When it comes to siting extractive mining operations ....

In residential areas ....

Of upstate New York ....

Eliot gets his name in the newspapers enough ...

Without him cramming his way over into here as well ...

And so ....

Let's see what the IRAQINAMIS are up to here ...

With respect to this al-Jaafari character ...

The one who won't quit ...

Despite pressure from "CON JOB CONNIE" Rice .....

On him to do so ....

"Iraq Sunnis Reaffirm Opposition to PM"

By QASSIM ABDUL-ZAHRA, Associated Press Writer

2 hours, 15 minutes ago

BAGHDAD, Iraq - Shiite politicians failed Monday to persuade Sunni Arabs and Kurds to soften their opposition to a second term for Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari, leaving the Shiites with little choice but to replace him if they want to break the deadlock on a new government.

But al-Jaafari's supporters within the Shiite alliance showed no sign of backing down.

Representatives of the seven parties within the alliance planned to meet Tuesday to discuss the standoff, which has blocked formation of a government of national unity.

"For the alliance to make a change, it needs to have the support of five of the seven blocs within it," said Salam al-Maliki, an al-Jaafari supporter.

"This is impossible to secure."

Names mentioned as possible alternate nominees of the alliance include Vice President Adil Abdul-Mahdi, who lost the nomination to al-Jaafari by a single vote; deputy parliament speaker Hussain al-Shahristani, an independent; and Ali al-Adeeb and Jawad al-Maliki, members of the prime minister's party.

However, none of the alternatives was believed to have broad support among enough alliance factions to be guaranteed quick approval.

The Shiites, the largest bloc in parliament, are under strong pressure from the United States, Britain and their own clerical leadership to end the standoff with the Sunnis and Kurds, whom the Shiites need as partners in a new government.

"Forming a unity government is critical to defeating the terrorists and securing the peace," President Bush said Monday.

"The terrorists and insurgents thrive in a political vacuum."

"And the delay in forming a government is creating a vacuum that the terrorists and insurgents are working to exploit."

The U.S. military reported the deaths of three more American troops, all of them a result of hostile action in Anbar province, a Sunni-dominated province west of Baghdad.

At least 11 Iraqis were killed Monday, police said.

In addition, five bodies were found Monday, four in Baghdad and one south of the capital, but it was unclear when they died, police said.

Iraq's constitution states that the largest bloc in parliament gets first crack at the prime ministership, subject to majority approval in the legislature.

The Shiites, who comprise the majority in the country, won 130 of the 275 seats in December, making them the biggest faction but without enough strength to govern without partners.

Al-Jaafari, who won the nomination for another term during a vote February among Shiite lawmakers, has refused to step aside.

Shiite leaders fear that forcing him out will fragment their alliance.

A three-member Shiite committee met Monday with Sunni politicians, who insisted they would never accept al-Jaafari.

The Sunnis urged the Shiites to present another candidate, said Naseer al-Ani of the Iraqi Islamic Party.

"We don't know when they will get back to us," al-Ani said.

Kurdish leaders delivered that same message during a meeting with the Shiites late Sunday.

Sunnis and Kurds blame al-Jaafari for the rise in sectarian tensions and for a high-handed leadership style since he assumed office last year.

The debate over al-Jaafari has been further complicated because of divisions within the Shiite alliance.

His strongest support comes from radical anti-American cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, whose emergence as a key political figure has alarmed both U.S. officials and other Shiite leaders.

Some Shiite officials suggested al-Jaafari's Dawa party might be willing to abandon him if the replacement comes from its own ranks.

But the main Shiite party, the Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq, or SCIRI, is quietly promoting its own candidate, Abdul-Mahdi.

U.S. officials have been pressing Iraqi politicians to resolve the impasse and move quickly to form a national unity government to halt the country's slide toward chaos, including suicide attacks and car bombings targeting civilians — most of them Shiites.

In a statement Monday, a U.S. military spokesman said more than 90 percent of the suicide attacks in Iraq are carried out by terrorists and foreign fighters recruited, trained and equipped by al-Qaida in Iraq leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi.

Al-Zarqawi and al-Qaida in Iraq "are real threats to the citizens, security and stability of Iraq and we continue to conduct aggressive operations to eliminate the threat they pose not only to Iraq, but also to the rest of the region," Maj. Gen. Rick Lynch said in a statement.

The Washington Post reported Monday that the U.S. military was conducting a propaganda campaign to "magnify the role" of al-Zarqawi to turn Iraqis against him and to link the war in Iraq to the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.

According to the newspaper, some U.S. military intelligence officials believe the campaign has overstated al-Zarqawi's importance within the Iraqi insurgency.

Meanwhile, American troops killed a woman they said was an insurgent in a raid near Balad, north of Baghdad.

Police also reported the incident, describing the woman as a farmer's wife.

[Livyjr]

The Kashmir Telegraph, March 2004, Vol 3, No 10

P E R S P E C T I V E

"Nepal & Bush Administration: Into thin air"

Conn Hallinan

At $13.3 billion a year, the U.S. is the number one arms dealer in the world, far ahead of the Russians ($5 billion) and the French ($1 billion).

The bulk of that--$8.6 billion--goes to developing countries like Nepal.

But efforts to curb the small arms trade have met with stiff resistance.

A recent proposal by Canada to ban the sale of small arms to “non-state actors” was derailed by the Americans, who have used such forces as an extension of foreign policy in places like Afghanistan and Central America.

Our ally in this war hardly fits the alleged aim of promoting democracy the Bush administration talks so much about.

One of King Gyanendra's first acts was to dismiss the elected government of Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Dueba for alleged “incompetence.”

Kathmandu has been the focus of demands for democracy and the reinstatement of parliament ever since, including one demonstration that drew 8,000 in late December.

"Nepal opposition, rebels vow more action" 
 
By NEELESH MISRA, Associated Press
Last updated: 5:16 p.m., Sunday, April 9, 2006

KATMANDU, Nepal -- The crisis in this Himalayan nation deepened Sunday as angry crowds demanding the restoration of democracy took to the streets across Nepal in defiance of a daytime curfew, throwing stones at security forces and burning government offices.

With King Gyanendra and his swelling opposition both refusing to back down, the situation appeared to be reaching its most volatile point since he seized absolute power more than a year ago.

Security forces have killed three protesters, including one in Sunday's gunfire, and thrown more than 800 in jail during four days of demonstrations that for the first time brought thousands of workers, professionals and business people into the streets alongside students and political activists.

"Even the parties didn't expect such a massive public participation across the country," said Lok Raj Baral, executive chairman of the Nepal Centre for Contemporary Studies and a retired diplomat.

Across the country and throughout the day, Nepalis protested in defiance of a daylight curfew and official orders to shoot violators on sight.

The VIOLENT WORLD of George W. Bush EXPLODES ......

Right before OUR eyes .....

And there sit Dick Cheney and George W. Bush ...

Fingers working feverishly on the calculator keys ...

Totting up the day's profits ...

On arms sales to these DICTATORSHIPS that America sponsors .....

Because if you sell arms ...

And then incite the violence that brings out the people who are then to be shot on sight ....

Then you have the DICTATORS hooked for the bullets and stuff ...

That they have to buy from America ...

To replace the ones they used killing off their citzenry the last time ....

Which means that they have to come back to Dick and George to buy some more ....

Which Dick and George like ...

Because by selling all these bullets ...

They boost the MURRIKAN 'CON-O-MY ......

And so ...

Good politics ...

All the way around ...

And so .....

It is a way to fight chronic unemployment .....

Some people have a permanent job as a DICTATOR ...

Some have permanent jobs ....

Working for the DICTATORS .....

Killing and maiming the freedom-loving people who don't like the DICTATOR ....

And some people have the permanent jobs ...

Of getting killed and maimed ...

And so ...

According to BUSH-I-O-NOMICS .....

A win-win situation for all .....

And here is some more money for America's "INDUSTRIAL SECTOR" being made right now ....

"Activist: Police fire on Nepal protesters"

Associated Press
Last updated: 6:25 a.m., Tuesday, April 11, 2006

KATMANDU, Nepal -- Police fired on pro-democracy protesters Tuesday in Katmandu, injuring at least 12 people, a human rights activist said.

It was not clear if the police fired rubber bullets or live ammunition.

Details were scarce, but the clash came in the Gangabu neighborhood on the edge of Katmandu when protesters marched toward a line of police from an area not covered by the city's strict curfew rules.

When the protesters didn't retreat, the police opened fire, said Poshraj Adhikari, of the rights group INSEC-Nepal.

Jagat Basnet, a local resident reached by telephone, said police had fired several rounds at the protesters.

"I saw one running man get hit and collapse," Basnet said.

Adhikari said the army was beginning to move into the neighborhood to take control of the situation.

[Livyjr]

And from Katmandu ....

Which apparently was a cool place for the Beatles to hang out ...

When I was younger .....

And George W. Bush had not yet come into power ...

Here in OUR America .....

We return to OUR America ....

To this .....

In a state where its Attorney General, the VERY, VERY HONORABLE INDEED Eliot "Big EL" Spitzer ......

Has just scored a real big COUP in the federal Second Circuit Court of Appeals on New York City ....

Successfully defending a practice in the State of New York ...

That is specifically designed ...

To remove any professional witnesses ...

Who might be a threat to continuing GOVERNMENT CORRUPTION in the State of New York ....

By having a STATE DOCTOR declare them to be mentally ill and dangerous ....

So that they can then be incarcerated by the STATE ....

In a GULAG ...

Where their minds will be altered ...

So that they won't be out there warning people about all the *** that they are drinking in their water .....

Because warning people about all that **** is just bad for the BID-NESS BOTTOM LINE ....

And so .....

"Big EL" Spitzer is a HERO up here in the State of New York ...

To those who are the POLLUTERS .....

Because he just TOOK DOWN a qualified PUBLIC HEALTH ENGINEER in the State of New York who was looking too closely at these groundwater contamination problems BEING FOSTERED BY THE STATE OF NEW YORK ...

And its corrupt State Health Department ...

And New York State Department of Environmental Conservation ..

Both of which are "Big EL's" clients .....

And so ....

The results of "Big EL's" successful efforts .....

Are as follows ....

"Wells full of who-knows-what - Many who have a private water supply know little about its quality"

By JORDAN CARLEO-EVANGELIST, Staff writer, Albany, New York Times Union

First published: Tuesday, April 11, 2006

Craig Richard realized he was buying a house across from a junkyard.

Until a fence was erected, it was about all he could see from his front window.

What he didn't know was that years earlier, state officials discovered the toxic gasoline additive methyl tertiary butyl ether (MTBE) spreading from the site into groundwater beneath Richard's neighborhood -- just outside Hudson Falls, beyond the reach of municipal water.

"If I would have known about that,'' Richard said of the state-monitored spill, "I probably would have tested my well.''

Then, two years ago, a stream of runoff laced with gasoline and antifreeze flowed past Richard's house and heightened his concern.

Since that incident, the state has continued to detect MTBE in nearby test wells, though none yet in the drinking well at Richard's home.

Richard, 38, says he feels more abandoned than lucky.

A tool sharpener of modest means, he spends $400 a year on bottled water rather than risk the health of his wife and 3-year-old daughter.

He is not alone.

Roughly 1.3 million New York citizens drink water from private wells they know little about and almost never test for water quality.

That is about 7 percent of all New York state residents receiving minimal or no screening of the water they drink.

No one in government even knows for sure the location of thousands of private wells statewide -- a substantial blind spot in the state's ability to warn people of underground water pollution.

The danger extends well beyond MTBE, a gasoline additive that dissolves in water and lingers underground.

The state mandates stringent testing for dozens of contaminants in larger public water supplies, but no standards exist for private water sources.

Only in recent years have state health and environmental officials begun to work together to cross-reference computer data on the locations of public water supplies and petroleum spills.

For private wells, little data exists so far.

Private wells and safety

Protection for private wells has for decades depended on a hodgepodge of local laws that vary greatly among New York's 62 counties.

As a 1998 study by the state Department of Health put it:

"Private wells lack the protection many public drinking water supplies enjoy.''

"You get a water main break in the city, they say boil your water,'' said Richard, of Kingsbury.

"Then they say, `You have a private well?'"

"Drink whatever you want.'''

It is a serious problem that some say begins with a basic misconception.

"Somehow we've gotten this sense that people who are on private wells are living in pristine areas,'' said Paul Pontoro, chief of the water resources office for the Suffolk County Department of Health.

The reality is quite often the opposite.

Pontoro declined to comment on MTBE specifically because Suffolk County is suing the chemical's makers.

But he leaves little doubt that despite his office's efforts to help Suffolk's roughly 200,000 people who drink from private wells, their safety remains a wild card.

"The reality of it is that every time you open up a newspaper nationally, you're seeing some problem come up with private wells,'' he said.

"Nationally, there has been no commitment whatsoever to regulate them.''

Most experts agree private well water isn't tested enough, even for basic contaminants, such as bacteria.

Regardless, some counties, frustrated with the lack of state guidance, have taken the lead in requiring testing and local well registration.

"People have said to me they just assumed that their water was fine -- that if it's in their well and nobody's said anything to them that the water is potable,'' said Rockland County Legislator Ellen Jaffee, who fought for a local testing law.

Jaffee, a Democrat, modeled the Rockland law after New Jersey's standards.

New Jersey's law, which in 2001 became the first of its kind, requires most private wells be tested for a series of contaminants, including volatile organic compounds such as MTBE, before closing a sale of the property.

The seller has to share the results with both the state and the prospective buyer, similar to a termite inspection.

If contamination is found, local health authorities can warn other private well owners nearby.

"It's a kind of a right-to-know requirement of the quality of your drinking water,'' said Fred Mumford, a spokesman for New Jersey's Department of Environmental Protection.

New Jersey estimates its required battery of tests costs between $550 and $600.

Preliminary reports show that about 8 percent of nearly 5,200 New Jersey wells tested violated state standards for some sort of state regulated contamination.

The state's standard for MTBE is 70 parts per billion, seven times greater than New York's.

A similar statewide law introduced here by Assemblyman Thomas P. DiNapoli (D-Great Neck) has languished at the Capitol for more than a year.

To pass Rockland County's law, Jaffee said, she and her supporters had to overcome two executive vetoes and opposition from the real estate industry, which is now challenging the law in court on technical grounds, arguing, in part, the county cannot force responsibilities on state-regulated real estate agents.

Early reports indicate that as many as one-third of the first 60 wells tested have been contaminated at some level with some contaminant, including MTBE, she said.

In Dutchess County, where significant groundwater contamination has made well testing an emotional issue for citizens, the board of health acted last year to institute mandatory testing for private wells every six years before the county legislature acted on it.

That law will take effect July 1.

Cracks in the system

Only as recently as 2000 have well-drillers in New York been required to tell state environmental officials where they're drilling new wells -- vital information when the state Department of Environmental Conservation responds to spills and assesses who might be at risk.

Rockland, like Albany County and several others, has required some form of well registration since 1989.

However, despite that passage of time, only about 1,000 of an estimated 6,000 to 8,000 wells in Rockland are accounted for, said Daniel Miller, head of the county health department's water supply bureau.

Success in warning people their private water supply might be in jeopardy depends on the cooperation of multiple state and local agencies, and more than a little legwork -- what one county health official calls a "windshield tour'' of the neighborhood.

"We don't have a database with all well locations,'' Miller said.

"Really, the only way to do it effectively is by door-to-door survey.''

With thousands of spills statewide and incomplete information about private wells nearby, inevitably, some have fallen through the cracks as environmental and health officials try to triage which spills threaten the most people and thus require the most immediate and aggressive attention.

Interviews with local health officials around the state show that standard procedures for notifying the public vary from place to place.

Many say they have good working relationships with state agencies, combining the state's resources with the county's local knowledge to identify who is drinking from private wells.

Lacking comprehensive data, in some cases they simply compare tax maps to water bills, working backward to determine what properties don't appear to be connected.

While studying MTBE in private wells near gas stations in the late 1990s, the state Department of Health used census data to target its research on areas with a low percentage of households connected to public water.

The first test looked at 40 Capital Region wells near gas stations, of which 20 percent had detectable levels of MTBE.

Only one, at 61 parts per billion, exceeded current state standards.

A year later, the study was expanded to the southern part of the state, where MTBE was mixed into gasoline in much higher concentrations.

There, detectable MTBE was found in 38 percent of the 34 wells tested, generally at higher levels.

Based on the MTBE guidelines at the time, the studies concluded the wells tested "pose no apparent public health hazard,'' though residents of one home, the authors noted, were found to be exposed to as much as 61 parts per billion for an "undetermined period of time'' less than 20 years.

The state lowered its toxic threshold for MTBE to 10 ppb after that study.

Figuring out where to test is a decision typically made based on what was spilled, how it usually behaves and how groundwater usually moves.

"If you have a place where there is no county health department some of these wells do fall through the cracks,'' said Dale Rowe, Columbia County's environmental health director.

Rowe, who's worked closely with state agencies for four decades, said their field workers are dedicated but often understaffed and at the mercy of policies set several levels above them.

"I've been here 40 years, I know who's got (private water),'' he said.

"We protect public health, but (state officials) seem to be more interested -- not all of them, but the administration -- in generating fees for the state of New York.''

Twenty-one counties don't have local environmental health divisions devoted to water quality at all.

The regional districts of the state Department of Health handle those services for them.

Public health officials almost universally agree that everyone with a private well should test at least annually for bacteria, which can be present almost anywhere and can sicken and kill more quickly than MTBE or other toxic chemicals.

Many people only test their wells for bacteria when banks require it before approving a mortgage on their home.

"Cancer is a horrendously scary thing,'' said said Andy Barber, a hydrogeochemist with engineering firm Barton & Loguidice.

"Is (MTBE) a health hazard?"

"No doubt about it."

"But if you have your own on-site water system, there are others, too.''

Deciding how broadly to test depends on the historic uses of nearby land and the history of contamination in the area.

Part of the problem is that there is no one test that will detect every possible contaminant, Barber said.

Buying tests to cover every pollutant costs hundreds of dollars.

"You have to know what you're looking for,'' he said.

"When you send a sample into the laboratory, you have to say I want to look for MTBE in this water.''

The high cost of switching

In East Fishkill, Dutchess County, Dennis Callinan lives 300 yards from a neighbor who worked at home cleaning semiconductor chip trays for IBM.

Cleaning chemicals leached into the earth, groundwater and Callinan's well.

The main chemical that has tainted water in this semirural Dutchess County community is trichloroethylene, a colorless liquid used to clean metal parts.

TCE, found across New York, is a likely carcinogen, with a host of other suspected health impacts.

The federal government has set a maximum level in drinking water of 5 parts per billion, half of New York's limit for MTBE.

For at least 20 years, the Callinan family drank TCE at a level way above that, as high as 50 parts per billion.

They had their well tested a few times, but authorities only recommended they look for bacteria.

Those tests came back clean.

"We have two sons with kidney problems,'' said Callinan, who is convinced the TCE has hurt his family.

"My wife has serious kidney and liver problems."

"I am very bitter.''

As is typical with environmental threats to public health, no direct evidence ties TCE to illness in Callinan's family.

Some counties, like Chemung on the Southern Tier, have local laws that force homes and businesses to connect to public water if they are within a certain distance of water mains.

"The logic there is that there's a lot of testing that goes on daily in public water supplies,'' said Thomas Kump, director of environmental health there.

"The logic is to not have these people be potentially at risk.''

For some, the cost of connecting to municipal water, often in the thousands of dollars, is a deterrent or an outright barrier to safer water.

DEC has in the past offered to connect people for free or ordered spillers to bear the cost, but some property owners refuse, unwilling to pay recurring water bills when they think they can get water more cheaply from their own wells -- water that was fine, they say, until someone else ruined it.

Richard of Hudson Falls is eager to connect, but there is no municipal water on his street.

"A thousand dollars for peace of mind,'' he said.

"It's nothing.''

Town Supervisor James Lindsay said the town has been trying to get grant money to extend about 2,000 feet of pipe to serve the neighborhood.

"I don't think I'd want to be drinking the water because you never know what's going to be in it,'' said Lindsay, adding that the site has had problems under several tenants for 25 years.

The irony, Lindsay said, is that because recent tests have come back clean, the project has been given a low priority among others eligible for grants.

Admitting that it's a gruesome desire, the best thing that could happen, Lindsay said, would be for wells to start testing positive with high levels of contamination.

"Because then we could go to the state and we'd be laying water pipe tomorrow.''

Jordan Carleo-Evangelist can be reached at 454-5445 or by e-mail at jcarleo-evangelist@timesunion.com. Staff writer Matt Pacenza contributed to this report.

[Livyjr]

And while we are on the subject of housing ....

"Realtors: Home Sales, Prices to Cool" Tue Apr 11, 2:01 PM ET

WASHINGTON - The housing market will likely level out in 2006, as sales of existing and new homes are expected to cool in the coming quarters, according to the National Association of Realtors.

Existing home sales are expected to fall 6 percent to 6.65 million in 2006, compared with 7.08 million in 2005, the NAR said Tuesday.

Demand for new homes is expected to fall off as well, with sales forecast to fall 10.9 percent, to 1.14 million this year, compared with a record 1.28 million last year.

But based on those projections for 2006, both the new home and existing home sectors would see their third-best year, following the booming markets of 2005 and 2004, the trade group said.

Prices for new and existing homes are also expected to slow from their previous rate of growth, while still maintaining steady rates of increase over the course of the year.

The median price for existing homes should climb 6.4 percent in 2006 to $221,700, while new home prices are forecast to increase at a lower rate of 2.3 percent this year to $242,700.

"Although housing inventories have been improving, the balance is still a bit more favorable for sellers and annual appreciation remains in double-digit (percentage) territory," NAR President Thomas M. Stevens said.

"Even so, the market is in a process of normalization — appreciation will return to normal single-digit patterns."

NAR's projections included assumptions of gross domestic product growth of 3.7 percent in 2006, and an average unemployment rate of 4.8 percent over the year.

"Economic growth and job creation are providing a favorable backdrop for the housing market, but rising interest rates have an offsetting effect," David Lereah, NAR's chief economist, said.

Lereah expects the 30-year fixed-rate mortgage to rise to 6.9 percent by the end of the year.

[Livyjr]

And from Katmandu ....

Which apparently was a cool place for the Beatles to hang out ...

When I was younger .....

And George W. Bush had not yet come into power ...

Here in OUR America .....

We return to OUR America ....

And from the economy ...

Here in OUR America ...

Which is based upon the export of DEATH AND DESTRUCTION around this world of OURS ....

We once again wing our way back over to Katmandu ...

In Nepal .....

Where George W. Bush is helping America's economy to grow some more .....

By providing arms to the DICTATOR over there ...

So that he can kill his subjects .....

So OUR GNP can grow .....

Which will keep our housing market robust ....

And so .....

"Nepal Protests Grow Increasingly Violent"

By MATTHEW ROSENBERG, Associated Press Writer

1 hour, 17 minutes ago

KATMANDU, Nepal - The taxi driver wheeled around at the sight of hundreds of men closing in on him, his getaway marred by a rock thrown through the back window — the mob's retribution for daring to work instead of protesting the rule of Nepal's king.

"We will smash all the window's in the royal place," declared the rock thrower, Gopal Moktan, smiling triumphantly on Tuesday morning as he and thousands of others gathered on the edge of Katmandu for a sixth day of protests to demand that King Gyanendra restore democracy.

The small scene in many ways is the story these days of Nepal.

Daily demonstrations are looking more like a mass uprising, yet one that without clear leadership is growing increasingly angry — and violent — in the face of a bloody crackdown by security forces.

Tuesday saw more violence as scores were injured in Katmandu, where demonstrators taking shelter in narrow alleys in the Gangabu neighborhood threw stones at police — who in turn charged the protesters with batons, firing tear gas and rubber bullets.

Brian Cobb, an American doctor who set up a small clinic to treat those injured in the protests, said police had stormed his makeshift operation and attacked his patients.

As the protest wound down in the late afternoon, at least six police officers could be seen beating a person on the roof of a four-story brick building, kicking and belting the victim with batons.

At least two people were also injured in the resort town of Pokhara when police fired rubber bullets at protesters.

The U.N. Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights in Nepal said in statement Tuesday that security forces were "using excessive force against demonstrators," noting that peaceful protests have been violently broken up and people faced "severe" beatings even after violent demonstrations have been brought under control.

Despite the assaults, the demonstrations have, for the first time since Gyanendra seized power 14 months ago, brought thousands of workers, professionals and business people into the streets alongside students and political activists.

The Kathmandu Post newspaper on Tuesday even called the protests a "janandolan," or "people's movement" in Nepali.

"The level of defiance is unprecedented — it never happened before, even in 1990," said Yubaraj Ghimire, editor of the respected Samay weekly, referring to the last mass democracy movement, which forced the late King Birendra to yield much of his authority 16 years ago.

Gyanendra says he seized back power 14 months ago to stamp out political corruption and quell a communist insurgency that has killed nearly 13,000 people in the past decade.

The move was at first welcomed by many of Nepal's 27 million people.

But a worsening insurgency and collapsing economy have fueled the discontent so visible in recent days as protests have gripped the country's major cities and far-flung towns.

A bloody crackdown by security forces has clearly exacerbated the situation.

Three protesters have been killed, hundreds injured and more than 1,000 people jailed, including some of the top leaders of the seven-party opposition alliance, which is organizing the protests and an indefinite nationwide strike.

Curfews have been in effect in Katmandu and two other cities since Saturday.

Ghimire said that because of the harsh crackdown, protesters are retaliating with violence.

"A visible leader could have a mollifying effect," he said.

But no singular figure to rally around has emerged.

Most of the leaders of the seven-party alliance are either imprisoned or underground, and all belong to an older political class largely viewed as squabbling and corrupt by many Nepalese, especially the younger ones.

The result is "young people at times reacting to violence the only way they know how — with violence," said Dhruba Adhikary of the independent Nepal Press Institute.

That was clear in Gangabu, where witnesses said thousands of protesters, most of them young people, were spoiling for a fight even before police arrived shortly after noon Tuesday.

"These youths are futureless, they have no fear," said Mani Ranjit, a 58-year-old engineer who was watching as the protest geared up.

One of the young people, K.C. Dawadi, 25, said he was a student leader and declared, "violence is not our answer."

All around him, young men shouted about killing the king, even though the opposition says it's willing to accept a constitutional monarchy.

A half hour later, Dawadi was out in front of the unruly protest, hurling stones as police wielding batons and shields moved in.

Nestled between China and India in the Himalayas, Nepal was once known as a medieval Shangri-La.

To this day, Nepal attracts hippies in search of eastern spirituality and climbers looking to scale its towering peaks, such as Mt. Everest, even as it's become a link in a chain of unstable countries encircling India.

Communist rebels are backing Nepal's opposition protests, and the government alleges rebels have infiltrated the demonstrations to instigate violence — a charge denied by the opposition.

On Tuesday, authorities authorized security forces to search houses in Katmandu for militants.

[Livyjr]

And from Nepal ....

Where that king dude is telling everyone that he had to become a dictator because of corruption .....

We return to OUR America ...

Where it would seem ....

That we have corruption ...

Because of OUR DICTATOR ....

And his CORRUPT POLITICAL FACTION .....

And so ....

"E-mails show Abramoff's donation leverage"

By JOHN SOLOMON and SHARON THEIMER, Associated Press
Last updated: 6:15 p.m., Tuesday, April 11, 2006

WASHINGTON -- A Republican Party official and Jack Abramoff's lobbying team bluntly discussed using large political donations as a way to pressure lawmakers into securing federal money for a tribal client, according to e-mails gathered by prosecutors.

The e-mails detail how Abramoff's team worked to leverage assistance from the White House, Congress and the GOP to get a reluctant federal agency and a single Republican congressional aide to stop blocking school construction money for the Saginaw Chippewa tribe.

The e-mails were obtained by The Associated Press.

Abramoff's team ultimately prevailed when the congressional aide was overruled, several lawmakers pressured an Interior Department agency and Congress itself set aside the money for the tribe.

Lawmakers who helped got thousands of dollars in fresh donations from Abramoff's team.

Federal bribery law prohibits public officials from taking actions because of gifts or political donations and bars lobbyists from demanding government action in exchange for donations.

Abramoff's team repeatedly discussed donations as the reason Republican leaders should intervene for the Saginaw, the e-mails show.

"The tribes that want this (not just ours) are the only guys who take care of the Rs," Abramoff deputy Todd Boulanger wrote in a June 19, 2002, e-mail to Abramoff and his lobbying team, using "Rs" as shorthand for Republicans.

"We're going to seriously reconsider our priorities in the current lists I'm drafting right now if our friends don't weigh in with some juice."

"If leadership isn't going to cash in a chit for (easily) our most important project, then they are out of luck from here on out," he wrote, referring to political donation lists.

The e-mails have become evidence in a federal corruption probe into whether lawmakers, congressional aides and administration officials helped Abramoff's clients in exchange for gifts and donations.

A former federal prosecutor who specialized in fundraising cases said the e-mails are "circumstantial evidence that the money may have a relationship to certain legislative action" and would be useful in criminal prosecution if bolstered by other evidence.

"It memorializes what a lot of people suspect: that money buys access," said Charles La Bella, who oversaw a 1990s investigation into Clinton-era fundraising.

"Politicians, because of the way the system is set up, need money."

"And money is used as a carrot and a stick by lobbyists to encourage or discourage legislative action."

Abramoff's spokesman, Andrew Blum, declined comment Tuesday on the e-mails.

Abramoff's lobbying began when the Interior Department initially opposed giving the Saginaw -- a wealthy tribe with a casino -- federal school construction aid.

Abramoff's team turned to Congress, getting Michigan Democratic Sens. Carl Levin and Debbie Stabenow to persuade their party's leaders to request the money in a spending bill.

Democrats controlled the Senate in 2002.

Abramoff then turned to Republicans, including Sen. Conrad Burns of Montana, to overcome the administration's objections and secure $3 million specifically for the Saginaw when the GOP regained control of the Senate the next year.

The plan hit a snag in summer 2002 when a single GOP House appropriations staffer, Joel Kaplan, objected.

An angry Abramoff team frantically reached Republican leaders.

A staffer for the National Republican Congressional Committee, Jonathan Poe, suggested Abramoff's team compile a list of tribal donations, comparing Republicans with Democrats, to help make the case for lawmakers to overrule Kaplan, the e-mails state.

Poe's "suggestion for me was to have a list of money contributed by tribes broken down r to d so that I can make the cleanest argument that we are about to let the Senate Democrats take credit for the biggest ask of the year by the most Republican-leaning tribes," Abramoff lobbying associate Neil Volz wrote.

Abramoff's team obliged, creating a tally that showed his tribal clients overwhelmingly donated to Republicans -- $225,000 compared with $79,000 for Democrats.

Poe declined to be interviewed for comment.

NRCC spokesman Carl Forti said he didn't know if the NRCC ultimately helped but that NRCC staff routinely suggest strategy for lobbyists and others.

"We talk to groups and people all the time and recommend strategy."

"We do that with campaigns."

"It's part of what we do," Forti said.

The Abramoff team's pressure came the same day the NRCC, the GOP's fundraising arm for Republican House candidates, held its major fundraising dinner with President Bush.

The Saginaw were a dinner sponsor, donating $50,000.

Kaplan's resistance drew the ire of Abramoff's team.

"The bottom line is that a staffer received several letters from appropriators, Native American Caucus co-chairs and others supporting a project that costs the federal government ZERO dollars and he is refusing to put it in the bill because it's 'his account,'" Boulanger wrote.

Kaplan, who worked at the White House budget office before becoming an aide on the House Interior appropriations committee, did not return repeated phone calls to his office seeking comment.

He currently works for a private firm.

Abramoff's team devised a multi-pronged strategy.

Tony Rudy, an Abramoff colleague who was a former top aide to then-House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, reached out to his old boss' office.

Rudy recently pleaded guilty in the corruption probe and is assisting prosecutors.

"I just came out of a meeting with DeLay's folks."

"Joel ain't budging," Rudy wrote, referring to Kaplan.

Abramoff was copied on each of the e-mail exchanges, at one point affirming the strategy.

"This is brilliant," Abramoff wrote.

Abramoff's team persisted, calling the White House intergovernmental affairs office that often deals with Congress.

"Just talked to White House intergovernmental."

"I'm pretty sure they will weigh in."

"Just trying to figure out if they should call Joel or some other player in this drama," Abramoff associate Kevin Ring wrote.

Several people familiar with the lobbying effort said the possibility of White House help became moot when congressional leaders intervened.

In early 2003, Kaplan's new boss, House subcommittee chairman Charles Taylor, R-N.C., ended any problems in the House when he signed onto the Saginaw money.

Burns' office took up the fight in the Senate.

Both oversaw subcommittees that controlled Interior's budget, and the two lawmakers wrote a letter in May 2003 in an effort to overcome resistance inside Interior's Bureau of Indian Affairs, which was arguing the Saginaw shouldn't qualify for the school program.

"It is our belief the Saginaw Chippewa tribal school in question clearly falls within" the school construction program, Burns and Taylor wrote, sharply criticizing the BIA.

"We hope our collective response has cleared up any unnecessary confusion."

The blunt letter has caught federal investigators' interest because it referenced correspondence that had been drafted inside Interior but never delivered.

Federal agents are investigating whether an Interior official leaked the draft to Abramoff's team so it could be used by the lawmakers to pressure the department.

In addition, both Burns and Taylor got campaign money around the time of their help.

A month before the letter, Abramoff's firm threw Taylor a fundraiser on April 11, 2003, that scored thousands of dollars in donations for the lawmaker's campaign, including $2,000 from Abramoff and $1,000 from the Saginaw.

The tribe donated $3,000 more to Taylor a month after the letter.

Burns, likewise, got fresh donations.

Several weeks before the letter, Burns collected $1,000 from the Saginaw and $5,000 from another Abramoff tribe.

The month after the letter, the Saginaw delivered $4,000 in donations to Burns.

Taylor's office did not respond to several calls seeking comment.

The lawmaker had his own interest in the school construction program.

The year after the Saginaw money, Taylor arranged for the Cherokee tribe in his home state to get similar money.

In a letter to the Senate Ethics Committee, Burns' lawyer confirmed the senator's staff met with Abramoff's lobbying team about the Saginaw but insisted any "suggestion that funding for this project resulted from Mr. Abramoff's influence is not accurate."

[Livyjr]

And from REPUBLICAN CORRUPTION ...

Here in OUR America ....

We wing our way over to IRAQINAM .....

To the REPUBLICAN COCK-UP ....

Over there .....

As the BUSHCOS spin around in this world of OURS .....

Way in over their incompetent heads ...

And totally out of control, to boot .....

Of what they have wrought ...

In this world of OURS ....

With their pig-headed arrogance .....

Coupled with a complete lack of ability ....

And a lack of touch with reality ....

And so ....

"U.S. reports 5 more troops killed in Iraq"

By ROBERT H. REID, Associated Press
Last updated: 6:56 p.m., Tuesday, April 11, 2006

BAGHDAD, Iraq -- Bitter rivalry between two powerful clans for leadership of Iraq's Shiite Muslims snarled efforts Tuesday to agree on the next prime minister, the key issue that is blocking a national unity government.

Meanwhile, the U.S. military reported the deaths of five more soldiers, including three killed Tuesday in a roadside bombing north of the capital.

The latest casualties raised the U.S. death toll so far this month to at least 31 -- the same for all of March, according to an Associated Press count.

Neither side showed any sign of compromise over Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari, leaving negotiations deadlocked four months after elections for a new parliament that the Bush administration hopes can improve stability and lessen the need for U.S. troops.

Violence took at least 23 lives Tuesday.

A car bombing killed five people, and three others died when a bomb exploded on a minibus, both attacks in Shiite areas of the capital, police said.

Police also found the bodies of 24 people -- apparent victims of sectarian death squads.

Most of the bodies were found in Baghdad but it was unclear when they died, police said.

Sunni Arabs and Kurds, whom the Shiites need as coalition partners in parliament, blame al-Jaafari, a Shiite, for the rise in sectarian violence bloodying Iraq.

They are demanding that he be replaced before they agree to join a new government.

Al-Jaafari has repeatedly refused to step aside.

And his Dawa party and his key backer, radical anti-American cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, remained firm in their support for him during a meeting of the seven factions in the Shiite alliance Tuesday.

Behind the scenes, al-Jaafari's bid to remain prime minister is opposed by the biggest Shiite party, which is led by a member of a family that has competed for decades with al-Sadr's clan to lead Shiites.

Shiite negotiators planned to meet again Wednesday, but officials said there was no hint an agreement was near.

Al-Jaafari barely won nomination during a vote in February among Shiite lawmakers, who are the largest bloc in parliament.

Shiite officials said his supporters fear removing him would bolster the position of the biggest Shiite party, the Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq, or SCIRI.

SCIRI is led by Abdul Aziz al-Hakim, whose family has long been a rival of al-Sadr's clan for leadership of the Shiite community, which is an estimated 60 percent of Iraq's 27 million people.

Al-Sadr was credited with engineering al-Jaafari's nomination victory in February, which he won by a single vote over al-Hakim's candidate, Vice President Adil Abdul-Mahdi.

Al-Jaafari's supporters want assurances that if the prime minister steps aside, he will not be replaced by Abdul-Mahdi or someone else from al-Hakim's party, Shiite officials said.

"There are long-running tensions between SCIRI and the Sadrists," said Khalid al-Attiyah, an independent Shiite politician.

"There have been problems between them before."

"This generates a state of mutual mistrust."

The rivalry between al-Hakim's family and the al-Sadr clan goes back decades, when they began competing for power in Najaf, the seat of the Shiite religious leadership.

Both families claim descent from the Prophet Muhammad and have produced distinguished figures.

Imam Musa al-Sadr was the most important Shiite figure in Lebanon until he disappeared on a trip to Libya in 1978.

Muqtada al-Sadr's father, aunt and uncle were killed by Saddam Hussein's agents.

Al-Hakim lost more than 70 family members during the former regime.

Al-Hakim's older brother, Ayatollah Mohammed Baqir al-Hakim, fled to Iran and led the Iraqi Shiite opposition to Saddam from there.

He returned to Iraq after Saddam's fall but was killed in a huge truck bombing in Najaf in August.

Since then, militias linked to the two families have competed for leadership in the cities and towns of the Shiite heartland south of Baghdad.

Last summer, a fist fight in Najaf between followers and opponents of al-Sadr triggered battles throughout southern Iraq between the cleric's supporters and followers of al-Hakim's party.

Four Cabinet members and 20 parliament members linked to al-Sadr walked off the job until al-Jaafari intervened.

In reporting the bombing that killed three U.S. soldiers Tuesday, the U.S. military also announced the deaths of two other Americans in combat Sunday.

One suffered fatal wounds in Anbar province west of Baghdad and the other was killed by a roadside bomb near Balad, the military said.

At least 2,359 U.S. military personnel have died since the war began in 2003, according to an Associated Press count.

The figure includes seven civilians employed by the U.S. military.

------

Associated Press reporter Salah Nasrawi in Cairo, Egypt, contributed to this report.

[Livyjr]

http://www.antiwar.com/justin/?articleid=8777

March 29, 2006

Fasten Your Seat Belt - The war in Iraq is about to escalate
 
by Justin Raimondo

With the American raid on the Mustafa mosque, the occupation of Iraq is rapidly reaching a point at which it is no longer tenable: as the Shi'ite giant awakens, the country is about to become a battleground in a much larger war, one that will envelop much of the Middle East.

The raid has provoked outrage, not from our ostensible enemies – the Sunni-led insurgency, al-Qaeda, and the rest – but from our supposed allies, the elected government whose installation was hailed by George W. Bush only a few months ago as the epitome of his much-touted "global democratic revolution."

And as a Viet Nam veteran .....

All I can say ....

Is that this BUSHCO COCK-UP over there on IRAQINAM .....

Where we are blowing money on all these local political rivalries over there ...

That the BUSHCOS knew nothing about ...

Just like they did not know that they were going to encounter sand ...

And lots of it ...

When they invaded a place out in the desert ...

Like parts of IRAQINAM is .....

Make the Viet Nam fiasco seem well-run by comparison ....

And so ....

"3 Marines in fatal Iraq raid reassigned"

By LOLITA C. BALDOR, Associated Press
Last updated: 4:36 p.m., Monday, April 10, 2006

WASHINGTON -- Three Marines have been relieved of their commands in connection with problems during their deployment to Iraq, including their battalion's actions during a firefight that left 15 Iraqi civilians dead.

No charges have been filed against the three officers, who were reassigned to new duties within the division because of a "lack of confidence in their leadership abilities," said Lt. Lawton King, spokesman for the 1st Marine Division at Camp Pendleton in California.

King would not comment on the officers' specific connection to the firefight, which occurred in the western town of Haditha and is being probed by the Naval Criminal Investigative Service.

"There was no one justification for the move," said King.

"In fact many considerations factored into the decision to relieve the commanders ...."

"It stems from their performance during the entire deployment."

The officers are Lt. Col. Jeffrey R. Chessani, commanding officer of 3rd Battalion, 1st Marine Regiment; Capt. James S. Kimber, commanding officer of Company K, 3rd Battalion, 1st Marine Regiment, and Capt. Lucas M. McConnell, commanding officer of Company I, 3rd Battalion, 1st Marine Regiment.

Maj. Gen. Richard F. Natonski, commanding officer of the 1st Marine Division, made the decision to reassign the officers.

The action is separate from the criminal probe, and King said it is too early to tell if the officers will be charged.

About a dozen 3rd Battalion Marines are being investigated for war crimes in connection with the November 2005 incident to determine if they violated the rules of military engagement.

A videotape taken by an Iraqi shows the aftermath of the alleged attack by U.S. troops on civilians in Haditha: a blood-smeared bedroom floor and bits of what appear to be human flesh and bullet holes on the walls.

The video, obtained by Time Magazine, was broadcast a day after Haditha residents told The Associated Press that American troops entered homes and shot dead 15 members of two families, including a 3-year-old girl, after a roadside bomb killed a U.S. Marine.

------

On the Net:

Defense Department: http://www.defenselink.mil

Camp Pendleton: http://www.pendleton.usmc.mil/

No ...

IRAQINAM sure is not another Viet Nam .....

IT IS AN EVEN BIGGER SCREW-UP THAN THAT ONE WAS ....

And so ...

[Snuffysmith]

Thought for the day:

Quotable
Either war is obsolete, or men are.
– R. Buckminster Fuller

[Livyjr]

Good morning, Snuffysmith .....

And of course ....

You are "exposing" yourself as other than a fool in here ...

By quoting from Fuller ...

And in fact ...

By so quoting ...

You are now probably on a LIST OF THE REAL ENEMIES OF GEORGE W. BUSH AND THE REPUBLICAN NATIONAL COMMITTEE .....

Because you are exposing intellectual tendencies here in your ability to actually quote from something that makes sense ....

In a world where the PRONOUNCEMENTS of the WASHINGTON WHITE HOUSE are nothing but gibberish ...

That makes no rational sense ..

At all .....

And I believe that the Washington WHITE HOUSE has since modified this statement to read as follows:

War cannot be made obsolete .....

As it is what the continued growth of the MURRIKAN CON-O-MY depends on ....

So SUBJECTS of NATION STATES must be made obsolete instead ....

Elsewise ...

Who is there left to kill?

– George W. Bush and the REPUBLICAN NATIONAL COMMITTEE, by example, if not exactly in words, circa 2006 .....

[Livyjr]

Ngo Dinh Diem .....

Got led out of the presidential palace in Saigon, Viet Nam ...

After he proved to be useless to American "interests" ....

And was put into an armored personnel carrier ...

Where, as I recall ...

He ended up with a bullet in his head ....

So as to render him VERY USELESS INDEED ....

And over there in IRAQINAM .....

This al-Jaafari dude is looking at the same fate ...

So far as I can see, anyway .....

Life through the eyes of a man who is going to be found, faceup on top of a trash heap over there somewhere in IRAQINAM ...

Which thanks to the incompetent George W. Bush ....

Has a plethora of such trash heaps now ....

There al-Jaafari will be ....

Dead eyes open and staring ....

A neat round ring of powder burn on his forehead ....

Surrounding the great big hole ...

Where the bullet entered to blow his brains right out the back of what was once his head .....

And al-Jaafari must be the very first to know that ...

As he and "CON-JOB CONNIE" Rice do their TANGO OF DECEIT AND ULTIMATE DEATH ...

For all to see ....

Out there on the world stage ...

Where "CON-JOB CONNIE" is not only asking ....

Or telling al-Jaafari actually .....

To "lose a lot of face" .....

But likely ..

Most of the head as well .....

And right now ...

It appears that al-Jaafari is not going to go to his death that willingly ...

And so ....

What will "CON-JOB" and the FABULOUS FLYING BUSHCOS do next?

Has al-Jaafari been given the "BOX" yet, I wonder?

The rosewood box with the inlaid cover that contains the pistol and bullet that al-Jaafari is supposed to pump into his own head ...

For the good of IRAQINAM and George W. Bush and the REPUBLICAN PARTY OF AMERICA AND THE WORLD AS WELL ....

The DOMINANT PARTY ....

And I wonder what the Las Vegas morning line odds are on al-Jafaari lasting another day ...

Or week ...

With his latest announcement ...

That he won't step down ....

"Iraqi PM Rejects Call to Step Aside"

By ROBERT H. REID, Associated Press Writer

BAGHDAD, Iraq - Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari said in an interview with a British newspaper published Wednesday that he was refusing to abandon his bid for a second term to break the deadlock over a new government, and some Iraqi leaders said parliament may have to decide his future.

War cannot be made obsolete .....

As it is what the continued growth of the MURRIKAN CON-O-MY depends on ....

So SUBJECTS of NATION STATES must be made obsolete instead ....

Elsewise ...

Who is there left to kill?

– George W. Bush and the REPUBLICAN NATIONAL COMMITTEE, by example, if not exactly in words, circa 2006 .....

And since we are on the subject of IRAQINAM ....

And al-Jaafari .....

And the ROSEWOOD BOX ....

And the "CREDIBILITY OF THE DEMOCRATIC PROCESS" ....

As America taught that lesson to Ngo Dinh Diem in the failed Viet Nam experiment .....

Which the FABULOUS FLYING IGNORANT BUSHCOS have resuscitated in IRAQINAM ...

Because they have no knowledge of what happened in Viet Nam ...

In that failed experiement there ...

Because they ran the other way back then ...

George W. Bush ..

And Dick "THE MOUTH RUNNETH OVER" Cheney ....

So they could hide ...

Until the shooting was over ...

FOR THE GOOD OF OUR NATIONAL SECURITY, of course ...

And not because they were really craven back then ....

And so ....

"Acting Speaker to Convene Iraqi Parliament"

By SAMEER N. YACOUB, Associated Press Writer

56 minutes ago

BAGHDAD, Iraq - The acting parliament speaker said Wednesday he will convene the Iraqi legislature next week to push forward the formation of a new government stalled over the issue of who will serve as prime minister.

Adnan Pachachi, a Sunni Arab, told a press conference he decided to convene the assembly because "it's my duty to the Iraqi people in order to preserve the credibility of the democratic process."

Pachachi added that Shiite politicians told him they hope to have the deadlock over the nomination of Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari resolved in time for the session.

Parliament was elected Dec. 15 but has held only one session because of the dispute over the prime minister.

As the biggest bloc in parliament, the Shiites have the right to nominate the head of government.

But Sunni and Kurdish parties oppose the Shiite choice of al-Jaafari for another term and the Shiites have not agreed whether to replace him.

That has stalled formation of a unity government which the United States believes is necessary to halt the country's slide toward anarchy.

But Pachachi, a former foreign minister, said he was hopeful for a breakthrough on the prime minister issue.

"There are indications that cause us to be optimistic that an agreement will be reached on all the sticking points regarding forming a national unity government," he said.

Under the constitution, parliament must elect a national president, who in turn designates the nominee of the biggest bloc to form a new government.

The prime minister-designate then has 30 days to name a Cabinet, which must be approved by parliament.

The Shiites hold 130 of the 275 seats, not enough to govern or win approval for their nominee without the support of other parties, including the Sunnis and Kurds.

Shiite politicians conferred again Wednesday over the al-Jaafari issue and were to meet again in the evening.

"The consultations have come a long way and there are reasons for us to believe that from now until April 17, some of the problems could be resolved," Pachachi said.

"The important thing is that the Iraqi people want to see the parliament and the democratic political institutions start their work."

end quotes

Say hello to the BOX, al-Jaafari ....

And good-bye to the world ....

And keep your earflaps firmly down .....

And watch your temples at all times ....

And so ...