Month: March 2004

There’s one liberventionist argument that practically every Iraq war supporter uses– that by establishing a democratic, pluralistic society in Iraq, we plant the germ for the entire Arab/Muslim/oppressed/backwards world. With the current mayhem in Iraq and its disintegration into a pluralistic hell of warring ethnic, religious, and political factions, even some of the most cement-skulled warbots are sniffing reality. The logical next step for them is to invert the original formula as follows: How can a democratic, pluralistic Iraq develop while surrounded by tyrants and fanatics on all sides? I’d file that under Things They Should Have Thought About Before Invading, but you can bet they won’t. Their plan to solve all the world’s problems by fixing Iraq will quietly morph into the plan to fix Iraq by solving all the world’s problems.

Granted, the vanguard of the War Party has been calling for such a full-on clash of civilizations all along. Now watch as the mainstream liberventionists join in.

Brig. Gen. Mark Kimmitt said at a briefing in Baghdad that it was not known what the coalition contractors were doing in Fallujah — apparently without a military escort — when the attack occurred.

U.S. officials, who spoke with NBC News on condition of anonymity, said that all four contractors were Americans who worked for Blackwater USA of Moyock, N.C. The officials did not confirm reports from the scene that a woman was among the dead.

Blackwater USA supplies security guards to the Coalition Provisional Authority and has provided protection for Iraq administrator L. Paul Bremer, among other coalition officials.

That would explain why some Iraqis reported that dog tags were removed from some of the corpses. These people were not “civilians” or “contractors.” They were private troops hired by the CPA – mercenaries.

The US is hiring mercenaries in Chile to replace
its soldiers on security duty in Iraq. A Pentagon contractor has
begun recruiting former commandos, other soldiers and seamen,
paying them up to US$4000 a month to guard oil wells. Last month
Blackwater USA flew about 60 former commandos from Santiago to a
training camp in North Carolina. Many of them had trained under
the military government of Augusto Pinochet.

The Guardian March 24, 2004

Crossposted at UnFairWitness

Courtesy of NY Press. The list is screechy and absurd, as all such things are, but several of the honorees truly deserve unceasing contempt and ridicule. I second the following choices with every cell in my body:

37. ADL director Abe Foxman (I’d go a little higher)
34. Senator Chuck Schumer (and they even picked him for the right reason–his execrable performance at the sham Waco hearings)
31. NYT fraud Judith Miller (should be deported to Iraq immediately)
4. Rupert Murdoch and son Lachlan
1. Rudy Giuliani (wait ’til he’s in the Senate or the White House)

(Hat tip to Hit & Run)

Iraqis Drag Four Corpses Through Streets

Picture – WARNING: Graphic

Marines Take Over Fallujah

Eyes on Iraqis

Marines seek to pacify Fallujah with show of force

Bomb Kills Five U.S. Soldiers in Iraq

Iraqi rebels mutilate five foreigners in horror attack

Jubilant Iraqis Drag Burned Body Through Streets

Although the Marines have instituted a policy of not providing information on killed US Marines, by my count this makes 12 US Marines killed in Fallujah in the past 8 days. As for civilians, that number is difficult to determine for both Iraqis and foreigners.

Isn’t it past time to admit that social engineering with armies and bombs doesn’t work?

I almost did not notice this bit of news, but it seems that Derek Chappell, the UN police spokesman in occupied Kosovo, has been removed from his post for interfering with the spin the media and the occupiers tried to put on the Albanian pogrom of March 17-20.
Chappell, who had previously dutifully represented the occupying authority (UNMIK), even to the tune of calling Serb reports of Albanian attacks “lies” (which they turned out not to be), may have been moved by a sliver of remaining conscience to denounce the vicious Albanian libel about the drowning boys, which most media had eagerly seized upon as explanation for what they termed “clashes.” Predictably, he was punished, reports Serbian radio B92.
Trouble with B92 is, they don’t keep static links of their articles, but bury them in archives (an evil practice, if ever there was one; must have something to do with the fact that they are often funded by foreign aid…). The full story is therefore reposted here: Continue reading “UN transfers spokesman for telling the truth”