ICH: Should Americans Die For South Ossetia
 
Resent-Date: Tue, 1 Apr 2008 17:28:21 -0500 (CDT)


"Freedom of expression is the well-spring of our civilization...
The history of civilization is in considerable measure the displacement
of error which once held sway as official truth by beliefs which
in turn have yielded to other truths. Therefore the liberty of man
to search for truth ought not to be fettered, no matter what
orthodoxies he may challenge.": Felix Frankfurter - (1882-1965)
U.S. Supreme Court Justice - Source: Concurring Opinion, Dennis et
al. v. U.S. (1951)

= "Freedom to differ is not limited to things that do not matter
much. That would be a mere shadow of freedom. The test of its
substance is the right to differ as to things that touch the heart
of the existing order." : Justice Robert H. Jackson - (1892-1954),
U. S. Supreme Court Justice Source: West Virginia State Board of
Education v. Barnette, 1943

= There is no telling to what extremes of cruelty and ruthlessness
a man will go when he is freed from the fears, hesitations, doubts
and the vague stirrings of decency that go with individual judgement.
When we lose our individual independence in the corporateness of a
mass movement, we find a new freedom- freedom to hate, bully, lie,
torture, murder and betray without shame and remorse. Herein
undoubtedly lies part of the attractiveness of a mass movement:
Eric Hoffer

= He therefore is the truest friend to the liberty of his country
who tries most to promote its virtue, and who, so far as his power
and influence extend, will not suffer a man to be chosen into any
office of power and trust who is not a wise and virtuous man...:
Samuel Adams

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Read this newsletter online http://tinyurl.com/dy6yy

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Number Of Iraqis Slaughtered Since The U.S. Invaded Iraq "1,194,935"

http://www.justforeignpolicy.org/iraq/iraqdeaths.html

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Number of U.S. Military Personnel Sacrificed (Officially acknowledged)
In America'sWar On Iraq 4,012 http://icasualties.org/oif/

The War in Iraq Costs $507,543,181,478

See the cost in your community
http://nationalpriorities.org/index.php?option=com_wrapper&Itemid=182

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U.S. Appears to Take Lead in Fighting in Baghdad

U.S. Forces Battle Mahdi Army in Sadr City, Aircraft Target Basra

By Sudarsan Raghavan and Sholnn Freeman

U.S. forces in armored vehicles battled Mahdi Army fighters Thursday
in the vast Shiite stronghold of Sadr City, and military officials
said Friday that U.S. aircraft bombed militant positions in the
southern city of Basra, as the American role in a campaign against
party-backed militias appeared to expand.

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article19662.htm

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Iraq's Shia Power Struggle

Al Jazeera - Video Report

Riz Khan interviews Patrick Cockburn, who has been a Middle East
correspondent since 1979 for the Financial Times and The Independent
and asks if Iraq is on the verge of a new civil war.

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article19659.htm

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Delusionary, Dancing Bush

By Ray McGovern

At the American Enterprise Institute (AEI), war cheerleaders, dressed
as academicians, were delivering a panegyric on how peaceful and
stable the situation in Iraq had become. The "surge," they announced,
had nipped a civil war in the bud.

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article19661.htm

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Should Americans Die For South Ossetia?

By Patrick J. Buchanan

One begins to understand why Gen. Petraeus wants a "pause" in the
pullout of U.S. forces, and why Bush agrees. This will leave more
U.S. troops in Iraq on Inauguration Day 2009, than on Election Day
2006, when the country voted the Democrats into power to bring a
swift end to the war.

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article19660.htm

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Iraqi crackdown backfires, strengthens Sadrists:

Analysts say Iraqis may be about to witness a new phase in the cycle
of violence that has gripped the country since the U.S.-led invasion
in 2003 -- intra-Shi'ite bloodletting that could tear Iraq apart
and more deeply embroil U.S. forces.

http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/COL144127.htm ===

Iraqi PM: Basra operation was a "success";

A U.S. helicopter fired a missile at gunmen attacking ground forces
in the Baghdad militia stronghold of Sadr City, killing six militants,
the military said. Iraqi police and witnesses said three civilians
were killed in the strike.

http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2008/04/01/africa/ME-GEN-Iraq.php

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How Moqtada al-Sadr Won in Basra:

Moqtada al-Sadr. Sadr's militia, the Mahdi Army, stood its ground
in several days of heavy fighting with Iraqi soldiers backed up by
American and British air power. But perhaps more important than the
manner in which the militia fought is the manner in which it stopped
fighting.

http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1726763,00.html?xid=rss-world

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Embarrassed U.S. Starts to Disown Basra Operation :

As it became clear last week that the "Operation Knights Assault"
in Basra was in serious trouble, the George W. Bush administration
began to claim in off-the-record statements to journalists that
Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki had launched the operation without
consulting Washington.

http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=41804

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Fact or fiction?

Iranian who "brokered Iraqi peace" is on U.S. terrorist watch list:

Brig. Gen. Qassem Suleimani, who helped U.S.-backed Iraqi leaders
negotiate a deal with radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al Sadr to stop
the fighting in Iraq's largely Shiite south, is named on U.S.
Treasury Department and U.N. Security Council watch lists for alleged
involvement in terrorism and the proliferation of nuclear and missile
technology.

http://www.mcclatchydc.com/227/story/32141.html

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U.S. fails to halt Emirates' dangerous trade:

Roadside bombings of American troops in Iraq were occurring with
bloody regularity when military investigators made a disturbing
discovery:

American-made computer circuits sold to a trading company in the
United Arab Emirates had turned up in the bomb detonators.

http://www.iht.com/articles/2008/04/01/mideast/uae.php

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Afghan police kill 3 insurgents, capture 1 :

Afghan police in an engagement with Taliban militants in Afghanistan's
southern Helmand province eliminated three insurgents and captured
another, provincial police chief Mohammad Hussain Andiwal said
Tuesday.

http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2008-04/01/content_7897936.htm

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Suicide attack kills three in Afghanistan :

Two police personnel were killed and another five wounded in a
suicide attack on a police compound in western Afghanistan on
Tuesday.

http://tinyurl.com/yown87

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Life after the fall of the Afghan Taliban :

Al Jazeera 2 minute video: Bernard Smith went to meet one family
in the capital, Kabul, to see if their life has changed since the
fall of the Taliban.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7c4nzIcdHK0

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2 killed in rebels attack in Pakistan:

Pakistani Taliban militants ambushed a van carrying pro-government
tribal elders in a northwestern region, killing two tribal leaders
and wounding seven others on Tuesday, the police said.

http://tinyurl.com/yra9qm

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Pakistan's neo-colonial rule:

This week is the 60th anniversary of the Pakistani invasion,
annexation and occupation of the independent state of Balochistan.
On April 1, 1948, Pakistani troops poured across the border. Ever
since, Balochistan has been under illegal military rule from
Islamabad.

http://tinyurl.com/ysdpdf

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Palestinians killed in Israeli attack:

Israeli occupation forces have killed two Hamas fighters in exchanges
of fire during a brief army incursion into the Gaza Strip, Palestinian
medical sources said.

http://tinyurl.com/2nawfd

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World Health Organization slams Israeli denial of entry permits to
Gaza patients :

The World Health Organization (WHO) sharply criticized Tuesday
Israel's strict security screening of seriously- ill Palestinians
who seek medical treatment in Israeli hospitals, calling the policy
"inhuman."

http://tinyurl.com/2xj97q

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Speculation rife over Mugabe fate :

Although Zimbabwe is still waiting for official results from last
week's presidential elections, speculation is rife that Robert
Mugabe is preparing to step down after after 28 years in power.

http://tinyurl.com/37sdzq

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Ecuador takes Colombia to court :

Ecuador is suing Colombia in the International Criminal Court (ICC)
for herbicide spraying on coca fields that has crossed over its
borders, Ecuador's foreign minister has said.

http://tinyurl.com/33o85k

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GAO Blasts Weapons Budget: Cost Overruns Hit $295 Billion:

Government auditors issued a scathing review yesterday of dozens
of the Pentagon's biggest weapons systems, saying ships, aircraft
and satellites are billions of dollars over budget and years behind
schedule.

http://tinyurl.com/249f9o

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Military Report: Secretly 'Recruit or Hire Bloggers':

The report introduces the military audience to the "blogging
phenomenon," and lays out a number of ways in which the armed forces
-- specifically, the military's public affairs, information operations,
and psychological operations units -- might use the sites to their
advantage.

http://blog.wired.com/defense/2008/03/report-recruit.html

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Bush calls on Congress to pass key legislation allowing more spying
on US citizens: :

The proposed reform would ease requirements for court warrants to
conduct wiretaps of suspected security threats and provide liability
protection to telecommunications firms helping in the wire-taps, a
sticking point with the Democrat-controlled Congress.

http://tinyurl.com/22hery

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Bush housing secretary resigns amid mounting corruption charges:

While the 62-year-old Jackson cited "personal and family matters"
as the cause of his resignation, he became a casualty, at least
indirectly, of the subprime collapse and the ensuing crisis in the
broader home mortgage market
http://www.wsws.org/articles/2008/apr2008/jack-a01.shtml

=== Let Us Work Towards Peace & Joy

Tom Feeley