In a town hall meeting in Bloomsburg, Pa. this week, Rep. Paul Kanjorski, a 12-term congressman, said that shortly before Congress was scheduled to vote on authorizing military force against Iraq, top officials of the CIA showed select members of Congress three photographs it alleged were Iraqi Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs), better known as drones. Kanjorski said he was told that the drones were capable of carrying nuclear, biological, or chemical agents, and could strike 1,000 miles inland of east coast or west coast cities.
Kanjorski said he and four or five other congressmen in the room were told UAVs could be on freighters headed to the U.S. Both secretary of state Condoleezza Rice and President Bush wandered into and out of the briefing room, Kanjorski said.
Kanjorski said it was the second time he was called to the White House for a briefing. He had opposed giving the President the powers to go to war, and said that he hadn't changed his mind after a first meeting. Until he saw the pictures, Kanjorski said, "I hadn't thought that Iraq was a threat." That second meeting changed everything. After he left that meeting, said Kanjorski, he was willing to give the President the authorization he wanted since the drones "represented an imminent danger."
The above, noted by Mia, is from Walter Brasch's "The News Drones" (CounterPunch) on one of the many lies the US administration used to start their illegal war which has cost over 1,028907 Iraqi lives, over 3741 US lives, over 168 British lives and over 129 "Other" lives. As Diana Ross sings in "Love or Loneliness" (Ross), "I think it's time to ask ourselves, if it's really worth it?"
On Monday, the US military announced: "A U.S. Soldier was killed and three others were wounded when an improvised explosive device detonated near their combat logistics patrol yesterday morning near Baghdad.
In the Washington Post, Joshua Partlow examines the disarray in the Iraqi police force, where no one trusts anyone. Shi'ite Naiem al-Qaisi declares of puppet al-Maliki's government, "We don't trust this government. This government belongs to Iran." Sunni Abu Zarqaria declares, "We started feeling there was another occupation of Iraq, and it was coming from Iran, not from the U.S." (Bully Boy is bringing 'togetherness' to Iraq! Sunni and Shia on the police force feel the puppet government is doing Iran's bidding!) And American Army Sgt. Anthony Pluhar declares of the recruits, "Some of my soldiers want to line them all up and shoot them. But that ain't how we are." Martha and Lloyd both note the article. File it under "no progress".
Martha also notes this from Mary Jordan's "British Leave Basra to Iraqi Security Forces" (Washington Post):
"British people are happy the U.K. is removing them from harm's way," said Michael Williams, head of the transatlantic program at the Royal United Services Institute for Defense and Security Studies in London. "This is seen as George Bush's war."
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walter braschthe washington post
mary jordan
joshua partlow
