Saturday, January 22, 2011

Progress, Tester, seriously?

Ahmed Kousay al-Taie remains missing and is the only US MIA in the current Iraq War. He is a sergeant, a linguist with the US Army, and he went missing October 23, 2006 when he was en route to visit the Baghdad family of his wife Israa Abdul-Satar. Kim Gamel (AP) reports that the search for Sgt Ahmed Kousay al-Taie continues and reports:

Al-Taie's uncle, Entifadh Qanbar, a spokesman for a controversial Iraqi politician, denied that any ransom demand had been made but described for the AP a web of negotiations with a number of intermediaries as he continued to pursue leads through the years. The missing soldier was last seen four months after his abduction, in a video posted on the Internet by a Shiite militant faction called Ahl al-Bayt Brigades.

Meanwhile in the US, Jennifer Hewlett (Lexington Herald-Leader) reports that Iraq War veteran Cameron Anestis' widow is suing the VA for herself and their daughter because she feels the VA did not treat her husband who took his own life "hours after he left the VA medical facilities".

This was also the week that saw the deaths of 4 US soldiers in Iraq and the deaths of approximately 200 people in Iraq (worded that way because some of the pilgrims are not not Iraqis). Somehow, Kimball Bennion (Great Falls Tribune) reports US Senator Jon Tester sees "progress" in Iraq. He does add, "Iraqis still have some work to do to take control of their country." What an idiot. Once was a time we only had to suffer that nonsense from Republican members of Iraq but now the ongoing illegal war is (again -- as it was at its start) "bi-partisan." And, sadly, this now passes for brave statements from elected Dems.

Iraq War veteran and March Forward! member Kevin Baker (Liberation) addresses reality:

“Skills that will serve you for the rest of your life.” This message will greet you if you visit the goarmy.com website.

This is what the Army is projecting to potential recruits: that by joining up you will have a sound foundation from which to launch a career when you leave. Recent findings say the complete opposite is true.

“While their nonmilitary contemporaries were launching careers during the nearly 10 years the nation has been at war, troops were repeatedly deployed to desolate war zones. And on their return to civilian life, these veterans are forced to find their way in a bleak economy where the skills they learned at war have little value,” says Michael A. Fletcher of The Washington Post. Today, veterans actually experience higher unemployment rates than civilians.

Some veterans even want to return to combat simply to have enough money to pay for food and bills, because job opportunities are so rare for returning vets who have spent their days, months and years in war zones.

The following community sites -- plus Military Families Speak Out, Liberal Oasis, Iraq Inquiry Digest and Antiwar.com -- updated last night and tonight:


Ann's Mega Dub
14 guests, only 3 were women
2 hours ago

We'll close with this from Tim King's "Terrorism by the Numbers" (Salem-News):

The only Mideast nations that have felt the wrath of western forces in recent years, directly or indirectly, with the exception of Afghanistan, are the countries that refuse to accept the legitimacy of Israel's illegal occupation of Palestine, or endorse Israel's cruel treatment of the Palestinian people, complete with apartheid laws that govern and punish Jewish and non Jewish people in distinctly different ways.

Those countries that objected to this cruelty include Iraq and Iran.

The British occupied country after country in previous centuries; exploiting their people and products. Iran, the classical Persia - a culture thousands of years old, was in the sites of the west over oil for much of the 20th century.

Combine the oil with objections to Israel's war crimes, and you have the two reasons Iran is perpetually demonized by western media and politicians, especially by Israel's.

The western theft of Iran's profits was going strong in the early 1950's when the British 'Anglo Iranian Oil Company' - known simply as BP today; refused to pay the Iranians the agreed upon revenues for oil or even open the books to them.

By 1953 Iran's first democratically elected President was talking about nationalizing oil, and that is when the US and UK conspired to take out the Iranian president and ultimately replace him with the Shah who functioned as a western puppet leader for Iran until the Revolution of 1979.

No wonder they were angry by that point; having little or no control of their own nation's wealth and resources for decades.

These were the years when problems between Arab and Israeli people were in full swing. Israeli Zionists believe that 'God gave them the land" (Palestine) that is now called Israel and they use a Biblical interpretation to justify the theft of land from families who have lived in Palestine for endless generations.

It is taking place right this second; Israeli settlers are becoming increasingly violent toward Palestinians and Israel is also seeing the persecution of darker skinned Jews. The place is a mess.





The e-mail address for this site is common_ills@yahoo.com.














thomas friedman is a great man






oh boy it never ends





















Posted by at