Killing Me Softly

by pessimist

One has to measure the veracity of words with the actions they inspire. It is no different with George Warmonger Bu$h and his 'War On Terra'.

George has said many things since 9/11 made him put down My Pet Goat and act like the pRezdint he claimed to be, and if FAUX News ran the world's media, we would never know that he wasn't walking his talk.

In addition, his mortal enemies, Osama bin Laden and Al Qaeda, have a similar issue. They have made many claims which proved to be empty threats, which I read as an attempt to lull us to sleep while they prepare an attack they can accomplish. The fact that they haven't yet indicates they aren't quite the terror that we are supposed to believe they are.

Make no mistake: Al Qaeda is dangerous, and their blind fanaticism inspires them to lash out at us in any way they can, but they aren't an organized military structure by any means. They would be defeated quickly in a traditional battle.

They certainly know their limitations, for they have been at this since the Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan in 1979. 25 years of war is a lot more experience than the entire Bu$hCo regime, even with Colin Powell (if you count only his active war zone service time) can accumulate. Thus, Al Qaeda will use what weapons they can muster, and try to use them in the most effective way - hence their predisposition to play into our fearful delusions, which have been enhanced by the incompetence of the Bu$h (mis)Administration.

U.S. near defeat, bin Laden deputy says

For the second year in a row, al-Qaida released a videotape rallying its supporters near the anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks, and experts were investigating if the images of the terror network's No. 2 leader were new or not. After a technical analysis of the video aired on Al-Jazeera on Thursday, the CIA assessed with a high level of confidence that the person who appears is al-Zawahri, an agency official said Friday, speaking on the condition of anonymity. Experts were also investigating what message the video might be seeking to convey and whether the videotape is actually an older audiotape, now joined with its images.

In the latest tape, al-Zawahri proclaims that the era of security for Americans is over and they will never enjoy it again unless their government stops what he described as crimes against Muslims in Iraq, Afghanistan and Palestine. He also warned of plans to tear apart the Arab and Islamic worlds, saying that includes the Arabian Peninsula, Egypt and Sudan, particularly the troubled Darfur region where conflict has raged for 19 months.

In the tape, broadcast Thursday by the Arab television station Al-Jazeera, Ayman al-Zawahri proclaims that the United States will be defeated in Iraq and Afghanistan. A bearded al-Zawahri, wearing eyeglasses, a white turban and a black vest over a white shirt, looked into the camera as he spoke. An assault weapon was propped against the wall behind him. "The defeat of America in Iraq and Afghanistan has become a matter of time, with God's help," al-Zawahri said on the tape. "The Americans in both countries are between two fires, if they continue they bleed to death and if they withdraw they lose everything."

Judging from reaction on Web sites known for militant Muslim comment, those who share al-Qaida's view of the United States as the enemy of Islam found reassurance in al-Zawahri's appearance. "God is great, how beautiful is Sheik Ayman's face," wrote a contributor to one of militant web sites on Friday. "Thank God, who alleviated our worry and pleased the heart."

A previously unknown group calling itself "Supporters of al-Zawahri" posted a Web statement Friday claiming to have kidnapped two Italian aid workers in Iraq, accusing the Italian government of helping U.S. soldiers abuse Iraqi prisoners and saying that if Italy wants to know any more about the women's condition, it must pledge to release all Muslim women held in Iraqi prisons.

The authenticity of the claim could not be verified, but its appearance a day after al-Zawahri's video aired demonstrates how militants try to use current events to draw attention to their cause. Al-Jazeera's presenter said the reference to Darfur, which has drawn recent international attention with criticism of the Sudanese government's handling of the crisis, suggests the tape is new.

An expert on Islamic militants said al-Qaida's 'annual message' is meant to show the terror network has 'no problems and, as al-Zawahri said, they see themselves as winning.' "The message every year has a different meaning, but always makes the point to prove their existence and the ability to continue," said Dia'a Rashwan of Cairo. "They are saying they can still make tapes and videotapes and say whatever they want."

We in America have dealt with propaganda during war before, most notably Axis Sally and the several women in Japan collectively known as Tokyo Rose, so this by itself I don't consider particularly important.

There is no question, based on historical precedents, that the American fighting man can do almost anything to achieve victory - provided he believes that his cause is just and his leaders can be trusted. As I pointed out in Upper GI George, not every soldier on the front line is buying the Bu$h (mis)Administration's story about why we are in Iraq at all. Enlisted ranks are quick to pick up on official lies, because it's their lives that are most at risk. As their comments below indicate, they are on to Bu$hCo.

If Bu$hCo were doing the job properly, could their ex-CIA Iraqi hand puppet make the following statements while his minion at the UN is speaking another truth?

Fundamentalists want to take us over, Allawi warns

IRAQ is facing a battle with fundamentalist organisations who want to take over the country, prime minister Alad Allawi warned yesterday. Mr Allawi said Iraq’s new security forces were fighting heroically to restore order but they faced determined enemies who would press ahead with further attacks. Mr Allawi visited a police training academy at Camp Dublin near Baghdad airport yesterday morning to see for himself the progress that had been made by coalition forces in establishing new units to take on terrorists and criminals who were taking advantage of the disorder. He told the police officers they would be given all the equipment they needed.

But police in Baghdad yesterday voiced concerns that they did not have the weapons they needed to take on the militias and insurgents.

Remember - the enlisted ranks figure it out quickly.

Yesterday, Iraq’s new ambassador to the United Nations, Samir Sumaida’ie, warned that the country risked becoming a "super rogue state" unless Britain and America were prepared to send significantly more forces to help overcome the militants who have seized control of a number of Iraqi cities.

But George told us we were winning the "War on Terra'! Are we to join with the enlisted ranks and lose faith that Owwer Leedur isn't trustworthy?

Iraq Coalition: Eritrea - a State no US citizen could find on a map?
Commentary by August Keso, Washington Dispatch.

One cannot help but listen with amusement as the President continuously insists he must be re-elected, so America can continue to "lead" the world. If Bush thinks the American people need to re-elect him so we can lead the world, he had better find a world that he can lead. Maybe that is why he is in such a hurry to get us to Mars? Such a statement causes a person to wonder just whom it is George Bush intends to lead. Somewhere out there in the Universe there may be a world willing to be led by and follow George W. Bush, but it certainly isn’t this world. In order to lead there must be those willing to follow, and of that there are only but a few and even then without enthusiasm.

Bush speaks proudly of his so called "Coalition of the Willing" but it was a group that made up less than 15% of the worlds 193 recognized nations. Last anyone checked it was pretty hard to lead anything and especially the world, when all you have is the support of a small minority.

Of the 30 original members of the Willing, Spain and the Philippines have had all they could take of Bush’s leadership and they bolted. Neither waited for the door to hit them on the way out, nor did they bother with the formality of saying "good bye" when they went. Honduras, the Dominican Republic, Norway and Kazakhstan either have, or are in the process of, withdrawing their troops. So now, Bush’s world leadership applies to about 12% of known nations.

Of the remaining: Eritrea (no U.S. citizen could find it on a map) ratified a constitution in 1997, but never bothered to put it into effect and elections have been put on hold indefinitely. Albania is almost, so it seems, a democracy? It IS listed by the CIA as an emerging democracy. Uzbekistan doesn’t even bother to pretend to be a democracy. Their leader often makes Stalin look like a liberal.

Even two countries that some in the United States might actually be able to find on a world map -- Britain and Italy – do not want to be around, much less led by, our nation. According to Pew Research Center, only 48% of British people have a favorable view of the Untied States, which is down from 83% in 1999. A stunning 34% of Italians view us favorably and that too has decreased since 1999, when 76% held that view. As for maintaining joint security and diplomatic ties, only 40% of British people believe they should remain close to the United States and 48% think they should be more independent. In Italy, 30% think they should have strong security and diplomatic ties to us and 63% prefer to be more independent. With results like those found in Britain and Italy, it doesn’t seem very likely that those two countries will be following Bush too far for too long.

All told, Bush is able to lead about 16% of the world’s democratic nations and 11% of all nations. Not exactly an overwhelming display of enthusiasm for Bush’s, or our world leadership. These certainly are not the sort of figures that would lead one to proclaim himself leader of the world.

Bush is fond of saying nobody should speak poorly about the countries he managed to lead into war, because doing so is disrespectful of those nations. Well, nobody knows for sure what it will cost U.S. taxpayers for countries like Mongolia, Azerbaijan, Tonga, Moldova, Macedonia, New Zealand, Latvia, Slovakia, Lithuania, Portugal, Georgia and the Czech Republic – a full 40% of the coalition members - to contribute their symbolic average troop force of 99 people. What is likely however, is that it will be too much for the token gesture that allows Bush to claim those nations as being under his leadership.

And so it is with another nation.

And Another One Bites The Dust

Costa Rica quits Iraq war coalition

Costa Rican Foreign Minister Roberto Tovar on Thursday requested the United States to remove his country's name from the list of nations backing the occupation coalition in Iraq. This petition was presented in a diplomatic note addressed to US Secretary of State Colin Powell in compliance with the resolution of Costa Rica's constitutional court, which was issued on Wednesday. In the diplomatic note, Tovar said Costa Rica, respectful of the rule of law and the independence of the branches of the state,abides by the decision of the high constitutional tribunal. "As a consequence, my government requests the government of the United States to exclude the name of the Republic of Costa Rica from the list of allies in the Coalition or Alliance," said the diplomatic note, which has been presented to the US Embassy in San Jose.

The constitutional court, the top judicial body of Costa Rica, unanimously declared Wednesday night as unconstitutional the moral support given by Costa Rica to the United States in its invasion of Iraq, and ordered the government to remove the name of the Central American country from the list of the coalition. The decision of the court also stressed that the act "went against the Constitution, the Principle of Perpetual, Active and Non-Armed Neutrality (of Costa Rica), the International Law, and the United Nations System." Nonetheless, the foreign minister reiterated that the Costa Rican government never declared war to Iraq or supported the invasion of Iraq. On previous occasions, President Abel Pacheco and Foreign Minister Tovar had indicated that Costa Rica's support was not for the invasion of Iraq, but for the combat, headed by the United States, against international terrorism.

Other nations begin to hedge their bets:

Ukraine to cut troops in Iraq by 200

Ukraine will cut its 1,600-strong contingent in Iraq by 200 soldiers, but will not pull out of the country until an elected Iraqi government takes office, President Leonid Kuchma said on Tuesday. "The scheduled rotation of the peacekeeping troops is taking place. There will be about 200 soldiers fewer than we have at present," Kuchma told reporters during a visit to Crimea. "We will not flee Iraq, everyone should understand that. When completely legitimate authorities appear, then we can calmly leave Iraq," he added. Iraq's U.S.-backed interim government, which took office in June, plans to hold elections in January, 2005. Ukraine sent forces to Iraq in 2003 in a bid to repair ties with the United States after Washington accused Kiev of illegal arms sales to Baghdad before the overthrow of Saddam Hussein. Seven Ukrainian soldiers have been killed either in combat or by accident since the deployment. The deaths have made Ukraine's involvement in Iraq a major political issue in the run-up to a presidential poll next month, with leftist and opposition politicians calling for troops to be pulled out. Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovich, a leading contender in the October 31 poll, has said Ukraine might withdraw after the Iraqi elections.

And another country's military isn't too keen on joining up in the 'War On Terra':

Armenian Generals Unhappy With Iraq Deployment

Two senior Armenian army generals have indicated their opposition to Yerevan’s plans to join the U.S.-led occupation force in Iraq with a small unit of non-combat troops by the end of this year. "I am not delighted with the decision to send our troops there and the war in general," Lieutenant-General Yuri Khachaturov, a deputy minister of defense, told reporters late on Tuesday. "Because of that the Armenian community [in Iraq] and Armenians in general could have problems in the future."

Khachaturov’s concerns were echoed on Wednesday by Major-General Enrico Apriamov, deputy chief of staff of Armenia’s Armed Forces. "I can’t comment on this because there is an issue of peace keeping and an issue of aggression," he said. "As peacekeepers, we are ready to perform duties to our people for the sake of our homeland." Asked whether he believes the U.S. invasion of Iraq was aggression, Apriamov replied, "This question should be put to President George Bush. [He should be asked] what he meant by sending troops to Iraq. I am a military officer and am against war."

We discussed this very attitude on another comment thread. I call this general's statement proof that military officers, regardless of where they come from, are not eager to have to go to war.

The comments are a rare expression of personal views by members of the Armenian army’s top brass and expose its serious misgivings about the deployment plans reaffirmed by President Robert Kocharian during a visit to Poland on Monday. Kocharian formally offered his Polish counterpart Aleksander Kwasniewski to send some 50 military doctors, sappers and truck drivers to south central Iraq administered by a Polish-led multinational division. Defense Minister Serzh Sarkisian accompanying Kocharian argued that Armenia considers itself a "part of the European family" and feels "obliged to participate in the efforts to assure security."

The offer was accepted by and drew praise from the Polish government. "Such decisions are very difficult, but necessary at the time of the joint struggle against terrorism," Kwasniewski said. Lieutenant-General Artur Aghabekian, another deputy defense minister seen as Sarkisian’s right-hand man, told RFE/RL late last week that a team of Armenian military officials will visit Iraq this month to prepare for the arrival of the Armenian troops. He said they will join the Polish-led contingent "at the end of the autumn or the beginning of the winter."

Some Armenians aren't too keen on this prospect - and I think they have good reason for feeling so:

Khachaturov claimed that the Armenian parliament may still block the deployment by refusing to ratify it. His comments also give more weight to fears that Armenia’s accession to the U.S.-led "coalition of the willing" could make thousands of ethnic Armenians living in Iraq a potential target of attacks by anti-American insurgents.

It would be one thing if the leader of a major undertaking such as Bu$hCo's 'Operation Willing Coalition' demonstrated awareness, competence, and deliberation, but all these traits were demonstrably and visibly lacking recently. Such lapses cannot inspire great confidence in the leadership qualities of George Warmonger-wannabe Bu$h:

South Korea missing from Bush's coalition list

The United States moved to allay any concerns over President George W. Bush's failure to identify South Korea as among top allies in the US-led anti-terror coalition at his Republican party convention. Bush, in accepting his nomination for another term and laying out his planned second-term agenda last week, did not mention South Korea, which is dispatching more than 3,000 troops to Iraq, while listing countries that had taken part in the war on terror.

Asked to comment on the omission, State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said: "I think it's important to remember that on other occasions, the president, secretary of state and others have shown great appreciation for the contribution that the Republic of Korea has made. "There should be no doubt about our gratitude to South Korean troops for their contributions in the coalition," Boucher said amid reported concerns in South Korea over the exclusion.

Bush told the convention last Wednesday that about 40 nations stood beside the United States in Afghanistan and 30 in Iraq. He then went on to "deeply appreciate the courage and wise counsel" of Australian Prime Minister John Howard, Polish President Alexander Kwasniewski, Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi and Britain's Prime Minister Tony Blair for backing the US-led coalition. Bush also specifically named eight countries -- Australia, Britain, Denmark, El Salvador, Italy, Japan, the Netherlands and Poland -- that had sent troops to join in the coalition of the willing.

However, he failed to mention South Korea, which is dispatching 3,600 troops -- the third largest number of soldiers to Iraq, after the United States and Britain. The beheading of a South Korean by Islamic militants in Iraq in June fueled anti-war protests in South Korea but the government vowed to push on with the troop dispatch.

Boucher said Bush always cited "various examples" in his speeches on the campaign against terror. "Sometimes it's some countries. Sometimes it's others. But the president has made clear various statements, repeatedly, how much he values the deployments of the Republic of Korea to Iraq, how close our relationship as allies is, and how well we're working together in current years and months. And that remains a very firm foundation of our policy, one that the president has reiterated again and again, albeit on different occasions."

And in different places? We may find out sooner than we like:

That's Why I'm Goin' To Kathmandu !

Bomb explodes at American Center in Nepal

KATHMANDU, Sept. 10 (Xinhuanet) -- Suspected anti-government insurgents exploded a bomb Friday evening at the American Information Center, a semi-official US organization based in Nepal's capital of Kathmandu, but causing no casualties. The American Center is funded by the US government, functioning as a cultural exchange organization in Nepal.

The bomb was thrown from outside the eastern side wall of the center compound in Gyaneshwar of downtown Kathmandu at around 5:30 p.m. local time (1145GMT), an official of the center told Xinhua. The explosion has damaged the roof of a toilet in the center and there was no major damage or human casualty in the incident, the official said on condition of anonymity. Security personnel rushed to the scene and have cordoned off the area, he noted.

About 10,000 Nepalese people have lost their lives since the anti-government insurgency broke out in the Himalayan kingdom in early 1996. This is the first time that the insurgents have targeted any office of the diplomatic mission since the insurgency began in 1996, he added. The anti-government insurgents have intensified their violent activities targeting government forces, state-owned companies and foreign-invested enterprises across Nepal in recent weeks.

'An' Ah made the wurld much safer by takin' out ol' Saddam!'

Keep convincing me, Bu$hy. Someday I just might believe you. NOT !

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