¶ The Paragraph

Two weeks ago Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D-OH) brought an impeachment resolution against President George W. Bush to the House floor.x³⁰x³¹ It took him nearly five hours to read the resolution’s 35 articles.x³² Each article charges Bush with a criminal act, cites the laws violated and gives supporting evidence.x³³ Among the criminal acts are: pushing false propaganda to promote war against Iraq, spending funds marked for operations in Afghanistan to prepare the Iraq invasion, attacking Iraq without meeting Congress’s requirement that such force would help fight 9-11 culprits, failure to provide available vehicle and body armor to U.S. soldiers in Iraq, helping expose CIA spy Valerie Plame, helping and allowing massive fraud and waste in Iraq contracts, false imprisonment, authorizing and encouraging torture, authorizing and encouraging kidnapping, permitting imprisonment of children, making secret law, using the military in domestic law enforcement, warrantless wiretapping of American citizens, using signing statements to violate laws, refusing to comply with Congressional subpoenas, corrupting the Justice Department to undermine fair elections, conspiring to corrupt and manipulate the 2004 & 2006 elections, deceiving Congress about cost in order to get his Medicare drug bill passed, failure to prepare for and respond to Hurricane Katrina, altering scientific findings about climate change, ignoring 9-11 warnings, and obstructing 9-11 investigation. Congress sent the measure to the Judiciary Committee, where Kucinich’s earlier bill to impeach Vice President Dick Cheney has, by and large, sat moldering for more than a year.x³⁴x³⁵ But Kucinich says the Bush impeachment measure will be different:

Leadership wants to bury it, but this is one resolution that will be coming back from the dead. ... We’ll come back and many of us will be reading this [on the House floor], and we’ll come back with 60 articles, not 35.x³⁶

So, many of Bush’s crimes are now on an official, historical record. And each Congressman has the chance to sign-on and show that one stood for the Constitution and the Republic.

Kucinich introduces articles of impeachment – CSPAN

Sources

³⁰ Links to each article of impeachment with full text and video of Kucinich reading it – kucinich.us

‘ARTICLES OF IMPEACHMENT FOR PRESIDENT GEORGE W. BUSH’ – introduced by Rep. Kucinich, 2008-06-09, PDF file with full text

³¹ ‘Kucinich presents Bush impeachment articles’ by David Edwards and Mike Sheehan, The Raw Story, Monday June 9, 2008

³² ‘Mainstream media yawns as Kucinich offers impeachment’ by Muriel Kane, The Raw Story, Tuesday June 10, 2008

³³ ‘Kucinich’s Articles of Impeachment: A Three-Part Guide’ By Elizabeth de la Vega, The Public Record, June 14, 2008

‘Articles of Impeachment for President George W. Bush – U.S. and International Violations Alleged’ – a table by Elizabeth de la Vega, The Public Record

‘Articles of Impeachment for President George W. Bush’ – a table by Elizabeth de la Vega, The Public Record

³⁴ ‘House votes to send impeachment resolution to Judiciary Committee’ By Nick Juliano, The Raw Story, 11 June 2008

³⁵ ‘Tricky Republicans Give Cheney Impeachment New Life’ The Paragraph, November 11th, 2007

³⁶ ‘Kucinich Vows to Keep Up Impeachment Fight’ – Capitol Briefing by Ben Pershing, The Washington Post, June 11, 2008

* * *
By Quinn Hungeski – Posted at G.N.N. & TheParagraph.com

Global warming climate change is happening.x²⁰ A major cause of it is the burning of fossil fuels. The effects of it will be severe and damaging. We are already seeing some effects in extreme weather events, melting glaciers and rising seas. Those are the facts. But ExxonMobil did not like the facts, and funded a propaganda campaign to combat them.x²¹ “Victory will be achieved when recognition of uncertainty becomes part of the ‘conventional wisdom,’” said a 1998 American Petroleum Institute memo about the budding propaganda campaign.x²² From what I’ve been hearing, it seems ExxonMobil got its “victory”. For example, one of my colleagues thought global warming is a political plot to advance world government. But that would mean that the best scientific organizations and journals in the world are in on the plot.x²³ More likely, my colleague was wearing a very shiny tinfoil hat. In another case, a friend of mine thinks the fact of Vikings farming in Greenland 1000 years ago proves a natural warm phase, warmer than the present. But the Viking settlement shows little about worldwide temperature and much about human tenacity.x²⁴ The Vikings had sparse farms with skinny animals, and used up more and more of the land over the course of two centuries before the last of them starved during a bad winter. Another friend of mine gave me a copy of the documentary “The Great Global Warming Swindle” and said it was a BBC production. It turns out the video is not a BBC production, but a propaganda piece full of already debunked global warming denier arguments.x²⁵ I found the answers to these arguments from the website RC Wiki—an index to debunkings of such nonsense that appears in the popular media. RC Wiki is a supplement to RealClimate.org, a reliable source for climate science, written by climate scientists.

Further Reading

‘Fossil Fuel Global Warming More Certain than Ever’ The Paragraph, 2005-10-16

Links

RC Wiki: “An index for debunking of various popular media occurrences of climate-related nonsense.”

RealClimate: “Climate science from climate scientists.”

Sources

²⁰ ‘IPCC, 2007: Summary for Policymakers – Climate Change 2007: The Physical Science Basis’ – pdf file

Global atmospheric concentrations of carbon dioxide, methane and nitrous oxide have increased markedly as a result of human activities since 1750 and now far exceed pre-industrial values determined from ice cores spanning many thousands of years. The global increases in carbon dioxide concentration are due primarily to fossil fuel use and land use change, while those of methane and nitrous oxide are primarily due to agriculture.
~~~
The understanding of anthropogenic warming and cooling infl uences on climate has improved since the TAR, leading to very high confidence7 that the global average net effect of human activities since 1750 has been one of warming, with a radiative forcing of +1.6 [+0.6 to +2.4] Watts per square meter.
~~~
Warming of the climate system is unequivocal, as is now evident from observations of increases in global average air and ocean temperatures, widespread melting of snow and ice, and rising global average sea level.
~~~
At continental, regional and ocean basin scales, numerous long-term changes in climate have been observed. These include changes in arctic temperatures and ice, widespread changes in precipitation amounts, ocean salinity, wind patterns and aspects of extreme weather including droughts, heavy precipitation, heat waves and the intensity of tropical cyclones.
~~~
There is now higher confidence in projected patterns of warming and other regional-scale features, including changes in wind patterns, precipitation and some aspects of extremes and of ice.

²¹ ‘Put a Tiger In Your Think Tank’ Mother Jones May/June 2005 Issue

ExxonMobil has pumped more than $8 million [from 2000 to 2003] into more than 40 think tanks; media outlets; and consumer, religious, and even civil rights groups that preach skepticism about the oncoming climate catastrophe.

²² ‘Some Like It Hot’ By Chris Mooney, Mother Jones May/June 2005 Issue

²³ ‘’How to Talk to a Climate Skeptic – Global warming is a hoax’ by Coby Beck

Here is a list of organizations that accept anthropogenic global warming as real and scientifically well-supported:

• NASA’s Goddard Institute of Space Studies
• National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
• Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change
• National Academy of Sciences
• State of the Canadian Cryosphere
• Environmental Protection Agency
• The Royal Society of the UK
• American Geophysical Union
• American Meteorological Society
• American Institute of Physics
• National Center for Atmospheric Research
• American Meteorological Society
• Canadian Meteorological and Oceanographic Society

²⁴ ‘How to Talk to a Climate Skeptic – Greenland used to be green’ by Coby Beck

First, Greenland is part of a single region. It can not be necessarily taken to represent a global climate shift. See the post on the Medieval Warm Period for a global perspective on this time period. Briefly, the available proxy evidence indicates that global warmth during this period was not particularly pronounced, though some regions may have experienced greater warming than others.

...

Instead of hunting whales in kayaks, [the Vikings] farmed cattle, goats, and sheep—despite having to keep them in a barn 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, for a full 5 months out of the year. It was a constant challenge to get enough fodder for the winter. Starvation of the animals was frequent, emaciation routine. Grazing requirements and growing fodder for the winter led to over-production of pastures, erosion, and the need to go further and further afield to sustain the animals. Deforestation for pastures and firewood proceeded at unsustainable rates. After a couple of centuries, it led to such desperate measures as cutting precious sod for housing construction and even burning it for cooking and heating fuel.

When finally confronted with several severe winters in a row, they, along with the little remaining livestock, simply starved before spring arrived.

²⁵ ‘Swindled!’ by William and Gavin, RealClimate, 9 March 2007

On Thursday March 8th [2007], the UK TV Channel 4 aired a programme titled “The Great Global Warming Swindle”. We were hoping for important revelations and final proof that we have all been hornswoggled by the climate Illuminati, but it just repeated the usual specious claims we hear all the time.

* * *
By Quinn Hungeski – Posted at G.N.N. & TheParagraph.com

In June 2005, Major General John Batiste, commander of the First Infantry Division in Iraq, leader of 22,000 troops fighting in the Sunni Triangle, passed up a third star, and quit the U.S. Army to speak out against the Iraq occupation.x¹⁰ Last August, he wrote:

I realized that I was in a unique position to speak out on behalf of Soldiers and their families. I had a moral obligation and duty to do so.x¹¹

...

The only way to stabilize Iraq and allow our military to rearm and refit for the long fight ahead is to begin a responsible and deliberate redeployment from Iraq and replace the troops with far less expensive and much more effective resources—those of diplomacy and the critical work of political reconciliation and economic recovery.

In October 2005, Congressman John Murtha (D-PA), a long-time Marine, decorated Vietnam War veteran and then-ranking member on the defense appropriations committee, caused a stir when he proposed a complete pull-back of troops from Iraq to begin immediately.x¹² When told that two Republican senators argued that they had never met a soldier that wanted to start pulling out, Murtha responded:

Is that right? What do you think they’re going to tell you? We’re here to talk for them! We’re here to measure the success. ... We are here—we have an obligation to speak for them.

In March of this year, U.S. veterans of the Iraq and Afghanistan occupations testified at hearings called “Winter Soldier”.x¹³ Aaron Hughes, an Iraq veteran and an organizer of the hearings, described the idea of Winter Soldier:

This is a moment when veterans won’t let anyone else speak for us. We hear from the pundits, we hear from the politicians, we hear from the generals, but we don’t hear from the soldiers who’ve walked the streets, who’ve been there and know what it’s about. We’re the ones who can bring out the cruelties and dehumanization in US foreign policy.x¹⁴

Among those testifying at Winter Soldier was Jason Hurd, who was with Tennessee’s 278th Regimental Combat Team in Iraq.x¹⁵ Here is one of the stories he told:

My platoon specifically was tasked with running security escort for two explosive ordnance teams, one US Navy and one Australian EOD team. On day one, the US Navy team took us all aside for some specialized training. They took us aside and said, “Look, EOD teams are some of the most highly targeted entities in Iraq. The reason being is because, hey, we’re the guys that go out and we disarm car bombs, we mess up the tactics and the operations of the insurgency. That’s why we’re highly targeted. So you guys have to use more aggressive tactics to protect us.”

And they explained to us that what we were to do is keep a fifty-meter perimeter, a fifty-meter bubble around our trucks at all times, whether we were driving down the road or whether we’re stationary. And if anything comes in that fifty-meter bubble, we’re to get it out immediately. If it doesn’t want to move, we use what are called levels of aggression. Your first option is to try to push it out by using hand signals, hand and arm signals. Your next option is to fire a warning shot into the ground. And from there on, you walk bullets up the car. And your last option is to shoot the person driving the car. This is for our own protection. Car bombs are a real danger in Iraq. In fact, that’s the vast majority of what I saw in Baghdad, is car bombings. My unit adhered strictly to these guidelines for a few weeks.

But as time went on and the absurdity of war set in, they started taking things too far. Individuals from my unit indiscriminately and unnecessarily opened fire on innocent civilians as they’re driving down the road on their own streets. My unit—individuals from my platoon would fire into the grills of these cars and then come back in the evenings after missions were done and brag about it. They would say, ‘Hey, did you guys see that car I shot at? It spewed radiator fluid all over the ground. Wasn’t that cool?’ I remember thinking back on that and how appalled I was that we were bragging about these things, that we were laughing, but that’s what you do in a combat zone. That is your reality. That is how you deal with that predicament.

Hurd ended his testimony like this:

And I’d like to sum it up like this: the prevailing sentiment in Iraq is this—another time that I was out on patrol in the Kindi Street area as I said, part of our mission was to meet and greet the local population and find out what their problems were—and so, I approached a man with my interpreter on the side of the road, and I asked him, I said, ‘Look, are your lives better because we’re here? Are you safer? Do you feel more secure? Do you feel like we are liberating you?’ And that man looked at me straight in the eye, and he said, ‘Mister, we Iraqis know that you have good intentions here. But the fact of the matter is, before America invaded, we didn’t have to worry about car bombs in our neighborhoods, we didn’t have to worry about the safety of our own children as they walked to school, and we didn’t have to worry about US soldiers shooting at us as we drive up and down our own streets.’

Ladies and gentlemen, the suffering in Iraq is tearing that country apart. And ending that suffering begins with a complete and immediate withdrawal of all of our troops. Thank you very much.

Updates:

• Later, in December 2007, Batiste favored the ‘surge’.
• Video of Jason Hurd’s testimony here.
• Video of all Winter Soldier testimony here.

Sources

¹⁰ ‘Somebody Had to Speak Out. If Not Me, Who?’—Maj. Gen. John Batiste Fired by CBS News for Anti-Iraq War ‘Advocacy’’ – Democracy Now!, May 25, 2007

¹¹ ‘Gen. Batiste’s Op-Ed That The WSJ And The Washington Times Didn’t Want You To See’ – Ret. Maj. Gen. John Batiste, 2007-08-22

¹² ‘The Obligation to Speak for the Soldiers’ – The Paragraph, 2006-05-31

¹³ ‘Winter Soldier FAQ’ – Iraq Veterans against the War

What is the history of Winter Soldier? – In 1776, Thomas Paine wrote: “These are the times that try men’s souls. The summer soldier and sunshine patriot will, in this crisis, shrink from the service of his country; but he that stands it now, deserves the love and thanks of man and woman.” In 1971, a courageous group of veterans exposed the criminal nature of the Vietnam War in an event called Winter Soldier. Once again, we will demand that the voices of veterans are heard.

What will happen? – Winter Soldier: Iraq and Afghanistan will feature testimony from U.S. veterans who served in those occupations, giving an accurate account of what is really happening day in and day out, on the ground.

Why is IVAW doing this? – We are fighting for the soul of our country. We will demonstrate our patriotism by speaking out with honor and integrity instead of blindly following failed policy. Winter Soldier is a difficult but essential service to our country.

¹⁴ ‘Winter Soldiers to Testify Against War’ By Maya Schenwar, TruthOut.org, Saturday 01 March 2008

¹⁵ ‘Winter Soldier: US Vets, Active-Duty Soldiers from Iraq and Afghanistan Testify About the Horrors of War’ – Democracy Now!, March 17, 2008

* * *
By Quinn Hungeski – Posted at G.N.N. & TheParagraph.com

“For all the Pan-Africanism of the last four decades,” said Hugo Van Vuuren, “it is quite rare to have young students from South, East, and West Africa, in the same room without a soccer ball somehow involved.”x¹ Van Vuuren was talking about himself and three other Africans, who along with two Americans formed Lebônê Solutions, Inc.x² Lebônê (pronounced la-bo-nay, a Northern Sotho word for lamp) ventures to spread cheap, off-grid lighting throughout Africa with its product—a local electric system powered by a microbial fuel cell (MFC) that runs on dirt, manure or vegetable matter. The team met at a Harvard University engineering course called “Idea Translation”, where students were tasked to develop an idea, imagining light engineering as an art form. Van Vuuren described the MFC:

A microbial fuel cell taps into the energy that soil microbes generate when they break down organic matter. Literally, this is energy from dirt: no special microbes or conditions are needed other than enough moisture for the bugs to do their work.

Essentially all you do is dig a hole, layer an anode, some soil, sand and a cathode—and connect the anode and cathode to a circuit board to charge a battery that can power an LED (light emitting diode) light, run a radio or charge a mobile phone.

In Africa, 74% of the population is off the electric grid. Lebônê’s website describes the problem:x³

... Imagine a village at night in which students are walking to distant highways to study under streetlights, where small merchants are investing half of their resources to pay for kerosene lighting to run their operations, and where emergency health workers, if operating at all, are trying to stitch up wounds and perform surgeries by candlelight. ...

A Lebônê MFC electric unit can replace a kerosene lamp for $10 and a cubic meter of dirt. Units can be easily linked to multiply energy output. The underground system works through day and night, in wind and calm, is rugged, simple, lasts for years, and can be made in the region where it is used. This month, Lebônê won a $200,000 World Bank grant in the Lighting Africa competition held in Accra, Ghana. Lebônê will use that money as it begins field studies in the foothills of Kilimanjaro in July. It plans a large-scale product rollout in Tanzania for 2009.

Video from floor of Accra conference; Interview with Hugo Van Vuuren starts at 1:00

Sources

¹ Harvard School of Engineering and Applied Sciences press release – May 14, 2008

² ‘Literally, This Is Energy From Dirt’ – Interview with Lebônê founder Hugo Van Vuuren, IPS News Agency

³ Lebônê – The Problem

* * *

By Quinn Hungeski – Posted at G.N.N. & TheParagraph.com

“I come from the school of ‘walk softly and carry a big stick’,” said Admiral William Fallon, former head of the U.S. military’s Central Command (CENTCOM), which covers the Middle East and southwestern Asia.x⁸⁰ He saw the mission of his command as “to work with other nations in the region to set the conditions for peace and stability.”x⁸¹ In March, shortly after an article in Esquire portrayed him as the last man standing between President Bush and war with Iran, Fallon retired early, and now Bush has nominated General David Petraeus, current commander of U.S. occupation forces in Iraq, to replace him.x⁸²x⁸³ Petraeus goes before Congress from time to time to promote Bush’s policies of keeping troop levels up in Iraq and trying to justify an attack on Iran—policies contrary to the advice of the Iraq Study Group and the Joint Chiefs, policies that Fallon stood against.x⁸⁴x⁸⁵ Last month Petraeus told Congress: “Recently … some militia elements became active again. ... [T]he flare-up [in Basra] ... highlighted the destructive role Iran has played in funding, training, arming and directing the so-called special groups …”x⁸⁶ But the reason the “militia … became active again” was to fight back against Iraqi government troops that were attacking it.x⁹² After a thousand Iraqi government troops deserted, Iraqi government officials got Iran to pull strings for a ceasefire.x⁸⁷ So Petraeus’s statement blaming Iran for a “flare up”—started by Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki and quelled by Iran—seems wrong. But it does fit the current theme for wider war being pushed by President Bush, Senator John McCain, and other Bushies.x⁸⁸x⁸⁹x⁹⁰x⁹¹ Fallon has also spoken about Iran—not to push war, but to push constructive engagement:

Tehran’s feeling pretty cocky right now because they’ve been able to inflict pain on us in Iraq and Afghanistan. [The trick is] to try to figure out what it is they really want and then, maybe—not that we’re going to play Santa Claus here or the Good Humor Man—but the fact is that everyone needs something in this world, and so most countries that are functional and are contributing to the world have found a way to trade off their strengths for other strengths to help them out. These guys are trying to go it alone in this respect, and it’s a bad gene pool right now. It’s not one with much longevity. So they play that card pretty regularly, and at some point you just kind of run out of games, it seems to me. You’ve got to play a real card.x⁸⁰

~~~

It is my belief that today, there is far too much talk of war and not enough talk about moving things forward in this region and taking care of the many needs of the people …x⁸¹

This constant drumbeat of conflict is one that strikes me as not helpful, not useful for the people, and I wish we could get moving to things that are more constructive for the region.

...

[I]t is certainly my hope and expectation that there is no war and that is what we ought to be working for. We ought to find ways in which we can get countries to sit together for the benefit of everyone involved. So whether now or in the future, war is not a good idea.

Adm. Fallon – pushes diplomacy (U.S. Navy)

Bush & McCain – push wider war

Further Reading

‘Crushing the Ants—Admiral Fallon and His Empire’ By CHRIS FLOYD, CounterPunch, March 7, 2008

Sources

⁸⁰ ‘The Man Between War and Peace’ – By Thomas P.M. Barnett, Esquire, March 2008

⁸¹ ‘Far too much talk of war’ – Al Jazeera

⁸² ‘Dissenting Views Made Fallon’s Fall Inevitable’ By Gareth Porter, Inter Press Service, WASHINGTON, Mar 11, 2008

... Fallon almost certainly knew that he would be fired when he agreed to cooperate with the Esquire magazine profile in late 2006.

...

The resignation brings to an end a year, during which time Fallon clashed with the White House over policy toward Iran and with Gen. David Petraeus and the White House over whether Iraq should continue to be given priority over Afghanistan and Pakistan in U.S. policy.

Fallon’s greatest concern appears to have been preventing war with Iran. He was one a group of senior military officers, apparently including most of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, who were alarmed in late 2006 and early 2007 by indications that Bush and Vice-President Dick Cheney were contemplating a possible attack on Iran.

...

Col. W. Patrick Lang, a former intelligence officer on the Middle East for the Defence Intelligence Agency, told the Washington Post last week that Fallon had said privately at the time of his confirmation that an attack on Iran “isn’t going to happen on my watch”, When asked how he could avoid such a conflict, Fallon reportedly responded, “I have options, you know.” Lang said he interpreted that comment as implying Fallon would step down rather than follow orders to carry out such an attack.

As IPS reported last May, Fallon was also quoted as saying privately at that time, “There are several of us trying to put the crazies back in the box”. That was an apparent reference to the opposition by the Joint Chiefs of Staff to an aggressive war against Iran.

Even before assuming his new post at CENTCOM, Fallon expressed strong opposition in mid-February to a proposal for sending a third U.S. aircraft carrier to the Persian Gulf, to overlap with two other carriers, according to knowledgeable sources. The addition of a third carrier was to part of a broader strategy then being discussed at the Pentagon to intimidate Iran by making a series of military moves suggesting preparations for a military strike.

The plan for a third carrier task force in the Gulf was dropped after Fallon made his views known.

Fallon reportedly made his opposition to a strike against Iran known to the White House early on in his tenure, and his role as CENTCOM commander would have made it very difficult for the Bush administration to carry out a strike against Iran, because he controlled all ground, air and naval military access to the region.

But Fallon’s role in regional diplomacy proved to be an even greater source of friction with the White House than his position on military policy toward Iran. Personal relations with military and political leaders in the Middle East had already become nearly as important as military planning under Fallon’s predecessors at CENTCOM.

Fallon clearly relished his diplomatic role and did not hesitate to express views on diplomacy that were at odds with those of the administration. Last summer, as Dick Cheney was maneuvering within the administration to shift U.S. policy toward an attack on bases in Iran allegedly connected to anti-U.S. Shiite forces in Iraq, Fallon declared in an interview, “We have to figure out a way to come to an arrangement” with Iran.

⁸³ ‘Petraeus Promotion Frees Cheney to Threaten Iran’ by Gareth Porter, Inter Press Service, WASHINGTON, Apr 23, 2008

⁸⁴ ‘Iraq Study Group Report: Executive Summary’ 6 December 2006

Our most important recommendations call for new and enhanced diplomatic and political efforts in Iraq and the region, and a change in the primary mission of U.S. forces in Iraq that will enable the United States to begin to move its combat forces out of Iraq responsibly. We believe that these two recommendations are equally important and reinforce one another.

The United States should immediately launch a new diplomatic offensive to build an international consensus for stability in Iraq and the region. This diplomatic effort should include every country that has an interest in avoiding a chaotic Iraq, including all of Iraq’s neighbors. Iraq’s neighbors and key states in and outside the region should form a support group to reinforce security and national reconciliation within Iraq, neither of which Iraq can achieve on its own.

Given the ability of Iran and Syria to influence events within Iraq and their interest in avoiding chaos in Iraq, the United States should try to engage them constructively. ...

⁸⁵ ‘Cheney’s Iran Fantasy’ by Joe Klein, Time, May 25, 2007

Last December, as Rumsfeld was leaving, President Bush met with the Joint Chiefs of Staff in “The Tank,” the secure room in the Pentagon where the Joint Chiefs discuss classified matters of national security. Bush asked the Chiefs about the wisdom of a troop “surge” in Iraq. They were unanimously opposed. Then Bush asked about the possibility of a successful attack on Iran’s nuclear capability. He was told that the U.S. could launch a devastating air attack on Iran’s government and military, wiping out the Iranian air force, the command and control structure and some of the more obvious nuclear facilities. But the Chiefs were—once again—unanimously opposed to taking that course of action.

⁸⁶ Gen. Petraeus’ Testimony to the Senate Armed Services Comm. – 2008-04-08

⁸⁷ ‘Iranian general played key role in Iraq cease-fire’ By Leila Fadel, McClatchy Newspapers, Sunday, March 30, 2008

Iraqi lawmakers traveled to the Iranian holy city of Qom over the weekend to win the support of the commander of Iran’s Qods brigades in persuading Shiite cleric Muqtada al Sadr to order his followers to stop military operations, members of the Iraqi parliament said.

Sadr ordered the halt on Sunday, and his Mahdi Army militia heeded the order in Baghdad, where the Iraqi government announced it would lift a 24-hour curfew starting early Monday in most parts of the capital.

But fighting continued in the oil hub of Basra, where a six-day-old government offensive against Shiite militias has had only limited gains.

So far, 488 people have been killed and more than 900 wounded in the offensive, Iraqi Interior Ministry officials said.

⁸⁸ ‘President Bush Discusses Iraq’ 2008-04-10

The regime in Tehran also has a choice to make. It can live in peace with its neighbor, enjoy strong economic and cultural and religious ties. Or it can continue to arm and train and fund illegal militant groups, which are terrorizing the Iraqi people and turning them against Iran. If Iran makes the right choice, America will encourage a peaceful relationship between Iran and Iraq. If Iran makes the wrong choice, America will act to protect our interests, and our troops, and our Iraqi partners.

⁸⁹ ’ Remarks By John McCain To The Members Of The Veterans Of Foreign Wars (VFW)’ April 7, 2008 “We must press ahead against … the Iranian-backed Special Groups …”

⁹⁰ ‘When Did Iran Start Beating Its Wife Again?’ by Jeff Huber, ePluribus Media, 04/28/2008

“Shipments of arms” continue to flow from Iran to Iraq, according to the article. Iran seems to be focusing now on “training Iraqi Shiite fighters inside Iran.” The Iranians provide “weapons to militias fighting the Shiite-led government in Baghdad as well as to militias supporting that government.” “American commanders” now have “a clearer picture of how Iranian weapons have entered Iraq.” “Iran’s Quds Force” has developed “a formal and sophisticated training program.”

By what burden of proof did these condemning allegations earn their way into America’s newspaper of record? Why, by the brave new world order’s highest standard of bedrock evidence: the testimony of anonymous “officials.”

⁹¹ ‘Will Bushies Sell Iran War ‘Product’?’ – The Paragraph, 2007-09-08

⁹² ‘British soldiers back in Basra as hundreds of Iraqi troops desert’ By Kim Sengupta, The Independent, 07 April 2008

The British return to Basra comes days after the Government announced that Gordon Brown’s pledge to reduce troop levels by 1,500 this spring could not be fulfilled because of security concerns. The development comes alongside the disclosure that up to 1,500 Iraqi soldiers refused to fight, or deserted in the operation against the radical cleric Moqtada al-Sadr’s Shia militia. The numbers, according to Iraqi and American sources, included dozens of officers and at least two senior field commanders. ...

In addition to those who refused to follow orders, about 100 members of the Iraqi security forces simply changed sides, to the Mehdi Army. The Iraqi Prime Minister, Nouri al-Maliki, has faced strong criticism over the operation, which he had led after flying from Baghdad to Basra and which ended, critics say, in a stalemate with an Iranian-brokered peace deal.

...

... The offensive which took place concentrated … on Mr al-Sadr’s forces while the Badr Brigade, which has links to Mr Maliki’s government, and the Fadilla group of Basra governor Mohammed Waeli were not targeted.

* * *
By Quinn Hungeski – Posted at G.N.N. & TheParagraph.com