Adapted from the Independent

Blair on Iraq: 'I'd do it all again'

Published: 17 March 2006
Unrepentant and unmoved in spite of the rising death toll, Tony Blair has declared that if he was faced with the same PORKIES, he would support the invasion of Iraq all over again.

As the Prime Minister uttered his conviction that he would "do it all again", US war planes were already on the move in what the Bush administration described as the biggest onslaught that Iraq has witnessed since the war...

SO, WE'RE STILL ATT WAR, AREN'T WE?

From the ABC

Iraq operation fails to find insurgents
US and Iraqi forces have spent a second day hunting for insurgents in villages and fields north of the capital Baghdad.

While troops have seized weapons, they have not encountered any insurgents.

Completing the second day of Operation Swarmer, US and Iraqi soldiers seized mortar rounds, rockets, explosives, and high-powered cordless telephones used to remotely detonate roadside bombs.

The US military says while 48 people had been detained, no insurgents had so far been found.

But the deputy-governor of the Salaheddin province north of Baghdad says at least one key insurgent leader, named as Jaish Mohammed, had been captured.

About 900 Iraqi and US troops are scouring villages and fields around the city of Samarra, which is regarded as an insurgent stronghold.

A spokesman for the US military, Lieutenant Colonel Craig Collier, says it has been difficult to differentiate between insurgents and the local community.

Gus thinks (unusual...):
Pity that the insurgents don't carry a uniform like the red army with the red star or the US foot soldiers with 2 tons of equipment on their back making them look important and lethal...

No, insurgents are ordinary folks who hate the invaders and fake liberationers... They could take their revenge in their own time... Is this what they call Amerikan roulette?

From the NY Times

Sunnis Denounce Plan by U.S. and Iran to Hold Talks on Iraq
By KIRK SEMPLE
Published: March 17, 2006
BAGHDAD, Iraq, March 17 — Sunni Arab political leaders today denounced an agreement between the United States and Iran to hold face-to-face talks about Iraq, saying the conversations would amount to "unjustified interference" by foreign nations in Iraq's domestic affairs.

The Iraqi Consensus Front, the country's main Sunni Arab political bloc, said it was "not committed, under any circumstances, to any results of these negotiations" and insisted that Iraq's affairs should be managed by Iraqis alone.

Poor deluded fools Gus.

You'd think the Iraqis would understand that the real meaning of "freedom & democracy" US-style is that they get to be occupied & told what to do & think & when ...... & if anything goes wrong, to be prepared to be held responsible for it?

Just ask Hamas. 

From the Guardian

Bush Adviser Says Iran Bluffing on Iraq

Saturday March 18, 2006 2:16 AM

By JENNIFER LOVEN

Associated Press Writer

WASHINGTON (AP) - President Bush's top foreign policy adviser said Friday that Iran's new willingness to talk about Iraq with the United States is probably a ploy designed to ``divert pressure and divert attention'' from international concern that Tehran wants a nuclear bomb.

The United States has accused Iran of using a civilian nuclear program as a cover to build atomic weapons, an allegation Tehran denies. The U.N. Security Council is expected to discuss Iran's nuclear program this month, with Washington pressing for penalties.

The Bush administration views Tehran's acceptance of an American offer to talk about Iraq, made months ago, as an indication that Iran is feeling the international heat, national security adviser Steven J. Hadley said.

``What is interesting is that the Iranians would choose now, at this moment, in such a very public way, to embrace this idea and try to expand it to a negotiation about a broader set of issues,'' Hadley said.

‘It’s impossible to understand the goals of the Bush
administration without looking at a map. The entire Middle East and Central
Asia is referred to in military parlance as CENTCOM; the central battlefield in
the global resource war. 

This region extends from Sudan in the south to Kazakhstan
to the north; from Egypt in the west to Pakistan in the east. This is where the
vast majority of the world’s remaining resources lie and it will continue to be
the primary area of focus for American foreign policy throughout the century. 

Once we observe the sharp black outline of America’s
newest battlefield, the illusions of the “war on terror” are quickly dispelled.
This is the geographic reality of the present conflict. 

The war on terror is merely public relations fluff.’ 

The Central
Battlefield In The Global Resource War