Iraq sacrifices worthwhile, claims Rice

Mark Tran and agencies
Friday December 22, 2006
Guardian Unlimited

Condoleezza Rice today said Iraq was worth the cost in US lives and dollars, rejecting accusations that the conflict is a foreign policy disaster.

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Gus: Madame La Rice tends to forget the massive cost in innocent Iraqi lives, and the immoral cost of porkies about the WMDs which have shown that the US cannot be trusted in their crying wolf. Yes, ultimately, no sacrifice is worthwhile. Even Jesus dying on a cross has not helped humanity one iota as a whole towards proper peace... What is worthwhile is negotiations without trying to shaft or kill anyone. Of course, that process is harder to achieve than going to war, but "victory" through war rarely brings satisfaction to all, while negotiations can manage a better result of understanding.

Madame La Rice should actually commit a sacrifice too and resign from her position of sacrificing other people's lives for what ultimately is a liquid hydrocarbon product... Trying to imply that the war has been designed to bring democracy in Iraq, is fraudulent at worst and naive at best.

August 1, 2003

The Missing Wounded
Injury and Decorum in Iraq

By STAN GOFF

There are no longer any American troops being wounded in Iraq.

Now they are "injured." Listen closely to the news and you will be hard pressed to hear the word "wounded." "Wounded" conjures up a different image than "injured," and here we see yet again the invertebrate nature of the American press. Yesterday, while preparing some onions and butternut squash, I got carried away with the knife and injured myself. That injury was treated with cold running water and a band aid that I'm not even using today.


July 26, 2003
The Power of Death
"High Vibes...It was a Good Gig"

By ROBERT FISK

Arabs have never been squeamish about death. They see too much of it. So on the streets of Baghdad Iraqis will pore over the all-too-soon-to-be-iconic photographs of Uday and Qusay.

They will say, some of them, "Yes, that's them, the terrible brothers, the 'lion-cubs' of the monster of Baghdad." And others will ask--a good question this--why couldn't they see them yesterday, or indeed the day before?

Others still will ponder the old Arab belief in the "moamarer", the plot, the conspiracy. Did the Americans linger to fake the pictures? Have they digitised the brothers' faces to make them appear dead while still they live?

The bullet wound in Uday's head, for example, the one that knocked out the teeth and part of the nose. Now there's many an Iraqi who would like to have fired the fatal shot.

But what if Uday did take his own life rather than surrender to the enemy? What if he went down fighting, saving the last bullet for himself--and some suggestions have been made the wounds indicate suicide. Now that is an idea which can appeal to the tribal nature of Iraqi society. Iraqis have spent their lives fighting foreigners. Wasn't Uday doing the same?



Casualties in Iraq
The Human Cost of Occupation
Edited by Michael Ewens :: Contact
American Military Casualties in Iraq

The wounded uncounted

Just the dead with details.

 

After murdering Abel, Cain justified his act, and his parents denied their responsibility for it. Otherwise, the dread pattern of accusation and recrimination would have been checked right there. Humans have been enslaved by this dynamic ever since. Does that vindicate the United States with a "realist" claim to inevitability? No. Because historic moments of ethical recognition regularly present themselves, and one just did. The Baker commission, whatever its faults, defined the folly of any further American pursuit of "victory" in Iraq. Yet, with Bush's mantra of "prevail," other "studies" commissioned to dilute Baker's, and fresh Pentagon talk of brutal escalation, the aim of victory through mass violence is being reaffirmed. The unoriginal sin, by now, but more deadly than ever.

We want an end, not only to the particular policies that underscore the utter bankruptcy – and criminality – of interventionism and militarism, but also to the power of the War Party over our institutions, including government, the media and the culture at large. What is needed is an ideological sea-change, a dramatic paradigm shift away from the narrative of domination and hegemony that shapes and colors U.S. foreign policy, and toward a more realistic and healthier frame of reference.

There are many indications that this is indeed occurring: that an intellectual revolution is taking place, and the American public is waking up.

  An Anniversary
Antiwar.com is 11 years old (as of yesterday)

 

‘The United States offers some of the most lucrative incentives in the world to companies that drill for oil in publicly owned coastal waters, but a newly released study suggests that the government is getting very little for its money.

The study, which the Interior Department refused to release for more than a year, estimates that current inducements could allow drilling companies in the Gulf of Mexico to escape tens of billions of dollars in royalties that they would otherwise pay the government for oil and gas produced in areas that belong to American taxpayers. 

But the study predicts that the inducements would cause only a tiny increase in production even if they were offered without some of the limitations now in place.’

Incentives On Oil Barely Help US, Study Suggests

politicians use tax law to gather votes, and the money which buys votes. each year tax law becomes more complex as pollies try to offer something new to supporters. the process eventually overwhelms a society,as doing something becomes less productive than doing nothing. oil producers spend more on lobbyists than geologists if they drill in american waters.

america is moribund, but the problem is universal. the only cure/prevention is a tax on the use of money(debit tax). such a tax not only liberates the creative energies of a society, it also makes politicians extinct. so it won't happen while they rule.