World-News

Peter Van Buren, TomDispatch: 'From that ancient debris field, recall the almost forgotten run-up to the American invasion, the now-ridiculous threats about Saddam Hussein s weapons of mass destruction, Secretary of State Colin Powell lying away his own and America s prestige at the U.N., those 'Mission-Accomplished' days when the Marines tore down Saddam s statue and conquered Baghdad, the darker times as civil society imploded and Iraq devolved into civil war, the endless rounds of purple fingers for stage-managed elections that meant little, the Surge and the ugly stalemate that followed, fading to gray as President George W. Bush negotiated a complete withdrawal of U.S. forces from Iraq by the end of 2011 and the seeming end of his dreams of a Pax Americana in the Greater Middle East. Now, with less than seven months left until that withdrawal moment, Washington debates whether to honor the agreement, or - if only we can get the Iraqi government to ask us to stay - to leave a decent-sized contingent of soldiers occupying some of the massive bases the Pentagon built hoping for permanent occupancy.'

http://www.truthout.org/occupying-iraq-state-department-style/1307460772

--------

$3 billion more down the toilet in Iraq

Authority!
by Timothy J Taylor

06/09/11

We have occupied the place for nearly 10 years and our diplomats cant even peek out from the bullet proof windows of their Green Zone fortresses without mortal fear of being blown away by a rocket propelled grenade. Now we learn that, after the $3 1/2 trillion we have already thrown into the s... quagmire of Iraq, the U.S. State Department is going to spend another $3 billion before we leave the H... hole at the end of this year to hire a security force solely for the protection of U.S. diplomats...

http://tinyurl.com/62gprms


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp



http://www.sharenews-blog.com:8090/helma/twoday/sharenews/search?q=Bush+legacy
http://www.sharenews-blog.com:8090/helma/twoday/sharenews/search?q=Middle+East
http://www.sharenews-blog.com:8090/helma/twoday/sharenews/search?q=Iraq
http://www.sharenews-blog.com:8090/helma/twoday/sharenews/search?q=occup
http://www.sharenews-blog.com:8090/helma/twoday/sharenews/search?q=Pax+Americana
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Pax+Americana
http://www.sharenews-blog.com:8090/helma/twoday/sharenews/search?q=Peter+Van+Buren
http://www.sharenews-blog.com:8090/helma/twoday/sharenews/search?q=Timothy+J+Taylor
-----