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ORIGINAL: stamper_ben

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In 2003, what the VP wanted, the VP got. The Pentagon is not likely to ruffle the feathers of the most powerful man in the federal government.

Especially not when it makes it so much easier to sit on their duffs in an office and do what they do best. Nothing.

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BAGHDAD — Intense dealmaking among Iraq's political factions on Wednesday delayed by one day a parliamentary vote on a security pact that would allow American forces to stay in the country through 2011 under tight Iraqi supervision.

The proposed deal meets a longtime Iraqi demand for a clear timetable for the exit of about 150,000 American troops after years of war. But the Shiite-led government was struggling to meet the demands of political blocs, including a large group of Sunni Arab lawmakers, seeking concessions in return for supporting the agreement.

"There are complications, but we haven't lost hope yet," Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari told al-Arabiya television.

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BAGHDAD (Reuters) – Iraq's parliament on Thursday approved a landmark security pact with the United States that paves the way for U.S. forces to withdraw by the end of 2011, taking the country a big step closer to full sovereignty.

The deal, which parliament linked to a series of promised political reforms and a public referendum next year, brings in sight an end to the U.S. military presence that began with the 2003 invasion.

It will test whether Iraqi police and soldiers are ready to handle the country's security after years of bloodshed between majority Shi'ites and Sunni Arabs. The Sunnis were dominant under Saddam Hussein and initially allied with al Qaeda fighters battling U.S. forces.

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ORIGINAL: Pat-rebel_lady

Ready for a shock?
Sunday, 02 November 2008
Below is an article from the London Times about our military. Interesting, it is! Our media coverage is shameful!

Winning Isn't News
By INVESTOR'S BUSINESS DAILY
Iraq: What would happen if the U.S. won a war but the media didn't tell theAmerican public? Apparently, we have to rely on a British newspaper for the news that we've defeated the last remnants of al-Qaida in Iraq .

http://propheticnews.net/content/view/6646/29/

And HERE

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Then you must be truly ecstatic about this:

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Iraq: What would happen if the U.S. won a war but the media didn't tell theAmerican public? Apparently, we have to rely on a British newspaper for the news that we've defeated the last remnants of al-Qaida in Iraq .

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BAGHDAD (Reuters) – President George W. Bush made a farewell visit to Baghdad Sunday, flying in secret out of Washington to declare that while great strides have been taken toward peace, "the war is not over."

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ORIGINAL: rlj

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BAGHDAD (Reuters) – President George W. Bush made a farewell visit to Baghdad Sunday, flying in secret out of Washington to declare that while great strides have been taken toward peace, "the war is not over."

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20081214/pl_nm/us_iraq_bush_6

What a totally stupid and asinine soundbite. Had he stood under that Mission Accomplished banner this time I'd have cheered him. Still though I'm very pleased with how things are now.

You won't hear me say our President doesn't have a sense of humour though when he made sure we knew it was a size 10. ; )

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This is so fitting. Bush has been defeated in Iraq (RLJ, I know that militarily, we can't be beaten in Iraq, but Bush's goals have fallen short.). The agreement between Washington and Baghdad favors what Baghdad wished for; Washington may dress it up to look as if it was done on American terms, but it wasn't.

We lost this war, just as I believed we would. Hundreds of thousands of dead Iraqis, dozens of thousands of injured US soldiers, over 4000 dead US troops, 4 million displaced Iraqis. For what?

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The audit, released Thursday by Inspector General Glenn Fine, found the agents routinely submitted the overtime with the blessing of their managers from 2003 through 2007. The report says the excessive overtime totaled $7.8 million.

"The FBI inappropriately permitted employees to regularly claim overtime for activities that are not compensable as work, such as time spent eating meals, exercising more than 3 hours per week, and socializing," the report said. The socializing included going to movies and cocktail parties.

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Mismanaged & Wasted in Iraq - $10 billion, per Feb 2007 Congressional hearings

Halliburton Overcharges Classified by the Pentagon as Unreasonable and Unsupported - $1.4 billion

Amount paid to KBR, a former Halliburton division, to supply U.S. military in Iraq with food, fuel, housing and other items - $20 billion

Portion of the $20 billion paid to KBR that Pentagon auditors deem "questionable or supportable" - $3.2 billion

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Spent & Approved War-Spending - About $800 billion of US taxpayers' funds spent or approved for spending through mid-2009.

U.S. Monthly Spending in Iraq - $12 billion in 2008

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I would imagine the the folks that died on 9/11 would gladly give three grand for the terrorist to have been fighting in Iraq instead of here in the States.

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ORIGINAL: rcjames

I would imagine the the folks that died on 9/11 would gladly give three grand for the terrorist to have been fighting in Iraq instead of here in the States.

Thanks
RC

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Iraq's Christian population has fallen from as many as 1.4 million in 2003 to between 500,000 and 700,000 more recently, according to the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom.

A recent commission report outlined chilling abuse that Christians suffer in Muslim-dominated Iraq. It sounded an alarm about the treatment of minorities such as Chaldo-Assyrian Christians, an ancient people who embraced the Christian faith in its early years and still speak a form of Aramaic, the language of Jesus. Read some of report's examples of violence against Iraqi Christians

The community has endured displacement, killings and kidnappings, with churches being attacked and occupied.

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In view of the ongoing severe abuses of religious freedom and based on the Iraqi government's toleration of these abuses as described in this report, particularly abuses against all of Iraq's most vulnerable and smallest religious minorities, the Commission recommends that Iraq should be designated a "country of particular concern" (CPC) under the International Religious Freedom Act (IRFA).F

F

Although there has been a substantial reduction in violence in Iraq since the Commission reported last in May 2007, there has been continued targeted violence, as well as threats and intimidation against persons belonging to religious minorities, and other egregious religiously-motivated abuses are continuing and widespread. The lack of effective government action to protect these communities from abuses has established Iraq among the most dangerous places on earth for religious minorities.

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In 2003, there were estimated to be as many as 1.4 million Christians in Iraq, including Chaldean Catholics, Assyrian Orthodox, Assyrian Church of the East, Syriac Orthodox, Armenians (Catholic and Orthodox), Protestants, and Evangelicals. Today, it is thought that only 500,000 to 700,000 indigenous Christians remain in the country.D[12]D Moreover, while Christians and other religious minorities represented only approximately three percent of the pre-2003 Iraqi population, they constitute approximately 15 and 20 percent of registered Iraqi refugees in Jordan and Syria, respectively, and Christians account for 35 and 64 percent, respectively, of all registered Iraqi refugees in Lebanon and Turkey. Christian leaders have warned that the result of this flight may be "the end of Christianity in Iraq."D[13]D

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ORIGINAL: rcjames

I would imagine the the folks that died on 9/11 would gladly give three grand for the terrorist to have been fighting in Iraq instead of here in the States.

Thanks
RC

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BAGHDAD — The U.S. formally transferred control of the Green Zone to Iraqi authorities Thursday in a pair of ceremonies that also handed back Saddam Hussein's former palace. Iraq's prime minister said he will propose making Jan. 1 a holiday marking the restoration of sovereignty.

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ORIGINAL: RichLP

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ORIGINAL: rcjames

I would imagine the the folks that died on 9/11 would gladly give three grand for the terrorist to have been fighting in Iraq instead of here in the States.

Thanks
RC

You DID know, didn't you, that the US government declared that Iraq had nothing to do with 9/11?

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You DID know that Sadam Hussein WAS linked to al-Qaida didn't you?

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ABC News' Jonathan Karl Reports: ABC News has obtained a comprehensive military study of Saddam Hussein's links to terrorism. The study, which is due to be released Wednesday, is based on the analysis of some 600,000 official Iraqi documents seized by US forces after the invasion. It is also based on thousands of hours of interrogations of former top officials in Saddam's government who are now in U.S. custody.

The headline: "This study found no 'smoking gun' (i.e., direct connection) between Saddam's Iraq and al Qaeda."

Others have reached the same conclusion, but no previous study has had access to so much information. Further, this is the first official acknowledgement from the U.S. military that there is no evidence Saddam had ties to Al Qaeda.

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ORIGINAL: letusreason

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ORIGINAL: RichLP

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ORIGINAL: rcjames

I would imagine the the folks that died on 9/11 would gladly give three grand for the terrorist to have been fighting in Iraq instead of here in the States.

Thanks
RC

You DID know, didn't you, that the US government declared that Iraq had nothing to do with 9/11?

You DID know that Sadam Hussein WAS linked to al-Qaida didn't you?

“A half-truth is the most cowardly of lies”

Yea it's a shame we didn't let that whole snakes nest evil dictator thing pan out fer sure. Who needs yucky old democracy when you got links to terrorists.