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BAGHDAD — On April 18, American and British officials from a secretive unit called the Force Strategic Engagement Cell flew to Jordan to try to persuade one of Saddam Hussein’s top generals — the commander of the final defense of Baghdad in 2003 — to return home to resume efforts to make peace with the new Iraq. But the Iraqi commander, Lt. Gen. Raad Majid al-Hamdani, rebuffed them. After a year of halting talks mediated by the Americans, he said, he concluded that Iraq’s leader, Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki, simply was not interested in reconciliation. The American appeal —...

December 29, 2008 Note: The following text is a quote: http://www.usdoj.gov/opa/pr/2008/December/08-nsd-1151.html Former Maryland Man Charged with Conspiracy to Act as an Iraqi Agent Defendant Allegedly Worked for the Government of Iraq and Assisted the Iraqi Intelligence Service WASHINGTON – A criminal complaint was filed today charging Mouyad Mahmoud Darwish, age 47, formerly of Maryland, with conspiring to act as an agent of a foreign government, specifically, as an agent of Iraq, announced United States Attorney for the District of Maryland Rod J. Rosenstein and Patrick Rowan, Assistant Attorney General for National Security. Darwish is a Canadian citizen born in Iraq....

December 22, 2008 Note: The following text is a quote: Maryland Man Pleads Guilty to Conspiracy to Act as an Iraqi Agent Defendant Shredded Documents and Lied to FBI Agents WASHINGTON—Saubhe Jassim Al-Dellemy, age 67, an Iraqi national living in Maryland, pleaded guilty today to conspiracy to act as an agent of a foreign government, specifically, as an agent of Iraq, announced Patrick Rowan, Assistant Attorney General for National Security and U.S. Attorney for the District of Maryland Rod J. Rosenstein. “Since coalition forces invaded Iraq in 2003, the Justice Department has charged at least a dozen people who served...

For Iraqi Kurdish mathematics teacher Mohammed Aziz, two wrongs can make a right. After decades of forced exile by the Baath party of Saddam Hussein, he is back with a vengeance. Aziz was just four years old in 1975 when his family was evicted from Bawaplawi village, near the northern city of Khanaqin, and Arab settlers grabbed their home. Now schoolteacher Aziz is back and has done to the Arabs what they did to him. "Our homes were taken over by the Arabs without paying us any compensation," Aziz, 37, said at the modest single-storey brick house which he has...

..."sources said the gunmen have started to regress considerably and the security forces [have] control over vast areas of the province [of] Basra except for some pockets, which are now being besieged from all directions."

Saddam Hussein's handwritten praise to God will be dropped from the Iraqi flag and the symbolism behind its three green stars will be changed, according to a bill presented to parliament on Saturday.The Iraqi flag still bears the ousted dictator's handwritten Allahu Akhbar" (God is Greater) while the three stars officially symbolise unity, freedom and socialism -- the slogan of Saddam's Baath party.Under the new flag law, given its first reading by parliament on Saturday, the praise to God will be printed -- in yellow -- in the Kufi form of Arabic script while the stars will now represent peace,...

Those who claim that the surge strategy in Iraq has paid no dividends because it hasn't met Congressional benchmarks may wish to skip to the next post. The Iraqi National Assembly has passed one of the two most critical benchmarks that the American government had pressed for Baghdad to adopt, the de-Baathification reform that will allow Sunnis to once again enter government jobs: Iraq's parliament adopted legislation Saturday on the reinstatement of former Baath party supporters to government jobs, a benchmark sought by the United States as a key step toward national reconciliation. The voting was carried out by a...

Iraq's top Shi'ite, Sunni and Kurdish political leaders reached consensus on some U.S. benchmarks on Sunday that are seen as crucial to healing the deep rifts in the country, Iraqi officials said. Three Iraqi officials said the leaders had signed an agreement that would ease curbs on former members of Saddam Hussein's Baath party joining the civil service and military. Two of the officials also said consensus had been reached on holding provincial elections and releasing many detainees held without charge across the country.

Earlier today, the Italian news service AKI reported that the presumed leader of the largest insurgency in Iraq will start cooperating with the Iraqi government. Izzat Ibrahim al-Douri, one of the highest-ranking members of Saddam Hussein's government, reportedly pledged to work with Iraqi and American forces to fight al-Qaeda in Iraq: The leader of Iraq's banned Baath party, Izzat Ibrahim al-Douri, has decided to join efforts by the Iraqi authorities to fight al-Qaeda, one of the party's former top officials, Abu Wisam al-Jashaami, told pan-Arab daily Al Hayat. "AlDouri has decided to sever ties with al-Qaeda and sign up to...

Baghdad, 22 August (AKI) - The leader of Iraq's banned Baath party, Izzat Ibrahim al-Douri, has decided to join efforts by the Iraqi authorities to fight al-Qaeda, one of the party's former top officials, Abu Wisam al-Jashaami, told pan-Arab daily Al Hayat. "AlDouri has decided to sever ties with al-Qaeda and sign up to the programme of the national resistance, which includes routing Islamist terrorists and opening up dialogue with the Baghdad government and foreign forces," al-Jashaami said. Al-Douri has decided to deal directly with US forces in Iraq, according to al-Jashaami. He figures in the 55-card deck of "most...

Cindy Sheehan, Tom Hayden, and the Hate America Left meet with pro-Ba'athist members of the Iraqi parliament to discuss “peace.” TO FIND PEOPLE WHO HATE AMERICA AS MUCH AS THEY DO, the Fifth Column Left had to go halfway around the world to meet with Iraqi political leaders who call terrorism “honorable national resistance” and say foreign jihadists “are guaranteed Paradise” – and at least one of whom has ties to militia leader Muqtada al-Sadr. By the end of the trip, the American leftists would echo these sentiments. Somehow most of the media – occupied with interminable coverage of Hurricane...

Iraq's Baath Party, once the machine of Saddam Hussein's tyrannical rule and now a key player in the country's civil war, has been divided by an internal power struggle pitting one of Hussein's top aides against a former general, U.S. and Iraqi government officials say.

A collection of 9/11 tributes I’ll add to the list below, and if you have any you’d like to add to this (or any other sort of tribute/remembrance), please do so here. Either leave a comment with the link, or link to this post and send a trackback. 9/11: The 5th Year Anniversary Tribute Blood of Heroes September 11th, Uncensored From Brain Terminal: Crystal Morning: September 11th, 2001 From William Teach: 9/11 Plus 5 From Crusader: WTC Tribute More from YouTube: 911 tribute September 11th - Five Years Later: Part 1, Part 2, and Part 3 September 11th - Flash...

The government of Iraq is secretly holding a Baathist cabal of military officers it claims attempted a coup against Prime Minister al-Maliki. The plotters were rounded up July 5 with the help of American military authorities after the Iraqi government's security warning center sent word to Mr. Maliki, who was in Kuwait on his first official visit as head of state, two highly placed Iraqi sources said. The prime minister quickly canceled a scheduled trip to Amman, Jordan, and returned to Baghdad to attend to the matter. At the time, Mr. Maliki's staff told reporters that the prime minister was...

Party Session between the" Baath" and "Belarusian Communist" Parties Headed by al-Ahmar and Golubeva in Minsk Assertion on the cooperation development On 17. 5. 2006 Assistant Secretary General of the Baath Arab Socialist Party Abdullah al-Ahmar held party session with a delegation from the Belarusian Communist Party headed by the party's First Secretary Tatiana Golubeva joint relations between the two parties within the framework of the cooperation. Talks during the meeting dealt with cooperation ties between the two countries and with each party's role in developing the bilateral relations connecting Syria and Belarus. The two parties criticized polices followed by...

All of the region's concerned parties want to keep Damascus out of efforts to put pressure on Israel and Hezbullah. For a number of different reasons, the governments involved don't want the open battlefield to extend beyond the Lebanese border. Even when President Bush said a few days ago that Syria must pay a price, he never said the price would be a military one. In Jordan, Egypt and the Gulf, in spite of differences with the Syrian government and in spite of suspicions that the Syrians had a role in pushing Hezbollah to get involved with Israel, these governments...

Document ISGQ-2003-0044 ISGQ-2003-00044390 390 contains a November/27/2002 Top Secret and Urgent memo from the Baath Party Command in Fallujah and in relation to another letter from the office of the Presidential Secretariat (Saddam Hussein Personal Secretary) and it is addressed to all the People Commands in the Anbar Province (The Western Desert) asking them to watch for Americans or Zionists (Israelis) forces that can potentially bury prohibited materials, WMD, in the Anbar province so it will frame Iraq and find an excuse to punish Iraq according to the memo. The Anbar province which is the hot bed of the terrorists...

A major split may be imminent in the leadership of the Iraqi Baath Party. Most of its senior leaders mostly either dead or prisoners of Iraqi and Coalition forces. The balance of the party's leadership is in exile. Some are known to be in Syria and Egypt, and others possibly in Jordan and Lebanon, as well as outside the Middle East entirely. As a result, there is no centralized party leadership, which seems to have led to serious "debate" about the party, and its purposes, for the first time in decades. In origins, the Baath Party was a secular revolutionary...

Yaa, you repukes are not doing so well, huh? Imagine, you repukes control the presidency, both houses of Congress, and appointed 7 of the 9 Supreme Court justices. Yet the Supreme Court thre out sodomy laws in all 50 states and recognized the right of government to seize land for any reason. And you couldn't pass your Social Security changes could you? Sorry, that was your last shot. Come November, we're going to start seeing more Democratic faces in the House. It's the end for you guys. You guys are celebrating when Bush's numbers go *up* to 45%. Then Faux...

Bush’s giant Right Wing Noise Machine (RWNM) loves to preach about the Bush economic miracle. In fact, the RWNM’s current thinking is Bush doesn’t spend enough time talking about his economic triumphs. If only he did, then everyone would fall in line and believe in the great Bush economic miracle. There is one problem with this argument: it’s a lie. Any way you look at the Bush economy, it comes up short. Today, I want to compare Bush’s job creation record with other economic recoveries. As usual, Bush comes up way short. The national Bureau of Economic Research has identified...

Why does anybody support George w Bush as President? He is clearly the worst President I have ever seen -- a complete disaster. And before you say anything, I have been a registered Republican for 25 years.

The Hooded Man from Abu Ghraib: The Rest of the Story by Laura Mansfield Do you remember this image? (See attached PDF file for image) The hooded man is Haj Ali al Qaisi. Haj Ali is known throughout the world because of this photograph showing him with a black hood over his head, standing on a box, with electric cords on his hands. The photo came to represent torture in Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq at the hands of the American military. Haj Ali, who now lives in Jordan and heads a group called the "Organization of Victims of US...

Iraq's electoral commission is striking off some 100 candidates who ran in the December 15 general elections for links with Saddam Hussein's banned Baath party. "A court has overruled the commission's initial decision to allow them to run and we are now applying the law and removing the names of about 100 candidates," Adel al-Lami told AFP on Saturday. "We are asking political parties to submit new names from the same electoral lists to replace the candidates struck off," he said, giving no details as to the parties and candidates concerned. The electoral law does not allow former senior officials...

Lies of omission about 9/11 -- stoking fears of terrorism THEY WANT YOU TO BE AFRAID The following post was censored by freerepublic.com shortly after it was posted on their "public" forum on 9/11/04. That forum is designed to appear as though it is a community forum open to all, but this post only received three responses before it and its replies were deleted, and a repeat posting at 4 am PST on 9/20/04 didn't stay online for 5 minutes! Someone is apparently watching closely over the content of the freerepublic.com forums and censoring them 24/7 (though they might have...

MOSCOW, December 20 (RIA Novosti) - Russia will take Syria's side if charges against Syrian officials with involvement in the assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri cause a conflict between the United States and Syria, two Russian parliamentary members said Tuesday. "If Russia is to choose between its two strategic allies, it will undoubtedly take Syria's side," said Shamil Sultanov, a coordinator of an inter-faction association, Russia and the Islamic World: A Strategic Dialogue. Nikolai Leonov, a member of parliament's security committee, who had recently visited Syria along with Sultanov and other MPs, said it was primarily beneficial...

  Saddam and the Third Reich   Premieres:Sunday, December 18 @ 5pm ET/PT Few people realize that the Baath party was actually formed upon the principles and organizational structure of the Nazi party. Iraq, because of its oil and hatred of Jews, was an important battleground between the Axis and Allied powers in World War II. Nazi propaganda was broadcast throughout Baghdad, and Iraqis often went on rampages against Jews throughout the war. One of the most ardent Nazi supporters during WWII was named Khairallah Talfah. Talfah was Saddam's uncle. After the war, many of the key Iraqi Nazi supporters,...

LONDON [MENL] -- Aides of deposed President Saddam Hussein, under the guise of Al Qaida fighters, have been leading the insurgency against the U.S.-led coalition in Iraq. Islamic sources said many of the Al Qaida-aligned cells that have appeared over the last two years stemmed from units in the Saddam military. The sources said Baathist operatives have adopted Islamic identities to exploit support among Muslims for Al Qaida. The Baathist strategy was formed during Saddam's rule, the sources said. They pointed to the "Return to Faith Campaign" directed by then-Iraqi Vice President Izzat Ibrahim Al Douri, which sought to curry...

WASHINGTON, Nov. 15, 2005 – Coalition forces captured the leader of the New Baath Party in Diyala province, Iraq, during a Nov. 9 patrol, officials announced today. Coalition members apprehended Hamid Sharki Shadid along with physical evidence at his home. Shadid is a former member of the Baath Party in Diyala province and is suspected of being responsible for all insurgent Baath Party activities in that area. Coalition forces believe he can provide crucial information on the whereabouts of former Staff Gen. Jamal Karki, a suspected Baathist insurgent, and Abd-al-Baqi al-Saadun, who has been a fugitive since the fall of...

Coalition Forces continue the hunt for Izzat Ibrihim Al Duri, long-time Saddam Hussein associate, in spite of the latest Baath party announcement of his death. Coalition officials question the validity of the Baath party claim, and a reward of up to $10 million remains for information leading to Al-Duri’s capture or his gravesite. There have been conflicting reports regarding Al-Duri. On Nov. 12 a Baathist website reported his death, but the author of this site has made false claims in the past. Another website, also claiming to be associated with the former Baath Party, apologized for the false reporting of...

IZZAT Ibrahim al-Duri, one of Saddam Hussein's top deputies and a man who eluded US capture despite a hefty bounty on his head, reportedly died quietly overnight at the age of 63. The notice of his death came not from the US military, but from a statement signed by the dissolved Baath Party command. "The leader of the resistance died on Friday November 11 at 2:20 am," according to the statement signed by the Baath command. There was no immediate confirmation of his death. Duri was one of Saddam's most feared right-hand men and was said to be suffering from...

Militants from Iraq's dismantled former ruling Baath party have threatened to launch missile attacks on United States military bases in Iraq and have called on loyalists to defend the country's former dictator, Saddam Hussein on the eve of his trial. "At the moment that his trial is about to begin, we will salute the president by launching a hail of missile attacks on American military bases," read a message posted to Islamist websites.

I don't understand what a Mexican flag has to do with our war in IraqLots of Mexicans, wow!Halloween?I do whatever for a pennyI'd suggest you to live in Cuba then

Remember that day. Remember our fellow Americans who suffered. Remember our resolve as a nation. Remember who did this to us. Remember to cherish your freedom and those who fought to keep us free.

DEBUNKING CINDY SHEEHANHEAR ABE LINCOLN/JOHNNY CASH + PBS' NEIL CONANby Mia T, 8.31.05 (viewing movie requires Flash Player 7, available HERE)   "You tell me the truth. You tell me that my son died for oil. You tell me that my son died to make your friends rich. You tell me my son died to spread the cancer of Pax Americana, imperialism in the Middle East."--Cindy Sheehan "And if you think I won't say bulls**t to the President, I say move on, cause I'll say what's on my mind."--Cindy Sheehan   The trusty triad's half-truths, exaggerations and outright lies,...

BAGHDAD, Iraq — President Bush urged Shiites to make concessions to Sunni Arabs on two key points - federalism and Saddam Hussein's Baath Party - to win their support for Iraq's constitution, a Shiite official said Friday following a third extension of the deadline to approve the charter. U.S. officials have also appealed to the country's powerful Shiite clergy, including Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, to help resolve the standoff, said Ali al-Adeeb, a Shiite member of the committee drafting the charter. Shiite negotiators agreed to study suggested changes to the document Friday after parliament speaker Hajim al-Hassani announced officials would...

Last week, nine judges in the special tribunal were removed. Half the remaining judges are under review. BAGHDAD - More than a year and a half after US troops pulled Saddam Hussein out of his spider hole, Iraqis are still wondering what will become of him. US officials promised that Saddam's trial before a national tribunal, on charges running from aggression against neighbors to genocide, would usher in a new era of justice and rule of law in Iraq. Earlier this month, the Iraqi Special Tribunal (IST) - the roughly 50-judge court set up under US guidance to try former...

Here is the list so far for sponcers to this hate America fest: ANSWER Code Pink UFPJ NION Al Awda World Workers Party Ruckas Revolutionary Communist party Moveon.org ACORN Campus Antiwar Network International Socialist Org Greens Party Muslim Student Association CPUSA

Since April, 2005, there has been a co-ordinated escalation of acts of jihadi terrorism in Iraq, Afghanistan and Jammu and Kashmir in India. I believe the coming months will see more incidents of jihadi terrorism in these three areas. In Iraq, there are signs of a decrease in the operations of the Arab Sunni resistance fighters, who owe their loyalty to the old Baath Party disbanded by the Americans after they occupied the country. They are distinct from the Arab Sunni terrorists of foreign origin, who owe their loyalty to Osama bin Laden and Abu Musab al-Zarqawi. The Iraqi resistance...

On the surface there would seem to be little to unite the Aryan racialists of the neo-Nazi movement with the terrorists of radical Islam. To the neo-Nazis, Muslims are almost all members of ``inferior`` races; and to the Islamic terrorists, the neo-Nazis are almost without exception either atheists or members of fringe quasi-Christian sects. But the reality is that there has been close cooperation between Muslim extremists and Fascists ever since the founding of the Nazi movement in the 1920`s. For all of their differences, Muslim extremists and Nazis have always been united by a common group of beliefs and...

Many argue that communism will never be possible because of "human nature". The essence of this false argument is the belief that a communist society would consist of an all-powerful central government that would tell everybody what to do--and would therefore undermine the creative initiative of individuals and the search for happiness. • This argument is based on two false assumptions: (1) It assumes that a communist society will look like the former Soviet Union, or the current China, North Korea, etc (ie: corrupt police states with a feudal-style ruling class) (2) It assumes that people will only work in...

U.S. prepares for “day after” Assad French President Chirac: Assad gov't won't survive pullout, Pentagon and White House officials meet to discuss assistance for Syria if it happens By Yitzhak Benhorin French president says he won't last. AssadPhoto: ReutersWASHINGTON - The U.S. government is preparing for the possibility that Syrian President Bashar Assad’s government will fall as a result of the Syrian pullout from Lebanon. Senior Pentagon and White House officials participated in a special meeting Thursday at the State Department to discuss preparations for the possible collapse of the Baath party in Syria. Representatives of Syrian opposition groups were...

Many of Iraq's predominantly Sunni Arab insurgents would lay down their arms and join the political process in exchange for guarantees of their safety and that of their co-religionists, according to a prominent Sunni politician. Sharif Ali Bin al-Hussein, who heads Iraq's main monarchist movement and is in contact with guerrilla leaders, said many insurgents including former officials of the ruling Ba'ath party, army officers, and Islamists have been searching for a way to end their campaign against US troops and Iraqi government forces since the January 30 election. “Firstly, they want to ensure their own security,” says Sharif Ali,...

Gas costs so much. I cant afford it. Why want Bush do something? Don't say he can't. His daddy or his handlers could be on the phone in 2 minutes with the Rothchilds and by 1 week, oil prices would be under $20 and gas would be 1 dollar a gallon. You know it and I know it. Why want he? Do you know? Is there sombody we can call? Plaese advice.

<p>What is this palce? Are you peeple for reel? Is this some kind of joke?</p>

I apologize for being me, true and dedicated to freedom for everyone especially those who haven't seen it truly in a long time.

<p>Stop inhumane experiments on liberal trolls!!!!!!! Oh my! I recently encountered stunning liberal talking points concerning trolldom! Or concerning what FReepers do on the forum with idiots.</p> <p>I was really shocked and my eyes wide open when I was reading it! Unfortunately I lost the link but I will retell you what I happened to get to know. The people at the DNC set inhumane experiments over trolls! It is outrageous!</p>

The assassination of Rafiq al-Hariri has initiated an international political chess match which is being played out on the streets of Lebanon and in the media worldwide. Hariri's murder twenty-four days ago sparked a governmental crisis in Lebanon that resulted in Prime Minister Omar Karami's resignation, cries of blame on Syria, street protests by the opposition in Lebanon, a massive counter-protest by government supporters, the reinstatement of Karami, and continuing uncertainty.

Opponents of the US-led invasion of Iraq nearly came to blows in Berlin Saturday with pro-US demonstrators accusing them of supporting "terrorism" and tolerating Saddam Hussein. About 200 people, mainly German pacifist and left-wing activists, attended an unofficial meeting called to condemn the war against Iraq and demand the withdrawal of American troops. But the gathering was interrupted by hecklers blaming anti-war demonstrators for supporting the wave of extremist violence in Iraq. Outside, about 20 people demonstrated against the conference, saying it was indirectly supporting the old Saddam regime. "We don't hate the Americans and we condemn suicide bombings against...

i just joined up. i'm a liberal who's looking for some stimulating political discussion. i wasn't sure what the procedure was, so i thought i'd say hello. howdy.

The Media CIA CONTROLED MEDIDA AND/OR MEDIA MANIPULATION IS A VIOLATION OF THE FIRST AMENDMENT RIGHT TO A FREE PRESS CONCERNING ALL 50 STATES AND EVERY AMERICAN CITIZEN PLEASE REVIEW: http://government.rantnetwork.com/usgovcoverups (read website on "operation mockingbird") Journalism is a perfect cover for CIA agents. People talk freely to journalists, and few think suspiciously of a journalist aggressively searching for information. Journalists also have power, influence and clout. Not surprisingly, the CIA began a mission in the late 1940s to recruit American journalists on a wide scale, a mission it dubbed Operation MOCKINGBIRD. The agency wanted these journalists not only to...