Posted on 12/10/2006 5:12:10 AM PST by Alas Babylon!
It would be easy if all we had to do was go in and blow everything up, clean up the mess and then go home, but the same suspects would be left in this particular case.
Fighting someone who hires 12 years olds(literally pays their families money) to blow themselves and a few locals up is not what US troops have been trained for but it's the name of the game for now.
If anyone can change the tide we can.
Or the military for that matter. Have you ever noticed that the military is never consulted in these circuses..?
Sam and Fareed are in the camp wanting a self-fulfilling prophecy.
Gordon Smith needs to have a talk with Pres. Bush..I can't imagine he can see or read Pres. Bush's words, and not think we are in this for victory.
However, if he is listening to Wash spin...I am sure he is confused...poor Gordon.
For egg cup read tea cup
Hi Txsleuth, it was on FNS. Just amazing. It was like Juan Williams claiming he supports the goals in Iraq but not what we are doing or staying there to do it. If that does not make sense, that's okay. It didn't when he said it either.
I saw the doctor and am on a super-antibiotic which is adding nausea to my list of symptoms.
Old Friend is going to tell me where she got Sambucol which I have been looking for for months hoping to have it handy if I got a cold. I'm hoping it will reduce my recovery time to less than six months. My best friend really got wiped out from this last year, I mean for the whole year.
Thank you, Mac, I'm lifted up by Freeper friends. b.
Smith has always seemed to be rather squishy...but, I don't recall hearing his opinion on Iraq lately, so I don't know.
Notice whose opinion of the ISG report we haven't heard??
Why that would be Hillary Clinton...unless you or others have heard something I haven't.
See....campaigning for an election that won't happen for 2 more years is more important right now, that having to answer questions re: Iraq.
I notice that Obama and Hillary are just WAY too busy for liitle things like that.
I just keep thinking of the line "come on you fairies defend yourselves." or something of the sort.....God, it's no contest...
Was the comment by Christmas pity he did not clarify what Christmas LOL
Why that would be Hillary Clinton...unless you or others have heard something I haven't.
No, she has to guage public reaction before she can comment..
Somehow I am doubtful that with Gates as Sec. of Defense, we are going to get a red light to the commanders in Iraq to be "let loose".
Man, I pity you too. Hope you feel better soonest.
The press embraces its own Gotterdamerung as long as America is dragged down into the flames with it.
I wish the Bush administration would do a better job of publicizing that fact. The Baker-Hamiliton report and the MSM fail to mention that inconvenient truth and recognize the sacrifice. Instead, we are treated to daily pictures of car bombings, which insinuate that the US is partially responsible for the violence. Over 12 million Iraqis voted for their government risking life and limb. We don't have a civil war in Iraq, but rather, a small minority of terrorists trying to take down the duly elected government of Iraq.
August 1990: The UN imposes sanctions on Iraq following the country's invasion of Kuwait.Wow! The numbers on that corruption are stagggering. It must be a total effect "GDP equivalent" of $100+ Billion dollars, over only about FIVE years. A whole lot of influence being bought and traded!March 1991: A UN mission to Iraq reports: "The Iraqi people may soon face a further imminent catastrophe, which could include epidemic and famine, if massive life-supporting needs are not rapidly met." The UN proposes to allow Iraq to sell its oil in exchange for humanitarian goods without breaking the sanctions. The Iraqi government refuses.
April 1995: The UN Security Council adopts a resolution to establish an "oil-for-food" programme. Iraq refuses its terms.
December 1996: The programme is implemented and the first oil is exported. The first shipments of food arrive in Iraq in March 1997.
17 March 2003: All UN humanitarian staff are withdrawn from Iraq, two days before the start of the second war in Iraq.
November 2003: The oil-for-food programme is wound down and handed over to the Coalition Provisional Authority.
January 2004: An Iraqi newspaper publishes a list of 270 people from some 40 countries - including UN officials, politicians and companies - it alleges may have profited from the illicit sale of Iraqi oil during the OFF programme.
March 2004: The US General Accounting Office says it believes Saddam Hussein made $10bn of illicit gains from the programme between 1997 and 2002.
April 2004: The UN sets up a high-level inquiry into the allegations. Former US Federal Reserve chairman Paul Volcker is appointed to head the panel. The US Congress and the Iraqi government set up their own inquiries.
October 2004: The UN inquiry gets $30m in funding from the programme itself. Mr Volcker says the allegations are serious and the investigation could take more than a year. A report by the Iraq Survey Group, published on the CIA website, says Saddam Hussein's government netted $11bn from the deals. It also accuses the former head of the oil-for-food programme, Benon Sevan, of benefiting from the corruption. Mr Sevan denies any wrongdoing.
November 2004: US Senate investigators say they believe Saddam Hussein made more than $21bn from illicit oil sales and kickbacks. They believe $13.6bn came from selling oil to neighbour states keen to breach the sanctions, while $4.4bn was earned through kickbacks on humanitarian goods supplied through the programme. Kofi Annan expresses disappointment that his son Kojo worked for Swiss-based Cotecna for four years longer than previously believed. Cotecna had a contract with the oil-for-food programme. Kojo Annan is said to have worked only for its West African operations.
January 2005: Iraqi-American businessman Samir Vincent appears in a US federal court as part of a criminal investigation into the scandal by the US Justice Department. Mr Vincent pleads guilty to being an illegal agent of Saddam Hussein's government and skimming money from the programme.
February 2005: Benon Sevan is accused of having repeatedly asked Iraqis to allocate oil to a particular company in an interim report by the UN inquiry. Mr Sevan and another official, Joseph Stephanides, are suspended from the UN. Both deny any wrongdoing.
March 2005: Another interim report finds "significant" questions over the integrity of Kojo Annan's dealings. Kofi Annan is cleared of any wrongdoing, but is faulted over an "inadequate" inquiry into the affair.
April 2005: A Texas businessman, a Bulgarian and a Briton are indicted in the US for taking part in an alleged scheme to pay bribes to Saddam Hussein's regime in Iraq.
May 2005: US Senate investigations committee says British MP George Galloway and former French Interior Minister Charles Pasqua were rewarded with oil allocations by Saddam Hussein's regime. Both deny the accusation. A few days later, the committee accuses Russian politician Vladimir Zhirinovsky, and former presidential aides Alexander Voloshin and Sergei Issakov, of receiving oil allocations in return for Russian lobbying on Iraq's behalf. Russia says it would be "unethical" to comment before the Volcker report is released.
June 2005: The UN inquiry says it is "urgently reviewing" new material on contacts between Kofi Annan and Cotecna. Two newly uncovered memos from the company say an executive met the head of the UN "and his entourage" and was told the firm "could count on their support" ahead of the award of an oil-for-food contract to the company. Mr Annan denies prior knowledge of Cotecna's bid for the contract.
August 2005: Benon Sevan resigns on the eve of the publication of the third report into the scandal. In a bitter letter to Kofi Annan, he denies any wrongdoing and says he has been sacrificed for political expediency. In the report, Mr Sevan is accused of receiving about $150,000 in cash bribes.
September 2005: The Volcker panel releases its final report, in which it condemns "illicit, unethical and corrupt" behaviour during the scheme, and blames the secretary general for mismanagement. There is no evidence of wrongdoing by Kofi Annan, but he admits the affair is "deeply embarrassing" for the UN.
Yeahm, sure it was "wound down" or a "non-starter" after 9/11 -- NOT! If anything the grifter-type of ethos would have put the dang hammer down and pulled more grift from the wells!
And to think that the Iranians, the Chinese, and the Saudis have to compete at that same level of "greasing the wheels", and still do ...
Always! My Dad said the wx has been great down there..
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