It is designed for general conversation about the events of the day. In depth discussion of events should be left to individual threads - but links to the threads or other articles is highly encouraged. This allows us to stay abreast of the situation in general, while also providing a means of obtaining specific information.
HGTV? Oh dear. :-) History Channel International and Discover...blech..."Times" rule as well.
What's the difference between Direct TV and, say, Comcast cable? Would I get Al-Jazeera like Janeane? Would this lead to wearing ugly black thick-framed Commie glasses? ;-)
I finally got MSNBC 2 to load, but within minutes it went to CBS logo (???). Got new NTV on, but it's some German news conference.
I'm having Dr. Bob withdrawals!
Oops, anchorette just said Dr. Bob coming up on MSNBC. (But I liked watching him warm up and his off-camera remarks. Oh, well. War being over can't be all bad.)
And what's the deal with the no-go on the US indictment on Abbas in 1998? Just a little more help from his friends?
Direct TV is cool. And I've had it less than 24 hours, so lots of stuff I prolly dont even know about it yet. Lots of features. It's a bit more expensive than my cable service, but I also have 80 more channels.
Prairie
I have a particularly soft spot in my heart for Bloom, since my family has lost two people from embellisms and ALMOST a third (I have to go get the genetic screening done, myself). One specifically to *exactly* what he had. If only he hadn't tried to shrug it off with an aspirin...ugh. The poor man. And that's not a pleasant way to go, either. Meagers prayers of this Agnostic-cum-Deist offered to him & his family. :-(
Dr. Bob says Gen. Franks is in Baghdad today!
That's the Toons for you. The gift that just keeps on giving.
"That's the Toons for you. The gift that just keeps on giving."
Kind of like herpes
CENTCOM - Wed. Apr. 16:
Brig. Gen. Vincent Brooks:
"Operation Iraqi Freedom continues in the 27th day.".
"We are responding to the immediate needs of the population."
"Several key objectives have been obtained....the outcome is certain."
"Dangers remain....and our (troops) continue to confront them with courage and compassion."
"Coalition Spec. forces continue..to secure key areas...Apr. 14, spec. forces and 5th corp ..captured Abu Abbas...Sec. Gen. of PLF and key planner or Aquilli Lauro...
"Spec. forces and reg. coalition forces..(continue to assist, secure).."power, water and food are all functional and adequate in most areas of the north...permissive security enviroments in.." (lists various n. cities)
"In Mosul..recent unrest...our efforts continue....
"The cooperation of locals...(ie 2000 mortar shells found in Al Kut continues)...direct actions continue throughout country to find regime leaders..
"5th corp continues to attack, cut off escape routes.(see transcript)..other forces supported humanitarian aid...
"In Ar Ramadi. (our guys accepted surrender of 12th div?) ...taking steps demanded by us...faciliated by spec forces...there still may be Baath P. loyalists in Ar Ramadi, it's clear the (org. force has come to an end...
"1st Mar. Exp continue to search Tikrit...at this point all coalit. land units are conducting humanit.efforts..looting has (decreased)..distribution of leaflets ...discourage looting..
"Coalition land components continue working w/ local leaders...in Ar Ramalla...locals in control of most institutions...interested in getting schools (working)....
"We'll soon broadcast from ground stations and more Iraqis will have access as power is restored...
"Coalition efforts to set the foundation for the future of Iraq are ongoing...power remians the root issue...nec. to produce or move fresh water...allowing hospitals to function at full capacity...
Pic of power center, 200 Iraqi electrical workers returned to work...efforts to establish continue..
Pic. water delivered in Basrah...daily, they are cooperating...orderly...bring own containers...water system functioning at ~ 60% capacity in Basrah...efforts ongoing...
Humanit. organizations are providing bottle and bulk water...
Water system in Kirkuk is functioning normally..
"Med. care and public health are also (our concern)...in many areas regime (left them a mess)...coalition med. support continues. ...med. supplies flown into Baghdad and over land...professionals, supplies (coming in from other nations....Qatar sent 3 pallats of med. supplies and doctors...Kuwait...much assist...Jordanian field hosp. crossed into Iraq this morn...ICRC helping....
"Yesterday a number of religious, ethnic and tribal leaders met in historic city (Ur?) nr. Nasiryah...in two large tents (to discuss future of Iraq)...video of US special envoy addressing group....
Questions:
Re. WMDs (of course): "We did organize ourselves to have a number of teams to go into sites...site exploitation...at this point we have a number of teams that are operating...several things have been examined...some have proven to be agricultural (though they were stored in a way that was odd), delivery systems...Al Samoud, etc., capable of carrying chem. weapons...but the heavy duty action...(talking to people, access to sites )..is ongoing...it's deliberate work. We remain confident. "Gen. Franks is where he is every day...in command of his forces.
"First on the incident nr. Al Ramari...there are a number of places where our exploit teams have gone in and found massive (ammo...upon exam...found not to be ABC...investigations ongoing....very early in the process in Al Ramari...
"Abu Babbas is a terrorist. He was a terrorist he remains such. What's more important. he was found in Baghdad. Baghdad the regime that no longer exists (harbored terrorists). Mr. Abbas proves taht is true...
"(What we) know about the incident that happened in Mosul on the 15th is ongoing...prelim. reports show that (our guys) went into area that they had selected for regional (meeting place..).. after the first group entered..another group of Marines joined them..crowd gathered ...(threw rocks, spit on them,..our guys took up positions to secure ...crowd became more agitated...were inflamed by vehicle w/ loudspeaker...people in crowd w/ weapons were firing...aimed fire..at our Marines...and aimed fire was then returned..some Iraqis were killed...may be as many as 7.)..the rest of it remains to be examined...we know that Mar. commander and spec. forces commander (visited site early)..."as we said all along the regime remains our target...w/in the regime are leaders, those who might issue orders...we are pursuing indivduals to prevent the regime from growing and to bring them to justice...we are comfortable that we have been very successful to date and will be more successful...
"We had info. that was credible, crosschecked...therefore able to be acted upon...coalition forces quickly moved into area...(capured Abu Abbas.)..
Re. a child who was injured (received some fame?) "He has been successfully evacuated to Kuwait and is receiving medical assistance...there are a number of civilians..a number of children who are in need of med. assist.. and are receiving med. treatment...we continue to treat (them where and when we find them....we facilitate as much as possible..I have no knowledge how he was injured....
"Looting was done by Iraqis...many Iraqis are saying this is unaccept...we have to create an environment where security does exist...but that's done by partnership...certainly not by enforcing a regime (on the Iraqi popul)....there are a number of areas that have not been cleared (of regime bad guys)...security is something that (comes w/ our presence)...we see a significant downturn w/ liberation as we knew (we would)...incidents of lawlessness will go down even further...
"There has been a reduction in recent weeks of cross border movement (where we are, they aren't)...that has gone down...our operations are not complete...the decisive combat actionsa re coming to a close...we are now (focused on pockets in areas we haven't gone to)...investigations are not primary focus...when we have humanit. issues, a (civil gov. to set up...etc.)...that's where we're (focused, not on whether a missile that went up and came back down (in a market) )..
"We understand that Mr. Abbas tried to move a number of times and did not succeed in escaping from Baghdad. We think that others also, like the coalition, view him as a terrorist. He was and is."...
Re. the Oslo Accord protecting members of PLO from being tried. "I'm certain the lawyers will take over...our goal is to remove terrorists from iraq. He is part of that terrorist network...right now, he's off the table...we know that he was here, we found him, he couldn't escape...we took him into custody..."
Re. Marines firing at crowd in Mosul: "In Mosul what we know about it, what we saw essentially was supporting fire...fire delivered by people outside the wall (details - please see transcript). "It was clearly an assault as we see it now."
"Baghdad Int'l is a very busy place...w/ humanit., military...still some threats in the area..It is very busy w/ multiple (loads of mostly humanit/ medic. supplies)..as security envir. improves..certainly, commercial (flight) ...will return...it is still a military facility under military control...our efforts are ongoing...
Re. border w/ Syria "Before the war started we were operating under a diff. set of rules...we had to rely on goverments (choose ) who would cross their borders...once we had the ability to move forces...we rapidly moved forces into (nec. areas) we maintain a presence out there ...that presence has increased...able to respond with various (methods)...
"Clearly the air ops have gone down. There are still close air support missions...(and available) .. we always have an air presence.. There never was a bombardment...there was always precision (hits)..(now people should be able to see for themselves...precise strikes..) The current mixture of our work is local combat activity..still remain armed, protected (decided by local commanders) always int he mode first...establishing security..some may be oriented in (finding bad guys, some delivering humanit. aid, some fixing power plant...don't know what the mix is..dynamic.our forces are flexible enough and our forces are disciplined enough (to get bad guys and deliever humanit.aid simultaneously)..that requires a highly (trained and awesome force)...
"Not every organization and not every interest was represented at this meeting. This was the first meeting. It was a very important meeting. This meeting could not have occured a month ago...it was historic...(they have a choice to participate)...
"There are parts in the NW that we have not had conventional forces...we have had spec. forces (etc)...like El Ramadi...we've maintained (observation) but have not physically gone there...(etc)...many of the formations...as we saw the success in Baghdad...left the battlefield..in every pocket we have not gone through...we will..
"The only thing we can conclude at this point...people taken into our custody had knowledge...this is a very compartmentalized program...it's a piece of the puzzle...we've certainly found chem protective (gear, atropine injectors purchased under Oil for Food)..found things buried...others yet to be excavated...a very deliberate process...(we have found certainly) some equipm. in possess of soldiers and milit and certainly stocks in hospitals, etc....(chem protective stuff)...
"Anything that we use for practical purposes...we're not going to leave ...we are going to provide as much help to the Iraqi people as we can...we certainly know there have been Iraqi civilians impacted (by this war..)...as our work goes on and we make assessments...part of good governance is taking care of the people who are effected...we have an office of humanit. assist. that (will help..and the Iraqi gov.. will)..
"I think that any metht\od that helps us gain the release of anyone who is yet unaccounted for (is important). We know the Kuwatit government is certainly interested (and we will assist - to find those who remain missing...just as we have cooperated w/ the Kuwaitis on a number of issues..)...
Glad you like Direct TV, will show your post to my boss. i think he is a lurker. If anyone has questions about Direct in your area you can freep mail me.
