undergroundclips

5 Days after US Election Iraq Declares Martial Law and the U.S. Bombs Falluja

Iraq Declares Martial Law, U.S. Bombs Falluja (Reuters)

Just five days after Bush wins the presidency, we are now in the process of bombing Falluja and putting their country under Martial Law....it's such a sweet victory for Bush, now he can proceed along with his plans with the "will of the people" behind him....and proceed with his crusade.

So is all the debate about whether the Iraq war was a diversion from terrorism now moot? I don't see why. The war sure doesn't look any better on this side of the election.

Cardboard Coffins: GIs In Iraq Lack Armor, Radios, Bullets

CBS 60 min: GIs In Iraq Lack Armor, Radios, Bullets (Quicktime, low quality)

The current Iraq War has got to be the worst run war in American history, soldiers are using consumer 2-way radios, they have to armor their Humvee's with plywood and sandbags...how can this be happening when Bush has spent billions of dollars on this war? Perhaps because so much money is wasted with fiasco's like Halliburton.

Some quotes from the article from CBS news:

Lacking proper steel plating to protect soldiers from enemy mines and rocket propelled grenades, Humvees have been jerry-rigged with plywood and sandbags.

"They were called cardboard coffins"

"There have been more than 9,000 U.S. casualties in Iraq so far – more than 8,100 wounded and 1,100 killed. Nearly half of those casualties are the result of roadside bombs, known as improvised explosive devices or IEDs in military jargon. Yet the U.S. military still lacks thousands of fully armored vehicles that could save American lives."

The Cost of War--Hidden Casualties

The Cost of War from PBS

More than 11,170 injured and ill soldiers, nearly 1 in 20 soldiers have been sent home from Iraq and Afghanistan, but they have not counted among the Pentagon's official tally of the wounded because they are considered "non-hostile" casualties. The true number could triple the total casualty count. The Pentagon claims that until this PBS NOW report, they've never been asked for the true count of the casualties. They claim not to even know the numbers. They deny they are hiding anything, but claim that the larger casualty numbers might be misunderstood because they would not be placed in the context of everyday 'normal' casualties in the military.

Here's a site on the financial costs of the war, from the National Priorities Project.

The Pentagon Channel I'm not making this up...

Uncovered: The War on Iraq- Interviews

Uncovered: The War on Iraq (2004)

The Archive.org has posted Robert Greenwald's original interview footage from the film he produced and directed "Uncovered: The War on Iraq" in the Creative Commons license "Sampling Plus." Included at the Archive.org are no less than 16 downloadable formats from 64Kb MPEG4 to MPEG2 files that weigh in at 1.5gigs, as well as streaming quicktime.

"The film, which has drawn attention for its pointed criticism of the Iraq war, consists largely of interviews with former government officials such as John Dean, Madeleine Albright, and Admiral Stansfield Turner."

The Center for Public Integrity Posts Classified Documents about Abu Ghraib

The Center for Public Integrity
posts classified documents that form the basis of the Taguba report.

(Note, the author, Alexander Cohen, although he goes by the same name is not the owner of this weblog.)

TheMemoryHole has archived of the Taguba Report as well as many of the photographs of this abuse.

Also the RollingStone has this report, a frightening read: "The Secret File of Abu Ghraib, New classified documents implicate U.S. forces in rape and sodomy of Iraqi prisoners"

Richard Clarke on 60 Minutes

Here's Richard Clarke on 60 minutes...

"I blame the entire bush leadership for continuing to work on the cold war issues when they came back into power in 2001. It was as though they were preserved in amber from when they left office, 8 years earlier. They came back they wanted to work on the same issues right away: Iraq, StarWars, not the new issues, the new threats that developed over the preceeding 8 years." Richard Clarke on 60 Minutes, March 21, 2004.

And now look at the current emphasis of the Bush administration, Iraq and a (virtually useless) missle defense system. Why is that? Why hasn't the administration changed it's focus? Could it be because Condoleezza Rice is a Cold-War scholar and knew little if anything about terrorism before she took her job as Bush's National Security Advisor? Now, which of the current candidates for president is really thinking Pre-9/11?

See NPR U.S. Deploys Limited Missile Defense System

and on google search for Missile Defense Shield.

Anthony Zinni

Anthony Zinni is interviewed on CBS Sixty Minutes, 2004-05-23

"From 1997 to 2000, he was Commander and Chief of the United States Central Command, in charge of all American troops in the Middle East. Tommy Franks, was his successor. The Bush Administration appointed him as special envoy to the Middle East, but he broke ranks with the Administraion over the war in Iraq. And now in his harshest criticism yet, he says senior officials in the Pentagon are guilty of deriliction of duty and that the time has come for heads to roll."

Needless to say I can't think of anyone who has left over the handling of the war in Iraq, and it just keeps getting worse...have a listen to a former darling of the administration, you decide....