Showing posts with label death. Show all posts
Showing posts with label death. Show all posts
Iraq Memorial to Life
Iraq Memorial to Life
Over one million innocent Iraqis are estimated to have suffered war-related fatal casualties.
Millions upon millions more suffer with non-fatal casualties. Indeed, has anyone person in Iraq been left unscathed?
Thursday, the 5th of February, 2009: 21 Iraqis Killed, 19 Wounded
More occupation related deaths. Iraqis continue to be killed and to suffer as a result of the occupation. Anti-war.com keeps close track of reported deaths, here: updates
February 5, 2009So sad to see the violence. And to know that it's all unnecessary: sickening.
Thursday: 21 Iraqis Killed, 19 Wounded
A suicide bombing in Diyala province overshadowed today's release of provincial election results. Attacks against political candidates and other officials continued as well. Overall, at least 20 Iraqis were killed and 17 more were wounded across Iraq. No Coalition deaths were reported.
...
Permanent Bases in Iraq
I remember President Bush and Donald Rumsfeld saying that there would be no permanent U.S. Military Bases in Iraq. Now hear this.
from Tom Dispatch dotcom:
posted June 15, 2008 7:46 pm
Tomgram: Why We Can't See America's Ziggurats in Iraq
[Note for TomDispatch readers: Just a reminder. Today's post on the mega-bases in Iraq represents but one of the missing stories of the Bush years that TomDispatch has been dedicated to covering. The site's new book, The World According to TomDispatch: America in the New Age of Empire, just published, is, in essence, a striking history of the missing stories of our mad age, the stories the mainstream media chose to ignore. I urge TomDispatch readers to pick up a copy. It's a great way to support the site and -- if you care to give it to a friend -- to introduce others to a source of information that has, for years, been an "antidote to the mainstream media." If you can, do recommend the book and the site to your private e-lists and suggest, as well, that people consider going to TomDispatch.com to sign up -- in the window at the upper right of the main screen -- for the regular emails indicating that a new post has gone up. There will be surprises galore this summer as TomDispatch explores the Bush legacy and whether what the Bush administration has embedded in our lives can ever be unbuilt. You can also check out a video in which I discuss the issue of the missing mega-bases in Iraq, now finally in the news, by clicking here. Tom]
The Greatest Story Never Told
Finally, the U.S. Mega-Bases in Iraq Make the News
By Tom Engelhardt
It's just a $5,812,353 contract -- chump change for the Pentagon -- and not even one of those notorious "no-bid" contracts either. Ninety-eight bids were solicited by the Army Corps of Engineers and 12 were received before the contract was awarded this May 28th to Wintara, Inc. of Fort Washington, Maryland, for "replacement facilities for Forward Operating Base Speicher, Iraq." According to a Department of Defense press release, the work on those "facilities" to be replaced at the base near Saddam Hussein's hometown, Tikrit, is expected to be completed by January 31, 2009, a mere 11 days after a new president enters the Oval Office. It is but one modest reminder that, when the next administration hits Washington, American bases in Iraq, large and small, will still be undergoing the sort of repair and upgrading that has been ongoing for years.
In fact, in the last five-plus years, untold billions of taxpayer dollars have been spent on the construction and upgrading of those bases. When asked back in the fall of 2003, only months after Baghdad fell to U.S. troops, Lt. Col. David Holt, the Army engineer then "tasked with facilities development" in Iraq, proudly indicated that "several billion dollars" had already been invested in those fast-rising bases. Even then, he was suitably amazed, commenting that "the numbers are staggering." Imagine what he might have said, barely two and a half years later, when the U.S. reportedly had 106 bases, mega to micro, all across the country.
By now, billions have evidently gone into single massive mega-bases like the U.S. air base at Balad, about 60 miles north of Baghdad. It's a "16-square-mile fortress," housing perhaps 40,000 U.S. troops, contractors, special ops types, and Defense Department employees. As the Washington Post's Tom Ricks, who visited Balad back in 2006, pointed out -- in a rare piece on one of our mega-bases -- it's essentially "a small American town smack in the middle of the most hostile part of Iraq." Back then, air traffic at the base was already being compared to Chicago's O'Hare International or London's Heathrow -- and keep in mind that Balad has been steadily upgraded ever since to support an "air surge" that, unlike the President's 2007 "surge" of 30,000 ground troops, has yet to end.
Building Ziggurats
While American reporters seldom think these bases -- the most essential U.S. facts on the ground in Iraq -- are important to report on, the military press regularly writes about them with pride. Such pieces offer a tiny window into just how busily the Pentagon is working to upgrade and improve what are already state-of-the-art garrisons. Here's just a taste of what's been going on recently at Balad, one of the largest bases on foreign soil on the planet, and but one of perhaps five mega-bases in that country:
Consider, for instance, this description of an air-field upgrade from official U.S. Air Force news coverage, headlined: "'Dirt Boyz' pave way for aircraft, Airmen":"In less than four months, Balad Air Base Dirt Boyz have placed and finished more than 12,460 feet of concrete and added approximately 90,000 square feet of pavement to the airfield… Without the extra pavement courtesy of the Dirt Boyz, fewer aircraft would be able to be positioned and maintained at Balad AB. Having fewer aircraft at the base would directly affect the Air Force's ability to place surveillance assets in the air and to drop munitions on targets... The ongoing flightline projects at Balad AB consist of concrete pad extensions that will provide occupation surfaces for multiple aircraft of various types."Or here's a proud description of what Detachment 6 of the 732nd Expeditionary Civil Engineer Squadron did on its recent tour in Balad:"'We constructed more than 25,000 square feet of living, dining and operations buildings from the ground up,' said Staff Sgt. John Wernegreen… 'This project gave the [U.S.] Army's [3rd Squadron, 2nd Stryker Cavalry Regiment] and Iraqi army [soldiers] a place to carry out their mission of controlling the battlespace around the Eastern Diyala Province.'"And here's a caption, accompanying an Air Force photo of work at Balad: "Airmen of the 407th Expeditionary Civil Engineer Squadron pavement and equipment team repair utility cuts here June 11. The team replaced approximately 30 cubic meters of concrete over newly installed power line cables." ...
... read the rest, www.tomdispatch.com/post/174944/ why_we_can_t_see_america_s_ziggurats_in_iraq
Thou Shalt Not Kill
Thou Shalt Not Kill: so whatever happened to that?
"The number one bookhttp://www.flickr.com/photos/rwhitlock/2330100803
George Bush
& Dick Cheney
DO NOT WANT
YOU TO READ:
Dear Violet
letter from a desert grave
by N. Sigafoos
"Question for George W. Bush:
If you're such a devout Christian, what happened to Thou Shalt Not Kill ?
Is it okay if you just order other people to kill for you ?"
"To Whom It May Concern:
"I'm dead. 26 years old and deader than dead. My last memory being a face full of sand as the truck rolled over and threw me alongside the road. The last thing I heard was the snap of my neck, and that was it for me. New flash: there is no 'heaven, There is no hell. There's simply another layer where your energy goes without your body. My name is Charlie Day. The late Charlie Day, which is ironic, since during my life, I could never be anywhere on time."
Oil: The Cost in Human Lives
How many human lives is it worth to secure future access to world oil supplies? Take a minute right now and answer this question for yourself honestly. Then continue reading.
People are dying because of a war being fought over future access to oil in Iraq. The US government under the Bush Administration views the nation of Iraq, and not insignificantly the oil which resides there, as a matter of major strategic importance. Iraq is also of strategic importance due to its geographic location, but oil is the ranking concern currently.
People are dying because the Bush Administration thinks it is necessary to secure the oil rich nation of Iraq under a "friendly" government. Friendly to the Bush Administration means willing to offer the resources of the nation up for exploitation and use by Western Corporations and Governments (mainly the USA.) The Bush Administration wants control over who benefits from the oil of Iraq.
People are dying, and it's about oil. How does it feel? How can we allow it to continue? Can we? Can you sit idly by in your comfortable American Lifestyle and behave like a normal happy consumer knowing all the while that this economy is underwritten by petroleum? The economy of the USA is dependent on easy and reliable access to petroleum.
There is a war being fought over it and people are dying.
Instead of putting energy into increasing efficiency and conserving what energy we do have, policy makers have decided to tread the road of destruction. Yes, the US is on the road of destruction. People are dying. Families are being ripped apart. All so that the USA can ensure the futures of oil.
But there are alternatives. We don't truly need oil. It's time to start moving in different directions. Let's think creatively and explore some of the alternatives - in earnest. After all, people are dying!
People are dying because of a war being fought over future access to oil in Iraq. The US government under the Bush Administration views the nation of Iraq, and not insignificantly the oil which resides there, as a matter of major strategic importance. Iraq is also of strategic importance due to its geographic location, but oil is the ranking concern currently.
People are dying because the Bush Administration thinks it is necessary to secure the oil rich nation of Iraq under a "friendly" government. Friendly to the Bush Administration means willing to offer the resources of the nation up for exploitation and use by Western Corporations and Governments (mainly the USA.) The Bush Administration wants control over who benefits from the oil of Iraq.
People are dying, and it's about oil. How does it feel? How can we allow it to continue? Can we? Can you sit idly by in your comfortable American Lifestyle and behave like a normal happy consumer knowing all the while that this economy is underwritten by petroleum? The economy of the USA is dependent on easy and reliable access to petroleum.
There is a war being fought over it and people are dying.
Instead of putting energy into increasing efficiency and conserving what energy we do have, policy makers have decided to tread the road of destruction. Yes, the US is on the road of destruction. People are dying. Families are being ripped apart. All so that the USA can ensure the futures of oil.
But there are alternatives. We don't truly need oil. It's time to start moving in different directions. Let's think creatively and explore some of the alternatives - in earnest. After all, people are dying!
60 Iraqis Killed Yesterday
It is Friday in Iraq. Yesterday, 60 Iraqis were killed as a result of violence. These were deaths that would not have occurred had the US not belligerently and aggressively invaded. The invasion was, and the occupation is, unjustified by national security prerogatives.
There was no WMD in Iraq prior to the invasion. There was no insurgency, no "al-quaeda," and no terrorism. Iraq did not pose a threat to US national security.
The occupation is making the US less safe from global terrorism by fanning the flames of anti-USA sentiment around the world.
Here's a link to a story from Washingtonpost.com about the violence in Iraq and the potential for national collapse.
There was no WMD in Iraq prior to the invasion. There was no insurgency, no "al-quaeda," and no terrorism. Iraq did not pose a threat to US national security.
The occupation is making the US less safe from global terrorism by fanning the flames of anti-USA sentiment around the world.
Here's a link to a story from Washingtonpost.com about the violence in Iraq and the potential for national collapse.
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