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unwinnable wars? Spelly get out your white flag.
You post this bunk but don't seem to be able to say if you think we should bring all our troops home.
Seems you are afraid of what others might think but not a bit afraid of those that pulled off 9/11 or strap on suicide bombs.
Yesterday Islamic militias claimed responsibility for two separate bombings in which 25 African laborers were killed in Bossaso, Somalia. Was that over oil?
Or yesterday in Fallujah, Iraq when a Fedayeen suicide bomber murdered five Iraqis along a city street, was that so we can sell bombs?
Also in Iraq yesterday a cleric who spoke out against al-Qaeda was quickly gunned down...Let al-Qaeda win in Iraq seems OK by you, is it?
Our 100% volunteer troops are being shot at by the same people blowing up Iraqi in their markets and it's not over oil or so the US can sell bombs. Should the US stop aid to all that need our help or just Iraq? How about issuing our troops pop guns, think how much the US could save?!.
Hey Spelly, did you see, today Iran which openly calls for the destruction of Israel, lodged an *official* complaint with New Delhi over India’s commercial launch of an Israeli spy satellite last month. It's reported to have the ability to see through clouds, carry out day and night all-weather imaging and will be used to spy on Iran’s suspect nuclear program.
Yesterday the director of Israel’s Mossad spy agency Meir Dagan, in an intelligence assessment presented to Israel’s foreign affairs and defence committee estimates that Iran will develop a nuclear weapon within three years and will continue to provide rockets to regional armed groups....and the Jewish state would face increased threats on all fronts.
Who's racist in that >nothing to do with oil< mess? Islamofascism is what it is.
Why would the US need to build in any racist elements to cultivate hate when you have clerics around the world that teach the significance of martyrdom to the world's billion or so Muslims?
I don't like what we need to spend or the lives lost to have the upper hand...but I'm proud the US can and has, many time, come to the aid of many nations....not for oil....and not to cultivate hate so we can sell bombs.
Good day all:) ZZZzzzz time for me>
How odd Spelly, you think the US has a foreign policy that has a built in racist elements that cause hatred to be cultivated...did you know Ron Paul is OK with racists?
http://www.americanthinker.com/2007/11/the_ron_paul_campaign_and_its.html
No way! But I do >think< you are a nut!
Don't feel bad, I >KNOW< I am;)
You didn't answer my question? Why? I'll ask again, same question>> Do you think we should bring all our troops home from Iraq? Ron Paul and Obama think so.
????our foreign policy has a built in racist elements that cause hatred to be cultivated...???? ???? Then, when they start hating us back for being racist towards them...???
BS
Spelly, have you seen on the net (not in the Lib media)>> how much help we are getting from the growing numbers of CLCs across Iraq? The Anbar Awakening? or that the Iraqi Police and Army are putting THEIR life on the line, side by side>>WITH<< the the Coalition(not just US troops), to stop al-Qaeda?? Who btw, are for the most part not Iraqi and are killing large numbers of Iraqi people in cold blood, not Dick Cheney's oil buds.
Your cynicism does not address who our brave, 100% volunteer, troops and troops from around the world are fighting to stop....or any of their motives... or their ultra gruesome acts of violence. It's not Dick Cheney/Bush inside job to cultivate racism.
Al-Qaeda and the Taliban are guilty of that, not the USA.
A free Iraq that works with the USA is what al-Qaeda does not want! The Iraqi want our help, badly need our help, and are getting it, in a big way....this is not in any way, shape, or form, as you say>> a foreign policy with built in racist elements that causes hatred to be cultivated. NO WAY, in fact it's quite the opposite and that's why al-Qaeda is doing what they are doing to try and stop it.
Thanks for your time SpellZ
Not a word on it being an inside job, what's up with that?....btw, how is the sweetest *Troofer* in the whole wide world? >>>Woofie??? Tell her I said 'Hi", if any of you talk/email her.
Spelly, what do you think of Ron Paul dissing the Troofers AFTER getting their donation? imho>it was a cheap shot, not one bit cool! Is it true $1,000 donations, were good for a free, 100% recycled, made in the USA>>Ron Paul for President<< tin foil hat?
Thanks Mary, great to be back. I was passing on my >Native American involement in politics< theory to my brother, he said it could backfire if they demand >ALL the illegals MUST go:)
Million, better pray you don't get the same Ken Lamb cold shoulder the MGMX shareholders did last year. btw> Why didn't Ken do that shareholder meeting??? Ask him for us Million, if you get him on the phone.
Thanks for your reply, Spelly<power to ya!..but I don't think all the gold in the world will help when the end comes. It's been nothing but problems after getting kicked out of the garden.
Hey, but we are free to choose our way...that is, unless you are a Muslim, and want the world to end.
btw>Do you think we should *just*blow off the Iraqi and al-Qaeda, and bring all our troops home?
It was a blast......of cold cold air, brrrrr.
I'm glad to be back> Thanks for the hope:) Is it the Hopi kind?
Cheers friends>>>burp;)
Hope is probably the most critical one of all. And, it's been replaced with runaway Materialism, Racism and Militarism<<<
Hope is the result of faith. >Replaced????< Only by those with no faith. Plenty around still have> hope/faith, and are willing to try, no matter how bad it is!!
R+D is key. Plenty of great minds, and large sums of money, around the world, is going into R+D. Most change comes slow, but lttle changes can have big effects. It only takes ONE great mind to come up with ONE idea to make big change for the entire world.
I find your post odd, in that dispite what it points out, your posts seem void of hope and key on materialism(gold).
Closed minds miss out on what we don't know. What we know is dwarfed by what we don't know. All our problems, we can solve.....with a little help from above:) Have faith, pray and miricles come when all seems lost.
Have a great week all.
Hi all, shewwwwweeee, I'm back, vacation and catch up.
Go Spelly! Take the day off and let's all have a fun super Super Bowl Sunday....:) Go NYG!!!!!!!! Gim'me a 2nd Manning win!
I call it>Mr. Lamb lost almost all >>>OUR<<< MGMX money:(
If he has nothing to show for it, IMO>it was a blatant rip off of the companies shareholders.
HEY KEN, WHAT >>?>DID YOU DO<?<< WITH OUR MONEY?!?!?
Why no shareholder meeting, KEN?????
-------------
It's only money, the people I've met are worth way, way, way more than what I lost.
Thanks>Health and happiness>>and have a fun Super Bowl Sunday!
Go NYG...go underdogs+lambs:)
How does it correlate to wine drinking? Or no whine;)
:)+:)+:)+:)+:)+:)+:)+:)+:)+:)+:)+:)+:)
French Use Happiness As Economic Measure
By EMMA VANDORE – 3 days ago
PARIS (AP) — What price happiness? French President Nicolas Sarkozy is seeking an answer to the eternal question — so that happiness can be included in measurements of French economic growth.
He's turned to two Nobel economists to help him, hoping that if happiness is added to the count, the persistently sluggish French economy may seem more rosy.
"It reflects a general feeling in Europe that says, 'OK, the U.S. has been more successful in the last 20, 25 years in raising material welfare, but does this mean they are happier?'" said Paul de Grauwe, economics professor at Leuven University in Belgium.
"The answer is no, because there are other elements to happiness," said Grauwe, once a candidate for the European Central Bank governing council.
In terms of gross domestic product, the internationally recognized way of measuring the size of an economy, French growth lagged behind the U.S. throughout most of the 1980s and '90s and in every year since 2001.
Although recent turmoil in financial markets may hit the U.S. economy harder, the loss of speed in the world economy's biggest player will also drag down growth in France. Economists say growth may fall short of the government targets this year.
Sarkozy's move raised questions about whether he wants to ward off disappointing growth numbers as a rise in oil and food prices combined with a slowdown in the U.S. clouds the effect of his economic reforms.
Since his election in May he has sought to boost growth, notably by encouraging people to work longer than the much maligned 35-hour week.
Sarkozy has often appeared impatient with the French economy's lackluster performance, once declaring: "I will not wait for growth, I will go out and find it."
Frustrated with the what he termed Tuesday "the growing gap between statistics that show continuing progress and the increasing difficulties (French people) are having in their daily lives," Sarkozy said new thought should be given to the way GDP is calculated to take into account quality of life.
At a news conference Tuesday, Sarkozy said he asked U.S. economist Joseph Stiglitz, winner of the 2001 Nobel economics prize and a critic of free market economists, and Armatya Sen of India, who won the 1998 Nobel prize for work on developing countries, to lead the analysis in France.
Sen helped create the United Nations' Human Development Index, a yearly welfare indicator designed to gear international policy decisions to take account of health and living standards.
Once the preserve of philosophers, measuring happiness has now become a hot topic in economics.
A recent report from the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development considers taking into account leisure time and income distribution when calculating a nation's well-being. And the European Commission is working on a new indicator that moves "beyond GDP" to account for factors such as environmental progress.
Richard Layard, a professor at the London School of Economics and author of the 2005 book "Happiness: Lessons from a New Science," said Sarkozy may be seeking recognition for policies, popular in Europe, that promote well-being but don't show up in the GDP statistics.
Governments are rated on economic performance, and this influences policy in favor of boosting GDP, the value of goods and services produced over a calendar year, he said.
"But people don't want to think they live in a world of ruthless competition where everyone is against everyone," Layard said. "Valuable things are being lost, such as community values, solidarity."
His book shows that depression, alcoholism and crime have risen in the last 50 years, even as average incomes more than doubled.
Jean-Philippe Cotis, the former OECD chief economist who took over as head of France's statistics office Insee two months ago, said Wednesday that a measure of happiness would complement GDP by taking into account factors such as leisure time — something France has a lot of.
France's unemployment rate is stubbornly high, and when French people do work they spend less time on the job — 35.9 hours per week compared with the EU average of 37.4.
Cotis said he looked forward to a "passionate" debate beyond the traditional realms of his science.
"Statisticians are also interested in happiness," he said.
And so, it would seem, are presidents.
Basking in the happy glow of new love with model-turned-singer Carla Bruni, Sarkozy showed on Tuesday that his concern for happiness is universal.
A president, he said, "doesn't have more right to happiness than anyone else, but not less than anyone, either."
http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5jiYUyUscJjjQo8vBQ1Sv888iKi2AD8U2RQJ00
Great response SpellZ, well put...winning wars is big business.
Wars are not arranged for profit. Do you want to win or not?
Do you want our troop fighting, safe? Big business...many big contracts...obscene...BUT wars are avoided, a last resort, and we all want it over, as fast as it can.
To win these days has many costs. When not to win will cost more, what do you do?....Media Zombies think they can avoid war by chanting the CNBC spew of the week>>> blaming it on people other than those that OUR great troops of the coalition and NATO fight EVERY DAY.
They need more!!!!, not less, SpellZ...to win EVERY WAR and not *just* for profit.
Doing away with war spending will not win wars. imho>It will foster war (thugs will love it) and do less to end it.
Spell thinks what we spend to fight is too much, I say give them the best we can. Spell, if it's all *just* to make money, do you think Iran wants UN sanctions so the West can *just* make money?
Seems Canada is saying the same thing DoD is saying in Iraq.
http://www.canada.com/ottawacitizen/news/story.html?id=249f061f-54b3-4c5e-8f01-0f272a3248ba
We are blessed, Commander.
Good to see you're back from the black hole so fast, worm-holes can be great this time of year;)
Merry Christmas all!
Peace, Joy, and Love>>Bibichi, Mary, Dogleg, Chevy, PEP, +Woof!!!
*Cut and run*ers want crow?
Extremists Alienate Themselves from Iraqis, General Says
By Gerry J. Gilmore
American Forces Press Service
WASHINGTON, Dec. 14, 2007 – Beleaguered by surge-fortified Iraqi and coalition forces, al Qaeda and other extremists also are quickly losing any influence they may have had among the local populace, a senior U.S. military officer told reporters here today.
Al Qaeda’s murder of Iraqis who don’t share their ideology has turned the population against them, Army Maj. Gen. Richard Sherlock, the Joint Chiefs’ director of operational planning, said at a Pentagon news conference.
The terrorists may claim to be defenders of the Iraqi people, yet, “the result is that they’re killing more innocent women and children and (other) Iraqis than they are coalition or (Iraqi) security forces,” Sherlock said.
As a result, Iraqis living in Anbar province and other areas of the country increasingly are rejecting the terrorists’ agenda and embracing the idea of working with the Iraqi government to defeat the insurgents, the general said.
Al Qaeda now is being pushed out of Baghdad and its environs into areas north of the capital, Sherlock said. “What they’re finding is a population that is not hospitable to them any more,” he said. “And that is causing them, again, to be thrown out of their game plan.”
In desperation, the terrorists are seeking to commit spectacular suicide or roadside-bomb attacks to demonstrate their continued relevance, Sherlock observed. That tactic, however, is backfiring on them, he said.
“What they’re finding is, in the long term, they’re losing the support of the people, because they’re killing more of them than they are anyone else,” Sherlock said. “And that comes shining through.”
Meanwhile, the insurgents are on the defensive, Sherlock observed, as coalition and Iraqi forces keep up the pressure on an enemy shorn of its former sanctuaries among the populace.
“The number of attacks, overall, has continued to go down in Iraq,” the general reported. And, when the insurgents do detonate improvised explosive devices or launch suicide-bomb attacks, the Iraqi population usually suffers the most.
“It shows those (insurgent) groups actually hold the innocents whom they claim to support in disregard, because they are killing them,” Sherlock said.
And, as al Qaeda, other terrorists and criminal groups in Iraq lose their sanctuaries, it becomes more difficult for them to plan and conduct operations as well as communicate, Sherlock said.
The only thing the terrorists in Iraq can do now “is to try to create some kind of spectacular attack,” in an attempt to show they remain a force to be reckoned with, he said.
oops You're...not your, you new that:)
Bibi, where's Boo when you need him?
Mar-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-y, oh Mar-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-y-y...where's Mary, I hope all is OK!
TGIF YEAAA-A-A>have a great weekend all:)+:)+:)+:)+:)+:)
Do you like my hat? No, I do not like your hat...bang...your dead. OPPRESSION Spelly? This is exactly what we are fighting to stop!
It's not only in Iran ....or Iraq *JUST* for TPTB's profit>>http://www.thestar.com/News/GTA/article/284824
The war in Iraq is starting to wind down...FREE Iraq won, good thing, for the world, those that wanted retreat lost.
---------------------------------------------
"For years we lived in danger, because the religious extremists disapproved of people dancing and performing on stage," said the theatre's dance instructor Hannah Abdullah, 38, as she put a mixed troupe through their paces in the darkened auditorium.
"Three of our dancers were kidnapped for that reason, and we could only perform outside of the country. But now things are better.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2007/12/09/wtheatre109.xml
They tell you how to dress, how to cut your hair, what to eat....and Spelly spews his anti-American bunk claiming WE are "OPPRESSED". Spelly, if this was Iran you'd be out of business, they'd put you in jail....Oh, and no internet or satellite dishes in Iran, why is that, SpellZ? So TPTB can profit?
------------------------------------------------
Iran: Women banned from wearing boots
Tehran, 12 Dec. (AKI) - Women have been banned from wearing boots and hats on the streets of Tehran.
Police chief, General Ahmad Radan, announced the ban on Wednesday saying that boots could only be worn if they were covered by pants.
"If boots are not covered by pants that fall to the ankles, they show the female shape and that is therefore in contradiction with Islamic dress code," said Radan.
Iranian women can no longer leave home with their pants pushed inside their boots and they can no longer wear hats without a veil.
"A hat is not an adequate substitute for a veil or a hijab," he said. " If someone really wants to wear a hat, they can put it on the veil."
Feminist Rezvan Moghdaddam told Adnkronos International (AKI) that police should be concerned about drug traffickers than street fashion.
"Instead of being busy with women's hats and boots, the police would be better catching the merchants of death that kill our young people with drugs," she said from Tehran.
"Our cities are infested by delinquents and security forces are only worried about how women dress, all this is really ridiculous."
Generale Radan said decision to apply the Islamic code had come from a committee composed of the Revolutionary Guard, the judiciary, police and officials from the intelligence ministry and the ministry of culture and Islamic orientation.
Just *obscene profits*, Spelly? I don't think so. The problem is with a willingness to kill to advance radical Islam and the Libtards that think the US is 100% to blame.
Stories like this fill the press EVERYDAY, why do Libs avoid this real problem that faces the entire free world?
Bhutto: Fatal bomb was rigged to baby
By Betsy Pisik
December 14, 2007
MARDAN, Pakistan — The bomb that ravaged Benazir Bhutto's homecoming processional in October appears to have been rigged to the clothes of a baby who was held up for the former prime minister to embrace, Mrs. Bhutto said.
A man approached her armored truck, Mrs. Bhutto recounted, and was trying to hand across a small child as her motorcade inched through the thronged streets of Karachi. She remembers gesturing for the man to come closer.
"It was about 1 or 2 years old, and I think it was a girl," Mrs. Bhutto told The Washington Times in her first public remarks about the baby.
"We feel it was a baby, kidnapped, and its clothes were rigged with explosives. He kept trying to hand it to people to hand to me. I'm a mother, I love babies, but the [streetlights] had already gone out, and I was worried about the baby getting dropped or hurt."
Mrs. Bhutto would have been killed, she said, if she hadn't stepped back to loosen the shoes on her swollen feet.
"The baby, the bomb, it went off only feet from me; there was nothing between us but the wall of the truck," she said.
"We were rocking from side to side, this huge truck. We saw the bodies, the blood everywhere; we saw the carnage. Some bodies were naked, with their clothes burned off," she said, shutting her kohl-rimmed eyes against the vision.
More than 170 supporters were killed in coordinated blasts along the route, a horror that was carried on live television and has shaped the already tumultuous campaign season here.
For Mrs. Bhutto, whose Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) is contesting "as the underdog" for 264 seats in the Pakistani parliament, the blast and subsequent failure of the Musharraf government to investigate have made a political rivalry intensely personal.
She has complained to Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf and demanded an investigation, but party officials complain bitterly that the government and intelligence services have done nothing and are probably even involved.
"I wanted him to say to me, 'BB, bring in Interpol, Scotland Yard. Let's get to the bottom of this.' " Instead, she said, she has "not been allowed" to file a police report.
In declaring emergency rule on Nov. 3, Mr. Musharraf outlawed political rallies, citing the attack on Mrs. Bhutto's homecoming. The emergency is to be lifted tomorrow, but even then, it is clear the charismatic daughter of former Prime Minister Zulfikar Bhutto will not be campaigning as she did 17 years ago.
The PPP chose Mardan, in Pakistan's conservative North West Frontier province, for its party leader's first campaign appearance this season. However, instead of the tumultuous outdoor demonstrations she usually addresses, Mrs. Bhutto rallied the party's faithful in the walled courtyard of the party's regional headquarters.
She said she chose the courtyard not for security, but because authorities would enable a loudspeaker to reach a larger crowd. She is rattled, though: In an interview just after the well-received appearance, she confessed that she was tense all day, unsure whether she would arrive in Mardan before nightfall.
Only a small crowd lined the route when her motorcade wailed past, but the people could not see her through the black-tinted windows that security no longer allows her to roll down. The PPP thinks a helicopter would be a worthwhile campaign investment but ultimately rejects it as too easy to shoot down.
Mobility is important in a sprawling country with 160 million people and nearly 300 seats in parliament at stake.
Mrs. Bhutto is such a valuable election asset that the PPP charges candidates as much as $3,000 to join her ticket. The practice is not uncommon in Pakistan, where Mr. Musharraf and former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif dominate rival wings of the Pakistan Muslim League.
This pay-to-play policy is well known and universally loathed, a sign to many Pakistanis that politics has been and always will be a corrupt game played by the people who can afford it.
Ordinary Pakistanis and aspiring politicians complain that the parties have too tall a hierarchy, that candidates must appeal to the leadership before they are allowed to run, and that fortune favors the insiders and their friends and children.
Mrs. Bhutto, universally known here as Benazir or just "BB," agrees with critics who say that large personalities dominate Pakistan's political scene. However, she defends the celebrity factor as "electability" and said merit and experience justify what others see as nepotism.
"People want to belong to a party that will get them votes; it is a simple matter of electability," she said, adding that in this regard, she is little different from American Democratic hopeful Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton.
Like Mrs. Clinton, Mrs. Bhutto has been married to a larger-than-life man who dominates her political career.
Unlike former President Bill Clinton, however, Asif Ali Zardari is considered by many to be a political liability. The businessman and former polo player has been charged with, but never convicted of, ordering the killings of political and business rivals — including his wife's brother, Mir Murtaza — and of fraud and corruption.
Mrs. Bhutto, whose marriage was arranged, defends her husband of 20 years with what sounds like genuine passion.
"People say he is a liability, but they hit me by getting at him," she said, praising Mr. Zardari for sticking by her through political scandal, financial investigations, scathing accusations and an eight-year jail term she insisted was politically motivated.
"I am very proud that he has stood by me; he stood his ground," she said, curling her hands around a tea mug and whispering intently in a room echoing with entourage and favor-seekers. "He is a proud man, and he was humiliated. ... I don't consider him a liability."
Her face beaming, Mrs. Bhutto added, "I always think, what if he was not as brave as he turned out to be? What if he had listened to the army and divorced me? He could have chosen his business, you know. But he has paid a lot politically and personally. I am very lucky to have him. I think that people respect that he has stayed with me.
"If he had left, it would have been even worse."
I am relaxed Spelly, your the one that thinks we are doomed.
Unreliable source? Your full of it, what is your source that says it's a retreat!<<<Tell us Spell! If you can;)
Or you might try to GIVE US a *reliable* link the British and Australian forces didn't train 30,000 members of the Iraqi security forces in the region they will hand over in few weeks. Or one that Brown and Prime Minster Nouri al-Maliki didn't talk? Show me your reliable source.
The Iraqi people are working with the Coalition forces, Iraq's new coalition trained army and police are very capable now and able to handle more and more of THEIR security needed for THEIR progress. Al-Qaeda instigated and carried out many bombings to try and stop Iraq's progress...but they failed. FACT>The Iraqi work with the Coalition, who they know is on their side. They also know al-Qaeda isn't. FACT> Iraq just OKed another year of UN Mandated Coalition security(al-Qaeda butt kicking).
British forces will assume overwatch position, not *retreat* as you say....on call.... if needed... by Iraqi security forces. British forces will also continue to train Iraqi forces, why do you claim it's retreat?
Admit it Spellz, it's the libs that have WANTED our retreat(loss) for a long time now... and you mock brave troops and say they are retreating(after they won).
Ha.....how ironic;)
But what about the never ending war and *obscene profits*?? TPTB's going to be pissed, aye Spelly? Seems al-Qaeda was in charge of the civil war, they BTW are getting their butts kicked.
CNBC has had no news on it, why? TPTB oppression....HA, that's a good one!
Have a good day all, before the world ends:)
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
British PM Says Basra to Soon Come Under Iraqi Control
By Jim Garamone
American Forces Press Service
WASHINGTON, Dec. 10, 2007 – Basra, the second-largest city in Iraq, will be turned over to Iraqi provincial control in the next two weeks, British Prime Minister Gordon Brown announced yesterday during a visit to Iraq.
The city will be the largest population turned over to the Iraqis and will complete the turnover to the Iraqis of the southern provinces of the country.
Brown told British soldiers gathered at Basra International Airport that he had spoken with Iraqi Prime Minster Nouri al-Maliki by phone. “He asked me to pass on his thanks to you for what you have done to help rebuild the democracy of Iraq,” Brown said. “And it is because of all the operations that we have done over these last few months, indeed over these last few years, and particularly in recent times, that the security situation has not only improved, but he was able to tell me that he is now recommending that we move to provincial Iraqi control within two weeks so that the Iraqis can take far more responsibility for the security of the country.”
British and Australian forces have trained 30,000 members of the Iraqi security forces in the region. “So, as a result of that, we can move to provincial Iraqi control over the next few weeks,” he said.
“The reason why security is so much better here, the reason why things have improved, the reason why there is progress is because of you, because of what you have achieved, what you have done,” he said. “And I want to thank all your leadership, and I want to thank every single one of you for what is being done.”
British forces will assume overwatch position in the area, British defense officials said. About 4,700 British servicemembers are in Iraq now. These forces will move to the airport and be on call if needed by Iraqi security forces. British forces will continue to train Iraqi forces and will continue to monitor their progress, but all operations will be under Iraqi command, officials said.
Brown told the soldiers that the world admires their professionalism, courage and dedication. “We have managed now to get Iraq into a far better position, not that violence has ended, not that there is no security problem, not that it is safe in all the different areas in which you operate, but we are able to move to provincial Iraqi control, and that is thanks to everything that you have achieved,” he said.
Nobody? Earth to Jane....Earth to Jane....come in....do you read me.....over(click)
Who has a good 10-10# that will work in the black hole?
I'll rec you_here>*****<, OK?
When the Commander gets back from the black hole and BTW she will return! That's why she IS the Comander... she will bring hope for Spelly.
Have a great new week all;)+++:)+++:)+++:)+++:)
love ya
Sorry about the +++++s, Spellmyster. Take note: Jane is going into the black hole....with her crew!!.....AND BACK OUT, she's not scared, not one bit! btw,broski>what's your take?
Sorry Spell, but I don't hate Muslims, I had one over for dinner last week. I do fear terror acts by Jehadist, not your goofy TPTB deduction.....and I also think we need to try to keep safe from them. >Their< hate is drilled into >their< heads by >their< Jehad nuts, not TPTB. >>Their<< large numbers of killing sprees span the globe....by far MOST have abbsolutely nothing AT ALL to do with TPTB and your false conclusion>just to make obscene profits! And everything to do with Islamic beliefs!
>>Their<< terrorist's acts of mass murder is >>THEIR<< oppression, not ours.... their security is the fight. Now they see they too can stand and be free and not be oppressed. The Taliban and al-Qaeda are who's to blame for the mass killing and the ENTIRE free world(not just TPTB) sees the urgent need to stop their *Fourth Reich* type dream. Again you blow off the need to meet radical Islam, head on. You are wrong to say it's all TPTB fed*just to make obscene profits*!
Tollerance and moderation in Islam is what this war is....if Islam doesn't tolerate non Muslim thinking, the war will never end...but now in Iraq and Afghanistan they have had their fill of the Taliban and al-Qaeda's oppresive ways! A moderation, away from that true *Oppression" is what they now are willing to fight for......as is the Coalition and NATO.
Good luck troops, can you say that?
-----------------------------------------------
Multilateral Cooperation Critical to Gulf Region Security, Gates Says
By Donna Miles
American Forces Press Service
MANAMA, Bahrain, Dec. 8, 2007 – Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates pressed today for expanded multilateral cooperation that could better protect the Persian Gulf region against threats from Iran and other destabilizing forces.
While emphasizing the importance of U.S. bilateral ties with many countries in the region, Gates told delegates at the Manama Dialogue here, it’s time to pool their efforts more closely to bolster their collective security.
The annual summit, now in its fourth year, brings together about 200 senior military leaders from 23 countries to discuss mutual security interests.
Gates called broader security relationships, with closer multilateral ties and cooperation, “an absolute necessity” that will enhance the entire region’s security. Such a framework could help pave the way for a regional air and missile defense system that would provide a regional defense umbrella and deter a missile attack, he added.
Some elements that could contribute to such a system already are in the works. Just this week, the Defense Department notified Congress that it might sell upgraded AWACs airborne early warning systems to Saudi Arabia, and also announced a proposal to sell Patriot missile defense and early warning systems to Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates.
“We should bear in mind the deterrent effect such a system would have,” Gates said. “If the chances of a successful attack are greatly reduced, then so too is the value of pursuing offensive weapons systems and delivery systems.”
Gates told the delegates regional cooperation also would enhance maritime security by providing a better “maritime surface picture” and standardized procedures to improve defenses. These would help protect against seaborne threats such as terrorism, piracy, narcotics trafficking and smuggling, the secretary explained.
He also urged more cooperative military training and exercise participation to promote interoperability among participating countries’ armed forces.
While urging leaders to get their countries to work more closely together, Gates emphasized that the United States remains committed to the region. He told them operations in Iraq and Afghanistan, and the challenges they present, haven’t diminished U.S. resolve.
Gates quickly set the record straight when one delegate questioned whether some U.S. actions in the region consider U.S. interests alone.
With 40 years of personal engagement in the region, Gates told the questioner, he doesn’t have “enough fingers and toes to count the times when the United States has helped its friends and allies in the region – all of its friends and allies.”
He cited the U.S. role in liberating Kuwait from an Iraqi invader as a signal event, but said U.S. support goes far deeper.
“We have been the primary sponsor of virtually every peace agreement and cease-fire that has been signed in this region for the last 35 years.”
“We have exercised a constructive influence in trying to promote positive change,” he said.
Gates said the United States welcomes regional countries’ efforts to “create their own narrative” or chart their own courses.
“That’s the way it happens with sovereign states,” he said. “But the United States is a friend and an ally, and we are prepared to work with you. And the truth of the matter is, we help you create the security climate in which you can create your own narrative.”
If Osama is only a "distraction" from the "truth", why did he take credit for 9/11, to help Bush and Co? Is that what you think? Are all the other suicide bombers tools for "our true oppressors" to help with the so called cover-up?
How about the London train bombing, was that just a distraction so Bush and Co can profit? How so? Spain's too? How about the 2002 Bali bombing(Indonesia), tools for Haliburton?
How about the message posted this week on Islamist websites close to al-Qaeda urging jihadists to carry out a terrorist attack on the embassy of the Roman Catholic Order of Malta in the Egyptian capital, Cairo.....more cover-up? Sounds like "TRUE" oppression to me.
Like I said>only a dope could blame it All on the US and totally disregard one of the bigger problems the WORLD faces today>RADICAL ISLAM's Jihad...it's not in any way a Cheney distraction.
Spell, who will chop off a hand or your head if you don't do what they say you must do, like how to dress and cut your hair. hint>they are oppressors and it's not the US.
You have no proof at all that Cheney cooked or did anything to any of those reports, none, it's zombie hearsay/a bold face lie. The President and many in congress saw the same reports from many intels from around the world on Saddam's WMDs. Ask the kurds if he had WMD....were the Kurds gasses for the *true oppressors* profit? I think not....you are full of bolognia, Spell.
“The international community cannot turn away from or ignore Iraq,”
-U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon
Why do Democrats want so bad to blow off the UN and Iraqi people, dispite the boost it would give to al-Qaeda?...or the negative effects on the price of oil, FOR THE WORLD.
Iraq has announced that IT WOULD SEEK one more year of a UN mandate for the American-led coalition and a permanent US presence.
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This is old, Iraq,the UN, and the Coalition all did vote *yes* on this newest UN mandate on Iraq. (as in:IT'S NOT AN ILLEGAL OCCUPATION)>>>
Iraq wants US forces for long-term stay
By Damien McElroy, Foreign Affairs Correspondent
Last Updated: 2:54am GMT 27/11/2007
Iraq has announced that it would seek one more year of a UN mandate for the American-led coalition. It would then forge an agreement with Washington for a permanent US presence in the oil-rich nation.
Iraqi prime minister Nouri al-Maliki said a sustained US presence is needed in Iraq
The UN mandate, to be put to the Security Council next month, would expire on Dec 31 next year, effectively setting a deadline for the withdrawal of British forces.
The Ministry of Defence had no comment last night and a Government spokesman said the long-term British presence was "under discussion" with the government of Iraq.
Nouri al-Maliki, the Iraqi prime minister, said that Baghdad and Washington had signed a pact to reach a "status of forces" agreement, to set the ground rules for the establishment of permanent US bases.
Mr Maliki said a sustained US presence would guarantee the "democratic regime in Iraq against domestic and external dangers".
Announcing the talks, which are to conclude by July 31, Lt Gen Douglas Lute, the White House deputy national security adviser, said the two countries had set out a "common sheet of music with which to begin the negotiations".
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In May, Robert Gates, the American defence secretary, revealed plans to base US forces in Iraq for a "protracted period", similar to an arrangement with South Korea.
More than 50 years after the end of the Korean war, tens of thousands of troops remain stationed at American bases, also initially approved by a United Nations mandate.
US commanders believe that Iraq is unlikely to be capable of defending its territory until at least 2012.
Gates Calls for Continued International Pressure on Iran
By Donna Miles
American Forces Press Service
MANAMA, Bahrain, Dec. 8, 2007 – Days after a new national intelligence estimate concluded that Iran has stopped its nuclear weapons program but could restart it any time, Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates called on the international community to keep up its pressure on Tehran.
Gates told delegates at the Manama Dialogue security conference here that the report underscores the need for the international community to continue pressuring Iran to “come clean” about its activities and abandon the program altogether.
The NIE, issued Dec. 3, says the U.S. intelligence community believes Iran halted its covert nuclear weapons program -- which it denied existed -- in the fall of 2003. The report cites international scrutiny and pressure as the probable reasons.
Gates warned about 200 delegates from 23 nations attending the annual regional security conference about “cherry-picking” the NIE’s findings rather than accepting “the full story” it gives.
“The report expresses with greater confidence than ever that Iran did have a nuclear weapons program – developed secretly, kept hidden for years, and in violation of its international obligations,” he said.
The NIE unveils ongoing activities, too, Gates said. “It reports that they do continue their nuclear enrichment program, an essential long-lead-time component of any nuclear weapons program. It states that they do have the mechanisms still in place to restart their program,” he said.
“And, the estimate is explicit that Iran is keeping its options open and could re-start its nuclear weapons program at any time – I would add, if it has not done so already.”
Gates pointed to Iran’s activities that defense officials report have left many of its neighbors feeling threatened. “Everywhere you turn, it is the policy of Iran to foment instability and chaos, no matter the strategic value or the cost in the blood of innocents,” Gates said.
Navy Adm. William J. Fallon, commander of U.S. Central Command and part of the U.S. delegation here, told reporters yesterday Iran’s meddling – from supplying weapons to insurgents in Iran and Afghanistan to its seizure in March of 15 British sailors – is destabilizing to the United States as well as the Persian Gulf region.
“Their behavior has really been a problem, and to the extent that it destabilizes the region, which it does, then it becomes a problem for us," he said. "Everything they've done publicly has been a problem."
Gates said during a question-and-answer session following his address he’s “not confident” high-level dialogue between the United States and Iran would do any good in light of Iran’s inflammatory foreign policy. “Iran has to take some steps” for such a dialogue to be meaningful, he said.
Iran had been scheduled to send a delegation to the Manama Dialogue, but cancelled at the last minute.
In the meantime, Gates pointed to the international community as the only barrier to Iran re-starting its nuclear weapons program.
He urged Gulf-region leaders to pull together to demand that Iran “come clean” about past activities, suspend enrichment and openly affirm it has no plans to develop nuclear weapons. He also argued for them to demand inspections to make sure Iran lives up to its commitments and can’t restart its nuclear weapons program at a moment’s notice, or “at the whim of its most militant leaders.”
Gates pressed for the international community to “continue – and intensify – our economic, financial and diplomatic pressures on Iran to suspend enrichment.” He urged leaders to take the “peaceful but effective measures necessary to bring a long-term change of policies in Tehran.”
Asked if the United States is planning a military confrontation with Iran, Gates emphasized that the U.S. focus is “100 percent diplomatic and economic.”
The focus now, the secretary said, is trying to get the Iranians to change policies and practices that “should be a matter of grave concern to every government in world.”
“We would like nothing better than for Iran to become a constructive player” in the region, he said.
Spell, now you say>I don't have any new take. Should I?
Well a NEW tape by Osama bin Laden, topped off with HIS claim to 100% blame for 9/11....and as a "9/11 truther" you just blow it off? OK, but just as I said in my first post on Osama's NEWEST tape>>IMO- it's(9/11 Truther's rap) far fetched reasoning to not deal with the real truth>Osama IS the leader of large number of people that perform gruesome terrorist acts AROUND THE WORLD and want to do the US harm!!!
What is the disorder if your only address this, REAL as can be, threat by criticising the US in it's war with Osama's goonz?
Ha-a-a-a-a, like I said:)
You blow it off as>>the same old story<<< It wasn't the same or old... and you go on to the new NIE report, when it has nothing to do with 9/11 or Osama.
Spell, your 'new take' is the same *flavor of the weak" for all the media zombie libtard's.
Tell us Spell, why was Bush wrong to go with intel reports on Iraq WMDs from AROUND THE WORLD, but one report by the NIE holds so much weight and Bush, NOW is wrong to try and stop Iraq from getting a bomb? Dispite the true facts>>Iran's testing of balistic missiles and continued refusal to heed >>>UN<<< mandates on the matter, dispite additional sanctions.
It's not just "escalating rhetoric against Iran" my friend!
Usaid2
>>>it's the nuke bomb knowledge they possess that's dangerous, right?>>ans:no it's the bomb that nation's around the world know we must try to not let them get. Key word>must!
>>>Just don't pay any attention to the FACT that it was our own Government that GAVE them that knowledge in the first place! <<<BS, Our own Gov is working HARD to stop them, with the aid of the UN RATHER than going to war<<that's the fact,so your>
>>>>TPTB are going to bomb Iran.<<is speculative bunk.
...oh and your link would not open.
Spell....Woof, 9/11 in the news and still nothing on it by you 2....What's up? What's your take? Please, tia too.
DUBAI : Osama bin Laden urged Europeans to break ranks with the United States and quit Afghanistan, while stressing he alone was behind the 9/11 attacks, in a tape attributed to him on Al-Jazeera television on Thursday.
http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/afp_asiapacific/view/314624/1/.html
Coca-Cola this week introduced hybrid delivery trucks in New York City in a bid to save fuel and cut emissions.
Did you see it yet, Spell? Big stuff on 9/11, what's your take?
Spell, if you find a TV clip of it, post it for Woofy;)
Hi Mary>>I need to get off this Island....it's great now, I can move. The seas cover how much of the earth? how much is going to flood? Half a pecent? Ask Al.
Texas and Iraq will fry like never before, what another 10 degrees?big deal......that's if a big asteroid doesn't take us out first...or a plague....or a_______________
Till then>>>Coffee cheers>> one more day
keep cool, not too cool:)
Max
Finally, Something Not Caused by Global Warming
Written by DAVID SUZUKI
Sunday, 02 December 2007
While we should in no way downplay the environmental challenges we face today, we should also make sure that we recognize good news. In one case, clean air laws helped reduce pollution and acid rain, but they also created dissolved organic carbon, which was a situation that looked like more bad news at first, but turned out to be a small flame of hope.
Global warming is becoming the Paris Hilton of environmental stories. Every time you pick up a paper or turn on the television, if there's a story remotely related to the environment, global warming will somehow be implicated.
This shouldn't be surprising. As much as we humans try to separate ourselves from the natural world, we can't get away from it. Earth's air, water and soils are all connected. So, if you change the composition of the atmosphere - in this case by increasing carbon dioxide levels by 30 per cent in the last 200 years - you're likely to see changes across the board. And that ultimately affects us too. Really, it's about time global warming was covered thoroughly in the media.
But not every environmental issue can be attributed to global warming. In spite of all the doom and gloom, there's some positive news out there too. You just have to look for it. (Editor's note: GNN-i readers don't have to search far.)
Case in point - dissolved organic carbon. Essentially, that's just a fancy name for any sort of plant or animal matter that's been broken down into such fine bits that it can be dissolved in water. In recent years, some researchers have become concerned about widespread increases in dissolved organic carbon flowing off surface waters in parts of Europe and North America.
In southern Sweden, Norway and Finland, as well as in the UK, the northeastern U.S., and parts of Ontario and Quebec, dissolved organic carbon levels in rivers and streams have increased considerably and consistently over the past couple of decades. This has led some researchers to conclude that there must be something amiss. Indeed, some evidence suggests that this increase in dissolved organic matter in the water is a result of rising temperatures or increased carbon dioxide levels in the air, which in turn has increased the decomposition of peat bogs.
Peat bogs hold vast amounts of carbon, some 20-30 per cent of the entire planet's stock of soil-based carbon. Evidence that global-warming trends are causing peat bogs to break down and release carbon into the rivers that drain them would be bad news. We really need that carbon to stay put.
However, according to a recent article published in the journal Nature, all that extra dissolved organic carbon may have an entirely different cause. And it's not global warming. Researchers looked at data from 522 remote lakes and streams in northern Europe and North America that had shown changes in dissolved organic carbon levels. After examining several different potential mechanisms that could account for the increases, they concluded that the cause was most likely reduced pollution.
That's right. Strange as it may seem, less pollution - specifically sulfur pollution - deposited from the atmosphere appears to be the reason for the increasing dissolved organic carbon. Commonly known as "acid rain," this type of pollution, largely from coal-fired power plants and heavy industry, peaked in the late 1970s. After that, the international community joined together and signed protocols designed to reduce it.
These agreements worked, and levels of acid rain have been decreasing since the 1990s. As this acidification has decreased, soils have started releasing dissolved organic carbon at pre-industrial levels, a process which researchers describe as "integral to recovery from acidification." Rather than being an alarming trend, this is a case of nature bouncing back. Of course, what this increase in dissolved carbon will mean for the carbon cycle is still unknown.
It is, however, a reminder that our actions do make a difference and we can still fix things when we try.
i i mate, where'd your parrot get his 9/11 line? harr, harrr, harrr,yo ho ho, RoZ O?!?
cheers bibi!
Osama's last tape says> I am Responsible.
That's big 9/11 news and our 2 posters(or more..mary?bibi?chevy?)that go way beyond just thinking>>it was an inside job<<, have yet to respond.
Is it a "9/11 Truth"ers disorder?:)
imo> it's far fetched reasoning to deal with the real truth>Osama IS the leader of large number of people that perform gruesome terrorist acts AROUND THE WORLD and want to do the US harm!!!
What is the disorder if your only address this, REAL as can be, threat by criticising the US in it's war with Osama's goonz?
....and top it off by blaming all THEIR dirty deeds on the US?
Hug A Tree:)
The World Wildlife Fund is celebrating the ten millionth tree planted around crucial endangered mountain gorilla habitat in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). The tree-planting project, launched in 1987 for the area surrounding Virunga National Park, has continued despite sporadic armed conflicts in the region. The goal is to reduce the shortage of firewood for neighboring communities, staving off illegal wood harvesting and charcoal production within the park, a major threat for the protected area.
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Indonesia, which is clear-cutting its rainforests faster than any other country, planted 79 million trees in one day Wednesday and aims to plant another 10 million seedlings tomorrow.