more on the erik prince saga

oh he and his should be on trial all right. however, the two that should be on trial before him are the big dick and king george. they must ALL be brought to justice

and as an aside, isn't it fucked up funny how the more evangelical one is, the more violent one is? just a thought
Blackwater Founder Accused in Court of Intent to Kill

By Jerry Markon

Washington Post Staff Writer

The founder of Blackwater USA deliberately caused the deaths of innocent civilians in a series of shootings in Iraq, attorneys for Iraqis suing the security contractor told a federal judge Friday.

The attorneys singled out Erik Prince, a former Navy SEAL who is the company's owner, for blame in the deaths of more than 20 Iraqis between 2005 and 2007. Six former Blackwater guards were criminally charged in 14 of the shootings, and family members and victims' estates sued Prince, Blackwater (now called Xe Services LLC) and a group of related companies.

"The person responsible for these deaths is Mr. Prince,'' Susan L. Burke, an attorney for the plaintiffs, said in U.S. District Court in Alexandria. "He had the intent, he provided the weapons, he provided the instructions, and they were done by his agents and they were war crimes.''......

oh and lest we forget.....

ILLEGALLY, where the FUCK are the town hall protesters now? where were they when king georgeIMMORALLY AND UNJUSTLY invaded a country that NEVER did us harm nor MEANT to do us harm? where where where where?


Blasts Kill at Least 53 in Iraq
Attacks in Capital, North Add to Ethnic, Political Tensions

By Ernesto Londoño and Dlovan Brwari

Washington Post Foreign Service

BAGHDAD, Aug. 10 -- Two truck bombings in northern Iraq and attacks targeting day laborers in western Baghdad killed at least 53 people and wounded scores of others early Monday, exacerbating ethnic and political tensions in this country.

The truck bombings in a small village north of Mosul, in northern Iraq, marked one of the deadliest attacks in an area controlled by the autonomous Kurdish government. At least 35 people were killed and more than 110 were wounded in the attack, according to the U.S. military........

doesn't anyone understand the enormity of

what we have actually done here? how we illegally and immorally invaded a country who posed no threat to us (nor ever attacked us OR EVEN WANTED TO ATTACK US)? we made countless enemies not only in that country but many others. WE LITERALLY CREATED TERRORISTS OUT OF ORDINARY CITIZENS. we destroyed millions of lives by our invasion of iraq. not only the lives of strangers but the lives of american women and men who, if 'lucky' enough to survive being sent over there ONCE, TWICE, THREE TIMES, FOUR TIMES OR PERHAPS FIVE TIMES, certainly are coming home either physically fucked or mentally fucked (how could you NOT be?)?

why did we allow those mad men (king george and his court) to do this to the ENTIRE world? we did. we allowed it. there is NO taking backsies either

Iraq's 'Milestone' Day Marred by Fatal Blast
Car Bombing Kills at Least 34 in Kirkuk As U.S. Combat Troops Pull Out of Cities

By Ernesto Londoño and Ann Scott Tyson

Washington Post Foreign Service
BAGHDAD, June 30 -- At least 34 people were killed in a car bombing Tuesday in the northern Iraqi city of Kirkuk, marring a national holiday declared to celebrate the departure of U.S. combat troops from the country's cities.

Also Tuesday, the U.S. military announced the deaths of four soldiers Monday in an attack south of Baghdad, a grim reminder of the vulnerability of U.S. troops as more of them are deployed to rural outposts.

The car bomb in Kirkuk detonated shortly after 6 p.m. at Shorja Market, wounding scores of shoppers and damaging several shops, Iraqi police officials said. Farhad Aziz al-Barzanji, a physician at Kirkuk's Azadi Hospital, said 91 people were injured.........

don't yall LOVE

how we made and are constantly making things BETTER and MORE DEMOCRATIC in iraq?

i sure do! it's heartwarming to see how we swept into the country and made EVERYTHING SAFER AND BETTER

35 Iraq Officials Held in Raids on Key Ministry
By CAMPBELL ROBERTSON and TARIQ MAHER

BAGHDAD — Up to 35 officials in the Iraqi Ministry of the Interior ranking as high as general have been arrested over the past three days with some of them accused of quietly working to reconstitute Saddam Hussein’s Baath Party, according to senior security officials in Baghdad.

The arrests, confirmed by officials from the Ministries of the Interior and National Security as well as the prime minister’s office, included four generals, one of whom, Gen. Ahmed Abu Raqeef, is the ministry’s director of internal affairs. The officials also said that the arrests had come at the hand of an elite counterterrorism force that reports directly to the office of Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki.

The involvement of the counterterrorism unit speaks to the seriousness of the accusations, and several officials from the Ministries of the Interior and National Security said that some of those arrested were in the early stages of planning a coup./////

i still want to know

how they're going to pay for the INNOCENT CIVILIAN LIVES they took (in iraq and goddess only knows where else). fines for weapons in dog food bags but what about the MURDERS?

0h and what sorts of contracts do we still hold with them? we know they murdered civilians we're alleging they smuggled guns and silencers into iraq (some of which got into the hands of the wrong people).....so are we still employing them? (we all know the answer to that)

New Blackwater Iraq Scandal: Guns, Silencers and Dog Food

by: Brian Ross and Jason Ryan, ABC News
Ex-employees tell ABC News the firm used dog food sacks to smuggle unauthorized weapons to Iraq.

A federal grand jury in North Carolina is investigating allegations the controversial private security firm Blackwater illegally shipped assault weapons and silencers to Iraq, hidden in large sacks of dog food, ABCNews.com has learned.

Under State Department rules, Blackwater is prohibited from using certain assault weapons and silencers in Iraq because they are considered "offensive" weapons inappropriate for Blackwater's role as a private security firm protecting US diplomatic missions.

"The only reason you need a silencer is if you want to assassinate someone," said former CIA intelligence officer John Kiriakou, an ABC News consultant.

Also See:
Blackwater Likely to Be Fined Millions in Iraq Weapons Case •

Six Blackwater employees are under investigation by another federal grand jury, in Washington, D.C., in connection with the shooting deaths of at least 17 civilians in September, 2007, at a Baghdad traffic circle. Prosecutors are expected to return indictments in the next few weeks, according to people familiar with the case......

while new orleans burned

and iowa drowned, this shite was going on. (i want our troops to have THE best possible bases and equipment, but i also want our troops NOT to be fighting and unjust immoral and illegal war. they MUST be taken out of iraq NOW). we're spending money like there's no tomorrow over in iraq yet over here we can't heat our homes, fill our gas tanks, buy groceries, pay for health care and on and on

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..........

everyone who knows him

and the ap, whom he works for says he's NOT a terrorist. he's A WAR PHOTOGRAPHER. taking pictures of what the WAR wreaks- does to people AND countries. that's his JOB. TAKING PICTURES. some of them may NOT be nice. but war ISN'T nice, is it?
LET HIM GO.
AP Photographer Ordered Released After 2 Years Held In Iraq

By Robert Reid, The Associated Press
BAGHDAD An Iraqi judicial committee has dismissed terrorism-related allegations against Associated Press photographer Bilal Hussein and ordered him released nearly two years after he was detained by the U.S. military.A decision by a four-judge panel said Hussein's case falls under a new amnesty law. It ordered Iraqi courts to "cease legal proceedings" and ruled that Hussein should be "immediately" released unless other accusations are pending.The ruling is dated Monday but AP's lawyers were not able to thoroughly review it until Wednesday. It was unclear, however, whether Hussein would still face further obstacles to release.Hussein, 36, remains in custody at Camp Cropper, a U.S. detention facility near Baghdad's airport.U.S. military authorities have said a U.N. Security Council mandate allows them to retain custody of a detainee they believe is a security risk even if an Iraqi judicial body has ordered that prisoner freed. The U.N. mandate is due to expire at the end of this year......
...........The committee may still be reviewing a separate allegation that Hussein had contacts with the kidnappers of an Italian citizen, Salvatore Santoro, whose body was photographed by Hussein in December 2004 with two masked insurgents standing over Santoro with guns.Hussein was one of three journalists who were stopped at gunpoint by insurgents and taken by them to see the propped-up body. None of the journalists witnessed his death, said Santiago Lyon, AP's director of photography. The AP wrote a story about the incident at the time.The AP said a review of Hussein's work and contacts also found no evidence of any activities beyond the normal role of a news photographer. Hussein, 36, was a member of an AP team that won a Pulitzer Prize for photography in 2005, and his detention has drawn protests from rights groups and press freedom advocates such as the Committee to Protect Journalists."The Amnesty Committee took only a few days to determine what we have been saying for two years. Bilal Hussein must be freed immediately," said Curley, the AP's president.............

this is what happens

when we illegally, immorally and unjustly invade a country FOR NO REASON. the iraqis (contrary to what most americans THINK) did NOT bomb the world trade center. the iraqis NEVER threatened us (before we attacked them). babies and grandfathers die

Block in Baghdad Mourns Its Own
Sudden U.S. Gunfire Claims Child, Her Grandfather and a Neighbor, Residents Say

By Sudarsan Raghavan Washington Post Foreign Service
BAGHDAD, March 31 -- Abdul Qader, his chest and leg wrapped in white bandages, began to cry -- not out of pain, but loss. He remembered seeing the American Humvees, then a hail of bullets. He remembered seeing his close friend and neighbor, Abbas Ramadan, shot as he clutched his 2-year-old granddaughter, blood oozing from her head. Abdul Qader ran and ran until he collapsed from the bullets that pierced his own body.
He's gone. He was so kind," said Abdul Qader, crumbling. "I am not crying because of my wounds. I am crying because of my friend. He was like a brother."
Abdul Qader's suffering is part of the human toll of the worst violence in months in Iraq. At least 400 people, from the southern city of Basra to the capital, Baghdad, were killed over six days, including many civilians, according to Iraqi police and other officials. Countless more were injured, joining thousands of Iraqis whose lives have been shattered by five years of conflict. ............

hmmmmmmm appears senator chuck hagel

is NOT delusional (unlike the being in my previous posting). a shout out to YOU senator hagel on recognizing REALITY when you see it
Hagel: Bush Iraq speech like 'Alice in Wonderland'
Nick Langewis and David Edwards
Senator Chuck Hagel (R-NE) suggests to CNN's Wolf Blitzer that there is no cause for optimism towards the situation in Iraq, propagated by arrogance, with an ever-growing cost in lives and money, despite a recent speech by President Bush.
"I think this is another episode of 'Alice in Wonderland,'" the Senator says. "What's up is down, and what's down is up. What do you mean, 'stability and security?' Baghdad, for example, has been over the last year essentially ethnically divided."
"And," Hagel adds, "when you look at the casualties the United States has taken since since the so-called 'military surge,' over 900 deaths; you look at almost 30,000 wounded, and the money we've put in there.
And then, the other point of this is, too: If, in fact, the 'surge' has calmed things to a point where the President and others are saying 'Well, they've done a great service, and they've achieved some terrific things,' why, then, is the administration talking about keeping more American troops in Iraq for the remainder of this year than we had before the 'surge'?"
"This," the Senator continues, "is still a very unstable, serious, dangerous situation in Iraq.".........

the big dick in iraq

as rome baghdad burns
Cheney cites 'phenomenal' Iraqi security progress as bombing kills 40
By Hannah Allam and Qassim Zein McClatchy Newspapers
BAGHDAD — Vice President Dick Cheney on Monday made a surprise visit to Baghdad, where he pledged that U.S. forces would "not quit before the job is done" and said that a massive troop buildup had achieved "phenomenal" improvements in security.
At sunset Monday, however, a female suicide bomber killed at least 40 people and injured more than 50 when she blew herself up in a crowded pedestrian area near a Shiite Muslim shrine in the southern holy city of Karbala, according to government and hospital officials. Among the victims were several Iranian pilgrims who'd come to worship at the Imam Hussein shrine, one of Islam's most sacred sites.
And the U.S. military announced the deaths of two soldiers who were killed Monday when their Humvee struck a roadside bomb north of Baghdad, bringing the number of American troop deaths to at least 3,990 since the war began.
Cheney told a news conference in Baghdad that the invasion of Iraq five years ago this week was a "difficult, challenging, but nonetheless successful endeavor." However, he said that obstacles remain and that the decision on whether to begin reducing forces depends on political reconciliation and the ability to preserve the hard-won security gains of the past year.........

?

hmmmmmmmmm
Sunni Forces Losing Patience With U.S.

and now for something completely different...

well, NO, it's NOT different at all. suicide bombers, attacks between turkey and iraqi kurds, our men and women's lives on the line, king george and his court all warm and cozy.

Blast Kills at Least 40 Shiite Pilgrims in Iraq
Fighting in North Intensifies; Turkish Soldiers, Kurdish Guerrillas Clash for Fourth Day

By Amit R. Paley and Joshua Partlow Washington Post Foreign Service
BAGHDAD, Feb. 24 -- A suicide bomber killed at least 40 people Sunday in southern Iraq when he attacked a crowd of pilgrims marching to commemorate one of Shiite Islam's holiest days, U.S. and Iraqi officials said.
In northern Iraq, Turkish soldiers and Kurdish guerrillas clashed for a fourth straight day, with scores reported killed. The guerrillas, who are seeking greater autonomy for Turkish Kurds, use the area as a base for attacks in Turkey.
The fighting has strained ties between the United States and Iraqi Kurds, who have pleaded with Washington to pressure the Turkish military to end its incursion.
The suicide attack occurred near the town of Iskandariyah at a tent set aside for pilgrims belonging to the movement of anti-American cleric Moqtada al-Sadr, police said. .......

"80 percent of the capital's districts were now considered free of organized extremist activity."

except for the parts where they're not of course
US Military Reports Violence Down in Baghdad As Green Zone Attacked
PATRICK QUINN
Extremists fired an explosive barrage Saturday into the capital's heavily protected Green Zone, targeting the heart of America's diplomatic and military mission in Iraq. The U.S. military said there were no injuries from the early morning volley, which could be heard throughout downtown Baghdad.
The earth-jarring detonations, nearly 10 of them, even shook buildings across the Tigris River from the capital's fortified core, which houses the U.S. Embassy, military facilities and the Iraqi government.
The attack came shortly before Brig. Gen. Mike Milano, a top U.S. military official tasked with restoring security to Baghdad, said that nearly 80 percent of the capital's districts were now considered free of organized extremist activity..........

so how is this

surge working anyway?
N. Iraq Blasts Kill Dozens; Gates Arrives In Baghdad
U.S.-Backed Sunni Guards, Security Forces Are Targeted

yup bringing OUR

brand of democracy EVERYWHERE!
Baghdad drowning in sewage: Iraqi official
BAGHDAD (AFP) - Baghdad is drowning in sewage, thirsty for water and largely powerless, an Iraqi official said on Sunday in a grim assessment of services in the capital five years after the US-led invasion. One of three sewage treatment plants is out of commission, one is working at stuttering capacity while a pipe blockage in the third means sewage is forming a foul lake so large it can be seen "as a big black spot on Google Earth," said Tahseen Sheikhly, civilian spokesman for the Baghdad security plan.
Sheikhly told a news conference in the capital that water pipes, where they exist, are so old that it is not possible to pump water at a sufficient rate to meet demands -- leaving many neighbourhoods parched.............

no keresone no water

no lights, no life
ANALYSIS: Discontent surges in Iraq
AP NEWS ANALYSIS: Al-Maliki Faces Growing Discontent, Scathing Criticism From Major Backer
HAMZA HENDAWI AP News
In the depths of a strangely cold winter in the Middle East, Iraqis complain that the lights are not on, the kerosene heaters are without fuel and the water doesn't flow — and they blame the government. And with the war nearing its fifth anniversary, Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki is feeling the discontent as well from the most powerful political centers in the majority Shiite community.
It's a pincer movement of domestic anger that yet again could threaten al-Maliki's hold on his Green Zone office.
"Where's the kerosene and the water?" asked Amjad Kazim, a 56-year-old Shiite who lives in eastern Baghdad. "We hear a lot of promises but we see nothing."
Little kerosene is available on the state-run market at the subsidized price of $0.52 a gallon. But the fuel can be found on the black market, where it goes for more than $3.79 a gallon...............

it's NOT safe

no matter what they tell you. there was a bombing yesterday i didn't post about and the day before that and before that and on and on. we ruined a country - literally. we ripped it to shreds and we're trying to stick it back together with chewing gum.

so we don't forget what we did. we must never forget. we have committed crimes against humanity and we are not going to make anyone accountable (except the citizens of iraq)

Suicide Blast at Baghdad Funeral of Bomb Victim Kills Dozens

By Joshua Partlow and Zaid Sabah Washington Post Foreign Service
BAGHDAD, Jan. 1 -- By the time he reached the front gate of his neighbor's house, just minutes after the blast, Adil Ahmed saw flames leaping off the funeral tent. The guests' cars parked outside were blasted and burned. Some of the mourners were screaming with grief and rage, and many others were scattered on the ground, dead or dying.
The chemistry professor recalled bending down to one man who had saliva running down his chin. He pumped his chest and breathed into his mouth, again and again, in a vain attempt to save him.
He ran to other, less seriously injured men, and helped drag or carry them to cars waiting to rush them to the hospital. He noticed that some of the dead were still sitting upright in the burning tent on their plastic chairs. After an hour of this, his clothes were messy with blood.
"I failed," Ahmed said. "I couldn't help them." .................

i guess shooting people isn't good enough

now those f**kers are shooting dogs (a dog that belonged to the nyt)

Guards Shoot Dog at Baghdad Bureau
By Maria Newman

Investigators from the State Department have made two visits to The New York Times’s news bureau in Baghdad as they look into the shooting of one of the bureau’s dogs by Blackwater bodyguards last week.
Employees of the bureau said that the Blackwater guards shot the dog, named Hentish, during a search of the Times compound for explosives. A security team was conducting the search ahead of a visit by an American diplomat.
Anne Tyrrell, a spokeswoman for Blackwater, the private security firm, told Reuters that the dog had attacked one of Blackwater’s bomb-sniffing dogs.
“The K-9 handler made several unsuccessful attempts to get the dog to retreat, including placing himself between the dogs,” she said in an e-mail to Reuters. “When those efforts failed, the K-9 handler unfortunately was forced to use a pistol to protect the company’s K-9 and himself.” ...........

these are just allegations

nothing has been proven yet. however, it DOES appear ms jones WAS rescued from a prison like 'container' AMERICANS were keeping her in, while she was in iraq. it does appear her congressional rep from texas, ted poe was called. it does appear NOTHING is happening to anyone from kbr. what i want to know is, why did the army doctors turn over the rape kit to kbr? it doesn't make sense to me


Victim: Gang-Rape Cover-Up by U.S., Halliburton/KBR
KBR Told Victim She Could Lose Her Job If She Sought Help After Being Raped, She Says
By BRIAN ROSS, MADDY SAUER & JUSTIN ROOD

A Houston, Texas woman says she was gang-raped by Halliburton/KBR coworkers in Baghdad, and the company and the U.S. government are covering up the incident. Jamie Leigh Jones, now 22, says that after she was raped by multiple men at a KBR camp in the Green Zone, the company put her under guard in a shipping container with a bed and warned her that if she left Iraq for medical treatment, she'd be out of a job.
"Don't plan on working back in Iraq. There won't be a position here, and there won't be a position in Houston," Jones says she was told.
In a lawsuit filed in federal court against Halliburton and its then-subsidiary KBR, Jones says she was held in the shipping container for at least 24 hours without food or water by KBR, which posted armed security guards outside her door, who would not let her leave. ........

................In a statement, KBR said it was "instructed to cease" its own investigation by U.S. government authorities "because they were assuming sole responsibility for the criminal investigations."
"The safety and security of all employees remains KBR's top priority," it said in a statement. "Our commitment in this regard is unwavering."
Since the attacks, Jones has started a nonprofit foundation called the Jamie Leigh Foundation, which is dedicated to helping victims who were raped or sexually assaulted overseas while working for government contractors or other corporations.
"I want other women to know that it's not their fault," said Jones.............

i guess this is an example

of things getting better in iraq??? nothing is getting better in iraq. the people that are still there, are living in fear. they're living without amenities. what have we done?

Gunmen in Iraq Kidnap Eleven Tribal Leaders Allied With U.S.

By Amit R. Paley Washington Post Foreign Service
BAGHDAD, Oct. 28 -- Eleven tribal leaders who had banded with U.S. troops to fight the Sunni insurgent group al-Qaeda in Iraq were kidnapped Sunday morning, the latest in a string of such attacks, fellow tribesmen said.
The Shiite and Sunni sheiks, members of the al-Salam Support Council, a group fighting al-Qaeda in Iraq in volatile Diyala province, were taken from their cars by gunmen as they were returning home from a meeting in Baghdad with a government official, the tribesmen said. ..........