shhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

if we don't talk about it, we don't have to hold them (or anyone else for that matter) accountable

Blackwater Machine Gun Found in Raid on Iraqi Insurgents

Incident Was Kept Secret and Raises More Questions About the Firm's Iraq Operations

By BRIAN ROSS
An M4 machine gun sent to Iraq by the Blackwater private security firm somehow disappeared from the company's storage facility in Baghdad and was later discovered during a US military operation, apparently against suspected insurgents, people familiar with the situation have told ABC News.

The incident, in 2006, has been kept secret until now but it raised more questions about Blackwater's operations in Iraq.

Allegations that Blackwater shipped weapons and silencers to Iraq without proper licensing are already under investigation by a federal grand jury in North Carolina, according to people familiar with the case.......

A machine gun sent to Iraq by Blackwater was discovered during a US military operation against suspected insurgents, according to documents obtained by ABC News.

(ABC News Photo Illustration)

oil

it's why WE'RE there (one of the reasons. one of the MAIN reasons. weapons of mass destruction is not even on the list of reasons. another reason we're there is our king holds grudges. long and bad ones. he's a madman) - and it's why THEY are there too
NYT: Stolen oil profits keep Iraq's insurgency running
While many US officials and politicians routinely point to jihadism or Islamofascism as key motivating factors for Iraq's insurgency, a growing number of officers on the ground are blaming economic conditions instead, according to an article slated for the front page of Sunday's New York Times.
Richard A. Oppel Jr. reports that "there are officers in the U.S. military who openly question how much a role jihadism plays in the minds of most people who carry out attacks. As the U.S. occupation has worn on and unemployment has remained high, these officers say the overwhelming motivation of insurgents is the need to earn a paycheck."........
and the nyt article
Iraq Insurgency Runs on Stolen Oil Profits
By RICHARD A. OPPEL Jr.
BAIJI, Iraq — The Baiji refinery, with its distillation towers rising against the Hamrin Mountains, may be the most important industrial site in the Sunni Arab-dominated regions of Iraq. On a good day, 500 tanker trucks will leave the refinery filled with fuel with a street value of $10 million. The sea of oil under Iraq is supposed to rebuild the nation, then make it prosper. But at least one-third, and possibly much more, of the fuel from Iraq’s largest refinery here is diverted to the black market, according to American military officials. Tankers are hijacked, drivers are bribed, papers are forged and meters are manipulated — and some of the earnings go to insurgents who are still killing more than 100 Iraqis a week.
“It’s the money pit of the insurgency,” said Capt. Joe Da Silva, who commands several platoons stationed at the refinery.
Five years after .........

yup - progress in iraq

all right!
NOTE: i cannot find this story in any other paper or website. i think that odd indeed.
Iraq Insurgents Attack U.S. Headquarters
By BASSEM MROUE Associated Press Writer
BAGHDAD (AP) -- Insurgents fired rockets or mortars Tuesday at the sprawling garrison that houses the headquarters of American forces in Iraq, killing one person and wounding 11 coalition soldiers, the U.S. command said.
The command said the person killed was a "third country national," meaning someone who is not an American or Iraqi. Most troops stationed at Camp Victory are American but other coalition soldiers are based at the complex near Baghdad International Airport. No further details on the attack were immediately released.
The attack occurred as U.S. Ambassador Ryan Crocker and the top commander Gen. David Petraeus testified before Congress for a second day on the situation in Iraq since President Bush's decision to send 30,000 reinforcements to stem sectarian violence............

???more progress??? (my big fat ass)

U.S. Forces Kill 6 Iraqi Police