Kucinich Questions Bush's Mental Health
Remember these comments are coming from a man that saw a UFO as he was standing on a porch with his childs God Mother Shirly McClain, Gee I wonder if they were chaneling Lenins Ghost....LOL
PHILADELPHIA (AP) - Democratic presidential candidate Dennis Kucinich questioned President Bush's mental health in light of comments he made about a nuclear Iran precipitating World War III.
"I seriously believe we have to start asking questions about his mental health," Kucinich, an Ohio congressman, said in an interview with The Philadelphia Inquirer's editorial board on Tuesday. "There's something wrong. He does not seem to understand his words have real impact."
Kucinich, known for his liberal views, trails far behind the leading candidates in most Democratic polls. He was in Philadelphia for a debate at Drexel University.
Bush made the remarks at a news conference earlier this month.
He said: "I've told people that if you're interested in avoiding World War III, it seems like you ought to be interested in preventing them (Iran) from having the knowledge necessary to make a nuclear weapon."
Kucinich said he doesn't believe his comments about the president's mental health are irresponsible, according to a story posted on the newspaper's Web site.
"You cannot be a president of the United States who's wanton in his expression of violence," Kucinich said. "There's a lot of people who need care. He might be one of them. If there isn't something wrong with him, then there's something wrong with us. This, to me, is a very serious question."
Tuesday, October 30, 2007
Monday, October 15, 2007
Pervert Politician Attacks Romney
Craig: Romney 'threw me under ... bus'
SAN FRANCISCO, Oct. 15 (UPI) -- Sen. Larry Craig, R-Idaho, has harsh words for presidential hopeful Mitt Romney in an upcoming NBC News interview, The San Francisco Examiner reported.
The newspaper said Sunday it has obtained excerpts of the interview, conducted by NBC's Matt Lauer, with Craig and his wife, Suzanne. The interview is scheduled to air Tuesday night.
Craig -- who has announced he will serve out his Senate term despite a guilty plea in connection with his arrest at a Minneapolis airport men's room -- was one of two Senate liaisons for Romney's campaign for the 2008 GOP presidential nomination. Craig resigned the position after his arrest became public, and Romney later said Craig had "disappointed the American people."
During the NBC interview, Craig slammed Romney.
"I was very proud of my association with Mitt Romney," Craig said. "I'd worked hard for him here in the state. I was a co-chair of his campaign on Capitol Hill. And he not only threw me under his campaign bus, he backed up and ran over me again."
Craig
SAN FRANCISCO, Oct. 15 (UPI) -- Sen. Larry Craig, R-Idaho, has harsh words for presidential hopeful Mitt Romney in an upcoming NBC News interview, The San Francisco Examiner reported.
The newspaper said Sunday it has obtained excerpts of the interview, conducted by NBC's Matt Lauer, with Craig and his wife, Suzanne. The interview is scheduled to air Tuesday night.
Craig -- who has announced he will serve out his Senate term despite a guilty plea in connection with his arrest at a Minneapolis airport men's room -- was one of two Senate liaisons for Romney's campaign for the 2008 GOP presidential nomination. Craig resigned the position after his arrest became public, and Romney later said Craig had "disappointed the American people."
During the NBC interview, Craig slammed Romney.
"I was very proud of my association with Mitt Romney," Craig said. "I'd worked hard for him here in the state. I was a co-chair of his campaign on Capitol Hill. And he not only threw me under his campaign bus, he backed up and ran over me again."
Craig
What Hillary Care will Bring to America
English 'pull own teeth' as dental service decays
Falling numbers of state dentists in England has led to some people taking extreme measures, including extracting their own teeth, according to a new study released Monday.
Falling numbers of state dentists in England has led to some people taking extreme measures, including extracting their own teeth, according to a new study released Monday.
Others have used superglue to stick crowns back on, rather than stumping up for private treatment, said the study. One person spoke of carrying out 14 separate extractions on himself with pliers.
More typically, a lack of publicly-funded dentists means that growing numbers go private: 78 percent of private patients said they were there because they could not find a National Health Service (NHS) dentist, and only 15 percent because of better treatment.
"This is an uncomfortable read for all of us, and poses serious questions to politicians from patients," said Sharon Grant of the Commission for Patient and Public Involvement in Health.
Overall, six percent of patients had resorted to self-treatment, according to the survey of 5,000 patients in England, which found that one in five had decided against dental work because of the cost.
One researcher involved in compiling the study -- carried out by members of England's Patient and Public Involvement Forums -- came across three people in one morning who had pulled out teeth themselves.
Dentists are also concerned about the trend.
Fifty-eight percent said new dentists' contracts introduced last year had made the quality of care worse, while 84 percent thought they had failed to make it easier for patients to find care.
Almost half of all dentists -- 45 percent -- said they no longer take NHS patients, while 41 percent said they had an "excessive" workload. Twenty-nine percent said their clinic had problems recruiting or retaining dentists.
"These findings indicate that the NHS dental system is letting many patients down very badly," said Grant.
"It appears many are being forced to go private because they don't want to lose their current trusted and respected dentist or because they just can't find a local NHS dentist."
Clinton
Healthcare
Falling numbers of state dentists in England has led to some people taking extreme measures, including extracting their own teeth, according to a new study released Monday.
Falling numbers of state dentists in England has led to some people taking extreme measures, including extracting their own teeth, according to a new study released Monday.
Others have used superglue to stick crowns back on, rather than stumping up for private treatment, said the study. One person spoke of carrying out 14 separate extractions on himself with pliers.
More typically, a lack of publicly-funded dentists means that growing numbers go private: 78 percent of private patients said they were there because they could not find a National Health Service (NHS) dentist, and only 15 percent because of better treatment.
"This is an uncomfortable read for all of us, and poses serious questions to politicians from patients," said Sharon Grant of the Commission for Patient and Public Involvement in Health.
Overall, six percent of patients had resorted to self-treatment, according to the survey of 5,000 patients in England, which found that one in five had decided against dental work because of the cost.
One researcher involved in compiling the study -- carried out by members of England's Patient and Public Involvement Forums -- came across three people in one morning who had pulled out teeth themselves.
Dentists are also concerned about the trend.
Fifty-eight percent said new dentists' contracts introduced last year had made the quality of care worse, while 84 percent thought they had failed to make it easier for patients to find care.
Almost half of all dentists -- 45 percent -- said they no longer take NHS patients, while 41 percent said they had an "excessive" workload. Twenty-nine percent said their clinic had problems recruiting or retaining dentists.
"These findings indicate that the NHS dental system is letting many patients down very badly," said Grant.
"It appears many are being forced to go private because they don't want to lose their current trusted and respected dentist or because they just can't find a local NHS dentist."
Clinton
Healthcare
Thursday, October 11, 2007
The Pathetic Jimmy Carter or as I like to call him Gritz for Brains
Jimmy Carter calls Cheney a "disaster" for U.S
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Former U.S. President Jimmy Carter on Wednesday denounced Vice President Dick Cheney as a "disaster" for the country and a "militant" who has had an excessive influence in setting foreign policy. (this coming from the President who's political decisions on Iran turned it from ally to an enemy. Carter is the sole person that can be blamed for the handing over of Iran to the Islamofacists and starting the war we are now fighting in the Middle East)
Cheney has been on the wrong side of the debate on many issues, including an internal White House discussion over Syria in which the vice president is thought to be pushing a tough approach, Carter said. (Yes Jimmy Gritz thinks Assad is a good guy to deal with, so what if he blows up politicians in neighboring countries)
"He's a militant who avoided any service of his own in the military and he has been most forceful in the last 10 years or more in fulfilling some of his more ancient commitments that the United States has a right to inject its power through military means in other parts of the world," Carter told the BBC World News America in an interview to air later on Wednesday. (Yeah Jimmy it would be much better to allow our Embassies to be over run and our diplomats held hostage like you allowed)
"You know he's been a disaster for our country," Carter said. "I think he's been overly persuasive on President George Bush and quite often he's prevailed." (yes Cheyney the Boogie Man pulling the strings in the Back ground.... what a maroon)
Asked to comment on Carter's remarks, Megan Mitchell, a spokeswoman for the Republican vice president, said, "We're not going to engage in this type of rhetoric." (Why bandy words with a loon)
Carter, a Democrat who was president from 1977 to 1981 and won the 2002 Nobel Peace prize for his charitable work, is a strong critic of the Iraq war and has often been outspoken in his criticism of President George W. Bush. (ahhh The Nobel Peace Prize, a joke award for a joke of a man) (Alfred Nobel invented Dynomite, to sway critisism that he was getting rich from one of the most efficient weapons. As a joke he didicated 1% of the profits to a Peace Prize. The Joke is still playing out to this day)
In a newspaper interview in May, Carter called the Bush administration the "worst in history" in international relations. (His Alzheimers doesn't allow him to remember his own)
Carter did have kind words in the BBC interview for U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.
"I'm filled with admiration for Condoleezza Rice in standing up to (Cheney) which she did even when she was in the White House under President George W. Bush," Carter said, referring to Rice's former role as White House national security adviser.
"Now secretary of state, her influence is obviously greater than it was then and I hope she prevails," Carter added. (makes ya want to start worrying about Condi)
Bush allows torture: Carter
US President George W. Bush's administration tortures detainees in defiance of international law, former US president Jimmy Carter charged Wednesday.
"I don't think it, I know it, certainly," Carter told CNN television when asked if he believed the US administration allowed the use of torture. (How do you know it Jimmy? Did one of those little grey men in that UFO you saw tell you?)
Carter rejected Bush's statement last week that the United States does not torture terror suspects.
"That's not an accurate statement, if you use the international norms of torture as has always been honored, certainly in the last 60 years, since the Universal Declaration of Human Rights was promulgated," Carter said in the interview.
"But you can make your own definition of human rights and say, 'we don't violate them.' And ... you can make your own definition of torture and say 'we don't violate it,'" said the former Democratic president and Nobel laureate.
Asked if Bush was lying, Carter said: "The president is self-defining what we have done and authorized in the torture of prisoners, yes."
Those who commit torture were violating international law, Carter said.
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Former U.S. President Jimmy Carter on Wednesday denounced Vice President Dick Cheney as a "disaster" for the country and a "militant" who has had an excessive influence in setting foreign policy. (this coming from the President who's political decisions on Iran turned it from ally to an enemy. Carter is the sole person that can be blamed for the handing over of Iran to the Islamofacists and starting the war we are now fighting in the Middle East)
Cheney has been on the wrong side of the debate on many issues, including an internal White House discussion over Syria in which the vice president is thought to be pushing a tough approach, Carter said. (Yes Jimmy Gritz thinks Assad is a good guy to deal with, so what if he blows up politicians in neighboring countries)
"He's a militant who avoided any service of his own in the military and he has been most forceful in the last 10 years or more in fulfilling some of his more ancient commitments that the United States has a right to inject its power through military means in other parts of the world," Carter told the BBC World News America in an interview to air later on Wednesday. (Yeah Jimmy it would be much better to allow our Embassies to be over run and our diplomats held hostage like you allowed)
"You know he's been a disaster for our country," Carter said. "I think he's been overly persuasive on President George Bush and quite often he's prevailed." (yes Cheyney the Boogie Man pulling the strings in the Back ground.... what a maroon)
Asked to comment on Carter's remarks, Megan Mitchell, a spokeswoman for the Republican vice president, said, "We're not going to engage in this type of rhetoric." (Why bandy words with a loon)
Carter, a Democrat who was president from 1977 to 1981 and won the 2002 Nobel Peace prize for his charitable work, is a strong critic of the Iraq war and has often been outspoken in his criticism of President George W. Bush. (ahhh The Nobel Peace Prize, a joke award for a joke of a man) (Alfred Nobel invented Dynomite, to sway critisism that he was getting rich from one of the most efficient weapons. As a joke he didicated 1% of the profits to a Peace Prize. The Joke is still playing out to this day)
In a newspaper interview in May, Carter called the Bush administration the "worst in history" in international relations. (His Alzheimers doesn't allow him to remember his own)
Carter did have kind words in the BBC interview for U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.
"I'm filled with admiration for Condoleezza Rice in standing up to (Cheney) which she did even when she was in the White House under President George W. Bush," Carter said, referring to Rice's former role as White House national security adviser.
"Now secretary of state, her influence is obviously greater than it was then and I hope she prevails," Carter added. (makes ya want to start worrying about Condi)
Bush allows torture: Carter
US President George W. Bush's administration tortures detainees in defiance of international law, former US president Jimmy Carter charged Wednesday.
"I don't think it, I know it, certainly," Carter told CNN television when asked if he believed the US administration allowed the use of torture. (How do you know it Jimmy? Did one of those little grey men in that UFO you saw tell you?)
Carter rejected Bush's statement last week that the United States does not torture terror suspects.
"That's not an accurate statement, if you use the international norms of torture as has always been honored, certainly in the last 60 years, since the Universal Declaration of Human Rights was promulgated," Carter said in the interview.
"But you can make your own definition of human rights and say, 'we don't violate them.' And ... you can make your own definition of torture and say 'we don't violate it,'" said the former Democratic president and Nobel laureate.
Asked if Bush was lying, Carter said: "The president is self-defining what we have done and authorized in the torture of prisoners, yes."
Those who commit torture were violating international law, Carter said.
(This Bafoon needs to get back on his Meds, At least when Reagan went insane his family and friends kept him out of the public eye. Carters family and handlers are giving us all the joy of watching what was always a feeble mind become totaly unraveled)
The White House rejected Carter's comments and reiterated that the administration does not condone torture.
"The United States does not torture," spokeswoman Dana Perino told AFP in an e-mail.
"The president has not authorized it, nor will he. Our interrogation methods are tough, safe, necessary and legal. And our country is being protected," Perino said.
On Sunday, House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi said the United States appears to be torturing terror suspects. (another Feeble mind obbsessed with the lust for power, who has no shame in latching on to the bablings of a senial old man if it adds to her agenda)
Interviewed on Fox News Sunday, Pelosi said reported interrogation tactics such as simulated drowning, head slapping and exposure to extreme temperatures all amounted to banned torture. (Sounds like the years I spent in High School)
The New York Times reported last week on a 2005 memo by the Justice Department that allegedly authorized harsh techniques in interrogations of "war on terror" suspects -- in the same year that Congress explicitly banned the use of torture.
Carter: I regret nothing
The presidency is okay, I guess…
Talk about finding a silver lining…
Speaking with XM Radio's Bob Edwards on Tuesday, former President Jimmy Carter (you know, the guy who gave the "malaise" speech) told the radio host that he "would not want to have changed anything" during his presidency. (Our Diplomats held hostage, double digit inflation, food and gas rationing, Ahhh the joys of Gritz presidency)
Well, okay, maybe one thing. Referring to the Iran hostage crisis, Carter said, "I have a specific regret in not having one more helicopter when I wanted to rescue our hostages. If I had had one more helicopter, they would have been rescued. I might have been reelected president." (what do they call it when old people get delusional?)
But presidency, schmesidency, says Carter, who thinks that the Oval Office isn't nearly as sweet a gig as his own humanitarian efforts at The Carter Center. IAfter all, f he had had that extra helicopter, which would have rescued the hostages (wildly presuming, of course, that the Delta Force commanders were able to pull of a daring rescue of the more than 50 U.S. citizens being held in Tehran) and, thus, helped re-elect him president, Carter said "in that case I probably wouldn't have had the Carter Center, so in balance I would not want to have changed anything." (Like I said what a Maroon, this mans oars long ago stopped hitting the water, other than the comic relief that he supplies the sane amongst us. The only thing this man should be allowed to provide an example for is a partial view of what another Clinton administration would be like. Hillary believes what this idiot says and her policies will make the economy under Cater look like the Golden Age)
The White House rejected Carter's comments and reiterated that the administration does not condone torture.
"The United States does not torture," spokeswoman Dana Perino told AFP in an e-mail.
"The president has not authorized it, nor will he. Our interrogation methods are tough, safe, necessary and legal. And our country is being protected," Perino said.
On Sunday, House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi said the United States appears to be torturing terror suspects. (another Feeble mind obbsessed with the lust for power, who has no shame in latching on to the bablings of a senial old man if it adds to her agenda)
Interviewed on Fox News Sunday, Pelosi said reported interrogation tactics such as simulated drowning, head slapping and exposure to extreme temperatures all amounted to banned torture. (Sounds like the years I spent in High School)
The New York Times reported last week on a 2005 memo by the Justice Department that allegedly authorized harsh techniques in interrogations of "war on terror" suspects -- in the same year that Congress explicitly banned the use of torture.
Carter: I regret nothing
The presidency is okay, I guess…
Talk about finding a silver lining…
Speaking with XM Radio's Bob Edwards on Tuesday, former President Jimmy Carter (you know, the guy who gave the "malaise" speech) told the radio host that he "would not want to have changed anything" during his presidency. (Our Diplomats held hostage, double digit inflation, food and gas rationing, Ahhh the joys of Gritz presidency)
Well, okay, maybe one thing. Referring to the Iran hostage crisis, Carter said, "I have a specific regret in not having one more helicopter when I wanted to rescue our hostages. If I had had one more helicopter, they would have been rescued. I might have been reelected president." (what do they call it when old people get delusional?)
But presidency, schmesidency, says Carter, who thinks that the Oval Office isn't nearly as sweet a gig as his own humanitarian efforts at The Carter Center. IAfter all, f he had had that extra helicopter, which would have rescued the hostages (wildly presuming, of course, that the Delta Force commanders were able to pull of a daring rescue of the more than 50 U.S. citizens being held in Tehran) and, thus, helped re-elect him president, Carter said "in that case I probably wouldn't have had the Carter Center, so in balance I would not want to have changed anything." (Like I said what a Maroon, this mans oars long ago stopped hitting the water, other than the comic relief that he supplies the sane amongst us. The only thing this man should be allowed to provide an example for is a partial view of what another Clinton administration would be like. Hillary believes what this idiot says and her policies will make the economy under Cater look like the Golden Age)
Sunday, October 07, 2007
Listening to the Sunday Shows.... What a Joke
As I sit at work doing reports, inventories, menus, and specs, I have C-Span Radio playing in the background on my computer. On Sunday they replay all the Morning Political shows.
If you watch or listen to these shows you should be required to either be on Meds or be ready to take some. No where else will you get to witness a better cavalcade of freaks, wackjobs, and con artists than on the Sunday Morning talking head shows.
The overall consensus is that the Republican party is headlong diving into permanent minority status, and the only thing that is preventing Hillary from being President is that the hanging chads have yet to be counted.
George Bush refuses to stop killing Iraqi's for his oil buddies and he wants American children to DIE from lack of Health care.
How did we ever reach the point where we are governed by these fools. The American public are the real fools because we allow these people to be presented to us as our only choices. We need to open up the Ballot, but that's a rant for another day.
The ONLY two subjects that matter at this point in time are the War, and the upcoming Presidential elections.
As for the War. No matter what the Democrats tell you or believe we can't win a war by retreating, and that's what they want to do. The Public is NOT weary of war, the public haven't even gotten invested in the war. Unless you have a family member that serves the war has not effected you one bit. The Democrats in Congress have made their platform the Peace, Love and Bobby Sherman, tune in, drop out, smoke dope, free love of the early 70s. Well guess what, it ain't the 70s and this ain't Vietnam.
We are at war with Islamofacism, They attacked us they have been attacking us since 1979. The power behind all Islamic Terrorism is Iran. They support and fund both Shia and Sunni, as long as you want to kill Jews and Americans they will give you what ever you need. They will continue to plot and kill Americans. Whether we are fighting them in the middle east, or if we are fighting them on main street USA. THEY WILL STILL ATTACK US.
There are people and nations in the world that aren't looking for anything logical. They can't be bought, bullied, reasoned or negotiated with. Some men just want to watch the World BURN. That's what we are fighting in this war, and it is beyond the ability of the socialist left to comprehend.
Pulling out of Iraq before we attack Iran will only lead to one thing. Car Bombs in the streets of America.
Now lets look at the Presidential race. OOOH what fun right now there is really nobody that I want to vote for. There is however several I would vote AGAINST.
The Main Stream Media should all be taken out and flogged. Not one of them will ask any of the candidates a real substantive question with a real follow up.
This election is probably the most important election we have faced since the 40s. The issue at stake in this election is not about the war. The war is a side issue that is being used as a distraction. The real issue in this Election is Socialism.
An Election that gives us a Democrat President is an election that drives the stake of communism into the capitalistic heart of the US.
In the name of the CHILDREN they will seize control of the health care system and with that control will dictate every aspect of our lives. Not to mention the amount of our earnings they will have to seize to even pretend to pay for it.
No matter how much they raise taxes it will not be enough to pay for socialized medicine. It has not been enough anywhere in the world where they have had it. It has collapsed economies all over Europe. Long before the economy collapses though rationing begins. If you smoke you are not entitled to any health care, if you eat trans fat you can't get heart medicine, if you drink your disqualified from any heart, liver, or intestinal care.
It is not well you'll have to pay more for this or more for that. It will be a simple NO. You smoke therefore you CHOSE to void your health care. You eat at McDonald's oops oh well your not covered. Hey the Government can't waste it's Health care Dollars on idiots that don't live the way they tell you to.
That's what this election is about.
If you watch or listen to these shows you should be required to either be on Meds or be ready to take some. No where else will you get to witness a better cavalcade of freaks, wackjobs, and con artists than on the Sunday Morning talking head shows.
The overall consensus is that the Republican party is headlong diving into permanent minority status, and the only thing that is preventing Hillary from being President is that the hanging chads have yet to be counted.
George Bush refuses to stop killing Iraqi's for his oil buddies and he wants American children to DIE from lack of Health care.
How did we ever reach the point where we are governed by these fools. The American public are the real fools because we allow these people to be presented to us as our only choices. We need to open up the Ballot, but that's a rant for another day.
The ONLY two subjects that matter at this point in time are the War, and the upcoming Presidential elections.
As for the War. No matter what the Democrats tell you or believe we can't win a war by retreating, and that's what they want to do. The Public is NOT weary of war, the public haven't even gotten invested in the war. Unless you have a family member that serves the war has not effected you one bit. The Democrats in Congress have made their platform the Peace, Love and Bobby Sherman, tune in, drop out, smoke dope, free love of the early 70s. Well guess what, it ain't the 70s and this ain't Vietnam.
We are at war with Islamofacism, They attacked us they have been attacking us since 1979. The power behind all Islamic Terrorism is Iran. They support and fund both Shia and Sunni, as long as you want to kill Jews and Americans they will give you what ever you need. They will continue to plot and kill Americans. Whether we are fighting them in the middle east, or if we are fighting them on main street USA. THEY WILL STILL ATTACK US.
There are people and nations in the world that aren't looking for anything logical. They can't be bought, bullied, reasoned or negotiated with. Some men just want to watch the World BURN. That's what we are fighting in this war, and it is beyond the ability of the socialist left to comprehend.
Pulling out of Iraq before we attack Iran will only lead to one thing. Car Bombs in the streets of America.
Now lets look at the Presidential race. OOOH what fun right now there is really nobody that I want to vote for. There is however several I would vote AGAINST.
The Main Stream Media should all be taken out and flogged. Not one of them will ask any of the candidates a real substantive question with a real follow up.
This election is probably the most important election we have faced since the 40s. The issue at stake in this election is not about the war. The war is a side issue that is being used as a distraction. The real issue in this Election is Socialism.
An Election that gives us a Democrat President is an election that drives the stake of communism into the capitalistic heart of the US.
In the name of the CHILDREN they will seize control of the health care system and with that control will dictate every aspect of our lives. Not to mention the amount of our earnings they will have to seize to even pretend to pay for it.
No matter how much they raise taxes it will not be enough to pay for socialized medicine. It has not been enough anywhere in the world where they have had it. It has collapsed economies all over Europe. Long before the economy collapses though rationing begins. If you smoke you are not entitled to any health care, if you eat trans fat you can't get heart medicine, if you drink your disqualified from any heart, liver, or intestinal care.
It is not well you'll have to pay more for this or more for that. It will be a simple NO. You smoke therefore you CHOSE to void your health care. You eat at McDonald's oops oh well your not covered. Hey the Government can't waste it's Health care Dollars on idiots that don't live the way they tell you to.
That's what this election is about.
Saturday, October 06, 2007
Blackwater the Lefts New Haliburton
Blackwater (RWC)
The Sept. 16 failed ambush of a U.S. diplomatic convoy in Baghdad’s Mansour district that resulted in the death of some Iraqis has also resulted in a firestorm of politically inspired and one-sided attacks on one of the best of the world’s military contractors: Blackwater, a company run and staffed by former special operations warriors who have been so efficient and skilled, so reliable and professional and aggressive in their protection of American diplomats and contractors in Iraq that not one of those Americans has ever been kidnapped or killed.
US intelligence reports say that al-Qaeda in Iraq has targeted US diplomats and CIA officers for priority assassination because of their headline value. Existing tensions between the State Department and the US military were exacerbated by last Sunday’s firefight. Those tensions were fueled by the sometimes unreliable and deeply corrupt Iraqi Ministry of Interior (MOI), more about which later. The US Department of Defense is now complaining that State doesn’t sufficiently “control” their personal security details (PSD’s), though DOD also employs Blackwater on dangerous missions.
The incident last Sunday began around noon when Blackwater’s PSD Team 4 was protecting a US diplomat at the Izdihar financial compound. A bomb planted in a nearby vehicle exploded. None of the Americans was injured and the diplomat was hustled away with help from Blackwater Tactical Support Team 22 (TST). A second force of Blackwater operatives (TST 23) raced from the nearby Green Zone to assist and, according to a “sensitive” report filed by the State Department’s Bureau of Diplomatic Security that day, when they arrived nearby they came under fire from an “estimated 8-10 persons (who) fired from multiple nearby locations, with some aggressors dressed in civilian apparel and others in Iraqi Police uniforms .” (My emphasis. The Iraqi police, and their uniforms, are under control of the MOI.)
The State Department report goes on: “The team returned defensive fire and attempted to drive out of the initial ambush site; however the team’s command Bearcat vehicle was disabled during the attack and could not continue.” Enemy gunfire was so furious that bullets striking the engine block of the armored vehicle caused it to fail.
In the immediate aftermath of the shooting, the Iraqi MOI demanded that Blackwater be booted from the country and froze their activities without any investigation, immobilizing CIA officers and diplomats within the Green Zone. According to the journalist Richard Minter, writing on Pajamas Media, the CIA station was “all but motionless –as meetings with informants and the Iraqi government” were hastily cancelled. Blackwater also protects US reconstruction efforts across Iraq, the building of clinics, schools, etc., and so according to Minter these too were all but shut down.
Some Iraqi witnesses, a number of whom work for the Ministry of the Interior, told reporters that Blackwater began shooting civilians without provocation, a ludicrous scenario and one the Americans deny. The Blackwater contractors and the U.S. diplomats are saying the same thing: that the Blackwater men reacted lawfully after being provoked by the bomb blast and then defended themselves from a coordinated attack by men, some wearing police uniforms, firing automatic weapons. After a few days of serious paralysis, Blackwater went back to work in Iraq but the drumbeat to make them leave the country continues,
The New York Times says Blackwater men fire their weapons more often than any other contractor in Iraq. (That bullet count includes warning shots). It is true that the Blackwater operators are famously aggressive. They were precisely trained for survival and they work daily in the most lethal areas of Iraq, protecting Americans the insurgents want to kill.
Nonetheless, critics on the Left in the US, some of them in Congress, have rushed to side of the Iraqi witnesses to condemn Blackwater, however contrived the Iraqi statements may appear. Some of them are calling for repeal of Coalition Provisional Authority Order 17, the decree that, they claim, puts foreign security contractors beyond the reach of Iraqi law.
But Order 17 only excuses contractors from Iraqi laws when the action in question is required to fulfill a contract. In other words, despite several news articles stating otherwise, crimes like rape, murder, and theft can be tried under Iraqi law. Private security contractors like Blackwater are bound by a number of U.S. statutes, international treaties, federal acquisition laws, and defense and trade controls regulations (the Military Extraterritorial Jurisdiction Act, the War Crimes Act, the Victims of Trafficking and Violence Protection Act, the Anti-Torture Statute, and the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act.) If the military contractor is working for the US Department of Defense, as some Blackwater men are, they are subject to the Uniform Code of Military Justice
Military contractors not in violation of any of the above are not bound by Iraqi law, nor are members of the US military. Iraq is still a mess and government corruption is as common as roadside bombs and starving dogs. Any decision to revoke Order 17 would effectively shut down private security companies, which is likely the real goal of many on the Left who have rushed this case to judgment, and another 50,000 or more US military troops would have to take their place. Not good. Fact is, private security firms are essential to solving the long term problems of Iraq.
Congressman Henry Waxman, the liberal Democrat from Los Angeles, held hearings this week whose purpose was as political as it was investigatory. Waxman is chairman of the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform. Waxman and some of his fellow Democrats are blaming the State Department for failing to “restrain” Blackwater in Iraq, though the evidence is that Blackwater has actually policed itself in what is a very tou9gh, unpredictable business. Blackwater has about 1,000 employees highly trained employees in Iraq there and the company has fired or dismissed more than 100 for various infractions or misbehaviors under the State Department contract.
Blackwater is a company that has become strikingly successful over the past few years. That success is infuriating to the organized Left which loathes everything about the company that others have thought was cool: its cryptic, dangerous-sounding name, its private air force, its huge North Carolina training base, its bear paw logo. (In Paris, shops sell women’s panties and bras with Blackwater and its logo on them). Blackwater’s lantern-jawed, close-cropped, sky-diving, special Ops patriotic American image makes the extreme Left even crazier.
The Nation magazine crowd has worked themselves into a spitting fit over Blackwater, demonizing it through a media campaign that started about a year ago with a young, weasely, left-wing polemicist in the lead. First came repeated personal attacks on Blackwater’s “right-wing Christian” founder, a decent, and honest ex-Navy SEAL named Erik Prince. Even NPR, on a story about Blackwater referred to its founder as "a Christian”.
The polemical assaults were launched on anti-American blogs and Marxist/socialist websites (Workers World, for example,) and dumb, pompous, left-wing radio shows like “Democracy Now” and by the proselytizing of liberals of the Huffington Post/ Jon Stewart variety, who had succumbed to McCarthyite Bushophobia some time ago. The left has successfully moved its corporate objectification from the evil of Haliburton to the evil of Blackwater.
Posted by Richard Carlson
The Sept. 16 failed ambush of a U.S. diplomatic convoy in Baghdad’s Mansour district that resulted in the death of some Iraqis has also resulted in a firestorm of politically inspired and one-sided attacks on one of the best of the world’s military contractors: Blackwater, a company run and staffed by former special operations warriors who have been so efficient and skilled, so reliable and professional and aggressive in their protection of American diplomats and contractors in Iraq that not one of those Americans has ever been kidnapped or killed.
US intelligence reports say that al-Qaeda in Iraq has targeted US diplomats and CIA officers for priority assassination because of their headline value. Existing tensions between the State Department and the US military were exacerbated by last Sunday’s firefight. Those tensions were fueled by the sometimes unreliable and deeply corrupt Iraqi Ministry of Interior (MOI), more about which later. The US Department of Defense is now complaining that State doesn’t sufficiently “control” their personal security details (PSD’s), though DOD also employs Blackwater on dangerous missions.
The incident last Sunday began around noon when Blackwater’s PSD Team 4 was protecting a US diplomat at the Izdihar financial compound. A bomb planted in a nearby vehicle exploded. None of the Americans was injured and the diplomat was hustled away with help from Blackwater Tactical Support Team 22 (TST). A second force of Blackwater operatives (TST 23) raced from the nearby Green Zone to assist and, according to a “sensitive” report filed by the State Department’s Bureau of Diplomatic Security that day, when they arrived nearby they came under fire from an “estimated 8-10 persons (who) fired from multiple nearby locations, with some aggressors dressed in civilian apparel and others in Iraqi Police uniforms .” (My emphasis. The Iraqi police, and their uniforms, are under control of the MOI.)
The State Department report goes on: “The team returned defensive fire and attempted to drive out of the initial ambush site; however the team’s command Bearcat vehicle was disabled during the attack and could not continue.” Enemy gunfire was so furious that bullets striking the engine block of the armored vehicle caused it to fail.
In the immediate aftermath of the shooting, the Iraqi MOI demanded that Blackwater be booted from the country and froze their activities without any investigation, immobilizing CIA officers and diplomats within the Green Zone. According to the journalist Richard Minter, writing on Pajamas Media, the CIA station was “all but motionless –as meetings with informants and the Iraqi government” were hastily cancelled. Blackwater also protects US reconstruction efforts across Iraq, the building of clinics, schools, etc., and so according to Minter these too were all but shut down.
Some Iraqi witnesses, a number of whom work for the Ministry of the Interior, told reporters that Blackwater began shooting civilians without provocation, a ludicrous scenario and one the Americans deny. The Blackwater contractors and the U.S. diplomats are saying the same thing: that the Blackwater men reacted lawfully after being provoked by the bomb blast and then defended themselves from a coordinated attack by men, some wearing police uniforms, firing automatic weapons. After a few days of serious paralysis, Blackwater went back to work in Iraq but the drumbeat to make them leave the country continues,
The New York Times says Blackwater men fire their weapons more often than any other contractor in Iraq. (That bullet count includes warning shots). It is true that the Blackwater operators are famously aggressive. They were precisely trained for survival and they work daily in the most lethal areas of Iraq, protecting Americans the insurgents want to kill.
Nonetheless, critics on the Left in the US, some of them in Congress, have rushed to side of the Iraqi witnesses to condemn Blackwater, however contrived the Iraqi statements may appear. Some of them are calling for repeal of Coalition Provisional Authority Order 17, the decree that, they claim, puts foreign security contractors beyond the reach of Iraqi law.
But Order 17 only excuses contractors from Iraqi laws when the action in question is required to fulfill a contract. In other words, despite several news articles stating otherwise, crimes like rape, murder, and theft can be tried under Iraqi law. Private security contractors like Blackwater are bound by a number of U.S. statutes, international treaties, federal acquisition laws, and defense and trade controls regulations (the Military Extraterritorial Jurisdiction Act, the War Crimes Act, the Victims of Trafficking and Violence Protection Act, the Anti-Torture Statute, and the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act.) If the military contractor is working for the US Department of Defense, as some Blackwater men are, they are subject to the Uniform Code of Military Justice
Military contractors not in violation of any of the above are not bound by Iraqi law, nor are members of the US military. Iraq is still a mess and government corruption is as common as roadside bombs and starving dogs. Any decision to revoke Order 17 would effectively shut down private security companies, which is likely the real goal of many on the Left who have rushed this case to judgment, and another 50,000 or more US military troops would have to take their place. Not good. Fact is, private security firms are essential to solving the long term problems of Iraq.
Congressman Henry Waxman, the liberal Democrat from Los Angeles, held hearings this week whose purpose was as political as it was investigatory. Waxman is chairman of the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform. Waxman and some of his fellow Democrats are blaming the State Department for failing to “restrain” Blackwater in Iraq, though the evidence is that Blackwater has actually policed itself in what is a very tou9gh, unpredictable business. Blackwater has about 1,000 employees highly trained employees in Iraq there and the company has fired or dismissed more than 100 for various infractions or misbehaviors under the State Department contract.
Blackwater is a company that has become strikingly successful over the past few years. That success is infuriating to the organized Left which loathes everything about the company that others have thought was cool: its cryptic, dangerous-sounding name, its private air force, its huge North Carolina training base, its bear paw logo. (In Paris, shops sell women’s panties and bras with Blackwater and its logo on them). Blackwater’s lantern-jawed, close-cropped, sky-diving, special Ops patriotic American image makes the extreme Left even crazier.
The Nation magazine crowd has worked themselves into a spitting fit over Blackwater, demonizing it through a media campaign that started about a year ago with a young, weasely, left-wing polemicist in the lead. First came repeated personal attacks on Blackwater’s “right-wing Christian” founder, a decent, and honest ex-Navy SEAL named Erik Prince. Even NPR, on a story about Blackwater referred to its founder as "a Christian”.
The polemical assaults were launched on anti-American blogs and Marxist/socialist websites (Workers World, for example,) and dumb, pompous, left-wing radio shows like “Democracy Now” and by the proselytizing of liberals of the Huffington Post/ Jon Stewart variety, who had succumbed to McCarthyite Bushophobia some time ago. The left has successfully moved its corporate objectification from the evil of Haliburton to the evil of Blackwater.
Posted by Richard Carlson
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