wonmug Posted October 28, 2004 Report Share Posted October 28, 2004 I will say again that if they steal the election this time- whether it is by programming the machines, threatening Democratic voters, declaring all Democrats as ex-felons, paying off judges or burning piles of registrations - however - there will be civil war in America. be there or be square... the rev will not be televised (by Fox) Last riot I attended was hosted by Chicago- Dem Convention '68. Scary experience; got my first view of human gray matter at that event, courtesy of Chi PD. Think I'll sit this one out... Did make a pre-New Years resolution, tho- to spend more time at the target range. Strictly for sustenance purposes of course Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted October 28, 2004 Report Share Posted October 28, 2004 Eyewitness to a failure in Iraq By Peter W. Galbraith | October 27, 2004 http://www.boston.com/news/globe/editorial...ailure_in_iraq/ He reported his observations to Wolfowitz, still nothing was done.... How many others have stories like this to tell? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted October 28, 2004 Report Share Posted October 28, 2004 One thing that dosen't seem to get mentioned in all these reports about the "missing" explosives, etc., is that there is little or no talk about the swarm of US, British and other countries spy satellites which most likely have monitored every square foot of Iraq since before the war started. It seems unlikely (to me anyway) that somehow all this stuff just "went missing" without anybody seeing it happen. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wonmug Posted October 28, 2004 Report Share Posted October 28, 2004 http://www.menafn.com/qn_news_story_s.asp?storyid=68168 (MENAFN 27/10/2004) Halliburton, the oil services giant, reported a quarterly loss and only meager pickings from its vast operations in Iraq, AFP reported. Overall, Halliburton made a loss of $44 million in the three months ending September 30, 2004, as costs of an asbestos-related settlement grew to $230 million. Revenues rose 15.5 percent to $4.79 billion, around 30 percent of which came from the operations in Iraq performed by Halliburton's KBR unit, which has large Pentagon contracts in the Middle East. Halliburton said that it squeezed out just $4 million in operating profit from its Iraq operations, despite raking in $1.4 billion in revenue. 1/4ly report should be interesting material for the forensically inclined... I ahve enuff fun w/ my checking balance. : :cry: might be a useful site for heads up ME financial news- http://www.menafn.com/ A financial portal targeting customers in the Middle East and North Africa. Services provided include investment services, ?, and business and financial information for the MENA region as well as the rest of the globe. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dozer Posted October 28, 2004 Report Share Posted October 28, 2004 I don't buy it either. We had Iraq covered with massive sattelite surveillance beforeand after the war started. hmmm....you might've fallen into the "magic bullet" trap there Sherlock... OK, you've got a fancy sat-surv system. Great. Now you're watching the screen.... Well ? WHICH of those -thousands- of trucks streaming back and forth between Iraq and Syria contain item-X ?? Remember that the traffic in and out of Iraq was heavy as hell for months before, and -after-, the invasion. Even worse....the day X is moving, you're watching the sat-screen....but at that particular moment, you don't even know yet that X was stolen! Pretty damn impossible to surveil something that you don't know you're watching for... Anyway, wasn't the original squalling about it being used for those well-improvised bombs being used in -Iraq- ?? But now the noise seems to be about it being trucked to Syria ! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
traderfromhell Posted October 28, 2004 Report Share Posted October 28, 2004 One thing that dosen't seem to get mentioned in all these reports about the "missing" explosives, etc., is that there is little or no talk about the swarm of US, British and other countries spy satellites which most likely have monitored every square foot of Iraq since before the war started. It seems unlikely (to me anyway) that somehow all this stuff just "went missing" without anybody seeing it happen. Nothing would surprise me but you know these bastards are lying. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted October 28, 2004 Report Share Posted October 28, 2004 Speaking of spy satellites - check out this way cool free software from NASA - If you have DSL or Cable modem it probably wouldn't take too long to download. It is a big file - 250 megs. Click Here Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wonmug Posted October 28, 2004 Report Share Posted October 28, 2004 From heroes to targets The U.S. occupation of Iraq has turned into a daily debacle, say experts, because the Washington ideologues who planned the war were living in a fantasy. By Michelle Goldberg Salon The current chaos in Iraq, many experts say, is the inevitable result of grandiose neoconservative ideology smacking into reality. The neocons underestimated the Iraqis' nationalism and their mistrust of America. They were so convinced that a bright new Middle Eastern future would inevitably spring from military victory that they failed to prepare for any other scenario. "Everything derives from a very defective understanding of what Iraq was like," says retired Col. Pat Lang, who served as the Pentagon's chief of Middle Eastern intelligence from 1985 until 1992 and who has closely followed the discussions over the Iraq war and its aftermath. "It was a massive illusion that the neocons had. It all flows from that." from July 18, 2003?. plus ca change, plus?. Group Therapy http://www.google.com/url?sa=U&start=1&q=h...003.html&e=7781 Bush, Bin Laden, Bechtel and Baghdad By CHRIS FLOYD May 12, 2003 CounterPunch Veteran observers of the klepto-plutocracy that has, lazar-like, long encrusted the American body politic were not surprised to see the hoary name of the Bechtel Group bobbing up in the swill of sweetheart deals now being doled out by the Corrupter-in-Chief for the "reconstruction" of his new fiefdom in Iraq. http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A...anguage=printer Cueing the Balloons in Hussein's Home Town Iraqis Hail Tikrit Bridge Repair But Decry Pace of Reconstruction By Jackie Spinner Washington Post September 23, 2004 http://www.economist.com/world/africa/disp...tory_id=2102625 Iraq's reconstruction Cleaner, but still bare The Economist Oct 2nd 2003 Iraqis feel that they are struggling enough already without investment laws that allow foreigners to buy up Iraqi firms, and repatriate the profits. ?Before, Saddam Hussein took our money out of the country, and now the big corporations do,? said Mr Bunnia, who after garnering the fattest contracts should be one of Iraq's happiest merchants. ?What's the difference?? Reconstruction Funds Bypass Iraqis http://www.csis.org/isp/pcr/iraq_funds.pdf This October 2004 chart from the Center for Strategic & International Studies illustrates the Center's conclusion that only about 27 percent of the $18.3 billion appropriated for Iraq's reconstruction is actually available to provide "direct benefit to Iraqis and Iraq?s economy." - a follow up to Progress Or Peril: Measuring Iraq's Reconstruction Progress, estimates that "as much as 73 percent of the funds is spent on security and insurance costs for foreign contractors, U.S. government overhead, profits for foreign companies, salaries for foreign workers, and corruption, fraud, and mismanagement." An estimated 27 percent is left to provide "direct benefit to Iraqis and Iraq?s economy." The five sectors we reviewed are separate issues, yet they are all interlinking to variousdegrees. Progress in any one sector will depend on progress in others. Security and economic problems continue to overshadow and undermine efforts across the board. ? The continuing lack of Economic Opportunity and high levels of unemployment impact reconstruction in other sectors, fueling security problems and leading to entrenched frustration and anger at the occupying forces. Iraq?s perceived wealth sustains Iraqis? positive view of the future, but security problems continue to undermine oil production and export. Unemployment continues to overshadow the U.S.-driven macroeconomic reform efforts and salary increases for Iraq?s civil servants. Iraqis currently have a negative view of job availability, and those who choose to work for foreign companies or in Iraq?s security forces face serious security risks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dozer Posted October 28, 2004 Report Share Posted October 28, 2004 geez....I hate it when the PTB sez stuff like this at a time like this... Cost seen a hurdle in US securities disaster plans Reuters - 8 hours ago Critical US securities institutions have beefed up protection from terrorist attacks and other disasters, but cost concerns prevent them from taking further steps, officials said in a report on Wednesday. Why bring it up at this particular moment? Just a funny coincidence I suppose... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted October 28, 2004 Report Share Posted October 28, 2004 I don't buy it either. We had Iraq covered with massive sattelite surveillance beforeand after the war started. hmmm....you might've fallen into the "magic bullet" trap there Sherlock... OK, you've got a fancy sat-surv system. Great. Now you're watching the screen.... Well ? WHICH of those -thousands- of trucks streaming back and forth between Iraq and Syria contain item-X ?? Remember that the traffic in and out of Iraq was heavy as hell for months before, and -after-, the invasion. Even worse....the day X is moving, you're watching the sat-screen....but at that particular moment, you don't even know yet that X was stolen! Pretty damn impossible to surveil something that you don't know you're watching for... Anyway, wasn't the original squalling about it being used for those well-improvised bombs being used in -Iraq- ?? But now the noise seems to be about it being trucked to Syria ! dozer, your point is well taken, especially since I have little expertise in how the satellite observing is done. However, here's still another perspective on this wild, swirling story: Discrepancy Found in Explosives Amounts Documents Show Iraqis May Be Overstating Amount of Missing Material http://www.abcnews.go.com/WNT/story?id=204304&page=1 Do we have ANY competent people left in this world that know how to keep records? UN supposedly had a talley on this stuff and reported the loss of explosives earlier This week. Did the UN folks even check their own records vs the Iraqi report. Sorry, but my accounting-mentality is offended by these folks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wonmug Posted October 28, 2004 Report Share Posted October 28, 2004 yo, Dozer- if you're online or see this later- trying to make a guestimate of how many semi-trailers/ how long to load 380 tons of HE, ie RDX assuming other HE of that class would have about the same density... thought w/ your familarity w/ heavy equipment/ hauling it around and such... I came up w/ 290 trailers; if single-file in close convoy = 5.5mi long; if 10 trailers were loaded per night to avoid attracting attention, would take about 1 month to haul off 380 tons... [RDX, a colourless solid, of density 1.82 g/cm3 http://www.brainyencyclopedia.com/encyclop...initramine.html X380T, assume 2000#/T, X454gm/#, /1.82 gm/cm3, = 18,958 m3, / 0.02831685 ft3/m3, =669,500 ft3 /1 semi-trailer useful loading vol 2310 ft3, =290 single trailers, assume in close convoy @ 100ft, =29000ft/5280ft/mi, =5.5mi long; or say 1hr to load each trailer =290hrs, if 10 loaded per night, takes approx 1 month to truck entire stock away] Sound about right? Helluva operation if calculations/ assumptions correct... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wonmug Posted October 28, 2004 Report Share Posted October 28, 2004 yo, Dozer-... Sound about right? Helluva operation if calculations/ assumptions correct... Bad calculation- multiplied when I should have divided somewhere. 380 tons of RDX has a volume of about 6700 ft3 excluding containers, about the cubic capacity of 3 semi-trailers... so weight would the limiting factor. At 50 tons per trailer, 7 or 8 trailers would be required. OTOH, if pickups or small vans were used, there would be quite a swarm... So it appears Dozer's estimate of 6-8 trailers is correct. Certainly seems from reports no one was minding the store on the ground... haven't hauled any military explosives lately, so plz excuse my ignorance. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted October 28, 2004 Report Share Posted October 28, 2004 Wonmug, if you?re going to move those explosives, it helps if you know how they are packaged. NBC News report tonight with interesting tidbits Missing explosives probe Oct. 27: NBC's Jim Miklaszewski has new information about missing explosives in Iraq and the U.S. military personnel who spent time at the storage site. Watch the video here to see how it was packaged and labeled. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/6323933/ They obtained a 1999 film from "Iraqi sources" of the boxes of HMX, the explosive which the IAEA had under seal. The boxes were "flimsy cardboard" and while some were labeled as explosives, others were labeled as bottled water! The report also describes al-Qaqaa as being "the size of Manhattan" and a cameraman embedded with the 3rd ID soldiers said it was huge with dozens and dozens of concrete bunkers. If the area was searched, they perhaps didn't pay much attention to what they thought were old cardboard boxes of bottled water. Doesn?t every Iraqi have a pick-up truck and drive around the desert? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The brown one Posted October 28, 2004 Report Share Posted October 28, 2004 Wonder why the explosives thing is only coming out now when it was known to Rummy cum suis more than a year ago.Just like everything potentially damaging,they manage to sit on it for a year in the hope that it will go away. And since it got out,it will be ignored and forgotten about within a week especially this coming week! Or true to Rovian form it will be turned into a disadvantage for Kerry!UFB! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted October 28, 2004 Report Share Posted October 28, 2004 Wonder why the explosives thing is only coming out now when it was known to Rummy cum suis more than a year ago.Just like everything potentially damaging,they manage to sit on it for a year in the hope that it will go away. And since it got out,it will be ignored and forgotten about within a week especially this coming week! Or true to Rovian form it will be turned into a disadvantage for Kerry!UFB! I don't think this story will disappear very fast. Consider the enormity of what our troups are actually facing. This just showed up in this morning's news: Armed Group Claims to Have Iraq Explosives BAGHDAD, Iraq - An armed group claimed in a video Thursday to have obtained a large amount of explosives missing from a munitions depot facility in Iraq and threatened to use them against foreign troops. http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=stor...xplosives_claim Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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