On Aug 6, 5:34 pm, Harry Hope <riv...@ix.netcom.com> wrote:

Since the US-led invasion of March 2003, Iraq has plunged into an
abyss of overlapping civil conflicts that have divided its rival
religious and ethnic communities, and left tens of thousands of
civilians dead.

The Iraqi National List initially controlled five cabinet seats in Mr
Maliki's government, but justice minister Hashem al-Shibli has already
resigned.

http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,22201903-1702,00.html

August 07, 2007

Ministers boycott shrinking Iraq cabinet

From correspondents in Baghdad

FOUR Iraqi cabinet ministers allied to former prime minister Iyad
Allawi boycotted a government meeting overnight, in a further sign of
the fragility of Nuri al-Maliki's shrinking coalition.

The ministers from the Iraqi National List, a group of secular
politicians from both sides of Iraq's sectarian divide, staged the
boycott less than a week after six Sunni cabinet members resigned from
the Shiite-led government.

"They started boycotting government meetings today. They will still be
working from their offices. They have not resigned from the
government," Ibrahim Junabi, a senior member of the group's leadership
said.

"This is a warning to the prime minister that he needs to follow the
national reconciliation program," said Mr Junabi, warning that the
List's ministers could resign if their demands for reconciliation are
not met.

Last Wednesday, Iraq's main Sunni political bloc the National Concord
Front withdrew its five ministers and deputy prime minister from the
coalition, dealing a blow to the government's claims to represent all
Iraqis.

_______________________________________________

What are our troops supposed to be dying for? Anyone know?

Harry

"War is the health of the state."
-Randolph Bourne, The State

What are friends for?

Shalom:

The Iraq war is about protecting Israel from the Muslims and Arabs and
the Iraqi oil for America and Israel. The Bush, father and son, should
have said this from the beginning. The American people would have
still supported the first and second invasions of Iraq. Americans have
been supportive of Israel from as early as 1946. Besides Americans
love war. As General Patton said: " All this stuff you've heard about
America not wanting to fight, wanting to stay out of the war, is a lot
of horse dung. Americans traditionally love to fight. All real
Americans, love the sting of battle....Americans love a winner and
will not tolerate a loser. Americans play to win all the time. I
wouldn't give a hoot in Hell for a man who lost and laughed...... the
very thought of losing is hateful to Americans.

( And Iraq was considered to be an easy target.)

Saddam was family until he nationalized Iraq's oil. If he had not done
that, we would still be doing business in Iraq and Rumsfeld would
still be America's personal Ambassador to Saddam. =A0Rumsfeld, hired by
President Reagan to serve as a Middle East troubleshooter, met Saddam
Hussein in Baghdad and passed on the US willingness to help his regime
and restore full diplomatic relations.

Mr Rumsfeld has said that he "cautioned" the Iraqi leader against
using banned weapons. But there was no mention of such a warning in
state department notes of the meeting.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/Iraq/Story/0,2763,866942,00.html

The neocons and Israeli support for the war

We know that the Iraq invasion was pushed forcefully by the neo-
conservatives in the Bush Administration. Many of the neocons are
Jewish, though not all of them. But when it comes to US Mideast
policy, there is virtually no disagreement among them in relying on a
powerful Israel as a key component. This, in and of itself, would fly
in the face of the notion that Israel and Israeli interests were
completely removed from the decision to invade Iraq.

A number of key figures among the neocon wing of the Bush
Administration were involved in writing an advisory paper for the
Netanyahu government in 1996 entitled "A Clean Break: A New Strategy
for Securing the Realm". This paper listed removing Saddam Hussein
from power as an "an important Israeli strategic objective." It defies
logic to believe that the same people, in their push toward war on
Iraq, simply didn't think about this. Writers involved in the "Clean
Break" paper included Richard Perle, Douglas Feith, David and Meyrav
Wurmser and James Colbert. All of them were powerful proponents, in
and out of government, for the war on Iraq.

Israeli support for the invasion was never a secret. Both the Sharon
government and a clear majority of the Israeli populace favored
attacking Iraq. A Guardian (UK) report on the undermining of US
intelligence agencies in order to provide "evidence" to support the
invasion describes how Americans working outside the CIA worked with
Israelis operating outside of the Mossad to help produce that
"evidence."Reports before the war indicated that Israel was playing a
key role in preparing for the invasion and other reports indicate that
Israeli operatives have been working among Iraqi Kurds.

Israel has no natural resources to speak of and specifically no oil
or
coal. It does not have even one nuclear power plant. Thus Israel has
nothing to dump on the market at below market price in exchange for
breaking the boycott on essentials. Israel exports nothing any
country
cannot do without. It exports nothing in any quantity that would
affect market prices.

Most important Israel has no way to keep its electric power plants
and
automobiles operating. In the event of a boycott, Israel would have
to
survive upon its internal stockpile. A normal storage for a country
is
10 to 20 days unless it has been stockpiled in anticipation of a
boycott. Whereas the US reserve is to minimize the effect of the loss
of Mideast oil the US has Latin American sources. All Israeli oil
sources would participate if Europe took the lead.

The lights go out in a week
That is the general idea but exaggerated for effect. Crude oil is
normally stored simply to smooth out delivery between deliveries
which
arrive early and late. This is roughly 10 to 20 days worth and on
average 10 days. If all deliveries stop that is all a country has for
normal usage. Israel gets most of its natural gas and much of its oil
from Russia. They increasingly rely on oil from there. Israel is 99%
reliant on the market for its oil.

Israel gets most of its natural gas and much of its oil from Russia.
They increasingly rely on oil from Central Asia - namely from
Kazakhstan.16 With the introduction of the Baku-Ceyhan pipeline, and
the subsequent pipelines that may feed oil and water directly into
Israel from Ceyhan, the nation is attempting to diversify its access
to vital resources. While Israel relies on the U.S. as a geopolitical
ally, they must maintain good relations with Russia who is
geographically much closer to home and puts far more natural
resources
on the market than the U.S. does. Israel is 99% reliant on the market
for its oil.

Putin continues to play energy-chess brilliantly with the U.S., this
time through Israel:

On paper the US has guaranteed oil supplies to Israel in the event of
a boycott. It is not clear how the US could deliver this in practice.
The US does not have a fleet of oil tankers to call upon. Most US
consumption is from Latin America using smaller tankers on the short
runs. Diverting 1/50th, 2%,1 of the US supply to maintain Israel, due
to the greater round trip time across the Atlantic and through the
Mediterranean, would reduce deliveries to the US by something like
10%
as a ballpark guess.

If all goes perfectly, the difference in travel time from Latin
America to Israel is greater than the 13 days Israel has to hold out
and close to the maximum 25 days it might have. Thus Israel can only
avoid capitulation with supplies diverted from the countries which
imposed the boycott. There is no country with a reason to break such
a
boycott. Europe would be the leader in this boycott. Arabic countries
would certainly honor the boycott. This leaves far eastern oil
supplies which offers no practical difference in time from the US as
a
supplier.

Pipeline Politics & War

Kirkuk to Haifa Pipeline: Reason for the War? Let's look back at a
motivation for the Iraq war.

Israel seeks pipeline for Iraqi oil

US discusses plan to pump fuel to its regional ally and solve energy
headache at a stroke Ed Vuillamy in Washington Sunday April 20, 2003
The Observer

Plans to build a pipeline to siphon oil from newly conquered Iraq to
Israel are being discussed between Washington, Tel Aviv and potential
future government figures in Baghdad.The plan envisages the
reconstruction of an old pipeline, inactive since the end of the
British mandate in Palestine in 1948, when the flow from Iraq's
northern oilfields to Palestine was re-directed to Syria.

Netanyahu Says Iraq-Israel Oil Line No Pipe-Dream

By Steven Scheer

LONDON (Reuters) - Israeli Finance Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (news
-
web sites) said he expected an oil pipeline from Iraq (news - web
sites) to Israel to be reopened in the near future after being closed
when Israel became a state in 1948.

"It won't be long when you will see Iraqi oil flowing to Haifa," the
port city in northern Israel, Netanyahu told a group of British
investors, declining to give a timetable.

"It is just a matter of time until the pipeline is reconstituted and
Iraqi oil will flow to the Mediterranean."

Netanyahu later told Reuters the government was in the early stages
of
looking into the possibility of reopening the pipeline, which during
the British Mandate sent oil from Mosul to Haifa via Jordan. "It's
not
a pipe-dream," Netanyahu said.

Pepe Escobar wrote the following for the Asia Times:

Beyond Lebanon, Israel is mostly interested also in Syria. The
motive:
the all-important pipeline route from Kirkuk, in Iraqi Kurdistan, to
Haifa. Enter Israel as a major player in Pipelineistan.

However, it is not likely that this pipeline will open for business
any time soon for many reasons - not least of which includes the fact
that the three operational pipelines in Iraq have all been sabotaged
at some point. The risk is far too high now, and perhaps forever will
be. Getting Syria to agree to having a pipeline run within its
borders
that feeds Iraqi oil to Israel also does not seem likely any time
soon.

But there are other pipelines of importance.

As pointed out by Michel Chossudovsky from The Center for Global
Research, the Baku-Ceyhan pipeline will provide Israel with access to
Caspian oil while bypassing the Caspian Consortium pipeline running
through Russia. This pipeline was inaugurated the very day Israel
invaded Southern Lebanon, and runs through Azerbaijan and Georgia
(widely considered American proxy-nations) on its way to Ceyhan,
Turkey.

http://zionofascism.wordpress.com/2007/02/18/54/

SEE
It is all about Israel's need for Oil
by Matt Giwer, =A9 2002 [August]

Update 10/09/03http://www.giwersworld.org/911/oil/israel-oil.phtml

The date when the struggle for Iraqi oil began is less critical than
our ability to trace the ever growing willingness to use "any means
necessary" to control such a "vital prize" into the present. We know,
for example, that, before and after he ascended to the Vice-
Presidency, ***** Cheney has had his eye squarely on the prize. In
1999, for example, he told the Institute of Petroleum Engineers that,
when it came to satisfying the exploding demand for oil, "the Middle
East, with two thirds of the world's oil and the lowest cost, is
still
where the prize ultimately lies."

Or we could date it all the way back to World War II, when British
officials declared Middle Eastern oil "a vital prize for any power
interested in world influence or domination," and U.S. officials
seconded the thought, calling it "a stupendous source of strategic
power and one of the greatest material prizes in world history."

Anyone who still believes that Americans are dying in =A0Iraq for
democracy needs to remove their head from the sand. Americans are
dying for Israel and Israel's need to exist. If the Arabs and Muslims
decide to destroy Israel, it could be done without firing a shot.
Shut
of the oil to Am Yisroel - The people of Israel (all Jews). Israel is
America's Achilles heel, a fatal weakness in spite of overall
strength
potentially leading to downfall. It's just a matter of time.

It is Israel's nuclear weapons systems which make it immune from
strategic attacks. But there is one threat to the existance of Israel
as an racist Jewish nation which has been gathering in Europe for
nearly a year. Years ago the boycott of South Africa started in the
same way, individuals and small companies boycotting South Africa and
its products. Should nations, mainly in Europe, agree to a boycott
Israel would have to capitulate.

In order to break Apartheid in South Africa much of the world imposed
a boycott. South Africa held out for years as it had natural
resources
including coal which it converted to a usable gasoline. Israel has
faced the prospect of a similar boycott since then as it was
effective.

The difference between the two countries is striking in the ability
to
hold out against a boycott.

Also see:
MULTI-POLAR DISORDER
Continues...
WITH ENERGY AND RISING GLOBAL TENSIONS

by
Michael Kane
=A0http://www.fromthewilderness.com/free/ww3/073106_energy_rising.shtml

http://www.israeleconomy.org/strat1.htm

On Mon, 06 Aug 2007 17:34:54 -0400, Harry Hope <rivrvu@ix.netcom.com>
wrote:

Since the US-led invasion of March 2003, Iraq has plunged into an
abyss of overlapping civil conflicts that have divided its rival
religious and ethnic communities, and left tens of thousands of
civilians dead.

The Iraqi National List initially controlled five cabinet seats in Mr
Maliki's government, but justice minister Hashem al-Shibli has already
resigned.

http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,22201903-1702,00.html

August 07, 2007

Ministers boycott shrinking Iraq cabinet

From correspondents in Baghdad

FOUR Iraqi cabinet ministers allied to former prime minister Iyad
Allawi boycotted a government meeting overnight, in a further sign of
the fragility of Nuri al-Maliki's shrinking coalition.

The ministers from the Iraqi National List, a group of secular
politicians from both sides of Iraq's sectarian divide, staged the
boycott less than a week after six Sunni cabinet members resigned from
the Shiite-led government.

"They started boycotting government meetings today. They will still be
working from their offices. They have not resigned from the
government," Ibrahim Junabi, a senior member of the group's leadership
said.

"This is a warning to the prime minister that he needs to follow the
national reconciliation program," said Mr Junabi, warning that the
List's ministers could resign if their demands for reconciliation are
not met.

Last Wednesday, Iraq's main Sunni political bloc the National Concord
Front withdrew its five ministers and deputy prime minister from the
coalition, dealing a blow to the government's claims to represent all
Iraqis.

_______________________________________________

What are our troops supposed to be dying for? Anyone know?

Harry

Yes. Bush's ego.


--
==== Tecknomage ====
"If this were a dictatorship, it would be a heck of a lot easier,
just so long as I'm the dictator"
-- George W. Bush, December 18, 2000

When the war started it was supposed to get Bush and the GOP reelected.
It worked. Now the war is being fought because Democrats know it's
destroying the GOP. Can it be any easier?