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Politics : Don't Blame Me, I Voted For Kerry -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: American Spirit who wrote (23497)	5/18/2004 1:30:19 AM
From: stockman_scott	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 81568

From Josh Marshall, a rather amazing letter from the front lines... talkingpointsmemo.com (May 17, 2004 -- 04:59 PM EDT // link // print) As I said earlier this morning, here's the latest update from my friend in Iraq, a retired military intelligence officer, now working as a security contractor in Iraq ... Hey Josh, Sorry about the delay but I have been out on the streets more than usual these days despite the micro-Intifada in the South. Let me answer your questions: Q1. From on the ground, how would you rate the effects of Abu Ghraib on the population at large and on the morale of Iraqis who are at the moment working with us? A1: Abu Ghuraib just confirmed what we have been hearing here for a long time. I am amazed that the ICRC didn't push this forcefully. It is very easy to find people who have been in the prison and could make statements to that effect. What I am sure amazed the ICRC was the callousness of the Bush administration blowing off eye-witness testimony of ICRC delegates in the prison. It had to be done with pictures and I applaud and honor the men who blew the whistle ... If I was the NCOIC of that place I would have been filing courts martial papers just to make sure it was indestructibly document that things were going on ... Someone obviously did something official for General Taguba to be sent there. The Iraqi people, even my 150 staff think the Americans are essentially not welcome anymore. They fear for their security but would rather go through a cataclysm with a new Iraqi police and army as their security force, rather than be occupied by the Americans. Then they could work through the system and know that their security was in their hands ... Trust me I am training 40 Iraqi bodyguards and the demand is getting serious. Listen Josh, EVERYONE outside of the Green Zone, Iraqis Westerners and Americans alike refer to the CPA and the US Army as "The AMERICANS" as if they were a third-party nation. No one sees them as part of the solution anymore but as a foreign entity that does as it likes and pisses everybody off in the process. The thinking in the usually suspicious Iraqi mind is that this is still being staged to seize control of their oil... Well that's been done but now they think the domestic troubles like the bad electricity (3 hours on, three hours off) the major Dysentery outbreak in the tap water this week (all of us have been ill due to our cooks washing with tap water) and the inability to drive down the street without having a Hummvee point rifles at you (or worse yet explode next to you) is punishment or, more accurately, incompetence. Abu Ghuraib was always part of their belief that the Bush Administration would "do anything" to defeat the Baathists. One guy said "you hired the Baathist Intelligence back and now you are doing as they are doing." Well that's not exactly true. We're more open about it. But as long as we are seen as occupiers we will never earn the trust of the Iraqi people. Turning over in a month to a new set of lackeys (here they call them Lougies ... Iraqi Arabic for "fawning Brown-noser") and asking them to invite us to stay and continue our ways is absolutely laughed at. Q2. I’ve heard rumors that the DOD had instructed Halliburton or other contractors to cut off internet access to troops, at least for all but non-essential stuff. Heard anything about that? A2: No, Internet seems to be humming along ... Now, at some of the more remote field camps they may have them off but not at the CPA. That place would shut down without Internet because they NEVER leave the Green Zone. Q3. Was any of the AbuG stuff known on the street, as it were? Was this stuff an open secret, even if people hadn't seen the pics? A3: As I said above, it was an open secret because guys were being released and complaining ... The ICRC was inspecting the place and dropping hints. Al Jazeera had done pieces on torture there and had interviewed people. Here in Iraq it was an anecdotal-evidence-supported ASSUMPTION. Until confirmed by photos we didn't know the depth of it. Remember, they chose a really high ranking General (Taguba) to documented this, which means it burned hot in the craw at Central Command when they found out it was true. Taguba showing up meant that they probably intended to court martial or dismiss the General in charge. Also it is no secret that ON THE STREET the US Army was and remains openly kicking Iraqi asses whenever and wherever they want to. About the Army - Man, it hurts my heart to write this about an institution I dearly love but this army is completely dysfunctional, angry and is near losing its honor. We are back to the Army of 1968. I knew we were finished when I had a soldier point his Squad Automatic Weapons at me and my bodyguard detail for driving down the street when he decided he would cross the street in the middle of rush hour traffic (which was moving at about 70 MPH) ... He made it clear to any and all that he was preparing to shoot drivers who did not stop for his jaunt because speeding cars are "threats." I also once had a soldier from a squad of Florida National Guard reservists raise weapons and kick the door panel of a clearly marked CPA security vehicle (big American flag in the windshield of a $150,000 armored Land Cruiser) because they wanted us to back away from them so they could change a tire ... as far as they were concerned WE (non-soldiers) were equally the enemy as any Iraqi. Unlike the wars of the past 20 years where the Army encouraged (needed) soldiers, NGOs, allies and civil organizations to work together to resolve matters and return to normal society, the US Forces only trust themselves here and that means they set their own limits and tolerances. Abu Ghuraib are good examples of that limit. I told a Journalist the other day that these kids here are being told that they are chasing Al Qaeda in the War on Terrorism so they think everyone at Abu Ghuraib had something to do with 9/11. So they were encouraged to make them pay. These kids thought they were going to be honored for hunting terrorists. Best, [Name Suppressed] More soon. -- Josh Marshall

To: American Spirit who wrote (23497)	5/18/2004 1:58:02 AM
From: Patricia Trinchero	Respond to of 81568

This is bizarre about Berg: Berg decapitation video was filmed inside the Abu Ghraib prison by Hector Carreon La Voz de Aztlan aztlan.net Los Angeles, Alta California - May 16, 2004 - (ACN) There is now ample evidence that the video showing the decapitation of 26 year old Nicholas Berg of Philadelphia by purported Al queda members is a complete fraud. The real Nick Berg may or may not be dead, but the heavily edited video is nothing but a fake. This is the conclusion of La Voz de Aztlan after a frame by frame analysis and the conclusion of hundreds of film, medical and other experts world wide who downloaded, viewed and analyzed the video as well. Literally thousands of persons world wide requested the video, which is rapidly disappearing from the Internet, after our news service published "Nick Berg decapitation video declared a fraud by medical doctor" on Wednesday May 12 and which was linked by other independent news services on the World Wide Web. With the advent of the Internet, computers and sophisticated programs it has become increasingly difficult for governments to "pull the wool" over the eyes of their citizens. The Internet has essentially allowed freedom loving people around the world to form communication networks that can now out compete the best intelligence government agencies or special operations groups. This has certainly been the case with the hastily released and shoddy video showing five phoney Al queda members participating in the decapitation of Nicholas Berg that was intended, exclusively, to defray attention from the scandalous sexual abuses of Iraqi POW's that took place at the Abu Ghraib prison outside Baghdad. Evidence in fact shows that the Berg decapitation was filmed inside the walls of the notorious Abu Ghraib prison, this cursed dungeon where probably Satan himself roams its corridors. It is now known that the opportune decapitation video was first uploaded from London, England to a now defunct website in a server located in Malaysia. The website at al-asnar.biz was shut down as soon as conservative news outlets like CNN and Fox News were notified. These two news services wasted no time in coming out with headlines like "Islamic Terrorists Decapitate an American in Iraq". Within minutes, local news services from New York to Los Angeles were screaming "Muslim Animals Chop Off the Head of an American" and were showing only short segments of the fake video. Pro-Zionist radio stations in Los Angeles have spent literally days since then talking about the Muslim barbarians and why it is so important to support the war in Iraq. La Voz de Aztlan became mighty suspicious when we first saw a photograph of the purported Nicholas Berg sitting in front of his captors on a white plastic chair that looked very familiar. In addition, the orange prison overalls he was wearing in the video looked mighty familiar as well. La Voz de Aztlan is very lucky that we have a very large readership base that utilizes both e-mail and our "News-Tips Form" on our home page to send us information. Within minutes we were sent the URL where we could download the entire and original video of Nicholas Berg's decapitation. Immediately after viewing the video, we knew that many things about the video just didn't look right and which defied simple logic. Some peculiar anomalies became readily apparent after watching the video and others followed after careful analysis. Many of the anomalies were pointed out to us by our readers who responded after downloading and viewing the video themselves. Please refer to the photographs published, along with this article, on our website at aztlan.net as these anomalies are described and enumerated below: Photo 1 - frame from phoney video Photo 2 - Guantanamo orange overalls 1. Notice the standard US Military Police issued prisoner overalls that Nicholas Berg is wearing in Photo 1. The orange color prisoner overalls that Nicholas Berg is wearing are identical to the ones Islamic prisoners are made to wear by the US Military Police at the Guantanamo, Cuba prison as shown in Photo 2. Photo 3 - Compare this chair with Photo 1 2. Notice the white plastic chair that Nicholas Berg is sitting on as shown in Photo 1. It is identical to the white plastic chair that the now infamous Pfc. Lynddie England is sitting on at the Abu Ghraib prison as shown in Photo 3. This same white plastic chair can also be seen in the horrid photograph where an MP is sodomizing an Iraqi POW with his finger at the upper right corner of Photo 4. In addition, it can be seen on the lower left side of Photo 5. 3. The color and texture of the wall as shown in the frames taken from the video as shown in Photo 1 and Photo 6 are the same as those of the Abu Ghraib prison shown in Photo 4. Photo 4 - Look at wall, chair and cap encircled Animated Photo 7 -This is the most damning evidence 4. The most telling evidence that the video of the decapitation of Nicholas Berg was taken inside the Abu Ghraib prison can only be detected by performing a frame by frame analysis. La Voz de Aztlan did just that and some revealing frames came up that are difficult to see if the video is played on normal speed. Towards the end of the video, at frames 9306 through 9368, a person with a US military cap temporarily pokes about a quarter of his left head into the video. His neck, left ear and part of his cap and visor can be seen. We have prepared an animated gif with just the relevant frames that clearly shows this at Animated Photo 7. Look at the right hand side as someone with a military cap, possibly with a second video camera, pokes his head into the video. Compare this animated gif with the MP whose cap is circled on Photo 4. Photo 5 -Look at white plastic chair Photo 6 - Five phoney Al queda terrorists from a video frame Anyone who views the video will see that it is phoney. The five so call terrorists are phoney. The one on the extreme right in Photo 6 is pudgy and is wearing very clean tennis shoes. This will not be the case with an Al queda fighter. Also, Photo 6 shows that at least three of them are wearing bullet proof vests. Has anyone seen Al queda members wearing heavy and cumbersome bullet proof vests? Look at the garb that all five are wearing. They look like Halloween costumes. For the time being, the mainstream media is totally ignoring the above evidence. Hopefully soon some brave mainstream publisher will dare to bring this important information to the American people. The nation needs to know who was and what really happened to Nicholas Berg.