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Politics : GOPwinger Lies/Distortions/Omissions/Perversions of Truth -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: TideGlider who wrote (42839)	4/23/2005 12:48:23 PM
From: geode00	Respond to of 173976

Iraq bombing kills nine soldiers Saturday, 23 April , 2005, 20:19 (reuters) Baghdad: Nine Iraqi soldiers were killed in a suicide car bombing in a western Baghdad suburb, one of a spate of deadly attacks in Iraq on Saturday as politicians continued to wrangle over key government posts. The bombing occurred in Abu Ghraib, home to the notorious prison of the same name, and came after four senior US military officers were cleared of wrongdoing in last year's inmate abuse scandal at the jail. A Shiite leader threatened reprisals unless Sunni Arab politicians condemned mounting sectarian violence against the majority community following an attack on a busy mosque during Friday prayers. And the clock was ticking for three Romanian journalists threatened with death by their Islamist captors unless Bucharest pledged by Tuesday to withdraw its troops from Iraq. In the deadliest attack Saturday, nine soldiers were killed and 20 other soldiers and civilians were wounded in the suicide car bombing in Abu Ghraib, a defence ministry official said. In Washington, a Pentagon investigation cleared four top US army officers of wrongdoing in the scandal over the sexual and physical abuse of Abu Ghraib detainees which cast a stain on the US record in Iraq. Only Brigadier General Janis Karpinski, who commanded a military police unit found responsible for sexually humiliating prisoners, forcing them into stress positions and intimidating them with guard dogs, was relieved of her command and received a career-ending reprimand. The probe notably exonerated Lieutenant General Ricardo Sanchez, who as commander of US forces in Iraq from June 2003 to July 2004 had briefly issued a set of tough interrogation guidelines that some say encouraged the abuse. The other officials cleared include Sanchez's former deputy, Major General Walter Wojdakowski, who stood accused of failing to staff the prison with better trained guards, Major General Barbara Fast, the former chief intelligence officer in Iraq, and Colonel Marc Warren, the command's top legal officer, Pentagon sources said. So far, only seven prison guards have faced legal action for their behaviour at Abu Ghraib, with five of them punished, while two others have court martials pending. The lives of three Romanian hostages hung in the balance as an ultimatum was served to their government in a chilling videotape sent on Friday to the Qatar-based Arabic satellite channel Al-Jazeera, causing Romanian President Traian Basescu to cut short a visit to Moldova. The footage showed the three hostages - Marie-Jeanne Ion and Sorin Miscoci of Prima TV and Eduard Ohanesian of Romania Libera - appealing to their government to announce the withdrawal of all 800 Romanian troops within four days "otherwise they will execute us." The trio were kidnapped March 28 in the latest of a string of abductions of foreigners in Iraq. In other developments, a prominent Shiite leader called on Sunni Muslims to condemn recent sectarian attacks or risk retaliation, following a funeral for six of the nine people killed in a car bombing Friday at a Baghdad mosque. There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attack. "We blame members of the Sunni community for these attacks and we call on them to condemn these criminal acts to ensure there's no retaliation," said Assad Abu Kalal, provincial governor for the Shiite shrine city of Najaf and a member of the Supreme Council for Islamic Revolution in Iraq. It was a strongly worded warning to the Sunni community, which is accused of siding with the insurgency after losing its dominant position under ousted leader Saddam Hussein. There have been a string of similar attacks against the majority Shiite community, including a February bombing in Hilla, south of Baghdad, that left 118 dead. Tensions are also at boiling point over the alleged kidnapping and killing of dozens in Madain south of Baghdad last week. In other violence Saturday, one Iraqi was killed and at least 10 people were injured, including three US troops, when a suicide bomber blew himself up near a US convoy on the road to Baghdad airport, officials said. The group of Al-Qaeda's Iraq frontman Abu Musab al-Zarqawi claimed responsibility for the attack in an Internet statement. In another bombing, an Iraqi woman was killed and seven people wounded western Baghdad, officials said. Near the southern port of Basra, two people in a car were killed and two children nearby wounded when the vehicle exploded, police said. Late Friday, a 10-year-old girl and a sports instructor were killed in separate bombings in the restive city of Baquba northeast of Baghdad, police said. As insurgents escalated their attacks, politicians sought to overcome fresh setbacks to forming a new government nearly 12 weeks after landmark elections. Supporters of outgoing prime minister Iyad Allawi announced they would join a new cabinet only if they were given five ministerial posts, including a deputy premiership. ============ The gay hypocrisy of the Republican party is simply a distraction from the stunning incompetence of Rumsfeld, Bush, Cheney et al as they squander and steal $300 billion of US taxpayer money.

To: TideGlider who wrote (42839)	4/23/2005 12:59:15 PM
From: American Spirit	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 173976

The rightwing needs to have its gays outed. Their #1 under the radar "issue" in these nasty divisive elections is homophobia. They do it directly with potty-mouths like Anne Coulter, and they do it in signals and sign language, through the religious right whisper, fear and smear campaign. The message last year was "Kerry was from Massachusetts, where gay marriage is illegtal so he must be for it too". Didn't matter if Kerry was against it, they still ran on that lie. So now let's see how many Bush staffers and top rightwing pundits and leaders are closet cases. Doesn't mean they're evil, just hypocritical as hell. Fair is fair.