That’s what it sounds like to me anyway:
Declan“American arrested with weapons in Iraq-official
BAGHDAD (Reuters) - An American described as a security contractor has been arrested by police in a northern Iraqi town with weapons in his car, said a provincial official.
Abdullah Jebara, the Deputy Governor of Salahaddin province, told Reuters the man was arrested in Saddam Hussein’s hometown of Tikrit on Monday.
The Joint Coordination Center between the U.S. and Iraqi military in Tikrit said the man it described as a security contractor working for a private company, possessed explosives which were found in his car. It said he was arrested on Tuesday.”
I second that Declan - nice to have you keeping shop for a bit!
Comment by Grania — March 14, 2006 @ 9:32 pm
Good catch. And in Tikrit no less.
Comment by The SMURPH — March 14, 2006 @ 9:36 pm
Yeah fits though.
Now why are you shouting at me? that’s police brutality that it is. Me nerves are in bits me health is ruined and compensation has set in.
Comment by Declan — March 14, 2006 @ 9:45 pm
I’d like to know what he was going to do with the explosives - perhaps a little torture is in order!
Comment by Grania — March 14, 2006 @ 9:56 pm
They may have caught the ever elusive Emmanuel Goldstein.
“As usual, the face of Emmanuel Goldstein, the Enemy of the People, had flashed on to the screen. There were hisses here and there among the audience. The little sandy-haired woman gave a squeak of mingled fear and disgust. Goldstein was the renegade and backslider who once, long ago (how long ago, nobody quite remembered), had been one of the leading figures of the Party, almost on a level with Big Brother himself, and then had engaged in counter-revolutionary activities, had been condemned to death, and had mysteriously escaped and disappeared. The programmes of the Two Minutes Hate varied from day to day, but there was none in which Goldstein was not the principal figure. He was the primal traitor, the earliest defiler of the Party’s purity. All subsequent crimes against the Party, all treacheries, acts of sabotage, heresies, deviations, sprang directly out of his teaching. Somewhere or other he was still alive and hatching his conspiracies: perhaps somewhere beyond the sea, under the protection of his foreign paymasters, perhaps even — so it was occasionally rumoured — in some hiding-place in Oceania itself.”
The irony of it all! It’d be laughable if it wasn’t so tragic.
Comment by Griffon — March 14, 2006 @ 11:19 pm
But it’s not torture grania it’s “inapropriate” it’s all just a game. So I’m sure Mr John Heist. Isn’t that a lovely name for a man who wh*res himself out as a murderer? Won’t mind joining in a little game of “pin the electrode on the Iraqi” with himself being the Iraqi. And afteward to show no hard feelings he can let himself being bitten by a dog and then to show what a good fella he is he can dip his finger in purple ink. To show how free he is like.
The thing that annoys me is that the shagger was taken into custody by the Amercians eventually so of course he’ll get off.
Scum
Yeah griffon I hear you.
Comment by Declan — March 14, 2006 @ 11:29 pm
Thank you Declan I need to work on my terminology.
Comment by Grania — March 15, 2006 @ 12:14 am
well Declan - we couldn’t have an *American* handled by that new free independent stand up Iraqi justice! that just wouldn’t be right!
too bad they’re closing Abu Ghraib (or are they?)
Comment by siun — March 15, 2006 @ 2:37 am
Siun,
I read they are handing it over to the Iraqi Govt. I imagine it will become a major target.
Comment by Griffon — March 15, 2006 @ 4:20 am
Thanks Griffon … any thoughts here on the Israeli raid today … I never can decide whether america follows Israel’s lead or the other way around.
I miss Mark’s lead here but thanks so much to the crew who are so ably covering - hopefully his silence is a sign that he is resting up and taking care of his health!
Comment by siun — March 15, 2006 @ 5:20 am
I really can’t say anything about it as I don’t know much about the background.
Though I note that the UK & US forces left so the Israelis could surround the jail.
I suppose that’s what you mean about who leads who. It does look like the tail is wagging the dog again.
I think it makes more sense to see both Israel and the US (plus the UK) being wagged by a single group behind the scenes.
The US and UK, by their actions, seem to be captive to the same loonies that control Israel and I don’t mean guys like Sharon and Bibi. They’re the hired help.
Comment by Griffon — March 15, 2006 @ 8:21 am
Hello all! Yeah - I have been wondering about that Israeli raid too. I could not quite believe my ears when I originally heard the details. Sounds like the acting P.M., is trying to look ‘leaderlike’ for the electorate.
Comment by Grania — March 15, 2006 @ 5:38 pm
Steve Bell’s cartoon in The Guardian says it best IMO.
Comment by declan — March 15, 2006 @ 8:20 pm
Siun yeah, the thing is that sooner or later there are going to be captured American troops. Except that they’ll be called “unlawful combatants” about Abu Ghraib apparently there’s some doubt about whether it’ll be handed over or not. I can’t see it’ll make much difference who does the actual torturing. It’s being done to further American interests and the people in the region know who to blame - the US government.
Comment by declan — March 15, 2006 @ 8:43 pm
The extra 700 US troops stationed in Kuwait that have been moved into Baghdad could well be on their way to the H1,2&3 bases in the west of Iraq or to the Kurdish north.
I’d be looking for similar movements of troops out of the Gulf bases.
What’s the weather is like in Syria at the moment? (Snarky rhetorical question)
I wonder if the British troops are going to be left in Basra when the shite hits the fan? (serious question).
Thanks for the cartoon link, Declan. Spot on.
Do any of those Palestinian prisoners have strong links with Syria or Hezbollah?
Comment by Griffon — March 16, 2006 @ 1:28 am
article about Abazaid actually testifying about permanent bases - http://informationclearinghouse.info/article12340.htm
and thanks to this crew for turning me on the informationclearinghouse - great resource.
Comment by siun — March 16, 2006 @ 2:35 am
with apologies for doubleposting - W is scheduled to speak tomorrow about his committment to a policy of preemptive wars and mention Iran and North Korea. no shame
Comment by siun — March 16, 2006 @ 5:52 am
Thanks for the link Siun.
Abazaid talks about a future “unified government” in Iraq.
Here’s a link to another view on that possiblity.
http://www.tomdispatch.com/index.mhtml?pid=66969
Apologies if I’ve pposted this link before.
The site is worth bookmarking.
And here’s another good resource. It allows you to quickly scan a lot of headlines with links
http://www.myantiwar.org/
And while I’m at it!
http://www.buzzflash.com/
http://www.truthout.org/
Comment by Griffon — March 16, 2006 @ 7:37 am
BBC and CNN reporting massive air raids on Iraq by US now … mention of Sammarra … no clear info yet.
God forgive us
Comment by siun — March 16, 2006 @ 3:48 pm
Yeah c130 gunships were brought in a while ago. I’ve been trying to follow but there’s very little coming out - yet. Those are gunships you can’t achieve any precision with them they’re not designed for it.
The 700 “extra” sent in to “protect” pilgrims - was I right or was I right? They’re from the contingent stationed in Kuwait to cover the choke point if needed. If you know anybody who has family serving in Iraq right now they’ve got real reason to be worried right now.
Then oh look what a coincidence:
I suppose that means that starving a country for years. bombing it. Making up one set of lies after another, invading it, looting it, mass murder, chemical weapons against civilians, using rape and torture as weapons, deliberately trying to start a civil war, and now this don’t constitute “meddling in Iraq’s affairs”
Comment by the smurph — March 16, 2006 @ 5:57 pm
While I’m at it - that incredibly stupid piece of complete dishoniesty with the Gaza jail has just destroyed the tiny tiny tiny figleaf of British “honest broker” anywhere in the Middle East.
Comment by the smurph — March 16, 2006 @ 6:03 pm
What smurph isn’t saying and I didn’t either is that there was a forced partial evacuation of Falluja. There hasn’t been one this time. With a population of 200,000+ people, a lot of people are going to die. (If that offensive goes on to strike the town.) Given how the US behaves I’ll be surprised if they don’t strike the town.
Sorry I’m still feeling my way on this so I’ve only noticed now that I needed to explain that.
Smurph if you’re still online I’m at work and it’s a big naughty of me to be online - would you ever mind doing a short thing here explaining about how the Iraqi troops taking part in ths just confirms that they’re NOT under Iraqi control and what that means.
Comment by Declan — March 16, 2006 @ 6:27 pm
tv news here trying to distract us with a bomb scare at a big arena in San Diego before start of a big basketball thing (think college basketball world cup scale)
Helen Thomas, veteran reporter and brave lady, asked Scotty Maclellan in the WH press briefing whether Bush does not realize that all these preemptive actions are violations of international law - and she kept at it
Comment by siun — March 16, 2006 @ 7:04 pm
What Deco is getting at is that these “as we stand down they’ll stand up” “Iraqi” troops aren’t under the control of the government. They’re under the control of the US army of ocupation and nobody else. They’re occupation troops and the rest of Iraq Shia Sunni alike seem them as that. They’re increasingly (from what we’ve been told) seen as traitors, traitors to their country and far more importantly traitors to Islam.
Comment by the smurph — March 16, 2006 @ 8:50 pm
As usual great insight,comments and links thanks guys!
Comment by Grania — March 16, 2006 @ 9:32 pm
Today is the 3rd anniversary of Rachel Corrie’s murder by Israeli soldiers who ran her over twice with a bulldozer while she tried to nonviolently protect a civilian home in Palestine.
tears and honor to Rachel’s memory
Comment by siun — March 17, 2006 @ 1:19 am
Iran accusing US and UK of killing 21 on border:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060317/ap_on_re_as/iran_rebels
Comment by siun — March 17, 2006 @ 9:16 pm