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Today's Must Read
At the very least, if the Bush Administration expires and we are still at war only in Iraq and Afghanistan, we can count ourselves lucky.
The New York Times reports on the latest treasure unearthed by Wikileaks, a 2005 27-page document showing the U.S. military's Rules of Engagement in Iraq. Most worrying of all, the rules allowed for cross-border raids into Iran or Syria:
In a section on crossing international borders, the document said the permission of the American defense secretary was required before American forces could cross into or fly over Iranian or Syrian territory. Such actions, the document suggested, would probably also require the approval of President Bush.But the document said that there were cases in which such approval was not required: when American forces were in hot pursuit of former members of Mr. Hussein’s government or terrorists....
It stated that the American commander engaged in the pursuit, however, should consult with top commanders in Baghdad, “time permitting.”
The Times notes that it's unknown whether this ever happened or whether the rules are any different now. Hold your breath.
But there are other interesting aspects to the document. Certainly the preoccupation with former members of Saddam Hussein's government, rather than foreign terrorists, was not reflected in the administration's rhetoric at the time.
And then there's this:
Apparently in a carryover from the intelligence failures of the Iraq invasion in early 2003, the document says the United States Central Command, which oversees operations in the Middle East, gave American commanders in Iraq the authority to attack mobile “W.M.D. labs”; such labs for making germ weapons were later determined not to exist.
Josh
Zachary
Official authorization: to attack mobile “W.M.D. labs” (?!?!?)
Sounds like a recipe for disaster! Another recipe, from gang that couldn't shoot straight.
February 4, 2008 10:47 AM | Reply | Permalink
Hey lil' George! Wanna go hunt some sand snipes?
February 4, 2008 11:05 AM | Reply | Permalink
Mobile W.M.D labs = Iranian Command and Control Centers.
February 4, 2008 11:09 AM | Reply | Permalink
As a person who lived thru the draft one time it is a terrible thing but if we restart it then I believe our country will stop this madness. These wars are not helping our country and they are breaking the Dollar. As a sidebar I know how many soldiers are killed and hurt but with the amount of Americans taken off Medicare and Medicaid to help pay for this how many of them are suffering?
February 4, 2008 11:48 AM | Reply | Permalink
As a person who lived thru the draft one time it is a terrible thing but if we restart it then I believe our country will stop this madness. These wars are not helping our country and they are breaking the Dollar. As a sidebar I know how many soldiers are killed and hurt but with the amount of Americans taken off Medicare and Medicaid to help pay for this how many of them are suffering?
February 4, 2008 11:50 AM | Reply | Permalink
So in other words our troops should just do whatever the hell they want. Terrible policy is an understatement. And they "might" need to contact the president if crossing an international boarder with our troops huh? Hey even if he is as intelligent as a limp noodle shouldn't the president be appraised before, oh I don't know, committing an act of war against another nation? This is truly astounding. Mind-bogglingly stupid.
And with our government's and military's stellar record of essentially labeling anything with more than one leg a terrorist why our troops could be in "hot pursuit" of those kinds of targets just about all the time! Yes, hot pursuit. They said hot pursuit. And where have we heard that little phrase before? Well hot damn it's from the Dukes of Hazzard! - "This is Roscoe P. Coltrane and I'm in hot pursuit. Let's gettem' Flash! Keeuuute-juuuuttt-Keeuuuute we gonna gettem' now."
Just how incompetent do you have to be to get fired from our government or top ranks within the military? Just like the center of a Tootsie-Pop - the world may never know...
February 4, 2008 1:25 PM | Reply | Permalink
So in other words our troops should just do whatever the hell they want. Terrible policy is an understatement. And they "might" need to contact the president if crossing an international boarder with our troops huh? Hey even if he is as intelligent as a limp noodle shouldn't the president be appraised before, oh I don't know, committing an act of war against another nation? This is truly astounding. Mind-bogglingly stupid.
And with our government's and military's stellar record of essentially labeling anything with more than one leg a terrorist why our troops could be in "hot pursuit" of those kinds of targets just about all the time! Yes, hot pursuit. They said hot pursuit. And where have we heard that little phrase before? Well hot damn it's from the Dukes of Hazzard! - "This is Roscoe P. Coltrane and I'm in hot pursuit. Let's gettem' Flash! Keeuuute-juuuuttt-Keeuuuute we gonna gettem' now."
Just how incompetent do you have to be to get fired from our government or top ranks within the military? Just like the center of a Tootsie-Pop - the world may never know...
February 4, 2008 1:26 PM | Reply | Permalink
Sorry about the double post. I was afraid of that. My browser (or likely the server) hung & I think I may have stopped & reloaded. Ah the joys of upgrading! ;-)
Good luck guys, I know it'll work out soon enough!
February 5, 2008 3:42 AM | Reply | Permalink