COLLECTIVE MADNESS


“Soft despotism is a term coined by Alexis de Tocqueville describing the state into which a country overrun by "a network of small complicated rules" might degrade. Soft despotism is different from despotism (also called 'hard despotism') in the sense that it is not obvious to the people."

Friday, March 27, 2015


Why The Iraqi Army Is Stuck On The Outskirts of Tikrit



By Mustafa Habib | (Niqash.org) –
(Baghdad) – The offensive to re-take Tikrit from extremists seems to have stalled as troops surround the city but cannot go further. The same thing is happening elsewhere. And there are three main reasons why.
While stopped on the edges of the city of Tikrit, Captain Ahmad Mahmoud says he told the soldiers under his command about the battle of Stalingrad, which started in Russia in 1942 between the attacking Germans and the Russians during World War II and did not end until early in 1943. Despite the fact that the German army, led by Nazi commanders, had surrounded the city they were not able to take it from the Russians over months of prolonged, intensive and close fighting.
Mahmoud and his soldiers are part of a major military offensive in the province of Salahaddin which aims to take back territory currently controlled by the extremist group known as the Islamic State.
Earlier in March the Iraqi government sent the Iraqi army, alongside unofficial Shiite Muslim militias and with aid from local Sunni Muslim tribes, into the province of Salahaddin to take on fighters from the Islamic State, or IS. At first progress of the offensive, ostensibly the Iraqi government’s first major campaign against the IS group, was good and within a week the forces were able to re-take the areas of al-Dour, al-Alam and Albu Ajil. But when it comes to the major city of Tikrit, which has been mostly abandoned by residents to the IS fighters, progress has slowed.
And Mahmoud seemed to think the same thing was happening to the Iraqi army in Tikrit as had happened in Stalingrad. The city was surrounded but, as he told NIQASH during a telephone interview, “we are just not trained to fight this way, on the street. Even the Shiite militias, who are known for their street fighting skills, haven’t been able to break into the city and now the Islamic State is launching attacks on the surrounding troops, exhausting the men and inflicting casualties in a similar way to the Stalingrad scenario.”
When the Islamic State controls a city they immediately begin to protect the borders of the territory, planting improvised explosive devices on the roads and in houses, they deploy snipers and they prepare car bombs so they can detonate them if the area comes under attack. The IS fighters who escaped from the nearby towns under attack from the Iraqi army are now all thought to be in Tikrit, where they have organised themselves to hold the city. So far they have been successful in doing this – and they are also using the situation to attack Iraqi forces on the outskirts of the city.
Worryingly the same thing appears to be happening elsewhere too. In the province of Anbar, Iraqi forces have surrounded the smaller, strategic city of Karmah. The troops, some of whom were based in Baghdad, went into battle to try and ensure that the fighting did not get closer to the capital while the Tikrit offensive was on and they managed to capture areas around Karmah.
However due to fierce resistance from IS fighters inside central Karmah, the Iraqi forces were ordered to come to a halt and simply surround the city.
Similar situations have arisen in larger cities like Fallujah and Heet, where the Iraqi army has managed to surround the city but not been able to enter it. Basically it seems that the Iraqi army and their allies have been unable to take one major city back from the extremists so far – they’ve only been able to reclaim smaller towns that are more agricultural or tribal in nature.
Critics suggest there may be three main reasons for this lack of success. It is clear that the IS group has become skilled at street warfare, fighting from house to house and street to street – quite possibly skills their experienced fighters picked up in Syria. In order to defeat the IS group in this arena, there are three things needed that neither the Iraqi army nor the Shiite militias have. These are soldiers specially trained in urban warfare, intelligence and information from inside the cities themselves and the trust of the cities’ residents.
When it comes to urban warfare, the most experienced of the Shiite Muslim militias have done this before, certainly more than the Iraqi army has and in particular when they fought against US troops in Iraq after 2003 and then against other sectarian militias between 2006 and 2008.
“But the Islamic State outperforms us in one very important way,” says Abbas al-Saadi, a volunteer with a militia in Anbar province. “They have people who are ready to kill themselves. They fight very strongly and when they run out of ammunition, they blow themselves up.”
Al-Saadi says that the IS group also booby trap armoured military vehicles they originally stole from the Iraqi army to trick troops.
Intelligence from inside the cities is also in short supply mainly because, if the residents who were cooperating with the Iraqi army have not left for fear of being caught and killed, then they may well have been killed by the IS group.
“We used to have very good sources inside the cities controlled by the Islamic State,” one officer from Iraq’s Ministry of Interior told NIQASH on condition he remain anonymous. “We found out a lot about the Islamic State’s hiding places, their plans and their movements. But we have very few of these left now and most of the information we’re getting has been incorrect.”
It’s going to be tough to convince Sunni Muslim locals still living in the cities controlled by the IS group, an ostensibly Sunni Muslim group, to turn against the IS fighters. Reports about how the Shiite Muslim militias have treated locals in the areas where they drove the IS group out have reached these people and there are also a number of videos online showing Sunni Muslim houses being burned and residents being arrested; often local Sunnis consider the militias just as dangerous as the IS group. Human rights groups have released several reports on this issue and said that civilians should be protected from retaliatory attacks by pro-government forces.
Related video added by Juan Cole:

93 comments:

  1. I fail to see how anyone can watch the top video and not feel anger for what George Bush and the Neocon political class led US forces did to Iraq. Iraq is pure hell and the bastards that attacked Iraq and caused this should be brought to trial for war criminality.

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    1. Iraq had three years of peace after the Surge.

      Then O'bozo got elected, the American People got what they wanted, a perfect idiot in the White House, and O'bozo took the troops out.

      The Generals had warned him not to do this. Bush warned him not to do this.

      Predictably, all hell broke loose, and here we are !

      It is O'bozo that should be brought to trial for criminal stupidity, or, better yet, for treason.

      Delete
  2. I can only hope that the Obama Administration goes after AIPAC and exposes them for what they are and the damage they have caused. Newsweek is reporting that it is already in play.

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  3. General Clark exposed the plot eight years ago. The damage caused by them in their plan to inflame the Middle East is not even close to burning out.

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  4. Here is begins
    As the Iran talks go to the wire, we can only marvel at the political fireworks we are seeing.

    To being with, there’s the Wall Street Journal report that Israel was spying on the US talks and leaking details to friendly members of congress. Jeff Stein follows up at Newsweek that the revelation has angered many in the administration, and the rage goes at the Israel lobby:

    One former U.S. intelligence operative with long, firsthand familiarity with Israeli operations called the revelation “appalling but not surprising,” especially under Netanyahu…

    “The fact that there is such manipulation of our institutions by a so-called ally must be exposed, and the ‘useful idiots’ in [the U.S.] government who toe the Likud line will someday be looked back upon as men and women who sacrificed the U.S. national interest for a foreign ideology—Likud right-wing Zionism,” the operative said, on condition of anonymity due to the sensitivity of the matter.

    “We know publicly that the administration is seething,” he added, “but I can assure you that behind closed doors the gloves are coming off. Bibi is in the administration’s crosshairs. If this is what is being allowed to leak publicly, you can bet that, behind the scenes, folks both in the White House and the foreign policy-intel community [are prepared to] act on that anger.”

    This is not the end of it, he predicted. The American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), which critics say has morphed from a powerful “pro-Israel” lobby to a powerful pro-Likud lobby over the years, will be Obama officials’ next target.

    “I’m betting there are going to be some willing leakers now about stories such as AIPAC’s operations against Congress,” the former operative said.

    - See more at: http://mondoweiss.net/2015/03/after-aipac-newsweek#sthash.drFizBZV.dpuf

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    1. AIPAC is working hard against the Iran talks. It has announced six conditions for a deal with Iran that are all deal-breakers.

      MJ Rosenberg echoes my own opinion of Obama right now. He’s risen to the occasion:

      Stop saying #BarackObama is not gutsy. First president to smash mouth #israel and its lobby since 1956!

      The Jerusalem Post reports that leading Democrats who Israel and its friends hoped would swing against the Iran talks are sticking by the president, among them Tim Kaine. Though according to Newsweek, the Virginian Senator is covering his bases on the spying controversy, standing up for the Israelis:

      But if Senator Tim Kaine, a Virginia Democrat, is any barometer, the Israelis have little to worry about.

      “I just don’t look at that as spying,” Kaine said of the Journal’s allegations. “Their deep existential interest in such a deal, that they would try to figure out anything that they could, that they would have an opinion on it…I don’t find any of that that controversial.”

      Kaine is a Hillary Clinton supporter who has been mentioned as a likely vice-presidential pick. He is also a J Street Democrat, He has been supported by the liberal Zionist lobby group– which opposes AIPAC inside the establishment– as a possible savior of the peace process.

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    2. The GOP Likuds Force is still at it:

      Another important report in Newsweek says that Netanyahu alienated a crucial constituency he needed to block an Iran deal: black Congresspeople. They disliked his upstaging of Obama, most of them boycotted his speech, and they saw his racebaiting on election day:

      According to aides, the South Carolina Democrat [James Clyburn] bluntly told [Israeli legislator Yuli] Edelstein he regarded the prime minister’s upcoming speech as an “affront to America’s first black president.”…

      But for black Democrats like Clyburn, it was Netanyahu’s coded election-day warning that Israel’s Arab citizens were headed to the polls “in droves” to vote him out of office that pushed them from anger to outrage. Netanyahu later apologized for his remark, but his contrition appeared to have no effect on Clyburn and company. “The Congressional Black Caucus is gone,” a Democratic congressional aide told Newsweek, referring to its support for Israel under Netanyahu.

      As negotiators from the U.S., Iran and five major powers close in on a framework nuclear accord in Geneva to meet an end-of-March deadline, Netanyahu’s loss of black support on Capitol Hill probably means he’s lost his gamble to create a way for Congress to pass a bill that would block an agreement. “Bibi,” a congressional aide said, using Netanyahu’s nickname, “ensured there will be no veto-proof majority in the House.”

      Reporting the struggle between Congress and the White House, the Daily Beast quotes congresspeople saying the spying allegations are no big deal. But the administration’s leaks are!

      A senior congressional staffer called Obama administration allegations of Israeli spying “deeply irresponsible innuendo and destructive hearsay,” telling The Daily Beast that “these unsubstantiated allegations are all the more galling in light of the fact that this Administration has leaked, consistently and aggressively, details of Iran proposals to the front page of The New York Times and other news outlets, as well as to sympathetic think-tankers and pro-Iranian groups outside of government.”

      It’s crazy, huh. Like if the government was going after the U.S. communist party for disloyalty but most of Congress were strong devoted Communists who shared the party’s loyalty to Moscow. I see the upside, this is the decadent period of the Israel lobby.

      - See more at: http://mondoweiss.net/2015/03/after-aipac-newsweek#sthash.drFizBZV.dpuf

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    3. Just now on MSNBC, Andrea Mitchell and Chuck Todd referenced White House chief of staff Denis McDonough’s speech to J Street last week in which he slammed nearly 50 years of occupation as a politically significant act.

      Mitchell said that the Israelis are now signalling they will accept some type of Iran deal after all. Todd said that the Israelis are concerned about the Security Council resolution for a Palestinian state that is now inevitable– and seeking to make it as agreeable as possible to themselves, by trying to make Europeans happy. So it all comes down to the Palestinians, doesn’t it?

      Speaking of nuclear leaks, people are talking about the recent release by the US government of a Defense Department document showing that the US and Israel were working together on Israel’s development of a hydrogen bomb in the 1980s. The story broke in February on Courthouse News:

      [A] researcher has won the release of a decades-old Defense Department report detailing the U.S. government’s extensive help to Israel in that nation’s development of a nuclear bomb.
      “I am struck by the degree of cooperation on specialized war making devices between Israel and the US,” said Roger Mattson, a former member of the Atomic Energy Commission technical staff.
      The 1987 report, “Critical Technology Assessment in Israel and NATO Nations,” compares the key Israeli facilities developing nuclear weapons to Los Alamos and Oak Ridge National Laboratories, the principal U.S. laboratories that developed the bomb for the United States.

      The researcher who sprung the doc, Grant Smith of IRMEP (Institute for Research: Middle East Policy), tells me that “the report was never classified. Never ‘top secret.’ But it was tightly controlled and subject to DoD release authority.” Last November Smith wrote a letter to the president and then-Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel urging them to release the document. He has no idea if they played any role in the release.

      But in a January court response to IRMEP, the Defense Department said it was seeking Israel’s OK before releasing the document.

      This Israeli site sees the release as politically significant:

      In a development that has largely been missed by mainstream media, the Pentagon early last month quietly declassified a Department of Defense top-secret document detailing Israel’s nuclear program, a highly covert topic that Israel has never formally announced to avoid a regional nuclear arms race, and which the US until now has respected by remaining silent.

      - See more at: http://mondoweiss.net/2015/03/after-aipac-newsweek#sthash.drFizBZV.dpuf

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    4. Oh and let’s not forget the war party. Bill Kristol on Twitter:

      I’m in Israel. Talking to savvy, hardened, matter-of-fact foreign policy professionals. All think Iran deal a truly momentous disaster.

      John Bolton in the New York Times op-ed page calls for a joint US Israel military attack on Iran now:

      The inescapable conclusion is that Iran will not negotiate away its nuclear program. Nor will sanctions block its building a broad and deep weapons infrastructure. The inconvenient truth is that only military action like Israel’s 1981 attack on Saddam Hussein’s Osirak reactor in Iraq or its 2007 destruction of a Syrian reactor, designed and built by North Korea, can accomplish what is required. Time is terribly short, but a strike can still succeed.

      Rendering inoperable the Natanz and Fordow uranium-enrichment installations and the Arak heavy-water production facility and reactor would be priorities. So, too, would be the little-noticed but critical uranium-conversion facility at Isfahan. An attack need not destroy all of Iran’s nuclear infrastructure, but by breaking key links in the nuclear-fuel cycle, it could set back its program by three to five years. The United States could do a thorough job of destruction, but Israel alone can do what’s necessary.

      Isn’t that what Jeffrey Goldberg was ordering up five years ago?

      - See more at: http://mondoweiss.net/2015/03/after-aipac-newsweek#sthash.drFizBZV.dpuf

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    5. .

      Bolton doesn't have the balls to suggest the US attack Iran; but he has no problems egging Israel on to the deed.

      He's always been a loose cannon.

      .

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    6. Au contraire, Bolton has suggested the entire western world ought to be involved.

      You are wasting your life by not watching Fox.

      The CNN and MSNBC hosts held their hands up in the hands up, don't shoot gesture on their news casts.

      This meme, started by a convicted felon, and 'friend' of the 'gentle giant' has been thoroughly debunked.

      You'd never see such jumping to conclusions on Fox.

      That's what I charge Noble Ash with..............foolishly and naively adopting any leftist meme that comes rolling down the street.

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    8. .

      You moron. My opinion wasn't based on FOX or CNN 'interpretations' of Bolton's words. Deuce isn't all that great in highlighting quotes in articles but the Bolton words above were from an article he wrote for the Times. Read it yesterday at RCW.

      I've seen the moron on FOX. He sits there pissing and moaning about Obama not doing enough but when he's forced to come up with an alternative, like most of the GOP, he mumbles something about sanctions. Now, he has gone further than I have ever seen him go before by suggesting that Israel do the deed. He knows the American public wouldn't put up with us doing it.

      Spare me your FOX, American Thinker, Drudge bull.

      .

      .

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  5. If an Iran deal is reached and Israel attacks Iran, The US should shoot down any Israeli aircraft participating in the attack.

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    1. .

      You've gone off the deep end, son.

      .

      Delete
    2. Quirk always comes through when the issue is important enough.

      I lower my discount rate on Q's contributions to only 40%.

      d. rat, Rufus and Ash remain at 100%. That is to say, pay them no mind.

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    4. You’ve gone off the deep end, son.
      Hardly, the only explanation floated by the Israeli firsters over the Israeli attack of the USS Liberty, was that the US military warship was a threat to Israel, placing Israeli security in jeopardy by monitoring ongoing military operations.

      The Middle East is nearing total chaos due to three insane US military intrusions, Iraq, Libya and military support for groups hostile to the Assad regime in Syria.

      ISIS was birthed by this US caused chaos in no less a way than al Qaeda was a malignancy that evolved from US support and weaponry supplied to the Mujahideen in Afghanistan and further reinforced in Kosovo.

      Iran was the chosen US hegemonnn when the US overthrew the democratically elected Iranian government in 1953 and subsequent support for the Shah. After the Iranian revolution overthrew our guy, the Shah, the US encouraged the Iraqi attack on Iran by our new guy at the time, Saddam.

      Obama attacked Libya, supported the insurrection and almost direct attack on Syria and made the huge error of being influenced by the permanent war party in Washington.

      What is the remedy to all this murder, madness and chaos? More of the same except now we hear about a military attack on Iran by Israel. The results are no longer unknowable, they are predictable.

      Obama has come late to know about his mistakes and they do not include the idiotic assertion that the US should have stayed longer in Iraq or start a war with Iran. The US should tell Israel, in no uncertain terms that if Israeli war planes attack Iran, it will be interpreted as a US sanctions assault.

      The only way that the US could have a chance in proving that was not the case would be to destroy any Israeli aircraft attacking Iran.

      The USS Liberty resolution.




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  6. >>> In order to defeat the IS group in this arena, there are three things needed that neither the Iraqi army nor the Shiite militias have. These are soldiers specially trained in urban warfare, intelligence and information from inside the cities themselves and the trust of the cities’ residents.......It’s going to be tough to convince Sunni Muslim locals still living in the cities controlled by the IS group, an ostensibly Sunni Muslim group, to turn against the IS fighters.<<<

    As Ol' Unca Bob has been telling you, those who remain in these cities basically support ISIS. In Mosul all those that wanted to got out. Those that remain are going to be tough to deal with.....

    Generals Rufus and rat made perfect fools of themselves with their predictions of an ISIS free Iraq by Memorial Day 2015, or the 4th of July 2015.

    Rufus has backed off. d. rat has not as far as I know.

    The Sunnis, who lorded it over the Shia for decades, do not want to be controlled by Baghdad, or by the Iranians, who are starting to control Baghdad.



    ......

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    1. All this fighting is part of O'bozo's "Arab Spring".

      O'bozo too has earned the coveted 100% discount rate on his opinions.

      He is fuller of shit than Ash.

      Delete
  7. One thing Congress ought to do immediately:

    Invite Sisi of Egypt to speak to Congress.

    It's a rare thing when a sane voice rises in Islamic lands.

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    1. General Sisi is a proxy of the US, always has been.
      Ever since his days at the US Army War College, in Carlisle PA.

      What he would say, to the Congress of the United States ...

      Sisi lays down three requirements for democracy to succeed in the Middle East :

      (1) It must adapt to Islam. He describes "the religious nature" of the Middle East as "one of the most important factors" affecting the region's politics. Islam makes democracy there so different from its Western prototype that it "may bear little resemblance" to the original. Therefore, it "is not necessarily going to evolve upon a Western template" but "will have its own shape or form coupled with stronger religious ties."

      Those religious ties mean that Middle Eastern democracy cannot be secular; separating mosque and state is "unlikely to be favorably received by the vast majority of Middle Easterners," who are devout Muslims. Rather, democracy must be established "upon Islamic beliefs" and "sustain the religious base." The executive, legislative, and judicial branches all must "take Islamic beliefs into consideration when carrying out their duties." Presumably, this translates into the Islamic authorities under President Sisi reviewing proposed laws to safeguard Islamic values, regardless of what the majority of voters wants.

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    2. (2) The West should help, but not interfere. The West looms large for Sisi, who fears its negative influence even as he seeks its support.

      He has many worries: The great powers want a democracy resembling Western institutions rather than accepting a democracy "founded on Islamic beliefs." He interprets the then-named global war on terror as "really just a mask for establishing Western democracy in the Middle East." To meet their energy needs, Westerners "attempt to influence and dominate the region." The wars they started in Iraq and Afghanistan need to be resolved before democracy can take root. Support for Israel raises suspicions about their motives.

      Sisi's major concern is U.S. rejection of democracies that "may not be sympathetic to Western interests."

      He demands that the West not interfere when its adversaries win elections: "The world cannot demand democracy in the Middle East, yet denounce what it looks like because a less than pro-Western party legitimately assumes office." Translation: Do not call President Sisi anti-democratic when he pursues policies Washington dislikes.

      But the peoples of the Middle East also need the West. In the economic arena, they are unlikely to succeed "without external support from Western democracies." Accordingly, he pleads for the U.S. government to assist "supportive economic nations in the Middle East, such as Egypt." President Sisi wants American taxpayers to continue footing his bills.

      The West is also the answer, in Sisi's view, to the sycophantic and unaccountable Middle East media. "If corruption exists in the government, it is likely to go unreported." Therefore, he wants those in power "to let go of controlling the media." To build a superior press, Sisi looks to the West, specifically to international news organizations and to governments. Inasmuch as President Sisi quickly intimidated the Egyptian media into obsequiousness as soon as he assumed office, it is good to know that, in principle, he appreciates a free press. Westerners who meet with him should unceasingly remind him of this.

      (3) Giving the people more responsibility. Democracy does not emerge on its own, Sisi asserts, but "needs a good environment – like a reasonable economic situation, educated people, and a moderate understanding of religious issues."

      The problem in Egypt is that, "the nature of the population has been one of dependence upon and favor from the government." How to break this dependence?

      "Education and the media are the key enablers toward the establishment of democracy; there must be a shift from state controlled means to population controlled means."
      General Sisi understood that Egypt needs a politically mature citizenry; but will President Sisi permit it to emerge?

      Examining his three preconditions, the first two give Sisi, as ruler, the freedom to act anti-democratically. Only the third component would, in fact, help bring about democracy.


      The Middle East as a Unified Region

      One unexpected theme that emerges from his paper concerns Sisi's (possibly neo-Nasserist) hope that the Middle East become a single unit:
      "the Middle East should organize as a region."


      He wants the Middle East (an area he does not define; one wonders whether Israel would be included) to view itself "much in the same manner as the European Union," implying a customs union, a single currency, freedom of cross-border movement, and a joint foreign policy. He offers this as a goal of free elections:
      "Democracy in the Middle East … must find a unifying theme that draws the Middle East into a unified region."


      http://www.danielpipes.org/14931/abdel-fattah-al-sisi

      Robert "Draft Dodger" Peterson thinks that ...
      Islam must be "one of the most important factors" to the sane governance of the Middle East.

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    3. Democratic principles must be adapted to allow Islam to b preeminent, in the Middle East.
      This Robert "Draft Dodger" Peterson now accepts as the sane solution.

      As long as the President of the United States, Mr Obama, does not endorse it, but President-General al-Sisi. of Egypt, does.

      In his cocoon of ignorance, Robert "Draft Dodger" Peterson endorses the Islamic governance of ISrael.

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    4. This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.

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    5. Your statements above make zero sense, even from your own perverted point of view.

      Delete

  8. Iraq Resumes Offensive in Tikrit After U.S. Airstrikes

    Iraqi troops move in as Iran-backed Shiite militiamen withdraw in fight to dislodge Islamic State from Tikrit


    WASHINGTON—After two days of U.S. airstrikes, Iraqi forces are resuming their stalled offensive to rout Islamic State fighters from Tikrit without the help of Iran-backed fighters once at the forefront of the battle.

    As Iran-backed Shiite militiamen sat on the sidelines, thousands of Iraqi government forces sought to capitalize on the new American airstrikes to dislodge hundreds of Islamic State fighters hunkered down in the heart of the city.

    The push is the first by Iraqi forces into Tirkit since U.S. planes started hitting Islamic State positions on Wednesday.The U.S.-led coalition has carried out 20 airstrikes on Islamic State forces in and around Tikrit, officials said Friday.


    http://www.wsj.com/articles/iraq-resumes-offensive-in-tikrit-after-u-s-airstrikes-1427476639

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    1. Col. Steve Warren, a Pentagon spokesman, said Friday that the failure of the Iran-backed fighters in Tikrit and Baghdad’s decision to choose American help over Iranian support was a clear sign which way the military campaign was heading.

      “The Iraqis had a decision to make,” he said. “They were able to observe firsthand exactly what Iran brought to the table as they conducted their operations in and around Tikrit. They have also been able to observe firsthand what the coalition brings to the table, based on our operations throughout the rest of Iraq. The Iraqis obviously have made a decision.”

      The U.S.-backed fight for Tikrit is seen as a test for the Iraqi military that is preparing for a bigger fight to oust Islamic State forces from Mosul, the country’s second-largest city.

      “We’re really looking at this as a spring training run for Mosul,”
      one U.S. military official said on Friday.

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    2. Pentagon officials said that they are working with Shiite fighters that answer to the Baghdad government.
      Members of the so-called popular mobilization forces are intimately involved with the operation and have been given access to the joint U.S.-Iraq planning center, U.S. officials said.

      Delete
    3. Col. Warren warned Friday that the fight ahead could be difficult.

      “Urban warfare is difficult,” he said. “It is rough, hot, bloody, tiring, exhaustive work. No one should expect this to be an overnight thing. This is a hard fight that the Iraqis are going to have to go through. And it will be difficult, but with coalition air power... I am confident that they will ultimately succeed.”


      The Rat Doctrine has been accepted by the Iraqi ...
      Without close air support from the US and its coalition partners, the going was just to tough for the locals to gain a quick victory. With US support the outcome is preordained, Tikrit will be razed.

      Just look at remains of Kobane, the Iraqi have.

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    4. The US does not care what the sectarian alignment of the Iraqi government combatants is, as long as those combatants are answerable to the Iraqi Security Forces. As are the Kurdish militias, the Peshmerga.

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    5. .

      Tikrit will be razed.

      Don't be silly, rat, haven't you heard? Our pilots are brave, our planes are the best, and all of our smart bombs are above average.

      We will attack with precision and the only thing taken out will be the bad guys (of course it helps that all the good guys are gone).

      This is now America's Tikrit and we should expect things to be cleaned up in a day or two. Get with the program.

      .

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    6. Obviously, Legionnaire Q did not look at the image provided.

      The close air support will raze the city center.
      Look at reality, or persist in your ignorance, Legionnaire Q.

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    7. The Iraqi government has wanted Tikrit destroyed, for a while.
      The hometown of Saddam, the memorial ... All left a bad taste in their mouths.

      The civilians have been given their chance to evacuate ... reports are that most have.
      The Iranian cadres have gone north to Mosul, or so it was reported, here, via Instagram from there.

      "I can't tell you if the use of force in Iraq today will last five days, five weeks or five months, but it won't last any longer than that."
      Donald Rumsfeld



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    8. “It takes real planning to organize this kind of chaos.”

      ― Mel Odom

      Delete

    9. “Sometimes you can see things happen right in front of your eyes and still jump to the wrong conclusions.”

      ― Jodi Picoult

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    10. .

      Obviously, Legionnaire Q did not look at the image provided.

      Once again, the rat proves his unfamiliarity with the English language. The concept of sarcasm seems beyond him. Evidently, they do not teach such things in the English-as-a-Second language classes.

      I assumed most of the silliness the rat put up was the result of ill-intent. Evidently, a good portion is also the result of ignorance.

      :o)

      .

      .

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    11. I fully understand sarcasm, when and where appropriate.
      Legionnaire Q fails the test, again.

      Delete
    12. To paraphrase what was stated earlier, in a post addressed to "O"rdure ...

      Those that find humor in the death and miseries of others, there is something "pathetic" about them.

      Delete
    13. .

      I fully understand sarcasm, when and where appropriate.

      Nonsense, rat. You prove your lack of knowledge daily, the inappropriate use of prepositions instead of adverbs, the confusing of the etymology of words with meaning, your lack of knowledge of common idioms, your inability to detect sarcasm. It all draws a pretty clear picture.

      When and where it is appropriate?

      A silly statement in and of itself. Sarcasm is not dependent on whether it is appropriate. Another example of your shortcomings.

      Going beyond that, he appointed you the arbiter of 'when and where something is appropriate'? Who the heck would given you shortcomings?

      Too funny.

      .

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    14. .

      To paraphrase what was stated earlier, in a post addressed to "O"rdure ...

      Those that find humor in the death and miseries of others, there is something "pathetic" about them.



      Once again, the conclusions you draw are indicative of a very troubled mind.

      Sad.

      Very sad.

      :o)

      .

      Delete
  9. The Iranian people, unlike the people of the western countries well aware of their history and their resentment of the west is well founded, from the overthrow of their democratically elected government in 1953, their saddling of the shah's dictatorship by the west as well as the Iraq-Irani war which was openly funded by the U.S.. The israeli's need to be reined in and come to face the facts as to why there is always a "most existential threat" and "arch enemy" of the day. The creation of the state of israel which was convenient for the europeans, to found a de facto country for their non-Semite jews to emigrate to at the expense of the Semite people of Palestine, was convenient but not well thought out. Today the state of israel is a legitimate de-facto nation that the world will live with, like it or not. The U.S. and the rest of the world is not obligated to support or go to war to protect it and it's expansionist settlements and undemocratic apartheid policies of keeping over eight million Palestinian people in a state of siege, without the rights of citizenship and the vote, on the nonsensical notion that it is a jewish (and must stay at all costs) only state, or that they can have a nuclear policy or unacknowledged weapons program as well as a veto as to who else may or may not, and the right to go to war to keep anyone who has the right to, but they object to, that is the core and bottom line of all israel' troubles!. Diplomacy and Statesmanship is what is needed now more than ever, not knee-jerk reactions based on what are no more than coin toss scenarios and wishful thinking, the risks are far too great!!!.

    ReplyDelete
  10. I have time for one quick comment. The Iraqis' problem is a lack of qualified officers, and non-coms. Period.

    All men are, by nature, foolhardy (thus, brave;) but, they have to be led by motivated men.

    The Iraqis lack an Officer Corps with Esprit formed from long tradition of pride and sacrifice.

    I stated this problem, on these very pages, months ago. We can lead them through this process, but it won't be pretty.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. A good part of the problem is that ISIS is extremely motivated and has more support than you imagine.

      And if you stated this problem, on these pages months ago, why in hell did you make such an insane prediction as Iraq would be ISIS free by July 4th, 2015 ?

      Huh?

      You change your bullshit with the shifting scene just like rat-O-rooter.

      What a hoot this place truly is.......and now we have Deuce, who thinks Iran is fighting for civilization, hoping the USA gets in the business of shooting down Israeli planes.

      It's all really quite insane.

      By the way, Quirk's rating is back to normal, after his comments about the rooter this morning.

      Welcome back 'home', Quirk.

      Delete
  11. This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.

      Delete
    2. This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.

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    5. Iraq will be ISIS free by Memorial Day.

      hootHootHOOTHOOTHOOT

      :)

      Some 'General', some 'military expert', self described.

      HOOT HOOT HOOT

      bwabwabwabwahahahahahaha !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

      A continual living lying hateful cartoon 'man'.......

      Delete
  12. This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Deuce, d. rat is back to stalking me.

      Just sayin'.

      Delete
    2. Post the timestamped and date reference Robert "Draft Dodger" Peterson.

      But you cannot do it, so the quote is taken out on context, though in and of itself, it is accurate.

      Better to be an asshole than a thief, a worm that stole his aunt's honor and destroyed her good name, before institutionalizing her, to further a criminal conspiracy, as you are, Robert "Draft Dodger" Peterson..

      Delete
  13. Obama “blowing up our alliances to secure a deal that paves Iran’s way to a bomb”

    March 27, 2015 9:23 am By Robert Spencer

    Iran Nuclear Talks

    Why is Obama so avid to have this deal that he will make disastrous concessions to the Iranians and throw U.S. allies under the bus to get it? Does he really, really want Iran to have nuclear weapons? Is this really all about enabling Iran to destroy Israel?

    http://www.jihadwatch.org/2015/03/obama-blowing-up-our-alliances-to-secure-a-deal-that-paves-irans-way-to-a-bomb


    The shoe seems to fit.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. What alliance would that be, Robert "Draft Dodger" Peterson?

      Certainly not NATO, when our French, German and English allies are all with US, at the table with the Iranians.

      Delete
    2. This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.

      Delete
    3. Just responding to you post, which makes unauthenticated claims.
      What alliance is being 'thrown under the bus'.

      What Treaty is being violated?

      Delete
  14. American Thinker Blog
    Brit FM says Iran framework deal will not be written down March 28, 2015 An unwritten deal without specificity is a perfect vehicle for this travesty. More

    March 28, 2015
    Brit FM says Iran framework deal will not be written down
    By Rick Moran

    British Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond says that any framework deal reached with Iran before the deadline on April 1 will probably not be written down and will be vague, and short on specifics.

    http://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2015/03/brit_fm_says_iran_framework_deal_will_not_be_written_down.html


    FARCE FARCE FARCE

    TRAGIC FARCE

    INSANE

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Even CHAMBERLAIN got a piece of paper......

      This is TRUE INSANITY

      Delete
    2. The "Draft Dodger" Peterson rants on, to no good cause.
      His displeasure with our NATO allies, as well as the US becoming ever more evident.

      Delete
    3. I can't imagine though how Mr Vanity Obama can resist the temptation to wave a piece of paper in the air and proclaim "Peace in our time!"

      Delete
    4. That the source of his post is discredited, by ISraelis, all the more humorous.

      Iran, P5+1 close in on 2-3 page nuclear deal

      Top diplomats from France, Germany, US, and Iran continue efforts to break deadlock in Lausanne as deadline for agreement approaches.

      The foreign ministers of France and Germany joined the top US and Iranian diplomats on Saturday to help break an impasse in nuclear negotiations as major powers and Iran closed in on a 2- or 3-page accord that could form the basis of a long-term deal.

      http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4641835,00.html

      Delete
    5. This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.

      Delete
    6. A 2-3 page deal?

      Wow

      Perhaps he will have a piece of paper to wave around in the air, d. rat, DBD, PA, L, WC and C.

      A BIG improvement !!

      Delete
  15. O damn, my slave driver wife is calling me to my tasks....

    tata for a while

    Cheers !!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. O wait, a reprieve..........

      The Lord is indeed merciful.....

      Delete
    2. .........she has proclaimed it is so cold and damp to paint today.....

      Delete
  16. That letter to the Iranians by the Republicans in the Senate is looking better and better.......they were onto this.....

    Harry Reid, who gets money from the backs of whores, has dropped out, knowing he cant' win and that the perfidious Democrats will not take back the Senate.

    ReplyDelete
  17. Is it really such a stretch to see the Democrats as the Jihadi Wing of the Iranian al-Quds Force ?

    Not if they buy into this Iran 'deal' craparoo....

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. A good number of the more thoughtful Democrats are having second thoughts about this shit sandwich.

      67 votes may not be out of reach.

      Delete
  18. I got to laugh out loud. Skimming through Real Clear Politics, I came upon this gem by one of Deuce's most favored sources, Crazy Noam Chomsky, who, among many other absurdities, denied the Cambodian Holocaust -

    Magna Carta Messed Up the World, Here’s How to Fix It

    The “logic” of capitalist development has left a nightmare of environmental destruction in its wake.
    Noam Chomsky

    http://www.thenation.com/article/198513/killing-commons#

    I can't begin to say how really confused is this fellow.

    And I recall how my wonderful Jewish lawyer had a copy of the Magna Carta on the wall of his law office.......

    (by the way he thought Chomsky was nuts)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Is that the same lawyer that engaged with you in your conspiracy to defraud the bank and institutionalize your aunt?

      . My lawyer thought it to be a hell of a good move. He got most of the money. It was tough, in them days. They couldn't do a damn thing about it, I put her in the rest home, age 96. What you going to do, when she is institutionalized?

      http://2164th.blogspot.com/2010/05/gloom-and-doom-wednesday.html

      Delete
  19. California has too much power -

    California's shift toward renewables makes energy harder to manage

    By Kim Smuga-Otto ksmugaotto@mercurynews.com

    Posted: 03/26/15, 9:34 PM PDT |


    FOLSOM -- California's electrical grid has a problem -- a nice problem, but a problem nonetheless: The state often has too much power.

    Nearly 23 percent of California's energy now comes from renewable sources such as wind and solar, and the state is on track to reach its goal of generating one-third of its energy from renewables by 2020. But feeding all that green energy into the Golden State's grid -- without overloading it -- has become a major challenge.

    http://www.orovillemr.com/general-news/20150326/californias-shift-toward-renewables-makes-energy-harder-to-manage

    It's all the fault of Rufus ! ;)

    Actually Rufus has been something of a prophet on these things, proving the old adage that even a blind old boar finds an acorn once in a while.

    Ruf, you've had it right on energy.

    Congratulations.

    ReplyDelete
  20. Deuce ☂Sat Mar 28, 12:53:00 AM EDT
    If an Iran deal is reached and Israel attacks Iran, The US should shoot down any Israeli aircraft participating in the attack.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies

    QuirkSat Mar 28, 01:18:00 AM EDT
    .

    You've gone off the deep end, son.

    .

    Delete

    Idaho BobSat Mar 28, 02:01:00 AM EDT
    Quirk always comes through when the issue is important enough.

    I lower my discount rate on Q's contributions to only 40%.

    d. rat, Rufus and Ash remain at 100%. That is to say, pay them no mind.

    Delete

    Idaho BobSat Mar 28, 02:21:00 AM EDT
    This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.

    Delete

    Deuce ☂Sat Mar 28, 09:55:00 AM EDT
    You’ve gone off the deep end, son.
    Hardly, the only explanation floated by the Israeli firsters over the Israeli attack of the USS Liberty, was that the US military warship was a threat to Israel, placing Israeli security in jeopardy by monitoring ongoing military operations.

    The Middle East is nearing total chaos due to three insane US military intrusions, Iraq, Libya and military support for groups hostile to the Assad regime in Syria.

    ISIS was birthed by this US caused chaos in no less a way than al Qaeda was a malignancy that evolved from US support and weaponry supplied to the Mujahideen in Afghanistan and further reinforced in Kosovo.

    Iran was the chosen US hegemonnn when the US overthrew the democratically elected Iranian government in 1953 and subsequent support for the Shah. After the Iranian revolution overthrew our guy, the Shah, the US encouraged the Iraqi attack on Iran by our new guy at the time, Saddam.

    Obama attacked Libya, supported the insurrection and almost direct attack on Syria and made the huge error of being influenced by the permanent war party in Washington.

    What is the remedy to all this murder, madness and chaos? More of the same except now we hear about a military attack on Iran by Israel. The results are no longer unknowable, they are predictable.

    Obama has come late to know about his mistakes and they do not include the idiotic assertion that the US should have stayed longer in Iraq or start a war with Iran. The US should tell Israel, in no uncertain terms that if Israeli war planes attack Iran, it will be interpreted as a US sanctions assault.

    The only way that the US could have a chance in proving that was not the case would be to destroy any Israeli aircraft attacking Iran.

    The USS Liberty resolution.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. You deleted one of my comments ?

      You cad, I didn't realize that.

      I hardly ever read back.

      You should be ashamed of yourself.

      Big believer in free speech you are.....

      How many others have you deleted ?

      And why do you continue to allow rat to blah blah on and on?

      Why do you never delete him ?

      I am trying to conform to your request.

      I try to avoid the rat.

      Delete
    2. Yup, Quirk is definitely right.

      You've gone off the deep end, son.

      Delete
    3. No quirk is not right, but he is mostly. I am sure that you are occasionally right, but rarely and hardly noticed.

      If you would read before you type you would notice what I took down and why.

      Delete
    4. Your contention that you try and avoid Rat is nonsense.

      Delete
    5. See below.

      rat is at it again.

      Delete
    6. This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.

      Delete
    7. Robert "Draft Dodger" Peterson, it was you who brought the subject of prostitution to the table.
      It is legal in parts of Nevada, home of Harry Reid, and in ISrael.

      The ISraeli economy is driven by the "Sex Trade", in Tel Aviv the city government spends lavishly to promote the "Sex Trade" on an international basis...

      Tel Aviv devotes about $100,000 — more than a third of its international marketing budget — to drawing gay tourists. Though no exact figures exist, officials estimate that tens of thousands of gay tourists from abroad arrive annually.

      "We are trying to create a model for openness, pluralism, tolerance," Tel Aviv Mayor Ron Huldai told The Associated Press. "Live and let live — this is the city of Tel Aviv."


      The city's first openly gay-owned hotel was opened recently and numerous city-backed travel sites direct gay visitors to the hottest clubs, bars and resorts in town.

      "We've long recognized the economic potential of the gay community. The gay tourist is a quality tourist, who spends money and sets trends,"
      said Pini Shani, a Tourism Ministry official who has been involved in the campaign.

      "There's also no doubt that a tourist who's had a positive experience here is of PR value. If he leaves satisfied, he becomes an Israeli ambassador of good will."


      http://cnsnews.com/news/article/tel-aviv-emerges-top-gay-tourist-destination

      Delete
    8. Why bring up subjects you do not want to discuss any further?

      "Spengler's Laws": "When a nation is reduced to selling its women, it's lost."

      Unlike many countries, prostitution in Israel is legal.

      To many people it is shocking to learn that in the "Holy Land" prostitution is allowed.

      Prostitution in Israel is legal and not kept on the down low.
      Everyone knows about it and where to go to find a prostitute.
      It is a choice whether they decide to pay for sex or not.
      Prostitutes are known to be discrete.
      They do not go around talking about the men they have sex with.
      Some of the places where prostitution is more popular is in cities like Tel Aviv and Haifa.



      Spengler's Universal Law #9: A country isn't beaten until it sells its women, but it's damned when its women sell themselves.


      That could be because the population is more secular and not as religious.
      Prostitutes can be found on the streets, strip clubs and "massage parlors."
      Politicians, businessmen and even police officers are known to visit the upscale "massage parlors" and high price strip clubs.

      Regular citizens are more likely to just look for a prostitute on the streets.

      When Arab Israelis or Orthodox Jews, whether married or not, want to have sex with a prostitute, they go somewhere far from their homes. The reason for them going far is so they will not be recognized by anyone.

      One negative effect of the rising popularity of prostitution is that venereal diseases have rapidly increased over the years.


      http://adsocceriloveran.blogspot.com/2013/05/prostitution.html

      Delete
    9. .

      Someone said,

      War is how America teaches its citizens geography.

      Iran is not our friend. They are not our ally. No US interest is involved in a war between Israel and Iran. There is no reason to get involved.

      If someone said, 'If Iranian planes or rockets attacked Israel the US should shoot them down' my position wouldn't change.

      [As an aside, if Israel were thinking of attacking Iranian nuclear sites (doubtful IMO) they would be wise to consider not only short term but long term consequences. Iran is a country of 70 million people and it isn't without resources.]

      .

      Delete
  21. :)

    Harry Reid is Quitting Before He Can Be Fired
    March 28, 2015 by Daniel Greenfield

    harry reid

    By all rights Harry Reid should have never gotten his final term in office. And he knew it. That’s why he abused his power to the maximum possible amount without caring about what would come after him.

    He knew he wouldn’t be there.

    Reid’s odds of getting a second reprieve are poor. The Republicans won’t screw up twice and there’s too much dirt on Reid’s shoulder, too many dirty deals dragging around behind him. He’s leaving because he has no other choice.

    This last term was his final chance to grab as much gold as he could. His last chance to run the senate like a dictator. His last chance to help out his family’s business interests.

    And now you won’t have Harry Reid to kick around anymore.

    Filed Under: The Point
    About Daniel Greenfield

    Daniel Greenfield, a Shillman Journalism Fellow at the Freedom Center, is a New York writer focusing on radical Islam. He is completing a book on the international challenges America faces in the 21st century.

    http://www.frontpagemag.com/2015/dgreenfield/harry-reid-is-quitting-before-he-can-be-fired/

    Dirty Harry Reid, typical Democrat.

    They didn't call Harry "Dirty" for nothing.

    Got money off the backs of whores.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Just like the ISraeli, Robert "Draft Dodger" Peterson?

      The trend in Israel is driven by the sex trade and the human trafficking that comes with it. There are 15,000 prostitutes in Israel, Rebecca Hughes from ATZUM’s Task Force on Human Trafficking wrote in The Times of Israel, entering the profession at an average age of 14.

      “By the 1990’s Israel was established as a destination country for trafficking, and international sex trafficking victims had replaced the local market,” Hughes wrote.
      “Israel’s flesh trade was booming and making between half a billion to three quarters of a billion dollars a year. It was a particularly desirable market for traffickers because the purchase of sexual services was, and still is, legal in Israel. ”

      http://www.timesofisrael.com/thousands-of-slaves-in-israel-global-study-finds/

      Delete
    2. The haredin (orthodox Jews) who crowd the Tel Aviv brothels


      David is on a roll and there is no stopping him.

      "With prostitution you have no rapes. You bring in these women and innocent girls are not raped. That is why I believe in prostitution and would very much like to see it legalized everywhere. I believe because of it a lot of rapes are prevented. Men, because of the way we are built, our sexual will, our potential, our necessity, we need to do this. We need sex."


      While he blathers on about the important service he provides for his brothers, there are many people in Israel who are deeply disturbed by what's happening on the side streets and back of their country. In a modest apartment in a comfortable section of Tel Aviv, far from the red-light district, Leah Gruenpeter-Gold and Nissan Ben-Ami shake their heads in disgust at the opening of so many brothels and the wholesale trafficking of young Natashas. Leah and Nissan are co-directors of the Awareness Centre - a non-governmental group that specializes in research on trafficking in women and prostitution in Israel.

      "Israeli men have simply grown up to the idea that women can be bought,"
      Gruenpeter-Gold began.
      "Both married and single women no longer want to work at relationships. For them it is easier to purchase sex when they want it."

      - See more at: http://www.adishakti.org/_/haredin_(orthodox_Jews)_who_crowd_brothels.htm#sthash.d9Rx8MuR.dpuf

      Delete
    3. This is one big difference between the Republicans and the Democrats.

      Q is right in a way. Many in both parties, more in the Democratic Party, really are dicks.

      But the Republicans do a much better job of self cleansing.

      Think Idaho Senator Larry "Toe Tapping" Craig.

      I wrote him a letter myself and got a personal reply.

      "For the good of the Party, resign."

      "Thank you for being so blunt."

      Larry was gone in a flash.

      Contrast Gerry "I'm not a practicing queer, I'm good at it" Studs and Bwarney Frank........

      Delete
    4. .

      Two sides of the same coin, mirror images, Bob and the rat, always trying to bring the conversation down to the lowest level possible.

      .

      Delete

  22. "Because these women are not human beings," Greunpeter-Gold said indignantly. "They are foreign women. The religious prefer it to be with foreign women because then they don't wrong Jewish women."

    "Yet officially,"
    Ben-Ami said," the religious are very much against trafficking and prostitution. So, on one hand, many religious are against these brothels and, on the other hand, they need sex."

    "It is all very hypocritical,"
    Gruenpater-Gold added.


    - See more at: http://www.adishakti.org/_/haredin_(orthodox_Jews)_who_crowd_brothels.htm#sthash.d9Rx8MuR.dpuf

    ReplyDelete