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."

Wednesday, June 10, 2015

Who Created ISIS?

75 comments:

  1. Suicide bomber targets tourist site at Egypt’s ancient city of Luxor, officials say. BBC

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  2. A suicide bomb attack has targeted the ancient Karnak temple in the southern Egyptian city of Luxor, officials have said.
    There was no word yet on casualties after the attack on Wednesday at the city frequented by millions of foreign and Egyptian tourists every year.

    Officials said police have foiled two other suicide attacks also targeting the Nile-side temple, one of the country’s main tourist attractions, rivalling the pyramids at Giza.

    The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorised to speak to the media.

    The Karnak complex is a vast open-air museum, and the second largest ancient religious site in the world, after the Angkor Wat Temple of Cambodia.

    It is believed to be the second most visited historical site in Egypt with only the Giza Pyramids receiving more visits.

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  3. "WASHINGTON — In a major shift of focus in the battle against the Islamic State, the Obama administration is planning to establish a new military base in Anbar Province and send 400 American military trainers to help Iraqi forces retake the city of Ramadi.

    Although a final decision by the White House has yet to be announced, the plan follows months of behind-the-scenes debate about how prominently plans to retake another Iraqi city, Mosul, which fell to the Islamic State last year, should figure in the early phase of the military campaign against the group.

    The fall of Ramadi last month effectively settled the administration debate, at least for the time being. American officials said Ramadi is now expected to become the focus of a lengthy campaign to regain Mosul at a later stage, possibly not until 2016."

    NYTimes.com



    Drip drip drip as Quirk would say. Boy did Rufus and Jack make a bad call! Easy peasy they thought.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Wow 400 trainers.

      They need to create an Iraqi Army in the first place, cause one doesn't exist right now.

      Delete
  4. Remembering USS Liberty: When Israel attacked America

    Thirty-four died and over 170 were injured in Israeli attack on US warship during 1967 Arab-Israeli Six-Day War.
    09 Jun 2015 00:59 GMT | Israel, US, Middle East, History

    Richard Brooks still remembers when the alert came.

    With klaxons sounding and people yelling, the tannoy system warned everyone "Standby to receive torpedo hit".
    "I thought I’ll never get out of this mess alive. Weird things were running through your minds, because I’d chalked myself off."
    He felt the torpedoes hit and the ship pitch to one side but realised he was still alive.

    And then the priority became survival. As chief engineer, he could tell the engines were still working. “My machinery was still intact and I was still making headway. I yelled through the voice tube ‘Give me all the steam pressure you’ve got, let’s get the hell out of this area’".
    Eventually his ship, The USS Liberty made its way to safer waters and managed to take stock of the sustained attack. Thirty-four were lying dead, more than 171 were injured.

    The Liberty had been sitting in international waters off the Sinai Peninsula. A spy ship, it had been gathering information as the 1967 Arab-Israeli Six-Day War raged on land.

    The Israeli Lie:
    ’Mistaken identity’

    During the course of the day, the ship had been buzzed by Israeli aircraft. But flying the American flag, there was no cause for panic, no need for alarm.

    “People were sunbathing, enjoying the June sunshine,” said Brooks, who was more concerned with keeping the engines running. The demands of the job perhaps saved his life.

    Israel insisted it was a case of mistaken identity. It alleged that pilots were exhausted having fought so hard over the previous days. The US naval vessel was thought to be an Egyptian warship.

    And that’s why it was attacked with rockets and cannons and missiles and torpedoes.

    ReplyDelete
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    1. But Brooks doesn’t buy the Israeli apology. Standing next to the graves of his shipmates in Arlington National Cemetery he tells me “It wasn’t a tragic accident, It was a deliberate attack. They knew who we were. They tried to sink us. They wanted us out to either bring the Americans into the war by blaming the Arabs or we picked up some information about their war plans”.


      Websites set up to discuss the Liberty back Brooks’ suggestion. Some claim the Israeli planes which attacked were unmarked, hoping they’d be mistaken for Arab fighter jets. Others speculate that it was known the radio signals from the Liberty could be hacked by the Russians. And worried the US had picked up sensitive information about plans for the Golan Heights, which the Russians would pass to their allies, the Egyptians, the Israelis tried to sink the spy ship.

      Every year on June 8, the survivors gather to mark the attack - to read the names of the dead and to share stories and memories.
      The numbers are less every year. This year there were just seven survivors in attendance. But the passion to find out exactly what happened remains undiminished. As they stand between the white grave stones, a light summer breeze taking the edge off the afternoon heat, the memorial service also includes a call for justice and for truth.

      ‘We had a ship to sail'

      Ernie Gallo is the president of the USS Liberty Survivors Group.

      When you apologise, you apologise with the truth. Not with a lie. So it’s not an apology.
      Ernie Gallo, USS Liberty Survivors Group


      He remembers the attack and how everything seemed surprisingly calm. “We had to do what we could for our dead and wounded. We had a ship to sail. We had to get to safety”

      He’s read the reports, the official inquiries and read the books about the incident. He’s even written his own.

      I ask if he accepts the Israeli apology, and the explanation it was all a mistake created in the fog of war: “When you apologise, you apologise with the truth. Not with a lie. So it’s not an apology. Not as far as I’m concerned and our government is just as bad off for going along with it,” he answered.

      To get a job on the Liberty, sailors were to have an outstanding service record and were chosen for their honesty and moral character. “Someone is lying here,” says Gallo, “and it isn’t us”.

      Even now he hopes there will be a full official inquiry into the events of June 8, 1967.

      Robert Brooks and Ernie Gallo know it’s unlikely, but they still hope it might happen. They both say the families of the dead and the survivors deserve the truth, before they mark another anniversary.

      Delete
    2. It was nearly 50 years ago.

      Time to let go.

      Delete
    3. This comment has been removed by the author.

      Delete
    4. The Jewish mantra: “Never forget”
      The mantra for US troops killed by the Jewish State: “Get over it”

      Delete
    5. .

      Ditto.

      I pulled my comment above. Why waste a good vulgarity on such perfidy when Deuce's comment says it much better.

      .

      Delete
  5. Barack Obama created ISIS by taking the US troops out too soon.

    It is so self evident I'd think even Quirk would see it.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I take it you didn't watch the little video that is the main subject of the post eh old man?

      Delete
  6. Baltimore state's attorney Marilyn Mosby filed gag order motion in wrong court
    By Thomas Lifson

    Marilyn Mosby is well on her way to laughingstock status. Perhaps “Mosbying” will join “Harfing” in the Urban Dictionary soon. Chuck Ross of the Daily Caller reports:

    Baltimore city state’s attorney Marilyn Mosby’s motion for a gag order in the Freddie Gray case was denied Monday because the prosecutor filed paperwork in the wrong court.

    Mosby’s May 14 motion, filed in Baltimore’s circuit court, was intended to block witnesses, attorneys and police from speaking publicly about the Gray case. Six officers have been indicted on a total of 28 felony charges related to Gray’s April 12 arrest. The 25-year-old Gray died April 19. His death was ruled a homicide.

    Judge Charles Peters slapped down Mosby’s motion, citing jurisdictional issues,The Baltimore Sun reported. The cases for the six officers were still on the district court’s docket when the motion was filed. The cases were only moved to the circuit court on May 21, after a grand jury indicted the officers.

    Mosby is also looking foolish and may face serious trouble in her prosecution of the Baltimore Six police officers. Kevin Rector of the Baltimore Sun reports:

    About three weeks before Freddie Gray was chased from a West Baltimore corner by three Baltimore police officers — the start of a fatal encounter — the office of prosecutor Marilyn Mosby asked police to target the intersection with "enhanced" drug enforcement efforts, court documents show.

    "State's Attorney Mosby asked me to look into community concerns regarding drug dealing in the area of North Ave and Mount St," Joshua Rosenblatt, division chief of Mosby's Crime Strategies Unit, wrote in a March 17 email to a Western District police commander.

    The email was disclosed for the first time Tuesday in a motion filed in Baltimore Circuit Court by defense attorneys for the six officers being prosecuted in Gray's arrest and death. The attorneys said Mosby's involvement in the police initiative means that she should be removed from the case.

    She could well be a witness in the trial, which would disqualify her from being the prosecutor. In addition, it weakens her contention that the arrest itself was illegal:

    In their motion Tuesday, defense attorneys said the email exchange shows that Mosby knew the area where Gray was chased was a high-crime location. They said that bolsters their argument that officers were within their rights to detain and handcuff Gray — even before finding a knife and officially arresting him.

    She is clearly in over her head.

    Marilyn Mosby is well on her way to laughingstock status. Perhaps “Mosbying” will join “Harfing” in the Urban Dictionary soon. Chuck Ross of the Daily Caller reports:

    Baltimore city state’s attorney Marilyn Mosby’s motion for a gag order in the Freddie Gray case was denied Monday because the prosecutor filed paperwork in the wrong court.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Mosby’s May 14 motion, filed in Baltimore’s circuit court, was intended to block witnesses, attorneys and police from speaking publicly about the Gray case. Six officers have been indicted on a total of 28 felony charges related to Gray’s April 12 arrest. The 25-year-old Gray died April 19. His death was ruled a homicide.

      Judge Charles Peters slapped down Mosby’s motion, citing jurisdictional issues,The Baltimore Sun reported. The cases for the six officers were still on the district court’s docket when the motion was filed. The cases were only moved to the circuit court on May 21, after a grand jury indicted the officers.

      Mosby is also looking foolish and may face serious trouble in her prosecution of the Baltimore Six police officers. Kevin Rector of the Baltimore Sun reports:

      About three weeks before Freddie Gray was chased from a West Baltimore corner by three Baltimore police officers — the start of a fatal encounter — the office of prosecutor Marilyn Mosby asked police to target the intersection with "enhanced" drug enforcement efforts, court documents show.

      "State's Attorney Mosby asked me to look into community concerns regarding drug dealing in the area of North Ave and Mount St," Joshua Rosenblatt, division chief of Mosby's Crime Strategies Unit, wrote in a March 17 email to a Western District police commander.

      The email was disclosed for the first time Tuesday in a motion filed in Baltimore Circuit Court by defense attorneys for the six officers being prosecuted in Gray's arrest and death. The attorneys said Mosby's involvement in the police initiative means that she should be removed from the case.

      She could well be a witness in the trial, which would disqualify her from being the prosecutor. In addition, it weakens her contention that the arrest itself was illegal:

      In their motion Tuesday, defense attorneys said the email exchange shows that Mosby knew the area where Gray was chased was a high-crime location. They said that bolsters their argument that officers were within their rights to detain and handcuff Gray — even before finding a knife and officially arresting him.

      She is clearly in over her head.


      http://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2015/06/baltimore_states_attorney_marilyn_mosby_filed_gag_order_motion_in_emwrong_courtem.html


      This reminds me of the time when a gag order had been issued against Quirk, which he of course immediately violated, and he got out of the whole mess by telling jokes to the Judge.

      The Judge laughed so hard he finally said "You're guilty as sin, but free as a bird. Get the hell out of my court."

      Cheers !

      Have a great day !

      Delete
  7. This afternoon's treasury statement is expected to show a $30 Billion lower Deficit than in May, 2014.

    This is interesting because last month's number was, also, a large YOY improvement (approx. $50 Billion.)

    If June comes in with a similar yoy improvement it will be a pretty significant development.

    ReplyDelete
  8. The Deficit for May came in lower than expected - $82 Billion.

    It's starting to look like, rather than increasing a bit, it's going to come in about 10% Lower than 2014.

    At approx. 2.2% of GDP, that's pretty much the "sweet spot."

    There are people (I'm one of them) that believes the Fiscal Deficit should not be significantly lower than the Trade Deficit.

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  9. .

    Most Americans don't pay attention to Obama's TPP. They don't understand how seriously the passage of this pact would affect them.

    It was designed by huge multinationals and promoted by those who benefit from these, i.e. it is a huge boon to the 1% and another kick in the ass to the 99%.

    The flaws are so many it is hard list them all. The following video is from 2013 and lists many of shortcomings of the deal. Unfortunately, it is now 2015 and we know little more about it than we did in 2013. The deal has been negotiated in secret, remains secret, and now Obama wants fast-track authorization to restrict debate.

    Yves Smith and Dean Baker on Secrets in Trade (TPP)

    For those from certain western states, the following is the cartoon version.

    http://www.truthdig.com/cartoon/item/obama_trades_transparency_20150514


    Obama has been for some time trying to outdo GWB in the push to be considered "Worst President Ever". In some senses, he has achieved his goal. However, when it comes to who he favors, the 1% or the 99% the is no question that there is little separation between him and Bush.

    I would go on but I have said all these things many times before and it would be redundant to do so again.

    .

    ReplyDelete
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    1. .

      Wikileak's Release of TPP's Language That Beyond Corporate Personhood and Creates Corporate Nationhood


      For those who are uncomfortable with the FISA courts secrecy, the TPP process should give you nightmares.

      .

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    2. .

      There are 600 corporations worldwide that have access to the TPP. Zero access to the public.

      Those members allowed to see the text (or rather portions of the text) do it in a private room. Staff or notes are not allowed.
      They are sworn to secrecy.

      What's wrong with this picture? What's wrong with the man who swore to conduct the most transparent administration in history?

      .

      Delete
    3. .

      s/b ...those members of the House and Senate allowed...

      .

      Delete
    4. While I tend to favor Free Trade the idea that the text of a treaty be secret is nonsensical.

      Delete
    5. The idea of having a 'tribunal' or some such mechanism to resolve trade disputes is necessary otherwise, like with "Buy America" a free trade agreement becomes moot. The general idea under pinning NAFTA is that the laws of the nations in the agreement cannot treat a foreign company different than it can treat a company of its nationality. There are many types of corporations in the world many owned by individuals.

      Delete
    6. .

      A tribunal?

      The tribunal is not made up of representative of government. It is made up of representatives from the corporations. At least according to the reports I have seen. Once we find out for sure, it will be too late.

      Right now the US pays much more for drugs than other countries around the world including Canada. If you want to see how TPP will affect you, take a look at the link I put up TPP and the Drug Industry some examples of how the drug industries operate.

      If TPP passes, wait until your drug prices go through the roof and then come back and talk to me of how great this trade agreement is.

      .

      Delete
    7. That link you put up didn't seem to work.

      The Pharm industry works hard to protect its patents. Canada, even as a signatory to NAFTA, has allowed less patent protection which has allowed for the generics to drive down prices. I would not like to see long patents built into a new treaty. Do you know how many years they are talking? Is Canada part of the TPP? I know the current Canadian government is working hard on a free trade deal with the EU and I think that has been some preliminary talk of something with Asia. I don't know much about TPP and I watched one of the videos you linked to but wasn't as informative as I would have liked. I prefer text stuff regarding trade deals in particular versus comedians trying to make a point while sounding much like any other conspiracy rant.

      Delete
    8. .

      Canada wasn't the 'western state' I was thinking about when I put up the cartoon.

      :o)

      However, Canada is there listed under 'C'.

      The Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) is a proposed regional regulatory and investment treaty. As of 2014, twelve countries throughout the Asia Pacific region have participated in negotiations on the TPP: Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore, the United States, and Vietnam.

      http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trans-Pacific_Partnership

      .

      Delete
  10. Quirk you old mentally disshevelled, unkempt, slovenly, sloppy turd you have no more idea what happened with the Liberty than I do.

    Let Deuce have his little bugaboo.

    It was FIFTY years ago for Christsake's and you DON'T KNOW WHAT HAPPENED.

    Don't add anti semitism to your other sins.

    ReplyDelete
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    1. This comment has been removed by the author.

      Delete
    2. .

      One day you post anonymous bull from an anonymous, race-baiting blog. The next you brush of the murder of 34 Americans and suggest we just forget about them. Then you charge anyone that disagrees with you with anti-Semitism. We'll probably have to wait until you get you next talking points list from FOX or AIPAC for your next craven assertion.

      You are pathetic.

      .

      Delete
    3. We do know what happened. While you were standing for the draft, other Americans were being killed and maimed by Israel. Fifty years later, you have chosen the side of the killers rather than your kin, the killed. “Pathetic” is too kind.

      Delete
    4. Wrong Deuce.

      Here is what happened.

      You 'saw' yourself as a Marine but you father did not so you ended up serving the American War Machine in the safety of the the US Air Force in Europe.

      I went to school, and took my chances with the draft lottery.

      Ash vamooshed to Canada, while we can only speculate that Quirk wasn't eligible for military service due to his rap sheet, as he has been silent about this part of his story.

      You are a disgusting and irrational anti semite.

      Delete
    5. By the way I not at all criticizing Ash for going to Canada.

      With hindsight it makes perfectly good sense, as actually I think we all agree these days.

      It seems more honest than going in the Air Force to escape grunthood , where one is after all, just another tog in the killing machine.

      Delete
    6. We do not know what happened with the Liberty.

      Grow up.

      And if you 'saw' yourself as a Marine, why did you bow to the will of your father figure ?

      Delete
    7. I was 11 years old when I "vamooshed to Canada". You are an idiot Bob, but you know that already now don't you?

      Delete
  11. Deuce ought to stick with the sins he daily sees in American conduct around the world.

    USA is his country, Israel is not.

    Virtue starts at home.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. The US, Israel, Saudi Arabia and the Emirates were the progenitor of ISIS, a group antithetical to anything close to being civilized. Israel set up a hospital to fix them, feed them three hots and send them back into the fray. The Republican, McCain did photo ops with them and the CIA sent them arms.

      Iran, has committed troops and arms to fight ISIS.

      Which country is fighting for civilization?

      Delete
    2. That is simply wrong. ISIS would not exist in Iraq without the choice made by Obama. Bush had the lid on. Perhaps the whole thing was futile from the beginning, but we will never know now.

      See here, Ash....

      "Which country is fighting for civilization?"

      Delete
  12. But then Deuce is so utterly confused he has said:

    "Iran is fighting for civilization."

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Do you believe that, Quirk ?

      How about you, Ash ?

      Delete
    2. Here, Ash.

      Quite some time ago now. I said then I would not let him live that one down, and I have mentioned it maybe ten times or so.

      Delete
    3. Listen fool, you also said that your wife was dying of cancer, you made up a “niece” and you harassed a perfectly normal and charming young woman named Melody. Use you own virtues to live those beauties down. You’re irritating me again.

      Delete
    4. I don't believe he wrote that. Please show otherwise if you can but I think you are lying. I do believe that you have attributed that quote to Deuce many a time. It's time to offer support for your attribution.

      Delete
  13. Good day at work, today.

    Hoohaw

    You guys ought try it sometime.

    ReplyDelete
  14. .

    Bombs and tanks and rams, oh my!

    Police Destroy Man's House Going After Shoplifter With a Gun

    Police said it was a "peaceful resolution" and their "hard work paid off." They used explosives and a breaching ram to get inside the house, KDVR reported.

    Police sources at other local agencies told CBS4 that they too, would have used similar tactics to remove an armed suspect and that they didn’t feel the approach was excessive.

    Police defended their actions, calling it a textbook operation that resulted in no lives being lost.

    Commander Dustin Varney of the Greenwood Village Police said, “We're there to save lives and prevent lives from being taken, adding, "We've got to show perseverance, restraint and professionalism."


    http://www.insideedition.com/headlines/10759-mans-home-destroyed-by-police-in-shoplifter-standoff

    .

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. fight fire with fire baby! Guns for all.

      Delete
  15. .

    More PC bullshit.

    ESPN to give Caitlyn Jenner the Arthur Ashe Award. Although it is a sport-oriented award, it is not limited to sports-related people or actions, as it is presented annually to individuals whose contributions "transcend sports".

    The awards to Muhammed Ali and Nelson Mandela have just been diminished in the pursuit of an extra buck.

    .

    ReplyDelete
  16. When I criticize Quirk it is not Quirk I am criticizing.

    Another way of saying this is I am not criticizing Quirk when I am criticizing Quirk.

    It's an old survival technique learned from reading about totalitarian countries.

    What really gets me is that the United States Congress is controlled by the Jews, and that my beloved Republican Party is run out of Tel Aviv.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. The US Congress is controlled by Israel, Zionists and their Israeli-firster supporters. You can deflect with the Jew Card because you have no other argument. I post many comments and articles by Jews, critical of Israel, The US Conga Line and the GOP Likuds Force.

      Delete
  17. I'm off the topic of the Liberty.

    Every time it is brought up the toilet fills.

    My wife was talking to a friend whose son is dating the daughter of and old high school friend of mine.

    This friend and her husband have run for years a service of float trips down the Salmon River.

    Get this:

    Today's price - $40,000 for a four or five day trip, not sure how may rafts that includes.

    I couldn't believe it.

    Only the wealthy............

    And I thought these places were for The People.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Is this the wife that was dying of cancer when you were trying to fuck Melody?

      Delete
  18. Here's a worth while video, reposting from WiO -

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mnk0tIqsbYM

    :)

    ReplyDelete
  19. Is the United States or Britain any less of a country for supporting one totalitarian group, the Soviet Union, over another, Germany, when survival is at issue ?

    Fuck off you racist, Deuce.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. You are an ignorant an illiterate on history and a general moron.

      Germany was bombing London, the Capitol of England. Why would the UK support the country, Germany, that was bombing them?

      When the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor, they had a treaty with Germany who declared war against the US.

      Delete
    2. It's just an analogy, idiot.

      Delete
  20. .

    Obama again voiced that confidence on Monday, and urged the court not to rule otherwise.

    He said it's safe to "assume" the court will do what most legal scholars expect and "play it straight." Obama said it has been well-documented that Congress never intended to exclude people who went through the federal exchange.

    To rule the other way, the president said, would be a "contorted reading of the statute" and a "twisted interpretation."

    But if that does happen, Obama said, "that throws off how that exchange operates" and millions of people would lose subsidies.


    Not only is Obama contemptuous of the Constitution he is also contemptuous of the courts. Even prior to any decision by SCOTUS, he is politicking for his position and insinuating that any court decision that doesn't agree amounts to twisted logic and a contorted (read partisan) reading of the Constitution and/or the Obamacare law.

    He did the same thing when he was shot down on the NSA metadata collections and when his unilateral moves on immigration were rejected. He is an arrogant man and an egoist.

    I expect SCOTUS to uphold the subsidies as they are currently being applied especially given Roberts propensity to try to parse the language of the law to give the government the benefit of the doubt and to avoid the political uproar that would arise if it is rejected.

    That being said, IMO, the current lies being presented by the supporters of the law, that the words were put in in error (iow a typo) or that it was always Congress' intent for everyone to get the subsidies, is just that, lies. The words were put in intentionally. They were put in as incentive to force the states to set up their own exchanges under the assumption that no state would be willing to give up free public money even for a limited time. They also needed the states because they were expecting to expand Medicaid and they needed to states to continue administering the program. The states won on Medicaid. The subsidies issue will probably be more difficult (no matter which way the vote goes).

    .

    .

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. The Courts are supposed to rule on the plain language of the legislation. The legislation/language here is very plain, short, and concise.

      You might be wrong.

      If the language is not plain, then the courts get into interpretation.

      If the Court does what it is supposed to traditionally do they would rule against ObamaCare on this.

      Delete
  21. Iran Air Flight 655
    From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
    Iran Air Flight 655 A300 Iran Air EP-IBT THR May 2010.jpg
    A similar A300B2-200 registered EP-IBT
    Shootdown summary
    Date 3 July 1988
    Summary Shot down by USS Vincennes
    Site Strait of Hormuz, Persian Gulf
    Passengers 274
    Crew 16
    Fatalities 290 (all)
    Survivors 0
    Aircraft type Airbus A300B2-203
    Operator Iran Air
    Registration EP-IBU
    Flight origin Mehrabad International Airport
    Tehran, Iran
    Last stopover Bandar Abbas Int'l Airport
    Bandar Abbas, Iran
    Destination Dubai International Airport
    Dubai, United Arab Emirates
    [show]

    v t e

    Iran–Iraq War

    Iran Air Flight 655 was an Iran Air civilian passenger flight from Tehran to Dubai. On 3 July 1988, the aircraft operating this route was shot down by the United States Navy guided missile cruiser USS Vincennes. The incident took place in Iranian airspace, over Iran's territorial waters in the Persian Gulf, and on the flight's usual flight path. The aircraft, an Airbus A300 B2-203, was destroyed by SM-2MR surface-to-air missiles fired from Vincennes.

    All 290 on board, including 66 children and 16 crew, died.[1] This event ranks eighth among the deadliest disasters in aviation history, 11th if including the 9/11 attacks, which include ground casualties; the incident retains the highest death toll of any aviation incident in the Persian Gulf. The cruiser Vincennes had entered Iranian territorial waters after one of its helicopters drew warning fire from Iranian speedboats operating within Iranian territorial limits.[2][3]

    According to the Iranian government, Vincennes negligently shot down the civilian aircraft: the airliner was making IFF squawks in Mode III (not Mode II used by Iranian military planes), a signal that identified it as a civilian craft.[4][5]

    According to the United States government, the crew incorrectly identified the Iranian Airbus A300 as an attacking F-14A Tomcat fighter, a plane made in the United States and operated at that time by only two forces worldwide, the United States Navy and the Islamic Republic of Iran Air Force. While the Iranian F-14s had been supplied by manufacturer Grumman in an air-to-air configuration only in the 1970s,[6][7] the crew of Vincennes had been briefed when entering the region that the Iranian F-14s carried unguided bombs as well as Maverick missiles and unguided rockets.[8] The 53 page Pentagon report issued almost two months after the incident, while not directly stating the point, found that almost all of the immediate details given of the shooting-down were erroneous, yet absolved the officers and crew.[9]

    According to Noam Chomsky and others,[9][10] compared to the reaction generated by the downing of Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 in 2014, the incident triggered little reaction from Western mainstream media at the time.[11] The event generated a great deal of criticism of the United States amongst those who were able to learn of it. Some analysts blamed the captain of Vincennes, who had entered Iran's waters, for reckless and aggressive behavior in a tense and dangerous environment.[12][13]

    The United States government did not formally apologize to Iran.[14] In 1996, the United States and Iran reached a settlement at the International Court of Justice which included the statement "...the United States recognized the aerial incident of 3 July 1988 as a terrible human tragedy and expressed deep regret over the loss of lives caused by the incident...".[15] As part of the settlement, the United States did not admit legal liability but agreed to pay on an ex gratia basis US$61.8 million, amounting to $213,103.45 per passenger, in compensation to the families of the Iranian victims.

    Iran Air continues to use flight number 655 on the Tehran to Dubai route as a memorial to the victims.

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iran_Air_Flight_655

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. We weren't even at war at the time, not being attacked from all directions......

      Delete
    2. We could have at least apologized wouldn't you think, Quirk ?

      You're big on formalities.

      Delete
    3. .

      Apologies don't mean shit if you are apologizing for something that isn't true in order to cover up for something that is true.

      .

      Delete
    4. Hmmmm......only a WIZARD could DELVE your meanings and intentions with this supercharged statement.

      I take it you'd probably just tell the Iranians to fuck off though.

      Delete
  22. Minimum-wage workers in Los Angeles, the nation's second-largest city, are getting a pay raise.

    In a 13-1 vote on Wednesday, Los Angeles County lawmakers approved an ordinance that would raise the current minimum wage from $9 an hour to $15 an hour by 2020. The vote makes LA the largest American city to raise its minimum wage to $15 an hour.

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  23. This comment has been removed by the author.

    ReplyDelete
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    1. Sorry for the messed up entry. Tried to do over but couldn't get it done.

      >>Directive 11 ended up giving us the Islamic State through its Arab Spring. PSD-11’s twisted claim that regional stability could only be achieved through Islamist regime change tore apart the region and turned it into a playground for terrorists. ISIS is simply the biggest and toughest of the terror groups that were able to thrive in the environment of violent civil wars created by Obama’s Directive 11.<<

      Directive 11: Obama’s Secret Islamist Plan
      June 8, 2015 by Daniel Greenfield 206 Comments
      1.5K328
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      Obama

      Daniel Greenfield, a Shillman Journalism Fellow at the Freedom Center, is a New York writer focusing on radical Islam.

      Behind the rise of ISIS, the Libyan Civil War, the unrest in Egypt, Yemen and across the region may be a single classified document.

      That document is Presidential Study Directive 11.


      http://www.frontpagemag.com/2015/dgreenfield/directive-11-obamas-secret-islamist-plan/


      Just trying to contribute to the civilized discussion here of the rise of ISIS.

      Not trying to refute or support this interesting article.

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  24. .

    Here is the price of Senators' votes for the Fast-Track authority for TTIP that was passed in the Senate a couple months ago.

    From the Guardian,

    http://www.theguardian.com/business/2015/may/27/corporations-paid-us-senators-fast-track-tpp

    I wonder what price the House will demand.

    .

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  25. .

    I have been reading as many reviews of the TTP and Obamas 'fast-track' request as I come across.

    There have been a couple that favor it.

    This one from Politico

    http://www.politico.eu/article/the-case-for-ttip/

    The problem I see with the Politico piece is the author speaks of the agreement as if it hasn't already been negotiated or isn't now ready to be signed. He keeps pointing out that 'a properly negotiated TTIP has the chance to'[write in your favorite advantage]; however, he ignores the fact that we know some of the terms of the agreement already from Wikileaks and various congressmen and senators who have been given restricted access to some sections of the agreement and their opinion seems to be that the TTIP hasn't been 'properly negotiated'.

    The other column is from George Will writing in the National Review

    http://www.nationalreview.com/article/419595/vote-trade-promotion-authority-not-vote-obama-george-will

    I can only describe Will's piece as a plea for economic liberalism and an ad hominem attack on Obama. I found Will's article hard to follow. I used to like Will's writing but since moving to FOX (maybe before) he seems to be losing it. The best part of the column was the comment section containing not one comment that agreed with Will but a few that were kinda funny.

    .

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  26. .

    It looks like the 'fast-track' legislation is heading for a vote in the House on Friday. It looks like Pelosi caved and got little in return.

    House Republicans are moving full-steam ahead toward a Friday vote to grant President Obama fast-track trade authority despite objections from Democrats to a last-second deal between Speaker John Boehner and Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi.

    The late-night Tuesday deal between the Ohio Republican and the California Democrat, which would scrap cuts to Medicare that were to be used to pay for a program aiding workers displaced by trade, appeared to lift the final obstacle to a Friday vote...


    http://thehill.com/policy/finance/244551-last-second-objections-threaten-obama-gop-vote-on-trade


    I kicked an e-mail off to my congressman decrying the fast-track legislation, not that it is likely to do any good.

    .

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    1. If it makes you feel good about yourself that's the main thing.

      Since 'they are all dicks' I can't imagine why you would think it would do any good in the first place.

      So it must be a feel good thing.

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  27. Thomas Sowell is a man of good sense -

    Who Lost Iraq?
    June 11, 2015 by Thomas Sowell 0 Comments


    Iraq-WarAfter the pro-Western government of China was forced to flee to the island of Taiwan in 1949, when the Communists took over mainland China, bitter recriminations in Washington led to the question: “Who lost China?” China was, of course, never ours to lose, though it might be legitimate to ask if a different American policy toward China could have led to a different outcome.

    In more recent years, however, Iraq was in fact ours to lose, after U.S. troops vanquished Saddam Hussein’s army and took over the country. Today, we seem to be in the process of losing Iraq, if not to ISIS, then to Iran, whose troops are in Iraq fighting ISIS.

    While mistakes were made by both the Bush administration and the Obama administration, those mistakes were of different kinds and of different magnitudes in their consequences, though both sets of mistakes are worth thinking about, so that so much tragic waste of blood and treasure does not happen again.

    Whether it was a mistake to invade Iraq in the first place is something that will no doubt be debated by historians and others for years to come. But, despite things that could have been done differently in Iraq during the Bush administration, in the end President Bush listened to his generals and launched the military “surge” that crushed the terrorist insurgents and made Iraq a viable country.

    The most solid confirmations of the military success in Iraq were the intercepted messages from Al Qaeda operatives in Iraq to their leaders in Pakistan that there was no point sending more insurgents, because they now had no chance of prevailing against American forces. This was the situation that Barack Obama inherited — and lost.

    Going back to square one, what lessons might we learn from the whole experience of the Iraq war? If nothing else, we should never again imagine that we can engage in “nation-building” in the sweeping sense that term acquired in Iraq — least of all building a democratic Arab nation in a region of the world that has never had such a thing in a history that goes back thousands of years.

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    1. Human beings are not inert building blocks, and democracy has prerequisites that Western nations took centuries to develop.

      Perhaps the reshaping of German society and Japanese society under American occupation after World War II made such a project seem doable in Iraq.

      Had the Bush administration pulled it off, such an achievement in the Middle East could have been a magnificent gift to the entire world, bringing peace to a region that has been the spearhead of war and international terrorism.

      Germany and Japan had been transformed from belligerent military powers threatening world peace for more than half a century to two of the most pacifist nations on earth, in both cases after years of American occupation reshaped these societies. Why not Iraq?

      First of all, Germany and Japan were already nations before the American occupation. There was no “nation-building” to do. But Iraq was a collection of bitter rivals — Sunnis, Shiites and Kurds, for example — who had never resolved their differences to form a nation, but were instead held together only by an iron dictatorship, as Yugoslavia once was.

      Replacing German and Japanese dictatorships with democracy after World War II was a challenge. But both countries remained under American military governments for years, slowly gaining such self-governing powers as the military overseers chose, and at such a pace as these overseers deemed prudent in the light of conditions on the ground.

      American authorities did not rush to set up an independent government, able to operate at cross purposes because it was “democratically elected” in a country without the prerequisites of a viable democracy.

      Despite the mistakes that were made in Iraq, it was still a viable country until Barack Obama made the headstrong decision to pull out all the troops, ignoring his own military advisers, just so he could claim to have restored “peace,” when in fact he invited chaos and defeat.

      This is only the latest of Obama’s gross misjudgments about Iraq, going back to his Senate days, when he vehemently opposed the military “surge” that crushed the terrorist insurgency, as did Senator Hillary Clinton also, by the way.

      http://www.frontpagemag.com/2015/thomas-sowell/who-lost-iraq-2/

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