i had read those. i had not seen the rather well described
discussion about how the previous ISM descriptions had been
probably fabricated, exaggerated and faked!

after seeing the videos posted above, i am inclined to
believe that the Corrie instance was in fact an accident
but was misreported by her colleagues.

do you think that the Club Cruz videos are false?

do you think the 60 minutes report on Pallywood was false?

they seem very compelling to me.

And this comes from IDF...."It was an accident"
And this is what they want America and the world to believe, they are such innocent victims. They are ALWAYS only protecting themselves. Well, the the world has woken up, Israel, maybe not the majority of Americans, but enough to make a difference.

Corrie walked in front of a bulldozer. The driver couldn't see her, she was shorter than the scoop on the front. She wasn't murdered, she killed herself though a very stupid and unfortunate accident. Her own diary showed that the people she was trying to help had a secret tunnel in their house through which they smuggled weapons. The Israelis were right in bulldozing that house, it was being used to smuggle weapons into Palestine.

I'm not sure I've read all the posts. The Israelis have
of course closed the crossings when there have been rocket
and other attacks. The UNRWA and others always protest any
closing. Food gets spoiled especially in unrefrigerated
shipments when there are delays. But eventually Israel has
always let through humanitarian aid in trying to avoid
civilian crises.

If there were no attacks the flow of goods back and forth
would undoubtedly be much improved. I do not believe that
the Israelis believe in collective punishment but they also
have difficulty in cooperating with a hostile terrorist
establishment such as Hamas in Gaza.

"In the interview, the Prime Minister made clear that any decision will be based on continuing positive development

That is what I was referring too. Spiegel deliberately left that out. So Scott Stanzel's translation of the interview collaborated what Bush and Maliki said previously the day before. The way I see it is that Maliki was saying that the 16 month timeline that Obama talks about is probably close to correct if positive developments continue. All the surge troops have already left and more will leave this fall when conditions on the ground warrant such.

Theirs was the original interview!!
I believe the spin was created by the Republican biased American news services, not by Spiegal.
http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/0,1518,566852,00.html

What did that assesment on McConfused say? Oh yeah,

Why does John McCain think he can tell lies and get away it?

Arrogance Problem?

He thinks people are too stupid to pay attention?

Integrity Problem?

He says whatever he thinks will make a good sound bite?

Cognitive Problem?

Video; http://writechic.wordpress.com/2008/07/03/arrogance-integrity-or-cognition-whats-mccain-problem/


That could be applied to describe the entire Bush Administration.

Yes, I read that but he has enough wiggle room with the translation and all to stand behind his story. Yahoo news version of the same interview seemed to me to collaborate the 16 month withdrawal timeline with the improvements on the ground and with continual improvements on the ground to be a realistic timelime.
Spiegel appears to have left such content from the interview about continual improvement out as related to the timeline.

You said it right there wiley, I haven't seen a flip flop from him myself, but a few have tried unsuccessfully to convince me of one or two. I dont see it when I look over all the evidence.
I'm not going to keep repeating what was actually said or how the republicans try to twist his words.

I also said, that even if you take those one or two and fabricate their existence in your mind, (stop)... lets just say I concede (for the sake of argument) and agree he did flip-flop on those occasions, it is still nowhere near to the 60 some flip-flops McConfused has very clearly committed.
His complete reversal on issues!

http://blogs.abcnews.com/politicalpunch/2008/07/whats-arabic-fo.html

Iraq clarifies Spiegel interview.

Iraq Leader Maliki Supports Obama's Withdrawal Plans
In an interview with SPIEGEL, Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki said Barack Obama's 16 timeframe for a withdrawal from Iraq is the right one.

Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki supports US presidential candidate Barack Obama's plan to withdraw US troops from Iraq within 16 months. When asked in and interview with SPIEGEL when he thinks US troops should leave Iraq, Maliki responded "as soon as possible, as far as we are concerned." He then continued: "US presidential candidate Barack Obama talks about 16 months. That, we think, would be the right timeframe for a withdrawal, with the possibility of slight changes."

Maliki was careful to back away from outright support for Obama. "Of course, this is by no means an election endorsement. Who they choose as their president is the Americans' business," he said. But then, apparently referring to Republican candidate John McCain's more open-ended Iraq policy, Maliki said: "Those who operate on the premise of short time periods in Iraq today are being more realistic. Artificially prolonging the tenure of US troops in Iraq would cause problems."

Iraq, Maliki went on to say, "would like to see the establishment of a long-term strategic treaty with the United States, which would govern the basic aspects of our economic and cultural relations." He also emphasized though that the security agreement between the two countries should only "remain in effect in the short term."

Maliki has long shown impatience with the open-ended presence of US troops in Iraq. In his conversation with SPIEGEL, he was once again candid about his frustration over the Bush administration's hesitancy about agreeing to a timetable for the withdrawal of US troops. But he did say he was optimistic that such a schedule would be drawn up before Bush leaves the White House next January -- a confidence that appeared justified following Friday's joint announcement in Baghdad and Washington that Bush has now, for the first time, spoken of "a general time horizon" for moving US troops out of Iraq.

"So far the Americans have had trouble agreeing to a concrete timetable for withdrawal, because they feel it would appear tantamount to an admission of defeat," Maliki told SPIEGEL. "But that isn't the case at all. If we come to an agreement, it is not evidence of a defeat, but of a victory, of a severe blow we have inflicted on al-Qaida and the militias."

He also bemoaned the fact that Baghdad has little control over the US troops in Iraq. "It is a fundamental problem for us that it should not be possible, in my country, to prosecute offences or crimes committed by US soldiers against our population," Maliki said.

http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/0,1518,566841,00.html


BAM!

I bet the Republicans are feeling that one..

BAM, BAM!!!

You think Afghanistan is an illegal war?
Wow!

They should start the draft. A volunteer Army is ok for peace-time, but in war every American should sacrifice equally.
If they did you wouldn't have all these Arm chair Generals and housewives sitting around complacent as America Patriots die.

Too many people in this country just take, take, take, never giving back. Why should a few Patriotic and brave volunteers and their families have to carry the burden for everyone?

Iraq, I'll agree is an illegal war. It has been a distraction from the real reason Americans were willing to engage our military in combat and send our young men into harms way. The Taliban who were ruling Afghanistan with terror and their Al Qaeda guests who attacked Americans on US soil was the reason.

Regardless if we pull out of Iraq or not. Our brave men and women and their families are tired. To ask of them to continue redeploying time and time again at the pace we have is crazy and selfish.
Its destructive to their moral and mental health, and while they sacrifice everything, there are 100 times as many who sit on their privileged asses and do nothing. Half of them couldn't even point to a difference in the two countries or our reasons for being there.
Recruiters cant meet their goals and are resorting to allowing criminals and drug addicts enlist. I'm all for pulling the troops out of Iraq and prosecute Bush and his cronies, but to ask them to continue their sacrifice and jump from one war right into another is asking too much. Many of these soldiers have already served 5 tours in Iraq.

Draft! Draft! Draft! Draft! Its time for all to shoulder the burden, and go after our real enemy!

Harper believed in the war in Afghanistan enough to send Canadians there as well sam.
Your countrymen are dying right along side ours.
This war is winnable if Bush would send more Americans there!
Start the draft!!!