"The transition comes at a time of growing concern about an uptick in
violence. In the heavily fortified Green Zone, which will come under
Iraqi control as of Jan. 1, U.S. diplomats spent Christmas Eve on
virtual lockdown as authorities investigated reports that car bombs
had been smuggled inside, U.S. and Iraqi officials said."

"Thousands of U.S. soldiers will remain based at joint security
stations -- outposts they share with Iraqi Army or police units -- for
the foreseeable future."

----------------------

"U.S. Prepares To Hand Over Baghdad Base"

"Era of Exclusively American Military Posts Coming to End"

By Ernesto Londoño
Washington Post Foreign Service
Thursday, December 25, 2008; A12

BAGHDAD, Dec. 24 -- A year ago, Forward Operating Base Callahan in
northern Baghdad was one of the key U.S. military nerve centers in the
battered capital. Hundreds of soldiers slept in crowded rooms. Humvees
zipped in and out the gate around the clock to keep a vast network of
inner-city outposts humming.

Remove The Blinkers and See the Truth

For two years on Cif, I've detailed the miscarriages of justice I've
witnessed. But many are still convinced Israel can do no wrong

By Seth Freedman

December 22, 2008 "The Guardian" -- -

I find people over here who keep harping on about 'human rights'
violations by Israel conveniently forget or ignore that if Seth were to live
in any, yes, ANY Arab or Iranian country in the neighbourhood, he would have
been jailed, abused and then deported, if not accused of being a 'zionist'
spy and then condemned to capital punishment.

Two years after penning my first piece for Cif, there is still no getting
away from the kind of criticism seen in the comment above. No matter that
the thrust of georgeindia's rant had nothing to do with the subject of my
article, anyone perusing the thread is encouraged to believe that the fact
that the Israeli regime has not beheaded me for my dissent is ample proof
that all is well in our little corner of the Middle East. Which, of course,
it isn't, despite the best efforts of Israel's squadron of cheerleaders to
convince the world otherwise.

Mushroom Cloud over Wall Street
By Mike Whitney

"One bank to rule them all;
One bank to bind them..."

21/090/08 "ICH " -- - These are dark times. While you were sleeping the
cockroaches were busy about their work, rummaging through the US
Constitution, and putting the finishing touches on a scheme to...

The George W Bush Presidential Library

The George W Bush Presidential Library is now in the planning stages.

The Library will include:

The Hurricane Katrina Room, which is still under construction.

The Alberto Gonzales Room, where you won't be able to remember anything.

The Texas Air National Guard Room, where you don't even have to show up.

The Walter Reed Hospital Room, where they don't let you in.

The Guantanamo Bay Room, where they don't let you out.

The Weapons of Mass Destruction Room, which no one has been able to find.

The National Debt room, which is huge and has no ceiling.

The 'Tax Cut' Room with entry only to the wealthy.

The 'Economy Room' which is in the toilet.

The Iraq War Room. After you complete your first tour, they make you go back
for a second, third, fourth, and sometimes fifth tour.

The Dick Cheney Room, in the famous undisclosed location, complete with
shotgun gallery.

The Environmental Conservation Room, still empty.

The Supremes Gift Shop, where you can buy an election.

You Bush-Bum-Bussers gloating?

Not so fast, say some officials. "Power sharing," a feature of the
surge, "is always a prelude to violence."

----------------
"Tom Ricks's Inbox"
The Washington Post
Sunday, September 21, 2008; B02

Some very senior Bush administration officials are rushing to claim
credit for backing the "surge" of U.S. troops to Iraq, calling it the
turning point in the war. But before they spike the ball into the end
zone, they might want to listen to John McCreary, a retired analyst
for the Defense Intelligence Agency, who now puts out a daily e-mail
report called "NightWatch." He brings the savvy of a career
intelligence official to bear on the day's events -- a function
similar to the one he used to perform for the chairman of the Joint
Chiefs of Staff. Here, in part of his Sept. 11, 2008, bulletin,
McCreary explains why he expects violence to increase in Iraq:

My dad is gay

One day a fourth-grade teacher asked the

But little Justin was being uncharacteristically quiet, so when

The teacher, obviously shaken by this

Things that make you go hmmm...

I'm a little confused. Let me see if I have this straight.....

* If you grow up in Hawaii , raised by your grandparents, you're "exotic,
different."

* Grow up in Alaska eating moose burgers, a quintessential American story.
___________________

* If your name is Barrack you're a radical, unpatriotic Muslim.

* Name your kids Willow , Trig and Track, you're a maverick.
__________________

* Graduate from Harvard law School and you are unstable.

* Attend 5 different small colleges before graduating, you're well grounded.
__________________

Hey U.S., welcome to the Third World!

It's been a quick slide from economic superpower to economic basket case.
By Rosa Brooks

19/09/08 "LA Times" - -- Dear United States, Welcome to the Third World!

It's not every day that a superpower makes a bid to transform itself into a
Third World nation, and we here at the World Bank and the International
Monetary Fund want to be among the first to welcome you to the community of
states in desperate need of international economic assistance. As you spiral
into a catastrophic financial meltdown, we are delighted to respond to your
Treasury Department's request that we undertake a joint stability assessment
of your financial sector. In these turbulent times, we can provide services
ranging from subsidized loans to expert advisors willing to perform an
emergency overhaul of your entire government.

Cases of US troops slaying comrades rare in Iraq

By Russ Bynum, Military Writer
The Associated Press
Sept. 18, 2008, 4:47PM

Savannah, Ga. - Though they served in constant danger from enemy
insurgents
in Iraq, the deaths of Staff Sgt. Darris Dawson and Sgt. Wesley Durbin
are
tough to reconcile. Both men, the Army says, were fatally shot by a
U.S.
soldier in their own unit.

"A month ago I told you about the murder of two White girls, Tracy
Lambert and Susan Moore, in Fayetteville, North Carolina, as part of
the initiation of new members into the Black and Hispanic Crips gang.
I'm still receiving comments about that program. Apparently many
listeners-especially those with Internet access-checked out the facts
as reported in the Fayetteville newspaper, and they were shocked that,
just as I said, there was no media coverage of these terrible murders
outside the Fayetteville area. They were shocked that virtually all of
the mainstream media around the country would deliberately hide the
news of these racially motivated murders from the White public-and
these were the same media which had made such a sensation about the
killing of a convicted Black drug dealer and...