The Cakewalk War: "The Cakewalk War | By Paul Craig Roberts
09/20/05 'ICH' -- -- The 'cakewalk war' is now two and one-half years old. US casualties (dead and wounded) number 20,000. As 20,000 is the number of Iraqi insurgents according to US military commanders, each insurgent is responsible for one US casualty.
US troops in Iraq number about 150,000. Obviously, US troops have not inflicted 150,000 casualties on the Iraqi insurgents. US troops have perhaps inflicted 150,000 casualties on the Iraqi civilian population, primarily women and children who are the 'collateral damage' of the 'righteous' and 'virtuous' US invasion that is spreading civilian deaths all over Mesopotamia in the name of democracy.
What could the US have possibly done to give America a worse name than to invade Iraq and murder its citizens?
According to the September 1 Manufacturing & Technology News, the Government Accounting Office has reported that over the course of the cakewalk war, the US military’s use of small caliber ammunition has risen to 1.8 billion rounds. Think about that number. If there are 20,000 insurgents, it means US troops have fired 90,000 rounds at each insurgent.
Very few have been hit. We don’t know how many. To avoid the analogy with Vietnam, until last week the US military studiously avoided body counts. If 2,000 insurgents have been killed, each death required 900,000 rounds of ammunition.
The combination of US government owned ammo plants and those of US commercial producers together cannot make bullets as fast as US troops are firing them. The Bush administration has had to turn to foreign producers such as Israel Military Industries. Think about that. Hollowed out US industry cannot produce enough ammunition to defeat a 20,000 man insurgency."
Tuesday, September 20, 2005
Wednesday, September 14, 2005
Iraq: [if any are proven] agents of the Crusaders: 152 people and wounded 542
Al-Qaida in Iraq declares all-out war - Conflict in Iraq - MSNBC.com: "Following attacks that killed over 150, al-Zarqawi announces war intentions | MSNBC News Services | Updated: 7:48 p.m. ET Sept. 14, 2005
BAGHDAD, Iraq - After a dozen explosions ripped through the Iraqi capital Wednesday, al-Qaida's leader in Iraq purportedly declared all out war on Shiite Muslims, Iraqi troops and the country's government in an audio tape released on Internet.
Al-Qaida claimed responsibility for Wednesday's attacks, which killed at least 152 people and wounded 542, targeted at laborers assembled to find work for the day.
The bloodiest attack killed at least 88 people and wounded 227 in the heavily Shiite neighborhood of Kazimiyah where the day laborers had gathered shortly after dawn.
...
The speaker on the released audio tape, introduced as Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, also said his militant forces would attack any Iraqi it believes has cooperated with an ongoing U.S.-led offensive in the northern Iraqi city of Tal Afar.
"If proven that any of (Iraq's) national guards, police or army are agents of the Crusaders, they will be killed and his house will demolished or burnt — after evacuating all women and children — as a punishment," the voice said in the new tape, which surfaced on an Internet site known for carrying extremist Islamist content. ...
BAGHDAD, Iraq - After a dozen explosions ripped through the Iraqi capital Wednesday, al-Qaida's leader in Iraq purportedly declared all out war on Shiite Muslims, Iraqi troops and the country's government in an audio tape released on Internet.
Al-Qaida claimed responsibility for Wednesday's attacks, which killed at least 152 people and wounded 542, targeted at laborers assembled to find work for the day.
The bloodiest attack killed at least 88 people and wounded 227 in the heavily Shiite neighborhood of Kazimiyah where the day laborers had gathered shortly after dawn.
...
The speaker on the released audio tape, introduced as Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, also said his militant forces would attack any Iraqi it believes has cooperated with an ongoing U.S.-led offensive in the northern Iraqi city of Tal Afar.
"If proven that any of (Iraq's) national guards, police or army are agents of the Crusaders, they will be killed and his house will demolished or burnt — after evacuating all women and children — as a punishment," the voice said in the new tape, which surfaced on an Internet site known for carrying extremist Islamist content. ...
Saturday, September 03, 2005
“100,000 Civilian Deaths in Iraq: A Story of Media Spin,” ... inclusion of Falluja would certainly put the Iraqi death toll well above 100,000.
"Media Spin" on Civilian Iraqi Deaths: "'His Study Shows Numbers Have Increased Dramatically Since U.S. Invasion of Iraq | By Sarah Lozo | 09/02/05 'ICH'
Johns Hopkins University professor Les Roberts addressed the Hamilton community in a talk titled, “100,000 Civilian Deaths in Iraq: A Story of Media Spin,” on Thursday, Sept. 1. Roberts, an associate professor at Hopkins’ Bloomberg School of Public Relations, presented the under-published and often misrepresented findings of a study that he conducted along with other researchers from Hopkins and Al Mustansiriya University in Baghdad.
The results of Roberts’s study indicate that Iraqi civilian deaths have risen drastically since the United States invasion of Iraq in March 2003. In the 14 months prior to the invasion, 46 deaths occurred in about 1,000 households surveyed, compared to 142 after the invasion; Iraqis, he said, were 2.5 times more likely to die after the war began. Whereas most deaths before the invasion were attributable to heart attacks, strokes, and other ailments, most deaths after it were the result of violence. Moreover, Roberts reported that the coalition was responsible for 84% of these violent deaths.
Relating these numbers to the general Iraqi population, researchers estimated that, if the city of Falluja is left out of calculations, there is a 50% chance that the death toll is below 100,000, and a 50% chance that it is above 100,000. The inclusion of Falluja, according to Roberts, would certainly put the Iraqi death toll well above 100,000. In contrast, Roberts said, most news sources report and most American people believe that the death toll is less than half of this number."
Roberts noted that this discrepancy is based on the American media’s efforts to downplay Iraqi deaths. In Europe, Roberts reported, the findings of this study made the front pages of most major newspapers; in comparison, the study’s results appeared on page A8 of the New York Times and on page 12 of the Washington Post. European news sources provided in-depth analysis and substantial details of the study, while U.S. media coverage was only moderate. Moreover, the study’s publication in the U.S. provoked an outpouring of spin articles that led the American public to disregard the study as invalid.
Johns Hopkins University professor Les Roberts addressed the Hamilton community in a talk titled, “100,000 Civilian Deaths in Iraq: A Story of Media Spin,” on Thursday, Sept. 1. Roberts, an associate professor at Hopkins’ Bloomberg School of Public Relations, presented the under-published and often misrepresented findings of a study that he conducted along with other researchers from Hopkins and Al Mustansiriya University in Baghdad.
The results of Roberts’s study indicate that Iraqi civilian deaths have risen drastically since the United States invasion of Iraq in March 2003. In the 14 months prior to the invasion, 46 deaths occurred in about 1,000 households surveyed, compared to 142 after the invasion; Iraqis, he said, were 2.5 times more likely to die after the war began. Whereas most deaths before the invasion were attributable to heart attacks, strokes, and other ailments, most deaths after it were the result of violence. Moreover, Roberts reported that the coalition was responsible for 84% of these violent deaths.
Relating these numbers to the general Iraqi population, researchers estimated that, if the city of Falluja is left out of calculations, there is a 50% chance that the death toll is below 100,000, and a 50% chance that it is above 100,000. The inclusion of Falluja, according to Roberts, would certainly put the Iraqi death toll well above 100,000. In contrast, Roberts said, most news sources report and most American people believe that the death toll is less than half of this number."
Roberts noted that this discrepancy is based on the American media’s efforts to downplay Iraqi deaths. In Europe, Roberts reported, the findings of this study made the front pages of most major newspapers; in comparison, the study’s results appeared on page A8 of the New York Times and on page 12 of the Washington Post. European news sources provided in-depth analysis and substantial details of the study, while U.S. media coverage was only moderate. Moreover, the study’s publication in the U.S. provoked an outpouring of spin articles that led the American public to disregard the study as invalid.
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