Pandora's Box

[Ace42X]

http://www.guardian.co.uk/Iraq/Story/0,,1725996,00.html

So, right-wingnuts, the war was a good thing, right? And it's all going to plan, right? And democracy takes time, and you have to expect a few bumps, right? And if there are hitches, it is because the American people, and the left-wingers of the world, didn't give up enough freedoms, or support the troops enough, and generally sabotaged the whole thing through the power of pessimistic negative vibes, right?

[EN[i]GMA]

I'm actually listening to Pandora by the Cocteau Twins right now.

Fantastic song.

[kaiser soze]

of course it's my fault, i told them troops to pack up and head to iraq

But i forgot to give em the body armor, the proper intelligence, the ammo, the time-frame, the chance to have their pictures taken either in a hospital bed or dead on a plane, and the truth

whoops! sorry!

bush for god 2008!

[Ali]

Hours after Mr Khalilzad made his remarks, the US defence secretary, Donald Rumsfeld accused Iran of dispatching elements of its Revolutionary Guard to stir trouble inside Iraq. Mr Rumsfeld said: "They are currently putting people into Iraq to do things that are harmful to the future of Iraq and we know it. And it is something that they, I think, will look back on as having been an error in judgment." Hey Don, do you remember this (http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/NSAEBB/NSAEBB82/shakinghands_high.wmv)? Then I guess you KNEW that Iran and Iraq didn't exactly get along.

So why are you suprised that they are "doing things that are harmful to the future of Iraq"? Didn't you take that into account when you made your plans to attack Iraq and claim all that oil? Or maybe you did, and your accusations of Nuclear arms manufacture in Iran and now these allegations of Iranian meddling in Iraq are part of a plan to draw Iran into a conflict with the UN.

It won't work. 80% of Americans think that it was a mistake to attack Iraq and nobody wants a war with Iran, not after what they've seen next door.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/4784626.stm

At the Washington briefing, Mr Rumsfeld said he did not believe a civil war was going on in Iraq, although admitted that such danger remained. :confused:

He said Iraq "was held together not by a constitution, not by a piece of paper, not by respect for the fellow citizens of different religious faiths, but it was held together through force and viciousness (http://hrw.org/reports/2004/usa0604/5.htm#_Toc74483705)".

"And that's gone," Mr Rumsfeld said.I think it's still there, Donny-boy.

In August 2003, Defense Secretary Rumsfeld, through his top intelligence aide, Stephen A. Cambone, sent Maj. Gen. Geoffrey D. Miller, who oversaw the interrogation efforts at the U.S. military base at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, to, in the words of Maj. Gen. Taguba, “review current Iraqi Theater ability to rapidly exploit internees for actionable intelligence.”90 Miller was tasked in essence with “Gitmo-izing” interrogation practices in Iraq, although the Bush administration recognizes that the Geneva Conventions are “fully applicable” in Iraq91 while it has said that they do not cover al-Qaeda detainees Guantánamo.

As Taguba highlighted in his report, Miller recommended that “the guard force be actively engaged in setting the conditions for successful exploitation of the internees.”93 There is little clarity regarding what else Miller recommended.94

On October 12, Sanchez implemented Miller’s proposals, issuing a classified memorandum calling for interrogators at Abu Ghraib to work with military police guards to “manipulate an internee's emotions and weaknesses” and to assume control over the “lighting, heating . . . food, clothing, and shelter” of those they were questioning.95 The full contents of the Sanchez memo have not been made public.

In addition, between three and five interrogation teams were sent in October from Guantánamo to the American command in Iraq ' “for use in the interrogation effort”' at Abu Ghraib.96

Capt. Carolyn A. Wood, who oversaw interrogations at the Bagram detention center in Afghanistan where two prisoners died, apparently prepared the document titled “Interrogation Rules of Engagement” that was posted at Abu Ghraib. According to the document, certain interrogation methods could be undertaken, but only if the “CG’s” (Sanchez’s) approval was sought and obtained in writing. Depending on their actual application, these methods would violate the Geneva Conventions prohibitions against abusive and coercive treatment of detainees. They included:

Change of scenery down (moving to a more barren cell)
Dietary manipulation
Environmental manipulation
Sleep adjustment (reverse schedule)
Isolation for longer than 30 days
Presence of military working dogs
Sleep management (72 hours maximum)
Sensory deprivation (72 hours maximum)
Stress positions (no longer than 45 minutes)