No Sex, please

Multi-National Force - Iraq established this YouTube channel to give viewers around the world a "boots on the ground" perspective of Operation Iraqi Freedom from those who are fighting it.

Video clips document action as it appeared to personnel on the ground and in the air as it was shot. We will only edit video clips for time, security reasons, and/or overly disturbing or offensive images.

What you will see on this channel in the coming months:
- Combat action
- Interesting, eye-catching footage
- Interaction between Coalition troops and the Iraqi populace.
- Teamwork between Coalition and Iraqi troops in the fight against terror.

What we will NOT post on this channel:
- Profanity
- Sexual content
- Overly graphic, disturbing or offensive material
- Footage that mocks Coalition Forces, Iraqi Security Forces or the citizens of Iraq.

Speaking of teamwork:

When Iraqi imams sit down with prisoners at a US detention center in Iraq to discuss Islam, they are working for a subsidiary of Global Innovation (GI) Partners LLP, a California- and London-based private equity firm that claims to have "$2 billion in capital under management." Truthout

NewsPorn

The US media has apparently learned nothing from the hot anal action it provided leading up to the invasion of Iraq, in view of its Pre-K-level coverage of the conflict in Georgia/Ossetia.






A couple of salubrious correctives:

CounterSpin - Interview with Helen Cobban. (See also this earlier bit).

Informant here, here, here, here, and passim.

Statesmanlike Custody of the Assets

JUAN GONZALEZ: And you also detail in your book the same kind of flimflam going on with the soldiers who are recruited into the military, a bonus pay that they get that then, if they happen to be injured too soon when they get on the battlefield, they then have to pay back?

JOSEPH STIGLITZ: Yeah. I found that just absolutely astounding. You know, you’re doing this research, and you find things that—I say, “Linda, are you sure? This can’t be!” But they said—you know, the view is, they signed a contract to serve for three years. The fact that they get blown up after one month means they haven’t fulfilled their contract.

AMY GOODMAN: And so, what happens?

JOSEPH STIGLITZ: They have to pay back the money. Demo Now

"That crocodile will never be a pet."

"When we came in here, we arrested everybody. . . Everybody is in jail, everybody has a relative in jail. . .we can make, we can make huge friends if we can help to release them." Two-part video here.

Take away the precious thing, barter it back. End of the day, we're friends.



Update: The alleged Lawrence of Arabia of al-Anbar reportedly is no more.

Ira/q/n/ate

Fox's Fair and Balanced Attacks

UK

911 General Strike Gains Momentum -?

People are asking the question here, What do I do? Go ask some illiterate Haitian peasant. They seem to know what to do.

The reception of Moyers is predicted by his story

"The institutional decay which Moyers chronicles is not merely a matter of historical interest. Instead, it continues to shape our mainstream political dialogue every bit as much as it did back in 2002 and 2003." Greenwald.

"Moyers' program frustrated and depressed me, for the simple reason that it showed how well-protected the US state is from any real democratic challenge." Perrin.

Tom Tomorrow

Johnstown could be doing something for vets

Mr. Bush named Bob Dole, the former Kansas senator and G.O.P. presidential candidate, and Donna Shalala, the health and human services secretary during the Clinton administration, to head a panel to investigate the problems at Walter Reed.

In view of the critical need for care, the rote calls for redundant investigations into the cause of the problems (we all know the cause) at Walter Reed will produce nothing. What Iraq vets need, as soon as possible, is good medical and psychiatric care, job training, and help getting back to the communities where they feel at home.

An actual opportunity exists in Johnstown, PA.

That's where, for the past two years, from the ground up, veterans groups, citizens and physicians have been working to address the needs of soldiers returning from Iraq. The wing of a former medical facility in Johnstown has been identified as ideal for those in need of treatment for PTSD and other purposes. It's available, and all the groundwork has already been done by people with both the appropriate skills (doctors who specialize in brain injury, for example) and the highest level of commitment.

The 33-bed wing could be up and running by this summer if it can get funding. Congressman John Murtha is said to be working on that.

If anyone in Congress or fuBushco actually wanted to do something, as opposed to "handling" this like another Abu Ghraib and Katrina, they'd get Congress to put money into the Johnstown facility. Make the center so good at what it does that its success would be replicated around the country, especially in rural areas where high-level medical attention is not always present. The vision of vets not only benefiting from the best care, but getting it and job training near their homes and families, ought to get anyone in D.C. off their arse -- besides the obvious merit of the mission, this is pure political gold.

It's there -- all it needs is funding. Probably cost less than what a few of the investigations will run. Skeptical? Ask about the former Crichton Center wing of the HGA Rehabilitation Center in Johnstown, PA. Talk to people linked to the Pennsylvania Disabled Veteran Rehabilitation/ Vocational Retraining Project.

Johnstown

Antigen needed: slime residue on the slugtrail of Al Neffgen

Al Neffgen

March 3, 2007 - The Bush Administration's drive for privatization may be responsible for the "deplorable" outpatient care for soldiers at Walter Reed Army Medical Center, according to a top Democratic Congressman investigating the scandal, which has already led to the resignation of the Secretary of the US Army.

A five-year, $120 million contract awarded to a firm run by a former executive from Halliburton – a multi-national corporation where Vice President Dick Cheney once served as CEO – will be probed at a Subcommittee on National Security and Foreign Affairs hearing scheduled for Monday....

"We have learned that in January 2006, Walter Reed awarded a five-year $120 million contract to a company called IAP Worldwide Services for base operations support services, including facilities management," Waxman continues. "IAP is one of the companies that experienced problems delivering ice during the response to Hurricane Katrina."

Waxman notes that IAP "is led by Al Neffgen, a former senior Halliburton official who testified before our Committee in July 2004 in defense of Halliburton's exorbitant charges for fuel delivery and troop support in Iraq."




March 2, 2007 A message left at the home number belonging to Al Neffgen was not immediately returned.


2006 "We have learned that in January 2006 WALTER REED awarded a FIVE-YEAR, $120 MILLION contract to a company called IAP WORLDWIDE SERVICES...IAP IS BEST KNOWN FOR THE PROBLEMS IT ENCOUNTERED DELIVERING ICE during the response to Hurricane Katrina. The COMPANY IS LED BY AL NEFFGEN, a FORMER HALLIBURTON OFFICIAL..." [Update: see video here]



2005 - IAP Worldwide Services, which recruited Al Neffgen, has lucrative contracts for Katrina clean-up under a "small business clause." It has "about 5,000 employees working in more than 25 countries."



2003 Looks like the former president and chief executive of J.A. Jones Inc. has landed on his feet with a new job at massive international company Halliburton.


Al Neffgen has been appointed chief operating officer for government operations for the Americas at Kellogg Brown & Root, Halliburton's engineering and construction group. In his new role, Neffgen will oversee all work performed by KBR for the U.S. government.

He's familiar with the inner workings of government-based contracting, a longstanding Jones specialty.

Halliburton recently purchased Neffgen's home at The Peninsula.

The company is one of the world's largest providers of products and services to the oil and gas industries and was previously headed by Vice President Dick Cheney.

Neffgen was at the helm of Charlotte-based Jones from 2000 until last year, when it became clear the general contracting giant would not be able to avoid bankruptcy.


2003 As of 2003, it was Al Neffgen who was responding - or delaying responding to government demands for information related to KBR accounting problems. In this case, "refusing to turn over internal documents that show the company was aware of accounting problems related to an Iraqi fuel contract that allegedly has overcharged U.S. taxpayers so far nearly $100 million". At that time, Al Neffgen was KBR's chief operations officer.link


2001 While J.A. Jones International's current focus is clearly with the Department of State, it also serves all branches of the Department of Defense, USAID, as well as commercial clients, by providing construction and design-build services for a variety of facilities.
[including] Naval Housing in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

Date uncertain: "I had a great experience and enjoyed more laughter than I had for many years. The hunting was terrific, your hospitality most gracious and the food was excellent. All in all, a wonderful experience." Al Neffgen, S.C.

Prez addresses supermarket bagger shortage

Every war or major military conflict produces a characteristic injury or wound that eventually becomes that conflict's "signature wound".

According to a report in The Scotsman, the war in Iraq will be no different in producing a "signature wound" only this time the wound is in the brains of those affected.

One Washington medical centre is reporting that a staggering 83% of wounded Marines and sailors were suffering from temporary or permanent brain damage.

The emergence of this latest "signature wound" comes just one month after President Bush announced in his 2006 budget that he would eliminate a $9 million program for the treatment of people with Traumatic Brain Injury. Brain Injury Resource Foundation.

The above article was published in 2005, but its key information apparently remains to be divulged to the traumatically brain-injured government of the traumatically brain-injured president. Judging, anyway, from the Traumatic Brain Injury Facts on The Dept. of Health and Human Services's Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's Factsheet on Traumatic Brain Injury.