There's A Brick Wall Rushing President Jr's Way

With the horror show that Iraq has now become, due to militias, insurgents, terrorists in training, and death squads, the issue gaining more public traction are at least three separate massacres & killings that allegedly involve US troops going on rampages that take innocent lives, including that of children deliberately gunned down at close range in incidents that contradict the military's initial version of events

And if it plays out to the scenario I see, then President Bush Jr is very likely to broken by the decision he's going to have to make, and sooner rather than later, BEFORE the elections in November

First up, the dead Iraqis as Ishaqi, and the military's clearing the US troops of any wrongdoing is not, predictably, going over well with those who lost their family & friends in the raid on a suspected insurgent

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U.S. Backs Soldiers' Actions in Raid

U.S. defense officials pushed back Friday against the latest reports claiming military wrongdoing in Iraq, denying accounts that American soldiers had deliberately killed a dozen civilians in a March raid while acknowledging that more noncombatants died than the military first reported.

Iraqi police and other witnesses charged immediately after the March raid that U.S. forces had killed as many as 13 civilians in the hamlet of Ishaqi near the city of Balad, tying up some and shooting them in the head.

The Associated Press said Friday that video shot by one of its cameramen and broadcast by the British Broadcasting Corp. this week showed some bodies, including those of several children, with deep head wounds that the AP said could have been caused by bullets or shrapnel.

The U.S. military initially reported that four people, a suspected insurgent and three civilians, were killed in the March 15 raid. But Friday, officials acknowledged that nine other noncombatants had been killed, calling the additional casualties "collateral deaths."

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The investigation cleared the U.S. troops of wrongdoing in the Ishaqi operation, and the report said the commander had increased firepower appropriately to respond to hostile fire.

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The new questions about the military's account arose this week in the wake of other allegations of misconduct by U.S. troops. In one, a squad of Marines is suspected of killing two dozen unarmed Iraqi civilians in November in Haditha, an incident under investigation both for the troops' actions as well as the way in which it was handled by the Marine Corps, which has been accused of a coverup.

In another incident, a group of Marines and a Navy corpsman could face charges in the April death of a civilian in Hamandiya, including murder and other counts involving a possible attempt to cover up the killing.

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The controversial civilian deaths brought expressions of anger this week from Iraqi officials, including Prime Minister Nouri Maliki, who called Friday for new ways to minimize harm to Iraqi civilians. White House Press Secretary Tony Snow said President Bush shared Maliki's concerns.

And there's one of the signs of what's headed W's way, the new Iraqi Prime Minister is beset on all sides with corruption, violent sectarian feuding and doing with less reliable supplies of water, power, fuel, security and sanitation than existed before the US invasion & occupation

What better way to rally the populace than by making demands of the occupying military power?

Iraq Lawyer Blasts U.S. Reaction to Deaths

On Thursday, Iraq said it was launching its own probe into the Haditha killings, with Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki sharply criticizing the conduct of U.S. troops in Iraq.

His comments were unusually harsh, suggesting to some that he might be using the incident to bolster his image as a national unity leader at a time of rising sectarian tensions. Al-Maliki is a Shiite, while the Haditha victims were Sunni Arabs, the minority that is the backbone of Iraq's insurgency.

An adviser to al-Maliki, Adnan al-Kazimi, denied Saturday that the announcement was a public relations exercise, saying an Iraqi investigation into the killings was popular among all Iraqis.

Al-Maliki will announce the makeup and mandate of the investigating committee in the next few days, al-Kazimi told The Associated Press. It will be made up of officials from the ministries of defense, interior and human rights and will report directly to al-Maliki, he said.

That Maliki is demanding the US turn over it's investigation results is significant in that the Administration has agreed with little prodding to do so

But as the violence level rises in Iraq, as the sectarian warfare gets worse and the blood rises to drowning levels, how long will it be until at least one of the factions maliki has to contend with, if not Maliki himself, finally voices the demand that this Administration fears more than anything else?

The demand that the Administration turn over the US Troops involved to the Iraqis for trial and punishment in the Iraq legal system

Well, that demand has already been voiced, and it came out of the mouth of a very angry child no less

Iraqi Survivor Wants U.S. Troops Executed

An Iraqi whose brother and other relatives were killed in a U.S. attack on a suspected terrorist hideout north of Baghdad condemned a military investigation Saturday that cleared forces of wrongdoing.

A 9-year-old survivor of an alleged massacre by U.S. forces in the western city of Haditha, meanwhile, demanded that those responsible be executed, as anger mounted over accusations that Iraqi civilians have been killed by Americans without provocation.

"We did not do anything to them," said Iman Walid Abdul-Hameed, who lost her parents, a brother, her grandparents and two uncles in the shootings. She said only she, her brother and a sister survived.

"Because they hurt us, we want the Americans to be executed," said Abdul-Hameed, wearing a violet striped shirt and headband as she sat on a couch at a cousin's home, where she is now living. She and her brother Abdul-Rahman were slightly injured during the shootings.

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The hospital director, Walid Abdul-Khaleq al-Obeidi, said bodies of the 24 victims, including those of eight women and five children, were brought to the hospital by the Marines at 11 p.m., about 14 hours after witnesses said the last gunshot was heard at the scene of the shootings. He said the bodies had gunshot wounds to the chest and head, and one body was burned.

The New York Times reported Saturday that commanders learned within two days that civilians in Haditha were killed by gunfire and not a roadside bomb, quoting a senior Marine officer it did not name. The officer said officials had no information suggesting the civilians had been killed deliberately and saw no reason to investigate further.

The enormous damage this incident, and others like it, can do the President and the Administration cannot be downplayed

If the President gives in to the demand when it comes from Iraq Officials-especially those Iraqi officials the US is counting on the most during its occupation-make no mistake, he'll be absolutely crucified by critics from all sides in the US, conservatives to liberals, hawks to doves, Dems & Repubs alike, W's Administration will be all but officially over in terms of any kind of an agenda

If W doesn't give in, then expect major propaganda pushes from all those forces opposed to the US occupation in Iraq, and expect the plaque of violence to unify those currently warring-forces, with spikes in the number of attacks on US Troops the most likely result, and likely more spectacular strikes in the forms of suicide bombers against US troops-in fortified US territory, as happened with a mess hall attack in Mosul, December 2004


Regardless of the decision he ultimately makes when the demand for those US Troops is shouted by the Iraqi Leadership and power-broker Mullahs, this is a decision that has the ability to completely shatter this President mentally, emotionally and spiritually

That some propaganda-hungry political/religious entity in Iraq hasn't yet clamored for the US to turn over those troops involved in these massacre allegations is due more to dumb luck for W than deliberately overlooking the issue from those in Iraq who have been looking for just such a way to highlight just how badly the Administration has planned and carried out military strategy in the run up, invasion and US occupation of Iraq

And incidents like the following only make it far easier for those calls to go out and find a receptive audience in terms of volunteers to fight the US occupiers-If this was happening on US Soil to US citizens at the hands of a foreign, occupying military power, nobody's sense of patriotism would let these incidents occur without a payback of some kind

Shooting of pregnant Iraqi touches nerves

The shooting death of a pregnant Iraqi, apparently by U.S. troops, as she was rushing to a hospital threw an intense spotlight Wednesday on the troubling issue of Iraqi civilian deaths.

Iraqi police and witnesses said the troops gunned down the woman and her cousin in their car. The U.S. military said the car entered a clearly marked prohibited area but failed to stop despite repeated signals; shots were fired to disable the vehicle, it said.

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But on Tuesday, Nabiha Nisaif Jassim, a 35-year-old pregnant woman, and her cousin Saliha Mohammed Hassan, 57, became the latest victims of what many Iraqis think is the American troops' disregard for life.

Jassim's brother, Khalid Nisaif Jassim, said he was speeding to get to a maternity hospital in Samarra when shots were fired at his car. He said the shooting happened on a side road that the U.S. military closed two weeks ago. News of the closure, he said, was slow to reach the rural area just outside Samarra where his family lives.

The cousins' bodies were taken to Samarra General Hospital, where relatives said doctors struggled to save Jassim's baby but failed.

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Nabiha Nisaif Jassim is survived by a husband, 36-year-old Hussein Tawfeeq, and two children, Hashimayah, 2, and Ali, 1. Tawfeeq was waiting at the hospital for his wife when she was shot.

``May God take revenge on the Americans and those who brought them here,'' Jassim's brother told the AP. ``People are shocked and fed up with the Americans. People in Samarra are very angry with the Americans not only because of Haditha case but because the Americans kill people randomly, especially recently.''

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``The loss of life is regrettable and coalition forces go to great lengths to prevent them,'' the military said of the Samarra shooting.

But many Iraqis say they are fed up.

Speeding toward U.S. military checkpoints, convoys or living next door to a suspected insurgent hideout has cost many Iraqis their lives since U.S. troops invaded in 2003. Although figures are not available, it is commonly believed by Iraqis that hundreds of people may have died this way.

Following incidents similar to that in Samarra, the U.S. military has offered financial compensation to the victims' families and a verbal apology delivered by an officer.

Most accept the money. But in some cases relatives refuse, viewing the cash offer as an insult. U.S. personnel are in some cases met by angry relatives shouting abuse.

Anti-U.S. sentiments are whipped up by incidents like Samarra. In addition to Haditha, major abuse cases such as the scandal at the U.S.-run Abu Ghraib prison or the alleged bombing by U.S. warplanes of a wedding in western Iraq in 2004 that killed about 45 people also foster rage at American troops.

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The circumstances surrounding the (Haditha) killings appear to match the charges Iraqis never tire of repeating about the behavior of American troops in the immediate aftermath of an attack or a bombing, particularly when they suffer casualties.

Iraqis consistently speak of random shootings and arbitrary arrests. The U.S. military routinely denies such allegations, but others have also suggested that anger may have played a role in events in Haditha.

And here's exactly where the various factions in Iraq could point to the Administration's disastrous occupation planning being responsible for getting lots of US Troops & innocent Iraqis killed, maimed & traumatized, as NONE of these events would have ever taken place without the Iraq Invasion and Occupation

With nearly 2,500 servicemen killed and many thousands more wounded, American troops have been battling a stubborn and brutal insurgency. They also must cope with language and cultural barriers.

Some U.S. troops are now on their third deployment in Iraq, and the stress of combat in a country where almost anyone is a potential enemy can be immense. The Marine unit involved in the alleged Haditha killings was on its third tour in Iraq.

Sooner rather than later, the President is going to have to confront the foolishness, the folly, of his desire to expunge from his memories and deepest reaches of his soul by deceiving himself that a war launched on flat-out lies in any way makes W an effective & competent "War President"

He's almost at that point now, and how ironic would it be if it was the Iraqis-brutalized by their own dictator with torture and mass graves, then by the country which propped up their criminal overlord-who finally shattered the arrogance of the Blundering Blind-To-All-Unpleasant-Reality King George IV

And when W finally cracks mentally, not only with the Iraqi demands for the US troops to be turned over to Iraq's legal system, but also under the ever-increasing strain of a growing and virulent despisement directed his way by an expanding majority of the US public, the results will be much like the mental collapse of King Lear, when only at the end does he recognize all the evil, pain, grief and anguish his decisions have brought about