Smoke and mirrors continue to embody the war in Iraq. Even as New Hampshire residents go to the polls today for the first primary of the 2008 presidential race, the slaughter in the Mid East continues as the pundits, talking heads and the mainstream media (now affectionately/sarcastically dubbed the ‘MSM’ by those in the know) have skipped around the details of how the nightmarish conflict is going.

• As of Monday, Jan. 7, 2008, at least 3,911 members of the U.S. military have died since the beginning of the Iraq war in March 2003, according to an Associated Press count. The figure includes eight military civilians. At least 3,181 died as a result of hostile action, according to the military’s numbers.
  The AP count is three higher than the Defense Department’s tally, last updated Monday at 10 a.m. EST.
  — Associated Press (1/7/08)

Young Americans continue dying in the face of lies.

• The death rate in Iraq in the past 12 months has been the second highest in any year since the invasion, according to figures that appear to contradict American claims that the troop “surge” has dramatically reduced the level of violence across the country.
  The research comes from Iraq Body Count (IBC), which has extensive experience of working in the country, and concludes that deaths outside Baghdad actually rose until September.
  — new.independent.co.uk 1/7/08

According to a new poll by Harris Interactive, released this past weekend, US peoples are sick and tired of Decider George and his blubbering mouth. Fifty-nine percent held a negative view of how Decider George and his minions have conducted the vast, overreaching and unsuccessful war on terror — a campaign that has created a world far more frightened and more distrustful of the US. In the same poll, 57 percent responded they were dissatisfied on how well Decider George and his criminal gang has protected US civil liberties.
And when you have a former US senator, a former candidate for president of the US — one likened to George McGovern — who calls for impeachment of Decider George and his cold-hearted, warrior-not, blood-lust-filled vice president, Dufus Dick Chaney, then one understands how respondents in these polls respond.
McGovern, who ran for president in 1972 and lost to Dick Nixon, wrote in a Washington Post op/ed this past weekend those two bully-boys should be brought on charges ranging from war crimes to crimes against humanity and for just being asshole criminals. (McGovern would never use the term ‘assholes’ — he was writing for a MSM).

And all this, just as Decider George leaves today for a sojourn to the Middle East. Why go there? Why not.

• The White House today dismissed al-Qaeda threats to attack President George W. Bush during his Middle East trip.
  “Al-Qaeda offers nothing but death and violence,” said Gordon Johndroe, White House national security spokesman, who said the President’s visit this week sought to “offer the ideology of hope” to “people who seek a better life”.
  In a message posted online today, an American member of al-Qaeda urged Islamist militants to target Mr. Bush “with bombs” during his trip to the Middle East starting tomorrow.
  Mr. Bush should be welcomed “not with flowers and applause, but with bombs and car bombs”, said al-Qaeda operative Adam Gadahn, a convert to Islam who has been indicted for treason by a US jury.
  He also reportedly tore up his passport on the video, which drew a scornful reaction from the White House.
  “I would note that this guy is wanted for treason and does not need his passport,” Mr. Johndroe said.
  — The New York Times (1/7/08)

Why does the word “treason” coming the White House makes us shudder, then piss us way, way off? And what would be worse? President Dufus Dick?
And what’s this flowery shit: “offer the ideology of hope” (from Barack Obama’s playbook) and “people who seek a better life” ?????

And one more freakin’ question: What about the US peoples?

• The feared recession in the US economy has already arrived, according to a report from Merrill Lynch.
  It said that Friday’s employment report, which sent shares tumbling worldwide, confirmed that the US is in the first month of a recession. Its view is controversial, with banks such as Lehman Brothers disagreeing.
  An official ruling on whether the US is in recession is made by the National Bureau of Economic Research, but this decision may not come for two years.
  The NBER defines a recession as “a significant decline in economic activity spread across the economy, lasting more than a few months”.
  It bases its assessment on final figures on employment, personal income, industrial production and sales activity in the manufacturing and retail sectors.
  Merrill Lynch said that the figures showing the jobless rate hitting 5% in December were the final piece in that puzzle.
  It added that the current consensus view on Wall Street that there is a good chance of avoiding a recession is “in denial”.
  It also objected to the use of euphemistic terms for the state of the economy.
  “To say that the backdrop is ‘recession like’ is akin to an obstetrician telling a woman that she is ‘sort of pregnant’,” the report said.
  — news.bbc.co.uk (1/8/08)

And what about Decider George? (Another question, we know.)

He lied again. On Friday, Decider George told a business luncheon that while there is some uncertainty about slowing economic growth, the nation’s “financial markets are strong and solid.”
And furthermore: “This economy of ours is on a solid foundation, but we can’t take economic growth for granted. And there are signs that will cause us to be ever more diligent and make sure that good policies come out of Washington.”
What a load of shit-crock.

And what about this shit? (We know, we know — another question).

• Pakistani officials involved in the nuclear black market network have significant cross-over with al-Qaeda and 9/11. Officials such as the chief of ISI, Pakistan’s spy agency, allegedly sent $100,000 to 9/11 hijacker Mohammed Atta, and aides of A.Q. Kahn — who had used the stolen secrets to develop nuclear weapons for Pakistan — met with Osama bin Laden “weeks before 9/11…to discuss an Al-Qaeda nuclear device.”
  — bradblog.com (1/6/08)

This whole story of Sibel Edmonds, the former FBI translator who has been under a Bush administration gag order for the past five years, has not reached the MSM and thus has not reached into the US heartland to create more outcry for Decider George’s removal. Edmonds has now begun to disclose some of the classified information she has been prohibited from revealing. The story broke in the UK Sunday and it will rattle the windows if allowed to gather media steam in the US.
A major player in the scandal: Marc Grossman.
Grossman was the U.S. Ambassador to Turkey (’94-’97), the Asst. Sec. of State for European Affairs (’97-’00) and served under Colin Powell and Richard Armitage at the State Department from 2001 to 2005 as the Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs. He’s currently employed as the Vice Chairman of the D.C. and China-based consulting firm, The Cohen Group, founded by the former Republican Defense Secretary for Bill Clinton, William S. Cohen.

Awake, awake US peoples!