In the Red Zone

[Shelby]

Steven Vincent, an art critic from New York, was murdered in Irag early this month. He was working as an independent journalist.

Anyone interested in a more in depth look at what's going on over there than we get from mainstream media should buy his book.

Besides, his widow could probably use the money.

 

[Dr Rock]

hmmm. any information on who murdered him and/or why?

 

[Shelby]

Speculation is that he may have been killed by insurgents who have infiltrated the Iraqi police (he had recently reported this on his blog).

Others think he may have been killed by religious fundamentalists over what they perceived as an inappropriate relationship between him and his female Iraqi translator.

 

[Dr Rock]

oh. my prime suspect was rupert murdoch.

 

[Shelby]

Originally posted by Dr Rock@Aug 18 2005, 03:50 PM
oh. my prime suspect was rupert murdoch.

[post=336506]Quoted post[/post]​

Nice one! :thumbsup:

 

[jonb]

Ever heard of Giuliana Sgrena?

 

[Shelby]

Originally posted by jonb@Aug 18 2005, 05:26 PM
Ever heard of Giuliana Sgrena?

[post=336539]Quoted post[/post]​

I had not before your post. Appears to be a tragic failure on the part of American troops.

That's one thing I liked about Vincent's book. He points out problems on both sides. True Bushhaters won't like it though because he also identifies positive results (where he finds them) of the military action.

I think most people have a pretty simplistic, one dimensional view of the war. The far right's being - turn the whole damn area into a sheet of glass. And on the left - it's all just corporate greed and a grab for oil. This book challenges both sides.

 

[jonb]

Actually, the far right has made it very clear it's about oil. They actually had meetings to see who could profit most from the Iraq war. Oil and "political capital", as Shrubbery put it in 1999.

The U.S. government's view wrt Sgrena is that basically Sgrena and the remaining Italian secret service agents agreed on the same pack fo lies within a matter of minutes, that the Italians (who have less reason to lie than the U.S.) are lying and the U.S. is telling the truth, that minimal strategic hits could be the result of panicky fire, that Negroponte (who couldn't take a helicopter because of the storm) decided to drive through the streets of Baghdad rather than postpone a meeting, and that of all the American soldiers in Baghdad to shoot at Sgrena's car, these just happened to be Negroponte's body guards.

Negroponte, BTW, is fairly well-known in Nicaragua.

I wouldn't put killing journalists past the U.S. Remember how Jessica Lynch discredited all their stories about her? Well, if you get BBC, you do.

 

[Freddie53]

Originally posted by jonb@Aug 23 2005, 12:24 AM
Actually, the far right has made it very clear it's about oil. They actually had meetings to see who could profit most from the Iraq war. Oil and "political capital", as Shrubbery put it in 1999.

[post=337413]Quoted post[/post]​

For those who have forgotten, Suddam nationalized the American oil wells in Iraq. Dick Chenney and his company owned considerable oil holdings in Iraq. So one of the purposes of the war was to get Dick Chenney, our Vice President, companies oil wells back. American troops should feel priveldged to die for more oil profits for Dick Cheney. Cheneys assests before the war were down to just a little over $400 million. Now how could he rub noses with the Republican rich with only $400 in assets? No this war was a must, Dick Chenney needed lots of assests to pass down to his lesbian daughter and her partner. And too think of al the religious right that got out to vote for a gay marriage amendment. There is no way Dick Chenney is going to allow that. And it hasn't been mentioned by the Republicans since the election and it is not a factor in the nomination process for the new Supreme Court Justice.

I am trtying to write shorter posts. So I will leave the rest I could say about this matter to another post. I'm sure that Chenney will provide enough fodder for me to volumnes of posts in the future. He just knows how to do it, being the far right man he is, err the man looking for profits that he is.