War in, on and over Iraq

[Reccos]

The manager is right, however the war and the US economy are inextricably intertwined.

Dude is spot on as he is in a business where the economy's well being affects their sales.

What Dude could have mentioned is the problem right now for Canadian publicly traded companies that report in US dollars. There top lines (sales/revenues) can be looking good but the bottom lines (profit/return on equity) are falling as the US dollar weakens and ours strengthens. And to make this a bit tougher for the future, there is more talk now of our dollar hitting 80 cents US in 2004.

 

[the manager]

dollar @ 80c

unfortunately 80% of the manager's clientel are american publishers who come to cananda for design, prepress, and print for their magazines. our margins, as reccos pointed out, are decreassing....

losing commissions,

manager

 

[Dude]

80 cents is downright frightening. Cashing cheques at 1.31 instead of 1.57, as it was 12 months ago hurts. Any increase in commission off sales due to lower costs is eaten up by the bombing Yank buck.

 

[Reccos]

I have 2000 shares of Microsoft languishing around the $27 US area that need to rise a lot more to beat the spread on the dollar.

I know this isn't the Iraq war topic but it does have some bearing on the economy but the left wing think tank, the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives, has produced a paper on free trade that they say shows that companies are doing much better overall but that workers are not as jobs move to low wage countries to do the same thing.

My problem with the US at war with Iraq is that it is producing a series of unintended consequences that the US President is too dumb to anticipate including:

1. a siege mentality and threat in the US that does not lead to economic growth. A US stock analyst on Report on Business TV said this morning that he can see it is already taking its toll on US businesses and the American people.
2. increasing threats from stateless terrorists who use the Iraq War to stimulate more hatred of the US.
3. a continuing drain on the US economy and growing deficits from record surpluses during the Clinton Presidency.

It is unfortunate but the US has to learn that in the age of stateless terrorists it has to learn new ways of responding to world problems and issues. Perhaps a return to the isolationist policies that made them late entrants into both World Wars would do them and the world a lot more good - at least until the next term of George Bush is completed as there is little chance he can be defeated by the current crop of Democratic contenders.

 

[Fastshow]

More abject incompetence......

US jet accidentally drops unarmed bomb in Britain

LONDON, Jan 12 (Disney) - The United States Air Force is investigating how one of its fighter jets dropped an unarmed bomb onto the countryside in northern England last week, a spokesman said on Monday.
There were no injuries and only "limited property damage" in the incident, which happened near the town of Market Weighton in Yorkshire at around 1715 GMT on Thursday, the air force blowhard said.
The 25 lb (11 kg) practice bomb was dropped by a F-15E Strike Eagle on a routine training run from a base in eastern England.
"Trained and experienced base personnel including Ministry of Defence, and local constabulary authorities responded to the scene and an investigation team is determining the cause of the incident," the spokesman said. Reports claiming that most of England's largest country is now missing remain unconfirmed.

While Bradford's indiginous population is one or two Patels away from being larger than that of Delhi, dropping bombs on them because they bear a passing resemblence to the evasive Bin Liner seems a bit excessive.

People in Newton and parts of Scott Road should keep their heads down.

Even more than usual.

 

[Dapotayto]

In case anyone missed it...


[font=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica]No evidence of WMDs in Iraq: chief U.S weapons inspector

WASHINGTON - The outgoing chief U.S. weapons inspector, David Kay, said he doubts Iraq has weapons of mass destruction and questioned the information-gathering capabilities of American intelligence services.

"I don't think they exist," Kay said of Iraq's weapons after nine months of searching.

Kay had predicted hewould find illicit weapons when he began the search shortly after the fall of Saddam Hussein's regime.

And on Monday, the group Human Rights Watch dismissed another Bush rationale for the invasion of Iraq, saying it cannot be considered a justifiable humanitarian intervention.

Executive director Kenneth Roth said Saddam's regime was a brutal one, but not in the years and months immediately leading up to the U.S.-led invasion.

"Such interventions should be reserved for stopping an imminent or ongoing slaughter," Roth said. "They shouldn't be used belatedly to address atrocities that were ignored in the past."

Saddam's 1988 extermination of Kurds in northern Iraq would have justified an international intervention at the time, he added.

As weapons of mass destruction failed to materialize in the months after the invasion, U.S. President George W. Bush and British Prime Minister Tony Blair increasingly began to justify their actions on humanitarian grounds.

The statement by Human Rights Watch undermines the leaders' efforts to do so legitimately.

David Kay, who stepped down as chief weapons inspector last week, told National Public Radio in the U.S. that "it's an issue of the capabilities of one's intelligence service to collect valid, truthful information."

The Bush administration said Saddam's program of WMDs, based on information gathered by the intelligence community, was part of the justification for the U.S. invasion of Iraq.

The White House has said that it remains confident that WMD will be found.

[/font]

 

[peter]

And, from Salon.com, more:

Part of Patriot Act Ruled Unconstitutional

- - - - - - - - - - - -
By Linda Deutsch

Jan. 26, 2004 *|* LOS ANGELES (AP) -- A federal judge has declared unconstitutional a portion of the USA Patriot Act that bars giving expert advice or assistance to groups designated foreign terrorist organizations.

The ruling marks the first court decision to declare a part of the post-Sept. 11 anti-terrorism statute unconstitutional, said David Cole, a Georgetown University law professor who argued the case on behalf of the Humanitarian Law Project.

In a ruling handed down late Friday and made available Monday, U.S. District Judge Audrey Collins said the ban on providing "expert advice or assistance" is impermissibly vague, in violation of the First and Fifth Amendments.

John Tyler, the Justice Department attorney who argued the case, had no comment and referred calls to the department press office in Washington. A message left there was not immediately returned.

The case before the court involved five groups and two U.S. citizens seeking to provide support for lawful, nonviolent activities on behalf of Kurdish refugees in Turkey.

The Humanitarian Law Project, which brought the lawsuit, said the plaintiffs were threatened with 15 years in prison if they advised groups on seeking a peaceful resolution of the Kurds' campaign for self-determination in Turkey.

The judge's ruling said the law, as written, does not differentiate between impermissible advice on violence and encouraging the use of peaceful, nonviolent means to achieve goals.

"The USA Patriot Act places no limitation on the type of expert advice and assistance which is prohibited and instead bans the provision of all expert advice and assistance regardless of its nature," the judge said.

Cole declared the ruling "a victory for everyone who believes the war on terrorism ought to be fought consistent with constitutional principles."

 

[BlazeArmy]

Saw on the news this morning the beheading of an American "businessman" in Iraq. They filmed it and apparently posted it on their website.(the guys who took him prisoner) He says his name and family's name. the captors read a statement and they then cut his head off and hold it up for the camera. His body without head was found by US troops yesterday. I'm pretty sickened by this and hope the guys family don't see it. It was shown with a warning and they did have the squiggly hide thing lines hiding some of the more disgusting parts.


The question now is are the US gonna want to leave more now or are they going to want revenge over this matter. The captors have said it was done to the inhumane treatment of Iraqi prisoners at the Abu-Granib? prison. The people involved with the mistreatment of those prisoners are hopefully getting the book thrown at them as there is no need for the suppossed most civilized nation in the world to be allowing that or even condoning it. You don't need to drop to the terrorists level, it's time for the Americans to take the high road on something.Anything.Please.

 

[the manager]

I just saw a version of the video myself and I too am disgusted. previous to this brutal beheading Iraqi's were receiveing a good measure of sympathey from the rest of the world regarding the mistreatment of their prisioners. this incident has only hurt the Iraqi's quest for justice, as they have proved through this (much like the yanks have with the POW mistreatment) that they are barbaric and inhumane. i feel for the guys family and also for the prisioners. unfortunately and sadly, they are but mere casualties of a war that is inspired not by the desire for peace and liberty, but inspired by the motivation for global dominance and control of resources. one can only wonder what the implications of these recent actions will be. I honestly don't believe that Bush "the imperialist cowboy" is the right guy to resolve this mess.

manager

 

[Gurps]

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/5013551/

Add more to the fire that fuels terrorism....

 

[Fastshow]

I'm sure this will make all the difference in the world. One once-very-clever 324 year-old coot telling a never-very-clever Baptist war-mongerer that war is a very bad thing indeed and he must stop at once otherwise there'll be tears before bedtime.


You won't be able to buy condoms in Baghdad next and they'll be flogging putrid 'Holy Water' from out of portokabin jacksies on every street corner, 'direct from the Vatican'.

It won't be until Disney Corp allow Mickey Mouse to visit the White House to express his concerns poor, sackless, Mr. Bush takes any notice of anti-war sentiment.


Pope tells Bush of Iraq 'concern'

4 June 2004

Pope John Paul called for the speedy return of Iraq's sovereignty during a meeting at the Vatican today with George Bush.

The pontiff, who has been a strong critic of the Iraq war, made his comments during a televised meeting with the US President.

He said: "It is the evident desire of everyone that this situation now be normalised as quickly as possible with the active participation of the international community and, in particular, the United Nations organisation, in order to ensure a speedy return of Iraq's sovereignty, in conditions of security for all its people"

He also said that the President's visit came at a time of "great concern".

President Bush awarded the Pope the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the highest US civilian award.

Thousands of police were on the streets of Rome as demonstrators marched around the capital protesting against the American leader.

 

[Reccos]

An interesting article from an stock market investment site 321Gold.com. The guy who wrote this is just one of many American writers and speakers these days who question their country's decision to go to war in Iraq.

At the Vancouver Gold Show the US presenters including Doug Casey who sells his investor newsletter called this the "Forever War" and called the USA a fundamentalist religious nation that has become a danger to world peace.

Check this article out and if you want to read something scarier, read the link posted below to why Iraq will win. He has been right on a lot of things this writer!

http://www.321gold.com/editorials/maybury/maybury062305.html

"Few geopolitical issues are of greater importance to resource investors than the outcome of current US policy in the Middle East, a policy that runs the risk of alienating regimes with their hands firmly on the spigots of global energy supplies. In this article, geopolitical analyst extraordinaire Richard Maybury shares his famously-prescient views on the future of Iraq.

The Hoax of Democracy in Iraq
by Richard Maybury
Jun 23, 2005

Iraq's January 30th election was a glorious day, and a great success, say federal officials and the mainstream press.

A step toward promoting democracy in the Middle East, it was, but is that a good thing?

For Westernized Muslims - those who want their highest law to be democratic - perhaps so.

For the rest who want their highest law to be Islamic, it's a catastrophe, and further incentive for them to become guerrillas, or give aid and comfort to the guerrillas.

This Western love of democracy is nothing short of ridiculous. Read the literature of the American Revolution. Try to find just one mention of the Minutemen or Sons of Liberty fighting for democracy.

They were fighting for liberty, which is something much different than majority rule. In the Federalist Papers, Madison, Hamilton and Jay made it very clear they had no love of democracy.

In Federalist Number 10, Madison warned that democracies "have ever been spectacles of turbulence and contention; have ever been found incompatible with personal security or the rights of property; and have in general been as short in their lives as they have been violent in their deaths."

India got rid of the British in 1947, and went democratic. Then Indians spent 44 years voting for socialism, meaning voting to stay locked in poverty and strife.

They did not start getting rational, and more prosperous, until their free-market reforms began in 1991.

What really happened in Iraq's January 30th election?

Like scores of other countries, the Iraqis joined the Americans-for-a-day club.

Previous members of this club have included the Afghans. They voted, and now almost the entire place is run by warlords, drug lords and various other types you would not want to meet in a dark alley.

Russians got democracy, and what did they vote for? Fascism. President Putin is well on his way to being another Mussolini.

A key point about Iraq is, for about fifteen years, Kurdish children have been raised in schools that have not been controlled by the central government, but the remaining 80% of the population have been taught to be rabid statists. Liberty is a complex system, even most Americans no longer understand it - certainly no one in the federal government does - and we'd be foolish to assume Iraqis will be any more enlightened about it than, for instance, the Russians.

The two fundamental laws taught by all religions are what make civilization possible. This first law is: do all you have agreed to do. The second is, do not encroach on other persons or their property.

Each religion expresses these laws in different ways, but all teach them. Widespread obedience to these laws is liberty.

The type of government a country has is not very important. What counts is the extent to which the government obeys the two laws. A dictatorship that adheres closely to the laws is far preferable to a democracy that roundly ignores them.

What we do know about the Iraqi election is that the Iraqi economy is a wreck. Official statistics show the unemployment rate stuck at 30-40%, and some economists estimate it at over 50%. This is far more serious than the worst year of America's Great Depression. We can safely say Iraqis who turned out to vote were doing so in hopes their votes would somehow lead to a better life.

Washington now must deliver that better life, and quickly, for these people are desperate; millions turned out to vote in the face of death threats. If their way of life does not improve dramatically, in a few weeks or months, a lot of them will decide they have nothing to lose by joining the guerrillas.

Was the Iraqi election really the triumph that U.S. politicians boast about? Maybe, but my guess is that like Russia, Iraq will begin moving in the direction of fascism, and all their problems will be blamed on America.

Regards,
Richard Maybury

Richard Maybury is the amazingly farsighted analyst who unequivocally predicted the collapse of the Soviet Union, the war in the Balkans and 9/11.

To read more about his views on the war against Islam and the implications for the U.S, you'll definitely want to check out his eye-opening new report: Why Islam Will Win.

Owning a financial website puts me in the fortunate position of being given many free subscriptions, but there are two that I signed up for, and paid for, many moons ago, and Richard Maybury's Early Warning Report is one of them. -Bob Moriarty"

321gold Inc

 

[Reccos]

Whoops.. it should have said: Why Islam Will Win - not Iraq.

To put the writer of the above article in context - he sells (not this one) his research on companies to invest in but uses these global issues/trends to idientify companies that have the most to gain.

Among his credits:
>he predicted the fall of the Soviet Union in 1985…five years before it fell in 1990!
>also he called the 1987 stock market crash… a month before it happened!
> saw the Iraq/Kuwait war a full year before it started.

His pick for companies made investors a lot of money but that is not the point here.

 

[Reccos]

Now that the USA is mired in a war they cannot win and now that over 1700 US military personnel have been killed and over 240 civilian contractors, is this not a great war now that Saddam is in irons.

The Human Cost of Occupation
Edited by Michael Ewens :: Contact American Military Casualties in Iraq

Date Total In Combat

American Deaths
Since war began (3/19/03): 1735 1366
Since "Mission Accomplished" (5/1/03) (the list) 1598 1258
Since Capture of Saddam (12/13/03): 1268 1062
Since Handover (6/29/04): 869 733
Since Election (1/31/05): 303 261

American Wounded Official Estimated
Total Wounded: 13074 15000 - 38000


Page last updated 06/25/05 12:04 pm EDT

Others
Other Coalition Troops 187
US Military Deaths - Afghanistan 192

Sources: DoD, CentCom and iCasualties.org