I Get Letters

I get a lot of letters, and read them all. Sometimes I get one so smart that I wan to run it on the site as an article. Of course, we have “Backtalk,” our letters-to-the-editor column, but perhaps I’d better start excerpting the smartest, most interesting letters, as I get them, such as this one, responding to today’s column:

Obviously, the Sunni-Shia conflict in Iraq is a proxy war between Saudi Arabia and Iran, with US troops attempting to act as referee even as they fight both sides (and commit atrocities of their own). Saudi Arabia, as the richest Sunni state, is likely the main financial backer of the Sunni insurgency.

“Since the end of WWII, the Saudi Arabian regime has accepted the US Dollar as the reserve currency for oil transactions in exchange for US protection. The Saudis may be wavering on this now as part of a test strategy. As of 7/13/07, the US Dollar is in free fall against the Euro, Pound, Canadian Dollar, and oil.

“This past week, a US “counterterrorism official” met with Saudi government officials, according to news reports.

“Has the U.S. cut a deal with Saudi Arabia to stop financial support of the Sunni insurgency in Iraq and continue accepting the US Dollar as the reserve currency for oil purchases, in exchange for a US attack on Iran? A drop in US casualties this past week may indicate this is the case, or it may just be a lull. Watch the oil and currency markets over the next week or two. There may be a lag time for the strengthening of the dollar.”

US troops vs. Iraqi Police

AP reports:

BAGHDAD (AP) – U.S. forces battled Iraqi police and gunmen Friday, killing six policemen, after an American raid captured a police lieutenant accused of leading an Iranian-backed militia cell, the military said.

Seven gunmen also died in the fight, a rare open street battle between American troops and policemen. Washington has demanded the government purge its police force of militants, and U.S. and Iraqi authorities have arrested officers in the past for militia links. But the Bush administration said in an assessment Thursday that progress on that front was “unsatisfactory.”

The lieutenant was captured before dawn in eastern Baghdad, but the soldiers came under “heavy and accurate fire” from a nearby Iraqi police checkpoint, as well as intense fire from rooftops and a church, the military said in a statement.

As the Americans fired back, U.S. warplanes struck in front of the police position, without hitting it directly, “to prevent further escalation” of the battle, it said. There were no casualties among the U.S. troops, but seven gunmen and six of the policemen firing on the Americans were killed, the statement said.

Meanwhile, USA Today has gotten its hands on an Army report of the results of the investigation into the Karbala ambush last January that killed five US soldiers. The new details:

•Iraqi police suddenly vanished from the government compound before the shooting started.

•Attackers, evidently briefed on how U.S. forces would defend themselves, bottled up more than three dozen soldiers in a barracks and headquarters complex using a combination of smoke and fragment grenades and satchel charges to blow up Humvees.

•Gunmen knew exactly where to find and abduct U.S. officers.

•Iraqi vendors operating a PX and barbershop went home early.

•A back gate was left unlocked and unguarded.

Is there any rational response to this, other than GET OUT? Yet here are the recommendations from the Army investigation:

Investigators recommended several changes to toughen defensive positions, including the installation of closed-circuit cameras to provide better early warnings, “duress devices” that can allow overrun outposts to signal headquarters, and requirements that any arriving convoy provide identification.

Wow. Sure you can harden up “defensive” positions, but what does it say about the whole project that you’re defending against the police?

For another bizarre aspect of this war between the US and Iraqi police, Iraqi government spokesman Ali al-Dabbagh today said Iraqi security forces “have advanced to a level that it now depends on itself in leading operations against terrorists and outlaws, with backing from Multinational forces. They are in continuous progress to reach the point of totally depending on themselves.”

The mind boggles. Get. Out. Now.

Brendan O’Neill

How Do-Gooder Liberals Internationalized al Qaeda

[audio:http://dissentradio.com/radio/07_07_12_oneill.mp3]

Brendan O’Neill, journalist, columnist, blogger, and editor of Spiked-Online in Merry Old England, discusses the politically correct victim mentality of al Qaeda terrorists like Ayman al Zawahiri and the Manichean view of and support given by Western liberal internationalists in and out of government for the al Qaeda movement in Bosnia and Kosovo in the 1990’s and the terrible consequences.

MP3 here. (39:34)

Brendan O’Neill is the editor of Spiked, the ‘sassy, irreverent, UK-based online magazine of news and opinion’, in the words of the San Francisco Chronicle. (Read the Press Gazette‘s coverage of his becoming editor here.) He started his career in journalism at spiked‘s predecessor, Living Marxism, until it was forced to close in 2000 following a notorious libel action brought by ITN. His personal website is here.

Ray McGovern

Faith Based Intelligence

[audio:http://dissentradio.com/charles/awraymcgovern071207.mp3]

Fomer CIA analyst Ray McGovern gives his view of DHS head Chertoff’s “gut feeling” that something very bad is going to happen, “faith-based” intelligence in general, the actual threat of terrorist attacks versus our government’s hysterical scare-mongering – due largely to the U.S. invasion and occupation of Iraq, the public’s demand for Bush and Cheney’s removal from office, Libby’s get out of jail free card, the latest NIE, why the U.S. should withdraw from Iraq, Cheney’s “plenary powers,” the modern conservative movement’s contempt for the constitution, No, the “whole world” did not think there were WMD in Iraq, No, al Qaeda in Iraq is not responsible for most of the violence there, No, the thousands of American Muslims rounded up after 9/11 were not terrorists, and the “50% chance” of war with Iran.

MP3 here. (38:14)

Ray McGovern is a retired CIA analyst of 27 years, antiwar activist and co-founder of Veteran Intelligence Professionals for Sanity.

Denis Collins

Libby Trial Juror #9 Speaks

[audio:http://dissentradio.com/charles/aw2007-07-10deniscollins.mp3]

Denis Collins, Libby trial juror #9, formerly a reporter with the Washington Post, and author of Spying: The Secret History of History and Nora’s Army discusses him time on the juror in the case of Scooter Libby.

MP3 here. (29:25)

Denis Collins, an American journalist who has written for the Washington Post, the San Jose Mercury News, and the Miami Herald, served as juror #9 in the trial of I. Lewis “Scooter” Libby, Jr., relating to the Plame affair, and was the first juror to comment publicly about the trial. He is a former reporter for the Washington Post and the author of two recent books: Spying: The Secret History of History; and Nora’s Army.

He is a resident of Washington, D.C..

Pauline Baker

“Failed” and “Near-failed” States

[audio:http://dissentradio.com/charles/aw2007-07-10drpaulinebaker.mp3]

Dr. Pauline Baker, president of The Fund for Peace, discusses the recent report on “failed states,” the factors which qualifies one as such, why Iraq is in second place on the list, Zimbabwe’s inflationary tyranny, Pakistan and Afganistan’s precarious positions.

MP3 here. (17:34)

Pauline H. Baker is President of The Fund for Peace, a research and educational organization that works to prevent war and alleviate the conditions that cause war. The FfP specializes on the diagnosis and resolution of conflicts associated with weak and failing states and on foreign policy responses. Dr. Baker pioneered the development of CAST, the Conflict Assessment System Tool, that provides a model for the early warning and assessment of post-conflict policies. CAST was the basis for the Failed States Index, published by Foreign Policy magazine and the FfP. A political scientist with over 40 years of experience working, Dr. Baker also taught at the University of Lagos in Nigeria, the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies, and Georgetown University’s School of Advanced International Studies. She was also a professional staff member of the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee and staff director of the African Affairs Subcommittee. She has published over 80 articles, essays and books. She received her Doctorate from UCLA and her undergraduate degree from Douglass College, Rutgers University.