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Tuesday, March 21, 2006
Bush Highlights Tal Afar as Example of Progress in Iraq???????
“[I]n this city we see the outlines of the Iraq that we and the Iraqi people have been fighting for, a free and secure people who are getting back on their feet, who are participating in government and civic life, and who have become allies in the fight against the terrorists,” President G. W. Bush
Swear all you want! It's about what this man has lowered us to. And the kicker is that some where out there in the US of A is someone that still backs this jackass!
This is from a cyber friend who travels regularly with the Christian Peacekeeper Team (CPT). He was a regular acquaintance of Tom Fox and is good friend's with Jim Loney. He visited the region late last year.
"The President claims "progress" in Tal Afar but refugees tell a different story. I know, I've talked with them in person (while I am sure my fellow Texan, George W. never has) as recently as September.
During my third trip to Iraq (Sept. 2005), our CPT went to Kerbala. Among other activites, we visited a group of about 800 refugees from Tal Afar.
It was already dark when we pulled up to their abandoned hotel-turned-refugee-camp (formerly occupied by Polish and US forces) where they had been living there since June 2005. It looked forbidding and dangerous, and the refugees obviously weren't expecting us (our local Iraqi human rights friends took us).
The women on our team went into one section with the Iraqi women, while the we men stayed in the lobby with a crowd of about 300 men and boys....all anxious to tell their story. Many were obviously angry to see well-fed Americans who came without any relief, money, or help (except to listen and get their words out).
Here's what the Tal Afar refugees said.
"If you take my picture and the wrong people see it, my house could get burned down," said one man when asked if we could take photographs (fortunately, the women in our group did get some). He told of foreign fighters who came and forced people from their homes. "U.S. and Iraqi soldiers did not help the citizens," he added. "They only secured the main road so that convoys could pass through."
Others reported that they saw insurgents arrested by Iraqi forces and then released by the U.S. "They only kill us," said one man, while holding his son in his lap. "I have seen with my own eyes, the US (troops) wrecking the school". (Most felt there was a "honey pot" (my term) strategy going on, using the city of Tal Afar as bait for foreign insurgents.)
All blamed the US for the conditions in their city and the circumstances they found themselves in as refugees.
When asked what we could take back to you, in the US, they demanded with one voice, "US out now!"
These refugees, from all walks of life, had to leave everthing behind as they fled the fighting in their city.
If you want to read more about Tal Afar, see the article "(ARCHIVES: September 15, 2005) War and Peace in Iraq) http://www.texansforpeace.org/NewsArchives08_1205.htm
and "A Shooting After Nightfall" (note: disturbing photos) http://www.newsday.com/news/nationworld/world/ny-wocheck..."
Charlie Jackson - Texans for Peace http://www.texansforpeace.org
If Bush's delusional thinking and actions only affected Americans, that would be bad enough. But his myopic and distorted views are in fact killing thousands of innocents, driving a wedge between America and the world, and creating a whole new generation of 'evildoers.'
For a man to stand up there and tell us things that are not only patently false, but provably false speaks loudly about the travesty in which we find our government. That anyone at all can actually support him, his policies, and his minions proves two things- there are a lot of blindfolds being worn and there is a serious lack of rational thinking taking place in this country.
Ann, Thanks for sharing that I think I already knew it to be true, but it is always great to underscore it from someone who has seen in person
ken, the blinfolds are thick my friend, and you know what I find curious? Here in this forum there is always an abundance of GOP blindfolded defenders when they think there Learless Feeder has been attacked, and I assure you, I attacked, where are they now when there is no way for them to spin this? The silence is deafening.
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7 Comments:
Just have to thank you, thank you, thank you
So thanks, a bazillion times
I wish to God there was nothing to thank me for, this is a disgusting article about disgusting times, but thanks for your input.
Swear all you want! It's about what this man has lowered us to. And the kicker is that some where out there in the US of A is someone that still backs this jackass!
Seems pretty Orwellian doesn't it; War is Peace...
This is from a cyber friend who travels regularly with the Christian Peacekeeper Team (CPT). He was a regular acquaintance of Tom Fox and is good friend's with Jim Loney. He visited the region late last year.
"The President claims "progress" in Tal Afar but refugees tell a different story. I know, I've talked with them in person (while I am sure my fellow Texan, George W. never has) as recently as September.
During my third trip to Iraq (Sept. 2005), our CPT went to Kerbala. Among other activites, we visited a group of about 800 refugees from Tal Afar.
It was already dark when we pulled up to their abandoned hotel-turned-refugee-camp (formerly occupied by Polish and US forces) where they had been living there since June 2005. It looked forbidding and dangerous, and the refugees obviously weren't expecting us (our local Iraqi human rights friends took us).
The women on our team went into one section with the Iraqi women, while the we men stayed in the lobby with a crowd of about 300 men and boys....all anxious to tell their story. Many were obviously angry to see well-fed Americans who came without any relief, money, or help (except to listen and get their words out).
Here's what the Tal Afar refugees said.
"If you take my picture and the wrong people see it, my house could get burned down," said one man when asked if we could take photographs (fortunately, the women in our group did get some). He told of foreign fighters who came and forced people from their homes. "U.S. and Iraqi soldiers did not help the citizens," he added. "They only secured the main road so that convoys could pass through."
Others reported that they saw insurgents arrested by Iraqi forces and then released by the U.S. "They only kill us," said one man, while holding his son in his lap. "I have seen with my own eyes, the US (troops) wrecking the school". (Most felt there was a "honey pot" (my term) strategy going on, using the city of Tal Afar as bait for foreign insurgents.)
All blamed the US for the conditions in their city and the circumstances they found themselves in as refugees.
When asked what we could take back to you, in the US, they demanded with one voice, "US out now!"
These refugees, from all walks of life, had to leave everthing behind as they fled the fighting in their city.
If you want to read more about Tal Afar, see the article "(ARCHIVES: September 15, 2005) War and Peace in Iraq) http://www.texansforpeace.org/NewsArchives08_1205.htm
and
"A Shooting After Nightfall" (note: disturbing photos) http://www.newsday.com/news/nationworld/world/ny-wocheck..."
Charlie Jackson - Texans for Peace http://www.texansforpeace.org
If Bush's delusional thinking and actions only affected Americans, that would be bad enough. But his myopic and distorted views are in fact killing thousands of innocents, driving a wedge between America and the world, and creating a whole new generation of 'evildoers.'
For a man to stand up there and tell us things that are not only patently false, but provably false speaks loudly about the travesty in which we find our government. That anyone at all can actually support him, his policies, and his minions proves two things- there are a lot of blindfolds being worn and there is a serious lack of rational thinking taking place in this country.
Ann, Thanks for sharing that
I think I already knew it to be true, but it is always great to underscore it from someone who has seen in person
ken,
the blinfolds are thick my friend, and you know what I find curious? Here in this forum there is always an abundance of GOP blindfolded defenders when they think there Learless Feeder has been attacked, and I assure you, I attacked, where are they now when there is no way for them to spin this? The silence is deafening.
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