Democracy In Iraq, War Is Over... Right?, page 1

Nope... Apparently the elections aren't being as widely accepted as our media is playing them out to be eh? Hey how's that Sadaam Trial going by the way? Why are American Military Legal personnel being shipped to Iraq to 'prosecute' Saddam, weren't we letting the newe Iraq handle his trial. Hmmm. Anyway, yes more war, more people dying.

American Troops Prepare for Assault on Sunni Stronghold
By Kim Sengupta and David Enders
The Independent U.K.
Monday 21 February 2005
American and Iraqi government forces have surrounded the city of Ramadi in preparation for an expected full-scale attack on the city, which has in effect slipped into the hands of insurgents.
The operation, with US Marines forming the main attack force, comes less than three months after the massive and controversial assault on Fallujah and follows a pledge by Washington to pacify the remaining rebel strongholds.
The people of Ramadi, 70 miles west of Baghdad and adjacent to Fallujah, have been placed under a curfew during the operation, codenamed River Blitz. According to the US military, the operation is at the orders of the Iraqi interim authority and follows suicide bombings and other attacks on Shia Muslims marking the festival of Ashura. At least 50 people were killed in two days. The US and the Iraqi interim government have blamed the blasts on the Sunni resistance and in particular the group led by the Jordanian-born militant Abu Musab al-Zarqawi.

And apprently they are becomming more organized rather than the shambles of a wiped out insurgency we have been fed. Peace talks with the 'insurgents' is making the major headlines in the US, yet...

Insurgents Wage Precise Attacks on Baghdad Fuel
By James Glanz
The New York Times
Monday 21 February 2005
Baghdad, Iraq - Insurgent attacks to disrupt Baghdad's supplies of crude oil, gasoline, heating oil, water and electricity have reached a degree of coordination and sophistication not seen before, Iraqi and American officials say.
The new pattern, they say, shows that the insurgents have a deep understanding of the complex network of pipelines, power cables and reservoirs feeding Baghdad, the Iraqi capital.

And of course Afghanistan, we tend to not see a great deal about Afghanistan in the News. Wonder why?

U.N.: Afghanistan Could Become Terror Haven
By Stephen Graham
The Associated Press
Monday 21 February 2005
Kabul, Afghanistan -
Three years after the fall of the Taliban, Afghanistan remains the world's sixth-least developed country, the United Nations said Monday, warning that a nation that became a haven for international terrorists could fail again unless more is done to improve the lives of its long-suffering citizens.

I guess we better stay behind there and make sure we get our pipline finsihed. We threatened to bomb them over it long before 9-11, and turned down their offers to extradite Bin Laden, so it must be pretty important stuff there huh? Interesting to note that the US was the single largest contributor to the Taliban, literally up to the invasion. Wonder why?

U.N. Warns of New Chaos If Afghan Grievances Not Met
By David Brunnstrom
Reuters
Monday 21 February 2005
Kabul -
More than three years after U.S.-led forces overthrew the Taliban, the United Nations has painted a gloomy picture of conditions in Afghanistan and warned it could fall back into chaos if popular grievances were not met....
Karzai, who wrote a foreword to the report, conceded it painted a "gloomy" and "dismal" picture and said Afghans had high expectations of his government to deliver on curbing corruption, on security and reconstruction, and in ensuring the rule of law.

Karzai doesn't give a rat's arse abotu the future of Afghanistan, the ex-spokesperson for UNOCAL has done what he came there to do. The pipline is underway and the poppy fields are booming again. Screw the rule of law and the starving people, the oil will be flowing soon, and the rich and expanding asian energy markets will be pumping through our ill gotten supply lines. Such is war.

And of course, we still have to police the rest of the world... maybe Bin Laden is hiding in Syria, and Iran and Russia now on a pile of WMD's all pointed at your house... This is afterall, a perpetual war against a noun. Have to keep fighting somebody.

Bush Issues Forceful Words to Iran, Syria
By Tom Raum
The Associated Press
Monday 21 February 2005
Brussels, Belgium --
President Bush, on a trip to thaw relations with Europe, prodded Russia not turn its back on democratic advances. He also demanded that Iran give up its nuclear ambitions and told Syria to withdraw its troops from Lebanon.

Bush's speech, during his five-day trip to Belgium, Germany and Slovakia, was aimed at both U.S. and European audiences. "In a new century, the alliance of America and Europe is the main pillar of our security," he said.

He uses the word "alliance" 12 times in the speech to underscore his aim to repair relations with Europe that were frayed over the war in Iraq. But not all his speech was conciliatory.

The president has been pushing Russian President Vladimir Putin -- some say not strongly enough -- to work toward, not away from, democratic reforms and transparency in government.