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New Book : "Bush - A Failure of Emotional Intelligence"
"An inflated consciousness is always egocentric and conscious of nothing but its own
existence. It is incapable of learning from the past, incapable of understanding contemporary events, and incapable about
drawing right conclusions about the future. It is hypnotized by itself and therefore cannot be argued with. It inevitably
dooms itself to calamities that must strike it dead." Carl G. Jung"
The Right of Iraq to Self-Determination
It was the right that underpinned the legitimacy
and success of the American War of Independence, but it was the first democratic right to be trampled underfoot during the
invasion of Iraq - that is the inalienable right of nations to self-determination. Now the US is supporting sectarian federalism.
Can it work or is Confederation of Independent States needed?
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Al Qaeda-Secrets of its Cult Power
What gives Al Qaeda its enormous reserves of strength? What powers
its capacity for self-generation and regeneration in the face of repression? Is it just hatred, fanaticism, training and organizational
proficiency or is it something more? Why do well-educated, prosperous, middle class family men commit suicide for its goals?
Are we dealing with something more sinister than a terrorist group, are we dealing with a "Super-Cult" using terrorist methods.
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The Battle of Baghdad: Perspectives for the Surge
The surge has been presented or perceived as the last
US battle. Whatever the outcome, the Iraq people will not stand for any more projects from the US. There are no more chances.
The US is gambling away its last reserves of support, trust and belief. When it fails, every section of society will turn
against it.
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"Lost on the Couch" - the Psychological Reasons
for Defeat in Iraq
"If Napoleon observed that 'in war the moral is to physical
as for is to one,' then in asymmetrical war, suppleness and agility of the mind is to fanaticism and visceral belligerency
as a hundred is to one. Herein lies the reason why the US Army is impotent against a foe which is its logical inferior."
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WILL THE KURDS KILL IRAQ?
Such are the reports of the mood in Kirkuk that matters could
easily take on civil war proportions. The ensuing battle would principally be a revival of the centuries old Arab/Kurd conflict.
For the Kurds, Kirkuk is non-negotiable and for the Arabs it represents the last straw which they are not prepared to give
up.
The seizure of Kirkuk and a move in the direction of independence could encourage the Shiites in the south to follow
suit and would leave no room or reason to strive for an Iraqi state based on an alliance of feuding Sunnis
and Shiites.
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There is no excuse for the suffering and the relief effort left to the
defenceless charity organizations. There is no insoluble crisis in Sudan, only an insoluble lack of will and exploitative
self-interest
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The Sisyphean Surge
Asymmetrical warfare means that, the more we try to control
our enemy, the less it comes under our sphere of influence. Wooden and inflexible the US army cannot defeat the insurgency
or sectarian war. It is doomed like Sisyphus. You can't defeat the rock, you can't overcome the mountain. Soon with the fall
of Maliki government it will fighting for nothing, for nobody, except a mythical rock given it by Washington.
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Any organisation or group whose vision is preposterous, must
also failure to comprehend its adversaries and make strategic and tactical blunders of a fatal character. It must also at
some point become racked with internal division. Fighting cult means accepting and understanding that it is one. Its successes
so far have been entirely due to the blunders of Western governments. The future depend on skillfully nurturing and manipulating
its weakness, and not just trying to smash it over the head with a hammer
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than a Taliban NUCLEAR Pakistan!?"What is at stake in “the half-forgotten war” in Afghanistan is far greater than that in Iraq. But America’s
capacities for controlling the situation are extremely restricted. Might it be, in the end, they are also forced to accept
President Musharraf's unspoken slogan of «Better another Taliban Afghanistan, than a Taliban NUCLEAR Pakistan! »"
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Crossroads to Cul-de-Sac: 2006-7
The Baker Report represented a turning point in the Bush Administration. It was followed quite rapidly
by the breaking of the Bush/Cheney/Rumsfeld “triumvirate” with the latter’s replacement by Iraq Study group
member, Robert Gates. Soon after came the appointment of the more establishment man of war, General Petraeus and the first
tentative meetings with the former “evil empires” of Iran and Syria.
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Insurgent Psychology For Arabs and Muslims their honour and the shaming of themselves and their brethren is something, which cannot
go unavenged. One must be prepared to die for it. It is linked to the culture of retribution, where a hurt or death brought
upon another of one’s family, tribe or clan must be avenged and this now extends to one’s sect, nation, ethnicity
and common religion.
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"The Parthian shot"
The Battle of Carrhae and
the Defeat of the Roman Empire
Parthia was a civilization at its height covering all of Iran, modern of Iraq,
Afghanistan, Azerbaijan, Armenia, Georgia, eastern Turkey, eastern Syria, Turkmenistan,, Tajikistan, Pakistan, Kuwait, the
Persian Gulf coast of Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates.
The Parthians, although outnumbered, used 1,000 heavily armed and armored horsemen,
called "cataphracts", in conjunction with 9,000 horse archers to defeat the Roman heavy infantry. The horse archers shot repeated
volleys of arrows into the densely packed formation of the Roman legionaries. To sustain their barrage, the Parthians employed
camels to carry additional loads of arrows.
When the Romans attempted to charge the horse archers, the Parthians followed their
custom of feigning retreat, turning suddenly and shooting arrows at the enemy while fleeing (known as the "Parthian shot").
If the Romans tried to form into a protective testudo, the cataphracts would charge them and the legionnaires would be unable
to fight effectively due to their tight formation. Although the Romans' large scuta gave them some measure of protection against
the volleys of arrows, many soldiers eventually collapsed from thirst and heat exhaustion even when otherwise unwounded due
to the exertion required in attempting to defend themselves from the seemingly endless fusillades of Parthian arrows. The
Parthian arrows were devastating, "When Publius urged them to charge the enemy's mail-clad horsemen, they showed him that
their hands were riveted to their shields and their feet nailed through and through to the ground, so that they were helpless
either for flight or for self-defence." (Plutarch, Life of Crassus, XXV) Parthia employed the use of composite bows at this
time, which were more powerful than traditional bows. Arrows fired from these bows were able to penetrate the thick legionnaires'
armour, to the horror of the heavy Roman infantry.
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Lawwrence of Arabia (T.E Lawrence) "Report on
Mesopotamia"
The Sunday Times (22 August 1920)
"The people of England have been led in Mesopotamia into a trap from
which it will be hard to escape with dignity and honor. They have been tricked into it by a steady withholding of information.
The Baghdad communiques are belated, insincere, incomplete. Things have been far worse than we have been told by our administration,
more bloody and inefficient than the public knows. It is a disgrace to our imperial record, and may soon be too inflamed for
any ordinary cure. We are today not far from a disaster." |
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"Demoralize the enemy from within by surprise, terror, sabotage, assassination. This
is the war of the future" -Adolf Hitler - War Quotes
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| Stephen Morgan journalist & writer |
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