A BUSH JOKE

A G. W. Bush joke posted today by Niki on her blog, "Another Irani Online" (see link on right sidebar), and I must share:

"Bush Staff member: Mr. President, today's developments in Iraq included the death of two Brazilian soldiers.

Mr. Bush: OH MY GOD! Nooooo. Two Brazilian soldiers!!! This is unbelievable. Now exactly how many million are in a Brazilian?"

Seriously, the Iranian blogger predicts that the current American Government will see to it that Saddam Hussein is executed when the number of American military deaths in Iraq hits 3,000. I think she may be correct. The word today from the media is that Iraqis want to execute Saddam before the new year.

I also agree with her and Raed ("Raed in the Middle," link on right sidebar) that the current American Government wants to bury Saddam quickly along with all the secrets he holds about the decades of support he has been given by the American Government. We have a saying in American, "He may be a dictator, but he is our dictator."

Saddam was our dictator as was the late Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, the last Shah (King) of Iran, as was the self-appointed dictator of Panama, Manuel Noriega. I honestly believe that Saddam, like the other two, thought that the American Government would never "sell him down the river."

In December 1989, the first President Bush ordered U. S. troops to Panama. They captured Noriega, who is still in prison in Miami, and all for "democracy for Panama."

When the Shah Pahlavi was overthrown (1979) by the Iranian Islamic revolution, the U. S. Government lifted not one finger to save him. He quickly became persona non grata in the U.S.

Saddam is a much bigger threat than either Noriega or Pahlava were because Saddam knows all about America's "dirty laundry." He must die and as soon as possible. However, like the late former U. S. President Gerald Ford, Saddam may have hidden a tell-all recorded interview, or a written diary. Did Bob Woodward of the Washington Post ever interview Saddam?

One irony here: September 1, 2004, then Secretary of State Colin Powell met the newly-installed elected President of the Republic of Panama, Martin Torrijos, a son of the dictator whom Noriega overthrew (see picture proudly displayed on the U. S. State Department's Web site).

PENTAGON NAMES SADR ARMY TOP THREAT

A new Department of Defense (DoD) report released by the Pentagon cites the danger of the Shiite Muslim cleric Muqtqada al-Sadr's armed militiamen, as reported in the Los Angeles Times by Julian E. Barnes. He writes the report claims that Sadr's Al Mahdi army poses "the gravest danger to the security and stability of Iraq, surpassing Sunni Arab insurgents and Al Qaeda terrorists."

The Pentagon assessment says, "In the last three months, the number of attacks on U.S. and Iraqi troops and Iraqi civilians rose 22%, and the number of U.S. casualties grew 32% . . . As attacks have risen, the confidence of the Iraqi people has fallen, with fewer saying in surveys that they thought their government could protect them and more agreeing that civil war was likely."

The report acknowledges that U.S. military has complained for months that Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri Maliki, a Shiite, has been unable to address armed Shiite groups and has obstructed American efforts to confront Sadr, and acknowledges the deteriorating situation that President Bush continues to blame on Al Qaeda.

Although there are many armed groups, the report verifies that the most powerful is the Al Mahdi army militia loyal to Sadr. The dour Pentagon report came hours after Robert M. Gates was sworn in as the 22nd Secretary of Defense with a pledge to extract frank assessments from military leaders and deliver plain advice to the president.

To read more, click title of this post, or go to the Los Angeles Times.

Newsweek Names Al-Sadr Most Dangerous

Okay, I may be a "know nothing" to some, but Newsweek has confirmed what I have been writing on this blog about Moqtada al-Sadr. Want to know? Read the article. Click the title of this post.