Source: ABC
Revelations leaked from former Sec. of Defense Donald Rumsfeld’s memoir.

Saddam Hussein’s former foreign minister Tariq Aziz has been sentenced to die for his role in the former Baathist government. Aziz was probably the best known figure inside Iraq outside of Saddam. He speaks perfect English and was used as the public face of the regime for Saddam’s entire tenure.

Aziz’s real name is Michael Yuhanna and he’s a Catholic not a Muslim. Yuhanna changed his name to Aziz so as not to offend the rest of Saddam’s inner circle who were all Muslims.

I used to think Aziz would probably be let go eventually since he doesn’t have any blood on his hands directly. But then I considered how I would feel about a mouthpiece for the Nazis and I changed my mind. Aziz has never once expressed an ounce of remorse for giving full throated support to Saddam’s barbaric regime. Even now facing no reprisals he remains defiant. Even with Saddam dead he continues to deny the dictator’s guilt in well known atrocities.

So Tariq Aziz will be hanged in the coming weeks just like the majority of his former colleagues were. Excuse me if I don’t shed a tear.

This was one of the worst speeches I’ve heard any president ever give. It was wooden, meandering, uninspiring, and arrogant. Obama once again snubbed our staunch ally Britain. Besides the US, no other country has sacrificed more blood and treasure than the UK. Britain stood with us when other countries refused to. They should have been thanked by name.

I also thought his backhanded compliment of President Bush was offensive. Why would this smug SOB need to assure us about Bush’s patriotism? George W. Bush’s love of country has never been in doubt. What’s worse, he didn’t even have the balls to acknowledge that Iraq is where it is today because of Bush — not him. He’s following the timeline for withdrawal that Bush put in place before leaving office.

The speech was meandering because it lacked focus. He was talking about Iraq and then suddenly changed course and began babbling about the economy for five minutes, then he was back to Iraq again. It sounded like he threw that economic stuff in at the last minute. The speech was disjointed and weird.

For a professional show horse like Obama I thought his delivering was pretty pathetic. It was flat, wooden, and completely devoid of emotion.

President Obama thanked US troops at Fort Bliss today for their achievements in Iraq.

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This little gem was released by the leftist whistleblower site “WikiLeaks.” According to WikiLeaks the video shows the indiscriminate “murder” of a dozen or so people by Apache gunships in Iraq. Even if you hate America and have an axe to grind with the US military (as WikiLeaks clearly does) it’s hard to imagine how you could watch this and call it murder. Two journalists were among those killed which is what started this whole controversy to begin with.

It seems clear to me that the two journalists were carrying cameras and not weapons. However, they were traveling with a bunch of guys who were carrying weapons. In a group it was hard for the pilots to differentiate between rifles and cameras with telephoto lenses.

Anyway, the video does make for some pretty sweet war porn — that’s for damn sure.

Hell hasn’t frozen over (actually it has been pretty cold lately) and I don’t think we’re in The Twilight Zone, but nevertheless I recommend you gird your loins for this one!

Here’s the latest cover of Newsweek:

Yes, that is the much ballyhooed “Mission Accomplished” sign in the background and the devil himself George W. Bush. No, you’re not misreading anything — it says VICTORY AT LAST — bitches!

[click to read the Newsweek article]

Here’s Newsweek honcho Jon Meacham saying the unthinkable on MSNBC of all places. That what General Petraeus and President Bush did in Iraq “seems to have worked.”

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Let’s see if Meacham has the balls to go on “Countdown To No Ratings” and tell Keith that.

I believe in 20 years there will be a statue of President Bush in the middle of Baghdad. He’ll be considered a national hero who rescued Iraq from a brutal tyrant and gave millions of people a chance to have a good life.

It should also be noted that Iraq is the success it is today in spite of Barack Obama and Joe Biden. They deserve no credit, only scorn.

I’m trying to remember what “Dingy” Harry Reid once said about Iraq…what was it??? Oh yeah, I remember now:

Damn that YouTube!

-Chris Jones

It looks like the Obama administration is attempting to literally rewrite history when it comes to Iraq. When asked about Iraq recently, Joe Biden was very optimistic and said “this could be one of the great achievements of this administration”.

I am very optimistic about — about Iraq. I mean, this could be one of the great achievements of this administration. You’re going to see 90,000 American troops come marching home by the end of the summer. You’re going to see a stable government in Iraq that is actually moving toward a representative government.

Now that’s a stretch,even for Joe. The Obama administration has not done a single thing in Iraq — not a single thing. They are simply following the agreements put in place by the Bush administration.

If Joe Biden and Barack Obama would have gotten their way Iraq would look like Haiti and be run by Al Qaeda.

They were vehemently opposed to everything that has made Iraq look the way it does today. Joe Biden wanted to cut the country up into ethnic provinces for God’s sake.

I’d rather get foreign policy advice from my mailman than a chucklehead like Joe Biden.

The reality is that Iraq looks like it does today not because of Joe and Barack — but in spite of them.

There are only 3 people who deserve credit for Iraq. George W. Bush, Dick Cheney, and General David Petraeus.

-Chris Jones

One of Saddam Hussein’s most murderous henchman was hanged today by the government of Iraq.

Ali Hassan al Majid aka “Chemical Ali” was hanged for the 1998 gassing of thousands of Kurds in Northern Iraq. It was the worst poison gas attack on civilians in human history.

Majid ordered Iraqi aircraft to fly over the Kurdish territory for five hours and spray a deadly poison cocktail of mustard, Tabun, Sarin, and VX gas.

An estimated 5,000 people died, mostly women and children.

In total, “Chemical Ali” oversaw the deaths of approx. 182,000 people during his reign of terror under Saddam Hussein.

The Iranian military has crossed over the Iraqi border, seized an Iraqi oil well, and hoisted the Iranian flag above it. When I say Iraq, I’m of course talking about that country in the Middle East formerly ruled by Saddam Hussein and currently home to more than 100,000 U.S. troops.

Iranian forces took control of a southern Iraqi oil well on a disputed section of the border on Friday, US and Iraqi officials told AFP.

An official of the state-owned South Oil Co in the southeastern city of Amara, and west of the field, said: "An Iranian force arrived at the field early this morning (Friday).

"It took control of Well 4 and raised the Iranian flag even though the well lies in Iraqi territory," the official added.

"An oil ministry delegation is to travel to the area on Saturday to assess the situation."

The article goes to quote an official from the U.S. military who says this is normal and happens all the time, nothing to see here.

The field is about 500 metres (yards) from an Iranian border fort and about 1 kilometre from an Iraqi border fort, US Colonel Peter Newell said, adding that it falls on the Iraqi side of a border agreed between the two countries.

There are five other similar fields that also fall into disputed territory, he said.

"What happens is, periodically, about every three or four months, the oil ministry guys from Iraq will go … to fix something or do some maintenance. They’ll paint it in Iraqi colours and throw an Iraqi flag up.

"They’ll hang out there for a while, until they get tired, and as soon as they go away, the Iranians come down the hill and paint it Iranian colours and raise an Iranian flag. It happened about three months ago and it will probably happen again."

It’s understandable that The Pentagon would downplay this and pretend it’s no big deal, but I don’t buy it.

Oil is the most precious resource in Iraq. It’s the lifeblood of their economy. I find it difficult to believe that the sovereign nation of Iraq protected by U.S. forces allowed Iran to walk across the border and seize an oil well. But, it looks like that’s exactly what happened. How can that be? Did the Obama administration order our forces to stand down and allow the seizure to take place?

The FBI has released the interviews it conducted with Saddam Hussein before his execution.

The declassified reports detail 20 interviews and 5 “casual conversations” that make for fascinating reading.

After that, enjoy a replay of Saddam’s execution: