Al-Muhajabah's Sundries

are they coming or going?

Many abuse cases being dropped due to lack of witnesses

but

New wave of cases coming

Related: Army to put seven paratroops on trial for murder of Iraqi despite difficulties in the case.

Three months later: The case collapses and is dismissed.

reference: leaked intel memo

June report led UK to lower terror alert

Pre-attack memo raises pressure on intelligence

Too bad the Times hasn't published the leaked memo, like British papers seem to do...

because political correctness not abuse is the problem?

Military chiefs attack Iraq lawsuits

Hansard transcript of debate (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12)

Some more sympathetic commentary from the Sunday Herald - if Blair believes the war is legal, why is he letting soldiers and officers be prosecuted for their operations (not all of the cases are about abuse).

Follow-up (and not entirely unsympathetic) commentary: Crushing blow for Army's good name

But this gets to the heart of it:

...serving officers, in Iraq and elsewhere, say privately that the decision to court martial him for negligence reflects well on the Army.

One officer in Basra said: "We have to be accountable for our actions and have faith in the system."

Another said: "The buck stops with the commanding officer. Our credibility on the ground depends on full accountability being shown."

The case would be "followed as closely in Iraq or Afghanistan as it will be in the UK", he said.

A third officer with senior command experience in Iraq said: "Any officer not prepared to accept responsibility for all that happens under his command forfeits the right to that command. You can delegate responsibility but you can never discharge yourself from it."

Absolutely.

On a related note, the same arguments made by the defence chiefs are echoed in regard to training here. More on that here.

Later on: The same group of retired defence chiefs take some incoming fire for a later attack.

So this is what an African coup feels like:

His friends will be right to cite principle in their defence: there's something distasteful about seeing the old duffers who fawned over Tony Blair, went along with Iraq, and said nothing about the savage cuts to defence under the Tories, deciding to speak up only after they've claimed their peerage and pension. Hardly courageous, when compared to Sir Richard Dannatt, who at least has the decency to speak his mind while in post... But he is also paying the price for his dislike of gladhanding, which means he has not invested enough time downing bumpers of port with the military.

'Coup' leaders or cop-out kings?

The retired Field Marshals, General, Admiral and RAF chap wait until he's out of the country then strike. The blitzkrieg in the House of Lords went way beyond reasonable criticism, smacking of a co-ordinated offensive.

Soldiers, sailors and airmen must wish this superannuated bunch of braid had fought their corner when running the MoD and Tony Blair, John Major and Maggie Thatcher were in No 10. Because that way pay, housing and medical services might be better.

Via Nick Robinson's postscript.

propaganda

Daily Kos diary with links to Gardiner's papers

Provides overview of what each is about

what did they know and when did they know it?

British Army knew of Abu Ghraib months before PM was told - This report originally appeared in the Independent in February.

UK had advance alert of jail abuse - The Observer revives the story after the Armed Forces Minister finally responded to it.

When I saw the original report in the Independent I was confused because the only ICRC report on Abu Ghuraib that I knew about was the formal one from February 2004. But a different report from the Observer at the same time as the Independent report, about how the same legal officer saw the original U.S. Army document authorizing the torture techniques, said that the officer left Iraq in January 2004. So the timing was confusing. However, according to the Observer's new report, the events in the story took place in November 2003. After some digging, I found that the ICRC had submitted a letter to the prison authorities on November 6, which they submitted a formal response to on December 24. The most detailed account of this is here but it was mentioned in news reports in May 2004 after the scandal broke and the February report was leaked.

Just how much did the British officer tell his superiors in Baghdad (he says he submitted reports to them, but Ingram claims that the MoD "can't find" them)? How much did they pass on to senior officers in the UK (Ingram claims nothing)? How much did it get past the Army to the politicians? Inquiring minds want to know.

looking back at the march to war

Just for kicks, inspired by this front page post at Daily Kos and this comment, I looked over Wikipedia's catalog of events for July 2002 and checked up on a couple.

For July 24, it mentions the Millennium Challenge 2002 war game. That would be the war game that was rigged after Rumsfeld's ideas failed badly in a situation exactly like we're now facing in Iraq. Rather than changing the ideas, they just rigged the game to win. Unfortunately, it doesn't work like that in reality, and more than 1700 American soldiers have paid with their lives.

For July 31, it mentions hearings by the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on Iraq. The transcript is here. I haven't read through it yet but am including the link for reference to get an idea of what the march to war was like at that time.

The point of the original Daily Kos post was to point out what was going on at the time that the British were saying there was a perceptible shift in attitude in Washington during July 2002. The links posted here are just further background, not the main point

and on and on...

Jerusalem to demolish 88 Arab homes

Also, Israel to add to West Bank settlement

It just never stops does it, this unending expropriation and colonization of Palestinian land.

And: Illegal outposts expand in Occupied Territories

preparations underway for attack on Iran?

Link: Your Mission, If You Choose to Accept It.

Update: Apparently Wes Clark's sources say that the administration is planning to withdraw a large number of troops from Iraq during or by the end of the summer in preparation for an offensive against Iran next year and they also plan to use "shock and awe" again, that is an air bombing campaign to make up for lack of ground troops. This is the Bush administration's plan to have ground war with Iran without need of the draft.

If this is true, it explains why the push to hand over to Iraqi troops or at least to militias during the course of this year, something that has been going on since January, apparently. In this context, it is especially interesting to note that about the same time, the British are apparently planning to withdraw from Iraq - to Afghanistan for a NATO mission against the Taliban and al-Qa'ida (buried away in update 54 here). Is this their way of making sure they are not still in Iraq either left holding the bag or free to be used by the U.S. for the offensive against Iran?

Can anybody stop this madness? I hope it's true that the British are trying to escape it at least.

As to what's planned for this summer, that's still unclear, but it doesn't seem like they could possibly be ready for more than some air strikes right now (famous last words? with the Bush administration anything is possible, even things you would think no one sane would do)

Added: Just noticed looking back at this article that a neocon retired general is quoted as mentioning that aircraft carriers have already been moved into position (apparently the same thing noted in the original link that started this post) and he claimed that there was a 50-60% chance of air strikes on Iran, an up to 50% chance of a blockade on Iran (maybe that's what's coming next?) and only a 1% chance of "boots on the ground". Maybe he meant there's only a 1% chance right now?

More: This article discusses how the U.S. and UK started bombing Iraq from May 2002 in attempt to "goad Saddam into war". Why do I feel that history is about to start repeating itself? Lots more on the early bombing of Iraq here. Scott Ritter makes this comparison explicit, arguing that that is exactly what the U.S. is doing.

Update 2: Latest speculations at Iraqi Air Force Crash Prelude to Iran Invasion?

Meanwhile, Clark mentions the troop withdrawal alluded to before, to the media.

Note: Speculations carried on here, reserving this post for the Clark-inspired angle, whatever comes of it.

Update 3: Well, well, well. Does the man have sources or what? Plans for troop withdrawal by summer 2006, exactly as he said.

Much later: Back where we started, with naval carriers possibly moving into position.

WNC: Darth Vader Grotesque

Link: WNC: Darth Vader Grotesque - The Darth Vader gargoyle at the Washington National Cathedral.

SAS kills 12 insurgents on Iraq border - Sunday Times - Times Online

Link: SAS kills 12 insurgents on Iraq border - Sunday Times - Times Online.