NoCalMike

One question: I wonder how easy or hard it is for Iraqis themselves to distinguish between a solider and a security contractor. I mean, when blackwater security team members go out and do something foolish like this incident, and then the actual military has to come in and defuse the situation, is the backlash wrongly coming down on the military, because in the Iraqi citizen's eyes all they see are guys in camo with machine guns!?!? I am sure it doesn't help our men and women in uniform whatsoever, that a security firm which operates under it's own laws, is walking around with automatic weapons and itchy trigger fingers.

This is on my list to see....

The latest on the Blackwater investigation....(well latest as of a few days ago)....CSPAN 3 is covering the Senate Investigation of Blackwater. Blackwater guard 'turned gun on colleagues and told them to stop shooting' ( Ali Yussef/AFP/Getty Images) The aftermath of the shootout in Baghdad on September 16 in which 11 Iraqis died Deborah Haynes, of The Times, Baghdad A Blackwater guard reportedly yelled at colleagues to “stop shooting” during an afternoon of chaos in Baghdad that left 11 Iraqis dead and called into question the accountability of all Western private security firms operating in Iraq. The US-based company, which protects the American Embassy in the capital and its staff, is at the centre of a storm concerning the September 16 drama, which has enraged the Iraqi Government and sparked a series of investigations. The controversy involved a car bomb, a shootout at a busy roundabout and a standoff between Blackwater guards and Iraqi security forces, according to an initial embassy report that was seen by The Washington Post. An American official familiar with the investigation said those involved in the incident claimed that at least one Blackwater guard had drawn a weapon on his colleagues and shouted at them to “stop shooting”, the newspaper reported. Blackwater by Jeremy Scahill In this exclusive extract Scahill traces the rise of Blackwater from a small private security firm to a major component of America's military might The New York Times also quoted an unnamed US official as saying that one or more of the Blackwater guards had called for a ceasefire. The word ceasefire “was supposedly called out several times ... They had an on-site difference of opinion,” the official said. Ultimately, a Blackwater guard “got on another one about the situation and supposedly pointed a weapon”, the newspaper reported. At the same time, the official cautioned against jumping to a conclusion on who was to blame because events could become confused in the heat of a fight. An Iraqi investigation has concluded that the Blackwater guards fired their guns without provocation. But the US official quoted by The New York Times said the guards told American investigators they believed they had shot in response to hostile fire. The report by the State Department’s Bureau of Diplomatic Security, which was cited in The Washington Post, was described as a “first blush” of the events that began when the car bomb exploded near a financial compound in western Baghdad while a US official was visiting. Three Blackwater teams moved to transport the official back to the fortified green zone. Two units returned safely with the official, who was unharmed, but the third team came under fire from “eight to ten” persons” who “fired from multiple nearby locations, with some aggressors dressed in civilian apparel and others in Iraqi police uniforms”, the newspaper quoted the report as saying. One of the other two teams was re-dispatched to help but during that time the third unit managed to get itself back to the green zone. As a result, the redeployed Blackwater group found itself in bad traffic at the roundabout at Nisoor Square, confronted by Iraqi police and army. US soldiers were subsequently sent out to defuse the situation. A State Department official told The Washington Post that the report was only an initial account that reflected what embassy officers were told by the Blackwater guards immediately after the incident. Details could change, he added. Blackwater, which employs about 1,000 guards in Iraq, was not immediately available for comment but a spokeswoman was quoted in The New York Times as saying that she could not confirm any of the details provided by the Americans. A US Embassy spokeswoman in Baghdad said: “We are not commenting on the substance of the investigation.” US officials were also quoted in both newspapers as questioning the logic of trying to evacuate personnel from the protected compound in the first place rather than remaining inside after the car bomb until the situation was calmer. Condoleezza Rice, the US Secretary of State, has ordered a review board to visit Iraq next week to assess US diplomatic security practices there after the Blackwater incident. Emphasising the gravity of the situation, the Pentagon has already dispatched a separate, high-level team to review whether American commanders are policing contractors working for them properly. The five-man team was sent to Baghdad on Sunday by Robert Gates, the US Defence Secretary, who is under pressure to rein-in private security companies, that have earned a reputation in Iraq for being aggressive and trigger-happy.

No. The same ones who voted along with Republicans to condem moveon.org, decided not to condemn Rush. Wow, AMAZING!! Not that I think EITHER Rush or Moveon.org should be occupying the precious time of the House or Senate, but it just goes to show that the Dems still fear the "Weak on Terror" label. I think even one Republican tried to get a vote in FAVOR of Rush for "supporting the troops in Iraq" LO F'N L. Also, it has been reported that Rush doctored the entire exchange about the "phoney soldier" for when it aired on Armed Forces Radio, which isn't suprising in the least.

I am not even sure how the guy was "making a scene" until the cops stepped in, in the first place. The guy "running to the front of the line and pushing people out of his way" has been posted over and over, but is there some credible sources for that? Then on top of that, all the guy was doing at this point was making Kerry feel uncomfortable with his line of questioning, again, how is that against the law, illegal or even grounds for being removed in the first place, considering it was a town hall forum. If they event was "over" before he started blathering, then why didn't they cut the mic before asking the question, or before he was finished. It seemed apparent that once he was up there at the mic, nobody was attempting to stop him from asking the question and were obviously letting him talk, it wasn't until after the line of questioning wasn't to certain people's liking, that all the drama started. Fuck, I am not even defending the smarmy kid really, just feel like the cops overreacted a bit much. Why I am even bothering with this anymore, when a shitload of more important stories have hit since then....well I dunno.

Well for what it's worth in the Dems debate the other night, Joe Biden said something along the lines of Rudy Guliani being the most uninformed person in the entire presidential race on foreign policy.

but how easy would it be to blame it on some arab and say "we have no choice.....NUKES!!"

http://www.thiscantbehappening.net/?q=node/34 "The US Senate, by an outrageous vote of 76-22, just passed the Kyl-Lieberman amendment discussed in this article. This means that the Senate, including half the Democrats in that body, have endorsed war with Iran. The Democrats in the Senate managed to remove the most incindiary language in the Kyl-Lieberman amendment, which called for military action against Iran, but left in a call to declare Iran's Revolutionary Guard a global terrorist organization. Since Bush claims to be fighting a global "war" on terror, that's all he needs to claim he already has the authority to attack them. With this kind of thing going on, the only thing to do is go to the second article on this page, and, if you are a Democrat, quit the party. We have two war parties in America, one called the Republicans and one called the Democrats." Great, now how long before we hear the same drum-beat towards Iran that we did Iraq. Jesus Christ, I hope this is not happening all over again.

I still like this board a lot, visit everyday, but I'd say he diversity of opinion(s) was bigger five or so years ago, of course this is mainly because I spend a lot of time in the CE forum, which has suffered a lot since the bannings a few years ago. I'd really like to see how some of the newer posters would clash with some of the old guard from around 2002/2003. Plus there are other posters who post in CE now, that have been here awhile, that never did back then when the CE folder was really thriving.

Well I'd say that in last night's debate, the three front runners Hillary/Obama/Edwards came off the least impressive when it came to Iraq issues.

Metal Gear Solid 4 looked and played very impressive from what I hear.

Top 5 Alcohols I like to take shots of..... 1. Crown Royal 2. Patron 3. Seagrams Citrus Vodka 4. Captain Morgan 5. Jagermiester/Rumpleminz mix Top 5 Beers: 1. Newcastle 2. Blue Moon Ale 3. Guiness 4. Heniken 5. Hefwiezen *honorable mention* Fat Tire ale Top Five Meats on my Grill: 1. Flank Steak 2. Tri-Tip 3. Louisiana Brand Hot Links 4. Brisket 8-10 pound range w/fat still on 5. Hamburgers Top Five Foods I Eat at Restaurants that I don't make at home: 1. Sushi 2. Raw Oysters on the half shell w/tobasco, lemon juice & a little horseradish, oh yeah a pinch of cocktail sauce 3. Crab/Shrimp stuffed salmon steaks 4. Eggs Benedict 5. Chicken Tandoori

If you like it now, you should have been here in 2002.

So, every friday night they stream a new lineup of horror films ranging from old hammer/gothic flicks, to 80's slashers etc etc....I know it is unrealistic to sit at your computer at watch five movies, but it is kind of cool to just have it streaming and check it out from time to time. A lot of classics are shown that are hard to find.... Just go HERE and click "theater" at the top of the page. Enjoy! P.S. if you want to know the lineups for each friday, just go to the forums.

I wish I had some type of drink in my mouth so when I read that line for the first time I could have spit it out laughing....

Well Howard Dean was the "people's choice" candidate, but John Kerry was the DNC aka the "good ol' boys" pick. It just seems that the nominee will end up being who the big donors are going to back and right now, unfortunately it is Hilllary.

Dallas looks very good, but I still think New England is a couple tiers above the rest of the NFL at this point. Plus, I still say the Dallas defense is suspect to teams with any type of explosive offense.

Yeah, the Bucs Organization doesn't even go back far enough to match some of the throwbacks we have seen the last couple of weeks.

Rex with another Gross Pass. I think the experiment is over. There is a difference between Great Defensive plays, and throwing a ball into double(borderline triple) coverage where the WR was never open to begin with.

MEMO TO NFL HEAD COACHES: The Dallas Cowboys Safeties cannot cover. Please do not wait an entire half of the game to throw deep over the middle of the field on them. Thank You -Redskins Fans Everywhere.

Archuleta still sucks....I remember when the Skins got rid of him, the media was all over them saying "Chicago will utilize his strengths" well if his strength is being out of position on deep passes and watching WRs run by him, Chicago is utilizing him.

I still think the Pass Interference rules are so skewed towards the Receiver that the league should consider either changing the wording to make it equal or the refs should be told to enforce offensive PI more.(Especially on end zone passes where you clearly see these big WRs just push the DB away from them to catch a fade pass) It still seems like that in general a DB is flagged for the pettiest little contact, while the WR can literall push off on hook/curl routes, and jam DBs beyond 5 yards to create seperation.

Well the ironic thing is that the Redskins ran that same exact running play against Philly last week from maybe the 2 or 3 yard line, and Portis ran the correct angle, AROUND the lineman, and Betts instead ran BEHIND the lineman. If that play is executed the same way but Portis is in there, it is a TD for sure. Of course, I am more puzzled as to why with having Mike Sellars a 284 pound fullback, rushing him up the gut on 2nd in goal never came into the coaches mind. As for the game, I really honestly feel that the Redskins coaches looked at the 17-3 lead, the fumble by Eli, the INT by Eli, and figured being up two scores was enough and took the ball out of the offenses hands the rest of the game and felt the defense would do the job. The Redskins offense was clicking just fine in the first half, and then suddenly the playcalling got so conservative I though Al Saunders had been replaced by Jim Fausel(sp?) Then suddenly they are down 24-17 and in cruch time, and they are back to throwing the ball all over the field, finding guys wide open....WTF... A lot of "experts" thought the Redskins were going to be average in 2007 because of Campbell being a young inexperienced QB still learning the ropes. While I agree about the "being average in 2007" part, so far I would say Jason Campbell is not the reason at all, it is a combination of injuries on O-line, WRs dropping balls, and sitting on leads with conservative playcalling....of course it is only Week 3, so a lot can change for the better and/or for the worse, so I will keep my eyes peeled.

So any new news on the rumored October price cut for the PS3?

This movie didn't get a lot of hype for it's theatrical release, but that is sort of good because it was TOTALLY mis-advertised as a horror movie in the same light as "The Fly" I'd definately say this is more of a psychological thriller and it is fucking good. Very good performance by Ashley Judd here, seriously overlooked for a possible Oscar nomination. Anyone else see this flick?