GI SPECIAL 3B99:

HOW MANY MORE FOR BUSHS WAR?

BRING THEM ALL HOME NOW

Staff Sgt. Tricia Jameson, Omaha, Neb., a Nebraska Army National Guard medic, was killed July 14 near Trebil, Iraq, when a roadside bomb exploded near her ambulance as it approached wounded Marines. (AP Photo/Dave Weaver July 23, 2005)

SOLDIER CALLED BITCH FOR C.O. APPLICATION GETS HELP!

From: Jim, Military Counseling Network

To: GI Special

Sent: July 22, 2005

Subject: GI SPECIAL 3B85: Soldier called bitch

Dear GI Special,

I live in Germany and am an associate of Military Counseling Network, an organisation offering cost-free GI-rights counseling --especially conscientious objection-- to soldiers stationed in Germany.

We are presently working with four soldiers in various stages of their application and an additional four just getting started.

Military Counseling Network is now in contact with the soldier (Soldier called a bitch) whose story you told. He is presently restricted to base on an A15, but two of us visited with him yesterday for three hours.

We'll be supporting him as best we can from here on.

Please pass this on:

Soldiers in Germany with GI-rights issues are welcome to call the office of Military Counseling Network at 06223 47506 or check out www.mc-network.de to get an impression.

Maybe we can help.

We run on a shoe-string budget but have a staff of two and there is also a group of soldier COs and supporters --mostly US citizens-- happy to do what they can to support soldiers who need it.

Keep up the good work,

Jim

James M. Miller

Lilienstrasse 40

69245 Bammental, Germany

Mail to: j.miller@tiscali.de

Reply: The Military Counseling Network is doing the good work. GI Special can report, but when people like you take action to defend the troops, thats what makes the difference. And the same goes for ArchAngel, which made the situation known. See GI Special 3B85: Soldier Called A "Bitch" http://www.militaryproject.org/article.asp?id=615 for the ArchAngel report.

[If readers can spare some $ for the Military Counseling Network, looks like they earned it. T]

IRAQ WAR REPORTS

Ledyard Soldier Injured;

Collins Hoping His Son Injuries Will Keep Him Stateside For A While.

July 23, 2005 by News Channel 8's Tina Detelj, Ledyard-WTNH

The continued violence in Iraq is hitting home once again. A Ledyard soldier protecting the streets of Baghdad couldn't protect himself from the insurgents. He was caught in a car bombing and there are bits of shrapnel still in his arm.

Mark Collins found out Sunday his son, Army Pfc. Adam Collins had been hurt in a bomb blast in Iraq. "When he initially called me he said 'yeah, they blew me up good.' So he's got good spirits. He still got his sense of humor."

The 19-year old soldier, a gunner in a military police unit, had rushed to help victims of a car bomb when another bomb went off just fifteen feet from his Humvee.

"He's got some shrapnel in his left arm and some burns to both his hands and he says a couple of blisters on his face."

Adam Collins is a 2004 graduate of Ledyard High School where he was a member of the varsity wrestling team. Shortly after graduation he married his high school sweetheart and joined the Army. He hopes to someday become a police officer.

As word spreads about Collins injury those here at home are wishing him well.

"And I'm thinking of you. Bye now," says a voice on the telephone answering machine.

"I figured I'd get a lot of those today."

Collins says knowing his son has been hurt is a nightmare, but knowing he will recover is a big relief. The weekend wave of violence in Iraq left more than 130 dead and hundreds injured.

"Fifteen feet from a bomb is close, but could have been worse."

Adam Collins was treated at a hospital in Germany and transferred to an Army medical center in Texas where he will receive treatment for the burns on his face and shrapnel left lodged in his wrist.

"As soon as I can I'm gonna fly out and go be with him for however long as I can," Mark says.

Collins is hoping his son injuries will keep him stateside for a while. There is no word yet on whether or not he will be sent back to Iraq.

World Class Absurdity Marches On:

Another Silly Wall Built As Resistance Holding In Tal Afar

[See how military stupidity follows from political lies. The lie is that foreign fighters and other outsiders are the problem, although enough military officers and intelligence reports have pointed out this is another White House stack of bullshit, and the resistance is Iraqi and nationalist.

[But, since the Pentagon has to kiss Bush ass, the commanders act like the lie has some basis in reality, and start building these silly walls, really minor berms, to keep out those evil foreign fighters.

[Its good for the war profiteers who get involved in the building, and its great for the Iraqi resistance movement, which sees supplies and effort so brilliantly misdirected to such a trivial, easily circumvented annoyance, and its going to be material for late night comedy shows for years to come. Duh.]

July 21, 2005 From Jane Arraf, CNN

As U.S. soldiers construct a wall around the troubled city of Tal Afar to keep out fighters and weapons, residents are fleeing in fear of an imminent military attack by American and Iraqi forces against insurgents still in the city, according to a senior military commander.

Maj. Gen. David Rodriguez of the U.S. Army's Task Force Freedom said he was discussing with Iraqi leaders how best to handle the continuing violence in Tal Afar, where parts of the city are still controlled by insurgents.

"We're still working through that," he told CNN. [Build another berm? Or two?]

He said a U.S. military offensive there in June appears to have had only "a temporary disruptive effect" on the insurgency.

Police in the city, crippled by defections and allegations of torture and corruption, number fewer than 200.

Soldiers have been moving earth to construct a trench and a berm around Tal Afar, forcing traffic to go through rather than around security checkpoints.

U.S. Army engineers in Mosul have recently completed a 64-kilometer dirt berm around that city to stem the flow of insurgents and weapons.

[Which turned out to be absolutely useless, but since its about propaganda for the folks back home, to show were doing something, who cares? The Vietnamese could repair attacks by B52s on their road and rail transport system in 24 hours. A cut thru one of these earthen berms should take about 30 minutes. Where they arent so low a pickup truck with good road clearance can roll right over the top, that is. You see, because theyre made out of dirt and sand, the ascending and descending interior and exterior approaches are not abrupt, but slopes. Get it? A five year old on a dirt bike wouldnt be challenged.]

[Leaving aside right and wrong, an Imperial power this dimwitted deserves to lose its war.]

The Cell Phone War;

A Source Of Horror For The Occupation Forces

July 20, 2005 By Samir Haddad & Mazen Ghazi, IslamOnline Correspondents

A cellular phone's main job is to connect people for various reasons. But in occupied Iraq, where everything is out of context, mobiles are certainly no exception.

Iraqi resistance groups use mobiles in innovative ways that started to cause real concerns for US forces, so much that the hi-tech device is now topping the agenda of items to be confiscated during search operations.

Iraqi armed groups fighting foreign troops use the device to compile information on US military targets and "collaborators" with the occupation forces, making the tiny device a "source of horror" for the occupation forces.

An Iraqi businessman has revealed to IslamOnline.net how a short message on his mobile forced him to give up cooperation with the US occupation forces.

"I received a message of death threat from an armed group through my cellular phone to halt cooperation with the occupation forces," he told IOL, on condition of anonymity.

"The message carried a photograph taken for me while entering the fortified Green Zone through an entrance called the "the dangling bridge."

The Iraqi businessman had won a tender to supply air-conditioners to hospitals within Baghdad's Green Zone, which houses the US forces command and the Iraqi government.

"As soon as I got the message, I decided to give up the tender to save my life, despite the financial losses I suffered," he said.

Mobiles are also used by resistance groups to trap US occupation forces.

As a case in point, an unidentified person contacted the Iraqi interior ministry to report the presence of a group of armed men in a building in eastern Baghdad, according to witnesses of the incident that happened two months ago.

The caller also claimed that the armed group was holding hostages in the reported building.

In response, a joint contingent of US-Iraqi forces rushed to the reported scene, but as they were approaching the site, they were targeted by a roadside bomb, leaving scores of the US and Iraqi forces killed and injured.

Since then, mobiles have become a "source of horror" for the occupation forces, which search for the tiny devices everywhere during their massive crackdown operations in the country, according to sources close to the Iraqi resistance.

Four Iraqis were arrested by US forces last week while using mobiles equipped with cameras -- to photograph passers-by near a US military site in the Abu Ghraib neighborhood in western Baghdad.

To avoid such phone-orchestrated resistance attacks, US forces now disconnect phone communications during their patrols in the Iraqi capital as a security measure.

Such a repeated disconnection of communications has motivated many Iraqi subscribers to raise complaints with the Orascom Telecom Iraq Corporation (IRAQNA), the provider of the mobile communication service in the Iraqi capital.

But the Corporation said the service disconnection was out of its control, declining to give further information.

An official at the Corporation told IOL, however, that the disconnection of the communications service was mainly attributed to the security measures taken by foreign forces to protect themselves against attacks by Iraqi resistance groups.

In a further measure to shield themselves against resistance attacks, US forces also force IRAQNA to demand new subscribers to provide all necessary data to the firm before buying a mobile line.

The company also demand subscribers to sign a note confirming the devices will not be used in "illegal activities".

However, all these measures are too insignificant to prevent Iraqi resistance groups from carrying out attacks to force the US occupation forces out of Iraq, due to the cheap price of lines that makes it easy to replace.

MICRO-TERRORIST ALERT NEAR BAGHDAD

Soldiers from the 256th Brigade Combat Team, 3rd Infantry Division, and an Iraqi collaborator search for micro-terrorists near Baghdad July 22, 2005.

The U.S. occupation command announced that because the Iraqi insurgents are in their last throes, they have unleashed a new weapon: suicide micro-terrorists. Micro-terrorists are less than two inches high, are armed with an assortment of micro-weapons developed in Syria and Iran, and hide in the weeds awaiting targets of opportunity.

In Washington, the Pentagon announced that Bush Buddies Inc. has been awarded a $6 billion cost-plus contract to develop a defense system that will neutralize micro-terrorists. Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld announced the project will receive top priority, and will be deployed to the battlefield by 2014. Photo: REUTERS/US Army/Staff Sgt. Jorge A. Rodriguez/Handout

AFGHANISTAN WAR REPORTS

Australian Government Sends A Pittance

July 22, 2005 Christian Science Monitor

A move by Australia to redeploy 150 special forces troops to Afghanistan in time for the September elections has been dismissed by observers in Canberra as a "pittance"a largely symbolic move designed to mollify the United States.

The Afghan Horror Show

21 July 2005 By Sidney Blumenthal, Salon.com [Excerpt]

Afghanistan is now the scene of a Taliban revival, chronic Pashtun violence, dominance by US-supported warlords (who have become narco-lords, exploiting the exploding traffic in opium poppies), and a human rights black hole.

"Afghanistan is going better than Iraq," James Dobbins said. "That's not much of a standard." Dobbins was Bush's first envoy to Afghanistan.

From the start, he said, the effort in Afghanistan was "grossly under-funded and undermanned."

What's more, lack of accountability began at the top and filtered down.

On the day of Afghan President Hamid Karzai's inauguration in December 2001, Dobbins met Gen. Tommy Franks, the CentCom commander, at the reopened Afghan airport. As they drove to the ceremony, Dobbins informed Franks of press reports that US planes had mistakenly bombed a delegation of Afghan tribal leaders traveling to Kabul for the inauguration and killed perhaps several dozen people.

"It was the first time he heard about it. When he got out of the car, reporters asked him about it. He denied it happened. And he denied it happened for several days. It was classic 'deny first, investigate later.' It turned out to be true. It was a normal reflex."

Democracy was at best an afterthought for the Bush administration, which believed that it had little application to Afghans. At the conference in Bonn, Germany, establishing international legitimacy for the new Afghan government, "the word 'democracy,'" Dobbins points out, "was introduced at the insistence of the Iranian delegation."

Donald Rumsfeld's Pentagon and the White House removed restraints on torture - in Guantanamo Bay, Afghanistan and Iraq. "These were command failures, not just isolated incidents, in that we dismantled systems designed to protect us from these kinds of events. You didn't have the checks and balances. They've had consequences in terms of public image," Dobbins said.

In April, the United States succeeded, after refusing to cooperate for two years with the United Nations rapporteur on human rights for Afghanistan, in abolishing the office altogether.

The U.N. representative, Cherif Bassiouini, a distinguished expert on international law who has helped train hundreds of judges in Afghanistan, told me, "Karzai was in favor of keeping the mandate. But the US was quite adamant. The US came to the conclusion they needed to kill the messenger with hope the message would die. The tactics are contrary to any valid strategy. If the strategy is to stabilize Afghanistan, have a democratic regime, cut narco-trafficking and terrorism, what is being done is precisely the opposite."

For all the problems there, "most of the violence is not al-Qaida type, but Pashtun sectarian violence. It's not international terrorism."

"We're taking the fight to the terrorists abroad so we don't have to face them here at home," Bush declared in June - and repeated endlessly - finally appearing vindicated with the London attacks.

His apparent doublethink relieves any anxiety of cognitive dissonance. London, like Iraq and Afghanistan, is "there," not "here."

TROOP NEWS

Anti-War Soldier, Leo Clark, Accepts Plea Bargain, Is Silenced

[Thanks to James Starowicz who sent this in. He writes: This was just posted up on the Daily Kos Site by a Steven D, who along with myself were keeping the story of Leonard Alive there and elsewhere prior to your printing. Here's the URL to Steven's Update: http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2005/7/23/143829/996. This contains some E information, Charges and other links. Looks Like Leonard Has Been Completely Shut Down!!!!!!!!!]

Jul 23rd, 2005 by Steven D, dailykos.com

As you may recall, I have written a number of diaries about Leonard Clark, the liberal National Guardsman serving in Iraq whose emails and voicemails were previously posted at his blog before it was scrubbed (you can still read many of them in my diaries regarding Leonard).

This is the diary I never wanted to have to write. Leonard Clark has been silenced. He will no longer be allowed to express his opposition to Bush's War in Iraq.

Threatened with up to twenty years in a military prison he accepted a plea bargain in exchange for his future silence.

Earlier this week, I was forwarded email which had originally been sent to Kevin Spidel, Leonard's friend and the Political Director for Progressive Democrats of America. Here is the contents of that email (sender's name deleted):

From: [deleted]

Sent: Tuesday, July 19, 2005 12:02 PM

To: Kevin Spidel . . .

Subject: Leonard seeing judges

Leonard is telling his wife that he has seen a judge, twice now.

He has requested that people not send through the internet anything that he as written in the past. GAG ORDER.

He mentioned that he could get 10 to 20 years in prison. That was sunday, monday (i.e., July 17th and 18^th) he said he had seen the judge again and would be seeing him again.

If he is not under arrest or charged with any offense, why is he having to go before a judge. Maybe you can find out from military what is going on.

This was ominous news, and today we learned why.

Leonard, in order to avoid prison, and on advice of his military counsel, took a plea bargain that will keep him out of prison but which will also effectively silence his voice of protest.

Here are the details according to the official CENTCOM (i/e/, U.S. Central Command) press release about Leonard's case:

Private First Class Leonard Clark:

Press Release

On July 19, 2005, Lieutenant Colonel James F. Switzer, Commander, 504th Military Police Battalion, 42nd Military Police Brigade, Multi-National Corps-Iraq, notified Specialist Leonard A. Clark, 860th Military Police Company, of his intent to dispose of alleged misconduct under Article 15, Uniform Code of Military Justice (UCMJ).

After consulting with a Trial Defense Counsel, a military defense lawyer, Specialist Clark elected to accept disposition of the alleged offense using Article 15 proceedings. Specifically, Specialist Clark was charged under Article 15 with the following violations of the UCMJ:

Article 92 (Failure to obey order), 11 specifications; by releasing classified information regarding unit soldiers and convoys being attacked or hit by an improvised explosive devices on various dates, discussing troop movements on various dates, releasing Tactics, Techniques, and Procedures and Rules of Engagement used by the unit on various dates, in violation of a lawful general order prohibiting the release of such information.

Article 134 (Reckless endangerment), 2 specifications; by releasing specific information, on various dates regarding Tactics, Techniques, and Procedures and Rules of Engagement used by his unit and encouraging its widespread publication, such that the enemy forces could foreseeably access the information, such that with that information it was likely that the enemy forces could cause death or serious bodily harm to U.S. forces engaged in the same or similar mission.

On July 19, 2005, at a hearing before Lieutenant Colonel Switzer, Specialist Clark was found guilty beyond a reasonable doubt of all Specifications. As a result, Specialist Clark received the following punishment:

Reduction to Private First Class (E-3), forfeiture of $820 per month for two months, 45 days restriction, and 45 days of extra duty. Both the restriction and extra duty were suspended for five months.

Private First Class Clark has appeal rights, but he has chosen not to exercise those rights.

(END PRESS RELEASE)

**********************************************

As you can see, CENTCOM's press release is not very specific about which items in particular on Leonard's blog constituted the release of "classified information" that may have endangered his unit.

However, I have copies of some of his emails, so I have reviewed them to try to ascertain which writings of Leonard's justified the above charges.

Most of his emails deal with his opposition to the War and his political opinions.

Here are some excerpts of items which I assume were part of the charges against him. They're a little lengthy but I urge you to read them and see if you believe they support the gravity of the charges brought against Leonard:

From an email dated April 11, 2005, 2005:

Apparently, the men and women soldiers over here are starting to sense that the American politicians back home are starting to decide that we will be out of here sooner than later. Today at the chow hall on television CNN announced that President Talabani had announced that American forces could be out of here within two years. We have now been drastically limited in what we can do, as our commander has stated that Iraq now has a sovereign government.

Basically, we are support to go out on patrols as M.P. on the same routes over and over, looking for bombs or other suspicious activity.

The problem is, I fear, that since the enemy knows that we will not pursue them due to the shrinking role, they will start to use us as moving targets, as one would do in a "Turkey Shoot." My unit has already been hit multi-times with Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs).

. . . Our Captain is beginning to be felt by the men to be a glory seeker. He wants us to start going out on night missions and is volunteering us to go do more dangerous work than even the other MP units stationed here. Most of us believe it is because he is trying to look good when he gets back so that he can brag about what a big hero he is and he gets promoted to Major.

FOR MY MUM

From: Maxine Gentle

To: GI Special

Sent: July 22, 2005

Subject: mum

[This is from Maxine Gentle. Her brother was killed in Iraq. Her mother, Rose Gentle, leads a campaign to bring all the Scots and other troops home from Iraq, now. T]

FOR MY MUM

women come in all shapes sizes and colours

they ll drive, fly walk run , or email you to show how much they care

about you, the heart of a woman is what makes the world keep

turning/ they bring joy .hope and love, they have compassion

they give moral support. to their family, and frends,

women have vital things to give, however if there is one flaw.

in woman they forget their worth,

mum you are one of these woman the poem describes

you in every way,

you are standing up 4 what you belive in, I am so proud of you

and so is all the family. and gordon is too. dont give up when you

think its not going any where. remember wat you have acheved,

and if you did give up, you would be letting down a lot

of people. and gordon too. keep up the good work, and keep the

campaine goine,

love you lots. maxine gentle.

i know, you....you will niver give up;

bring the troops home, x x

PS FROM ROSE GENTLE:

i think i am geting to

them

from rose

Australian Government Says No To Iraq Troop Request

July 22, 2005 (AEST)

Prime Minister John Howard has told the British Government that Australia will not send any more troops to Iraq.

There has been speculation that Britain would withdraw its troops next year and Australia could be asked to increase its commitment.

Raging Grannies Try To Enlist;

Get Arrested Instead

[Thanks to D, who sent this in.]

July 22, 2005 (AP)

A group of anti-war senior citizens calling themselves the "Tucson Raging Grannies" say they want to enlist in the U.S. Army and go to Iraq so that their children and grandchildren can come home.

Five members of the group -- which is associated with the Women's International League for Peace and Freedom -- are due in court Monday to face trespassing charges after trying to enlist at a military recruitment center last week.

"We went in asking to be sent to Iraq so our kids and grandchildren can be sent home, but rather than listening to us, they called the police," said 74-year-old Betty Schroeder. "It was their place to tell us the qualifications, but they wouldn't even speak to us. They should've said, `You're too old."'

Schroeder said her group may approach the Pentagon to see if they could be sent to Iraq.

Schroeder said she hopes the trespassing charges will be dropped and an apology given to the group from the Tucson Police Department and from the recruiters.

"This was not a performance, a joke or civil disobedience," she said.

"This was an enlistment attempt."

IRAQ RESISTANCE ROUNDUP

Assorted Resistance Action

7.23.05 WAVY & KIRK SEMPLE, The New York Times Company & AFP

Three Fallujah police officers have been found shot to death in the nearby town of Karma.

Police in Baghdad say gunmen in two cars opened fire on an Interior Ministry police colonel last night, killing him. Police also say guerrillas have ambushed several Iraqi police patrols throughout Baghdad today, injuring at least three officers.

Guerrillas killed two members of an Interior Ministry antiterrorism task force in the capital.

A Turkish engineer working at an electric plant at Baiji, north of Baghdad, was the target of a successful kidnapping on Saturday as he travelled further north to Kirkuk, police said.

In other violence, an official from the transport ministry, Jassem Mohammad Jassem, was shot dead in central Baghdad, an interior ministry source said, while an Iraqi civilian was killed in a mortar attack on a joint US-Iraqi military base at Ishaki, north of the capital.

An Iraqi solider was killed and three wounded when their patrol was hit by a roadside bomb in the town of Samarra, north of Baghdad, police said.

FORWARD OBSERVATIONS

The Hot Summer Of 2005--Paint It Black!

From: Mike Hastie

Sent: Jul 21, 2005

More explosions in London. Great Britain has got to be the worst place when it comes to a quagmire.

The more Middle Eastern people they round up, the worse it is going to get. Tony the Tiger needs to pull his troops out of Iraq.

The arrogance of Empire always amazes me.

The Little Guy now has a big stick. The playing field is now level, and the " Tipping Point," just got a little more tipsy. Orwell was British, wasn't he?

Mike Hastie

Vietnam Veteran

P.S. We forget, "The Guns of August."

Twenty U.S. Troops Desert:

Join Philippine Resistance To Fight U.S. Occupation

[Thanks to Max Watts, who sent this in.]

April 2005 By Renato Redentor Constantino, the Philippine national newspaper Today

Black is the blood of pipelines, the preferred shade of Washington's flammable mural called the Middle East an oil painting that combines the high art of irony with the science of spontaneous combustion.

Trace the blood and connect the dots.

Pale memory, full of grace, the Lord is with you.

I walked the floor of the White House night after night until midnight, confessed the corpulent US president William McKinley in 1898. Long tired of a pesky prickle, the United States decides its time to scratch the itch: America covets new territories. America annexes the Philippines. What a relief.

I went down on my knees and prayed to Almighty God for light and guidance. One night it came to me. First, we could not give (the Philippines) back to Spain that would be cowardly and dishonourable; second we could not turn them over to France or Germany that would be bad for business; and third, we could not leave them to themselves they were unfit for self-government

There was nothing left for us to do but to take them all and uplift and civilise and Christianise them And then I went to bed, and went to sleep and slept soundly.

The god of empire grants McKinleys wish for god is empire and empire is god.

Less than a decade after McKinley's entreaty, Americas benevolent rule sends hundreds of thousands of Filipinos towards Jesus and the afterlife.

Blessed is the imperialist among he-men and blessed is the vile fruit of his genius.

Americas annexation of the Philippines contains many firsts. Many say it was Americas first imperial adventure. Certainly it was Asias first republic that the US slew. It was also the first time Black troops were ordered to fight a colonial war in Southeast Asia.

From 1899 to 1902, an estimated two thousand Black women, men, and children die from racial attacks in Americas deep South.

From 1899 to 1901 a mere three years after US troops began firing on Filipino revolutionaries an American general estimates the death toll of Filipinos at the hands of their US liberators to number well over half a million.

To the coloured American soldier, implored a public communiqu issued in the Philippines on 17 November 1899 and penned, some say, by the crippled coloured Filipino revolutionist himself, Apolinario Mabini, it is without honour that you shed your precious blood. Your masters have thrown you in the most iniquitous fight with double purpose to make you the instrument of their ambition, and also your hard work will make the extinction of your race.

Fight for the flag! Under what colours?

On Punishing The Politicians That Led The Disastrous British Invasion Of Iraq, 1917

July 21, 2005 Patrick Cockburn, Counterpunch

Rudyard Kipling, "Mesopotamia"

Shall we only threaten and be angry for an hour?

When the storm has ended shall we find

How softly but how swiftly they have sidled back to power

By the favour and contrivance of their kind?

Their lives cannot repay us - their death could not undo -

The shame that they have laid upon our race.

But the slothfulness that wasted and the arrogance that slew,

Shall we leave it unabated in its place?

Why We Will Lose The War In Iraq

June 16, 2005 by Douglas Herman, USAF veteran, strike-the-root.com [Excerpt]

We will lose the war in Iraq. Let us count the ways.

Time Is Not On Our Side

By now, had the mass of Iraqis bought into the idea we were "freeing" them, the guerilla war would have ended.

The Japanese, among the fiercest fighters and suicide soldiers in history, accepted unconditional surrender after World War II. Why won't the Iraqis? Maybe because these Iraqis have seen things our army of occupation has done--mass arrests, brute force searches, imprisonments and tortures--that would make General MacArthur roll over in his imperial grave, shaking his head in disbelief.

Iraqis, Sunnis and Shiites, do not want us there, just as Colonial Americans did not want the British troops here, occupying our towns and villages. Historian David McCullough's book 1776 makes that abundantly clear.

Still, American opposition to the British measured less than half the population, with Loyalists and Tories rallying opposition to the nascent Revolution. "There were too few soldiers and too few guns," wrote reviewer Jon Meachen, of the so-called American patriots.

Anyone seeking an overview of the Iraqi resistance might be excused for thinking the same: How can too few Iraqis with too few guns defeat the most powerful army in the world?

Because They Won't They Fight Fair

Fourth Generation War wasn't invented by the Iraqis, nor the Vietcong, nor even the American insurgents fighting the British.

To the British redcoat, an American "patriot" was nothing but a terrorist and a cowardly traitor, fighting behind trees and using sneak attacks, burning the homes and destroying the property of Loyalists.

Not surprisingly, most of us are aghast at bloodthirsty Iraqis who massacre fellow Iraqis who've collaborated with the American "Coalition."

Yet these Iraqis wage war as the Vietcong waged it, as WE would wage it if we were the occupied country and turncoat Americans collaborated with the occupying army. We wouldn't fight fair; many Americans--conservative, liberal or anarchist--would fight just as fiercely.

According to William Lind, "We have pointed out over and over that the 4th Generation is not novel but a return, specifically a return to the way war worked before the rise of the state." In this type of warfare, time is on the side of the guerilla fighter, while the occupying force expends his wealth, squanders his soldiers, and spreads increasing resentment and thus resistance.

Lately, even a few high ranking American officers in the field seem to comprehend this warfare.

Collectively, the current crop of US leaders--Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld, Wolfowitz--may be the most amoral, historically ignorant of any in recent times. I cannot imagine any of that claque reading McCullough's book 1776 or understanding what it might mean today. History befuddles those full of bluster and hubris, and Bush may be one of the most befuddled emperors ever.

Certainly, at the height of their empire, the English could subjugate smaller, neighboring countries like Ireland and Wales, as we subjugate Haiti or Honduras.

But against distant enemies the English lost, as we shall lose.

Robert Fisk wrote vividly of one doomed column, "On the heights of the Kabul Gorge, they still find ancient belt buckles and corroded sword hilts. You can no longer read the insignia of the British regiments of the old East India Company but their bones, those of all 16,000 of them, still lie somewhere amid the dark earth and scree of the most forbidding mountains in Afghanistan ."

The English lost in Gallipoli; they lost against the American colonists.

They learned that foreign wars fought far away, against an impassioned enemy, cost a lot of money.

An enormous amount of money, men and material. No wonder Treasury Secretary O'Neill calculated $200 billion before the war, a conservative estimate nowadays. America will bankrupt itself (morally it already has), in a vain effort to force a fraudulent freedom on Iraq and the Middle East.

"Victory or Death," wrote George Washington before crossing the Delaware and defeating the Hessians at Trenton. George F. Smith, historian, essayist and scriptwriter, observed, "Hessian brutality swung many New Jersey neutrals to the American cause . . . Washington ordered . . . the men to storm the town. As they fell upon the enemy, many of them shouted, 'This is the time to try men's souls!'

With their gunpowder soaked and useless, Sullivan's men relied on the bayonet to roust the Hessians out of the houses. Earlier in New York, Rall's men had mercilessly slaughtered Americans as they tried to surrender."

Make no mistake about it, we've become the punitive British of "The Patriot."

Our allies in Iraq--the Iraq National Guard--have become almost as the Hessians, mercenaries and opportunists aligned with what they perceive as the stronger power, us. Lowly paid gatekeepers, akin to plantation overseers with divided loyalties, they serve the occupation force as the Hessians did the British.

"Occupation forces use terrorism to 'fight terrorism' and only create more terrorists. We see this in both the Israeli and US occupations. I don't believe that this is an accident or an oversight of brilliant military strategists, but an intentional strategy used to maintain chaos and justify ongoing occupation.

Occupation becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy, using 'security' to exploit, dominate, and colonize," wrote Joe Carr in The Self-Fulfilling Prophesy of Occupation.

"Divide and conquer is a standard practice of colonial powers. In Iraq, the US is following the British example by pitting Sunni vs. Shiite vs. Christian vs. Kurd; they keep them fighting with each other so that they are all easier to control," added Carr, an unembedded journalist in Baghdad, in A Short Taxi Ride, Another Road Block.