[Plantagenet]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Bas', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Plantagenet', 'H')i Bas: Now that a Dutch court has ruled that the Iraq War was illegal, are the Dutch going to prosecute the Dutch politicians who sent the Dutch Army to the Iraq War?

[Bas]

Indeed Holland was there as an occupational force, though not as an invading force.

It was the ruling of a government sanctioned commission for finding the truth (something they should have in your own country), not a ruling of a court of law.

And I might have skipped over this before, but indeed I hope that everybody involved and responsible for war crimes committed in Iraq (and Afghanistan) will be held to account and this includes politicians and soldiers in the Netherlands. Ofcourse you'll have to agree with me that the most and biggest heads need to roll in the US. But I guess we have to start in Holland and that's what this thread is about.

[Tyler_JC]

From a geopolitical prospective, this will fracture what is left of the "coalition of the willing". Countries that were on the fence might have a freer hand to pull out their troops. This is definitely something to keep an eye on.

[Cloud9]

This ruling means nothing until Dutch tanks cross the Rio Grand.

[kmann]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'I')raq war was illegal, Dutch panel rules

[dinopello]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('kmann', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'I')raq war was illegal, Dutch panel rules

[Sixstrings]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Bas', 'I')n a series of damning findings, a seven-member panel in the Netherlands concluded that the war, which was supported by the Dutch government following intelligence from Britain and the US, had not been justified in law.

[Bas]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Sixstrings', 'H')ow convenient for the Dutch to say this now. Where were they when all this was going down, hm? As if it really takes a panel of experts to figure out what the war was all about, please.

[dorlomin]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('dinopello', 'W')hat is the punishment for illegal war ? Did the Council of Dutchman say ?

[mattduke]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'I')n the publicity sheet that St. Martin's Press has been sending out to spur interest in General Hugh Shelton's new memoir, Without Hesitation: The Odyssey of an American Warrior, the last highlight is a doozy: "A high-ranking cabinet member suggests intentionally flying an American airplane on a low pass over Baghdad so as to guarantee it will be shot down, thus creating a natural excuse to reltaliate and go to war."

[Sixstrings]

I read most of the article, but didn't see where the quote was attributed to Albright.

Anyhow, doesn't surprise me.. does it surprise you? Surely you're not suggesting the Republicans are peaceniks?

[paimei01]

Speech from 2003
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ry4MwiOV ... ed#at=2163
NWO

Nvm his religion, and his dream of "Islam triumphant over evil", at the end of the video.

[Plantagenet]

Here we go again---Obama just started bombing Iraq

Obama bombs Iraq

I especially liked the reason he gave for the US bombing campaign---Obama claims he is protecting Americans from WMDs.

Obama says “when the lives of American citizens are at risk, we will take action"

Would one of the Obama supporters here please explain how the "lives of American citizens are at risk" if we don't bomb Iraq?


We'll teach you Iraqis not to put the lives of Americans at risk!

[Keith_McClary]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Plantagenet', 'O')bama says “when the lives of American citizens are at risk, we will take action"

... please explain how the "lives of American citizens are at risk" if we don't bomb Iraq?

[Keith_McClary]

FAA bans US airline over Iraq due to conflict$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'B')ritish Airways said it was suspending its flights over Iraq and would "keep the situation under review".

The US launched air strikes against IS in Iraq on Thursday. The FAA had previously banned all air travel over Iraq below 30,000 feet on 31 July.

On Saturday, Australian airline Qantas said it had suspended flights over Iraq, following similar actions by German airline Lufthansa, Dubai-based Emirates, Virgin Atlantic and Air France. Flying over conflict areas has come under increasing scrutiny since the crash of MH 17 in Ukraine in July.

Earlier in July, the FAA and other European carriers briefly suspended flights to Israel's Ben Gurion airport in Tel Aviv after a rocket landed near the airport.

[Ferretlover]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Plantagenet', 'H')ere we go again---Obama just started bombing Iraq
Obama bombs Iraq

[Keith_McClary]

Was there a coup in Iraq? What we know and what we don't know$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'T')he Iraqi political system is in crisis. Late Sunday, at 12 am Baghdad time, was the deadline for Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki to form a new governing coalition in the country's parliament. He missed the deadline, Maliki announced that he would be staying on as prime minister anyway. Right now, Maliki is still acting as the country's leader, but without a majority political coalition, which means it's not clear if he's actually supposed to have that authority.

The facts of what's happening in Baghdad are far from clear at this point. Is this a coup? Are there really troops seizing Baghdad, as has been reported by some outlets? What happens next? Here's a short breakdown of what we know — and don't — about this political crisis in Iraq.
...
Are there troops securing Baghdad for Maliki? Some reports say Iraqi troops are deploying in the streets of Baghdad, but those reports are sketchy at this point. This AFP piece, for instance, says there's "massive security deployment, akin to measures taken in a state of emergency, across the capital Baghdad." That may or may not be true; AFP cites an Iraqi policeman and an "official at the Interior ministry." There's very little evidence for some of these claims, including the theory that Maliki has surrounded Masum's office with tanks.
...
Will the US side against Maliki, or even help push him out? The US is a big player in Iraqi politics, often acting as a formal mediator in disputes. The US is also now helping Iraq against ISIS, so the Americans could play a big role in this crisis. The Obama administration has been unhappy with Maliki for a while, whom they see as creating some of the conditions that allowed ISIS to take over half of the country, but it's not yet clear what they'll do in response to this crisis. They could back Maliki (that's unlikely), could try to mediate to form a new government, could quietly ask Maliki to leave, or might even publicly demand it. The closest we've seen yet to a formal position is a tweet from Deputy Assistant Secretary of State Brett McGurk:
$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'F')ully support President of #Iraq Fuad Masum as guarantor of the Constitution and a PM nominee who can build a national consensus.

[Keith_McClary]

US installs new Iraq PM Haider Abadi$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'M')aliki has not recognized Abadi's claim to power. He said Massoum does not have to authority to make the nomination and has appealed the matter to the country's highest court

[dissident]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Keith_McClary', '[')url=http://www.latimes.com/world/middleeast/la-fg-biden-iraq-20140811-story.html]US installs new Iraq PM Haider Abadi[/url]$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'M')aliki has not recognized Abadi's claim to power. He said Massoum does not have to authority to make the nomination and has appealed the matter to the country's highest court

[Keith_McClary]

Iraq voices anger as US air force defends Irbil – but not Baghdad$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'F')aqe confirmed that Iranian air force pilots were active above the skies of Iraq. "I have seen with my own eyes that the Iranians have brought Sukhoi planes," he said. "Everything in that unit is Iranian including the pilot and the mechanics. They are in Rasheed base, a huge base in south of Baghdad … the Iranians make barrel bombs and then use Antonov and Huey planes to drop them in Sunni areas. Some Iranian pilots have been shot down.

"When we go to bomb a place, the ground troops don't accompany us. We bomb a place and kill a few, then Isis disperses, but they regroup later."

The pilot said that five helicopters had been brought down by the militants, while another seven planes were put to the torch on an airfield in Tikrit.

As the war of attrition with Isis steadily tips in the militants' favour, resentment is growing among influential Iraqis. "The American policy is shameful," said Hassan al-Fayath, the dean of al-Nahrain University in Baghdad. "The Americans always say they are the leaders in fighting terrorism but they didn't lift a finger when Isis was taking parts of Iraq. The only time the Americans got involved was when they found it started threatening their interests by getting closer to the oil fields and to Irbil.

"Isis succeeded in securing Iraqi oil and now they have the resources to recruit more fighters and buy weapons. Why did everyone let them go that far and not intervene earlier?"

Asked whether US jets will return to the skies over Baghdad, he said: "Obama will launch more strikes to save the oil and his Kurdish friends."