"Worries about US data on Iraqis; Privacy advocates, those scanned fear misuse if files shared" by Farah Stockman, Globe Staff | August 31, 2010
WASHINGTON — Over the past seven years, US soldiers in Iraq have used sweeping wartime powers to collect fingerprints, iris scans, and even DNA from ordinary people and suspected insurgents, an effort that has helped the Pentagon amass one of the world’s most comprehensive databases of biometric information collected during a war.
Some call it the New World Order.
Whatever you call it, it is a far cry from the "freedom" we allegedly delivered them.
As the war draws down, however, the collection of so much personal information has raised questions about how data gathered during wartime should be used during times of peace, and with whom that information should be shared.
Now, as President Obama tonight is slated to address the nation about the end of combat operations in Iraq, these concerns about the transfer of intelligence are being put to the test....
The collection in Iraq is part of a global attempt to find and track terrorist suspects.
Why don't you just go down to CIA headquarters and check out their call list?
It would be a lot easier.
Stephen Morris, deputy assistant director of the FBI’s Criminal Justice Information Services Division, said the bureau helps dozens of countries collect biometric information, usually in exchange for access to data.
The FBI has agents stationed in Jordan, Italy, Mexico, Germany, and elsewhere to organize “fingerprint exchanges’’ of thousands of terrorist suspects.
The FBI is supposed to be a DOMESTIC AGENCY!
Many countries give access to criminal fingerprints but restrict the sharing of fingerprints of ordinary citizens. But in Iraq and Afghanistan, the US military has authority to collect such information as a tool to protect troops.
Today, the Pentagon’s database, which is kept separate from the FBI files, contains information on some 4 million people from around the world, about 40 percent of whom are Iraqis. Officials would not divulge from where the rest of the information was gathered.
US forces started collecting fingerprints in Iraq during the 2003 invasion, as part of interrogations of agents of Saddam Hussein’s regime. The US military also helped computerize Iraq’s fingerprint files from Hussein’s era. US soldiers reportedly collected fingerprints and DNA samples from 80,000 detainees in their custody. (It is not clear how those samples have been used.)
Useful for framing some patsies!
After the military’s incursion into Fallujah in 2004, US soldiers collected fingerprints and iris scans of every resident as they passed through checkpoints to return.
You know, the same thing the Israelis do in Gaza.
Related: Deformed babies in Fallujah
Acting just like 'em, AmeriKa!
They wanted a record of the legitimate residents, so they could detect infiltrators. In parts of Baghdad, US soldiers went door to door, collecting information. They also enrolled entire villages at the request of tribal leaders.
Yeah, they asked for it, right.
The information was useful because it could be mined for patterns, said Peter Higgins, a consultant who worked with the US military in Iraq on biometrics in 2005 and 2007....
The database is viewed as such a success in the US intelligence community that some are worried counterterrorism efforts will suffer once US troops stop collecting data....
So when is the next false-flag attack?
"Amid drawdown of troops, Biden reassures Iraqis; Visits Baghdad to mark end of US combat role" by Leila Fadel, Washington Post | August 31, 2010
BAGHDAD — Vice President Joe Biden is in Iraq to help end an impasse over who will run the country and to reassure Iraqis that the United States is not abandoning them despite the official end of US combat operations today....
Not with 50,000 troops staying behind.
Many Iraqis say they are concerned that the US withdrawal is premature because of the political stalemate that has continued for nearly six months since national parliamentary elections, as well as an increase in violence across the country.
I was wondering which Iraqis those could be considering it would be "the US presence in Iraq is so unpopular that it would be “political suicide’’ for a politician to ask for US troops to remain."
So much for security improving, huh?
“We’re going to be just fine. They’re going to be just fine,’’ Biden said during a brief photo session at the US Embassy after his arrival yesterday....
U.S. leaders sicken me.
The US Embassy in the heavily fortified Green Zone was briefly put on lockdown shortly before Biden’s arrival yesterday because of incoming fire detected by radar. Hours later, about 10:30 p.m., five Katyusha rockets hit the Green Zone, but there were no immediate reports of casualties.
Ever notice every time our guys go over for an unannounced visit they are greeted with rockets that never harm anyone?
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"Iraqis brace for uncertainty as US combat troops depart" by Leila Fadel, Washington Post | September 1, 2010
BAGHDAD — On the last day of the official US combat mission in Iraq, there was no dancing in the streets, no celebratory gunfire, and no sense that a milestone had been reached.
US troop levels have dropped to just below 50,000, fulfilling an Obama administration pledge to move from combat to stability operations. But as the United States prepares to declare the end of its seven-year-long war, Iraqis are bracing for uncertainty.
Yesterday, Interior Minister Jawad Bolani said that the country is on high alert and that Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki has created two security crisis cells — one for Baghdad and one for the rest of Iraq. The cells would respond in case violence escalates in coming days.
See: Occupation Iraq: Iraqi Indictment of AmeriKa's Occupation
Bloodshed has already increased as Iraq nears the end of its sixth month without a government since national parliamentary elections. Many Iraqis also say they worry that another country could fill the vacuum left behind by the United States and that the security gains of the past two years could erode....
They mean IRAN, readers.
I'll tell you, I am really tired of reading the same s*** year after year.
Maliki met yesterday with Vice President Joe Biden, who is making his sixth visit to Baghdad on behalf of the Obama administration. At the start of the meeting, Biden questioned media reports of an increase in violence.
“It’s much safer,’’ Biden said. Reporters following the vice president Monday were asked to wear body armor and helmets, and Biden was heavily guarded throughout his trip.
These guys are no better than the Bush administration.
Remember McCain saying the same thing after the surge started?
Outside the heavily fortified Green Zone, where many of Biden’s meetings took place, Iraqis expressed fear and frustration.
“We wanted change, and nothing’s changed,’’ Mohammed Imad, 21, said.
I know how they feel.
Despite the fears voiced in the streets, Maliki declared yesterday a day of “celebration.’’
“This is a day that will remain in the memory of all Iraqis. Today, Iraq has become a sovereign and independent country,’’ the prime minister said on state television. “Unfortunately, we are facing a campaign of doubt.’’
It ALREADY WAS before the U.S. SMASHED IT!
“Whose celebration is this?’’ asked Ibrahim Abdul Wahab, 57, a resident of Haifa Street in downtown Baghdad, where Sunni insurgents were in control more than two years ago. “It’s his, not Iraq’s. Where are the promises of the planned democracy?’’
Broken like all the rest.
Last week, when coordinated blasts rocked the country, killing more than 60 people, fliers and CDs were distributed in the street here. The flier declared that Al Qaeda in Iraq was back and listed its operations, residents said.
“I see it in front of my eyes,’’ Wahab said, referring to the renewed bloodshed. “I see the roadside bombs, the attacks on the checkpoints. Al Qaeda reached to this street again.’’
See: Occupation Iraq: "Al-CIA-Duh" Escapes From Iraqi Prison
US troops left Iraq’s streets more than a year ago, and Iraqis celebrated what they saw as their independence. But now those hopes appear muted.
“How many martyrs have there been since?’’ said Hadi Naji, 54. “How many widows, how many orphans, how many refugees?’’
Since the 2003 US-led invasion, Iraq has changed dramatically. Towering concrete blast walls encircle some Baghdad neighborhoods, and security checkpoints clutter the streets.
This is FREEDOM?!
People have lived through an insurgency, US offensives, and a three-year civil war that killed tens of thousands of Iraqis and thousands of US troops.
Attacks have dropped significantly since their peak, but major disputes in the country remain unsettled.
A US intelligence official speaking on the condition of anonymity said that Al Qaeda in Iraq is a shell of its former self and could not “credibly threaten the stability of Iraq’s government.’’ As troop levels dwindle, the official said, the biggest worry is the internal political conflict.
Translation: the U.S. is calling of "Al-CIA-Duh."
“The greater concern is political reconciliation,’’ the official said. Iraq still has no government and Kurdish, Shi’ite, Sunni, and secular parties are negotiating at a sluggish pace. True reconciliation between Iraq’s mosaic of ethnicities, sects, and religions has never taken place, and if the government is not inclusive, it could instigate further violence.
Even some senior US military officials in Iraq expressed doubt that now is the time to make such a significant change. If things start to unravel, they said, they will lack the resources to act.
“I feel it is negligence to our moral and legal obligations to the Iraqi people,’’ one official said. “It’s too soon.’’
This is really sickening talk when you consider we smashed a nation and murdered millions over lies without rebuilding a damn thing.
As US combat operations officially ended yesterday, a bombing killed two children — brothers — who were playing in the town of Haweja, west of Kirkuk.
Yeah, it has NEVER ENDED for IRAQIS!
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I'm often amazed the Iraqi people can carry on under such circumstances.
More hot air from another U.S. puke:
"Gates says history will determine whether Iraq war was worth it" by Anne Gearan, Associated Press | September 2, 2010
RAMADI, Iraq — Defense Secretary Robert Gates said yesterday that history will judge whether the war in Iraq was worth it....
Well, buddy, I AM HISTORY and I'LL BE the JUDGE!!
And NO WAY in HELL was it WORTH IT -- unless you are a neo-con globe-kicker or a war-looter!
Although the remaining troops’ main role is to help train Iraqi forces over the next year, they are not out of harm’s way.
Then COMBAT has NOT ENDED, lying government and MSM!
This is about GETTING Obama's failure OFF the ELECTION AGENDA for November!
Recent US deaths in Iraq have come from homemade explosives that deliberately target US vehicles or soldiers, or attacks on gatherings where insurgents knew Americans would be.
Several thousand US special operations forces will continue to hunt Al Qaeda and other terrorist fighters, accompanying Iraqi commandoes. US forces will remain armed and will return fire or fight in self-defense.
Gates said the United States would consider keeping some military forces in place past next year, if the Iraqi government requests it....
Oh, someone will request it and then fall on his sword.
We are NOT LEAVING, America -- ever! We NEVER DO!
Yesterday’s transition from a combat stance to an advise and assist role was largely symbolic....
You LIKE the MSM ILLUSION, America?
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