General Odom Recommends Rapid Withdrawal

GENERAL ODOM RECOMMENDS RAPID WITHDRAWAL
(received 4-8-08) General Odom: http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/040408D.shtml

“Rapid Withdrawal Is Only Solution” By William E. Odom, lieutenant general, USA (retired)
Information Clearinghouse Wednesday 02 April 2008

Testimony before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on Iraq.

Good morning Mr. Chairman and members of the committee. It is an honor to appear before you again. The last occasion was in January 2007, when the topic was the troop surge. Today you are asking if it has worked. Last year I rejected the claim that it was a new strategy. Rather, I said, it is a new tactic used to achieve the same old strategic aim, political stability. And I foresaw no serious prospects for success. I see no reason to change my judgment now. The surge is prolonging instability, not creating the conditions for unity as the president claims….. [Click on web site above for entire testimony.].
Senator Mark Pryor: Phone: (202) 224-2353 Fax: (202) 228-0908
MORE BOOKS ON THE IRAQ WAR (from Bibliography #28)
(See Dick’s bibliographies for more.)
--Collins, Jane. For Love of a Soldier: Interviews with Military Families Taking Action Against the Iraq War.
--Ilona Meagher. Moving a Nation to Care: Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder and America's Returning Troops. Editor of PTSD Combat: Winning the War Within.
--Roston, Aram. The Man Who Pushed America to War: The Extraordinary Life, Adventures, and Obsessions of Ahmad Chalabi. Nation Books, 2008. Chalabi’s massive campaign to induce the US to invade Iraq was paid for US taxpayers, etc.
--Rosen, Nir. The Triumph of the Martyrs in Iraq. (updated paperback, 2008). See Rosen’s “Inside the Surge,” The Nation (April 21, 2008): The US occupation has torn Iraq into fragments, and sectarian militias are on the rise. “…a foreign military occupation is a systematic imposition of violence and terror on an entire people.”
--Schwartz, Michael. War Without End: The Iraq Debacle in Context. Describes three waves of displacement since the invasion.
--Mitchell, Greg. Wrong for So Long: How the Press, the Pundits—and the President—Failed on Iraq. Union Square, 2008. Rev. In These Times (May 2008), “lays out a timeline of the media’s damning missteps.” “a history of the war as told through the mainstream media prism.”
-- Meeting Resistance: A Conversation with Steve Connors and Molly Bingham
Shortly after the U.S. invasion of Baghdad in 2003, journalists Steve Connors and Molly Bingham began work on their documentary film "Meeting Resistance", an in-depth look at the Iraqi insurgency. Filmed over the course of ten months in 2003-2004, the film examines the diversity, motivations, and goals of the anonymous members of the resistance centered in the al-Adamiya neighborhood of Baghdad. Directors interviewed by Laura Flanders on her FSTV show “Grit TV” 5-29-08. Emphasized how the US military controls information about the insurgency.

--Jeremy Scahill's prize-winning bestseller Blackwater: The Rise of the World's Most Powerful Mercenary Army is now available in a fully updated paperback edition...and we're offering our readers a 40% discount when you order the book directly from HaymarketBooks.org - that beat's Amazon's price, and you'll be supporting the independent press in the process! The New York Times Book Review calls Blackwater "a crackling expose," and Naomi Klein has called it "[t]he most important and chilling book about the death throes of U.S. democracy you will read in years. . . a triumph of investigative reporting."
Blackwater is the explosive story of a company that rose a decade ago from North Carolina to become one of the most powerful players in America's 'War on Terror'. Scahill takes readers from the bloodied streets of Fallujah to hurricane-ravaged New Orleans to the chambers of power in Washington, and reveals that not only is Blackwater a central part of US war machine, but mercenary forces will be with us for years and conflicts to come.

--Tillman, Mary. Boots on the Ground by Dusk:: My Tribute to My Son Pat Tillman. Mary Tillman was interviewed by Amy Goodman 5-22-08 accompanied by several film clips, including the also powerful indictment of the US gov’t. by Pat’s brother. The film adds more damning, sad evidence of how the Army has been corrupted and demoralized by these 2 illegal, immoral wars.

FILMS
MORE FILMS ABOUT THE OCCUPATION’S IMPACT ON US SOLDIERS
Occupation Dreamland
Ground Truth
Marines of Lima Co.
(See Iraq War Newsletter # 3, which is entirely on films.)



MORE INFO ON THE BODY OF WAR
Preview: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1HZuQkITY64
Website: http://www.bodyofwar.com/
Soundtrack: http://www.bodyofwarmusic.com/
COMMENT ON PBS/FRONTLINE FILM “BUSH’S WAR.”
Every citizen should see this masterful summary of the trickery behind the invasion and the incompetence of the occupation. But four major factors were omitted from the film: 1) the unprofessional cheerleading for the invasion by the mainstream media, 2) the invasion’s violation of international laws and conventions, 3) Bush and Cheney’s real motives for the invasion: establishment of permanent bases to control middle eastern resources particularly oil, 4) congressional prohibition of permanent bases and takeover of Iraqi oil nullified by another of Bush’s “signing statement.” Thus the film contributed to the five-year deception of the public regarding this disaster.

WAR, INC. FILM
--“War, Inc.” film with John Cusak, Marissa Tome, Dan Ackroyd, et al. Cusak was interviewed by Amy Goodman 5-23-08, along with Jeremy Scahill (Blackwater author) praising the film.
http://www.myspace.com/johncusack
John Cusack Talks About "War, Inc" (VIDEO) - Entertainment on The ... - 10:56pm
Watch John talk "War, Inc" and read more about the film here, here, ..... to John Cusack, New Crime and everyone involved in bringing War Inc. to the screen ...
www.huffingtonpost.com/_102010.html - 176k
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/05/16/john-cusack-talks-about-w_n_102010.html
John Cusack Goes To War http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/05/23/john-cusack-is-angry-you_n_103267.html and links.
John Cusack War INC at Tribeca Film Festival

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OVLHwojWae4

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jeremy-scahill/john-cusacks-war-the-acto_b_102068.html

War Inc. is already an underground cult classic and will likely remain so for years to come. The film is not without its shortcomings -- at times it is confusing and drags -- but its faults are significantly overshadowed by its many strengths. It also accomplishes the difficult feat of being very entertaining and funny, while delivering a powerful punch of truth. War, Inc. is a movie that deserves a much wider viewing than the barons of the film industry are likely to give it. But by filling the theaters in the opening days, people can send a powerful message that there is -- and must be -- a market for films of conscience. Visit the official website of War, Inc. or John Cusack's website to view trailers, get info on tickets for the premieres and to read more about the film. War, Inc. is a radically different kind of movie. In fact, it really defies genre. It is sort of like this generation's Dr. Strangelove, A Clockwork Orange and The Wizard of Oz mixed together with the un-embedded reporting of Naomi Klein, spiced up with a dash of South Park. It is a powerful, visionary response to the cheerleading culture of the corporate media and a pliant Hollywood afraid of its own shadow.

SENATOR LINCOLN (202) 224-4843 Fax: (202) 228-1371.
Fayetteville office: 251-1380
Senator Mark Pryor: Phone: (202) 224-2353 Fax: (202) 228-0908
CONGRESSMAN Boozman: Lowell office: 479-725-0400.
DC address: 1708 Longworth House Office Bldng., Washington, DC 20515; 202-225-4301.

OMNI SEEKS A WORLD FREE OF WAR AND THE THREAT OF WAR, A SOCIETY WITH LIBERTY AND JUSTICE FORALL, A COMMUNITY WHERE EVERY PERSON’S POTENTIAL MAY BE FULFILLED, AN EARTHRESTORED. GRASSROOTS NONVIOLENCE, WORLD PEACE, HUMAN RIGHTS, SOCIAL and ECONOMIC JUSTICE, ENVIRONMENTAL STEWARDSHIP/PROTECTING SPECIES AND THE EARTH.
END OF NEWSLETTER #5 ON IRAQ (June 1, 2008)