Look at this where the paper said

The battle came Friday to the town of Khalis, about 10 miles northwest of Baqubah. U.S. forces saw a group of al-Qaeda in Iraq gunmen attempting to avoid Iraqi police patrols and infiltrate Khalis from the southwest, according to a U.S. military statement. . . . .

I wonder how they American military knew the people they "saw" was al-Qaida. Do the terrorists wear uniforms that identify them?

Just a curiosity I noticed in the print.

Let us take a delightful trip back in time to the fall of 1989 and recall the wonderful feelings around the world as the old USSR was falling apart. The cold war was over! Finally peace after continuous war since 1940.

The peace dividend was the talk of all the TV talking heads. We were going to stop spending 1/2 Trillion or more on war each year. Maybe we would buy the homeless vets a sandwich before we squandered the money on well connected people. Perhaps we could even let working men and women keep some of their own money. (I wrote perhaps!) The only losers would be the merchants of death that provided trillions of dollars worth of weapons. Surely the people would be more powerful that this small group. Surely.

Then something big happened in the summer of 1990. The USA went to war with one of our old allies, Iraq. How did that happen? How could we care about one desert dictatorship in a squabble with another dictatorship? Seems our Ambassador to Iraq may even have given the green light:

In July 1990, however, it all changed. After the U.S. ambassador to Iraq, April Glaspie, indicated to Hussein that the Bush Administration would not object to an invasion of Kuwait, the Iraqis took the U.S. at its word and sent its armies over the border, meeting almost no resistance. (At the time, there was a legitimate dispute at the Iraq-Kuwait border involving the Kuwaiti practice of drilling sideways under the border to extract oil from pools in Iraq. No one seems to have remembered that this was Hussein’s main gripe, although Iraqis never have regarded Kuwait, which once was part of Iraq, as a legitimate state in the first place.)

We heard a lot of noise that Saddam would be in control of a lot of oil if he was able to keep this land that was always part of Iraq (Mesopotamia) anyway. But what good is oil if you do not sell it? Had we not been "allies" for a long time? Did we not (CIA) help Saddam into power in the first place?

Why the war?

Who was the biggest financial winner?

And finally, who was the most upset by US troops stationed in Saudi Arabia?

I wondered that too.

Maybe they wear black rice picking clothes the military likes to label, "al-Pajama." Or, maybe it is the very practical "rag garments" that are in tune, practical, fitting, and seem like utilitarian adornment for a desert agrarian culture in the M.E....

In Afghanistan, a wheat farmer who once made about $200.00 per year is pressured to sow poppy seeds, NOW! The Flowers are very very 'pretty' I think. Replenish the depleted bodily Opioids...Profit!

Now that the government imposes a g-8 gun diplomacy, pressuring agrarians to plant (And the sunflowers, mustard, and marigold are lovely in bloom) the more lucrative poppy flower. Instead of wheat grain, as they use to plant and harvest, they grow for neo-con's venture capitalist (VC) and then they get bomb and ambushed.

On the journey to sell vegetable at a Sunday Farm Market, "al-Qaeda" saddle-bags are full of what? Drugs? No, broccoli!

The Afghans with full-saddles are not all al-Bush's drug caravan's. No shoot and ask for a cell phone date later? The mercenaries for Wall Street kill mercilessly. Afghans do pull along a heavy load and then they get bombed on the fresh produce road. Bush's lies create bloody trails. Yes. The blood drops lead to the White House. The natural world says "Get!" It NOT too bright to feud with Mother's wrath. I agree with "W" about that.

It is the same-same as O, bomb, bomb, bomb all the black sheep walking out of Burma's S.E. Asia's wool-Lab? Worst.

The neocon GOP got big greed for three bags full. Plus much more for the bottomless Pups tummy pits. The give three blown kisses for their master mr. bush and get to stay safe HERE and be loyal al-Scribes at the printing press. Drools!

I'm trying to fill blueberry orders. I sneak here to thank the fellow humans. OT- The berries are selling in the underground economy like hot buttered pancakes. I'll order silence and sneak behind a bush so I can crawl back in here later? Nope. Maybe?

I hope "nope" means yep.

By their distinctive colors, Bebop.

http://www.ibiblio.org/Dave/Dr-Fun/collections/1990/images/df1990-025.gif

From the San Jose Mercury News, with appropriate corrections.

North Korea{n Al Qa'ida} nuclear pact concessions pending

By Hiroko Tabuchi
Associated Press
http://www.mercurynews.com/ci_6217633?source=rss

TOKYO - {Al Qa'ida leaders in} North Korea could shut down its nuclear reactor within three weeks and return to disarmament talks, a U.S. envoy said Saturday. Russia, meanwhile, said disputed funds have reached a{n Al Qa'ida controlled} North Korean account at a Russian bank, clearing a key hurdle in negotiations.

The Yongbyon plutonium-producing reactor will be shut down after the U.N.'s nuclear watchdog and {Al Qa'ida commanders in} North Korea agree on how to monitor the process, Assistant Secretary of State Christopher Hill said after returning from a rare trip to the reclusive country.

"We do expect this to be soon, probably within three weeks ... though I don't want to be pinned down on precisely the date," Hill told reporters after briefing his Japanese counterpart, Kenichiro Sasae, on the outcome of his two-day surprise trip to {Al Qa'ida's North Korean headquarters in} Pyongyang.

The next round of nuclear negotiations could begin in early July, though the exact timing depended on scheduling by the {Al Qa'ida-linked} host nation, China, he added.

"I would expect it to happen soon after shutdown begins," Hill said.

Hill's visit - the first to {Al Qa'ida influenced} North Korea by a high-ranking U.S. official since October 2002 - came amid growing optimism that the {Al Qa'ida driven} government in Pyongyang may finally be ready to take concrete steps toward fulfilling a promise to dismantle its nuclear program.

Last week, {Al Qa'ida's top commanders in} North Korea invited inspectors from the International Atomic Energy Agency to discuss procedures for shutting down its reactor, five years after expelling them. The U.N. inspectors are due to arrive in the North Korean capital {and Al Qa'ida far eastern command base} Tuesday.