Thinking about a transition to a photo blog. How do you like this image. I had one thought, if you were to purchase a full resolution digital file of this picture that I took a few days ago, what would it be worth to you? I've been thinking about posting to some of those photo stock pages that earn you cash as it's downloaded. I thought people might like to get these images direct from the source. What say you?How we got to this point is an interesting study in reactionary politics, fear-mongering and a disconcerting willingness of the American public to accept almost anything in the name of “security.” Conned and frightened, our nation demands not actual security, but security spectacle. And although a reasonable http://www.blogger.com/img/gl.link.gifpercentage of passengers, along with most security experts, would concur such theater serves no useful purpose, there has been surprisingly little outrage. In that regard, maybe we’ve gotten exactly the system we deserve.Even so, the President is still working hard to lever the case for his "war" in Iraq off the backs of the GIs he sentenced to die there:
Dan and Maureen Murphy are two of these people. In June 2005, their son—Lt. Michael Murphy, a Navy SEAL—was conducting surveillance in Afghanistan when his four-man team came under attack. Lt. Murphy moved into a clearing where he could get a signal to call for help for his men, knowing it would make him a target. As he made the call, he came under heavy fire that cost him his life. In a meeting before I presented Maureen Murphy with her son’s Medal of Honor, she spoke of the boy she’d raised to manhood. I came away from that day hoping that Lt. Murphy’s story would inspire all Americans to live lives worthy of the sacrifices that have been made for our freedom.Proving once again, that, not only is Bush one of the most foolish presidents of the modern era, but that he will sink to lows without limit to promote his war. Using dead GIs and his parents to support his agenda is perhaps the most reprehensible political parlor tricks and ploys I've experienced from this man. And In my book, makes him not only foolish, but stupid for thinking that we still buy this gambit.
Scratch-off tickets are to the lottery what crack is to cocaine.I had a good chuckle on this one. Obviously Mr. Shapleigh doesn't realize that all forms of lottery are really just a voluntary tax on people who are bad at math (statistics, generally, and probability in the specific sense).
- ELIOT SHAPLEIGH, Texas state senator.
Jamie Leigh Jones was a 20-year-old woman working in Iraq for a subsidiary of Halliburton when she was drugged and brutally gang-raped by several co-workers.
The next day, Halliburton told her that if she left Iraq to get medical treatment, she could lose her job.1
Jamie's story gets even more horrific: For the last two years, she's been asking the US government to hold the perpetrators accountable. But the men who raped her may never be brought to justice because Halliburton and other contractors in Iraq aren't subject to US or Iraqi laws. They can't be tried for a crime in any court.2
This is one of the most disturbing stories we have come across in a while. We're calling on Congress to investigate Jamie's case, hold those involved accountable, and bring US contractors under the jurisdiction of US law so this can't happen again. If hundreds of thousands of us speak out against this outrageous story, we can force Congress to take action.
Can you sign the petition? The text is in the blue box at the right. Clicking below will add your name.
http://pol.moveon.org/contractors_accountable/o.pl?id=11800-4861130-Yyk1Bd&t=3
After you sign, please forward this email to friends, family and colleagues—we all need to speak out together.
When you get an email from us, it doesn't usually include a graphic description of a brutal attack. But when we heard this story, we knew we had to do something about it.
Here's how Jamie described what happened after the attack:
I awoke the next morning in the barracks to find my naked body battered and bruised. I was still groggy from whatever had been put in my drink. I was bleeding... After getting to the clinic and having a rape kit performed...I was locked in a container with no food, no way to call my parents, and was placed under armed guard by Halliburton.3
Jamie's attackers aren't the only ones exploiting a legal loophole to get away with their violent crimes. Another female employee of Halliburton says she was raped by her co-workers in Iraq.4 Employees of Blackwater, another private contracting firm in Iraq, were accused of killing innocent Iraqi civilians, and that incident turned into an international scandal. Worst of all, they may never be punished.5
Private contractors in Iraq are making massive amounts of money, operating above the law and are accountable to no one. This has to stop.
Congress needs to act now to bring these contractors under the rule of law. If they don't, nothing will prevent a case like Jamie's from happening again. No man or woman working in Iraq should have to fear that they can be attacked without consequences.
Please sign on to the petition: "Congress must investigate the rape of Jamie Leigh Jones and others, hold those involved accountable, and bring US contractors under the jurisdiction of US law." Clicking below adds your name:
http://pol.moveon.org/contractors_accountable/o.pl?id=11800-4861130-Yyk1Bd&t=4
Thanks for all you do,
–Nita, Wes, Karin, Marika, and the MoveOn.org Political Action Team
Friday, December 14th, 2007
Three car bombs exploded in quick succession in Amarah on Wednesday, killing at least 41 people and injuring 128 in what has been a relatively calm Shiite Muslim city, police and hospital officials said.
Q Dana, there's an ongoing debate in the country about sort of where the lines are, as regards torture, and -- or enhanced interrogation. And I'm wondering if you feel that this report -- which I don't think anyone's contesting that the destruction of the tapes took place -- does this undermine the administration's position?Wow, if it really was safe, and good for saving lives, where's the proof and why did they need to destroy the tapes? Sounds awful fishy to me. Of course, they are not going to comment any further beyond the comments they are shoveling that try to absolve the president and his administration of any wrongdoing, and try to convince us, once again, that torture is good for America, but not her enemies.
MS. PERINO: I think I would say -- I would take this opportunity, though, to take a step back and remind people about this interrogation program, which was put in place to deal with a very limited number of people; the most intransigent of terrorists. This program has saved lives. It is legal, safe, effective; it is limited, it is tough, and it has led to the capture of individuals -- terrorists -- who had information that was able to lead us to others. These are the -- General Hayden has talked about this several times, in terms of how many people -- we had this debate earlier this year, and the program is critical to the safety of the country.
Q And if it's so defensible, then why destroy any part of it?
MS. PERINO: Again, I'm not going to comment on that. The CIA has made its comment. They've said that they -- that the agency made its decision, and it was based -- and it was done in consultation with their legal counsel. And let's let the CIA Director gather those facts, and we'll see what they come up -- what they say after that.
Q Dana, what were the circumstances of General Hayden telling the President about this? Was it a report? Was Bush asking about the report? Was it --
MS. PERINO: All I know, Wendell, is that yesterday in the President's briefing with the intelligence folks, of which General Hayden is the one who comes to brief the President, that's when he was told about it.
Q Dana, when you say the President supports General Hayden, you're specifically singling out the current director, not the previous one who actually made the decision --
MS. PERINO: Well, I didn't ask the President about that. But I don't have any reason for -- I think -- I don't think that we have any reason to doubt what the CIA's legal counsel -- the advice that they gave to the CIA at the time. I said I think that those facts need to be gathered before that can be said.
Families with ties to the military, long a reliable source of support for wartime presidents, disapprove of President Bush and his handling of the war in Iraq, with a majority concluding the invasion was not worth it, a Los Angeles Times/Bloomberg poll has found...Military families tend to be relatively quite of their disdain for this man because they are used to doing their duty, as promised. Even so, it's dramatic when a sitting president fails the military he was "elected" to lead.
...Nearly six out of every 10 military families disapprove of Bush's job performance and the way he has run the war, rating him only slightly better than the general population does.
And among those families with soldiers, sailors and Marines who have served in Iraq or Afghanistan, 60% say that the war in Iraq was not worth the cost, the same result as all adults surveyed.
"I don't see gains for the people of Iraq . . . and, oh, my God, so many wonderful young people, and these are the ones who felt they were really doing something, that's why they signed up," said poll respondent Sue Datta, 61, whose youngest son, an Army staff sergeant, was seriously wounded in Iraq last year and is scheduled to redeploy in 2009. "I pray to God that they did not die in vain, but I don't think our president is even sensitive at all to what it's like to have a child serving over there."
Patience with the war, which has now lasted longer than the U.S. involvement in World War II, is wearing thin -- particularly among families who have sent a service member to the conflict. One-quarter say American troops should stay "as long as it takes to win." Nearly seven in 10 favor a withdrawal within the coming year or "right away."
Q Iran’s President said the NIE is a victory for Iran. They want an apology from the United States, and compensation, sir. Will you do that? Is the NIE a victory for Iran?Nice, sensitive man, the President. Granted the question was rather stupid, but the answer was equally such. Makes me want to wretch.
THE PRESIDENT: (Laughter.) You can mark down I chuckled.
Look, Iran was dangerous, Iran is dangerous, and Iran will be dangerous if they have the knowledge necessary to make a nuclear weapon.What a fool. Any one with internet access can acquire the knowledge to make nuclear weapons. By his measure, the bombing should "start in five minutes."
The US intelligence community said in a new report Monday that Iran halted its nuclear weapons program in 2003, and that US charges about Tehran's atomic goals have been overblown for at least two years.
At least 20,000 U.S. troops who were not classified as wounded during combat in Iraq and Afghanistan have been found with signs of brain injuries, according to military and veterans records compiled by USA TODAY.If you cannot trust the numbers put out by the institutions who are charged with doing it, how is it that people who are for the "war" in Iraq base their support and continued trust laden in the existing leadership?
The data, provided by the Army, Navy and Department of Veterans Affairs, show that about five times as many troops sustained brain trauma as the 4,471 officially listed by the Pentagon through Sept. 30. These cases also are not reflected in the Pentagon's official tally of wounded, which stands at 30,327.
Also Friday, Poland's new prime minister said he plans to withdraw troops from Iraq next year.
In a three-hour speech to parliament, Donald Tusk said that by the end of 2008, Poland will withdraw its 900 troops from Iraq, where it leads an international contingent of about 2,000 soldiers from 10 nations in the south-central part of the country.
Two bombs exploded hours apart Friday in a central Baghdad pet market and a police checkpoint in the northern Iraqi city of Mosul, killing 26 people and wounding dozens, officials said.
The attacks were among the deadliest in recent weeks, underscoring warnings by senior U.S. commanders that extremists still pose a threat to Iraq's fragile security despite a downturn in violence since a U.S.-Iraqi security plan began in mid-February.
The blast in the capital's popular weekly al-Ghazl animal bazaar occurred just before 9 a.m., shattering the festive atmosphere as people strolled past the stalls.
At least 13 people were killed and nearly 60 wounded, including four policemen, according to police and hospital officials. Several shops also were damaged.
About 1:30 p.m. in Mosul, a suicide car bomber struck a police checkpoint, killing three policemen and 10 civilians, said police Brig. Gen. Mohammed al-Wakaa.
The al-Ghazl market, where sellers peddle birds, dogs, cats, sheep, goats and exotic animals such as snakes and monkeys, has been targeted in the past. On Jan. 26, 15 people were killed when a bomb hidden in a box of pigeons exploded as shoppers gathered around it.
The biggest con running in the auto industry right now is the notion that hybrids represent some sort of quantum leap in green transportation. Not only is this patently untrue -- hybrid technology is actually decades old -- but it shamelessly plays to the hypocrisy of our society. If we really wanted to save the planet, instead of buying hybrids we would start walking. Or riding bikes. Maybe a few more of us would try public transportation. How about starting with slowing down to the speed limit on the freeway?I rode my bike to work today. How about you?
Q How many billions have we spent already for the Defense Department?
MS. PERINO: The Defense Department says that they need this funding in order to keep the war running, as well as to keep these civilians -
Q Maybe they don't want the war to keep running.
MS. PERINO: Well, I think that that has been --
Q The country doesn't want it --
MS. PERINO: I think that Americans have seen what our troops have been able to do this year, in trying -- is starting to turn things around in Iraq. We've got a long way to go, but they have started to make some significant gains, and to pull the rug out from under them now seems to be -- seems irresponsible.
Q To keep killing you mean.
MS. PERINO: Helen, every -- the security situation in Baghdad is vastly improved, because of what our troops have been able to do, working alongside of the Iraqis. I can't imagine that they would not want to fund these troops before they go home for Christmas. They have gone to Iraq, many members of Congress, Republicans and Democrats, have gone to Iraq. They've seen for themselves what's happening on the ground there. They've had briefings from General Petraeus and Ambassador Crocker. They are working very hard to make sure that they -- these trends that we're starting to see can actually take hold and be cemented, and so that they can continue the progress --
In an excerpt from his forthcoming book, McClellan recounts the 2003 news conference in which he told reporters that aides Karl Rove and I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby were "not involved" in the leak involving operative Valerie Plame.
"There was one problem. It was not true," McClellan writes, according to a brief excerpt released Tuesday. "I had unknowingly passed along false information. And five of the highest-ranking officials in the administration were involved in my doing so: Rove, Libby, the vice president, the president's chief of staff and the president himself."
MS. PERINO: They've had conversations over the past several months. Obviously none of us would have wanted Fran to leave service. I think all of us felt safe because of her work. Of course she always says we are safer, but not yet safe. She dedicated 110 percent of her time and effort to making sure that American citizens could live free from terror. She is an excellent manager. I will say she is also a very good colleague, very supportive, very helpful.Safer, but no yet safe? Sounds to me like the mantra of the whole of the W, Rove and Co - a means of manipulating the public...Dishing fear to make excuses for never accomplishing anything of value. "She's very thoughtful?" WTF?
And so over the past several months as she's struggled with this decision about whether to continue her over two decades of public service or to pursue some private sector options, she and the President would talk about it. He appreciates her service greatly. And in the statement he praises her for her wise counsel. And those of us who have had the pleasure of working with her can certainly repeat that it is wise and it is always helpful. She's very thoughtful. And we're going to miss her a lot, and we wish her luck.
Over the past four and a half years, Fran Townsend has served my Administration with distinction as Assistant to the President for Homeland Security and Counterterrorism. Fran has always provided wise counsel on how to best protect the American people from the threat of terrorism. She has been a steady leader in the effort to prevent and disrupt attacks and to better respond to natural disasters.Right, and if we are still living in the fear that the W, Rove and Co elicit every time they need a vote, what good did she do? If you ask me, this is an oft repeated story of another rat jumping the sinking W, Rove and Co ship. And, you might ask...what did Bush accomplish today?
Fran's remarkable career as a public servant has spanned more than two decades. She has prosecuted violent crimes, narcotics offenses, mafia cases and white collar fraud as an Assistant District Attorney in Brooklyn and as an Assistant U.S. Attorney in Manhattan. During her career, Fran worked to protect the American people as the Counsel to the Attorney General for Intelligence Policy, the Assistant Commandant for Intelligence at the U.S. Coast Guard and as the Deputy National Security Advisor for Combating Terrorism at the National Security Council.
With her extensive experience, intellect and candor, Fran has ably guided the Homeland Security Council. She has played an integral role in the formation of the key strategies and policies my Administration has used to combat terror and protect Americans. She has traveled the world to meet with allies in the Global War on Terror and has partnered extensively with first responders at the state and local level to enhance our preparedness. We are safer today because of her leadership.
Laura and I wish Fran, her husband John, and their two sons, James and Patrick, all the best.
Today, the men and women of the United States Armed Forces are taking risks for our freedom. They're fighting on the front lines of the war on terror, the war against extremists and radicals who would do us more harm. Many of them will spend Thanksgiving far from the comforts of home. And so we thank them for their service and sacrifice. We keep their families and loved ones in our prayers. We pray for the families who lost a loved one in this fight against the extremists and radicals, and we vow that their sacrifice will not be in vain. (Applause.)Right, who's "we" white man? And, when do we get to give thanks that not another one of our valued soldiers die in vain for W's"noble" mission that has led so many to the slaughter?
Officials in the southern city of Samawah said a U.S. Army convoy opened fire Sunday in an unprovoked attack on motorists who were trying to get out of its way, injuring four and destroying a truckload of sheep.
In Baqubah, the capital of Diyala province northeast of Baghdad, three U.S. soldiers were killed Sunday in an assault involving a suicide vest, the military said. The military released no further details, but witnesses in the city, where American troops had lengthy battles with insurgents this summer, said there appeared to be military casualties when a roadside bomb exploded near a group of children clustered around soldiers on foot patrol. Three children were killed and seven others were wounded in the incident.
It is clear that Congress's failure to adjust the AMT for inflation was a mistake. Unfortunately, Congress seems determined to compound this original mistake by making another one. Last week, the House passed a bill that provides relief from the AMT -- but raises other taxes. Congress should not use legislation that millions of Americans are counting on to protect them from higher taxes in one area as an excuse to raise taxes in other areas. I will veto any bill that raises taxes as a condition of fixing the AMT. Members of Congress must put political theater behind them, fix the AMT, and protect America's middle class from an unfair tax hike.Who's to blame that the taxes are too low to cover the cost of a majority of what the President is trying to accomplish? How are we paying for the conflagration in Iraq? Is it fiscally responsible to require the funds to pay for the operations of a government or to hock our nations' future to pay for a war on a nation we never needed to wage?
Congress is also failing to meet its responsibilities to our troops. For months, Congress has delayed action on supplemental war funding because some in Congress want to make a political statement about the war. On Wednesday, the House passed a bill that once again has Congress directing our military commanders on how to conduct the war in Iraq as a condition for funding our troops. We do not need members of Congress telling our commanders what to do. We need Congress listening to our military commanders and giving them what they need to win the war against extremists and radicals. Congress knows I'll veto this bill. During this time of war, our troops deserve the full support of Congress -- and that means giving our troops the funding they need to successfully carry out their mission. I urge Congress to work quickly and send me a clean bill so we can fulfill our obligation to our brave men and women in uniform.Really, who's fault is it that we are in an intractable war that we are serving in a co-dependent relationship facilitating the current dysfunctional Iraqi government? Who's to blame for getting our country to where it is today? The culpable are usually those that protest and point the fingers the strongest. Threatening a veto and slinging blame, in particular, is a strong signal that the Presidential wagging finger of blame need be pointed in a mirror.
With both of these delays, congressional leaders are choosing political posturing over the priorities of the people. These choices have real-world consequences for our taxpayers and our troops. When members of Congress return from their two-week-long Thanksgiving vacation, they will have only a few weeks left on the legislative calendar before they go home again for their Christmas break. I call on Congress to use the time that is left to do what is right -- and pass AMT relief and fund our troops in combat.Who is doing the posturing in a political way Mr. President? Last I checked, the priorities of the American people were to bring our troops home from Iraq, but then again, I live in the real world.
Today the House of Representatives passed on a largely party-line vote legislation that would only partially fund our troops in Iraq and Afghanistan, but fully embolden our enemies. Once again, the Democratic leadership is taking this debate down a well-worn path that calls for arbitrary withdrawal from the battlefield, despite the gains our military has made over the past year. These votes, like the dozens of previous failed votes, put the interests of radical interest groups ahead of the needs of our military and their mission. If legislation comes to the President in this form, he will certainly veto it.Perhaps the President, not listening to the will of the people is really the problem here.
Congress has had ample time to pass legislation to fund our troops. The original supplemental request was made in February and augmented in October. But because Congressional Democrats insist in going through another round of political votes and vetoes, Pentagon planners will be forced to focus on accounting maneuvers instead of military maneuvers.
Before Congress leaves for recess in December, it should send to the President a clean emergency funding bill, without arbitrary withdrawal dates.
Congress can also meet its responsibility to our veterans by passing a clean Veterans Affairs appropriations bill. Unfortunately, Congressional leaders let the fiscal year end without passing this bill they know our veterans need. So I urged Congress to pass this bill by Veterans Day -- and they still have failed to send me this vital legislation. The time to act is running out. There are now just four days left on the legislative calendar before Congress leaves town for their Thanksgiving break. The best way members of Congress can give thanks to our veterans is to send me a clean bill that I can sign into law.So, whose fault is it that our vets continually get screwed? Of course it's politically advantageous for Bush to sling blame at Congress, but it's also a signal of failed leadership and diplomacy on his part that there was nothing worth signing into law.
'I Don't Think This Place Is Worth Another Soldier's Life'
You're right Sergeant, it isn't...it never was.
We have failed you young man. You trusted us to never send you into harm's way unless absolutely needed for the defense of your country, and we all betrayed that trust by allowing a morally bankrupt psychopath on the payroll of Big Oil to take charge of our brave volunteers.
Can you ever forgive us?
Looking for a perfect little weekend vacation this fall? Here's a travel tip you don't hear very often: Head to Pittsburgh. Right away.Read on if you dare to discover what good old fashioned republican values are all about.
Seriously, get in the car and read this story later, because when you're done reading, you'll wish you'd left 10 minutes ago. There are towns with better vistas, sure, and there are getaways with more sunshine. But only Pittsburgh is the scene of the fabulously tawdry and surpassingly vicious spectacle that is the divorce of Richard Mellon Scaife.
Remember him? The cantankerous, reclusive 75-year-old billionaire who's spent a sizable chunk of his inherited fortune bankrolling conservative causes and trying to kneecap Democrats? He's best known for funding efforts to smear then-President Bill Clinton, but more quietly he's given in excess of $300 million to right-leaning activists, watchdogs and think tanks. Atop his list of favorite donees: the family-values-focused Heritage Foundation, which has published papers with titles such as "Restoring a Culture of Marriage."
The culture of his own marriage is apparently past restoring. With the legal fight still in the weigh-in phase, the story of Scaife v. Scaife already includes a dog-snatching, an assault, a night in jail and that divorce court perennial, allegations of adultery.
Oh, and there's the money. Three words, people.
No. Pre. Nup.
All I can tell you is when the Governor calls, I answer his phoneGee whiz George, I sure hope your not reaching into Ahnuld's pocket to answer his phone. That might end up with you getting slapped with some kind of sexual harassment suit.
Q Is it all their fault that these bills aren't moving, that you've got these veto threats out?What? That doesn't sound like a heaping load of blame to you? But really, the veto is a last resort for failed diplomacy. Who is not bending to the will of the people here?
THE PRESIDENT: I think it is their fault that bills aren't moving, yeah.
As I said, I'm not a part of the legislative branch. All I can do is ask them to move bills. It's up to the leaders to move the bills. And you bet I'm going to put veto threats out. Of course, I want to remind you, I put a lot of veto threats out when the Republicans were in control of Congress. I said, now, if you overspend I'm going to veto your bills, and they listened, and we worked together. Whether or not that's the case, we'll find out.Now if that doesn't sound a lot like the spoiled child taking his ball and going home because he is not winning the game, I don't know what does. Really, that's not how I understand the history of the President's relationship with the prior congress. But of course, I'm critical of a man who brought us into an unnecessary, protracted, bloody, expensive war with and inside of Iraq. I can't rightly and most certainly don't trust him to act in our best interest.
Today marks five years since the authorization of military force in Iraq, setting Operation Iraqi Freedom in motion. Five years on, the Iraq war is as undermanned and under-resourced as it was from the start. And, five years on, Iraq is in shambles.I think these folks, closer to the boots on the ground than the W, Rove and Cos. hand picked "generals," are better informed and yield still better advice than will be headed the the suits in charge, no doubt.
As Army captains who served in Baghdad and beyond, we've seen the corruption and the sectarian division. We understand what it's like to be stretched too thin. And we know when it's time to get out.
What does Iraq look like on the ground? It's certainly far from being a modern, self-sustaining country. Many roads, bridges, schools and hospitals are in deplorable condition. Fewer people have access to drinking water or sewage systems than before the war. And Baghdad is averaging less than eight hours of electricity a day.
Iraq's institutional infrastructure, too, is sorely wanting. Even if the Iraqis wanted to work together and accept the national identity foisted upon them in 1920s, the ministries do not have enough trained administrators or technicians to coordinate themselves. At the local level, most communities are still controlled by the same autocratic sheiks that ruled under Saddam. There is no reliable postal system. No effective banking system. No registration system to monitor the population and its needs.
The inability to govern is exacerbated at all levels by widespread corruption. Transparency International ranks Iraq as one of the most corrupt countries in the world. And, indeed, many of us witnessed the exploitation of U.S. tax dollars by Iraqi officials and military officers. Sabotage and graft have had a particularly deleterious impact on Iraq's oil industry, which still fails to produce the revenue that Pentagon war planners hoped would pay for Iraq's reconstruction. Yet holding people accountable has proved difficult. The first commissioner of a panel charged with preventing and investigating corruption resigned last month, citing pressure from the government and threats on his life.
Against this backdrop, the U.S. military has been trying in vain to hold the country together. Even with "the surge," we simply do not have enough soldiers and marines to meet the professed goals of clearing areas from insurgent control, holding them securely and building sustainable institutions. Though temporary reinforcing operations in places like Fallujah, An Najaf, Tal Afar, and now Baghdad may brief well on PowerPoint presentations, in practice they just push insurgents to another spot on the map and often strengthen the insurgents' cause by harassing locals to a point of swayed allegiances. Millions of Iraqis correctly recognize these actions for what they are and vote with their feet -- moving within Iraq or leaving the country entirely. Still, our colonels and generals keep holding on to flawed concepts.
U.S. forces, responsible for too many objectives and too much "battle space," are vulnerable targets. The sad inevitability of a protracted draw-down is further escalation of attacks -- on U.S. troops, civilian leaders and advisory teams. They would also no doubt get caught in the crossfire of the imminent Iraqi civil war.
Iraqi security forces would not be able to salvage the situation. Even if all the Iraqi military and police were properly trained, equipped and truly committed, their 346,000 personnel would be too few. As it is, Iraqi soldiers quit at will. The police are effectively controlled by militias. And, again, corruption is debilitating. U.S. tax dollars enrich self-serving generals and support the very elements that will battle each other after we're gone.
This is Operation Iraqi Freedom and the reality we experienced. This is what we tried to communicate up the chain of command. This is either what did not get passed on to our civilian leadership or what our civilian leaders chose to ignore. While our generals pursue a strategy dependent on peace breaking out, the Iraqis prepare for their war -- and our servicemen and women, and their families, continue to suffer.
There is one way we might be able to succeed in Iraq. To continue an operation of this intensity and duration, we would have to abandon our volunteer military for compulsory service. Short of that, our best option is to leave Iraq immediately. A scaled withdrawal will not prevent a civil war, and it will spend more blood and treasure on a losing proposition.
America, it has been five years. It's time to make a choice.
Britain will halve its force in Iraq to 2,500 troops from spring next year, Prime Minister Gordon Brown said on Monday against a backdrop of noisy anti-war protesters outside parliament waving "troops out" banners.
Some potential progress toward reconciliation has run into recent trouble. The U.S. effort to recruit Sunni tribesmen to join the police force and fight the insurgent group al-Qaeda in Iraq was strongly opposed last week by Shiite officials, who asserted that the Sunni recruits were killing innocent people under the guise of fighting insurgents.Just one small question to close with, which I have asked in a similar vein a number of times. When recruiting new police officers from the ranks of qualified Iraqi's, how do we tell which Iraqi is our friend and which is our foe?
"We demand that the American administration stop this adventure, which is rejected by all the sons of the people and its national political powers," the leading Shiite political coalition said in a statement. "Their elements are criminals who cannot be trusted or relied upon."
"We have 1,000 guys out in the field. People make mistakes, they do stupid things sometimes.""Oops.Sorry we killed your uncle...Ahmed."
ERIK D. PRINCE, chief executive of Blackwater USA
And by that, I literally mean NO president. That is, if the office were just left vacant for 8 years, the country would be in profoundly better shape.
A Pentagon group has encouraged some U.S. military snipers in Iraq to target suspected insurgents by scattering pieces of "bait," such as detonation cords, plastic explosives and ammunition, and then killing Iraqis who pick up the items, according to military court documents.Nice.
The classified program was described in investigative documents related to recently filed murder charges against three snipers who are accused of planting evidence on Iraqis they killed.
"Baiting is putting an object out there that we know they will use, with the intention of destroying the enemy," Capt. Matthew P. Didier, the leader of an elite sniper scout platoon attached to the 1st Battalion of the 501st Infantry Regiment, said in a sworn statement. "Basically, we would put an item out there and watch it. If someone found the item, picked it up and attempted to leave with the item, we would engage the individual as I saw this as a sign they would use the item against U.S. Forces."
This great institution must work for great purposes -- to free people from tyranny and violence, hunger and disease, illiteracy and ignorance, and poverty and despair. Every member of the United Nations must join in this mission of liberation.two things strike me: 1) Is this enough to fix what ails the globe? And 2) Isn't this what the UN technically is already supposed to be doing?
You know, our strategy in dealing with these extremists who still want to attack us is on the one hand, chase them and find them and bring them to justice; and on the other hand, help change the conditions that caused 19 kids to get on airplanes and come and kill nearly 3,000 citizens on our soil.If W is suggesting that he has a strategy for fixing those conditions, it's not obviated in his overt actions. I sure wish he would let us know how he's changing the conditions, but I'm not overly optimistic. He's not made a dent in the gangland shootings in our town and the conditions that cause teenagers to join gangs. As to what makes him think he can change the conditions that make people sign up to be suicide bombers, I have no clue.
Today the Canadian dollar is trading on par with the US dollar, something not seen since 1976. That's bad for me as I used to buy Canadian dollars for much cheaper. A little more than 5 years ago the cost was as little as 62 cents. Now I would be better off working in Canada to better afford living expenses and mortgage. I think this is just the first strong economic signal revealing how badly Bush has lead the country. Now I'm curious to see how the US will manage to finance its debt as foreign investors continue to dump the US dollar.Interesting when you open your window to perspectives not driven by the US spin doctors. And of course, The W is on rapid fire with the Presidential Propaganda Catapult fully loaded:
Q Mr. President, economists say that the nation is at increasing risk of recession. What do you say?Proving once again that simply because the President says something doesn't make it true. Try convincing some one who just had their house foreclosed on them if they think the economy is strong.
THE PRESIDENT: I say that the fundamentals of our nation's economy are strong.
The Deserter, by John Richards
Here I stand in a land
That isn't my own
Far from the country
That I know as home
Sent here by the government
And armed by a King
I'm told I must kill men in order to bring
Peace to a foreign land
There he lies on a land
No longer his own
In the grey of the country
He once called his home
He was sent here by government,
Might not agree
And if someone must kill him
God, why is it me?
To bring peace to a foreign land
Don't despise the deserter
Don't despise the deserter
Who ran from the war
Don't despise the deserter
Don't despise the deserter
Who ran from the war
I went down to drag him
Away from the wire
But there were rifles to the left
And we started to fire
He was riddled with bullets
I was smothered in blood
And I can't see how murdering somebody could
Bring peace to a foreign land
Don't despise the deserter
Don't despise the deserter
Who ran from the war
Don't despise the deserter
Don't despise the deserter
Who ran from the war
So I ran from the fighting
And threw down my guns
I ran with the moon
And slept by the sun
Arrested by government
And charged by the King
To be shot 'cos I can't kill in order to bring
Peace to a foreign land
Don't despise the deserter
Don't despise the deserter
Who ran from the war
Don't despise the deserter
Don't despise the deserter
Who ran from the war
© John Richards
The Republican Party has left meReally, I don't find much conservative about the current batch of supposed "compassionate conservatives" either.
Editor - Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger is right on target in his criticism of the Republican Party. I registered as a Republican in 1946, on my 21st birthday. I was a Republican before most of the delegates to the Republican convention were born. I have not left the Republican Party. The party has left me.
To me, a conservative is someone who wants to conserve what is good, and change what is bad. That is not what it means to the people who now dominate the party. They want a way of life that may be consistent with life in 1807, but has nothing to do with 2007. They are completely out of touch with reality. Global warming? A myth spread by left-wing tree-huggers. Evolution? An anti-Christian creed spread by atheists.
The Republican Party needs new leaders: people who accept science, and are not locked into fundamentalist religion. If it does not change, it will go the way of the Whigs, the Know Nothings, and other vestiges of the past. I am not comfortable with the Democratic Party, but I find that now I am even more uncomfortable with the Republican Party.
ALFRED HEXTER
Kensington
At a crossroadAnd this reader raises an interesting question about the supposed "coalition of the willing."
Editor - For the people of Richmond:
I am a slave
To the man in the grave
"It's revenge I crave,"
say the young and the brave
Spending the best years
Wiping your mother's tears
Soothing your sister's fears
Until the moment nears
When you have a gun in your hand.
Your future is planned
You're not taking a stand
When others demand,
"It's an eye for an eye."
Do you ask why?
If you don't ask why, another will die.
Is it time for another drive-by?
You walk closer to the ride
A symbol of gang pride
The last man who sat there died
Your two worlds collide
Your conscience or the gun
Your mother's last son
The clock has begun
To stand or to run
To lock and load
You're at a crossroad
The clock has slowed
Courage showed
I was a slave
To the man in the grave
Then I forgave
It was my life to save
ANTHONY OERTEL
San Rafael
Help from abroadAnd, in the odd event you've not known Phil Frank's work, you may want to google the man. His comic strips were splendid.
Editor - If the sole remaining rationalization for leaving U.S. troops in harm's way in Iraq is to prevent more inter-sectarian bloodshed than we've already unleashed by bumbling in, why is our president not calling on the international community - especially the Arab states - to help quell the violence?
ALLAN MANN
Alameda
Missing Phil Frank
Editor - I cried Friday morning, reading the front page of The Chronicle on my way upstairs with the paper. Like many other members of the Bay Area comics community, I knew Phil Frank. Like his beloved strip, he was warm, funny, politically right-on, and very San Franciscan, without one ounce of mean-spiritedness. If The Chronicle can continue to run Peanuts in perpetuity, can't you do the same for Farley?
TRINA ROBBINS
San Francisco
The principle guiding my decisions on troop levels in Iraq is "return on success." The more successful we are, the more American troops can return home. And in all we do, I will ensure that our commanders on the ground have the troops and flexibility they need to defeat the enemy.
Windspike's Wednesday Wonderings...
join the "caravan" of martyrs
Editor - Bottom line, a U.S. withdrawal from Iraq, whatever the timeline, will end in the collapse of any modicum of civil order in that country. We have fathered an illegitimate democracy in a nation lacking the cultural and institutional foundations for self-rule. To be sure, as Gen. David Petraeus reports, the surge has had an impact. But as a Colin Powell observed before the act of conception, a preemptive strike would result in our ownership as responsible parents. So, then, the question persists: when will we cut the umbilical cord of this ill-fated democracy?
“How I Didn’t Dismantle Iraq’s Army,” by L. Paul Bremer III (Op-Ed, Sept. 6), about his role in firing the Iraqi Army in May 2003, is an exercise in bureaucratic finger-pointing.More proof that the W, Rove and Co. "strategy" to "win" the "war" in Iraq was flawed to begin with.
I was on the ground in Iraq involved in combat operations when he did it. We marines were all left scratching our heads in disbelief.
I find it ludicrous that Mr. Bremer asserts that his releasing members of the old Iraqi Army to the wind and not reconstituting the force was right. With a pen stroke, he disbanded the Iraqi Army, releasing more than 400,000 heavily armed, mostly Sunni, soon to be very angry men. Overnight they lost their role in Iraqi society, their income and their promise of a pension.
The worst thing you can do to any Arab man is humiliate him. Mr. Bremer and his advisers humiliated nearly half a million Iraqi men. These Iraqis typically supported extended families of seven to eight others, derived their status from their service and possessed little or no other means of income. Mr. Bremer beggared more than three million Iraqis overnight.
Surprise of surprises that within weeks, a Sunni-led insurgency using military-issue weapons was ambushing convoys and being paid to plant bombs?
Mr. Bremer should have guaranteed all pensions for former Iraqi Army members, paid soldiers to muster at barracks, tallied their names and skills and involved them in reconstruction.
If only more veterans and fewer combat innocents were to be found among the civilian leadership today, especially among those who got us into and mismanaged this fiasco in Iraq to date, we’d likely get into fewer wars, and the ones we did, we’d prosecute them to win.
Paul Kane
Cambridge, Mass., Sept. 6, 2007
...we were right to build a new Iraqi Army. Despite all the difficulties encountered, Iraq’s new professional soldiers are the country’s most effective and trusted security force. By contrast, the Baathist-era police force, which we did recall to duty, has proven unreliable and is mistrusted by the very Iraqi people it is supposed to protect.So, the bigger question is how the hell is any one of our GIs supposed to tell who the enemy is in Iraq?
The problem with Iraq is that when you're doing the wrong thing there's no right way to do it.What say you?
Q So you need those Australian troops there.The reporter was asking about the 500 Australian troops in Iraq. Did the reporter get a satisfactory answer? Can you tell me how I should interpret what the president did say here?
THE PRESIDENT: We need all our coalition partners. And I would hope that -- and I understand, look, everybody has got their own internal politics. My only point is, is that whether it be Afghanistan or Iraq, we've got more work to do. We, the free world, has got more work to do. And I believe those of us who live in liberty have a responsibility to promote forms of government that deal with what causes 19 kids to get on airplanes to kill 3,000 students.
Freedom yields peace. Asia is peaceful. Why? Because freedom is prevailing, that's why.And...it's peaceful in Iraq because....
THE PRESIDENT: Thank you. Good afternoon to you.Have a look at what Tony had to day and see if you believe it...particularly about the statement that it was an enormous amount of fun:
Tony Snow informed me he's leaving. And I sadly accept his desire to leave the White House, and he'll do so on September the 14th. He is -- it's been a joy to watch him spar with you. He's smart, he's capable, he's witty. He's capable of -- he's able to talk about issues in a way that the American people can understand.
And I don't know what he's going to do -- I'm not sure he does yet, either. But whatever it is, it's going to be -- two things: One, he'll battle cancer and win. And secondly, he'll be a solid contributor to society.
MR. SNOW: Just a couple of quick comments. First, Mr. President, thank you and thanks for the honor of serving. This job has really been a dream for me and a blast. I've had an enormous amount of fun and satisfaction, and I'm proud to be working for you, and will continue after I leave working for the White House, to speak out about issues I care about.And for the second time in the same day, the President leaves a very interesting question unanswered with a "Thank You."
Q How do you feel about losing everybody?As the rats jump the ship, the house of cards that Rove built tumbles.
THE PRESIDENT: Thank you all.
Q Sir, what about the hedge funds and banks that are overexposed on the sub-prime market? That's a bigger problem. Have you got a plan?Thank you? My goodness. Sounds like a good question that a president and his crack team should be able to answer, no?
THE PRESIDENT: Thank you.
Q Does the President have any regret that $80,000 in taxpayer funds is being paid to a couple that was forcibly removed from a presidential appearance in West Virginia in 2004 and sued the government and the government arranged this settlement?
MR. JOHNDROE: I've not discussed it with the President, so I'm not familiar.
Q Do you know if the Presidential Advance Manual is being modified in any way so that people who do nothing more than have an anti-Bush slogan on their tee shirt are removed from presidential events?
MR. JOHNDROE: I'm not aware of whether the manual is being revised or not. I think there are rules that govern the conduct of activities at presidential events and people try to adhere to them and, I think, for the most part, do.
Q Thank you all. Mr. President, yesterday, Senator Levin, Chairman of the Armed Services Committee, said that the Iraqi parliament ought to oust Prime Minister Maliki and his government for being politically unable to deliver political unity there, for utterly failing on that point. I'm wondering what your reaction is to Senator Levin's comment, and whether you think Maliki has lost credibility.Here's the flip response:
There are two types of political reconciliation that can take place in a new democracy: One is from the top down, and one is from the bottom up. Clearly, the Iraqi government has got to do more through its parliament...and now their government has got to perform. And I think there's a certain level of frustration with the leadership in general, inability to work...Wednesday, as W was shooting another load off the Propaganda Catapult we witness the flop:
Prime Minister Maliki is a good guy, a good man with a difficult job, and I support him.Well, that just about sews up the fate for Maliki, no? Might he go the way of Brownie and all the others that W supports? Fortunately, for us:
And it's not up to politicians in Washington, D.C. to say whether he will remain in his position -- that is up to the Iraqi people who now live in a democracy, and not a dictatorship.We shall see what they do with Maliki...but should we tollerate the presidential flip flopper?
