This has not turned into huge news yet for some reason. So in case you hadn't heard.

The Green Zone in Baghdad has been under rocket attack for the past 4 days. That's where the government and the US offices and Embassies are. It's a fortified city. US personnel have been advised to avoid traveling outside and sleep in reinforced structures.



The southern port city of Basra is basically occupied by Shi'ite militias. The government ordered them to hand over their weapons by today, I'm guessing that's not going to happen.


Bush thinks everything is swell, Sounds more like 1984 doublethink propaganda to me.


Chuck Hagel (R) Talks about Bush being Alice in Wonderland.


This doesn't sound good,
"Military: Troop Strains Putting US at Risk"




The Point, we can't solve other people's problems. If they can't work it out, we can't fix it for them. The Iraq war is now a completely political problem. We can't fix it, but we don't want embarrass ourselves. The Republicans in particular, have a lot riding on this flaming turd, especially with the election coming up.

The Surge brought a temporary lull in violence, but in the meantime we didn't get any progress in the government. All this time, and we haven't built anything that will last. 4,000 deaths, 40,000 wounded us soldiers and 5 years, and 500,000 billion so far.

As you may know, today is the 5th anniversary of the war in Iraq. 5 years, and so little to show for it.

Somebody once wrote that it's easier to fool somebody into accepting a Big Lie. We all commit small lies, but when it comes to life and death, it's hard for us to believe somebody would trick us, and lie about something that serious. Something like war.

America was fooled on purpose.
I tried to stop it.
And as time goes on there is more and more evidence like the Downing street Memo, which tell us that the "reasons" for the war, were nothing but excuses.
WMD, links to terrorists, nuclear weapons, "We don't want the Smoking Gun to be a mushroom cloud". All of it, just for the sake of Fear. This was not an investigation. The goal was always war. A better goal for a democratic nation would be justice, order and stability.

The congress and the press failed us. They believed the Whitehouse, instead of scholars and generals. They followed the herd, instead of getting a second opinion.

Today, there are no good options in Iraq. We leave, and Iraq falls apart. We stay, and America falls apart.

We have nothing good to show for ourselves after 5 years.

National Debt, international hatred, economic crisis...
These are deep wounds, serious problems, that we willfully brought upon ourselves.
And the fact that we've gotten rid of some punk dictator, and trained a couple thousand Iraqis to manage their country again doesn't make me feel better about it.

Fuck the War.

War Numbers,

Timeline before the war 2001-2003, How this all started.
Remember this.
First Ultimatum: We demanded Saddam let Weapons Inspectors in or face war. Saddam let them in by November 2002. Iraq is stubborn at first, but making concessions and actively disarming.
March 2003, Hans Blix is in Iraq looking for WMD, publishes the first Weapons Inspection report, Things going well, cooperation.
Dispite progress Bush strangely "advises" UN Inspectors to leave the country in the middle of their work. Next day...

Second Ultimatum: Saddam Leave the Country, and take your two sons with you in 48 hours, or else we bomb you. (this impossible request, on live TV, is what realy led to war. Saddam agreed to inspections, so Bush just raised the bar to an impossable height)

I challenge you to go back and read some of this. We lived through it, but in retrospect we can see just how bogus these claims were.
September-November 2002 is interesting, that's when Bush speaks to the UN, the US Congress passes the Authorization to use force in Iraq, and Saddam Lets the UN Inspectors into the country.
Also interesting the just before the war after about March 7 2003, Check out some of the news articles published then, it feels like 1984.

Bush in his own words


Timeline of the War 2003-2008
Just browse through this timeline, it highlights some of the major news with photos and gives details. you'll be amazed at all the stuff the you haven't thought about in a while.

Articles

Buffalo News Article


UK Article, inside Iraq


War Hurting the American Economy

War and the Working Class



Share your Thoughts, Links, and News Articles below.

It is time to change the tearms of the debate from, "Winning", "Victory", or "defeating the terrorists", to this... Ending the violence.

Iraq has become a cesspool of revenge killings and hatred. The US is in a situation where our millitary is essentially just another Millitia battling for controll of Iraq. That is nothing but a recipe for disaster.

This is not a battle in which we can simply allign ourselves with one side of the struggle and try to defeat the other. This is a country in crisis, where neighbors are killing eachother for the sake of revenge. You kill my family I kill yours. And the more killing that goes on, more hatred is created, and the more evil the other side seems.

There is a solution, but it has very little to do with military strategy. Talking about a surge in troops, or attacking this militia or that one, or reoccupying this city or that city is meaningless without addressing the real problem, Violence. Stop the killing and you will have success. All of our involvment sohould be focused on reconcilliation, and easing the tensions, and establishing a system of justice that does not come from the barrel of a gun.

No sir, this is not about "winning" it's about Ending the Violence.

The Bush Administration really wanted to go to war with Iraq. This war is without a doubt, a war of choice, not necessity. All the Bushistas wanted to "Get Saddam". And as soon as 9/11 happened all the crazy geo political neo-cons were trying to force the conversation over to Iraq. Invading and occupying Iraq was key the the Project for the New America Century, and all the crazies from that organization invaded the whitehouse along with Bush.

Anyway, in case you needed more proof, here's another ex-CIA analyst who retired after 25 years. He's an insider who worked directly with Iraq during the lead up to the War. He just published a new book "On the Brink: An Insider's Account of How the White House Compromised American Intelligence" You can read a few of its key points here

You can also watch a movie from 2004 about this topic, it's a good primer for everyone. And you can watch it in full here

This is the most powerful condemnation of Americas post 9/11 fall from grace that I have read in a long time, and I read a lot. It is written by a soldier, Pat Tillman's brother, Kevin Tillman. Pat was killed in Afghanistan in 2004.

America's shame should be glaringly obvious to all of us. If you are a patriot, you should have your fist in the air demanding a regeme change in this country. I'll let Kevin Tillman explain why...



After Pat's Birthday

Posted on Oct 19, 2006

By Kevin Tillman


It is Pat's birthday on November 6, and elections are the day after. It gets me thinking about a conversation I had with Pat before we joined the military. He spoke about the risks with signing the papers. How once we committed, we were at the mercy of the American leadership and the American people. How we could be thrown in a direction not of our volition. How fighting as a soldier would leave us without a voice... until we got out.

Much has happened since we handed over our voice:

Somehow we were sent to invade a nation because it was a direct threat to the American people, or to the world, or harbored terrorists, or was involved in the September 11 attacks, or received weapons-grade uranium from Niger, or had mobile weapons labs, or WMD, or had a need to be liberated, or we needed to establish a democracy, or stop an insurgency, or stop a civil war we created that can't be called a civil war even though it is. Something like that.

Somehow our elected leaders were subverting international law and humanity by setting up secret prisons around the world, secretly kidnapping people, secretly holding them indefinitely, secretly not charging them with anything, secretly torturing them. Somehow that overt policy of torture became the fault of a few "bad apples" in the military.

Somehow back at home, support for the soldiers meant having a five-year-old kindergartener scribble a picture with crayons and send it overseas, or slapping stickers on cars, or lobbying Congress for an extra pad in a helmet. It's interesting that a soldier on his third or fourth tour should care about a drawing from a five-year-old; or a faded sticker on a car as his friends die around him; or an extra pad in a helmet, as if it will protect him when an IED throws his vehicle 50 feet into the air as his body comes apart and his skin melts to the seat.

Somehow the more soldiers that die, the more legitimate the illegal invasion becomes.

Somehow American leadership, whose only credit is lying to its people and illegally invading a nation, has been allowed to steal the courage, virtue and honor of its soldiers on the ground.

Somehow those afraid to fight an illegal invasion decades ago are allowed to send soldiers to die for an illegal invasion they started.

Somehow faking character, virtue and strength is tolerated.

Somehow profiting from tragedy and horror is tolerated.

Somehow the death of tens, if not hundreds, of thousands of people is tolerated.

Somehow subversion of the Bill of Rights and The Constitution is tolerated.

Somehow suspension of Habeas Corpus is supposed to keep this country safe.

Somehow torture is tolerated.

Somehow lying is tolerated.

Somehow reason is being discarded for faith, dogma, and nonsense.

Somehow American leadership managed to create a more dangerous world.

Somehow a narrative is more important than reality.

Somehow America has become a country that projects everything that it is not and condemns everything that it is.

Somehow the most reasonable, trusted and respected country in the world has become one of the most irrational, belligerent, feared, and distrusted countries in the world.

Somehow being politically informed, diligent, and skeptical has been replaced by apathy through active ignorance.

Somehow the same incompetent, narcissistic, virtueless, vacuous, malicious criminals are still in charge of this country.

Somehow this is tolerated.

Somehow nobody is accountable for this.

In a democracy, the policy of the leaders is the policy of the people. So don't be shocked when our grandkids bury much of this generation as traitors to the nation, to the world and to humanity. Most likely, they will come to know that "somehow" was nurtured by fear, insecurity and indifference, leaving the country vulnerable to unchecked, unchallenged parasites.

Luckily this country is still a democracy. People still have a voice. People still can take action. It can start after Pat's birthday.



Brother and Friend of Pat Tillman,

Kevin Tillman

Bush lobbies Congress on terror suspects

Ok, I need to know, Where does president Bush get off claiming that he alone knows how to interrogate terrorism suspects? He has never been in Combat, neither have any of his close advisers. But now he truly believes, with all the passion he's shown in press conferences, that his way and only his way, will make us safer. With a track record like Bush's? I'd rather trust American Law, International law, and Colon Powell.

Colon Powell was the Secretary of State when 911 happened, he knows everything the president knows, he's been in combat and commanded troops on the battlefield. Unlike the President, Dick Cheney, Don Rumsfeld and everyone else who avoided the Vietnam Draft.

Powell has spoken strongly against this proposal, so has John McCain, John Warner and Lindsey Grahm, all republican senators on the Armed Services Committee.
Powell's letter to McCain:
"The world is beginning to doubt the moral basis of our fight against terrorism. To redefine Common Article 3 would add to those doubts. Furthermore, it would put our own troops at risk."

If our troops are tortured we will have no basis to demand their torturers be punished. We will be breaking the verry law that protects our soldiers.

Bush wants to allow things like "waterboarding" that's where you drown someone until they inhale water and pass out, then they are resuscitated. From testimony, it is excruciating to inhale water into your lungs and sinuses, you pass out from the pain above all else.

That's torture, the United States does not stand for such things, these are evil and sinister acts. just because Bush happens to be president for 6 years doesn't mean he can soil the constitution and remove the honorable standards that make America a proud nation.

Bush's proposal aims to 'clarify' the Geneva conventions. Ooooooh, ok. But the Geneva Conventions were signed by 47 other countries. We agreed upon them at that time, and it has been the bedrock or international legitimacy. Now the US is going to be the first to chip away at it.

Offering our own interpretations of the laws of war. That sounds like a terrible thing for any country to do, offer their own interpretation of the laws of war. Especially during a time of war. Isn't that the whole point of laws in the first place? Isn't that the whole point of checks and balances? This is not a nation ruled by the passions of men, we are ruled by time tested Laws. That's the whole point of the constitution. And it's what makes a democracy last.

International law is the only way that peace can exist today. Without law your only option is violence and war. I do not want to leave my children with a world that has no trust in international standards of law. There will be no peace in such a world.

We follow the law, that's what makes us the good guys and them the bad guys.

Below is a video from Lebanon, by Kevin Sites, a Yahoo News reporter.

It is easy for the Neoconservatives to claim that military bombardment fits into some grand scheme to bring stability to anything.

But if you see, with your own eyes, what actually happens when you drop a bomb on a town, you realize that war is not a solution to anything. War and violence only inspires hatred, revenge, and more death. War is not a solution, it IS the problem.

Bombarding Lebanon has done nothing but inspire fierce and persistent Hatred for America and Israel.

Solutions are found when people sit at a table and talk to one another, not through death, killing and chaos.

The US and Israel are purposefully instigating a war with the Muslim world. I do not know why. But nobody in their right mind would think that these bombings are reducing the threat of terrorism.

What we are really doing in Lebanon, is giving people another good reason to hate us. We are frustrating them and terrorizing their lives to the point that they will take up arms against us. And we are training militants in combat every day we fight them.

The bombing of Lebanon is completely irrational, unless your goal is world war. America has lost it's mind and its soul.

This is a video from a reporter what happened to be a block away from the attack. He runs over with his video camera and captures the aftermath, going directly to the site and talking to the man whose house was bombed. You can see and hear the chaos that abounds in the small country of Lebanon.

In this country we are very insulated from the effects of our 'aggressive' policies. Fortunately for us we can find videos like this on the internet, so we do not have to be so ignorant, as the war mongerers in Washington would like us to be.

The link is below, don't bother reading the news article, to me it relies on the "official" description of events too much. Personally I don't trust the government to interpret the news for me, they lie too much.

Watch the videos, there are 2, they are both good. The photo essay is good too. The second video down 'The chaotic aftermath of the air strike' is uncensored reality, it is a must see for us sheltered Americans.

See the videos here:



More from the reporter can be found here It's nice to have a few minutes of video from the places we hear about on the news.

You think I'm kidding don't you?



On June 2 the the pentagon will test a 700 ton bomb at their Nevada testing site. This is the largest open air explosion ever at the site, no others come close. This test just happens to be called called "Devine Strake" seriously. what the hell is wrong with the people in our government? apparently they are all about the holy war metaphors.

---

From Washington Post
"This is the largest single explosive we could imagine doing," said James A. Tegnelia, director of the Pentagon's Defense Threat Reduction Agency, which is conducting the test.

The June test will detonate 700 tons of heavy ammonium nitrate-fuel oil emulsion -- creating a blast equivalent to 593 tons of TNT -- in a 36-foot-deep hole near a tunnel in the center of the Nevada Test Site, according to official reports. It aims to allow scientists to model the type of ground shock that will be created, and to weigh the effectiveness of such a weapon against its collateral impact.