Ok, it's the president, doing standup, about himself!! it's from the Radio correspondents dinner. Last year Steven Colbert roasted the president, this year the president is the opening act, and he's roasting himself!!

So Much News, So little Time.


Iraq Prime Minister Agrees that Blackwater should be banned and suspects in Saturday's shootout should be tried in Iraqi Courts.

There was a meeting in Iraq to eveluate the Interior Ministry's decision to ban Blackwater and everyone aggreed they were right, except the US I'm sure. There are 48,000 private contractors in Iraq, about 1,000 from Blackwater. Iraq is declaring independence from the US and starting to govern itself. Good for them.

The Puppet [government in Iraq] talks back


The Jim Webb Amendment to Protect the Troops gets filibustered by the Republicans.

The Troops in Iraq are under stress 24 hours, 7 days per week. Even when they are sleeping, they are worrying about rocket attacks. This kind of stress is terrible for the health of our soldiers. Currently they spend an average of 12 months at home for every 15 months in Iraq, that's the average some are coming home for only 6 months. This amendment said that US military personnel should spend at least as much time at home recovering as they do in Iraq. it even allowed the president to bend the rules if he makes a valid case to congress (you know the branch that declares war) if the troops are needed. British troops spend 6 months at war and a year at home. This is a bare minimum step to protect the health of our military troops and make sure that that they can reintegrate themselves into society.

The bill got 56 votes and the republicans filibustered it.

What a bunch of heartless lemmings. The Republicans are a disgrace, why are they protecting Bush and this failed policy. This is completely offensive to me. There were 3 republican co-sponsors, and still the rest of the senate gave the troops a big "fuck you" by ignoring the consequences of these extended deployments. Their hegemonic ideology is not sustainable, and they are ignoring the human concequences, just so they can play they international empire war games. None of it is making us safer, and it is abusive to our troops.



Detainees in the "War on Terror" can be detained indefinitely, without charge.

They have no rights to know why they are being held, nor challenge the charges against them in court. They can just sit in jail until they die, without ever knowing what they did. There are a lot of innocent people in these prisons, being tortured, and they have no chance at all to prove their innocence. If we tolerate this position we may as well just give up on America. The rule of law is just a bunch of bullshit if the president can throw somebody in jail unilaterally without ever charging them with a crime, let them be interrogated, and die there. Innocent until proven guilty my ass. What's to stop them from throwing anybody they choose in jail, how about a guy trying to form an Oil Workers Union in Iraq, or anybody the US disagrees with. This is an atrocity. Americans have learned nothing from history.

56 senators voted to reinstate Habeas Corpus, the others, all republicans, are traitors, what else can I call them.

This inalienable right is known as, the Writ of Habeas Corpus, if you are thrown in jail you have a right to know why, and see the evidence. This prevents the king from locking up anyone he doesn't like, for no reason, besides the fact that he doesn't like them. This protection has been the bedrock of modern law since the Magna Carta in 1215!!!! But I guess nothing in history has been as bad as 9/11, and now we need a strong man to take away our rights for our own protection. It's for our own good. What the hell is wrong with this country, why are we following an authoritarian off a cliff?



So Much for the Middle East Peace Process

Condi Rice shows up to hold a peace summit in Israel. And hours before her arrival Israel declares the Gaza Strip an "Enemy Entity" and says it's going to cut off utilities to the occupied territory. Rice didn't make a single comment about. And she's not sure if countries like Egypt will be coming to her summit. That's right folks, one Safer world coming right up.



The best thing you can do, if all of this stuff makes you angry, is call your representatives and tell them that you will not vote for them if they don't do something about it, their job is to protect the constitution. I don't want to make everyone upset and leave you no options about how to fix it. Congress people get scared when constituents call them, it's more effective than voting. go to congress.org to find your reps, or there are links in my sidebar to the right.

This stuff is out of control. We are giving up everything that makes America great.

So here's a question, What is the point of the Iraq War? Why are we there and what is the goal? Give me an opinion, a joke, a cynical rambling run on sentence, whatever, I just don't get the reason.

The purpose of the war is rarely explained or questioned. Here's some words from the Whitehouse website "If We Withdraw Prematurely.. Violent Extremists Would Be Emboldened.. Al Qaeda could gain new recruits and sanctuaries.. Iran would benefit from the chaos and be encouraged in its efforts to gain nuclear weapons and dominate the region. Extremists could control a key part of the global energy supply. Iraq.. could face a humanitarian nightmare, and democracy movements throughout the region would be violently reversed."

All these Whitehouse points can be refuted, here we go... We embolden violent extremists by allowing military contractors to Kill civilians without punishment. Al Qaeda's biggest recruiting and training tool is Iraq, and if we left Al Qaeda would have a diminished purpose, fewer recruits and the Iraqis would kick them out. Iran has been the biggest beneficiary of the Iraq War so far, we got rid of their enemy Saddam, dismissed the UN which might have prevented nuclear activity, and more. The Mideast might control their own oil, ok that's true, but what gives us the right to control someone else's oil? Iraq already faces a humanitarian nightmare 2 million refugees inside Iraq and 2 million in neighboring countries, the whole region faces a humanitarian crisis, and nothing the US has done so far has helped. Democracy movements? Anybody seen any Mideast countries saying "Check out Iraq, I need to get me some of that Democracy!"


The Whitehouse narrative is obviously a bunch of BS, and the American people are skeptical about what they say, but we don't really have an alternative. The press usually treats the government opinion as truth, all other explanations are conspiracy theories.

What's the purpose of this war? I'm asking you, why did we invade, and why are we still there. I just don't get it.


We Americans live in a bubble of official sources, part of the reason is that there aren't many journalists in Iraq, and the ones who are there, are usually embedded with American troops and government officials all day. This media blackout means that the Bush administration can create its own narrative about what's going on in Iraq, and we have very little evidence to contradict them.

In the eyes of the American News Media, the view of the government is the official objective analysis, and should be assumed to be as close to the truth as we can get. Why? The officials in government are self interested. This government in particular, is the most secretive and least transparent in this nations history. They won't let us see what they are doing, but instead they will explain it to us in press briefings. Information Control. (Oceania has always been at war with Eastasia by the way)

I'm rambling a bit. Anyway. Here's my thoughts on the goals and purpose of the Iraq War.

The US strategy is NOT, to find common ground between warring factions and foster a lasting peace. The real theory is Divide and Conquer. We are handing out weapons like they're candy, and loosing thousands more. We're training the Shiite army and police to use our weapons against Sunni insurgents, then we turn around and give weapons to Sunni insurgents to drive out foreigners from Al Qaeda. We are essentially arming two militias that hate each other, we are giving them both guns and teaching them how to kill.

8 officers currently serving in Iraq wrote an op-ed and sent it to the times, they said "Armed Sunni tribes have indeed become effective surrogates, but the enduring question is where their loyalties would lie in Americas absence. The Iraqi government finds itself working at cross purposes with America on this issue because it is justifiably fearful that Sunni militias will turn on the government of Iraq should the Americans leave." I'd encourage you to read the whole thing,

That leads me to my next point, we're not supposed to leave Iraq. The war may be bad for Military families, Iraqis, Taxpayers, America, and just about everyone except defense contractors, but that's OK. We blow things up, pretend to rebuild them, and get rich. Good plan, from that perspective the war is going perfectly. They waste our money, and that's just fine, boosts the economy, or something. $88 billion in contracts for Iraq are being audited for fraud
The thing is, since we've been in Iraq everyone has been laughing at us. Iran Russia, we started an arms race and there's nothing we can do about it because we look like fools in another Vietnam. But let's stay there indefinitely.

Here's Tom Friedman after he got back from Iraq on what he saw, "Peace in Iraq has to be built on a Shiite-Sunni consensus, not a constant balancing act by America. So far, the surge has created nothing that is self-sustaining. That is, pull us out and this whole place still blows in 10 minutes."

Iraq is part of a Mideast strategy, which is stupid, evil, and harmful to America. Need proof? "Under the guise of promoting a 'security dialogue' in the Persian Gulf, the Bush Administration has proposed $63 billion in arms transfers to the Middle East over the next ten years... $20 billion worth of high-tech arms to Saudi Arabia and the other oil-producing states in the Gulf." Great Plan, makes me feel real safe.

Divide and conquer, establish permanent bases from which to demand power, and make Americans comfortable with permanent war. Why? I can't figure it out. Power for the sake of power? just for the sake of staying on top in the world, as PNAC stated? Are the Neo-Conservatives really that evil? Can it all be about Oil?

I don't know, it just doesn't make sense. Why stay in Iraq when it helps Al Qaeda and hurts America? Why trash international law in favor of the bomb, when it just proves we are selfish, destroys our alliances, and creates enemies? Why create Mercenary armies, send 180,000 contractors to Iraq, and blow billions of dollars on nothing? Why create so many enemies? Why destroy so many families?

Are we just trying to save face? the best way to do that would be to impeach Bush, no really, I'm serious.

I'm linking to this article again, because it is one of the few perspectives from inside Iraq, from the 8 soldiers in the NY times

Here's Bill Moyers talking about them. video

2 videos inside Iraq, I posted these before but they're a rare and recent glimpse inside Iraq.




Thanks

I promise, non political entries soon! woo hoo! those might not take 2.5 hours to write!

Crucial news stories are trickling out from Iraq. You may have missed these, because it's buried under the mass of a new OJ trial of some sort. Here is some of the real news.



Bush's new Iraq Ally gets killed.
When George bush went to Iraq two weeks ago. He went to Anbar Provence, which is so safe even the president can go there. That's the message anyway, Success in Anbar. And who do we have to thank? The troop surge of course, and a man named Sheikh Abu Risha who brought the warring factions together to fight Al Qaeda. Bush is seen shaking Abu Risha's hand in the above picture. Now the people in Anbar can go about being a stable democracy, and "an ally on the war on terror" as bush says.

Abu Risha shook Bush's hand, and a week later was killed... by Al Qaeda of course, just hours before Bush gave a speech on the wonderful things happening in Iraq. Tragic end to a wonderful man? Not quite. One journalist took his Camera to Anbar for the BBC and chronicled the progress and the uneasiness there. They found Abu Risha, the man of mystery, and got an interview out of him, one of the things he said was "I have worked with All of the Iraqi Tribes and they are All under my leadership." a blanket statement that makes the bullshit alarms go off in my head. All of the tribes? really? They are "All" under your leadership. Well how come nobody ever heard of you before now, he was nicknamed the "ghost of Anbar" by the Iraqis, because nobody had heard his name until recently, and few have met him. But he showed up just in time for Bush to stage a photo op, and try to sell the Iraq Policy again. And Abu Risha was killed in true mob fashion, he got greedy, he conned the Americans into giving him some money, then he fled to jordan, but he did not escape the Iraqi mob, who sent a message to other con men who go meddling in their business and taking money for themselves.

Video, from Iraq
Part one
Part 2

In Depth Analysis, from Greg Palast


Abu Risha's obituary from the BBC




The other Big story "Will Iraq Kick Out Blackwater?"
If you've never heard of "Blackwater" you might be interested to know that the US military isn't the only American force fighting in Iraq, Blackwater is a private contractor, hired guns, mercenaries if you will. They do things like protect State Department officials when they travel about the country. They're heavily armed and get paid about 50 times more then the US military personnel (not 50% more, military pay x50). Anyway they've got at least 1,000 soldiers, er, people fighting in Iraq. And they're in a sort of legal limbo, unaccountable to the American Government, our military courts, or any other.

In a recent twist of events, Blackwater contractors were involved in a firefight on Sunday, which left a number of Iraqis dead or injured. The event was offensive enough that the Iraqi Interior Ministry has suspended Blackwater's license to operate in the country. They declared that all Blackwater personnel must leave the country, except those being questioned in the shooting, they will be tried in Iraqi courts. I didn't know Iraq had functioning courts. But anyway, that was the story, until the state department called Iraq's Prime Minister Alawi to demand a stop to this legal nonsense. Well actually Condi Rice called Alawi and said the the US was already investigating this matter, no need to worry, don't get too hasty. Alawi and his cabinet are going to have a meeting about it tomorrow. I'm very curious what will come out of it.

Kicking contractors out of Iraq... depending on how this plays out it could be a watershed moment. There are thousands of contractors operating in Iraq, a shadow military of some sort. There are 48,000 Military contractors in Iraq (corrected). What if they started kicking them out, establishing their own sovereignty, and thereby reducing the troop level without Bush's consent by reducing the number of contractors aiding the troops. What happens then? I'm rooting for the Iraqis on this one.

News accounts of the Blackwater Story:


More About Blackwater



P.S.
Alan Greenspan says oil was the purpose of Iraq War. So if you don't believe me, believe him. He's a republican stalwart who was there from the beginning. It's kind of like John McCain of Paul Wolfowitz confessing about the Iraq War. Greenspan briefed Bush on the idea as chairman of the Federal Reserve.

General Petraeus testified to the Foreign Relations Committee yesterday and today. The general was asked an interesting question by Republican senator John Warner, But his answer was the real eye opener.

Senator Warner: Are you able to say at this time if we continue what you have laid before the congress here, this strategy, do you feel that that is making America safer?

General Petraeus: Sir, I believe this is indeed the best course of action to achieve our objectives in Iraq.

Warner: Does that make America safer?

General Petraeus: Sir I don't know actually. I have not sat down and sorted in my own mind what I have focused on and what I have been riveted on is how to accomplish the mission of the multinational force Iraq.


Is the Iraq War making us safer? The General couldn't say No, that would be a political disaster. But Patreus is also a bit to honest to say yes.

He can't say "Yes we should put all our available troops in Iraq because this is the war to save America."

The battle to protect innocent American life from extremists cannot be won by brute force. And it certainly can't be won by exhausting our military in Iraq. The general may be able to stabilize Iraq, over 10 years or so, but in the meantime, the danger to America is Growing.

This stupid war is being waged for Bush and Bush alone. Not America. Impeach that son of a bitch and bring some sanity to our foreign policy. We started a damn Arms Race, and now Russia has the "father of all bombs" and the world has its finger on the trigger. The war in Iraq is just a Jihaddist recruiting, training ground, and fundraising tool for extremists. Osama and Al Qaeda want us to stay in Iraq, because every dead civilian proves that they are right and America is wrong.

We will stop terrorist plots through good old fashioned law enforcement. Terrorism is a crime, not a country that we can invade. Law enforcement depends on international cooperation and intelligence sharing. To bad we currently have no friends, no trust, and thanks to Bush, no International Criminal Court.

Read "Why Terrorists Aren't Soldiers"


I don't know what the purpose of this war is, only Bush and his wealthy authoritarian friends in the Oil and Weapons industries know the real reason for this war. But it has not, and will not make America Safer.

When the founding fathers put impeachment into the constitution, they were thinking of George W Bush. A power hungry authoritarian who is willing to deceive the nation in order to take more power and money for himself. He has destroyed the fragile framework of Democracy by claiming executive superiority, and unilaterally granting power to himself. The big problem is that if he is allowed to get away with it, without consequences, what's to stop the next president, and every president after that. Bush thinks he can ignore the Congress and the Courts, disregard subpoenas, prevent whitehouse officials from testifying or swearing an oath, and violate any law painstakingly passed through congress.

If I learned one thing in my US history class, it's that the US is a great country, because we have checks and balances, three branches of government. Remember that? That's pretty fucking important. And if one arrogant president can start a war, trample the other two branches of government, and have no consequences... You had better be fucking worried. Call your congresspeople and demand impeachment, that's the power that you still have.

That's a great question, has this War, and this President, made America safer?




Keep your bullshit detectors on tomorrow.

Bush will address the nation and say say "Look I'm cutting troops, what more do you want from me?" and the papers will say, "Bush cutting troops, democrats still unhappy". "Bush to support troop pullback, Democrats want more out sooner" look for more headlines like that and remember it's another lie.

some 30,000 troops will leave Iraq by March. And it's all Bush's wonderful idea, how merciful. Yea, what choice does he have? to keep them there longer he would be violating their contracts by extending their tours. those 30,000 troops were just added in January for the "surge" he got the maximum time out of them, now he will go through normal troop rotations. All while claiming He has decided to find middle ground and compromise with those pesky America hating Democrats by withdrawing some troops.

A year and a half is not a "surge" it's an escalation. And withdrawing troops in March, is another way of Bush squeezing every bit of energy out of them without causing a revolt.