May 01, 2008
Codpiece Day
It's a sad occasion really, thinking back on the last five years of death, destruction, waste, incompetence and media collusion.
Yes, that's quite a package.
Posted by jnfr at 01:54 PM | Comments (0)
April 29, 2008
McCain's Endless War
Is this what you want in Iraq? Not me.
Posted by jnfr at 07:16 AM | Comments (0)
April 10, 2008
Iraq Me, Dave Petraeus
I find the Petraeus/Crocker hearings so infuriating, so pointless, that I can only turn to Jon Stewart to make sense of it all.
Posted by jnfr at 04:30 PM | Comments (0)
March 21, 2008
Matt Taibbi Speaks
Then there's this whole business of liberals who are accused of "rooting" for failure in Iraq. I'm sorry, but the next pundit who whips that one out should have his balls stuffed down his throat. You cocksuckers beat the drum to send these kids to war, and then you turn around and accuse us of rooting for them to die? Fuck you for even thinking that. We're Americans just like you. You don't have the right to get us into this mess and then turn around and call us traitors. Your credibility is long gone on this issue. Shut up about us.
Posted by jnfr at 09:39 AM | Comments (0)
March 20, 2008
Plunging Towards Victory
As John McCain said yesterday:
Today in Iraq, America and our allies stand on the precipice of winning a major victory against radical Islamic extremism.
Posted by jnfr at 10:09 AM | Comments (0)
March 19, 2008
Five Years
Posted by jnfr at 03:42 PM | Comments (0)
October 22, 2007
No Permanent Bases?
Bush and Cheney aren't going to like that, aren't going to allow it.
Posted by jnfr at 03:32 PM | Comments (0)
September 24, 2007
The Price of War
Posted by jnfr at 06:54 PM | Comments (0)
September 20, 2007
A Small Price
From Americans United for Change.
Posted by jnfr at 11:20 AM | Comments (0)
September 17, 2007
More from MoveOn.org
This one is a response to Rudy.
Posted by jnfr at 01:44 PM | Comments (0)
September 13, 2007
John Edwards Responds
John responds to President Bush, and takes on Congress's inaction on Iraq.
You can also read John's New Strategy Against Terrorism, from his campaign web site.
Posted by jnfr at 08:04 PM | Comments (0)
Bush's Plan for Iraq
Really. He has no idea how to solve this situation. No one does.
Posted by jnfr at 01:00 PM | Comments (0)
September 12, 2007
Iraq Me
Jon Stewart gives the Petraeus report exactly the response it deserves.
Posted by jnfr at 01:25 PM | Comments (0)
September 11, 2007
Truth Testing
Eli Pariser and Markos Moulitsas discuss the MoveOn.org ad charging Gen. Petraeus with cooking the books on Iraq.
Posted by jnfr at 08:58 AM | Comments (0)
September 10, 2007
Petraeus and Reality
From the National Security Network:
UPDATE: From The Gavel.
Rep. Doggett:
“When the surge was announced, the White House said, ‘wait til the summer.’ And as the summer approached, the White House said, ‘wait til September.’ Well, now that this much overrated September is here, they cry, ‘wait til next year.’ The only real mystery about President Bush’s September decision has been what new excuse he would offer to justify staying the same old deadly course.
Posted by jnfr at 09:18 AM | Comments (1)
August 31, 2007
Truth Testing
Via Kevin Drum, a graph showing U.S. troop fatalities in Iraq for 2007, versus 2006.
As he points out, claims that troop deaths have fallen are simply false.
Juan Cole pulled together the original numbers, from iCasualties.
I saw on CNN this smarmy Bush administration official come and and say that US troop deaths had fallen because of the surge, which is why we should support it. Just read the following chart bottom to top and compare 2006 month by month to 2007. US troop deaths haven't fallen. They are way up....
Here are the US troop death via Icasualties.org.
8-2007 77 8-2006 65 7-2007 79 7-2006 43 6-2007 101 6-2006 61 5-2007 126 5-2006 69 4-2007 104 4-2006 76 3-2007 81 3-2006 31 2-2007 81 2-2006 55 1-2007 83 1-2006 62
Please be aware that not everything you hear on the news is true. Be particularly skeptical this coming month as Bush tries to sell the country on the idea that somehow things in Iraq have gotten better.
I also heard that CNN report, and if you listened very closely, you would hear them say that "troop deaths are less than they were in the spring". Which is true this year as it is always true, because in summer when the heat is high there are fewer attacks. That has nothing to do with this year's escalation though, so don't be fooled.
Posted by jnfr at 09:47 AM | Comments (0)
August 23, 2007
More like this, please
As Atrios would say.
From Americans United for Change.
Posted by jnfr at 05:25 PM | Comments (0)
July 22, 2007
No End In Sight
Opening July 27th.
Winner of the Special Jury Prize for Documentary, Sundance Film Festival 2007. Unfortunately this will be in very limited release. Check the theaters link to see if there will be a showing near you.
Posted by jnfr at 11:47 AM | Comments (0)
July 12, 2007
Guess it's official
September then and now...
UPDATE: A re-do. Because I wanted it to be at the top again.
Come September, we'll know whether the occupation of Iraq has succeeded.
But everyone's linking to this one:
How times change.
It strikes me how much the young men in that first video look like they could be Young Republicans today (well, maybe they're a little more stylish). That's the era they really want to get back to, isn't it? Instead they give us the current one. And I'm not convinced they even realize what they've done - they are that much out of touch with reality.
___________________________
Have a good time, but remember
There is danger in the summer moon above.
Will I see you in September...?
Posted by jnfr at 07:20 PM | Comments (0)
May 09, 2007
Uh oh
Guess September won't be the end after all...
Commanders in Iraq See 'Surge' Into '08
Pentagon to Deploy 35,000 Replacement Troops
The Pentagon announced yesterday that 35,000 soldiers in 10 Army combat brigades will begin deploying to Iraq in August as replacements, making it possible to sustain the increase of U.S. troops there until at least the end of this year....
"The surge needs to go through the beginning of next year for sure," said Lt. Gen. Raymond T. Odierno, the day-to-day commander for U.S. military operations in Iraq. The new requirement of up to 15-month tours for active-duty soldiers will allow the troop increase to last until spring, said Odierno, who favors keeping experienced forces in place for now.
Is this what they call supporting the troops?
Deployments strain troops' mental health
Pentagon panel warns overburdened system could fail to meet needs
WASHINGTON - The military is putting already-strained troops at greater risk of mental health problems because of repeated deployments to Iraq and Afghanistan, a Pentagon panel said Thursday in warning of an overburdened health system.
Issuing an urgent warning, the Defense Department’s Task Force on Mental Health chaired by Navy Surgeon General Donald Arthur said more than one-third of troops and veterans currently suffer from problems such as traumatic brain injury and post-traumatic stress disorder.
With an escalating Iraq war, those numbers are expected to worsen, and current staffing and money for military health care won’t be able to meet the need, the group said in a preliminary report released Thursday.
Can we call it an escalation now?
UPDATE: Via Think Progress, Rep. Murtha says extensions may actually go to 18 months, not 15. What will be left of our military once Bush is finally gone?
Emphasis added.
Posted by jnfr at 08:25 AM | Comments (0)
May 07, 2007
Tornado Destroys Kansas Town
Unfortunately, much of the equipment needed for reconstruction is stuck in Iraq.
Iraq War Hampers Kansas Cleanup
GREENSBURG, Kan. (AP) -- The rebuilding effort in tornado-ravaged Greensburg, Kansas, likely will be hampered because some much-needed equipment is in Iraq, said that state’s governor.
Governor Kathleen Sebelius said much of the National Guard equipment usually positioned around the state to respond to emergencies is gone. She said not having immediate access to things like tents, trucks and semitrailers will really handicap the rebuilding effort.
The Greensburg administrator estimated that 95 percent of the town of 1500 was destroyed by Friday's tornado.
The Kansas National Guard has about 40 percent of the equipment it is allotted because much of it has been sent to Iraq.
UPDATE: Think Progress has the video.
UPDATE: Think Progress lays out the details of Gov. Sebilius's requests for equipment, proving the Administration's slander of her is false.
Posted by jnfr at 09:06 AM | Comments (0)
May 02, 2007
Olbermann on Bush and Iraq
As usual, Olbermann is kicking ass. Watch carefully the collage of claims of "progress in Iraq" through the years.
Posted by jnfr at 11:29 AM | Comments (0)
Listening to the Commanders
Bush likes to say that the Democrats are trying to micromanage and overrule our military commanders on the ground.
From VoteVets.org comes this letter from Gen. Paul D. Eaton, who has something to say about the matter.
Dear Mr. President,
Today, in your veto message regarding the bipartisan legislation just passed on Operation Iraqi Freedom, you asserted that you so decided because you listen to your commanders on the ground.
Respectfully, as your former commander on the ground, your administration did not listen to our best advice. In fact, a number of my fellow Generals were forced out of their jobs, because they did not tell you what you wanted to hear -- most notably General Eric Shinseki, whose foresight regarding troop levels was advice you rejected, at our troops' peril.
The legislation you vetoed today represented a course of action that is long overdue. This war can no longer be won by the military alone. We must bring to bear the entire array of national power - military, diplomatic and economic. The situation demands a surge in diplomacy, and pressure on the Iraqi government to fix its internal affairs. Further, the Army and Marine Corps are on the verge of breaking - or have been broken already - by the length and intensity of this war. This tempo is not sustainable - and you have failed to grow the ground forces to meet national security needs. We must begin the process of bringing troops home, and repairing and growing our military, if we are ever to have a combat-ready force for the long war on terror ahead of us.
The bill you rejected today sets benchmarks for success that the Iraqis would have to meet, and puts us on a course to redeploy our troops. It stresses the need for sending troops into battle only when they are rested, trained and equipped. In my view, and in the view of many others in the military that I know, that is the best course of action for our security.
As someone who served this nation for decades, I have the utmost respect for the office you hold. However, as a man of conscience, I could not sit idly by as you told the American people today that your veto was based on the recommendations of military men. Your administration ignored the advice of our military's finest minds before, and I see no evidence that you are listening to them now.
I urge you to reconsider your position, and work with Congress to pass a bill that achieves the goals laid out above.
Respectfully,
Major General Paul D. Eaton, USA, Retired
Emphasis added.
UPDATE: Gen. Batiste has now done an advertisement on this subject, for VoteVets.
Posted by jnfr at 07:59 AM | Comments (0)
May 01, 2007
You Can't Veto the Truth
Posted by jnfr at 05:31 PM | Comments (0)
April 25, 2007
Buying the War
Tonight's "Must See TV", Bill Moyers presents Buying the War, a report on the media's complicity with the selling of the invasion of Iraq.
9 pm Eastern on your local PBS station.
UPDATE: "Buying the War" also can be viewed online in its entirety.
Posted by jnfr at 05:17 PM | Comments (0)
April 19, 2007
Jon Stewart Interviews Ali Allawi
While most of the media is mesmerized by psychotic shootings and the comedy stylings of Don Imus, the Daily Show has a serious discussion of events in Iraq.
Both parts of the interview are embedded below.
Posted by jnfr at 12:10 PM | Comments (0)
April 18, 2007
And It Continues...
4 Bombs Kill at Least 127 People in Baghdad
BAGHDAD (AP) -- Four large bombs exploded across Baghdad on Wednesday, killing at least 127 people and wounding scores as violence climbed toward levels seen before the U.S.-Iraqi campaign to pacify the capital began two months ago.
In the deadliest of the attacks, a parked car bomb detonated in a crowd of workers at the Sadriyah market in central Baghdad, killing at least 82 people and wounding 94, said Raad Muhsin, an official at Al-Kindi Hospital where the victims were taken....
Among the dead were several construction workers who had been rebuilding the mostly Shiite marketplace after a bombing destroyed many shops and killed 137 people there in February, the police official said....
UPDATE: The death toll has risen to 160 now.
UPDATE: Perhaps even more, over 170.
Posted by jnfr at 08:14 AM | Comments (0)
April 17, 2007
As We Mourn, So Do They
Imagine that this kind of massacre happened every day. Imagine a police force that was far too small to even respond to most of them. Imagine this occurring repeatedly for years until the perpetrators and their accomplices became the de facto power-brokers throughout the land. Imagine the shootings also being accompanied by the brutal torture of victims. Imagine families never having finality on whether their own siblings or parents or children have been murdered or not.
This is Iraq today. Now think of the justified rage many feel at the VT campus police chief and university president for misjudgments. Now imagine them presiding over several more massacres in the same place. Ask yourself: why do we not feel as enraged by those responsible for security in Iraq? Are those victims not human beings too? Are they not children and mothers and fathers and sons? Are we not ultimately responsible for them, having destroyed the institutions of order in their country?
I keep hearing from US politicians and the US mass media that the "situation is improving" in Iraq. The profound sorrow and alarm produced in the American public by the horrific shootings at Virginia Tech should give us a baseline for what the Iraqis are actually living through. They have two Virginia Tech-style attacks every single day. Virginia Tech will be gone from the headlines and the air waves by next week this time in the US, though the families of the victims will grieve for a lifetime. But next Tuesday I will come out here and report to you that 64 Iraqis have been killed in political violence. And those will mainly be the ones killed by bombs and mortars. They are only 13% of the total; most Iraqis killed violently, perhaps 500 a day throughout the country if you count criminal and tribal violence, are just shot down. Shot down, like the college students and professors at Blacksburg. We Americans can so easily, with a shudder, imagine the college student trying to barricade himself behind a door against the armed madman without. But can we put ourselves in the place of Iraqi students?
The next time you hear Dick Cheney or George Bush blame the public attitude regarding Iraq on the media's failure to report "good news", examine carefully our reaction to the shooting at Viginia Tech. Look at our collective shock. Our horrified reaction. The public sorrow. Yet, in truth, this is an exceptional, unusual day in America. It is not our common experience. But we cannot say the same about Iraq.
The people of Iraq are living in a Marquis de Sade version of Groundhog Day. It is like the Bill Murray movie--the same horrible day repeated with some new, bizarre twists--only not funny. Multiple body counts and explosions and shootings are the daily experience of the people of Iraq. They have been living this hell for four years. Just keep that fact in mind as you mourn the deaths of 22 American students slain in Blacksburg, Viginia.
Posted by jnfr at 11:50 AM | Comments (0)
April 04, 2007
Can this be true?
Along with several other bloody attacks in Iraq today, we have this:
The latest massacre of Iraqi children came as 21 Shia market workers were ambushed, bound and shot dead north of the capital. The victims came from the Baghdad market visited the previous day by John McCain, the US presidential candidate, who said that an American security plan in the capital was starting to show signs of progress.
I certainly hope these murders are not connected to the visit by our government officials, but it's impossible not to wonder.
Posted by jnfr at 05:09 PM | Comments (0)
April 03, 2007
President Pissypants Makes Demands
I suppose that if the Dems don't give him what he wants he'll hold his breath until his face turns blue.
I liked Reid's response, which is short and to the point.
Washington, DC—Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, released the following statement today after comments made by President Bush at the White House:The President today asked the American people to trust him as he continues to follow the same failed strategy that has drawn our troops further into an intractable civil war. The President's policies have failed and his escalation endangers our troops and hurts our national security. Neither our troops nor the American people can afford this strategy any longer.
Democrats will send President Bush a bill that gives our troops the resources they need and a strategy in Iraq worthy of their sacrifices. If the President vetoes this bill he will have delayed funding for troops and kept in place his strategy for failure.
Emphasis added.
You know, listening to Bush again so much of what he said simply made no sense. How will his veto of this bill cause troops to go overseas sooner and at the same time, keep troops home longer? And why in the world would families somehow mind if their soldiers were able to stay home longer anyway?
There's a disconnect in the man's brain, not least of which is that he seems to believe that the public still agrees with his approach to this war.
UPDATE: Ah, in reading the WashPost article further, I see the concern is disruption of troop rotation due to lack of funding for training. Of course, we're sending troops over with inadequate training now, so that seems like B.S. to me.
Posted by jnfr at 12:12 PM | Comments (0)
Security and Insecurity in Baghdad
The NYTimes has a follow-up today on McCain's visit to that Baghdad market. The reporter asked merchants in the market about McCain's visit, and about the security situation there overall.
A day after members of an American Congressional delegation led by Senator John McCain pointed to their brief visit to Baghdad’s central market as evidence that the new security plan for the city was working, the merchants there were incredulous about the Americans’ conclusions.Representative Mike Pence, an Indiana Republican, said the Shorja market was "like a normal outdoor market in Indiana."
"What are they talking about?" Ali Jassim Faiyad, the owner of an electrical appliances shop in the market, said Monday. "The security procedures were abnormal!"
The article goes on to outline different attacks the market has endured this year, and confirms that the violence has been increasing. Then it continues with this:
During their visit on Sunday, the Americans were buttonholed by merchants and customers who wanted to talk about how unsafe they felt and the urgent need for more security in the markets and throughout the city, witnesses said."They asked about our conditions, and we told them the situation was bad," said Aboud Sharif Kadhoury, 63, who peddles prayer rugs at a sidewalk stand....
"This area here is very dangerous," continued Mr. Youssef, who lost his shop in the February attack. "They cannot secure it."
But those conversations were not reflected in the congressmen’s comments at the news conference on Sunday.
Look, it's clear that McCain is trying to convince people of an unreality, and he's doing it for political purposes. He is deeply invested in this war and in the success of the surge, and he wants us to believe that the security situation in Baghdad is getting better. But the situation is not that simple.
Yes, where our Army and Marines go, calm will follow them. But they can't be everywhere, and they can't stay forever. And while they are doing their best to bring some order to this desperate situation, the violence moves elsewhere.
A senior Iraqi military spokesman said a deadly spike in sectarian attacks in provincial cities and towns in recent days was partly a consequence of tighter security in the capital. Last week saw what the government said was the single deadliest attack of the 4-year-old war, a double truck bombing in the northern town of Tal Afar that killed 152 people, according to Iraqi officials...."The terrorists went to the surrounding areas, and these areas are breeding grounds for violence," Brig. Gen. Qassim Musawi said at the news conference with Fox.
This is not a problem that can be resolved by military action, as even Petraeus has stated. His hope is that some measure of calm in the capitol will give the politicians time to work out an agreement that will allow a more permanent peace. But I see little evidence that Iraq's central government has any hope of doing that.
Please don't misunderstand me. I take no joy in the knowledge of this ongoing violence. This war was a stupid, dangerous idea from the start, and this administration has made a total disaster out of that bad idea. I'm unhappy, as we all are, at the massive death and destruction which has been brought about by our country, visited on both the Iraqi people and our own military.
But I'm not willing to surround myself in some dream of security that doesn't exist, or deny the evidence of what's happening in Iraq. I honestly don't see a solution, but I know we have to start by being honest and facing reality there.
Posted by jnfr at 07:05 AM | Comments (0)
April 02, 2007
John McCain's Bullshit Adventure
What John McCain Didn't Tell YouWhile John McCain was excoriating the press in Baghdad yesterday for not presenting the "full story" about how swell things are in Iraq he neglected to mention the pre-visit security sweep that made that neighborhood stroll so safe. I am sure you have already heard about the 100 soldiers, the three Blackhawk helicopters and two Apache gunships that accompanied his entourage, but did you hear about the soldiers who swept the area before the American legislators and their security team showed up? Who cares about those mooks? They are expendable.
John McCain and Lindsey Graham put American soldiers' lives at risk just so they could have a photo op. That's the bottomline....
U.S. soldiers entered the neighborhood before the delegation arrived for its stroll. They searched for explosives, sent informants into the crowd, set up a perimeter, and secured the area before the Senators showed up with their 100 armed guards. And for what? To keep McCain, Graham and others safe. What happened to the Iraqi utopia John McCain so confidently insisted was there for eveyone to see? If the "true" picutre of Iraq was simply a matter of getting the news cameras pointed in the right direction then why did he need a security detail? If the peace and prosperity the Iraqi people are celebrating in safe neighborhoods is genuine then why wear body armor?
You know why? Because John McCain is completely full of shit....
Really, that's all there is to say. So thanks, Larry, for laying it all out so well, in detail, and with the appropriate fury. McCain is shameless.
Emphasis added.
UPDATE: The aftermath.
Just another day at the market. And even though McCain cited a drop in violence, Agence France Presse on Sunday quoted an Iraqi official who reported a 15 percent increase in violence across Iraq in March. According to their tally, 2,078 civilians, cops and soldiers were killed last month, 272 more fatalities than in February.In any case, it didn't take the insurgents long to send their reply. Less then 30 minutes after McCain wrapped up, a barrage of half a dozen mortars peppered the boundaries of the Green Zone, where the senators held their press conference.
Emphasis added.
Posted by jnfr at 12:11 PM | Comments (2)
March 28, 2007
Neverland
I was watching CNN yesterday when I heard this interesting one-two interview by Wolf Blitzer. John McCain was going on about how CNN was so far behind in their reporting, because the security situation is so improved in Baghdad that Americans can walk the streets safely, but CNN is acting like that's not the case.
So after talking with McCain, Blitzer turned to CNN reporter Michael Ware, who is in Baghdad now, and asked him about McCain's charges. Ware states clearly that McCain is the one who is out of touch.
"Honestly, Wolf, you'll barely last twenty minutes out there. I don't know what part of Neverland Senator McCain is talking about when he says we can go strolling in Baghdad."
Fortunately, someone's put the exchange up on YouTube. Listen for yourself.
Posted by jnfr at 06:57 AM | Comments (0)
March 27, 2007
Just waiting around...
...to hear what the Senate decides to do about the Iraq withdrawal language. I mostly like Harry Reid, and I hope he doesn't fail us here.
UPDATE: CNN says Cheney just arrived back in the Capitol (where was he before?) in case he's needed to break a tie vote. It's that close.
Posted by jnfr at 02:58 PM | Comments (0)
March 26, 2007
Americans back Dems' withdrawal plan
By nearly 60%, according to this Pew study
A solid majority of Americans say they want their congressional representative to support a bill calling for a withdrawal of U.S. forces from Iraq by August 2008. Nearly six-in-ten (59%) say they would like to see their representative vote for such legislation, compared with just 33% who want their representative to oppose it.
Pass the word, and don't let the media tell you otherwise.
Posted by jnfr at 03:13 PM | Comments (0)
March 23, 2007
House Sets War Deadline
Well, it's not everything, and it will never get past the Senate, but by a largely party-line vote the House has passed the Iraq Accountability Act, a funding bill which contains a firm deadline for leaving Iraq. I'm glad they did this, even though there's much more work to be done. For starters, they should take up Murtha's bill requiring all troops be properly equipped, trained, and rested before they are sent back to overseas duty.
And, via Greg Sargent at the Horse's Mouth, comes this footage of of Rep. Dave Obey lashing into the Washington Post for their shameful cheerleading that not only helped get us into this terrible mistaken invasion, but which continues to work to keep us there indefinitely.
UPDATE: Nancy Pelosi has posted some video of various speeches. Here's Murtha:
Murtha says:
The American people in the last election sent a message. They said, "We want the Iraqis to solve their own problems in Iraq. The Americans have bore the brunt, we're spending eight billlion dollars, 8.4 billion dollars a month, two billion dollars to get people and equipment and supplies over to Iraq, two billion dollars a month, eight thousand miles away.
I'll tell you what hurts the troops. I'll tell you what hurts them. What hurts them is being extended beyond 13 months, or the Marines beyond seven months. What hurts the troops, if you send the troops, or keep the troops, send them back before they have a year at home.That's what hurts the morale of the troops.
I'm the person that found the 44,000 shortage of body armor in the intitial invasion of Iraq. We had troops in danger because they didn't have the equipment they needed. We cannot send troops back into combat without equipment and fully being trained.
Posted by jnfr at 11:25 AM | Comments (0)
March 12, 2007
How many have been wounded in Iraq?
I heard Jim Webb on This Week yesterday, and in the middle of the interview he talked briefly about how many soldiers have been wounded in Iraq. I uploaded the clip, and you can see it below. It includes a snippet from Bob Woodruff's special on wounded soldiers.
So, Paul Sullivan says over 200,000 wounded. Webb says the VA currently has a backlog of 400,000 applications. How many soldiers have actually been wounded in Iraq? I've heard rumors about this for years, but these are the first sources I've found in anything like major media.
If it's true, no wonder the military medical system is breaking down.
Edited to correct Sullivan's number.
Posted by jnfr at 02:24 PM | Comments (0)
January 29, 2007
Join the troops...
Stop the escalation.
Posted by jnfr at 11:28 AM | Comments (0)
January 28, 2007
Get the troops out of Iraq now!
That's what Lt. Gen Odom (ret.) said on CNN:
And here is Odom's full analysis of the situation in Iraq. It's titled "Strategic Errors of Monumental Proportions".
UPDATE 2/11/07: Gen. Odom has an op-ed in the Washington Post today. I think this should be required reading for anyone discussing Iraq. Victory Is Not an Option
Posted by jnfr at 11:09 AM | Comments (0)
January 24, 2007
An American Patriot
"If we don't debate this we are not worthy of our country. We fail our country."
H/T to digby
Posted by jnfr at 07:39 PM | Comments (0)
December 30, 2006
Saddam Hussein is dead
He won't be missed. I only hope the country doesn't blow up even further now.
But let's not forget who helped to create him.
UPDATE: Of all the posts I've read today about Saddam's death, I think Ezra Klein said it best:
In the end, Saddam's execution only underscores our plight. By the time his neck snapped and his feet swung, Saddam was but a diminished eccentric. His death, once supposed to be the final, glorious denouement of the war, is just a discomfiting reminder that we know only how to destroy, not rebuild. Saddam is dead. Zarqawi is dead. There is no one left to kill or capture who will end this nightmare. In the end, they were just more bodies, tossed atop the pyre in Iraq, where so many others have burned, and where the flames show no sign of extinguishing.
UPDATE: Thanks for the memories!
Posted by jnfr at 08:14 AM | Comments (0)
May 01, 2006
Happy Codpiece Anniversary!
It was three years ago today that Bush stood on an aircraft carrier — one that was positioned precisely for his photo-op — and declared that major combat operations in Iraq were over. We had won! Unfortunately, he was wrong as he is about so many things. Anyway, Think Progress has the best post on this today, so I'm going to steal it outright:
____________________________________________________
On May 1, 2003, President Bush stood underneath a “Mission Accomplished” banner and announced that “Major combat operations have ended. In the battle of Iraq, the United States and our allies have prevailed.”
Here’s a look at the situation then compared to the situation now, by the numbers:
| May 1, 2003 | Today | |
| U.S. Troops Wounded | 542 | 17,469 |
| U.S. Troops Killed |
139 | 2,400 |
| Size of U.S. Forces | 150,000 | 132,000 |
| Size of Iraqi Security Forces |
7,000-9000 | 250,500 |
| Number of Insurgents | 5,000 | 15,000-20,000 |
| Insurgent Attacks Per Day | 8 | 75 |
| Cost to U.S. Taxpayers | $79 billion | $320 billion |
| Approval of Bush’s Handling of Iraq | 75% | 37% |
| Percentage of Americans who Believe The Iraq War Was “Worth Fighting” | 70% | 41% |
| Bush’s Overall Job Approval | 71% | 38% |
________________________________________
Oh, and while you're at it, say thanks to Stephen Colbert!
Posted by jnfr at 10:43 AM | Comments (0)
September 02, 2005
LA wanted equipment returned from Iraq
Note the date on this article:
LA National Guard Wants Equipment to Come Back From Iraq
Yunji de Nies
August 1, 2005, 9:07 PM CDT
JACKSON BARRACKS -- When members of the Louisiana National Guard left for Iraq in October, they took a lot equipment with them. Dozens of high water vehicles, humvees, refuelers and generators are now abroad, and in the event of a major natural disaster that, could be a problem.
"The National Guard needs that equipment back home to support the homeland security mission," said Lt. Colonel Pete Schneider with the LA National Guard.
Posted by jnfr at 10:19 AM | Comments (0)
August 11, 2005
Removing the Mayor of Baghdad
Juan Cole has an explanation of the "coup" which recently removed the mayor of Baghdad, and his explanation is quite different from what I've seen in the mainstream media, so it bears repeating here:
The Supreme Council for Islamic Revolution in Iraq won the provincial elections in Baghdad on Jan. 30, a fact that has been little noted in the Western press. They have now moved to depose the mayor of Baghdad and install their own man. Alaa al-Tamimi left quietly. That SCIRI and the Badr Organization (this militia ran as a political party) won the election in Baghdad province gives them the right to name the mayor. Some US reports are portraying this as a coup by a "Shiite militia", but the "coup" happened on Jan. 30 at the ballot box.
Posted by jnfr at 07:07 AM | Comments (0)
July 13, 2005
My heart burns with rage
...at those who would do this:
Suicide Car Bomber Kills 18 Iraqi KidsBAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) - A suicide car bomb exploded next to U.S. troops handing out candy and toys, killing 18 children and teenagers Wednesday. Parents heard the shattering explosion and raced out to the discover the worst - children's mangled, bloodied bodies strewn on the street.
Up to 27 people were killed by the blast in the Shiite Muslim neighborhood, including an American soldier. At least 70 people were injured, a newborn and three U.S. soldiers among them.
Children's slippers lay piled near the blast crater not far from a crumbled child's bicycle as blood pooled in the street.
Twelve of the dead were 13 or younger and six were between 14 and 17, said police Lt. Mohammed Jassim Jabr. Among the wounded was 4-day-old Miriam Jabber, cut slightly by flying glass and debris.
Posted by jnfr at 02:21 PM | Comments (0)
July 12, 2005
One thing to keep in mind
Despite the right-wing bluster, Joe Wilson was right. The Niger documents were forged (we're not sure by whom; they've been traced back to Italian intelligence but the trail stops there, and of course the Republican-controlled Congress has so far refused to investigate further). Saddam Hussein did not attempt to purchase uranium from Africa.
There was no current, ongoing attempt in Iraq to create a nuclear bomb, and there certainly was no bomb ready to launch within 45 minutes. There were no weapons of mass destruction other than those under seal of the United Nations (now lost to looters and insurgents).
This administration invaded Iraq because that's what they always intended to do. 9/11 was a pretext, the supposed weapons of mass destruction were a pretext, and we are less safe today because of the actions of Karl Rove and George W. Bush. Rove didn't go after Wilson in an attempt to keep Michael Cooper from spreading a lie. He was trying to keep Cooper, and other reporters, from spreading the truth.
Posted by jnfr at 08:38 AM | Comments (0)
June 26, 2005
Casualties in Iraq over time
Here is a flash map which animates casualties in Iraq over time and space. It's fascinating to watch, in a terrible way. Pay special attention to the past month and the insurgency's "last throes".
Posted by jnfr at 01:22 PM | Comments (1)
June 21, 2005
The Yellow Elephant Campaign
Because ranting is safer than enlisting.
Edit: With a hip-hip-hooray for Jesus's General!
Posted by jnfr at 11:28 AM | Comments (0)
February 23, 2005
War crimes
And I don't mean acts by the troops, though plenty of those are questionable as well. These crimes were by the ones at the top, the government officials who decided to begin this preemptive war in the first place, and even before the torture started. From today's Guardian:
Revealed: The Rush to War
The attorney general, Lord Goldsmith, warned less than two weeks before the invasion of Iraq that military action could be ruled illegal.
The government was so concerned that it might be prosecuted it set up a team of lawyers to prepare for legal action in an international court.
And a parliamentary answer issued days before the war in the name of Lord Goldsmith - but presented by ministers as his official opinion before the crucial Commons vote - was drawn up in Downing Street, not in the attorney general's chambers....
It appears that Lord Goldsmith never wrote an unequivocal formal legal opinion that the invasion was lawful, as demanded by Lord Boyce, chief of defence staff at the time.
Posted by jnfr at 10:37 AM | Comments (0)
February 11, 2005
Baghdad Burning
It's not unusual for riverbend to move me with her writing. She's in the heart of Baghdad, and that's been a pretty terrible place to be for the past couple of years. In this recent post, she describes changes she's seeing around her, as those who want Iraq to be governed by Sharia law begin to consolidate their power. As a feminist who has always valued my own independence, I don't know how she will live with it. She starts out talking about the election:
I literally had chills going up and down my spine as I watched Abdul Aziz Al Hakeem of Iranian-inclined SCIRI dropping his ballot into a box. Behind him, giving moral support and her vote, was what I can only guess to be his wife. She was shrouded literally from head to foot and only her eyes peeped out of the endless sea of black. She stuffed her ballot in the box with black-gloved hands and submissively followed a very confident Hakeem. E. turned to me with a smile and a wink, “That might be you in a couple of years…” I promptly threw a sofa cushion at him.
Then describes a visit to the Ministry of Higher Education:
We headed for the building containing the ministry employees (but hardly ever containing the minister). It was small and cramped. Every 8 employees were stuck in the same room. The air was tense and heavy. We were greeted in the reception area by a bearded man who scanned us disapprovingly. “Da’awachi,” my cousin whispered under his breath, indicating the man was from the Da’awa Party. What could he do for us? Who did we want? We wanted to have some documents legalized by the ministry, I said loudly, trying to cover up my nervousness. He looked at me momentarily and then turned to the cousin pointedly. My cousin repeated why we were there and asked for directions. We were told to go to one of the rooms on the same floor and begin there.
“Please dress appropriately next time you come here.” The man said to me. I looked down at what I was wearing- black pants, a beige high-necked sweater and a knee-length black coat. Huh? I blushed furiously. He meant my head should be covered and I should be wearing a skirt. I don’t like being told what to wear and what not to wear by strange men. “I don’t work here- I don’t have to follow a dress code.” I answered coldly. The cousin didn’t like where the conversation was going, he angrily interceded, “We’re only here for an hour and it really isn’t your business.”
“It is my business.” Came the answer, “She should have some respect for the people who work here.” And the conversation ended. I looked around for the people I should be respecting. There were three or four women who were apparently ministry employees. Two of them were wearing long skirts, loose sweaters and headscarves and the third had gone all out and was wearing a complete “jubba” or robe-like garb topped with a black head scarf. My cousin and I turned to enter the room the receptionist had indicated and my eyes were stinging. No one could talk that way before the war and if they did, you didn’t have to listen. You could answer back. Now, you only answer back and make it an issue if you have some sort of death wish or just really, really like trouble.
Read the whole thing. It will chill you, too.
Posted by jnfr at 05:25 PM | Comments (0)
January 31, 2005
I do love this picture
I'm not convinced the vote will make things better, but for her sake, and all who joined her yesterday, I surely hope so.
Picture © AFP, used without permission
Posted by jnfr at 05:23 PM | Comments (0)
January 06, 2005
A bad combination
Oliver Willis had the best post of the day yesterday, when he showed us the very bad combination of these two stories:
There is rising concern amongst senior officials that President Bush does not grasp the increasingly grim reality of the security situation in Iraq because he refuses to listen to that type of information. Our sources say that attempts to brief Bush on various grim realities have been personally rebuffed by the President, who actually says that he does not want to hear “bad news.”
Rather, Bush makes clear that all he wants are progress reports, where they exist, and those facts which seem to support his declared mission in Iraq...building democracy. “That's all he wants to hear about,” we have been told. So “in” are the latest totals on school openings, and “out” are reports from senior US military commanders (and those intelligence experts still on the job) that they see an insurgency becoming increasingly effective, and their projection that “it will just get worse.”
And this one:
U.S. reserves nearly 'broken,' says chief
The U.S. Army Reserve, tapped heavily to provide soldiers for wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, is “degenerating into a ‘broken’ force” due to dysfunctional military policies, the Army Reserve’s chief said in a memo made public Wednesday.
This is a dangerous situation, and it doesn't look like this administration is even willing to notice.
Posted by jnfr at 08:13 AM | Comments (0)
December 23, 2004
Rummy
The best reason I've heard for keeping Rumsfeld in office: "When they start the war crimes trials, they'll know right where to find him."
Posted by jnfr at 05:29 PM | Comments (0)
December 05, 2004
Military deaths in Iraq
From MyDD via Atrios. Everyone should see this.
Posted by jnfr at 07:10 PM | Comments (0)
Those who dare to count the dead
In today's Guardian, Naomi Klein presents evidence for her claim that U.S. forces in Fallujah specifically targeted anyone who dared to report on civilian casualties, placing them under arrest and removing any ability to communicate. In particular, doctors, journalists, and clerics were targeted, according to Klein.
To: David T Johnson, Acting ambassador, US Embassy, London
Dear Mr Johnson, On November 26, your press counsellor sent a letter to the Guardian taking strong exception to a sentence in my column of the same day. The sentence read: "In Iraq, US forces and their Iraqi surrogates are no longer bothering to conceal attacks on civilian targets and are openly eliminating anyone - doctors, clerics, journalists - who dares to count the bodies." Of particular concern was the word "eliminating".
The letter suggested that my charge was "baseless" and asked the Guardian either to withdraw it, or provide "evidence of this extremely grave accusation". It is quite rare for US embassy officials to openly involve themselves in the free press of a foreign country, so I took the letter extremely seriously. But while I agree that the accusation is grave, I have no intention of withdrawing it. Here, instead, is the evidence you requested....
Posted by jnfr at 01:01 PM | Comments (0)
December 03, 2004
I get so angry
...when so many are still dying in the disaster that is our war in Iraq, and yet I hear that, of all the cabinet members Bush is ditching, Rumsfeld gets to stay.
Posted by jnfr at 05:13 PM | Comments (0)
December 01, 2004
Fallujah
One goal of the Fallujah offensive was to make the city safer for the upcoming elections. But the offensive itself rained so much destruction on the city that it's not clear the city can be rebuilt in anything under a year or two. Plus we face the additional burden of trying to tell who is or is not an insurgent among the people wanting to return to Fallujah. This isn't something we're really good at.
The U.S. death toll in the Fallujah offensive has climbed to 71. Overall, November was the worst month yet for U.S. military deaths. I haven't seen any definitive count of Iraqi civilian deaths in the Fallujah assault.
Posted by jnfr at 06:40 PM | Comments (0)
November 29, 2004
Has napalm returned?
We know the military used white phosphorus weapons, but have they been been using napalm too? I believe such use is considered a war crime.
Link courtesy of No More Mister Nice Blog
Posted by jnfr at 07:03 PM | Comments (0)
Heartbreaking
Ever since George Bush was re-elected, conservatives have been telling liberals to "get over it." Excuse me? "Get over it?" This wasn't a baseball game. This wasn't the Super Bowl. We're not sobbing in our beers because the Steelers whipped the Packers.
We're at war. People's lives are at stake. Every day, families are being destroyed, both here and in Iraq. To treat this election so dismissively is an insult to them and to the soldiers who gave life and limb in this war.
Posted by jnfr at 08:59 AM | Comments (0)
November 26, 2004
Another vet must serve
And this one is a Vietnam vet who's 53.
Paul Dunlap, a sergeant in the Army National Guard, will join an armored division next month as a telecommunications specialist in Kuwait, and expects to be there for at least a year, the newspaper reported.
Dunlap, who has not been in combat since serving as a 19-year-old Marine in Vietnam, could not be reached for comment. He will leave behind his wife Mary, four children and three grandchildren.
"I don't think any of them want me to go," Dunlap told the paper. "I'm thinking it's a long time since I've been in war."
Again, not surprising when you realize that we've actually lost 9% of our forces to death or injury. This is a much higher figure than has previously been reported.
Posted by jnfr at 01:35 PM | Comments (0)
November 25, 2004
Forcing AID workers to Iraq
This article in Salon says that the Agency for International Development is having trouble getting enough people to work in Iraq, which is no surprise after what happened to Margaret Hassan. So if they don't have enough workers, current workers "will be required to volunteer" to stay in Iraq. There are more details in the Washington Post article Salon references.
How can they possibly do that? It sounds like slavery to me. I hope these people have the option to quit their jobs and walk away, but neither article clarifies that.
Posted by jnfr at 09:32 AM | Comments (0)
November 23, 2004
Assault on the Baghdad insurgents
Sunni insurgents have taken up residence in the areas south of Baghdad, and from there have been launching attacks on the city. Today a combined force of 5,000 U.S. military, British troops, and Iraqi security forces launched a massive assault on the area, in an attempt to rout out the attackers there. While the Fallujah campaign has mostly wrapped up, violence has been non-stop in other areas of Iraq.
Posted by jnfr at 02:33 PM | Comments (0)
Hawks call for troop reduction
Finally, there's something the hawks and I agree on.
A growing number of national security specialists who supported the toppling of Saddam Hussein are moving to a position unthinkable even a few months ago: that the large US military presence is impeding stability as much as contributing to it and that the United States should begin major reductions in troops beginning early next year
UPDATE: I only agree if they aren't recalled in order to invade Iran, of course.
Posted by jnfr at 12:19 PM | Comments (0)
November 21, 2004
Children are paying the price
Surveys by the U.N. and various aid agencies show that malnutrition among children in Iraq has nearly doubled since the invasion.
After the rate of acute malnutrition among children younger than 5 steadily declined to 4 percent two years ago, it shot up to 7.7 percent this year, according to a study conducted by Iraq's Health Ministry in cooperation with Norway's Institute for Applied International Studies and the U.N. Development Program. The new figure translates to roughly 400,000 Iraqi children suffering from "wasting," a condition characterized by chronic diarrhea and dangerous deficiencies of protein....
The surveys suggest the silent human cost being paid across a country convulsed by instability and mismanagement. While attacks by insurgents have grown more violent and more frequent, deteriorating basic services take lives that many Iraqis said they had expected to improve under American stewardship.
Iraq's child malnutrition rate now roughly equals that of Burundi, a central African nation torn by more than a decade of war. It is far higher than rates in Uganda and Haiti.
Posted by jnfr at 06:52 AM | Comments (0)
November 20, 2004
Other U.S. citizens are dying too
Phillip Carter points us to some figures on contractor deaths, which haven't been reported before. I was surprised to find that there are nearly half as many contractors (60,000) as regular military (130,000) in Iraq at the moment. We sure don't hear much about them.
Posted by jnfr at 05:32 PM | Comments (0)
The monkey trap
I was talking with some friends last night about Iraq, and how it's like the traps set for monkeys - a coconut with a hole and some rice inside, the hole big enough to put a hand through but not to pull out when the hand is full of rice. The monkey is trapped because he won't let go of the rice and pull his hand free.
In my view, the "rice" for Bush and the neo-cons is the permanent bases they want so badly and won't let go of. And oil, of course, there's always oil.
Anyway, as it turns out, William Raspberry already thought of this analogy a year ago.
Posted by jnfr at 09:03 AM | Comments (0)
November 19, 2004
22 more
Every weekday night I watch the PBS News Hour, and at the end of the hour they do a silent memorial for soldiers killed in Iraq whose names are newly released. It's hard to sit and watch the pictures of these young kids, and know their promise is ended. To me they are very young — occasionally in their 30s, mostly young 20s, a few in their 'teens.
Usually there are several, sometimes a dozen. Right after the election there was one night with 20 — the most I'd seen — and I figured the administration had been holding back names since there had been few in the days before. Right after that it went back to six or seven. A small trickle of dead children.
Tonight they had 22. And I want to gouge my eyes out, or my brain, or anything to take away the knowledge that these kids died in Fallujah, and the war rolls on unheeding.
Posted by jnfr at 06:53 PM | Comments (0)
November 18, 2004
No civilian casualties?
Today on NPR I heard an officer in Fallujah claim that he had seen no signs of even a single civilian casuality in Fallujah. I guess he didn't look very hard.
Posted by jnfr at 06:18 PM | Comments (0)
Reporting from Iraq
It's hard getting good news of what exactly is happening in Iraq these days. Here's a good description of why, and the story of how things have changed over the past year.
Posted by jnfr at 01:07 PM | Comments (0)
Stuck in Fallujah
The New York Times this morning reports that Marine officers say we can't leave Fallujah now that we've cleared out the insurgents, because then the insurgents will come right back. Which is both true and obvious. And while our military is tied down in Fallujah, the insurgents will operate elsewhere, as we have seen in Mosul, Baquba, Ramadi, and Baghdad this past week. We don't have enough soldiers to occupy the entire country, and we don't want to be there forever anyway. But the insurgents, who are mostly local people fighting the occupation, are going to keep fighting as long as we are there.
I don't see an easy way out of this for the U.S. and our military. I don't see that the situation is going to calm down. We're trying to train a local Iraqi security force. But when you train a Sunni force, they will refuse to fight against Sunni insurgents. And if you instead bring in Kurdish forces, as we have been doing recently, you risk inflaming sectarian hatred that may lead to full civil war.
If it's true that the Sunnis are largely going to boycott the January elections, then we're looking at a permanent insurgent force. Drawing the various factions into the political process is Iraq's only real hope for stability. But we haven't been doing too well on the hearts and minds front recently.
Posted by jnfr at 09:19 AM | Comments (0)
November 16, 2004
In the middle of all this horror
I read a weblog called A View From a Broad. It's written by a woman serving in Iraq. She calls herself ginmar and she writes with a lot of attitude, about all kinds of stuff.
Today she wrote a post about seeing the humanity in the Iraqi people, bouncing off memories of her own family. It's a classic, and it's heart-breaking.
This is such an ancient country. Parts of it along the rivers seem almost primeieval, with the ten foot rushes and the fan-shaped palm trees. You expect to see a dinosaur, especially at sunset, when the earth is black and the sky is gold. Long stretches of it are lush, and then abruptly it changes to dry sand and dust. Fields of garbage pass by the windows in multi-colored heaps, and there's always a few stray dogs or people picking hopefully through them. ...
Gradually, something else dawned on me, too. We were being waved at. I'm a waving fool. Hey, every little gesture. The kids always wave. But as we got further and further south, it was adults who lifted their hands first, and smiled. And what smiles! They smiled as if they were fond of us, as if we were old friends. Men, women, all the kids---it was like we were neighbors back from a visit that had kept us away too long. Young men, old men, women in full abbayas, women in chic outfits and without veils----they all waved and smiled at us. When we smiled and waved back, it felt a little bit like euphoria. ...
Every time I see a soldier here, I feel a brief burst of...what do you call it? Brotherhood? They're a reminder of home, of shared struggle. Doesn't matter if they're Polish, Bulgarian, what have you. The Poles have taken some hits for us, and when I think of the Bulgarians, I think of their prime minister, a man who was so overcome by being inducted into NATO that he had tears streaming down his face. I won't quote from Henvy V, but every time I see some soldier, I think, "Ah, somebody who understands what there is to bitch about."
Yesterday I felt that pretty much for everyone. ...
Read the whole thing. It's inspiring.
Posted by jnfr at 07:19 PM | Comments (0)
Soldiers dying too
Yes, things in Iraq are going very well indeed.
November already is second deadliest month for U.S. troops in Iraq
We've been there now since March, 2003. Twenty months and they're dying as fast as ever. The worst month was April, 2004. I guess it's no surprise they're having so much trouble getting the active reserve to show up.
Posted by jnfr at 05:20 PM | Comments (0)
Shooting innocents
Apparently a video has surfaced which shows the shooting death of Margaret Hassan. This is a woman who, although she was a British citizen, had lived in Iraq most of her life, and had spent most of her life in service to the people of Iraq. I don't even know what to say about such barbarism.
Just as Iraqi deaths fuel the fury of Iraqi insurgents, so do these barbaric acts fuel the fury of the U.S. and its citizens. It's important to remember that most Iraqi people are not terrorists. It's impossible to feel sympathy for anyone who would behave in such a way.
Posted by jnfr at 01:51 PM | Comments (0)
Shooting prisoners
I understand, as well as a civilian can anyway, that war creates psychological problems that may never heal. I'm sure these troubles are particularly acute in an occupation like the one we are conducting in Iraq, where insurgents and terrorists hide among the civilian population and you never really know where death hides. Plus our fighting forces are poorly trained and over-burdened, and this can be laid directly at the feet of George Bush and Donald Rumsfeld.
But shooting wounded men who are no threat is a war crime. If it's true that the incident caught on tape by Kevin Sites was only one in a series of such shootings, then we need to make sure the prosecution goes as far as it needs to, and put a firm stop to these incidents. Seeing an unarmed Muslim man shot in the head, in a mosque, is only going to fuel Iraqi hatred of the occupying forces, and feed the insurgency we're trying to quell.
Posted by jnfr at 11:13 AM | Comments (0)
More on Fallujah
Some are graphic; visit at your own risk.
And, from the Los Angeles Times today, a report from a doctor on the scene. Haunted by Those He Couldn't Save
Posted by jnfr at 09:23 AM | Comments (0)
November 15, 2004
Blogging Fallujah
Posted by jnfr at 10:47 PM | Comments (0)
Fallujah conquered, but in ruins
Well, something had to be done about Fallujah, I guess, though I don't think we've made the situation any better overall. Once we count up all the deaths, if they are counted honestly, I think we're going to find that the toll on civilians was very high. The city itself has been fairly well destroyed, and the local population has been terrorized. In a land were tribal and clan relationships are the basis of the social structure, you can be sure that every home demolished and every woman and child killed will spawn another round of hatred for the U.S. and for our troops still on the ground.
With heavy fighting now underway in other Sunni strongholds such as in Mosul and Baquba, it's clear that while we have destroyed some insurgent nests and taken some of their weapons, it hasn't been enough to stop the insurgency, or even seriously slow it down.
American commanders say they expected that the fight for Falluja, coinciding with the end of the holy month of Ramadan, would set off a surge in violence across the country. But the scope and size of the attacks in Mosul last Thursday stunned American officers who were scrambling Sunday to regain the initiative. — New York Times
And in the meantime we've set Allawi on a precarious path, with his own countryman furious over his cooperation with the invasion of Fallujah. The people suffer from the criminal incursions of the militants, who kidnap and murder apparently at will, and then suffer again when the U.S. military attempts to crack down on the criminal elements. And Allawi is regarded by many to be no more than a puppet for American interests, so he is on shaky ground to start with.
Mr. Bruner says that while the focus has been on Sunni insurgents in Iraq's center, the chances of ethnic and sectarian problems remain high in other communities. "Mosul is teeming with people ... and there are seething hatreds between the Sunnis, Kurds, (and) Turkmen, including Shia Turkmen. It's a mess." — Christian Science Monitor
With Iraq still under martial law, and much of the country still suffering violence, how can an honest and peaceful election be held? And without one, how can all these disparate elements be brought into line? Once again, the criminally inept lack of planning for the after-war shows through.
Posted by jnfr at 01:19 PM | Comments (0)
Another discharged soldier recalled
You may recall an earlier story of a soldier who was completely finished with his service being recalled by the Army. Well another soldier who had finished his service is being told he's a deserter because he didn't respond when the military tried to forcibly re-enlist him, even though his reserve obligation had been met. That's no way to support our troops, now is it?
The military these days reeks of desperation. They have too few soldiers, spread way too thin, in a senseless mission with no end in sight. What a mess our Commander in Chief and his incompetent Defense Department have created!
Posted by jnfr at 12:12 PM | Comments (0)
I'd call this a war crime
From the SF Chronicle, on the use of white phosphorus weapons in Fallujah:
"Usually we keep the gloves on," said Army Capt. Erik Krivda, of Gaithersburg, Md., the senior officer in charge of the 1st Infantry Division's Task Force 2-2 tactical operations command center. "For this operation, we took the gloves off."
Some artillery guns fired white phosphorous rounds that create a screen of fire that cannot be extinguished with water. Insurgents reported being attacked with a substance that melted their skin, a reaction consistent with white phosphorous burns.
Kamal Hadeethi, a physician at a regional hospital, said, "The corpses of the mujahedeen which we received were burned, and some corpses were melted."
This soldier thinks we are committing genocide.
Posted by jnfr at 08:55 AM | Comments (0)
November 14, 2004
And they say they're pro-life
Inside Fallujah: one family’s diary of terror
She weeps while telling the story. The abaya (tunic) she wears cannot hide the shaking of her body as waves of grief roll through her. “I cannot get the image out of my mind of her foetus being blown out of her body.”
Muna Salim’s sister, Artica, was seven months’ pregnant when two rockets from US warplanes struck her home in Fallujah on November 1. “My sister Selma and I only survived because we were staying at our neighbours’ house that night,” Muna continued, unable to reconcile her survival while eight members of her family perished during the pre-assault bombing of Fallujah that had dragged on for weeks....
“There were no fighters in our area, so I don’t know why they bombed our home,” said Muna.
from Suburban Guerilla
Posted by jnfr at 12:06 PM | Comments (0)
400 wounded
since the start of the Fallujah offensive.
And we're fighting insurgents in Mosul now.
Oh, and we haven't caught the leaders yet.
Posted by jnfr at 09:41 AM | Comments (0)
November 13, 2004
Disaster in Fallujah
At least for the civilians. Relief agencies are calling the assault on Fallujah a big disaster.
"There's no water. People are drinking dirty water. Children are dying. People are eating flour because there's no proper food," he told aid workers in Habbaniya, which has become a refugee camp, with around 2,000 families sheltering there.
This report from a BBC reporter confirms that conditions in the city are deadly and many civilians are dying.
It is hard to know how much people outside Falluja are aware of what is going on here.
I want them to know about conditions inside this city - there are dead women and children lying on the streets.
People are getting weaker from hunger. Many are dying from their injuries because there is no medical help left in the city whatsoever.
Some families have started burying their dead in their gardens.
Posted by jnfr at 09:05 AM | Comments (0)
November 12, 2004
Phone cards for the troops
Via Steve Gilliard, I find that wounded troops at Walter Reed Hospital are in great need of phone cards. Any amount, big or small. Send them to:
Medical Family Assistance Center
Walter Reed Medical Center
6900 Georgia Avenue, NW
Washington, DC 20307-5001
Posted by jnfr at 04:47 PM | Comments (0)
November 11, 2004
The missing insurgents
Many of the insurgents we expected to find in Fallujah weren't there. It seems at least some of them are operating in Mosul instead.
Insurgents have set police stations ablaze, stole weapons and brazenly roamed the streets of Mosul as Iraq's third largest city appeared to be sliding out of control, residents said.
Explosions and fire from assault rifles and rocket-propelled grenades echoed across the city and columns of smoke rose from at least two police stations set alight. At least seven police stations have been attacked in the past 48 hours.
The US military issued a statement admitting that local security forces had been overrun in several areas and said local authorities were doing what they could to restore order.
UPDATE: A friend of mine calls this IRAQ-A-MOLE! I love it.
Posted by jnfr at 04:45 PM | Comments (0)
November 10, 2004
Iraqi voting
For anyone interested in the progress of voting in Iraq, Juan Cole was on NPR tonight explaining the various power groups and how they may interact around the vote.
Posted by jnfr at 07:45 PM | Comments (1)
And in Fallujah
It looks like the leaders and many of the insurgents have fled the city in advance of the assault. Now there's a surprise. I thought they were going to put on their red coats and stand up in a long line to fight us fairly!
We really haven't learned much from history, have we?
Posted by jnfr at 07:37 AM | Comments (0)
November 08, 2004
Was a peaceful solution possible?
On the day when thousands of U.S. and Iraqi forces have entered Fallujah to kick some insurgent ass, Leah at Corrente takes note of an article in the Washington Post which reports on local Iraqi efforts to create a peaceful resolution to the crisis in Fallujah and elsewhere. She is rightly angered to find that the administration wanted no part of it.
Can anyone who isn't a completely crazed neocon not understand that the offer described above has the makings of a major breakthrough, one that Bush & Co could even take credit for, deserved or not, one they could even use to justify their bloody air attacks on Fallujah as a "get tough" policy that is working. Thus, I read those first quoted paragraphs with increasing excitement. Nothing is more important than that the Sunni Iraqis participate in the January election, absolutely nothing. Without their participation, the election will be seen as an American/Shia election, not an Iraqi one.
Do I have to even tell you what the response of the Bush-league administration is thus far? Zero. Zed. Zilch. Nothin. — Leah
Posted by jnfr at 03:43 PM | Comments (0)
Generals critique the war
They think things look pretty bad.
Gen. Merrill "Tony" McPeak Air Force chief of staff, 1990-94: We have a force in Iraq that's much too small to stabilize the situation.
Adm. Stansfield Turner NATO Allied commander for Southern Europe, 1975-77; CIA director, 1977-81: I think we are in a real mess.
Lt. Gen. William Odom Director of the National Security Agency, 1985-88: It's a huge strategic disaster, and it will only get worse.
Read the whole thing, and weep.
Posted by jnfr at 08:50 AM | Comments (0)
Turbulence in the run-up to Iraqi elections
In January there is supposed to be a national election in Iraq, which should be the start of their status as a full, free nation, though they'll still be dependent on the U.S. military for security. In order to hold an election, you first have to register voters. Juan Cole reports that there is a shortage of cards used for registering new voters. The cards are based on the old U.N. food ration list, which were given by household, not by individual, so it's not entirely clear how many voters need to be registered. The information Cole cites indicates that hundreds of thousands may be missed.
As expected, the various national factions in Iraq are manuvering for power as plans for the election proceed. The Independent Election Committee of Iraq has set up stringent requirements for candidates, more stringent than most countries use, which raises concerns that the interim government may be trying to squeeze some candidates out. They've also decided that no former Baathist member will be allowed if they held rank above a certain, fairly low, level, and this will disqualify many educated people such as teachers and college professors.
And beyond the struggles between Baathists, Sunnis and Shiites, there are struggles between various Shiite factions, and everyone is apparently fighting with Ahmed Chalabi's power base. No one seems to know how to accomodate Moqtada al Sadr's base, either. Really, it makes our red state/blue state struggles look ridiculously simple.
This election is to create a 275-person national assembly that will then write a constitution and install a national government. Some degree of national unity will be necessary if the assembly is to pull that off. It remains to be seen how much unity will come out of this interim election, especially since Iraq will be under martial law for the two months leading up to the election, and violent attacks continue around the country.
Posted by jnfr at 07:57 AM | Comments (0)
Desert Storm Vet must serve again
I know the military is really stretched right now, but this is insanity. They've been calling up the inactive reserve, but Miyasato already fulfilled his entire service contract. I sure hope it's only a mistake, and the government will leave this poor guy alone.
Posted by jnfr at 07:13 AM | Comments (0)
November 07, 2004
Fallujah
So our troops are moving into position for a final assault on Fallujah. I'm very worried that it will turn out to be a disaster, both for our troops and for the innocent civilians who remain in the city. It's not clear how many do remain; CNN was saying that 50,000 people are still there out of a population of 250,000 previously. I'd be surprised if all of those 50,000 were insurgents.
I hope for the best, and hold Bush and his administration responsible for the massive disaster that Iraq has become.
Posted by jnfr at 11:08 AM | Comments (0)