Recently in Iraq Category
Well, boys and girls, we’re still in Iraq, and since declaring the end of major combat operations, a full 97% of the men and women who have died in Iraq have done so following that potentially great day. And, of course, if we choose to elect John McCain as our next Commander in Chief, we will have many more Mission Accomplished Days to celebrate.Do I really need to add to that?
Oh hell, of course I don't. Besides, rhetorical question. Duh.
The Hastings Star GazetteAfter 5 years this should not be happening. Putting aside the lies, the deception, and the manipulation that led us into this occupation, if the current administration had any competent leadership abilities, this type of extreme rotation would not be needed. Instead, there would already be an international coalition in Iraq, with the Iraqis themselves supply the bulk of security in their own country.
About 50 Hastings-based soldiers from the Minnesota National Guard will soon be returning to Iraq for their second deployment in four years.
The soldiers are part of Charlie Company of the 834th Aviation Support Battalion of the 34th Combat Aviation Brigade. They’ll be leaving near the end of May for an approximately year-long tour, Shane Hudella, a spokesman for the National Guard said.
Instead, we are left as the major, if not sole, security force in the country that does not want us there, while a certain vice-president's company reaps a whirlwind profit. Meanwhile, the Iraqi Army was soundly rebuffed by local militias and shows no signs of being able to improve its standing.
CBS NewsWhat the hell do you say to this type of cover up?
In the past, Katz has repeatedly insisted while the risk of suicide among veterans is serious, it's not outside the norm.
"There is no epidemic in suicide in VA," Katz told Keteyian in November.
But in this e-mail to his top media adviser, written two months ago, Katz appears to be saying something very different, stating: "Our suicide prevention coordinators are identifying about 1,000 suicide attempts per month among veterans we see in our medical facilities."
Katz's e-mail was written shortly after the VA provided CBS News data showing there were only 790 attempted suicides in all 2007 - a fraction of Katz's estimate.
Suicide is an extremely serious problem. Denial on the part of those responsible for helping the veteran's struggling with depression clearly means our military personnel are not getting the help they need. Katz is suppose to be focusing on the welfare of his patients, not the greater good of the military.
The man acted dishonorably, tarnishing the reputation of our military personnel, many who are now struggling to overcome the psychological damage caused by what was clearly an untenable situation.
New York TimesBAGHDAD (AP) -- The overall U.S. death toll in Iraq rose to 4,000 after four soldiers were killed in a roadside bombing in Baghdad, a grim milestone that is likely to fuel calls for the withdrawal of American forces as the war enters its sixth year.
The American deaths occurred Sunday, the same day rockets and mortars pounded the U.S.-protected Green Zone in Baghdad and a wave of attacks left at least 61 Iraqis dead nationwide.
At this point, rage just won't get anything done. 4000 lives all in the name of Big Oil and Bush's ego. So, do you think he will go to his grave smug in the belief he showed up his father? Yeah, I agree.
Balloon JuiceI am not sure if he qualifies as a modern conservative. At least, not after this post.
Everything.
USA TodayFive years ago this week, as bombs began to rain down on Baghdad, this newspaper's front-page news story said President Bush's order "signaled the beginning of a preventive war unique in American history and one on which he has staked his presidency."
Subsequent events have shown the pre-emptive attack on Iraq to have been one of the great foreign policy blunders in American history, one that has driven Bush's approval rating down to 32%. Saddam Hussein, it turned out, had nothing to do with the 9/11 attacks, possessed no weapons of mass destruction and posed no imminent threat to U.S. security.
While the U.S. deposed a brutal dictator, in the process it destabilized Iraq, emboldened its archenemy Iran and opened the door for al-Qaeda terrorists to establish a foothold in a place they hadn't been. Efforts to defeat the insurgency and salvage a semblance of stability in Iraq have cost nearly 4,000 American lives and more than $500 billion.
Normally, I do not post opinion pieces from newspapers. However, this one is from USA Today. When America's Cheerleader newspaper states that the pre-emptive attack was a foreign policy blunder, that is saying something.
Oh, and they call the invasion "Bush's Blunder." That's going to stick.
The News TribuneStudies: Iraq costs U.S. $12B per monthBy CHARLES J. HANLEY ; AP Special CorrespondentPublished: March 9th, 2008 02:07 PM | Updated: March 9th, 2008 05:02 PMThe flow of blood may be ebbing, but the flood of money into the Iraq war is steadily rising, new analyses show. In 2008, its sixth year, the war will cost approximately $12 billion a month, triple the "burn" rate of its earliest years, Nobel Prize-winning economist Joseph E. Stiglitz and co-author Linda J. Bilmes report in a new book.Beyond 2008, working with "best-case" and "realistic-moderate" scenarios, they project the Iraq and Afghan wars, including long-term U.S. military occupations of those countries, will cost the U.S. budget between $1.7 trillion and $2.7 trillion - or more - by 2017.
Christ, I can't make the monthly mortgage without facing the prospect of getting my heat shut off. How the hell am I suppose to pay for my portion of this God forsaken clusterfuck?
McClatchyBAGHDAD -- At least 40 Shiite pilgrims were killed and 60 injured in a suicide bombing south of Baghdad Sunday in what was once known as the Sunni triangle of death.
The bombing in Iskandariyah came as hundreds of thousands of Shiites took to the streets to walk the 50 miles to the holy city of Karbala for Arbaeen. The ceremony on Thursday commemorates the anniversary of the 40th day following the martyrdom of Hussein, the grandson of the prophet Mohammed, a venerated figure in Shiite Islam.
As pilgrims stopped for water and food at a tent set up to serve them along their journey, a suicide bomber walked into the crowd and detonated, killing and wounding many of the pilgrims, said Muthanna Ahmed, spokesman for the police in Babil province. He expected the death toll to rise.
Explain to me again how the I&O* of Iraq has improved Iraqi lives? If we meant to give them the same standard of living and the same level of security as we are blessed to have,,,,,,, well, I guess that means we must have the same number of killings by suicide bombers at Christmas mass, or Easter mass, unless mass is canceled due to strain on the electrical grid causing a shutdown.
Seriously, BushCo™, screwed the pooch when it comes to Iraq. Other than to fatten the pockets of Halliburton and company, this has been a monumental failure.
* Invasion & Occupation
The Center for Public IntegrityIn short, the Bush administration led the nation to war on the basis of erroneous information that it methodically propagated and that culminated in military action against Iraq on March 19, 2003. Not surprisingly, the officials with the most opportunities to make speeches, grant media interviews, and otherwise frame the public debate also made the most false statements, according to this first-ever analysis of the entire body of prewar rhetoric.
President Bush, for example, made 232 false statements about weapons of mass destruction in Iraq and another 28 false statements about Iraq's links to Al Qaeda. Secretary of State Powell had the second-highest total in the two-year period, with 244 false statements about weapons of mass destruction in Iraq and 10 about Iraq's links to Al Qaeda. Rumsfeld and Fleischer each made 109 false statements, followed by Wolfowitz (with 85), Rice (with 56), Cheney (with 48), and McClellan (with 14).
Wow, 260 false statements. That is a lie for every weekday. And this is our president.
New York Times935, huh? Would that be a conservative count?
Charles Lewis and Mark Reading-Smith of the research center say their work has documented “at least 935 false statements” on hundreds of occasions, particularly that Iraq had unconventional weapons, links to Al Qaeda, or both.
Yes, I know, it was bad.
BBC News
Turkish warplanes have bombed suspected Kurdish rebel bases deep inside northern Iraq - in what appears the first time fighter jets have been used.They targeted the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) in areas near the border, officials said. The Turkish media said up to 50 planes were used.
And so it just keeps getting out of hand just a little bit at a time. Incremental mission creep until the world is engulfed in chaos beyond the norm.
New York TimesWhy am I reading about this? Didn't we do a good enough job on winning the war in Afghanistan? Seriously, had BushCo™ done their jobs, this would not be happening. I would not need to be reading this article because there would be no need to for it to be written. Yet, here it is, in the New York Times.
KANDAHAR, Afghanistan, Oct. 30 — Several hundred Taliban fighters have moved into a strategic area just outside the southern city of Kandahar in recent days and clashed with Afghan and NATO forces, according to Canadian and Afghan officials.The fighting, which began Tuesday, is the first time large numbers of Taliban have been able to enter the area just north of the city since 2001. Control of the area, known as the Arghandab district, would allow the Taliban to directly threaten Kandahar, southern Afghanistan’s largest city.
Whether the Taliban were looking to establish permanent control over the area or were simply carrying out raids was unclear on Tuesday night. But Canadian military officials said Afghan and NATO forces had begun a “large operation” to drive out the Taliban.
Had Jr. not been so hot and lathered to prove Daddy Dearest just how wrong he was about not taking Saddam out during Iraq I, he might have actually completed what was started in Afghanistan. But then, Jr. is not known for finishing what he starts.
Wired.com
Sniper attacks in Iraq "have increased steadily during the past year, with the number of attacks quadrupling," the Pentagon says. DANGER ROOM pal Catherine Macrae Hockmuth made the catch, after combing through the Defense Department's request for another $42 billion to fund the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.
These attacks have not only caused numerous casualties, but have had an adverse psychological effect on both Coalition forces and the Iraqi civilian populace.
I know. Last month, in the Iraqi town of Tarmiyah, I spent time with soldiers who'd been hit with roadside bombs -- and stalked by a professional-grade sniper. The explosives were treated as a fact of life; no one seemed to give 'em that much thought, even after a convoy was hit. But the sniper, he was different. He had killed two soldiers, and wounded seven more. And, as a result, soldiers in Tarmiyah were spooked to go outside, even for a few minutes. Just about the first war story anybody told me was about a close encounter with the shooter.Thankfully, the sniper seems to have gone into hiding. But the Pentagon is warning of "a shift in enemy tactics that increases the number of sniper attacks could potentially inflict even more casualties than IEDs."
So, they simply switched tactics. Or maybe, as the article points out, and I posted about before, it's in response to this.
New York TimesI am not a foreign policy wonk. Hell, I am not a wonk of any type. But, it seems to me, that if you wanted to ham string BushCo™'s march towards war with Iran, what better way then to piss off an ally. Turkey being close to Iran and all, it seems that we'd be needing their air space and bases for any bombing of Iran, though I could be wrong.
ISTANBUL, Oct. 11 — Turkey reacted angrily Thursday to a House committee vote in Washington to condemn as genocide the mass killings of Armenians in Turkey that began during World War I, recalling its ambassador from Washington and threatening to withdraw its support for the Iraq war.
In uncharacteristically strong language, President Abdullah Gul criticized the vote by the House Foreign Relations Committee in a statement to the semi-official Anatolian News Agency, and warned that the decision could work against the United States.
Also, if someone wanted to work towards making it more difficult to stay in Iraq, this seems to be a rather novel, and indirect, manner in forcing the withdrawal of our troops from Iraq.
Speaker Nancy Pelosi said the House would definitely take up the measure. “I said if it comes out of committee, it will go to the floor,” she told reporters. “Now it has come out of committee, and it will go to the floor.”I'm just saying.
Of course, the down side to all this; it becomes more grist for accusing Democrats of not supporting our service members.
New York TimesSo, I am not so sure as to the intelligence of this move. In terms of forcing hard choices about the continued presence of our troops in Iraq, and of any military action against Iran, it seems to be questionable. But, in life there has to be some risks. Yet politically, this could spell disaster for the Democrats in the House. Still, I am of a mind to sit back and wait. Honestly, this can't be anymore damaging than, say, lying us into illegally invading and occupying a sovereign nation.
Mr. Gates and other military officials have said that 70 percent of the military cargo sent to Iraq is flown through Incirlik or on routes over Turkey.
To drive home the potential impact of the House action, American officials have warned that delivery of new heavily armored trucks, known as Mine Resistant Ambush Protected vehicles, could be disrupted. Senior military officials said Thursday that the roughly 400 such vehicles delivered since July have been flown in over Turkey but not landed on its territory. Those flights could avoid Turkish airspace, if necessary, they said.
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