Category: Iraq

From Talking Points Memo a compilation of Doug Feith’s recent appearance on the talk shows, trying to make money of off Iraq hawking his book. Or, as TPM titled it: Stupidest Guy on Earth Speaks Out. Some things videos are just better for, the impact of this editing is pretty damn stunning…and pretty damn damning. Stuff we all knew, but cut together so well……well, just watch it!

But have something non-breakable nearby to throw! (I use rolled up socks!)

We know you’re plenty pissed off about the war.

Pissed off enough to write about it and comment on it, and to resort to some pretty rough language to describe how you feel.

Five years.  Thousands of Americans and perhaps a million Iraqis dead.  Four million refugees.  Trillions of dollars wasted. Government spying.  Torture.  Lies.  Coverups.

It’s enough to piss anyone off.

But are you pissed off enough to do something?

MAKE MAYDAY A “NO PEACE, NO WORK HOLIDAY”!

The following was written by Jack Heyman a longshoreman who works on the Oakland docks

Longshoremen to close ports on West Coast to protest war

We asked recently what you would rather have than a war.

Now, from Brave New Films, an easy, amusing way to make those choices:

The occupation of Iraq will cost $3 trillion, America’s most expensive conflict since WWII.

Can YOU spend that money better?

Here’s your chance to go on a virtual $3 trillion shopping spree and prove it!

Browse our online store, fill up your cart, click the checkout button, and send virtual gifts to everyone you know.

A private island fortress? Healthcare for all? Anything you can imagine, and if you can’t find it, add it yourself!

Watch the video, then load up your cart here.  

Tuesday is Tax Day, which prompts people to ask: What is the government doing with my money?

Well, there’s a trillion or two or three for the Iraq war.

Not to worry, says President Bush.  The war is consuming only a “modest fraction” of the country’s wealth.

The National Priorities Project says that in 2007 the federal government spent 42.2 percent of every income tax dollar on military spending.

There’s an old cliche that figures don’t lie but liars figure.  Who you gonna believe — the guy who lied us into the war?  

The pictures that zozie linked to in the diary “Photos from Iraq” brought back memories of Desert Storm. One memory, in particular, still haunts me. I’d like to share it with you…

I served on the ground there, flown in with one of the first units to deploy to Saudi Arabia. When we got off the plane, we didn’t know what to expect. We thought we would be shot at immediately. We soon discovered that our worst enemies were going to be the insane heat, dehydration, and boredom.

When the ground war finally began, my unit was in a task force that breached through a belt of landmines. The day was black as night, thick with smoke from burning oil rigs.

Last summer, in the run-up to General Petraeus’ September testimony to Congress, there were a number of stories in the U.S. press about fighters from Saudi Arabia entering Iraq to cause violence.  Indeed, back in summer of 2007, it was possible to read in a mainstream newspaper, every now and then, that a plurality of foreign fighters in Iraq were Saudis.

Is Iraq about to Blow Wide Open, 19 U.S. Killed so far this week, and it might be just the beginning.

I’m hoping some Sense comes into play here, or it’s back to what it was or Worse!

Sadr says US will always be enemy

I got a notice a couple of days ago about the shortlist for a photography competition. One of the photographers shortlisted has taken some pretty gripping photos of soldiers in the Middle East.

Given the recent Petraeus hearings I thought these were very topical, and deserved wider viewing.

The photographer is Peter van Agtmael. Click here to see his work.

His work can also be found at the  Photolucida web-based photo competition called Critical Mass.

Note I want you to visit his site and so have not copied any images etc.

This was posted earlier at DailyKos and I was encouraged to also post it here by TexasDem.

Hope you find these image illuminating….

It has become obvious that left to her own devices Nancy Pelosi WILL let them get away with it….no matter what they do or how horrendous “it” is. She is the only one with the real authority to stop them. And she, apparently, will not. The answer then, seems to be: Yes, they will. And a new administration is not the answer either.

The implications here are truly chilling. If the Democrats won’t pursue prosecution….We are faced with a government with NO internal or external checks. A government not subject to the law. A government which can wage aggressive war and torture with complete impunity. That is NOT hyperbole, it is where we stand at this very moment in time.

A I wrote yesterday and wish to emphasize:

The latest revelations from ABC News clearly point to a high level, willful conspiracy to commit torture:

Highly placed sources said a handful of top advisers signed off on how the CIA would interrogate top al Qaeda suspects — whether they would be slapped, pushed, deprived of sleep or subjected to simulated drowning, called waterboarding.

The high-level discussions about these “enhanced interrogation techniques” were so detailed, these sources said, some of the interrogation sessions were almost choreographed — down to the number of times CIA agents could use a specific tactic.  

At the time, the Principals Committee included Vice President Cheney, former National Security Advisor Condoleezza Rice, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and Secretary of State Colin Powell, as well as CIA Director George Tenet and Attorney General John Ashcroft.

CLEARLY a conspiracy to commit illegal acts, and not a technical conspiracy, see my bolding above.

I am not a lawyer, but if you are charged, as the Democrats are as the alleged Opposition Party, with the duty and responsibility of oversight and holding the government accountable for illegal acts…..indeed, if you are the only one capable of it….and you choose not to act, the you become part of the conspiracy to commit illegal acts.

If both Parties are conspirators, our government can do whatever it wants with complete impunity, with no responsibility or accountability. They can, and so far have, literally get away with murder.  

Shorter Iraq Deployments Aim to Ease Strain on U.S. Forces

Assessing the burden on soldiers

WARNING:  Fund-raising appeal ahead.



When a handful of people decided to launch the Iraq Moratorium to take on the Pentagon and the military-industrial complex, we knew it wouldn’t be a fair fight.

We knew we’d be outmanned, outgunned and outspent by those whose interest seems to be to keep this nation at war.

But we didn’t realize that the Pentagon would spend as much on the war every five seconds as the Iraq Moratorium spends in a year to try to stop it.

We’ve done a lot with very little money.  Since September, more than 800 events, from Vermont to California, from Florida to Washington state, have joined under the Iraq Moratorium umbrella to call for an end to the war and occupation.  Tens of thousands have taken individual action as well on the Third Friday of each month.

But we really need your financial help to keep this national grassroots movement alive and growing.

The magnitude of what we’re up against really hit us with recent reports of the war’s cost — $5,000 a second! That’s more than double what we spend in a month.