Tag: Occupation

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

Assessing the burden on soldiers

39 years later, a military burial

Air Force honor guard members carry the remains of Maj. Perry Jefferson during burial services at Arlington National Cemetery on Thursday, April 3, 2008 in Arlington, Va. (AP | Kevin Wolf)

This is Part I: U.S. Senate Committee on Foreign Relations,

IRAQ AFTER THE SURGE: POLITICAL PROSPECTS 4/2/08.

Tomorrow see: Part II: MILITARY PROSPECTS.

Nir Rosen became my favorite guide to the real Iraq, the people and the streets of Iraq since I first read and diaried his comments last year. As one of the very few fearless reporters who have spent time without minders to speak of, with Iraqis out on the streets, talking to various segments of the population. His observations are invaluable and objective. He is no cheerleader.

For those who are unitiated, Rosen comes as a breath of fresh air. He is not out to impress everyone, does not behave like a typical panelist, but reads through his written testimony dispassionately, matter of factly, at a speed seldom seen in Senate hearings.

Today before the Committee on Foreign Relations two panels were heard on Post-Surge Iraq– the first military, then “political prospects.” You will find links to the Senate Committee hearings on Iraq this month here.

Electricity sparks flew for a while this afternoon as Barbara Boxer had the microphone. I love her rage.

~crossposted on the orange, still deluded I guess~

Crossposted at The Big Orange.

There is no glory in the violence we choose to inflict upon other human beings.

There is no justice for the victims of our collective hate. There is only the suffering of the many made possible by the decisions of a few. Do not come to me with open arms or begging bowl when the alliance you seek is one of kinship or dispensation for your brutality. I am not your brother or your keeper.

There are children standing here,

Arms outstretched into the sky,

Tears drying on their face.

He has been here.

Brothers lie in shallow graves.

Fathers lost without a trace.

A nation blind to their disgrace,

Since he’s been here.

From The Real News Network

Reality of war and Winter Soldier testimonials not covered by US television news

They Didn’t Hate Us Before!

Just One Of Tens of Thousands, NOW!!

Um Saad, a middle-aged woman living in the Sunni district of Khadra in west Baghdad, blames the Americans for the death of her husband and two of her sons and threatens revenge.

One of the least reported issues in the continuing war and occupation of Iraq is that of plans for permanent military bases and a long term occupation of Iraq by the US Military. John McCain has made the statement that the US should stay in Iraq for the next 100 years.

As per CNN last month, at a town hall meeting in New Hampshire, a crowd member asked McCain about a Bush statement that troops could stay in Iraq for 50 years. “Maybe 100,” McCain replied.

Let’s look at the responses from Hillary and Obama.

The two following quotes are from the CNN link noted above in the introduction.

“He said recently he could see having troops in Iraq for 100 years,” Clinton said at an Arlington, Virginia, rally last week in a line she’s repeated on the campaign trail. “Well, I want them home within 60 days of my becoming president of the United States.”

Obama took a similar tack.

“Sen. McCain said the other day that we might be mired for 100 years in Iraq — which is reason enough not to give him four years in the White House,” Obama has said on several occasions.

and the come-back from McCain…

Series of rockets fired on Baghdad’s Green zone

Attacks come a day after al-Sadr orders extension of cease-fire

BAGHDAD – A series of rockets or mortars were fired toward the U.S.-protected Green Zone early Saturday, a day after radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr ordered his Mahdi Army militia fighters to cease attacks for another six months.

Anybody want to guess who will be blamed for these?

As bad as Iraq was and is, it soon could become worse than the very recent past nfew months and they haven’t been a sunday afternoon picnic!

markthshark posted this Diary last night: Moqtada al-Sadr Ends Four Month Pact with Rival Shi’ite Council.

Amazingly this Extremely Important bit of Reality made it up to the recommend list disappointing, I’ll bet, at least one diarist posting either a slam post against or a love thy one for the favorite candidate ‘Who’s Gonna Save The World’. Folks, just abit of another reality. Only You, together with many many many others can right the course of this Ship of State, but I degress.

Could the other shoe hit the floor in Iraq?

May Spell Trouble

As Iraqis who fled their homes during the war begin to return, some are finding it safer to move into areas inhabited by other members of their sect, creating segregated communities of Shia and Sunni Muslims at ever-increasing rates.

The country has seen a drop in sectarian violence as a result, but some observers are concerned by the trend’s other possible consequences.

This does not bode well for a countries citizens, that once lived in relative comfort in a mixed religious/tribal sectarian society, under the rule of a dictatorship once propped up by the west.