9
POPSAdd Up the Damage Bob Herbert, in this most excellent OP-ED summarizes why we must not permit George W. Bush to silently slip out of town. Read his entire commentary and see if you do not agree.
5
POPSAn Israeli Rabbi Thanks Bush for Invading Iraq.
I become very angry when I hear Orthodox rabbis thanking President Bush for attacking Iraq and thus supporting Israel. I have no problem whatsoever with America's support of Israel, which is an ally of ours. But I become very annoyed when we are expected to go to war with a country that did not attack us, simply because an ally finds it advantageous for us to do so. I find it very interesting that the vast majority of American Jews (70%) are against the Iraq war, while we are told that the majority of Israeli Jews are happy for it. I understand differences in opinions and perceptions, but to have someone thank a leader for going to war with a country that did not pose a direct threat to that leader's country, and had not attacked the ally either, just seems particularly cold blooded. I wonder how the families of our dead and wounded soldiers feel, as well as the families of the tens of thousands of Iraqi civilians who were killed and maimed. For what are we being thanked?
4
POPSBlackwater Doesn't Give A Damn About Rules It seems as if Blackwater is out of control. The answer to no laws in either the U.S. or Iraq. Paul Bremer made certain of that when he was Viceroy. He left Blackwater and other military contractors immune to Iraqi law, and also released them from any requirement to follow the military rules of engagement. Our soldiers who are paid a small fraction of what these professional killers are paid, and yet must follow all law to the letter or face court martial. These contractors are paid thousands of dollars a week and are given essentially a free hand. I know Republicans like to privatize as much as possible, but this is just ridiculous.
8
POPSThe U.S. Applies Pressure on Iraq for its oil...or else! This excellent article from Walrus Magazine of Canada, makes very important reading for anyone truly interested in the U.S. arm twisting and manipulations of the Iraqi government to convince them to give up their sovereignty of its own natural resource so the U.S. interests can control it. This is really a MUST READ.
6
POPSAre These Neocons crazy or what? This story removes all doubt It is absolutely amazing how myopic these neocons actually are. I sat at my TV watching as Bolton, the president, Dana Perrino, etc, etc, etc, kept spinning the meaning of the NIE with all kinds of reasons as to why it is wrong. Some of them have the temerity to declare that the Intelligence agencies are twisting their findings in order to make Bush look bad. I have come to the conclusion that the neocons and far right Republicans have finally lost it completely. I sincerely believe that the public is fed up with the lies, and manipulations as well as the overt fear-mongering. Bush and his henchmen are bald face liars, and they should be thrown out of office and tried as the war criminals they are.
3
POPSOur Brave Democrats Are As Fearful As Ever Once again, the Democrats, who so many of us put into power in order to change the direction of the Iraq policy and to bring our troops out of the hell hole, are going to give Bush his blank cheque to continue his war. Even though better than 72% of the country want this war to end, the Dems continue to be chicken to do anything tangible about it for fear the nasty Republicans, whom the U.S. electorate have all but totally abandoned, might call them soft of terror. Oh come on! This is getting to be not only ridiculous, but criminal. We the people have had our say, and our representatives are ignoring us for their own cowardly political reasons.
8
POPSAnother Insightful Perspective By Bill Maher Bill Maher creates an interesting analogy between Bush's manipulation of the Iraq war and Ken Lay's similar tactics at Enron. My clips do not do the piece justice, and I urge all of you to read the entire commentary.
9
POPSU.S. Ignored Iraq's Complaints About Blackwater Although the U.S. government says it respects Iraq's sovereignty, they still insist on maintaining their original decision to protect American contractors from being held responsible for obeying Iraqi law. The Iraqi government has been complaining to the U.S. about Blackwater's dangerous and reckless behaviour but their concerns have fallen on totally deaf ears. Meanwhile, Iraqi citizens are allegedly being mowed down in Baghdad and Iraq can do nothing about it. They cannot bring charges against the company or individuals because of the exclusionary status of American contractors. They cannot even legally tell them to leave the country because the U.S. is responsible for hiring them, and Iraq gets no response or cooperation from the people in charge. Just another way the U.S. is projecting its arrogance and lack of concern for the Iraqi civilians who are getting killed in the crossfire. Hell, we don't even keep track of the number of people who die in our military attacks.
0
POPSIraqi Gays Receive Asylum in Britain With all the problems and mayhem in Iraq, what a shame that innocent gay people, who have caused no one any problems, have to seek asylum in a foreign country in order to escape persecution and death. Thank you Great Britain for keeping your perspectives clear, and your hearts open.
2
POPSFinally, A Straight Question Congressman Eliot Engel, of New York, cut through all the bullshit, and asked General Petraeus directly, how he can sit there spouting the same lines he gave in September of 2004, none of which came to fruition and expect the country to accept the assessment again 3 years later. The General said he stands by his original New York Times OpEd of 2004, but never got to answer the part as to why the country should accept that this time things will be different.
7
POPSMore Evidence That Bush Lied About WMD This new revelation adds more evidence to the belief that Bush and his cohorts lied to congress and the American people about the need to go to war in Iraq. This is a must-read article from Salon, and I urge you all to take the time to consider its contents. By the way, does anyone know what has happened to the so-called part 2 of the intelligence report that deals with how the White House used the intelligence leading up to the Iraq invasion? I know the Republicans under the leadership of Pat Roberts put it on the back burner and then turned off the pilot light. But the Dems promised that this report was A #1 on their list of things to complete and release, and since then, not a word has been said. Or, am I missing something?
2
POPSOlbermann, Once Again Hits The Nail on the Head It amazes me that Keith Olbermann is the only cable news journalist to have made a serious issue over Bush's comments concerning how he is playing the Iraq war for political purposes. I hope you will either watch or read Keith's entire comment as it makes plain just how crass and soulless Bush actually is. Once again, his words reinforces my belief that Bush is a sociopath. What bothers me tremendously is that no other news person dealt with Bush's comments. Chris Matthews, on his Hardball program went on endlessly about Bush's comments as it concerns his plans for making a lot of money on speaking engagements after leaving the white house. Chris felt it was a very inappropriate subject to be discussing (money) while still commander in chief of our soldiers who are being killed and wounded in battle. As inappropriate as those remarks very well may be, they don't come close to the crassness if Bush's admission to playing politics with the Iraq war.
4
POPSGuard Troops in Puerto Rico Wants the War to End The Governor of Puerto Rico gets a standing O from military service people at the mention of ending the Iraq war. 7 soldiers publish an OPED in the New York Times last week explaining why staying in Iraq is a mistake. Petitions are signed by soldiers serving in Iraq asking for troop withdrawals etc etc etc. And yet, when you listen to the Republicans they tell you that ALL the troops wanna stay in Iraq until their job is done and they have procured victory. I have no doubt whatsoever that there are many troops in Iraq that do feel that way, but from all the polls being taken, the majority of them wanna come home.......yesterday. I am sick to my stomach over the way this administration continually uses our brave soldiers as propaganda tools. Just like Ari Fleischer is doing when he didn't even bother learning the name of the soldier who lost both his legs in Iraq, who is appearing in one of their pro-war commercials. They are all shameful to the core.
13
POPSAri Fleischer and his crew are dripping with panic Fleischer and his group Freedom's Watch are not only using the overworked and phony connection between the Iraq war and the 9/11 attacks, but they are aiming at their own Republicans who are fleeing the president's Iraq strategy. They are so panicked that Bush is going to be forced into a corner in September, that they are actually trying to intimidate members of their own party with the same bullshit rhetoric and advertising they used to manipulate and scare voters in the past two elections. Ari and his group should be totally ashamed to exploit our wounded and killed vets in such a crass political game.
2
POPS500+Innocent Iraqi Civilians Die...We Are Told The Surge is Working We are being told over and over again in the msm, that the surge is working. Military progress is being made and several areas of Iraq, even in Baghdad are becoming very safe. This is fascinating to hear along with the sounds and reports of continued suicide bombings such as the one that killed over 500 innocent civilians in an area that was never bothered by the insurgents previously. Sure, we might very well be making some progress in some areas. But, the insurgents just take their deadly efforts to other areas which we cannot cover. We move in, they move elsewhere. We follow them elsewhere, they come back to where they were before. These insurgent groups are smart, and innovative. This surge is just an excuse to keep the war going for as long as the murderer Bush remains in office. It will be interesting to hear the Patreous report...er... I mean the White House report on Sept 11th, so we can learn about our progress as the bodies are scraped off the streets in Iraq.
4
POPSMilitary Suicides I wish I could have clipped the article in a more comprehensive fashion. Some pieces just cannot be done justice within the 1000 limit. However, I have tried to give a taste of what the article conveys, and I urge readers to check out the entire piece. The suicide rate is deplorable, and most of it is due to the extra stress of these overly long and repeatable deployments. Our soldiers are not machines, and even if they were, machines do wear out in time. We are draining our fighting men and women of their own internal resources and exhausting their means to cope. This is a horrible situation for which there is only one answer, in my opinion. Bring these troops home from Iraq. Fight the war on terror where and how it should be fought. But asking our brave men and women to referee a religious and ethnic civil war, where the people you are training turn around and become your enemy is too much for anyone's nervous system to tolerate.
11
POPSScores More Dead, Yet We Are Told The Surge is Working Whack a Mole! That is the game that the so-called surge is playing. We are constantly being set-up with a bunch of administration ass kissers who are trying to convince us that this "surge" is working. In September, it is almost certain that General Patreus will give his report and ask for another 6 months to continue the surge. How many more 6 month periods are we supposed to permit? They asked for an additional 6 months for the past 4 1/2 years. In the beginning Rumsfeld said the entire war AND occupation wouldn't last as long as 6 months in total. Now that the surge is on, the violence is just as bad only in different places. Areas which we never heard of before as being problems are suddenly being stricken with sectarian violence and bombings on a massive scale. And yet, we are told "things are getting better." "We are making progress." Chances are congress will give them another 6 months during which many more of our soldiers and hundreds or thousands of Iraqis will die
1
POPSMitt Tries to Glad Hand Iraq Vet Mitt Romney was approached by an Iraq vet who proceeded to respectfully ask the presidential candidate some questions about the Iraq war. Romney offered him some stock talking points, but when asked a specific questions, turned his back and walked away. The vet felt highly insulted. Once again, Mitt is showing himself to be the rich boy, out to buy the presidency of the United States with his money, and to fuck with the people including the vets fighting the war he supports.
4
POPSAre The People of Connecticut Happy With Their Decision? I hope the people of Connecticut are satisfied with their undying support for Joe Lieberman in the last election. The Dems voted against him in the primary, so instead of accepting his party's decision, he decided to run as an independent. No matter how much the people were warned that this guy was no longer a democrat at heart, they fell for his loyalty bullshit and re-elected him. Now he says he caucuses with democrats but holds meeting with the top republican leadership to come up with ways stymie the democrats efforts. He is entitled, of course, to his own beliefs about the war in Iraq, but to claim that he is an independent democrat and then to caucus secretly with the republicans against them is just too much.
4
POPSMeet A New Crop of Hypocrites A group of college Republicans who held a convention in a Moonie owned and operated hotel near Arlington National Cemetery, professes undying support for Bush and his war in Iraq. However, when asked why the are not serving over there so we don't have to fight them over here, they had all kinds of reasons for not going. from health to "it's not for me." Meet this new group of phonies in this video, which I could not clip.
3
POPSRobert Fisk Tries To Come To Terms With Blair's New Job Robert Fisk apparently had the same reaction I had when first hearing the news of Tony Blair's new position as envoy to the middle east. The entire commentary speaks for itself and needs no further explanation from me. It is difficult to clip a commentary, so I urge all interested party to go to the original piece and read it in its entirety.
5
POPSIraq Gets New Hospitals While New Orleans Hospitals Rot & Die New Orleans hospitals are dying slow deaths, and the levees have been declared insufficient for a severe storm. However, the Louisiana National Guard is doing a great job building new hospitals and health centres in Dyala under intense fire. Over 170 projects of this nature are underway in that area, while nothing is being done to rebuild the medical clinics and hospitals in New Orleans. What kind of sense does this make? Bush says he keeps our country safe. How safe would anyone feel living in a city whose hospitals are falling apart from the neglect of the government who promised to help them?
2
POPSHas This Government Lost Its Heart Completely? We constantly hear from this administration that we support our troops. As a matter of fact they claim that any criticism against the war or the president's handling of it, is tantamount to not supporting our troops and unpatriotic. But now we hear that the immigrant wife of one of the soldiers missing and feared dead in Iraq is being threatened with deportation even though her husband has applied for a green card for her. Wouldn't showing some compassion and making an exception to the strict rules in this woman's case be in a very real sense, supporting our troops with action and not just empty words?
2
POPSLieberman Is losing support of those who followed him It seems that Holy Joe has finally crossed the line from someone who war supporters felt had the right views for protecting America into someone who even they say has gone too far in advocating war with Iran. The guy is totally over the top. He has been determined to work with the neo-Cons who believe in the PNAC and is always way to interested in protecting Israel over and above his interest in his own country, the USA. I support Israel as well, but not over the interests of my own country. The guy has become a Zionist fanatic.
3
POPSLieberman Feels the Joe-mentum Towards War With Iran Senator Lieberman said he support military action against Iran because of their involvement in terrorism in Iraq, Palestine etc. Once again, Holy Joe goes against his constituency and the vast majority of the American people by urging the president to invade a sovereign nation, even though our troops are tied up in Iraq, where they are bleeding and dying in an illegal war. I wonder how many of his supporters who put him over the top in the last election still believes they did the right thing.
6
POPSShades of Nixon's "I Am The President!" Back in the good ol' days of the 70s, comedian/impressionist David Frye released an album based on Richard Nixon entitled "I Am The President." I wonder if Georgie boy has ever heard of it. If so, perhaps Frye can sue him for plagiarism or something like that due to his latest outbursts.
3
POPSTroops Want Out But Are Scared To Speak Up Lieberman made a surprise visit to Iraq, and met with troops. Questions were collected by various troop leaders to be presented to the Senator, yet no one is sure how many, if any, were actually asked. The root of the problem however is that even though most of the troops in the units he visited do not agree with our staying in Iraq, and do not feel we are making any progress, and feel like targets, they admit that they are afraid to actually speak out to politicians or authorities about their true feelings because of possible personal reprisals.
4
POPSForever In Iraq Well, at least the administration is finally being honest. Tony Snow admitted today that Bush would like to see American troops remain in Iraq indefinitely. Perhaps longer than 50 years. I can't wait to hear what the Dems have to say about this.
4
POPSA Hearbreaking Story I tired every which way to clip this article in a way that would convey this soldiers lament. However, nothing I did made sense, so I just clipped a coupla paragraphs. I hope you will take the time to read the entire article and understand the heartfelt feelings of one of our own American heroes serving in Iraq and wondering why.
10
POPSThe Military is sending some amputees back into combat I do not doubt the courage of these heroic soldiers who are asking to be sent back into active duty, and sometimes combat after losing a limb(s) in the Iraq war. But isn't it kinda interesting how the military says ALL of our soldiers have talents and abilities that are needed and if an amputee wants to remain on active duty, or combat, and they are able to do so, they will be sent back, and yet at the same time, they see fit to discharge interpreters, translators, combat personnel etc, simply for being gay?
6
POPSCindy Speaks Out and Leaves the Dems Cindy Sheehan makes some excellent points in this open letter to Congress. The Democrats were put into power after 6 years of total Republican control of the House and Senate primarily because the voters wanted them to end this war honourably. They have the vast majority of the country on the side of ending the war and cutting off Bush's blank check. Now that they had the chance to do it, they flubbed it and gave Bush what he wanted with the suggestion of "wait 'til next time." The public, I sense, is tired of waiting, and they do not see why the Democrats folded like a house of cards when they finally have the power to do something towards bringing this war to a close.
6
POPSA Hero Tells How It Really Is This is a three page story that is enormously powerful. I could never hope to clip enough of it to give you the feeling of this piece. I urge you to go to the original URL and read it for yourself. It is a real eyeopener, and it is the least we can do for this hero.
0
POPSCould Bush Be Going Full CIrcle on Ira? This report from the Guardian appears to suggest that Mr. Bush is coming full circle on Iraq. He began with a sham attempt to get U.N. cooperation for his illegal war. He stymied the successful efforts of the U.N. arms inspectors and ordered them out because he was not happy that they were reporting that Saddam had been cooperating with them, and that there, thus far, was no indication there were the stores of weapons the U.S. was insisting were there. Now that Bush has been proven entirely wrong, and his lies have come back to haunt him as well as be responsible for the deaths of almost 3,500 of our youngest and finest young people, and the maiming of many thousands more, he is planning to go back to the U.N. to finagle a way to get them to take over his horrible and tragic mess. Oh how I long to see this man and his pals Cheney and Rumsfeld et al dragged in front of the Hague and tried for being the war criminals they are.
14
POPSThe American Public is Sick of Bush's False Bravado The public wants Bush to be accountable and to hold the Iraqi government accountable. They are tired of having the president permit more of our brave service people killed or maimed, and our treasury being depleted indefinitely while the Iraqi government does nothing to reach any benchmarks, and actually plan to go on vacation for two months as our soldiers continue to bleed and die in the stinking heat of Baghdad and the rest of Iraq, I really hope the public stands firm and strong, and insists that the congress force a meaningful set of benchmarks with real consequences for the Iraqi government failing to meet them. They should also tell them that if the Iraqi government takes the summer off, so are our troops. They need the rest far more than the politicians do.
3
POPSCBS Has Been Exercising Selective Firing Since the Rather Incident CBS has been on a real Republican leaning path for some time now. To my memory, it seems to have started when Dan Rather was fired, along with his producer, for reporting on President Bush's less that illustrative military career. Rather and company had their facts and story straight. They got hung up on a technicality with one document and the network caved into the Bush camps threats and intimidations. Now, they are firing John Batiste because he is in an anti-Iraq war advertisement, while they permit someone who worked for the Bush white house, and is on McCain's campaign to stay on their network as a commentator. Our MSM really needs to hold its head in shame. It's time for the U.S. media to take lessons from Canada's CBC and Britain's BBC.
4
POPSSo Much Promose Went Down the Iraq Drain Tony Blair began his career with tremendous promise, and for the most part, lived up to the hype and hope. But then came George Bush and his Iraq mis-adventure, which for some reason, he was able to convince the prime minister to support. Most of his country turned against Blair over Iraq and he has never been able to recover. Although his party won the last election, Mr. Blair's personal popularity sunk, and the public became obsessed with his need to go. Amazing how one's political fortunes can turn on one issue after so many years. I am sure he will thank Mr. Bush for the rest of his life, as he kicks his own ass for ever going along with his invasion of Iraq.
8
POPSThe LA Times says the time has come for the U.S. to leave Iraq The Lost Angeles Times, which backed the surge originally, has come to the conclusion, as have most Americans, that it is not working, and we cannot expect or brave soldiers to monitor Iraq's civil war. But Bush remains stubborn, even in light of his 28% approval rating and flaunts the will of the people who pay his salary. I wonder how the 08 Republican presidential candidates enjoy sinking into the mud because of their war mad leader.
2
POPSTenet Shouls Be Investigated and Hopefully Face Charges I sincerely hope more and more House members demand an investigation of Tenet's involvement in the road leading up to the war in Iraq. This man not only help perpetrate a fraud on the American people and Congress, but he is now reaping a fantastic fortune over his malfeasance.
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