Politics

Any insurgent that is caught should be interrogated and then handed over to Iraqi citizens!!

In Baghdad, Iraq we all know that the war that is going on is extremely nasty, and very little is surprising when it comes to insurgent tactics. However, the story about how they strapped bombs to two mentally handicapped women and detonated them by remote control killing 98 people and wounding more than 200, brings the unGodly sadistic beast out of me! One of the main problems is that these insurgents have very little fear of anyone as these and sectarian killings continue, Saddam Hussein didn't have these problems, although he was in-human. The best way to handle insurgents that are caught is to have them interrogated/tortured to get any all information from them and then we strap their bodies with dead chickens and pieces of pork and we throw them into a pool of alligators. Or we strap them down with the dead carcasses and we release pitbulls on them. Yes, the people of Iraq deserve a democracy, how they choose to express that is not our business, but if you show these insurgents, most are from other countries, that they will die an excruciating death and are not martyrs for coming into another country to kill and maim innocent people of varying religious beliefs. American troops only get a fraction of the violence that Iraqi citizens face, and with each passing day every life that is lost, man, woman, and child pains me and shows me that a heavy unrelenting approach is the only thing that will have promise. I don't believe that the essence of man is evil, but our capacity to commit such atrocities leaves me numb, scared, tired, angry, and weary. Read

The Wrong Iraq Surge: Army Suicides Up 20 Percent

Talking heads on radio and TV make me so angry sometimes that I'm in danger of throwing something and breaking my contact with wide world outside. Every time I'm in an Airport, I talk with soldiers making their way from one place o the other. I have yet to speak with a soldier who has told me how important this war is to them. That's not to say that there are not those who feel that way, but I have not run into them. They all want to be there for their brothers and sisters in arms, but to the man/woman, each has told me they hate it and don't want to be there.

Yet guys in suits sitting in comfy leather chairs are always saying that our soldiers are proud of Bush and proud to fight this war. Pride in America, pride in our Military is one thing. Pride for the two aforementioned is something I have yet to hear from a soldier I have stood face to face with. And when you read things like this, it bares out what is actually felt in the truth away from cameras, Senators and Congressmen.

In 2007, 121 soldiers committed suicide. That's up 20% over 2006 and includes the time since the oh so successful surge. Now, there may be some that look at that total and think it's a small number. One soldier committing suicide in a foreign country because of a war we shouldn't be in is far too many.

The statistics prepared by the Army's psychiatry consultant also found that "attempted" suicides and "self injuries" were also rising. 2,100 in 2007, 1,500 in 2006.

This is sad, very, very sad. All one has to do is look at the stoic demeanor of the Military men at Monday's "State Of The Union" speech to get an understanding as to how they feel. While elected officials stood and clapped at every applause line given about Iraq and Afghanistan, they sat and did not clap.

While TV, radio and print mediums have moved on to who snubbed who, Mac is back and Romney is a Mormon, Americas kids are still sitting in the middle of a hot box they should have never been sent to in the first place. The war still wages on, and while we're being told how much "the surge" is working by people who have been proven wrong about EVERYTHING else, you can still read (if you look) about American men and women being killed and maimed everyday in Iraq. Along with the rise of the Taliban (because of Iraq) and now the rise of enlisted suicides.

But this story just isn't fun anymore for the media. The economy sucks, people are losing their homes and their jobs. Terrible things to be sure, but let's not forget that there is still a fierce battle raging in countries we shouldn't be in, and our countrymen/women want to come to help "their" families get through the same troubling times "we're" facing here at home.

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Blackwater Gets Immunity: Soldiers Get The Brig

Those Blackwater personel that shot and killed 17 Iraqi civillians, got themselves a healthy dose of immunity from being charged. ---ABC News reported that it had obtained the text of the deal, which showed the guards were given "use immunity" in exchange for detailing what happened during the incident on September 16.

State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said Tuesday that while he could not talk about the specifics of the Blackwater case, the kind of immunity being reported in the media were limited protections.---

Yeah whatever. Funny how they're even talking about "limited immunity" when soldiers are sitting in the brig for the Abu Ghraib debacle. An operation that's clear to any reasonable thinker, was handed down from the top.

A general was wounded by a IUD while in a convoy being protected by British Blackwater counterparts. Outside security agents protecting US Military Generals. Yeah, and we're going to go to war with Iran. Yeah, that'll work. I'm a bit shocked that more Americans are not outraged by this. Our soldiers are getting the shaft while outside contractors get paid and immunity.

Is a political "party" really this important? Is it so important to follow a man/woman because of the letter by their name, that we throw out our "support the troops" bumper sticker? Because this Blackwater crap has nothing to do with supporting the troops.

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Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki Wants Blackwater Out Now

Iraq is demanding the Blackwater, the American contracted death security firm, leave the country immediately. An independent Iraqi prode concluded that Blackwater officers acted "unprovoked" when they fired on and killed 17 civilians.

Will all of the hearings and pundant talking babble be all for not? And more importantly, will this administrations assertion that Iraq is a sovereign country be put to the test? So far this is a short test because American officals are claiming no knowledge of the demands by Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki. They are also claiming that they are waiting for their commissions findings. Maliki and his government want them out, end of story, if you're a sovereign nation that is.

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Blackwater Is More Important Than American Military

---Blackwater's contractors fired their weapons 195 times -- or an average of 1.4 times a week -- from the beginning of 2005 through the second week of September, the Democratic staff of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee found.--- I know I'm the only one that finds this whole Blackwater affair disgusting. But there is so much hypocrisy in this story that there is really no true one place to start. But I think it lays out very simple:

Guards get paid three times as much as soilders to drive black SUV's for "important people".
They kill a bunch of Iraqi civilians.
The Iraqi Prime Minister wants them out, bans them from Iraq.
The US government says "NO"
They go right back to work the following week.

I thought the Iraqi government was sovereign and in control of their own country and destiny? I thought we were there to help them carry out the needs and goals of the democratically elected government. If they don't want someone in there country, don't they have the right to say so? And don't we have to adhere to the desire of their government officials? NOPE!!

Because this is all a bunch of bullcrap. A powerful lobbyist who paid his dues and is reaping his Iraqi contract benefits of being a White House friend.

American soilders are suffering from the actions of these Black SUV's, but hey, American diplomats need to be protected and apparently the US armed Forces aren't up to that task suddenly.

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The Worthless Democratic Party Caves Again

Before you get all high horsed and ready to type a bumper sticker slogan, I know the troops need gear. But if you really think all this money is for soilders, you belong on the FoxNews site.

The very democrats that were voted in to end this war have once again given Bush everything he wants by authorizing another $150 billion. Never mind the amount that has already been spent, let's just take this amount and think about what could be done with it. Like oh let's say spend some on New Orleans, the lost city of Atlantis. How about border security?

Seriously, what have they done? Republicans don't get a pass, but they've been boot licking since Bush ran for his first term. Democrats were supposed to come in and fight, change the order of business and end this war. Don't give me that "enough votes" crap. Pelosi has the power to stop it.

Habius Corpus is still gone, we're still in Iraq with no end in sight and all the dems can do is vote to condemn moveon.org, and give Bush everything he ask for. Oh and make statements: ---“Many of us have reached a breaking point on this,” said Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin, D-Ill. “I’ve done this for too many years. I’ve waited for the president to start bringing this war to an end. I’m not going to sign up for this any longer.”---

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Blackwater Banned From Iraq! Finally!

With all the bumper sticker "support the troops" going on, I'm surprised there has been little to no uproar over firms like Blackwater providing "security" in Iraq. The contractors who work for these firms make more in a week then a soilder makes in a year.

Now after a gun battle where 8 Iraqi citizens were left dead and 14 were injured in Baghdad, the Iraqi Interior Ministry has revoked the license of the covert security firm.

Since when did American hire outside firms to do the job of the Military? To drive around in air conditioned black SUV's and collect fat paychecks while enlisted men and women patrol in 130 degree heat. This is a practice that I thought long ago should be brought into focus so Americans can see the extent of political slogans "support the troops" and fact "Blackwater".

---"We have revoked Blackwater's license to operate in Iraq. As of now they are not allowed to operate anywhere in the Republic of Iraq," Interior Ministry spokesman Brig. Gen. Abdul Kareem Khalaf said Monday. "The investigation is ongoing, and all those responsible for Sunday's killing will be referred to Iraqi justice."---

This is not the first and only incident involving the Men in Black SUV's.

CNN

Mobile Test

This is just a test of my mobile blogging software. The photo here is a shot a snapped from a documentary on the Iraq war. So to make this post a bit more than a test for me and a waste of time for you, if you see "Battleground: 21 Days on the Empire's edge" on you cable listing, watch it, it's very good. It was shot in 2004, and it's interesting to hear the attitudes of the people and soilders then as opposed to now.

This is probably what President Bush thought Iraq would be like!!

The Lebanese government and Army have been in a months long battle with militants of an Al-Qaida inspired Fatah Islam sect. The skirmish has occured at the Nahr-el-Bared Camp, in which scores of innocent civilians and military personnel have died. The group, like those acting in Iraq, were attempting to force their hardline beliefs on those surrounding them and Prime Minister Fuad Saniora acted swiftly to do all that he could do to crush and punish these enemies of Lebanon. When the lives of your fellow brothers and sisters becomes irrelevant as violence becomes a tool of control, you become an enemy of your countrypeople, hence Iraq. So eventhough a genuine proxy war is being fought on Iraqi soil all of those who claim peace will soon be exposed for their lies. Terrorists are real and just thinking that you can always negotiate is wrong and may be construed as a sign of weakness. I say congratulations to the citizens of Lebanon for supporting their government and military in those challenging months. Read

When Is A Flip Flopper A Good Thing?

When it shows that a person has thought out their previous beliefs, seen the other side of every arguement and decided to expand their thought process to except that the view they held is nothing more than a personal opinion, an opinion that can be changed given the right reasoning. Macgeyvor, I mean John Warner seems to have looked at his earlier thoughts on this ridiculous war that we are in and rightly Flip Flopped.

It seems the long time GOP Senator has done just that.

---John Warner, who wants U.S. troops to start coming home from Iraq by Christmas, said Sunday he may support Democratic legislation ordering withdrawals if President Bush refuses to set a return timetable soon.

"I'm going to have to evaluate it," Warner said. "I don't say that as a threat, but I say that is an option we all have to consider."

Warner, a former Navy Secretary and one-time chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, is seen as someone who could influence the debate among senators who have grown increasingly uneasy about the unpopular war.

Warner's suggestion last week about bringing back some troops put him at odds with Bush, who has insisted that conditions on the ground should dictate any such decisions. Warner long has opposed legislation pushing for timetables.--Read