09 Apr 08 Iraq War, cost breakdown

In the wake of testimony by General Petraeus and Ambassador Crocker to both the Senate and the House regarding the state and future strategy of the Iraq War, Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi posted an Iraq War cost breakdown on her blog (yes, she has a blog):

The Cost of Iraq War Broken Down

Second: $3,919
Minute: $235,160
Hour: $14.1 million
Day: $338.6 million
Week: $2.4 billion
Month: $10.3 billion
Year: $123.6 billion

There’s a little perspective for you.

C&L has more.

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Tags: commentary, Iraq War, politics

23 Mar 07 I believe I’d like that kettle in black.

Today Bush responded to the passing of a House bill that outlined a timeline for withdraw of troops from Iraq with this:

“The purpose of the emergency war spending bill I requested was to provide our troops with vital funding. Instead, Democrats in the House, in an act of political theater, voted to substitute their judgment for that of our military commanders on the ground in Iraq.”

Is that so? Then what would you call this?

Then of course there is also this little gem (mind you this was made while there was a war going on and kids were dying in Iraq).

What the right-wingers are also leaving out when they talk about the bill, is that it actually funds the war rather than take it away. They are attempting to frame the bill as an attempt to take money and supplies away from troops in order to fund special interests (i.e., the “sweeteners” you’ve heard so much about). Right, this from the people that are continuing to let VA hospitals go to shit. It’s all bullshit.

Here’s the deal. The bill approves $100 billion dollars for Bushes war if he agrees to pull troops out if the war effort is still going to shit come October (I think, it might be August). The other $24 billion is the part that Republicans are calling “pork.” According to the LA Times, that extra money breaks down like this:

Spinach growers got $25 million because the E. coli scare last fall depressed their sales. The shrimp industry received $120 million because of Hurricane Katrina-related losses. Federal support for peanut storage, due to expire after 2006, was extended for one more year at a cost of $74 million. Shellfish producers were compensated $5 million for their losses to a disease known as viral hemorrhagic septicemia.

Hmm, a couple billion dollars to help out agribusiness, doesn’t seem like wasteful spending to me (not like a bridge to nowhere or anything).

So this bill, that Republican and right-wing hacks are calling “a slap in the face to our troops” would actually give them money AND an incentive to get the job done in Iraq. It would basically say to them, “…hey, here’s all the equipment and money you’ve been asking for, secure this shit ASAP and you get to go home and sleep with your wife. Hooah!”

Political theater? I think not Mr. President.

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Tags: George W. Bush

08 Mar 07 Iraq = No Solution

General David Petraeus, in his first news conference in Baghdad since he took command last month, also said he saw no immediate need to request more U.S. troops, but reinforcements already requested would likely stay “well beyond the summer”.

“There is no military solution to a problem like that in Iraq, to the insurgency of Iraq,” Petraeus said.

“Military action is necessary to help improve security … but it is not sufficient.” [emphasis added]

| FULL STORY |

Well, after a statement like that I’m thinking Petraeus might be looking for a new job. We all know how that revolving door works in the “with us or against us” Bush administration.

The response from Bush & Co., SURGE!

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Tags: generals, quagmire

06 Mar 07 Bring ‘em on, right Georgie.

Smoke billows from the site of a car bomb attack engulfing Bab al-Moazam Mosque in Baghdad. (AFP/Patrick Baz)
Courtesy of Today in Iraq.

| Read full story |

We can’t forget that when Laura Bush says that the media “…only focuses on the one bombing a day,” that one bombing could be killing a dozen people or more a day, both Iraqis and U.S. soldiers. All it takes is a little arithmetic to realize why these “one bombings” hold a little more weight and focus than the one school built or purple fingers.

People are dying everyday, none of these deaths should be taken so lightly yet the administration seems to show that they do. They don’t say it, but actions speak louder than words (or lack of action in the case of Walter Reed).

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06 Mar 07 Iraq 101: A Mother Jones Primer

Iraq 101 as compiled by Robert Dreyfus and Dave Gilson.

Mother Jones magazine has put up a crash course in Iraq that quickly and succinctly can bring you up to speed on the history, the cost of war and speculates on the long-term in Iraq. It being Mother Jones it of course takes a far less than favorable overview of Iraq, but in my opinion there isn’t much favorable to look at in Iraq. Finding good things in Iraq right now is like a needle in a needlestack.

The story in Iraq and the people involved has become so confusing and convoluted that people are finding it difficult to keep up, which makes this a welcome piece. Coupled with the BBC’s excellent Who’s who in post-Saddam Iraq piece that they put up a while back, it will help you get your Shiites straightened out from your Sunnis who is killing and who and why. Though the why and who could still be a subject of debate.

Worth a once over if your head is spinning about the situation in Iraq and want to level your knowledge out. Good job MJ (and BBC).

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Tags: Iraq, magazines

02 Mar 07 A Friday Round-Up

• Walter Reed Hospital Commander Removed From Post - It’s funny how the administration acts when the media forces its hand and points out the glaring hypocrisy in their “support the troops” rhetoric. They should adjust their slogan to “Support the troops…until they get home.”
• Jurors in Libby Case Don’t Expect Verdict by End of Week - And the road goes ever on. By the time this finally comes down to a verdict I think it’s going to be a bit anti-climactic. Unless some of the big dogs are brought and Scooter is left holding the bad, none of this is going to matter.
• Bush checks in on Gulf Coast, hears his critics ‘loud and clear’ - “Part of the reason I’ve come down is to tell people here in the Gulf Coast that we still think about them in Washington…” Aw, how sweet, he still thinks about them. Though he certainly isn’t thinking about them enough to mention them in his SOTU speech. So far New Orleans has received less than half of the $110 billion it needs to repair the area. Heckuva a job Bushie!
• Sunni Group Claims Kidnap of 18 Iraqis - This must be part of that “…one bad thing a day,” thing Laura Bush was talking about. Gee Liberal media, no mention of the awesome bingo game at the mosque last night eh? Haters.
• Suicide Spree! - That’s a lot of virgins. Here’s a thought, if these Muslims get admitted to paradise and get their virgins for killing infidels, why not take away their infidels? No targets, nothing to blow up to martyr yourself and that means no virgins for you. Oh yeah, if we don’t fight them over there, blah, blah.

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27 Feb 07 Iraq, No Graceful Exit

There is a brilliant essay on the Iraq “Civil War” over at Foreign Policy by James D. Fearon, a Geballe Professor in the School of Humanities and Sciences and Professor of Political Science at Stanford University. Fearon’s main point is that, looking at the history of civil wars, there is no way the U.S. can turn the tide of the one taking place in Iraq. There will no doubt be more bloodshed, but civil wars are conflicts that must solve themselves.

The White House still avoids the label, but by any reasonable historical standard, the Iraqi civil war has begun. The record of past such wars suggests that Washington cannot stop this one — and that Iraqis will be able to reach a power-sharing deal only after much more fighting, if then. The United States can help bring about a settlement eventually by balancing Iraqi factions from afar, but there is little it can do to avert bloodshed now.

The Iraq War seems to have an identity crisis, at least from the administration’s point-of-view. Their refusal to label this conflict a civil war hinders their ability to not only look at it objectively but to deal with it using relevant strategies.

Different types of wars are fought in different ways. This isn’t a straight genocidal conflict, this isn’t merely a dictator trying to take over a country. This is a country that, once freed from one oppressor is struggling to define itself. Who are we to solve their identity crisis?

How would America have felt if in the middle of the Civil War some third-party came in and told us how we should solve our problem, and then got into conflict with and gave arms and training to both sides? I would think that would makes us resent that third-party quite a bit. The U.S. Civil War, after a long and bloody conflict that killed over a half-million Americans, grudgingly worked itself out.

We must leave this up to the Iraqis. Sure there will be casualties and yes there will be tragedy, but that is the world we’ve built for ourselves. I don’t agree with war at all, but that seems to be the only we humans have figured out to solve our problems. However their fight is not our fight, our fight is in Afghanistan. Al-Qaeda is regaining a foothold there because our attention is elsewhere.

If the administration truly wants to fight terrorism and truly wants the American public as well as Congress to mobilize behind them, they need to stop lying to us and to themselves about what this war is and how it needs to be solved. Until then, it will just continue to spiral downward into chaos.

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Tags: civil war, essay

15 Feb 07 GOP Debate on Iraq Strategy: "Don’t talk about Iraq."

In a recent letter posted on House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer’s website, the GOP revealed their strategic angle on the Iraq escalation debate. In the letter GOP Reps. John Shadegg and Peter Hoekstra told their collegues that the best way to argue the debate with the Democrats is to NOT talk about Iraq, because they’ll lose.

We are writing to urge you not to debate the Democratic Iraq resolution on their terms, but rather on ours.

Democrats want to force us to focus on defending the surge, making the case that it will work and explaining why the President’s new Iraq policy is different from prior efforts and therefore justified.

We urge you to instead broaden the debate to the threat posed to Americans, the world, and all “unbelievers” by radical Islamists. We would further urge you to join us in educating the American people about the views of radical Islamists and the consequences of not defeating radical Islam in Iraq.

The debate should not be about the surge or its details. This debate should not even be about the Iraq war to date, mistakes that have been made, or whether we can, or cannot, win militarily. If we let Democrats force us into a debate on the surge or the current situation in Iraq, we lose.

| Read the full letter (PDF) |

You know at least the GOP are self-aware and know where they stand on this debate. It’s nice to know that the GOP priority is in simply not losing the debate, and not whether or not escalation is the best thing for our troops, for America and for the Global War on Islamo-fascist Terrorism (or whatever they’re calling it these days).

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Tags: escalation

13 Feb 07 New Gallup Poll: Most Americans Want Congress to Go Beyond Non-Binding Vote on War

According to Editor & Publisher:

“Many Americans say that their congressional representative’s position on the war will be an important factor in their congressional vote next year,” Gallup reports, “but most do not know what their representative’s position on the troop surge is.”

Given a list of options, 63% opted for the cap and withdrawal by the end of next year. Some 51% backed the anti-surge resolution. Fewer, 4 in 10, want to cut off funds for the surge.recourse

Surprisingly, 64% said they did not know what their representative’s stand on the surge is — but 42% said his or her position on the war would be a major factor in next year’s vote for re-election.

The poll was conducted Feb. 9-11.

So the Democratic Congress is against troop escalation, most of the Senate is against troop escalation (contrary to the recent vote) and the majority of Americans are against troop escalation. You know what that means then, SURGE! Please George please, for once listen to the people around you. All that non-listening has gotten you nowhere and more U.S. military have died. Yes, indeed there does need to be a change in Iraq, but that change begins with you my friend.

I do believe that President Bush honestly thinks that what he is doing is what is best for America in the war. I don’t think he’s evil or wants American soldiers to die as some have fomented. However it does seem that the only course of action here is to forcefully change his direction. If that involves taking away his money, then so be it.

It’s like being punished by mom when you were a kid, this is going to hurt us more than it is going to hurt you, but you’ve left us no other choice. And just wait until your father gets home.

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Tags: George W. Bush, polls

06 Feb 07 Watada Court-Martial Begins

The court-martial of Lt. Ehren Watada began yesterday with lawyers on both sides questioning potential jurors. In June 2006 Watada openly refused to be deployed to Iraq stating that the war has been proved unjust because unconventional weapons have not been found in Iraq and that American soldiers have mistreated the Iraqis. He also said that President Bush and his administration have unjustly used 9/11 to justify the war.

Currently there are three charges pending against Watada:

• conduct unbecoming an officer (for statements made in speeches and interviews)
• missing movement (for refusing to deploy to Iraq on June 22)
• contempt toward officials (in this case, President Bush)

These charges carry the possible sentence of up to six years in a military prison and dismissal, which is more severe than a dishonorable discharge.

The case has become a rallying point for the anti-war movement and over 1,000 Watada supporters turned out at Ft. Lewis on the first day of his court-martial.

Commenting on the case Capt. Dan Kuecker said at one hearing that: “He betrayed his fellow soldiers who are now serving in Iraq.” Kuecker has not commented on the case outside of court. Many others in the military share Kuecker’s sentiment.

The defense’s attempts to question the legality of the war were thwarted by a judge citing that the legality of the war was not at issue in this case, only Watada’s refusal to be deployed to Iraq and his public statements against the president.

The case continues later this week with Watada’s own testimony which could be the ultimate deciding factor in his verdict.

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Tags: watada

21 Nov 06 Is this what your yellow sticker supports?

And we wonder why they aren’t embracing our presence more.

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Tags: respect, soldiers

05 Nov 06 Saddam Guilty.

Saddam guilty - sentenced to death.

Well that took long enough. Of course the White House denies that his guilty verdict coming in just two days before our mid-term elections is mere coincidence. For some reason I only half believe this. It just seems a little too convenient, and now Bush is going to go on a blitzkrieg stump tour for Republican candidates. No doubt Saddam’s guilty verdict will be a major topic.

What’s funny is that they are denying any hand is his guilty verdict so that it doesn’t look like they planned it for a late election surprise, yet are going to use it as proof of the Republicans harder and tougher stance on “terror.” How can you use something that you exerted no control over? Of course most of the Ameican public won’t be able to sift through all of that logic in only two days.

Vote Quimby.

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Tags: elections, Saddam Hussein

23 Oct 06 Blinders.

From Think Progress:

STEPHANOPOULOS: James Baker says that he’s looking for something between “cut and run” and “stay the course.”

BUSH: Well, hey, listen, we’ve never been “stay the course,” George. We have been — we will complete the mission, we will do our job, and help achieve the goal, but we’re constantly adjusting to tactics. Constantly.

What!? This begs for a TDS montage of all of the times they’ve said ’stay the course’. However the show is only a half-hour long so they would run out of time if they showed them all.

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Tags: bush, interview, lies

09 Oct 06 Stop the Insanity!

The Insanity of ‘Staying the Course’ in Iraq
By Joshua Holland, AlterNet. Posted October 9, 2006.

The idea that Iraq will spiral out of control if U.S. forces withdraw has been hammered home since the beginning of the occupation by the wars supporters, but while it’s a danger, it is also anything but the certainty that’s become part of the conventional wisdom. Seventy percent of Iraqis have confidence that their police force can maintain order.

The hawks who brought us this war have gone through an exquisite set of intellectual gymnastics to produce new justifications for why we have to stay the course. The latest is that pulling out of Iraq will “embolden” the terrorists. Vice President Cheney said recently that a withdrawal at this point would only “validate the al Qaeda strategy and invite even more terrorist attacks.” The obvious flaw in that argument is that whatever “emboldening” might or might not occur has already happened; before the invasion, the secretary of defense of the most powerful country the world has ever known predicted that the war “could last six days, six weeks” but doubted it would last six months. Yet three and a half years later, a few thousand Iraqi insurgents with AK-47s and rocket-propelled grenades have kept the leviathan pinned down, and there’s no sign that they’re anywhere close to their “last legs.” They’ve isolated the United States from its allies, stymied U.S. foreign policy from Singapore to the Sudan and halted Bush’s ambitions to “reform” the Middle East. The lesson has already been learned, as evidenced by the Taliban’s adoption of many of the Iraqi insurgents’ tactics in Afghanistan

Click title for full article @ AlterNet

The rest of this article is peppered with links that support most of the points Holland raises. A really good read that further hammers home how ridiculous this ‘Stay the Course’ rhetoric is.

I think more than anything the linear thinking coming from the administration demonstrates their incredible hubris in this situation. Can it really be argued that they are putting what is best for America, democracy in Iraq and ‘The War on Terror (TWAT) above what is best in assuring the Republican legacy? If they were honestly concerned more about the people than their reputation then I would think they could concede a little bit of defeat or admission of error and aim to correct it rather than this ‘We are never wrong and we must stay-the-course regardless of all of the facts pointing toward the course not working.’

This bit from Jon Stewart the other night, while very funny, did actually strike home a good point. Bush obviously thinks that we the people should but out of the administration’s business and just let them “do their job,” whatever that job may be. Honestly, George “Dubya” Bush of all people thinks you are too stupid to fully understand his job and you should just go about your business.

I don’t think anyone in the administration are truly bad people, I just don’t think they know what they are doing. Their failure to admit this failure will prevent them from working toward a viable solution in both Iraq and America as a whole.

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Tags: bush

25 Sep 06 Rama-DAMN!

(From Wikipedia)

Muslims believe that during Ramadan, the revelation of the Qur’an to the Prophet Muhammad began. The entire month is spent fasting from dawn to dusk. Fasting during this month is often thought to figuratively burn away all sins. Furthermore, the Prophet Muhammad told his followers that the gates of Heaven would be open all the month and the gates of Hell would be closed. [emphasis added] The first day of the next month is spent in great celebrations and rejoicings and is observed as the ‘Festival of Breaking Fast’ or `Eid ul-Fitr.

• Ramadan in Iraq starts with 20 people killed, 41 injured
• Policewoman killed in Kashmir attack
• 36 Dead in Iraq on Sunday, including 2 GIs

Well, if the gates of heaven are open and the gates of hell are closed, what better time eh?

Honestly though this is rather sad, that this war has so destroyed a country that even during one of their holiest months the violence cannot be quelled. Woo, Mission Accomplished!

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Tags: quagmire