The Archives
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04.09.08Iraq War, cost breakdownIn 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: ...
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04.05.08State Department to renew Blackwater contractIn "Are you kidding me news," yes, the U.S. State Department will renew its contract with embattled mercenaries, er, security contractors, Blackwater. Blackwater said its employees were returning fire after coming under attack from armed insurgents, but an Iraqi investigation called the killings "premeditated murder." Starr said the U.S. government, in particular U.S. Ambassador to Iraq Ryan Crocker, will take a close look at the FBI's investigation report and then "decide whether it is consistent with U.S. goals and policies to continue the contract." He said it will be important to see whether the FBI finds Blackwater itself criminally responsible, or merely a ...
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03.19.08Questions the press should have asked about IraqOn the anniversary of the war, Greg Mitchell over at Editor & Publisher has a fantastic list of questions the press should have asked in the lead up to the War in Iraq.-- Why is the U.S. threatening an optional war if 59% of Americans do not support a U.S. invasion without the approval of the U.N. Security Council, according to a Feb. 24-26 USA Today/CNN/Gallup Poll?-- If our allies have the same information on WMD -- and the Iraqi threat is so real -- why do some of our friends refuse to take part in your coalition?-- You praise ...
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03.19.085 years of war in Iraq, what is it good for?Today marks the fifth anniversary of the war in Iraq, as you have no doubt heard on every news station so far today. The NY Times has some good stuff up, as does WaPo and even my own paper The Orlando Sentinel. No doubt today you will see countless time lines, hundreds of pictures and hear pundits from both sides screech about how the war is or is not working. It will be a day of endless speculation and 20-20 hindsight. The thing to remember though is that during all of this time there have been men and women over there. Not ...
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03.04.08Five videos show American soldiers at their worstFrom ValleywagThe Digg story "U.S. Soldier throws puppy off cliff" had, at last count, 5,527 votes. Digg commenters, never a demure crowd, aren't holding back their rage. One comment, itself voted for 540 times, reads "Wow. I hope he got shot in the face later that day." This video exposes something about the dehumanization of American troops in Iraq and Afghanistan that most of us don't want to think about. Here are five more videos that show just how far gone our troops are. A warning: These videos are explicit and -- with the known correlation between violence toward animals ...
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02.11.08Army buries study critical of Iraq WarAn article in The New York Times today reported on a report that was buried by the Army because it was too critical of the war. Shocked? Yeah, me too. Here's the gist. The Army had the RAND Corporation, a federally-funded (meaning your tax dollars somewhere along the line) global policy think tank that analyzes and reports on public policy, among other things, prepare a report on rebuilding Iraq and the lessons learned from the war. So they did, in spades. RAND produced a seven-volume report that criticized nearly every aspect of how the war has been conducted. From George Bush at the ...
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02.10.08G.I planted evidence on slain IraqiA disturbing article from the NY Times yesterday reported on the conviction of Sgt. Evan Vela, an Army sniper that killed an unarmed Iraqi and planted an AK-47 on him.A top Army sniper testified Friday in a military court that he had ordered a subordinate to kill an unarmed Iraqi man who wandered into their hiding position near Iskandariya, then planted an AK-47 rifle near the body to support his false report about the shooting.Under a grant of immunity, the sniper, Sgt. Michael A. Hensley, an expert marksman and sniper trainer, testified in the court-martial of Sgt. Evan Vela. Sergeant ...
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01.13.08Echoes of Foreign Battles, Soldiers after IraqThe NY Times has an excellent (though lengthy) feature on Iraq War veteran-related violence in America. Across America, Deadly Echoes of Foreign Battles is yet another piece of evidence that the damage of this war doesn't end in Iraq and that not enough is being done by our military to prevent this type of thing from happening.The New York Times found 121 cases in which veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan committed a killing in this country, or were charged with one, after their return from war. In many of those cases, combat trauma and the stress of deployment — along ...
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12.21.07The portrait from IraqThe Project for Excellence in Journalism has an excellent (pun intended) study on how the media has been covering the Iraq War.Through the first 10 months of the year, the portrait of Iraq that Americans have received from the news media has in considerable measure been a grim one. Roughly half of the reporting has consisted of accounts of daily violence. And stories that explicitly assessed the direction of the war have tended toward pessimism, according to a new study of press coverage of events on the ground in Iraq from January through October of 2007.The Portrait from Iraq: Percent ...
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11.16.07Senate Republicans block funding for U.S. troopsI find it really amazing how every time either Bush vetoes or Republicans block funding for the war, the Democrats get labeled as "not supporting the troops." So, trying to give them $50 billion that was requested is "not supporting" them? Simply because the bill had stipulations on troops coming home, Republicans voted against it.Senate Republicans on Friday blocked a $50 billion bill by Democrats that would have paid for several months of combat but also would have ordered troop withdrawals from Iraq to begin within 30 days. The measure, narrowly passed this week by the House, also would have ...
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11.15.07CBS News investigates veteran suicides…...and the results are startling.PART 1PART 2The raw numbers:Results for 2004 Overall Rates Veterans: 17.5 to 21.8 per 100,000 Non-Veterans: 9.4 per 100,000 Male Rates Veterans: 30.6 to 38.3 per 100,000 Non-Veterans: 18.3 per 100,000 Female Rates Veterans: 10.0 to 12.5 per 100,000 Non-Veterans: 4.8 per 100,000Results for 2005 Overall Rates Veterans: 18.7 to 20.8 per 100,000 Non-Veterans: 8.9 per 100,000 ...
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11.14.07The Tale of the Marlboro MarineVia Crooks & Liars:...gut wrenching story of Lance Corporal James Blake Miller– better known as the Marlboro Marine–who is now jobless, divorced and near suicidal since being discharged from the military after being diagnosed with PTSD. With little aid from his government, Miller received help from an unlikely source — Luis Sinco, the LA Times photographer who snapped the famous picture of him during the battle of Fallujah in 2004.You can read the full LA Times story here.The gist of the story is that Lance Corporal James Blake Miller was "Saving Private Ryan'ed" after this photo shot by Luis Sinco ...
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11.06.07Quick Review: No End in SightNo End in Sight - Now don't get me wrong on this, No End in Sight is a damn fine Iraq War documentary. However, it is more of the same if you've seen any of the other dozen-and-half other documentaries out there. Also if you've read Fiasco, State of Denial or The Greatest Story Ever Sold, again it will be more of the same.Here's the gist.Bush & Co. lied, got us into a war they can't handle under false pretenses and continue running it with no real plan and...*wait for it*...No End in Sight. Wham, bam, that's it. I've watched ...
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08.28.07News ReelThe bloops and the bleeps:Iraq Weapons Are a Focus of Criminal InvestigationTaliban Hostage Deal ReportedAirline Passenger Tries to Open Plane DoorHulk Hogan's Son Released From HospitalAfghanistan ‘set for record opium harvest’TorrentSpy Closes to US Users - Shit!
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08.23.07David Shuster on Bush’s Vietnam Analogy.Ready...aim...fire!Showing once again that President Bush has a marginal grasp of both history and metaphors. The best part:April 13th, 2004Interviewer: How do you feel about the Vietnam analogy?Bush: I feel the analogy is false...and it sends the wrong message to our troops.Do Bush and Cheney forget that the things they say are actually recorded and archived?
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