I don't think I have anything left to say. Depressing.
Posted by andgarden at March 23, 2008 09:15 PMDear US Representatives and Senators,
4000 faithful US soldiers have been wasted on the US government's corrupt, deceitful and failed war, invasion and occupation of Iraq.
1,033,000 innocent Iraqi civilians have been needlessly killed consequent to the US government's supreme international crime and epic strategic blunder.
13,000,000,000,000 valuable US dollars that could have satisfied immense humanitarian and social needs have been squandered on the reckless Iraq military fiasco.
All to the benefit of Al-Qaeda, China, Iran and Russia.
Please, in pursuit of America's vital national interests, support immediate withdrawal of US forces from Iraq. Thank you.
Very truly yours,
Posted by Pvt. Keepout at March 23, 2008 09:18 PMThanks, Pvt Keepout, for acknowledging the Iraqis who have been killed by Georgie's Great Iraq Adventure.
Let us also acknowledge the 5-6 million internally and externally displaced. And those who live in squalid misery and daily fear who constitute the rest of the Iraqi citizenry.
The troops who go to Iraq have choices every step along the way. They can choose to join the military or not, and they can choose, as thousands have, to say "hell no, I won't go to main, murder, and destroy for the sake of your hubristic stupidity. The only ones who have no choice in this matter, who have never had a choice, and who will not be given a choice, are Iraqis. They are the real victims here.
Posted by Shirin at March 23, 2008 09:38 PM"It's just a number."
Posted by Chango at March 23, 2008 11:47 PMHillary Clinton is my Senator. I wrote to her several times about her vote to approve the Bush assault on Iraq. I also wrote her again when she defended that decision, and them I wrote again when she voted to give Bush the authority to attack Iran as well
Never heard anything back from her. Guess she is busy running for President or something.
Posted by eddie in ny at March 24, 2008 12:29 AMeddie,
you don't know what you're talking about. as lame as kyl-lieberman was, it did not authorize use of force against iran, in fact, wording that would have authorized it was specifically deleted. but it's always fun to watch obama supporters blame clinton for everything.
Posted by Turkana at March 24, 2008 12:46 AMTurkana,
If you are gullible enough to think that the Bush administration wouldn't use Kyl-Lieberman as a pretext to move against Iran, then you are even more delusional than most Hillary sympathizers.
The Kyl-Lieberman resolution authorized and encouraged the President to take action against Iranian agents who are working to help the resistance to the United States within Iraq. Where do you think that leads us? Once we start attacking Iranians, it provides them with the pretext to strike back at us, which provides the pretext for Bush/Cheney to do want they have wanted to do all along.
You and Hillary Clinton have had seven years to observe the Bushniks in action. And you haven't learned anything yet?
Posted by eddie from ny at March 24, 2008 12:57 AMTurkana,
I don't know much about the specifics of Kyl-Lieberman, but don't you have a problem with Hillary Clinton authorizing the Bush administration to do ANYTHING in the realm of military affairs? By the time Kyl-Lieberman came before Congress, the evidence on Iraq was in plain view. How could any thinking person accept the idea that the Bush people could be trusted with any sort of moral or tactical decisions?
WTF??
Posted by genghis at March 24, 2008 01:05 AMgenghis,
i made clear that i thought k-l was lame. but obamabots dishonestly try to make it something it wasn't. specific language was specifically deleted, and to call it an authorization to attack iran is at best uninformed, and at worst a flat-out lie. as i wrote, last year:
With a hat tip to the reality-based Talking Points Memo, the National Security Advisors blog explains it thusly:Posted by Turkana at March 24, 2008 01:19 AMAccording to a staffer in Senator Lieberman's office, due to objections from some colleagues, Lieberman and Kyl removed these two quoted sections regarding use of military force. The remaining items, which the Senate did approve today, are pretty tame by comparison (though Senate moderates Biden, Hagel, Lugar, and Webb voted against it. The revised amendment implies that the U.S. military should plan a future force structure in Iraq to help contain Iran; states that it is a vital interest of the U.S. to prevent Iran from creating a Hezbollah-like proxy army in Iraq; and recommends that the Iranian Revolutionary Guards be put on the Executive branch's list of specially designated global terrorists.The quoted sections that were deleted from the resolution? The Carpetbagger Report explains:
To be sure, the revised version is preferable to the original. Two offending paragraphs, in particular, were omitted entirely, including the notion that “it should be the policy of the United States to combat, contain, and roll back the violent activities and destabilizing influence inside Iraq of the Government of the Islamic Republic of Iran, its foreign facilitators such as Lebanese Hezbollah, and its indigenous Iraqi proxies.”Indeed, the original resolution also included language that the Senate would “support the prudent and calibrated use of all instruments of United States national power in Iraq, including diplomatic, economic, intelligence, and military instruments,” as part of our drive to “combat” Iran’s “destabilizing influence.”
Was it still a terrible resolution? Of course. Did it indicate Congress now backs a war with Iran? Not only is the answer no, but the National Security Advisors blog makes the point that the Democrats had already, twice this year, acted in ways that could be considered as supporting the use of force against Iran. In other words, by forcing the removal of the most inflammatory language from this resolution, the Democrats could be read as now being less supportive of using force against Iran! Or maybe not. We've all been doing way too much tea-leave reading, and far too little focusing on the facts. The facts are:
The Senate passed a stupid resolution.
The resolution does not give Bush any more authorization to use force against Iran than he already had.
4000 dead.
A decent post worthy of yout talents and all it takes is 'Eddie' to get your blood boiling and reflectively assail "Obamabots" (I thought we we just "dim-witted"...).
This type of petty discourse is not helpful and I will continue to call you and your colleagues (e.g. eripostal's "Your Dear leader Saint Obama") out on these ad hominem attacks.
You are of course correct about "stupid" Senate votes and the obvious fact that the Democrats do not seem to have the ability to lead on this tragic Iraq issue.
4000 dead.
What will Clinton or Obama really do when elected?
Posted by at March 24, 2008 02:47 AM
Nothing but continue it and try to blame the previous admin. for it. Those 'day one' statements were only gas and covered by the word 'assess' or 'reassess' conditions on the ground when I become president. We'll still be there as Obama's adviser General McPeak says "for 100 years if things go well"
Posted by peter at March 24, 2008 03:41 AMThanks, Nancy, Harry and Hillary. Better examples of Democratic complicity in these deaths have never existed. Towing the corporate line for profit and gain has its consequences, unintended and otherwise. Pop the champagne corks and line up another fund raiser. It's never been more profitable to be a whore in congress.
Posted by phidipides at March 24, 2008 06:35 AMWait'll we hit 5,000.
Which we will, with certainty. It's fairly easy to kill people, just ask the Iraqis---with three quarters of a million dead as a result of our soldiers noble "liberation" (of their oil).
And the next GOoPer conserva-clown promises another Hundred Years, gets MSM applause and sits at a two-thirds "favorability" rating.
This country is an abject failure---quite dangerous to the rest of the world, but utterly doomed.
We now exist in a living satire, albeit a murderous one. Pass the vodka.
Posted by euzoius at March 24, 2008 07:52 AM"We now exist in a living satire, albeit a murderous one. Pass the vodka."
Good one, euzoius. Indeed, the truth hurts. Lincoln said that no outside power could overwhelm us; and if we were destroyed it would be by our own hand. We are prostrate morally, bogged down in such a pit of bad karma, with bad actors in the mainstream media, corrupt militarism infecting political life. And there is nothing so vile now, as McCain's clamoring for "victory". The victory of the debased, the victory of aggressors, the victory of the damned.
Tonight and tomorrow night, PBS will air 'BUSH'S WAR.' Should be excellent.
Posted by Judith at March 24, 2008 11:35 AM4,000. Drop in the bucket. Ask McCain, who has no problem with 7,000, 20,000, 50,000 plus deaths. How many people can you kill in an one hundred year war?
Posted by Judith at March 24, 2008 11:41 AMWhy not ask General McPeak, Judith...he came up with the utterance that McCain used back on March 27th of 2003 in an interview with the Oregonian. Looks like he's one of Obama's lead advisers. He should be more than willing to talk to any Democrat now shouldn't he?
Posted by peter at March 24, 2008 12:08 PMturkana: The resolution does not give Bush any more authorization to use force against Iran than he already had.
true, and yet Dear Leader would still point to it as justification for yet another fuck-up, this time attacking Iran
It was a HORRIBLE vote by Hillary.
Posted by Gay Veteran at March 24, 2008 12:46 PMisn't pants pissing peter supposed to be reporting from Falujah about the bike race?
Posted by gay veteran at March 24, 2008 04:25 PM