Pat Tillman was a linebacker for the Arizona Cardinals. Moved by 9/11, he volunteered for military duty and was deployed to Iraq. He was a darling of the right wing, who reported his death in Iraq with much sadness. Here’s Hindrocket at Powerline, April 23, 2004: The news brought tears to my eyes, as to many others. Already, some are … Read More
Baghdad Power
Bush in July: "[I]ncreasing electricity in Baghdad is not the kind of thing that tends to get on the news." And Denny Hastert returned from a trip to iraq in June, gushing over "so many lights shining brightly". That’s right. When faced with bad news constantly coming out of Iraq, all Bush &Co could come with in terms of good … Read More
A Thought Experiment On Iraq
The Rude One: A Quick and Easy Test to Determine Where You Stand on the Iraq War: Let’s say we line up, oh, hell, a couple hundred thousand American soldiers, fine men and women in combat uniform, officers, non-coms, grunts, and we put them on TV. Then George W. Bush walks in with a loaded glock. Now let’s say that … Read More
Body Count
Ten U.S. soldiers were killed today in Iraq, bringing this month’s toll to 69. And the month is a little more than half over. At this rate, October 2006 will be the worst month casualty-wise since January 2005.
Milestones
U.S. Population hit 300,000,000 at 6:58 a.m. today. Coalition forces death toll hit 3,000. Bush’s disapproval rating at an all-time high for CNN polling. UPDATE: More tidbits from the CNN poll: – 64 percent disapprove of Bush’s handling of the war in Iraq. – 70 percent of women and 58 percent of men now oppose the war in Iraq. – … Read More
Meanwhile, In Iraq
53 dead U.S. soldiers so far this month, which means October is shaping up to be the third worst month since the Iraq War began.
Look At The Shiny Object
Billmon: QUESTION: Do you believe that the biggest drag on the Republican Party is the situation in Iraq? THE PRESIDENT: I believe that the situation in Iraq is, no question, tough on the American psyche . . . no question this is an issue, but so is the economy. And I believe there’ll be — I still stand by my … Read More
Iraq: We Can’t Win
How bad can things be for Bush when his own commission designed to assess Iraq gives him the bad news that Bush’s goals are unachievable? Here’s what Bush said yesterday in the Rose Garden two days ago: And so Iraq is an important part of dealing with this problem. And my vow to the American people is I understand the … Read More
Saddam Probably Isn’t Looking So Bad To Them Anymore…
Latest estimate of Iraqi civilian deaths since the Iraq War started: 655,000. Consider this: The total Iraq population is about 26,000,000. That means that roughly 2.5% of the population has been killed. 2.5 percent — In the United States (pop. 295 million) that amounts to 7,735,000 deaths. Heckuva job, Bushie.
Foley Blame Game & The Foley Effect
I wish I had kept this list earlier, because then I could hyperlink to examples. But off the top of my head, this is a short list of all the entities named by the right wing pundits on AM radio and the right blogistan who are actually responsible for Foley’s malfeasance: Demon alcohol Catholic priests Gay GOP staffers ABC’s Brian … Read More
In Other News
18 U.S. soldiers have been killed in Iraq in the last four days… …including eight U.S. soldiers who died in gunbattles and bomb blasts Monday in Baghdad — the most killed in a single day in the capital since July 2005.
State Of Denial
Digby: "In the midst of all the excitement over the GOP congress’s under-age cyberstalking, I hope that we don’t lose sight of the other white meat — Woodward’s astonishing revelations in his new book ‘State of Denial.’" Slate’s John Dickerson says: The book paints the administration as clueless, dishonest, and dysfunctional. The behind-the-scenes anecdotes are irresistible. Laura Bush telling her … Read More
NIE, NIE, NIE
If you’re interested in this subject, you’ve probably already discovered the controversial NIE already. The "key judgments" section was declassified by Bush and is available here [PDF format]. Even though the released portion of the NIE is three pages long, let me provide a summary of the summary done by Midtopia: Good news1. We’ve seriously damaged the leadership of Al-Qaeda. … Read More
Breaking News: Bush To Declassify Portions Of The Leaked NIE Report
Well, most of us would like to see the whole thing, but it’s a start.
Bush’s Church To Bush: “Get Out Of Iraq”
The United Methodist Church (Bush’s religion of choice) took a stance the past weekend: United Methodist Church leaders helped launch a week of protest and civil disobedience against the war in Iraq by signing a declaration of peace urging President Bush to pull U.S. troops out of the country. The Declaration of Peace, signed Sept. 21, is described as a … Read More