The Blue State

The real Iraq and Afghanistan

This is really what our soldiers are going through in either place.

Democrats cave again on Iraq funding

This is why we need major change in 2008.  Many Democrats, likely the DLC wing, are convincing party leaders to back off on troop redeployment demands. 

This today from Politico:

According to one senior Democratic lawmaker, there’s a growingdiscomfort among pro-defense Democrats about linking a $50 billion Iraqmeasure to troop withdrawal.

“We have to come off this lack of funding for the military operations,”the lawmaker said. “We have to continue the funding. We don’t want tolook like we’re against troop funding. ... We should separate thefunding discussion from the rest of the war.”

Since when did it become "pro-defense" to continue a war that increases our dependence on foreign oil, and holds us hostage to long-term Mideast involvement, and therefore puts our country at greater risk of an attack?  That's not "pro-defense" -- it's called being Bush lite.

Australia Likely To Vote Out 'Bush Clone', Howard

On Saturday, Australians will decide whether to allow Prime Minister John Howard to continue as the country's political leader. Howard survived a 2004 election despite his unwavering support for George Bush's war in Iraq.

Recent polling has shown that challenger Kevin Rudd of the Labor Party is holding a steady lead over Mr. Howard despite a strong economy in Australia.  Howard, sometimes referred to as a Bush Clone is struggling thanks to his closed minded policy on Iraq, his advanced age (68) and because of Australian desire for a fresh blood - Howard has ruled since 1996.

Mr. Rudd has promised the following if elected:

• remove all troops from Iraq
• sign the Kyoto Treaty
• strengthen relations with China

The latest poll showed Howard trailing 52-48 percent.

Pentagon under-reports brain injuries

The number of troops that sustained brain injuries in Iraq and Afghanistan is 20,000 more than what the Pentagon claims:

At least 20,000 U.S. troops who were notclassified as wounded during combat in Iraq and Afghanistan have beenfound with signs of brain injuries, according to military and veteransrecords compiled by USA TODAY.

The data, provided by the Army, Navy andDepartment of Veterans Affairs, show that about five times as manytroops sustained brain trauma as the 4,471 officially listed by thePentagon through Sept. 30. These cases also are not reflected in thePentagon's official tally of wounded, which stands at 30,327.

Very sad that is takes a newspaper to audit the federal government for this information to come out.

Both Democrats and Republicans vote to block war funds

Republicans blocked a Democratic measure that would give funding to Bush for the war only if he redeploys troops from Iraq.  The Democrats blocked a Republican measure to fund the war without any timetables for troop withdrawal.

Democrats are now showing some spine -- at least at the moment:

Reid and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif.,said this week that if Congress cannot pass legislation that ties warmoney to troop withdrawals, they would not send Bush a bill this year.

Instead,they would revisit the issue upon returning in January, pushing thePentagon to the brink of an accounting nightmare and deepeningDemocrats' conflict with the White House on the war.

Inthe meantime, Democrats say, the Pentagon can eat into its $471 billionannual budget without being forced to take drastic steps.

"The days of a free lunch are over," said Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y.

Either we just took a dramatic step towards ending the war, or we are being set up by Pelosi and Reid for a huge let-down when they cave in early next year.

If it comes down to Ohio, and the issue of the war

Strangely so, Ohio is one of the few states still split on the war -- even after knowing what they know now about casualties, intelligence and the treasury that was spent:

Fifty-three percent of the registered Ohio voters surveyed say thewar is not going well – either “not too well’’ or “not at all well’’ –according to the Ohio Poll, conducted by the Institute for PolicyResearch at the University of Cincinnati. The latest survey, releasedtoday, was conducted Oct. 19-Oct. 31.

Forty-six percent say the U.S. military effort is going fairly well or very well.

And voters are nearly evenly split over the original decision to go towar: 51 percent calling it the wrong decision, 47 percent calling itthe right decision.

Absolutely stunning.  Still, Ohio voters are more likely to respect candidates on either side that stayed true to their position from the very beginning, as opposed to taking different stances based on what the public opinion polls said.  Obama, Richardson, Huckabee, McCain and Giuliani would all do well there.  The wafflers -- Hillary, Edwards, Biden, Thompson, and Romney -- not so well.

Neoconservative legal system in Iraq

Torture.  No habeas corpus.  Lack of managerial oversight.  We have yetto build the legal system in Iraq that we promised -- and this is allby our example:

 

The president of the Iraqi bar association hand-delivered a letterto House Minority Whip Roy Blunt (R-Mo.) and Senate Judiciary Committeeranking Republican Arlen Specter (Pa.) Wednesday calling for bettertreatment of detainees in Iraq and criticizing the U.S. government fornot doing enough to build Iraq’s legal system.

Aswadal-Minshidi and a group of prominent Iraqi lawyers have sent the sameletter to President Bush. On Tuesday, they shared their concerns in aprivate meeting with Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts. Theyalso met with Emmet Flood, special counsel to the president.

In case you thought I was exaggerating about habeas corpus -- there is literally no habeas corpus!

The lawyers are primarily concerned about the length of time — rangingfrom three months to two years — Iraqis rounded up in broad securitysweeps must wait behind bars before seeing authorities with power toadjudicate their cases, said a State Department source familiar withtheir views. Most of the suspects rounded up on suspicion of havingties to insurgents are let go, but they often have to wait months totrickle through the legal process. In many cases, their families havelittle idea of what happened to them.

This isn't a democracy.  It's a police state that is now part of the US proxy war with Iran.  Democracy?  No, that was just the excuse.  Oil?  Yes, but we failed on that.  Military bases next to our number one foe, Iran?  Now you're talking.

Why the surge isn't working

As you may recall, the whole point of the Bush troop escalation was to vindicate the belief that you need military security first in order to achieve political progress.  Many leading military experts disagreed.  Still, Bush went ahead with the surge anyway.

More than 6 months since the troop build-up was complete, the military progress has yet to result in political stability, as reported this morning in the Washington Post:

In more than a dozen interviews, U.S. Military officials expressed growing concern over the Iraqi government's failureto capitalize on sharp declines in attacks against U.S. troops andIraqi civilians. A window of opportunity has opened for the governmentto reach out to its former foes, said Army Lt. Gen. Raymond T. Odierno , the commander of day-to-day U.S. military operations in Iraq, but "it's unclear how long that window is going to be open."

The lack of political progress calls into question the core rationale behind the troop buildup President Bush announced in January, which was premised on the notion that improvedsecurity would create space for Iraqis to arrive at new power-sharingarrangements.

And now to the most disturbing part of all:

And what if there is no such breakthrough by next summer?"If that doesn't happen," Odierno said, "we're going to have to reviewour strategy."

Review it next summer?  Of course.  That is code for an even larger surge if by next summer no such political reconciliation happens.  And then if that doesn't work, they will review it again at the end of Bush's term. 

Bush's so-called "surge strategy" should be renamed the "buying time strategy."  Bush wants to go down in history as a defiant leader -- even though historians probably will not look at it that way.  Nonetheless, that is what Bush wants.  He has to survive 13 more months without Congress pulling the chord on war funding.

Not going the distance -- but it's still something

I feel embarrassed that I actually call this good news.  But due to the fashion that the Democrats have handled this Iraq issue since last year's election, this is definitely a move in the right direction:

Senate Democrats might force Republicans to wage a filibuster if theGOP wants to block the latest Iraq withdrawal bill, aides and senatorssaid Tuesday.

That could set the stage for a dramaticend-of-the-year partisan showdown, which Democrats hope will help themturn voter frustration with Congress and the stalemate over Iraq intoanger with the Republican Party.

In layman's terms, until now the Democrats had been allowing their Iraq bills to be blocked, after which the Democrats would give up.  This time, they are calling the Republican's bluff, and allowing the minority party in Congress to stage a true filibuster.  It would last all night, pretty much endangering the GOP's chances in 2008.  "This incumbent stayed all night to help prevent the war from ending," some Democratic challenger could say.

Again, in reality, it won't amount to squat.  But it is an effort.  Congress will actually have to stay up past its bedtime.

US arms uncontrollably sold to Iraqi militias

How our tax dollars paid for arms that ended up in the hands of Iraqi militias and South African security guards:

As the insurgency in Iraq escalated in the spring of 2004, American officials entrusted an Iraqibusinessman with issuing weapons to Iraqi police cadets training tohelp quell the violence.

By all accounts, the businessman, Kassim al-Saffar, a veteran of theIran-Iraq war, did well at distributing the Pentagon-supplied weaponsfrom the Baghdad Police Academy armory he managed for a militarycontractor. But, co-workers say, he also turned the armory into his ownprivate arms bazaar with the seeming approval of some Americanofficials and executives, selling AK-47 assault rifles, Glock pistolsand heavy machine guns to anyone with cash in hand — Iraqi militias,South African security guards and even American contractors.

“Thiswas the craziest thing in the world,” said John Tisdale, a retired AirForce master sergeant who managed an adjacent warehouse. “They weretaking weapons away by the truckload.”

Broken government.  Lack of accountability.  Neoconservative recklessness.  All this has taken place ever since the build-up to war, while the so-called "liberal media" stood still.