William "teh gay" Kristol

Able to leap small buildings with a single snear!

Iraq Insanity 2.0

12/21/07 NPR: U.S. Troop Surge Quells Violence in Iraq
There's a lull in the fighting in Baghdad as the surge in American troops helps to stabilize the capital. The U.S. military struck deals for peace with Iraqi militias on all sides and in the process gave up on religious reconciliation...

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Here we go again. Building on my previous post on the US occupation in Iraq and how it is both causing the "violent differences" between warring factions while providing the solution to those "violent differences" due to the warring factions giving common cause in hating the American occupation more than each other.

The article here reveals more pretzel logic by the US military by making peace themselves with each of Iraq militias and giving up on Iraqi's reconciling with each other. This of course , defeats the most important goal for ending the Iraq quagmire, allowing American troops to leave and come home.

I will say, I think the military is aware of the silliness inherent in this approach but have few options to do otherwise.

Some day this crazy situation has to end with Iraqi's being left alone to settle their differences, like they've been doing for 1400 years give or take.

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More Unforgivable Negligence

The Last Days of Private Scheuerman
The following contain excerpts of an AP story
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Wednesday December 19, 2007 7:16 PM

By KIMBERLY HEFLING

Associated Press Writer

SANFORD, N.C. (AP) - Private First Class Jason Scheuerman nailed a suicide note to his barracks closet in Iraq, stepped inside and shot himself.

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What the soldier's father, Chris, would learn about his son's final days would lead the retired Special Forces commando, who teaches at Fort Bragg, to take on the very institution he's spent his life serving - and ultimately prompt an investigation by the Army Inspector General's office.

The documents, obtained by Freedom of Information Act requests filed by Chris Scheuerman, reveal a troubled soldier kept in Iraq despite repeated signs he was going to kill himself, including placing the muzzle of his weapon in his mouth multiple times.

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He is not alone. At least 152 U.S. troops have taken their own lives in Iraq and Afghanistan since the two wars started, contributing to the Army's highest suicide rate in 26 years of keeping track. For the grieving parents, the answers don't come easily or quickly.

For Jason Scheuerman, death came on July 30, 2005, around 5:30 p.m., about 45 minutes after his first sergeant told the teary-eyed private that if he was intentionally misbehaving so he could leave the Army, he would go to jail where he would be abused.

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The rest of the story.

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Just Priceless Wingnut Logic

All Iraqi Groups Blame U.S. Invasion for Discord, Study Shows

By Karen DeYoung
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, December 19, 2007; A14

Iraqis of all sectarian and ethnic groups believe that the U.S. military invasion is the primary root of the violent differences among them, and see the departure of "occupying forces" as the key to national reconciliation, according to focus groups conducted for the U.S. military last month.

That is good news, according to a military analysis of the results. At the very least, analysts optimistically concluded, the findings indicate that Iraqis hold some "shared beliefs" that may eventually allow them to surmount the divisions that have led to a civil war.

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So you see, because of the "Shared Belief " by all Iraqi's that getting rid of the American occupiers causing their "violent differences", it is a good thing necessary for national reconciliation. And of course it would follow that the ancient Arab axion of "the enemy of my enemy is my friend" would dictate that America must stay in Iraq to continue promoting the "violent differences" between Iraqi's so they can unite in their hatred of the US in order to reconcile their "violent differences'.

Wingnuttery in it's purest form.

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Life Cheap In Iraq

Unexplainable killings; yet another virtue of the US-led invasion

Bereaved Iraqi father thirsts for revenge

Death squads working in Iraqi police force continue committing murderers for no known reason.

By Ammar Karim – BAGHDAD

Since a death squad meted out a terrifying end to his football-crazy son in Baghdad two years ago, Abu Fuad has had only one thought in his mind -- revenge.

Surge This

Suicide bombing kills 14 in Iraq cafe - Xinhua
Xinhua, China - 29 minutes ago
... when a suicide bomber blew himself up inside a popular cafe near the volatile city of Baquba in central Iraq on Tuesday, a local police source said.

Our "Nothing To Lose" President Must Face Impeachment

Gail Russell Chaddock

Washington - Heading into the last days of the legislative session, Republicans in Congress and President Bush are chalking up some surprising victories on federal spending.

That has put Democrats on the defensive. From a campaign pledge to change the course of the war in Iraq to tax and spending plans, Democrats are now having to scuttle key elements of their agenda. The extent of their retrenchment will become clear this week as Congress moves to pass key spending bills.

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The secret behind the GOP's success? A show of unity between the minority party on the Hill and the White House.

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So here we are with a republican party in a death spiral dragging the country down with it. "A show of unity" with an approval at circa 30% which hasn't budged for nearly 2 years. It is a last big "fuck you" not only to the democrats but the country as well. After 2006, a sane party would reflect on why such sweeping losses in both chambers of congress and how to make the changes necessary to recover the respect of the American people. It should be obvious to every republican and democrat for that matter, that the public will not tolerate governance by rigid ideology. It is also obvious that congressional republicans have decided that belligerent unity will somehow save the day for 2008. Who knows, it might work, but I doubt it.

Then we have bewildered democrats who thought republicans would see the country clearly wanted the pendulum to swing back from the right wing governance of the past 7 years {12 years for congress} and moderate toward the middle. Problem is, nearly every moderate republican was purged and replaced with democrats in 2006, so what is left are mostly southern conservative ideologues who have broken all records for blocking almost every bill in the Senate with blanket filibusters across the board.

It has gotten so bad, that Majority Leader Harry Reid has capitulated by granting consent that every action taken in the Senate must have a 60 vote super majority to get passed. This applies not only to the final votes on the bills themselves but also to germaine amendments which appears to be unprecedented.
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"My biggest fear is that our troops won't be funded and that the Pentagon will start pulling funds from other sources, such as the National Guard and our bases here at home," says Sen. Ben Nelson (D) of Nebraska, a member of the Senate Appropriations Committee and the Senate Armed Services Committee. Without a war-funding bill this week, the Pentagon says it will be necessary to send out furlough notices affecting some 100,000 civilian employees almost immediately.

"There's an interesting cultural argument to be made that Republicans as a party are simply more disciplined than Democrats," says Ross Baker, a political scientist at Rutgers University in New Brunswick, N.J. "There is also a very strong perception on the part of Republicans that the president is popular with the party base, and for that reason they don't want to desert him. The third factor is that you have a president with nothing to lose – and someone who has nothing to lose in this kind of showdown is going to win."

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Senator Nelson sums up democrats problem in a word and that word is fear. Fear of a petulant immature president who has "nothing to lose" and will go to any length to remain relevant, including shutting down the government just to get his way. Combine that with 41 republican senators to willing sink the ship of state out of resentment flowing from their own failures, and you have a totally dysfunctional government.

So what should democrats do at this stage? It is clear they've brought rubber knives to a right wing gunfight. Should they continue to capitulate to the republican scorched earth politics or should they engage the republicans with equal veracity and tactics. It is what the democratic base wants but what would it solve, other than to show they possess a spine. That way would be justified as a matter of fair play, but the country would suffer and Americans would likely hold democrats in equal contempt as they do republicans. The only other option is to begin impeachment proceedings forthwith. I have been against this option up until now. When a president has so broken his oath to abide by the Constitution as has Bush on so many levels, it is the only avenue left to restore the peoples faith in their government. As things stand presently, Bush and republican lawmakers have, for all practical purposes, lost any semblance of cooperation in doing the peoples business and seem only to serve their misplaced anger toward democrats in particular and the country as a whole.

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