Attack Canada Now

Because it is never too early to fight to defend freedom.

Tell some lies about Ottawa's weapons of mass destruction and Fight to Defend our Freedom! I'm sure plenty of people will say "Support the Troops!" if anyone objects.






Today is March 19, 2003

And we just got some interesting news in the form of a National Intelligence Estimate:

A new assessment by American intelligence agencies concludes that the government of Saddam Hussein does not possess weapons of mass desruction and is not a threat to the U.S. or any of its neighbors. The report contradicts everything the Bush administration has been saying about the Iraqi government for months, and brings to a sudden and complete halt calls for war with the nation.

Key Findings:

• We judge with high confidence that Baghdad has not reconstituted their nuclear weapons program, has not attempted to reconstitute its nuclear weapons program, and does not now, nor will any time in the foreseeable future, possess nuclear weapons

• We judge with high confidence that Baghdad does not possess biological or chemical weapons in any amount sufficient to be considered a threat to the security of the U.S. or any other nation

• We judge with high confidence that Baghdad is not “an imminent threat” to the U.S. or any other nation

• We judge with high confidence that Baghdad is not now nor have they ever been linked to Al Qaeda

Government officials who requested anonymity said that the release of the surprising findings may have averted a war that was as little as days away. Others say such talk is irresponsible and inflammatory and that the Bush administration had no set plans for war with Ira*.

It's a good thing that responsible and sane people in our government did what they had to do to make sure this report came out, huh? We could have been in a long and bloody - and unnecessary - war. Damn.

What Instaputz Said

More winning, Hollis Brown style.

And a great big WTF?

"This is a truly ominous development. The U of MD overseas program follows the military around the world -- thus clearly the contingencies for an occupation of several Middle Eastern countries is not only being contemplated, but actually set up."

We're Not Arming Sunnis.

We're arming Sunnis.

We're arming Sunnis.

We're arming Sunnis

We're arming Sunnis

We're arming Sunnis

We're not arming Sunnis! Who told you that?

"Every Wednesday is Gallows Day"

Where? In the land of the Glorious Untold Good News. Where you can be tried and convicted of murder in one day, and allegations of confession-by-torture, though required by law to be investigated, don't really have to be.

"She survived today, but there's always next Wednesday."

Where's the Good News on Iraq?

Next time someone says "They're building schools and hospitals and you never hear about that," tell them there might be a reason for that.


The United States has previously admitted, sometimes under pressure from federal inspectors, that some of its reconstruction projects have been abandoned, delayed or poorly constructed. But this is the first time inspectors have found that projects officially declared a success in some cases, as little as six months before the latest inspections were no longer working properly.

How to Get out of Iraq

Juan Cole has an article in The Nation: How to Get out Of Iraq. (That may be subscription only.)

Here's part of an email he posted about it, regarding the constant trumpeting of "If we leave, it'll get worse - much, much worse." I've never bought into that one, partly because it's a convenient thing for the Bush admin. and their supporters to say and we've been lied to by them so many times that we should always suspect that they're lying, and partly because it's already so freaking bad that it's an inane argument. Cole:

Many commentators present the prospect of such a war as inevitable or as preventable only by a continued US military presence. The US presence, however, has made things worse every single one of the past three years, because it unwittingly removes the incentives to compromise from local Iraqi forces and helps to paralyze the neighbors from playing a prominent role. Remove the US military from the equation, I am arguing, and it is far more likely that all parties concerned will begin behaving more responsibly.

I cannot guarantee that outcome. I can say that the past 3 years do not make me sanguine that things will get better with a continued US dominance.

A Surge

The NYTimes' Alissa J. Rubin and Edward Wong on the surge:

That has put the Americans in the middle of sectarian battlegrounds, and their death rate in the city has nearly doubled. The number of Americans killed in combat or other violence rose to 53 in Baghdad in the first seven weeks of the push, from Feb. 14 to April 2. That is up from 29 in the seven weeks before then.

Bush and John McCain keep saying, "The surge is working", while American troop deaths have doubled.

And it's not even working for Baghdad:

And while the overall death rates for all of Iraq have not dropped significantly, largely because of devastating suicide bombings, a few parts of the capital have become calmer as some death squads have decided to lie low.

But there is little sign that the Baghdad push is accomplishing its main purpose: to create an island of stability in which Sunni Arabs, Shiite Arabs and Kurds can try to figure out how to run the country together. There has been no visible move toward compromise on the main dividing issues, like regional autonomy and more power sharing between Shiites and Sunnis.

A double in American deaths to make "a few parts of the capital" calmer. And they call that "working." There's much more over there.

Fallen Troops on Forklifts

This (via) is what a "CEO president" - and a really bad one at that - gets you.

In an about-face by the U.S. government four years into the war in Iraq, America's fallen troops are being brought back to their families aboard charter jets instead of ordinary commercial flights, and the caskets are being met by honor guards in white gloves instead of baggage handlers with forklifts.

...

"I said, 'That's not going to happen with my son. That's not how my son is coming home,"' said Holley, an Army veteran from San Diego whose son, Spc. Matthew Holley, was killed by a roadside bomb in Iraq in 2005. "If it was 'expeditious' to deliver them in garbage trucks, would you do that?"

Damn. More:

Last year, the U.S. military spent about $1.2 million to bring home the dead on commercial flights. Switching to charter flights will cost far more: The six-month Kalitta contract is worth up to $11 million.

Support the Bottom Line.

"You just don't do that," he [Holley] said. "And doing that with a family watching it, they don't want to see their son's casket being unloaded with a forklift or a belt loader, and this is what Congress saw."

"Congress saw," or looked the other way, for nearly four years. Four years, it should be said, of a Republican-controlled White House and Congress.

Kalitta Charters - the airline that got the new $11 million contract - is owned by drag racer Doug Kalitta. Is he a major donor to the Republican Party? Keeps it all in the family, if so.

More here from last August. And even more. And from even earlier, January, 2006.

Looks like it was Republican Rep. Duncan Hunter who wrote up the bill that changed the policy, and with a lot of help - quickly and personally to the family - from Barbara Boxer.

The Casualty Assistance Officer contacted the office of California Senator Barbara Boxer. The Senator made a few phone calls of her own, and suddenly all reluctance and red tape vanished. The Holleys were allowed to meet their son on the runway at Lindbergh Field. A small honor guard joined them in welcoming their fallen warrior home to American soil.

50 Helicopters Lost in Iraq

Fifty. That surprised me.

Another one today. Hopefully they're alright, as it apparently didn't explode.

Why We Need to Fight the Right People

Because they're really sick bad horrible twisted people.

Tony Lagouranis: Former Army "Torturer"

From Metafilter: Confessions of a Torturer: An Army Interrogator's Story.

And there, as an army interrogator, he tortured detainees for information he admits they rarely had. Since leaving Iraq he’s taken this story public, doing battle on national television against the war’s architects for giving him the orders he regrets he obeyed.

Ai yai yai. What a world.

More here, here, here, and a response from the Army (Jan., 2006).