Update from the rally of Democratic members of Congress outside the Capitol building tonight

11:30pm and there are still crowds waiting to get into the Senate visitor's gallery to watch the all-night Iraq debate:



From a source on the scene:

From outside the Capitol, my view is obstructed -- but it looks like 500-600 people (at least!) in attendance.

Shorly after 9pm, Senate leadership took the stage. Reid spoke first, followed by Speaker, Nancy Pelosi. She asked the crowd, "Are we united in speaking out against Republican obstructionism?" The crowd responded with a roar!

Pelosi was followed by Durbin -- then Congressman John Lewis and then Schumer, then Pat Murphy, then Patty Murray -- who led the crowd in a "Wake up" call chant.

Quote from Murray, "It's time to change the mission and bring our troops home. They've done everything we've asked them to do."

From the Senate, we have in attendance the following: Reid, Reed, Durbin, Levin, Schumer, Pelosi, Leahy, Klobuchar, McCaskill, Murray, Akaka, Casey, Launtenberg, and Harkin.

During the middle of the program, the House emptied out and flooded the rally.

Read More......

Yes, Senator McCain, al Qaeda has won and it's your fault

Joe cited a great Politico article (great in the "my God they're completely insane" kind of way) in the post below, and I wanted to excerpt one more very telling part:

McCain also slammed Democrats who asserted that the surge is a failure, and he took a veiled shot at Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (Nev.), who has already declared the "war is lost."

"If we lost the war, does that mean that someone else has won?" McCain asked. "Has Al Qaeda won?"

More of the irrational, chest-thumping non-logic that got us into this war, kept us from questioning how the war was going, and now keeps us from leaving. Well, I'll answer the question: Yes, Senator McCain, we lost and al Qaeda won, and it's your fault. You were in the majority in Congress for most of this war, you had the oversight responsibility, and you did absolutely nothing while Bush fiddled away any possibility of victory. You let George Bush send not enough troops. You did nothing while al Qaeda infiltrated Iraq AFTER our invasion and made it their premiere base of operations, learning better and better ways to kill us there and here. And you are demanding that we stay after we're no longer welcome, after there is no longer hope.

You, Senator McCain, along with George Bush and the entire Republican party let al Qaeda win this war, so spare us your macho bluster about how-dare-we-imply-that-al-qaeda-won. Al Qaeda DID win, and it's your fault because you let your testosterone make the decisions - hell, you're still letting your hormones do the talking - and now we're paying for the worst price imaginable, with our soldiers' lives, and you couldn't give a damn about them, all you care about is continuing the war, continuing the disaster, continuing the lie. All you've got left is bravado, Senator McCain. And the American people finally know it. And that's why you're never going to be president. Read More......

Republican Senators are rallying around George Bush and his failed Iraq policy -- again

Almost all you need to know about the Republican Iraq strategy is summed up in the first line of this article posted tonight on The Politico titled "Senate GOP resurgent on Iraq":

The Republican establishment is rallying to the defense of President Bush and his controversial war strategy, with some GOP members of Congress cherry-picking intelligence about a resurgent Al Qaeda to buy at least two more months for Bush's Iraq strategy.

Rallying around Bush and cherry-picking intelligence are what got us into this mess in the first place. They never learn. Read More......

Democrats start all-night push for change in Iraq

Reuters

With cots, pillows and pleas for change, the Democratic-led U.S. Senate began a rare around-the-clock session on Tuesday to push President George W. Bush and fellow Republicans to end the Iraq war.

Yet Republicans seemed to have the votes to erect a procedural roadblock to stop a Democratic plan that is backed by a majority of the Senate to withdraw U.S. combat troops by the end of April 2008.

That "procedural roadblock," dear friends at Reuters, is called a freaking filibuster. Why does the media insist on downplaying what the Republicans are doing? People know what a filibuster is, why can't they just call it that, rather than using made-up words like "procedural roadblock" to make it sound nicer? Or did I just answer my own question? Read More......

Pelosi to lead march on Senate tonight during Iraq debate

I just heard that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) is going to lead a march of House members from the House to the Senate tonight to lend their support to Senate Democrats who are holding an all-night session to challenge the Republicans' ongoing filibuster of efforts to change the course in Iraq. Read More......

Black pastor upset with Sen. Edwards over gay rights and religious bigotry

The issue here isn't John Edwards. It's the overall practice of using religion as a justification for prejudice. That is all too common, has been all too common throughout our history, and it not only hurts a lot of people, it turns people off to religion.

Read More......

Iraqi detainee numbers continue to rise

The U.S. system of detention in Iraq is a debacle. Along with a solid amount of hardened criminals and/or insurgents, a tremendous number of detained Iraqis are guilty only of being in the wrong place at the wrong time, rounded up in operations as peripherals. It's not a new issue, but it is a sort of undercover problem that causes tremendous problems. The intelligence process with these guys is virtually nonexistent (not enough translators, not enough interrogators, not enough communication between national and unit intel, etc.), and if you think the U.S. prison system is a petri dish for education in violence and extremism, the situation in Iraq makes that look like day care.

Ilan over at DemocracyArsenal has more on recent reports that the U.S. is holding more than 23,000 prisoners:

The U.S. government can’t exactly let them go because a lot of these detainees are dangerous people. On the other hand, giving over a prison population, which is 86% Sunni, to a Shi’a dominated government in the middle of a civil war doesn’t exactly strike me as a good idea. However, if American forces are going to eventually leave they’ll have to figure out what to do with all these guys.

Some combination of amnesty and turnover is required, and sooner rather than later. I have seen little (if any) analysis of what to do about this in redeployment plans and reporting, and the longer it goes, and the more people it includes, the worse the eventual result. Read More......

IT'S A MIRACLE!!! Iraq has SUDDENLY gotten MUCH BETTER in the past 24 hours!!! Praise Jesus, it's a freaking MIRACLE!!!

The Pentagon apparently thinks the American people are stupid. Our top military commander, General Pace, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, is now suddenly announcing, just in time for the Iraq debate in Congress, that Iraq has suddenly improved amazingly! Even Baghdad, according to Pace, is amazingly safer!

Now, that's pretty quick work on the part of Pace, considering it was only last week that it became so dangerous in Baghdad that visiting members of Congress could no longer even spend the night at our embassy, and they had to wear Kevlar body armor 24 hours a day (well, 12 hours a day since it wasn't even safe enough to spend the night). Compare that to 3 months ago, or so, when John McCain visited Iraq and was able to visit an Iraqi street market - though only with the protection of 100 US troops and 5 helicopters. One week ago, even THAT wasn't enough to protect visiting members of Congress. But now, one week later, like Lazarus come back from the dead, Iraq is actually safer than it's been in years!

Imagine that.

General Pace is a liar who puts his career ahead of country and his own men and women under arms. Read More......

Intell. report: Al-Qaeda seeks to attack U.S.

Sound familiar? So is Bush canceling his vacation in August, or is he taking the month off along with the Iraqi parliament, just like he did before Osama attacked us the first time (after he'd received the same kind of intell. report)? Even more disturbing, AP reports that "The terrorist network Al-Qaida will likely leverage its contacts and capabilities in Iraq to mount an attack on U.S. soil, according to a new National Intelligence Estimate on threats to the American homeland." Al-Qaeda is planning on using what it learned in Iraq against us at home. George Bush's little adventure in Iraq quite literally trained Al-Qaeda to better kill us here at home. That should be the message every single Democrat talks about on the Senate floor in the next 24 hours during the overnight Iraq debate. The world is no longer a safer place, a better place, without Saddam Hussein. Not only aren't the Iraqi people safer, we're not safer. Read More......

GOP's Senate Leader wants to institute permanent filibuster on Iraq votes

The Republican Senators don't want to end the war in Iraq. They want to stay the course. Look no further than what Republican leader Mitch McConnell proposed -- a permanent filibuster on any Iraq related issue. The GOPers are in a filibuster frenzy. They'll do anything to protect their president, George Bush:

Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (Ky.) responded to Reid with a counteroffer: an automatic 60-vote threshold for all key Iraq amendments, eliminating the time-consuming process of clearing procedural hurdles. Democrats agreed to similar terms on several Iraq votes earlier this year, and all the controversial war-related votes held since Democrats took control of the Senate in January have required 60 "yeas" to pass.

"It's a shame that we find ourselves in the position that we're in," McConnell said. "It produces a level of animosity and unity on the minority side that makes it more difficult for the majority to pass important legislation."

This is why the Democrats need to force the issue and make the Republicans accountable. McConnell and the GOP caucus are way more interested in GOP party unity than ending the war. That's disgusting.

What's also pathetic is that the traditional media doesn't get it. McConnell and the Republican Senators have been getting away with their filibuster games because the press won't call them on it. And, McConnell and his crew know how to play the press. Don't forget, Rove is setting the GOP's Iraq policy. Read More......

Tuesday Morning Open Thread

Big day. The Democrats in the Senate are taking a stand -- and they are finally exposing the GOP obstructionists. The American people have had it with Iraq. But, to protect George Bush, Mitch McConnell and his caucus have been filibustering every effort to curtail the war. Yes, the Republicans have been in a filibuster frenzy -- and they've been getting away with it. No more. Now, the American people can see the games the GOPers are playing.

Of course, the Republicans are claiming this is a political move. That's because every step they've taken on Iraq has been political. Karl Rove has been calling the shots for the White House and the Senate Republicans. On the other hand, like most Americans, the Democrats actually want to change the Iraq policy -- to change the course.

This could be a very significant day. We'll keep you posted throughout the day -- and the night.

Okay, start threading the news. Read More......

Bush to promote Blair-led Middle East peace talks

So what has suddenly changed that makes people think Bush will actually be serious about it this time? Bush is not a man who likes change so besides being a courtesy to Blair, nothing in his past suggests that Bush will do anything beyond talk and pose for photos.

President Bush's announcement comes only days before Mr Blair attends his first meeting of the Quartet. The former prime minister has been pushing Mr Bush for the past five years to take an active role in trying to end the Israeli-Palestinian confrontation. In his White House speech yesterday, Mr Bush gave his blessing to Mr Blair's new career as an unpaid Middle East envoy.

The president has adopted a mainly hands-off approach to the conflict over the past six years. His intervention now, with 18 months to go before his presidency ends, comes at an inauspicious point for a peace deal, with the Palestinians divided between the Fatah-controlled West Bank and Hamas-controlled Gaza. Hamas is unlikely to be invited: Mr Bush said it must first renounce violence and recognise Israel.

Haven't we been here before? Read More......

British arms deal to Saudi Arabia heating up

With the obstructionist Blair out of the picture now and the US Justice Department pressing for answers - after all, BAE won the bid and not a US company - some tense moments are ahead and the special relationship is bound to be tested as the US and other OECD countries press for answers.

The Saudis and BAE say the payments were all above board. But Mr Blair said the Saudi royals privately made threats to cut off intelligence links unless the investigations were halted. He claimed this might increase the risk of British citizens being murdered in al-Qaida terrorist attacks "on British streets".

The US justice department has sent its formal request for mutual legal assistance to the Home Office in London. This was confirmed by the SFO at the weekend. If ministers refuse to cooperate, they will face a fresh international crisis. The OECD, which polices international anti-bribery treaties, has already accused Britain of potentially breaching those treaties.

To the frequent observer of Blair (or Bush, for that matter) the red flags are raised when threats of "terrorists will come home and kill us" and "national security" are thrown around to casually. It's all too easy to drop threats of fear for these people without regard for the impact on a population or the impact on a democracy and rule of law. Read More......