Wash Post: Top officials at Walter Reed knew about problems for years; GOP congressman's complaints ignored, soldier found sleeping in his own urine

A US soldier was sleeping in his own urine at Walter Reed, the wife of a Republican congressman witnessed it and complained, and nobody did a damn thing.

God bless Dana Priest. THIS is what reporting looks like. It's not about being partisan. It's about doing your job, and hopefully making the world a better place at the same time.

From the front page of tomorrow's Washington Post:

Top officials at Walter Reed Army Medical Center, including the Army's surgeon general, have heard complaints about outpatient neglect from family members, veterans groups and members of Congress for more than three years.

A procession of Pentagon and Walter Reed officials expressed surprise last week about the living conditions and bureaucratic nightmares faced by wounded soldiers staying at the D.C. medical facility. But as far back as 2003, the commander of Walter Reed, Lt. Gen. Kevin C. Kiley, who is now the Army's top medical officer, was told that soldiers who were wounded in Iraq and Afghanistan were languishing and lost on the grounds, according to interviews.

GOP congressman was rebuffed when he brought problems to the attention of the authorities at Walter Reed:

In 2004, Rep. C.W. Bill Young (R-Fla.) and his wife stopped visiting the wounded at Walter Reed out of frustration. Young said he voiced concerns to commanders over troubling incidents he witnessed but was rebuffed or ignored. "When Bev or I would bring problems to the attention of authorities of Walter Reed, we were made to feel very uncomfortable," said Young, who began visiting the wounded recuperating at other facilities.

Beverly Young said she complained to Kiley several times. She once visited a soldier who was lying in urine on his mattress pad in the hospital. When a nurse ignored her, Young said, "I went flying down to Kevin Kiley's office again, and got nowhere. He has skirted this stuff for five years and blamed everyone else."

Kiley is now the US Army's Surgeon General. What is this man still doing with a job?

Someone is going to be on the short list for a Pulitzer.

Actually, in all fairness to Salon, they had this story on Tuesday. Read More......

Laura Bush's daily car bomb

Nothing to see here, move right along. After all, it's only a car bomb killing women and children while they shop. I wonder if Mrs. Bush would say the same thing about women and children being murdered in Israeli shopping malls on a daily basis: that it's only one car bomb a day, so the Israelis should be pretty darn chipper. Read More......

Was Att. Gen. Gonzales finally sworn in under oath when he testified in January about US Attorney firings?

According to Salon, Attorney General Gonzales and the Deputy Attorney General both told Senate committees in January and February that the firings weren't political. But today we're hearing from the Washington Post that the evidence is growing that in fact the firings were political.

Now, I'm just going to assume that Gonzales was sworn in under oath when he testified, and we finally may have caught him perjuring himself, since the Democrats have long let it be known that they've had it with Gonzales' never-ending lies while testifying, and in fact the Democrats tried to force Gonzales to be sworn in under oath last year while testifying BECAUSE he's such a liar. So clearly he had to be sworn in, right? Can someone find out if Gonzales was in fact sworn in?

This from Salon:

"I would never, ever make a change in the United States attorney position for political reasons," Attorney General Alberto Gonzales said in Senate testimony in early January. In a Feb. 6 hearing, Deputy Attorney General Paul McNulty told lawmakers, "When I hear you talk about the politicizing of the Department of Justice, it's like a knife in my heart."

Read More......

Fired US Attorney from New Mexico says two members of Congress put pressure on him to expedite case against Dems before the election

While the fired U.S. Attorney, David Iglesias, didn't say the two members of Congress who called to pressure him were Republicans, he apparently made it sound that way -- and it sure sounds like a GOP tactic. He didn't succumb to the political pressure, then he got fired. Go figure.

This whole issue of the fired U.S. Attorneys is going to get really, really ugly. From the Washington Post:

The fired U.S. attorney in New Mexico says he was pressured by two members of Congress prior to the November elections about the pace of an ongoing public corruption probe that targets local Democrats.

David C. Iglesias -- who is leaving today after more than five years in office -- said he received separate calls in October from two federal lawmakers, whom he declined to identify. Iglesias said he suspects the episode led the Justice Department to include him in a wave of firings of federal prosecutors late last year.

"They were fishing around for information in terms of the status of the investigation," Iglesias said in an interview, referring to the lawmakers. "They were fishing around for a timetable. Those are things I'm prohibited from talking about."

Iglesias said the callers seemed focused on whether indictments in the case might be issued prior to the elections.

"I didn't give them what they wanted," Iglesias said. "That was probably a political problem that caused them to go to the White House or whomever and complain that I wasn't a team player."

Someone isn't telling the truth about this whole mess. And the fired U.S. Attorneys aren't the ones lying. Read More......

Casualty numbers may be grossly under-reported

The special on Bob Woodruff last night was fascinating, and while I was a little skeptical about such a focus on one newsman when tens of thousands of troops are suffering from injuries, the program did a good job of integrating the broader issues into showing a process of recovery for Woodruff that was, frankly, miraculous. The head injury he suffered in an IED attack was so severe, doctors ultimately had to remove 14 centimeters of his skull, replacing it with a "plastic rendition." The footage of him relearning words through his little kids showing him flashcards was heartbreaking, as was much of what his family went through.

Woodruff, of course, got the absolute best available care, and has a massive media outlet through which to talk about his story. Regular readers of this blog know that a huge number of those injured in Iraq are not so lucky. And it turns out, according to Woodruff's reporting, there may be many more injured than the government is reporting:

While the U.S. Department of Defense says that there have been about 23,000 nonfatal battlefield casualties in Iraq, Woodruff discovers -- through an internal VA report -- that more than 200,000 veterans have sought medical care for various ailments, including more than 73,000 diagnoses for mental disorders.

Nicholson plays down those figures, telling Woodruff, "A lot of them come in for dental problems. We're providing their health care."

Woodruff reports that even these numbers may not tell the whole story: According to unreleased data from the Department of Defense, at least 10 percent of Iraq and Afghanistan veterans may have sustained a brain injury during their service.

The ABC News anchor reports: "That could mean that of the 1.5 million who have served or are now serving in Iraq and Afghanistan, more than 150,000 people could have a brain injury that may be undiagnosed and unrecognized by the casualty numbers from the Department of Defense."

While everyone with symptoms of a brain injury may not need extensive treatment, Woodruff learns that the Department of Defense is not screening all returning soldiers, despite recommendations from the Defense Department's own Defense and Veteran's Brain Injury Center.

Woodruff says that he and others at ABC News will continue to report on this story because "the human cost of war is sometimes overlooked," and injured veterans "need support that matches their sacrifice."

Certainly some of those numbers are not Iraq casualties, and many may in fact be "dental problems," but I don't think 73,000 mental disorders include any dental work, and it's offensive to hear so many soldiers needing medical care being so easily dismissed. The fact that returning soldiers aren't even being screened for brain injuries -- which are exactly the kind of injury most likely from the vast majority of attacks in Iraq, bombs and other explosions, and which often don't present obvious symptoms but can have crippling long-term effects -- is disgraceful.

Woodruff gets this part exactly right: Injured veterans "need support that matches their sacrifice." I guess this administration disagrees. Read More......

Please feed the AMERICAblog

If the spirit moves you, please consider making a donation to the blog. This is my full-time job, I pay my daily correspondents/writers/bloggers, we now have $900/month in server costs, tech costs associated with the revamp, and more. Long story short, your donations help make AMERICAblog work. So please use the red box in the right-hand column where you can make a one-time donation in the top box, or a recurring monthly donation (i.e., same amount each month automatically charged to you) via the bottom box. Note that donations are NOT tax deductible. And while you're at it, feed some other blogs you love as well. Thanks, JOHN Read More......

House Committee Chair scolds DOD for punishing maimed vets who helped expose Walter Reed scandal

Punishing the very war heroes that the Bush administration was already treating like dogs. Classy way to treat the troops.

And there's going to be a Hosue field hearing next week at Walter Reed. Read More......

First US Marine injured in Iraq war comes out as gay

ABC News, via Andy Towle:

"Alva...was a decorated staff sergeant who had served in Somalia and Japan. As troops began to push into Iraq, on March 21, 2003, Alva was leading 11 Marines among 75 or so sailors and Marines in a 50- to 55-vehicle convoy on its way from the desert in Kuwait to Basra, Iraq. It was a logistical convoy moving through the desert at night, lights out, night-vision goggles on. The sand was so kicked up it was nearly impossible for Alva to even keep track of the vehicle in front of him. At one of three stops along the way, Alva, who hadn't eaten for a full day, was heating up an MRE when he went to get something out of his Humvee. 'I took maybe a step or two,' Alva said, 'and that is when the explosion went off.' It was a land mine."

More from the Washington Post. Read More......

Largo, Florida to fire city's top official for 14 years because he says he's transgender, will get surgery

I'm sure it came as a surprise, even a shock to some, that the city official is transgender. But after 14 years of stellar service, this is what one person had to say about him:

Commissioner Mary Gray Black said Stanton's surprise announcement last week "caused stress, turmoil, distraction and work disruption" in the city. His contract says he can be fired without cause at any time.

"I do not feel he has the integrity, nor the trust, nor the respect, nor the confidence to continue as the city manager of the city of Largo," said Black, who introduced a resolution to fire Stanton on Monday.

The integrity? Well, if Largo, Florida wanted to sweep this one under the rug, they just created one hell of a scandal. Read More......

Pentagon punishing maimed Iraq vets at Walter Reed who helped media expose abuse scandal

They hate the troops and love the war. Absolutely disgusting. Read More......

Where has Karl gone?

Read More......

Dear Laura, it's not one attack a day in Iraq, it's 230

Laura Bush, ace Iraq expert, made a little bit of a whoopsie on Larry King the other night. She said that Iraq was really going well, but that the big bad biased liberal media keeps reporting that one attack a day in an effort to make things look bad. Well, seems it's more like 180 attacks a day, and that's just against our troops. There are 50 attacks a day or so against civilians, making that 230 attacks a day. Looks like Mrs. Bush may have to return her PhD in Counterinsurgency.

From Stars and Stripes:

Attacks against coalition forces in Iraq averaged nearly 180 a day in January, the highest level since major combat operations ended and more than double the rate one year ago, according to intelligence officials.

Lt. Gen. Michael Maples, director of the Defense Intelligence Agency, in testimony before the Senate Armed Services Committee on Tuesday said the attacks matched the previous high, set in October 2006.

Attacks on civilians also reached a new high, with almost 50 per day in January, according to the agency. Attacks on Iraqi Security Forces remained consistent with recent months, at about 30 a day.

In all fairness to Mrs. Bush, she really mentioned "one bombing a day." Though we're clearly hearing about more than one bombing a day against civilians and our troops, and let's not forget to add in helicopter shoot downs and more. And in any case, if a shopping mall or a university a day were getting blown up in the US, would Mrs. Bush reassure us that it's only one a day? And speaking of comparisons with the US, Iraq has less than one-tenth the population of the US, so "one bombing a day" - and let's be clear, what she means is "one suicide bombing a day" - would be equal to 10 suicide bombings a day in the malls and universities and kids' soccer fields of America.

Yeah, no big deal, Laura. Read More......

Wednesday Morning Open Thread

What's happening in the world?

Get cranking. Read More......

Only 2 super-efficient cars available in US compared to 113 in Europe

Doggone socialists have all of the choices while the free market US economy has only two options. Sounds a lot like the old Soviet days when the Lada offered either with or without a radio. So where are all of the so-called free market Republicans? Oh that's right, they've been on the "let industry dictate policy" bandwagon and made sure they were lending a helping hand with the Soviet-ization of Big Auto, ridding them of any need to offer fuel efficiency. Who could ever forget Reagan starting the removal of fuel efficiency standards and then the Gingrich Congress implementing the final blow to any hope of minimum standards? Once again, witness Republican economics at work and try hard to figure out how it differs with Soviet style economics.

The research from the Civil Society Institute, a not-for-profit think tank that focuses on energy and ecological issues, shows a growing “fuel-efficient car gap.”

CSI found that the number of vehicle models sold in the United States that achieve combined gas mileage of at least 40 miles per gallon actually has dropped from five in 2005 to just two in 2007 — the Honda Civic hybrid and the Toyota Prius hybrid.

Overseas, primarily in Europe, there are 113 vehicles for sale that get a combined 40 mpg, up from 86 in 2005. Combined gas mileage is the average of a vehicle’s city and highway mpg numbers.

Adding insult to injury is the fact that nearly two-thirds of the 113 highly fuel-efficient models that are unavailable to American consumers are either made by U.S.-based automobile manufacturers or by foreign manufacturers with substantial U.S. sales operations, such as Nissan and Toyota.

The debate by some is that the European cars are using diesel which is dirty, though the new breed of diesels are much cleaner so relying on that excuse is no longer valid. Read More......

Shanghai market has mild bounce, rest of Asia tumbles

Plenty of mixed messages in the Asian markets with most of the trading down and China slightly up. The question today is whether this is a correction or the start of a downward trend. All of that said, we use the word "bubble" for a reason and bubbles do not last forever. As for the US market, the economics of funding a war with tax cuts and selling the debt to a bubble economy is certainly a novel idea and one that will no doubt be a case study in econ classes in the future. Read More......

Troops missing counterinsurgency training because of Bush's "surge"

They hate the troops and love the war.

Rushed by President Bush's decision to reinforce Baghdad with thousands more U.S. troops, two Army combat brigades are skipping their usual session at the Army's premier training range in California and instead are making final preparations at their home bases....

Army officials say the two brigades will be as ready as any others that deploy to Iraq, even though they will not have the benefit of training in counterinsurgency tactics at the National Training Center at Fort Irwin, Calif., which has been outfitted to simulate conditions in Iraq for units that are heading there on year-long tours.

Right, they're not missing out on anything important on their way to fight Iraq's insurgency - other than their counterinsurgency training.

Hat tip, Markos. Read More......

Strom Thurmond "did many wonderful things for black people"

Name one. Read More......

Just look at the guy, clearly a perv

From the Bay City Times. Read More......

US military carries out "controlled explosion" near soccer field, wounds 30, including 9 children. Conflicting reports as to whether many kids died.

This is a weird story. Earlier today, a blast near a soccer field in Ramadi kills scores of children. Also today, apparently, the US military conducted an explosion near a soccer field in Ramadi that hurt a bunch of children. But the US military is saying the deadly attack couldn't have happened, because they'd have known about it. At the same time, both of these attacks sound awful similar - like they may be the same explosion, i.e., one we caused.

Here's the OTHER blast in Ramadi that killed 18 boys near a soccer field:

A car bomb exploded Tuesday near a park popular with young soccer players, killing at least 18 boys in [Ramadi] a city west of Baghdad known as a center of the Sunni insurgency, police said.

And here's the blast the US military caused in the same town near a soccer field, injuring kids:

The U.S. military said its soldiers had carried out a controlled explosion in Ramadi, near a soccer field, that wounded 30 people, including nine children.

But here's where it gets stranger. The US says they can't imagine the deadly attack is real since they weren't aware of it:

Iraq's government and police said a bomb blast near a soccer field in the western city of Ramadi on Tuesday killed 18 people, mostly children, but the U.S. military said it was unaware of such an attack....

"I can't imagine there would be another attack involving children without our people knowing," said Major Jeff Pool, a spokesman for U.S. forces in western Anbar province. The wounded had cuts and bruises, he said [referring to the explosion the US caused near a soccer field].

So, is the attack that killed the children "real" or didn't it happen at all? And if it real, is it the SAME explosion that US caused, and if so, did we also kill children and no one is telling us? Read More......

Stock market drops 9% in China, Dow falls more than 4%

So who owns this economy? What brain trust thought that Guns & Butter II would somehow work better than the original which sunk the US into an economic quagmire for years? Let's remember that there have been voices out there who have criticized this administration for waging war while handing out tax cuts to the wealthiest and just running a tab on China's expense account so now that China is stumbling and the war debt is increasing, this most recent fiasco falls squarely in the hands of the Bush administration. When the other shoe drops and the real estate bubble bottoms out, it will be another fine mess these clowns got us into. Republican economics in action, also known as the perfect storm. Read More......

House Republicans keeping terror tainted money

The House Republicans must be desperate for funds. Clearly, they're really desperate for money because, despite criticism from both progressives and right wingers, the National Republican Campaign Committee (NRCC) is keeping donations made by one of their major contributors, Abdul Tawala Ibn Ali Alishtari. According to the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York, Alishtari was arrested "on attempt charges of terrorism financing, material support of terrorism, and international money laundering, as well as additional charges of conspiracy and wire fraud." Despite that, the House Republicans are keeping on to Alishtari's contributions.

The DCCC Stakeholder has more.

Okay, let's just ask: how loud would the outcry be if Democrats held on to terror-tainted money? Read More......

Another edition of: We have no idea what's going on in Iraq

The news that U.S. forces arrested a close relative (reports have varied, some saying son and others saying nephew) of Abdul Aziz al-Hakim is infuriating for a number of reasons. Last week we arrested a convoy of people traveling from Iran to Iraq, which sounds to me like an intelligence tip-off rather than a random operation. There is a huge amount of traffic between Iran and Iraq, so to coincidentally go after a group that includes an extremely influential member of SCIRI, a leading Shia political party, seems unlikely. It's also unlikely that we knew it would include Ammar al-Hakim, judging by his swift release and subsequent official apology, so I'd be very curious to know how the operation was established.

However it happened, it is yet another clear sign that our executive and military leadership has no idea how to handle Iraq, either tactically or strategically. We can't identify people, we don't recognize political or tribal affiliations, and it's impossible to trust intelligence tips when there's a good chance they're being used to settle scores. In this case, we couldn't even figure out whether we were sorry or not -- Ambassador Khalilzad apologized but the military defended the arrest the very next day.

Hakim also alleged mistreatment, and reportedly some of the group is still in custody, but the quick release also brings up an important point: either he did something wrong, in which case we should have proven his wrongdoing instead of releasing him, or, much more likely, we arrested him for no good reason. Reports circulate widely (and wildly) that we incarcerate hundreds or thousands of people without charge or anything resembling due process, which is just horrendous as a counterinsurgency tactic, a bad way to establish democracy, and, of course, a disgrace for a country that values freedom and the rule of law.

Finally, we don't even know what side (or sides) we're taking in this ongoing debacle. Just a few weeks ago reports indicated support for an "80% plan", i.e., supporting the Shia (60% of the population) and Kurds (20%), and now we're apparently backing Sunnis across the region to repel some mythical Shia expansionism. So we toppled a secular and manageable Sunni regime to install a majority (Shia) government, and now the administration is mad about this? It really is unbelievable. Read More......

Is Laura Bush getting top secret briefings on Iraq, or is she just a liar?

Laura Bush is either getting top secret briefings on the situation in Iraq, or she's a liar. I think the public deserves to know which.

As Joe reported last night, the White House dragged Laura Bush out before the cameras, again, and as they always do when things aren't going well for them. This time, Laura went on Larry King as an expert on Iraq policy. Here's what she had to say:

Many parts of Iraq are stable now. But, uh, of course, what we see on television is the one bombing a day that discourages everyone.

Really? And how does the happy homemaker know this? How does Laura Bush know that many parts of Iraq are stable - and apparently she knows this through other sources that are NOT the media, since she informs us that the media isn't telling us the "real" story about Iraq.

So if Laura know the "real story" about Iraq, that isn't available to the public through the media, then Laura must be privvy to insider information about Iraq, classified information, and I'd like to know why. Because if she's not being fed classified information that we aren't privvy to, then the woman is a liar. And if Bush is going to use his wife to justify the biggest foreign policy disaster in decades, if not ever, then the public has the right to call her on her bullshit. Read More......

Mostly kids killed by Iraq car bombing at soccer game

Last night, Laura Bush told the world that many parts of Iraq were, in fact, stable. She blamed the media for covering that "one bombing a day that discourages everyone."

Easy for Laura Bush to say. This bombing isn't just discouraging, it's horrifying:

A car bomb exploded Tuesday near a park popular with young soccer players, killing at least 18 boys in a city west of Baghdad known as a center of the Sunni insurgency, police said.

The bomb-rigged car blew apart in central Ramadi late Tuesday afternoon while the boys were playing, and police said those killed were ages 10 to 15. The attack was also reported on Iraqi state television. The Interior Ministry did not immediately comment.

Young people are often caught in Iraq's daily bloodshed. On Sunday, more than 40 people, mostly college students, were killed in a bombing outside a mostly Shiite college in Baghdad.

Young Iraqis dying. Young soldiers dying. Too bad the media is discouraging everyone. Read More......

Owners of Seattle Sonics/Storm gave $1.1 million to Gary Bauer's anti-gay marriage campaign

Dan Savage's "Slog" uncovered the rather disturbing fact that two of the owners of the WNBA team in Seattle, the Seattle Sonics/Storm, appear to have donated most of the budget to religious right homophobe Gary Bauer's anti-gay marriage campaign. From Slog:

The campaign finance records I’ve reviewed show that Sonics/Storm co-owner Tom Ward has contributed $475,000 to Gary L. Bauer’s Americans United to Preserve Marriage.

And another Sonics/Storm co-owner, Aubrey McClendon, contributed $625,000.

Both men made their first contributions to the group, $250,000 apiece, on September 8, 2004—the day after the group was formed.

As I said, the controversial group doled out $1,056,962 in the 2004 election cycle, which means Storm owners Ward and McClendon basically bankrolled the whole thing. Indeed, records show that between the 2004 and 2006 cycles the group spent $1.3 million total while Ward and McClendon’s donations total $1.1 million.

Savage's paper contacted the team for comment, they didn't get back to him, but did to the local paper. Check out their response:

People are entitled to have their views, they are not views that I happen to agree with but they are not trying to impose them on anyone out here.

Yeah, $1.1 million for a campaign to jam conservative Christian laws down our throats, to force all Americans to live under Baptist religious principles - that, according to the Seattle Sonics/Storm is "not trying to impose" your views on anyone.

Kiss that team goodbye. It's bad enough to be massively huge bigots. It's even worse to get all pissy and lie about it. And as Dan mentioned to me, "their games are attended mostly by lesbians."

Not anymore. Read More......

Maryland promoting environmentally friendly cars

Once the new Democratic governor signs the bill, Maryland will become the eleventh state to follow the California model.

The measure is designed to force manufacturers to sell fewer gas-guzzling SUVs and other large vehicles and to instead market more hybrids and other cars with fuel-efficient engines.

Automakers must cut fleetwide emissions of global warming gases -- that is, the average emissions of all the cars they sell in Maryland -- by 30 percent by 2016 or face fines.

To meet this goal, car companies will have to offer financial incentives to encourage people to buy smaller cars and vehicles that emit less carbon dioxide, a gas that scientists have concluded is warming the atmosphere.

Read More......

Food problems connected to GOP cuts

While the Republicans love selling themselves to their core supporters as the team who have made important cuts in the federal government, here is yet another example of the end result and what it means in the real world. We already know what they've done to US vets and with this most recent outbreak of food illness related to the American kids staple peanut butter, it has become painfully obvious that GOP cuts continue to risk the lives of millions of Americans.

The federal agency that’s been front and center in warning the public about tainted spinach and contaminated peanut butter is conducting just half the food safety inspections it did three years ago.

The cuts by the Food and Drug Administration come despite a barrage of high-profile food recalls.

“We have a food safety crisis on the horizon,” said Michael Doyle, director of the Center for Food Safety at the University of Georgia.

Between 2003 and 2006, FDA food safety inspections dropped 47 percent, according to a database analysis of federal records by The Associated Press.

But at least the Republicans got another round of tax cuts and the richest Americans are doing just fine. Read More......

Tuesday Morning Open Thread

I guess the intelligence reports about a resurgent Taliban are accurate. Maybe now the Bush Administration will take these reports seriously. Not that they can do anything since Bush and Cheney have the U.S. pinned down in Iraq. Maddening.

Get it started. Read More......

Bomber attacks Bagram Air Base during Cheney visit

But not to worry, Cheney will still not be able to admit that there's a problem.

The attack occurred inside one of the security gates surrounding the heavily guarded base some 60 kilometres (37 miles) north of the capital Kabul.

"It was a suicide bombing. It took place between the main gate and the gate guarded by American soldiers," said Bagram district governor Kabir Ahmad.

"We don't have an exact figure but it's said that two have been killed and about 18 wounded," he said. A local police officer said the area had been sealed off by US troops.

It's hard to say what it would take for this crowd to admit their failures but for most, this attack would be a red flag. Let's see what Cheney's office has to say later on today. Read More......

Bush and GOP are breaking the military

The new report detailing the problems created by the botched war in Afghanistan and unnecessary war in Iraq comes straight from the top.

Strained by the demands of wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, there is a significant risk that the U.S. military won't be able to quickly and fully respond to yet another crisis, according to a new report to Congress.

The assessment, done by the nation's top military officer, Gen. Peter Pace, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, represents a worsening from a year ago, when that risk was rated as moderate.

The report is classified, but on Monday senior defense officials, speaking on condition on anonymity, confirmed the decline in overall military readiness. And a report that accompanied Pace's review concluded that while the Pentagon is working to improve its warfighting abilities, it "may take several years to reduce risk to acceptable levels."

Any normal, level-headed person might think this is the time for discussions and dialog with Iran, but that's not the case with the GOP leadership who just don't seem to get it. Read More......

Open thread

I'm exhausted. Will give you my CNN stories in the morning, including my thrill at realizing the man standing next to me in the Green Room was Bill Donohue. You remember him: The guy who went after the Edwards campaign bloggers and who thinks that Christian-hating Jews run Hollywood (and apparently like anal sex). Read More......

A couple miles from Walter Reed, Bush claims to support the troops at a GOP fundraiser

When those Republicans get together, they like to pretend they support the troops:

"Our men and women in uniform risk their lives to carry out our plan to support this new democracy and to secure Baghdad," Bush said. "And wherever members may stand on my decision, we have a solemn responsibility to give our troops the resources and the flexibility they need to prevail."

Sure. Give the troops what they need -- like they do out at Walter Reed, which is just a couple miles from the site of the big GOP fundraiser where Bush spoke tonight.

Bush hasn't given the troops the resources they've needed for four years now. Do the words "body armor" ring a bell? Hell, resources shmesources. How about giving them a plan for victory?

Republicans don't support the troops. They say they do, a lot. But, just because they say it, doesn't make it true.

George Bush's motto is "Hate the troops, love the war." Read More......

Laura Bush: Iraq is mostly stable, it's just that "one bombing a day that discourages everyone"

Laura Bush, Iraq expert, just now on Larry King Live:

Many parts of Iraq are stable now. But, uh, of course, what we see on television is the one bombing a day that discourages everyone.

Yeah, it's such a great place that Iraq. So stable, well, except for that pesky "one bombing a day." Once again, Laura Bush blames the media -- and Larry King let her get away with it, of course. Laura should talk to CNN's Michael Ware about that -- actually Larry King should talk to him, too.

That damn Reuters said there were at least two bombings today:

Iraq's Shi'ite vice president and a cabinet minister were wounded in an apparent assassination attempt on Monday when a bomb killed six people at a ministry in Baghdad where they were attending a ceremony.

Near the volatile western city of Ramadi, a suicide bomber blew up an ambulance at a police station, killing 14 people including women and children, a local hospital official said.

Otherwise, it's a really stable place.

Larry asked Laura Bush about the twins, but he didn't ask the most important question: Since, things are going so well in Iraq, Laura, have your daughters signed up for a tour of duty yet? Read More......

Congress needs to support the American people by opposing the escalation and adopting the Murtha plan

More numbers from the Washington Post-ABC News that show the country is way ahead of the politicians on the war. Two-thirds of Americans oppose the escalation of the Iraq war; 53% of Americans want a deadline for withdrawal; and by a wide margin, Americans support Murtha's plan:

There was clear support, however, for the kinds of conditions proposed by Rep. John Murtha (D-Pa.), who wants to establish requirements for the training and resting of military units that would have the effect of limiting the number of troops available to send to Iraq.

Murtha's plan has drawn fire in the House, including from some of his Democratic colleagues, after it was unveiled on a liberal Web site. The Post-ABC News poll, which did not associate the plan with Murtha, found that 58 percent of Americans said they support such new rules. Even some Americans, 21 percent, who supported the president's troop surge said they would favor rules for training and resting troops.

The American people want this war over. Read More......

Open Thread

John is on CNN's Paula Zahn show tonight commenting on some of the news of the day. What are your comments on the news of the day? Read More......

Blog that called for execution of gays nixed

Good. Read More......

Dissension in the ranks

60 Minutes:

To many in America's armed forces, these men and women are doing the unthinkable: active duty soldiers, sailors and marines speaking out against the ongoing conflict in Iraq. They've signed on to what's called "An Appeal for Redress" - and they say it's time for U.S. troops to come home. Lara Logan has the story.

Read More......

FOX's John Gibson chooses Anna Nicole Smith over Iraq

Woah. Just when you think the talking heads at FOX can't sink any lower, they do. During his radio show, FOX's John Gibson mocked reporters (namely Anderson Cooper) who are covering the war instead of Anna Nicole Smith. Think Progress has the transcript and the audio.

[CLIP ANDERSON COOPER] There’s a war on, there’s a war on, there’s a war on.

GIBSON: My complaint about this is what you’re listening to when you hear that guy lecture the audience, is you’re listening to news-guy snobbery. Essentially saying, “I’m better than you. I know what you want to hear about, but I’m better than that story. I’m too high class for that story. I won’t stoop to what you want to hear about.” I’m not playing that. People want to hear about the Anna Nicole story, I’m happy to tell them.

I guess if I worked at the GOP's media mouthpiece, I wouldn't want to talk about the failed war policy of George Bush either. But to malign reporters who are covering the work and sacrifice of U.S. soldiers is outrageous. Another classic example of right wingers actually dissing the troops they claim to support.

If the media gave nearly as much attention to the deaths of U.S. soldiers as they have given to the death of Anna Nicole, the U.S. would be out of Iraq. The American people are already over Bush and his war -- even with the limited coverage Fox wants the war to receive. Read More......

Senate to hold hearings on Walter Reed debacle

Excellent. Read More......

Open thread

On my way to NYC to be on Paula Zahn's TV show again tonight, 8pm Eastern (it's usually 3 segments throughout the hour). The topics are a bit odd, including the Sorority kicking out ugly members, and a discussion of whether black people can be "too white." Yes, definitely my expertise :-) Read More......

Bush's "Iran-Contra"?

From ThinkProgress

New Yorker columnist Sy Hersh says the “single most explosive” element of his latest article involves an effort by the Bush administration to stem the growth of Shiite influence in the Middle East (specifically the Iranian government and Hezbollah in Lebanon) by funding violent Sunni groups.

Hersh says the U.S. has been “pumping money, a great deal of money, without congressional authority, without any congressional oversight” for covert operations in the Middle East where it wants to “stop the Shiite spread or the Shiite influence.” Hersh says these funds have ended up in the hands of “three Sunni jihadist groups” who are “connected to al Qaeda” but “want to take on Hezbollah.”

Hersh summed up his scoop in stark terms: “We are simply in a situation where this president is really taking his notion of executive privilege to the absolute limit here, running covert operations, using money that was not authorized by Congress, supporting groups indirectly that are involved with the same people that did 9/11.”

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Governors worry that Bush is breaking the National Guard

Uh, yeah. Read More......

Americans overwhelmingly disapprove of Bush's handling of Iraq

There is very strong opposition to Bush's Iraq policy. The American people are against the war. That's the overwhelmingly mainstream position these days:

Although trimmed, the Democrats maintain a substantial edge on the war in large measure because of Bush's low ratings on handling the situation in Iraq. Two-thirds of Americans disapprove of how the President is handling the Iraq war; 31 percent approve. And intensity continues to run against Bush on the issue: Fifty-five percent "strongly disapprove" of his work there, while only 17 percent "strongly approve" of it.

The American people have been way ahead of the politicians on Iraq for awhile.

But watch the Republican Senators shut down any effort to curtail Bush's failed policy. The GOP won't rein in Bush. They are, in fact, supporting Bush. If they want to be the 31% party, so be it.

The American people want action to stop the war. Read More......

Bush and Cheney admit Democrats are forcing them to get tough on terror

Okay. This is rich.

Last week, Dick Cheney was trashing Democrats claiming wrongly that any effort to get the U.S. out of Iraq would enable al Qaeda.

This week, Dick Cheney is on a "secret visit" to Pakistan. His purpose is to tell Pakistan's leaders that Democrats are forcing the Bush Administration to get tough on terror:

Vice President Dick Cheney made an unannounced trip to Pakistan on Monday to deliver what officials in Washington described as an unusually tough message to Gen. Pervez Musharraf of Pakistan, warning him that the newly Democratic Congress could cut aid to his country unless his forces become far more aggressive in hunting down operatives with Al Qaeda.

Yes, the Democrats are forcing the Bush Administration to take a tougher stance on Al Qaeda. Read More......

Monday Morning Open Thread

This should be another interesting week. The Republican Senators can reaffirm their unyielding support for their President and his failed war. Bush is leading his party off a cliff. Unfortunately, he's taking the country with him.

Start threading. Read More......

Health care for children: "It's a matter of doing the right thing"

So which party is saying such words related to the Bush plan to hack health care for America's children? Both, actually, though this particular quote is from Republican governor Sonny Perdue of Georgia. Bush and his team would rather hand over tax breaks to the wealthy over basic health care for those who our own children who are indeed America's future. As someone who has experienced both the US health care system as well as the system in France, I wish the extremists on the GOP right would quite demonizing basic coverage for citizens and get serious about addressing a problem that even conservatives recognize.

Of course the system in France is expensive and taxes are needed to fund the system, as there is no magic that create it out of nothing. Besides the taxes paid to fund the system plus private health insurance, our costs are still considerably less compared to friends and family in the US. With so many people being uninsured in such a wealth country and with bipartisan support from across the country, it is high time our politicians put aside the pandering to extremist groups and think about the good of the country. Read More......

Another ugly day in Iraq - 41 killed at university

What kind of a person can still see this war as a good thing? It never seems to get better, but only more of the same at best, worse and worse many days.

A female suicide bomber triggered a ball bearing-packed charge Sunday, killing at least 41 people at a mostly Shiite college whose main gate was left littered with blood-soaked student notebooks and papers amid the bodies.

Witnesses said a woman carried out the attack at the business school annex to Mustansiriyah University. Interior Ministry officials said they were still investigating those reports. The school’s main campus was hit by a string of bombings last month that killed 70 people.

The attack came as the powerful Shiite militia leader Muqtada al-Sadr said an ongoing security crackdown in Baghdad was doomed to fail because of U.S. involvement and suggested he was rethinking his cooperation. He bitterly complained that “car bombs continue to explode” in the capital despite the new security push.

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Always assume the camera is on you

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An Oscar for Al Gore

UPDATE FROM JOHN: Best Oscar quote ever, from Chris Connolly, moments ago, at 11:57pm Eastern, "now it gets interesting." It would have to. This is the WORST Oscars ever. They put practically every good award off to the end, didn't even bother scattering them throughout the show. Horrendous.

Best Documentary for "An Inconvenient Truth."

The Washington Post profiled the former Vice President today suggesting he is "America's coolest ex-Vice President ever." It's true (but there's not a lot of competition.) Read More......

Oscars Open Thread

We're busy watching over dinner with friends. Thoughts? Read More......