America's heart?

Jesus: "Where your treasure is, there your heart will be also"

Priorities: $30 Billion versus $1000 Billion. So where is America's heart?

1100 civilians violently killed in Iraq in November.

The *most* telling thing here, apart from the amounts, is the difference in level of detail about how many deaths are happening. He very happily announces 5700 deaths per day worldwide from HIV/AIDS> Does he say anything about deaths per day in Iraq under American occupation?

From the presidents comments on World AIDS day According to the most recent estimates by the United Nations, more than 33 million people around the world live with HIV. They are mothers, they are fathers, brothers and sisters, friends and teachers. And each day, some 5,700 lose their lives. When Americans witness this suffering, they feel a duty to respond. Some are motivated by conscience and a conviction that America should use its great influence to be a force for good. Many others are driven by faith -- by the call to love your neighbor as yourself, even when that neighbor may live on the other side of the world. This spirit of brotherhood and generosity has long defined our country. And over the past six years, we have rallied that spirit in the fight against HIV/AIDS. Here at home, we've taken new measures to increase HIV/AIDS testing, expand treatment, and improve care. We've worked with healthcare providers to make voluntary HIV screening a routine part of medical care, so all Americans can know their status. And we've worked with Congress to renew the Ryan White Care Act, which helps HIV/AIDS patients receive lifesaving drugs. Overseas, the scope of the challenge is much longer -- much larger, and this nation is responding. In 2003, I proposed the Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief -- a five-year, $15 billion initiative to expand prevention, treatment, and care in the most heavily-affected countries. Congress approved the plan with bipartisan support. I want our fellow citizens to think about what this means: Every year, American taxpayers send billions of their hard-earned dollars overseas to save the lives of people they have never met. In return for this extraordinary generosity, Americans expect results. So the Emergency Plan includes specific, measurable targets for progress. It demands honesty and accountability for all those involved. It puts local partners in the lead, because they know the needs of their people best. With this strategy, we have pioneered a new model for public health. And so far, the results have been striking: Five years ago, only 50,000 people with AIDS in sub-Sahara Africa were receiving antiretroviral drugs. Today, thanks to the emergency plan and to the generosity of the American taxpayer, that number is nearly 1.4 million. Think about that, over a five-year period of time the number of people in sub-Sahara Africa has increased from 50,000 to 1.4 million thanks to the American taxpayer. Around the world, another 6.7 million people with HIV/AIDS have received compassionate care, including 2.7 million orphans and vulnerable children. Tens of millions have received prevention -- prevention messages based on the proven principles of ABC, which is Abstinence, Be faithful, and use Condoms. The money that you have spent [sic] is being spent wisely and saving lives. Some call this a remarkable success. I call it a good start. So we have worked with the private sector and G8 nations to increase their commitments. This May, I proposed to double our nation's initial pledge to $30 billion over the next five years. These American funds will help us support treatment for nearly 2.5 million people, prevent more than 12 million new infections, and support care for 12 million people, including more than 5 million orphans and vulnerable children. Now the time has come for United States Congress to act again. I'm confident they will, and I call on Congress to show America's leadership and compassion by reauthorizing the emergency plan and doubling our commitment to this urgent cause.

And from the president's radio address this week Next week, Congress returns from its Thanksgiving recess. Members are coming back to a lot of unfinished business. And the clock will be ticking, because they have only a few weeks to get their work done before leaving again for Christmas. Congress must address four critical priorities. First, Congress needs to pass a bill to fund our troops in combat. Second, Congress needs to make sure our intelligence professionals can continue to monitor terrorist communications so we can prevent attacks against our people. Third, Congress needs to pass a bill to protect middle-class families from higher taxes. And fourth, Congress needs to pass all the remaining appropriations bills to keep the Federal Government running. Congress's first priority should be to provide the funds and flexibility to keep our troops safe and help them protect our Nation. Beginning in February, I submitted detailed funding requests to Congress to fund operations in the war on terror. Our military has waited on these funds for months. The funds include money to carry out combat operations against the enemy in Afghanistan and Iraq. They include money to train the Afghan and Iraqi security forces to take on more responsibility for the defense of their countries. And they include money for intelligence operations to protect our troops on the battlefield. Pentagon officials recently warned Congress that continued delay in funding our troops will soon begin to have a damaging impact on the operations of our military. Secretary of Defense Robert Gates has already notified Congress that he will transfer money from accounts used to fund other activities of the military services to pay for current operations in Iraq and Afghanistan -- and no more money can be moved. So he has directed the Army and Marine Corps to develop a plan to lay-off civilian employees, terminate contracts, and prepare our military bases across the country for reduced operations. Military leaders have told us what they need to do their job. It is time for the Congress to do its job and give our troops what they need to protect America. ... And from the Washington Post in October President Bush challenged Congress to another clash over the direction of the Iraq war yesterday as he asked lawmakers for $46 billion more to pay for overseas military operations and insisted that they approve it by the end of the year. The president's war funding plan revived the political struggle over Iraq that has grown somewhat dormant in Washington over the past month. Democrats vowed not to rubber-stamp the request and indicated that they will disregard Bush's holiday deadline, holding off any action until next year as they debate a new strategy to counter his leadership on the war. The latest spending proposal brings the total current fiscal year request for Iraq, Afghanistan and counterterrorism operations to $196.4 billion, by far the largest annual tally since the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. If approved by Congress in its entirety, it would bring the total appropriated since then to more than $800 billion. At their current rate, war appropriations could reach $1 trillion by the time Bush leaves office, a total that by some measures would exceed the cost of the Korean and Vietnam wars combined. And from Iraq Body count: 1100 civilians killed in Iraq in November, including 75 killed directly by U.S. soldiers, 2 of whom were children.

Hooray for the Chinese

I think the Chinese made a great call in recently refusing to let the U.S. "Carrier Strike Group", the U.S. Kitty Hawk and 8 associated ships, to enter Hong Kong.

I mean after all what *is* a U.S. Carrier Strike Group, anyway? It's the world's largest mobile death and mayhem machine. It's the largest mobile death and mayhem machine in recorded history. I wouldn't let them enter my port either.

And I bet Jesus wouldn't either.

anonymous

"Anonymous" recently posted this response to my post "the myth of veterans day". My first reaction was a bit of reminiscence. I remember when I used to have an attitude like this. And when I used to be too afraid, in general, to attach my name to such comments. My response follows anonymous' comments.

Anonymous said...

You are a really young, naive child. You haven't a clue what the entire world is all about. If you ever get a chance to visit any foreign country and see what life is like there because they have allowed mad, evil men to infiltrate their country, then you will see what it would be like if any of them enter this country. It is not pretty. The fact that you can say what you want is unbelievable and precious. It is a shame you don't know what you are talking about. Yes, some things you say are true. It can be about the wrong reasons. Sometimes it is about being "King of the Hill". Wars have been waged throughout history and no one, absolutely no one likes them really. But, pay close attention to the world around you right now and watch the slow move towards stopping our military. The insidious internet which perpetuates that what we do and who we are is bad. When peace looks good, you should know that somewhere in the world some crazed idiot is going to try to change all that and we start all over again. Freedom to any one country will come at some cost. That is not something that the USA alone is responsible for. We are not the enemy. Innocents always die. People die. I will die, you will die. How we die is not always up to us and yet, how we live is. Honor veterans because they are doing what they are because they believe it will serve a greater purpose. Freedom and peace for all. We want the whole world to live in the same kind of grandiose world we live in here in this country. Everyone in this world deserves a chance to prosper and educate themselves. When some buttwipe wants to take that away from them and they say to us: "Help us." are you asking us to say "No, we can't because some sniveling kids who don't know what they are talking about don't want us to help you?" And there is not one country in this whole world who has not asked us to help them in some form or another. You just don't get to hear all that. But I have. I served. I'm a female VietNam veteran who will fight to the death that my grandchildren remain free and can visit their friends in foreign countries without fear of terrorism. Myth of veterans day....why don't you grow up? I feel really bad for your dad. He is a casualty of war and still living. How old are you? Did you not study history in school? Do you not understand the wars fought throughout mankind's existence?

You are being self-centered and self-serving by making this all about us in the here and now. What about your children and grandchildren? It is not a pretty sight to see what goes on in those other countries. You are being fed selective information to serve one purpose. To stop the US from being anywhere to stop the madness of leaders forcing their own people into what you claim is now our fault. Why don't you take a closer look and do a bit more research into what you believe is a myth. Go deeper then your own home and own experiences and what you read on blogs. This is not fun, it is not games, it is not just about Americans wanting what spoiled Americans want. It is about human rights for all and to stop what you don't want to see, what none of us want to see. But we don't need to free them and bring them here. That is not what Lady Liberty is all about, you know. She is about providing the means in which we can be free to "teach a man to fish so he can eat for the rest of his life". Not to give a man a fish for one meal but to be able to provide for his whole family for the rest of his life. We are out there to help those countries who are oppressed by madmen to learn and develop their own capabilities and join us in freedom in their own countries. To be honest, when I first read your words I believed you were of the Talaban and spreading discontent to break up a great country. Strange should it be that you are who you say you are. Here is a word I would like you to add to your vocabulary when it comes to your father, your homeland and your government (despite the fact that they are not perfect) LOYALTY
Give it a try, you might like it.

Grow up, puppy.

Anonymous,

It sounds like remembering Vietnam, and perhaps especially the way you as a vet were treated when you returned, is still pretty painful. I'm sorry you had to go through that.

some responses to some of your questions comments:

I have had the chance to see, in a foreign country, what evil men being in power can do to a people. I hung out in Charles Taylor's Liberia with a bunch of people who were so completely terrified that if you so much as mentioned anything remotely related to the government, politics, Charles Taylor, they would emotionally and even physically freeze up and refuse to continue the conversation.

I think it's pretty freaking awesome that Charles Taylor will go on trial for war crimes before the UN in about 5 weeks, and, as it turned out, the U.S. didn't have to invade or kill any civilians in order to make this happen. The U.S. military wasn't required at all to help accomplish Liberia's current astounding turnaround. Of course Liberia only has diamonds, not oil (unlike SE Asia and the Middle East).

You seem to be saying it's enough to believe one is serving a good purpose, no matter what the objective reality may be. Did I understand that correctly?

Am I correct in understanding that you think someone in Iraq *asked* us to come "help"? Can you elaborate a bit on that? should just anyone get to ask us to come help? Or does it have to be a majority? Who was it that asked us to "help" in Nicaragua, Guatemala, and Colombia in the 1980's?

Are you of the opinion that we actually *did* "help" in Vietnam? do you envision a worse outcome for the nation of Vietnam had the U.S. never gotten involved? Can you describe that?

Same question re: Laos. who asked us to "help" there by dropping more ordnance than was dropped on all of Europe during world war 2? And how did doing so make Laos a better place in any way? I'm not asking snidely. I'm honestly wondering if you have answers to these questions. If not, must we still honor the vets who were part of the U.S. military machine that destroyed these nations, because they "believed it was for a greater good"? Doesn't such honor strongly lead to further such destruction?

You asked how old I am. I'm 33.

regarding loyalty. You seem to be commending loyalty to a nation. The underlying implication is that the nation can never go bad. Please correct me if I'm wrong. But it seems to me that real love for one's nation requires one to speak out against that nation when one sees that nation doing evil. I mean it seems to me that one of the Nazis' underlying philosophies was a false loyalty to Germany. Real loyalty to Germany would have required thinking people to realize that the evil path the nation was going down would only lead to destruction and heartache for both the nation and many others, and to call the nation away from that path, in terms strong enough to counter the Nazis' call to loyalty.

BICBW

iran next?

why not? I mean what's another 1.6 TRILLION DOLLARS, 80,000 civilian deaths, and 2 million refugees. At least Boeing, ATK Tech Systems, Honeywell Corporation, and Bush/Cheney/Blackwell/Big Oil will just keep getting richer. Hey--trickel down economics, rigth? I mean if *some* people are getting wealthier, it will eventually trickle down to the 40 million Americans who have no health insurance.




Oh, and here's John McCain's take on the whole thing.




And when asked later if his joke was insensitive, he replied "Insensitive to What? The Iranians?"
By the way "The Iranians", which is to say, the Persians, are one of the oldest and profoundly beautiful cultures on the planet. It would be altogether american to bomb them. Thoroughly. Fuck I hate being American sometimes.

costs of war

$1,600,000,000,000

Will buy (approximately):

• 80,000,000 international adoptions
• 26,000,000 new houses to shelter the homeless and the poor
• 70,000,000 four year scholarships to public universities
• 90,000,000 new deep water wells for communities that don't currently have access to fresh, safe, clean drinking water

OR

• 2 million new refugees
• 84,000 civlian deaths.
• 106,000,000 new CBU 87 cluster bombs (5% of whose bomblets will fail to detonate, creating thousands of new civilian casulties in the years and decades to come)
• the salary of ATK chief executive Daniel J. Murphy for the next 160,000 years (of course he's actually seen a big chunk of that $1,600,000,000,000)

killing our friends

So it looks like on Tuesday U.S. forces "accidentally" killed 50 members of a tribal group that had been allies in the so called "war against terror".

Now where have we seen this sort of thing before? How about the way we treated the Hmong?

From the wiki article:

In the early 1960s, the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) began to recruit the indigenous Hmong people in Laos to join fighting the Vietnam War, named as a Special Guerrilla Unit led by General Vang Pao. Over 80% of the Hmong men in Laos were recruited by the CIA to join fighting for the U.S. Secret War in Laos.

and after the war was over?...

the Secret War began around the time that the U.S. became officially involved in the Vietnam War. Following the U.S. withdraw; from Vietnam in 1975, the Lao kingdom was overthrown by the communists and the Hmong people became targets of retaliation and persecution. While some Hmong people returned to their villages and attempted to resume life under the new regime, thousands more made the trek to and across the Mekong River into Thailand, often under attack. This marked the beginning of a mass exodus of Hmong people from Laos. Those who did make it to Thailand generally were held in squalid United Nations refugee camps. Nearly 20 years later, in the 1990s, a major international debate ensued over whether the Hmong should be returned to Laos, where opponents of their return argued they were being subjected to persecution, or afforded the right to immigrate to the U.S. and other Western nations.

Of those Hmong who did not flee Laos, somewhere between two and three thousand were sent to re-education camps where political prisoners served terms of 3-5 years. Many Hmong died in these camps, after being subjected to hard physical labor and harsh conditions. Thousands more Hmong people, mainly former soldiers and their families, escaped to remote mountain regions - particularly Phou Bia, the highest (and thus least accessible) mountain peak in Laos. Initially, some Hmong groups staged attacks against Pathet Lao and Vietnamese troops while others remained in hiding to avoid military retaliation and persecution. Spiritual leader Zong Zoua Her rallied his followers in a guerilla resistance movement called Chao Fa (RPA: Cob Fab). Initial military successes by these small bands led to military counter-attacks by government forces, including aerial bombing and heavy artillery, as well as the use of defoliants and chemical weapons.

Small groups of Hmong people, many of them second or third generation descendants of former CIA soldiers, remain internally displaced in remote parts of Laos, in fear of government reprisals. Faced with continuing military operations against them by the government and a scarcity of food, some groups have begun coming out of hiding, while others have sought asylum in Thailand and other countries.

the myth of veterans day

Words from the Wikipedia article on veterans day: heroes. honor. service. tribute. grateful nation. homage. solemnly remember. sacrifices. fought valiantly. preserve heritage of freedom. an enduring peace.

Words from George Bush's speech today, on veterans day: good. noble. just. promise. sacrifice. honor. blessed. brave. service. valiantly. free. home. magnificent. proud. victory. safely.

why all these words? These words are being used to create/propogate a myth. By "myth" I mean "a traditional or sacred story that attempts to iterate, explain, or justify the thoughts and actions of a people".

The myth we are creating/being created in is strongly related to the myth of redemptive violence.

The reality is this: my father, who is a reasonably good man, has probably been more profoundly affected by his involvement with the Vietnam War than by any other one thing in his life, including his acoholic father. He has spent time in psych wards. He has to take psychotropic medications to function. Apart from very faint memories as a very tiny lad, I cannot remember a time when my dad hasn't suffered from chronic pain of one type or another in his body. He was doubtless exposed to Agent Orange. He was doubltless introduced to the most psychologically toxic horrors over there in Vietnam. He without doubt had to kill people, real live human beings with moms and dads and brothers and sisters. He probably had to kill children.

I'm not saying all this to dishonor my dad. He's pretty damn close to the awesome end of the spectrum, as dads go.

I'm saying it because the myth is bunk. My dad didn't sacrifice his health, his sanity, his humanity, for a good cause. He sacrificed it for a lousy cause--so that we Americans could continue to be the word's most excellent consumers. So we can continue be part of the 20% who consume 80% of the world's resources. So we can work 40 hour weeks, and have nice warm beds, and instant surgery in case of placental abruption, and personal computers upon which we can blog, and unbelieably huge amounts of food to eat, and pocket money, and 60" plasma televisions, and big fancy trucks with big fancy fifth wheels in which we can spend our retirement putzing around this beautiful nation, all while 2 billion people live on $2/day or less, and the continent of Africa can't even control stop malaria, the tools for the stopping of which have been around quite a while already, and 30,000 children starve to death every day, each for the lack of less money than we spend on lattes each day.

My dad sacrificed all that he sacrificed in order to maintain that imbalance in the world. Because such an imbalance doesn't just stick around by itself. He sacrificed so that we the powerful can continue to have so much power at the expense of the weak. And in spite of all the lovely words of George Bush, and all the other deluded Americans who will write and celebrate and weep and remember this weekend--that's a rotten cause. Vietnam, and Nicaragua, and Laos, and Cuba, and Afghanistan, and Iraq (and this list goes on for quite a long time) do not qualify as noble, honor, sacrifice, blah blah blah ad nauseam. They're all based on the same hogwash myth. It's all about hundreds and hundreds of thousands of normal, weak, poor, downtrodden people all over the world dying, just to make sure we stay on top of the heap. I hope today or tomorrow somebody blows up Liberty Enlightening the World, with her yotta-bullshit bronze plaque which reads

Not like the brazen giant of Greek fame,
With conquering limbs astride from land to land;
Here at our sea-washed, sunset gates shall stand
A mighty woman with a torch, whose flame
Is the imprisoned lightning, and her name
Mother of Exiles. From her beacon-hand
Glows world-wide welcome; her mild eyes command
The air-bridged harbor that twin cities frame.
"Keep ancient lands, your storied pomp!" cries she
With silent lips. "Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!"

2 million new refugees from Iraq since 2003.
In Syria alone as many as 500,000 Iraqi girls and women have been forced into prostitution due to economic hardship.
Fewer than 5000 have been accepted into the United States.

Weekly Iraq roundup

This is what Baghdad looks like. I'm guessing the populace is used to it, after 4 years. In fact, I'm guess these images are going to be in their heads 'til they die.

This week in U.S. occupied Iraq:

• The U.S. spent 2 Billion Dollars on our ongoing occupation.
• 237 civilians killed, including:
• Baiji: US forces kill 4 civilians inside their car. October 18.
• Diwaniya: multi-national headquarters come under mortar attack, clashes between militia and multi-national forces ensue, followed by US shelling -5 civilians killed, 2 of them children under the age of 3. October 15.
• Riyadh: 3 members of Awakening Council die in US shelling. October 14.
• Total violent civilian deaths in Baghdad this week: 68
  
  All information from Iraq Body Count

Truth is, I caught myself this week gradually making this less real. To witness: I said to myself and others at least 3 different times this week, with a grin on my face, "Hey, could be worse, we could be in Baghdad." In the interest of counteracting this tendency:

Question to consider: With whom are the 160,000 U.S. troops deployed in Iraq having sex? And what are the long term consequences of the the answers to this question?

The rate of violent deaths per capita in Iraq over the last 4 years is approximately 4 times higher than that in the United States. so what would it look like in Seattle, for instance, if we had 4 times as many violent deaths? Scary, I guess.

Note to self: Take steps to start learning Arabic. What advantage did white americans who spoke vietnamese have in the 1960/1970's have in terms of helping to end the war?

Here's a really enlightening round table discussion about Iraq, four years after invasion

Baghdad has a population of somewhere between approx. 6-7 million. Other similar sized cities: Rio de Janeiro, Brazil and Santiago Chile.

A couple images:
View Larger Map

what you are getting for $US 8 Billion/month

what you are getting for $US 8 Billion/month. Part 54.

From Iraq Body Count.
42 Iraqi civilians have been killed by US forces so far in October -16 of them children.
108 Iraqi civilians were killed by Americans (military and private contractors) in September -including 7 children and a 90-year-old man.
103 civilians were killed by US forces in August, including 6 children.
In July, US forces killed 179 -17 children among them.

Just in case you forgot.

This week in Iraq under American occupation

302 dead civilians.

Including:

• Diwaniya: 12-year-old son and elderly father of Mahdi army leader killed during US/Iraqi raid on their house.
• Baghdad: 2 civilians reported killed during US/Iraqi raid, one of them a 5-year-old boy
• Baquba: 3 family members shot dead in their car
• Baquba: 6-year-old boy killed by sniper fire.

Cost to U.S. taxpayers for this seven days of occupation: 1.9 Billion dollars

question: if you are living in the united states, feel relatively safe from active violence, have food to eat, have a place to sleep, use the postal service, the roads, the garbage service, have water to drink, have cash to buy an espresso drink, etc. etc., then what does justice look like in terms of your relationship with the friends and family of the 302 people mentioned above (not to mention those of the other 734,567)?

I have no idea about the answer to this question, but it strikes me that the answer is potentially rather frightening. and Rachel adds this as well

American mercenaries

Blackwater USA

Some Iraqis didn't seem to care which version was correct. For them, the
real problem is that their country is occupied by foreigners — whether soldiers
or civilians.
"Our problem is rooted in the occupation, regardless of
whether it's by security firms or foreign troops," a Baghdad resident, who have
his name only as Abu Ahmed, told Associated Press Television News. "This is one
of the grave consequences of the occupation."

This week in Iraq

Iraq body count has reinstated thier weekly roundup feature.

This last week, ending on Wednesday: 383 dead, including:

• child shot dead while riding in car with father.
• US air strike kills 7 family members in their house -Mohammed Abdul Wahad, his wife and their 5 children aged 4-8 years. According to the US military, they dropped the bomb on the house when gunmen they had been fighting ran inside.
• US shelling of two residential areas kills 7
• US air strike kills 4 policemen
• gunmen attack house, kill woman and her 5 children.

If you are American, $2 Billion of your tax dollars went to help pay for maintaining this situation last week.

Which work out to an average of ... (300 million of us ... dividing ....) $7 per person. or enough for each of us to double the wages of one of the 1 billion people in the world who are living on $1 per day or less.

Try not to think about it. Maybe it will just go away or get better by itself.

Christians beat two Muslims to death in Indonesia

I guess radical muslims don't have the corner on terror

But then we knew that anyway, didn't we?

what you can buy these days for $442 Billion

Here's what $442 Billion buys

"Some progress, and some encouraging signs" ... (not to mention 731,000 dead bodies)

Oh well. Bummer

2 questions

Today Rachel posted this quote on JaC

“There is a theological ’silent majority’ in our land who wrap their Bible
in the American flag, who believe that conservative politics is the necessary
by-product of orthodox Christianity, who equate patriotism with the belief in
national self-righteousness, and who regard political dissent as a mark of
infidelity to the faith.”
- Senator Mark Hatfield, Conflict and Conscience,
1971

It reminded me of two questions I recently addressed to my delightful Aunt Kathy, which she has not yet addressed. Perhaps someone here could help me out--someone who claims to be a christian and who also supports the iraq war (I know you're out there)

Here's what Jesus had to say about how to react to our enemies

It's been said "love your friends, and hate your enemies". But I say: Love your enemies! Bless those who curse you! Do good to those who hate you!

Question #1.How is an American Christian who claims to be trying to obey Jesus best to carry out these commands in the case of radical muslim extremists who are clearly their enemy, who clearly curse them, who clearly hate them? In this particular case, is the American Christian to just ignore this command from Jesus?

Paul reiterates it:

Repay *noone* evil for evil. Do no avenge yourselves.

Question #2. For an American Christian who believes one is to obey Paul's words as Scripture, how are they to apply this command in the case of radical muslim extremists?

Ah hell--one more question, I guess:

Question #3. How is a Christian who is an armed member of the armed forces of this or any nation supposed to apply these commands from Jesus and Paul in the context of their *job*, which involves, among other things, killing their enemies?

(maybe I'm a little confused, or missed something, or something. Hmmmm)

Irony

It seems Mr. Bush also saw drew comparisons between the current Iraq disaster and the Revolutionary War in his 4th of July speech yesterday. Among other things, he said:

"We were a small band of freedom-loving patriots taking on the most powerful
empire in the world"

Did I miss something? Or did he actually manage to imply that contrary to the popular media and dubya's own take on things, the so called "insurgents" in Iraq are actually freedom fighters?
If only I could somehow believe that this man is intelligent enough to slip this line into his speech as a way of subtly making fun of both himself and all his warmongering cronies.

Bush again both stated and implied the false connection between Iraq and 9/11.

People believe this stuff. Another quote:

the best way to do our duty, which is to protect the American people, is to
go on the offense and stay on the offense. And that's exactly what we've been
doing

Yeah--offense is about the right word

Why do I do this to myself--reading this stuff? I guess it's like Agent Smith said

Human beings define their reality through misery and suffering

Xukes I miss Bill Clinton.
Xukes I can't wait for Barack Obama

The poverty draft?

Overall, the Pentagon spends about US$2.5 Billion a year targeting high achieving, low income youth with commercials, video games, personal visits, and slick brochures.

So over the last couple weeks I've been exposed to some Marines recruiting ads on late night television. Usually they are with sound off, so they're slightly less offputting. Here's a little compilation, including one of the ones I've been seeing. I forced myself to watch all 6.5 minutes of this. Can you stomach it?



And here's the reality which our marines and other armed services have brought to Iraq.



So they have to deal with the mental aftermath of *that*, not to mention the *soldies themselves--3500 killed and 26,000 (that's TWENTY SIX THOUSAND) wounded. It's all so glorious, courageous, proud, blah blah blah etc.

God I can't decide whether to be furious, or literally sickened in my gut. I find myself hovering between these two reactions, so generally I turn my eyes away from these recruiting commercials.

Your reaction?

Plot to overthrow Laotian government

In case you didn't pick this up on the news today. A retired U.S. army officer and a former Laotian general were arrested in California today, along with several others, on charges related to an alleged plot to overthrow the Laotian government by force. The plot involved plans to buy and ship lots and lots of arms to Loas, Thailand, and Vietnam.

U.S. Attorny Scott was quoted as saying

The United States cannot provide a safe harbor to those plotting to overthrow a
government with whom we are at peace

I found this intriguing. What do you know about Laos? Are you aware that the U.S. conducted a secret air war over laos in the 60's and 70's with such an intensity of bombing that Laos became (and remains) the most bombed country in history. We dropped more bombs on Laos than were dropped on all of europe during world war II.

The weekly roundup in Iraq

I really think if you are American, you should oughtta read this (there, I attempted to put an oughty-should on you! Consider yourself notified). Even if you average out to every man,woman, and child, as an American you've spent nearly $1500 to help bring about this state of things in Iraq. And that's more than any single one of the lower 2 billion income earners in the world earns in 2 years.

Again, stolen from Lily Hamourtziadou

Fear

At Baghdad’s Yarmouk hospital, a man and his wife, both injured in a bomb attack that killed 15 people in Amil, were lying on stretchers in the emergency room. The man, whose right foot had been amputated, screamed at his wife, who had shrapnel wounds and was unconscious: ‘Fatima! Where are the kids, Fatima?’ (LA Times, 30 May).

Iraqis live in a fear few of us can even imagine, a fear even fewer of us will ever experience. Police and morgue officials giving information on daily casualties, do so in anonymity, fearing they could be targeted by militants. Unclaimed and unidentified bodies fill the morgues every month, their relatives too frightened to identify and claim the bodies. They join thousands of others buried in mass graves.

In May 2,770 civilians were killed in Iraq, an average of 89 a day. The violence is up from April, when there were 2,590 reported civilian deaths, an average of 86 a day; in March the toll was 2,731, an average of 88 a day.

This past week alone, 680 civilian lives were snuffed out in violent attacks.

On Monday 28 May 125 die, 100 of them in Baghdad. The dead include 14 policemen, a college student, a newspaper editor and a translator.

On Tuesday 29 May, the worst day of the week, 150 lose their lives. Two car bombs kill 49 people in Baghdad, a journalist is killed by gunmen, together with 7 members of his family near Falluja, and 78 bodies are found in Baghdad, Suwayra, Baquba, Balad, Toz and Abu Tomar.

On Wednesday 30 May over 80 civilians die. Among the dead, 2 elderly people sleeping on the roof of their homes (common in Iraq during the summer, to escape the intense heat) killed by a US helicopter during an air raid over Sadr City. Militia raids in Amil, Baghdad, kill 21 Sunni men. Iraqi TV, Al-Iraqiya, reports that Sadr City residents call upon officials to intervene to stop the raids and shelling of the city by the Multinational Forces. ‘Citizens in the city affirmed that military operations in their city cause a large number of innocent casualties…The evenings are filled with the sounds of lethal ammunitions and terrifying raids. The residents do not sleep quietly or safely. No single day passes without the Multinational Force raiding and attacking several houses and causing the martyrdom and wounding of dozens of innocent people.’ (Al-Iraqiya 1 June)

Around 90 die on Thursday 31 May. In the worst incident, a suicide bomber kills 30 in a police recruitment centre in Falluja. Gunmen kill a lecturer in Fine Arts in Basra, while an Associated Press reporter is shot dead in Baghdad. The 26-year-old cameraman leaves a wife 8-months pregnant with their first child. 45 bodies are found in 7 cities, and 14 unidentified bodies are buried in Kirkuk.

Around 75 die on Friday 1 June. The dead include 3 children (7, 9 and 11 years of age) killed as a US tank fires on suspected insurgents near Falluja. The insurgents, who were thought to be planting a bomb, escape. Another US raid on Sadr City kills 2, one of them an ambulance driver. Gunmen kill 7 at a fake checkpoint in Khalis, and 33 bodies are found in Baghdad, Baquba and Khalis.

On the quietest day of the week, Saturday 2 June, 57 civilians die. Among them an Imam and a Sheikh, shot dead in Baghdad, and 8 killed by mortars in Fadhil, Baghdad –one of them a child. Police find 40 bodies in 5 cities. More than 2,000 people march the streets of Shula, a Shiite district in Baghdad, to demand improvements in basic services like electricity and water. The demonstrators denounce the United States, Israel and the US-backed Iraqi government.

On Sunday 3 June the dead exceed 100. A car bomb kills 10 in a market in Balad Ruz, gunmen kill 5 at a fake checkpoint near Baquba, US air strikes kill 5 in Sadr City and 2 in Dhilu’iya, while gunmen shoot dead a Catholic priest, 31-year-old Father Ragheed Ganni, and 3 deacons in Mosul. Police find 64 bodies in 6 cities. Another 41 unclaimed bodies are buried in Kirkuk.

Meanwhile, General Raymond Odierno, the number 2 head of US forces in Iraq, has stated that ‘the surge is not yet fully in place, and it will take time and patience before we begin to realise its effects.’ In fact, ‘we could be in Iraq for 50 years’ according to US Defence Secretary Robert Gates. The sad truth is that the US will never leave Iraq. Despite the massive civilian death toll, despite the massive rise of terrorism, despite the rapidly increasing deaths of American soldiers.
Iraqi President Jalal Talabani has apologised for the deaths of American troops in his country. After a month when 2,770 Iraqi civilians die, the Iraqi President apologises for the deaths of 126 American soldiers. He continues: ‘Everyone in Iraq knows that…the United States saved the Iraqi people…the majority of people are for having the American Army.’ He really speaks for himself, as neither he nor anyone else in the Iraqi government would survive for one day if the US army that backs them withdrew from Iraq.

Weekly roundup of civilian deaths in Iraq under U.S. occupation

stolen from Lily.

The violence this week has caused over 600 civilian deaths.

More than 80 die on Monday 21 May. Gunmen kill 7 inside a minibus near Hibhib, one of them a child, while US forces shoot dead a civilian in Ishaqi, after their patrol is hit by a roadside bomb. In Baghdad, Falluja and Baquba, police find 51 bound and tortured bodies.

(Read more ...)

On Tuesday 22 May 125 lose their lives. In the day’s largest incident, a car bomb blows up 25 people, including 3 children, in Amil, Baghdad. Gunmen shoot dead 8 college students in Baghdad, while mortars kill another 4 students in Adhamiya, Baghdad. Near Baquba, gunmen kill 6 people, mother, father and 4 children, while US forces kill 4 civilians in two different incidents in Baghdad and Mosul. In Albu Ubaid, east of Ramadi, a suicide bomber enters a house and blows up 10 members of the same family. Police find 46 bodies in 5 cities, most of them in Baghdad.

On Wednesday 23 May 110 die, including 20 killed by a suicide bomber in a café in Mandali, 3 children killed by mortars in Khan Bani Saad, a primary school pupil killed when mortars fall on his school in Mahmudiya, and 8 policemen. 49 bodies are found in 6 cities, most of them in Baghdad.

Around 100 die on Thursday 24 May, among them 35 people who die when a car bomb explodes during a funeral in Falluja. Gunmen set up a fake checkpoint and shoot dead 11 people inside a minibus when it stops. After planting a bomb among the bodies, they blow up another 2 who come to the scene. 2 more civilians are shot dead by US forces, while a truck driver is killed by Blackwater security contractors in Baghdad. Also, 27 bodies are found, most of them in Baghdad.

On the quietest day of the week, 58 die on Friday 25 May. In an attack on Aswad village, gunmen kill 17 people, while mortars kill 2 children in Baghdad. Police find 26 bodies, mostly in Baghdad. In Kufa, Shia cleric Moqtada al-Sadr calls for all Iraqis to fight the occupying forces united.

Another 60 civilians are killed on Saturday 26 May. In an air raid over Sadr City, Baghdad, US planes kill up to 5 people. According to several reports and witnesses, as well as Iraqi officials, the dead are civilian drivers queuing in their cars to buy petrol. 11 cars are destroyed in the raid. During another air strike by British forces, up to 8 civilians are reported killed in Basra. Police find 27 bodies, mostly in Baghdad.

Around 75 are killed on Sunday 27 May. Among the victims, a famous Iraqi calligrapher shot dead in Baghdad, a child blown up by a car bomb in Falluja, 2 farmers, a head of council and his assistant, and 3 women and a child killed by mortars in Baghdad. In Baghdad police find 44 bodies, tortured and shot in the head.


This is what the pursuit of self-interest by a powerful state has led to: the total devastation of a country and its people. The collapse of Iraq: a country that had no terrorists before its invasion, a country that never attacked America. The goal has been achieved: the US is in Iraq and it will stay there to protect its interests. Yet too much has been lost on both sides to make this a sweet victory..