Levees Not War

4,000

Four thousand and counting. And the Bush administration plans to maintain troop levels at their current numbers. To pull out now, they tell us, would dishonor the sacrifice of those who have already fallen.

Click here for ‘Faces of the Dead,’ a tribute by the New York Times.

See the ‘Pro-Peace | Anti-War’ links at left for organizations established to end the war and to help soldiers and veterans.

While we work to end the Iraq War, we pray for the souls of those who have died and for those who will die, unnecessarily, between now and when the war is brought to an end. And it will be.

In an interview on ABC’s “Good Morning America” with White House correspondent Martha Raddatz aired on March 19, the fifth anniversary of the beginning of the Iraq War, Vice President Dick Cheney revealed once again how closely he listens to public opinion.

CHENEY: On the security front, I think there’s a general consensus that we’ve made major progress, that the surge has worked. That’s been a major success.

RADDATZ: Two-third of Americans say it’s not worth fighting.

CHENEY: So?

RADDATZ: So? You don’t care what the American people think?

CHENEY: No. I think you cannot be blown off course by the fluctuations in the public opinion polls.

(more…)

On the fifth anniversary of the launch of the Iraq War, Josh Marshall of TalkingPointsMemo explains why the American public should have no confidence in the foreign policy ‘authority’ of Senator John McCain—and the Democratic candidates shouldn’t give him any credit, either. McCain does not possess the expertise or geostrategic vision he likes to think he has. (Boldface added for emphasis.) Click here for a video version of the opinion piece below.

Unfit to Serve
By Josh Marshall

Let me follow up on this McCain gaffe in which he got confused and claimed that al Qaeda was getting trained and equipped by Iran before doing mischief in Iraq, before being corrected by his senate colleague Joe Lieberman.

Let’s start by stipulating that if Barack Obama had had this slip up it would be everywhere on the news for the next week. Pretty much the same if it had been Hillary Clinton.

(more…)

A State of Permanent War

“This image shows the exhaustion of a man—and the exhaustion of a nation.”
—Gary Knight, chairman of the World Press Photo jury

This picture of a U.S. soldier in the Korengal Valley in the Eastern province of Afghanistan shows the traumatized exhaustion felt most acutely by soldiers in the field in Afghanistan and Iraq after years of war—but also by the American public. This image by British photographer Tim Hetherington won the prestigious World Press Photo Contest (chosen best among 80,000 entries). Photo for Vanity Fair / Panos Pictures.

The image below shows American troops under fire at the Restropo bunker in Afghanistan. A sergeant and a medic drag a wounded comrade to safety. Click here to see more war photos by Tim Hetherington.

TPM Cafe reader “57andFemale” has written a powerful rant against the Clinton campaign’s race tactics and tepid ‘regrets’ of Geraldine Ferraro’s well-publicized outpourings. (Original spellings are retained.) HillaryMcCain ‘mindmeld’ composites by Mike Ferry of 2millionth web log, inspired by Driftglass.

• See also ‘Senator Clinton Is Not a Republican, As Far As I Know’ by Bob Cesca @ HuffPo.

You Think It Can’t Get Worse

By 57andFemale
March 12, 2008

And then it does. Big time. Not one interview by Geraldine Ferraro, but cable news shows, Good Morning America, a new interview with the Daily Breeze and the NY Times. Saying the same things. Over and over. Hillary Clinton’s Finance Chair is still standing, to say words that should offend any Democrat.

Obama’s appeal is he is the candidate for everyone. He transcended race. It was the Clintons who squandered the black vote, let’s remember that.

(more…)

“I think [the war will] go relatively quickly. . . . Weeks rather than months.” —Vice President Dick Cheney, March 16, 2003, on Face the Nation

“. . . could last six days, six weeks. I doubt six months.” —Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, Feb. 7, 2003, Aviano Air Base, Italy

*

The More Things Change, the More They Stay the Same

We don’t know how this will play out, but we can be sure that while the Clinton and Obama campaigns sharpen their knives against each other, American troops in Iraq and Afghanistan will keep on killing and being killed—for what?—and the U.S. will still be borrowing billions monthly for those insatiable wars.

And New Orleanians once able to afford rent or mortgage payments before the federal levees broke will still be homeless, encamped near City Hall and under the Claiborne Street overpass, and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers will still be late with its plan for Category 5–strength hurricane protection for New Orleans and vicinity.

(more…)