Just when you thought George Jr. was even close to being pretty, a couple of horror-shots of his legacy loom large. The first: The escalating violence has residents of Baghdad stocking up on rice, vegetables and other foods in case fighting or curfews prevent them from getting to shops. “It is wrong to say we are getting close to a civil war,” a senior Iraqi politician said. “The civil war Read More ...
Reportedly, at a little after 4 AM out here on California’s north coast, the sun will cross directly over the Earth’s equator during a moment known as the vernal equinox when both day and night are about equal, or spring has sprung. The change of the seasons, however, seems to remain the same. War bones are sticking up through the flesh all over, even a decade after most-likely the worst event Read More ...
(Illustration found here). Ten years along and the recipients of “shock and awe” know it as a wide-awake nightmare — from the NY Times: At the pet market, Karrar Habeeb, a 22-year-old carpenter, paused, surprised to be asked about what was surely the defining event of his youth. “I didn’t know about it,” Mr. Habeeb said of the anniversary. “Are we still talking about the Americans? I don’t think we Read More ...
Overcast and still warm this way-early Tuesday morning on California’s north coast, and if the recent past is any indication, this day will either be foggy, sunny or a mixture of both — who’s to really say? Weather up here is almost the same year ’round, not like just about everywhere else. Beyond the noodle that’s Washington, DC, and the fruit-flies holding court there, the bottomless pit of the endless Read More ...
“I think things have gotten so bad inside Iraq from the standpoint of the Iraqi people, my belief is we will, in fact, be greeted as liberators.” – Dick Cheney, ‘Meet The Press,’ March 16, 2003 Nowadays, the Iraqi people really, really don’t like their shit of a life. Near absent from any US news coverage, the country is still going through some bad times. Today, multi-car bombs went off in several Read More ...
Even now after nearly half-a-century, one Vietnam vet still works to get a grip: Wright died in 1968 when he stepped on a land mine, Atwood said, and Wright’s mother always blamed him for her son’s death. He’s never been able to bring himself to visit his friend’s grave, he said. On Saturday he found Wright’s name on panel 44E, row 60, and he ran his fingers over it, shaking Read More ...
Although the name of the supposedly “lone service member” who killed 16 Afghan civilians a week ago has finally emerged — Sgt. Bob Bales — the names of the victims of the rampage haven’t seen the light of day. As Paul Woodward wrote at War In Context, the reason: Because they are not Americans. These asshole conflicts in the name of national security are the purest of bullshit, creating “conditions Read More ...
As the new year grinds on, politics has taken the edge off the nearly unnoticed pullout of US troops from Iraq, ending a segment in one of the most-horrible of episodes. And the most lied about military adventure in US history. “In making the case for war, the Administration repeatedly presented intelligence as fact when in reality it was unsubstantiated, contradicted, or even non-existent. As a result, the American people Read More ...
(Illustration found here). In reality, a picture is indeed worth a shitload of words. One haunting face, that 4-year-old Iraqi kid — the above photo has been on Google Images for years, and has always caused me to hurt whenever I spotted it (used it a couple of times on blog posts to epitomize, or something like that, of a simple-impact of war-reality) and as a parent, always felt an intense, Read More ...
Opened with a big bang — ‘shock and awe’ — and closed with a deceitful shudder. The US ended its military misadventure on Iraq yesterday awash in bullshit. Leon Panetta has got to be one of the most disingenuous and hypocritical assholes this side of Newt Gingrich, claiming the Iraqi debacle was worth the price in blood and money because it set Iraq on a path to democracy. “You will Read More ...
