Iraq Moratorium

I've added this link to my sidebar. Go visit & get involved. It can be just showing up, as folks did on many Tuesdays at the post office in Ashland.

Iraq Moratorium UPDATE

Thanks to a comment by xoff, a great blogger over at Uppity Wisco, we now have a list of what's going on concerning the Iraq Moratorium. First, go to IraqMoratorium.org, to get all the current news. Here is the list of what's going on in Wisco & there's quite a bit. Thanks again xoff, my loyal four readers appreciate it.

WI - Wisconsin

Hayward
Iraq Moratorium Vigil for Peace
Peace North and Veterans for Peace Chapter 153
We will be holding a peace vigil from 4-6 PM in observance of Iraq Moratorium Day #11. We'll be at the corner of Highways 27 and 63 in beautiful downtown Hayward.
Please come, bring a friend and a sign as well, and lets continue to show our opposition to this war! [More info,_Contact,_Updates,_Comments_and_Reports]
7/18/08 4-6 pm, Corner of Hwy's 27 and 63, Event #399
Janesville
Iraq Moratorium vigil/rally
Rock Valley Fellowship of Reconciliation
Rock Valley-Fellowship of Reconciliation will gather on the corner of Blackbridge Road and Milton Avenue in Janesville, Wisconsin at 4 p.m. for a Iraq Moratorium vigil/rally. This area of town is very busy all the time, but more so on Friday afternoon. Our focus is Stop the War! We have signs but feel free to bring your own. Please keep in mind our focus and the fact that we are a nonprofit and are non partisan group. It is problematic to our nonprofit status to support or not support one candidate over another. [More info,_Contact,_Updates,_Comments_and_Reports]
07/18/2008 4 p.m., , Blackridge Rd & Milton Ave Event #1064
La Crosse
Against War
We will be meeting (vigil style) from 5-6
on the corner of 3rd and Cass. Bring peace signs, wear arm bands against the war in Iraq. [More info,_Contact,_Updates,_Comments_and_Reports]
07/18/2008 5-6 pm, Cass Street Bridge, 3rd and Cass Streets Event #1057
Luxemburg
Interfaith prayer service for peace
[More info,_Contact,_Updates,_Comments_and_Reports]
07/18/2008 7 p.m., The Chapel of Our Lady of Good Help, 4047 Chapel Drive Event #1295
Manitowoc
Peace Vigil
Lakeshore Peacemakers
A weekly vigil for peace, and on the Third Friday for the Iraq Moratorium. [More info,_Contact,_Updates,_Comments_and_Reports]
07/18/2008 4:30 p.m., 8th Stret & Maritime Drive, Event #1062
Milwaukee
Vigil for the Moratorium
Peace Action Wisconsin, Milwaukee Coalition for a Just Peace
Vigil and rally at downtown's busiest corner, with signs, flags and banners. We leaflet pedestrians to tell them about the Iraq Moratorium and invite drivers to honk their horns in support, with a good response. Warmer weather has rejuvenated the group, and it's growing again, both in numbers, in enthusiasm, and in the cross-section of people who participate. Join us. [More info,_Contact,_Updates,_Comments_and_Reports]
07/18/2008 5 to 6 p.m., Right downtown, Water St & Wisconsin Ave Event #1032
New Franken
Prayer service for peace in Iraq
Brown County prayer service, held at a different location on the Third Friday of every month. Short service with music, reading from scripture, private and group reflection.
Directions: Take I-94 N if coming from out of town. Pass Green Bay exits to Exit 185.This exit will take you to Hy 54/57. Continue on Hy 57 (N)--You will pass Holy Cross Cemetery on your right to Cty K. Take a right (east) on Cty K. for about 5 miles. This road twists and turns, but just follow it through a small village called Champion. The Chapel of Our Lady is about 1-11/2 miles further. It’ll be on the left. Turn in the long driveway and you are there! [More info,_Contact,_Updates,_Comments_and_Reports]
07/18/2008 7 p.m, Chapel of Our Lady of Good Help, 4047 Chapel Dr. Event #1176
Ripon
Moratorium Vigil
We began these monthly Iraq Moratorium vigils in January. Please join us. [More info,_Contact,_Updates,_Comments_and_Reports]
07/18/2008 4:30 p.m., Ripon Square, near City Hall Event #1037
Wausau
Picket for Peace
Please feel free to join in nonviolent witness of all those affected by the ongoing wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and in reflection on the many costs (physical, emotional, psychological, spiritual, social, environmental, etc.) of living in a society rooted in militarism. In keeping with the practice of nonviolence and in order to respect the dignity of all, we ask that any posters carried reflect peace and not sarcasm or political attacks. Peace to all. [More info,_Contact,_Updates,_Comments_and_Reports]
07/18/2008 4 to 6 p.m., 400 Block downtown, Event #1163
Woodruff
prayer vigil for peace
Pax Christi Northwoods
This is an hour of silent prayer for peace held weekly in a small chapel at the church. [More info,_Contact,_Updates,_Comments_and_Reports]
07/18/2008 Noon to 1 p.m., Holy Family Chuch, Highway J Event #1162

I'm Sorry

I missed this the other day. Sorry. I'm with xoff at Uppity Wisco, you need to call or write or email Sen. Feingold & believe it or not, Sen. Kohl, & thank them for voting against Bu$hCo's vanity war.

More From The "...fucking stupidest guy on the face of the earth.**

If you've been thinking of getting your motorcycle out of the pole barn today, & digging your riding leathers out of the upstairs closet, make sure that you put your helmet on to see if it still fits & whether or not the lining needs to be cleaned up. Keep your helmet on while you watch the following. You will still be able to curse loudly, but your head will be protected while you bang it on the cement floor of the barn. Via TPM.

**Think Progress has the quote & more on the war criminals who are responsible for this Iraq debacle, but who all, like Feith, refuse to accept that responsibility.

It Might Pay...

...to be a Senator's son pretty soon.

Army support systems, designed for the pre-9/11 peacetime Army, are straining under the accumulation of stress from six years at war.
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If unaddressed, this lack of balance poses a significant risk to the All-Volunteer Force and degrades the Army’s ability to make a timely response to other contingencies.

Testimony from Gen. Richard A. Cody, Vice Chief of Staff. I'm no friend or supporter of the military, in general, but it sounds like Bu$hCo has pretty much destroyed the Army. Cody sounds like he asking for a draft so that the Army can continue to "sustain" itself. If these guys think the war is unpopular now, just let them institute a draft. It also disappoints me that Cody has to use the draft as a threat to the Congress to pony up more money. It looks like bad money after bad money.

Watch

Via Crooks & Liars.

What Do You Think?

Go read.

History Is A Bitch

Especially when we have the internets or intertubes or whatever they are called. Kevin Drum ought to be truly ashamed. Via Atrios. I stopped reading Drum a long time ago. These so-called liberal hawks are no more than ReThug lite, much like the Clintons.

If your opposition to war is based on the idea that Saddam does indeed possess illegal weapons but it's best to leave him alone anyway, well and good. But if it's based on the idea that the administration is lying and none of this stuff exists, you should tread carefully. I think it's pretty likely you will be proven wrong shortly.

The Cost

It's dollars, of course, but there are more costs & this one ought to piss you off as well.

The Pentagon is releasing a report saying, one in five American serviceman and women who have been in Iraq are coming back with brain injuries. Mild, traumatic brain injuries. More than 250,000 people. That legacy of that will last all of our life times and it’s incalculable.

No shit, Dick Tracy.

The Surge

Here's the concluding paragraph of a great post at BooMan.

It is a lie to say that the “surge” worked. It is nearly traitorous to use the tactics that were used to measure the shortest term of “goals” when it comes to a temporary decrease in violence that is based on arming both sides of a civil war – including those who were attacking US troops a few short months earlier.

Now, go read the whole bunch of paragraphs that are the rest of the story. Oh, & is Paul Harvey still alive?

It Doesn't Pay

To work with the occupying American military.

A suicide bomber assassinated a major leader of American-backed militia forces in a Sunni stronghold of Baghdad on Monday morning, the latest attack on nationalist Sunnis who have recently allied themselves with American troops. That attack, and a second bomb that exploded minutes later, killed at least 14 and wounded 18 in total, a Ministry of Interior official said.

The killing of the militia leader, Col. Riyadh al-Samarrai, on the fringes of north Baghdad’s Adhamiya district, was one of the most significant attacks so far on leaders of former Sunni insurgents who have banded into militias, known as Awakening groups, to fight extremist militants.

I guess this is part of the great success of The Surge.

BTW, Over There

More blood shed.

A suicide bomber killed 30 people and wounded 38 at a funeral in eastern Baghdad on Tuesday, shattering a New Year's day that had begun with hopeful celebrations of a kind unseen in years.

Two police sources confirmed the death toll, which would make it the worst bombing in the Iraqi capital since September and one of the deadliest anywhere in Iraq for months.

Absolute, Complete Theft

Read Tbogg everyday. He's good. & funny. But today I am going to steal his whole post, YouTube included. At the end of the post, I'll post the links he used, since they won't cut & paste.

IraqRidge
By: TBogg Monday December 10, 2007 10:57 pm

Who would have ever thought that when we invaded Iraq, that our little experiment in democracy building would yield massive fraud and embezzlement, jacked-up sociopaths paid with tax dollars roaming the streets and killing innocent civilians, American soldiers committing rape and murder, bribery in Congress, torture, well-connected American corporations covering up even more rape and assault on their own employees, and even more cover-ups involving fraud and graft by the very investigators who are supposed to guard against these things?

I really don't want to hear the the menu of food metaphors, such as "one bad apple spoiling the whole barrel' or "you have to break a few eggs to make a Freedom omelette" as an excuse for this. And I don't care how many schools the soldiers paint; they will never be able to whitewash the blood from the hands of George W. Bush, Dick Cheney, Richard Perle, Paul Wolfowitz, Bill Kristol, Douglas Feith that stains us all.

Links:

"massive fraud and embezzlement" - here.

"killing innocent civilians," - here.

"in Congress" - here.

"torture" - here.

"more rape and assault" - here.

"more cover-ups" - here.

"committing rape and murder," - here.

Click on all of these links & despair as to the kind of country we have become under Bu$hCo & Cheney. Fuck.

The Surge Is Working, Really, Really, It's Working

Not.

A carefully constructed compromise on a draft law governing Iraq’s rich oil fields, agreed to in February after months of arduous talks among Iraqi political groups, appears to have collapsed. The apparent breakdown comes just as Congress and the White House are struggling to find evidence that there is progress toward reconciliation and a functioning government here.

Oh Yeah, Big Fucking Change

After yesterday's little show in the House, Dan Froomkin has a round-up. Some high(low)lights.

"The plans outlined by the U.S. commander in Iraq, Gen. David H. Petraeus, would retain a large force in the country -- perhaps more than 100,000 troops -- when the time comes for Bush to move out of the White House in January 2009."
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"Nothing new was said, for example, on how the administration intends to try to break apart the governmental gridlock in Baghdad, which has obstructed the administration's plan to bring about national reconciliation through agreements by the national government. . .
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Karen DeYoung and Thomas E. Ricks write in The Washington Post: "If Gen. David H. Petraeus has his way, tens of thousands of U.S. troops will be in Iraq for years to come."
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Susan Page writes in USA Today: "Those who wanted to hear a new plan charted by Gen. David Petraeus and Ambassador Ryan Crocker didn't get one. Instead, the two men asked a restive Democrat-led Congress to wait until at least next March before trying to reshape the U.S. mission or bring home most American troops. . . .

"[W]hat had been cast as a potentially defining day for U.S. policy in Iraq seemed like something else: a clear sign that the political standoff over Iraq is unlikely to end anytime soon."
....
"It's clear by now that playing for time is the real White House strategy for Iraq. Everything else is tactical maneuver and rhetorical legerdemain -- nothing up my sleeve -- with which the administration is buying time, roughly in six-month increments."

One key aspect of that strategy: "[I]f anyone mentions that Congress is supposed to decide what wars this nation fights, not generals or diplomats? Attack them for impugning our nation's finest -- and give that can another kick."
....
Charles H. Ferguson blogs for washingtonpost.com: "How convenient that they predict it will be possible to begin withdrawing troops just a few months before the next presidential election. How sad that such good men as General Petraeus and Ambassador Crocker are being misused in this way. And how clear it seems that any realistic, honest reassessment of U.S. policy in Iraq must come from Congress and from the next president, rather than from this administration."
....
If the American people want to end this war faster, they will have to vote to do so -- again, since that is what most of them thought they were doing in 2006."

Worst President Ever

Via Dan Froomkin, we get the following concerning the decision to disband the Iraqi army early in this war. The fucking moron of a president can't even remember his position, much less take responsibility for the disaster that followed. I am not suggesting that by not disbanding the Iraqi army we wouldn't be in the deep shit we're in, but that this is another example of how Bu$hCo has screwed this up beyond belief. Read & weep for the dead.

One of the most shocking revelations of Draper's book was Bush's nonchalant response to questions about the disbanding of the Iraqi army -- widely seen as one of the biggest mistakes of the occupation.

As Richard Wolffe writes for Newsweek: "According to Draper, Bush was unaware that his own viceroy in Baghdad, L. Paul Bremer, was going to stand down the Iraqi army. 'Well, the policy was to keep the army intact,' Bush told the author. 'Didn't happen.' Since then the White House has tried to explain that Bush was actually referring to the melting away of the army, not the disbanding order."

Bremer told the New York Times on Monday that Bush was told in advance about the disbanding of the army.

And today, Bremer writes in a New York Times op-ed: "The decision not to recall Saddam Hussein's army was thoroughly considered by top officials in the American government. At the time, this decision was not controversial. . . .

"On May 22, I sent to President Bush, through Secretary Rumsfeld, my first report since arriving in Iraq. I reviewed our activities since arrival, including our de-Baathification policy. I then alerted the president that 'I will parallel this step with an even more robust measure dissolving Saddam's military and intelligence structures.' The same day, I briefed the president on the plan via secure video. The president sent me a note on May 23 in which he thanked me for my report and noted that 'you have my full support and confidence.'"

More Of The Same Part Nine Hundred Eighty One

Glenn Greenwald takes apart the boneheads in D.C. All I know is that the dirty fucking hippies down at The Black Cat Coffee House were right about everything in regards to this stupid war on Iraq/Terror/Iran & the slimy Joe Lieberman types were wrong about everything.

It is hard to overstate the bitterness and resentment which the Serious Pro-War Beltway Elite like Hiatt, who were wrong about everything, still harbor towards those, such as ElBaredei, who were right about Iraq, principally because those who were right serve as an ongoing, painful reminder of what poor judgment the likes of Hiatt possess, of how untrustworthy are the foreign policy pronouncements of the Serious People in Hiatt's world. Thus, Hiatt's attack on EdBaredei begins with the complaint that he "was lionized by opponents of the Iraq war" for being right. That's because in Hiatt's world, having been right on Iraq -- and being "lionized" by war opponents -- are actually hallmarks of unseriousness. Ask Scott Ritter (if you can find where he can be heard). Or Howard Dean.

Oops, via Atrios.

Jim Hoagland Says Something Intelligent

& we must be supportive of his new awareness.

Desperate presidents resort to desperate rhetoric -- which then calls new attention to their desperation. President Bush joined the club this week by citing the U.S. failure in Vietnam to justify staying on in Iraq.
....
That is, the administration has constantly shifted its goals in Iraq to avoid accepting failure and blame -- only to see the new goals drift beyond reach each time. Liberation of Iraqis became occupation by Americans, democracy became an unattainable centralized "national unity" government and this year's military surge has become a device for achieving political reconciliation among people who do not want to reconcile.
....
Such maneuvering is ultimately self-defeating, as was Bush's desperate bid this week to mobilize on his side the old resentments and fears of the political battles fought over Vietnam. Bush's speech fits Talleyrand's definition of something worse than a crime: It was a blunder.

Hoagland takes a gratuitous shot at Bill Clinton, as well. What Mr. Hoagland can't understand is that Clinton's sex life is way different than Richard Nixon's crimes & Bu$hCo's destruction of the Constitution. I must, however, praise Hoagland's finally coming to see what many of us saw years ago.

Followup To Stupidity

This references my post from yesterday.

The president's portrayal of the conflict "is not revisionist history. It is fantasy history," Lichtman said.

Of course, there are more dead in Iraq, thanks to mini-brained Bu$hCo.

A US Blackhawk helicopter crashed yesterday, killing all 14 troops on board, and a powerful truck bomb in north-central Iraq killed at least 51 Iraqis.

Support the troops! Support the troops! Er, not so much.

Oh great, the surge has turned into an tagging war. Jeez Louise.

Across the walls of a neighborhood that has seen better days, Sunni Arab insurgents splash slogans in black Arabic letters: "Death to America" and "Long Live the Resistance." US and Iraqi forces black out the words and replace them with such slogans as "Long Live Iraq" and "No to Sectarianism."

I know it's way more serious than that, people are dying, but what in the hell are the U.S. troops doing with paint brushes what they apparently cannot do with persuasion & honesty?

Piling On

I'm just sitting here quietly minding my own business, when you know who just has to stick his camera lens into my business again, for crying out loud. I mean, shit, I'm feeling bad enough that Jack Kerouac has been dead for 38 years. Here's what white wine boy has just left on my cyber doorstep, he just couldn't stop after the info for the previous post.

The “new” strategy of surging troops in Baghdad has simply wasted more lives and bought some time for the president. His strategy boils down to keeping as many of our soldiers engaged as possible, in order to stave off definitive defeat in Iraq before January 2009.
....
As we watched the pressure build on President Bush, looked toward the additional challenges we expect him to face over the next 18 months, and pondered his tendency to disregard the law and the Constitution, we felt very much in need of professional help in trying to estimate what kinds of decisions he is likely to make.

Dr. Frank, it turned out, had been thinking along the same lines,....
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Parental discretion advised. The outlook is not only somber but potentially violent—and includes all manner of threats born of George W. Bush’s mental state (as well as the unusual relationship he has with his vice president).
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George W. Bush is without conscience....
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George W. Bush seems also to be without shame.
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He lies—not just to us, but to himself as well. What makes lying so easy for Bush is his contempt—for language, for law, and for anybody who dares question him.
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What gets lost in this process is growth—the George W. Bush of 2007 is exactly the same as the one of 2001. Helen Thomas has said that of all the presidents she has covered over the years, Bush is the least changed by his job, by his experience. This is why there is no possibility of dialogue or reasoning with him.
....
He has always had a sadistic streak: from blowing up frogs, to shooting his siblings with a b-b-gun, to branding fraternity pledges with white-hot coat hangers.

Thanks, Camera Boy, the coffee's on you tomorrow. My emphasis.