On this day, the 64th year after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, there is one thing that Americans should be forever thankful for. Be thankful that Franklin Delano Roosevelt was our president and not George W. Bush. If Bush would have been president, he would have quit fighting the Japanese after two months and then idiotically attacked Formosa.
Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto-responsible for planning the Attack on Pearl Harbor
Vice Admiral Chuichi Nagumo-While commanding Japan's carrier striking force, he executed the 7 December 1941 attack on Pearl Harbor
The Pearl Harbor naval base was recognized by both the Japanese and the United States Navies as a potential target for hostile carrier air power. The U.S. Navy had even explored the issue during some of its interwar "Fleet Problems". However, its distance from Japan and shallow harbor, the certainty that Japan's navy would have many other pressing needs for its aircraft carriers in the event of war, and a belief that intelligence would provide warning persuaded senior U.S. officers that the prospect of an attack on Pearl Harbor could be safely discounted.
During the interwar period, the Japanese had reached similar conclusions. However, their pressing need for secure flanks during the planned offensive into Southeast Asia and the East Indies spurred the dynamic commander of the Japanese Combined Fleet, Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto to revisit the issue. His staff found that the assault was feasible, given the greater capabilities of newer aircraft types, modifications to aerial torpedoes, a high level of communications security and a reasonable level of good luck. Japan's feelings of desperation helped Yamamoto persuade the Naval high command and Government to undertake the venture should war become inevitable, as appeared increasingly likely during October and November 1941.
All six of Japan's first-line aircraft carriers, Akagi, Kaga, Soryu, Hiryu, Shokaku and Zuikaku, were assigned to the mission. With over 420 embarked planes, these ships constituted by far the most powerful carrier task force ever assembled. Vice Admiral Chuichi Nagumo, an experienced, cautious officer, would command the operation. His Pearl Harbor Striking Force also included fast battleships, cruisers and destroyers, with tankers to fuel the ships during their passage across the Pacific. An Advance Expeditionary Force of large submarines, five of them carrying midget submarines, was sent to scout around Hawaii, dispatch the midgets into Pearl Harbor to attack ships there, and torpedo American warships that might escape to sea.
Japanese planes attacked in two waves. The first wave, arriving just before 8AM, began its assault with dive-bombing and straffing against Navy and Army airfields to ensure that there would be a minimum of opposition from U.S. fighter planes, and to reduce the risk of a counterattack by American bombers and patrol planes. Almost simultaneously, torpedo planes roared in low over Pearl Harbor, launching their weapons against warships moored on both sides of Ford Island and at the Navy Yard's 1010 Dock. Shortly after 8AM, high-flying horizontal bombers paraded in formation over "Battleship Row", dropping their heavy armor-piercing bombs on the ships below. Having achieved great results, the first wave departed the scene about a half hour after it appeared.
The second Japanese wave hit about fifteen minutes after the first had departed, and delivered dive bombing, horizontal bombing and fighter machine gun attacks over the next hour. It did more damage to airfields, struck targets in and around the Navy Yard, and pummeled USS Nevada, the only U.S. battleship to get underway. At about 0945 on the morning of 7 December 1941, their assigned missions successfully completed, the last Japanese planes left the area to return to their carriers.
Total Japanese aircraft losses were light, only 29 planes, nine of them in the first wave. The second attack wave, arriving over targets that were alert and intensely motivated, faced much heavier anti-aircraft fire and lost twenty of its number. Several of the downed planes fell in or near Pearl Harbor or the other targets and were recovered for technical examination, as was one "Zero" fighter that crash landed on a remote island in the Hawaiian group. These provided U.S. intelligence with its first close-up look at the new enemy's latest aerial equipment.
Two years ago after the capture of Saddam Hussein, Howard Dean boldly stated, "The capture of Saddam has not made America safer", and the country went ballistic. Not just the loons on the right but all the other Democrat presidential candidates, as well.
Well guess what? Howard Dean was right then and he's right again now when he says,
"We need to be out of there and take the targets off our troops' back." Dean suggested "a strategic redeployment" of US troops over the next two years. I wish the president had paid more attention to the history of Iraq before we had gotten in there," Dean said. "The idea that we're going to win this war is just plain wrong."Since the capture of Saddam Hussein, and Howard Dean's statement from 12/03, 1,685 young Americans (of the 2,131 total killed to date), have died and over 13,000 have been wounded. (out of the total 15,568). Not to mention, the additional $200+ billion wasted. Since that quote from Howard Dean, we have learned unequivocally, that Saddam Hussein did NOT have weapons of mass destruction and we have learned without any doubt that Iraq was NOT a threat. So, who was right two years ago? The same man who is right now. He's got the track record. On the other hand, you who have supported Bush and his unnecessary invasion of Iraq, have been wrong every step of the way so why would anyone listen to you now? One other thing about what Dean was saying two years ago. He was also one of the first to stand up and state that Bush and his co-conspirators in the administration withheld information from Congress and the American public and he was ridiculed for that, too. Well, that fact as been proven to be true over, and over and over again. Give the little treasonous punks hell, Howard! They can't handle the truth!
'the Serpent' slithers to Europe
Condoleeza Rice is going to have her share of difficulties trying to convince the Germans and the rest of the Western Europeans that 'we don't torture'. Not only is she going to have to explain why we kidnapped a German citizen, Khaled Masri, torturing him for five months before realizing he was the wrong man, but we also have George W. Bush threatening to veto legislation before our U.S. Senate that 'forbids torture and inhumane or degrading treatment of military detainees'. Legislation that's already passed the Senate on a 90-9 vote.
She, her boss and almost everyone else in the Bush administration have zero credibility with Europeans and are viewed as warmongering, hate-filled fools and Western Europeans will be letting her know that during her visit.
Where do we has a country go to get our reputation back after five years of these disgraceful morons?
Mr. Bush, Have I Got An Exit Strategy For You
by Gus R. Stelzer
Despite much talk about an exit strategy from the Iraq quagmire in which our nation is embroiled, the No. 1 exit strategy has not been proposed. Let me fill that void. First you have a right to know where I'm coming from.
When I reached the legal voting age of 21 in 1936, I voted for Republican Alfred Landon against Franklin D. Roosevelt. I continued voting Republican through 1980, when I founded a PAC in San Diego with my own money to help Ronald Reagan defeat Jimmy Carter.
But I didn't vote for Reagan in 1984 because of his misguided trade and fiscal policies.
Whereas the United States enjoyed a $28 billion trade surplus and only $700 billion in federal debt in the previous 36 years, in eight years Reagan piled up $1.042 trillion in trade deficits and $1.692 trillion in federal debt. That was 186 percent more than all 39 prior presidents.
I haven't voted for a Republican or Democrat candidate since because I have no desire to vote for the lesser of two evils. I retired in 1976 as a senior executive of General Motors, with responsibility for more than 35,000 employees, and have been a member of the World Affairs Council, the Institute for the Americas at the University of California, the Advisory Board of the School of Education at the University of San Diego, a Rotary Club president, etc. I've traveled widely and lived in many states.
Any CEO of a corporation who screwed up as many things as George W. Bush would have been fired by its board of directors. Here's a few:
- Invasion of Iraq, which is the biggest strategic blunder and scandal in U.S. history. Saddam Hussein never initiated a belligerent act of aggression or terrorism against us. The buildup to that war was based on fabrications, deception and lies.
- Death of 2,100 U.S. soldiers, wounding 15,000 more, and the death of 30,000 innocent Iraqi men, women and children.
- Immoral and unconstitutional trade policies that caused $2.824 trillion in trade deficits in just five years.
- The worst fiscal performance in our history, piling up $2.472 trillion in added federal debt in five years en route to a major economic collapse.
- Tax policies that are an insult to working people who make dividends possible but who are required to pay a higher marginal tax rate than those who collect dividends without working.
- Foreign policies that have alienated most of the rest of the world. - A misguided attempt to turn future Social Security pensions over to Wall Street.
In typical arrogance, Bush said we must stay the course in the Iraq war, which means continuing his tragic record while killing and wounding more U.S. soldiers. That has no more credibility than to say a fox should be put in charge of maintaining order in a hen house after he has just created mayhem therein. Earlier this year, Terri Schiavo lay in a permanent coma connected to a feeding tube. Her husband said she would have wanted that tube removed. But Republican members of Congress passed a resolution to maintain the tube, causing Bush to fly from his ranch in Texas to Washington to sign that legislation. As his pen was poised to sign the document, Bush said, "If there is an error in this matter, it is best to err on the side of life." Why didn't Bush make that same judgment in early 2003 when millions of Americans protested against a possible invasion of Iraq, as did many foreign leaders? Bush had no qualms about killing and wounding thousands of soldiers and innocent civilians. In view of his miserable record, his arrogant lack of good judgment and his failure to understand the gravity of his record, President Bush (and Vice President Dick Cheney) should be shown the exit door with a proviso to never darken the Oval Office again. That should be exit strategy No. 1! I was a Republican, but never a knee-jerk Republican.
Gus R. Stelzer lives in Mill Creek, Washington.
"Apartheid education, rarely mentioned in the press or openly confronted even among once-progressive educators, is alive and well and rapidly increasing now in the United States. Hypersegregated inner-city schools--in which one finds no more than five or ten white children, at the very most, within a student population of as many as 3,000--are the norm, not the exception, in most northern urban areas today. "At the beginning of the twenty-first century," according to Gary Orfield and his colleagues at the Civil Rights Project at Harvard University, "American public schools are now 12 years into the process of continuous resegregation. The desegregation of black students, which increased continuously from the 1950s to the late 1980s, has receded to levels not seen in three decades." The proportion of black students in majority-white schools stands at "a level lower than in any year since 1968." The four most segregated states for black students, according to a recent study by the Civil Rights Project, are New York, Michigan, Illinois and California. In New York, only one black student in seven goes to a predominantly white school".Starting life with 2 strikes on you...
U.S. Department of Defense
Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense (Public Affairs)
News Release
www.defenselink.mil/releases/2005/nr20051205-5187.html
On the Web:
http://www.defenselink.mil/releases/2005/nr20051205-5187.html
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No. 1261-05
IMMEDIATE RELEASE December 5, 2005
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DoD Identifies Marine Casualty
The Department of Defense announced today the death of a Marine who was supporting Operation Iraqi Freedom.
Cpl. William G. Taylor, 26, of Macon, Ga., died Nov. 30 from small-arms fire while conducting combat operations against enemy forces in Fallujah, Iraq. He was assigned to 2nd Battalion, 6th Marine Regiment, 2nd Marine Division, II Marine Expeditionary Force, Camp Lejeune, N.C.
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U.S. Department of Defense
Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense (Public Affairs)
News Release
On the Web:
http://www.defenselink.mil/releases/2005/nr20051205-5185.html
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No. 1259-05
IMMEDIATE RELEASE December 5, 2005
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DoD Identifies Army Casualty
The Department of Defense announced today the death of a soldier who was supporting Operation Iraqi Freedom.
Sgt. Grzegorz Jakoniuk, 25, of Schiller Park, Ill., died in Taji, Iraq, on Nov. 30, from non-combat related injuries. Jakoniuk was assigned to the 4th Battalion, 3rd Aviation Regiment, 3rd Infantry Division, Fort Campbell, Ky.
The incident is under investigation.
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"IAEA chairman Muhammad ElBaradei on Monday confirmed Israel's assessment that Iran is only a few months away from creating an atomic bomb. If Teheran indeed resumed its uranium enrichment in other plants, as threatened, it will take it only "a few months" to produce a nuclear bomb, El-Baradei told The Independent. On the other hand, he warned, any attempt to resolve the crisis by non-diplomatic means would "open a Pandora's box. There would be efforts to isolate Iran; Iran would retaliate; and at the end of the day you have to go back to the negotiating table to find the solution.""Find a solution"? There may be only one solution; strategically and surgically take out Iran's nuclear bomb capabilities. If ElBaradei is correct and Iran is only a few months away from developing an atomic bomb look for Bush to bomb the hell out of Iran by early spring. Unlike when Israel took out Iraq's nuclear plant back in 1981, the Iranians have been wise enough to spread their nuclear facilities out across their country, so bombing them will involve multiple targets. We will certainly take out the reactors in Bushehr and Ahvaz as well as the plant in Esfahan that converts uranium ore into fuel. No 'boots on the ground' needed. Just the U.S. Air Force and a some assistance from the Navy's cruise missiles will get the job done. Might as well do it now. Get it done.
Interesting story about how the typical rightwing loons like Bill O'Reilly and David Horowitz jump into a situation of 'political correctness' run amok. They rush to the defense of an Army veteran who won the Silver-Star but who is now denied tenure by 'left-leaning professors' all because they obviously hate America.
Truth comes out about professor's background "William C. Bradford has resigned as an associate professor at Indiana University School of Law-Indianapolis, effective Jan. 1. He was featured in this space June 26, when he claimed that a faculty committee had voted against him for tenure. Bradford, 39, maintained that two left-leaning professors were leading the charge for political reasons. They disliked him because he was an Army veteran who supported the war, he said. One of Bradford's allies, Professor Henry C. Karlson, pointed out that Bradford was the real deal -- awarded the Silver Star and a major in the Special Forces. Bradford said he was in the infantry and military intelligence. He fought in Desert Storm and Bosnia, he said. On the law school's Web site and its Viewbook, Bradford was profiled as being in the Army infantry from 1990 to 2001. He wore a Silver Star lapel pin around campus. He had a major's gold-leaf insignia plate on his vehicle. After my column ran portraying Bradford as a victim of a politically correct agenda, I was contacted by retired Army Lt. Col. Keith R. Donnelly, a recent law school graduate, West Point graduate and Gulf War veteran. Donnelly had long been suspicious of Bradford's background, he said. What really piqued his attention was the Silver Star claim -- "it is a pretty high award for valor, and not many were awarded in Desert Storm." Independently, Donnelly and I requested Bradford's service record from the Army. It showed he was in the Army Reserve from Sept. 30, 1995, to Oct 23, 2001. He was discharged as a second lieutenant. He had no active duty. He was in military intelligence, not infantry. He received no awards. Meanwhile, Bradford promoted himself. He blogged on the law school's student Web site. He did radio interviews. He went national on "The O'Reilly Factor." David Horowitz, a champion for conservatives, took up his cause. When I asked Bradford in late summer about the discrepancy between his record and his claims, he responded with a story that he said could not be made public. In September, Bradford admitted on the law school blog that he had been assuming names and posting comments in support of himself. Then The Chronicle for Higher Education, in a long article, reported that Bradford said he received no military decorations. He maintained that he was a major, however. Meanwhile, law school bloggers hammered away at Bradford's credibility. Bradford, formerly a vigorous participant, shut up. His resignation came as no surprise. I asked him Wednesday what he would do. He said he had a deal in the works and could discuss it after Dec. 15. "This is all very sad," said Karlson, who considers himself Bradford's friend. Karlson believes the votes against Bradford had nothing to do with his record. Everyone believed he was a decorated vet. He also confirmed what others in academia have told me: Universities don't check every detail in resumes. "I don't think that anyone comes off looking very good in this," he said. That includes me. Ruth Holladay"I wonder if O'Reilly or Horowitz will do a follow-up to their original stories? Don't bet on it.
"Pakistani tribesmen on Sunday displayed parts of a U.S.-marked missile they said hit a house and killed two boys, a possible explanation for a blast there which the government says killed a top al Qaeda commander. Whatever the cause of the explosion, the death of Abu Hamza Rabia would be a coup for Pakistan and the United States which describe him as al Qaeda's chief of international operations. But his body has not been found. Sat amid the ruins of his mud and concrete-walled home in the restive North Waziristan tribal agency, Haji Mohammad Siddiq told Reuters his 17-year-old son and an eight-year-old nephew were killed in a missile attack, but denied there were any militants present. "I don't know anything about them -- there were no foreigners in my house," Siddiq said. "I have nothing to do with foreigners or al Qaeda".
"The U.S. military command in Baghdad acknowledged for the first time yesterday that it has paid Iraqi newspapers to carry positive news about U.S. efforts in Iraq, but officials characterized the payments as part of a legitimate campaign to counter insurgents' misinformation. In a statement, the command said the program included efforts, "customary in Iraq," to purchase advertising and place clearly labeled opinion pieces in Iraqi newspapers. But the statement suggested that the "information operations" program may have veered into a gray area where government contractors paid to have articles placed in Iraqi newspapers without explaining that the material came from the U.S. military and that Iraqi journalists were paid to write positive accounts".When the government pays someone to write a favorable story and then they point the American people to that story as proof that all is going well, that's not only illegal, but it's brazenly unethical as well. It's what the Bush administration are masters at.
"The U.S. is at great risk for more terrorist attacks because Congress and the White House have failed to enact several strong security measures, members of the former Sept. 11 commission said Sunday. "It's not a priority for the government right now," said the former chairman, Thomas Kean, ahead of the group's release of a report Monday assessing how well its recommendations have been followed. "More than four years after 9/11 ... people are not paying attention," the former Republican governor of New Jersey said. "God help us if we have another attack."
Our young men and women can join the Marines and/or the Army as soon as they finish high school.
Barely 'babes' most of them. They come from all walks of life here in America. Some from farms that are in the most rural of areas of our country and some from low-income high rises from our largest metropolitan areas. Most of them are 18 to 20 years old and a lot of them have never been far from home.
But, the Army and the Marines can train these young men and women to be the most proficient soldiers the world has ever seen in a short 12 weeks of 'boot camp'.
At least we're told they're 'ready'. We send them directly to fight, and sometimes die, in Iraq after 12 weeks of 'boot camp'.
Yep, train them quick and get them over there.
I guess my question would obviously be (and I wonder why you haven't asked yourself the same), is how can we train our young men and women to fight, and sometimes die, in 12 short weeks, but the goddamn Iraqis can't learn to fight in 32 months?
Wake up, dumbasses! Get your head out of asses and our soldiers and Marines the hell out of Iraq!
And oh, by the way...The two links above - "Army and Marines"...If you feel Iraqi chickenshits are worth dying for and you're still under the age of 39, sign up. You can do it right there in the comfort of your home. Send them an email. They'll get in touch with you real soon. It's time to get your fatasses off the couch...And put the pompoms away. Shut up or put up.
Or, start being a true patriot... And call for the immediate withdrawal of our soldiers and Marines who are dying for an unworthy cause.
Omar al-Faruq
'Al Qaeda's highest-ranking operative in Southeast Asia'
"The prisoners were considered some of the most dangerous men among the hundreds of terror suspects locked behind the walls of a secretive and secure American military detention center in Bagram, Afghanistan. Their escape, however, might as well have been a breakout from the county jail".An interesting tale of four guys we didn't want escaping from our custody...or did we? Catch the third from last paragraph (below) in the story. Do you think Omar al-Faruq may have just gotten 'offed' when bin Laden read that? Is that an example of our government using the news against our enemies? You never know in this day and age of Judy Millers, Jeff Gannons, Armstrong Williams and the recent reporting of our 'buying' stories in Iraqi newspapers.
"In a recent interview, a former Bagram prisoner, Moazzam Begg, said he had heard during his detention there that American intelligence officers had once proposed staging an escape to release a detainee whom they wanted to act as a double agent against Al Qaeda. He said he had no knowledge that any such scheme had been carried out, and several American officials strongly dismissed the idea that that had happened with Mr. Faruq and the others".
"An Iraqi militant group posted a video on Saturday which showed what it said was an explosion against a U.S. patrol near Fallujah that killed 10 U.S. Marines. The U.S. military had said 10 U.S. Marines were killed near Fallujah on Thursday. The group, the Islamic Army in Iraq, is among several insurgent organizations battling U.S. troops and Iraqi forces. The brief video shows a Humvee, flanked by what look like U.S. troops, traveling slowly down a street when an explosion engulfed the vehicle, sending clouds of dust into the air and bystanders fleeing. An off-camera voice was heard saying "Allah is Great" repeatedly. The video's authenticity could not be verified but it was posted on a Web site generally used by insurgents to claim attacks. Al Jazeera television had earlier aired the video. An accompanying statement by the group said it had also killed and injured other U.S. troops in a battle on Saturday in Duluyia, a town north Baghdad. The group also claimed the killing of three U.S. soldiers in Nassiriyah. Analysts say the Islamic Army in Iraq is believed to be linked the Saddam Hussein's deposed Baath party".
"President John F. Kennedy was considered a historian because of his book "Profiles in Courage," so he received periodic requests to rate the presidents, those lists that usually begin "1. Lincoln, 2. Washington ..." But after he actually became president himself, he stopped filling them out. "No one knows what it's like in this office," he said after being in the job. "Even with poor James Buchanan, you can't understand what he did and why without sitting in his place, looking at the papers that passed on his desk, knowing the people he talked with." Poor James Buchanan, the 15th president, is generally considered the worst president in history. Ironically, the Pennsylvania Democrat, elected in 1856, was one of the most qualified of the 43 men who have served in the highest office. A lawyer, a self-made man, Buchanan served with some distinction in the House, served as chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and secretary of state under President James K. Polk. He had a great deal to do with the United States becoming a continental nation -- "Manifest Destiny," war with Mexico, and all that. He was also ambassador to Great Britain and was offered a seat on the Supreme Court three separate times. But he was a confused, indecisive president, who may have made the Civil War inevitable by trying to appease or negotiate with the South. His most recent biographer, Jean Clark, writing for the prestigious American Presidents Series, concluded this year that his actions probably constituted treason. It also did not help that his administration was as corrupt as any in history, and he was widely believed to be homosexual. Whatever his sexual preferences, his real failures were in refusing to move after South Carolina announced secession from the Union and attacked Fort Sumter, and in supporting both the legality of the pro-slavery constitution of Kansas and the Supreme Court ruling in the Dred Scott class declaring that escaped slaves were not people but property. He was the guy who in 1861 passed on the mess to the first Republican president, Abraham Lincoln. Buchanan set the standard, a tough record to beat. But there are serious people who believe that George W. Bush will prove to do that, be worse than Buchanan. I have talked with three significant historians in the past few months who would not say it in public, but who are saying privately that Bush will be remembered as the worst of the presidents. There are some numbers. The History News Network at George Mason University has just polled historians informally on the Bush record. Four hundred and fifteen, about a third of those contacted, answered -- maybe they were all crazed liberals -- making the project as unofficial as it was interesting. These were the results: 338 said they believed Bush was failing, while 77 said he was succeeding. Fifty said they thought he was the worst president ever. Worse than Buchanan. This is what those historians said -- and it should be noted that some of the criticism about deficit spending and misuse of the military came from self-identified conservatives -- about the Bush record: He has taken the country into an unwinnable war and alienated friend and foe alike in the process; He is bankrupting the country with a combination of aggressive military spending and reduced taxation of the rich; He has deliberately and dangerously attacked separation of church and state; He has repeatedly "misled," to use a kind word, the American people on affairs domestic and foreign; He has proved to be incompetent in affairs domestic (New Orleans) and foreign (Iraq and the battle against al-Qaida); He has sacrificed American employment (including the toleration of pension and benefit elimination) to increase overall productivity; He is ignorantly hostile to science and technological progress; He has tolerated or ignored one of the republic's oldest problems, corporate cheating in supplying the military in wartime. Quite an indictment. It is, of course, too early to evaluate a president. That, historically, takes decades, and views change over times as results and impact become more obvious. Besides, many of the historians note that however bad Bush seems, they have indeed since worse men around the White House. Some say Buchanan. Many say Vice President Dick Cheney". By Richard ReevesGWB-hands down...not even close.
U.S. Department of Defense
Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense (Public Affairs)
News Release
On the Web:
http://www.defenselink.mil/releases/2005/nr20051203-5180.html
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No. 1252-05
IMMEDIATE RELEASE December 3, 2005
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DoD Identifies Marine Casualties
The Department of Defense announced today the death of 10 Marines who were supporting Operation Iraqi Freedom.
Staff Sgt. Daniel J. Clay, 27, of Pensacola, Fla.
Lance Cpl. John M. Holmason, 20, of Suprise, Ariz.
Lance Cpl. David A. Huhn, 24, of Portland, Mich.
Lance Cpl. Adam W. Kaiser, 19, of Naperville, Ill.
Lance Cpl. Robert A. Martinez, 20, of Splendora, Texas
Cpl. Anthony T. McElveen, 20, of Little Falls, Minn.
Lance Cpl. Scott T. Modeen, 24, of Hennepin, Minn.
Lance Cpl. Andrew G. Patten, 19, of Byron, Ill.
Sgt. Andy A. Stevens, 29, of Tomah, Wis.
Lance Cpl. Craig N. Watson, 21, of Union City, Mich.
All 10 Marines died Dec. 1 from an improvised explosive device while conducting combat operations against enemy forces in Fallujah, Iraq. All 10 Marines were assigned to 2nd Battalion, 7th Marine Regiment, 1st Marine Division, I Marine Expeditionary Force, Twentynine Palms, Calif. During Operation Iraqi Freedom, their unit was attached to 2nd Marine Division, II Marine Expeditionary Force (Forward).
Meet John Rendon, Bush's general in the propaganda war 
Exhilarating 7000+ word piece written by James Bamford for Rolling Stone on how a man named John Rendon and his company, The Rendon Group supplied the neocons with the propaganda needed to dupe the American public into believing we needed to invade Iraq.
When the CIA caught on to his lies he merely went to Judy Miller of NY Times and to the Pentagon, where he found his eager and more than willing accomplices that led us to war.
And by the way, I heard James Bamford in a radio interview say that Rendon has already commented on the piece and he 'only had two problems' with it; 1) he wakes up at 4AM each morning, not 3AM, and 2) the wine Bamford says Rendon drank when they met wasn't correct...
If you can handle the truth, read the article-if you can't handle the truth, go back to watching Fox News.
"The road to war in Iraq led through many unlikely places. One of them was a chic hotel nestled among the strip bars and brothels that cater to foreigners in the town of Pattaya, on the Gulf of Thailand. On December 17th, 2001, in a small room within the sound of the crashing tide, a CIA officer attached metal electrodes to the ring and index fingers of a man sitting pensively in a padded chair. The officer then stretched a black rubber tube, pleated like an accordion, around the man's chest and another across his abdomen. Finally, he slipped a thick cuff over the man's brachial artery, on the inside of his upper arm. Strapped to the polygraph machine was Adnan Ihsan Saeed al-Haideri, a forty-three-year-old Iraqi who had fled his homeland in Kurdistan and was now determined to bring down Saddam Hussein. For hours, as thin mechanical styluses traced black lines on rolling graph paper, al-Haideri laid out an explosive tale. Answering yes and no to a series of questions, he insisted repeatedly that he was a civil engineer who had helped Saddam's men to secretly bury tons of biological, chemical and nuclear weapons. The illegal arms, according to al-Haideri, were buried in subterranean wells, hidden in private villas, even stashed beneath the Saddam Hussein Hospital, the largest medical facility in Baghdad. It was damning stuff -- just the kind of evidence the Bush administration was looking for. If the charges were true, they would offer the White House a compelling reason to invade Iraq and depose Saddam. That's why the Pentagon had flown a CIA polygraph expert to Pattaya: to question al-Haideri and confirm, once and for all, that Saddam was secretly stockpiling weapons of mass destruction. There was only one problem: It was all a lie".
"Tens of millions of Christians decorate Christmas trees each year to demonstrate their joyful anticipation of the marking of Jesus’ birth. Mindful of the Christian teaching that “faith without works is dead,” Christians also demonstrate the hope and joy of the season through generous acts of kindness to their family, friends and the less fortunate. House Speaker Dennis Hastert has chosen to mark the season by insisting that the Capitol’s decorated spruce be called a “Christmas tree,” as opposed to a “Holiday tree.” He is right on this point. It is a Christmas tree. While the Speaker’s action may constitute a “work,” we think that the message of Jesus means more. If Speaker Hastert really wants to put Christ back into Christmas he might want to start by joining religious leaders such as Reverend David Beckmann (Bread for the World), Reverend John Thomas (UCC), Reverend Jim Winkler (UMC), Reverend Clifton Kirkpatrick (PCUSA), Bishop Mark Hanson (ELCA), and Bishop Frank Griswold (Episcopal Church) in supporting an effort to reverse the House’s plan to cut $50 billion from Medicaid, food stamps and student loans while spending tens of billions of dollars on tax cuts for people earning over a $1 million per year. Hastert should heed the true spirit of Christ by caring for the poor and vulnerable. As Jesus reminds us in Luke 4:18-20, by following his example we can "bring good news to the poor."Center for American Progress
What happened in Bhopal?
Summary
On the night of Dec. 2nd and 3rd, 1984, a Union Carbide plant in Bhopal, India, began leaking 27 tons of the deadly gas methyl isocyanate. None of the six safety systems designed to contain such a leak were operational, allowing the gas to spread throughout the city of Bhopal.[1] Half a million people were exposed to the gas and 20,000 have died to date as a result of their exposure. More than 120,000 people still suffer from ailments caused by the accident and the subsequent pollution at the plant site.
"While Pakistani officials publicly said Rabia died in a blast caused by explosives stored in a house for bomb-making, officials speaking on condition of anonymity told NBC News he was killed by a CIA missile strike carried out by an unmanned Predator airplane".
“Yes indeed, 200 percent. I think he was killed the day before yesterday if I’m not wrong,” President Pervez Musharraf told reportersThe only problem with that is Musharraf is one of the few people in the world who may even have less credibility than George W Bush.
..the Bush strategy of avenging 9/11 and fighting the real 'war on terror' in Afghanistan is starting to make sense to me now. We'll just wait them out until the bombs they're making blow up on themselves...
Senior Al Qaeda commander killed in Pakistan A senior al Qaeda commander died in an explosion at a house in a tribal area of northern Pakistan, officials said Saturday. Abu Hamza Rabia, who was in charge of international operations for al Qaeda, apparently was working with explosives when the blast went off, killing him and others, said Sheikh Rashid Ahmed, Pakistan's information minister.
U.S. Department of Defense
Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense (Public Affairs)
News Release
On the Web:
http://www.defenselink.mil/releases/2005/nr20051202-5179.html
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No. 1248-05
IMMEDIATE RELEASE December 2, 2005
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DoD Identifies Army Casualty
The Department of Defense announced today the death of a soldier who was supporting Operation Iraqi Freedom.
Sgt. 1st Class Brent A. Adams, 40, of West View, Pa., died in Ramadi, Iraq on Dec. 1, when an improvised explosive device detonated near his military five-ton truck during combat operations. Adams was assigned to the Army National Guard's 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 28th Infantry Division, Washington, Pa.
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U.S. Department of Defense
Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense (Public Affairs)
News Release
On the Web:
http://www.defenselink.mil/releases/2005/nr20051202-5178.html
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No. 1249-05
IMMEDIATE RELEASE December 2, 2005
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DoD Identifies Marine Casualty
The Department of Defense announced today the death of a Marine who was supporting Operation Iraqi Freedom.
Staff Sgt. William D. Richardson, 30, of Houston, Texas, died Nov. 30 of wounds sustained from a non-hostile vehicle accident near Al Taqaddum, Iraq. He was assigned to Marine Wing Support Squadron-372, Marine Wing Support Group-37, 3rd Marine Aircraft Wing, Camp Pendleton, Calif. During Operation Iraqi Freedom, his unit was attached to 2nd Marine Aircraft Wing, II Marine Expeditionary Force (Forward).
The accident is currently under investigation.
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"Alan Greenspan, the chairman of the Federal Reserve, warned of the dangers of rising budget and trade deficits in two speeches on Friday. Speaking at a meeting here of the Group of 7 finance ministers, he said the growing American trade deficit could be "quite painful" for the world economy if it was not arrested. He urged the United States and other countries with trade deficits to stop the "pernicious drift toward fiscal instability."The huge deficits given to us by the Bush administration and the Republican Congress could point to danger? Well, no shit dumbass! Greenspan-get the fuck out of here..... Where's Bob Rubin?
"At the national level, we are seeing the most outrageous string of pay-to-play scandals in a generation," wrote Nick Nyhart, co-founder and Executive Director of Public Campaign, on TPMCafe. "Unfortunately, in Congress, no one is focusing on the kinds of reforms that would shift power away from well-healed lobbying interests." At the state level, however, it's a different story. On Wednesday night, after seven hours of debate, the Connecticut Senate voted 27 to 8 in favor of passing the most comprehensive campaign finance reform bill in the country. The breakthrough legislation comes on the heels of a deeply damaging corruption scandal in Connecticut, where former Governor John Rowland is serving a one-year prison sentence for accepting gifts from state contractors. Taking effect in December of 2006, the bill bans political contributions from lobbyists and state contractors and creates a publicly funded election system that encompasses all statewide races. What's truly remarkable about Connecticut is that, for the first time, a legislature passed a campaign finance bill that affects its own seats. "It will truly make Connecticut's elections about the voters and not about the donors," said Sen. Gary LeBeau, D-East Hartford.
Our young men and women are dying so that Iraqis can hold their 'parliamentary elections'? Why are our Marines walking the streets of Fallujah?
Are you telling me that after 32 months we have been unable to train what amounts to a simple, regular police force that would patrol their own city streets?
If you're not calling for our soldiers and Marines to come home from this debacle, if you think our men and women deserve to die because the Iraqis aren't willing to stand up for their own freedom.... you're a shameless idiot...
Ten U.S. Marines were killed and 11 others were wounded yesterday by a roadside bomb in Fallujah, about 40 miles west of Baghdad, a U.S. Army spokesman said. The Marines were on foot patrol when the bomb went off, according to Private First Class Michael Cost, who spoke in a telephone interview from Baghdad. Iraqi soldiers and U.S. forces are conducting operations aimed at thwarting efforts to disrupt Iraq's Dec. 15 parliamentary elections, according to e-mailed U.S. military statements.
"Black folks aren't going to vote" for a Democratic nominee not nicknamed "Bubba"
"During a November 30 discussion about politics and religion on Christian Broadcasting Network's The 700 Club, which featured Fox News' John Gibson, host Pat Robertson stated: "[I]f you haven't got a Democratic nominee who can be called 'Bubba' [an apparent reference to former President Bill Clinton], you're not going to get him in office. You're not going to get a New England liberal, no way! Black folks aren't going to vote for people like that." In fact, exit polling data for the 2004 presidential election indicated that of the African Americans who voted, 88 percent cast their ballots for Democratic candidate Sen. John F. Kerry (D-MA)".It's not so much that the Republican's favorite phony preacher, Pat Robertson, would actually say something so stupid, but the fact that he and his flock of ignorant followers actually believe it.
The 'coalition of the billing' is fastly dwindling. What happened, did Bush stop paying?
Two U.S. Allies Leaving Iraq, More May Go
(AP) -- Two of America's allies in Iraq are withdrawing forces this month and a half-dozen others are debating possible pullouts or reductions, increasing pressure on Washington as calls mount to bring home U.S. troops. Bulgaria and Ukraine will begin withdrawing their combined 1,250 troops by mid-December. If Australia, Britain, Italy, Japan, Poland and South Korea reduce or recall their personnel, more than half of the non-American forces in Iraq could be gone by next summer. Although the nearly 160,000-member U.S. force in Iraq dwarfs the second-largest contingent - Britain's 8,000 in Iraq and 2,000 elsewhere in the Gulf region - its support has shrunk substantially. Struggling to shore up the coalition, Bush stopped in Mongolia on his recent Asia trip and praised its force of about 120 soldiers in Iraq as "fearless warriors." At least 2,113 U.S. service personnel have died since the beginning of the Iraq war, according to an Associated Press count. At least 200 troops from other countries also have died, including 98 from Britain. Other tolls: Italy, 27; Ukraine, 18; Poland, 17; Bulgaria, 13; Spain, 11; Slovakia, three; Denmark, El Salvador, Estonia, Netherlands, Thailand, two each; Hungary, Kazakhstan, Latvia, one each.
Franklin Roosevelt and Dwight D. Eisenhower warned repeatedly of how treasonous it was for those who profit exceedingly from the blood of our military. But, as you know from this blog, Bush profitting from war is actually a family trait, since as you know, his grandaddy, Prescott, was not only a huge Nazi collaborator, but made the Bush fortune from the blood of American Patriots. That's your republican 'pedigree' in this country.
"Over the past few months, I’ve gotten all kinds of flak from CEOs who were the subject of a report I co-authored about executive pay among defense contractors. Jack London of CACI International, whose employees interrogated prisoners at Abu Ghraib, denounced what I wrote as “shameful” and “ignorant.” A United Technologies official accused me (falsely) of slander. But the man who got the worst skewering was silent. David H. Brooks, CEO of bulletproof vest maker DHB Industries, earned $70 million in 2004, 13,349 percent more than his pre-9/11 compensation, according to “Executive Excess,” co-published by the Institute for Policy Studies and United for a Fair Economy. On top of that, Brooks sold company stock worth about $186 million last year, spooking investors who drove DHB’s share price from more than $22 to as low as $6.50. Shareholders were mighty ticked, but what makes Brooks’ $250 million in war windfalls particularly obscene is that the equipment which boosted his fortunes appears not to work very well. In May 2005, the US Marines recalled more than 5,000 DHB armored vests after questions were raised about their effectiveness in stopping 9 mm bullets. In November, the Marines and Army announced a recall of an additional 18,000 DHB vests. Hearing nothing from DHB’s PR team in response to media coverage of the report, I thought Mr. Brooks might be cowering in shame. Instead, I now find out that he was busy planning a party. And not just any party". by Sarah Anderson-Common Dreams
U.S. Department of Defense
Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense (Public Affairs)
News Release
On the Web:
http://www.defenselink.mil/releases/2005/nr20051201-5174.htmlMedia
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No. 1246-05
IMMEDIATE RELEASE December 1, 2005
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DoD Identifies Army Casualties
The Department of Defense announced today the death of two soldiers who were supporting Operation Iraqi Freedom. They died in Taji, Iraq on Nov. 29, when an improvised explosive device detonated near their HMMWV during combat operations. Both soldiers were assigned to the 1st Battalion, 13th Armor Regiment, Fort Riley, Kan.
Killed were:
Sgt. Donald J. Hasse, 28, of Wichita Falls, Texas
Sgt. Jerry W. Mills Jr., 23, of Arkansas City, Kan.
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U.S. Department of Defense
Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense (Public Affairs)
News Release
On the Web:
http://www.defenselink.mil/releases/2005/nr20051201-5173.html
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No. 1245-05
IMMEDIATE RELEASE December 1, 2005
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DoD Identifies Marine Casualty
The Department of Defense announced today the death of a Marine who was supporting Operation Iraqi Freedom.
Cpl. Joshua D. Snyder, 20, of Hampstead, Md., died Nov. 30 of wounds sustained from small-arms fire while conducting combat operations against enemy forces in Fallujah, Iraq. He was assigned to 2nd Battalion, 6th Marine Regiment, 2nd Marine Division, II Marine Expeditionary Force, Camp Lejeune, N.C.
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"On November 29, nationally syndicated radio host Rush Limbaugh read an Associated Press report about the apparent kidnapping of four Christian Peacemaker Teams (CPT) activists by an Iraqi insurgent group. Limbaugh announced that "part of me likes this." He explained: "Well, here's why I like it. I like any time a bunch of leftist feel-good hand-wringer are shown reality."Rumor has it that in typical right wing, phony conservative fashion, pig-boy went immediately back to talking about 'God' right after his pathetically ignorant statement. Somebody might want to tell the jerk that those kidnapped include 2 Canadians, a Brit and an American.
"House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi on Wednesday embraced a call by a prominent member of her rank-and-file to begin withdrawing U.S. troops from Iraq, two weeks after she declined to endorse it. "We should follow the lead of Congressman John Murtha, who has put forth a plan to make American safer, to make our military stronger and to make Iraq more stable," Pelosi said. "That is what the American people and our troops deserve."
As part of an information offensive in Iraq, the U.S. military is secretly paying Iraqi newspapers to publish stories written by American troops in an effort to burnish the image of the U.S. mission in Iraq. The articles, written by U.S. military “information operations” troops, are translated into Arabic and placed in Baghdad newspapers with the help of a defense contractor, according to U.S. military officials and documents obtained by the Los Angeles Times. Many of the articles are presented in the Iraqi press as unbiased news accounts written and reported by independent journalists. The stories trumpet the work of U.S. and Iraqi troops, denounce insurgents, and tout U.S.-led efforts to rebuild the country.
