Some Results of GWB’s Holy War

The Philadelphia Inquirer has an excerpt from an Iraqi police report:

At 230 of 15/3/2006, according to the telegram (report) of the Ishaqi police directorate, American forces used helicopters to drop troops on the house of Faiz Harat Khalaf situated in the Abu Sifa village of the Ishaqi district. The American forces gathered the family members in one room and executed 11 people, including 5 children, 4 women and 2 men, then they bombed the house, burned three vehicles, and killed their animals…

Some of the results of the raid here and here. Warning! Graphic photos! From chris-floyd.com.

To our ‘Christian’ president, I can only say: Matthew 18:10 – ‘Take heed that ye despise not one of these little ones; for I say unto you, that in heaven their angels do always behold the face my Father which is in heaven.’

Master of Disaster…

The President doesn’t like what he calls ‘revisionist historians’.

From a speech El Commandante gave in New Jersey, 2003:

Now, there are some who would like to rewrite history — revisionist historians is what I like to call them. [as if he made the phrase up all by his little lonesome - JK]

Well, now it turns out the Shrubbie is one of those ‘revisionist historians’! *gasp* During a Q&A session today, Bush said:

First, just if I might correct a misperception, I don’t think we ever said – at least I know I didn’t say that there was a direct connection between September the 11th and Saddam Hussein.

Say what?! From ThinkProgress:

In fact, Bush justified the war against Iraq by directly linking it to 9/11:

The use of armed forces against Iraq is consistent with the United States and other countries continuing to take the necessary actions against international terrorists and terrorist organizations, including those nations, organizations or person who planned, authorized, committed, or aided the terrorist attacks that occurred on September 11, 2001. [Bush’s Letter to Congress, 3/21/03] [emphasis mine]

Walkin’ To New Orleans – The End

From Bring Them Home Now:

I met Scott Schmelling the morning of Monday, the 12th, when only a handful of us were at the Saving Our Selves (SOS) relief warehouse in Mobile, preparing for the next day’s kickoff leg of Marchin’ to New Orleans.

[snip]

Count me in” was Scott’s response. Though he knew not a soul on the March and was neither a veteran nor kin to a serving troop, he fit seamlessly into our expanding crew. He walked mile after mile without complaint, worked hard when there was work to be done, partied hard when that was on the agenda, and went skinny dipping in Bayou Liberty after dark despite the signs warning of alligators.

Best of all, in the middle of our trek, Scott came up with a black marker and started having the rest of us sign his official March tee shirt. And I do mean everyone–from Katrina survivors we met en route to Cindy Sheehan, from WW2 vet Gene Glazer to Grumble, our chief cook and bottle washer. I have no idea whre folks squeezed the last few names on.

During the closing rally in Louis Armstrong Park earlier today, Scott bounced onto the stage and auctioned off that tee shirt. He raked in $2000! People are starting to recognize that our March has made history, real history, and they want a taangible piece of it. Scott took his two grand and split it down the middle–$1000 to SOS and $1000 to Common Ground. a NOLA-based relief outfit. After the rally, he jumped in a car going to Mobile to work with SOS.

Dennis O’Neil
VFP, New York City

* * *

The Green zone in Baghdad is the area where the coalition forces are “safe.” Here in New Orleans there is no Green zone. Here as we walked in, we entered the Baghdad of this war zone. This war zone is just as much so as it is in Iraq and here too the war is a human cost more than anything else.

[snip]

The look on the eyes here are the same as the eyes of Iraqis who have seen the horrors of war. Americans cannot see this and cannot know they must do something, which is why the American people, not the government, are doing all the rebuilding. Save Our Self is as we speak doing the work that our government says cannot be done. As my boots leave this place tomorrow I will never again place them on my feet. My combat boots will be retired and set aside as a reminder of the two wars they saw the war in the Persian Gulf and the war in the Gulf Coast.

Geoffrey Millard
Iraq Veterans Against the War
18 Mar 2006

Who’s He Trying to Kid?!

We often joke about it, but it is the honest truth: The White House really believes that if it says something enough times, it’ll either come true or just be believed by the American public.

Example:

From the AP: After three years of war in Iraq, President Bush is trying to get Americans to look beyond the unrelenting violence that dominates news reports and see progress.

Progress is the buzzword at the White House as Bush headlines a campaign tied to the war’s anniversary to buck up public support of the mission.

[snip]

White House press secretary Scott McClellan said Bush would update Americans on his vision for Iraq — highlighting the progress being made while acknowledging that not everything has gone perfectly.

‘This remains a difficult and tense period in Iraq,’ McClellan said. ‘Oftentimes the progress that is being made doesn’t get as much attention as the dramatic and horrific images of violence that people see on their TV screens. And the president believes it’s important to continue to put things in the broader context.’

[snip]

More than three-fourths of the public thinks it’s likely that Iraq is headed toward civil war, an AP-Ipsos poll taken in early March found. And two-thirds of Americans say the U.S. is losing ground in preventing civil war in Iraq, according to a Pew Research Center poll taken in the same period. That’s up from 48 percent in January.

Well, Mr. Minister of Propaganda…er, Scottie, here’s some ‘broader context for you, here and here.

And also here, from a commenter on Crooks and Liars last night:

I keep having my friends scream about me not talking about the positives. I told them that seems practical. Like this:Sure 3000 people died on 9/11, we lost four planes, and five buildings. Just think of all the people who didn’t die, the planes that landed safely and the buildings still there. What a great day September 11th actually was. Yeah!!!

See! How foolish of the media to keep focusing on the ‘dramatic and horrific images of violence’! They should have told us about all the good things that happened that day- schools being painted, bridges being opened, the new cafe in DC. Not the violence.

Maybe, when talking about the violence in their streets, the daily horrors of war, the Iraqis should simply start repeating – as often as possible in every discussion, ‘Well, you see…we were attacked on March 19th….when we were attacked on 3/19….’

You think anyone in Washington will get the message? Me either.

More ‘Bringing Freedom To Iraq’

a/k/a ’Operation Iraqi F**k-up’ – again, as seen from the Iraqi point of view.

Found a new blog last night - Baghdad Burning by a woman blogger in Iraq. Here’s some excerpts from Saturday’s post:

Spring should be about renewal and rebirth. For Iraqis, spring has been about reliving painful memories and preparing for future disasters. In many ways, this year is like 2003 prior to the war when we were stocking up on fuel, water, food and first aid supplies and medications. We’re doing it again this year but now we don’t discuss what we’re stocking up for. Bombs and B-52’s are so much easier to face than other possibilities.

I don’t think anyone imagined three years ago that things could be quite this bad today. The last few weeks have been ridden with tension. I’m so tired of it all- we’re all tired.

Three years and the electricity is worse than ever. The security situation has gone from bad to worse. The country feels like it’s on the brink of chaos once more- but a pre-planned, pre-fabricated chaos being led by religious militias and zealots.

[snip]

Three years after the war, and we’ve managed to move backwards in a visible way, and in a not so visible way.

In the last weeks alone, thousands have died in senseless violence and the American and Iraqi army bomb Samarra as I write this. The sad thing isn’t the air raid, which is one of hundreds of air raids we’ve seen in three years- it’s the resignation in the people. They sit in their homes in Samarra because there’s no where to go. Before, we’d get refugees in Baghdad and surrounding areas… Now, Baghdadis themselves are looking for ways out of the city… out of the country. The typical Iraqi dream has become to find some safe haven abroad.

Three years later and the nightmares of bombings and of shock and awe have evolved into another sort of nightmare. The difference between now and then was that three years ago, we were still worrying about material things- possessions, houses, cars, electricity, water, fuel… It’s difficult to define what worries us most now. Even the most cynical war critics couldn’t imagine the country being this bad three years after the war… Allah yistur min il rab3a (God protect us from the fourth year).

And this blog, from a 16-year-old girl in Mosul:

March 11:

[sic]  Before 3 days our first day in hell started when my mother answered the phone and talked with my aunt. My aunt told my mother that my father’s uncle was killed that day by bullets from an American soldier. 

[snip]

My aunt’s husband told the American soldiers that uncle “s” is an old man in the age of 78 and it was clear that he is not a terror. The soldiers told him that they are sorry.  

[snip]

We reach the school at about 7:45. The windows were broken, the girls were crying and the teachers were in panic. Some girls running, other’s talking and the rest are crying. Everything looks strange. My friend Maas was the first one I talked to. She told me that a mortar fell in our school garden.

[snip]

Add yesterday to these two days. It was also a very bad day. Began with news that my friend’s father died on cancer. And ended with a bombing car in our neighbor.
The explosion was very big that I felt that I died and then returned to life.
And because I am a life. I wite this post.

March 18:

I am ok, still want to get out from this nightmare.
I don’t know what to talk about. I am tired from talking and talking and then ( nothing) . Nothing change in my life.

Reading hnk’s blog hurts; it causes me – as a human being and as a mother – a physical ache.

She is a child, only a couple months older than my middle child. While he is worrying about making the football team and whether or not ‘Girl X’ likes him, learning to drive and waiting impatiently for the day he can take his driving test, hnk is dealing daily with horrors that the average American cannot even begin to comprehend.

I wonder, how would I react if my country, my home were suddenly invaded and everything I knew before – no matter how bad – was suddenly gone, replaced by daily fear and daily worry about survival. Not survival, American-style – which is mostly ‘Can I pay the bill on the SUV?’ – but survival, Iraqi-style – ‘Will I live to see another sunrise?

Next time someone tells you how well things are going in Iraq, ask them how many mortars landed in their child’s schoolyard, how many relatives were killed by foreign soldiers, how many bombs went off in their neighborhood.