A soldier shoots a bunch of people on a military base where the people are allowed to carry guns. It took a civilian police officer to finally take him down. Does that mean the argument of allowing teachers and anyone else to carry guns would reduce the number of school shootings or casualties?
Earlier today Michelle Malkin wanted everyone to not talk about Dr. Tiller’s assassination and just give time for the family to grieve. Now news has broken about a army recruiter being shot dead and another wounded at a Army recruiting center in Arkansas, and guess what?
I wonder if the Justice Department will send marshals to beef up protection at recruiting centers — especially given the past targeting of military centers on campuses and elsewhere across the country.
I guess the family of the soldier that lost his life today doesn’t deserve time to grieve. I never knew Malkin was in such support of doctor’s who perform abortion.
Thursday night Obama brought up this story:
"You know, I've heard from an Army captain who was the head of a rifle platoon -- supposed to have 39 men in a rifle platoon," he said. "Ended up being sent to Afghanistan with 24 because 15 of those soldiers had been sent to Iraq. And as a consequence, they didn't have enough ammunition, they didn't have enough humvees. They were actually capturing Taliban weapons, because it was easier to get Taliban weapons than it was for them to get properly equipped by our current commander in chief."
And the wingnuts immediately called him out as a liar. Now ABC's Jake Tapper has confirmed the story with the actual Army captain:
I called the Obama campaign this morning to chat about this story, and was put in touch with the Army captain in question.
He told me his story, which I found quite credible, though for obvious reasons he asked that I not mention his name or certain identifying information.
So the wingnuts (the people who play cheerleader for wars, yet are to scared to go fight in them), basically have called this Army captain a liar. But they aren't alone in their blasphemy of a U.S. soldier. The Pentagon also seems to be chiming in on the smear now. With treatment like this I am surprised more people aren't rushing to enlist.
Yesterday when I blogged about the Marine being convicted of killing an Iraqi citizen, I also talked about the problems out troops are facing by being forced into these extended stays. To further that point, here is an article, published today, about a soldier being released from medical care earlier and sent back to Iraq:
A Fort Carson soldier who says he was in treatment at Cedar Springs Hospital for bipolar disorder and alcohol abuse was released early and ordered to deploy to the Middle East with the 3rd Brigade Combat Team.
The 28-year-old specialist spent 31 days in Kuwait and was returned to Fort Carson on Dec. 31 after health care professionals in Kuwait concurred that his symptoms met criteria for bipolar disorder and "some paranoia and possible homicidal tendencies," according to e-mails obtained by a Denver newspaper.
This is a serious problem. Our military is hurting with man power, so they make idiotic decisions like this to get people back to fight. When innocent Iraqis get shot, you can't blame just the soldiers, but must look seriously at the system. The soldiers aren't getting the mental health they need, and when they do the military half asses it. With that, is there any wonder why we have soldiers killing the wrong people?
It's good to see justice done, but there is still a major injustice going on. These soldiers have been deployed for an extremely long time and their mental capacity has to start being judged. So yes this person deserves to be convicted, but we need to get these soldiers out of this war and start tending to their health needs - including mental damage done by this bullshit war.
It looks like Bush's surprise visit to Iraq is not yielding the results he would have hoped for. One interesting article shows how the administration is receiving the news that U.K. forces have pulled out of Basara:
The American response to the pull out has so far been muted, despite its crucial timing.
Bush administration officials were reportedly furious that the operation was launched at a time when the president is begging for more time for his "surge" strategy to turn the tide of the war - though no official comment has yet been made.
Wow - how dare them damn Brits take action without Bush's blessing. Don't they know he is the ruler of the entire world?
Bush also found out reality from a soldier serving in Iraq - a reality the administration has always been quick to dismiss:
The temperature topped 110 degrees as Bush stepped off Air Force One. The president stopped at a small building where a Marine Cobra pilot briefed him about the positives and negatives of current troop rotations. He told the president that troops were not getting enough time at home and did not have enough time for training.
Hmm not enough training or time at home. That sounds familiar. I seem to remember a certain Democratic Senator trying to fix that problem, while the Republicans blasted him. Of course that Democratic Senator wouldn't know anything about the military, he was just the Navy Secretary under Reagan.
So do we need any more proof of how much the GOP plays politics with the lives of our military?
That is an article in Today's Washington Post, which describes sheets our troops are given to describe lawmakers visiting:
The sheets of paper seemed to be everywhere the lawmakers went in the Green Zone, distributed to Iraqi officials, U.S. officials and uniformed military of no particular rank. So when Rep. James P. Moran Jr. (D-Va.) asked a soldier last weekend just what he was holding, the congressman was taken aback to find out.
In the soldier's hand was a thumbnail biography, distributed before each of the congressmen's meetings in Baghdad, which let meeting participants such as that soldier know where each of the lawmakers stands on the war. "Moran on Iraq policy," read one section, going on to cite some the congressman's most incendiary statements, such as, "This has been the worst foreign policy fiasco in American history."
This really sounds like someone up the chain of command decided to engage our troops in political activity, which is ILLEGAL under our military laws. The Pentagon and/or other agencies should start a criminal investigation into this find out how this practice came to being.
This one will get you:
While the U.S. military searches for a soldier missing in Iraq, kidnapped by insurgents possibly allied with al Qaeda, his wife back home in Massachusetts may be deported by the U.S. government.
Army Spec. Alex Jimenez, who has been missing since his unit was attacked by insurgents in Iraq on May 12, had petitioned for a green card for his wife, Yaderlin Hiraldo, whom he married in 2004.
Their attorney, Matthew Kolken, said 23-year-old Hiraldo illegally entered the United States in 2001 to reunite with her husband, whom she had met in her native Dominican Republic and later married at his New York State Army base in 2004.
Her husband's request for a green card and legal residence status for his wife alerted authorities to her status, Kolken said.
I really wonder what all the wingnut war bloggers, who have been crying about "amnesty", say about this. Will they want the government to let her stay (which would be amnesty), or will they want her kicked out? My guess is that they stay silent on it - simply because this is a smack of reality they can never face.
Well let's check in on our monthly track of the surge and see how it is working out. First here is the updated comparison of Iraqi deaths.
The Iraqi deaths are still well over the number they were last year and rose in May. But how about the U.S. soldier deaths? That picture is even more depressing.
I hope the Democrats are happy with their decision to cave into Bush.
House panel plans hearings on misinformation surrounding Tillman, Lynch cases
A U.S. House committee announced Tuesday it would hold hearings on misleading military statements that followed the friendly fire death of Pat Tillman in Afghanistan and the rescue of Pfc. Jessica Lynch in Iraq.
The House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform said an April 24 hearing would be part of its investigation into whether there was a strategy to mislead the public.
The plan comes two weeks after the Pentagon released the findings of its own investigations into Tillman's death, and three years after he was killed.
The committee has been quietly investigating the case since then and decided to add Lynch to the scope of its probe. It will "examine why inaccurate accounts of these two incidents were disseminated, the sources and motivations for the accounts, and whether the appropriate Administration officials have been held accountable," the panel said on its Web site.
The fact that this "misinformation" somehow always props up Bush's war is enough reason to investigate. We never hear that "this soldier died from friendly fire" and then months later they say "we made a mistake - it was hostile fire". These inaccurate statements appear to constantly align themselves with the administrations political policy and that is against military rules. If the White House is involved in fabricating these lies then that gives us a perfect reason to impeach and charge the commander in chief.
John Boehner said it would only take 60-90 days to know if the surge is working. Last week, we past that 60 day mark and are on the way to the 90 day mark. So does this article indicate success in Iraq?
The U.S. military death toll in March, the first full month of the security crackdown, was nearly twice that of the Iraqi army, which American and Iraqi officials say is taking the leading role in the latest attempt to curb violence in the capital, surrounding cities and Anbar province, according to figures compiled on Saturday.
The Associated Press count of U.S. military deaths for the month was 81, including a soldier who died from non-combat causes Friday. Figures compiled from officials in the Iraqi ministries of Defense, Health and Interior showed the Iraqi military toll was 44. The Iraqi figures showed that 165 Iraqi police were killed in March. Many of the police serve in paramilitary units.
I can only see two possibilities for this. One is that Americans are being targeted more than Iraqi military. The other is that the Iraqi army is not standing up. Either reason is unacceptable and more of a reason for our troops to come out now.
The Bushies don't seem to understand the simple concept that our troops are in the middle of a war that has been going on for over 1,000 years. True, why should they? Bush didn't even know there was a difference between Sunni and Shia when we invaded Iraq. How the hell would he know anything about the history of the region?
That is is from the Army Times:
Soldiers at Walter Reed Army Medical Center’s Medical Hold Unit say they have been told they will wake up at 6 a.m. every morning and have their rooms ready for inspection at 7 a.m., and that they must not speak to the media.
“Some soldiers believe this is a form of punishment for the trouble soldiers caused by talking to the media,†one Medical Hold Unit soldier said, speaking on the condition of anonymity.
So these brave soldiers go to Iraq and get injured. When they return they are put in rat-infested rooms while they are supposed to heal. Some soldiers decide that isn't right and talks to the media about the problems, and for this they get this treatment? This is highly FUCKED UP!
The article goes on to say how the Pentagon is even trying to black out the media from this story:
The Pentagon also clamped down on media coverage of any and all Defense Department medical facilities, to include suspending planned projects by CNN and the Discovery Channel, saying in an e-mail to spokespeople: “It will be in most cases not appropriate to engage the media while this review takes place,†referring to an investigation of the problems at Walter Reed.
Here is one bombing for today Laura:
U.S. and Iraqi forces staged raids in Baghdad's main Shiite militant stronghold Tuesday as part of politically sensitive forays into areas loyal to the radical cleric Muqtada al-Sadr. Southwest of the capital, three American soldiers were killed by a roadside bomb. Meanwhile, police said a car bomb exploded near a park in central Ramadi, killing 18 people; most of the victims were children.
Oh yeah - and just for that one other bombing today. The military just said 3 soldier were killed today in a roadside bomb. Gee - that sounds like 2 bombs again today. Must be nice to so easily dismiss life in an attempt to spread right wing talking points.
Remember a couple of years ago when Rumsfeld was asked by a active soldier in Iraq how come they didn't have armor? How about all the times we have heard parents of troops saying they have to send money to our troops to buy armor and the Pentagon not wanting to reimburse them, or even worse - banning that armor? How about a whole list of soldiers and their families talking about having no armor? How about the biggest travesty - the Pentagon charging soldiers who have been injured and lost their armor during that injury for said armor?
With the debate in the House last week, Democrats brought this up and talked about reports that we still don't have armor for the troops being added in the "surge".
Of course worrying about thing like Armor for our troops is nothing but politics to someone like Michelle Malkin. She's on the warpath to show that everyone is lying (including troops who have spoke out on this). Her proof? A memo from the Pentagon stating that there is armor. Guess what Malkin - OJ says he didn't do it also. Hey - and Saddam said he didn't have weapons of mass destruction. OH - that one was true and yet we are still there!
