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By Andy Borowitz
$16.95
By Linda Gordon
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cbsnews.com
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While he had visiting Iraqi President Nouri al-Maliki close at hand, U.S. President Barack Obama took the opportunity Monday to make congratulatory noises from the podium about the end of the Iraq War and the imminent withdrawal of American troops from Maliki’s homeland.
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Flickr / The National Guard
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President Obama will be able to say that he kept one of his promises from the ’08 campaign trail come Dec. 31 of this year, when all but 160 American troops will leave Iraq after more than eight years of heavy military involvement (read: war) in the Middle Eastern nation. (more)
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So, now we know Obama’s big plan for pulling American troops out of Afghanistan, but it hasn’t exactly been well received. This week’s “Left, Right & Center” panel—featuring Tony Blankley, Matt Miller, Robert Scheer and Chrystia Freeland—offers no exception to the naysaying.
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The impact of the Greek debt crisis is being felt across the European Union—could it affect economic growth in the U.S.? This week also brought even more strain in U.S.-Pakistani relations, if things weren’t bad enough already. Listen in as Robert Scheer ... (more)
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AP / Charles Dharapak
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The term withdrawal seems a bit overstated when it comes to describing the changing U.S. military strategy in Iraq, but President Obama emphasized the thematic over the technical in a speech he delivered Monday ... (continued)
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Flickr / U.S. Army / Staff Sgt. Marcus J. Quarterman
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The Obama administration is reconsidering its Afghanistan strategy in light of Gen. Stanley McChrystal’s startling “mission failure” warning. It’s unclear whether the White House will go along with McChrystal’s call for up to 40,000 more troops—but the general is apparently going to go ahead with his request over the next few days.
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The U.S. troop surge is topping out in terms of numbers—and, unfortunately, the death toll for American forces and Iraqis is also climbing this month. The BBC reports that 14 U.S. soldiers were reported killed Wednesday and Thursday, and suicide bombings continued to claim lives elsewhere in the country.
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Thousands of inactive service members will probably be called up to counter a decline in volunteers. The official in charge of the Marines’ manpower mobilization said he didn’t know why the numbers have been dropping off recently.
Gee….
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To all of you harboring warm, squishy feelings left over from McCain’s 2000 presidential run, keep in mind that the Arizona senator is an unabashed hawk on Iraq.
(Watch it)
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Four U.S. paratroopers charged with murdering three detainees in Iraq smiled before shooting them, according to the BBC.
Separately, in the Haditha massacre, a Pentagon official says evidence supports the claim that U.S. troops deliberately killed some two dozen civilians.
Atrocities like these are further poisoning America’s already toxic image in the Middle East, and a continued occupation is likely to produce more of the same.
Posted on Aug 2, 2006
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At least 44 U.S. troops were killed in Iraq in July, well below the average monthly death toll of about 64. However, the sectarian conflict is worsening: Baghdad’s morgue received 1,595 bodies in June, up 16% over May. (July figures were not available.) “American troops are no longer the primary focus of the people perpetuating the violence inside Iraq,” said a U.S. think tank expert, “they have become a secondary target.”
Posted on Aug 1, 2006
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Every top Democrat on Senate and House committees on military, intelligence and international affairs signed a letter addressed to President Bush calling for a phased pullout of troops from Iraq.
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From spazeboy.net
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Want to see everything you need to know about how hopelessly out of touch Sen. Joe Lieberman is with the next generation of voters? Check out his campaign website, then check out the site of challenger Ned Lamont:
Immediately after the candidates’ Thursday night debate, Lamont’s site was jam-packed with video highlights, media reactions, blogger coverage and fact-checked responses to Lieberman’s charges. Lieberman’s site, however, barely even mentions the debates; there’s nary a blog; and his “news” page hasn’t been updated since Monday. (Update: 12 hours after the debate, the campaign posted a few paragraphs—but that’s it.) It’s such a tone-deaf approach you have to wonder who’s minding the shop over there.
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Joao Silva / The N.Y. Times
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The city of Ramadi, epicenter of the Iraqi insurgency, has already been reduced to such ruins that constantly under-fire American forces are planning to bulldoze three blocks in the center of the city and create a mini Green Zone in an attempt to gain the upper hand on the insurgents.
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Nir Rosen
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By Nir Rosen — Truthdig contributor Nir Rosen presents an oral history of a U.S Army Special Forces soldier who describes how he and his unit created more insurgents than they killed in Iraq.
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Two-thirds of Democratic voters favor setting a timeline for withdrawing troops from Iraq, says a new Wash Post poll, while most of the Democratic presidential hopefuls for 2008 remain noncommittal. The poll also shows that Democrats are quickly losing ground to Republicans on key 2006 election issues.
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By Molly Ivins — The top U.S. commander in Iraq proposed an Iraq cut-and-run plan during the very week that Republicans were lambasting Democrats for making the same suggestion. But Karl Rove knows that because Americans’ memories are so short, that won’t matter.
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Images: senate.gov
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Potential White House suitors Chris Dodd, Hillary Clinton, Joe Biden and Evan Bayh all refused to join Sens. Kerry and Feingold in demanding a timetable for pullout of allied troops from Iraq.
Sens. McCain and Brownback, however, want the troops to stay as long as necessary.
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The number is 20,000 higher than previously acknowledged by the Bush administration. The L.A. Times used stats from the Baghdad morgue, the Iraqi Health Ministry and other agencies. In the same time, at least 2,520 U.S. troops have been killed.
Posted on Jun 25, 2006
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By Crooks and Liars’ calculation, it’s a reduction of around 28,000 by next year. The hypocrisy: After spending the entire last week savaging Rep. John Murtha’s proposal for a pullout, it now appears that the Bush administration is preparing to “cut and run.”
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From membres.lycos.fr
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The governor rejected a request from the president to send 1,500 more National Guard troops to the Mexican border, saying the transfer would stretch the California Guard too thin.
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Next time you hear a conservative bloviating about how most of the country is united behind “staying the course” in Iraq, you can respond with the truth: Almost every major poll shows strong support for a troop pullout in Iraq, and most Americans declared long ago that the Iraq war was a mistake.
Posted on Jun 22, 2006
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The stricter of the two bills being voted on—a measure that would have mandated a pullout by 2007—went down 86-13. The bill that didn’t have a timetable was defeated 60-39, with all but one Republican and six Democrats voting against the measure.
UPDATE: The Senate is weighing a modest troop reduction in the coming months.
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The two senators appealed to the Senate—and to 3 million other Americans via e-mail—to back their call to withdraw combat troops from Iraq “by a hard and fast deadline.”
Sens. Jack Reed and Carl Levin supported the call—unlike many Democrats and most Republicans.
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The fierce debate on the Iraq war that began in Congress on Thursday will culminate on Friday with a nonbinding resolution that includes: labeling the Iraq war as part of the war on terror, and opposition to setting an “arbitrary” withdrawal date. Democrats decried the vote as an election-year sham.
Video: Dems rip GOP lawmakers during Thursday’s debate.
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Italy’s incoming prime minister, Romano Prodi, said the war had encouraged global terrorism and he has vowed to pull his country’s troops from Iraq.
Posted on May 18, 2006
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By Robert Scheer — “It is good news that the public is finally hip to Bush’s con, yet it is worrisome when surprisingly sensible proposals by the president on immigration are automatically rejected because of the source.”
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Six months ago, Bush’s Homeland Security chief said this about stationing National Guard troops on the Mexico border: “I think it would be a horribly over-expensive and very difficult way to manage this problem.”
Posted on May 16, 2006
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By Andy Borowitz — The political satirist reports on Rumsfeld’s plan to punish the government of Iran for its nuclear ambitions by sending the one troop to Tehran.
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Greenland’s Great Melt Is Pinned On Climate Change
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