Will Bush Attend These Memorial Services?

Baghdad Bombings Kill at Least 131

BAGHDAD, April 18 -- Four car bombs killed 131 people and wounded 164 others across Baghdad Wednesday, the U.S. military said, as bloodshed spiked two months into a U.S.-led crackdown meant to placate the Iraqi capital.

Some news accounts suggested the death toll may be higher. The Reuters news agency, quoting local officials, said as many as 170 people had been killed, and the Associated Press said at least 183 had been killed.

Cue the talking points:

Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates, on a tour of the Mideast, called the bombings "horrifying" and accused al-Qaeda of being behind the attacks, the AP reported. He said the attackers were trying to demonstrate that the U.S. security plan for Baghdad was failing.

I think they've successfully demonstrated that fact.

The deadliest attack Wednesday occurred when a car bomb ripped through the Sadriyah market in a predominantly Shiite area of central Baghdad, killing 115 Iraqis and wounding 137 others, the U.S. military said in a statement. The blast also damaged 40 vehicles. The same market was the site of a Feb. 3 bombing that killed more than 125 people, the gravest single bombing since the war in Iraq began.

And what was it Rep Pence said about Baghdad markets? Oh yes:

And so it went, up and down the street, in between tents and tables, squeezing past pedestrians to inspect the offerings in one booth after another, we milled around this marketplace in downtown Baghdad for more than an hour. I told reporters afterward that it was just like any open-air market in Indiana in the summertime. I didn’t mean that Baghdad was as safe as the Bargersville Flea Market; I just meant that that was what it looked and felt like…lots of people, lots of booths and a friendly relaxed atmosphere.

And bombs and dead people, unlike Indiana's.

Reuters has photos of the aftermath of today's carnage and is now reporting that "nearly 200" people were killed.

"The street was transformed into a swimming pool of blood," said Ahmed Hameed, a shopkeeper near the carnage in Sadriya.

As for whether Bush will attend those memorial services, the answer if obviously "NO". Just as well because if he did and quoted from the Bible as he did on Tuesday at the Va Tech convocation, his absolute hypocrisy would be met with the scorn it so obviously deserves.

Bush: As the Scriptures tell us, "Don't be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good."

I'd sure like to know what his definition of "good" is when it comes to waging a pre-emptive war against a country that was not a direct threat to the United States.

Just how "good" is it to end up being responsible for the deaths of hundreds of thousands of people and the displacement of millions more while children - and every Iraqi - will suffer from this endless trauma for their entire lifetimes due to the ignorant arrogance of a small group of PNAC neocons whose only concern was oil profiteering?

P.S.: You will not see wall-to-wall coverage of these bombings on any of the cable news networks. This is just another day in Baghdad, after all.
 

Random News & Views Roundup

- Revisiting Mississippi Burning. Jonathan Steele makes the trip back to Neshoba county.

- CNN and Pelosi's "big wet kiss" for Syria's president Assad. The Washington Post gets in on the Pelosi-bashing as well. The left-wing blogosphere is not impressed, obviously.

- Following the release of the British captives by the Iranian government, a very short, grateful honeymoon ensued. That came to an abrupt end on Thursday with Tony Blair now blaming Iran for the deaths of four British soldiers in Basra although he has no firm evidence of Iranian involvement. Then there's this menacing news:

Kuwait City, April 4 (Xinhua) The US is planning to attack Iran's nuclear reactors and other nuclear facilities by the end of this month, the Kuwait-based Arab Times newspaper reported Wednesday.

Citing anonymous sources in Washington, it said that various White House departments had started preparing the political speech to be delivered by the US president later this month, announcing the military attack on Iran.

The speech will provide the 'evidence' and the 'justification' for the US to resort to the military option after failing to persuade Tehran to give up its nuclear ambitions, said the report.

According to the Times, one of the justifications expected in the speech is Iran's alleged role in the killing of American soldiers in Iraq by supporting various militias with money and arms.

These rumours are common, of course, but never misunderestimate Bush and Cheney. One of these days...well...

- Just how much bigger is this escalation in Iraq going to get? 12,000 more Guard troops may be going to Iraq. That's on top of the 21,000 troops originally stated by Bush. There's no end in site to this:

Surge timetable could be extended
Gates indicated Thursday that defense planners expected the U.S. military commitment to last well beyond the timetable of early next year that was put forth in the Pentagon’s arguments to send more than 20,000 regular Army troops to help quiet sectarian violence.

- Speaking of Iraq, check out Tom Hayden's 'Stop Funding the Dirty War'.

The time has come to understand the new de facto US policy in Iraq: to support, fund, arm and train a sectarian Shi’a-Kurdish state, one engaged in ethnic cleansing, mass detention and murder of Sunni Arabs.

If this description seems harsh, it is only because our minds are crowded with false or outdated paradigms. First was the dream of Baghdad as an exemplary democratic domino. Then the kumbaya notion of a unitary neo-liberal state with proportional representation and revenue-sharing among Shi’a, Kurds and Sunnis. All along, the US has described itself as a neutral arbiter among warring factions, a promoter of the rule of law and human rights in the Iraqi jungle.

more...

- Looks like the infamous Hatfield v McCoy feud may have been more than just a matter of long held grudges. Interesting. I wonder if Cheney's related to them.

- Speaking of Cheney:

Captured Iraqi documents and intelligence interrogations of Saddam Hussein and two former aides "all confirmed" that Hussein's regime was not directly cooperating with al-Qaeda before the U.S. invasion of Iraq, according to a declassified Defense Department report released yesterday.

The declassified version of the report, by acting Inspector General Thomas F. Gimble, also contains new details about the intelligence community's prewar consensus that the Iraqi government and al-Qaeda figures had only limited contacts, and about its judgments that reports of deeper links were based on dubious or unconfirmed information. The report had been released in summary form in February.

The report's release came on the same day that Vice President Cheney, appearing on Rush Limbaugh's radio program, repeated his allegation that al-Qaeda was operating inside Iraq "before we ever launched" the war, under the direction of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the terrorist killed last June.

Obviously, he lives in McCain's Neverland too. But we already knew that... The Vice Denier-in-Chief.
 

Random News & Views Roundup

Catching up with the world...

- Diplomacy, what a concept. John Bolton and Dick Cheney cry.

- Let's hope those British captives aren't villified by the right-wingers like Jill Carroll was.

- Speaking of Bolton, who was appointed by Bush as ambassador to the UN while congress was on a recess because they wouldn't approve his nomination (twice), Bush has decided to pull the same stunt and has appointed former Swift Boat Veterans for Smears contributor Sam Fox as ambassador to Belgium.

Recognizing Fox did not have the votes to obtain Senate confirmation in the Foreign Relations Committee, Bush withdrew the nomination last week. On Wednesday, with the Senate on a one-week break, the president used his power to make recess appointments to put Fox in the job without Senate confirmation.

This means Fox can remain ambassador until the end of the next session of Congress, effectively through the end of the Bush presidency.
[...]
Recess appointments are intended to give the president flexibility if Congress is out for a lengthy period of time, such as the four-week adjournment in summer. But Dodd said the law was not intended to circumvent lawmakers' approval.

"This is really now taking the recess appointment vehicle and abusing this beyond anyone's imagination," said Dodd, a candidate for the 2008 Democratic presidential nomination. "This is a travesty."

Bush? Abusing his authority? No way. I mean, c'mon...

- AttorneyGate update:

Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales has retreated from public view this week in an intensive effort to save his job, spending hours practicing testimony and phoning lawmakers for support in preparation for pivotal appearances in the Senate this month, according to administration officials.

He should be practicing his golf swing and phoning for tee times instead.

- Condi, pussycat:

Julius Caesar, as is well known, reported to the Roman Senate, "I came. I saw. I conquered." Condoleezza could report to the U.S. Senate: "I came. I saw. I capitulated." To whom? To a failing Israeli prime minister, whose popularity rating is approaching zero and who practically nobody expects to survive to the end of the year.

In the ongoing debate about which is wagging which – the dog its tail or the tail its dog – the proponents of the tail have won the day. In the round just finished, Israel has won against the United States.

This bout started with President Bush deciding, it seems, to clear the decks for action. The U.S. is preparing for war against Iran. For that purpose, it has to put an end to the mess in Iraq, unify the pro-American Arab regimes, and find a solution to the Palestinian problem.

In the beginning, everything worked just fine.

read on...

- So-called "friendly fire" incidents are bad enough but, when a soldier involved in one wasn't even properly trained, because he was "rushed to the country in the "surge"", that lands right in Bush's lap.

"Zeimer arrived at Fort Stewart on Dec. 18 after basic training and deployed to Iraq just a few weeks later. He missed the brigade's intensive four-week mission rehearsal in October when more than 1,300 trainers and Iraqi role-players came to the post as part of the most realistic training program the Army offers for Iraq operations.

"The fact some of the brigade's 4,000 soldiers missed that training raises questions about how well the Army is preparing troops for war in the face of accelerated and repeat deployments."

- Wait times:

All 10 provinces and three territories have agreed to provide wait-time guarantees in a treatment area of their choosing by 2010, Prime Minister Stephen Harper said Wednesday.

That sounds good. What's the catch?

Harper did not say how the federal government will ensure that the provinces and territories deliver on the guarantees and it was not clear how long individual waiting periods for various procedures will be.

There you go. Just another day in health-care paradise waiting for something to happen while hoping someone might actually be held accountable if it doesn't. Looks good on paper though and that's what counts, isn't it?

- Hopefully, I'll be adding my Paypal donation button by the end of the week once my account is verified. Thanks to all of you who've been so supportive. It really has helped me tremendously. I'll keep you updated. My posting has been lighter than usual since I've been quite busy this week. Thanks for hanging in there with me.
 

The Warbloggers are Excited

Oh my. According to Jules Crittenden who linked to an AP (the media organization the warbloggers call the "Associated With Terrorists Press") article, the US is winning in Iraq.

By The Way, It’s Official …

… we can win in Iraq, we are winning in Iraq, and George Bush’s surge strategy is responsible for it. Not even the AP can ignore it* anymore:

"The US military has captured the leaders of a car-bombing ring blamed for killing hundreds of Iraqis.

The news came as the departing US ambassador said Americans are in ongoing talks with insurgent representatives to try to persuade them to turn against al-Qaeda."

Oh how exciting!

Well, except for this little detail:

Insurgents have blown up two trucks in the Iraqi town of Talafar, killing 50 people and injuring 125, police say.

...which Crittenden ignored. You remember Talafar. That safe place Bush was so proud of last year where they used the same strategery they're now using in Baghdad?

Bush: The ability of al Qaeda and its associates to retake Tal Afar was an example of something we saw elsewhere in Iraq. We recognized the problem, and we changed our strategy. Instead of coming in and removing the terrorists, and then moving on, the Iraqi government and the coalition adopted a new approach called clear, hold, and build.

Mission failed. But why not try it again anyway - just for old time's sake?

But getting back to Crittenden, let's see how he dealt with this:

At least 138 Iraqis were killed or found dead today and another 209 were wounded in violent incidents. Although attacks continued in Baghdad and Iskandariya, today’s violence focused on areas where al-Qaeda operatives are believed to be active.
[...]
Four people were killled in Iskandariya when gunmen opened fire on a funeral procession. Shi'ites planted bombs in a Sunni mosque; about an hour after the bombs exploded clashes between militant groups left four Sunnis dead and one Shi'ite wounded.

Crittenden: Just a fleeting mention of "...sectarian clashes that left two people dead in Iskandariyah and a bomb in Mahaweel that killed no one."

And then there was this:

BAGHDAD - Two Americans, a contractor and a soldier, were killed in a rocket attack on the heavy guarded Green Zone on Tuesday, according to statements from the U.S. Embassy and the military.

Five other people were wounded, one contractor who was seriously hurt and three with slight wounds. A second soldier also was wounded in the attack, but the military did not give a condition.

...hmmm...no mention of that in Crittenden's post. No problem. They're winning!

Apparently, Crittenden lives in the same Neverland as John McCain. (video)

CNN correspondent Michael Ware: "Honestly, Wolf, you'll barely last twenty minutes out there. I dont know what part of Neverland Senator McCain is talking about when he says we can go strolling in Baghdad."

And General Petreus is so sure it's safe, he rides around in an unarmed humvee. He and/or his family may come to regret that some day. But I guess when you live in Neverland, all of those flying bullets and exploding bombs are just annoying figments of your imagination - especially when you're winning!

Crittenden: One of my past wankers of the day. That time, he tried to cover his country's losing ass by blaming Canada for not sending troops to Iraq. And that's about all you need to know about him.