Thursday, June 9, 2005
Why I hate Colin PowellOkay. It's cool that Powell went on the Daily Show last night. Fine.
But the man is the worst kind of Bush apologist -- he repeats the
argument that angers me the most, you know the one that says there's no point in
discussing and investigating why we went to war anymore because we did,
and that terrible tyrant is gone and the Iraqi people "want freedom,"
blah blah blah. 11:03:17 PM | He's managed to maintain an image of integrity though he was the main contributor to the lies and deception that led to the war in Iraq. Jon Stewart introduced him glowingly. Go figure. It doesn't change the truth, though: he's a liar and he's still lying. The administration took "evidence" from a yahoo named "Curveball," sent Powell to the UN to shake vials and show fuzzy photographs, then invaded even though the international community wasn't "with us" but "against us." Powell's still making the case. I guess the money's just too good to stop supporting the show. 
|
Photos from Afghanistan -- Around JalalabadHere are a some photos from Afghanistan S sent me a few days ago. All of
these pictures are from Jalalabad and the surrounding area, where S and
his group
ran missions with Marines, Special Forces, Army, FBI, and Afghan
Police. It is much lower in elevation than Kabul, and therefore hotter
and greener. They grow mangoes, bananas, peaches and oranges in this
area. And, of course, lots and lots of poppies. "J-bad" is a five
hour plus drive from Kabul, though it is only
about 90 miles or so. When you see the picture of the road down below,
you'll know why! 9:34:44 PM |  This town lost forty people to a gunfight with the Marines, along with scores of wounded. They are very "hostile" but have apparently lost some of their will to fight for now. S's group confiscated a number of weapons there in raids. It was in a village like this that S saw, painted on the side of a house, an image of the World Trade Center being struck by planes.  This a beautiful town along the Indus River. S's group escorted a group from USAID who were talking to the townspeople about infrastructure projects.  The road to Jalalabad. S said he spent most of his time there humping a pack around. They had to abandon the truck numerous times and walk the rest of the way. And I thought New Orleans' roads were bad!  An IED went off in front of their convoy near here. Luckily no one was hurt. Since there are very few paved roads in Afghanistan, the IEDs are set up in the middle of the road, often buried under dirt. Apparently they aren't very good at timing, according to S, but when they do hit they're deadly.  What a beautiful place. This is near an al Qaeda camp bombed out four years ago. S and his Afghan crew were supporting a CSI unit from the FBI while they were gathering evidence. He said it was pretty hilarious because the feds were running around like movie SWAT members. He half expected to here "Hut, hut, hut, hut...".  Their first trip to J-bad was through this mountain pass. S said it was amazing jingle trucks could pass the road. Apparently it's very frustrating to train Afghan troops. They have a completely different idea of discipline. One night a group drove off in the jeep and bought a live sheep, came back, and beheaded it with a knife. They made a huge bonfire in the middle of the patrol base and cooked the sucker up. I'd say that's a little different than what American soldiers are used to. Then there is desertion; S said they had a hard time getting the troops to come back after a two week break. The BBC has a story today about desertion in the ANA, which has grown worse now that they have troops deployed in the field. Of course, none of this matters because the war in Afghanistan has already been won, right? It's a "past tense" war...
|
It's too much to askOperation Truth is back on Capitol Hill fighting for OIF/OEF veterans. They're joining senators to push for PTSD support. Here's an excerpt from their post: 9:01:43 PM | Operation Truth is an organization of
The fact that the issue of more funding for PTSD and veteran health care has to be discussed shows how our "support our troops" administration has completely abandoned the troops and thinks they're worthless. Lucky for us, Op Truth is here to challenge the government to make them truly "support our troops." There has been a lot of talk of the similarities between the Iraq war and Vietnam; Op Truth is working hard to make sure the similarities don't extend to vet mental health care, so we don't have a generation of OIF/OEF vets joining their older brothers on the streets and in homeless centers. Maybe, for once, we'll have learned something and take care of our vets today. The soldiers who die when they get home aren't counted in the casualty statistics, but many should be. Their self-inflicted deaths are directly related to their service. There are other casualties too, the ones that lead to drug and alcohol addiction, broken marriages, car accidents, violence. These are just more effects of war, which, no surprise, get very little attention. It's no wonder so many vets are dealing with PTSD. It is too much to ask someone to put themselves in constant risk of death and ask them to kill for you. We can't let this happen again.
|
Thank you John ConyersRepresentative John Conyers of Michigan,
ranking democrat on the House Committee on the Judiciary, has stepped
up big time. Not only has he been pushing the so-called Downing Street
Memo on the web and through email, he has now scheduled a congressional hearing on the minutes and has said he will introduce corroborating documents at the hearing next Thursday. 8:16:43 PM | A thousand cheers for Conyers. Wow! If you haven't signed his on-line letter yet, here's the link. You can also sign Sen. Ted Kennedy's on-line petition here. His petition will send letters to your senators and ask them to support an inquiry into the Downing Street minutes. Let's show our support. It was all of the buzz through the internet that led to this hearing. The mainstream press has completely ignored this story. We've made it happen, but we need to keep up the momentum. Let's do it!
|
This has got to stop.This morning, Sgt. Zach left this comment: 1:16:14 PM | We had 2 soldiers die on my FOB The night before last. One had a baby
he had only seen once or twice, and the other soldier had been here
only 3 days. They were in their room getting into bed when a Rocket
crashed through their window and blew them up. I guess it showed me
that there is no safe place here...
We have got to start facing reality. We can't keep saying things aren't as bad as they are because we'll never find a way to get out of Iraq unless we see reality for what it is. It is flatly wrong to put so many people in this kind of danger in the name of lies and deception. This has got to stop.
|
Last update: 8/24/05; 8:17:55 PM .
