An excerpt from Riverbend’s latest:
After Bush finished his piece about the glamorous changes in Iraq, Allawi got his turn. I can’t seem to decide what is worse- when Bush speaks in the name of Iraqi people, or when Allawi does. Yesterday’s speech was particularly embarrassing. He stood there groveling in front of the congress- thanking them for the war, the occupation and the thousands of Iraqi lives lost… and he did it all on behalf of the Iraqi people. It was infuriating and for maybe the hundredth time this year, I felt rage. Yet another exile thanking the Bush administration for the catastrophe we’re trying to cope with. Our politicians are outside of the country 90% of the time (by the way, if anyone has any news of our president Ghazi Ajeel Al Yawir, do let us know- where was he last seen or heard?), the security situation is a joke, the press are shutting down and pulling out and our beloved exiles are painting rosey pictures for the American public- you know- so everyone who voted for Bush can sleep at night.
Allawi actually said “thank you” nine times. Nine times. It really should have been more- at least double that number of Iraqis died yesterday… and about five times that number the day before. Looking back on the last month alone, over 350 Iraqis have been killed either by American air strikes, fighting, or bombs… only 9 thank yous?
The elections are already a standard joke. There’s talk of holding elections only in certain places where it will be ‘safe’ to hold them. One wonders what exactly comprises ‘safe’ in Iraq today. Does ‘safe’ mean the provinces that are seeing fewer attacks on American troops? Or does ‘safe’ mean the areas where the abduction of foreigners isn’t occurring? Or could ‘safe’ mean the areas that *won’t* vote for an Islamic republic and *will* vote for Allawi? Who will be allowed to choose these places? Right now, Baghdad is quite unsafe. We see daily abductions, killings, bombings and Al-Sadr City, slums of Baghdad, see air strikes… will they hold elections in Baghdad? Imagine, Bush being allowed to hold elections in ‘safe’ areas- like Texas and Florida.
Kevin Hayden on this bill: “The monster they created was so bad even some Republicans are saying they can’t support it. I wish they’d just declare martial law, lock up everyone with an IQ above 86 and get it over with. I hate the waiting while they pretend they’re not tyrants.”
Raed Jarrar and Rahul Mahajan both highlight this video purportedly of an American attack on civilians in Fallujah.
Rahul: “Listen for the pilot’s “Aw, dude!” at the end. I read it as some combination of “Oh, the humanity!” and “Yee-hah!” Not sure about the relative ratios.”
Raed: “And, for sure I wasn’t amused by the comedian that seemed to be enjoying his time killing people, ‘Ohhh, Dude’ after the big explosion.
Isn’t this one of the most irresponsible things that you can hear?
Doesn’t such incidents increase and rationalize brutal reactions to the U.S.?
And, can’t the sick dudes in the pentagon remove “ohhh, dude” if they didn’t want us to hear it?”
Rodger Payne on Baghdad Bob Bush’s latest speech on the Republic of FUBAR(as Hesiod calls it).
Ken Layne on Afghaniraqistan, Land of Armies & Suiciders and don’t miss Meet Ayad Allawi.
James Landrith smites the liberventionists: Killing in the Name of Libertarianism. There are some great links at the end of that post as well, one of which sends you back to AntiWar.com blog to read a Matt Barganier post, which you may have missed. Also, here’s Landrith (who’s been blogging up a storm lately) on the demise of the American National Guard:
Hmm. I wonder if back to back deployments, piss poor planning with regard to an exit strategy in Iraq, being lied to about the reasons for the war, and plans to spread the conflict further into Iran and possibly Syria might have something to do with it.
Or perhaps those men and women choosing to allow their contracts to expire are just plain un-American traitors, unlike those brave souls who support interventionist wars through the use of the twin weapons of a fully loaded mouse and combat ready futon.
Yeah, thats probably it.
Libertarian Jackass on non-violence, here and here.
On the subject of liberventionism (did Stromberg invent that term?) David Beito found an interesting argument at Crooked Timber. The author of the post to which Beito points is Belle Waring, who starred in last week’s Blog Tour with this post: Why I Was So Totally Wrong About Iraq.
Terrorists from Fallujah targeted by an American precision strike:
In its daily battle against insurgents, the US military said its air force “conducted a strike inflicting a blow to the Abu Mussab al-Zarqawi terrorist network by conducting a precision strike on a known terrorist meeting site in central Fallujah.”
UPDATE: Hey, Wally Conger has a blog!