American Flag Burning in Iraq

One military death in Iraq is one to many. As the war mongering political right of American politics goes then 19 dead is progress? Explain that fact to the 19 mothers and fathers of the kids killed in the war for Daddy by President Bush. My humble heart felt prayers go out to the parents of the children killed in Iraq but somehow the media spin is that their deaths was a sign of better days to come in Iraq. I don’t get it. One death is to many in my eyes and it should be shouted at the tops of the lungs of anyone thinking that this is not okay.

When you analyze the number of deaths of your own troops as a measure of progress then true diplomacy is dead. When was the last time you heard or read about the Republican Bush lead administration talking about diplomacy to end the non stop violence in Iraq? You have not read about it because it is not happening. Kill them all and let God sort them out is the only policy that President Bush has to offer and he isn’t backing down from that stance any time soon. In times of war, each side sees God as on their side and in both circumstances both sides are wrong if stronger minds do not have a voice to end the conflict. War is madness when either side refuses to negotiate peace. Till that time comes the body count grows on both sides. History teaches us that the ones with the bigger weapons always win but in this case that isn't likely. The Iraqi people are fighting a religious war and we are there for nation building in a society that wants nothing to do with politics. Those two things just do not go together.

Over at the New York Times they have this piece on the current war dead and how much of a relief that only 19 American Military people were killed in Iraq…

U.S. Deaths in Iraq Fell Sharply in May
By ANDREW E. KRAMER
Published: June 2, 2008

BAGHDAD — American casualties dropped in May to their lowest monthly level — 19 — since the invasion in 2003, the United States military said Sunday, though officials said they were reluctant to highlight the number as a milestone.

There have been troughs in American casualty rates before, only to be followed by rising numbers of fatalities. Just on Sunday, one American soldier was killed by a roadside bomb in Baghdad. The military has instead focused on falling rates of enemy attacks, among other indicators, as a measure of improving security.

Even amid the news of declining deaths, efforts to negotiate a long-term security pact that would set out how long American forces stay in Iraq suffered a setback on Sunday when the Iraqi government criticized proposals from American negotiators and vowed to reject any deal that violates Iraqi sovereignty.

Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki has been under political pressure to resist some American demands. Street protesters loyal to the radical Shiite cleric Moktada al-Sadr, for example, burned American flags on Friday to oppose the deal, and Mr. Sadr promised that his followers would stage regular protests through the summer. - New York Times

When it comes right down to it, the current election cycle for President of this nation comes down to your willingness to accept any number of military dead for the sake of a land that has no American respect. Our troops could leave there tomorrow and the same tribal wars that have gone on for thousands of years will break out. One has to face the facts that Baghdad is not Washington D.C. or Crawford, Texas.

While the dissenters of an American military presence in Iraq burn our flag in Iraq we have to accept the fact that Iraq is not Boston, Chicago, Memphis, or Kansas City. Changing political philosophy in Iraq is tantamount to converting a lion to a vegetarian. It just isn’t in the works to happen at any single time in our lifetime. All of the unrest in Iraq is now due to the vacume or loss of an absolute dictator under Saddam Hussein and that is the battle that the people of Iraq must come to terms with. Our military presence in Iraq only instigates more hate against America even though we toppled the bastard that oppressed the thoughts and freedoms they now feel they must instigate against our troops. Freedom is a double edged sword and sometimes it swings against the people that gave them the voice to speak.

I’m supporting our troops, I’m just not supporting the reason they are in the line of fire. God bless them and keep them safe. One soldiers death is too many for my thoughts when diplomacy is always an option.

Papamoka

Bush Chucks Congress the Finger!

Picture courtesy of the White House

President Bush made it loud and clear that he does not work for the American people today by refusing to hand over any documents to the Congress regarding the investigation of the nine fired U.S. Attorneys. This pretty much proves that he is not a President of the people but a Monarch.

I’m laying odds for all the Las Vegas houses on how long the President can withhold the documentation the subpoenas were meant for. Two weeks and five to one odds he turns them over on a late Friday afternoon. Nobody in Washington reads the late news on Fridays.

One thing that this President is good at is timing and delaying tactics. While he entertains Putin from Russia in Maine and soaks up the sunshine at the family estate in Kennebunkport the press and all of us bloggers will move on to yet another topic. Ten to one odds that a diversion tactic comes out of the Putin summit!

Over at the Washington Post they have this to say about the President using his first amendment right at flicking the bird at the spineless Congress…

Bush Won't Supply Subpoenaed Documents

By William Branigin and Michael Abramowitz
Washington Post Staff Writers
Thursday, June 28, 2007; 12:42 PM

The White House said today it would not comply with congressional subpoenas for documents and testimony relating to the firings of federal prosecutors last year, setting up a potential constitutional confrontation over its claim of executive privilege.

In a letter to the chairmen of the House and Senate judiciary committees, President Bush's counsel, Fred F. Fielding, said the White House refuses to turn over documents that were subpoenaed by the two committees on June 13. The deadline for handing over most of them was today.

"I write at the direction of the President to advise and inform you that the President has decided to assert executive privilege and therefore the White House will not be making any production in response to these subpoenas for documents," Fielding wrote in the letter to Sen. Patrick J. Leahy (D-Vt.), chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, and Rep. John Conyers Jr. (D-Mich.), chairman of the House Judiciary Committee.

"With respect, it is with much regret that we are forced down this unfortunate path which we sought to avoid by finding grounds for mutual accommodation," Fielding said. "We had hoped this matter could conclude with your committees receiving information in lieu of having to invoke executive privilege. Instead, we are at this conclusion."

The committees are seeking the documents to determine the extent of White House involvement in the firing of nine U.S. attorneys last year. That action by the Justice Department has caused an uproar in Congress and prompted many Democrats and some Republicans to call for the resignation of Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales. - Washington Post

I get the feeling that no matter what laws are broken by this administration that there are a limited number of orange prison jump suits to go around. Our current Congress has no teeth or the desire to take a bite out of the Bush apple. No matter how much we all scream and shout about the iceberg dead ahead that is the crimes of this administration and demand it be corrected, the ship still steers full speed ahead with its collision course.

There is no shame in the Bush administration. As much as he holds his friends close he is not one that will ever let himself hang when someone closer to the gallows will take the rope for him. That is the key to the team of the Presidency that is driven by Cheney and propped up by the man supposedly elected to the highest office in the land.

Watch the news over the next couple of weekends to see the true hand of this President. Alberto will swing but it will be the President that will hand select the rope. Friends do that for friends I guess. At least that is what they do in our nations capitol. For now it will be shiny object over hear while something else is going on over there in the Bush camp.

Papamoka