3000: Seattle and Minneapolis Vigils

And I'm on my way to another such vigil as soon as I finish typing this post. This is a small burg, so we're not going to have anything remotely like the numbers of people marking this unwelcome milestone as they did in Seattle or Minneapolis.

But it's also a small burg with a surprisingly large and active faith-based peace-activist community, so I'm looking forward to hanging out with some of my favorite Benedictine nuns and Sojourners and Pax Christi folks even though the occasion is such a sadly negative one this time.

blessed be in 2007,
Otter

Thanks for sharing the pics, DiAnne. It's encouraging although I agree the occasion is sad.

Keep warm Otter. Thank you for going out there and participating.

Might be the only way we ever get them home. (Still dreading the announcement the President will be making sometime after the holidays.)

Back to work.

We didn't get as many people as we wanted in either city. Vets for Peace actually wanted 3000 people for a "die-in" downtown, like during the Vietnam era. There weren't enough and it was too rainy to lie down.

I talked to one elderly lady originally from the UK and she said, "There should be thousands here .. millions." It's true.

Minneapolis isn't as cold right now as it sometimes is but I've got it to hand it to those people who get out on the Lake Street Bridge - they've been there week after week for vigils, since before the war started.

Same in Seattle with the Women in Black and also the SNOW vigil that is every Sunday at Green Lake, and other communities have had weekly vigils for almost 5 solid years now. People can say all they want that it's utopian to be antiwar or that it's symbolic. Hell, it's the only SANE position.

Alot of the most active people are elderly, and we are seeing more young people. Sadly, I see alot of people missing between say 30-50. I'm wondering if they grew up in the period between Vietnam and Iraq. War threatens us all.

Would love if anyone would submit pictures and stories from their vigils or events, and the small communities are especially interesting. That's how I came to these blogs - to see what was happening in other parts of the country!

My mom is really shocked that there isn't much media coverage of these vigils, etc. She thinks it's a big cover-up. I think she's right.

My mom is really shocked that there isn't much media coverage of these vigils, etc. She thinks it's a big cover-up. I think she's right.

Posted by: DiAnne at January 2, 2007 04:50 PM

She is right...

Meanwhile I am back in SoCal, and back to work.

I was unable to attend the vigil in San Fran yesterday because I had to make the drive back.

Dianne, if it is any comfort, tell her I think she is right too.

There is no way they could be doing what they are doing without specific coordination.

Hello Ally love.

How are you and happy new year.

Christy
Glad you got computer access somehow!

I just read where CNN "accidentally" said "Where's Obama" instead of "Where's Osama" and the /b/ key is nowhere near the /s/ key.

It's definitely on purpose and I'm going on my 16th year of MSM boycott (tv news), including sponsors.

You know DiAnne it is only an eight hour drive for me to go to Minneapolis.

Besides the snow, it is warmer here than it usually is this time of year. Weather man just said he expects arctic air getting down as low as -30 at night and - single digits during the day in the next two weeks. He expects it to hang on for quite a while once it gets here. We'll see if he's right. I won't make the drive in this weather, but should be able to in spring and summer. Numbers should be in the millions but maybe it's the time of year and maybe people are hopeful the new Congress will stop the war. I don't have such high hopes myself, I still think it is going to take millions of us out there before it stops. I am thinking of a way I can hold a vigil here in this tiny town. A candle on main street during high foot traffic would be good, and when they walk by and ask me why, I could say because I am mourning for all the dead and maimed because of the Iraq war. Most of them like me around here by now so it could be a positive thing.

Bush May Oust Top Commander for Backing Troop Withdrawal
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/010207R.shtml
General Casey's strategy in Iraq was to transfer responsibility for security to the Iraqis and begin a gradual withdrawal of troops from Iraq. Bush seems all but certain not only to reverse the strategy that General Casey championed, but also to accelerate the general's departure from Iraq.

Security Firms Granted Full Police Power
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/010207S.shtml
Private firms with outright police powers have been proliferating in some places - and trying to expand their terrain. The trend is triggering debate over whether the privatization of public safety is wise.

{{{I don't know about anyone else, but "private security" is not the way to go for public law enforcement... IMHO. That's why I was upset when I heard about the mercenaries going into NOLA who were hired by KBR and/or Blackwater, et al. Private security has it's place in a very limited basis, but for public law enforcement, both the public officers and private citizens need to be protected with very firm guidelines, following all laws and protocols.}}}

Compounds From Household Products Found in Human Blood
http://www.truthout.org/issues_06/010207EC.shtml
Since 2000, the federal government, environmental groups, and private citizens have been steadily turning up the heat on DuPont with a series of lawsuits and proposed regulatory actions in states across the nation.

Marjorie, Truth, Chuck, Veritas,Defarge, oncall, Karen,and Richard Happy New Years one and all. It was great to read Richard's post on Christmas Day about letting in the light. His eloquence and leadership at this site is why we are all here after 2 years. Gerald Ford reportedly stated 2 years ago that he wants to be particularly remembered for his appointment of Justice John Paul Stevens, who we are all so proud of. 2006 was a great year for progressives and hopefully 2007 will shed more light on this Administration's war profiteering. Was rather disgusted to hear Bush say that without Ford's pardon of Nixon that Ford would have been elected in 1976 with Jimmy Carter sitting a few rows back and his pappy harping on the Warren Commission, which was rather bizarre.

Happy new year to you too Ira and thanks for all you do for the cause and for democracy in general.

DiAnne and others, I don't think that we will ever see great turnout for these vigils as long as (a) the military remains an all-volunteer organization and (b) the general American public is not asked to sacrifice in any way for this war.

There was television coverage of the vigil yesterday in Cleveland, Oh. Most of the people looked older there also. The reporter interviewed a couple of different parents who lost sons in Iraq. one mother said that her son understood the need for the war in Afghanistan but that he never understood why we were in Iraq.
On a happier note, we went to Columbus today to see our new state reptresentative, Jay Goyal, take the oath of office. His parents rented a bus for his supporters and then provided us with a wonderful Indian meal. you would have appreciated the wonderful food , Dianne.
After Jay took his oath , the whole room burst into spontaneous applause. It had been silent through the other reps turns to take the oath. One of the women working at the statehouse said that they had never seen such a turnout and response for a rep before.
The oath was moved to today instead of next Monday so as not to conflict with the Ohio State championship game. Ohio does have its priorities and football is number 1! It was lucky for me though because today was the last day of our winter break and tomorrow it's back to school for me.
Others from my county are leaving by bus tomorrow to see Sherrod Brown become our new senator on Thurs. All of our hard work finally paid off!

Truth Shall Prevail
When we lived in Vermillion SD (Univ of SD, near Sioux City) and also in St Peter, MN - we would drive to Mpls. It was always definitely worth it and it's really a progressive city. It does get cold.

Riverbend just made Scarborough.

NPR had a bunch of Ford eulogies and I don't think he should have pardoned Nixon, as it just helped perpetuate corporate/government crime. So I tuned in to Democracy Now and it was even more depressing. First they had a story on media bias in US coverage of the Saddam trial/execution (slanting it to post-1991 and ignoring Rumsfeld 1983 video & prior US support for Iraq against Iran). Then they had Bush lauding the Iraqi people for giving Saddam a fair trial, but experts in international law sai it was quite a kangaroo court PLUS the Orwellian irony of Bush being the one to judge fairness.

Then came the depressing and scary story of the journalists who are subpoenaed by the Army in the Lt. Watada trial. It will happen right here in Seattle in a couple of days. Watada could get 6 years in prison and about 4 of those are for speaking to the press. So the press he spoke to are subpoenaed to substantiate that he spoke to them and what he said, which is a chilling precedent for journalists, who shouldn't be asked to testify against their sources or jeopardize their political speech. It's crazy.

Dean Baker | Iraq War Lie Detector Test
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/010207A.shtml
Dean Baker writes: "There has been no shortage of deceptions surrounding the prosecution of the Iraq war, beginning with the original justification - Iraq's weapons of mass destruction. Unfortunately, supporters of the war continue to use deception to advance their agenda. The latest lie is that Congress doesn't have the ability to end the war, because if they cut off funding they would jeopardize the safety of our troops."

Laurent Joffrin | An Unbelievable Gift
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/010207G.shtml
Laurent Joffrin wonders why the US and Iraqi governments gave Saddam the unbelievable gift of martyrdom ...

Chris Hedges | America's Holy Warriors
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/010207H.shtml
Chris Hedges, the former New York Times Mideast Bureau chief, warns that the radical Christian right is coming dangerously close to its goal of co-opting the country’s military and law enforcement.

Excerpts (click on link for more... Eeeek!):

And yet we may be further down this road than we care to admit. Erik Prince, the secretive, mega-millionaire, right-wing Christian founder of Blackwater, the private security firm that has built a formidable mercenary force in Iraq, champions his company as a patriotic extension of the U.S. military. His employees, in an act as cynical as it is deceitful, take an oath of loyalty to the Constitution. These mercenary units in Iraq, including Blackwater, contain some 20,000 fighters. They unleash indiscriminate and wanton violence against unarmed Iraqis, have no accountability and are beyond the reach of legitimate authority. The appearance of these paramilitary fighters, heavily armed and wearing their trademark black uniforms, patrolling the streets of New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina, gave us a grim taste of the future. It was a stark reminder that the tyranny we impose on others we will one day impose on ourselves.

"Contracting out security to groups like Blackwater undermines our constitutional democracy," said Michael Ratner, the president of the Center for Constitutional Rights. "Their actions may not be subject to constitutional limitations that apply to both federal and state officials and employees - including First Amendment and Fourth Amendment rights to be free from illegal searches and seizures. Unlike police officers they are not trained in protecting constitutional rights and unlike police officers or the military they have no system of accountability whether within their organization or outside it. These kind of paramilitary groups bring to mind Nazi Party brownshirts, functioning as an extrajudicial enforcement mechanism that can and does operate outside the law. The use of these paramilitary groups is an extremely dangerous threat to our rights."
~~~~~
"The Bush administration has already come close to painting our current wars as wars against Islam - many in the Christian right apparently have this belief," Ratner said. "If these wars, bad enough as imperial wars, are fought as religious wars, we are facing a very dark age that could go on for a hundred years and that will be very bloody."

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070103/ap_on_go_ca_st_pe/detainee_abuse

FBI details possible detainee abuse

WASHINGTON - FBI agents documented more than two dozen incidents of possible mistreatment at the Guantanamo Bay military base, including one detainee whose head was wrapped in duct tape for chanting the Quran and another who pulled out his hair after hours in a sweltering room.

{{{Click on link for more. I think some of this has already been reported, some sounds like new revelations. Please... make the lambs stop screaming....}}}

NonnyO
Interesting about Blackwater.
& TruthOut had an article about how many private security forces in the US now allow their personnel to act like actual police.

I was at Trader Joe's and that's kind of like a hippie grocery yet they had a security guard putting away shopping carts and he had a gun! We were shocked.

Posted by: Christy at January 2, 2007 05:25 PM

Christy, happy new year to you too!

I hope the Aline case is going to resolve for the better for you.

Saw The Good Shepherd yesterday, which I thought was a very powerful film by the way, but one thing that stuck in my mind was the scene depicting CIA interrogation techniques circa 1961 - especially the conclusion of the scene..."My name is Mironov and I am FREE!!!" and what follows...

Plus ça change, plus ça même chose.

Posted by: NonnyO at January 2, 2007 06:53 PM
Posted by: DiAnne at January 2, 2007 10:40 PM

Not only that, "police" brutality will only increase, since private enterprise is not accountable to the people.

that lack of accountability is what the neo-liberals (I *refuse* to dignify them by using the name "libertarian") and many Republicans euphemize as the "efficiency" of the private sector over the government sector. But that efficiency has its place.

Posted by: NonnyO at January 2, 2007 09:48 PM

Thanks for sharing.

And it is NO secret that our current wars are CRUSADES. W himself made it clear in the early days of the "War on Terror."

http://www.theage.com.au/news/world/covert-us-group-plots-to-isolate-rising-iran/2007/01/02/1167500123612.html

Covert US group plots to isolate 'rising' Iran

Farah Stockman, Washington
January 3, 2007

A SELECT group of US officials has been quietly co-ordinating actions for nearly a year to counter the threat of a nuclear-armed Iran, including increasing the military capabilities of Arab allies such as Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain.

The group, known as the Iran Syria Policy and Operations Group, is also giving covert help to Iranian dissidents and building international outrage towards Iran by publicising its alleged role in a 1994 terrorist attack in Argentina.

Pentagon officials involved with the group intend to ask Congress as early as next month to increase funding for transfers of military hardware to allies in the Persian Gulf and to accelerate plans for joint military activities. The request is expected to include more advanced missile-defence systems and early-warning radar to prevent or detect Iranian missile strikes.

"There is the perception in the Gulf that Iran is really on the rise," said Emile El-Hokayem, research fellow at the Stimpson Centre, a Washington think tank. "Washington wants to prepare for a potential showdown."

US financing of pro-democracy activities in Iran is expected to double next year, according to the senior State Department official. Last year, $US85 million ($A107 million) was allocated.

The group's workings have been so secretive that several officials in the State Department's Near Eastern Affairs Bureau said they were unaware it existed.

The US has repeatedly said its policy is not to overthrow the Iranian regime, but one former US official who attended a preliminary meeting of the group said he got the impression that regime change was a goal of many participants.

But interviews with half a dozen White House, Pentagon and State Department officials indicated that the group's aims are more modest. Several said that as much as they would like to see the regimes in Tehran and Damascus go, military action in Iraq and Afghanistan had limited their options. The main goal now, they said, was Cold War-style "containment" of Iran in the hopes that Iranians one day would opt to change their own government.

The group's work to isolate Tehran is consistent with the Administration's refusal to reach out diplomatically to Iran and Syria.

"Iran is the key to everything at the strategic level — the biggest problem we have faced in a long time," said a State Department official involved in the group, citing Iran's negative impact on Lebanon, Iraq, Afghanistan, Israel and the occupied Palestinian territories.

"These are all things they are doing because they sense weakness on the part of the United States. The best thing for us to project is strength, not 'please talk to us'."

The group is modelled on the Iraq Policy and Operations Group, set up in 2004 to shepherd information and co-ordinate US action in Iraq.

It has raised eyebrows in the State Department for hiring BearingPoint — the same Washington-based private contracting firm used by the Iraq group — to handle its administrative work.

But State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said BearingPoint was hired for its experience and good work on Iraq.

The group is led by a steering committee with two leading hawks on Middle East policy as chairmen: James Jeffrey, who once headed Iraq policy, and Elliott Abrams, deputy national security adviser for "global democracy strategy".

BOSTON GLOBE

Saddam's race to gallows angers US officials

John Burns and Marc Santor, Baghdad
January 2, 2007

AMERICAN officials are said to have questioned the political wisdom — and justice — of expediting the death of Saddam Hussein.

The officials have been reluctant to say much publicly about the pell-mell nature of the hanging, apparently fearful of provoking recriminations in Washington, where the Bush Administration adopted a hands-off posture, saying the timing of the execution was Iraq's to decide.

More-
http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2007/01/01/1167500062356.html

DiAnne, Ally....

Since I worked in law enforcement so many years, the thing I don't get is current trend of making demi-gods of police officers, fire fighters, military personnel, etc. The Cons, in particular, call them heroes whether the title is warranted or not. True, the good ones do maintain high standards, morally and ethically, on and off the job, but some falter and fail (and are castigated for it, too, especially among their own because the rotten apples make the genuinely good officers look bad). However, people in those professions, as I well know, are just ordinary mortals like everyone else, they have a job to do, and most do it well. But most who do their jobs well don't consider themselves heroes when they've done nothing more heroic than just doing their jobs (even if they have a personnel file full of letters of commendation that they never talk about because they're genuinely modest); they just believe they are doing their jobs to the best of their ability. Most of law enforcement is routine, often even boring, consisting of a lot of public relations. The stuff that makes the evening news is only a tiny fraction of any part of the job.

To elevate them to hero status, before they do anything heroic, without them earning the title because they've saved a life (or lives), just makes no sense whatsoever. Making "heroes" out of military personnel (or mercenaries), in particular, makes even less sense, since to be a "hero" in the military involves killing people, not saving lives (medics, doctors, and nurses and the like excepted). It sets a dangerous precedent that to be a hero one has to kill somone.

It's all the more dangerous a precedent because of the prevalence of mercenaries or other 'private security' officers nowadays. They don't have the same standards that were so familiar to me and people I worked with who are commissioned officers with a recognized jurisdiction, sworn to uphold the law and protect citizens.

I see the blurring of jurisdiction as something to be avoided at all costs. Private security may have it's place, but it's not in the public sector without the training that goes into making a good peace officer.

Would someone translate this for me please?

Plus ça change, plus ça même chose.

Woz,
Rusty high school French but The more things change, the more they stay the same.

Thanks Kay. That makes sense.

The officials have been reluctant to say much publicly about the pell-mell nature of the hanging, apparently fearful of provoking recriminations in Washington...

Posted by: woz at January 3, 2007 12:14 AM

Plus ça change, plus ça même chose. (eh, Woz?)

...I too am suspicious about the rush to hang him. And this event gives me common ground with my sister who is very very fearful and accepting of all these things Bush has done to us since 9-11 (Patriot Act, illegal spying, war, torture, etc...)

We both feel the hanging doesn't bode well for our own troops still there.

Kay and Sparrow forgot to say happy New Years to you as well. You and Otter did a great job in '06.
Kay you guys had a tremendous year in Ohio and I personally know how hard you worked for Goyal, Brown and Strickland and how proud you are that your hard work paid off.Received my Stricklnad inauguration invitation but work won't let me go. Did get to meet Webb's immediate staff at his Christmas party in Arlington a few weeks ago, unfortunately the Webbs just had a new child and he was unable to attend. All my 20 something nephews seemed excited about Obama. Heard something about a law prohibiting executions of defendants once they reach 70, but the source of that info was rather suspicious. Since it now seems official that Bush wants to be the decider and send in 20-30,000 more troops its time to remind him of the fallout from Cambodia and putting McCain and the GOP hopefuls on the defensive about this plan. Kay I truly hope you will keep us informed about Ohio politics this year, your state's progress in turning Ohio around(an enormous task)and your state's plans for '08. If you make it to the Strickland inauguration, try and send my regards to my hero Anne Hill, northern Ohio Strickland campaign manager and see if you can find out her plans for '08. that would really mean a lot to me.

NonnyO
I knew a woman whose husband was a police academy graduate but the police here wouldn't hire him, so he was a security guard. They were extreme fundies and really into guns, with the usual radical right political beliefs that go with it. Then there was a second guy who'd been in the army, wasn't accepted by the police or and didn't last with the fire department, and also ended up as a security guard. He was really upset they wouldn't let him be armed. I'm wondering if they failed some sort of police personality test. If so, I'm glad they screen but then the private agencies probably are less vigilant, yet if some of them are allowing more police privileges and the guards are armed - bad combination.

There was a private national police organization that met here and there were protests. They wouldn't let in any press or even city council members. The reason for protest was supposed to be some sort of secret coordination between police officers and the military.

Then the week before the war, I saw a guy call Congressman McDermott a traitor and spit at him. He was a member of the Iron Pigs. Someone told me those were all off-duty cops and firemen, and right wing. I checked their website and it was full of post-9/11 short-sighted and shallow patriotic drivel and predictable rhetoric.

We do not need a police state here like the one that is out of control overseas. Iraq and Afghanistan sound like a combo of military, police and security rogue elements. It's like Vietnam - impossible to tell who is the "enemy" and everyone has a different "enemy." Anarchy, more or less.

Suz
On Democracy Now they were interviewing a professor of international law and one said that Saddam was hanged on an important Sunni holiday and we let that go on. That's a real trigger for Shiites and now someone has messed with the Golden Mosque again, and that's one thing before that caused all this escalation of war between factions of Muslims.

Now I read up above that there may be a covert policy of helping countries like Saudi Arabia and Bahrain to resist Iran. That means we would be helping Sunnis fight Iran and fighting Shiites in Iraq. That doesn't make sense, except that Saddam was the only thing keeping Iran and Iraq Shiites from combining forces. That means we don't know what the hell we're doing over there and it really doesn't look like we do.

Remember that the first thing we secured was the oil fields and we let the museum of antiquities go. "Just some vases" said Rumsfeld, but some of the oldest known treasures on earth.

Happy New Year Bubba - Thanks for all you did and do.

Hello all, and Happy New Year!

I'm back from an eye-opening relief trip to New Orleans, with much to tell but still processing all the things I did and saw.

The failures of our nation to help that city are astounding, and mere words and photos can not express what it is like there. I'd urge everyone reading this to go and see it for yourselves. You will be changed.

More to come. Happy New Year to everyone. May this be a year of change for the better for all of us!

Pat Robertson warns of terrorist attack in 2007
Evangelist makes forecast as part of annual predictions

VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. - In what has become an annual tradition of prognostications, religious broadcaster Pat Robertson predicted Tuesday that a terrorist attack on the United States would result in “mass killing” late in 2007.

“I’m not necessarily saying it’s going to be nuclear,” he said during his news-and-talk television show “The 700 Club” on the Christian Broadcasting Network. “The Lord didn’t say nuclear. But I do believe it will be something like that.”

Robertson said God told him during a recent prayer retreat that major cities and possibly millions of people will be affected by the attack, which should take place sometime after September.

Robertson said God also told him that the U.S. only feigns friendship with Israel and that U.S. policies are pushing Israel toward “national suicide.”

Robertson suggested in January 2006 that God punished then-Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon with a stroke for ceding Israeli-controlled land to the Palestinians.

The broadcaster predicted in January 2004 that President Bush would easily win re-election. Bush won 51 percent of the vote that fall, beating Democratic Sen. John Kerry of Massachusetts. He also predicted Bush’s victory for a second term in 2005.

“I have a relatively good track record,” he said. “Sometimes I miss.”

In May, Robertson said God told him that storms and possibly a tsunami were to crash into America’s coastline in 2006. Even though the U.S. was not hit with a tsunami, Robertson on Tuesday cited last spring’s heavy rains and flooding in New England as partly fulfilling the prediction.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/16442877/

Dingdong

Posted by: woz at January 3, 2007 12:14 AM

Yeah, and I saw Santa Clause flying in the sky Christmas Eve with his reindeer, too. I really did.

Happy New Year, Bubba!!!!

You were SOOOoooo right about how important it was to hammer away at the state elections, and your deeds were as good as your word!!!!

Thank you for all you have done and continue to do to bring back democracy to the United States!!!!

NBC: Bush to call for 20,000 more troops

NBC's Jim Miklaszewski reports

In a guest column in Wednesday's Wall Street Journal President Bush addressed a range of issues. On Iraq he said he'll reveal his new strategy in the coming days.

Administration officials tell NBC News it will involve sending some 20,000 additional U.S. troops to Iraq.

The plan is being called surge and accelerate: take control over violence in Baghdad, then speed up the handover of territory to Iraqi forces.

The plan would also turn over more money to Iraq for reconstruction and a jobs program.

But the prospect of more troops to Iraq is already drawing fire on Capitol Hill:

A former Reagan defense official says it runs counter to the U.S. goal.

"If you send another 20,000 more troops, casualties are going to go up, you're going to increase the Iraqi's dependence on us," Former Assistant Secretary of Defense Lawrence Korb said.

But hinting at his argument for a surge, President Bush wrote that the U.S. can help provide the necessary quote breathing space for Iraq's young government to meet its responsibilities.

The president will have a tough sell here. And one administration official admits the strategy is more a political decision than a military one, with the president pushed to respond to Americans' impatience on the war. His speech on a new path in Iraq is expected in the middle of next week.

http://tinyurl.com/ycf77a

It's all the more dangerous a precedent because of the prevalence of mercenaries or other 'private security' officers nowadays. They don't have the same standards that were so familiar to me and people I worked with who are commissioned officers with a recognized jurisdiction, sworn to uphold the law and protect citizens.

Posted by: NonnyO at January 3, 2007 12:56 AM

I remember being institutionalized briefly at a county-run institution, and the security at the place was private security as opposed to the sheriffs.

Not only did the private security wear uniforms that screamed "In God We Trust," there was freedom of religious practice ONLY as long as I was Catholic (which, of course, you know I am not).

And this happened in Los Angeles County, a place usually considered a "purple island" in a sea of SoCal red. Thanks to our influx of Third World immigrants, fundamentalist Christianity is well on the rise here. This certainly is NOT the "liberal" California that NorCal is.

Olbermann: Special comment about ‘sacrifice’
BBC reports Bush will reveal troop surge plan in sacrifice-themed speech

SPECIAL COMMENT
By Keith Olbermann
Anchor, 'Countdown'
MSNBC
Updated: 1 hour, 32 minutes ago

If in your presence an individual tried to sacrifice an American serviceman or woman, would you intervene?

Would you at least protest?

What if he had already sacrificed 3,003 of them?

What if he had already sacrificed 3,003 of them — and was then to announce his intention to sacrifice hundreds, maybe thousands, more?

This is where we stand tonight with the BBC report of President Bush’s “new Iraq strategy,” and his impending speech to the nation, which, according to a quoted senior American official, will be about troop increases and “sacrifice.”

The president has delayed, dawdled and deferred for the month since the release of the Iraq Study Group.

He has seemingly heard out everybody, and listened to none of them.

If the BBC is right — and we can only pray it is not — he has settled on the only solution all the true experts agree cannot possibly work: more American personnel in Iraq, not as trainers for Iraqi troops, but as part of some flabby plan for “sacrifice.”

Sacrifice!

More American servicemen and women will have their lives risked.

More American servicemen and women will have their lives ended.

More American families will have to bear the unbearable and rationalize the unforgivable —“sacrifice” — sacrifice now, sacrifice tomorrow, sacrifice forever.

And more Americans — more even than the two-thirds who already believe we need fewer troops in Iraq, not more — will have to conclude the president does not have any idea what he’s doing — and that other Americans will have to die for that reason.

It must now be branded as propaganda — for even the president cannot truly feel that very many people still believe him to be competent in this area, let alone “the decider.”

But from our impeccable reporter at the Pentagon, Jim Miklaszewski, tonight comes confirmation of something called “surge and accelerate” — as many as 20,000 additional troops —f or “political purposes” ...

This, in line with what we had previously heard, that this will be proclaimed a short-term measure, for the stated purpose of increasing security in and around Baghdad, and giving an Iraqi government a chance to establish some kind of order.

This is palpable nonsense, Mr. Bush.

please, read more...
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/16442767/from/RS.2/

Posted by: monkey at January 3, 2007 11:06 AM

Hey Pat, I don't care about, and listen to, that hate-filled filth of an excuse of God that you keep quoting.

God, or as I believe, Goddess, takes pity on filths like you, not give you revelations.

Posted by: monkey at January 3, 2007 11:51 AM

Sacrifice... so easy to say, so hard to do.

Hey W, get your lemming supporters to stop driving those SUVs first. If there is anything to sacrifice, it's our oil addiction!

Posted by: NonnyO at January 3, 2007 12:56 AM

Also, about the whole "hero" theme among peace officers and emergency personnel...

If the right wing truly considers them heroes, they would FUND them right. As it stands, they are too busy funding the combat operations of the military, and they are neglecting domestic security AND military infrastructure, both of which are just as important.

Another case of too many empty rhetorics and not enough action. But then, that's to be expected.

Posted by: monkey at January 3, 2007 11:45 AM

I told ya so! I knew it!

I really think if he had his way he would call up the draft and take everyone he could (except those offspring of the elite group that started this puppy) to slaughter the heck out of the rest of them in Iraq.

Now I am kind of glad they did execute Hussein earlier than later (if they just HAD to do it) because Hussein is gone, civil war is there, and to continue to throw lives at this thing is just plain stupid, and those are all words that have actually been on the newscasts and average Jane and Joe who have been listening to the news know it is stupid.

Vanity. Who is going to be the last one to die for sheer vanity????

NO MORE!!!!!!!

Bring them home!!!!!

"It's time(for me) to set aside politics and focus on the future," Bush said in remarks in the Rose Garden after meeting with his cabinet.

The fact that the words for me were not included, suggest that Bush is already attacking the 110th Congress suggesting that they are using politics in their policies, when they have yet to take control of Congress. So much for bipartisanship.