ACTRESS JESSICA LANGE BASHES IRAQ WAR IN GRADUATION SPEECH

BRONXVILLE, N.Y. (AP) — Oscar-winner Jessica Lange bashed the Bush administration and denounced the war in Iraq during a commencement address at Sarah Lawrence College.

The star of "Tootsie" and "Blue Sky" was applauded by students Friday at the small liberal arts college after comparing the conflict with the Vietnam War. She said the graduates have "a heavy burden" to chart a new path for the country.

http://www.pennlive.com/newsflash/entertainment/index.ssf?/base/entertainment-10/121165255238830.xml&storylist=entertainment

"We are living in an America that, in the last seven and a half years, has waged an unnecessary war, established prison camps, condoned torture, employed corporate armies, eliminated the right of habeas corpus, practiced extraordinary rendition, and believe me, this is only a partial list," Lange said.

Lange asked the graduates, including her 22-year-old daughter Hannah Shepard, to commit themselves to the "pursuit of peace."

HERE ARE NAMES OF LATEST IRAQ CASUALTIES

Casualty Reports:
Source: http://warnewstoday.blogspot.com/
Click on "BLUE" for more details on each GI.


Marine Sergeant Shurvon Phillip, 27, was in Iraq's Anbar Province, in May 2005 was riding back to his base after a patrol when an anti-tank mine exploded under his Humvee. The Humvee's other soldiers were dealt an assortment of wounds: concussions, broken bones, herniated discs. Along with a broken jaw and a broken leg, Phillip suffered one of the war's signature wounds on the American side: though no shrapnel entered his head, the blast rattled his brain profoundly. A portion of the left side of his skull had been cut away to relieve the pressure of the casing of bone against his swelling brain. "His head," Ulerie said, "looked like a ball with the air half out of it." Piero and Clay Kelly, the hospital's chief of physical medicine and rehabilitation, explained that Phillip had hardly progressed from when he first arrived at the Cleveland facility; he remained in a nearly vegetative state and was seen as having, in the words of an evaluating neurologist, "little hope for improvement." But Piero said a system of nostril-flaring that Phillip mastered with his speech therapist had made him able last spring to respond reliably to yes-or-no questions. This breakthrough, Piero said, dissuaded the team from diminishing his physical work.

Michigan National Guard veteran Sgt. Michelle Rudzitis, 33, recounted losing her right leg to a roadside bomb in Baghdad, Iraq, on Jan. 22, 2007. Her Humvee was the only vehicle in a convoy struck by a bomb that hurls a piece of molten copper through steel. Two in the crew were killed and two were injured, including Rudzitis, whose right leg was severely damaged. Rudzitis, a former Farmington Hills resident who lives in Traverse City, said the Humvee's extra armor had been removed because it was to be refitted with new shielding. Her description of the injuries -- her eyelashes were fused by the blast so she could not open her eyes, and she woke up in a hospital with her leg amputated.

Army National Guard Sgt. Ralph McCallum, 23, it was June 2007 and he was riding in the gunner position atop a convoy’s scout truck as it traveled through southern Iraq. A roadside bomb hidden behind a lamppost suddenly detonated, knocking McCallum off the peak of the Humvee and inside the vehicle, which soon caught on fire.Rescuers pulled him from the burning Humvee, but he came away with deep lacerations on the left side of his head as well as his left forearm, and the radial tendon in his right hand was sliced. Three soldiers inside the fortified vehicle suffered concussions.

Spc. B.J. Jackson of the Iowa National Guard woke up at Brooke Army Medical Center after he lost both legs and was severely burned by a land mine in Iraq.

Jacob "Jake" Knospler. Jake is a 26-year-old Marine. This great Marine and American served two tours in Iraq. In 2004, while fighting in Fallujah, he was injured when an enemy grenade put a hole in his cheek and upper jaw. The right side of his brain was injured and he was partially blind and deaf. There were other injuries to his body. He already had 22 surgeries.

U.S. Army Spc. Matt McCool suffered multiple skull fractures and a concussion from a bomb in Iraq in late March. McCool was treated at Walter Reed National Army Medical Center in Washington, D.C. and at the Palo Alto Polytrauma Rehabilitation Center. He later returned home.

Army veteran Rob Kislow lost his lower right leg in a firefight in Iraq two years ago

VIDEO: SEVEN VETERANS UNDER VA'S CARE COMMIT SUICIDE

This short video is just one of many telling how the Department of Veteran Affairs is failing miserably in treating veterans returning from Iraq and Afghanistan, and unfortunately many of them end up committing suicide.

When you watch this video just remember this is being repeated in hundreds of VA hospitals all across America.

It is hard to believe the VA can't take care of our veterans, but the Bush administration last month send $15 BILLION DOLLARS to the Iraqi government, and now the Iraqi government can't account for the money.

How did the United States ever allow two evil men like George W. Bush and Dick Cheney get us into this horrible mess in Iraq?

Watch video here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PuZfWo-JKBY

VIDEO: KEEP HOLDING ON 399TH COMBAT SUPPORT HOSPITAL

A video musical tribute to the men and women of the 399th Combat Support Hospital in Iraq.

They do so much and get so little credit and are totally forgotten by the rotten mainstream media in the United States.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OU7RB6pNoPk

VIDEO: LOOK WHAT YOU'VE DONE TO THE CHILDREN OF IRAQ PRESIDENT BUSH

One can only wonder if President Bush or Vice President Cheney ever stop to look at what they have done to the children of Iraq. Probably not. They really don't care. This graphic video shows the results of Bush and Cheney's war on the little children of Iraq.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DrySL0cAaN4

VIDEO: CHILDREN OF WAR! MUSIC BY MOEIN

This moving video with music by Moein is a sad but realistic tribute to the war that President Bush and Vice President Cheney unleashed on the Iraqi people for absolutely no reason at all.

Iran had absolutely NOTHING to do with 9/11 and everyone who has an IQ over 75 knows it.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ir5-fPRwfsI

VIDEO: OZZY: BLACK RAIN: BLOODY BLACKWATER

Do President Bush and Vice President Cheney have any idea what they have unleashed on the people of Iraq? I doubt it. And on top of that, I don't think either one of them care.

This video shows the hell Bush and Cheney brought on the Iraqi people and their children.

Music by Ozzy with graphic footage.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M78oltQCDCU

VIDEO: TELL ME WHY: CHILDREN VICTIMS OF BUSH'S WAR

While President Bush lounges at the White House or his ranch in Crawford, Texas, this video shows EXACTLY what he has done to the children of Iraq.

Enjoy your Memorial Day, President Bush.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6dNg9vKsHmw

VIDEO REPORT: WILL SISTANI END THE IRAQ WAR?

Pepe Escobar, the award-winnng journalist with THE REAL NEWS NETWORK , explains how the Grand Ayatollah ali-Sistani is about to issue a fatwa which would demand all US troops leave Iraq immediately. In this video, Escobar walks you through exactly what is taking place behind the scenes in Iraq and how the Sistani may be the ONLY person who can end this horrible war.

http://therealnews.com/t/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=31&Itemid=74&jumival=1556&updaterx=2008-05-24+11%3A45%3A47

15 BILLION DOLLARS IN IRAQ SPENDING UNACCOUNTED FOR

The US government is not only pouring young men and women down the drain in Iraq, but now a report indicates $15 BILLION dollars given to Iraq cannot be accounted for.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20080523/pl_afp/usiraqmilitarybudget

WASHINGTON (AFP) - The Pentagon cannot account for nearly 15 billion dollars in payments for goods and services in Iraq, according to an internal audit which members of Congress blasted Friday as a "shocking" accountability failure.

Of 8.2 billion dollars in US taxpayer-funded defense contracts reviewed by the defense department's inspector general, the Pentagon could not properly account for more than 7.7 billion dollars.

US COMPANIES WILL DIVVY UP IRAQ CONTRACTS

WASHINGTON – Sometime soon, a group of American corporate executives and military leaders will sit down and divide Iraq into three parts.

JAMES RISEN; The New York TimesLast updated: May 24th, 2008 01:25 AM (PDT)
http://article.wn.com/view/2008/05/24/Companies_will_divvy_up_Iraq_contract/?section=TopStories&template=cheetah-search%2Findex.txt

Their meeting will not have anything to do with Iraq’s national sovereignty, but instead will involve slicing up billions of dollars in work for the defense contractors that support the U.S. military presence in the country.

For the first time since the war began, the largest single Pentagon contract in Iraq is being divided among three companies, ending the monopoly held by KBR, the Houston-based corporation that has been accused of wasteful spending and mismanagement and of exploiting its political ties to Vice President Dick Cheney.

Yet even as the Pentagon begins to pull apart the enormous KBR contract, critics warn that the new three-company deal could result in higher costs for American taxpayers and weak oversight by the military. In fact, under the new deal, KBR and the two other companies could make more than three times as much as KBR has been paid each year since the war began.

Last month the Pentagon awarded the companies pieces of a new contract to provide food, shelter and basic services for American soldiers, a 10-year, $150 billion deal that stretches far beyond the final days of the Bush administration.

KBR will still get a sizable chunk of the business, but now it will have to share the work with Fluor Corp. and DynCorp International.

Army officials and executives of the three companies are planning to meet in the next few weeks to start the complex process of breaking up KBR’s sprawling operations in Iraq. KBR, previously a subsidiary of Halliburton, once headed by Cheney, has collected more than $24 billion since the war began. It has 40,000 employees in Iraq and 28,000 more in Afghanistan and Kuwait.

But KBR has come under fire from Congress and Pentagon auditors for complaints ranging from making more than $200 million in excessive charges to delivering unsafe water to American troops, to doing little to prevent sexual assaults of its female employees, often by their KBR co-workers.

SUNNI PREACHER LASHES OUT AT BUSH, US OFFICIALS OVER KORAN SHOOTING INCIDENT

Even after President Bush and the US military issued an apology for a GI using the Koran for target practice, the Iraqi people are in a rage over the incident. The latest to protest the shooting even after Bush apologized is on the on the Sunni preachers who lashed out at Bush and the US officials.

Sunnis condemn sniper's Quran shooting
Iraqi preachers’ angry response follows apologies by Bush, U.S. officials

The Associated Press
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/24792627/

BAGHDAD - Sunni preachers on Friday denounced the shooting of a Quran, Islam's holy book, by a U.S. sniper in Iraq following a series of apologies by American commanders and President Bush.
The use of Islam's holy book for target practice has triggered an angry response in Iraq and protests in Afghanistan as U.S.-led forces work to maintain their alliance with Sunni Arabs who have turned against al-Qaida in Iraq.
"The enemies of Islam have launched their campaign against Islam and the Prophet Muhammad and recently against the holy Quran," said Sheik Omar Mohammed during his sermon at a Sunni mosque in Baghdad.
"A bullet that might have shot at an Iraqi believer, was directed toward the holy Quran instead," Mohammed said. "Do not think this is a defeat for us, but it will create enthusiasm to stand up more for this religion."
Sniper disciplinedThe U.S. military said Sunday it had disciplined the sniper and removed him from Iraq after he was found to have used the Quran for target practice May 9. Iraqi police found the bullet-riddled book two days later on the field of a firing range in a predominantly Sunni area west of Baghdad.
Bush apologized to Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki for the incident after several U.S. military officials tried to soothe anger over the shooting, particularly among Sunni Arabs who have become key allies in the fight against insurgents.
A NATO soldier and two civilians were killed Thursday during a violent demonstration in western Afghanistan over the incident. But there has been relatively little protest in Muslim countries despite fears of a repeat of the worldwide violence sparked by similar perceived insults against Islam, including Prophet Muhammad cartoons published in Denmark.
The imam of Abu Hanifa, the main Sunni mosque in Baghdad, also condemned the shooting and criticized the leaders of fellow Muslim states for not speaking out against it.
"We Muslims condemn the act committed by this malicious person and at the same time we express our regret that Muslim leaders all over the world did not condemn this crime ... it indicates their weakness and cowardliness," Sheik Dawood al-Alusi said.

CNN REPORTS: ROADSIDE BOMB IN ANBAR PROVINCE INJURES 7 MARINES

The Bush administration and FOX NEWS have been bragging about how "the surge" has made Anbar Province almost a Garden of Eden, but on Saturday seven US Marines were injured when a roadside bomb exploded near their convoy in Anbar Province.

Roadside bomb in Iraq injures 7 Marines
Story Highlights
Seven Marines wounded by roadside bomb in Falluja, U.S. military says
Civilian interpreter killed, two Iraqi police officers injured in blast
Attack occurred at checkpoint manned by Iraqi police, U.S. troops

http://www.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/meast/05/23/iraq.main/index.html

BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- Seven U.S. Marines were wounded by a roadside bomb that also wounded two Iraqi police officers and killed a civilian interpreter in the Anbar province city of Falluja Friday morning, according to the U.S. military.
The Iraqi Interior Ministry earlier called the attack a suicide car bombing and said that one of its police officers were killed.
An Interior Ministry official said it happened at a checkpoint normally manned by Iraqi police and U.S. troops.
Also on Friday, a suicide bombing outside police headquarters in Falluja wounded four police officers, the official said.
Falluja had been a stronghold for insurgents in the early days of the Iraqi war but is now a center for the "awakening," which opposes al Qaeda in Iraq.
U.S. and Iraqi military operations have chased many al Qaeda in Iraq cells out of Anbar province, according to military accounts.
Those militants have now gained control in other areas, such as Nineveh province, and security forces have embarked on an offensive against them there, officials say.
A U.S. soldier was killed Thursday in a roadside bombing southwest of Baghdad, the U.S. military said Friday, bringing the number of U.S. military personnel killed in Iraq to 4,080.