"GIVE PEACE A CHANCE: MUSICAL VIDEO STARRING JOHN LENNON

Whether it was the Vietnam War or the war with Korea or Iraq, the late John Lennon captures along with video the essence of "Give Peace a Chance."

It is worth watching again considering what has been happening in Iraq and how President Bush and the mainstream media have blocked out all coverage of the IRAQ WAR.

http://www.youtube.com/v/I-NRriHlLUk&hl=en

YOUTUBE MUSICAL VIDEO: "HOW DO YOU SLEEP AT NIGHT MR. PRESIDENT?"

All the Bush administration, FOX NEWS and rest of the mainstream media can talk about is the success of "the surge," but they never bring to their readers or viewers the truth about the war in IRAQ like this musical video does.

It is appropriately titled "How do you sleep at night Mr. President?" With a sub-title of "When you know a mother never got to say good-bye to her son."

This blogger and military veteran is totally disgusted with the media in the United States for putting the Iraq War on the back burner just because most of the people in the media never wore the uniform of the United States military and haven't got a clue what it is like to be in combat.

THIS MUSICAL VIDEO SHOULD BE WATCHED OVER AND OVER AGAIN IF YOU CARE ABOUT OUR TROOPS IN IRAQ.

http://www.youtube.com/v/WGT0UOr8eTE&hl=en

YOUTUBE MUSICAL TRIBUTE TO OUR TROOPS IN IRAQ AND THE IRAQI CHILDREN THEY HAVE HELPED

This YOUTUBE musical video is a moving tribute to our troops in Iraq and how they have reached out to the children of Iraq to help them in this horrible war that never had to be fought because Iraq had NOTHING to do with 9/11 and didn't have weapons of mass destruction or the means to build a nuclear bomb.

This VIDEO will bring tears to your eyes and at the same time make you very, very proud of the young soldiers who represent the United States in Iraq.

http://www.youtube.com/v/kxLLCuzJjVA&hl=en

FANTASTIC MUSIC VIDEO: KOREA,VIETNAM AND IRAQ: WAR IS WAR

Many veterans like myself have claimed there is not an ounce of difference between the Korean War, Vietnam War and now the Iraq War and this tremendous musical video shows war up close in Vietnam, but it easily could have been war in Korea or Iraq.

Bill Corcoran, editor of CORKSPHERE, former Cpl. (E-4) Squad Ldr., U.S. Army Combat Engineers, Korean War veteran.

http://www.youtube.com/v/j8KfuwDXLSg&hl=en

YOU TUBE VIDEO TRIBUTE TO OUR TROOPS IN IRAQ

This YOUTUBE video is a tribute to our fighting forces in IRAQ. EXCELLENT with GREAT music.

http://www.youtube.com/v/Ev2Ud2XgfM4&hl=en

ALIVEINBAGHDAD SITE TELLS THE TRUTH ABOUT BAGHDAD AND NOT BUSH WH AND U.S. MEDIA "SPIN"

As a blogger here in the United States, I have learned you cannot trust either the Bush administration or the mainstream media in the USA to tell you the truth about what is happening in Iraq.

ALIVEINBAGHDAD http://aliveinbaghdad.org/ is a site published and edited by Iraqis who live in Baghdad and know the TRUTH about Baghdad.

The following story from the ALIVEINBAGHDAD web site paints an entirely different picture of life in Baghdad from what the Bush Administration and mainstream media outlets like FOX NEWS are telling Americans.

Baghdad/Adhamiya, Iraq - It became common in Baghdad that if a Sunni family lived in a Shia neighborhood they may be forced to leave and vice versa. Many families were forced by militias to leave their homes if they lived in a neighborhood that was predominantly made up of the other sect.

Some of them lost a family member by the hands of militias which pushed them to leave their neighborhood or fled to a nearby country such as Syria or Jordan.

The Iraqi government has been working on assisting some of these displaced families to return to their houses either by providing them an amount of money, or utilizing the growing Iraqi military and police to provide security in the neighborhoods they used to live in. So far the efforts of the Iraqi government have yielded only small results. It remains to be seen whether the current security situation will remain stable. Due to ongoing worries about their security, thousands of families are still living far from their neighborhood and many continue to reside outside of Iraq.

One of the many areas hit hard by internal displacement is Adhamiya. More than 1000 families have been displaced from this neighborhood under the threat of death. Most of them were Shia but some of them were Sunni. The Shia families there were given the choice to become Sunni or die. For some Sunni families the reasons were different. Perhaps one of their family members worked with the Iraqi government or the United States, in some cases simply working with any foreign NGO may cause displacement. Organizations such as the Muslim Scholar’s Association and the Sahwa or “Awakening” councils are endeavoring to find their own solutions to the problem in Adhamiya.

The Sahwa Councils are attempting to provide security and eliminate the control of other militias or insurgents within Adhamiya, in order to provide a safe place for displaced or threatened families and encourage them to return home.

The current situation in Baghdad appears to be better than it has been between 2006 and 2007, but continues to be haunted by the worries of its residents. After years of violence and uncertainty, it seems that many people simply don’t have much faith that their government or other groups, whether the United States, Sahwa Forces, or others will be able to keep the peace.

BUSH MAY SEND MORE TROOPS TO AFGHANISTAN AS TALIBAN BECOMES STRONGER

Afghanistan has become the new "hot spot" in the Middle East and U.S. forces in the country are in dire need of more troops to fight the resurgent Taliban.

Bush says he is weighing whether to send more troops to Afghanistan

DEB RIECHMANN
AP News
Jul 02, 2008 10:26 EST
http://wiredispatch.com/news/?id=236152

President Bush said Wednesday he is weighing whether to send more troops to Afghanistan. Bush said it has been a "tough month" in Afghanistan, where more U.S. and NATO troops died during the past two months than in Iraq.

The president told a Rose Garden news conference that one reason for the rising deaths "is that our troops are taking the fight to a tough enemy ... of course there is going to be resistance." It has also been a "tough month for the Taliban," he said.

WASHINGTON POST: U.S. DEATHS RISE IN AFGHANISTAN. TALIBAN IS GETTING STRONGER

There is a major problem for the U.S. military.

160,000 U.S. troops are stuck in Iraq doing "guard duty" and little else.

Meanwhile, Afghanistan has exploded with the Taliban making its mark all across the country and U.S. deaths during the month of June in Afghanistan topped U.S. deaths in Iraq.

The problem the U.S. military faces is should they continue to rotate troops out of Iraq, or should they deploy them to Afghanistan where the 30,000 U.S. troops in Afghanistan need more support?

The media continues to talk about the success of Iraq, but they have conveniently overlooked how the Taliban is getting stronger in Afghanistan and violence is breaking out all across Afghanistan.

As has been the case with Iraq, the mainstream media appears to pay little or no attention to Afghanistan as the country spirals out of control.

The Washington Post is one of the few mainstream media outlets reporting on Afghanistan.

That in itself is an insult to every GI serving in both Afghanistan and Iraq and their families back in the United States.

COMMENTARY BY BILL CORCORAN, EDITOR OF CORKSPHERE.

U.S. Deaths Rise in AfghanistanJune Is Deadliest Month for Troops as Country Sees Taliban Resurgence

By Josh WhiteWashington Post Staff WriterWednesday, July 2, 2008; A01
http://tinyurl.com/5rndty

June was the deadliest month for U.S. troops in Afghanistan since the war there began in late 2001, as resilient and emboldened insurgents have stepped up attacks in an effort to gain control of the embattled country.

Defense officials and Afghanistan experts said the toll of 28 U.S. combat deaths recorded last month demonstrates a new resurgence of the Taliban, the black-turbaned extremists who were driven from power by U.S. forces almost seven years ago. Taliban units and other insurgent fighters have reconstituted in the country's south and east, aided by easy passage from mountain redoubts in neighboring Pakistan's lawless tribal regions.

The officials and experts said the spike in troop deaths should not be the only measure of the growing conflict in Afghanistan, but they acknowledged that the Taliban's persistent attacks on military units and civilians have frustrated U.S. and international efforts to help the Afghan government secure the country.

"What it points to is that the opposition is becoming more effective," said Barnett R. Rubin, an Afghanistan expert at New York University. "It is having a presence in more areas, being better organized, better financed and having a sustainable strategy. In all, their strategic situation has improved."

Violence in rural areas controlled by the Taliban and in eastern provinces along the border with Pakistan has increased in recent weeks as insurgents have begun using more makeshift bombs, borrowing a tactic honed by insurgents in Iraq. According to top U.S. commanders, the number of violent incidents has risen nearly 40 percent during the first half of 2008 compared with last year.

REUTERS: LAST U.S. "SURGE" BRIGADE BEGINS LEAVING IRAQ

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - The U.S. military has begun withdrawing from Iraq the last of the five additional combat brigades that were deployed to the country in 2007, a U.S. military spokesman said on Tuesday.

Last U.S. "surge" brigade begins leaving Iraq
Tue Jul 1, 2008 8:46 AM ET
http://tinyurl.com/62ymdm

The final "surge" brigade would leave Iraq by the end of July, the spokesman said. That was in line with plans by General David Petraeus, the commander of U.S. forces in Iraq, who has said lower levels of violence would allow the reductions.
U.S. troop levels are a key issue in the November presidential election.
The U.S. military had 20 combat brigades in Iraq at its peak in 2007, with troop levels around 160,000-170,000. Numbers will fall to about 140,000 once the final "surge" brigade departs.
"Elements of the fifth surge brigade have already begun redeploying, so, by the end of July, we will be at 15 combat brigade teams in Iraq," the military spokesman said.
He declined to identify the brigade or give its location for security reasons.
U.S. President George W. Bush sent an extra 30,000 soldiers to Iraq last year to stop savage sectarian violence between majority Shi'ites and minority Sunni Arabs that threatened to tip the country into all-out civil war.
The troop buildup was credited with helping improve security. Other factors were a rebellion by Sunni Arab tribal leaders against al Qaeda and a ceasefire by anti-American Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr.

BBC REPORTS: BAGHDAD SHOWS SIGNS OF REBIRTH

The streets of Baghdad are back in business. The teashops are busy. The shops and markets are bustling.

By Nicholas Witchell BBC News, Baghdad
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/7482307.stm

After years when there seemed to be no end to the city's trauma, people are feeling more confident.
Why, even property prices in Baghdad are rising. According to one estate agent we spoke to, they have doubled in the past four months.
Yes, things are better in Baghdad.
But before we get too carried away, it is important to stress that the improvements, while real, are plainly very brittle.
As US officials readily concede, comments about "breakthroughs" and "corners being turned" are premature.
Please turn on JavaScript. Media requires JavaScript to play.
A view from a coffee shop on how life is changing
The gains are fragile and reversible.
Indeed, as an influential report from the US Congress stated a few days ago, Iraq's security environment "remains volatile and dangerous".
It is just not quite as volatile and dangerous as it was this time last year.

WASHINGTON POST REPORTS: SUNNI BLOC TO REJOIN IRAQI GOVERNMENT

Sunni Bloc to Rejoin GovernmentBoycott Would End With Assignment of Iraqi Cabinet Posts

By Sudarsan RaghavanWashington Post Foreign ServiceWednesday, July 2, 2008; A08
http://tinyurl.com/4pm249

BAGHDAD, July 1 -- Iraq's main Sunni Muslim political bloc is on the verge of rejoining the Shiite-led government after a nearly year-long boycott, a step widely seen as vital to reconciliation after years of sectarian conflict.

Sunni leaders said Tuesday they had submitted the names of candidates to fill at least five cabinet posts as well as the position of deputy prime minister to Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki. Iraqi government spokesman Ali al-Dabbagh said Maliki plans to put the six names to a parliamentary vote as early as next week.

"As soon as they are approved, there's nothing stopping them from rejoining the government," Dabbagh said.

The bloc, known as the Tawafaq Front, withdrew from the government last August over demands for constitutional changes and the release of Sunni detainees from Iraq's prisons.

Sunni leaders now say the government has done enough to address their core conditions, including passing an amnesty law that has freed thousands of Sunni detainees this year. The leaders said they were also encouraged by the government's efforts in tackling Shiite militias, especially the Mahdi Army of Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr.