SHOCKING VIDEO: SEXUAL ABUSE AND RAPE BRING SHARP RISE IN SUICIDE WITH AFGHAN WOMEN

There has been an alarming rise in suicides and suicide attempts by Afghan women after they were sexually abused or raped.

The Afghan women were hoping the ouster of the Taliban by U.S. and NATO forces would bring about change, but the women are still waiting for that happen.

WARNING: THIS VIDEO IS VERY GRAPHIC:

http://www.youtube.com/v/du_ELteelew&hl=en&fs=1

Click on diamond-shaped arrow to activate video.

78 AFGHAN CIVILIANS KILLED BY U.S. AND AFGHAN TROOPS

Afghanistan has exploded with violence and a Marine General is calling for a "surge" to try and stop the Taliban who have emerged as a threat to U.S. and NATO forces in the country.

Meanwhile, the Afghan government is complaining that U.S. and Afghan soldiers KILLED 78 civilians.

Karzai condemns civilian killings
Afghan human rights group claims at least 78 killed in operation in west
The Associated Press
updated 5:14 p.m. CT, Sat., Aug. 23, 2008

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/26353890/

KABUL, Afghanistan - Scores of Afghan civilians who had gathered in a small village for the memorial ceremony of a militia commander were killed when U.S. and Afghan soldiers launched an attack in the middle of the night, officials and villagers said Saturday.

President Hamid Karzai condemned the early Friday operation in western Afghanistan and said most of the dead were civilians. The U.S. coalition, however, said it believed only five civilians were among those killed and said that it would investigate the Afghan claims.

An Afghan human rights group that visited the site of the operation said Saturday that at least 78 people were killed. The Ministry of Interior has said 76 civilians died, including 50 children under the age of 15, though the Ministry of Defense said 25 militants and five civilians were killed.

Meanwhile, a school principal and police official said Afghan soldiers tried to hand out food and clothes Saturday in Azizabad — the village in Herat province where the operation took place. But villagers started throwing stones at the soldiers, who then fired on the villagers and wounded up to eight people.

15 houses destroyedAn Afghan Independent Human Rights Commission researcher visited Azizabad in Herat province and found that 15 houses had been destroyed and others were damaged, said Ahmad Nader Nadery, the group's commissioner.

Nadery said the information was preliminary and the group would publish a final report. He did not provide a breakdown of how many were civilians or militants, and said 20 women were among the dead and that children also were killed.

Nadery confirmed reports from villagers that a memorial ceremony was being held for a deputy militia commander allied with the Afghan police named Timor Shah, who had died in a personal dispute several months ago. Because of the memorial, relatives and friends from outside Azizabad were staying overnight in village homes, he said.

Click on link to read the full story http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/26353890/

NEW VIDEO: FOX NEWS' DICK MORRIS CLAIMS WE DIDN'T INVADE IRAQ

Dick Morris, who used to work for President Bill Clinton, made a total fool of himself on FOX NEWS' "Hannity and Colmes" when he said the United States DIDN'T INVADE IRAQ, but was invited into IRAQ by the IRAQI government.

Morris, who never did have any credibility, has now gone off the deep end and is just another pathetic fool appearing on FOX NEWS.

Watch the VIDEO here: http://www.youtube.com/v/8QhK2lA6NKs&hl=en&fs=1

Click on the diamond-shaped arrow in center of picture to see Dick Morris grilled by "Hannity and Colmes" co-host, ALAN COLMES.

KISS YOUR KIDS GOOD-BYE: JOHN McCAIN FEELS A DRAFT

John McCain, War Games And The Draft

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/linda-hansen/john-mccain-war-games-and_b_120659.html

My friends, John McCain feels a draft.

And I'm with you all the way, good buddy.

We Southerners are famous for firing the first shot when we're in a snit. I'm with you when you say the new draft should not be like the old one. You did not, of course, offer us any idea as to how you would amend the Selective Service. So, liberal or not, I'm going to do my patriotic duty.

If we're going to fight the good fight for the next hundred years, we need some damn rules.

We need a draft again.

A shiny new one. The old Selective Service was just that -- selective.

There were easy deferments for those who had the money to stay in college. Lots of Vietnam-era privileged guys got a sudden yen for graduate degrees. And others, like George W. and Dan Quayle, could avoid the draft altogether because daddy had money, had power, had influence. Daddy just pulled a few strings and got you bumped ahead of every other poor guy on the National Guard waiting list, or got you into grad school even when your academic record put you so low on the list of applicants you left skid marks.

Nope. We can't have that. We're going to play fair this time. No matter whose keester winds up in a sling.

Look to games to define the rules of fair play for games. Let's do it like, say, the NBA. You know, first round draft picks, second round, third round and so on. And no deferments. None. Here's how it goes:

First Round: The kids, nieces, nephews and/or grandchildren of every member of the executive branch who supports the war. The president and vice-president are the first Americans to send all of their family's kids off to war. Every last one of them.

Second Round: Legislative branch kids. Legislators who vote to authorize war send their own children. Along with executive branch kids, they are the first wave to the front lines.

Third Round: DOD, Pentagon and war-mongering think tank policy makers/writers. All their young'uns are gone.

Fourth Round: Hit up corporate America. Kids of defense contractors, oil company execs and the like.

If you love the notion of a war, if you promote it, vote for it or stand to make a profit from it -- then you are certainly happy to do your patriotic duty. You'll want to share, to the fullest extent, the power and glory of your righteous war. You've earned the privilege.

John McCain has it on good authority (George W.) that The Hundred Years' War is more than a boring chapter in European history. It's Chapter One in the Bush/Cheney foreign policy crisis handbook, War Games: The Pre-emptive Punch Power Play.

The Bush/McCain doctrine is clear: It is imperative to strike the first blow when we have a notion someone out there means to hurt America. Or even piss us off. Especially if they've got oil. Or a pipeline. We hit first and we hit hard. Any perceived enemy is fair game. No verifiable evidence of evil intent required.

These Grand Ole Pugilists know evil when they see it. Dubya has sixth sense enough to look into the eyes of another power player and see right into the guy's soul (a skill, one can hope, he will share with McCain should November bring us a GOP victory).

Bellicose, saber-rattlin' War Games. That's what Bush/McCain foreign policy is all about. America is not alarmed.

Our role, as defined by the current administration, is to go to the mall. We are the Shop-for-Freedom Fighters. The vast majority of us are non-military families. And it's just fine to play the War Game when the "pieces" -- the toy soldiers -- belong to somebody else.

But what do you do when the troops are worn slap out?