THE TRUE STORY ON HOW PALIN VOTED ON "THE BRIDGE TO NOWHERE"

BRIDGE TO SOMEWHERE.... The good news is, the McCain campaign is now starting to tell the public about Sarah Palin's accomplishments in Alaska. The bad news is, the principal example of Palin's strength as a leader is a blatant falsehood.

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/

On a couple of the Sunday morning shows, John McCain and his chief surrogates touted Palin's opposition to the now-infamous "bridge to nowhere," a $398 million bridge to connect the town of Ketchikan to an island with 50 residents.

To McCain and his supporters, Palin's firm stand against the congressional earmark is compelling evidence of her courage and conviction.

But what McCain and his cohorts are claiming is simply untrue. Palin supported the funding for the project, and kept the federal funds after the bridge deal fell through. Indeed, she ran for governor on a "build-the-bridge platform," and ended up directing federal funds to other wasteful pork projects, for fear of having to return unused tax dollars funds to the federal government.

This isn't an example the McCain campaign should be bragging about; it's an example the campaign should find embarrassing.

It does, however, lead to another question. McCain and other Republicans are boasting that Palin opposed the bridge. They're wrong. So, is the McCain campaign a) completely ignorant about Palin's actual record on this key issue; or b) simply trying to con the public?

Under the circumstances, it may be either. Making matters worse, I suppose it could be both.
If the single best example of Palin's leadership in office is bogus, what, pray tell, is the McCain campaign's Plan B?

HOW THE VA ABANDONS OUR VETS

The Veterans Administration is supposed to help wounded veterans not make them prove their wounds are combat related.

By Joshua Kors
This article appeared in the September 15, 2008 edition of The Nation.
http://www.thenation.com/doc/20080915/kors/print

Wounded soldiers returning from Iraq are increasingly being wrongly diagnosed by the military, which prevents them from collecting benefits. What Jimenez didn't realize is that before he could receive benefits for his wounds, he'd have to prove that those wounds came from war. Three and a half years later, the sergeant is still making his case. The Department of Veterans Affairs isn't convinced. And it won't give him his benefits until it is.

The VA requires all veterans to prove their wounds are "service-connected" before it writes them a check. Jimenez thought that hurdle was merely a formality. The Army sergeant had been struck by two roadside bombs. The first sliced into his arms; six months later, a second bomb sprayed scrap metal into his face, knocking him unconscious and leaving him brain damaged. He began having seizures and suffering from memory loss. The blast left a persistent ringing in his right ear. The stress sparked nightmares, flashbacks and acid-reflux disease.
"I'm a different person now," Jimenez says glumly. "I come home; I lock myself in my room. I don't really talk to anyone. I used to be fun." Now, he says, he can't even have a bowl of cereal. It gives him heartburn for days. "That second bomb, it killed me--it just left my body." Sick, suicidal, the sergeant sought help from the VA.

The VA's diagnosis: too much caffeine. "They said I was drinking too much Red Bull. That's what was causing my problems."

Jimenez got mad. At that point, he did something few veterans even consider: he sued the VA.

The sergeant is a member of Veterans for Common Sense (VCS), one of the most prominent veterans' groups in the country. In July 2007, executive director Paul Sullivan filed a class-action lawsuit on behalf of Jimenez and the thousands of veterans in his organization who were wounded in Iraq and, he says, were rebuffed by the VA when they sought disability and medical benefits.

"The VA needs more than a few minor changes at the margins. It needs a massive overhaul," says Sullivan. His organization's lawsuit asked Judge Samuel Conti to do exactly that: radically restructure the VA and the way it processes veterans' claims. The VA moved immediately to get the case dismissed, asserting that Sullivan's organization didn't represent the nation's wounded vets and had no standing to demand an overhaul of a $94 billion government organization.
Judge Conti disagreed.

The 86-year-old World War II veteran scheduled the trial for the end of April, and he demanded VA's top officials appear and take the stand. Over seven days VCS's lawyers would press them to explain internal e-mails and studies, statistics and videos, all suggesting that high-ranking officials purposely deceived Congress and the public, twisted data to cloak the VA's poor care of the ill and injured, and fired a prominent doctor who decided to expose the problems.

Click here to read full story: http://www.thenation.com/doc/20080915/kors/print

CNN REPORTS: IRAQ SIGNS $3 BILLION OIL DEAL WITH CHINA

The United States has lost 4,133 troops in the Iraq War and another 34,000 wounded, and China has not lost a single soldier in the Iraq war yet China is the recipient of a $3 BILLION oil deal with Iraq.

Iraq signs $3 billion oil deal with Chinese national oil company

Deal is first major contract with foreign company since fall of Saddam Hussein
China National Petroleum Corporation to develop oil field in southern Wasit province
Oil field expected to produce 125,000 barrels a day within three years

http://www.cnn.com/2008/BUSINESS/08/30/iraq.china.oil.deal/index.html

BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- Iraq has signed its first major oil deal with a foreign company since the fall of Saddam Hussein's regime, a spokesman for the Iraqi Oil Ministry said Saturday.

Iraq's oil fields currently produce about 2.5 million barrels a day.

It was the first time in more than 35 years that Iraq has allowed foreign oil companies to do business inside its borders.

The contract with the China National Petroleum Corporation could be worth up to $3 billion. It would allow the CNPC to develop an oil field in southern Iraq's Wasit province for about 20 years, Oil Ministry spokesman Assim Jihad said.

Iraq's Cabinet must still approve the contract, but Jihad said that would happen soon and work could start within a few months.

The Chinese company will provide technical advisers, oil workers and equipment to develop al-Ahdab oil field, providing fuel for al-Zubaidiya power plant in Wasit, southeast of Baghdad, bordering Iran, Jihad said.

Once development begins, the field is expected to start producing a preliminary amount of 25,000 barrels of oil a day and an estimated constant daily amount of 125,000 barrels after three years, he said.

Iraq currently produces about 2.5 million barrels a day, 2 million of which are exported daily, Jihad said. That is close to its status before the U.S.-led war that toppled Saddam in 2003, but below its levels prior to the Persian Gulf War in 1991.

Click here to read more: http://www.cnn.com/2008/BUSINESS/08/30/iraq.china.oil.deal/index.html

VIDEO: JOHN McCAIN HAS ALZHEIMERS?

There are just too many indications that John McCain may be in the early stages of Alzheimers and they are all shown here in this video.

http://www.youtube.com/v/NZu7kioXqyY&hl=en&fs=1

Click on diamond-shaped arrow to activate video

FANTASTIC VIDEO: THE REAL THREAT OUR TROOPS FACE IN IRAQ--A FILM BY CASEY J. PORTER

The Iraqi insurgents keep coming up with new ways to kill Americans in Iraq. The lob bomb is one of the newest devices used by insurgents. This film by Casey J. Porter, "Area of Operations," gives viewers an inside look at what it is like on a daily basis in Iraq and how our troops view the Iraq war.

John McCain says we have won the Iraq war. Nothing could be further from the truth.

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

Click on diamond-shaped arrow in picture to activate video.

VIDEO: THE IRAQ WAR: WHAT A WONDERFUL WORLD

The United States still has 160,000 troops in Iraq and not a day goes by there isn't a firefight somewhere in Iraq. The media doesn't cover it anymore and there are some people who say they are sick of the Iraq war. Who isn't?

But now is NOT the time to forget our brave young warriors in Iraq and this video shows why.

http://www.youtube.com/v/JGjf5QH4sIU&hl=en&fs=1

Click on diamond-shaped arrow to activate video.

VIDEO U.S. MARINE FOOT PATROL AMBUSHED BY IRAQI INSURGENTS

This video is raw and graphic and shows what it is like when a U.S. Marine foot patrol is ambushed by Iraqi insurgents.

http://www.youtube.com/v/v7f1-cDSZWk&hl=en&fs=1

Click on diamond-shaped arrow in picture to activate video.

IRAQ IS A TOTAL MESS AND NOBODY CARES

The Iraq War has been a horrible failure and the proof is in what happened in Iraq today.

Friday, August 29, 2008

http://warnewstoday.blogspot.com/

News of the Day for Friday, August 29, 2008
Shi'ite people march during an anti-U.S. military rally after attending Friday prayers in Baghdad's Sadr City August 29, 2008. REUTERS/Kareem Raheem (IRAQ) Note: Al Sadr announced yesterday that he is extending the cease fire, but his movement continues to oppose the occupation by peaceful means. -- CReported Security IncidentsAs is typical of Fridays, there was comparatively little political violence reported today. I do want to note that the deaths of U.S. soldiers on Wednesday and Thursday, which Whisker noted yesterday, have gone largely unreported in U.S. corporate media, as did the other substantial violence which occurred yesterday.

BaghdadRoadside bomb explodes in Yarmouk. No casualties reported.Tal AfarPolice foil an attempted suicide attack on a mosque, kill the attacker.

Tikrit"Coalition" (probably meaning U.S.) troops kill a "wanted man" in an operation targeting an "al Qaeda" leader. Implication seems to be that the "wanted man" was not the target of the operation.Other News of the Day

Contrary to earlier reports, it appears a deal on the continued presence of U.S. forces is not imminent after all. The Bush administration is balking over the Iraqis' demand for withdrawal by 2011. VoI report:
Most of the items in the long-term security agreement with Washington are still pending negotiations and not settled yet, an Iraqi legislator said on Friday, ruling out the parliament would vote over the deal."Differences revolve around a schedule of the withdrawal of U.S. forces from Iraq as well as their powers and the description of these troops," Abdelkareem al-Samarraie, a member of the Iraqi parliament's Security & Defense Committee, told Aswat al-Iraq – Voices of Iraq – (VOI). A declaration of principles had been signed by U.S. President George W. Bush and Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki in December 2007. The declaration was planned to be ratified on July 31, 2008, to be effective as of January 1, 2009.The agreement should govern the presence of U.S. troops in Iraq after the year 2008. This presence is currently depending on a mandate by the UN, renewed annually upon the request of the Iraqi government. The deal should not be effective before a 275-member Iraqi parliament approves it. Samarraie, who belongs to the (Sunni) Iraqi Accordance Front (IAF), the third largest in parliament with 38 out of a total 275 seats, pointed out that the Iraqi political leaders hope the year 2011 would be a final date for the end of foreign presence in Iraq."Although the Iraqi delegation has insisted on that date, the Americans have some reservations over it," he added.

U.S. forces arrest a senior member of the "de-Baathification Committee chaired by their old friend Ahmad Chalabi. Chalabi defends him. Reuters report:
U.S. forces arrested the deputy head of a committee that purged Iraq's government of members of Saddam Hussein's party, an ally said, but the U.S. military said he was a wanted militia leader behind a deadly Baghdad bombing. U.S. troops detained Ali al-Lami, general manager of a committee established in 2003 and 2004 by then U.S. governor Paul Bremer to remove members of Saddam's Baath party from the government, on Wednesday, the committee's head said on Thursday.A U.S. military statement said its troops seized a man at the airport suspected of planning a bomb attack in eastern Baghdad's Sadr City slum in June that killed 10 people, including two U.S soldiers and two U.S. civilian contractors. "He was captured at the airport. He had just returned from Lebanon with his family," Ahmed al-Chelabi, director of the deBaathification Committee, said in a statement. "We strongly condemn this operation against one of the highest officials of the ... committee, who had done good work."The U.S. military said the man they picked up at the airport, whom they could not name, was a senior "special groups criminal", jargon for Shi'ite militia cells it says are backed by Iran. Iran denies backing Iraqi militants."Coalition forces captured a man suspected of working within the highest echelons of the special groups criminals," spokesman for the U.S. military, Major John Hall, said.

AP's Robert Reid channels the U.S. spin that al-Lami was working for Iran and Lebanon's Hezbollah. Reading between the lines, however, it seems more accurate to portray this as a further attempt to walk back the pro-Shiite tilt of the first years of the occupation. The reaction to the arrest splits along sectarian lines. -- C Excerpt:

BAGHDAD — A senior official in Nouri al-Maliki's government was in custody Thursday suspected of ties to Iranian-backed Shiite militias and plotting a June bombing that killed 10 people, including four Americans, Iraqi authorities said.The arrest of Ali al-Lami — taken Wednesday as he left a plane arriving from Lebanon — reinforced suspicions about Tehran's influence within the Shiite-led Iraqi government and could open wider probes into Shiite networks, including possible links to Lebanon's Hezbollah.Al-Lami heads a commission responsible for keeping Saddam Hussein loyalists out of government posts and has been a target of criticism from Sunni leaders who claim the government wants to limit the overall Sunni voice in political and security issues.He was arrested by U.S. and Iraqi troops at Baghdad's airport as he returned with his family from medical treatment in Beirut, said a member of his committee, Qaiser Watout.U.S. and Iraqi troops were waiting for al-Lami as the plane's doors opened, Watout said."We condemn this act," Watout said. "Al-Lami was a moderate official and we are surprised by his arrest."U.S. military officials would not confirm the arrest of al-Lami, who has been involved in government affairs since shortly after Saddam's fall in 2003.But the U.S. command said a "suspected senior" leader of Iranian-backed "Special Groups" militias was detained at the airport for allegedly planning the June 24 bombing of a municipal building in the capital's Shiite district of Sadr City. Two American soldiers and two State Department employees died in the blast along with six Iraqis.

ARMY'S SUICIDE RATE HITS NEW HIGH--DENVER POST

The Army's suicide rate is at a high, and kin say that multiple deployments are to blame. Some troops with mental illnesses are cleared to serve in Iraq.

Read full story here:

By David Olinger and Erin Emery The Denver Post

MUST SEE VIDEO: DEMOCRATIC DELEGATE DEBRA DUPED BY McCAIN CAMPAIGN IN TV AD

The young girl, Debra Bartoshevich, in this McCain TV ad is a Democrat who was a Wisconsin Hillary Clinton delegate and now claims she is going to vote for John McCain for President.

A reporter asked her if she knew McCain was ANTI-ABORTION and she said she had been told McCain was PRO-CHOICE.

Ooops! Too late now, Debra. You are all over TV saying you are a Democrat who is going to vote for McCain.

Watch McCain ad featuring Debra here:

http://www.youtube.com/v/QrcPDyZK2S8&hl=en&fs=1

Click on diamond-shaped arrow in center of picture to activate video.

WHAT McCAIN VICTORY COULD MEAN: NO MONEY FOR HEALTH CARE AND END OF VOLUNTEER ARMY

In judging the shape of a future John McCain presidency, there are already plenty of dots that are easy to connect. They reveal an image of a war-like Empire so full of hubris that it could take the world into a cascade of crises, while extinguishing what is left of the noble American Republic.

By Robert Parry, Consortium NewsPosted on August 28, 2008, Printed on August 28, 2008

http://www.alternet.org/story/96687/

McCain has made clear he would continue and even escalate George W. Bush's open-ended global war on Islamic radicals. McCain buys into the neoconservative vision of expending U.S. treasure and troops to kill as many Muslim militants as possible.

McCain's tough talk -- for instance, his joking about "bomb, bomb Iran" and his vow to pursue Osama bin Laden "to the gates of hell" -- is indistinguishable from Bush's "bring 'em on," "smoke 'em out," "dead or alive" rhetoric.

Beyond the words, McCain's global war strategy is as hawkish, if not more so, than Bush's. In late 2001 and early 2002, McCain took the lead in pushing the neocon plan of a rapid pivot from the invasion of Afghanistan toward the prospective invasion of Iraq.

Even before the Taliban had been thoroughly defeated -- and as the Bush administration was failing to chase bin Laden to the gates of Tora Bora or to the gates of northwest Pakistan -- McCain was advocating a diversion of U.S. intelligence and military assets toward Iraq's Saddam Hussein, who had nothing to do with 9/11.

That premature pivot from Afghanistan to Iraq may go down as one of the worst national security blunders in the history of the United States. It has bogged the U.S. military down in two indefinite wars while fueling anti-Americanism around the world and especially among the billion-plus Muslims.

Yet, McCain and his neocon allies have never acknowledged this serious error of judgment, nor has the mainstream U.S. news media demanded that McCain accept responsibility for this catastrophic mistake.

McCain instead gets away with boasting about the supposed success of the recent U.S. troop "surge" in Iraq. (Meanwhile, Big Media stars -- many of whom backed the Iraq invasion in 2003 -- hammer Barack Obama for refusing to accept the conventional wisdom about the "successful surge," as Obama tries to offer a more nuanced analysis.)
So, as the U.S. press corps again gives cover to the Iraq War, the larger failure of U.S. policy goes substantially unaddressed.

Read full article here: http://www.alternet.org/story/96687/

VIOLENCE RIPS THROUGH IRAQ

While the focus of attention in the United States is on Democratic Convention, there has been an uptick in violence all across Iraq.

Here is just a sampling of what has been taking place in Iraq that has not been covered by the mainstream media in the United States.

Kirkuk market blast kills, wounds 8

Kirkuk - Voices of Iraq
Thursday , 28 /08 /2008 Time 12:22:47


KIRKUK, Aug. 28 (VOI) – Eight civilians were killed or wounded in an explosive charge attack that ripped through a popular market in southern Kirkuk city, a police source said on Thursday.

Baghdad:#1: A bomb in a parked car killed one person and wounded seven others in the New Baghdad district of eastern Baghdad, police said."Another explosive device exploded in al-Kamaliya neighborhood in eastern Baghdad, killing a civilian and injuring seven," he also said.

#2: Three suspected militants died and six more were detained in U.S. operations in Diyala province northeast of Baghdad, a U.S. military statement said.

#3: Anti-bomb squad defused five bombs in two separate regions of Baghdad, the interior ministry said on Wednesday. "Anti-bomb squad defused three explosive charges in Zaiyouna region near al-Rubaei-al-Malaab intersection in eastern Baghdad and found ammunitions and a mortar shell in the same area," the ministry said in a statement received by Aswat al-Iraq - Voices of Iraq.

#4: A roadside bomb was detonated near the national theatre in al-Karada region in central Baghdad, targeting a police vehicle patrol, injuring three civilian and three policemen and damaging a number of stores and two civilian cars," he added.

#5: "A car rigged with explosives went off in Baghdad al-Jadieda region in southeastern Baghdad, killing a civilian and injuring seven more, in addition to damaging a number of nearby vehicles," the source, who asked for anonymity, told Aswat al-Iraq - Voices of Iraq.

#6: Around 8:00 a.m. an IED exploded targeting a US patrol on Mohammed al Qasim highway in east Baghdad. No casualties were reported.

#7: Tuesday Police patrols found unknown body in southeastern Baghdad, a police source said on Wednesday."Policemen found the decayed corpse late Tuesday in al-Madaen district in southeastern Baghdad," the source, who asked not to be named, told Aswat al-Iraq - Voices of Iraq.

#8: A civilian was injured by an adhesive bomb that was attached to his BMW car. The incident took place in Mansour neighborhood in west Baghdad around 6:00 p.m.

#9: Iraqi police found two unidentified bodies in Sinak area in downtown Baghdad.Diyala Prv:#1: Two suicide bombers were among three terrorists killed Wednesday in a clash with US forces northeast of the Iraqi capital Baghdad, the US military said. One of the bombers was shot dead and the other detonated his explosives as the troops approached, killing himself but causing no other casualties, the military said.

Kut:#1: The body of a woman was found a street near al-Kut, a town southeast of the capital, the news agency Aswat al-Iraq reported.Iraqi police found the body of a woman in the town of Numaniya, 120 km (72 miles) south of Baghdad, police said.

Mosul:#1: Gunmen shot dead a civilian in a shop in the al-Nur area of eastern Mosul, 390 km (240 miles), north of Baghdad, police said.

#2: 14 civilians were injured by a suicide car bomb that detonated before reaching a checkpoint in Talafar city west Mosul.A suicide car bomber wounded 22 people in Tal Afar, some 420 km (260 miles) northwest of Baghdad, according to Sabih Hussein, chief physician at the Tal Afar government hospital. A police source in nearby Mosul said that only two people had been wounded.

#3: Five civilians were injured by a suicide car bomb that targeted an American patrol in downtown Mosul city on Wednesday afternoon.

#4: A suicide car bomb detonated in eats Mosul on Wednesday afternoon. No news were reported about casualties.

At least 14 Iraqis were killed and 47 were wounded in the latest incidents.

Baghdad was the scene of a spate of bombings, while tribal warfare in Hay left a small number of casualties.

Meanwhile, a U.S. soldier was killed in a roadside bombing yesterday in Baghdad. Three U.S. Marines and several Sunni leaders were killed in the blast. The security situation in Anbar has improved overall, but an increase in attacks has occurred recently.

As many as22 people were wounded during a suicide car bombing in Tal Afar. An earlier bombing wounded two people and may be the source of conflicting reports from the city.

In Baghdad, a car bomb killed one person and wounded seven others in Jadida. Six people were wounded during a bombing in Karrada. Five people were wounded by a blast in Kamaliya. A bomb planted on a car injured its owner. Two bodies were dumped downtown. A bomb targeting a U.S. patrol on the Qasim Highway failed to harm anyone. Also, five bombs were found and defused.

A tribal conflict left four dead and one wounded in Hay.

In Mosul, a civilian was shot dead in the al-Nur neighborhood. In Maliya, five Iraqis were wounded when a roadside bomb targeting a U.S. patrol blasted them instead.

A woman's body was discovered in Numaniya.

Police in Madaen were alerted to a decomposed corpse

VOTER REGISTRATION DRIVES BARRED FROM VETS HOMES

"Private nursing homes conduct registration drives," noted Paul Sullivan of the group Veterans for Common Sense, but "we are not aware of any efforts VA has taken to assist veterans with registering and voting."

"The goal of President George W. Bush, Karl Rove, and VA Secretary James Peake is to run out the clock so that no voter assistance is provided to our hundreds of thousands of hospitalized and homeless veterans," Sullivan argued. "If President Bush and Karl Rove run out the clock, then our veterans and our democracy lose. Shame on Bush, Rove, and Peake for undermining the voting rights of our disabled veterans during a time of war."

Voter Registration Drives Barred from Vets Homes

Aaron Glantz, OneWorld USTue Aug 26, 1:56 PM ET
http://corksphere.blogspot.com/2008/08/military-draft-on-its-way-selective.html

SAN FRANCISCO, Aug 26 (OneWorld) - As citizens across the United States gear up for a historic and highly competitive set of national, state, and local elections this November, a federal government policy is keeping voter registration groups away from thousands of elderly and disabled military veterans.

When Silicon Valley labor organizer Steve Preminger went over his precinct maps in 2004, he couldn't believe what he saw. Of the 400 veterans who lived at the nearby Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Menlo Park nursing home, only one had voted in the year 2000. So Preminger, who also heads a local chapter of the Democratic Party, gathered together a stack of voter registration cards, and he and a friend began walking the halls looking for veterans who were interested in registering to vote.

"We thought registering people to vote is as American as apple pie," he said. "Who better to reach out to than those who have sacrificed so much for this country?"

Almost immediately, VA officials threw him out. "We got summarily evicted by a supervisor who was re-enforced by security."

The VA has since explained that its decision to evict Preminger was part of a Bush Administration policy that bars outside groups from registering voters who live in VA nursing homes, hospitals, and transitional housing for homeless veterans.

In an e-mailed response to questions for this story, VA press secretary Alison Aikele said that "designating a VA hospital as a voter registration site" would make it harder for the government to care for wounded veterans. It "would be disruptive to the quality care we provide our veterans," she said.

Veterans groups have expressed outrage over the policy, which they say is disenfranchising as many as 400,000 veterans who often do not know they need to re-register to vote when they move into a VA facility and it becomes their official, state-sanctioned address. The VA has even barred local elections officials from carrying out voter registration drives.

In June, the VA barred Connecticut Secretary of State Susan Bysiewicz and Attorney General Richard Blumenthal from entering its West Haven facility to help register voters.

Preminger has gone to court to get the policy overturned and has been joined in his complaint by elections officials in 22 states. "During visiting hours anyone can come into a VA facility and talk to veterans about the weather or sports," attorney Scott Rafferty said. "We should be able to come in and talk to these same Americans and ask them if they want to register to vote and who they want to vote for."

But the wheels of American justice can be slow, and with another presidential election just two months away, Preminger's case is still working its way through the courts.

Meanwhile, the VA has refused to soften its position. On May 5, the Department of Veterans Affairs issued a new rule, VHA DIRECTIVE 2008-025, which states succinctly: "to avoid disruptions to facility operations, voter registration drives are not permitted."

Veterans' advocates are now looking toward Congress to overrule the VA policy. They're hoping the House and Senate will speed through the "Veteran Voting Support Act" as soon as lawmakers return from major party political conventions in September. They say the bill, which would overturn the VA's policy and allow voter registration drives, must be passed immediately if veteran voters are to be reached -- and in many cases re-enfranchised -- ahead of November's election.

In the meantime, non-partisan veterans organizations wait for the chance to register their fellow veterans to vote.

45 DEAD, 79 WOUNDED IN WAVE OF IRAQ VIOLENCE

You would never know it by watching MSNBC, CNN or FOX NEWS but a wave of violence has swept across IRAQ.

The IRAQ WAR and the 160,000 young AMERICANS deployed to IRAQ are not even on the radar screens of MSNBC, CNN and FOX NEWS.

The media---which mirrors the attitude of the American public---couldn't care less about the 160,000 young AMERICANS "stranded" in IRAQ.

Comments by BILL CORCORAN, editor of CORKSPHERE

Wednesday, August 27, 2008

45 Dead, 79 Wounded in Wave of Violence

Bombing in Jalawla' Raises Tensions with Baghdad

Source: http://juancole.com/

Why Iraq still matters to the presidential campaign,according to Mark Brunswick of the Minneapolis Star Tribune.

Violence erupted throughout central, eastern and northern Iraq on Tuesday, leaving at least 45 dead and some 79 wounded. The major single attack was a suicide bombing that struck at a police recruiting center in the mostly Kurdish town of Jalaula' northeast of Baquba in troubled Diyala Province. The attack raised suspicions among Kurds because it comes in the wake of disputes between the Kurds of Diyala and the government of Nuri al-Maliki, who has sent Iraqi government troops into Diyala. When the troops entered Khanaqin, a potentially oil-rich city near the Iranian border that is largely Kurdish, there were tensions with the local population and with the Peshmerga Kurdish paramilitary.

On Tuesday, residents of Khanaqin staged a demonstration against the presence in their city of government troops. Jalawla' is near Khanaqin. Al-Hayat writes in Arabic that when Iraqi troops first went into the northern, Kurdish areas of Diyala, they gave the local Peshmerga 24 hours to get out of the region. The Diyala governing council resisted this ultimatum, creating tension with the central government. The Kurdistan Regional Government also disputed the decree, eliciting charges from Baghdad that the KRG was attempting to extend its authority into provinces not in its purview (Diyala is not part of the KRG). Al-Hayat says that the Peshmerga had just returned to Khanaqin and Jalawla' after the withdrawal of federal troops.Shawn Brimley and Colin Kahl argue against al-Maliki's crackdown on the Sunni Arab Awakening Councils.Kurdish journalists are in danger in Iraqi Kurdistan.

Al-Hayat reports a new poll that shows that half of KRG residents feel that they have little freedom of speech.

FOX NEWS CALLS "SURGE" A SUCCESS EVEN AS 34 PEOPLE KILLED IN IRAQ BY CAR BOMBS

FOX NEWS continues to carry the water for the Bush White House and the Pentagon and LIE to the American public about the success of "the surge."

But FOX NEWS isn't alone in praising the success of "the surge." RUSH LIMBAUGH, SEAN HANNITY AND MICHAEL SAVAGE, all right-wing "hate" radio talkshow hosts, also continue to LIE to their listeners about how well things are going in IRAQ.

Here is a story which points out what filthy liars FOX NEWS, RUSH LIMBAUGH, SEAN HANNITY AND MICHAEL SAVAGE are in their ongoing effort to mislead their audiences the the real truth about IRAQ.

BAGHDAD - Three blasts killed at least 34 Iraqis on Tuesday, most of them in a suicide car bombing that struck a group of police recruits, officials said. It was one of the highest daily casualty tolls in recent months.

The Associated Press
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/26403249/

Two of the bombs went off in Diyala province, which has been the site of much of the recent violence and a stronghold of Sunni insurgents.

In the provincial town of Jalula, an assailant drove a car toward a building where new police recruits had assembled, said Col. Ahmed Mahmoud Khalifa, the local police chief.

The car approached the building but was stopped by guards. The driver then detonated the explosives, the chief said. He said 25 people were killed and 40 wounded.

Local police have been forming an emergency response force in the region, with each tribal sheik allowed to send a certain number of recruits. Monday was the last day of recruitment, and applicants came to the police center on Tuesday to check whether they had been accepted, Khalifa said.

After the blast, security forces imposed a curfew on Jalula, about 80 miles northeast of Baghdad.
Children killed on way to shrineElsewhere in Diyala, a roadside bomb struck a van carrying a Sunni family near the town of Mandali along the Iranian border, said Col. Sarchal Abdul-Karim, a spokesman of Iraqi border guards in the area.

Five members of the family were killed, including two women and two children, the spokesman said. The family was on the way to a religious shrine, the colonel added.

Also Tuesday, a bomb planted in a parked car killed four people and wounded six, including three policemen, in the city of Tikrit north of Baghdad.

The explosion went off during morning rush hour in a central street used by local government officials to go to work, said a police official who spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because he is not authorized to speak to the media.

More here: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/26403249/

THE REAL TRUTH ABOUT IRAQ: SECTARIAN CLASHES FLARE UP AGAIN

IRAQ: Sectarian Clashes Flare Up Again

By Ahmed Ali and Dahr Jamail
BAQUBA, Aug 26 (IPS)

http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=43671

A military operation said to target al-Qaeda has ended up targeting Sunni Muslims instead, creating new sectarian tensions.

A U.S.-backed security operation launched last month has only targeted cities with majority Sunni populations such as Buhriz, Tahreer, Qatoon, Mafraq, and Hay in Diyala province, north of Baghdad.

The operation has drawn more than 50,000 Iraqi soldiers.

The deputy governor of Diyala, Awf Rahoomi, has demanded in a public speech in Baquba that "the new security plan should also include Shia cities like Hwaider, Khirnabat and Abara."

These Shia districts are strongholds of the Mehdi militia of Shia cleric Muqtada al-Sadr and of the Badr organisation (the militia of the ruling Shia party, the Supreme Islamic Iraqi Council.)

"The forces of the new security plan took all our weapons to the extent that we cannot fight al-Qaeda any more; we are impotent," Mullah Shihab al-Safi, commander of the Popular Committees Fighters (the Sunni leadership of the U.S.-backed Awakening Group militias), said at a meeting of the Commitment Council established by Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki.

Safi said four members of the council who are leaders of the Awakening Group were among those arrested by government security forces. Leaders of Awakening Councils from Qatoon district spoke of a similar crackdown by Iraqi forces. The Awakening groups are totally a 90,000 strong mostly Sunni militia whose members each receive 300 dollars a month from the U.S. military.

Continue reading here: http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=43671

CNN REPORTS: U.S. SOLDIER KILLED: IRAQI'S WANT A "SPECIFIC" TIMELINE FOR TROOP PULLOUT

Iraqi PM demands 'specific' U.S. pullout timeline

Story Highlights
NEW: U.S. soldier dies after being shot during patrol in Baghdad
Iraqi leader says U.S. withdrawal plan cannot be "open-ended"
Negotiators agree there would be no foreign soldiers in Iraq after 2011, al-Maliki says
White House spokesman says agreement has not been finalized

BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki said Monday there will be no agreement on a U.S. withdrawal from Iraq unless it includes a "specific" timeline and is not "open-ended."
http://tinyurl.com/5ql84e

Speaking with tribal leaders, sheikhs and other prominent figures, al-Maliki said U.S. and Iraqi negotiators have agreed that there would be no foreign soldiers in Iraq after 2011 but that some "outstanding issues" remain, according to a statement released by his office.

One issue the two sides have been working on involves the U.S. effort to keep U.S. troops in Iraq immune from Iraqi laws.

Meanwhile, a Multi-National Division-Baghdad soldier died Monday after being shot during a patrol in northern Baghdad.

This brings the number of U.S. service member deaths in the Iraq war to 4,147.

Violence in Iraq on Sunday took at least 30 lives, officials said.

Click here for full story: http://tinyurl.com/5ql84e

IRAQIS DESPERATE FOR WATER

Although the United States has spent $2.4 billion on Iraq’s water and sanitation sector since 2003, the United Nations “estimates that less than half of Iraqis get drinking water piped into their homes in rural areas. In the capital, people set their alarm clocks to wake them in the middle of the night so they can fill storage tanks when water pressure is under less strain.” Additionally, a billion liters of raw sewage is dumped into Baghdad’s waterways each day. The World Bank estimates that at least $14 billion is needed to refurbish Iraq’s water system.

Source: http://thinkprogress.org/2008/08/23/iraqis-desperate-for-water/

MARINES IN ACTION: WARNING GRAPHIC IMAGES: "GIVE IT UP SON, I'M DOING THIS MY WAY"

Watch as the United States Marines take on the enemy during a firefight in Iraq. The music is terrific and images are very graphic.

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

Click on diamond-shaped arrow in picture to activate video

VERY GRAPHIC AND BRUTAL VIDEO: U.S. MARINE COMBAT FIGHT IN IRAQ

I doubt if you will ever see a video like this. Everything is shown on this video of U.S. Marines in action in Iraq from the killing of insurgents to tanks rolling over insurgents.

http://www.youtube.com/v/c4jakQBEVLE&hl=en&fs=1

WARNING: THIS VIDEO CONTAINS SCENES NOT SUITABLE FOR CHILDREN

CLICK ON DIAMOND-SHAPED ARROW TO ACTIVATE VIDEO

CAPTURED ENEMY COMBAT FOOTAGE FROM IRAQ WAR---VERY GRAPHIC

This is a first look at enemy combat footage from the IRAQ WAR.

http://www.youtube.com/v/tJOpaRU9aW0&hl=en&fs=1

CLICK ON DIAMOND-SHAPED ARROW IN PICTURE TO ACTIVATE VIDEO

Psst!-2. COMBAT FOOTAGE FROM AFGHANISTAN: .50 CAL AND AT4

We know only too well the mainstream press in the United States has taken a powder when it comes to covering the wars in IRAQ and AFGHANISTAN.

However, we refuse to do so because there are a combined almost 200,000 YOUNG AMERICANS deployed to both war zones and the most unpatriotic thing anyone could do is to ignore their heroism.

THIS NEWS VIDEO SHOWS A FIREFIGHT IN AFGHANISTAN WHICH HAS BECOME THE NEWEST HOTBED IN THE MIDDLE EAST WAR ZONES

http://www.youtube.com/v/-L1kdptD30k&hl=en&fs=1

CLICK ON DIAMOND-SHAPED ARROW IN PICTURE TO ACTIVATE VIDEO

Psst! NEW VIDEO: THERE IS STILL A WAR GOING ON IN AFGHANISTAN

You wouldn't know it by watching CNN, MSNBC or FOX NEWS but there is still a war going on in AFGHANISTAN as well as IRAQ.

This VIDEO shows our troops caught in a hail of crossfire in a battle in AFGHANISTAN.

See VIDEO here: http://www.youtube.com/v/Emr1tFK5wBc&hl=en&fs=1

WARNING: SALTY LANGUAGE

Click on diamond-shaped arrow in picture to activate video.

VA REFUSES TO ALLOW WOUNDED VETS TO REGISTER TO VOTE

The Bush/McCain administration obviously knows MOST veterans will vote for Obama/Biden and that is why they are telling the VA to make it impossible for wounded vets to register to vote.

The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) refuses to allow non-partisan voter registration at VA hospitals and nursing homes for our wounded, injured, ill, and disabled veterans. VCS believes VA is wrong, and the policy must change immediately. Pick up the phone today and urge your Senators and Representative to pass S 3308 and HR 6625, the "Veteran Voting Support Act," and restore our veterans' voting rights.

www.VeteransForCommonSense.org

BUSH AND MEDIA LIE ABOUT SECURITY IN IRAQ AND STATUS OF PULLOUT OF U.S. TROOPS

The Bush administration and the mainstream media in the United States continue to LIE to the American public about how "the surge" has calmed violence in Iraq, as well as the status of the talks between the U.S. and the Iraqi government on U.S. troop withdrawals from Iraq by 2011.

HERE IS THE REAL TRUTH AND NOT BUSH, FOX NEWS AND MAINTREAM MEDIA BS.

Source: http://www.aswataliraq.info/look/english/index.tpl

5 Iraqi soldiers killed, 7 wounded in Diala blast

Diala - Voices of Iraq
Sunday , 24 /08 /2008 Time 9:59:39


DIALA, Aug. 24 (VOI) – Five Iraqi soldiers were killed and seven others wounded on Sunday when an improvised explosive device (IED) went off near their army vehicle in southwestern Baaquba city, a security source in Diala province said.


5 Iraqi soldiers killed, 7 wounded in Diala blast

Diala - Voices of Iraq
Sunday , 24 /08 /2008 Time 9:59:39


DIALA, Aug. 24 (VOI) – Five Iraqi soldiers were killed and seven others wounded on Sunday when an improvised explosive device (IED) went off near their army vehicle in southwestern Baaquba city, a security source in Diala province said.


Long way ahead on U.S-Iraq security deal-MP

Baghdad - Voices of Iraq
Sunday , 24 /08 /2008 Time 9:59:39


BAGHDAD, Aug.24 (VOI) - A lawmaker from the main Shiite bloc on Sunday ruled out signing the long-term security agreement with the U.S in the upcoming two months.

DOUBLE BOMBING ROCKS BAGHDAD SUNDAY

There has been a double bombing in Baghdad that has left nearly two dozen dead or wounded and the otherwise quiet city of Baquba has also seen the silence shattered with bombings.

Sen. John McCain keeps telling the American public that "we have won the war in Iraq" and nothing could be further from the truth.

Of course, McCain has his propaganda mouthpiece FOX NEWS spreading the same garbage to their viewers in their never-ending attempt to pull the wool over the eyes of Americans.

Five killed, 19 wounded in Iraq violence

Double bombing rocks Baghdad while shootout erupts in Iraq’s restive city of Baquba.

http://www.middle-east-online.com/english/?id=27550

BAGHDAD - A double bombing in Baghdad and a shootout in the restive city of Baquba claimed the lives of at least five people and wounded 19 others on Sunday, security sources said.

Up to three people were killed and eight wounded, including five policemen, when a bomb targeting a patrol exploded on a through-road leading to Iraq's interior ministry, security sources at the ministry said.

As police ran to help a second bomb went off, wounding another five officers, they said.
Meanwhile, in Baquba, two policeman were killed and six others including a woman were wounded in a shootout, the defence ministry said.

Earlier this month Iraqi forces backed by US troops launched a massive assault against insurgents in Diyala, one of Iraq's most dangerous areas where fighters regularly carry out attacks.

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?