McCAIN/PALIN "SPIN" IRAQ VICTORY. HERE IS THE REAL TRUTH

Spinning Iraq for a GOP Victory

By Patrick Cockburn, Independent UKPosted on September 3, 2008, Printed on September 6, 2008

http://www.alternet.org/story/97511/

Political events in Iraq are seldom what they seem.

The handover by the U.S. military of control of Anbar province, once the heartland of the Sunni rebellion, to Iraqi forces is a case in point.

The U.S. will keep 25,000 American soldiers in Anbar, so the extent to which the Iraqi government will really take over is debatable. But the future of Anbar is a crucial pointer to the fate of Iraq. It is a vast area and one of the few parts of Iraq that is overwhelmingly Sunni.

The Iraqi government is dominated by Shia Islamic parties in alliance with Kurdish nationalists.

The vital question now is whether or not this Shia-dominated government can reassure the Sunni minority that they are not going to be overrun as the U.S. withdraws its forces. The Prime Minister, Nouri al-Maliki, is in a very confident mood. In the past four months he feels he has successfully faced down the Shia militiamen of Muqtada al-Sadr's Mahdi Army by taking back control of Basra, Sadr City and Amarah.

Then he refused to sign a new security accord with the U.S. which President George Bush wanted to see agreed by August 31st.

In the past few weeks he has been confronting his Kurdish allies over the future of the oil city of Kirkuk and the town of Khanaqin.

Maliki may be overplaying his hand but there is no doubt that the Iraqi state is becoming more powerful in Iraq and the Mahdi Army, the Americans and the Kurds less so. The Americans in particular feel that he exaggerates the extent to which his success against the Mahdi Army was because of the new strength of the Iraqi security forces. These troops were doing badly until they received American support.

Click here to read full story: http://www.alternet.org/story/97511/

CNN REPORTS: IRAQ BOMBINGS KILLS 6,WOUNDS 50: McCAIN AND PALIN KEEP SAYING "WE ARE WINNING THE WAR"

It remains a shame the mainstream media doesn't CHALLENGE John McCain and Sarah Palin on how they can keep on saying we are "winning the war in Iraq" when incidents like the following are happening every single day in Iraq.

The "surge" was a total joke and anyone who has ever been in the military knows the United States military didn't do anything or you would have been reading about the body count of dead Al Qaeda or insurgents.

The Sunni Awakening and other Iraq tribal leaders ran Al Qaeda and the insurgents out of their provinces while the U.S. military stood GUARD.

McCain and Palin continue to LIE, LIE, LIE to the American public about the "surge" and not a single reporter has the guts to ask them where are all the bodies of dead Al Qaeda and insurgents if this was such a big U.S. military victory.

This is now the only military victory in the history of the world where no dead bodies of the enemy have ever been found.

Comment by BILL CORCORAN, editor of CORKSPHERE


Deadly Iraq bombings target market, politician

Story Highlights
Saturday car bombing in busy Tal Afar outdoor market kills 6, wounds 50
Bombing follows attack on politician Ahmed Chalabi; he survives but 6 killed
Tal Afar was scene of May crackdown on Sunni insurgents
Violence happening during Islam's holy month of Ramadan

http://www.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/meast/09/06/iraq.main/index.html

BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- At least six people were killed and 50 wounded in a suicide car bombing Saturday at an outdoor market in northern Iraq, an Iraqi Interior Ministry official said.
The midday attack in Tal Afar, about 45 miles west of Mosul in Nineveh province, was carried out less than a day after a car bombing in western Baghdad that targeted Shiite politician Ahmed Chalabi.

The car bombing hit the same market in Tal Afar where a car bombing last month killed more than two dozen people and wounded scores, police said.

Iraqi officials said at least six people, including five from Chalabi's entourage, were killed in Friday's attack in Baghdad. Chalabi was not harmed, Iraq's Interior Ministry said.

Nine of Chalabi's guards or drivers were among the 17 wounded, the ministry said. The rest of the casualties were civilians, it said.

Chalabi is a controversial Iraqi politician best known outside the country for providing false intelligence to the U.S. government on the presence of weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. The intelligence was cited, in part, as the justification for the 2003 U.S. invasion of Iraq.

A deputy prime minister for a time after the invasion, Chalabi is now head of a committee overseeing the activities of former members of deposed President Saddam Hussein's Baath Party.

Also on Friday, Defense Ministry adviser Abdul Amir Hassan was driving near his home in east Baghdad when he was shot to death by attackers using guns equipped with silencers.

The violence comes as Muslims observe the holy month of Ramadan, a time when markets are busier than usual with people shopping for food and other items in preparation for the breaking of the daily fast at dusk.

Read more here: http://www.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/meast/09/06/iraq.main/index.html

CNN REPORTS: BUSH TO CUT 8,000 TROOPS. MOVE SAID TO BE POLITICALLY MOTIVATED

President Bush is planning on cutting 8,000 troops from Iraq and the move is considered to be politically motivated as a way to help the McCain/Palin ticket in November.

Source: Bush considering 8,000 troop cuts in Iraq
Story Highlights
NEW: President Bush looking at top commander's proposal for troop reduction
Commanders agree more troops needed in Afghanistan to counter growing Taliban
U.S. military leaders say no significant troop withdrawals before early 2009
A joint Iraqi-U.S. committee would determine duration and number of forces needed

From Barbara Starr, Jamie McIntyre and Brianna Keilar CNN
http://www.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/meast/09/05/iraq.troops/index.html

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- The top U.S. general in Iraq is recommending nearly 8,000 troop cuts in Iraq because of the improving situation there, a source close to the process has told CNN.
President Bush is considering Gen. David Petraeus' recommendation, which the official said is for a reduction of "well over 7,500 personnel," with the number including combat and support troops.
Some units would leave Iraq over the next five months as they complete their missions. But the first possible significant reduction -- an army brigade combat team -- would leave without replacement early next year, said the official, and that would free a brigade to be rotated to Afghanistan instead of Iraq.
Petraeus gave his recommendation to Defense Secretary Robert Gates and Joint Chiefs Chairman Adm. Mike Mullen, who have passed it and other recommendations along to the president.
A reduction in U.S. troops in Iraq would free up personnel for deployment to Afghanistan, a move urged by many commanders. The Taliban has stepped up its fight in that country, posing a challenge for the 33,000 U.S. troops deployed there.
The White House will not comment on the details of the Iraq recommendations. Spokeswoman Dana Perino said only that Bush "has received the assessment and recommendation from the Pentagon and he is considering his options."
The president is expected to make an announcement on troop levels next week, the same time Gates and Mullen are to testify before the House Armed Services Committee about Iraq and Afghanistan.
There are 146,000 U.S. troops in Iraq.
Iraq and the United States are working to seal a security agreement that would set down a framework to withdraw troops.
In deciding on troop cuts, officials must weigh the need for sufficient U.S. military presence to help Iraq build its army and the significant sentiment there for U.S. and coalition troops to withdraw swiftly.
U.S. and Iraqi negotiators have been looking at a proposal calling for a complete U.S. military withdrawal by the end of 2011, and a deadline of June 30, 2009, to end the presence of U.S. troops in cities and towns.
Pentagon spokesman Geoff Morrell confirmed that Gates and Mullen made their recommendations to Bush on Wednesday, but gave no details.
"I can tell you that all these leaders are fundamentally in agreement on how we should proceed in Iraq," he said of Gates, Mullen, Petraeus, the Joint Chiefs of Staff and acting Central Command chief Gen. Martin Dempsey.
"Of course, now it is up to the commander-in-chief to decide the way ahead," Morrell said.
Officials said senior military leaders agree that the soonest troop levels could be significantly reduced would be early in 2009, when a 3,500-strong brigade from the 10th Mountain Division is scheduled to deploy to Iraq to replace a brigade leaving in mid-January.
Pentagon officials say that would free another brigade combat team to arrive in Afghanistan in mid-February.
The Army has identified units that could be available for Afghanistan, but it would take two to three months from the time the decision is made to assemble all the weaponry and equipment they need and ship them and the troops to Afghanistan, two Army officials told CNN.
The officials said the troops would not need extensive additional training to switch from Iraq to Afghanistan, especially those earmarked to train Afghan forces.
The increase in fighting in Afghanistan contrasts with the dramatic drop in violence across Iraq, where U.S. military is confident that it will continue to make strides.
The military transferred security control to Iraqis this week in the country's Anbar province, a Sunni Arab region once dominated by insurgents and now a bastion of the Awakening Councils, or Sons of Iraq, U.S.-backed groups that help with some security duties.
The military said it plans to transfer management of the Awakening Councils to the Iraqi government next month.
"The government of Iraq and coalition forces have agreed in principle to transfer all 100,000 Sons of Iraq," Maj. John Hall told CNN. "The transfer will start with the Baghdad province, with the other provinces following at a later date."
Under the security agreement still being negotiated, the Iraqi government could ask Americans to extend the tentative deadlines if it sees the necessity of doing so. A joint Iraqi-U.S. committee would then help define the duration and number of forces that would be needed and regularly assess the security situation on the ground.

PALIN'S GOVERNOR PLANE NOT SOLD ON E-BAY

Plane Not Sold on eBay

Updated 7:10 p.m.
By Anne E. Kornblut

http://voices.washingtonpost.com/the-trail/2008/09/05/plane_not_sold_on_ebay.html

One of the compelling anecdotes about Sarah Palin is that she auctioned off the Alaska governor's jet on eBay after taking office -- a swift move made by a reformer hoping to clean up the excesses of her predecessor.

But in fact, the jet did not sell on eBay. It was sold to a businessman from Valdez named Larry Reynolds, who paid $2.1 million for the jet, shy of the original $2.7 million purchase price, according to contemporaneous news reports, including a story in the New York Times.

Dan Spencer, the director of administrative services for Alaska's Public Safety Department, said that the Republican speaker of the Alaska House, John L. Harris, brokered the deal. Reynolds made campaign contributions to both Palin and Harris in 2006 and 2007.

What happened? It appears that, as promised during her bid for governor in 2006, Palin did try to sell the plane on eBay but that doing so was not as easy as it might have sounded. After putting it up to auction, there was one serious bid, in December 2006, and it fell through. Still, the Westwind II was sold about eight months later, achieving Palin's goal of ridding the state of a luxury item.

But that hasn't stopped Palin, or John McCain, from implying -- and, on Friday, claiming outright -- that Palin did sell the jet on the Internet.

"You know what I enjoyed the most? She took the luxury jet that was acquired by her predecessor and sold it on eBay -- and made a profit!" McCain declared in Wisconsin at a campaign stop on Friday. It could not be immediately determined what that profit was.
The video tribute to Palin that aired at the Republican National Convention on Thursday night made the same claim.

"She signed sweeping ethics reform legislation, auctioned the governor's jet on eBay," the narrator said, citing it in a list of Palin's achievements.

Palin has been more cautious in her comments. Rather than claiming she sold it on eBay, she gave in her convention remarks a description that was true but, nonetheless, still left the impression she had sold the jet online. "That luxury jet was over the top. I put it on eBay," Palin said.

"She put the plane on eBay," said Tucker Bounds, a spokesman for McCain's campaign. "It didn't meet the minimum threshold the state desired so they used a broker. The plane was purchased by the former gov against the wishes of the legislature and voters -- was a symbol of corruption."

She sold the plane and saved the taxpayers money on maintence and costs."

PALIN'S COLD SHOULDER

WASILLA, Alaska — While Sarah Palin’s supporters tout her personal warmth and openness, the newly minted Republican vice presidential nominee can be brusque to allies, advisers and employees who fall from her favor.

Palin has unceremoniously ended relationships with an aide who was dating a family friend’s soon-to-be ex-wife, a campaign adviser whose mother-in-law fought Palin’s legislative agenda, a local political mentor who she felt represented the “old boys network,” a police chief who she said tried to intimidate her with “stern look[s]” and a state commissioner who refused to fire her sister’s ex-husband.

By KENNETH P. VOGEL 9/5/08 1:21 PM EST
http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0908/13190.html

“When she decides you’re done, you’re done,” said John Bitney, who was a top aide to Palin’s gubernatorial campaign and administration.Bitney, a longtime state Capitol hand who grew up in this small town with Palin and her husband, Todd, said he was asked to leave his job as legislative director in the governor’s office last year after the Palins found out that he was dating the soon-to-be-ex-wife of one of Todd’s good friends.While Palin’s office framed the departure as an “amicable” mutual decision, Bitney told Politico that Sarah and Todd Palin “were upset with me about my divorce and who I was dating and they didn’t want that in the governor’s office. I wanted to stay with the governor and support the governor — we’re talking about someone who’s been a friend for 30 years — but I understood it and I have no ax to grind over the whole thing.”

Still, Bitney took a line from the "Seinfeld" character Elaine, deeming Palin “a bad breaker-upper.” Palin’s abrupt and often unexplained — or not fully explained — dismissals, though, leave former colleagues and political observers speculating about the “real reasons,” Bitney said, adding that her style “is more dramatic than the way most executives do it. They bring you in, tell you they’re going to go in another direction and get everyone in the office to sign a card and cut a cake. But that’s just not her style.”

The McCain-Palin campaign declined to answer questions about Palin’s personnel moves or personal rifts. Her supporters in Wasilla — a group that seems to include an overwhelming majority of the city’s 7,000 or so residents — say she is guided by the taxpayers’ interests and a strong moral compass.“In general, she is an extremely kind-hearted person,” said Judy Patrick, a close ally who served on the city council when Palin was mayor.

“It’s just difficult when you’re a leader. She had to make tough decisions on how she planned to accomplish what she planned to accomplish and who was going to be on the team to do that.”Palin’s willingness to end allegiances with those who offend her may have helped propel her rise in 2004, when she exposed corrupt dealings by a Republican bigwig on the state’s Oil and Gas Conservation Commission, burnishing her reformer credentials and setting the stage for her 2006 gubernatorial campaign.But on other occasions, her trigger has gotten her into trouble.

An ongoing investigation by the state legislature—expected to be released before the presidential election—into Palin’s firing of Alaska Public Safety Commissioner Walt Monegan in January threatens to damage her reputation as a reformer.At first, Palin offered only a vague, platitudinal explanation for Monegan’s dismissal. But after Monegan asserted http://www.adn.com/news/alaska/story/469001.html he was pressured by both Sarah and Todd Palin, the governor accused Monegan of not being a team player, and of failing to hire sufficient numbers of troopers or doing enough to reduce rural alcohol abuse.

Read more here: http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0908/13190.html

WASHINGTON POST: JUST THE OPPOSITE OF WHAT WAS HEARD AT GOP CONVENTION: PENTAGON URGES EXTENDED PAUSE IN IRAQ DRAWDOWN

Senator Lindsay Graham (R. South Carolina) angrily told the GOP convention that we are "winning in Iraq" even as the Pentagon was issuing a statement calling for a slowdown in a drawdown of U.S. troops in Iraq because of the unstable conditions in the country.

Pentagon Urges Extended Pause in Iraq Drawdown

By Karen DeYoung and Ann Scott TysonWashington Post Staff Writers
Friday, September 5, 2008; A01
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/09/04/AR2008090402820.html

Pentagon leaders have recommended to President Bush that the United States make no further troop reductions in Iraq this year, administration officials said yesterday.

The plan, delivered this week, calls for extending a pause in drawdowns until late January or early February -- after the Bush administration has left office. At that point, up to 7,500 of the approximately 146,000 troops in Iraq could be withdrawn, depending on conditions on the ground there.

The reduction would coincide with new deployments to Afghanistan, officials said.
Defense officials described the recommendation as a compromise between those who believed that security gains in Iraq remained too tenuous to contemplate further withdrawals now, and those who proposed continuing the reductions that began this spring.

Gen. David H. Petraeus, the U.S. commander in Iraq, adopted a cautious approach in an assessment he presented last week to Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates and Adm. Michael Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Petraeus cited several areas of ongoing concern, including the postponement of provincial elections initially scheduled for this month, the disputed status of the northern city of Kirkuk, lingering ethno-sectarian conflicts, and questions surrounding the future of a local security force known as the Sons of Iraq.

There was also the factor of "a new commander coming in," one official said. On Sept. 16, Lt. Gen. Raymond T. Odierno will replace Petraeus, who will become head of U.S. Central Command.

According to another military official close to the process, Petraeus and Odierno also considered the rising violence in Afghanistan as well as the overall strain on the U.S. military from the two conflicts. Under the proposal Gates and Mullen gave Bush in a video briefing Wednesday, at least one additional Army combat brigade -- about 3,500 troops -- would be sent to Afghanistan instead of its scheduled deployment to replace a brigade leaving Iraq. An additional 4,000 would be withdrawn from disparate units. In Afghanistan, a Marine battalion due to depart by the end of the year would be replaced.

Read full story here: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/09/04/AR2008090402820.html

VIDEO: ROBERT PARRY ON THE 'REAL' JOHN McCAIN AND THE IRAQ WAR

Robert Parry is an American investigative journalist. He was awarded the George Polk Award for National Reporting in 1984 for his work with the Associated Press. In 1995, he established Consortium News as an online ezine dedicated to investigative journalism. From 2000 to 2004, he worked for the financial wire service Bloomberg. Major subjects of Parry's articles and reports on Consortium News include the presidency of George W. Bush[3], the career of Army general and Bush Secretary of State Colin Powell (with Norman Solomon), the October Surprise controversy of the 1980 election, the Nicaraguan contra-cocaine investigation, the efforts to impeach President Clinton, right-wing terrorism in Latin America, the political influence of Sun Myung Moon, mainstream American media imbalance, United States Defense Secretary Robert Gates [11], as well as international stories . Parry has written several books, including Lost History: Contras, Cocaine, the Press & "Project Truth." (1999) and Secrecy & Privilege: Rise of the Bush Dynasty from Watergate to Iraq (2004).

WATCH THIS FASCINATING THE REAL NEWS NETWORK VIDEO HERE:


http://therealnews.com/t/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=31&Itemid=74&jumival=2224

CNN REPORTS: PALIN RAISES MILLIONS----------FOR OBAMA. ONE DAY RECORD

Sarah Palin's much talked about speech to the GOP convention resulted in a one day record-breaking $10 million into the Obama/Biden campaign coffers while only $1 million was raised for the McCain/Palin campaign on the same day.

After Palin speech, Obama has record $10 million day

Posted: 08:50 PM ET
http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/

(CNN) – Barack Obama's campaign for president has raised $10 million since Republican vice-presidential candidate Sarah Palin spoke Wednesday night, the campaign announced, calling it a "one-day record."

Palin, the governor of Alaska, launched harsh attacks on Obama, accusing him of being two-faced and a political lightweight with no significant legislative accomplishments.

"Coverage of the Palin attacks on the news this evening just pushed us over $10 million," Obama spokeswoman Jen Psaki said in an e-mail to reporters Wednesday night.

The Republican Party announced earlier in the day it had raised $1 million in the wake of Palin's speech.

VA CONTINUES TO ABANDON WOUNDED VETS

The VA Continues to Abandon Returning Vets

By Joshua Kors, The NationPosted on September 4, 2008, Printed on September 4, 2008

http://www.alternet.org/story/97284/

Sgt. Juan Jimenez had one of the most dangerous jobs in Iraq, ushering top Administration officials through the war-torn streets of Baghdad. He returned home with two Purple Hearts and shrapnel lodged in his right arm. Today he is gravely ill.

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.

Continue reading here: http://www.alternet.org/story/97284/

CNN BREAKING NEWS: U.S. TROOPS MISTAKENLY KILL 6 IRAQI SOLDIERS

Mistaken-fire incident leaves 6 Iraqi troops dead

NEW: Three police, two soldiers, one Awakening Council member killed
Iraqi troops mistakenly fire on U.S. patrol boat; U.S. copter fires back
Incident occurs in Sunni Arab town north of Baghdad

http://www.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/meast/09/03/iraq.main/index.html

BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- U.S. forces killed at least six Iraqi security troops after Iraqi personnel mistakenly fired on an American patrol boat north of Baghdad on Wednesday, an Iraqi Interior Ministry official said.

Ten people were also wounded in the firefight, which occurred at an Iraqi checkpoint along the Tigris River north of the Sunni Arab town of Tarmiya. The checkpoint was manned by Iraqi security forces and Awakening Council members.

The Interior Ministry official said the forces mistakenly opened fire on a U.S. military patrol boat. A U.S. chopper returned fire, causing the casualties, the official said.

Another Interior Ministry official said that the incident took place early Wednesday and that the security personnel didn't realize they were firing on U.S. troops.

This official said that among the six who were killed, three were police, two were soldiers and one was an Awakening Council member.

The U.S. military didn't elaborate on the sequence of events but confirmed coalition forces had been conducting operations against al Qaeda in Iraq militants when there was "weapons fire between coalition and Iraqi security forces."

WASHINGTON POST: U.S. INVADES PAKISTAN

The United State and Afghan forces have crossed into Pakistan chasing the Taliban which is tantamount to invading Pakistan.

U.S., Afghan Troops Kill 20 in Pakistan

By Candace Rondeaux Washington Post Foreign Service

Wednesday, September 3, 2008; 10:16 AM
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/09/03/AR2008090300523.html?hpid=topnews

ISLAMABAD, Sept. 3 -- At least 20 people were killed in northwest Pakistan on Wednesday after U.S. and Afghan troops crossed from Afghanistan to pursue Taliban insurgents in an early morning attack that marked the first known instance in which U.S. forces conducted an operation on Pakistani soil since the U.S.-led war in Afghanistan began, according to witnesses and a Pakistani official.

The United States has conducted occasional air and artillery strikes against insurgents lodged across the border in Pakistani territory, and "hot pursuit" rules provide some room for U.S. troops to maneuver in the midst of battle. But the arrival of three U.S. helicopters in the village of Musa Nika, clearly inside the Pakistani border, drew a sharp response from Pakistani officials.

"We strongly object to the incursion of ISAF troops on Pakistani territory," said Maj. Gen. Athar Abbas, chief spokesman for the Pakistani military, referring to the International Security Assistance Force, the coalition of U.S. and other NATO troops that has been battling the Taliban insurgency in Afghanistan since 2001.

A U.S. military spokesman in Afghanistan referred requests for comment on the incident to U.S. Central Command headquarters in Tampa. A CENTCOM spokesman reached by phone in Tampa on Wednesday declined to comment.

8 MORE SHOCKING REVELATIONS ABOUT SARAH PALIN

Since the McCain campaign apparently didn't even bother Googling Sarah Palin before picking her to join the Republican ticket, we've taken it upon ourselves to compile some important -- and terrifying -- revelations about Palin.

By Isaac Fitzgerald and Tana Ganeva, AlterNetPosted on September 3, 2008, Printed on September 3, 2008

http://www.alternet.org/story/97350/

Yesterday AlterNet ran a piece titled "Top Ten Most Disturbing Facts and Impressions of Sarah Palin." And in only 24 hours, almost as many exaggerations, misrepresentations and outright lies have reared their ugly heads. If you already read yesterday's piece, here's the next installment:

1: Palin Tried to Ban Books From Local Library
Thanks to Bush, the Republican Party is not strongly associated with intellectualism. But Sarah Palin has apparently taken the conservative derision for book-learnin' to a whole new level: Time reports that as mayor of Wasilla, Palin asked the town librarian how to go about banning books from the local library. News reports from the time show that the librarian, who, strangely enough, was opposed to a tactic commonly employed by totalitarian regimes, had her job threatened for not giving her "full support" to the mayor.
The People for the American Way have issued a statement condemning Palin's actions and demanding an explanation from her:
People can disagree about a lot of things, but censorship is completely beyond the pale. Our democracy was founded on the belief that government shouldn't tell people what kinds of books to read or what kind of beliefs to hold. No one with that kind of history should be anywhere near the White House. Sarah Palin needs to clarify her stance on freedom of speech immediately, and John McCain needs to explain why he chose a running mate with so little regard for the Constitution.
So far the McCain campaign has been quiet about Palin's attempts to legislate what books people should be allowed to read.

2: Palin Apparently Doesn't Put "Country First"
A central and integral part of the McCain campaign's message is "Country First." McCain is a POW who has always put country before personal gain, as he and his handlers have reminded the public time after time after time. So if the vetting process of Palin was as thorough as McCain's people (and McCain himself) have been claiming, how is it that they missed this:
Officials of the Alaskan Independence Party say that Palin was once so independent, she was once a member of their party, which since the 1970s has been pushing for a legal vote for Alaskans to decide whether or not residents of the 49th state can secede from the United States.
And while McCain's motto -- as seen in a new TV ad -- is "Country First," the AIP's motto is the exact opposite -- "Alaska First -- Alaska Always."
Lynette Clark, the chairman of the AIP, tells ABC News that Palin and her husband Todd were members in 1994, even attending the 1994 statewide convention in Wasilla. Clark was AIP secretary at the time.
"We are a state's rights party," Clark -- a self-employed gold miner -- tells ABC News. The AIP has "a plank that challenges the legality of the Alaskan statehood vote as illegal and in violation of United Nations charter and international law."
"Alaska First -- Alaska Always." Huh, I don't suppose there's an unless-you-are-nominated-to-be-vice-president clause, is there? No, probably not.

3: Palin's Love Affair With Earmarks
McCain, when introducing Palin on Friday in Ohio, praised her as a champion for "reform to end the abuses of earmark spending." When it was Palin's turn to speak, she mentioned her claimed opposition to the famous pork barrel project, "the Bridge to Nowhere," as an example of her tough stance on earmarks. Well, we all know now that she was actually for the bridge long before she was against it. Apparently her love affair with earmarks doesn't end there:
… under her leadership, the state of Alaska has requested 31 earmarks worth $197.8 million in next year's federal budget …
But hey, it was her first shot at being governor of Alaska. Maybe things were different when she was mayor?
As mayor of the small city of Wasilla, Alaska, Palin appears to have made use of the system she now decries, hiring a Washington lobbyist, Steven Silver, to represent the town.
After he was hired, the city obtained funding for several projects, including a city bus facility that received an earmark valued at $600,000 in 2002. That year a local water and sewer project received $1.5 million in federal earmarks, according to Taxpayers for Common Sense, a nonpartisan watchdog organization.
Hmmm, Steven Silver, why does that name sound familiar? Talking Points Memo is quick to remind us:
… Silver appears to have additional ties that could further undercut Palin's image as a squeaky-clean reformer. According to Senate lobbying disclosure reports examined by TPMmuckraker, from 2002 to 2004 Silver listed as a client Jack Abramoff's lobbying firm, Greenberg Traurig. On Greenberg's behalf, Silver lobbied the federal government on "issues relating to Indian/Native American policy," "exploration for oil and gas" and "legislation relating to gaming issues" -- the very issues that Abramoff headed up for Greenberg at the time. In other words, Silver appears to have been a part of "Team Abramoff.
So this is the breath of fresh air that McCain wants in Washington? Earmarks aplenty and links to the infamous Jack Abramoff? If that's a step in the right direction, I don't want to see the step in the wrong one.

4: Palin Slashed Funding for Teen Moms
Not many pregnant teens are as privileged as Bristol Palin. And for those who are not, Sarah Palin made things a little harder a few months ago when she used a line-item veto to cut funding for a transitional home for teen moms in Alaska. According to the Washington Post:
After the legislature passed a spending bill in April, Palin went through the measure reducing and eliminating funds for programs she opposed. Inking her initials on the legislation -- "SP" -- Palin reduced funding for Covenant House Alaska by more than 20 percent, cutting funds from $5 million to $3.9 million. Covenant House is a mix of programs and shelters for troubled youths, including Passage House, which is a transitional home for teenage mothers.
According to Passage House's Web site, its purpose is to provide "young mothers a place to live with their babies for up to eighteen months while they gain the necessary skills and resources to change their lives" and help teen moms "become productive, successful, independent adults who create and provide a stable environment for themselves and their families."
(It certainly doesn't sound like the teen moms were joyriding in Cadillacs on the government's dime, but you never know.)
In classic "compassionate" conservative fashion, Palin opposes programs that teach girls how not to get pregnant, lobbies against their right to decide whether to have a child, then kills social programs that exist to cushion the impact of those policies. She then has the gall to trot out her own pregnant daughter as a symbol for "family values."

5: Crazy Reverend, Crazy Church
From the age of 12 and for most of her adult life, Sarah Palin attended the Wasilla Assembly of God. Apparently, Sarah Palin's God was a vengeful God -- one that made Himself helpful to the Bush administration from time to time by damning critics of the president, Democrats and other irredeemable sinners. The Huffington Post writes that the church's preacher, Ed Kalinins:
… preached that critics of President Bush will be banished to hell; questioned whether people who voted for Sen. John Kerry in 2004 would be accepted to heaven; charged that the 9/11 terrorist attacks and war in Iraq were part of a war "contending for your faith;" and said that Jesus "operated from that position of war mode."
Kalinins also offered a nuanced view of foreign policy, preaching that 9/11 and the Iraq war were part of a greater struggle over Christianity, with Jesus playing an important role as a very exacting general:
"What you see in Iraq, basically, is a manifestation of what's going on in this unseen world called the spirit world. … We need to think like Jesus thinks. We are in a time and a season of war, and we need to think like that. We need to develop that instinct. We need to develop as believers the instinct that we are at war, and that war is contending for your faith. … Jesus called us to die. You're worried about getting hurt? He's called us to die.
It can't necessarily be assumed that Palin agrees wholeheartedly with her former pastor. But in an address to the church three months ago, Palin also used disconcertingly religious language to frame the conflict in Iraq:
"Pray for our military men and women who are striving to do what is right. Also, for this country, that our leaders, our national leaders, are sending (U.S. soldiers) out on a task that is from God," she exhorted the congregants. "That's what we have to make sure that we're praying for, that there is a plan and that that plan is God's plan."
Considering how much flak Obama got for the statements of his former pastor, Jeremiah Wright, this is an issue Palin needs to address.

6: McCain Picking Palin Reeks of Sexism
The McCain campaign is already doing its best to deflect all the negative stories that are coming out about Palin by calling Democrats sexist, and by claiming that they are the party that values women's rights. Of course, Dems had a woman on the presidential ticket in 1984 (Congresswoman Geraldine A. Ferraro), so Republicans aren't breaking glass ceilings here but are actually 24 years late to the party. When it comes to sexism, it seems the party that isn't for equal pay or for a woman's right to choose should take a quick look in the mirror before accusing others of sexism. In fact, McCain's idea that women will vote for the McCain/Palin ticket just because Palin has a vagina is incredibly condescending, as Ann Friedman at the American Prospect writes:
Palin's addition to the ticket takes Republican faux-feminism to a whole new level. As Adam Serwer pointed out on TAPPED, this is in fact a condescending move by the GOP. It plays to the assumption that disaffected Hillary Clinton supporters did not care about her politics -- only her gender. In picking Palin, Republicans are lending credence to the sexist assumption that women voters are too stupid to investigate or care about the issues, and merely want to vote for someone who looks like them. As Serwer noted, it's akin to choosing Alan Keyes in an attempt to compete with Obama for votes from black Americans.
A candidate should be chosen because they are qualified for the job, not because of their gender. Any hardworking woman who has been passed over for a promotion could have told the McCain campaign that.

7: Palin Can't Even Run a Car Wash
Many politicians have a strong background in business: CEOs, executives, business presidents, self-made millionaires, etc. The thinking is that a businessperson is economically savvy, has executive experience, and can make tough calls and quick decisions. Well, Palin has some experience in the private sector: While she was mayor of Wasilla, Palin had time to open up a car wash in Anchorage. Good for her, nothing wrong with a little public service cushioned by some private business while raising a family. But by the time Palin was governor of Alaska, her business had run into trouble, as Matthew Mosk reports for the Washington Post:
State records show the business ran into trouble with Alaska's division of corporations business and professional licensing after Palin became governor of the state in 2006.
A Feb. 11, 2007, letter to the governor's business partner advises that the car wash had "not filed its biennial report and/or paid its biennial fees," which were more than a year overdue.
The warning letter was written on state letterhead, which carried Palin's name at the top, next to the state seal.
On April 3, 2007, the state went further and issued a "certificate of involuntary dissolution" because of the car wash's failure to file its report and pay state licensing fees.
The least you can accuse Palin here is of mismanagement (of a car wash!); at worst, she was abusing her political clout by trying to cut corners. Either way, Palin doesn't come off as the kind of executive you'd want running your business, let along your country.

8: Lied About Foreign Travel
In an attempt to inflate her nonexistent foreign policy credentials, Palin's spokespeople stated shortly after her nomination that she had traveled to Germany, Kuwait and Ireland: you know, the three countries most likely to give rise to catastrophic national security emergencies in the next four years.
But not only is Palin's travel history unimpressive, it was also being blatantly misrepresented. According Jim Aravosis, an Irish blogger has just revealed that Palin was in Ireland for a brief refueling layover.
And as Aravosis argues, Palin's lack of travel experience outside of "duty-free diplomacy" has major implications:

… John McCain, who is 72 and has had 4 bouts of cancer, (has) picked Sarah Palin to replace him as commander in chief should he die or be incapacitated in office.

CHICAGO COLUMNIST SAYS PALIN NOT ON BOARD STRAIGHT TALK EXPRESS

Palin not on board Straight Talk Express

McCain's VP pick blows credibility, missing prime teaching moment

September 2, 2008

http://www.suntimes.com/news/mitchell/1139356,CST-NWS-mitch02.article

MARY MITCHELL marym@suntimes.com

ST. PAUL -- Sarah Palin's 17-year-old daughter is pregnant.

Those are the last words a 44-year-old woman with an infant wants to hear from a teenage daughter.

Not many of us can truly say we want to become a granny before we qualify for our AARP discount membership card.

But Palin, John McCain's surprise pick for VP, is a real trouper.

"Our beautiful daughter Bristol came to us with news, that as parents we knew would make her grow up faster than we had ever planned. We're proud of Bristol's decision to have her baby and even prouder to become grandparents," Sarah and Todd Palin said in a statement released Monday.

Malarkey.

When an unmarried 17-year-old girl comes up pregnant on the South Side of Chicago, Republicans don't make it sound like a beautiful thing.

They call it tragic and a moral failure, and they often blame the teen's parents.
There's no way to put a positive spin on a teen in this kind of trouble.

Indeed, teenage pregnancies rose by 3 percent between 2005 and 2006, the first increase since 1991, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Unfortunately, leaders like Palin are part of the problem.

When she was running for governor in 2006, Palin said she would fund abstinence-only programs and that "explicit sex-ed programs" would not get her support.

But studies have proven that abstinence-only programs alone don't work.

Given her daughter's predicament, Palin might want to rethink her position.

Although it sounds nice that Bristol will be marrying the "young man" who fathered her child, the fact of the matter is marriage is hard work for adults, let alone a teenager.

And when 17-year-old girls decide to throw caution to the wind and risk their sexual health by having unprotected sex, then they haven't been paying attention to the messages adults have been sending.

But Palin, who is being touted as the down-to-earth candidate who can appeal to the working class, sounded like any other politician when she talked about her daughter's "news."

"Bristol and the young man she will marry are going to realize very quickly the difficulties of raising a child, which is why they will have the love and support of our entire family," Palin said.
More malarkey.

This is not good news, nor is it something the average woman wants to deal with, especially in the public arena.

Palin should have acknowledged the disappointment and pain any mother feels when she learns her teenage daughter has stumbled onto this tough road.

But Palin hid behind scripted words and blew the chance to have an honest dialogue about a problem that affects Republicans and Democrats alike.

Still, some good can come from all of this after all.

Conservatives like Palin have been hard on young, unwed, pregnant women in urban areas.

Maybe now that she is in the same boat, they'll show a little more compassion.

WARNING GRAPHIC VIDEO: U.S. SOLDIERS KILL INSURGENTS

This graphic video captures up close an attack by U.S. soldiers in Iraq on insurgents. Warning: Some of the footage is VERY GRAPHIC.

Watch video here: http://www.youtube.com/v/rnjD0REckn0&hl=en&fs=1

Click on diamond-shaped arrow in picture to activate video

VIDEO: SCOTT RITTER, RAY McGOVERN ON PALIN, McCAIN AND THE IRAQ WAR

Scott Ritter and Ray McGovern, two of the most respected analysts and journalists in the United States, talk about how foreign nations will look at GOP veep pick Sarah Palin and GOP presidenital choice John McCain on the IRAQ WAR.

This compelling video is well worth the time to watch as these two foreign policy experts discuss Sarah Palin and John McCain.

Ray McGovern dissects what John McCain's goal were regarding IRAQ and how McCain ignored evidence which indicated IRAQ did not have weapons of mass destruction.

Scott Ritter is a former weapons inspector and he talks about what the Bush administrtion knew about IRAQ's "weapons" program and how they misled the American public into war with Iraq.

Watch video here: http://therealnews.com/t/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=31&Itemid=74&jumival=2193

McCAIN FORGOT ABOUT THESE U.S. CASUALTIES WHEN HE SAID "THE IRAQ WAR HAS BEEN WON"

John McCain likes to boast to the press about how the "war has been won" in Iraq, however McCain apparently doesn't know about the following list of 23 U.S. soldiers and Marines who have died in IRAQ in August alone.

The list contains names, hometowns and cause of death and you can click on each name to obtain further information on each soldier or Marine who have been KILLED in IRAQ during the month of August.

Source: http://icasualties.org/oif/prdDetails.aspx?hndRef=4-2008

Date
Total
Name
Place of Death - Province
Cause of Death
28-Aug-2008
2
US: 2 UK: 0 Other: 0



US
Specialist Jorge L. Feliz Nieve
Mosul - Ninawa
Non-hostile - vehicle accident

US
Specialist Michael L. Gonzalez
Baghdad
Hostile - hostile fire - IED attack
27-Aug-2008
1
US: 1 UK: 0 Other: 0



US
Sergeant David K. Cooper
Qadasiyah - Baghdad
Hostile - hostile fire - small arms fire
26-Aug-2008
1
US: 1 UK: 0 Other: 0



US
Specialist Carlo E. Alfonso
Baghdad (Sadr City)
Hostile - hostile fire - IED attack
25-Aug-2008
1
US: 1 UK: 0 Other: 0



US
Specialist Steven J. Fitzmorris
Adhamiyah - Baghdad
Hostile - hostile fire - small arms fire
19-Aug-2008
1
US: 1 UK: 0 Other: 0



US
George Stanciel
Amarah - Maysan
Hostile - hostile fire - mortar attack
17-Aug-2008
1
US: 1 UK: 0 Other: 0



US
Lance Corporal Travis M. Stottlemyer
Manama - NA
Non-hostile
14-Aug-2008
2
US: 2 UK: 0 Other: 0



US
Private Janelle F. King
Baghdad
Non-hostile

US
Private 1st Class Daniel A. C. McGuire
Falluja - Anbar
Hostile - hostile fire - small arms fire
13-Aug-2008
1
US: 1 UK: 0 Other: 0



US
Corporal James M. Hale
Baghdad (northwestern part)
Hostile - hostile fire - IED attack
10-Aug-2008
2
US: 2 UK: 0 Other: 0



US
Sergeant Michael H. Ferschke Jr.
Tikrit (southwest of) - Salah Ad Din
Hostile - hostile fire - small arms fire

US
Sergeant Kenneth B. Gibson
Tarmiya - Salah Ad Din
Hostile - hostile fire - IED attack
09-Aug-2008
1
US: 1 UK: 0 Other: 0



US
Sergeant Jose E. Ulloa
Baghdad (Sadr City)
Hostile - hostile fire - IED attack
07-Aug-2008
3
US: 3 UK: 0 Other: 0



US
Main Sergeant Danny E. Maybin
Camp Arifjan - NA
Non-hostile

US
Corporal Stewart S. Trejo
Karma - Anbar
Non-hostile

US
Corporal Adam T. McKiski
Karma - Anbar
Non-hostile
04-Aug-2008
3
US: 3 UK: 0 Other: 0



US
Private Timothy J. Hutton
Baghdad
Non-hostile

US
Specialist Jonathan D. Menke
Baghdad
Hostile - hostile fire - IED

US
Sergeant Gary M Henry
Baghdad
Hostile - hostile fire - IED
03-Aug-2008
1
US: 1 UK: 0 Other: 0



US
Specialist Ronald Andrew Schmidt
Baghdad
Non-hostile - vehicle accident
02-Aug-2008
3
US: 3 UK: 0 Other: 0



US
Sergeant Brian K. Miller
Abd Allah - Salah Ad Din
Non-hostile - vehicle accident

US
Private 1st Class Jennifer L. Cole
Baiji - Salah Ad Din
Non-hostile - gunshot wound

US
Specialist Kevin R. Dickson
Balad - Salah Ad Din
Non-hostile
Total
23
US: 23 UK: 0 Other: 0

McCAIN SAYS WE HAVE WON THE WAR IN IRAQ: HE SHOULD READ THIS

GOP Presidential candidate John McCain has gone on record saying "we have won the war in Iraq."

Apparently McCain's campaign staff don't allow him to see reports like the following of events in Iraq Tuesday.

Baghdad- Seven people were killed in a car bombing in the northern Iraqi city of Mosul city
Tuesday, while in Baghdad twin bomb attacks left four dead.

http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/229293,11-killed-in-mosul-and-baghdad-violence--summary.html

In Mosul, a suicide bomber detonated his explosives-laden vehicle near an Iraqi army checkpoint in the eastern al-Quds neighbourhood, killing seven people and wounding seven.

Despite having a significant Kurdish population, the city does not constitute part of the area controlled by the Kurdistan Regional Government.

In Baghdad twin attacks that targeted police patrols left four people dead and 14 injured, the Voice of Iraq (VOI) news agency reported.

One attack took place in al-Harithiya neighborhood, western Baghdad, when a bomb exploded near an Iraqi police patrol vehicle. Two were killed and six wounded.

Earlier, in central Baghdad, a policeman and a civilian were killed and eight civilians were injured in a blast near Kendi Hospital.

In Kirkuk, the city's deputy governor survived an assassination attempt when a roadside bomb went off near the Baghdad bus station targeting Kirkuk's deputy governor Rakan Said, an official told VOI.

Rifts over the status of the multi-ethnic city, with a population of Kurds, Arabs, and Turkmen, have resulted in lawmakers failing to pass legislation on provincial elections.

Kurds, claiming a majority of the city's population, currently hold more than half the seats in the Kirkuk council. Arabs and Turkmen oppose any integration of the city into autonomous Kurdistan.

WASHINGTON POST: UNCERTAINTY IN ANBAR PROVINCE HANDOVER

The media in the United States would leave people to believe it was the United States military which accomplished the turnover of Anbar Province to the Iraqi Security forces.

Nothing could be further from the TRUTH.

To begin with, the U.S. Army didn't kill or capture any insurgents. The Sunni Awakening banded together to rid Anbar Province of the insurgents.

The U.S. military just stood guard while the cleansing took place. You can be sure if the U.S. military were involved there would have been screaming headlines about how many Iraqi insurgents the U.S. military killed or captured, but that was not the case.

The signing ceremony was all a photo-op aimed at making it look like the U.S. military had accomplished some major military victory in Anbar Province.

The future of Anbar Province is shaky at best and it is far too early to tell if the insurgents have been run out of Anbar, or are they just in hiding planning their next attack.

Commentary by BILL CORCORAN, editor of CORKSPHERE

Uncertainty After Anbar Handover
Fate of U.S.-Backed Sunni Fighters Precarious as Government Targets Force's Leaders

By Amit R. PaleyWashington Post Foreign ServiceTuesday, September 2, 2008; A10
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/09/01/AR2008090100441.html

BAGHDAD, Sept. 1 -- The U.S. military on Monday handed the Iraqi government control of security in Anbar province, the former Sunni insurgency stronghold that is now one of the safest areas in the country.

President Bush and military officials hailed the transfer as a sign of the growing strength of the Iraqi security forces. The United States plans to draw down the 26,000 American troops in Anbar so it can deploy more to Afghanistan, where violence is cresting as security improves in Iraq.

But as Iraqis celebrated the milestone, uncertainty lingered about the future of a linchpin in the effort to secure Anbar and the rest of Iraq: the Awakening movement, a 100,000-person group of former Sunni insurgents who now cooperate with U.S. troops.

The Shiite-led government has recently stepped up a campaign to arrest leaders of the Awakening and dismantle parts of the program, whose members receive $300 a month from the U.S. military. Many fighters have abandoned their posts and fled their homes to avoid detention, stoking fears that some will rejoin the insurgency.

Aides to Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki contend that many Awakening members are al-Qaeda in Iraq fighters in disguise. Shiite leaders are also suspicious of armed Sunnis outside their control patrolling the streets. But under heavy U.S. pressure, Maliki has agreed to move at least a fifth into the security forces and train the rest for civilian jobs.

Click here to read more: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/09/01/AR2008090100441.html

BREAKING VIDEO: DEMOCRACY NOW'S AMY GOODMAN ARRESTED AT RNC CONVENTION

Amy Goodman, who is one of the most brilliant commentators on politics and a founder of Democracy Now has been arrested outside of the Republican Convention.

WATCH THE VIDEO HERE:

http://www.youtube.com/v/oYjyvkR0bGQ&hl=en&fs=1

Click on diamond-shaped arrow to activate video

VIDEO: ALASKA CBS OUTLET REPORTS ON PALIN'S "TROOPERGATE" SCANDAL

Sarah Palin, John McCain's pick as his veep candidate, has hired a private attorney to help in her defense about how she fired the Public Commissioner in Alaska when he wouldn't fire her brother-in-law who is an Alaskan State Trooper.

This is a scandal that is not going to go away and will cause the McCain campaign super headaches.

WATCH VIDEO HERE:

http://www.youtube.com/v/6UojMnCgqVA&hl=en&fs=1

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

BRAND NEW VIDEO: OBAMA/BIDEN AND McCAIN ON WAR WITH IRAN

This video is from my friends at The Real News Network and includes interviews with THREE people who have extensive backgrounds in foreign policy and how they view the threats John McCain has made about going to war with IRAN

WATCH THE VIDEO HERE:

http://therealnews.com/t/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=31&Itemid=74&jumival=2179

Remember this: If McCain and Palin win we will be going to war with IRAN and that means there will have to be a military draft.

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