Israel Invades Lebanon: Regional War Threatens World Stability, Preznit Bush Makes Pig Jokes

I'm not making this up. I don't have to.

I never have to.

I love to have a D-student preznit and fearless leader of the Free World. Don't we all?

Full story here.

Do especially enjoy the perky American media whore media headline which tries to make lame excuses for Bubble Boy's bizarre, sophomoric, pathetic, entirely inappropriate behavior.

This incident has risen to a hot number two on my Dirty Bush hit list, coming right after his number ONE so-funny fake search for the Weapons of Mass Destruction we invaded a country to capture, but which didn't actually exist.

Oh well, everybody makes mistakes hahahaha: 100K Iraqis dead so far, a bloody Civil War in progress, Islamic theocracy, increased regional instability, big-time American moral and fiscal bankruptcy, downplaying 2500+ US troops dead, tens of thousands maimed, tens of thousands of troops bringing it all back home to the USA with florid, screaming cases of PTSD which Rummy will try to ignore so he can save some pennies. Hahahahahaha.

That was the greatest.

But, yep, the pig thing's soared right up to number two, right above Dirty Dick wearing his best snow-shoveling clothes to Auschwitz.

Cheney
Bush
Iraq War
Israel Invades Lebanon


Update, via the Sydney Morning Herald, here: "Humiliating Spectacle of a World Leader Caught Without a Foreign Policy."

One must respectfully disagree. Bubble Boy has a foreign policy, and that foreign policy is:

no gay marriage, no exit ever from Iraq; Bolton isn't a total joke; the rule of law is a total joke; torture, atrocities, kidnappings haved been officially Decidered to be good, even if those damn activist judges are trying to clip my Genevas-free wings; AND--God really really wants me to start a war in Iran.

Update 2: How about "Roast Pig Guest Stars On Bush Visit to Germany," here.

Update 3: At Crooks & Liars, scroll down & check out the video of that porcine press conference in Germany--it's even worse than print reports suggest.

Note in particular the undisguised look of utter contempt German Chancellor Angela Merkel gives Bubble Boy when he nervously attempts to fob off a complex question about the Middle East with yet a third lame pig joke.

Bush, Merkel
Bush
G8
Bush, pig jokes

Cheney In Plame Sights

Former career CIA officer, WMD expert, and undercover spy Valerie Plame along with her husband, career diplomat and former Ambassador Joseph Wilson, filed a civil lawsuit today against VP Dirty Dick Cheney, Karl "Closet Dumpling" Rove, and Scooter (what kind of a name is that for a grown man?) Libby, among others.

Ms. Plame had been working for years as a CIA NOC (specializing in Iran's WMDs) until her cover was blown (and her entire spy network sacrificed at Bubble Boy's altar of ego).

Iraqi WMDs. Wilson.

Iranian WMDs. Plame.

Gee. Think Deadeye Dick Cheney might have been gunning to get two birds with one stone?

Let's take another trip down Memory Lane:

[W]e have plenty of enemies. Plenty of enemies abound. Unpredictable leaders willing to export instability or to commit crimes against humanity. Proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, terrorism . . . These and more. Many more.

As our analysts know, as our collectors of intelligence know - these are our enemies. To combat them we need more intelligence, not less. We need more human intelligence.

That means we need more protection for the methods we use to gather intelligence and more protection for our sources, particularly our human sources, people that are risking their lives for their country. (Applause)

Even though I'm a tranquil guy now at this stage of my life, I have nothing but contempt and anger for those who betray the trust by exposing the name of our sources. They are, in my view, the most insidious, of traitors.

Those are the words of Preznit Toad-exploder's Father, George H.W. Bush. Wonder what he thinks of all this, eh? It's all so Oedipal, ain't it? You can tell poor Bush I wishes he'd had a smart son.

You know, one like Clinton.

See "Leaked Spy Guns for Cheney, Rove" at the Sydney Morning Herald, here.
WaPo here.

Here's a link to donate to the Wilsons' Legal Fund.

Cheney
Bush
Rove
Plame

The US Pro-Atrocity Crowd: Those For Whom Nothing Is Forbidden

The yowling pro-atrocity crowd, big-time sadists who try to sell toleration of torture, kidnapping and murder to the American public as if they were selling a brand new flavor of Coke, are responsible for all the actions that ensue consequent to promoting utter moral emptiness.

When leaders tolerate torture, kidnapping, and lawlessness, when they desecrate the US Constitution through their arrogance and black-heartedness, it is hardly a surprise when underlings follow their lead.

Hence the pre-meditated rape of a fourteen-year-old child becomes somewhat predictable.

As does the pre-meditated murder of the victim and her family (including a six-year-old child) by a group of American soldiers who could no longer tell right from wrong because Bush and Cheney and Rummy cannot tell right from wrong.

In the public sphere ruled by the media whore media, they tolerate anorexic spinsters publicly advocating death for their political enemies; they tolerate tubby druggie fornicators who believe in stiff sentences for others and flabby sentences for themselves; they tolerate Talibangelical blowhards who promote political assassinations and pray openly for the deaths of others.

Who needs a rape room, when a whole country is regarded as fair game for vengeance?

Who needs to follow the rules of civilized society, when its leaders do not?

Abu Ghraib, Haditha, Guantanamo, Mahmudiya, Nahiba Jassim, Abeer Qasim: this is our foreign policy under George Bush.


Five U.S. soldiers charged in Iraq rape-murder case

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Five U.S. soldiers were charged in a rape and multiple murder case that has outraged Iraqis, as documents obtained by Reuters on Sunday showed the rape victim was aged 14, and not over 20 as U.S. officials have said.

Days after former private Steven Green was charged as a civilian in a U.S. court with rape and four murders, four serving soldiers were charged with the same offences, the U.S. military said in statement. . . . All five were charged with conspiring with Green, accused by U.S. prosecutors of going with three others to a house near the checkpoint they were manning outside Mahmudiya, near Baghdad, and of killing a couple and their two daughters. The five could face the death penalty. . .

[The rape victim's] identity card and a copy of her death certificate obtained by Reuters, however, show she was 14.

Abeer Qasim Hamza al-Janabi was born on August 19, 1991 in Baghdad, according to the identity card, provided to Reuters by a relative. Issued in 1993, it features a photograph of her at 18 months, wide-eyed and with a lick of dark hair over her brow.

A copy of her death certificate, dated March 13, gives the same birth date. She was found at home by a relative on March 12 and had died from "gunshot wounds to the head, with burns", said the document, signed by doctor Wael Habib and a registrar. . . Abeer's sister Hadeel was aged six when she died of "several gunshot wounds".

Full Reuters story here. WaPo here.



Cheney
Bush
Coulter
Malkin

Link here to a story at Editor & Publisher on how our media whore media minimized rape by labeling the child as 'a woman.'

Current Haditha story, here.

Yo-hoo. Mexico's Liberal Calderon Ain't No Conservative (& Why Would Anyone Believe what the Rove-Whipped US Media Whore Media Says, Anyhow?)

Yoo hoo. Rove is pulling the wool over your eyes, people. Wake up.

No matter how many times the US Press throws around the label "conservative," Mexico's barely-newly-elected president Felipe Calderon's a liberal.

Let's think: are conservatives interested in improving relations with Cuba and Venezuela?

Answer: oh, ask Pat Robertson.

Let's think: are conservatives interested in alleviating poverty?

Answer: come on.

Let's think: are conservatives interested in not toeing the Bushist fascist party line?

Answer: uh, NO.

(God I hate what American media has become. And you?)


Calderon Shows Constructive Profile to Cuba, Venezuela

Mexico, Jul 8 (Prensa Latina) The ruling presidential candidate Felipe Calderon affirmed he will seek "constructive, beneficial" relations with Cuba and Venezuela. . . Referring to relations with the US, he will relate to that country "without lowering the head or looking down."

Shortly before the press conference, he sustained his foreign policy will be based on respect for self-determination, non-intervention, and human rights defense.

Calderon noted he not only intends to promote good diplomacy in the region, but also economic and commercial relations.

Calderón: No walls needed

Creating jobs in Mexico the key to ending illegal migration, he says

MEXICO CITY – Felipe Calderón said Friday that as Mexico's new president he will work closely with Washington to build infrastructure and jobs in some of his country's poorest regions to stop the stream of illegal migration to the U.S.

"Walls and troops won't solve the problem of migration," Mr. Calderón said. "Migration can only be stopped with opportunities of employment, and that's why I will push for a trilateral policy with the United States and Canada to generate jobs" . . . Mr. Calderón, a Harvard-educated lawyer, said Friday that he hoped to reach a migration accord with the U.S., something that has eluded President Vicente Fox for nearly six years. . . . His administration will launch a program, with the U.S. and Canada, called "For Our Land," to generate projects to improve infrastructure, Mr. Calderón told the foreign journalists. . . .

"You can do more with paving 1 kilometer of road in Zacatecas, or Michoacán, than 10 kilometers of wall in Texas, or Arizona, and that's something both sides of the border need to understand. . . "

Calderón said he would seek help for Mexican farmers who will face losses in 2008, when NAFTA will allow U.S. corn and bean imports.

He also vowed to bridge the gap between rich and poor, calling it a lifelong personal project.

So, don't believe what you read in the papers or what you hear on TV. Take this useless Rovian spin with big grain of salt.

Pillars of salt. Salt salt salt.

The salt that Gandhi used to win freedom from Britain.

Or -- think Clinton -- con salsa.


Mexico
Felipe Calderon
Rove

"Smear him! Out her! -- Dirty Bush Admits He Directed Dirty Dick to Swiftboat Wilson -- A Timely Revelation to Celebrate Independence Day!!!

What shall we celebrate here on Independence Day?

Let's celebrate putative Freedom of the Press, even though the current media whore media keeps on doling out feckless, reckless, useless Bushist fascist propaganda crap, 24/7.

Let's just celebrate what the press could be and should be -- even though it isn't.

Oh well.

It's so nice when not-really-elected Preznits like Dirty Bush direct their underlings to smear and defame respected career diplomats and destroy the careers of family members, is it not?

All to defend the pack of lies one used to justify the killing (by so-called "pro-lifers") of 100,00 Iraqis & 2500+ Americans, maiming 20K Americans, and generally turning Iraq into a Shi'ite medievalist theocracy.

So much nicer when the Preznit and his Orc minions are taking particular care to destroy precisely those careers that might negatively impact one's future hopeful wishful upcoming war on Iran, don't you think?

Well, well.

That explains it.


Does it not?


Bush
Plame
Rove

JAG Lawyer Prevents Desecration of Constitution -- No Thanks for Navy Hero

Gitmo win likely cost Navy lawyer his career

'Fearless' defense of detainee a stinging loss for Bush


Lt. Cmdr. Charles Swift -- the Navy lawyer who beat the president of the United States in a pivotal Supreme Court battle over trying alleged terrorists -- figures he'll probably have to find a new job. Of course, it's always risky to compare your boss to King George III.

Swift made the analogy to the court, saying President Bush had overstepped his authority when he bypassed Congress and set up illegal military tribunals to try Guantanamo detainees such as Swift's alleged al-Qaida client, Salim Ahmed Hamdan.

The justices agreed, ruling 5-3 Thursday in favor of dismantling the current tribunal system.

Despite his spectacular success, with the assistance of attorneys from the Seattle firm Perkins Coie, Swift thinks his military career is coming to an end. The 44-year-old Judge Advocate General officer, who was recently named one of the 100 most influential lawyers in the country by The National Law Journal, was passed over for promotion last year as the high-profile case was making headlines around the world.

"I may be one of the most influential lawyers in America," the Seattle University Law School graduate said, "but I won't be in the military much longer. That irony did strike me."

Swift's future in the Navy now rests with another promotion board that is expected to render its decision in the next couple of weeks. Under the military's system, officers need to be promoted at regularly scheduled intervals or their service careers are essentially over.

"The way it works, the die was cast some months ago," he said. "The decision has been made. I don't know what it is yet." But he thinks his chances are slim.

Asked if he believes he was passed over for promotion last year for political reasons, Swift would not speculate.

"I don't know," he said. "I'm not going to worry about it. I didn't volunteer for this. I got nominated for it. When I got it, I just decided to do the best I could."

Swift has worked under two officers as a member of the small team of lawyers defending "enemy combatants" being held at Guantanamo Bay. Both of them spoke highly of Swift Friday and said they gave him very high ratings on his annual review, called a fitness report.

"He's doing a fantastic job," said Swift's current boss at the Office of Military Commissions (tribunals), Marine Col. Dwight Sullivan.

Sullivan spoke of the crucial importance of the case decided Thursday by the Supreme Court. "It's a fundamental constitutional question about the powers of the president," Sullivan said. Asked about Swift's aggressive legal challenge of the commander in chief, Sullivan saluted Swift's "moral courage."

"He has been absolutely fearless is pursuing his client's interests. And also he has exhibited an extraordinary level of legal skill. His legal strategy has been brilliant.

"We all take an oath to protect and defend the Constitution of the United States and he has certainly done that, literally."


Full story here.


Charles Swift
Bush
Guantanamo

The Neo-Pro-Slavery Crowd: Bush, Cheney, Rummy

What happens when you create a class of human beings who are designated as having less than human status?

You get gassed Jews in Nazi Germany.

You get massacred intellectuals in China and Cambodia and the Soviet Union.

You get Hutus massacreing Tutsis.

You get Shi'a murdering Sunnis, and Sunnis murdering Shi'a.

You get oppressed women in Taliban countries.

You get torture and atrocities in Iraq.

You get the American Gulag of prisoners in Club Gitmo.


That is how it's done. One creates a class of persons who, by virtue of your having designated them as comprising that class, one no longer has to treat as one would treat a "fellow" human.

Quoth Cheney, "The important thing here to understand is that the people that are at Guantanamo are bad people."

Aha. Bad people.

Not really people at all. Not good people. There are laws for good people, but bad people are you know, bad.

Then, everything changes, morally speaking. You get to have power and control over them. You get to torture them. You get to round them up. You get to kidnap them. You get to put them into concentration camps. You get to imprison them without trial.

You create a new reality merely by claim--claiming that this class is so awful, so bad, so inferior, that we rightly may to do anything we want to them.

Sound familiar?

From the Dred Scott Decision, Mr. Chief Justice Taney delivering the opinion of the Supreme Court:

In the opinion of the Court the legislation and histories of the times, and the language used in the Declaration of Independence, show that neither the class of persons who had been imported as slaves nor their descendants, whether they had become free or not, were then acknowledged as a part of the people nor intended to be included in the general words used in that memorable instrument....

They had for more than a century before been regarded as beings of an inferior order and altogether unfit to associate with the white race, either in social or political relations; and so far inferior that they had no rights which the white man was bound to respect; and that the Negro might justly and lawfully be reduced to slavery for his benefit (sic) . . . This opinion was at that time fixed and universal in the civilized (sic) portion of the white race . . . And upon a full and careful consideration of the subject, the Court is of opinion that, upon the facts stated in the plea in abatement, Dred Scott was not a citizen of Missouri . . . and not entitled as such to sue in its courts . . . .

No rights for the inferior. They don't deserve them. End of story.

We have created in Guantanamo -- or rather Bush and Rumsfeld and Cheney have created -- a new class of being, for whom laws do not apply.

They're vermin, they're insects, they're less than nothing.

One may drive them mad and not feel remorse. One may cause them physical and mental suffering and feel no remorse.

Because they are bad.

Thus, down the road, you get to kill them or disappear them or do whatever you wish.

Why have we gone so far down along this road?



torture
Rumsfeld
Bush
Geneva Conventions

Lawless Bush's Sick Trifecta of Shame: Losing Three Wars At Once

Like all those who somehow never expect the Spanish Inquisition (though clearly Michael Palin, Terry Jones and Terry Gilliam are all suited up in their Cardinal's berrettas and gowns, ready to rush in, crucifixes a-blazing), Bush never seems to expect the trifecta, does he?

You know, I remember campaigning in Chicago and somebody said, would you ever spend a deficit? And I said, only if we're at war or we had a recession or there was a national emergency. Little did I realize we'd get the trifecta. (Laughter.)" -- 3/1/02 -- The Marriott Hotel, Des Moines, Iowa

Hyuk. Hyuk.

He didn't expect planes to be flown into buildings.

He didn't expect Katrina.

Can we expect the Decider-er to be waking up from his unexpecting slumber anytime soon?

Never mind.

Let's just talk about Bubble Boy's wars.


Iraq is a mess. Afghanistan's a mess.

Now experts admit that Bubble Boy is losing the war on terrorism, too.

What percentage of experts on terrorism say so?

Eighty-four percent.

US LOSING WAR ON TERROR, EXPERTS SAY


WASHINGTON - The United States is losing its fight against terrorism and the Iraq war is the biggest reason why, more than eight of 10 American terrorism and national security experts concluded in a poll released yesterday.

One participant, a former CIA official who described himself as a conservative Republican, said the war in Iraq has provided global terrorist groups with a recruiting bonanza, a valuable training ground and a strategic beachhead at the crossroads of the oil-rich Persian Gulf and Turkey.

"The war in Iraq broke our back in the war on terror," said the former official, Michael Scheuer, author of Imperial Hubris, a popular book highly critical of the Bush administration's anti-terrorism efforts. "It has made everything more difficult and the threat more existential."

Scheuer is one of more than 100 national security and terrorism analysts surveyed by Foreign Policy magazine and the Center for American Progress, a left-leaning think tank.

Asked whether the United States is "winning the war on terror," 84 percent said no and 13 percent answered yes. Asked whether the war in Iraq is helping or hurting the global anti-terrorism campaign, 87 percent said hurting. Eighty-six percent said the world is becoming "more dangerous for the United States and the American people.

More here. Link to Foreign Policy re: the Terrorism Index, here.



torture
war on terror
Bush
Geneva Conventions

Whee. It's Our First Blogiversary!

A whole year of blogging about the pro-atrocity crowd, the pro-torture crowd, about Bush screwing over Vets with PTSD, Bush screwing over soldiers by cheating them of equipment, of money, of treatment, and sending sick soldiers back into battle.

A year of blogging on George Bush morally and fiscally bankrupting the country as he tries Norquistianly to shrink it to a size where, like a NaziCon Andrea Yates, he can drown it in a bathtub.

A year of complaining about blowhard wankers like Anchor Child Poster Child Mickey Malkin and "Can't Tell A Loofah From a Felafel" dirty old man Bill O'Reilly.

A year wondering about the sexuality of Karl Rove, wondering why a grown man would call himself "Scooter," and trying to get AmericaBlog's net-posted lurid porno pix that JimmyJeffGannon Guckert put up of himself on purpose permanently erased from my brain. Eee-ew.

We were pleased and surprised to have been nominated for several Koufax Awards (Best New Blog, Best Post, Wider Recognition). We were neither pleased nor surprised by the general direction of the country, as the shrieky Bushists drive their fascist bus over a cliff.

How about a stroll down Memory Lane for some Golden Oldies? (Yeah, try and stop me.)

"Bubble Boy Brings Back Burqas," here.

"Bubble Boy Wastes Blood and Treasure to Install Medievalist Theocracy In Iraq," here.

"Robertson Calls For Chavez Murder: God's Sixth Commandment Not Good Enough for Anti-Christ-ist Crackpot Right," here.

"Pissing On the Post-Born: The Third-Worlding of America," here.

"Blonde Blowhard Blog-Slagger Flip-Flops: Slobbered Over Right Blogs, Now Slags Blogs Left," here.

"We Can't Care for the Children We Already Have (Andrea Yates Edition)," here.

"SERFIN' U-S-A!!" here.

"Canned Hunts: Killing for Fun," here.

"Lawless George's Little My Lai: Civilian Massacre at Haditha," here.

"The Pro-Atrocity Crowd: Deja Vu All Over Again," here.

"It's Spring. Must Be Time for More All-American Abu Ghraib Torture/Humiliation Pix," here.

Not to mention the Official No Blood for Hubris Mental Health Interlude Number Two, Bush Discovers Faith-Based Gravity.

Many thanks to all our constant readers, and to the inconstant ones, as well.


(Cake credit: Melissa Vaughn.)

torture
Vets with PTSD
Bush
Geneva Conventions

Neck Deep in the Big Muddy, And the Big Fool Said To Push On

Waist Deep in the Big Muddy

(Pete Seeger)

It was back in nineteen forty-two,
I was a member of a good platoon.
We were on maneuvers in-a Lou-zianna,
One night by the light of the moon.

The captain told us to ford a river,
That's how it all begun.

We were -- knee deep in the Big Muddy,
But the big fool said to push on.


The Sergeant said, "Sir, are you sure,
This is the best way back to the base?"

"Sergeant, go on! I forded this river
'Bout a mile above this place.
It'll be a little soggy but just keep slogging.
We'll soon be on dry ground."

We were -- waist deep in the Big Muddy
And the big fool said to push on.

The Sergeant said, "Sir, with all this equipment
No man will be able to swim."

"Sergeant, don't be a Nervous Nellie!"
The Captain said to him.
"All we need is a little determination;
Men, follow me, I'll lead on."

We were -- neck deep in the Big Muddy
And the big fool said to push on.


All at once, the moon clouded over,
We heard a gurgling cry.
A few seconds later, the captain's helmet
Was all that floated by.
The Sergeant said, "Turn around men!
I'm in charge from now on."
And we just made it out of the Big Muddy
With the captain dead and gone.

We stripped and dived and found his body
Stuck in the old quicksand.
I guess he didn't know that the water was deeper
Than the place he'd once before been.

Another stream had joined the Big Muddy
'Bout a half mile from where we'd gone.
We were lucky to escape from the Big Muddy
When the big fool said to push on.


Well, I'm not going to point any moral;
I'll leave that for yourself
Maybe you're still walking, you're still talking
You'd like to keep your health.

But every time I read the papers
That old feeling comes on;
We're -- waist deep in the Big Muddy
And the big fool says to push on.


Waist deep in the Big Muddy
And the big fool says to push on.
Waist deep in the Big Muddy
And the big fool says to push on.

Waist deep!
Neck deep!
Soon even a
Tall man'll be over his head! We're
Waist deep in the Big Muddy!
And the big fool says to push on!


(Tomorrow marks our first blogiversary. We're celebrating with song today. Who knows what we shall celebrate with tomorrow?)


More here.

Rumsfeld
Iraq War
Bush
Geneva Conventions

Rove, Lies, and Videotape. And Don't Forget Those Non-Existent WMDs

Hey! Did you know that the sky is falling?

No, really, it is!

Senator Sanatorium says so! He says we really did find those pesky WMDs for which we said we went to war, and killed a whole lotta people!

Wow! Sanatorium's so in the loop! Coulda fooled me!

Coulda fooled the Pentagon, too, which disavowed Senator Sanatorium's tale soon after. Oh well. See Santorum's fake WMD story disavowed by Pentagon, via Think Progress.

More fun stories:

"Annoyed Bush Calls European Critics 'Absurd'" via the Sydney Morning Herald.

Naughty Old Europeans suggest US is more of a threat to world stability than 'Axis of Evil.' Hunh? Time to bring back 'Freedom Fries' and 'Freedom Toast,' and add on 'Freedomburgers."

Plus, the ever-vigilant CitizenSpook on the continuing mysterious saga of Rove/Fitzgerald/Plame/Libby: might Fitzgerald spokesman Randall Samborn's verbal curlicues carefully conceal a guilty plea by Rove?

Hmm.

Fitzgerald
Plame
Rove
Libby

None Dare Call It Polo

Up for more American atrocities, are we?

Why, certainly. Let's discuss Bush's War and the Genghis Khan-ization of America. You can't call it polo, because there weren't any horses, but you sure can call it sick.

So sick it makes the pro-torture lobby's shriekiest argument fall flat on its--well, face. You know, the old "they behead people so that makes it ok for us to torture them."

Oh, but we're the beheaders now.

An excerpt from Peter Laufer's new book, here, via AlterNet.

We was going along the Euphrates River," says Joshua Key, a 27-year-old former U.S. soldier from Oklahoma, detailing a recurring nightmare -- a scene he stumbled on shortly after the U.S. invasion of Iraq in March 2003.

"It's a road right in the city of Ramadi. We turned a real sharp right and all I seen was decapitated bodies.

The heads laying over here and the bodies over here and U.S. troops in between them. I'm thinking, 'Oh my God, what in the hell happened here? What's caused this? Why in the hell did this happen?'

We get out and somebody was screaming, 'We fucking lost it here!' I'm thinking, 'Oh, yes, somebody definitely lost it here.'"

Joshua says he was ordered to look around for evidence of a firefight, for something to rationalize the beheaded Iraqis.

"I look around just for a few seconds and I don't see anything." But then he noticed the sight that now triggers his nightmares.

"I see two soldiers kicking the heads around like a soccer ball. I just shut my mouth, walked back, got inside the tank, shut the door, and it was like, I can't be no part of this. This is crazy.

I came here to fight and be prepared for war but this is outrageous. Why did it happen? That's just my question: Why did that happen?"

He's convinced there was no firefight that led to the beheading orgy -- there were no spent shells to indicate a battle.

"A lot of my friends stayed on the ground, looking to see if there was any shells. There was never no shells, except for what we shot.

I'm thinking, Okay, so they just did that because they wanted to do it. They got trigger happy and they did it.

That's what made me mad in Iraq. You can take human lives at a fast rate and all you have to say is, say, 'Oh, I thought they threw a grenade. I thought I seen this, I thought I seen that.' You could mow down 20 people each time and nobody's going to ask you, 'Are you sure?' They're going to give you a high five and tell you that you was doing a good job."

This is what Bush's war has done to our young men and women, who will now come home and live among us.

Happily ever after?


torture
Rummy
Bush
Geneva Conventions

Curiouser and curiouser . . . .

Some say official Bushist fascist slime-meister Karl Rove's indictment was indeed in place, just as reported, and had been sealed.

Some say that there are indications, via the comments of Fitzgerald spokesman Randall Samborn, that something unusual then may have occurred.

Some say that, the Rove indictment being in place, Dirty Bush and his justice-suppressors then got some Republican activist judge hack, a Federal Magistrate, to expunge it, making it appear that the whole thing was a mere kerfuffle, a nothing to see here, move on moment in the collective national consciousness.

Some say that:

Lawyers and staff tied to the Fitzgerald Investigation are now in revolt.

They are reporting that Karl Rove was indicted by the Grand Jury in Washington, D.C. for perjury and obstruction of justice and the indictments were recorded and handed to Special Counsel Patrick Fitzgerald.

Some say that, having thus far successfully suppressed the Rove prosection, Dirty Bush's team has turned to getting Libby off the hook as well.

Some say that Scooter "What Kind of Name is That for A Grown Man?" Libby is getting ready to receive a timely pardon from Dirty Bush.

Some say the corruption of this Orc administration, like their penchant for starting wars for fun and profit, will never end.


Rove
Libby
Bush
Cheney

Luckily There's No Such Thing as Global Warming, I Mean, Global Climate Change, I Mean, Whatever It Is, Fearful Leader Can White It Out, Can He Not?

THAWING ICY PLAINS A THREAT AS ROT SETS IN

ANCIENT woolly mammoth bones and grasslands locked in a 1 million-square-kilometre stretch of Siberian permafrost are starting to thaw, with the potential to unleash billions of tonnes of carbon and accelerate global warming, Russian and American scientists have concluded.

"It's like taking food out of your freezer … leave it on your counter for a few days and it rots," said a University of Florida botany professor, Ted Schuur, describing the process in which bacteria convert decaying animal and plant matter in the soil into carbon dioxide, methane and other harmful greenhouse gases.

The study, published in yesterday's issue of the journal Science, concluded that while other global warming researchers were factoring carbon reserves in the ocean, and in current soils and vegetation on the earth into their calculations, they had overlooked vast amounts of carbon trapped in permafrost in the northern plains of Siberia and central Alaska.

If all the permafrost thawed and was released as heat-trapping carbon dioxide, it could nearly double the 730 billion tonnes of carbon now in the atmosphere, the scientists said. . .

"It's like finding a new continent under the earth," said the lead author, Sergey Zimov. He said the vast, carbon-rich area had been buried over many millenniums by a unique layer of windborne "loess" dust that covered bones of mammoth, bison, sabre-toothed tiger and abundant grasses they fed on, then froze about 10,000 years ago into permafrost.

The research team also found that carbon stored over tens of thousands of years could bubble up from thawed soil in as little as 100 years.

No sense thinking that far ahead, eh, Bubble Boy?


Full story here.

[Update: More fun here.]


global warming
environmental degradation
Bush
pro-pollution

Roll Over, Turd-BLOSS-om!! --- Or, Federal Indictment "06 cr 128" -- (Sealed vs. Sealed)

Hath yet the fat lady sung?

Methinks not.

Tum ti tum ti tum ti tiddly tum.

Mayhap the best is yet to come.


[Update: this is an interesting take. As is this, both from Citizenspook.

Excerpt:

[T]he Grand Jury has the Constitutional authority to return either, but as our system developed certain habits of procedure, charges brought exclusively by the Grand Jury became regularly classified as PRESENTMENTS as opposed to charges brought directly by the U.S. Attorney which are commonly referred to as INDICTMENTS.

Somebody with clout needs to ask Luskin if Rove is the subject of any PRESENTMENTS by the Fitzgerald Grand Jury. Because if the Grand Jury returned charges in the form of PRESENTMENTS, then Luskin and Corallo could steadfastly deny that any INDICTMENTS have been returned against Rove.]

Lawless Bush IS -- Vlad the Impaler!!

In the olden days, people put other people's heads on spikes.

This was earlier in Western civilization.

(This gentleman on the left is Vlad the Impaler. Go Google him. He did that stuff a lot.)

On the right below, we have the late Abu Musab Al-Zarqawi. He hasn't been literally impaled, but rather literarily impaled--his head is now on a Bushist propaganda spike.

Isn't that like, SO Western civilized?

I so appreciated having this guy's corpse pic splashed across the front page of both my morning newspapers, so that I could share this virtual impalement with my children and other unsuspecting innocents, those who have been so carefully protected from seeing the heinous photos of flag-draped coffins of American war dead.

I'm so glad our hero George Bush is protecting Western civilization through virtually impaling enemies via propaganda death pix in contravention of those pussy Genevas, and torturing people in contravention of those pussy Genevas, and disappearing people to secret prisons in contravention of those pussy Genevas, and holding people without trial in contravention of general pussy laws and stuff.

I also think it's so interesting that even though a 500 lb. bomb fell on this guy, he didn't get smashed to smithereens. Shouldn't we be bombing little village houses with bigger bombs?

I also think it's interesting that a guy like Zarqawi who was FIRED TWO MONTHS AGO BY THE IRAQI INSURGENTS is getting such big-deal press in the US, who have completely ignored the him getting sacked story, which ran in Al Jazeera long ago.

It must be so useful to have a boogieman, so we can keep the little Bushist fascist Bush-hugging kiddies in their footed flannel jammies scared of the scarey terrist dark, is it not?

Ooh. Someone quick give all the little scaredy kiddies a big "Boy George Will Protect You!" hug, and send them off to bed.


(Ed. note--Without their suppers.)




torture
Zarqawi
Bush
Geneva Conventions

Now Suicide Is an "Act of War"? Tell me another. Please.

No kidding.

George Orwell couldn't make this up, Stanley Kubrick and Terry Southern couldn't make this up. They don't have to. The war-is-peace, pollution-is-cleanliness, torture-is-next-to-Godliness, atrocity-is-all-American, up-is-downist, Big Brother Loves You Bushist fascists are on the march again.

Here's a US military man who calls the recent triple suicides at Gitmo an "act of war."

THE commander of the US Joint Task Force Guantanamo, Rear Admiral Harry Harris has described the overnight suicide of three inmates "as an act of war". Three foreign prisoners were found dead overnight after hanging themselves with clothing and bedsheets in the first deaths at the US naval base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, since the prison opened in January 2002, US defence officials said.

The military said two Saudis and one Yemeni were found unresponsive and not breathing in their cells by guards and that attempts to resuscitate the detainees failed.

They were pronounced dead by a physician at Guantanamo, which holds just under 500 foreigners captured mainly in the US war against the Taliban and al Qaeda in Afghanistan.

The suicides have thrown a spotlight on the camp that has drawn widespread criticism against the Bush administration from foreign countries, including some allies, and human rights advocates.

Navy Rear Admiral Harry Harris, commander of Guantanamo, described the suicides were an act of warfare.

"They are smart. They are creative, they are committed. They have no regard for life, neither ours nor their own. I believe this was not an act of desperation, but an act of asymmetrical warfare waged against us," Rear Adm. Harris said.

Asymmetrical warfare, eh?

Does that mean that, in order to preserve martial symmetry, we can expect that Bubble Boy and Rummy and Big Dick will be taking their own three lives together anytime soon?

As vengeance? In reprisal?

Just asking . . .


Full story here.

Guantanamo
torture
Rumsfeld
Bush
Harry Harris

Give Me Liberty, Or Give Me Death -- Club Gitmo-Style

THREE GITMO PRISONERS COMMIT SUICIDE

The US Army has announced that three as-yet-unidentified Guantanamo detainees died early this morning local time in apparent multiple suicides. An official investigation is already underway.

These are the first suicides confirmed among prisoners at Guantanamo Bay since the facility housing US terror suspects at the naval station there was opened in 2002.

A US Southern Command statement released in Miami says:

Two Saudis and one Yemeni, each located in Camp 1, were found unresponsive and not breathing in their cells by guards. Medical teams responded quickly and all three detainees were provided immediate emergency medical treatment in attempts to revive them.

The three detainees were pronounced dead by a physician after all lifesaving measures had been exhausted. The names of the deceased are not being released. The State Department notified and is in ongoing discussions with the governments of Saudi Arabia and Yemen.

The remains of the deceased detainees are being treated with the utmost respect. A cultural advisor is assisting the Joint Task Force to ensure that the remains are handled in a culturally and religiously appropriate manner.

The U.S. Naval Criminal Investigative Service (NCIS) has initiated an investigation, per standard operating procedure, to determine the cause and manner of death.

In May, two detainees attempted to commit suicide by ingesting pills . . . Other detainees have participated in prolonged hunger-strikes in apparent protest of their treatment and indefinite detention without trial.

Via the Jurist.

Guantanamo
torture
suicide
Bush
Geneva Conventions

Iraq Insurgents Fire Zarqawi -- Reposted from April 2006

ZARQAWI SACKED FOR "MISTAKES"

Iraq's resistance has replaced Abu Musab al-Zarqawi as political head of the rebels, the son of Osama bin Laden's mentor has said in Jordan.

Hudayf Azzam, 35, who claims close contacts with the fighters, said on Sunday: "The Iraqi resistance's high command asked Zarqawi to give up his political role and replaced him with an Iraqi, because of several mistakes he made. . . Azzam said he regularly receives "credible information on the resistance in Iraq. He said al-Zarqawi had "made many political mistakes," including "the creation of an independent organisation, al-Qaeda in Iraq".

"Zarqawi also took the liberty of speaking in the name of the Iraqi people and resistance, a role which belongs only to the Iraqis," Azzam said.

As a result "the resistance command inside and outside Iraq, including imams, criticised him and after long discussions demanded that he be confined to military action."

"Zarqawi's role has been limited to military action. Zarqawi bowed to the orders two weeks ago and was replaced by Iraqi national Abdullah bin Rashed al-Baghdadi."

Isn't it inspiring to know that some incompetent people actually get fired for having been incompetent?

Full story here via Al-Jazeera.

Zarqawi
Iraq

Moms, Don't Let Your Babies Grow Up to Be Sadists

PENTAGON SET TO DROP GENEVA CONVENTION
Geneva Conventions Helped Protect These US Soldiers in WWII

Via the Sydney Morning Herald

THE Pentagon is pushing for its new policy on prisoner detention to omit a key tenet of the Geneva convention that bans "humiliating and degrading treatment," marking a potentially permanent move away from international human rights standards.

Military officials say the decision follows a lengthy debate within the US Department of Defence, but will not become final until the Pentagon makes the new guidelines public, a step that has been delayed. . .The process has been beset by controversy and coincides with growing criticism of US detention practices and the conduct of US forces in Iraq.

For decades it was US military policy to follow minimum standards set out in the Geneva conventions for treating prisoners. But in 2002, President George Bush suspended sections of the Geneva conventions for alleged al-Qaeda and Taliban fighters.

His order superseded military policy in effect at the time, touching off debate over US obligations under the accords that intensified after reports of abuses at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, and at Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq. . . The prisoner directive was due to be released in April with the Army Field Manual on interrogations. These were delayed following objections from other parts of government. The main stumbling block involved common Article 3 of the Geneva conventions, which bans torture and cruel treatment of all prisoners, whether unlawful combatants or traditional prisoners of war.

Military lawyers and some Pentagon officials wanted the redrawn version of the document to include this provision, but were opposed by the Vice-President, Dick Cheney, and by the Pentagon's intelligence arm, government sources said.

Mr Cheney's chief of staff, David Addington, and the defence undersecretary for intelligence, Stephen Cambone, argued it would restrict the US's ability to question prisoners.

Senior Pentagon officials believe common Article 3 creates an "unintentional sanctuary" that could allow al-Qaeda members to avoid telling interrogators what they know.

The question occurs: who would Jesus humiliate and degrade? Shall we ask James "Dogbeater" Dobson? Pat "The Assassin" Robertson? Dirty Bush? Dirty Dick?

I'd like to send some of these Bushist sadists to a tropical sanctuary called Gitmo. Makes me want to submit them to humiliating and degrading treatment until they disclose why they lack the capacity to tell right from wrong.

But that would be wrong.

Right?

torture
Pentagon
Iraq War
humiliating and degrading treatment
Bush, Cheney, Rummy
moral bankruptcy

How's That 'Hearts and Minds' Thing Going, George?

FURIOUS IRAQ DEMANDS APOLOGY AS US TROOPS ARE CLEARED OF ISHAQI MASSACRE

AMERICA'S alliance with the new Iraqi government was plunged into major crisis last night as the country's prime minister and its people reacted with fury to the US military clearing its forces of killing civilians during operations against insurgents.

Iraqi leaders vowed to press on with their own probe into one of the most notorious American raids against extremist fighters, in the town of Ishaqi, rejecting the US military's exoneration of its forces.

Adnan al-Kazimi, an aide to prime minister Nuri al-Maliki, said the government would also demand an apology from the United States and compensation for the victims in several cases, including the alleged massacre in the town of Haditha last year.

The escalation in tensions comes as sources at the Foreign Office confirmed that the British Government is also urging the Americans to co-operate fully with comprehensive investigations into the deaths at both Ishaqi and Haditha.

A report filed by Iraqi police accused US troops of rounding up and deliberately shooting 11 people - including five children and four women - in a house in Ishaqi, before blowing up the building. Video footage revealed by the BBC appeared to show the aftermath of US action in Ishaqi, including a number of dead adults and children with what experts claimed were clearly gunshot wounds.

But following its own inquiries into the Ishaqi operation, the Pentagon enraged Iraqi officials by issuing a statement declaring that allegations that US troops "executed a family ... and then hid the alleged crimes by directing an air strike, are absolutely false". . . Police in Ishaqi say five children, four women and two men were shot in the head, and that the bodies, with hands bound, were dumped in one room before the house was blown up.

"We have it from more than one source that the Ishaqi killings were carried out under questionable circumstances," al-Kazimi said yesterday. "More than one child was killed. This [US] report was not fair for the Iraqi people and the children who were killed."

Al-Maliki, who took office two weeks ago at the helm of a US-backed national unity government, is battling a widespread public perception that US troops can shoot and kill with impunity and Iraqi leaders are too weak to do anything about it. Last week he criticised coalition forces for what he described as habitual attacks against civilians.

"Ishaqi is just another reason why we shouldn't trust the Americans," said Abdullah Hussein, an engineer in Baghdad. "First they lied about the weapons of mass destruction, then there was the Abu Ghraib prison abuse scandal and now it's clear to the world they were guilty in Haditha."

A tribal leader in Ishaqi said it was clear that US forces were above the law in Iraq.

"We expect the American soldiers to commit any crime to control this country," added Sarhan Jasim, 55.

Human rights minister Wijdan Michael said her ministry would send a fact-finding commission to Ishaqi in the next few days.

A Foreign Office insider confirmed last night that the British Government had become increasingly concerned about the series of allegations against US forces.

"It must be stressed that there is no conclusive proof that any of these allegations are true," she said. "But we have to be aware of them, and the Americans have to be aware of them and we are impressing upon them the need to investigate them to everyone's satisfaction whenever they arise.

"We only need to remember the incidents of abuse at Abu Graib and how damaging they were. It is in no one's interests to have these things going on."

The Ishaqi incident was one of a handful involving civilian deaths being investigated by the US military, including the deaths of two dozen civilians in the town of Haditha on November 19 last year. . .

Al-Maliki this week condemned the suspected massacre in Haditha as a "terrible crime" and demanded that the United States hand over the files on the investigation. . .one man in the town, 40-year-old Obeid Kamil, said that US soldiers had a "licence to kill" Iraqi civilians.

"Their action is always to open fire and kill people, which is proof that they are afraid," he said.

Link to Scotland on Sundayhere.

massacre
Ishaqi
Iraq War
Bush
Al Maliki

"Bush" Means Having to Say You're Sorry -- When You Clearly Aren't

Here's another total crock.

More media whore lapdog White House stenography courtesy of the ever-gullible Washington Post.

Click on the link, and see the Bushists running so hard to stay in the same old place. The Bushist fascist spin machine is putting it out that Bubble Boy has had a change of heart, he's listening so hard to other points of view, he's so sowwy that he said some stupid things, he's going to be a good boy from now on.

Except for that little Oedipal war thing. He's not sowwy about that yet.

Oh, and he's not sowwy about that torture thing. Or the disappearing people to secret prisons thing.

Or the bankrupting America thing. Or the poisoning the air, the water, the earth, and civil discourse thing.

He's a little sowwy about the massacre thing, the thing he first learned about in the press (just like Scooter Libby first learned about Valerie Plame, what a coinkidink!)

Puh-leeze. Pass the Compazine.



Washington Post

The Pro-Atrocity Crowd: Deja Vu All Over Again

See this little boy?

The one who's maybe three, four years old, being held up by his Daddy?

Guess what? This little tyke actually puts terror into the heart of all reichwingers, including, particularly, reichwing blowhard Mrs. Michelle "Mickey" Maglalang aka Malkin!

Did you know that the mere existence of this photograph of this little kid makes it okay in Mickey's mind for Marines to put bullets through the head of a two-year old?

'Cause Mickey's skeered. Yup, so it is, here.

HADITHA MARINE: INSURGENTS USE KIDS
By Michelle Malkin · May 31, 2006 09:30 PM

Seattle's KING 5 TV nabbed a must-see interview with one of the Marines injured at Haditha on Nov. 19. (Big hat tip noted below to Red Hot Cuppa Politics.)

The Marine is Lance Cpl. James Crossan, who rode in the passenger seat of the Humvee that was struck by an IED. The driver was Lance Cpl. Miguel Terrazas, whose body was split in two by the attack. Lance Cpl. Crossan suffered a broken back, shattered bones, and perforated eardrums.

You should watch the entire interview (we've got a four-minute segment over at Hot Air) and then you should compare it with the selective MSM coverage--which is hyping the parts that damn the Marines most and ignoring the full context of Lance Cpl. Crossan's remarks. I've transcribed a significant portion for you here:

Crossan: We used to go out on patrols and have the little kids count the patrols and all that stuff and we couldn’t really do anything except grab them and throw them inside their houses…

KING 5 TV interviewer: Why would you do that? Because you were afraid that the kids were scouting for the insurgents or you thought they were in danger?

Crossan: There are little kids that scout for ‘em. ‘Cuz later that day we, along the main road there, we cut behind a few buildings and the next patrol that went out got hit. And that little kid that was just there and there was people all around. But the day that I got hit they were planning a major attack and it got spoiled, so, and there was like 20 some people, insurgents, that were gonna attack the cop that day.

Then we got hit by an IED and the cops sent out a squad of Marines, and the insurgents just started attacking then, just right off the bat and we just foiled it. We were just driving back from the cop. I remember taking a left and then a right, and then remember waking up from the ground for a split second. And then waking up in the helicopter and then finally knew what happened in the hospital.

KING 5: So after you were injured, also tell me, you lost one of your guys. What can you tell me about him?

Crossan: We lost Lance Col. Miguel Terrazas. He was a good guy. He was from El Paso, Texas. And he was my point man. He was pretty much the guy I went to if I needed anything.

KING 5: Was he driving the Humvee at the time?

Crossan: Yes he was.

KING 5. And so you were sitting next to me?

Crossan: Yes, I was in the passenger side. I know in my heart if I was there, I possibly could have stopped what happened, so. ‘Cuz I know that the other team leaders and even staff sergeants…they both, they all kinda, listened to me and I just gave ‘em ideas and all that stuff. Things just went smoother. But I just don’t know.

KING 5: How do you feel about the villagers involved? Um, you know, do you have emotion as you think about them or not really?

Crossan: No. Because half of them were bad guys. You just never know, so. It really didn’t cross my mind.

KING 5: There are reports of, you know, little children being killed and women being killed.

Crossan: Little kids I can see being bad and even some of the women, but just over there, you just can’t tell who the bad guy was...

Now, Lance Cpl. Crossan does suggest that Marines crossed the line (the part of the interview that will become the most publicized), though it should be kept in mind that he had been helicoptered from the scene and did not witness the alleged atrocities:

Crossan: ...And I know they [the Marines] did something irrational and they’re gonna get the consequences put on them.

KING 5: You think there are other instances like this that have happened with perhaps your squad or other squads?

Crossan: Probably yes in the Marine Corps and in the Army.

KING 5: Why do you think so?

Crossan: Things happen every day that you just don't hear about. You, I don't know, America only hears about the bad things over there. And they don't hear any of the good things. America just doesn't understand.

I think they [the Marines] were just blinded by hate, when they see T.J. (Terrazas) blown to pieces and me stuck underneath the wheel not knowing what happened. And they just lost control. Bad things happen.

If you watch the interview, you'll note the KING 5 interviewer sounding perplexed about the idea of children being used by the insurgents. I suggest she and other MSM reporters shocked, shocked by this concept familiarize themselves with LGF's Palestinian child abuse slideshow.

Then Mickey puts up a couple of pix gleaned from righwing blog LGF, including the one above, of scary scary little tykes that we need to be scared of.

See, according to the pro-torture, pro-atrocity crowd, if there are pix of scary little tykes, it makes it okay to put a bullet in a 2 year old's head. And into the heads of grannies and grampies. 'Cause, like, maybe they're bad, see? Maybe they're hiding those pesky WMDs. Better to be safe than sorry, eh, Mickey?

I mean, it's always something.

If it's not: those bad jihadis take their three-year olds to demonstrations, therefore the three year olds are jihadis, so we can kill them

Then, it's: these bad jihadis take their three-year olds to demonstrations, and the three year olds will grow up to be jihadis, so we can kill them

And the all-purpose: justa few bad apples

Followed by the: war is hell

And: war is hell (therefore we can kill anyone we feel like)

Followed by Bush's Plame outing deja vu: only heard about it from the media, ongoing investigation, ongoing investigation, someone someone someone will be punished sooner or later never mind

Followed by: nothing to see here, move along (plus or minus -- missing white woman? global-climate-change-totally-unrelated killer weather? man bites um, whatever?

For those of you too little, like this terrifying saber-toothed jihadi toddler pictured, actually to remember My Lai, remember -- although several hundred non-combatant villagers there were executed by their American executioners, no one did hard time for this atrocity. No one.

You see, for the chicken Mickey Malkins of the world -- atrocities, like torture, just don't count.

Moms, don't let your babies grow up to be Malkins.







Recent Time story here. And here.

MIchelle Malkin
torture
Haditha
Bush
Haditha massacre

First We Maim Your Minds, Then We Dump You, Part Three: Haditha Massacre Version

Video photo: Bodies of Haditha massacre victims are loaded onto trucks (Hammurabi Human Rights Group)

MARINES WITNESS MASSACRE AFTERMATH
Receive sub-standard care for PTSD

Via Raw Story/AP:

HANFORD, Calif. (AP) - Two Marines were severely traumatized when told to photograph the corpses of men, women and children after members of their unit allegedly killed as many as two dozen unarmed Iraqi civilians, their families said Monday.

Lance Cpl. Andrew Wright, 20, and Lance Cpl. Roel Ryan Briones, 21, both members of the Marine unit based at Camp Pendleton, photographed the scene in the western Iraqi city of Haditha with personal cameras they happened to be carrying the day of the attack.

Briones later had his camera confiscated by Navy investigators, his mother said, while Wright's parents said their son was cooperating with the Navy investigation, but declined to comment further.

"It was horrific. It was a terrible scene," Briones' mother, Susie, said in a tearful interview Monday with The Associated Press at her home in California's San Joaquin Valley.

She called the incident a "massacre" and said the military had done little to help her son, who goes by his middle name, deal with his post-traumatic stress disorder.

"I know Ryan is going through some major trauma right now," said Susie Briones, 40, an academic adviser at a community college. "It was very traumatic for all of the soldiers involved with this thing. . . ." Lance Cpl. Briones told his mother he saw the bodies of 23 dead Iraqis.

Susie Briones got a panicked call that day from her son, who said he did not see the shootings but was told by his supervisors to go into the houses and remove the bodies. He brought along a digital camera that his mother had given him before he left for Iraq. One of the bodies was a little girl who had been shot in the head, Susie Briones said. "He had to carry that little girl's body," she said, "and her head was blown off and her brain splattered on his boots."

Briones' best friend, Lance Cpl. Miguel "T.J." Terrazas, had been killed earlier that day by the roadside bomb. He was still grieving when he was sent in to clean up the bodies of the Iraqi civilians, his mother said.

Ryan Briones told the Los Angeles Times that he'd been interrogated twice by Navy investigators while in Iraq. He turned over his digital camera but did not know what happened to it after that.

"They wanted to know if the bodies had been moved or tampered with," said Briones, who has not been interviewed by Navy investigators since he returned from Iraq in April.

Susie Briones said her son has been seeing a private psychiatrist and been treated for post-traumatic stress disorder since his return. She criticized his military care, saying all his military doctors did was give him sleeping pills and antidepressants.

Wright also photographed the scene, according to his parents, Frederick and Patty Wright. They said their son was an innocent victim who was at the wrong place at the wrong time. . . Wright told his parents about the incident soon after it happened. He was distressed, and they reassured him the incident would be investigated and that it wasn't his fault.

The Wrights said Naval Criminal Investigative Service had "all his information," but did not give further details. They declined to say whether he witnessed the killings or what he thought of the allegations against other members of his unit.

He was under so much pressure because of the investigation that he had consulted with an attorney, they said. . .On Monday, both Marines were back at Camp Pendleton, near Oceanside, where base officials said several members of Kilo Company, 3rd Battalion, 1st Marine Regiment, 1st Marine Division were being confined during the investigations. . .Nicholas Grey, a second lieutenant in the Marine Reserves based at Camp Pendleton, said the case will result in a loss of credibility for the Marines and increase Iraqi anger.

"It will make it a lot harder for the Marines," he said.

Yes, it will.

So, shrieky Bushists who disbelieve in alleviating human suffering, doesn't this story just warm the cockles of your heart? Isn't it rich? Isn't it interesting how quickly this version of the AP story disappeared from the internet? Are we getting ready to slag the so-called "trauma industry" again? Nothing to see here. Move along.


Original Time article here.

Haditha
Haditha massacre
Vets
PTSD

Memorial Day, 2006: Bush Screwing the Troops

Bubble Boy. Boy George. CoWard Bush. Preznit Toad-Exploder.

Whatever you call him, he's the real deal.

Sending suicidal troops back into battle, cutting Defense Department costs by cutting troops' services, armor, and treatment.

Here's some recent stories: Bush killing Vets by cutting back medical treatment; Bush cutting back mental health treatment for troops, failing to refer 80% of troops who screen positive for PTSD.

It's not just Bush, though: it's part of the whole Bushist fascist let-them-eat-cake thing.

We really deeply care about blastocysts--once you're born, you're on your own, into Darwin's jungle all the way.

We really deeply care about blastocysts, and we don't give a crap about actual suffering.

A recent report in USA TODAY noted that "only about one in five Iraq and Afghanistan war veterans who screen positive for combat-related stress disorders are referred by the Pentagon for mental health treatment."

Full story here.

Veterans home sues Rumsfeld over substandard care

Sixteen residents of the U.S. Armed Forces Retirement Home in Washington D.C. this week filed a class-action suit against the government and the facility, alleging budget cuts by the Defense Department have resulted in poor medical care.

More than 1,000 residents cannot get prescriptions and regular doctor checkups due to service cuts since the Defense Department installed new management, the suit claims. Because of the cuts, the number of deaths at the home increased from 59 in 2000 to 131 in 2003, according to the suit, which was filed on behalf of all residents.

Full story here.

Vets
Bush