War in Iraq, the killing goes on

All Spin Zone
Meanwhile, Back at the Bush/McCain War in Iraq

Posted: 11 Mar 2008 08:03 AM CDT

We have more soldiers dying because of the poor judgement of the Bush Administration to invade Iraq. From this morning’s Washington Post:

BAGHDAD, March 11 — Eight U.S. soldiers died in separate attacks here and in the eastern province of Diyala on Monday, the deadliest day for U.S. troops in more than two months.

U.S. officials announced overnight that three U.S. soldiers were killed and another wounded when an improvised bomb exploded near their patrol in Diyala. An interpreter was also killed. No other details were provided.

In Baghdad, a suicide bomber killed five U.S. troops as they mingled casually with Iraqis in a shopping district. The U.S. soldiers had parked their Humvees and stepped out into the warm sun and swirl of people on the main thoroughfare of what was once Baghdad’s most elegant neighborhood.

The customers strolling past the open businesses in Mansour — the Babit gift shop, the Al Jadurchi computer compound — created the pleasantly mundane scene that American soldiers have tried so hard to cultivate in a capital battered by war.

About 3 p.m. Monday, that vision dissolved again into violence. A man wearing a vest laden with explosives blew himself up amid the U.S. patrol, killing five soldiers and wounding three others in the deadliest day for Americans in Baghdad in six months.

There are people responsible for this. We are just 20 dead soldiers away from 4,000 killed in the invasion and occupation of Iraq, a country that had no ties to 9/11, had no WMD. Bush is responsible, and the one currently responsible is John McCain, as he has pledged to carry on with the exact same policy that is bleeding our country of lives and money. Blood and treasure, for no good reason. Indeed, the debacle Bush and McCain have created and intend to continue has kept us from pursuing the real man responsible for 9/11, Osama bin Laden.

John McCain needs to be held accountable. Bush has a legacy that will hold him accountable, but McCain thinks he’s going to be able to walk in and take the Presidency without answering a question concerning his role in letting Osama get away.

The Forgotten Issue of Iraq: 5 U.S. Soldiers Killed in Blast

Posted: 10 Mar 2008 11:57 AM CDT

So, we’ve won the war in Iraq? Doing a quick search on Google, that would certainly appear to be the case: every few weeks since 2003, some pundit or BushCo apologist has publicly come forth, and proclaimed that the war is over, “we” won, hoorah, hoorah!

Tell that to these soldiers:

A suicide bomber killed five American soldiers on a foot patrol Monday after detonating his explosives vest in central Baghdad, the U.S. military said, the deadliest attack on U.S. forces in Iraq in more than a month.

Four of the soldiers died at the scene and the fifth died later from wounds, the military said in a statement. The blast also wounded three U.S. soldiers and an Iraqi interpreter, the military said…

The AP article from which the above few paragraphs were taken then goes onto describe a particularly bloody day in Iraq, which perhaps was to be expected as winter starts to recede and spring begins to bloom. It’s funny how Donald Rumsfeld’s “dead-enders” keep popping up again and again, particularly as we’re on the cusp of the fifth anniversary of one of the most expensive (and deadly) mistakes that an American administration has ever made.

John McCain wants to keep the U.S. in Iraq for 100 years. An Obama aide was forced to resign last week for admitting the obvious - U.S. troops aren’t leaving Iraq in any substantial numbers anytime soon. Clinton’s plan for disengagement from Iraq is not much more than a pipedream, either.

In 2007, George Bush came out and flatly admitted that continuing the occupation of Iraq and cleaning up the mess left behind will fall to his successor in the White House. Yet none of the top tier presidential candidates on either side of the political spectrum seemed to shy away from the continuation of a foreign policy gone absolutely mad. America’s moral standing in the world continues to decline because of this mess, and the troops continue to die.

History isn’t going to judge Bush very kindly. We already know that. His legacy will be one of stirring up a bee hive, and leaving many beekeepers (the troops) and a lot of bees (everyone else in Iraq) dead. None of the remaining presidential candidates have a concrete plan nor apparently any desire to get out of the way and let whatever happens, happen.

The American death toll in the Iraq occupation is closing in on 4,000. The number of wounded and scarred-for-life is much, much higher. And the gashes on the concept of “American exceptionalism” will last long after I’m dead.

Hey, but at least we have Chuck Norris.