This is a special memo to the “Love It Or Leave It!” pathologically patriotic Plutonians. (Plutonians, for the purpose of this memo, are those whose sense of reality is about as far out as the planet Pluto.) Take a hard look at these real problems:
- Study: Wars in Iraq, Afghanistan Risk Military’s “Catastrophic Decline”
[A] new Pentagon study says US involvement in Iraq and Afghanistan has drastically overstretched the Army to the point it has become a “thin Green line.” The report says the Army is “in a race against time” to avert “a catastrophic decline.” .. a retired Army officer who wrote the report, told the [A.P.]: “You really begin to wonder just how much stress and strain there is on the Army, how much longer it can continue.” (Democracy Now! and CNN)
And we’re going to war with Iran? Excuse me? I know, I know … it’ll be an air war. Easy, right? However … real things happen on the ground, Donald Rumsfeld, you fucking dumbass.
- EXCLUSIVE: Al Qaeda Sees Resurgence in Pakistani Tribal Areas
Investigative reporter Brian Ross reports that “Al Qaeda and its former protectors — the Taliban — are in the midst of a powerful resurgence, according to accounts by local officials and information contained in new al Qaeda videotapes obtained by ABC News. U.S. troops are not permitted inside Pakistan, and the Pakistani army is barely seen in this part of Waziristan Province.
The new videotapes show open recruitment for the jihad, or holy war, to kill Americans and their allies. The narrator says, “Come join the jihad caravan.”
“The Taliban resurgence this year has been enormous and quite extraordinary,” said Ahmed Rashid, author of the book “Taliban: Militant Islam, Oil, and the Fundamentalism in Central Asia.”
The tape claims Taliban officials have taken over government functions. … Western aid organizations have been forced out, their headquarters burned, schools shut down, teachers and journalists killed, and music banned.
The tape shows men described as thieves being dragged through a village behind a truck, and later beheaded.’ … Read all
Oops. Big time. Sounds like we’ve got some old problems that need fixin’ Brian Ross is a superb investigative reporter, but, uh, isn’t that something the DOD should be on top of already?
- “The Emblem of Suffering and Shame”
Writes newspaper columnist Chris Floyd at his blog Empire Burlesque, “The New York Times has printed a good, if woefully incomplete, story on the massive, death-dealing corruption of Bush’s crony conquistadors in Iraq (Audit Describes Misuse of Funds in Iraq Projects). One of the anecdotes of avarice … continued below …
- “The Emblem of Suffering and Shame” continued:
One of the anecdotes of avarice related in the just-released audit of the Special Inspector General for Iraqi Reconstruction could well stand as an emblem of the entire murderous, misbegotten enterprise: it’s grubby, it’s petty, it’s driven by raw, bestial greed, and it resulted in the cruel, unnecessary death of innocent people.
Although the episode is mentioned in the lead – and full marks to reporter James Glanz for this radical departure from standard Big Media practice – you had to wade through the entire story until you came upon the details, buried full fathom five in the last two paragraphs of the story. But here it is, the very form and pressure of the Bushist age:
Excerpt: Sometimes the consequences of such loose controls were deadly. A contract for $662,800 in civil, electrical, and mechanical work to rehabilitate the Hilla General Hospital was paid in full by an American official in June 2004 even though the work was not finished, the report says. But instead of replacing a central elevator bank, as called for in the scope of work, the contractor tinkered with an unsuccessful rehabilitation.
The report continues, narrating the observation of the inspector general’s agents who visited the hospital on Sept. 18, 2004: “The hospital administrator immediately escorted us to the site of the elevators. The administrator said that just a couple days prior to our arrival the elevator crashed and killed three people.”
From Empire Burlesque
Your tax dollars at work, dipshit Plutonians: A newly constructed hospital elevator that fails and kills three people.
Plutonians, take heed.
You’ve been fucked every which way. And all of your fucking precious tax dollars have been wasted — not by those welfare queens who don’t exist but who you love to bash — but by the federal-teat-sucking corporate cronies of Bush et al.
P.S. Not that this stuff will bother any of you because — besides being Plutonians with flag poles stickin’ out of every orifice and being out of touch with reality, you’re also incapable of real-life compassion — but here goes anyway:
- Women, children, clergy and detainees suffer abuses in strife-torn Iraq: UN Terrorism and bombing campaigns, lawlessness, kidnapping and targeted killings continue to wreak havoc on civilians in Iraq, with the rights of women, children, detainees and religious leaders grievously violated, according to a new United Nations report. … more
- Efforts to restore stability in Iraq are backfiring, UN study warns: nternational efforts to restore stability to Iraq are having the opposite effect, the editors of a new United Nations book on the reform of the security sectors in post-conflict societies said today. … more
- ‘War on terror,’ African conflicts threaten minorities: UN-assisted report: The so-called “war on terror” as well as African civil conflicts have heightened the threat to minorities around the world, placing groups in Iraq and Sudan most at risk, according to a study released at United Nations Headquarters today … more
- Condemning violence in Afghanistan, Security Council backs new development plan: While strongly condemning the recent upsurge of violence in Afghanistan, the United Nations Security Council today emphasized the importance of an upcoming London conference that will unveil a new framework for the country’s development, known as the “Afghan Compact.” … more
- Annan condemns Afghanistan attacks that killed reconstruction official and others: United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan today condemned the recent series of violent attacks in Afghanistan which took the lives of an official of a Canadian reconstruction team and an unconfirmed number of other civilian and military personnel. … more
Forgive the bad language. But sometimes …
And then there’s this which deserves a stand-alone bullet. The “Love It Or Leave It” types will go ga-ga over this — the same ones who called My Lai killer William Calley a hero:
- Military Opens Door To Executions At Several Military Prisons
Meanwhile, the US military has made what it calls a major revision to its rules covering military executions. The new rules would allow for executions at prisons aside from Fort Leavenworth in Kansas. That prison is currently the lone authorized site. Meanwhile, the military is denying a spokesperson’s initial claims that the rule changes could apply to detainees held at Guantanamo Bay. (Democracy Now! Headlines )