The Peasantville Blog

Unfinished Business

The War in Iraq was the Blunder to End All Blunders (one would hope).  It's the inappropriate gift given to your toddler by some crazy aunt and you try to be polite as you accept it then try to hide it.  From Day One in March 2003 this nation skidded into an abyss, into a condition that can be likened to mental illness - 'bi-polarization' if you will.  Attempts to rationalize away the error, promote it as an asset or as progress or even as a "Good War" of liberation were used as bludgeons against those who didn't 'support the troops.' Those attempts are symptoms of that illness.

But the one constant in war is casualties, and casualties as a result of a Blunder like Iraq are seen (and should be) as a higher cost, one too high to pay.  That's why this story  about Sgt. Jacob Butler is offensive.  It's a step beyond accusing those who opposed the War in Iraq on various grounds, some because they are pacifists, others, like me, who recognized the mistake that Iraq is/was, of not 'supporting the troops' as a way to quiet the discussion.  It's a betrayal of those who served by those who lead them into that abyss.  It's using someone like Butler as a pawn and a prop to promote the lie. 

From Propublica:

"The day after Jim Butler learned his son had died in Iraq in 2003, a U.S. Army casualty officer showed up at the family's small ranch to explain what happened....

Part One

Lost to History: Missing War Records Complicate Benefit Claims by Iraq, Afghanistan Veterans

by Peter Sleeth, Special to ProPublica, and Hal Bernton, The Seattle Times, Nov. 9

So Butler made a simple request to the Army — for Jake's casualty report. Rules require one when soldiers are killed in a war zone. Unit commanders are supposed to create and maintain them, along with numerous other field records.

"They said, 'We'll have to see,'" Butler recalled, "because one should have been made."

Nine years later, Butler is still waiting for a report he may never get."

John McCain - Confused, Disoriented, Unfit

More evidence John McCain is unfit to lead:

""McCain said this near the end of the clip below, as he's talking up Palin's foreign policy/national security credentials:
'I also know, if I might remind you, that she is commander of the Alaska National Guard. In fact, you may know that on Sept. 11 a large contingent of the Alaska Guard deployed to Iraq and her son happened to be one of them. So I think she understands our national security challenges....'

"The ceremony Palin attended at Fort Wainwright last week didn't involve the Alaska National Guard. Palin's son is in the Army, and his unit - 1st Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 25th Infantry Division - deployed to Iraq.""

But then, McCan apparently thinks Spain and Mexico are the same geographic location.

CBS Edits Out McCain's Embarrassingly Naive Statements - Liberal Media?

McCain sells his version of what happened - of course, that requires him to revise the facts to fit his version.

WE know what a criminal White House looks like -- The Bush White House

Frank Rich Tells It Like It Is:  "And so we’re back where we started in the summer of 2001, with even shark attacks and Chandra Levy’s murder (courtesy of a new Washington Post investigation) returning to the news. We are once again distracted and unprepared while the Taliban and bin Laden’s minions multiply in Afghanistan and Pakistan. This, no less than the defiling of the Constitution, is the legacy of an administration that not merely rationalized the immorality of torture but shackled our national security to the absurdity that torture could easily fix the terrorist threat.

That’s why the Bush White House’s corruption in the end surpasses Nixon’s. We can no longer take cold comfort in the Watergate maxim that the cover-up was worse than the crime. This time the crime is worse than the cover-up, and the punishment could rain down on us all."

A good read.

McCain Adviser Seeks Al Qaeda Endorsement for His Candidate

In a Fortune magazine piece just published, McCain Adviser Charlie Black, referencing a terror attack on our nation, said, "Certainly it would be a big advantage to (McCain)."  They want more dead Americans to use as campaign props for McCain, just like they did George W. Bush.  Charlie Black is looking for an Al Qaeda endorsement.

Black is also quoted as saying the "unfortunate event" of the assassination of former Pakistani prime minister Benazir Bhutto earlier this year "helped us."

How very sad.

Peace in Our Time" and "Mission Accomplished" = Two of a Kind

Appeasement - certainly, "peace in our time" represents a great foreign policy/strategic/military blunder. But now, now we have "mission accomplished" to represent another great foreign policy/strategic/military blunder.

"Mission accomplished" - yet the mission never was factual, it certainly wasn't accomplished, the unintended results have been great and negative, incompetence is demonstrated from the Oval Office and the neo-cons and our 'president' are discredited. The Republicans are not only broken, they're in disarray and routed.

Bush's "Mission Accomplished" quote is a current day equivalent to Neville Chamberlain's "Peace in our Time." Those quotes equally symbolize and illustrate failure. Bush and Chamberlain both will be remembered forever as disasters in office.

For John McCain to question Barack Obama's preparation for job is a real hoot, like Chamberlain atacking Churchill because he wasn't prepared for the job. John McCain will, if elected, continue George W. Bush's disatrous policies, the policies of a man and a party that has had a Katrina like effect upon our nation. That's why McCain must be defeated.

John McCain - He Was For Talking to Hamas Before He Was Against It.

Barack Obama never said he'd talk to Hamas --- But John McWho did say HE'D talk to Hamas.  Flip and flop -- and John McWho is a flop

"In an interview on Sky News two years ago, McCain told James Rubin he was willing to negotiate with the militant Palestinian group Hamas.

The Republican presidential contender told the former Clinton State Department official: "They (Hamas) are the government, sooner or later we are going to have to deal with them, one way or another."

He went on: "I understand why this administration and previous administrations had such antipathy toward Hamas because of their dedication to violence and the things that they not only espouse but practice, so...

"But it's a new reality in the Middle East. I think the lesson is people want security and a decent life and decent future, that they want democracy. Fatah was not giving them that.""

http://news.sky.com/skynews/article/0,,30200-1316315,00.html

Its Not the Destination, It's the Journey - But I Think Bush and McCain are Lost

I can't tell from here who will be the Democrat nominee, both Obama and Clinton are certainly excellent prospects.

However, George W. Bush's blunders have killed over 4000 Americans, we've p-issed away trillions of dollars, the national debt has doubled under his administration, countless people are losing their homes, fuel costs have doubled and on their way to triple what they were since Bush took office, food shortages have appeared in the last few months, wages aren't keeping up with inflation, Bush is well on his way to delivering The Great Depression II ... and the list goes on.  Al Qaeda hasn't damaged us to the degree George W. Bush and the Republican leaders in Congress have damaged us.

And John McCain as Republican nominee offers more of the same in the form of George W. Bush's third term.  How do you think that's going to work out for him? He may as well use "Heckuva Job, Bushie" as his campaign theme.

Creators Syndicate

Bush Breaks Record!! 69% Job Disapproval Rating Highest in Gallup History

And he earned it!!!

Let's Play "Where's Osama bin Laden?"

Mired in Bush's Blunder in Iraq (you know, where Osama isn't), and like a bizarre version of the children's game, 'Where's Waldo?' Congress is finally asking, Where's Osama? 

"Congress plans to press the Bush administration aggressively to justify its policy in Afghanistan following a nonpartisan report that concludes that the administration "lacks a comprehensive plan" to take on al Qaeda in its stronghold. "  Wow!! What a revelation.

 

Play Where's Osama?