so when IS someone going to reign in this madman?

in my masthead i refer to myself as a madwoman. i rather am most of the time. madwoman in a different way than he is a madman though. i have not sent thousands of our men and women to their deaths (FOR NO REASON i might add. well i've not sent them to their deaths for ANY reason. oh yeah, NOR WOULD I). i don't lie to the american public (nor would i about things such as terrorism, war, our constitution, the lives of people on the gulf coast, education, health, stem cell research, birth control, veterans, veterans health oh the list goes on)

he caused and continues to cause great harm, hurt, death, destruction, the dissolution of our legal system and our constitution. i don't do ANY of those things

CIA Said Instability Seemed 'Irreversible'


By Bob Woodward Washington Post Staff Writer

Early on the morning of Nov. 13, 2006, members of the bipartisan Iraq Study Group gathered around a dark wooden conference table in the windowless Roosevelt Room of the White House.
For more than an hour, they listened to President Bush give what one panel member called a "Churchillian" vision of "victory" in Iraq and defend the country's prime minister, Nouri al-Maliki. "A constitutional order is emerging," he said.
Later that morning, around the same conference table, CIA Director Michael V. Hayden painted a starkly different picture for members of the study group. Hayden said "the inability of the government to govern seems irreversible," adding that he could not "point to any milestone or checkpoint where we can turn this thing around," according to written records of his briefing and the recollections of six participants............

you giant ASSWIPES

perhaps if you didn't KICK PEOPLE WHO SPOKE ARABIC out of the service solely because of their sexual orientation, we wouldn't have such PROBLEMS (problems IS an understatement of course)
U.S. military continues to discharge gay Arab linguists, and Congress members seek hearing


Slim Chance Of Finding an Arabic Speaker at the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad

Jonathan Karl and Maddy Sauer Report:

Of the 1,000 U.S. employees at the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad, only 10 have a working knowledge of Arabic, according to the State Department.
That is still a slight improvement from last year when, according to the Iraq Study Group, six people in the embassy spoke Arabic.
A 2006 Government Accountability Office (GAO) report noted the shortage of speakers of Arabic, which the State Department classifies as "superhard," is acute at U.S. embassies in the Muslim world.
The report found that more than one-third of public policy diplomacy positions at Arabic language posts were filled by people who did not speak the language at the designated level.
In April, the director of the International Affairs Office at the GAO said the State Department had started taking action to correct the problems from last year's report.
"State has begun to address these language deficiencies by increasing its overall amount of language training and providing supplemental training for more difficult languages at overseas locations," Jess Ford told the House Committee of Foreign Affairs............

Gay Arabic Translator: "I'm Here, I'm Willing to Serve"

By Adam Howard, AlterNet. Posted June 20, 2007.

Over 11,000 service members have been discharged from the military in the past 14 years because of their sexual orientation. It's time to lift the ban on openly gay people in the military.

Stephen Benjamin describes himself as a "recruiter's dream." He is a highly trained, award-winning Navy Arabic translator who is eager and "willing to serve," yet because of the outdated and discriminatory "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy of the U.S. military, he has been discharged and denied the opportunity to serve our country. Celebrated filmmaker Robert Greenwald and his Brave New Foundation, in collaboration with the Servicemembers Legal Defense Network (SLDN), hope to set this injustice right with a new campaign being launched at LiftTheBan.org.
"The 'don't ask don't tell policy' is legalized discrimination," said Greenwald. "Stephen Benjamin is the subject of our film, but the problem is a huge disgrace."............

it's june 1st

and all of our men and women can come home now! whew

because why you ask?

well because late last year iraqi prime minister nuri al-maliki said THEY (the iraqis) would be able to handle things in their OWN country from june on out! yippeeeeeeeeee


so dear king george BRING OUR MEN AND WOMEN HOME NOW

Tonight's the Night: Iraq's Leader Had Told Reporters U.S. Could Start Pullout By June 1

By E&P Staff Published: May 31, 2007 4:30 PM ET
NEW YORK Last November 30, as the Iraq Study Group was about to release its report -- and talk of a U.S. escalation still a few weeks off -- the press gave a lot of weight to the words of Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki when he vowed that his country's forces would be able to assume security command by June 2007, which could allow the United States to start withdrawing its troops."I cannot answer on behalf of the U.S. administration but I can tell you that from our side our forces will be ready by June 2007," Maliki told ABC television after meeting President Bush in Amman, Jordan..........

we shouldn't be reading this

Roadside Bombs Kill 7 Soldiers, Interpreter


By John Ward Anderson and Sudarsan Raghavan Washington Post Foreign Service

BAGHDAD, May 20 -- Six U.S. soldiers and an interpreter were killed Saturday when a roadside bomb exploded near their position in western Baghdad, the U.S. military reported Sunday, underscoring the heightened vulnerability of U.S. forces as they increase their presence in the capital.
A seventh U.S. soldier was killed by a roadside bomb Saturday in Diwaniyah, about 100 miles south of Baghdad, the military said. Two soldiers were wounded in that attack.

The deaths raise to 71 the number of U.S. soldiers killed this month, according to iCasualties.org, an independent Web site that tracks military deaths. Twenty-one U.S. service members were killed over three days last week, from Thursday to Saturday, according to the group's tally.

we SHOULD be reading (way more of) this:

Second Life for Study Group
Iraq Woes Lead To a Reappraisal


By Michael Abramowitz Washington Post Staff Writer

After an initially tepid reception from policymakers, the recommendations of the Iraq Study Group are getting a second look from the White House and Congress, as officials continue to scour for bipartisan solutions to salvage the American engagement in Iraq.
With negotiations continuing this week on a new war funding bill, the administration is strongly signaling that it would accept the idea of requiring the Iraqi government to meet political benchmarks or else risk losing some assistance from the United States. That was one of the key proposals from the group headed by former secretary of state James A. Baker III and former Indiana congressman Lee H. Hamilton, but it was initially dismissed by the White House when first proposed last December............

is it too late? no it's not too late for some. it IS too late for 3,422 (u.s) men and women who have already lost their lives in iraq. more talk, more bringing our troops home. LESS killing. NO KILLING