why?

why did we invade iraq?
why did we allow our leaders to lie to us?
why are we not punishing our leaders for lying to us (we HAVE PROOF)?
why are we allowing our leaders to continue in office?
why did we allow 4,098 of our men and women die in iraq?
why did we allow goddess knows how many (innocent) iraqis die?
why did we allow goddess knows how many (innocent) iraqis to become displaced?
why did we allow our troops to (unjustly, immorally, illegally) invade a country without proper protection (armor, armored vehicles, etc)?
why are we allowing our troops that physically come home lay in squalor or limbo if they need medical help (including that of the mind)?
why?
why?
why?
why?
why?

Key Iraqi Leaders Deliver Setbacks to U.S.
Premier Rejects Terms of Proposed Pacts; Cleric Reactivates Militia

By Amit R. Paley and Karen DeYoung Washington Post Foreign Service
BAGHDAD, June 13 -- The Bush administration's Iraq policy suffered two major setbacks Friday when Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki publicly rejected key U.S. terms for an ongoing military presence and anti-American Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr called for a new militia offensive against U.S. forces.
During a visit to Jordan, Maliki said negotiations over initial U.S. proposals for bilateral political and military agreements had "reached a dead end." While he said talks would continue, his comments fueled doubts that the pacts could be reached this year, before the Dec. 31 expiration of a United Nations mandate sanctioning the U.S. role in Iraq.
The moves by two of Iraq's most powerful Shiite leaders underscore how the presence of U.S. troops has become a central issue for Iraqi politicians as they position themselves for provincial elections later this year. Iraqis across the political spectrum have grown intolerant of the U.S. presence, but the dominant Shiite parties -- including Maliki's Dawa party -- are especially fearful of an electoral challenge from new, grass-roots groups. ,,,,,,,,

and lest we forget

there's that pesky war still going on. in the safe and sound green zone things appear to be rocking rocketing that is

A Storm of Sand and Shelling
Heavy Fire Aimed at Green Zone as Ground Forces Continue Push Into Sadr City

By Sholnn Freeman
Washington Post Foreign Service
BAGHDAD, April 27 -- Shelling rocked the Green Zone as a sandstorm blanketed Baghdad on Sunday, days after U.S. commanders said they had nearly eliminated deadly rocket and mortar attacks on the heavily fortified government zone through a security crackdown in the eastern slum of Sadr City.
Clashes continued over the weekend in Sadr City, where U.S. and Iraqi forces have confronted fighters tied to the Mahdi Army, the Shiite militia loyal to anti-American cleric Moqtada al-Sadr. The U.S. military said drones fired Hellfire missiles, killing at least three men believed to be engaging in bomb attacks.
Abu Ammar al-Mayahi, a Mahdi Army fighter, said that U.S. and Iraqi forces continued to press into Sadr City on Sunday but that the dust storm curtailed U.S. use of air power. ..........

a damn fine analysis

of what went down and what's going down in iraq
Spin One for the Gipper
by Jeff Huber
I have to say it again: If the Bush administration put a fraction of the effort it spends on spinning its wars into winning them, it wouldn’t need to spin them.
The current clash between Iraqi Shiite Cleric Moqtada al-Sadr’s Mahdi Army and Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki’s security forces took root last year when Sadr told his forces to take an operational pause for resupply and recuperation. That reduced violence levels enough to allow U.S. commander David Petraeus to claim his surge strategy was working even though it didn’t accomplish its intended political objectives. One might have expected a supposedly smart guy like Petraeus to leave well enough alone, but no. George Bush’s “main man” had to poke his pistol into the hornet’s nest, raiding selected elements of the Mahdi Army in Baghdad’s Sadr City and Shiite population centers in southern Iraq.
The Sadrists warned for months that they would retaliate if the harassment didn’t stop. Petraeus must have been too busy escorting John McCain and Lindsey Graham on shopping sprees in Baghdad to listen, because he kept at it, using both U.S. forces and elements of the Badr organization, one of Sadr’s rival Shiite political groups whose members dominate Iraq’s security forces.
It was not too long after Dick Cheney’s surprise visit to Baghdad on March 17 that Maliki launched his offensive against the Mahdi Army in Baghdad and in the southern city of Basra. The big media were strangely silent about the implications of the timing of the two events. Sadr’s people responded to Maliki’s push with a rocket and mortar attack on the Green Zone in Baghdad. ..........

so a couple of days ago, when our king said things were going swimmingly

who believed him? we all know i didn't. who did? how can we CONTINUE to sit by and allow this to happen?
19 Tense Hours in Sadr City Alongside the Mahdi Army
After Calm Year, Fighting Engulfs Shiite Enclave

By Sudarsan Raghavan Washington Post Foreign Service
BAGHDAD, March 28 -- The gunfire struck like thunderclaps, building to a steady rhythm. American soldiers in a Stryker armored vehicle fired away from one end of the block. At the other end, two groups of Shiite militiamen pounded back with heavy machine guns and rocket-propelled grenades. American helicopters circled above in the blue afternoon sky. As a heavy barrage erupted outside his parents' house, Abu Mustafa al-Thahabi, a political and military adviser to the Mahdi Army of Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr, rushed through the purple gate and took shelter behind the thick walls. He had just spoken with a fighter by cellphone. "I told him not to use that weapon. It's not effective," he said, referring to a rocket-propelled grenade. "I told him to use the IED, the Iranian one," he added, using the shorthand for an improvised explosive device. "This is more effective."
After nearly a year of relative calm, U.S. troops and Shiite militiamen engaged in pitched battles this week, underscoring how quickly order can give way to chaos in Iraq. On this block in Sadr City, the cleric's sprawling stronghold, men and boys came out from nearly every house to fight, using powerful IEDs and rockets. ..........

and now for something completely different...

well, NO, it's NOT different at all. suicide bombers, attacks between turkey and iraqi kurds, our men and women's lives on the line, king george and his court all warm and cozy.

Blast Kills at Least 40 Shiite Pilgrims in Iraq
Fighting in North Intensifies; Turkish Soldiers, Kurdish Guerrillas Clash for Fourth Day

By Amit R. Paley and Joshua Partlow Washington Post Foreign Service
BAGHDAD, Feb. 24 -- A suicide bomber killed at least 40 people Sunday in southern Iraq when he attacked a crowd of pilgrims marching to commemorate one of Shiite Islam's holiest days, U.S. and Iraqi officials said.
In northern Iraq, Turkish soldiers and Kurdish guerrillas clashed for a fourth straight day, with scores reported killed. The guerrillas, who are seeking greater autonomy for Turkish Kurds, use the area as a base for attacks in Turkey.
The fighting has strained ties between the United States and Iraqi Kurds, who have pleaded with Washington to pressure the Turkish military to end its incursion.
The suicide attack occurred near the town of Iskandariyah at a tent set aside for pilgrims belonging to the movement of anti-American cleric Moqtada al-Sadr, police said. .......

army of darkness was a good movie

funny and campy and creepy - but of course it wasn't real
(don't you just love bruce campbell???)
THIS is
Sadr tells Bush to get out of Iraq
From correspondents in Najaf
RADICAL Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr overnight blasted US President George W. Bush for signing a deal with Baghdad that ensures a long-term American military presence in Iraq.
"I say this to the evil Bush - leave my country," Sadr said in the Shiite holy city of Najaf.
"We do not need you and your army of darkness," he said.
"We don't need your planes and tanks. We don't need your policy and your interference. We don't want your democracy and fake freedom. Get out of our land."
Sadr's salvo comes a week after the US president and Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki announced a deal ensuring a long-term presence of US forces in the country. ..........

army of darkness

and here's an example of that progress

NOT
Many Trainees Are Complicit With 'Enemy Targets'

By Joshua Partlow Washington Post Foreign Service
BAGHDAD -- The platoon of American soldiers was pinned down in an alley outside the holiest Shiite shrine in western Baghdad's Kadhimiyah neighborhood. Machine-gun fire sprayed from apartment windows and rooftops with a deafening clatter. The troops were 15 yards from their Humvees, but they didn't know if they could survive the dash.
Less than a mile away, a powerful Shiite parliament member stood inside an American military base, in the office of the Iraqi army brigade commander responsible for Kadhimiyah. The Americans had called for Iraqi army backup, but according to the brigade commander and American officers, the lawmaker would help ensure that no assistance arrived from the Iraqis that crucial day.
"No Iraqi army unit, of the 2,700 Iraqi security forces that are in Kadhimiyah, no Iraqi army unit would respond," said Lt. Col. Steven Miska, a deputy brigade commander based in this Shiite enclave of 200,000 people on the western shore of the Tigris River. "It shows you how difficult it is to root out the militia influence when they've got political top-cover."...........

one of THE biggest mistakes made (i mean beside invading a country for NO reason) was we DID NOT NOR DO WE STILL UNDERSTAND THEIR CULTURE and THEIR WAYS. that's important. guess what? they (king george and his court) STILL are ignoring that ONE MOST IMPORTANT factor