Can’t Rejoice at Saddam Hussein Demise

Posted on by TL

I can’t rejoice at the demise of Saddam Hussein.

This journey to Iraq has been hell for all of us. It has not ended, and it is not successful. Perhaps this is President George Bush’s wet dream come true. Maybe he’s ecstatic. Maybe he had an extra wonderful Happy New Year because Saddam hung from the gallows. Maybe he was watching via closed-circuit television to watch Hussein’s neck snap. Maybe he screwed Laura when it was all over.? Maybe he drank champagne in the immediate aftermath.
Yes, I think he’s back on the bottle.

Just listen to him, for God’s sake.

But I can’t rejoice. No, Saddam was not a good man. He was not a great human being.

What happened, however, does not add up. It’s not over yet. I don’t even know if most Americans can find Iraq on a map. But we need to learn now. We’re forever linked to the history of Iraq.

Because of George Bush’s wet dream.

Spc. Dustin R. Donica, 22, of Spring, Texas

Posted on by TL
Spc. Dustin R. Donica, 22, of Spring, Texas

He was just a child. 22 years old. The DoD reports very little information about him:

The Department of Defense announced today the death of a soldier who was supporting Operation Iraqi Freedom.

Spc. Dustin R. Donica, 22, of Spring, Texas, died Dec. 28 in Baghdad, Iraq, of wounds received from small arms fire while conducting combat operations. He was assigned to 3rd Battalion, 509th Parachute Infantry Regiment, 4th Airborne Brigade Combat Team, 25th Infantry Division, Fort Richardson, Alaska.

For more information on this soldier, contact the U.S. Army, Alaska, public affairs office at (907) 389-6666.

The man standing before that flag was too young to die.

This evening I had a visceral reaction while watching Law and Order. It was an episode where Jack McCoy was forced to deal with a snag in his case against a man responsible for killing a military supplier when a terrorism aspect comes into play. There’s footage of a convoy in Iraq getting blown up. As one man emerges from the wreckage, he’s captured and beheaded with a serrated blade. The video footage stops short of the beheading, of course.

But that image was too much for me.? One man kneeling in a desert, knowing that this moment was going to be his last, begging for his life.? I know this was fiction, but it’s happening over there, every day.

It’s hitting me more and more that these are real people over there, losing their lives in horrid situations. I had to change the channel when the footage was aired. And this was a fictional television show. This time, though, “Ripped from the headlines,” was too real.

The Associated Press is reporting 16,273 Iraqi civilians, soldiers and police died violent deaths in 2006, a figure larger than an independent Associated Press count for the year by more than 2,500.

The tabulation by the Iraqi ministries of Health, Defense and Interior, showed that 14,298 civilians, 1,348 police and 627 soldiers were killed in the violence that raged in the country last year.

The Associated Press accounting, gleaned from daily news reports from Baghdad, arrived at a total of 13,738 deaths. The United Nations has said as many as 100 Iraqis die violently each day, which translates into 36,500 deaths annually.

All of them real people. Spc. Dustin R. Donica, 22, of Spring, Texas, was only one.

One more.

Iraq: Grandaddy of all Bushisms

Posted on by TL

He would be funny if all we had to deal with was inflation, or a break-in at the Watergate, or a stained blue dress. But we have so much more to deal with, and it hurts. We’ve tried bumber stickers: “No One Died When Clinton Lied,” or, my favorite, “FRODO FAILED: Bush has the ring.” We all laughed when Bush ran for office the first time, and we realized how much he looked like a chimp. Ron Chusid has chronicled some of Bush’s “Wisdom” here, things like:

“I’m a war president. I make decisions here in the Oval Office in foreign policy matters with war on my mind.” –George Bush, Feb 8, 2004

“I want to be the peace president.” –George Bush, July 20, 2004

Warning from George Orwell of what tyrants will claim: “War is Peace”

Let’s hear more, Ron!

But the sad and sorry truth is that this misspeaking man who makes photo-ops out of disaster is still in charge. The Left has been out-maneuvered by the right for too long. Even some Republicans can’t believe they voted for him.

There comes a time in every president’s life when he starts to think about his or her place in history. Bill Clinton reportedly thought about it a lot. George Bush doesn’t seem to think too much. George Bush isn’t the contemplative type. George Bush doesn’t read that much.

And George Bush is poised to take this country to defeat in two wars. Iraq is already lost. DoD sources show 3,002 American soldiers killed, 46.880 non mortal casualties, between 52,404 and 57,980 Iraqi civilians, hundreds of thousands wounded, and the beat goes on.

Afghanistan is not faring well either. Operation Enduring Freedom has cost us 357 American lives, and 5,994 non mortal casualties.

I know the president isn’t totally happy. After all, today it’s sunny, and 46 degrees in Crawford. But it feels like 41.

Saddam’s Execution — a Grim Tale

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The execution of Saddam Hussein is retold in a grim article from the New York Times that appeared in the U.S. on December 31. The story includes a strange exchange of curses between Hussein and one of the guards present. No video of the actual execution has been released, the opening of the trap door. And that’s for the best. I have no doubt that Drudge will try to find it and air it if it exists. Or Fox News.

But we don’t need to see that.

The account in the NYTimes says volumes:

At 6:10 a.m., the trapdoor swung open. He seemed to fall a good distance, but he died swiftly. After just a minute, his body was still. His eyes still were open but he was dead. Despite the scarf, the rope cut a gash into his neck.

His body stayed hanging for another nine minutes as those in attendance broke out in prayer, praising the Prophet, at the death of a dictator.

Happy New Year: 3000 American Soldiers Dead in Iraq

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2006 took us to the 3,000 mark in Iraq. 3,000 American soldiers dead. This confirmed with an announcement today from the Pentagon releasing the name of a soldier from Texas.

Spc. Dustin R. Donica, 22, of Spring, Texas, was killed Thursday by small arms fire in Baghdad, the Defense Department said.

3,000 now.

And counting.

Iraq No Better Off Today

Posted on by TL

An editorial from Friday’s New York Times talks about the rush to execute Saddam Hussein, and suggests that Iraq is no better off today than it was under the former dictator. The reports are:

This week began with a story of British and Iraqi soldiers storming a police station that hid a secret dungeon in Basra. More than 100 men, many of them viciously tortured, were rescued from almost certain execution. It might have been a story from the final days of Baathist rule in March 2003, when British and American troops entered Basra believing they were liberating the subjugated Shiite south. But it was December 2006, and the wretched men being liberated were prisoners of the new Iraqi Shiite authorities.

These tortures are being committed by a government our soldiers fought to establish.

Turn the page.

Saddam’s Dead — One of America’s Troops Get Quote of the Day

Posted on by TL

With the death of Saddam Hussein, many are worried about the propensity for more violence in Iraq — and here in the States. The Associated Press reports at least 56 people died and scores were wounded in the immediate aftermath of his hanging. There were two nearly simultaneous explosions in one Baghdad neighborhood, and other south of the capital.

But the quote of the day belongs to one of our fine soldiers on the front line in Iraq:

U.S. troops cheered as news of Saddam’s execution appeared on television at the mess hall at Forward Operating Base Loyalty in eastern Baghdad. But some soldiers expressed doubt that Saddam’s death would be a significant turning point for Iraq.

“First it was weapons of mass destruction. Then when there were none, it was that we had to find Saddam. We did that, but then it was that we had to put him on trial,” said Spc. Thomas Sheck, 25, who is on his second tour in Iraq. “So now, what will be the next story they tell us to keep us over here?”

It’s impossible to predict what will actually happen in Iraq, as the president has seen time and time again. One thing is certain, whatever happens, it will not be what Bush planned.

Bring them all home now.

Bush Administration Supressing Science — Again

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Stop by The Bad Astronomy Blog today, and take a look at this excellent entry/rant by Phil Plait, the Bad Astronomer. There exists a book at Grand Canyon National Park titled Grand Canyon: A Different View. Different, yes. It tells the story of how the Grand Canyon was formed in a matter of days during, you guessed it, Noah’s Flood.

Poor Noah. The Hebrew Creation Myth is destroyed yet again.

I penned a review to this book at Amazon.com:

A true wolf in sheep’s clothing. I can’t believe that people of faith — any faith — would believe this garbage. And, what, if we don’t like this book we’ll burn for all eternity? I don’t recall reading that in the Bible anywhere.

Because it’s not there.

Virtually every Scripture Scholar in the world understands the beautiful teachings of the Christian Creation Myths, and their importance. If you really believe that the story of Adam and Eve is really about two naked little people running around in the woods stealing fruit, well, you won’t burn for all eternity — you’re just missing the many profound points of the Creation Myths in the Bible.

This book is an insult to believers everywhere.

Paid for with your tax dollars.

Woodward reports Ford Opposed Iraq War

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Gerald Ford SeatedThanks to Ron Chusid for drawing our attention to this story from Bob Woodward at The Washington Post:

Former president Gerald R. Ford said in an embargoed interview in July 2004 that the Iraq war was not justified. “I don’t think I would have gone to war,” he said a little more than a year after President Bush launched the invasion advocated and carried out by prominent veterans of Ford’s own administration.

Ford was definitive in his disagreement with the current administration. Ford stipulated that he would have pursued alternative courses of action, like sanctions, much more vigorously than Bush did.

“Rumsfeld and Cheney and the president made a big mistake in justifying going into the war in Iraq. They put the emphasis on weapons of mass destruction,” Ford said. “And now, I’ve never publicly said I thought they made a mistake, but I felt very strongly it was an error in how they should justify what they were going to do.”

And he made it clear that war was not chosen as a last resort, nor did he believe for an instant the lines about spreading democracy or protecting our national security:

“Well, I can understand the theory of wanting to free people,” Ford said, referring to Bush’s assertion that the United States has a “duty to free people.” But the former president said he was skeptical “whether you can detach that from the obligation number one, of what’s in our national interest.” He added: “And I just don’t think we should go hellfire damnation around the globe freeing people, unless it is directly related to our own national security.”

Our hope is that this just adds fuel to the fires already burning in the middle and the left, and that the right begins to fume as well. There must be more on the right besides Gerald Ford who disagree with the current policies.? Enough is enough.

The End is Near for Saddam

Posted on by TL

It’s going to happen any day now. The New York Times reports:

Iraq Prepares to Execute Hussein

By MARC SANTORA
Published: December 29, 2006
Iraqi officials prepared the last legal notice necessary before the execution of Saddam Hussein, a red card that will be presented to the former dictator to inform him that his end is near, Iraqi officials said.

The execution will likely take place tonight or tomorrow, according to the article.

Apparently the Iraqis have yet again surprised the Americans. The article continues:

The pace of events left some of the American legal advisors working on the case stunned, according to one Western official. For all the guidance the Americans provided, in the end the dictator’s demise did not go the way they expected, the officials said.

“It just goes to show that the Iraqis call the shots on something like this,” the official said.

My only hope is that this will not incite further violence. No doubt “W” is dancing behind closed doors right now. Fiddling, more likely, while Iraq burns. And First Twins Jenna and Barbara are most likely passed out in a bar someplace, losing a purse again. We’ll read about it all in the society pages.

While more lives are lost on both sides, and Iraq burns.