And back to the war

The really forgotten fatalities in Iraq, from Left I on the News. Why don't we count the other coalition casualties, as well as the 1000 + contractors? That puts the total quite near 5000.
(Note, current figures on all these segments available at Icasualties.org. Where I just found that 100! Army soldiers have committed suicide.)


Iraq Timeline: The Broken Record on "the Next Few Months" from American Progress.

The Bush administration as well as supporters and some critics of the Bush Iraq strategy have told Americans time and again during the past four years that the "next few months" in Iraq will be the "decisive, critical period" of the war—the one in which Iraq's warring factions will compromise to share power; in which the bloody civil war among sectarian groups will ease into peace; and in which Iraq's brutal violence will decline.
The implication has always been that U.S. military forces just need to hold on a little while longer for things to get better. They've been holding on a little while longer for more than four years—longer than it took the United States to win World War II.

Also from American Progress: Strategic Reset: Reclaiming Control of U.S. Security in the Middle East .

The current Iraq strategy is exactly what Al Qaeda wants—the United States distracted and pinned down by Iraq’s internal conflicts and trapped in a quagmire that has become the perfect rallying cry and recruitment tool for Al Qaeda.
...Instead, the United States must reset its strategy by looking beyond the deteriorating situation in Iraq in order to counter the threat from global terrorist groups and ensure stability in the entire Middle East and Gulf region.

A scary report from McClatchy claims the 'Iran strategy' is alive and kicking: Cheney urging strikes on Iran.


But, it's always a good time to take a vacation, isn't it? Here's Eugene Robinson's column: Just Another Vacation From Reality.

And, from the Houston Chronicle's Julie Mason: Bush on track to become the vacation president.

In The Nation (Kill Or Convert, Brought To You By the Pentagon), and in Orcinus (Soldiers of the Apocolypse), worries about fundamentalist proselytizing among our military in the Middle East. From Dave at Orcinus:

...and then we are sending these converts into a Muslim war zone with visions of crusades dancing in their heads.
Can things possibly get any more insane?

He also quotes a recent comment from Digby, and an earlier post, which says:

There's a reason to call Iraq the Timothy McVeigh Finishing School.
This will, I fear, become a significant component of the predictable surge in far-right activity that is almost certain to manifest itself in the USA over the next couple of years, especially as Democrats and liberals expand and entrench their hold on power.

Also from Sara at Orcinus, comments on the strange conservative attraction to macho posturing (also recently noted by Digby): Leering Old Men: Another Take.