September 15, 2007


IMPEACH BUSH


IMPEACH CHENEY


"FLAMING HORROR" IN IRAQ

No matter what estimate you believe, the death toll in Iraq from Bush's unnecessary war is horrific. What gets overlooked sometimes is the ongoing humanitarian crisis that has caused millions of Iraqis to flee the country and others to live homeless in terrible conditions. I don't understand egocentric politicians like Bush and Cheney who have little regard for human life. And I don't understand the people who support them. This commentary by Bob Herbert is at www.welcome-to-pottersville.com:

When the U.S. launched its “shock and awe” invasion in March 2003, the population of Iraq was about 26 million. The flaming horror unleashed by the invasion has since forced 2.2 million of those Iraqis, nearly a tenth of the population, to flee the country. Many of those who left were professionals marked for death — doctors, lawyers, academics, the very people with the skills necessary to build a viable society.

The Iraq Ministry of Health reported that 102 doctors and 164 nurses were killed from April 2003 to May 2006. It is believed that nearly half of Iraq’s doctors have fled. The exodus of health care professionals in a country hemorrhaging from the worst kinds of violence pretty much qualifies as nightmarish.

While more than two million Iraqis have fled to other countries, another two million have been displaced internally. According to the Global Policy Forum, a group that monitors international developments:

BUSH IS A LIAR

I didn't watch George W. Bush's speech touting the "progress" in Iraq. I'm not into masochism. But from reports of the speech Bush engaged in his usual pathological lying about Iraq. What is different now is that mainstream media are starting to do their jobs and fact checking Bush. This article by Glenn Kessler is at www.washingtonpost.com:

In his speech last night, President Bush made a case for progress in Iraq by citing facts and statistics that at times contradicted recent government reports or his own words.

For instance, Bush asserted that "Iraq's national leaders are getting some things done," such as "sharing oil revenues with the provinces" and allowing "former Baathists to rejoin Iraq's military or receive government pensions."

Yet his statement ignored the fact that U.S. officials have been frustrated that none of those actions have been enshrined into law -- and that reports from Baghdad this week indicated that a potential deal on sharing oil revenue is collapsing.