Just when I thought I couldn't get any more irritated about the tap-dancing over Bush's S-CHIP veto (it's too expensive to give vaccines to poor kids, it's socialized medicine, blah blah), I saw this on the front page of today's WaPo:
The massive U.S. embassy under construction in Baghdad could cost $144 million more than projected and will open months behind schedule because of poor planning, shoddy workmanship, internal disputes and last-minute changes sought by State Department officials, according to U.S. officials and a department document provided to Congress.
It seems that the original estimate was $592 million.
You know how it is when you are building something; all those piddly problems add up fast.
Update:Talking Points Memo has lots of coverage of Prince and Blackwater today. Michigan Messenger has a good article on Blackwater and the Michigan conservative establishment.
From the LA Times:
WASHINGTON - Blackwater USA, the private security contractor under scrutiny for its role in a deadly Baghdad shootout last month, has fired 122 of its armed guards in Iraq since it started protecting U.S. diplomats there three years ago, congressional investigators said Monday.
The firings, most frequently for weapons-related incidents, amount to about 15% of Blackwater's current workforce in Iraq. None of those fired has been subject to any legal proceedings or other sanction, the investigation found.
The detailed allegations, which the committee said were backed by thousands of documents, depict a security firm that almost routinely opens fire in Iraq's streets, occasionally attempts to cover up its transgressions and is frequently protected from censure and prosecution by its State Department overseers.
The memo describes incidents in which Blackwater guards eagerly rushed to battles involving U.S. soldiers; plowed their armored trucks into civilian vehicles for no apparent reason; and left scenes of violence without assisting wounded civilians.
In the 15-page memo, Waxman's staff says State Department officials ignored misconduct by Blackwater. And in one high-profile incident, the memo says, State officials were directly involved in making sure that a Blackwater employee who had been accused of killing an Iraqi guard while intoxicated was flown out of the country less than 36 hours after the Christmas Eve shooting.
"Even in cases involving the death of Iraqis, it appears that the State Department's primary response was to ask Blackwater to make monetary payments to 'put the matter behind us,' " the memo said.
If you're scratching your head right now and wondering what this all has to do with Michigan politics, and a reminder for those who are already aware:
Today's committee hearing -- which will include State Department Iraq policy coordinator David M. Satterfield and several other senior State officials -- is also expected to question whether Blackwater has been awarded security contracts in part through political ties to the Bush administration.
According to the congressional investigators, Blackwater won more than $1 billion in contracts from 2001 through 2006, including $593.6 million in 2006 alone. The memo alleges that more than half of the total has been awarded "without full and open competition," and notes that relatives of Blackwater founder Prince have been major Republican contributors.
Prince's brother-in-law is Richard DeVos Jr., former chief executive of Amway Corp. A former Republican gubernatorial candidate in Michigan, DeVos has donated more than $160,000 to the Republican National Committee and Republican congressional committees.
Amway attracted widespread attention in 1993 when it paid President George H.W. Bush $100,000 for an address to the company's distributors. At the time, the speaking fee was one of the largest ever paid to a former government official.
We've waited "Long Enough" for an answer on how many residual troops the other Democratic Presidential Candidates will leave behind in Iraq. That's why the name of our campaigns' new TV ad is entitled "Long Enough."
Bill Richardson is changing the debate with his clear, bold, plan to end the war and bring all the troops home. This war will drag on as long as our troops are in Iraq.
In response to President Bush's speech last night on the recommendations of General Petraeus:
"My fear was that the President would present only an illusion of change in an effort to prevent a real change in course in Iraq from occurring, and my fear was borne out. Simply bringing our troop levels back to the pre-surge level with no commitment to further reductions, no change of mission to get our troops out of the middle of a civil war, and no plan to pressure the Iraqi political leaders to take responsibility for their own future and to reach a political settlement to end the violence shows that the President intends to just 'stay the course' in a war that has not achieved, and is not achieving, its objectives." - Sen. Carl Levin, D-Mich.
However, Michigan's Republican members of congress responded with:
"By bringing local leaders together to reject al Qaeda's violent ideology, stability and security in that region has improved and as a result we are seeing a draw down of troops coming in the next three months"-Rep. Mike Rogers R-Brighton.
Friday, September 14 - 10:00am (SHARP!)
Rosa Parks Circle
Downtown Grand Rapids
(at the corner of Pearl and Monroe)
Vice President Dick Cheney will be in Grand Rapids on Friday to speak to a closed audience about the war in Iraq and the "global war on terror." ACTIVATE/SDS is calling for a protest to tell Cheney that the United States' occupation must end NOW!
For information on why ACTIVATE calls for an immediate end to the occupation of Iraq:
Please pass this announcement along to your friends, your groups, or other contacts. We have flyers below that we encourage people to print and distribute, as well as a graphic suitable for posting on MySpace, Facebook, and other such sites:
Gotta go below the fold for the specifics ... and, yes, you may protest the war without endorsing the entire plank of an event's organizers-- E.B.)
(FYI, HBO special this Sunday. - promoted by DianeS)
From Executive Producer James Gandolfini Alive Day Memories: Home From Iraq
Premieres Sunday, September 9 at 10:30PM
In a war that has left more than 25,000 wounded, ALIVE DAY MEMORIES: HOME FROM IRAQ looks at a new generation of veterans. Executive Producer James Gandolfini interviews ten Soldiers and Marines who reveal their feelings on their future, their severe disabilities and their devotion to America. The documentary surveys the physical and emotional cost of war through memories of their "alive day," the day they narrowly escaped death in Iraq.
Watch the entire ALIVE DAY MEMORIES special on HBO.com beginning Sunday, September 9 at 11:30pm, immediately following the premiere.
Senator Levin gives us a twofer today on the issue of Iraq.
Fresh off his two day tour of Iraq, the good Senator decided to give cover for Blue Dog Democrats, Republican lawmakers and the president.
In case you haven't been paying attention, the Administration, with the willing capitulation from the Democrats on Capitol Hill, are laying the groundwork for punting on the Iraq War come September.
September was when the talking heads dutifully carbon copied Congressional Republican talking points that September was do or die for them.
Glenn Greenwald takes Sen. Levin correctly to task for offering Republicans this easy out and caving on the most important issue of the day.
Carl Levin, probably the most influential Senate Democrat on Iraq policy, just returned from a "visit to Iraq." In a joint statement with GOP Sen. John Warner, he pronounced that "the military aspects of President Bush's new strategy in Iraq, as articulated by him on January 10, 2007, appear to have produced some credible and positive results."
While expressing various "concerns," they particularly hailed "the continuing improvement in the ability and willingness of the Iraqi Army to conduct combat operations against the insurgents." Predictably, war supporters on Fox News and elsewhere wasted no time in hauling out the "even-Carl-Levin-admits-we're-winning" claim.
The "trip to Iraq" which Levin and Warner took was so short and so controlled that it makes the Pollack/O'Hanlon jaunt look like a full tour of combat duty. "We completed a very productive two-day visit to Iraq," they said, adding that they spent the whole "two days" meeting with U.S. military commanders (including Gen. Petraeus) at "forward operating bases," as well as with Iraqi politicians. And, you see, they "came to Iraq to assess the progress being achieved by 'the surge.'"
"Rep. Ehlers makes policy decisions based on facts, not protests or advertisements, so I doubt these advertisements will have any impact on his decision-making," added Kevan Chapman, communications director to Rep. Vern Ehlers (R-Mich.), whose constituents in Grand Rapids will see a series of ads from Freedom's Watch.
A new group of prominent conservatives [Freedom's Watch] plans to begin a multimillion-dollar advertising campaign Wednesday to urge members of Congress who may be wavering in their support for the war in Iraq not to "cut and run."
The article doesn't mention the targets, but my sources say that one of them is Congressman Ehlers. Can the folks in Grand Rapids confirm whether the ads have started showing up on TV yet?
As you undoubtedly know, the cost of the Iraq war has gone through the roof - in terms of dollars, American and Iraqi lives lost, and wounded servicemembers, among many other statistics. Furthermore, with the money that has gone to fight this catastrophic war, millions of children could have been insured, or thousands of schools could have been built.
The National Priorities Project has released a two-page PDF document detailing the cost of the war to the state of Michigan as a whole as well as to each Congressional District.
According to the NPP, this war has cost our state roughly $12,100,000,000 - more than $1,200 per person - so far. That money could have been used to insure more than two million uninsured children. Or it could've paid for the construction of nearly 1,100 elementary schools.
How much has the war cost your congressional district? Click the link to find out. (You won't be surprised at which district has paid the heaviest price.)
Concerned citizens, volunteers and political activists will join with Americans Against Escalation in Iraq and Military Moms for Peace to welcome home U.S. Rep. Mike Rogers, R-Brighton, one of most ardent supporters of President Bush's failed polices in the Iraq occupation/civil war, following the August recess of the U.S. Congress with a rally Wednesday at Rogers' Lansing office.
Activists hope to turn up the heat to help Rogers see the error in continuously voting to continue Bush's failed Iraq policies and to make excuses for its failure in an unjustified and useless occupation that that has killed more Livingston County soldiers and Marines than the entire 16-year history of the war in Vietnam.
Over the last several weeks Americans Against Escalation in Iraq's "Iraq Summer" campaign has rolled out the welcome mat in preparation for Rogers' arrival by signing up hundreds of Rogers' constituents as volunteers, holding rallies in front of his office and planting lawn signs and going door-to-door throughout the 8th Congressional District. Outraged at the fact that the Iraqi government is going on vacation while major milestones in the plans for moving Iraq forward remain unmet, the volunteers will be greeting Rogers in their vacation attire: Hawaiian shirts and sunglasses at his Lansing office at noon Wednesday Aug. 8. The office is located at 1327 E. Michigan Ave. in the City of Lansing, and for those that use one of the driving directions programs the zip code is 48823. Don't forget your vacation gear.
Americans Against Escalation in Iraq is a national campaign comprised of a variety groups from across the political spectrum that are committed to opposing the Bush plan to escalate the war in Iraq and to work for the responsible redeployment of American forces. It's a loose coalition of various groups, including the Service Employees International Union (SEIU), MoveOn.org Political Action, VoteVets.org, Center for American Progress Action Fund, USAction, Win Without War, Campaign for America's Future, the United States Student Association, Working Assets, Americans United for Change and Campus Progress Action.
As a Vietnam Veteran and a member of Shiawassee County Veterans For Peace I'm concerned about Congressman Mike Rogers continued support of President Bush's war in Iraq and his lack of support for the troops on the ground. He supports sending our children to Iraq but won't fight himself. He possesses skills that are critical to the war effort. He should live out his convictions and enlist.
His job in Congress isn't so critical that others cannot do it. Yet, he sits safe at home out of harms way, removed from the conflict ignoring all the graft and corruption that has gone on, on his watch. Please call, write or talk to Congressman Rogers and ask him, if he believes in this war so much that he will send our children to their death, why doesn't he enlist and go and fight himself.
If you're looking to get out in the beautiful sunshine to get some exercise and enjoy the weather you can also do that and save our brave soldiers and Marines from dying needlessly in Iraq because of President Bush's failed policies by joining Americans Against Escalation in Iraq in canvassing in Brighton from 2-4 p.m. Saturday (7/21).
The group is meeting at 2 p.m. behind the McGivney Law offices - 210 E Main St. -
before dispersing. That's just about a block east of the main four in downtown Brighton - and the home of one of Bush's and the Iraq war's biggest cheerleaders, U.S. Rep. Mike Rogers - and less than a mile west of the Spencer Road exit from I-96. The zip code is 48116 so you can type it into Google maps to get here. Canvassers will be distributing yard signs and asking Brighton residents to call their Congressman to stop supporting Bush's reckless war policy.
The Livingston County Republican Party is making a pitch for more free front-page publicity by collecting donated items to "ship to troops originally from Livingston County" in a token show of supporting the troops. It's a great gesture, but if you really want to show your support for the troops get them out of the middle of a deadly civil war where whet they are targets and are fighting and dying for a success that cannot even be defined.
You will recall last December that the majority party in the county anted up a whopping $500 for Toys-For-Tots from the $42 million it spent trying to buy the governorship, and it earned them a front-page story from the so-called "liberal media." I'm sure that's what's behind this effort.
A better way to show support for the troops is to support the "Responsible Redeployment from Iraq Act" that will be debated tonight in the U.S. Senate. The bill has already been approved by the House, and it requires President Bush to begin troop withdrawal within 120 days, with most coming home by April 2008.
The Republicans have threatened to filibuster it to block a vote, but Senate Majority Henry Senator Reid is calling their bluff and forcing them to stay in session all night long in an old fashioned filibuster. To support the first real filibuster and all-night session in more than two years, peace supporters we'll be holding a citizen's response-a counter- filibuster-all over the country, including in nearby Milford. It will be held at 6 p.m. at 213 W Huron street, just a block west of Main Street, and it is hosted by Laural Tondreau.
This is a war based on handpicked evidence to mislead the American people. It has killed more than 4,000 U.S. service members and wounded, some horribly, more than 25,000 service members. No one really knows how many Iraqi civilians have died since the conflict began, but estimates put them in the tens, if not hundreds, of thousands. The United Nations estimates that 35,000 civilians were killed in Iraq during 2006 alone. According to the Center for American Progress, the Middle East is facing its largest refugee crisis in a generation. More than 2 million Iraqis have fled Iraq and another 2 million are internally displaced.
Sectarian violence and civil war between Sunnis and Shi'a is rising. Shi'a militias and death squads are fighting Sunni extremists. The fighting has led to ethnic cleansing, the displacement of civilians on both sides, and infiltration of government security forces. Sectarian violence has remained constant despite the "surge."
Instead of addressing this and bring the troops home, supporting them when they actually come home or even changing the failed polices that have caused this mess, we get public relations efforts from the Republicans. There is a backdoor draft with troops being involuntary extended, individuals being involuntarily recalled to active duty and multiple tours, but still all we get from the GOP is a PR effort.
I'm not really sure what the troops need. After the efforts of anti-war protestors brought to light the fact troops were sent to war without the proper equipment that oversight has been addressed, for the most part. I don't know if troops still need lip balm, baby wipes or AA batteries. This looks exactly like the list provided by Family Readiness for the 1462nd Transportation Company in Howell when it deployed some three years ago when the conflict first began. But I urge everyone to donate the requested items even if it is a PR effort by the LIVCO reopubs.
Donations can be dropped off at the GOP's booth at the Grandstand at the Fowlerville Fair - off Grand River Avenue in Handy Township just west of downtown Fowlerville -
during regular fair hours. Items requested include new or used DVDs (action or comedy), books, lip balm, baby wipes, AA batteries, gum, sports magazines, hard candy, Gatorade (powder form is best), cards or card games, facial cleansing cloths, cough drops and pump lotion. Items that cannot be shipped include bug spray and aerosol sprays. The donation and shipments to the troops are part of an increased community outreach program developed by Livingston County GOP Chairman Alan Filip. If you have any questions, call Filip at (810) 656-5099 or community outreach coordinator Debi Drick at (517) 819-1988.
On Sunday an all-too-common-occurrence took place on the lawn of the historic Livingston County Courthouse with the addition of two more names from among the growing list of Livingston County soldiers and Marines killed in Iraq etched onto the Veterans Memorial that honors those killed in battle from World War I to the present.
In a small ceremony Sunday afternoon the names of Army Spc. Andrew Daul of Brighton Township and Army Pfc. Wilson A. Algrim of Marion Township were added to the memorial. Both men were killed late last year at age 21. Daul was killed on Dec. 19 after an IED exploded near his tank. Just four days later on Dec. 23 Algrim was one of three Michigan soldiers who were killed when an IED exploded near their vehicle during combat operations in Iraq. More than 4,000 service members have been killed in action since combat operations began in 2003, and on Friday the 150th Michigan solider was killed when Army Sgt. Allen A. Greka, 29, of Alpena, was killed.
Any death is too much to pay in this misguided civil war/occupation that has done nothing but made this country less secure, but it seems Livingston County has paid far too high a price with the deaths of nine servicemen in Iraq so far who have ties to the county.
In the entire 16 years shots were fired in anger in the Vietnam conflict only seven servicemen with Livingston County ties died in that conflict. Combat casualties began in 1959 when two U.S. military advisors were killed in an ambush and concluded with two servicemen who were killed in 1975 when their helicopter crashed during the evacuation of Saigon.
This news comes less than a week after the Iraq progress report was released that said there has not been satisfactory progress in Iraq on 10 of the 18 benchmarks set by Congress, and a recent military intelligence report concluded that al Qaeda - the people actually responsible for the 9/11 attacks - has largely restored itself to pre- 9/11 strength. Last week also saw the return of sanity to the U.S. House of Representatives when it voted 223 to 201 to bring troops home from Iraq by April of next year.
With more than 4,000 U.S. service members dead, countless thousands of civilian Iraqi deaths and a monetary cost of $10 billion a month it makers you wonder what more will it take for people like U.S. Rep. Mike Rogers to see the tragic mistake the occupation is.
The turnout at the ceremony was not as large as it should have been, but there was almost no publicity on it at all. Just a three-paragraph brief on it ran in the Livingston County Daily Press & Argus that only in the print edition and only the day of the event. No other media outlets ran it that I am aware of. I certainly hope it was because the family did not want a lot of publicity because both Daul and Algrim and their families deserved recognition for their sacrifice.
The Livingston County Honor Roll
Iraq
Pfc. Jason Meyer, 23, 4/17/2003
Staff Sgt. Paul J. Johnson, 29, 10/20/2003
Staff Sgt. Thomas Christensen, 42, 12/25/2003
Lance Cpl. Michael W. Hanks, 22, 11/17/2004
Lance Cpl. Andrew Kilpela, 22, 6/10/2005
Marine Maj. Gerald M. Bloomfield, 38, 11/2/2005.
Staff Sgt. Gregory McCoy, 26, 11/9/2006
Army Spc. Andrew P. Daul, 21, 12/19/2006
Army Spc. Wilson Algrim, 21, 12/23/2006
Vietnam
Pfc. Maurice J. Biehn, 20, 10/9/1967
Army Spc. William F. Diggs, 22, 9/15/1969
Pfc. John M. Donohue, 18, 9/16/1968
Sgt. William M. Light, 24, 4/5/1969
Pfc. James M. Loso, 23, 6/10/1967
Army Spc. Brent B. Nauss, 21, 9/2/1969
Staff Sgt. Robert V. Simons, 32, 8/15/1968
I told myself, there's nothing you can do, it's a war and you're only one person.
But I knew it wasn't true.
We must stop this war - but you've already heard that time and time again, haven't you?
I'm not the first person to write these words and feel these emotions, and I won't be the last.
The amount of apathy in this state and this country reeks from sea to shining sea. And so our men and women, our brothers and sisters, our sons and daughters remain fighting in an unjust war, dying an honorable death caused by dishonorable leaders.
For a moment, we cluck our tongues, we silently grieve for the maimed, the missing, and the dead, we shake our heads, and yet, for the most part we remain silent.
Is it because we feel so powerless, so helpless? Or is it too far away, a land to which most of us have never been, nor will ever go? Is it because time has inflated our apathy, our willingness to stand silent?
We're not shocked anymore when the evening news begins with the latest death count, and most of us barely notice when we pass a tree with a tattered yellow ribbon.
It's a war, but it's not about WMDs, or oil, or money, or even partisan bullshit.
It's a war on our hearts and our minds and the justice that has been muffled within them.
So while you grieve and get angry and shake your head in frustration, ask yourself one question before you move on with the rest of your day.
How many more memorials must be written for you to finally read between the lines?
(Please try and go today! - promoted by LiberalLucy)
You have the opportunity to help bring our soldiers home now. Will you take it?
On Thursday night, the United States House of Representatives voted to end the war in Iraq responsibly and bring our troops home. Michigan Congressmen Ehlers, Upton, McCotter, Knollenberg, and Rogers all voted to continue the failed policy in Iraq and keep our nation on a path of endless war.
Americans Against Escalation in Iraq plans to hold those Congressmen accountable for their votes on Friday with a Press Conference and Rally as part of their Iraq Summer campaign.
The event will be held from 12:30-1:30 at the Michigan State Capitol in Lansing. Speakers will include Kevin Kelley and our own Bruce Fealk.
This event is yet another opportunity to help change how Michigan's Congresscritters treat the war in Iraq. You have a real opportunity to be a part of the force that changes the tide.
This campaign is effective. Eight Republican US Senators have recently changed their position on the war in Iraq. Five of them were targets of the Iraq Summer campaign.
Reminder
to self: when in doubt, just read the damn bill.
I
guess I thought I might save myself some time yesterday when I
decided to ask my blog brethren to offer their insights on
the U.S.
Iraq strategy would look like in the event the Feingold-Reid bill
passes. Feingold-Reid, you'll recall, is the measure
Sen. Levin criticized in his infamous
letter to the Washington
Post.
Well, it took a little while, but
I think I now have my answer - courtesy of nazgul35. Embedded between
mulitple
lines of
insults, bold type and CAPITAL LETTERS is this
quotation from Sen. Feingold's statement:
In
the opinion piece, Levin mischaracterized the effort led by Feingold
and Majority Leader Harry Reid as somehow cutting off funding for U.S.
troops. In fact, the Feingold-Reid bill would not end funding
for
the ongoing military mission in Iraq until U.S. troops had been safely
redeployed out of harm's way.
OK...so it won't
cut off funding for the war until all U.S. troops have left Iraq - and
the war is over? (at least as far as U.S. forces
are
concerned)
Alright. I suppose I'm asking to again
be buried in more insults, bold type and CAPITAL
LETTERS, but I have a new question: how exactly is that going to force
George Bush to end the war?
In the
meantime, let's take a closer look at the actual bill and see what's
going on...
(Sen. Levin, please stop using Right Wing talking points about your own party's efforts...if you don't know which are which...ask someone not named Joe Lieberman. - promoted by Nazgul35)
Dear Senator Levin:
I write to you, today, as a citizen who took the time to read the letter you published in The Washington Post concerning the Iraq policy, and in particular with regard to this passage in which you talk about sending "the wrong message to the troops":
One way to try to change course is to stop funding for the war, which sends the wrong message to the troops and won't pass in Congress. The better way to change course, an option that is also more likely to succeed, is to place in law a requirement that the president do so.
The "wrong message"? Senator Levin, the only way to send a wrong message to our soldiers is to tell them that Democrats will try anything short of everything to bring them home. "We will try everything--without pause, without fear--to end the Bush Iraq policy that is destroying the lives of America's soldiers!" That is the only right message to send the troops. Can you not see that, yet?
We used to have goals. Remember goals? Sending a man to the moon? Or how about ending poverty or balancing the budget?
Now we have "benchmarks." Like "surge" or "insurgents," it's become part of our everyday language when we're talking about Iraq.
Benchmarks are an important component of any plan - they help you measure progress, and they clue you into what is and is not working. But benchmarks absent any underlying plan or final goals are meaningless - nothing more than empty talking points meant to create the illusion of a plan that doesn't really exist.
This has been bothering me for quite some time. I've been increasingly focused on it lately, maybe it was sparked by attention on Senator Clinton and her not reading the report or on John Edwards via Shrum's book's discussion of how he made his decision, but a simple fact has really come to indicate where we are as country, and how off course we've gone.
In October 2002, prior to the October 12, 2002 Iraq War Vote, under lock and key, prepared for our Senators and Representatives by our country's top intelligence analysts, lay a 92 page report about Iraq, weapons of mass destruction, and everything we knew about Saddam.
It sat waiting for our elected officials to sign in without staff and read it, 92 pages. No staffers allowed, elected officials only. A five page declassified document was readily available to all but the 92 page document, you had to show up, sign in and read it.
