6500 Troops Affected by Tour Extension

6500 Troops Affected by Tour Extension

The Army has extended by two months the Iraq tours of about 6,500 soldiers, citing a need for experienced troops through the Iraqi elections scheduled for late January. the Pentagon's public affairs office posted an article on its Web site Saturday that said 3,500 soldiers of the 2nd Brigade, 1st Cavalry Division, and 3,000 from the 1st Infantry Division headquarters will remain in Iraq at least two months longer than planned. Many of these troops expected to be back home by Christmas to spend the holidays with their families. The troops are understandably frustrated over having their tours extended. Some of the soldiers had been told they would be leaving Iraq as early as November. Instead they will stay through January.

Headlines We Should See

Photo credit: Esoterically.net, a great blog to visit


Headlines We Should See
Grand Moff Texan, Daily Kos

I thought these were great:

What? We should reelect the man who's already been beaten by Osama?

Why is Osama still alive?

Whaddaya mean, 'rally behind the president'? The president already said he didn't care about this guy!

Why is Osama still alive?

Bush left Zarqawi alive, three different times, and now he's over there, merrily sawing the heads off of Americans. So I guess this is a pattern for Bush.

Why is Osama still alive?

America is still un-avenged, and Bush just prances around and calls himself a 'war president.' What a pussy!

Why is Osama still alive?

Considering that Bush is in the habit of leaving terrorists alive and leaving out weapons for them, do you think this is part of BC04's campaign strategy? To help terror so they can profit from terror?

Why is Osama still alive?

Who will be tougher on terror A pampered drunk, or a veteran and former prosecutor?

Why is Osama still alive?

Oh, and by the way, WHY IS OSAMA STILL ALIVE??????

Bruce Springsteen: Our power is embedded in truth

"He's shown us, starting as a young man, that by facing America's hard truths, both the good and the bad, that's where we find a deeper patriotism. That's where we find the power that is embedded only in truth to make our world a better and safer place."

- Bruce Springsteen, speaking of John Kerry in Madison, Wisconsin

Bruce Springsteen: Our power is embedded only in truth

Don't let the weekend pass without seeing this video.

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I believe that this Salon.com article by Joan Walsh is one of the best I've seen: ( subs or one day pass req )
Memo to Kerry: Don't let Osama steal your thunder

"Keep going after Bush, the way the president should have pursued bin Laden at Tora Bora
Kerry has to help Americans face yet another hard truth: That we're led by a president who has mired us in nightmarish war and doesn't know how to make us safer. And before the ruthless and desperate Bush campaign can use the bin Laden tape to sow more panic among the American people -- the only way it can scratch out a victory on Tuesday -- Kerry must use the sinister video as one more exhibit in the case he has been forcefully making for Bush's incompetence."

Osama Is Back

Osama Is Back

If we'd concentrated on bringing Osama to a real and meaningful justice, he wouldn't have been on this tape today spouting this tripe four days before the election.

We didn't concentrate on him, though. As a matter of fact, our inept fool of a president and his band of deceptive, raving lunatics hauled off stubbornly and willfully, against all reality, and attacked a nation whose government had no connection whatsoever with Osama ( while they boldly lied to us and insisted, in the face of all reality, that they did ).

We're about to stage a cold-blooded murder spree in Falluja which would make any thinking person's blood run cold. Most of these people in Falluja are Iraqis defending their ground. Osama is not in Falluja. Not now, not then, not ever.

What the hell has this president done to our country?

Consider this a lament for my poor, poor America.

I hope, with all hope, that Americans will unite in a new purpose. We require new leadership. Even if you want to support Bush and your party while soaking up all FOX News has to shell out to you, you must do what is right for the safety and integrity of our nation and the freedom of its people.

If we do not elect new leadership on Tuesday, not only will we be attacked from without, we will fall apart and die from within.

Now is the time to bite the bullet, swallow partisan pride, and remove the great barrier to our nation's future welfare and hope.
Now - before it's too late.

I'm not frightened by Osama. He's a misguided murderer. He made the worst decision a decent human being could ever make on 9/11. If there is a place of eternal damnation, he'll be on the top of the list.

I am saying this for the good of our nation.
I am not afraid of Osama Bin Laden.
You shouldn't be, either.
You should be comforted in the notion that you trust your leaders to effectively
and surgically remove the cancers like Osama Bin Laden with swift and determined justice, along with our world community. The problem is, we know we cannot trust Bush administration to get it done.

The only antidote to the divisive poison the bitter and careless Bush and Cheney have injected into the civil fabric of America is to elect them out of office and start anew.

They haven't made us safer. An Islamic terrorist group has admitted they have the explosives which they looted right under our Commander in chief's nose in an unnecessary war. While we saw grandiose pictures (along with dramatic music) of a falling Saddam statue and Bush strutting like a cock-of-the-walk in a flight suit, terrorists looted explosives to be used on our troops serving in a mission that was definitely NOT accomplished.

Vote them out of office.
It's not too late.


Josh Marshall reports that FOX News is calling this "Bin Laden's endorsement of Kerry".
To that, I can only think to reply:
"Fuck FOX News."
FOX News has gone too far, after doing more damage to the unity in this nation (with their deliberately-focused partisan journalism) than Osama Bin Laden himself.


See Osama's Election Editorial - by William Rivers Pitt


There are some who are thinking this might not actually have been Bin Laden at all. See this website.

Juan Cole weighs in on Osama's return to the limelight.

Dave Pell shows us that David Brooks is so consumed with partisanship that he's willing to abandon reason. David Brooks is no Christopher Hitchens. At least Hitchens was an intellectual who willing to admit, reluctantly, why he'd be voting for John Kerry. Brooks is just talking crazy.

And who is the scum who has played politics with this tape?

The best comment I've seen on Osama's comeback is from an unexpected source - Charles Kennedy, leader of the opposition Liberal Democrats/British Parliament:

"The democratic process is the surest way to defeat this terrorist."

Whistleblower: Army favoritism to Halliburton

Whistleblower: Army favoritism to Halliburton at great cost to US taxpayers

Halliburton has given intimidating and misleading reasons for halting competition upon examination of their contract extension for Army troop support. The Army extended a Halliburton contract over the objections of a top contracting officer, even contending - and then withdrawing - a claim that U.S. forces faced an emergency if the company didn't get the extra work.

Army contracting official Bunnatine Greenhouse, who has said she was frozen out of decisions on Halliburton, went public last weekend with allegations that Army officials showed favoritism to the company. She had written a top general this month,
questioning KBR's extended troop support contract in the Balkans.

The Balkans contract was to have ended May 27 but has been extended through next April. The extension was so politically sensitive that a Corps official, William Ryals, sent a memo to Corps headquarters in July seeking high-level approval.


LINK

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"Nothing speaks louder about their values and what they stand for than Halliburton. There is one thing you can be sure of: Halliburton's free ride will continue if George Bush and Dick Cheney get four more years. But if John Kerry's elected, it will stop and it will stop immediately."

-Sen. John Edwards, Oct 29, 2004 in Muskegon, MI

Karl Rove's Final Descent

Karl Rove's Final Descent


By Corey Anderson Corey Anderson
From: The American Street American Street ( where you can find my column every Thursday )