by TChris

As noted here, poor planning has slowed the delivery of services to Gulf Coast evacuees. It shouldn't be surprising, then, that poor planning has "hobbled the rebuilding of Iraq," as this NY Times story reports.

by TChris

Today in Iraq:

Terrorists loyal to al Qaeda claimed responsibility for a wave of deadly attacks across Iraq that left more than 100 people dead today, saying they were retaliating for a military offensive against insurgents in the northern city of Tal Afar.

by TChris

“Join the Army. Die in Iraq.” Lacking an effective recruiting slogan, the Army National Guard and Army Reserve both fell “far short” of their annual recruiting goals for fiscal 2005, ending this month. Despite offering financial incentives, appealing to patriotism, and asking Congress to raise the maximum enlistment age to 42 (soon AARP members will be asked to join), the regular Army will also miss its recruiting goals.

by TChris

Colin Powell gave President Bush more loyalty than the president deserved. Now he's speaking his mind.

Making his most damning remarks about the conduct of the war since he was replaced by Condoleezza Rice, General Powell criticised the White House and Pentagon for their post-war planning and failure to send sufficient troops.

Unlike current members of the administration, Powell demonstrated an ability to confess his own failures.

by TChris

Iraqi President Jalal Talabani thinks Saddam Hussein should “be executed 20 times a day for his crimes against humanity," which seems the very definition of overkill. One execution normally suffices to achieve the desired result.

Talabani claims an investigating judge “was able to extract confessions from Saddam's mouth” about various killings during Hussein’s regime. Hussein’s lawyer, Khalil Dulaimi, contends that Hussein didn’t confess and that the judge who leaked the claimed confessions to Talabani “must resign immediately.”

Dulaimi rebuked Talabani for his remarks, saying they meant "there will be no chance of a fair and clean trial."

The trial, before a special tribunal, is scheduled to commence on October 19. Meanwhile, the regime change orchestrated by President Bush hasn’t produced an end to indiscriminate killing in Iraq.

A police spokesman on Thursday said police had located 14 unidentified bodies in civilian clothes at several sites near the town of Mahmoudiyah, about 30 kilometers south of Baghdad. He said all had been shot to death.

And the war, it keeps on taking...

Four security professionals, Ronald Hyatt, Robert McCoy, Robert Pole and Ryan Young, serving in Iraq with Triple Canopy were killed on Wednesday while conducting a protective security operation for the U.S. Department of State in Basra.

"It is with great sadness that we announce the death of our colleagues," said Ignacio "Iggy" Balderas, CEO of Triple Canopy. "They were an elite corps of highly skilled security professionals who died in continued service to their country. Our thoughts, prayers and support go out to their families."

They weren't soldiers, so they probably won't appear on any Defense Department list. But, one still has to ask, as Neil Young did years ago in "Ohio", how many more?

Meanwhile, back in Iraq:

Fighters loyal to militant leader Abu Musab Zarqawi asserted control over the key Iraqi border town of Qaim on Monday, killing U.S. collaborators and enforcing strict Islamic law, according to tribal members, officials, residents and others in the town and nearby villages.

Eric Boehlert at Huffpo sums it up:

Why did funds stop flowing to the Big Easy? Simple, Bush's war in Iraq was costing too much money.

Editor and Publisher has more on the failure of the Bush Administration to fund preventive measures:

The ACLU reports:

The American Civil Liberties Union and the New York Civil Liberties Union will again appear before a federal judge Tuesday, August 30, to seek the release of Defense Department photographs and videotapes depicting the abuse of prisoners held by the United States at Abu Ghraib.

The ACLU today also released previously redacted government documents, including declarations by General Richard Myers, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and Ronald Schlicher, former Deputy Assistant Secretary and Coordinator for Iraq in the Bureau of Near Eastern Affairs of the Department of State, in which they argue that the photographs and videos should not be made public. General Myers also argues that "the democratic idea of public accountability... is misunderstood in other parts of the world."

Released documents are available here.

posted by Last Night in Little Rock

Thirty-five years ago this week, the song "War" by Edwin Starr first topped the charts. It stayed Number 1 for three weeks.

Coincidentally, during that same three weeks in 1970, I was preparing for my conscientious objector status hearing before my local Draft Board. I was in my first week of law school. That song helped steel my nerve to go before what was believed to be the most hostile in the state. In early September, I persuaded the Draft Board that a war of U.S. aggression in another country that involved no safety interest of the U.S. was morally objectionable and worthy of conscientious objector status.

It was the first "case" I ever won. When I left the hearing, "War" was playing on the car radio. I was physically and emotionally drained, and, to this day, I never uttered a bad word about those who served because they had no choice. One of those remarkable coincidences in life....

The more things change, the more they remain the same:

This is quite a sobering statistic:

More journalists have been killed in Iraq since the war began in March, 2003, than during the 20 years of conflict in Vietnam, media rights group Reporters Without Borders said yesterday.

I just saw the Cindy Sheehan ad directed to President Bush on CNN. It is powerful. You can watch the ad at Gold Star Families for Peace.

Here's Cindy's latest entry at Huffingington Post.