This war is getting us nowhere, and we brave soldiers are dropping all over. END THIS WAR NOW!

Ironic it was 4 years ago tomorrow Bush had his "Mission Accomplished" speach. 4 Years, and we are still there!!!!

From AP

Five U.S. military personnel were killed over the weekend in Iraq, including three by a roadside bomb in Baghdad, the military said Monday, pushing the American death toll past 100 in the deadliest month so far this year.

Four Army soldiers died in eastern Baghdad, a predominantly Shiite Muslim area where U.S. and Iraqi forces have stepped up operations in the security crackdown that began Feb. 14. A Marine was killed in Anbar province, a Sunni Arab insurgent stronghold west of the capital.

An al-Qaida-linked group, meanwhile, vowed to pursue a "long-term war of attrition" in Anbar against U.S. forces and an alliance of Sunni tribal leaders who have turned against the terror network.

In violence Monday, a suicide car bomber apparently targeting an Interior Ministry convoy struck an Iraqi checkpoint near a busy square in the predominantly Sunni Arab area of Harthiyah in western Baghdad, killing four people and wounding 10, police said.

The bomber detonated his payload, causing part of the road to buckle, as he emerged from an underpass heading toward a checkpoint manned by Interior Ministry commandos. Those killed included two commandos and two civilians.

On Sunday, Iran agreed to join the U.S. and other countries at a conference on Iraq this week in Egypt, raising hopes the government in Tehran would help stabilize its violent neighbor and stem the flow of guns and bombs over the border.

It has been reported that we lost 9 of our finest in one day in Iraq. For the love of all that is good and holy in this world, can we please end this pointless war. George, you have won, the military is broken and your friends are richer than they ever dreamed. You won, so can we now end the death?

END THIS WAR NOW AND BRING OUR TROOPS HOME. IT IS NO LONGER ABOUT SUPPORTING THE TROOPS, IT IS ABOUT SAVING THEM FROM THE MESS YOU HAVE CREATED!

End this damn war now!

From AP

Beginning immediately, all active-duty Army soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan will serve 15-month tours - three months longer than the usual standard, Defense Secretary Robert Gates said Wednesday.

It was the latest move by the Pentagon to cope with the strains of fighting two wars simultaneously and maintaining a higher troop level in Iraq as part of President Bush's revised strategy for stabilizing Baghdad.

"This policy is a difficult but necessary interim step," Gates told a Pentagon news conference, adding that the goal is to eventually return to 12 months as the standard length of tour in Iraq and Afghanistan.

He said the new policy does not affect the other main components of the U.S. ground force in Iraq: the Marines, whose standard tour is seven months, or the Army National Guard or Army Reserve, which will continue to serve 12-month tours.

Gates acknowledged that the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan are making life difficult for many in the military.

"Our forces are stretched, there's no question about that," Gates said.

He said the new policy also seeks to ensure that all active-duty Army units get at least 12 months at home between deployments. He said it would allow the Pentagon to maintain the current level of troops in Iraq for another year, although he added that there has been no decision on future troop levels.

Without changing the standard tour length to 15 months, the Army would have been forced to send five brigades to Iraq before they completed 12 months at home, Gates said.

Some units' tours in Iraq had already been extended beyond 12 months by varying amounts. The new policy will make deployments more equitable and more predictable for soldiers and for their families, Gates said.

"I think it is fair to all soldiers that all share the burden equally," he said.

The frustration of the boy king is becoming apparent to everyone. Today in a speech at the VFW George Bush stringed so many mistruths together in one sentence it was almost hard to wrap your mind around it. For instance he said, “It's now been 64 days since I have requested that Congress pass emergency funding for these troops. We don't have all of them there”, What he is not telling you is his last request for Iraq war funding was made to a Republican-led Congress and it took them 119 days to comply. The Democrats acted twice as quickly as the Republicans ever did. He went on to say, “…the Democrat leadership in Congress has spent the past 64 days pushing legislation that would undercut our troops, just as we're beginning to make progress in Baghdad.” This is also nothing more than spin, what the Democrats have done is to fully comply with his war funding request giving him every penny he asked for him. Bush is not happy with is that the Democrats have said that they understand what the American people want and this will be the last request Bush sees. The Democratic message is clear “You have about a year to finish the job because the will of the American people is all but gone.” In short Bush is panicking because he sees the gig is up, in chaos he could steal, and the Democrats have chosen to end the chaos.

As I said in the beginning of this post, President Bush is holding the troops hostage. You need to look no further than the following statement made by him today, “Some of our forces now deployed in Afghanistan and Iraq may need to be extended, because other units are not ready to take their places. In a letter to Congress, the Army Chief of Staff, Pete Shoemaker, recently warned, 'Without approval of the supplemental funds in April, we will be forced to take increasingly draconian measures, which will impact Army readiness and impose hardships on our soldiers and their families.'" This is a slap in the face to the troops, today in the news it was reported that over 15,000 troops will have their current tours of duty extended. Also reported today National Guard troops in three states to the tune of 13,000 troops have received notice that they will be shipped to Iraq, in direct violation of agreements made between the states and the Department of Defense that state National Guard troops will not be deployed more than once every five years. One unit that received letters today have been stateside less than two years. So how can the president say that if the Democrats don't fully comply with this failed policy that somehow the troops will be redeployed or extended when in fact that is exactly what is happening and they have all the money they need. Bush is using the troops and their families as hostages to keep the war in Iraq going so he and his buddies at Halliburton can keep bilking money from the war zone.

Bush's surge plan is so important to “Operation Save my Legacy” that he is sending untrained troops into Iraq and causing them to die. This is how the Republicans support our troops, they rush the necessary training our troops need, not to win, but to survive.

From Editor & Publisher (bolds are mine)

Two soldiers killed in Iraq in February may have died as a result of friendly fire, Army officials said Wednesday, not from enemy fire, as the press reported.

The military suspected friendly fire later in February but did not inform the dead soldiers' families of these new doubts.

One of the soldiers died just hours after arriving in Iraq — and was one of those troops rushed to the country in the "surge" who did not receive full training.

The Army said it is investigating the deaths of Pvt. Matthew Zeimer, 18, of Glendive, Mont., and Spc. Alan E. McPeek, 20, of Tucson, Ariz., who were killed in Ramadi, in western Iraq on Feb. 2. The families of the soldiers at first were told they were killed by enemy fire.

According to Col. Daniel Baggio, unit commanders in Iraq did not initially suspect they were killed by U.S. forces, but an investigation by the unit found they may have been.

A supplemental report filed Feb. 28 suggested that the initial report might be wrong and an investigation was under way. It took another month before the families of the two soldiers were told, on March 31, that friendly fire was suspected.

On February 9, the Savannah (Ga.) Morning News reported: "At least 143 soldiers joined Fort Stewart's 1st Brigade too late to participate in a final combat exercise before their units deployed to Iraq. Last week, one of those soldiers - Pvt. Matthew T. Zeimer, 18 - was the first from the brigade to be killed when he was hit by enemy fire in Ramadi, the stronghold of Iraq's Sunni insurgency.

with a Commander in Chief like this who needs enemies.

If you hear McCain tell the story, Iraq is a desert playground where pixies and sand sprites frolic in morning dew. Where people are happy and safe. In short McCain has host his fucking mind.

So to prove his point on how great Baghdad is, he went to Iraq and strolled around. It was a great photo-op for propaganda, but it is what was not in the photos that shows McCain is a coward, and liar. In his little walking tour of a market the brave McCain had over 100 soldiers, 3 Blackhawk helicopters above, and 2 Apache gun ships. Well if I had that much protection I would stroll the streets of hell.

What a Coward, is this the guy we want as president?

Is Bush ever going to tell us why we are there still. I thought that they were doing all the work, that we were just there as backup.

From the AP (Bolds are mine)

The U.S. military death toll in March, the first full month of the security crackdown, was nearly twice that of the Iraqi army, which American and Iraqi officials say is taking the leading role in the latest attempt to curb violence in the capital, surrounding cities and Anbar province, according to figures compiled on Saturday.

The Associated Press count of U.S. military deaths for the month was 81, including a soldier who died from non-combat causes Friday. Figures compiled from officials in the Iraqi ministries of Defense, Health and Interior showed the Iraqi military toll was 44. The Iraqi figures showed that 165 Iraqi police were killed in March. Many of the police serve in paramilitary units.

According to the AP count 3,246 U.S. service members have died in Iraq since the war began in March 2003.

At least 83 American forces died in January and 80 in February, according to the AP tabulation.

The Iraqi figures were gathered from officials who released them on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to give out the numbers.

Additionally, the Iraqi ministry figures listed 1,872 Iraqi civilian deaths for the month, about 300 more than the AP tabulation, which is mainly gathered from daily police reports nationwide.

The civilian death toll for the month was down significantly from 2,172 in December, the highest month casualty figure since the AP began keeping records of civilian deaths in April 2005.

However, the number of civilians killed in March was in the same range as for the first two months of this year; 1,604 in January and 1,552 in February, according to the AP count.

Nearly a third of the Iraqi civilian deaths, more than 500 people, where killed in three big bomb attacks in the last week of the month and revenge killings of Sunni men in Tal Afar the night after a Shiite market was bomb in the northwest Iraqi city.

I am glad to see that the Democrats are growing a set of balls and standing up for our troops against the abuse of the President. The Democratically controlled Congress on both side passed the war funding bill. Bush is scared out of his scull, never before has Congress ever stood up to him, and he does not know what to do.

He is calling all of the House Republicans to the White House, attempting to shore up support for his veto. Never in my life have a ever heard of a president needing to shore up support for a veto. Why is he doing this? Easy, the Republicans know that if he vetoes this bill, a real argument can be made that the Republican president stopped funding for the war. If you want proof of this theory, you need look no further than the Senate vote on this bill, even with the timetables, the Republicans would not filibuster this, because they knew it would not look good to filibuster the funding of the troops. The Republicans also fear that if the President vetoes this bill the Democrats my not bring it’s successor to the floor, ending the war by default, and the blame will be on the Republicans. This president has only vetoed one bill in his whole life, a stem cell research bill, do Republicans really want the other bill Bush vetoes to be funding for our troops? The war is unpopular to the American people, and the Republicans are already bleeding to death, they may be willing to throw Bush under the bus to save their asses.

I would warn the President not to veto the Iraq War spending bill, because when it is all said in done the fact remains that the Congress passed the funding, and a Republican president vetoed it.

The US Military is so overtaxed that the DOD has notified 1800 Ready Reserve Marines that they may be called up for a tour in Iraq. Here is what the Ready Reserve is, when someone signs up for the service, say 4 years, their contract says that are to spend 4 years active duty, and 4 years inactive duty, in other words the Ready Reserve. For the most part, these people leave the service and go on about their civilian lives.

It is almost unheard of to call up these forces, the DOD is strapped, and god knows that we would never ask for a draft, because nothing would end this war faster.

From the Stars and Stripes

The Marine Corps plans to notify 1,800 Marines in the Individual Ready Reserve this month that they could be mobilized for one year, to include an expected seven-month deployment to Iraq, said Maj. Steven O’Connor, Reserve liaison officer at Headquarters Marine Corps Public Affairs.

Troops in the IRR have left active duty but still have time on their obligation to serve. Unlike other reservists, they do not drill.

Of the Marines notified, about 1,200 are expected to get orders to join the I Marine Expeditionary Force in Iraq, O’Connor said Monday.

That breaks down to 1,067 sergeants and 133 captains, said Lt. Col. Jeff Riehl, of Manpower and Reserve Affairs.

Of the roughly 60,000 Marines in the IRR, about 25,200 are eligible for this callup, Riehl said.

Riehl gave the following breakdown of how many Marines the Corps is looking to call up per Military Occupational Specialty:

• Aviation maintenance, 361
• Logistics support, 225
• Infantry, tanks and artillery, 223
• Motor transport, 178
• Communications, 97
• Intelligence, 95
• Military police, 21

In August, the Corps announced that it planned to mobilize up to 2,500 Marines in the IRR to stem a shortfall of 1,200 Marines. The Corps had been relying on volunteers from the IRR, but fewer Marines in the IRR had volunteered to be mobilized.

Since then, 150 Marines in the IRR have been notified they could deploy, of which 69 have received orders to go to Iraq, O’Connor said.

Cheney is in Florida saying that the US House's funding of the troops is somehow "Not supporting the troops". Hey Dick, if I recall, you are such a coward that you never served in the service. In fact, I think that you went out of your way to get deferments so you did not have to serve. If I recall, you said, "I had better things to do at that time".

So I say to you, Dick, and I will say it in a way that you can understand, "Go fuck yourself you coward"

The House funded the war, and support them so much that they want to bring them home. Thanks to you it is no longer about supporting the troops, it is save them from you guys!

THE HOUSE FUNDED THE TROOPS, THEY ARE GOING TO GET WHAT THEY NEED. YOU GUYS ARE WELCOME TO VETO IT, AND IT WILL BE US THAT DOES NOT SUPPORT THE TROOPS. BIG WORDS DICK FROM A KNOWN COWARD!

It is very funny that George Bush just made a statement, in it he decried the Democrat’s vote on war funding as “Political theater” yet surrounded himself with military wife’s and children, speaking of political theater.

During the statement is almost sounded to me like he was going to threaten the troops and their safety in order to make a point. Given that this man has shown that human life means nothing to him, there is no telling what he will do.

Here is my message to Bush: You got the war funding, you got the money you asked for. Take it, or get nothing. You know that the word Representative in “House of Representative” is us, the American people, and while I know that you, Mr. Bush, hate the American people, those in the house speak for us, that is what Representative means. So what you should walk away with is that the American people want this war OVER. You have f*cked it up, victory is no longer an option, all you have to do is ask the Iraqi people, so we need to manage the withdraw, we need to get our men and woman out of there.

Democrats pass the bill. And within moment the White House said that Bush wants to talk to America. Hey Bush, America wants the war to end right now, and your little whine will not change that. I dare you to veto it, and watch your war funding dry up all together. If you veto it that is all you get.

Oh he is on, I wonder if he is sober this time…

From the AP

President Bush asked Congress on Saturday for $3.2 billion to pay for 8,200 more U.S. troops needed in Afghanistan and Iraq on top of the 21,500-troop buildup he announced in January.

Bush wants Congress to fund 3,500 new U.S. troops to expand training of local police and army units in Afghanistan. The money also would pay for the estimated 3,500 existing U.S. troops he already announced would be staying longer in the region to counter an anticipated Taliban offensive in Afghanistan this spring.

In Iraq, most of the additional troops would help with the latest Baghdad security plan, which is getting under way in the capital. The money would pay for 2,400 combat support troops, 2,200 military police forces and 129 troops for reconstruction teams.

I am really perplexed that the supporters of the Republican Party allow the GOP to treat the military with such contempt. Republicans hem and haw about how they are such champions for our men and women in uniform, yet given the chance, they will throw them under the bus, faster than you can say “Attention!”, especially if it means saving face for the party. Now it is no secret that I have in a longstanding theory that the Republican Party as a whole detests the military personnel. Don't get me wrong they love the military-industrial complex, they love Halliburton, Lockheed Martin, and other defense contractors, but our men and women in uniform, screw them!

Case in point, yesterday the Armed Services Committee hearing on the scandal at Walter Reed medical center (a DOD facility, not a VA facility) the fine Republican Representative from the state of Georgia Phil Gingrey blamed the troops for the appalling conditions in Building 18. He said, “and, of course, if you leave food around a motel room or dorm room at college, you're going to get some mice showing up at some point in time”. You're right Representatives Gingrey it's the soldier with the brain injuries fault he left food around. It's not the IED that blew up in his face that causes his brain to smash against the skull rendering him functionally unable to tell you where he's at. It's not the US Army's fault, even though it is their job to take care of the wounded soldiers. No, according to the Republican Representative from the state of Georgia it's the soldiers fault and nothing more. Oh wait, there is other people to blame, mainly the Washington Post for reporting it.

The comments of this Republican, as well as many before him, make it clear to me, a veteran, most of the American people, and the world, that to the Republican Party the troops are a nameless faceless mass of people used and thrown away. The attitude the GOP shows towards our troops is sickening at best and treasonous at worse. Shame on you Representative Gingrey, and shame on you Republicans for allowing such treasonous words to ever fall from your mouth.

(I am trying out new voice recognition software to help you post some of my stories, so please bear with me if you see words that seemed out of place, as I'm still training the program. I do my best to prove this before I post)

It only gets better for Bush and the Republicans. Has the media changed sides and is now working for us?

From Reuters

The Pentagon is not adequately equipping the National Guard and has not adapted to the increasingly important security role it plays in the post-September 11 environment, an independent commission said in a report to Congress on Thursday

The report said the global war on terrorism had placed increased demands for the National Guard to provide forces for both overseas and domestic missions, but added that the Defense Department, or DOD, had been slow to adapt to the change.

"DOD's failure to appropriately consider National Guard needs and funding requirements has produced a National Guard that is not fully ready to meet current and emerging missions," the commission concluded.

Among its findings, the 13-member panel said the Defense Department was not adequately equipping the Guard for its domestic missions.

The National Guard's 458,000 citizen-soldiers have a dual mandate to protect the United States both at home and abroad.

Nearly 90 percent of Guard units in the United States are rated "not ready," partly because of equipment shortages, according to Guard data and the findings of the Commission on the National Guard and Reserves, The Washington Post reported.