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Born at the Crest of the Empire

Tuesday, November 13, 2007

Iraq

(Reuters) "Bush says U.S. deaths in Iraq were not in vain." (He felt he had to say this on Veteran's Day.)

(AP) "Turkish helicopter gunships attacked abandoned villages inside Iraq on Tuesday, Iraqi officials said." (The US is publicly providing intelligence, so we will take some of the blame.)

(CBS) "The government of Iraq has notified private security firms their immunity from Iraqi law is about to end."

(WSJ) "The U.S. Navy is building a military installation atop this petroleum-export platform.... American officials are girding for an open-ended commitment to protect the country's oil industry."

(JuanCole) "Khalaf said that the British had turned 4,000 vehicles over to the Basra police, but that he did not know the fate of most of them, since the Basra police only had 1335 vehicles left."

(UPI) "A former employee of a Tennessee defense company is accused of sleeping with an Air Force contracting officer to secure Iraq contracts." (So it wasn't all bribery.)

(AP) Chertoff "reiterated U.S. intelligence information disclosed this summer that al-Qaida now had "operatives in the pipeline" to "carry out attacks in Europe or the U.S."

And, What to make of this?
Turkish troops taken hostage by Kurdish rebels three weeks ago were sent to prison by a military court days after they were released by Kurdish rebels, an attorney said Sunday.

The charges brought against the soldiers included disobedience and escaping abroad, said the attorney, who is involved in the case but declined to be identified by name.

?

6 Comments:

  • "Bush says U.S. deaths in Iraq were not in vain."

    The response to this always must be, "... despite the monumentally poor judgment and incompetent leadership on the part of the Bush administration."

    By Blogger -epm, at 1:40 PM  

  • I'm just amazed he felt it necessary to include it in a Veteran's Day speech.

    What kind of tribute is that?

    By Blogger mikevotes, at 2:24 PM  

  • Because Veteran's Day isn't about honoring veterans, it's about honoring a gusto for war, as personified in cartoonish WWII propaganda films. As such the only heros are dead heros, and the only honor is death. And to hate the war is to hate the vet.

    I think this is how a sizable number of conservatives view things. In this context it makes sense that Bush would "honor" vets by celebrating his war.

    By Blogger -epm, at 3:04 PM  

  • If you read the Bush speech, that's definitely where he was.

    By Blogger mikevotes, at 4:10 PM  

  • Which is why owning the language of the debate is so damn important. To frame the mindset. Progressives have yet to get a handle on this, I believe. To their own detriment.

    By Blogger -epm, at 6:45 AM  

  • Which is why owning the language of the debate is so damn important. To frame the mindset. Progressives have yet to get a handle on this, I believe. To their own detriment.

    By Blogger -epm, at 6:45 AM  

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