Markos Moulitsas Zuniga (DailyKos) gained a large measure of unflattering notoriety last spring for his “screw them” comments on the death of U.S. citizens in Fallujah. To my mind the headline at DailyKos on today’s tragedy ranks right up there in callousness as his previous infamous remark. What does Zuniga have to say about the tragic mortar attack in Mosul?
Bush destroys another 22 families.
Much more worthy of you time is Jeremy Redmon’s onsite reporting. Redmon, a reporter for the Richmond Times-Dispatch, was at Forward Operating Base Marez with Richmond-based 276th Engineer Battalion. He witnessed and reported on devistation in the blood-soaked mess hall. It’s raw and full of the emotion.
Update: I meant to mention this OpinionJournal piece about who we’re actually fighting.
Washington must seem like a very strange place from the vantage point of Baghdad. While the world’s so-called power capital debates whether Donald Rumsfeld has been solicitous enough of U.S. Senators, on the front lines of the war on terror three Iraqi election workers are dragged from their car in Baghdad and murdered in front of the world’s cameras.
Do we need any clearer picture of the stakes, and the nature of our enemy, in Iraq than the photo of those assassinations that appeared on yesterday’s front pages? The dead Iraqis were targeted precisely because they are trying to build a new, democratic Iraq. Their killers can’t abide a free election, or a newly legitimate Iraqi government, because they know it will make it less likely that they can ever return to power. The car bombs targeting Shiite Muslims in Karbala and Najaf are sending the same brutal message.
These events ought to put to rest the canard that what we are facing in Iraq is some kind of “nationalist” uprising opposed to U.S. occupation. The genuine Iraqi patriots are those risking their lives to rebuild their country and prepare for elections. They are being threatened, and murdered, by members and allies of the old regime who want to restore Sunni Baathist political domination. Or to put it more bluntly, we haven’t yet defeated Saddam Hussein’s regime.
[More] Though it addressed the cold-blooded assassination of Iraqi election workers over the weekend, their point applies equally to today’s tragedy.
Kev and Bill K:
You either obviously did not read the complete resolution passed by Congress, President’s Bush’s speeches prior to the war, thos of Secretary Powell, etc., or you are intellectually dishonest. WMDs were only one small part of the basus for attacking Iraq. Either way, don’t you think it is time for you and others like you to desist from slandering our President in time of war? Honest expression of opinions is a First Amendment right; shonest falsehoods are not protected by the First Amendment. They are simply lies and slander.
Sorry for the misspellings — I became too excited after reading posts by Kev and Bill K.; I will try to be more careful in the future.
You guys have strayed so far from the point of the post and my response that it is mindboggling. The post is supposed to imply that Kos, and everybody who submits to any of his views, celebrates the death of American soldiers. All i am trying to say, is that if you are against the war the death of troops infuriate you and you are more deeply saddened because you think it could have been avoided. If you are for the war, you think the deaths are necessary. Tell me, how does that make the people against the war anti-soldier?
. . . if you are against the war the death of troops infuriate you and you are more deeply saddened because you think it could have been avoided. If you are for the war, you think the deaths are necessary.
Oh, we’re infuriated and more deeply saddened, too. Interesting how you apply those adjectives only to the left. I also note the left makes no charitable donations to help the soldiers, their families, or the people of Iraq. Cheap, cheap, cheap.
Tell me, how does that make the people against the war anti-soldier?
Because they act so damn gleeful when they are killed.
Find me a gleeful quote. I definitely challenge you to find a gleeful quote from me.
I can understand where the right is coming from on some of their points surrounding the war, but this “the left is happy about deaths” is ridiculous. You aren’t more American than me because you supported this war from the beginning.
People on the left, me included, think that the deaths are unnecessary (with reasons including going to war in the first place, poor planning, and substandard equipment). That doesn’t mean deaths make us gleeful, it means deaths make us absolutely livid.
On a side note, even if you supported the war, it baffles me as to why you aren’t equally outraged by the poor planning of the administration. Why you aren’t outraged that the troops don’t have the supplies they need. Instead you try to defend those problems with attacks on the left or put out ridiculous reasons as to why more armor and more planning would be a bad idea.
“People on the left, me included, think that the deaths are unnecessary (with reasons including going to war in the first place, poor planning, and substandard equipment).”
Problem is, more often than not, when criticizing the execution of the war, they also criticize the efforts of the troops on the ground doing the job. Some more than others. Some will just never get it. As a veteran, it makes me sick.
“On a side note, even if you supported the war, it baffles me as to why you aren’t equally outraged by the poor planning of the administration. Why you aren’t outraged that the troops don’t have the supplies they need. “
The standard is, that when ANYTHING goes wrong, it is directly the fault of the administration. Things go wrong in war, hindsight is usually 20/20, and there are far too many reporters in Iraq looking for the negative stories.
I’ve seen Rummy and Bush blamed for the Mosul bombing. How in the hell could they have done anything to prevent it? Again, there are comments that call into question the performance of the troops. People need to stop second guessing their actions, and let them get the job done.
Kev:
I just don’t get British humor. If America sucks so bad, stay the hell off our blogs. Bloody Wanker.
If you don’t think that Americans should have the right to second guess, then perhaps we can ban that Second Amendment after all. I mean, we need to keep our guns in order to protect against a tyrannical government right? But, if we can’t ever question that government, then why would we want to ever overthrow it?
LJD.
Yeah, thank’s for that. Not only do Americans, such as yourself, happy to support an illegal war in Iraq, but want to ban me from FREE-SPEECH. Why is that? Are you in denial, about what’s happening in Iraq and the wider Middle-East? I had considered, that America was the number 1 in supporting such rights. As my country’s soldiers are also involved (UK) with great skill, in Iraq, I’m also aware of the case put forward by my government was utter garbage. WMDs was the reason my government gave to parliment, and attempted to support it with a “sexed up” dossier.
You must remember therefore that I am a Brit and that gives me a good enough excuse to submit my views on your “American blog”, we have suffered also.
How many more soldiers from your country and my country must die in a war that they were sent to based on bullshit excuses? That makes me angry.
If our respective governments had asked the American and British people, in layman terms, Er, we got a problem, we want regime change in Iraq, we need to get rid of Saddam etc etc? then, can we?……We are intelligent voters, and maybe, just maybe, we would of said yes. That s why, in my view, Tony Blair has lost the trust of the people in many many quaters. But I think he will still win the next General election next year.
I do apologise for my sarcasm a few scrolls up, but it hard not to sometimes because I have been vilified for my differing views. I wish Iraq all the best in the future, and hope our soldiers return home soon. May history be the judge.
Merry Xmas to all.
Oh, we’re infuriated and more deeply saddened, too. Interesting how you apply those adjectives only to the left. I also note the left makes no charitable donations to help the soldiers, their families, or the people of Iraq. Cheap, cheap, cheap.
A ridiculous statement regardless, but even more so when you consider the fact that John Kerry sent out an email today with the following text:
So, in addition to thanking you once again for all you have done, I’m writing to invite your participation in one final 2004 act of collective generosity. As a soldier, I remember how much it meant to hear from loved ones – especially at the holidays. So, I thought you and I could work together to make it easier for our soldiers serving in Iraq to phone home and hear a friendly voice.
We’ve found a program that does just that. Operation Phone Home is run by the USO, which has been an extraordinary friend to American soldiers for decades. The USO buys phone cards at cost and provides them to our soldiers free of charge. You can help the USO help our troops this holiday season right here:
http://www.uso.org/carddonations
In January, I will go to Iraq to see the situation firsthand and personally visit with our courageous troops who are serving America so well. Nothing would please me more than telling them that hundreds of thousands of us have expressed our thanks to them in this concrete and personal way.
Your gift can help a soldier phone home….
P.S. There are 140,400 U.S. military members serving in Iraq. Any calls they make home to those anxiously awaiting their safe return are at their own expense. A gift of $100 will provide 20 soldiers with a 100-minute phone card. A $1,000 donation would do the same for 200 soldiers. Please help. A friendly and familiar voice can mean so much to a soldier serving America so far away from home.
It doesn’t mean Bush is cheap or doesn’t care about supporting the troops, but I haven’t received one of these from him.
LJD. :Yeah, thank’s for that. Not only do Americans, such as yourself, happy to support an illegal war in Iraq, but want to ban me from FREE-SPEECH. Why is that?
The First Amendment protects one from government suppression of speech. It does not apply to private citizens. Nevertheless, because, you are not an American and you are not on American soil, if you have any constitutional protections at all, the First Amendment is not one of them.
You must remember therefore that I am a Brit and that gives me a good enough excuse to submit my views on your “American blog”, we have suffered also.
No, it doesn’t.
I do apologise for my sarcasm a few scrolls up, but it hard not to sometimes because I have been vilified for my differing views.
You have not been “vilified” for your views. Ridiculed, yes. Vilified, no.
John Kerry sent out an email today with the following text:
[snip]
It doesn’t mean Bush is cheap
Of course not. But, if you compare the charitable donations of the two, Kerry *is* cheap. Apparently, as are the blue states compared to the red.
or doesn’t care about supporting the troops
President Bush is extremely popular among the troops. I wonder if they will give Kerry as chilly a reception as they did Hillary when she went over there. They certainly know when they are being used.
but I haven’t received one of these from him
Maybe, he already knows it would be a waste of bandwidth to even ask the left for donations. And really, if Pres. Bush sent out emails to all the lefties they would be screaming bloody murder about the Patriot Act and that it was a police state bc their email was monitored, etc. Real Art Bell territory. One can never win with the loons.