Bang the Drum

rants and ramblings of a political junkie

Entries for the ‘Iraq’ Category

For your consideration: Hunger and Torture

In all the fuss over forums and compassion and bitterness and guns, a few newsworthy items emerged that I haven’t really had time to give their proper weight. I’m going to post them here for you to read and consider. All feedback is welcome.
Hunger, Here and Abroad
Bill Moyers’ moving show on hunger and poverty. [...]

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Of COURSE It’s All About Oil

Just in case you had doubts, please note the following, slipped into today’s news between bitter leaves:
35 Firms OK’d to Bid on Iraq Oil Deals
The office listed 35 companies that it said were qualified. They include, among others, BP PLC, Chevron Corp2., Exxon Mobil Corp1., Royal Dutch Shell PLC, Lukoil Holdings, China National Petroleum Corp., [...]

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Soldiers Serving Define Support

And surprise! It’s got nothing to do with talking about supporting them, but for them, it’s about being done with this wretched war:
Only moments before speaking with ABC News, the troops had been listening to Vice President Dick Cheney give a rousing speech, but it didn’t change their political preference.
Spc. Imus Loto said he [...]

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How Does McCain Define Success in Iraq?

Before his speech was interrupted by a special report about explosions in the Green Zone, John McCain stated with certainty that we were “closer to success in Iraq”. What does that mean?
Is it the surrender of oil-rich Basra? If so, there’s a real problem, because that situation is clearly out of [...]

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When Petraeus Testifies, Remember This

From Esquire, the story of one soldier in Iraq, his family, his friends, his town, his comrades, his service, and his final homecoming:
Now they moved out, led by Sergeant Montgomery, outside the walls and down the road. The boys behind him, especially Ross and Gilliland, ribbed Monty all the time about his age. Only in [...]

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Letters from Iraq: Roll the Dice and Pray

Attention should be paid here. While our cable news networks are sniffing around the Clinton tax return and ooohing and aaahing because they made money over the years since Bill left office, while campaigns desperately try to continue whipping the Jeremiah Wright non-story into a lynching (and yes, I meant to use that word), [...]

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