The collective power of the peace movement helped the Democrats take control of Congress and turn Nancy Pelosi from Minority leader into Madam Speaker. But in May the new Congress turned its back on the peace movement, granting Bush another $95 billion for war with no timetable for withdrawal. While the Speaker of the House herself voted against the war funding, she failed to put pressure on the conservative Democrats to form a united front against another blank check for war. She also failed to effectively use her power to decide what bills would come up for a vote. In the case of both the unrestricted war funding and the expanded FISA wiretapping, Pelosi had the ability to keep the bills off the floor but refused to do so.

On Memorial Day, the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Peter Pace, mistakenly stated the number of fatalities in Iraq on the CBS morning show. In an article over at raw story the General claimed we are approaching 3000 killed.

"When you take a look at the life of a nation and all that's required to keep us free, we had more than 3,000 Americans murdered on 11 September, 2001. The number who have died, sacrificed themselves since that time is approaching that number," General Pace told CBS Early Show's Harry Smith. "And we should pay great respect and thanks to them for allowing us to live free."

I Got the News Today: 05/15/2007
crossposted at daily kos

One of the casualties listed today is 1st Lt. Andrew Bacevich, from Wahlpole, Ma. His father is a critic of the Bush doctrine and pre-emptive war strategy. Professor Andrew John Bacevich wrote an op-ed piece on 3/1/2007 calling for Congress, especially now that the Democrats are in power, to make a binding resolution calling for an end to the Bush Doctrine. He realized a declaration is not enough to end the deteriorating situation but it is a good and strong start for restoring our nation's "badly tarnished honor".

Crossposted at daily kos

Four years ago, Bush announced the 'end of major combat operations' on board the aircraft carrier, Abraham Lincoln. Today, IGTNT honors nine more fallen troops, it is time the President stops uttering false cliches and starts to work on bringing our troops home. As Obama stated last week, we are just "one signature away" from a meaningful end to major combat operations. Please read and reflect on the news no one wants to receive.

Today, the Department of Defense announced the names of Six Soldiers and Three Marines killed in Operation Iraqi Freedom. According to the Iraq Coalition Casualty Count the number of names released by the DoD is now 3347 and there are 4 more names of the deceased awaiting notification of the next of kin before being publicly released.

Crossposted at daily kos

I Got the News Today: 04/23/2007

Today's News comes on the heels of the Virginia Tech tragedy. President Bush has ordered flags at half staff, attended memorials and exploited this massacre to its fullest. In the last two weeks, 38 of our troops have been killed mostly by being blown apart from a bomb, where is the grief? Where is the outrage? The outrage is here: Soldier says honor our troops like the VT slain. How demoralizing this is for them that the CIC - President and our media treats them with such utter disregard and indifference. I Got the News does not forget to honor them. We watch the number of casualties grow, with no plan or solemn word of condolence from this depraved President or the depraved Vice President. The President doesn't even care enough to run the wars he created, he is now looking to source that out to a war czar. Enough is enough. Our troops deserve more than this. For these reasons, Senator Reid is right, the war is lost. Now let's bring them home.

Here is the 04/16/2007 and 04/17/2007 editions. I could not post this yesterday because so much grief happened that I was too stunned to finish the blog. We need peace. Iraq faces Virginia Tech tragedy on a constant basis. It is time for violence to end both here and abroad. Back to I Got the News Today.

Crossposted at daily kos

Crossposted at daily kos

Yesterday, the Department of Defense announced the names of five soldiers and three sailors killed in Operation Iraqi Freedom. According to the Iraq Coalition Casualty Count the number of names released by the DoD is now 3278 and there are 14 more names of the deceased awaiting notification of the next of kin before being publicly released.

Crossposted at daily kos

IGTNT: 03/26/2007 edition.

Crossposted at daily kos

IGTNT: 03/20/2007 edition.

Crossposted at daily kos

Cross-posted at Daily Kos

crossposted at Daily Kos For America by Jackson Browne