Hold Fast

Gorilla’s Guides: FALLUJAH, Mar 26 (IPS) – Iraqi doctors in al-Anbar province warn of a new disease they call “Blackwater” that threatens the lives of thousands. The disease is named after Blackwater Worldwide, the U.S. mercenary company operating in Iraq. “This disease is a severe form of malarial infection caused by the parasite plasmodium falciparum, [...]

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Dick Cheney, on why the 4,000 Americans who died fighting in Iraq don’t give him pause: Noting the burden placed on military families, the vice president said the biggest burden is carried by President George W. Bush, who made the decision to commit US troops to war, and reminded the public that U.S. troops in [...]

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The NY Times blog has a remarkable piece by an ex-Marine who was working in the Pentagon on 9/11 and was among the first into Baghdad when the city was conquered. Tim McLaughlin gives us a great insight into what he experienced and what it meant to him. Give it a read.

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Major General Paul Eaton has worked with Darcy Burner, Donna Edwards, Eric Massa, and six other challengers to craft a new vision for America’s diplomatic and military efforts in Iraq. They are rolling out a new plan for Iraq tomorrow at the Take Back America conference. This is a remarkable moment in progressive politics. My [...]

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This Boston Globe story came out yesterday, but I don’t think it’s news to too many people. Kellogg Brown & Root and Halliburton are systemically avoiding paying proper taxes on their employees to the tune of hundreds of millions of dollars of money lost to the US. They’re doing this by using shell companies in [...]

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VoteVets hits McCain on his commitment to keep American troops in Iraq for 1,000 years or longer. In the ad, Iraq veteran Rose Forrest says she’d rather McCain commit to 1,000 years of affordable health care instead.

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This is remarkable. We’re not talking about John Edwards or John Kerry changing their view on whether or not it was a mistake to go to war with Iraq, but Tom Coburn of Oklahoma, one of the most conservative Republicans in the Senate. Think Progress reports: During a town hall meeting in Muskogee, Oklahoma this [...]

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The Republican candidate for the Illinois 14th Congressional District (Dennis Hastert’s seat) is running this ad against Democrat Bill Foster. This ad mentions “cut[ting] off funding for our troops” and Foster is accused of wanting to “raise the white flag”. It ends: “I’m Jim Olberweis and I approved this message because I’ll never turn my [...]

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AJ Rossmiller of AmericaBlog has a great new book out today, Still Broken: A Recruit’s Inside Account of Intelligence Failures, from Baghdad to the Pentagon. There have been a few posts giving it strong praise so far: Matt Yglesias, Jill at Feministe, and I expect there to be many more as people pick it from [...]

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BAGHDAD – A suicide car bomber targeted U.S.-allied fighters north of Baghdad on Sunday, killing at least eight civilians and wounding 20, Iraqi security officials said. Police and members of an anti-al-Qaida group opened fire as the attacker sped toward a joint checkpoint. But the bomber managed to detonate his explosives near some stores about [...]

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