The Bush administration promoted the misguided and destructive war in Iraq by targeting five core concerns that often govern our lives--concerns about vulnerability, injustice, distrust, superiority, and helplessness. Looking ahead, the continued occupation of Iraq--or an attack on Iran--will likely be sold to us in much the same way. I examine these warmongering appeals--and how to counter them--in the new video above, entitled Resisting the Drums of War.
(also available at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=81UKnb5zJbM).

Video clips showing Barack Obama speaking about American intervention in Iraq from the beginning to the present.

You gotta get your ducks all in a row there before tooting those horns:

At a press conference she and Zebari said the negotiators were close to signing the deal but cautioned it had not yet been clinched.

Everyone says how intelligent you are, and after all you're the Secretary of State with a whole department working for you, or are they being allowed to.

I caught this report over at Huffington:

US Vets Return to Middle East to Help Iraqi Refugees

I'm on the first day of a rapid-fire visit to Jordan, the kingdom in the Middle East which has provided a safe haven for an estimated 750,000 refugees from Iraq who have traveled the shorter but more dangerous route to get here.

I'm traveling with a small delegation from the newly founded Iraq Veterans Refugee Aid Association (IVRAA) -- co-founders of the organization, Luis Montalvan, a former US Army captain, and former US Marine captain Tyler Boudreau, plus photographer Paul Park -- on a mission to try to assess the situation faced by Iraqi refugees, and the burden that hosting those refugees has placed on the Hashemite kingdom.

We also hope to work out what, if anything, we can do to help provide relief to either or both.

And when I did a quick google search I found this link Iraq Veterans Refugee Aid Association (IVRAA), which is placed in the quote above also.

Staff Sgt. Alex Jimenez comes home for funeral

A hearse bearing the remains of 25-year-old Staff Sgt. Alex Jimenez came to a halt in front of his father's house in Lawrence, the scene of a 14-month vigil as the family awaited word of his fate. A memorial shrine with floral arrangements and half-burned votive candles was on the sidewalk. (7-25-08)

On the 29th of July an extremely important think tank report, paid for by the government, came forth from the Rand Corporation, a favorite of the Pentagon on National Security matters.

I heard the report early that morning on a news blip on NPR and went over to the Rand Site and found the report. I than posted about it on a number of sites as well as sent it out, all with back links.
There was also a link for a Congressional Briefing to be held on that day on the report.

The Bush Iraq and Afghanistan wars will cost the U.S. $2.4 trillion, but some fiscal conservatives and anti-tax crusaders are still fixated on derailing the billions of dollars requisite to restore a city lost to Bush’s incompetence and hubris – the city of New Orleans.

:: ::

All that's needed is for something to happen to rile the 'mahdi' army and the ceasefire will end, as well as some Iraqi leader to demand "America tear down these Walls!" and the Real Purposes for the 'surge', i.e. Escalation, will be no more!

Political: The 'surge' Working?? Take 1

Iraqi army prepares assault in Diyala as election law vetoed

Some members of the Sunni Awakening, tribesmen paid by the United States to fight al Qaida Iraq, are fleeing. "They think the security plan will target them after the insurgents," Mulla Sh'hab Alsafi, leader of one local Awakening group, told McClatchy.

I wasn't planning on posting anything today, have to much to do and other thoughts on my mind.

But yesterday I watched, as many have seen by now, someone who should have a much better understanding, above that of it's citizens, what this countries policies are and their implementation.

McClatchy has a couple of reports that hit on a couple of the Points of the 'surge':

Political: The 'surge' Working, Take 1

The increasing erosion of our constitutions, civil rights and democracies as they are being gradually subjugated by Authoritarian Security Surveillance States. The bloating no-fly lists and terrorist watch-lists. The continuing inhumane and barbaric renditions, "enhanced interrogations" and indefinite detentions - of children, teenagers and adults alike. The continuing standing of Military Commissions, which are nothing more than politically-driven, rigged, kangaroo courts. The seemingly unending wars of choice and occupation in Afghanistan and Iraq - both based on lies to justify a vengeance operation for 9/11 and the securing of foreign oil resources. The ever mounting toll of civilian deaths, displaced refugees and soldier casualties.

This is the overall state of things today with regards to our so-called "Western civilization" - especially with regards to the U.S.A., the U.K. and Canada.

By now most every knows of the sad news, for the U.S. Military, of the 9 Americans Killed in the Afghan Attack, with 15 wounded as well as others at the firebase.

A more recent report can be found here, Afghanistan: 'Hundreds' attacked NATO base with their Story Highlights being:
**Afghanistan: Attack involved 400 to 500 militants. 9 American soldiers killed
**Attack was the deadliest for U.S. troops in Afghanistan since June 2005
**NATO spokesman: "This was a larger scale attack than normal"
**Bomb kills 6 Afghan guards accompanying vehicle of U.S. private security firm

And many know the deaths of Afgans and Coalition forces occupying Afganistan, especially U.S. forces, has surpassed those in Iraq for several weeks now, even before the above attack.

What does the general American public think when they hear of Afganistan, which is rare:

Counseling and medication weren’t enough to help Laef Fox recover from his grim war experience in Iraq, and drugs and alcohol didn’t work either, so he tried making a movie instead.

There's a new Documentary out, that was shown in a premier private showing on July 4th in Denver.

As the quote above states it was made, with help, by Laef Fox an Iraq Conflict Veteran, with footage Fox shot while in Iraq.

Fox was in Iraq for six months starting in April 2003, just after the invasion began.

“I had a lot of unexpected explosions go off near me and random gunshots,” he said. When he came home the Veterans Administration diagnosed him with post-traumatic stress disorder and he was given a partial disability.

Like many who return from our invasions and occupations Fox was haunted by his experiences and tried to rid his mind of the recurring thoughts in the wrong way.

Yesterday I got an e-newsletter about the same time I caught this post. The e covered what prompted the post by ScottyUrb.

Today, the 4th of July, we here in the States celebrate our "Independence", no need to go into an explanation, or give a link to read about, we're all supposed to know and understand what that means, and so are others who think they've achieved that.

This year there'll be alot less traveling to a further destination for relaxation or whatever, more home bodies, we all know the reasons, or we should.

There will be plenty of "Rockets Red Glare" and "Bombs Bursting In Air" with probably more attending the local festivities, along with the many neighborhood unsupervised inexperianced piro-techs.

A Nation that sends its Sons and Daughters into Occupations?

A C-17 Airforce Transport plane arrives in Kandahar, Afghanistan to receive the bodies of five U.S. service members killed. Though more than 1,000 US and coalition forces were on hand to participate in the "ramp ceremony," a Los Angeles Times reporter and photographer were asked to leave the area by a military public affairs officer. A Pentagon policy banning coverage of this particular event was cited as the reason. [Photo: Rick Loomis / Los Angeles Times]

Iraq