"I hope you kill every man, woman, and child in Iraq, down to the lizards...and may George W. Bush drink the blood of every man, woman, and child in Iraq"- Borat, at a Virginia Rodeo.

nothing much new to see hear. This clusterfuck will not change one bit before 2008. It will be left for a new president to clean up. George doesn't give a shit about anything and all he wants to do right now is take his ball and go home. This is too much hard work and he can't take the pressure.

Poppy's breakdown at the speech he was given for Jeb's departure from the Gov. House wasn't about Jeb, it was about his shame of George.

Frodo failed...Bush has got the ring.

" My name is George and I'm a war monger."

Of course nothing will truly change with the policies of CheneyCo. They were determined to plop their evil asses in the middle of the Middle East, and they plan on staying in their fortress bases with olympic-sized swimming pools and TCBY yogurt stands. (TCBY -- FOBillClinton)

The Iraq Smokescreen Group. Liberal pundits saying things like Bush could have used this report as a breaking point from their insane "stay the course" policy, but face it, the only honest statement out of ChencyCo's mouth has been "stay the course."

They are there, in the middle of the Middle East -- could have been Kuwait, could have been Iran, could have been Saudi Arabia (WAS Saudi Arabia until 2001), and the nasty bully boys ain't movin' from their turf.

I love to use the word "evil" when talking about the neocon movement in the US. But I wonder, are they really just, psychologically speaking, little second grade kiddies fighting over their marbles with their arbitrary and ever-changing rules?

To what end this geopolitical strategizing? Global warming is going to wipe out the face of the planet as we know it, what are they thinking, or are they "thinking?"

Share. Share resources, share delight, share burdens, share the healing. Sharing will bring us back from mass suicide. www.share-international.org

content of late until this morning.  I have accepted that the Dems have a voice now and a level of patience has found my soul for a time and applied a balm.  I have some hope again and then I turn on the Telly this morning.  I know exactly how the schmooze goes.  I've been schmoozy smoochie schmoozed as a soldier's spouse now for five years and I have no patience for the fucking schmooze any longer.  I heard the words Iraq Study Group at least twenty times in four minutes.  Frist said it so many times trying to spew out two sentences that he fucked up because it got to the point of sounding like she sells sea shells down by the sea shore.  Then the president said that the report had some interesting suggestions, and I think that Frist said that Iraq was a substantial problem.  Interesting and substantial problem my fucking ass.  The Army is broken.  We have some retention and fresh faces yes but the numbers don't match what we need, they just lowered the enlistment goals.  We have PTSD, many soldiers still in are on Zoloft regularly after an Iraq tour.  We have people limbless, lifeless, brain damaged...we have lots of that.  The fresh faces know almost nothing and just about every soldier with a brain got out when they could so who is going to teach them what they need to know to be U.S. soldiers and hopefully survive and not needlessly kill anyone else?  I hate these fuckers I see on TV this morning.  I absolutely hate them and detest them like you cannot imagine!  I would scream but it would only scare the dogs.

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IMHO, The ISG was made irrelevant once selective leaks of what it would contain was put in play. Also, Bush-the-decider set up his own internal review and then named one the ISG members to replace Rumsfeld.

Prof. Juan Cole finds now that his new Sec. Defense was a member of the ISG panel, it gets interesting:

"It may be that by now having a SecDef who once was involved in selling US weapons to Khomeini and who therefore has a potential back channel to leaders in Tehran, is not seen as such a bad thing. Let's see if Gates can finally redeem university presidents who enter high federal office, after Woodrow Wilson gave them a bad name."

Watch Cheney and Saudi Arabia. Together ALL are on the same page. Saudi princes are really scared of the pandora's box opened by Dubya. Iraq's chaos will be 'monitored' but the real focus is now Iran.  

Oil will be the weapon and we're staying put in Iraq - all 250,000 Americans. That figure includes the 100,000 American contractors in Iraq.(-Wapo-h/t: World Affairs)

Steve Clemons is currently in Dubai and has posted this tidbit- shares a discussion he had with a top tier sultan, sheik - national security advisor -

Credibly Challenging Iran: A Coordinated Plan to Get Oil Below $40/Barrel

[He] stated that American withdrawal from Iraq -- despite the growing clamor for that -- would yield a complete change in the profile and character of nearly every one of the Middle East's 22 countries. He said that several governments in the region -- outside of Iraq -- could very easily "and would probably fall."

He said that America would be facing a new roster of regimes that were loyal either to Tehran or to al Qaeda.

He said that there is only one non-military way to break Iran's current course, and that the military option was not credible and would not be supported in the region. This official said that the only way to stop Iran at this point was to make the price of oil plummet.

He said that America could engineer this with
coordinated support from oil producers in the Gulf Cooperation Council.

The price of a dramatic increase in oil production would be expeditious movement -- real movement -- on Israel-Palestine negotiations towards a viable state of Palestine and a clear, coordinated plan on Iran.

He said that though the GCC were close, many-decades-long allies of America that the U.S. regularly ignores its regional allies and has not communicated its basic policy course on Iran.

Without a clear and credible plan, there would be no confidence in America's effort to knock back Iran's growing pretensions and nothing would be done on the oil front.

But it seemed clear to me that this prominent person believed that it was well within the power of major oil suppliers to get the price of oil below $40/barrel -- and that this would stifle Iran's growing influence significantly.

He said that America needed only to get re-engaged,
set a course, and build allies to move forward -- but that America continues to approach these matters in disconnected, reactive, and ultimately futile ways that show no fundamental understanding of regional realities and demonstrate a lack of strategic vision or common sense.[.]

(emphasis added)

My first reaction on that inferred challenge to Iran is how really easy it is to manipulate the price of oil. A cut will have the Chinese and Indians hooting, "make my day." China is currently stockpiling, building up their strategic reserves.  So cutting the price of oil- though we won't look a gift horse in the mouth - also means other oil producers will be hurt- how about Venezuela?  
Anyhow they're so cynical.  We're up against a slowing economy - and perhaps the beginning of a harsh recession of global impact that will lower the demand for oil. How low a price before it bites other Gulf producers?

Well, "You can't vote for war and disown the results"