Since the beginning of the Mr. Bush’s Surge in Iraq, 1,000 US soldiers have died, almost a quarter of all US fatalities. As has been revealed of late, there was considerable opposition to the Surge among prominent US military leaders. While the President has routinely claimed that he ‘listens to the commanders on the ground’, the Surge was anything but a military request. It was a White House driven directive that did not take into consideration the opinions of the Joint Chiefs, nor commanders in ...More »

Under Secretary of Defense, Eric Edelman, said something interesting today during a congressional hearing on the Georgia-Russia conflict… "The Department of Defense is sending an assessment team to Tbilisi later this week to help us begin to consider carefully Georgia's legitimate needs and our response. After assessments of these needs, we will review how the United States will be able to support the reconstruction of Georgia's economy, infrastructure, and armed forces”. I’d like to ask Mr. Edelman, and his boss, what the view’s like with their heads ...More »

There once was a time when the gentlemen on the other side of the Potomac were the ones commonly muttering in secret and prodding government to act in variety of situations that they felt were in the nation’s interests, be it overtly or covertly. Then came the Bush Doctrine, the politicization of the CIA and the military, and a bizarre role reversal. Given the nefarious history of the US military and intelligence infrastructure, one would think that both would have reveled in the hard line ...More »

John McCain’s campaign can attack Barack Obama’s lack of foreign policy experience until they’re blue in the face and Sarah Palin’s lack of experience can be equally attacked until the sun implodes. The truth is that when President George W. Bush took office in January of 2001 he had absolutely no foreign policy experience – unless you count dealing with foreign Major League Baseball players. True, his running mate was Secretary of Defense under George Bush Senior, but that doesn’t alter the fact that Bush ...More »

Being ‘gifted’ independence is a tricky thing. In some parts of the world more than others… “Prime Minister Nouri al Maliki said Monday there would be no security agreement between the United States and Iraq without an unconditional timetable for withdrawal— a direct challenge to the Bush administration, which insists that the timing for troop departure would be based on conditions on the ground. "No pact or an agreement should be set without being based on full sovereignty, national common interests, and no foreign soldier should remain ...More »

The lead story on most major media websites this morning is the announcement that Joe Biden has been chosen as Barack Obama’s running mate. Buried in the back pages is a story of much greater significance, and one that ties in with my last entry. From The Raw Story… “New documents from within the Bush administration and US intelligence community during the run-up to the invasion of Iraq reveal that the White House began assembling a case for war before it had compiled the intel that ...More »

In 2003 the United States invaded Iraq. The Bush Administration employed blatant falsehoods regarding Iraq’s WMD program and links between the regime of Saddam Hussein and al-Qaeda, the latter of which is still believed by a great many Americans (there is ample television footage of almost every senior member of the administration employing outright falsehoods during the run up to the war). In truth, the decision to invade Iraq was made shortly following 9/11, with only the when and why left to be engineered. In ...More »

There’s a war on, remember? As far as Canadians are concerned, it’s the war in Afghanistan. As far was the world should be concerned, the occupation of Iraq is quickly approaching its sixth year – that’s longer than the Second World War for those of you playing along at home. Over the last week, the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan have been lost in the back pages - not that they haven’t been sliding into them for some time now. But it shouldn’t be overlooked ...More »

I hate to say it, but, Paris for President... Sure, someone wrote that for her, but you have to admit that her verbal execution was pretty flawless. Let's be honest, in politics these days reading convincingly off of a telepromper constitutes 80% of your ability to lead. Hell, might as well be a hot chick in a bikini. Oh, and this might be of a tiny bit of importance as well... More »

The International Olympic Committee has reversed its recent decision to disallow Iraq to participate at the Olympics. Unfortunately, only two members of Iraq’s Olympic contingent can attend, as the deadline for admissions for numerous events has passed, leaving only Iraq’s track and field athletes eligible. There’s nothing like training for the Olympics in one of the worst locations in the world only to be told that you can’t attend the games and then have that decision reversed too late for you to participate anyway. Had ...More »