War is Hell

He was one of America's first defenders on Sept. 11, 2001, a Marine who pulled burned bodies from the ruins of the Pentagon. He saw more horrors in Kuwait and Iraq.

Today, he can't keep a job, pay his bills, or chase thoughts of suicide from his tortured brain. In a few weeks, he may lose his house, too.

Gamal Awad, the American son of a Sudanese immigrant, exemplifies an emerging group of war veterans: the economic casualties.

More than in past wars, many wounded troops are coming home alive from the Middle East. That's a triumph for military medicine. But they often return hobbled by prolonged physical and mental injuries from homemade bombs and the unremitting anxiety of fighting a hidden enemy along blurred battle lines. Treatment, recovery and retraining often can't be assured quickly or cheaply.

These troops are just starting to seek help in large numbers, more than 185,000 so far. But the cost of their benefits is already testing resources set aside by government and threatening the future of these wounded veterans for decades to come, say economists and veterans' groups.

"The wounded and their families no longer trust that the government will take care of them the way they thought they'd be taken care of," says veterans advocate Mary Ellen Salzano.

How does a war veteran expect to be treated? "As a hero," she says.


And this is the way we "support our troops." This is a shame. Our government who happily collects our tax dollars as pay, no longer represent us. They stand for, they support their special interests and wealthy friends.

A longer break for these brave troops was shot down by the idiot who bellows and coined the phrase, "support the troops." The idiot and his supporters pointed at the left and called us traitors and anti-American, yet, it is we who see the injustice here. It is we who see the pain and suffering. They see dollar signs.

My friend Stram over at 12 Seats has a live troll who is one of the last of the true bushies. He still name calls and let's face it, he's an idiot too. He called me a moron. Why? Because I said McCain was one of his and he said, "McCains a liberal you moron." These jackasses vote! Scares the hell out of me!

My point about Hank... I mean anonymous... is that he will read this and not see the true meaning. He will shrug and utter, "war is hell you moron."

Hell is spending hundreds of billions of dollars to blow up innocent Iraqi's yet refusing to care for the wounded soldiers who do nothing more than their commander in chief asks.

Every morning, Awad needs to think of a reason not to kill himself.

He can't even look at the framed photograph that shows him accepting a Marine heroism medal for his recovery work at the Pentagon after the terrorist attack.

It might remind him of a burned woman whose skin peeled off in his hands when he tried to comfort her.

He tries not to hear the shrieking rockets of Iraq either, smell the burning fuel, or relive the blast that blew him right out of bed.

The memories come steamrolling back anyway.

"Nothing can turn off those things," he says, voice choked and eyes glistening.

Word!

Cuba's foreign minister walked out of the U.N. General Assembly on Tuesday in protest of President Bush's speech in which he said the "long rule of a cruel dictator is nearing its end" on the communist island.

The Cuban delegation issued a statement saying the decision by Foreign Minister Felipe Perez Roque to leave was a "sign of profound rejection of the arrogant and mediocre statement by President Bush."

In his speech, Bush looked ahead to a Cuba no longer ruled by Fidel Castro, the ailing 81-year-old leader who has not appeared in public in more than a year, since ceding power to a provisional government headed by his brother Raul.

"In Cuba, the long rule of a cruel dictator is nearing its end," Bush said. "The Cuban people are ready for their freedom. And as that nation enters a period of transition, the United Nations must insist on free speech, free assembly and, ultimately, free and competitive elections."

Cuba's U.N. Mission said the American president had no moral standing to criticize anyone.

It accused Bush of responsibility "for the murder of over 600,000 civilians in Iraq" and for "the torture of prisoners" at the U.S. Navy base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, where more than 300 men are being held on suspicion of terrorism or links to al-Qaida or the Taliban.

"He is a criminal and has no moral authority or credibility to judge any other country," the mission's statement said. "Cuba condemns and rejects every letter of his infamous tirade."

I don't think I need to say anything else here.

Moveon Bush

The spoiled war mongering, oil thirsty king rants on and on about any differences of opinion. He stamps his little feet and throws himself on the floor, holding his breath if someone disagrees with his murderous, lying rampage. We know this, its no secret. Yet, we all know, it's gone too far.

The stragglers on the right, drool when the king speaks believing every lie that spews from it's foul mouth. The rest of us just stand in awe of it all.

The latest of these is the kings calling Moveon.orgs advertisement that criticized the top U.S. commander in Iraq was "disgusting." Well of course it was! The truth about this idiot king and his henchmen is always disgusting. Truthful, none-the-less.

It boggles the mind how anyone out there isn't screaming and marching up to the white house. It scares me that thirty percent of Americans still think the Iraqi's are terrorists and they still believe this is a just war and they still bow to their master, the almighty dollar and, mind you, do this all in the name of God.

Now, here's the ad. Moveon has backed every statement they make with links, proof, documentation and not the manufactured type like king shrub used to get us into this living hell, using the constitution as a fire starter.

Are they wrong? Are we done listening to his babble? Are we fed up with the lies, spins and name calling yet?

I'm sorry if I sound bitter and sarcastic. It is, unfortunately, how I feel. I, for one, have had enough.

The Constitution According to McCain

Sen. James Webb has offered an amendment to the annual defense bill that would mandate that troops get a home stay as long as their last combat tour of duty before they can be shipped out again. John McCain has tried to shoot down this rather sensible idea with the claim that the Constitution does not allow Congress to do that.

"Where in the Constitution of the United States does it say that the Congress decides how long people spend on tours of duty and how long they would spend back in the United States? It's blatantly unconstitutional."

Well, I'm not a scholar, but I know how to read. In Article 2, Section 8:

The Congress shall have power to... [long list] To make rules for the government and regulation of the land and naval forces.

Call me crazy, but it looks to me like Congress has the power to make just about any sort of rule or regulation it wants regarding the military. Of course, the significance of this battle goes far beyond the particular question of mandating tours of duty. This administration and its supporters effectively maintain that Congress only has an "ON/OFF" switch when it comes to making war. Once Congress declares a war, the argument goes, it's only way to rein in the executive branch is to completely cut off spending. (Of course, they know this is politically almost impossible.)

In fact, if you take the trouble to read the Constitution you can see the Congress is given pretty broad power over the military. And it makes perfect sense. Having thrown off one king, why would the Founders have wanted to create another one? Granted, the religious right beg to differ...

Standing Up?

This is going to be interesting to watch.

We all remember the "they stand up and we'll stand down" proclamation by Bush, right? I always thought that a spin sentiment rather than a truism. How can a government stand up while still being occupied and controlled by the military and government of another country? So, if you think about it, that statement is nothing more than than a typical lie-spin to appease the doubters.

Now, throw in the monkey wretch.

The Iraqi government said Monday that it was revoking the license of an American security firm accused of involvement in the deaths of eight civilians in a firefight that followed a car bomb explosion near a State Department motorcade.

The Interior Ministry said it would prosecute any foreign contractors found to have used excessive force in the Sunday shooting. It was latest accusation against the U.S.-contracted firms that operate with little or no supervision and are widely disliked by Iraqis who resent their speeding motorcades and forceful behavior.

Interior Ministry spokesman Abdul-Karim Khalaf said eight civilians were killed and 13 were wounded when contractors believed to be working for Blackwater USA opened fire in a predominantly Sunni neighborhood of western Baghdad.

"We have canceled the license of Blackwater and prevented them from working all over Iraqi territory. We will also refer those involved to Iraqi judicial authorities," Khalaf said.

I now eagerly await the fall out of this one. My personal guess is the Interior Ministry will suddenly change their mind and reinstate the license, maybe a nice little kiss on the cheek, pat on the ass and it'll be back to business as usual.

I hope for that not to happen. I hope that they do stand up to the evil empire and throw our asses out of their bloodied country. I hope that the bushies eventually wake up and smell the gunpowder and see the death and destruction they have wrought. I hope their conscience haunts them for all eternity.