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Sunday, April 15, 2007

Who will be the last man to die for a mistake?
Posted by Jill | 7:11 PM
Hey, John McCain -- how's that "progress" thing going for you?


The political movement of fiery Iraqi Shi'ite cleric and militia leader Moqtada al-Sadr said on Sunday it would withdraw from the government on Monday to press its demand for a timetable for a U.S. troop withdrawal.

Officials from the movement, which holds six ministries and a quarter of the parliamentary seats in Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki's Shi'ite Alliance, said the formal announcement would be made on Monday at a news conference.

The move is unlikely to bring down the government, but it could create tensions in Maliki's fractious Shi'ite-led government of national unity at a time when it is trying to heal sectarian divisions that threaten to tip Iraq into civil war.

We are going to declare our withdrawal from government because the prime minister does not want to make a timetable for the withdrawal of foreign forces from Iraq," said one official in Sadr's movement who declined to be identified.

There was no immediate comment from the government.

Maliki says he sees no need to set a timetable. He said last week his government was working to build up Iraq's security forces as quickly as possible so U.S.-led forces could leave.


Of course, the fact that al-Sadr wants the U.S. out of there is only going to strengthen the Administration's resolve to stay in.

Meanwhile, here's the wonderful progress the so-called "surge" is making:

Also Sunday morning, two car bombs exploded within minutes of each other in a shopping and dining area of southwest Baghdad, killing at least 18 people and wounding another 52 people, according to Baghdad police.

The first bomb hit a popular restaurant at about 10 a.m., while a second one exploded 10 minutes later and 100 yards away in an outdoor market in al-Shurta al-Rabeia district, police said.

Later, in northwestern Baghdad, a suicide bomber detonated an explosive vest on a small bus, killing six people and wounding 11, Baghdad police said. The bus was traveling between the predominantly Shiite neighborhoods of Autaifiya and Kadhimiya.

In central Baghdad's Karrada district, a minibus packed with explosives blew up on a commercial road, killing 11 people and wounding 15 others, a Baghdad police official said.

More U.S. soldiers dead

Also in the capital Sunday, small-arms fire killed an American soldier backing an Iraqi national police unit near a mosque, the U.S. military said. An Iraqi civilian also was wounded, the military said.

On Saturday, a U.S. soldier was killed when a roadside bomb exploded near troops conducting a foot patrol in southern Baghdad, the military said. Also Saturday a U.S. Marine died during combat operations in Anbar province, west of Baghdad, the military said.

Since the 2003 invasion of Iraq, 3,301 U.S. military personnel have died in the war, including seven Defense Department civilians.

In Baiji, north of Baghdad, four Iraqi soldiers were killed and five others were wounded Sunday when a suicide car bomber slammed into an army checkpoint, a Tikrit police official said.

The city, about 125 miles (200 kilometers) north of the capital, is in Salaheddin province and is home to Iraq's largest oil refinery.

In a separate attack, gunmen wounded the commander of Iraq's border police in Salaheddin province and killed four border police officers in an ambush on the commander's convoy Sunday afternoon.

In the northern city of Mosul, four people were killed and 16 others were wounded Sunday when two suicide car bombs exploded in quick succession at an Iraqi army base, police said. Two Iraqi soldiers were among the dead, a police official said.

Also in Mosul, four Iraqi soldiers were critically wounded when a car bomb detonated near their patrol, the official said.

Sunday's violence comes on the heels of a car bomb blast Saturday in a crowded shopping area of Karbala, killing at least 44 people and wounding 224, according to an official with the city's health directorate.

Ten women and 10 children were among those killed by the blast near a bus station and just 200 yards from the Imam Hussein shrine, where the grandson of the Prophet Mohammed is buried. Karbala is a holy Shiite city about 70 miles (113 kilometers) southwest of Baghdad.

A short time later, a car bomb exploded on the Jadriya bridge, which spans the Tigris River in southern Baghdad, killing at least 10 people and wounding 15 others, Iraqi police said.

That bridge attack came two days after a suicide car bomb detonated on the Sarafiya bridge, which crosses the Tigris in northern Baghdad, also killing 10 people. Two large sections of the bridge collapsed into the river.

Also Saturday, Baghdad police reported finding 14 bullet-riddled bodies around the Iraqi capital.


So. If we leave Iraq, it will dissolve into chaos. What the fuck do you call this?

We now know that this president and his vice president took us into this war not based on bad intelligence, but on lies -- lies ginned up to implement a policy that this bunch had in mind even before taking office. Is the so-called loyal opposition going to do something about it? Is the so-called opposition going to hold this bunch accountable? Or is Dick Cheney right, that the Democrats will ultimately cave in and vote to continue to fund this madness?

Of course, defunding the war is no panacea either, because this president will not hesitate to leave soldiers in Iraq without uniforms, without food, without water, and without ammunition if he has to -- just so he can blame the Democrats for his own folly. The only answer to the Iraq problem is to remove this president and his vice president from office. The case is there. Rep. Pelosi, it is time to not just put impeachment back on the table, but start it rolling. The young men and women being sent to die in Iraq for George W. Bush's ego require it.

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