“I don’t think we’re losing.”

This is the Army Chief of Staff. His name is General Schoomaker. He was recently speaking at a luncheon on Capital Hill sponsored by the Defense Forum Foundation. He was asked a simple question: Is the US Winning? According to an LA Times report he, "...paused for more than 10 seconds after he was asked the question, lips pursed and brow furrowed, before venturing

I think I would answer that by telling you I don't think we're losing."

Hm. And that was after careful consideration:) He went on to say

“I believe that we are closer to the beginning . . . than we are to the end,”

So we're not losing and this is only the beginning? While there is ample comedic ammunition here it just makes me sad.
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Here's our Secretary of State Condi Rice on the situation in Lebanon.

"I get reports on this every couple of hours as to how this is going. Our ambassador who is on the ground will obviously do what we need to protect Americans."

Whew! That's good news. Who do they need protecting from? Oh...that's right. Israel. Ummm....yeah...


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I don't know if you're familiar with Baghdad Burning. It's a blog written by an anonymous 24 year old female living in Baghdad. She's acheived such acclaim she's even written a book.
I like catching up with her but this breaks my heart

Fourteen. Imagine your 14-year-old sister or your 14-year-old daughter. Imagine her being gang-raped by a group of psychopaths and then the girl was killed and her body burned to cover up the rape. Finally, her parents and her five-year-old sister were also killed. Hail the American heroes... Raise your heads high supporters of the 'liberation' - your troops have made you proud today. I don't believe the troops should be tried in American courts. I believe they should be handed over to the people in the area and only then will justice be properly served. And our ass of a PM, Nouri Al-Maliki, is requesting an 'independent investigation', ensconced safely in his American guarded compound because it wasn't his daughter or sister who was raped, probably tortured and killed. His family is abroad safe from the hands of furious Iraqis and psychotic American troops.

It fills me with rage to hear about it and read about it. The pity I once had for foreign troops in Iraq is gone. It's been eradicated by the atrocities in Abu Ghraib, the deaths in Haditha and the latest news of rapes and killings. I look at them in their armored vehicles and to be honest- I can't bring myself to care whether they are 19 or 39. I can't bring myself to care if they make it back home alive. I can't bring myself to care anymore about the wife or parents or children they left behind. I can't bring myself to care because it's difficult to see beyond the horrors. I look at them and wonder just how many innocents they killed and how many more they'll kill before they go home. How many more young Iraqi girls will they rape?

Why don't the Americans just go home? They've done enough damage and we hear talk of how things will fall apart in Iraq if they 'cut and run', but the fact is that they aren't doing anything right now. How much worse can it get? People are being killed in the streets and in their own homes- what's being done about it? Nothing. It's convenient for them- Iraqis can kill each other and they can sit by and watch the bloodshed- unless they want to join in with murder and rape.

Stay Naked.

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