posted on April 8, 2007 09:07:26 PM new
Gotta love a so called 'leadership party' that just can't LEAD nor get it's act together.
Bush said if there were timetables in the war funding bill he'd veto it.
Then old pelosi, who thinks she's our new Sec. of State, lol lol lol and old reid said IF the President did veto it...then they'd put up a bill to STOP FUNDING THE WAR.
Sounded good at the time. LOL But it appears the DIVISION between the radical, rabid liberals and the more moderate dems in the Senate aren't in agreement AGAIN.
Too funny -
Levin: Senate will keep paying for war
Sun Apr 8, 6:53 PM ET WASHINGTON -
The Senate will not stop paying for the Iraq war or relent from insisting that President Bush keep pressing the Baghdad government for a negotiated end to the violence, a top Democrat said Sunday.
Michigan Sen. Carl Levin (news, bio, voting record), the Senate Armed Service Committee chairman, took issue with an effort by Majority Leader Harry Reid (news, bio, voting record) to limit war spending after March 2008 as a way to end U.S. involvement.
"We're not going to vote to cut funding, period," Levin said.
"But what we should do, and we're going to do, is continue to press this president to put some pressure on the Iraqi leaders to reach a political settlement."
Bush has asked Congress for more than $100 billion to pay for the wars in Iraq and
Afghanistan this year. The House and Senate have approved the money, but their bills seek to wind down the war by including timelines for troops to come home — something Bush will not accept.
The Senate bill would require a U.S. troop exit to begin within 120 days, with a completion goal of March 31, 2008. The House bill would order all combat troops out by Sept. 1, 2008.
Democratic leaders have not negotiated a final version to send the president. Bush has made clear he will veto it, which will start the process all over.
"We're going to fund the troops. We always have," Levin said. He added, "We're very strong in supporting the troops, but we're also strong on putting pressure on the Iraqi leaders to live up to their own commitments without that political settlement on their part, there is no military solution."
Sen. Arlen Specter (news, bio, voting record), R-Pa., said "there have not been sufficient efforts at discussions" between lawmakers and White House. "We cannot leave the troops unfunded in the field. That just can't be done. And Congress is not in a position to micromanage the war.
But we do not have any good alternative. Right now, you can't see the end of the tunnel, let alone a light at the end of the tunnel."
Specter said he was not prepared "to withdraw funding at this time. But my patience, like many others, is growing very thin."
Reid, D-Nev., said last week that if Bush rejects the Democrats' legislation, he would join with Sen. Russ Feingold (news, bio, voting record), D-Wis., one of the party's most liberal members who has long called to end the war by denying funding for it.
Reid's latest proposal would give the president one year to get troops out, ending funding for combat operations after March 31, 2008.
"We can keep the benchmarks part of the bill without saying that the troops must begin to come back within four months," Levin said.
"If that doesn't work and the president vetoes because of that, and he will, then that part of it is removed, because we're going to fund the troops.
"And what we will leave will be benchmarks, for instance, which would require the president to certify to the American people if the Iraqis are meeting the benchmarks for political settlement, which they, the Iraqi leaders, have set for themselves," he said.
Sen. Jon Kyl (news, bio, voting record), R-Ariz., said it is unacceptable to set a goal and timetable for withdrawing the troops. He said lawmakers who support that are basing it on a false notion that the Iraqis are not listening to the United States.
"I was over there about a month ago. We saw the reaction of the Iraqis. They are cooperating with us.
So that's old news that they're not cooperating. That's one of the reasons this new surge strategy is working," he said.
Kyl said withholding money from troops with the aim of sending a message to Iraqis that they must do better would be self-defeating.
"You're also sending a message to our troops and to our enemies, who know that all they have to do is wait the conflict out. This is not the way to try to micromanage a war from the U.S. Senate," he said.
Levin and Kyl were interviewed on "This Week" on ABC and Specter appeared on "Late Edition" on CNN.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"While the democratic party complains about everything THIS President does to protect our Nation": "What would a Democrat president have done at that point?"
"Apparently, the answer is: Sit back and wait for the next terrorist attack."
Ann Coulter
[ edited by linda_K on Apr 8, 2007 09:18 PM ]
posted on April 9, 2007 05:23:54 AM new
The only people that want us in IRAQ is George Bush and republican lawmakers. Its the republicans that is blocking the Democrats from ending the Iraq war.
BAGHDAD (April 9) - Tens of thousands marched through the streets of two Shiite holy cities Monday to mark the fourth anniversary of Baghdad 's fall.
The rally was called for by powerful Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, who commands an enormous following among Iraq 's majority Shiites and has close allies in the Shiite-dominated government.
A day earlier, the renegade cleric issued a statement ordering his militiamen to redouble their battle to oust American forces and argued that Iraq's army and police should join him in defeating "your archenemy."
On Monday, demonstrators marched from Kufa to neighboring Najaf, 100 miles south of Baghdad, with two cordons of Iraqi police lining the route.
Some at the rally waved small Iraqi flags; others hoisted up a giant flag 10 yards long. Leaflets fluttered through the breeze reading: "Yes, Yes to Iraq" and "Yes, Yes to Muqtada. Occupiers should leave Iraq."
"The enemy that is occupying our country is now targeting the dignity of the Iraqi people," said lawmaker Nassar al-Rubaie, head of al-Sadr's bloc in parliament, as he marched. "After four years of occupation, we have hundreds of thousands of people dead and wounded."
"We're hoping that by next year's anniversary, we will be an independent and liberated Iraq with full sovereignty," he said.
Iraqi soldiers in uniform joined the crowd, which was led by at least a dozen turbaned clerics _ including one Sunni . Many marchers danced as they moved through the streets.
The demonstration was peaceful, but two ambulances could be seen moving slowly with the marching crowd, poised to help if violence or stampedes broke out.
Cars were banned from Najaf for 24 hours starting from 8 p.m. Sunday, said police spokesman Col. Ali Jiryo. Buses idled at all entrances of the city to transport arriving demonstrators or other visitors to the city center. Najaf residents would be allowed to drive, he said.
Security was tight across Iraq, with a 24-hour ban on all vehicles in Baghdad starting from 5 a.m. Monday. The government quickly reinstated Monday as a holiday, just a day after it had decreed that April 9 no longer would be a day off.
Monday's demonstration marks four years since U.S. Marines and the Army's 3rd Infantry Division swept into the Iraqi capital 20 days into the American invasion.
"You, the Iraqi army and police forces, don't walk alongside the occupiers, because they are your archenemy," the statement said.
He urged his followers not to attack fellow Iraqis but to turn all their efforts on American forces.
"God has ordered you to be patient in front of your enemy, and unify your efforts against them -- not against the sons of Iraq," it said.
Al-Sadr had reportedly ordered his militia to disarm and stay off the streets during a Baghdad security crackdown that began Feb. 14, though he has nevertheless issued a series of sharp anti-American statements, demanding the immediate withdrawal of U.S. troops.
U.S. officials have said al-Sadr left Iraq for neighboring Iran after the start of the crackdown, but his followers say he is in Iraq.
Sunday's statement was apparently issued in response to three days of clashes between his Mahdi Army militiamen and U.S.-backed Iraqi troops in Diwaniyah, 80 miles south of Baghdad.
American troops continued operations in Diwaniyah on Monday, detaining four guards at a the office of a Shiite political party and scouring two neighborhoods in the city's northern and eastern sections, police said. At least 24 suspects were detained, police said. U.S. officials had no immediate comment.
On Sunday, thousands of residents in Baghdad's largest Shiite slum, Sadr City, boarded buses and minivans bound for Najaf.
Iraqi flags flew from most houses and shops in Sadr City. Drivers and motorcyclists affixed them to their vehicles. Police escorted convoys of pickup trucks overflowing with young boys waving Iraqi flags, en route to Najaf.
Despite the curfews, violence persisted Monday. In southern Baghdad, a sniper killed a civilian and a policeman, and a mortar round killed one person and wounded two others, police said.
Police in Buhriz, about 35 miles north of Baghdad, said clashes broke out between unknown gunmen and al-Qaida fighters -- leaving 30 people injured.
posted on April 9, 2007 10:32:12 AM new
BAGHDAD, April 8 — Nearly two months into the new security push in Baghdad, there has been some success in reducing the number of death squad victims found crumpled in the streets each day.
And while the overall death rates for all of Iraq have not dropped significantly, largely because of devastating suicide bombings, a few parts of the capital have become calmer as some death squads have decided to lie low.
But there is little sign that the Baghdad push is accomplishing its main purpose: to create an island of stability in which Sunni Arabs, Shiite Arabs and Kurds can try to figure out how to run the country together. There has been no visible move toward compromise on the main dividing issues, like regional autonomy and more power sharing between Shiites and Sunnis.
For American troops, Baghdad has become a deadlier battleground as they have poured into the capital to confront Sunni and Shiite militias on their home streets. The rate of American deaths in the city over the first seven weeks of the security plan has nearly doubled from the previous period, though it has stayed roughly the same over all, decreasing in other parts of the country as troops have focused on the capital.
American commanders say it will be months before they can draw conclusions about the campaign to secure Baghdad, and just more than half of the so-called surge of nearly 30,000 additional troops into the country have arrived. But at the same time, political pressure in the United States for quick results and a firm troop pullout date has become more intense than ever.
This snapshot of the early weeks of the operation, which officially began on Feb. 14, is drawn from American and Iraqi casualty data and interviews with military commanders and government officials.
Already in that time, the military and political reality has shifted from what American planners faced when they prepared the Baghdad operation, continuing a pattern of rapid change that has become painfully familiar since the 2003 invasion.
In the northern and western provinces where they hold sway, and even in parts of Baghdad, Sunni Arab insurgents have sharpened their tactics, using more suicide car and vest bombs and carrying out successive chlorine gas attacks.
Even as officials have sought to dampen the insurgency by trying to deal with Sunni Arab factions, those groups have become increasingly fractured. There are now at least a dozen major Sunni insurgent groups — many fighting other Sunnis as well as the Americans and the Shiite-led government. A deal made with any one or two would be unlikely to be acceptable to the others.
While Shiite militias appear to have quieted in Baghdad so far, elements of them have been fighting pitched battles outside the city, sometimes against one another, sometimes against Sunni Arabs. They are pushing Sunnis out of their homes and attacking their mosques.
And in a new tactic, both Shiite and Sunni militants have been burning down homes and shops in the provinces in recent months.
One American private in the First Battalion, Fifth Cavalry, who was working the overnight shift at a new garrison in western Baghdad, described the Americans’ fight this way: “The insurgents, they see what we’re doing and we see what they’re doing. Then we get ahead, then they figure out what we’ve done and they get ahead.
“It’s like a game of cat and mouse. It’s just a really, really smart mouse.”
Absolute faith has been shown, consistently, to breed intolerance. And intolerance, history teaches us, again and again, begets violence.
---------------------------------- The duty of a patriot in this time and place is to ask questions, to demand answers, to understand where our nation is headed and why. If the answers you get do not suit you, or if they frighten you, or if they anger you, it is your duty as a patriot to dissent. Freedom does not begin with blind acceptance and with a flag. Freedom begins when you say 'No.'
posted on April 9, 2007 10:43:05 AM new
There are 13,000 MORE troops ready to be sent to Iraq. This 'surge' will not be complete until next month.
================
And here again we can see how gutless the dems are at not being willing to take responsibility for what would happen IF they were successful in getting a withdrawal. lol
First reid says if Bush vetos the bills they still haven't sent to committee he'll put one up to stop funding.
NOW he says it's a PERSONAL position...not one of the dem caucus. LOL LOL LOL
"While the democratic party complains about everything THIS President does to protect our Nation": "What would a Democrat president have done at that point?"
"Apparently, the answer is: Sit back and wait for the next terrorist attack."
posted on April 9, 2007 12:48:30 PM newAnd here again we can see how gutless the dems are at not being willing to take responsibility for what would happen IF they were successful in getting a withdrawal. lol
More propaganda from the right on what MIGHT HAPPEN if the troops are withdrawn. Having the troops stationed in IRAQ is what is causing the terrorists to take up arms.
Absolute faith has been shown, consistently, to breed intolerance. And intolerance, history teaches us, again and again, begets violence.
---------------------------------- The duty of a patriot in this time and place is to ask questions, to demand answers, to understand where our nation is headed and why. If the answers you get do not suit you, or if they frighten you, or if they anger you, it is your duty as a patriot to dissent. Freedom does not begin with blind acceptance and with a flag. Freedom begins when you say 'No.'
posted on April 9, 2007 01:40:53 PM new
Again, waco, YOUR misjudgement on MY thoughts.
I find it hysterical...and I'm NOT the least bit bitter.
I'm THRILLED that the dems aren't doing what the voters said they wanted done.
Instead they're arguing, publically, about funding the war or not.
Just goes to show that the dems/liberals don't HAVE any leadership abilities...or they'd have all worked this out between themselves....rather than allowing Americans to view all their ARGUING back and forth....flip-floping on will they stop funding or won't they.
I'm enjoying it ALL. Don't fool yourself.
"While the democratic party complains about everything THIS President does to protect our Nation": "What would a Democrat president have done at that point?"
"Apparently, the answer is: Sit back and wait for the next terrorist attack."
posted on April 10, 2007 06:05:08 AM new
Update of THE BUSH "SURGE" IN HIS IRAQ CIVIL WAR for 4/10/07.
America now has 3,292 DEAD TROOPS up 5 since yesterday.
America has now spent 416 Billion in Iraq.
Remember when Bushy and his republicans lawmakers told America Iraqi Oil would pay for the war. Of course that turned out to be just another LIE from BUSHY and his GANG.
REPUBLICAN LAWMAKERS ARE NOW VOTING TO BLOCK THE DEMOCRATS FROM ENDING THE BUSH IRAQ CIVIL WAR.
FROM NOW ON REPUBLICAN LAWMAKERS HAVE THE BLOOD OF EVERY AMERICAN SOLIDER KILLED OR WOUNDED ON THEIR HANDS.
posted on April 10, 2007 04:25:45 PM new
Lets put a few names of American Troops who lost their lives and who's blood is now on the republican lawmakers hands.
04/10/07 DoD Identifies Army Casualty
Spc. Clifford A. Spohn III, 21, of Albuquerque, N.M., died Apr. 9 in Karmah, Iraq, of wounds suffered when the enemy attacked his location with indirect fire. Spohn was assigned to the 3rd Battalion, 509th Parachute Infantry Regiment...
04/10/07 DoD Identifies Army Casualties
Staff Sgt. Harrison Brown, 31, of Prichard, Ala...assigned to the 2nd Battalion, 69th Armor Regiment, 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 3rd Infantry Division, Fort Benning, Ga...died April 8 in Baghdad, Iraq, when their unit came in contact with enemy forces...
04/10/07 DoD Identifies Army Casualties
Pfc. David N. Simmons, 20, of Kokomo, Ind...assigned to the 2nd Battalion, 69th Armor Regiment, 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 3rd Infantry Division, Fort Benning, Ga...died April 8 in Baghdad, Iraq, when their unit came in contact with enemy forces...
04/10/07 DoD Identifies Army Casualties
Staff Sgt. Jesse L. Williams, 25, of Santa Rosa, Calif., died April 8 in Balad, Iraq, of wounds suffered from small arms fire while conducting combat operations in Baqubah, Iraq. Williams was assigned to the 5th Battalion...
04/10/07 DoD Identifies Army Casualties (part 4)
Capt. Jonathan D. Grassbaugh, 25, of East Hampstead, N.H....assigned to the 5th Squadron, 73rd Cavalry Regiment, 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 82nd Airborne Division...died Apr. 7 in Zaganiyah, Iraq, when an improvised explosive device detonated
04/10/07 DoD Identifies Army Casualties (part 3)
Spc. Ebe F. Emolo, 33, of Greensboro, N.C...assigned to the 5th Squadron, 73rd Cavalry Regiment, 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 82nd Airborne Division, Fort Bragg, N.C...died Apr. 7 in Zaganiyah, Iraq, when an improvised explosive device detonated
04/10/07 DoD Identifies Army Casualties
Spc. Levi K. Hoover, 23, of Midland, Mich...assigned to the 5th Squadron, 73rd Cavalry Regiment, 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 82nd Airborne Division, Fort Bragg, N.C...died Apr. 7 in Zaganiyah, Iraq, when an improvised explosive device detonated
04/10/07 DoD Identifies Army Casualties
Pfc. Rodney L. McCandless, 21, of Camden, Ark...assigned to the 5th Squadron, 73rd Cavalry Regiment, 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 82nd Airborne Division, Fort Bragg, N.C...died Apr. 7 in Zaganiyah, Iraq, when an improvised explosive device detonated
posted on April 11, 2007 02:35:03 PM new
Pentagon extends Army troop tours in Iraq to 15 months
From the Associated Press
12:13 PM PDT, April 11, 2007
WASHINGTON -- The Pentagon will lengthen tours of duty for all active-duty Army units in Iraq to 15 months from the current 12 months as the military struggles to supply enough troops for the conflict, two defense officials said today.
Defense Secretary Robert Gates planned to announce the decision this afternoon, said the officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak on the record.
It is the latest move by the Pentagon to cope with the strains of fighting two wars simultaneously and maintaining a higher troop level in Iraq as part of President Bush's revised strategy for stabilizing Baghdad.
Officials on Monday said some 13,000 National Guard troops were receiving orders alerting them to prepare for possible deployment to Iraq -- meaning a second tour for several thousand of them. Officials said a final decision to deploy the four infantry combat brigades later this year will be based on conditions on the ground and named specific Guard units based in Arkansas, Indiana, Oklahoma and Ohio.
The Pentagon said the Guard units would serve as replacement forces in the regular troop rotation for the war, and would not be connected to the controversial military buildup that was ordered by President Bush and which officials say is starting to show some success in curbing violence in Baghdad.
Word has also emerged that Defense Department officials were considering a plan to extend by up to four months the tours of duty for as many as 15,000 U.S. troops already in Iraq as a way to maintain the buildup past the summer.
There are currently 145,000 U.S. troops in Iraq, and when the buildup is completed by June, there would be more than 160,000, officials are calculating.
posted on April 14, 2007 01:55:59 PM new
"Never Give In - never, never, never, never, in nothing great or small, large or petty, never give in except to convictions of honour and good sense. Never yield to force; never yield to the apparently overwhelming might of the enemy."
- Winston Churchill - October 29, 1941
"While the democratic party complains about everything THIS President does to protect our Nation": "What would a Democrat president have done at that point?"
"Apparently, the answer is: Sit back and wait for the next terrorist attack."
posted on April 14, 2007 03:53:34 PM new
Hey LIAR_K, thanks for your history lesson but Winston Churchill wasn't fighting THE BUSH CIVIL WAR. The AP article below is dated April 14th 2007 not 66 years ago.
BTW LIAR_K, I met a WW-2 Vet in Baltimore Md. yesterday he and his wife both are against THE IRAQ BUSH CIVIL.
After I explained how the leftover republicans are blocking the Democrats from ending THE BUSH IRAQ CIVIL WAR and FUNDING STEM CELL RESEARCH. I believe the Democrats have 2 more votes in 2008. His son has Diabetes.
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
Dozens Killed, Wounded in Car Bomb Blasts
'Explosion Was a Huge One,' Says Hospital Official
By SINAN SALAHEDDIN
AP
BAGHDAD (April 14) - A car bomb blasted through a busy bus station near one of Iraq 's holiest shrines Saturday, killing at least 37 people, police and hospital officials said.
The bus station bombing occurred about 200 yards from the Imam Hussein shrine in Karbala, where the grandson of Islam's Prophet Muhammad is buried _ one of the most important sites for Shiites. After the attack, hundreds of people swarmed around ambulances, crying out and pounding their chests, and attacking police who tried to clear the roadway.
"I want my father. Where is my father?" 11-year-old Sajad Kadhim cried out as he lay on the grounds of the hospital, where doctors were treating his burns.
"All I remember was we were shopping. My father was holding my hand and suddenly there was a big explosion. I don't know where my father is. I want my father," the boy cried.
Dr. Khalid Adnan Obeid, director of Al-Hussein Hospital, Ghalib al-Daamai of the provincial security committee and Rahman Mishawi, spokesman for Karbala police, all said 37 civilians were killed and 168 wounded.
The wounded were being treated in a makeshift emergency room set up in tents near the blast site. A forest of racks held intravenous bags. Through it, a man guided a wooden cart stacked high with body parts.
The charred body of a child lay motionless on a stretcher.
At least 16 children were among the dead, said Brig. Gen. Abdul-Karim Khalaf, spokesman for the Interior Ministry. Iranian and Pakistani pilgrims were also among the casualties, said an official at Al-Hussein Hospital, on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to release the information.
A 72-year-old woman who called herself Um Hussein ran through the hospital corridors looking for her daughter and 6-year-old grandson.
They went to buy something for our lunch," she said, pounding her head in grief. "What did they do to deserve this? To whom should I complain? There is no government to protect us," she moaned.
Rioters surrounded the Karbala governor's office and demanded his and provincial council members' resignations, blaming them for lax security. Mobs threw stones at the governor's office and set fire to the building.
"This bombing shows a security breach, and we are investigating where the shortcoming was," Khalaf said.
A curfew was imposed in the area, and the city's entrances were sealed off while police and soldiers patrolled the streets.
More than 168 people were wounded in the attack, said Dr. Saleem Kadhim, spokesman for Karbala health department.
Karbala, 50 miles south of Baghdad , is the destination of an annual Shiite pilgrimage. Hundreds of Shiite faithful were killed traveling back and forth to the city during this year's pilgrimage, which took place last month.
Separately, a suicide car bomb killed 10 people on a major bridge in downtown Baghdad _ the second attack on a span over the Tigris river this week, police said. The Jadriyah bridge suffered little damage.
On Thursday, a suicide truck bomb completely collapsed the al-Sarafiyah bridge in northern Baghdad, killing 11 people and sending cars plummeting into the waters below.
Separately, the U.S. military said an American service member was killed Friday by a roadside bomb in southern Iraq.
A regular session of Iraq's legislature descended into bickering Saturday, as lawmakers argued over who to blame for security lapses that allowed a suicide bomber into their cafeteria.
Speaker Mahmoud al-Mashhadani said his office took "full responsibility" for Thursday's security breach, but reminded legislators that some of them have refused to be searched while entering the building. The bombing killed one Sunni lawmaker.
Khalaf told reporters the bomber was known to members of parliament. He did not elaborate, but suspicion has fallen on workers in the building or a member's bodyguard.
Police said four would-be suicide attackers were killed Saturday in the northern city of Kirkuk when one of them detonated his explosives belt prematurely. All four men were killed but no civilians were hurt, said police Brig. Adil Zain-Alabideen.
Also Saturday, gunmen attacked the western Baghdad house of Adnan al-Dulaimi, head of the largest Sunni bloc in Iraq's parliament, police said. Al-Dulaimi was not at home at the time of the attack, and is believed to be in Jordan.
Clashes erupted between his guards and the gunmen, lasting about half an hour. Five guards were wounded, police said.
Three bodyguards of the deputy minister of industry, Mohammed Abdul Jabar, were injured in a drive-by shooting on his convoy in western Baghdad, police said. The minister was in the convoy but escaped injury.
In other violence, three civilians and a policeman were killed in drive-by shootings in Fallujah and Hillah, about 60 miles south of Baghdad, police said. Two policemen and a civilian died in a roadside bombing south of Baghdad, and another civilian died in a similar bombing in central Baghdad, police said.
A bomb planted in a garbage can missed a passing police patrol in Baghdad's southwestern Baya district Saturday, but injured three electricity workers who were working nearby, police said.
The U.S. military issued a statement saying American troops captured 17 suspected insurgents, including an alleged al-Qaida in Iraq member, during raids Saturday morning.
Eight suspected insurgents were killed by British forces late Friday west of Basra, Iraq's second-largest city, the British military said in a statement. The suspects had been planting bombs in the path of a British patrol, the statement said.
Are YOU a Bunghole?