WE HAVE A NATIONAL EMERGENCY ON OUR HANDS

[Jcrowley]

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article15971.htm

Is It For Freedom?

Rulers of the nations as you fuss and fight
Over who owns this or that and who has the right
To design, build, sell and store and fire
All the bombs and guns to defend your holy empire



There are children hungry, children sick and dying
There are mothers, fathers, sisters, brothers crying



They’re only pawns in your play of power and corruption
Slowly starve them, your new weapon of mass destruction



And prove to me, America, that you care
And prove to me, America, you’re aware
Who’s dying for your freedom in this land
Who pays the cost for the liberties you demand



Is it for freedom, or our comfort and convenience
Is it to profit for big business we pledge our allegiance



Are we prisoners in the land of the brave and the bold?
Held by indifference or hearts grown hard and cold (refrain)



Children of the world, you have the right
To sing and dance, run and play, let your dreams take flight



As the innocent die you rulers carry the shame
And if we stand idly by we share in the blame



And oh, America, do we care
Oh, America, are we aware
Who’s dying for our comfort in this land
Who pays the cost for the convenience we demand?



Children of the world, you have the right
To sing and dance, run and play, let your dreams take flight



Study Claims Iraq's 'Excess' Death Toll Has Reached 655,000

A team of American and Iraqi epidemiologists estimates that 655,000 more people have died in Iraq since coalition forces arrived in March 2003 than would have died if the invasion had not occurred.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/10/10/AR2006101001442_pf.html

Cost of America's War in Iraq

$351,929,713,140

The $2 Trillion Dollar War

A leading economist says the true cost of Iraq is far higher than President Bush claims -- and America will pay the price for decades to come.

http://www.rollingstone.com/news/story/12855294/national_affairs_the_2_trillion_dollar_war

[saigon68]

1. "BRING EM ON" shouted the AWOL CHIMPANZEE

[leftchick]

15. "MISSION ACCOMPLISHED"!!!!!

and indeed it has been accomplished with the US set to occupy Iraq until the end of my lifetime.

[partylessinOhio]

2. Face it, America.

He is worse than Saddam.

Break your silence.

Shock and Awe or Gas?

[maggiegault]

17. Take Your Preaching...

...and kindly stick it where the sun don't shine.

Or do you get your kicks by rubbing our noses in what is patently obvious to those of us who bother to post here?

You think that I, maggiegault, don't get what you are saying?

Another kid from my brother's platoon got himself killed on Wednesday. Nice young man. He was 21 years old.

My brother's latest package was sent back to me, marked "address unknown." No one at the Post Office seems to know why.

I haven't heard from him in a month, and no one seems to quite know where he is.

You think that I don't know that Bush is the personification of evil? What kind of person gets holier than thou with those of us who have loved ones over in Iraq?

[annabanana]

18. I don't think he was aiming it at you, maggiegault...

It was an eloquent rant, to the world, and not unlike many such in these pages. He isn't scolding us. I'm sorry that you haven't heard from your brother. I hope you do soon. My prayers are with your family.

[maggiegault]

21. It May Not Have Been Directed At Me...

...but I do wonder what her preaching to the choir was attempting to accomplish. You know, her being from Ohio and all, one might surmise that there are better uses of her time than to "give a wake-up call" to those who really don't need it.

[saigon68]

22. She got my attention

And I'm not from Ohio

This is why we will never accomplish anything in Iraq-Nam

[WinkyDink]

19. Look at that DEAD LITTLE GIRL.. SHE is enough to RANT and PREACH over.

I hope your brother is found safe, and comes home ASAP.

[maggiegault]

20. Well, Thanks So Much For Clarifying That For Me!

I guess that I wouldn't have been able to realize that the thousands and thousands of dead Iraqis are the very things that make me cry my eyes out every single day.

And our troops being a party to their suffering...think you could possibly shed some light on the reasons why that should affect us deeply, too?

I was addressing the snide and condescending attitude of the first poster. Still, thanks again for that much-needed clarification.

[partylessinOhio]

23. I see some misplaced anger here. * is Satan.

[nam78_two]

3. K&R.nt

[GreenTea]

4. 70 thousand more troops so now us Dem's must

70 thousand more troops so now us Dem's must give them more time you know how long it's going to take to recuit 70,000 more men without a draft...isn't that cute and it's going to work too...The neocons are making so much money there, they are never going to leave Iraq....it'll drag on and on and on at least into the next presidency in 2009....And this thought...70K more troops to help when they decide to bomb, then try to secure Iran?

[Imagevision]

5. Fact: there was no exit plan because Bushco never intended to leave

As when the US. never left Japan, Germany and Korea... americans were duped into going to war.

[Straight Shooter]

6. Duped? Guess again.

Republicans love war. They glorify it, they worship it, they live for war, because it makes them feel superior to everyone. :(

[hopeisaplace]

7. no words. just no words. or just a few.

I adore my children beyond words, just as these parents do, and my
heart shatters for all who suffer. As a parent, there are no words to
really describe the love for your child so I cannot even put mind
into a place where I understand the horror of this suffering. I'm so
grateful it's not my family, but it's as though I can never really be grateful
until all families are safe. All I can think of is - "this is leadership???".
Shame on the human race.

[Jcrowley]

8. 25,000 Dead Or Wounded

U.S. Deaths Confirmed By The DoD:
2953
Reported U.S. Deaths Pending DoD Confirmation:
6
Total
2959
DoD Confirmation List



Narrated by Glenn Kutler, iCasualties.org

Dec. 11, 2006: Three years and nine months after the U.S.-led Coalition began its war against Saddam Hussein, researchers have quietly recorded another grim milestone in the cost of the conflict. American military casualties have now exceeded 25,000.

http://www.icasualties.org/oif/

[bobbolink]

9. So many emergencies, so little time.....

We were set up for this perfectly.

600,000 plus Iraqis killed.

3,000 US troops killed.

At least 18,000 USians die annually from lack of medical care (the 7th largest cause of death, and many drs think the number is much higher than this!)

Nobody knows how many homeless USians die yearly, because the figures aren't recorded.

Nobody knows how many USians dying of hunger yearly, because the figures aren't recorded.

That USians tolerate this is a sin of the highest magnitude!

[Jcrowley]

10. Bush to seek $100 billion more war funds

Bush to seek $100 bln more war funds: House report
By Richard Cowan Wed Dec 13, 6:15 PM ET

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President George W. Bush will soon seek about $100 billion in additional emergency funds for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, according to a report on Wednesday by Democratic staffers for two key panels in the U.S. House of Representatives.

Such a large request would mark a rapid escalation in the cost of the Iraq war at a time when public support is plummeting and Bush is looking for new answers to stem violence that threatens to spin out of control.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/iraq_usa_funding_dc

It Can’t Be Won Militarily; So, Send More Troops?

By W. Patrick Lang and Ray McGovern

12/20/06 "Information Clearing House " --- - As Robert Gates takes the helm at the Pentagon this week, he can be in no doubt that Vice President Dick Cheney and President George W. Bush remain determined to stay the course in Iraq (without using those words) for the next two years.  What Gates probably does not realize is that the U.S. military is about to commit hara-kiri.

The media are abuzz with trial balloons leaking word that President George W. Bush is about to approve a “surge” in US troop strength in Iraq by tens of thousands.  At the same time, surge advocate Sen. Lindsay Graham (R, SC), just back from a brief visit to the Green Zone with fellow surgers John McCain (R, AZ) and Joe Lieberman (D, CT), has warned that “the amount of troops will make no difference” if Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki avoids taking “bold” moves.  The three pretend to be unaware that the most important move for which they pressed—breaking with radical Shiite leader Moqtada al-Sadr—would amount to political suicide for Maliki.

Incoming Senate majority leader Harry Reid (D, NV), who owes his position to the popular revolt in November against the war, has said he can “go along” with a surge, but only for two to three months and only as part of a broader strategy to bring combat forces home by early 2008.  Meanwhile, says Reid, Democrats will “give the military anything they want.”

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article15959.htm

Chalmers Johnson: Militarism and the American Empire 

Distinguished social scientist and public intellectual Chalmers Johnson, joins host Harry Kreisler for a conversation on the nature of the American Empire and its costs and consequences for the future of American democracy and power in the world. Video:

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article6379.htm

[deaniac21]

11. Think about at xmas....

[bdamomma]

12. it truly makes my heart break, those children are so

beautiful, and they are like us, we all have the same color of blood. We will pay for all this horror we have inflicted on those innocent people.

[Hideboh]

13. We really don't deserve this.

Since Al gore was the People's choice.
But the system chose George Bush.

[RestoreGore]

14. So what are we going to do about it?

Let him stay in office until 2009? I look at those pictures and read comments from people that this wouldn't have happened if the system hadn't picked Bush, and I ask myself, WHERE ARE THE PEOPLE? Do we not carry any responsibility for this at all? HE IS STILL THERE and so is that system and we have condoned it for years. When do we really stand up against it? And why are Democrats not united in calling for this to END NOW?

[mia]

16. I agree. We all share the blame if Bush is allowed to continue.

Things are only going to get worse. We must demand that our elected leaders do their jobs.

[Jcrowley]

24. Those are the proper questions

More applicable than ever:

Until the latest of our world conflicts, the United States had no armaments industry. American makers of plowshares could, with time and as required, make swords as well. But now we can no longer risk emergency improvisation of national defense; we have been compelled to create a permanent armaments industry of vast proportions. Added to this, three and a half million men and women are directly engaged in the defense establishment. We annually spend on military security more than the net income of all United States corporations.

This conjunction of an immense military establishment and a large arms industry is new in the American experience. The total influence -- economic, political, even spiritual -- is felt in every city, every State house, every office of the Federal government. We recognize the imperative need for this development. Yet we must not fail to comprehend its grave implications. Our toil, resources and livelihood are all involved; so is the very structure of our society.

In the councils of government, we must guard against the acquisition of unwarranted influence, whether sought or unsought, by the militaryindustrial complex. The potential for the disastrous rise of misplaced power exists and will persist.

We must never let the weight of this combination endanger our liberties or democratic processes. We should take nothing for granted. Only an alert and knowledgeable citizenry can compel the proper meshing of the huge industrial and military machinery of defense with our peaceful methods and goals, so that security and liberty may prosper together.

http://coursesa.matrix.msu.edu/~hst306/documents/indust.html

[Jcrowley]

25. 4 U.S. soldiers killed in Iraq

U.S. commanders in Iraq push troop surge: L.A. Times

Dec 23, 2006 — WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Top U.S. military commanders in Iraq have decided to recommend a surge in the number of U.S. combat forces there, the Los Angeles Times reported on Saturday, citing a defense official familiar with the plan.

As President George W. Bush searches for a new policy to stem the mounting violence in Iraq, he is to meet with his new Defense Secretary Robert Gates on Saturday at Camp David to discuss Gates' findings from his trip this week to Iraq.

The newspaper said top U.S. commanders in Iraq including Gen. George Casey and Lt. Gen. Raymond Odierno have decided to recommend a temporary increase in combat forces, a plan that appears to be gaining favor in the administration.

http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory?id=2748024

Dec. 23 (UPI) -- 4 U.S. soldiers killed in Iraq

AR RAMADI, Iraq, Dec. 23 (UPI) -- Three U.S. Marines and one sailor were killed in Iraq's overwhelmingly Sunni Islamic Anbar Province Saturday, the U.S. military said.

The soldiers died from wounds sustained "due to enemy action," the independent Alsumaria Iraqi Satellite Network reported.

Neither the military nor the network offered other details.

The death toll brings to 80 the number of U.S. troops who have died in Iraq this month. With eight days remaining in December, the monthly total of U.S. deaths could meet or exceed the death toll of 105 in October.

http://www.upi.com/NewsTrack/view.php?StoryID=20061223-073717-4243r

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yDm6RNQ5e-0

[Larry Ogg]

26. Thank you posting this

, I first heard this song on Air America maybe six months ago and have been looking for it on the net. It really gets the point across, and should be shared.