Plenty of former officers have criticized the Iraq War, but there's only been one active duty career soldier who's not only come out against the War but also refused to go and fight in it. (He said he would go to Afghanistan instead, but that the Iraq war is "illegal").
That soldier is Lt. Ehren Watada, 30, a junior Army officer from Hawaii who's become a poster child for the anti-war movement. He's also become persona non grata within the military and is facing a possible sentence of six years in prison.
Our friend Tara McKelvey is the first journalist who has gotten close to him in more than a year. She's written an amazing story for The American Prospect about Watada, who's now in legal limbo and being subtly punished at a desk job.
Congress is voting this week on expanding the G.I. Bill dramatically, reports the AP. As you can see in this MTV News report, the costs of education have risen so sharply that a lot of soldiers wind up only getting a small portion of their tuition covered. One Marine reservist got just $282 a month toward his community college education when he returned from Iraq. According to MTV:
Phil Donahue was on our show yesterday to talk about his new award winning documentary, Body of War. It's the story of one wounded vet who has come back from Iraq to fight against what's happening. During the interview, he made a great point about the war -- it's an insult to our troops to be unconcerned about the human costs of this war because it's only the volunteer US troops who are dying and getting maimed for life.
The New York Times has a terrific new article that explains how the Pentagon used former military commanders as puppets to fill the airwaves with pro-Bush propaganda. It sounds unbelievable but it makes perfect sense when you read it because the military analysts needed the access to the Pentagon to make money as lobbyists and advisers to defense contractors. They set up the perfect scheme for everyone get what they want, except for the American people, who were purposely misled and deceived by the people they trusted the most.
It's an absolute must read. Click here for a link to the article.
1. The Petraeus Paradox: If we're doing well, it's because of the extra troops so we shouldn't pull them out. If we're doing poorly, obviously we need more troops. Either way, we need more troops and need to stay in Iraq longer. This supposition is obvious nonsense, yet we're taking it seriously.
2. The central government of Iraq is a myth. It is neither central nor a government. It doesn't govern anything outside of the Green Zone and is run by one Shiite militia and in no way encompasses the Sunnis, the Kurds or the other Shiite factions.
3. Giving more time to a project headed in the wrong direction doesn't help the project, it hurts it. If you're going the wrong way, people aren't helping you by giving you more time to head in the wrong direction.
Here's a quick explanation of the myths of the Iraq War:
In the video below I summarize what General Petraeus told Congress yesterday -- and show why according to his logic we can never, ever leave Iraq:
Despite what George Bush believes, we do not live in a black and white world. So, Gen. Petraeus is neither pure evil nor pure good. As an officer serving in Iraq, he risks his life on a daily basis (maybe not as much as the people below him in the chain of command, but certainly plenty enough -- and hell of a lot more than the rest of us). He was smart to make deals with the Sunni insurgents and Shiite militia. This -- and not the extra troops -- brought the level of violence in Iraq down for awhile.
On the other hand, he was originally in charge of training the Iraqi troops and he was a miserable failure in that regard. To this day, many years later, they still remain woefully untrained. Since they are not ready to accept responsibility in for security in Iraq, we have to remain there. But to be fair, this is not really Gen. Petraeus's fault. They didn't want to be trained. They don't want to be part of the Iraqi Army. But that is what leads to Gen. Petraeus's greatest failure.
He refuses to recognize or acknowledge that the central government of Iraq is a fraud. It is neither central nor a government. It does not effectively govern any part of Iraq outside of the Green Zone. The Kurds run the north, the former Sunni insurgents now run the Anbar province and the Shiite militias run the south, including Basra. The so-called central government has been reduced to simply another large Shiite militia.
So, why are we backing one Shiite militia over another? Especially one that is more linked to Iran then even the Mahdi Army? There is no good answer for that. That is why Gen. Petraeus has been dutifully avoiding that topic for the last several days. And this is the core of my problem with Petraeus. He is following orders set by this administration and not being honest with Congress or the American people. He knows the central government of Iraq is a joke, has no real power and is tied to Iran. Yet, he helps to perpetrate this fraud upon the American people so that we can stay in Iraq longer.
The whole point of this exercise is to hand off this mess to the next president so that Bush can pretend he didn't lose Iraq. And for Petraeus to be complicit in that kind of political manipulation is unacceptable and unforgivable.
We explain how US troops were gassed by Blackwater employees in the video below:
If companies connected to Bill Clinton had done this during his administration, the Republicans would not have impeached him, they would have tried him for treason. Right-wing Blackwater does it and not a peep out of anyone. Watch More Young Turks Here
The package is long and complex, but it is worth it. It paints a chilling and tragic picture of soldiers who are both devoted to victory and, at the same time quickly reaching the end of their ropes.
This is so hardcore. Turkey has arrested its own soldiers that were taken hostage by Kurdish separatists. They were released by the terrorists and then arrested by their own country.
Turkey has charged them with "disobedience that could lead to a major catastrophe" and "undermining military discipline." In other words, they arrested them for not fighting to the death.
In Flanders fields the poppies blow Between the crosses, row on row, That mark our place; and in the sky The larks, still bravely singing, fly Scarce heard amid the guns below.
We are the Dead. Short days ago We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow, Loved, and were loved, and now we lie In Flanders fields.
Take up our quarrel with the foe: To you from failing hands we throw The torch; be yours to hold it high. If ye break faith with us who die We shall not sleep, though poppies grow In Flanders fields.
Our troops are risking their lives to in Iraq and Afghanistan and there are a bunch of nosy do-gooders who are trying to prevent them from seeing any porn. This is a disgrace. Trying to keep porn away from the troops is un-American. See who the culprits are here:
I thought these people were pretending they supported the troops. If I was a soldier going overseas, I would hate these people more than anyone else. Get out of our lives, man. And leave our troops alone!
This Washington Post article covers the stories of soldiers from the 1st Battalion, 18th Infantry Regiment, 1st Infantry Division in Iraq. Here's one of the money quotes, from Sgt. Victor Alarcon:
"I don't think this place is worth another soldier's life."
We explain the details of what they describe as a "hellhole" in the video below.
If these soldiers are right, as I suspect they are, and the Iraqi government is part of the problem and not part of the solution, then all of the surging in the world is utterly useless anyway. So, that leads to the powerful Sgt. Alarcon question:
LA Times has an article that quotes US officials as being concerned about Blackwater's legal status in Iraq. Well, we're all concerned about that because it's not clear that they have any legal status there. But what's different about this story is that the government officials are saying Blackwater personnel might be considered unlawful combatants in Iraq. That would put them in the same category that we put Al Qaeda in, for detention purposes.
Let's be absolutely clear, that doesn't mean they do the same thing as Al Qaeda or in any way the same moral category (although they're not doing themselves any favors, morally speaking, by indiscriminately killing Iraqi civilians from time to time). But legally speaking since the Bush administration has created this vague category of unlawful combatants who don't wear uniforms in the battlefield and are not afforded Geneva Conventions rights, Blackwater might be in the same legal category.
So, one of the implications of this is that if Blackwater guards get captured in Iraq, they might not have Geneva Convention protections. I believe that's what they call the chickens coming home to roost.
A few months ago, we ran a story on Babble.com by Korinthia Klein, the wife of a Reservist serving in Iraq, about what life was like raising their three young children alone. At the end of August, Ian returned home after his fifteen-month deployment, so we had Korinthia do a follow-up about what it's been like having him home.
Korinthia writes: There's a stock image of the family reunited. As the wife awaiting her husband's return from war, I was supposed to be giddy, all happy preparations and excitement. In truth, I was extremely irritable the week before Ian's plane finally landed in Milwaukee.
Ever since Moveon.org made its clumsy and irresponsible attack on General David Petraeus, describing him in ads as "General Betray Us," the cultural left has been looking to paint the right as equally irresponsible. Media Matters, which monitors right-wing talk radio, believes it has found the evidence right out of the horse's mouth. The horse, in this case, is Rush Limbaugh. Apparently some in Congress are even considering a resolution to condemn Limbaugh.
I've carefully reviewed the transcript of Limbaugh's September 26 program, as provided by Media Matters. I invite you to read it for yourself. What it shows is that Limbaugh is indeed guilty of simplistic argument and dismissive bravado. But he's not guilty of smearing troops who happen to oppose the Iraq war as unpatriotic. This is the heart of the Media Matters accusation, and it implodes upon scrutiny.
Plenty of former officers have criticized the Iraq War, but there's only been one active duty career soldier who's not only come out against the War but also refused to go and fight in it. (He said he would go to Afghanistan instead, but that the Iraq war is "illegal"). 
MTV
A few months ago, we ran a 
