Iraq

Bill Maher's Opening Monologue | March 6, 2009

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Bizarre Rick Sanchez + Nutty Amy Holmes = Delicious Bush Legacy Project

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Karl Rove Discusses His Second Subpoena From House Judiciary Committee

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Thomas Ricks Plays Propaganda Point-Man on Pentagon Plan for Permanent U.S. Bases in Iraq

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The Crimes of George W. Bush [Video]

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British Troops Are Like: "We're Out of Iraq, Cheerio"

Al-Maliki, Baghdad, Basra, Britain, George W. Bush, Iraq, Old Europe

(CNN) — British troops will begin leaving Iraq in May, more than six years after joining the U.S.-led invasion that ousted former dictator Saddam Hussein, Britain and Iraq announced Wednesday.

The British mission will wrap up by the end of May, with the last troops withdrawing over the next two months, British Prime Minister Gordon Brown and his Iraqi counterpart, Nuri al-Maliki, said in a joint statement during Brown’s visit Wednesday to Baghdad.hemp-96

The pair said the partnership between the two countries would continue. Brown — on his fourth trip to Iraq as prime minister — said British troops had made a huge contribution and given people an economic stake in the future of Iraq.

Brown’s previously unannounced visit comes three days after a similar trip by President Bush, who was forced to duck when an Iraqi journalist threw a pair of shoes at him during an appearance Sunday with al-Maliki.

Britain was the leading U.S. ally during the invasion of Iraq, and still has about 4,000 troops based outside the southern city of Basra. About 140,000 U.S. troops remain in Iraq.

Besides the U.S. and Britain, five nations — Albania, Australia, El Salvador, Estonia and Romania — maintain fewer than 2,000 troops total in Iraq, according to the Multi-National Force-Iraq Web site.

In their statement, Brown and al-Maliki said: “The role played by the UK combat forces is drawing to a close. These forces will have completed their tasks in the first half of 2009 and will then leave Iraq.”

On Tuesday, the Iraqi council of ministers agreed to a new resolution allowing troops to remain in the country until the end of July. It sets the end of May as the final date for combat operations.

Speaking at a press conference after the talks, Brown said: “We have agreed today that the mission will end no later than May 31 next year. Our troops will be coming home within the next two months [after that].

“The biggest reduction will be at the end part of the period we are talking about.”

Brown added: “It is important to remember we have been engaged in the most difficult and challenging of work: the tasks of overthrowing a dictatorship, the task of building a democracy for the future and defending it against terrorism.

“We have made a huge contribution and of course given people an economic stake in the future of Iraq. We leave Iraq a better place.

“I am proud of the contribution British forces have made. They are the pride of Britain and the best in the world.”

Al-Maliki confirmed that the agreement included a provision for the Iraqi government to request an extension of the British military presence. However, both leaders indicated that it was not expected to be used.

Like the United States, Britain has been negotiating with the Iraqi government on the future of its military presence there. Ahead of Brown’s arrival, Britain’s Ministry of Defense said those talks were making “good progress.”

Air Chief Marshal Sir Jock Stirrup, chief of the defense staff, is accompanying Brown on the visit.

Also Wednesday in Baghdad, a double bombing in a commercial district killed 18 people and wounded dozens of others, with police officers among the casualties, an Iraqi Interior Ministry official said.

The first explosion was a car bomb, followed by a roadside bomb that targeted traffic police responding to the initial blast, the official said. Three of the dead were police officers, the official said. Another 52 people, including eight police, were wounded.

Chief Iraq War Cheerleader and D.C.'s Favorite Idiot Savant Plays Dress-Up in Afghanistan

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ASSOCIATED PRESS

DECEMBER 14 2008

By JASON STRAZIUSO

PUSS

KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) – The men around Lindsey Graham ignored his powerful political title – U.S. senator – and their own douchechills -instead addressing him by rank – colonel.

Graham, a Republican from South Carolina and the only U.S. senator in the military’s Guard or Reserves, donned the Air Force’s camouflaged uniform for five days last week to serve in Kabul.

The senator enrolled in the ROTC in 1973 and has been in the Air Force Guard or Reserves as a military lawyer ever since. In Kabul, he worked with the staff of military lawyers at the U.S. base Camp Eggers. The office is helping to train military judges and defense lawyers, and to write Afghanistan’s uniform code of military justice.

Graham said his experiences in the military taught him how difficult wartime deployments can be on families.

“One thing I learned is that when a soldier, airman or a Marine is away, the more we can take care of the family, the better they’re going to be able to do their job because there’s nothing worse than being deployed and having family problems,” said Graham, a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee.

Graham said that when the military mobilized for the war in Iraq, about 20 percent of Guard and Reserve forces were medically disqualified. He said it wasn’t smart to have “20 percent of your force out of the fight without a shot being fired.” About 25 percent of the Guard and Reserves were uninsured.

In response, Graham worked with Sen. Hillary Clinton in 2005 to allow members of the Guard and Reserve to purchase health insurance for themselves and their families through TRICARE, the military’s health care system.

Seven years after the U.S. invaded Afghanistan to oust the Taliban for hosting al-Qaida chief Osama bin Laden, the United States has a record level of some 32,000 forces in the country, and American commanders have asked for 20,000 more. Violence has soared over the last two years.

Graham, who was in the capital from Sunday through Thursday, called the challenges in Afghanistan “enormous,” and said the U.S. “let some time get by” without enough focus on the country.

“It’s going to get tougher before it gets better. But we have a new strategy in place. Gen. (David) Petreaus understands how to win wars,” Graham said, referring to the chief of U.S. Central Command. “So I want the people of America to know we’re here to make our own national security better.”

The Taliban appears to be making gains in Afghanistan’s provinces, and more U.S. soldiers have died in Afghanistan in 2008 than in any year since the invasion, but Graham said history shows that the momentum in conflicts can turn quickly.

In 1987, Graham said, the Cold War between the Soviet Union and the U.S. was “vigorous.” By 1990, he pointed out, it was over.

“Momentum for evil or good can be powerful. Things can really deteriorate fast, but things can change and I’ve learned that in Iraq,” Graham said of the country, where violence has dropped quickly over the last year. Graham has also served time in Iraq in the Air Force Reserves.

The politician said his service in the military has made him a better senator.

“You don’t need to be in the military to be a good senator or president, but every experience you have helps you,” Graham said.

Dick Cheney is Fairly Pleased With His Eight Bloody Years

Afghanistan, Dick Cheney, George W. Bush, Iraq, War Criminal

The outgoing US vice-president, Dick Cheney, last night gave an unapologetic assessment of his eight years in office, defending the invasion of Iraq, the US prison camp at Guantánamo Bay, secret wiretapping and the extreme interrogation method known as waterboarding.

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In his first television interview since the presidential election in November, Cheney displayed no regrets and gave no ground to his many critics within America and around the world. He summed up his record by saying: “I think, given the circumstances we’ve had to deal with, we’ve done pretty well.”

He told ABC News he stood by the most controversial policies of the Bush administration, and urged president-elect Barack Obama to think hard before undoing them. Asked about the use of torture on terror suspects, he replied: “We don’t do torture. We never have. It’s not something this administration subscribes to.”

Later in the same interview, Cheney was asked whether the use of waterboarding in the interrogation of the alleged mastermind of the September 11 attacks, Khaled Sheikh Mohammed, had been appropriate. He replied: “I do.”

Waterboarding is a technique that induces the sensation of drowning, and is widely regarded as a form of torture. It was used on three high-level al-Qaida suspects, including Mohammed, but has since been banned by the US.

Cheney was chosen in 2000 by George Bush to be his vice-president; he did not put his own name forward for the job. He has since turned into one of the most divisive and reviled vice-presidents in US history, amassing to his office enormous powers and devising a stream of controversial policies.

Despite the vitriol he has attracted, and Bush’s historically low approval rating of just 29%, Cheney was still able to joke about his term in the White House.

He referred to a comment from Hillary Clinton likening him to the Star Wars character Darth Vader. “I asked my wife about that, if that didn’t bother her. She said, no, it humanises you.”

But his lack of any introspection over the decisions made under his watch – in contrast to Bush who recently said he had been sorry about the false intelligence over Iraq – will renew Cheney’s reputation as a combatant and uncompromising vice-president.

Though no weapons of mass destruction were ever found, he insisted that Saddam Hussein had had the capability to produce them.

“He had the technology, he had the people. This was a bad actor and the country’s better off, the world’s better off with Saddam gone. We made the right decision,” he said.

On Guantánamo, he challenged the incoming Obama administration to think hard about what he claimed were the “hardcore” detainees still being held at the Cuban base.

“What are you going to do with those prisoners?” he said, adding: “I don’t know any other nation in the world that would do what we’ve done in terms of taking care of people who are avowed enemies.”

He also defended the use of secret wiretapping of suspects that was carried out without court warrant.

“It’s worked. It’s been successful. It was legal from the very beginning.”

Given the role of hate-figure that Cheney has acquired over the years among the American left, many US liberals will be dismayed to hear him say that he largely approves of the cabinet put together by the president-elect.

He praised the decision to keep Robert Gates as defence secretary as “excellent” and predicted that General Jim Jones would be “very, very effective” as national security adviser.

He even complimented his old adversary, Hillary Clinton, Obama’s choice as secretary of state, saying “she’s tough, she’s smart, she works very hard and she may turn out to be just what President Obama needs.”

Cheney has 34 days left in office. This will be his fourth transition out of government and back to private life. He said he was not ready to retire yet, but did want to spend more time with his family. “Got some rivers I want to face. Maybe write a book. I haven’t decided yet.”