End the War in Iraq

BBC NEWS: In pictures: Shooting in Tal Afar




The Children of Iraq (via).

Yesterday Gore Vidal accused most Americans of thinking this war, and this Bush Presidency, was some kind of movie. Meanwhile Eliot Weinberger, in the London Review of Books, has been hearing things:

I heard the vice president say: ‘By any standard of even the most dazzling charges in military history, the Germans in the Ardennes in the spring of 1940 or Patton’s romp in July of 1944, the present race to Baghdad is unprecedented in its speed and daring and in the lightness of casualties.’

I heard Colonel David Hackworth say: ‘Hey diddle diddle, it’s straight up the middle!’

I heard the Pentagon spokesman say that 95 per cent of the Iraqi casualties were ‘military-age males’.

I heard an official from the Red Crescent say: ‘On one stretch of highway alone, there were more than fifty civilian cars, each with four or five people incinerated inside, that sat in the sun for ten or fifteen days before they were buried nearby by volunteers. That is what there will be for their relatives to come and find. War is bad, but its remnants are worse.’

I heard the director of a hospital in Baghdad say: ‘The whole hospital is an emergency room. The nature of the injuries is so severe – one body without a head, someone else with their abdomen ripped open.’

I heard an American soldier say: ‘There’s a picture of the World Trade Center hanging up by my bed and I keep one in my Kevlar. Every time I feel sorry for these people I look at that. I think: “They hit us at home and now it’s our turn.”’ (read more)

(courtesy of Steve) Update: and a response from Ron Silliman...


Some quite disturbing visual aid comes from a site currently under investigation by the U.S. Defense Department. From the Australian press:

THE US Defence Department has been asked to investigate a website being used by American soldiers to post grisly pictures of Iraqi war dead.

The site, which has been operating for more than a year, describes itself as "an online archive of soldiers' photos".

Dozens of pictures of decapitated and limbless bodies are featured on the site with tasteless captions, purportedly sent in by soldiers.

Captions include "plastic surgery needed", "road kill" and "I said dead".

(hat tip).


Public Can Force Iraq Troop Withdrawal, Lawmakers and Critics Say

Update: Dan Brett dares to actually talk about the elections:

But the elections! The elections tell us everything! Millions of brave Iraqis defying the terrorists to cast their votes. What is not told to the good people of America and Britain is who were contesting the elections and what their platforms were. There was a complete media blackout on the election contest, so it is no surprise that only a fraction of Iraqis living abroad bothered to vote.

[...]

Certainly, this election has put the Coalition in a difficult position, as it will make it near impossible to invade Iran with the support of the newly empowered Shi'ite leaders, nor will the Kurds willingly submit to Turkish demands on the thorny issue of Iraq's borders. Meanwhile, the Sunnis will become ever more embittered and hostile to both the government in Baghdad and the American and British military overlords.