Bloomberg: There were at least 52 U.S. military deaths between March 30 and April 18, compared with 31 between Feb. 27 and March 30, according to Bloomberg calculations based on Department of Defense tallies. Since April 18, seven Marines and soldiers have been killed in action, according to military statements.
Last month when
Soonergrunt deployed with his men to Afghanistan
I promised to keep a closer watch on events there than I have in the past. This morning I was recalled to my promise when I revealed to my youngest son that I blog for the resistance, and showed him my
coming out diary. Soonergrunt's name leapt out at me and I explained to my boy where he was and what he was doing there.
[Update]: I've just sent an e-mail to Soonergrunt asking him to drop a line to say he's okay and give an update, if possible. I'll let you all know as soon as I hear from him.
As soon as the boy headed off for school I Googled to see whether any National Guard from Oklahoma had been in the news.
No news is good news. Although the situation in Afghanistan is expected to heat up with the deployment of 6,000 NATO troops into the south of the country, for the moment there is relative calm.
Before Rumsfeld zoomed off to Iraq for a show of government unity with Condi - setting an example for phoney cooperation we expect from Iraqi ministers - Rumsfeld was laying on the propaganda back home.
Bloomberg: In an interview on the Pentagon's internal television channel Rumsfeld said those who believe the cost of the war in Iraq is too high should consider how failure would ``advance'' the cause of the Iranian government, which the U.S. says is trying to develop nuclear weapons.
``We need to put Iraq and Afghanistan in that context so that those people in our country who are deeply concerned about Iran, which is understandable, recognize that success in Afghanistan and success in Iraq is critical to containing the extreme impulses that we see emanating from Iran,'' Rumsfeld said according a transcript released by the Department of Defense.
[Emphasis mine, dammit. Isn't FOX enough? They have to waste taxpayer money on their own propaganda network for internal brainwashing?]
So now the occupations of Afghanistan and Iraq have a new, improved justification - now with lemon zest! We're spending thousands of lives and hundreds of billions of dollars to contain "the extreme impulses" of Iran! Didn't priests used to recommend vigorous sports for that?
``The last thing Iran wants is to have successful regimes, representative systems, free people in Afghanistan and Iraq,'' Rumsfeld said in the interview. ``It is harmful to their view of the world, to their extreme view of the world.''
Seems little risk of any of those outcomes with Rumsfeld in charge of US occupations! Iran can sleep easy.
Or can it? All of a sudden, in every speech and interview, Iran is the new Iraq. Iran finances terrorists (or at least aided the resistence 20 years ago in countries invaded and occupied by Israeli troops). Iran wants nukes (or at least might want them someday). Iran is influencing public opinion in Afghanistan and Iraq (unlike the American occupying forces and kleptocrat cronies we've installed). Now Iran is the reason we have troops occupying the desolate and destroyed nations of Afghanistan and Iraq in spite of increasing civilian resistence there and at home.
Soonergrunt and I exchanged a few e-mails from time to time. I remember I once expressed the fear that he might get deployed to Iran in the next war of unprovoked aggression. I sure hope the deployment of 6,000 NATO troops to the south of Afghanistan isn't for the purpose of freeing up our American troops there for service further south still.
If Iran is the new focus of the GOP for scaring the shit out of voters by November, and possibly the next war, we need to respond NOW. Soonergrunt had some views on this I'll copy here because they are still compelling and I'd like you all to put them into action for him while he is busy elsewhere:
The main source of Bush's unpopularity is Iraq. To all those who say that Democrats shouldn't talk about Iraq, now is the time to shoot yourselves. Iraq is biggest source of unease for voters right now according to the poll. These people also tend to believe that we need to win there, even as they acknowledge that we got into this mess based on lies. A firm position stating that we intend to focus our energies on giving the troops in Iraq what they need to accomplish the mission while taking a firmer hand with respect to contracting fraud will present the image of a party of serious, thoughtful candidates.
A Democratic proposition to increase taxes on oil companies wouldn't hurt at all. People are pissed off about the recent $3.00+ per gallon gas with prospects of doubled heating costs this winter while the oil companies rake in record profits.
A promise to end earmarks and to specifically de-fund things like the bridge to nowhere in Alaska will play well just about everywhere.
Attack, attack, attack. Republicans who are running for re-election must be joined at the hip to Tom Delay, Bill Frist, Dick Cheney, and George Bush and their ethical failures. Point out that Tom Cole hasn't been as good for Oklahoma as he has been for Alaska, and that he's tied in with falsifying the intelligence to go to war, even if he isn't, for example. Republicans who are running for Democratic seats should be painted as just another neo-con with bad ideas and bad policies that led us to this disaster. No matter what he says today, this Republican will strengthen the power-bases of Tom Delay, Bill Frist, and Dick Cheney by his mere presence in the House or Senate.
I don't know if Soonergrunt will be able to see this diary given the military restrictions on access to liberal blogs, but send him some love in your comments below all the same.