Yesterday "GregMitch" posted a Diary on the same subject I'm placing up first.

But lets expand to on what our Civilian and Military leaders are doing to Our Troops and National Security in bushs, and now mccains call for More, occupations!

Cross-posted from Huffington Post

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/...

Today existenz posted a diary "WWII Vet Vs. Right Wing Blogger Smackdown" about another sickening episode of the bottomless pit of ignorance we fight every day. It was about a conservative blogger who pursued an attempt to slander Obama by smearing his war hero Uncle,and that blogger has ended up:
1. Being totally owned by a WWII vet!

2. Showing us, again, that if you scratch a conservative, you find something disgusting - in this case a tinge of Holocaust denial.

As sometimes happens, the comments got off on many tangents - some trollish, some affectionate and ennobling. One thread wandered through how and what we've named our favorite relatives. Another became an impromptu salute   to the veterans - of WWII, mostly, but many others - who are near and dear to many kossacks.

Cross posted from Huffington Post:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/...

Congressman Patrick McHenry is having a bad week.  First, the bellicose, 32-year-old chickenhawk from North Carolina got in trouble for calling a Green Zone sentry a "two-bit security guard" while in Iraq--a statement for which he was later forced to apologize.  As if that weren’t bad enough, he’s now in serious trouble for trying to act like a tough guy at the expense of U.S. troops in Baghdad.  

On Friday April 4, the North Carolina Congressman assisted insurgents in Iraq and endangered American lives by bragging cluelessly about being rocketed in the Green Zone in a homemade video he posted on his own Congressional website.  In the video, he related to anyone with an internet connection just how effective those rocket attacks had been.  This is a huge no-no for anyone who’s ever spent more than five minutes in a combat zone--and it’s worthy of both censure and another apology.

From the Journals of the Chickenhawk:

It was a cool, quiet morning in Atlanta.  An early spring day.  Commuters driving to work, young lawyers sitting in a conference room, a city coming awake.  That's when the squirrel decided to strike.

These are some thoughts, after being at the hearings for the last three days, about the event, those that criticize it and our responsibility as progressives.  The men and women who are here, testifying about what they are doing are quite remarkable. Most of them are younger than our children and they have seen and done more in their brief lives than any of us will or want to do. Up until today, I was largely inured to the emotional consequences of what they have discussed because I have been working on a computer the whole time I have ben here. Today, I watched them muster for a group photograph and I could not watch, instead I found myself crying and decided I had to write something about the event. I hope this diary is not too preachy, but it must be said this event should not have had to take place and it is up to us t make sure that it never happens again.

Part I: The Chickenhawk

Meet Jason Mattera.  Jason is the kind of useless American that makes any good citizen’s skin crawl.  Here he is on Hardball with Chris Matthews in 2006:
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The transcript is here.  That segment on Hardball earned Jason a spot as our Chickenhawk of the Day on VetVoice a while back.  Since then, he’s made quite a name for himself in conservative circles.

On Thursday thru Sunday, member of Iraq Veterans Against the War will be testifying in the purest sense of the world. They should not have to do this, the original Winter Soldiers hearing should have been enough. Unfortunately, those hearings have been deliberately twisted and deformed to draw attention away from their being a devastating critique of the Military Industrial Complex's responsibility for the deaths of more than 57,000 American GIs and 2,000,000 Vietnamese. Instead, if you were to ask most American's who have heard of the Winter Soldier Investigation, what happened in Detroit 37 years ago, they will most likely tell you John Kerry accused American GIs of being baby killers and deliberately besmirched their honor. This diary attempts to place the upcoming hearings into the context of the hearings in 1971 and argue the upcoming event, like its predecessor will try and show how GIs are once more being used as bait for corporate profit. This is my first diary so please be kind.

Oh wait, sorry wrong royal family.

Make that Harry, Prince Harry.

The Guardian

Our leaders have other priorities.

A speech taken out of context has always been fodder for both liberals and conservatives, a way for one side to exlaim "look at what they said!" Sometimes words can show what someone thinks about the other side of the spectrum (Rush Limbaugh's phony soldiers huff and puff), and other times, the tactic is played up for maximum distraction.

Michelle Malkin has been pulling double duty vitriol frothing, proclaiming her hate for John McCain and his 'liberal' stances on issues like immigration and his refusal to spout GOP conservative talking points without thought or reason. If that makes him a liberal, it'd make him the only liberal who recommends a troop withdrawl timetable for the year 10,2008. Malkin simply will not let it go and get behind The Maverick for the good of the Republican Party. She has more in common with Hilary than she thinks.

I just sent out a Heads Up to Vet Pax, which is the coalition of Veterans For Peace and Vietnam Veterans Against The War Chapters in and around New York City.

I had been thinking about what could be done on this issue of o'really and his total lack of not only knowledge, about the Plight Of Veterans Who Are Homeless, but his total lack of Compassion, wasn't that what his hero ran on, and Support towards Veterans in General.

lbear sent me an E which cleared the thought process.

Day after day, we are bombarded by John McCain's "expert" war analysis and his constant declarations that victory is just around the corner. However, he explicitly and impliedly talks about "failures", "losing", and "missteps." To maintain his media concocted Maverick status, he will occasionally throw a jab toward Bush or Rumsfeld. Ultimately, though, the brunt of his blows falls directly on the shoulders of our soldiers, sailors, airmen, and marines.

I few months back I set out to illustrate prominent Chickenhawks. At the time I was offering to do images on request. DailyKos diarist 8ackgr0und N015e took me up on the offer and requested a series depicting "Fledgling Chickenhawks" as named in his diary.

The Chickenhawk frame had interested me for a while. I was particularly offended by these wingnuts who passionately argue for and defend the use of force in Iraq and the so called Global War on Terror, yet fail to heed their own call to take up arms. You can enlist up to the age of 42. The Chickenhawks I have chosen to illustrate are all under 42. I now call this group of under 42 year olds "The 43^rd Chairborne Chickenhawks, The George W. Bush Brigade". The 43 is meant to honor our 43^rd President of the United States. I started with 8ackgr0und N015e's list and expanded it a little.

This is a piece that I originally wrote a few years back and recently revised and updated. I wrote it for my son because I was afraid they might reinstitute the Draft but I feel that any young person thinking of joining the military should think about the issues that I bring up in this essay. These are issues that go beyond the rivalry between Democrats & Republicans because both parties have supported the wars this country has initiated.

Meet Benjamin Johnson.  As the co-chair of the Iowa Federation of College Republicans, Ben supersedes even young Matthew Continetti in terms of arrogance and self-satisfaction with regard to how Americans view the troops.

I came across Ben while doing research for a new series we’ve been running on VetVoice.  It’s called Chickenhawk of the Day.  

Via MAL Contends - MAL Contends - McClatchy Newspapers has been a rare treasure, a news service often reporting the facts and history flatly contradicting the PR streaming out of the White House.

But Leila Fadel's piece Monday is a disappointing exception.

Fadel writes:

BAGHDAD — Iraq and the United States agreed Monday that the U.N.-mandated occupation of Iraq will end in December 2008 and that any U.S. troop presence in the country after that time will be subject to U.S.-Iraq negotiations that are to be completed by next summer.

McClatchy Newspapers' Baghdad bureau can be reached through the D.C. office. Leila Fadel, Bureau Chief, kriraq@yahoo.com .

According to a new report by an independent think tank in Afghanistan, "Islamo-Fascists"—including Taliban and al Qaeda forces—are close to retaking Kabul and effectively winning the Global War on Terror—the war launched by the United States in 2001 as payback for the attacks of September 11.  

Meanwhile, neo-conservatives, chickenhawks, and right-wing fanatics are gearing up for victory celebrations because violence is slightly down a thousand miles away—in an unrelated Arab country’s civil war.