Looks the the Iraqi Army has taken the city back from the militia, and that’s got Muqtada al-Sadr really angry. The only problem for Sadr? Iran seems to be backing Iraq’s moves, and Sadr has always been under the thumb of Iran.
From NY Times:
Mr. Sadr’s stock has recently fallen in Iranian eyes, the Iranian [...]

I saw this in the comments from my post today, Nearly 1 In 5 Soldiers Have PTSD:
I’m the Vet who contacted Carissa Piccard and Liz Dozier at CBS. Jonathan & I talked for over an hour today. He agrees that both Carissa & Liz totally rock. So do I - in spades. Jonathan is still [...]

From AP:
A recently completed survey showed 18.5% — or 300,000 people — said they have symptoms of depression or PTSD, the researchers said. Nineteen% — or 320,000 — suffered head injuries ranging from mild concussions to penetrating head wounds. [...]
The 500-page study is the first large-scale, private assessment of its kind — including a survey [...]

Between this news and the recent uptick in troop deaths, April is looking to be the bloodiest this year.
From NY Times:
BAGHDAD — As many as 53 people, including 12 children, died in a bombing Tuesday in Baquba, a city the Americans believed they had largely taken back from Sunni insurgents last summer.
A second bomb later [...]

Lest we forget…
BAGHDAD - A roadside bomb killed an American soldier in Baghdad on Saturday, capping the bloodiest week for U.S. troops in Iraq this year. Clashes persisted in Shiite areas, even as the biggest Shiite militia sought to rein in its fighters.
The U.S. military said the American soldier was killed in a blast Saturday [...]

Whether he’s emboldened by his “victory” against Sadr’s militias or a host of other reasons we could only guess at, Nouri al-Maliki wants the U.S. to continue to draw down their troops.
I’ll repeat that…the prime minister of Iraq wants U.S. troops to continue to leave his country.
From AP:
Petraeus wants the U.S. to complete by the [...]

An interesting moment from yesterday’s testimony with Biden, Petraeus and Crocker.

And while some on the left and the right have been trying to make hay out of this, the segment does have my wondering why, if our highest priority targets are in Afghanistan, that we’re not trying to destroy them.
I understand we think we [...]

They know the surge is making conditions safer. They know Iran is involved in Iraq.
And yet…
A Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey found that 65% of Americans would like to see U.S. troops brought home from Iraq within a year. That’s the highest total recorded in the tracking poll which has been conducted regularly since August [...]

Why?
Well one reason that seems to be coming up over and over again is they want to get out of Iraq. And let’s not forget that even though Ron Paul was consistently placing 5th on the primaries and caucuses, he had the most donations from the military out of any GOP candidate. And at [...]

It’s real, it’s damaging and the Army is openly talking about it.
From NY Times:
WASHINGTON — Army leaders are expressing increased alarm about the mental health of soldiers who would be sent back to the front again and again under plans that call for troop numbers to be sustained at high levels in Iraq for [...]

If you haven’t seen Frontline’s documentary about how we got into Iraq and how it all went wrong, you need to. It’s probably the most well researched piece I’ve seen so far, and the interviews with insiders are simply stunning. Many saw this train wreck coming, but Bush and Cheney and Rumsfeld just didn’t listen.
In [...]

All 70+ pages of it.
Here’s the gist…
In the March 14, 2003 memo, Yoo says the Constitution was not in play with regard to the interrogations because the Fifth Amendment (which provides for due process of law) and the Eighth Amendment (which prevents the government from employing cruel and usual punishment) does “not extend to alien [...]

The award winning documentarian trains his patented eye on the events that happened at Abu Ghraib prison in a film coming out on April 25.
From watching the following clips, as well as Frontline’s searing Bush’s War, a pretty clear picture emerges and makes it incredibly difficult for the Bush, Cheney and Rumsfeld to put [...]

Public Policy Polling has the numbers (pdf file)…
After a week in which both candidates spent a lot of time in North Carolina Barack Obama has retained a large lead in the state, according to the newest survey from Public Policy Polling.
Obama leads Clinton 54-36. His lead is particularly strong among likely voters who do not [...]

The more that comes out about the Iraqi government’s clash with the Mahdi Army, the more convinced I become that we should NOT have been involved in any way, shape or form. Not only that, our continued presence there will increasingly be used as a craven political tool instead of a force to fight terrorism.
From [...]

Good news for al-Maliki’s credibility, but this could be a brief pause if there’s not agreement on the elections in the Fall.
From MSNBC:
BAGHDAD - Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr on Sunday ordered his fighters off the streets nationwide and called on the government to stop raids against his followers and free them from prison.
The Iraqi [...]

So says CNN’s Michael Ware:
“Al-Sadr is involved in a very complicated relationship with the Iranians,” said CNN Baghdad correspondent Michael Ware. “The Iranians do provide funding and support for his militia, yet at the same time they’re trying to rein him in and get him to adopt a certain political agenda, which from time to [...]

The Pentagon throws some interesting logic on the table about the recent problems in Iraq.
From AFP:
WASHINGTON (AFP) — The Pentagon on Wednesday said an eruption of violence in southern Iraq, where US-backed government forces were battling Shiite militias, was a “by-product of the success of the surge.”
Pentagon press secretary Geoff Morrell said it showed that [...]

Basically, they have 72 hours to put down their weapons or they’ll face the consequences. What those are is not yet clear, but it’s a safe bet it won’t be good for either side.
From NY Times:
BAGHDAD — A day after launching a huge operation that ignited heavy fighting in two of Iraq’s largest cities, Prime [...]

“Only a fool or a fraud sentimentalizes the merciless reality of war.”
- A phrase from John McCain’s foreign policy speech today, which some say is a direct response to Bush’s recent statements romanticizing war.
Here’s more from the speech…
“Our great power does not mean we can do whatever we want whenever we want, nor should we [...]