Tainted Saints

[Is it wrong that every time I see Obama's face now, I want to claw his eyes out?--Ed.]

WASHINGTON — By using his Nobel Peace Prize acceptance speech Thursday to justify expanding the U.S.-led war in Afghanistan, President Barack Obama won over some Republican critics at home, even as he preached messages of multilateralism, diplomacy and civil disobedience that resonate in anti-war circles around the world.

In a 36-minute speech in Oslo, Obama defended last week’s announcement that he’ll send 30,000 to 35,000 more troops to Afghanistan. He discouraged other nations’ “reflexive suspicion of America,” recalling how Europe survived thanks to U.S. intervention in World War II. He spoke of “just war.”

The president even invoked one of the favorite qualifiers of his predecessor, George W. Bush, whose legacy he campaigned against last year. Obama said, “Evil does exist in the world.”

…Newt Gingrich, the Republican former speaker of the House of Representatives and an ever-possible presidential candidate, said on WNYC radio that Obama’s speech was “actually very good.”

Gingrich said “having a liberal president who goes to Oslo on behalf of a peace prize and reminds the committee that they would not be free, they wouldn’t be able to have a peace prize, without having force. … I thought in some ways it’s a very historic speech.”

House Minority Leader John Boehner, R-Ohio, offered similar praise through his spokeswoman Antonia Ferrier: “As President Reagan said, Republicans believe in peace through strength, and we were pleased that today President Obama addressed and defended our mission in Afghanistan, where success is the only option.” [more...]

Courtesy of This Week with George Stephanopolous and Crooks and Liars [*The fatalities for Iraq and Afghanistan on Crooks and Liars includes Allied forces, which total 917 at the end of last week - Ed.]

The Pentagon has released the names of 7 servicemembers killed last week in Iraq and Afghanistan:

Army SPC Tony Carrasco Jr, 25, of Berino, NM
Army SPC Aaron S Aamot, 22, of Custer, WA
Army SPC Gary L Gooch Jr, 22, of Ocala, FL
Marine Sgt Charles I Cartwright, 26, of Union Bridge, MD
Army CWO Mathew C Heffelfinger, 29, of Kimberly, ID
Army CWO Earl R Scott III, 24, of Jacksonville, FL
Marine LCpl Justin J Swanson, 21, of Anaheim, CA

According to iCasualties, this brings the total number of allied servicemembers killed in Iraq to 4,680; in Afghanistan, 1,518. During this same week, Iraq Body Count adds another 54 Iraqi civilians killed. Unfortunately, there is no record of the names of these people…

WASHINGTON — Top executives at Blackwater Worldwide authorized secret payments of about $1 million to Iraqi officials that were intended to silence their criticism and buy their support after a September 2007 episode in which Blackwater security guards fatally shot 17 Iraqi civilians in Baghdad, according to former company officials.

Blackwater approved the cash payments in December 2007, the officials said, as protests over the deadly shootings in Nisour Square stoked long-simmering anger inside Iraq about reckless practices by the security company’s employees. American and Iraqi investigators had already concluded that the shootings were unjustified, top Iraqi officials were calling for Blackwater’s ouster from the country, and company officials feared that Blackwater might be refused an operating license it would need to retain its contracts with the State Department and private clients, worth hundreds of millions of dollars annually. [more...]

Courtesy of This Week with George Stephanopolous and Crooks and Liars [*The fatalities for Iraq and Afghanistan on Crooks and Liars includes Allied forces, which total 915 at the end of last week - Ed.]

The Pentagon has released the names of 9 servicemembers killed last week in Iraq and Afghanistan:

Army SPC Joseph L Gallegos, 39, of Questa, NM
Army PFC Brian R Bates, Jr 20, of Gretna, LA
Army SPC Adrian L Avila, 19, of Opelika, AL
Army PFC Lukas C Hopper, 20, of Merced, CA
Army SPC Christopher M Cooper, 28, of Oceanside, CA
Army SPC Jonathon M Sylvestre, 21, of Colorado Springs, CO
Marine Sgt Cesar B Ruiz, 26, of San Antonio, TX
Army SSG Amy C Tirador, 29, of Albany, NY
Army SPC Julian L Berisford, 25, of Benwood, WV

According to iCasualties, this brings the total number of allied servicemembers killed in Iraq to 4,677, in Afghanistan, 1,513. During this same period, Iraq Body Count lists 56 Iraq civilians killed. For the month of October, 438 civilians were killed in Iraq. Unfortunately, there is no record of the names of these people…

In addition, 12 servicemembers and 1 civilian were killed in the Ft. Hood shootings on Thursday:

• Major L. Eduardo Caraveo, 52, of Woodbridge, Va.
  Staff Sgt. Justin M. DeCrow, 32, of Plymouth, Ind.
  Capt. John P. Gaffaney, 54, of San Diego, Calif.
  Spc. Frederick Greene, 29, of Mountain City, Tenn.
  Spc. Jason Dean Hunt, 22, of Tillman, Okla.
  Sgt. Amy Krueger, 29, of Kiel, Wis.
  Pfc. Aaron Thomas Nemelka, 19, of West Jordan, Utah
  Pfc. Michael Pearson, 22, of Bolingbrook, Ill.
  Capt. Russell Seager, 41, of Racine, Wis.
  Pvt. Francheska Velez, 21, of Chicago. She was pregnant.
  Lt. Col. Juanita Warman, 55, of Havre de Grace, Md.
  Spc. Kham Xiong, 23, of St. Paul, Minn.
• Civilian Michael Grant Cahill, 62, of Cameron

HOUSTON (Reuters) – Twelve people were killed and at least 31 were wounded when a soldier went on a shooting rampage at the Fort Hood U.S. Army base at Fort Hood Texas on Thursday, base commander Lieutenant-General Bob Cone said.

Cone told reporters at the base that the gunman was killed in the attack at the facility, the biggest military base in the world and a prime point of deployment for U.S. operations in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Texas Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison said in an interview with Fox News that she was told by military officials the gunman was an officer who had been about to be deployed to Iraq.

Several broadcast networks named him as Major Malik Nadal Hasan and said he was about 40 years old, but this could not immediately be confirmed.

Two other soldiers were apprehended as suspects. [more...]

Sixteen American soldiers killed themselves in October in the U.S. and on duty overseas, an unusually high monthly toll that is fueling concerns about the mental health of the nation’s military personnel after more than eight years of continuous warfare.

The Army’s top generals worry that surging tens of thousands more troops into Afghanistan could increase the strain felt by many military personnel after years of repeated deployments to Iraq and Afghanistan.

The October suicide figures mean that at least 134 active-duty soldiers have taken their own lives so far this year, putting the Army on pace to break last year’s record of 140 active-duty suicides. The number of Army suicides has risen 37% since 2006, and last year, the suicide rate surpassed that of the U.S. population for the first time.

Courtesy of This Week with George Stephanopolous and Crooks and Liars:

12 U.S soldiers were killed in Iraq and Afghanistan last week:

Army SGT Christopher M Rudzinski, 28, of Rantoul, IL
Army SSG Chris N Staats, 32, of Fredericksburg, TX
Army SPC Anthony G Green, 28, of Matthews, NC
Army SSG Glen H Stivison, Jr, 34, of Blairsville, PA
Army SPC Jesus O Flores, Jr, 28, of La Mirada, CA
Army SPC Daniel C Lawson, 33, of Deerfield Beach, FL
Army PFC Brandon M Styer, 19, of Lancaster, PA
Army PFC Daniel J Rivera, 22, of Rochester, NY
Army SPC Michael A Dahl Jr, 23, of Moreno Valley, CA
Marine LCpl David R Baker, 22, of Painesville, OH
Army SSG Bradley Espinoza, 26, of Mission, TX
Army SPC Kyle A Coumas, 22, of Lockeford, CA

This brings the total number of allied servicemembers killed in Iraq to 4,669; and in Afghanistan, 1,469.

During this same week, Iraq Body Count listed 74 war-related Iraqi civilian deaths (not including 132 people killed in Baghdad yesterday), and over 200 Afghani civilians. Unfortunately, there is no record of the names of these people…

The blasts went off less than a minute apart on Sunday, near the ministry of justice and the headquarters of the Baghdad provincial administration close to the Tigris river…

T. Boone Pickens told Congress on Wednesday that U.S. energy companies are “entitled” to some of Iraq’s crude because of the large number of American troops that lost their lives fighting in the country and the U.S. taxpayer money spent in Iraq.

Boone, speaking to the newly formed Congressional Natural Gas Caucus, complained that the Iraqi government has awarded contracts to foreign companies, particularly Chinese firms, to develop Iraq’s vast reserves while American companies have mostly been shut out.

“They’re opening them (oil fields) up to other companies all over the world … We’re entitled to it,” Pickens said of Iraq’s oil. “Heck, we even lost 5,000 of our people, 65,000 injured and a trillion, five hundred billion dollars.”

[Interesting argument. By the same token, if China invaded us and some of their people died in the process, would they then be entitled to our land and water as reparations...? - Ed.]

Courtesy of This Week with George Stephanopolous and Crooks and Liars:

4 U.S soldiers were killed in Iraq and Afghanistan this week:

Army SFC Kenneth W Westbrook, 41, of Shiprock, NM
Army SPC George W Cauley, 24, of Walker, MN
Marine LCpl Alfonso Ochoa Jr, 20, of Armona, CA
Marine SSgt Aaron J Taylor, 27, of Bovey, MN

This brings the total number of allied servicemembers killed in Iraq to 4,667, in Afghanistan, 1,463.

During this same week, Iraq Body Count listed 74 war-related Iraqi civilian deaths, and one Afghan woman and her child. Unfortunately, there is no record of the names of these people…