Our Darkest Days Are Here
by Andy Rooney

In the history of the world, several great civilizations that seemed immortal have deteriorated and died. I don't want to seem dramatic tonight, but I've lived a long while, and for the first time in my life, I have this faint, faraway fear that it could happen to us here in America as it happened to the Greek and Roman civilizations. Too many Americans don't understand what we have here, or how to keep it. I worry for my grandchildren, my great-grandchildren. I want them to have what I've had, and I sense it slipping away.

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Report: US Needed 500,000 Troops to Pacify Iraq

The New Draft U.N. Resolution Allows for Perpetual Occupation
Fox to Guard Henhouse - Subject to Periodic Review by Fox

The new U.S.-British drafted Security Council resolution is a scam. Under cover of a “transfer of sovereignty,” it seeks to have the United Nations give the United States legal authority to continue the occupation indefinitely You wouldn’t know that listening to Bush or from following most media but it’s there in black and white in the text of the draft resolution. The draft calls for a “review” of the status of the occupation troops at the end of 12 months, or at any time at the request of the “Transitional Government of Iraq”, by the U.N. Security Council. However, this review is meaningless since, of course, the United States has a veto over the U.N. Security Council. In other words, the reviewer is the reviewee.

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'Its best use is as a doorstop'
Brian Whitaker explains why a book packed with sweeping generalisations about Arabs carries so much weight with both neocons and military in the US

'Spray and slay': are American troops out of control in Iraq?

From A Soldier

I am more than happy to share with whoever will listen. Especially if it helps my friends and I see freedom again. There really isn't much morale to go around. Most soldiers have accepted their year commitment and some soldiers have already assumed they won't live through it. My Scout friends roll out the gate more then any other section in our battalion. They have seen the worst that Iraq can offer and we've only been here for three months. The papers that I see always show the death reports, but what about the casualties. More then three times the number of wounded to killed. What about the kids that can't walk again? What about the ones that will never see? Most lose their hearing. The gunners of the humvees sit with their head exposed to man the crew serve weapon. When a roadside explosion goes off, and if they aren't killed, the blast ruptures their eardrums. Imagine never hearing another Souls song again or hearing the voice of your children. I can see myself in a few years sitting in a lawn chair outside the recruiter station with a case of beer explaining to every kid that goes inside why I have a stump for an arm. I guess the sick thing is not the fear of death or maiming. It is the fact that most of us don't believe in this shit. We are all just a bunch of suckers that signed up for stupid reasons. It is like when a person goes to prison and his fellow inmate asks what he's in for.

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