Flying the un-friendly skies of Iraq

Chris Floyd at Empire Berlesque notes that at one time "No-Fly Zones" meant American dominance of the skies of Iraq. It is a bitter Irony that now the term means areas in which American aircraft must not fly due to the high probability of loss to the Iraqis.

...now the phrase is the sad and bloodsoaked emblem of a wretched defeat, a pointless and unnecessary gutting of American power. It now denotes those areas where American aircraft are forbidden to fly, lest they be shot down by Iraqis -- the precise opposite of the No-Fly Zones of yore.

A full four years into the war, and just shy of that mark since "Mission Accomplished" was proclaimed, the occupying power has been forced to deny its own pilots access to larger and larger swathes of Iraqi airspace -- even as the use of helicopters for troop transport and supply is growing, due to the increasingly unsafe conditions on the ground. It is the Iraqis who are now imposing "No-Fly Zones" on the "world's only superpower."

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At Long Last, Sir, Have you no decency?

By Clyde
I was listening to Diane Rehm's News Roundup Friday morning. The Journalists were Linda Wertheimer, Andrew Sullivan and Elanore Clift. The subject of conversation, Bush's expansion of the war and the senate Non-binding resolutions against the expansion.

A caller indicated there would be 45 thousand troops sent, not 21 thousand.

Thoughts were then expressed by these journalists that this president must be affected by the expressed desires of the country. That he would accept the prospect of thousands dying simply to cover his sorry ineptitude would be unthinkable.

Well, think it! This man has no decency! We've known that for more than six years. Each time he has gone before congress assembled, to present his state of the union address, he has used inflammatory points he knew were not valid. That is the expression of a faulsehood. Lying. From his previous record as the governor of Texas, it appears he simply has no regard for human life.

Bush stated he knew nothing about Plame. The grand jury testimony is showing that Cheney was in the middle of the whole thing and was the one who leaked Plame's identity. But the president didn't know...(?)

Bush has now admited that statements that the US was winning in Iraq during the run-up to the elections were false. That he was disturbed by the lack of progress and has been considering this 'New Direction' all that time.

Congress must stand up to thwart this pitiful little man, who would be king. He must not be allowed to further squander the lives of our troops, the lifeblood of our treasure, and the honor for which this country has stood, for over 230 years. He must not be allowed finally to make true the imagined all pervading terrorism he has preached since 9-11-2001. He must be prevented from engaging yet another non-aggressive middleast state in a preemptive war for no other reason than to cover up his incompetence as a head of state, and enraging one and a half BILLION muslims.

Finally as happened in the Army - McCarthy hearings, someone must finally rise and ask this question of Bush, Cheney et. al. "Have you no sense of decency, sir, at long last? Have you left no sense of decency?"

Get ready for it. The sociopath is going to get us into the biggest disaster ever.

Just pray that there are officers who take their oath to uphold the constitution and the law seriously. If we go into Iran, the entire mideast will hate America. If you are afraid of 'turrists', be very very afraid of this mental midget with Cheney's hand up his ass.
Nicole Belle at Crooks and Liars

I've had a knot in my stomach for weeks as the rhetoric out of Washington amped up against Iran. As others have pointed out, this is deja vu, all over again. Sean-Paul Kelley at The Agonist pulls it all together and it paints one very scary picture.

The drumbeat for an attack on Iran is getting louder and louder.

Fears of Iranian economic dominance in Iran are being stoked, although the story is already weeks, if not months old. We've also been told the Iranians are cooperating with the North Koreans in their bid for nuclear weapons. Never mind that the North Koreans use plutonium in their reactors and the Iranians use uranium. Ooops.

...A parade of administration officials from the President on down inform us that Iran is aiding and abetting the chaos in Iraq by providing weapons to Iraqis. Never mind that there is little or no proof that the Iranians are supplying weapons to groups in Iraq actively targeting American forces.no evidence found.)

Arthur Silber at Once Upon a Time says the time is now . We must take control of our government NOW, or face complete disaster at the hands of a disinterested puppet.

If ... the Democrats showed some leadership, there is one other issue they desperately need to address: Iran.

They should rescind the Iraq authorization of force resolution (Lindorff's reference is to the earlier one, passed right after 9/11 -- both should be burned to a crisp), since Bush uses the authorizations to maintain that he already has authority to attack Iran (and anyone else he chooses). And they should pass resolutions stating that, if Bush attacks Iran in the absence of a Congressional Declaration of War (remember those?), that will be grounds for immediate impeachment.

And they should draft articles of impeachment NOW, just in case they need them. And they should publish them in every major newspaper, and read them on television every night.

If you want a clearer view of what's going on try the foreign press.

From Germany: Bush: The Great Failure
Really sounds complimentary doesn't it?

From the Financial Times Analysis: Bush tries to buy some time
What for? Why, to try to wash the blood off his hands.

From The Yemen Observer, Yemen
Gulf States Must Avoid American Recklessness
This really inspires confidence.

From Tunis Hebdo, Tunisia
Sacrilege Against Islam:
This is how the whole region sees Shrub's 'plan'.

Is This What Bush Wants?