Yes, That’s correct, Iraq’s Civil war is heating up.
As always, the Right is living in denial, and the left is using it as a promotional tool. Seems that this war is not so much, as them against us, it’s two groups fighting against one another.
Many Opinions on this one, follow the link to read them.
Unlike some in the Blogging community, who think we should just turn tail and run, without finishing what we started. Well, I am not among that crowd.
The Article: U.S. death toll in Iraq hits 4,000 (via msnbc.com)
A roadside bomb killed four U.S. soldiers in Baghdad on Sunday, the military said, pushing the overall American death toll in the five-year war to at least 4,000.
The grim milestone came on the same day that rockets and mortars pounded the U.S.-protected Green Zone, underscoring the fragile security situation and the resilience of both Sunni and Shiite extremist groups despite an overall lull in violence.
A Multi-National Division — Baghdad soldier also was wounded in the roadside bombing, which struck the soldiers’ patrol vehicle about 10 p.m. in southern Baghdad, according to a statement.
4,000. That is now the new number of dead in Iraq, since the war started. It is indeed a sad reminder that freedom is not free and the, quite frankly, war is hell. 
However, I believe that if we leave Iraq, before the job is complete, before we fix what we broke, we will dearly pay for it later.
I realize, like many of my Liberal counterparts on the left and far left, that we did go into that country on some bad information. However, unlike them, I realize that we’ve been there too long now, and that country is leaning on us, for us to just walk away and leave them poor people holding the bag, would be tragic mistake of Biblical proportions.
I believe if we left Iraq too fast, it would become a death trap for those people, they need us. We are just now making headway, and if we don’t continue the path we are on, our nation will pay for it, one way or another.
Thoughts and Prayers go out tonight, on this 31 degree night here in the United States, to some very brave Men and Women, who are fighting, so we can have the freedom to blog, to argue, and just general be truly free.
God Bless our troops.
Others: Firedoglake, Associated Press, DownWithTyranny!, Macsmind, INSTAPUTZ and The Strata-Sphere and more via Memeorandum
Wow….. Just wow….
The Story: Clinton Praises Petraeus (via The Caucus)
The quote:
As critical as she is about the Bush administration’s conduct of the Iraq war, Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton gave a relatively rare shout-out to the military’s top man in Baghdad, General David Petraeus, calling him “an extraordinary leader and a wonderful advocate for our military.”
The commanding general, who has been a target of antiwar opponents and liberal groups like Moveon.org, has been a strong supporter of the escalation of American troops in Iraq, a strategy that Mrs. Clinton and Senator Barack Obama have opposed.
But Mrs. Clinton, as a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, has had opportunities to talk and meet with General Petraeus about military matters over the years, and some aides say that she respects his expertise.
At a town hall meeting just now, Mrs. Clinton laid out her plan to withdraw troops from Iraq, noting she would rely on “the best military advice we can get” to devise a “very thoughtful” approach to start removing troops within 60 days of taking office.As she concluded her remarks, she noted that American forces in Iraq were led by “an extraordinary leader and a wonderful advocate of our military.”
Isn’t this the same woman who said to petraeus, that one would have to possess a "willing suspension of disbelief", to believe his testimony?
Of course, we are talking about Democrats here.
Others: Weekly Standard Blog, Spin Cycle and Hot Air
The other large headline in the world of Politics is McCain’s supposed Gaffe about the war on terror. This was posted on the Washington Post’s Blog, or one of them at least. Although, right at the moment, I cannot seem to bring up the Blog, looks like the Washington Post needs to get better hosting for their Blog or better servers.
Of course, the Neo-Conservative apologists are coming out in full force defending John McCain and saying he was right in the first place, armed with talking points galore, they look more like Amway salesman, than they do political pundits.
Whether or not the statement was a gaffe or not, is quite frankly irrelevant in my mind. It overlooks the broader issue, that this so called “war” in Iraq was, in fact, a tragic mistake, that was based upon bad intelligence, some say cooked, I won’t go that far, as I do not know personally, as I was not there. But the fact remains is, President George W. Bush foolishly bought the false intelligence and the Neo-Conservative lie, that we could and would dominate the world through Military might, and now we are living in the great chasm that is the Iraq disaster.
Anyone that sees the war and how we go pulled into this landmine filled field of foolishness, any other way, is, in fact, defending the Neo-Conservative flawed worldview. Heck, even the late William Buckley denounced what Bush was doing as wrong. What more do we need, to believe what has happened in Iraq was wrong?
What amazes me is the ignorance of the people that defend McCain and his continuation of the flawed polices of George W. Bush. They know no bounds, and that worries me, greatly.
Others on this: Crooks and Liars, Chicago Tribune, Gallup, Washington Wire, Think Progress, Townhall.com, AMERICAblog, Associated Press, Matthew Yglesias, DownWithTyranny!, Eschaton, The Moderate Voice, Booman Tribune, American Footprints, Comments from Left Field, Alas, a blog, Hullabaloo, MyDD, Daily Kos and Obsidian Wings and More via Memeorandum
That’s right folks, Five years since this War began…. Unreal.
Looking Back at Five Years in Iraq (via New York Times)
FIVE years on, it seems positively surreal.
On the evening of March 19, 2003, a small group of Western journalists had grandstand seats for the big event in Baghdad, the start of the full-scale American bombing of strategic targets in the Iraqi capital. We had forced a way through a bolted door at the top of an emergency staircase leading to the 21st-story roof of the Palestine Hotel, with a panoramic view of Saddam Hussein’s command complex across the Tigris River.
It has been five years it hardly seems conceivable. However, unfortunately, for the American people, it is a harsh reality of life. It has been five whole years, since the Bush Administration launched a preemptive strike against the sovereign nation of Iraq. This Strike, based upon bad, if not, outright false CIA intelligence. It was termed a “Slam Dunk,” by the then CIA Director George J. Tenet. Tenet resigned when this “Slam Dunk” turned out to be nothing more than a foul ball.
The thing that amazes me is the fact that the Bush Administration continues, to this day, to attempt to move the goalposts in regards to this so-called “War on Terror.” This is really, in all honesty, a case study exercise in fear mongering and Neo-Conservative Propaganda. Just ask Senator Barack Obama; he has been the victim of the fear mongering, and Republican Propaganda, all because of his racial and religious backgrounds. This information was mostly gleaned from white nationalist websites. This information was recycled, and revised to make it sound believable. It was and continues to be distributed by well meaning and very loyal people within the Republican Party and Conservatives who, quite frankly, just do not know any better.
The war however, is dragged on, all but forgotten by the mainstream media, because, I believe, they realized that people were just tired of hearing about the blood and carnage. The right wing camp, says that we are winning the war and that George W. Bush’s “Surge” is working. The reality is, that violence levels are back to down to what they were, before the civil war broke out between the two factions in Iraq. The Republicans call it progress, the rest of us that are still in touch with reality call it returning to pre-civil war levels. Some call it semantics; I prefer to call it a realist observation.
The toll of this war has been more than just physical, more than just dead bodies, although, that is a great part of it, lives ruined, lives lost, families devastated, it is quite the sad affair. However, there is a greater loss, our nation’s economy. A good friend of mine, Matt Gacht, is an auto mechanic; he specializes in working on Hummers. Since this war started, business has been bad, horribly bad. He also has a side business; he does electrical wiring in racecars. Since this war started, the cost of electrical wire has skyrocketed. It does cut into his profit margin. He would raise his rates, but if he does that, he cannot remain competitive. He is not the only person in this business. There are others in the business, people that have much more capital that he does, so, he has to be able to keep up with the big people. Sometimes, Matt Says, he feels like banging his head against the wall, because he feels like he is trapped in a difficult situation. It is tough, but his customers like him, because he takes pride in his work and he is almost disturbingly thorough.
Because I am a balanced person, I can also make this observation. The plain fact of reality is this, if this country pulls out of Iraq too fast. The country will, in fact, fall into chaos. The far left adamantly refuses to believe or accept this and it is quite sad. However, I do not believe that continuing the President’s policy and course will be a wise decision. There needs to be a change, as to what kind of a change? That will have to be decided and hashed out. There will have to be some very tough decisions made. I just hope and yes, I do pray, that there will be some wisdom used, that decisions made based upon facts on the ground and not based upon political ideologies.
Others on this: The Belmont Club and THE ASTUTE BLOGGERS and more via memeorandum
As if this guy couldn’t get any lamer…
This Happens: News Via AP: McCain makes unannounced trip to Iraq (via Yahoo News)
Sen. John McCain, the Republican Party’s presumptive nominee for president who has linked his political future to U.S. success in Iraq, was in Baghdad on Sunday for meetings with Iraqi and U.S. diplomatic and military officials, a U.S. government official said.
Details of McCain’s visit were not being released for security reasons, the U.S. Embassy said.
McCain’s visit was not announced and he was believed to have been in the country for several hours before reporters were able to confirm his arrival. It was unclear who he met with; no media opportunities or news conferences were planned.
McCain, a strong supporter of the U.S. military mission in Iraq, is believed to be staying in the country for about 24 hours.
"Senator McCain is in Iraq and will be meeting with Iraqi and U.S. officials," said Mirembe Nantongo, spokesman for the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad.
Gee, I wonder if he had half of the United States Armed Forces with him this time? I wonder what he said to those people in Iraq, "Well Boys, It looks like we will be here for 100 years. Get used to it."?
Oh, to be a fly on the wall during those meetings!
Others: DownWithTyranny!, Political Punch, Right Wing News and Fausta’s blog and more via Memeorandum
You get tied up and blindfolded like an animal.
Read the story over at the New York Times:
The Baiji refinery, with its distillation towers rising against the Hamrin Mountains, may be the most important industrial site in the Sunni Arab-dominated regions of Iraq. On a good day, 500 tanker trucks will leave the refinery filled with fuel with a street value of $10 million.
The sea of oil under Iraq is supposed to rebuild the nation, then make it prosper. But at least one-third, and possibly much more, of the fuel from Iraq’s largest refinery here is diverted to the black market, according to American military officials. Tankers are hijacked, drivers are bribed, papers are forged and meters are manipulated — and some of the earnings go to insurgents who are still killing more than 100 Iraqis a week.
“It’s the money pit of the insurgency,” said Capt. Joe Da Silva, who commands several platoons stationed at the refinery.
Five years after the war in Iraq began, the insurgency remains a lethal force. The steady flow of cash is one reason, even as the American troop buildup and the recruitment of former insurgents to American-backed militias have helped push the number of attacks down to 2005 levels.
In fact, money, far more than jihadist ideology, is a crucial motivation for a majority of Sunni insurgents, according to American officers in some Sunni provinces and other military officials in Iraq who have reviewed detainee surveys and other intelligence on the insurgency.
Yeah, them Neo-Conservative, Rockefeller-type, Republicans wouldn’t want those pesky jihadists tapping into their oil profits.
You see, we went into that country, based on totally false intelligence, and now the people that don’t think we belong there. The jihadists, who want to defend their land, is now getting their money supply cut off. Do I defend the one’s who blow up our troops? Hell No. But I am realist, that says, if we’d attacked the RIGHT DAMN COUNTRY IN THE FIRST FUCKING PLACE, we wouldn’t be in this situation.
In case anyone forgot, there was a report this week, that said, despite what the feckless, idiot, bastards on the far right want to believe, that there were NO OPERATIONAL ties between Saddam and Al-Qaeda.
Like I’ve said before, we need change, badly. November 2008 cannot came fast enough for me.
Here is the latest Video News headlines from Iraq.
I must confess, I find this most funny. 
Pentagon Report on Saddam’s Iraq Censored? (via Rapid Report)
ABC News’ Jonathan Karl Reports: The Bush Administration apparently does not want a U.S. military study that found no direct connection between Saddam Hussein and al Qaeda to get any attention. This morning, the Pentagon cancelled plans to send out a press release announcing the report’s release and will no longer make the report available online.
The report was to be posted on the Joint Forces Command website this afternoon, followed by a background briefing with the authors. No more. The report will be made available only to those who ask for it, and it will be sent via U.S. mail from Joint Forces Command in Norfolk, Virginia.
It won’t be emailed to reporters and it won’t be posted online.Asked why the report would not be posted online and could not be emailed, the spokesman for Joint Forces Command said: "We’re making the report available to anyone who wishes to have it, and we’ll send it out via CD in the mail."
Another Pentagon official said initial press reports on the study made it "too politically sensitive."
I would guess so, this is like red meat for the left.
If you think that the Democrats won’t use this, for campaign purposes come November, You’re crazy.
Others: Hullabaloo, Donklephant, News Hounds, TPMMuckraker, democracyarsenal.org, The Newshoggers, Liberal Values, Talking Points Memo, Bang the Drum, The Carpetbagger Report and The Washington Independent
He’s gaining by the minute.
Obama Wins Mississippi (via MSNBC)
NBC News declared Barack Obama as the projected winner in the Mississippi primary on Tuesday, the latest in a string of racially polarized contests across the Deep South and a final tune-up before April’s high-stakes race with Hillary Rodham Clinton in Pennsylvania.
Obama was winning roughly 90 percent of the black vote but only about one-third of the white vote, extending a pattern that carried him to victory in earlier primaries in South Carolina, Alabama, Georgia and Louisiana.
I think, considering what Hillary Clinton’s surrogate said about Barack Obama, This is just payback. I mean, Hillary, I believe is trying to cause division in the Democrat Party. I think it’s immature and shows much about her.
Senator Obama did an interview on a special late edition of Hardball with Chris Matthews. He basically repeated his talking points, however, he did answer the nasty stuff said about him very well. That says much about Obama’s character.
Here’s The Video:
Of course, the pundits are saying it was a easy win, because, according to the "Pundits" or as I like to call them, the educated Political idiots, say that it is because of the large African-American Population, which is, in my opinion, simple-minded and short sighted. He won because people believe in the man, is that so hard for the Media to admit that? 
More on the Obama Victory @ Memeorandum