Summer of Goodbyes...

Summer of Goodbyes... :"Residents of Baghdad are systematically being pushed out of the city. Some families are waking up to find a Klashnikov bullet and a letter in an envelope with the words 'Leave your area or else.' The culprits behind these attacks and threats are Sadr’s followers- Mahdi Army. It’s general knowledge, although no one dares say it out loud. In the last month we’ve had two different families staying with us in our house, after having to leave their neighborhoods due to death threats and attacks. It’s not just Sunnis- it’s Shia, Arabs, Kurds- most of the middle-class areas are being targeted by militias."

(Via Baghdad Burning.)

House bill seeks to rescind Iraq war authorization

The Raw Story | House bill seeks to rescind Iraq war authorization: "A piece of legislation sponsored by Democrats in the House of Representatives seeks to withdraw authorization for President George W. Bush to make war in Iraq, RAW STORY has learned.

The Iraq War Powers Repeal Act of 2006, H.R. 5875, was introduced on July 25 by Rep. Lynn Woolsey, a Democrat of California. The bill employs the rationale that since President Bush declared "mission accomplished" in May 2003, the US has been engaged in an occupation, not a war, which Congress never authorized."

(Via Martini Republic.)

Morning Eye-Opener

Morning Eye-Opener: "”But many military analysts say the human toll exacted — hundreds of Lebanese civilians killed and nearly a million displaced — now far outweighs any benefits,” a Chronicle article says. “These kinds of events have far more destructive value to the operation than the military value being achieved,” said Harlan Ullman, a senior adviser at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, who coined the theory of “shock and awe” as a means to establish rapid military dominance — often used to describe America’s initial attack on Iraq."

(Via Martini Republic.)

Qana Massacre...

Qana Massacre...: "I’m so frustrated I can’t think straight. I’m full of rage against Israel, the US, Britain, Iran and most of Europe. The world is going to go to hell for standing by and allowing the massacre of innocents. For God’s sake, 34 children??? The UN is beyond useless. They’ve gone from a union of nations working for the good of the world (if they ever were even that), to a bunch of gravediggers. They’re only good for digging mangled bodies out of the ruins of buildings and helping to identify and put them into mass graves. They won’t stop a massacre- they won’t even speak out against it- they’ll just come by and help clean up the mess. Are the lives of Arabs worth so little? If this had happened in the US or UK or France or China, somebody would already have dropped a nuclear bomb… How is this happening?"

(Via Baghdad Burning.)