Most of the people reading this blog have heard about the disturbingly high suicide rates among our troops and vets from Iraq. (No one seems to be keeping track of the mercenaries, but our country tries to pretend they don't exist.)

Reading a posting a little while back from Gold Star Mom Speaks Out alerted me to another terrible aspect of the Iraq quagmire: military family suicides.

Defense.gov has a big section from a speech by Deborah Mullen, wife of the Chair of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, on the subject:

“As I look at the numbers for each service, the rates have gone up per capita at about the same rate over the past four or five years for every service,” he said. “This isn’t just a ground-force problem.”

Suicide is a growing problem that leaders have to commit to, and experts who study suicide prevention must help those leaders understand the causes, Mullen said. The military’s leaders are eager to implement programs and better prevention measures, he added.

Mullen advocated for better overall training for servicemembers, noting that the military has a tendency to focus on training, whether it’s field or mental fitness, during the deployment-readiness cycle. Training for troops and their family members must start from the day they swear in, he said.

“We have a tendency to cycle [training] to get you ready before you deploy, but I would argue that with where we are right now, we have to have a continuum of readiness that starts to educate families from Day One about the challenges the lie ahead, the information that is available [and] the networks that are out there in these challenging times, so that we can hopefully avoid crisis,” he said.

Suicide among military family members also is a growing concern for the military. Deborah Mullen said that although much focus has been given to suicide prevention for servicemembers and assistance for survivors of suicide victims, more must be done for the families. Family members also need training to build resilience and learn how to deal with the stress of deployments, she said.

“There’s another side to this, and that’s family members who’ve committed suicide,” she said. “It’s our responsibility. These are our family members.”

Families are under great stress, too, she said, noting that watching their loved ones deploy repeatedly can be equally as strenuous on families at it is on the deploying servicemembers.

“I think we need to realize that we have families that are under such great stress,” the chairman’s wife said. “This stress is only going to continue. We need to be able to give tools to family members who are left behind.

“I hope the families are something you will look at as you work through these really challenging problems,” she told the audience. “We do have family members that we need to be aware of, and we need to get our arms around the number of suicide attempts and actual suicides and the impact on the family.”

Gold Star Mom brings up an additional point that we all need to take into account:

I'm pretty sure that most parents who get that knock on the door consider suicide as one of their options, if only briefly, during those difficult days after they receive the terrible news of the death of their child. I know of too many parents who want to crawl inside at the first view of the flag covered coffin. One more hug, one more embrace. If only they could trade their life for their child's.

Please do not forget the Gold Star parents!

We need to think about the human costs of wars before we start them so glibly.

 

Photo: TheTruthAbout...

36% of Americans view socialism favorably.

You know who is making socialism more popular? The American Right.

First, you have all these hateful rightists going on about how Obama is a "socialist." They should research what a socialist actually is. If they did, they would realize that a conservative politician like President Obama is far from a socialist. However, the nuts who keep saying this don't realize that they are having an unintended impact on our society.

The far right's policies and attitudes have driven our country into a ditch. The rightists' behavior gets more erratic and bizarre with each passing day. They are understandably unpopular among reasonable people. So, anything they throw tantrums over will get a favorable looking over these days.

Also, the right fringe is fond of referring to a lot of things that aren't socialist as being so. Here are some of them.

- Increasing taxes on the rich

- Bringing back strong regulation of the financial markets

- Taxing unearned Wall St. bonuses

- Unemployment insurance

- Repealing NAFTA and withdrawing from the World Trade Organization

All of these things are liberal policies that are alternatives both to socialism and to the positions of the right. All of these things are perfectly reasonable, and they all have strong historical track records. When the ignorant right refers to these things as "socialism," the expected result is that socialism starts looking really good.

The right is rebranding socialism in a way that helps to sell it. If the right doesn't want the general public to start looking into real socialism and start thinking about actually becoming socialist, the smart thing would be to shut up about the whole socialism thing.

Wouldn't it be weird if Glenn Beck and Rush Limbaugh ended up being instrumental in turning America into a socialist country?

 

During the first year of his administration, Barack Obama followed Bush regime policies in most major areas, while making a number of small concessions to try to mollify Democratic voters. Here are some examples of major policy continuity:

1) Increasing total occupying forces in Iraq (troops plus mercenaries)

2) Continuing the policy of kidnapping people and sending them to other countries to be tortured ("extraordinary rendition")

3) Keeping the torture center in Guantanamo open

4) Expanding the Bush regime's hate based initiatives to take federal grant money from inclusive nonprofits and give it to nonprofits that discriminate on the basis of religion.

5) Continuing the policy of creating AFRICOM.

6) Refusing to withdraw from the World Trade Organization

7) Refusing to negotiate the end of corporate controlled trade agreements such as NAFTA

8) Attending "National Prayer Breakfasts"

9) Expaning the wars in Pakistan and Afghanistan

10) Supporting a huge corporate giveaway in the name of "healthcare reform" (remember the Bush regime's Medicare changes?)

11) Refusing to support legislation cracking down on bankster and brokester bonuses.

12) Continuing illegal spying on Americans without warrants.

I could go on, and on, and on, but you get the point. This year's administration budget proposal includes some important continuity with the Bush regime. Obama wants domestic spending (including veterans benefits) frozen while continuing enormous increases of military spending. The proposal does nothing to cut off funding for the illegal war on Iraq that goes against American values.

Yet, there is an aspect of the budget that actually does represent a major break with the policies of the Bush regime. President Obama is calling for Bush's tax cuts for the rich to expire. Even when the tax breaks expire, the parasitical rich in this country won't be paying anywhere near their fair share in taxes. But, any progress in this area is critically important. It represents a break with 30 years of corrupt policies that have robbed the poor and middle class to benefit wealthy campaign donors.

We need to pressure President Obama to break with more Bush regime policies. This is a good start, but Obama has a long way to go before he can call himself a Real Democrat.

 

Here are a couple of dumb "Obamacare" signs for your perusal.


Photo: Ken_Mayer


Photo: xavierla


The extreme right is in a tizzy over "Obamacare," and they are allowing their most primal fears paint a bizarre picture of this perceived monster. However, there is one huge problem with this that most people throughout the political spectrum haven't addressed: Obamacare doesn't exist.

President Obama has largely been an absentee landlord over the whole healthcare debate. He's let the Senate's Phonycrat leaders decide the substance of the proposals with disastrous results. Instead of producing a real healthcare reform bill (a.k.a. Single Payer) or a compromise bill (a.k.a. the Public Option), there has been an incredibly corrupt wealthcare bill for the HMOs, the health insurers, Big Pharma, and their wealthy investors. Obama has very few fingerprints on the actual legislation.

Obama campaigned on a Public Option, not taxing employee health benefits, and on no fines for people who can't afford astronomical health insurance premiums that exceed actual healthcare costs by enormous margins. Yet, the final bill was just the opposite. It also included devastating cuts for Medicare and unconscionable restrictions on abortion.

President Obama's failure to make his own healthcare proposal and his refusal to involve himself in the substance of the Senate debate created huge political problems for himself and the Democrats. The final bill was even worse than what we have now, which is no small accomplishment. Also, letting the Senate's deal making culture decide the substance of the legislation meant that ordinary Americans had no way of knowing what would be in legislation that would have a huge impact on their lives. The reason many people felt the process was moving too fast is because nobody has been able to calmly and slowly say what the bill was going to contain.

Grassroots Democrats in Massachusetts stayed home en masse because Obama and the Senate Democrats governed so much like Republicans on healthcare and so many other issues that a clear message was sent that the votes of liberal Democrats simply do not matter. If the Democratic politicians don't start governing like Democrats, November will be a disaster for them.

The next time someone in the media or politics rants about "Obamacare," they should be facing universal ridicule and scorn. "Obamacare" is as fake as Bigfoot and the Loch Ness Monster.

 

Photo: kin0be

We are used to thinking of Islam as threatening here in the US. But, Islam can be as dull as Christianity. Here's a Quran quote a Muslim put up on a Facebook group for atheists.

O men! serve your Lord Who created you and those before you so that you may guard (against evil).Who made the earth a resting place for you and the heaven a canopy and (Who) sends down rain from the cloud then brings forth with it subsistence for you of the fruits; therefore do not set up rivals to Allah while you know.And if you are in doubt as to that which We have revealed to Our servant, then produce a chapter like it and call on your witnesses besides Allah if you are truthful.But if you do (it) not and never shall you do (it), then be on your guard against the fire of which men and stones are the fuel; it is prepared for the unbelievers. The Holy Coran(2 verse 22;23;24;25

If you can read the whole thing without nodding off or skimming, you are far more patient than I.


Photo: davinaware

 

Sarah Palin was starting to resemble some kind of warped genius, being able to be wrong about so many things in a row. Now, she's broken her 1.000 fallibility batting average by saying something reasonable. (From the Seattle Press Intelligencer 2/2/10)

Emanuel has now drawn an elegant, sanctimonious expression of wrath from former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin.

The 2008 Republican vice presidential nominee has gone so far as to suggest that the White House tough guy -- he once trained with the Israeli army -- be fired.

Palin has also drawn blood.

Emanuel has apologized for a remark, quoted last week in the Wall Street Journal, in which he called liberal Democrats "(bleepin') retarded."

With her December put down of former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee -- who pardoned a felon who would go on to murder four Lakewood, Wash. police officers -- Palin showed she has combat instincts of a mongoose.

"Just as we'd be appalled if any public figure of Rahm's stature ever used the 'N-word' or other such inappropriate language, Rahm's slur on all God's children with cognitive and developmental disabilities -- and the people who love them -- is unacceptable, and it's heartbraking," Palin wrote.

Of course, she is wrong about any people being "God's children." There is no "God" to have children. But, that is a rather minor point in this case, especially since it is such a common error.

She's still doing worse than a stopped clock, but she isn't quite as scary about being wrong as before.

Part of the reason why Emanuel has been such an ineffectual Chief of Staff for this administration is that he holds the overwhelming majority of Democratic voters in utter contempt. Even worse, he has used the developmentally disabled as cannon fodder in an attempt to intimidate and offend the vast majority of people who voted for Obama in 2008. Hateful and foolish is a rather accurate way to describe this abysmal failure.

The Dissident Voice is calling for Emanuel to go, based on ethics and policy problems.

Where should Obama start? He should start with his first appointment, the White House Chief of Staff, Rahm Emanuel. Emanuel embodies corporate power; the former head of the corporate Democratic Leadership Council has been a corporate, militarist Democrat throughout his career and his politics have cost the Democratic Party repeatedly. He was the architect of NAFTA in 1993, resulting in unions staying home in 1994 and the Democrats losing 54 House seats. As anti-war sentiment raged in 2006, Emanuel, then head of the DCCC, recruited pro-war Democrats. The result, only nine of his hand picked 22 candidates won almost costing the Democrats the majority in a year they should have won a landslide. His unimpressive track record has continued with the Dems going 0 for 3 since Obama took office. Keep Emanuel in the leadership and 2010 will be a Democratic Party disaster.

He is wrong on the issues because of his personal and corporate connections. Emanuel is the bankers lobby favorite. He was the top recipient of donations from hedge funds, private equity, investment and securities firms when he served in Congress. Personally, he earned $18 million in 2.5 years between government jobs at a hedge fund firm. He served on the board of Freddie Mac from 2000-2001 when its decision making helped bring on the housing crisis. It is no surprise that health care reform turned into an insurance company giveaway, while banking reform is giving Wall Street everything it wants and the foreclosure crisis continues unabated.

Emanuel is also a hawk. His father was an Irgun terrorist for Zionists. Emanuel volunteered for the Israeli Defense Forces during the first Gulf War while serving in Congress. He endorsed Obama after the candidate gave a hawkish, pro-Israel speech before the right-wing Israeli lobby, AIPAC, and then introduced Obama to their executive board of major donors. In 2006, when the Democrats won with a mandate to end the war Emanuel made sure ending the war was off the table. It is not surprising he is chief of staff of a White House that has broken all war spending records and has escalated militarism around the globe.

When is Obama going to go ahead and fire a political hack who is destroying this administration?

 

Fundamentalist Christian hate can be very dangerous. It also can be very funny. Enjoy these readings of hate mail from people who love Jesusing at us atheists.

These two are from mail sent to Richard Dawkins.





Christian fundamentalists post funny hate comments on YouTube pages too. Time for more giggles.

The so called "National Prayer Breakfast" always has bothered me. Here's Wikipedia's description of it.

The National Prayer Breakfast is a yearly event held in Washington, D.C., on the first Thursday of February each year. The founder of this event was Abraham Vereide.[1] The event—which is actually a series of meetings, luncheons, and dinners—has taken place since 1953 and has been held at least since the 1980s at the Washington Hilton on Connecticut Avenue N.W.

The breakfast, held in the Hilton’s International Ballroom, is attended by some 3,500 guests, including international invitees from over 100 countries. The National Prayer Breakfast is hosted by members of the United States Congress and is organized on their behalf by The Fellowship Foundation, a conservative Christian organization more widely known as "The Family." Initially called the Presidential Prayer Breakfast, the name was changed in 1970 to the National Prayer Breakfast.

It is designed to be a forum for political, social and business leaders of the world to assemble together and build relationships which might not otherwise be possible. ("[T]he breakfast is regarded by the Family as merely a tool in a larger purpose: to recruit the powerful attendees into smaller, more frequent prayer meetings, where they can 'meet Jesus man to man.'"[2]) Since the inception of the National Prayer Breakfast, several U.S. states and cities and other countries have established their own annual prayer breakfast events.

The event has been criticized by organizations such as American Atheists and the Freedom From Religion Foundation,[3] who describe it as violating separation of church and state.

The name of the event makes it sound like a government function, and it also brings politicians and preachers together in ways that endanger the Constitution while endangering queers and atheists. The Family also runs the infamous C Street house, which provides DC lodging for slutty fundamentalist politicians who attack the sex lives of others.

This year there is an especially troubling guest, and member of "The Family" whose nickname makes one think of an organized crime organization. David Bahati, author of Ugandan legislation calling for the execution of queers, is going to attend. From the International LGBT Issues Examiner 1/17/10:

David Bahati, author of Uganda's Anti-Homosexuality Bill, confirmed on Friday that he will attend the National Prayer Breakfast at the Washington Hilton in Washington, D.C. on February 4, according to a report in The Daily Monitor. In fact, he may be a featured speaker.

The annual event is organized by The Family, of which Bahati is a member, and raises over $1 million for the group. Every U.S. President since Ronald Reagan has attended the National Prayer Breakfast, along with nearly every member of Congress and foreign dignitaries. Past speakers have included Mother Teresa, Bono, and Tony Blair.

President Obama attended last year and is expected to attend this year as well. The Daily Monitor described Obama as "a gays-tolerant liberal president," as if he were someone to be tolerated by Bahati.

Americans United for Separation of Church and State has issued a 2/2/10 press release taking a stand against the hateful stance of the National Prayer Breakfast's sponsor.

Americans United for Separation of Church and State today deplored the intolerant agenda of “The Family,” a secretive Religious Right group that sponsors the annual National Prayer Breakfast.

At a Washington, D.C., press conference this morning, the Rev. Barry W. Lynn, Americans United executive director, joined religious leaders in criticizing The Family for its ties to David Bahati, a Ugandan legislator who is pushing a draconian anti-gay law.

The Family, also known as the Fellowship Foundation, sponsors the National Prayer Breakfast, which attracts the president and a large number of members of Congress each year, as well as foreign dignitaries. According to researcher Jeff Sharlet, Bahati is a member of The Family.

Lynn called on President Barack Obama, who is scheduled to attend the prayer breakfast, to condemn the Ugandan proposal, which calls for the execution of gays and the imprisonment of those who promote homosexuality.

“We’re no longer shrugging over the National Prayer Breakfast,” Lynn said. “Rather, we’re taking a closer look at the group behind it and the alarming agenda that it brings and the consequences it spawns in Uganda and around the world. We deplore what we see, and people of goodwill should never be afraid to say it loudly.”

The event has become highly controversial in the queer community, as one would expect. It also has come under the scrutiny of the government ethics watchdog group, Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics In Washington, which is calling on elected officials, including President Obama, to avoid the event.

Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) urged President Obama and all members of Congress not to attend this year’s National Prayer Breakfast, scheduled for February 4, 2010. The breakfast, designed to appear as if government-sanctioned, actually serves as a meeting and recruiting event for the shadowy Fellowship Foundation.

The Fellowship, also known as “The Foundation” and “The Family,” is run by Doug Coe, a spiritual advisor to past government officials who uses the organization to push his unorthodox brand of Christianity within government circles. The Fellowship operates the infamous C Street House, a congressional residence and meeting place on Capitol Hill that has been a frequent haunt of some ethically challenged elected officials, including Sens. John Ensign (R-NV) and Tom Coburn (R-OK), Rep. Todd Tiahrt (R-KS) and former-Rep. and now-Gov. Mark Sanford (R-SC).

The organization operates under an intense veil of secrecy, staying largely out of the public eye and hiding its donors’ identities. The Fellowship has used its government clout to facilitate backdoor meetings between U.S. and foreign officials, improperly claimed tax exempt status for the C Street House, and has persuaded members of Congress, including Sen. James Inhofe (R-OK) to conduct Fellowship-sanctioned evangelizing while traveling at taxpayer expense. Members of the Fellowship also have been involved with legislation in Uganda calling for the death penalty for gays.

Melanie Sloan, CREW’s executive director, said, “The National Prayer Breakfast uses the suggested imprimatur of the elected leaders who attend to give the Fellowship greater credibility and facilitate its networking and fundraising.” Sloan continued, “The president and members of Congress should not legitimatize this cult-like group – the head of which has praised the organizing abilities of Hitler and Bin Laden – by attending the breakfast.”

These prayer breakfasts violate the principal of open government just as strongly as they violate state/church separation. You know a lot of dirty dealings must be going on with a gathering of so many politicians and so many fundamentalist preachers and so many CEOs and no cameras.

Corruption always has gone along with religious extremism, especially secretive religious extremism. There already are too many sleazy corporate interests secretly influencing politicians without this additional threat to our democracy. Even worse, corporate leaders get in on the secret access to elected officials who are supposed to represent all of their constituents, not just the greedy and the zeolous.

The fact that this event is run by the cult that runs the C Street hostel for horny, hypocritical religious extremists would make it questionable enough. When someone who is behind legislation to murder queers has been invited, there is simply no excuse for any elected official to show up.

Updates:

1) Noted woman hater Tim Tebow will be attending this hatefest.

2) The Freedom From Religion Foundation is calling for President Obama to avoid the event too.

3) American Atheists is wants the President and members of Congress to stay away.

 

If you have been reading this blog for a while, you know that I have lots of problems with the Obama Administration and the Senate Democratic leadership continuing the Bush regime's policy goals on most issues. Well, it turns out that I'm not the only liberal or progressive that is losing patience with this.

Cornell West expresses his frustrations with President Obama very diplomatically, but very powerfully. (Hat Tip: GDAEman)

Last week, 13 activists were arrested protesting US militarism in front of the White House. I think a lot of people were under the impression that they would be able to stop protesting once Obama was elected. Wrong.

Speaking of protesting, doctors supporting single payers got arrested in an act of civil disobedience outside of the hotel where Obama and House Goppers had their little spat. From the 1/29/10 Single Payer Action press release:

During his State of the Union speech on Wednesday, Obama said he wanted to hear from people on a better approach to health care reform that will “bring down premiums, bring down the deficit, cover the uninsured, strengthen Medicare for seniors and stop insurance company abuses.”

“Let me know, let me know, let me know. I’m eager to see it,” Obama said.

Flowers, Paris and the majority of doctors and nurses in America believe that approach is a single payer national health insurance system.

Obama himself, when he was a state Senator in Illinois in 2003, said single payer was the way to go.

But last year, he cut deals with the pharmaceutical and health insurance industries in a now failed attempt to get through tinkering reforms.

Obama is so used to Republican critics who can't answer challenges on policy alternatives that he thinks that his critics on the left can't either.

Matthew Rothschild at The Progressive is so disgusted with the way this administration is going that he has called for the firing of Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel. Firing Rahm would be a good start, but Gates, Clinton, Geitner, and Summers should not be forgotten when discussing Obama administration officials who should get canned.

Cindy Sheehan is doing a great job articulating frustrations with the Obama administration on her blog. Dean Baker is taking Obama to the rhetorical woodshed for supporting tax credits that would give businesses incentives for hiring fewer workers. Noam Chomsky is fond of referring to "Brand Obama." (Hat Tip: After Downing Street)



Tengrain at Mock, Paper, Scissors has a more snarky approach to describing the anger that liberals feel towards this administration. I highly recommend it.

Many partisan Democrats will urge us to be infinitely patient with President Obama. Liberals and progressives were told the same thing with Bill Clinton, and he acted like a horrible, far right Republican his entire administration. Fool us once, shame on you. Fool us twice, shame on us.

In 1993 and 1994, Bill Clinton and the Democratic leadership in the House and Senate played a sick game of chicken with the party base, practically daring them to stay home or vote Green. We all remember what happened in 1994. It happened again this month in Massachusetts.

 

The White House and Congress should be working overtime to reduce unemployment. Rep. Dennis Kucinich, an Ohio Real Democrat, is doing just that. Check out this 1/26/10 press release: (Hat Tip: Dandelion Salad)

Kucinich Plan to Create One Million Permanent Job Opportunities

Washington D.C., Jan 26 -
Congressman Dennis Kucinich (D-OH) will soon introduce legislation to create one million permanent job opportunities for unemployed workers by temporarily reducing the minimum age for Social Security early retirement benefits.

“Many older workers can’t wait to retire, while many younger workers desperately need work. My plan enables older workers to take early retirement, thereby freeing up those jobs for younger workers who are currently unemployed. If just 25% of eligible workers choose to retire early, we can very quickly open one million job opportunities. These are not temporary jobs, but permanent jobs that already exist in our economy, even under the current recessionary circumstances,” said Kucinich.

Nearly 70 percent of workers elect to take early retirement under current rules, which allow eligible individuals to begin receiving a reduced Social Security benefit starting at age 62. The Kucinich Plan would reduce the eligibility age to 60 for the first million workers who want to take advantage of an earlier retirement date.

The cost to the federal government of the expanded early retirement option would be less than $15 billion. The plan will impose no additional costs to Social Security, since individuals electing to take Expanded Early Retirement will receive a Social Security benefit, paid for entirely by money already appropriated to deal with the financial crisis. The Kucinich Plan also addresses the health insurance of these workers by expanding the federal COBRA subsidy passed as part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.

“While many workers want to retire because their jobs are physically demanding, they continue to work for financial or health reasons. For these workers, an early retirement can be a welcome relief. Decades ago the United Auto Workers negotiated with the auto companies to secure early retirement and it was considered to be an advancement of social progress. My plan is a cost-effective way to create job opportunities for younger workers while making it possible for older workers to retire at 60 with the equivalent of their social security early retirement benefit,” said Kucinich.

This is the kind of fresh, clever thinking we need in DC. Obviously, this proposal alone is not enough to solve all of our employment problems, but it is a major step towards helping people who really need it. Politicians in both parties should support it, since there is no added cost to doing it.

Photo: abstract plain
 

A lot of people on the right are so stubborn or gullible that they still want to pretend that the Bush regime went into Iraq because of the 911 attacks. Never mind the facts that the Iraqi government was not involved; Saddam Hussein's government and Al Qaeda were mortal enemies; and no individual Iraqis were involved with the attacks.

Now, we know that the Bush regime and its poodle, Tony Blair, worked to overthrow the Iraqi government before the 911 attacks even happened. From The Independent 2/1/10: (Hat Tip: Citizens for Legitimate Government)

A secret plan to foster an internal coup against Saddam Hussein was drawn up by the Government two years before the invasion of Iraq, The Independent can reveal.

Whitehall officials drafted the "contract with the Iraqi people" as a way of signalling to dissenters in Iraq that an overthrow of Saddam would be supported by Britain. It promised aid, oil contracts, debt cancellations and trade deals once the dictator had been removed. Tony Blair's team saw it as a way of creating regime change in Iraq even before the 9/11 attack on New York.

The document, headed "confidential UK/US eyes", was finalised on 11 June 2001 and approved by ministers. It has not been published by the Iraq inquiry but a copy has been obtained by The Independent and can be revealed for the first time today. It states: "We want to work with an Iraq which respects the rights of its people, lives at peace with its neighbours and which observes international law.

"The Iraqi people have the right to live in a society based on the rule of law, free from repression, torture and arbitrary arrest; to enjoy respect for human rights, economic freedom and prosperity," the contract reads. "The record of the current regime in Iraq suggests that its priorities remain elsewhere.

"Those who wish to promote change in Iraq deserve our support," it concludes. "We look forward to the day when Iraq rejoins the international community." A new regime was to be offered "debt rescheduling" through the Paris Club, an informal group of the richest 19 economies, given help from the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund and handed an EU aid and trade deal. Companies were to be invited to invest in its oil fields. A "comprehensive retraining programme" was to be offered to Iraqi professionals.

There is an investigation into the Iraq War going on in the UK which is revealing all sorts of things. There really needs to be a similar investigation here in the US to reveal all the lies and fraud that got us into the illegal war on Iraq that goes against all American values.