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MSNBC was covering John McCain s speech in front of a Latino conference this morning when he was interrupted by two anti-war protesters. (at about the 1:10 mark) MSNBC s Alex Witt, while speaking off the cuff during a live event, mischaracterized the women as hecklers. Download | Play Download | Play Protester: Your silence is consent to war crimes! McCain has been met with protest before in this campaign and it won t be last time he hears strong opposition from the American people on his war. He likes to talk about the freedoms our troops provide us, but on the Straight Talk Express, free speech is limited to those who agree with him and President Bush. Also note how McCain states that he didn t learn to love the United States until he went to Viet Nam.

Download | Play Download | Play (h/t Heather) Brandon Friedman of VoteVets appeared on Countdown on Wednesday to give his reaction to McCain s comments that it wasn t too important to consider bringing home the troops from Iraq. Normally, the military is a pretty safe demographic for the Republican party at election time, but if Friedman is at all representative, I think it s safe to say all bets are off this year. The tone-deaf and callous way in which McCain refers to the sacrifices made by the troops can t win him any votes from those stop-lossed from coming home to their families. We’ve come to not expect a lot from George W. Bush. But when you have a veteran like John McCain, who has gone through so much in Vietnam, you really expect a lot more out of him because the way you see it, as a soldier, or Marine or Airman or whatever, is that John McCain should know better. You know, he’s been in our shoes. He’s had it worst than most of us. You know? But he should know better. And for those of us who’ve been there, who’ve lived through this, we just would expect a lot more and it really saddens us you know, to see this happen. Because there are thousands and thousands of veterans who just disagree with him on this. [..] We’ve been in war too. And we know what it’s like. And he doesn’t get a free pass, especially from us, because we hold him to a higher standard and all I can say is, is we respect John McCain’s service, all we ask in return is that he respect ours. And for many of the people I talk to, who are on active-duty or who have just come off active-duty, who have served over there, we don’t feel we’re getting that a lot of the time. Transcripts below the fold: OLBERMANN: How do veterans, how do veterans’ families feel when they hear that the man who wants to be the next Commander in Chief does not think it’s too important when they come home? FRIEDMAN: Keith, this is a morale crusher. Um, you know, if you can imagine, say a sergeant, whose on his third tour, and he’s in the fourteenth month of that tour, and he hears the potential president saying something like this. It kills morale. Um, you know, the troops are over there and you know, I’ve been there, I’ve had to deal with this—but the troops over there hang on every word they hear from a leader, you know especially the Commander in Chief, but also someone who could be the Commander in Chief. And when they hear something like this, you know, it really…it really kills them on the inside, because you know, their families want them home, they want to come home, or you know, focus on the real Global War on Terror elsewhere. But this is…this is really killer when you hear something like this. OLBERMANN: What I hear, when I hear from servicemen or I talk to vets, more than anything else is their astonishment when generals or veterans like McCain or “the brass” to use the general term there, don’t get it. That of all people, these are the ones they naively thought would understand risk and sacrifice. Does it, does it matter more that they are abandoned by a John McCain, who did serve as opposed to a George Bush, who did not? FRIEDMAN: Absolutely, Keith. We’ve come to not expect a lot from George W. Bush. But when you have a veteran like John McCain, who has gone through so much in Vietnam, you really expect a lot more out of him because the way you see it, as a soldier, or Marine or Airman or whatever, is that John McCain should know better. You know, he’s been in our shoes. He’s had it worst than most of us. You know? But he should know better. And for those of us who’ve been there, who’ve lived through this, we just would expect a lot more and it really saddens us you know, to see this happen. Because there are thousands and thousands of veterans who just disagree with him on this. OLBERMANN: And the Lieberman reaction—or the reaction to his reaction, where basically he referenced McCain’s status as veteran, as POW, as war hero as carte blanche for the excuse for this, as if McCain is immune to military criticism simply because he was a POW, that the merits can’t even be discussed. Then that reminds me of every bit of Army red tape I’ve ever heard of or every bit of censorship that a military sometimes invokes in a times of war, relative to its own personnel. FRIEDMAN: Absolutely. You know, we all respect John McCain’s service, but he’s not the only person who’s suffered in war. We have troops coming back from this war who are quadriplegics, who’ve been maimed, who’ve had to go through so much. And you know, it doesn’t give him a carte blanche reason to say something like that. He doesn’t get a free pass. You know, we’ve been over there too. We’ve been in war too. And we know what it’s like. And he doesn’t get a free pass, especially from us, because we hold him to a higher standard and all I can say is, is we respect John McCain’s service, all we ask in return is that he respect ours. And for many of the people I talk to, who are on active-duty or who have just come off active-duty, who have served over there, we don’t feel we’re getting that a lot of the time.

Virginia Senator Jim Webb appeared on The Daily Show last night to promote his new book, A Time to Fight, but ended up spending the entire interview wondering with Jon how anyone could possibly vote against his 21st century GI Bill, John McCain included. Download | Play Download | Play (h/t Heather) [John McCain] is fine voting for 600 billion dollars to send these people off, the least we can do is give them a chance at a first-class future when they get home. The taxpayers of America paid for every penny of John McCain s education and they paid for every penny of my education. The least we can do is to give these people the chance at a first-class future.

He told the troops to keep quiet in voicing their opinions when it comes to the presidential race: The highest-ranking U.S. military officer has written an unusual open letter to all those in uniform, warning them to stay out of politics as the United States approaches a presidential election in which the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan will be a central, and certainly divisive, issue. Keeping our politics private is a good first step, he added. The only things we should be wearing on our sleeves are our military insignia. Mullen said he was inspired to write the essay after receiving a constant stream of legitimate, if troubling, questions while visiting U.S. military personnel around the world, including, What if a Democrat wins? and, What will that do to the mission in Iraq? But I don t buy that line because Kyra Phillips reported that: Download | Play Download | Play CNN’s Kyra Phillips speaks to some Iraqi soldiers about the U.S. presidential election and democracy in Iraq. While they spoke enthusiastically about the American soldiers teaching them discipline and how to effectively combat their enemies in Iraq, the soldiers were less effusive in their praise for those managing the war and their plans for bringing about democracy. Phillips tried in vain to locate any McCain supporters among the group. “Just to be perfectly clear here, I did ask them are you following any of the republican candidates?…Do you want to talk about John McCain? Within that whole group, not one wanted a republican in the US presidential seat. They were all for a democrat. They were all for that type of change because they said they were living a republican war.” We all know that they keep an eye out on the media and do not want to see any more reports like this one. What say you?

After Jim Webb s historic 21st Century GI Bill passed both houses of Congress overwhelmingly last week, McSame apologists are coming out in full force as they try to explain why the two of them support the far inferior bill being offered by Senator Lindsey Graham. So when The New York Times published a scathing op-ed chiding President Bush for his absence of leadership on this crucial issue, who better to defend the administration than the stooges from FOX and Friends ? In this particularly egregious example of White House shilling, the entire panel uncritically advances Bush-approved talking points, while Brian Kilmeade argues that this GI Bill is different from the WWII-era one because these troops volunteered, and therefore don t deserve the same benefits. Download | Play Download | Play (h/t Bill W) After all this is different. People point to, Well, look what they did after World War II. Well, after World War II, people were conscripted. They said You’re joining. They said for doing that and winning the war, here’s a college education. Now people are saying I want to be a military person. I am signing on in a volunteer force. Kilmeade s argument is so full of holes, it s hard to know where to begin. On a funnier note, Bill W. writes: How bad is it when you need Brian Kilmeade to help you pronounce vitriolic ? Gawd they are all so stupid. Agreed, Bill.

Jim Webb, (who is one of my picks for VP) makes an excellent case for his GI Bill on MTP this morning and calls out the GOP on their negligent behavior and the threatened Bush veto. John McCain and George Bush say they support the troops, but when it comes to stepping up and doing something tangible, they are striking out. How dare they say these benefits are too costly when we re spending millions of dollars a day to occupy Iraq? And as Webb says, this will be used on the campaign trail. And a watered down substitute by McCain and his pal Graham is not the solution. Download | Play Download | Play Webb: No president in history has, has vetoed a, a benefits bill for those who ve served. So on the one hand, we have this rhetoric, which goes to what I was writing saying, This is the next greatest generation, these guys are so great. And then we see this president, he s fine with sending these people over and over again where they re spending more time in Iraq than they are at home. He s fine with the notion of stop loss, where we can, we can make people stay in even after enlistments are done. And then we say, Give them the same benefit that the people in World War II have, and they say it s too expensive. Think Progress has more: The Pentagon has suggested that Webb’s bill is too generous in conferring benefits to soldiers after “only” two years of service. However, as Webb pointed out, soldiers would still have to finish their enlistment term. What’s more, as a recent CBO report showed, any loss in reenlistment rates is entirely made up for by increased military recruits. Full transcript via MTP below the fold: SEN. WEBB: I introduced this G.I. bill my first day in office. The idea was to give to people who d been serving since 9/11 the same educational benefits, the same right to a first-class future as those who served in World War II. We, we started working hard on this bipartisan, nonpartisan, hopefully; we have now got 58 sponsors in the Senate, 300 sponsors in the House of Representatives, and a, and a good number of the, you know, the thinking Republicans have moved to us. And now the president says he s going to veto this bill. No president in history has, has vetoed a, a benefits bill for those who ve served. So on the one hand, we have this rhetoric, which goes to what I was writing saying, This is the next greatest generation, these guys are so great. And then we see this president, he s fine with sending these people over and over again where they re spending more time in Iraq than they are at home. He s fine with the notion of stop loss, where we can, we can make people stay in even after enlistments are done. And then we say, Give them the same benefit that the people in World War II have, and they say it s too expensive. So I think the Republican Party is, you know, is, is on the block here to, to clearly demonstrate that they value military service or suffer the consequences of losing the support of people who ve, who ve served. MR. RUSSERT: The Pentagon, the administration and other editorials across the country have said the problem with the bill is that if, after three years people can leave with full benefits, it ll be very difficult to retain good soldiers, to have them re-enlist. SEN. WEBB: Well, I, I would say to them that three years of accumulated service qualify you for the benefits, but you still have to serve your enlistment. I spent five years in the Pentagon one as a Marine, four as a defense executive. I did manpower issues the whole time; I know how these formulas work. We have, as co-sponsors on this bill, John Warner, former chairman of the Armed Services Committee; Carl Levin, current chairman of the Armed Services committee; Chairman Akaka of the Veterans committee; Senator Specter, former chairman of the, the Veterans committee; Chuck Hagel, the only senator to have served as a senior official in the Veterans Administration. We know what we re doing and, and we are not going to harm the military. What you have is 70 to 75 percent of the ground troops in the, in the Army, in the Marine Corps, have left the service by the end of their first enlistment. And those are the people that are not being taken care of. The Department of Defense does a very good job of taking care of the, the career force, but this large number of people, the overwhelming majority of people who are out of the military, that come in because they love their country, they do a hitch and then they want to get on with their lives, they are not getting the opportunity for a first-class future that they deserve. MR. RUSSERT: Will this bill, you think, if the president vetoes it, be an issue in the campaign? The presidential campaign? SEN. WEBB: I, I would say the president really has a choice here and to, to show how much he values military service. And if he were to veto this bill, I can t see how it would not become an issue in the campaign. What we want to do is get a bill and I ve been, I ve been trying to keep the politics out of it. I ve working been working really hard to keep the politics out of it. We want to get a bill where Democrats and Republicans can come together. And I ve, I ve listened to all the veterans organizations, I ve, I ve listened to other members of Congress and, and made modifications in this bill, and I think it s a very fair bill.

Bloomberg reported this week on yet another devastating and deadly aspect of the war in Iraq: the U.S. troops, burdened with post-traumatic stress, who commit suicide. The number of suicides among veterans of wars in Iraq and Afghanistan may exceed the combat death toll because of inadequate mental health care, the U.S. government s top psychiatric researcher said. Community mental health centers, hobbled by financial limits, haven t provided enough scientifically sound care, especially in rural areas, said Thomas Insel, director of the National Institute of Mental Health in Bethesda, Maryland. He briefed reporters today at the American Psychiatric Association s annual meeting in Washington. Insel echoed a Rand Corporation study published last month that found about 20 percent of returning U.S. soldiers have post- traumatic stress disorder or depression, and only half of them receive treatment. hilzoy added: The Rand study (pdf) also found that of the roughly half of Iraq and Afghanistan veterans who had PTSD, major depression, or a probable traumatic brain injury and who sought treatment, just over half received a minimally adequate treatment. (p. xxii) Some things in life are hard. But getting the number of vets who get minimally adequate treatment over 50% is not one of them. You train the doctors. If those treatments cost more, you provide the money. You do what you need to do to make sure that when someone walks in the door looking for help, s/he finds it.

On Sunday s 60 Minutes, Katie Couric explored the unanswered questions that still surround Pat Tillman s death more than 4 years after he was killed in a friendly-fire incident in Afghanistan. Download | Play Download | Play Full report on the 60 Min website. One part that stands out is when Couric asks Pete Geren, the new Secretary of the Army, about eyewitness statements that had been altered to falsely show that Tillman had been engaged with the enemy at the time of his death. He replied, Well, that s one of the questions that we will never completely answer. That s a telling statement because the Bush administration has exerted executive privilege over certain papers relating to discussion of the friendly-fire shooting because they claim they would implicate Executive Branch confidentiality interests. Last August, when pressed directly about it, President Bush avoided making any promise to ever come clean about what really happened. While Pat Tillman s mother Mary continues to press for the truth that remains hidden from her family and the public, which she has chronicled in her just-released book, Boots on the Ground by Dusk: My Tribute to Pat Tillman, his widow, Marie, would like people to focus more on Pat s life, not his death, and has worked behind the scenes helping to ensure that Pat s legacy lives on through education and helping others effect social change through The Pat Tillman Foundation and through the yearly Pat s Run, which continues to grow as it drew thousands over the past few weeks at the 4th annual event in Tempe and San Jose (video). The Pat Tillman story is a complicated one that can waveringly or even simultaneously bring about the strongest feelings of pride in one s country and shame in its government. This much is true: No man ever sacrificed more for his country than Pat Tillman did, and no cover-up could ever cover that up.

It s like Walter Reed all over again. The US defense budget last year was a staggering $439.3 billion dollars. Can t we spare a few bucks to ensure our soldiers don t have to live in such horrendous conditions? Magnetic yellow ribbons and flag lapel pins aside, supporting the troops means actually caring about them. Not only when they re off fighting your wars, but also when they come back. Kudos to the understandably outraged father who exposed the story via YouTube, no less. Download | Play Download | Play CNN: The U.S. military is promising action to address conditions in a barracks at Fort Bragg, North Carolina, after a soldier s father posted images on YouTube showing a building that he said should be condemned. This is embarrassing. It s disgusting. It makes me mad as hell, Ed Frawley said of the building where his son, Sgt. Jeff Frawley, had to live upon his return this month from a 15-month deployment to Afghanistan. Frawley s 10-minute video shows still photos from throughout the building, which appears to be falling apart and filled with mold and rust. Brandon Friedman at VetVoice has more

Download | Play Download | Play This Week with George Stepanopoulos notes the passings of the actress Joy Page, best known for her role as Annina in Casablanca, longtime NBA chief official Darell Garretson, comedic ice skater Werner Groebli aka Frick, as well as the names of 12 more service members killed in Iraq. That now brings icasualties.org s U.S. military casualty total in Iraq to 4,052, and according to IBC, 505 civilians were killed this week, the highest weekly total this year.

Download | Play Download | Play (h/t Heather) Counting down the scandals First up is an update on the Liberty 7 terror trial. Remember these guys? They were a bunch of paintballers in Florida who the government said threatened to blow up the Sears Tower in Chicago. Well, surprise, surprise, after two trials, we have not one conviction but a second hung jury, with one of the jurors weighing in on a third trial: They are wasting time and money…unless they change the evidence or approach they might get another hung jury. But never fear, waste is nothing in the pursuit of the War on Terror, as U.S. Assistant Attorney Richard Gregorie says that the Feds will seek a third trial. And then we have the story Steve brought you yesterday, that is Evidence #2,846 that the country wants us as dumbed down as possible and doesn t mind if kids get pregnant to do that. At the news (which is not new just a confirmation of what we ve known for decades) that the studies show abstinence-only sex education program the federal government has been pouring money into is not working. But don t tell that to Rep. John Duncan (R-TN), who found trusting a scientific study by academics with those high-falutin degrees elitist. And finally, the sad story recounted by Dana Milbank at the Washington Post. When Lt. Col. Billy Hall lost his life in Iraq, his grieving family gave permission for the media to cover his funeral at Arlington Cemetary. But the Pentagon had other ideas and cordoned off the media so that they could get no usable audio and only a few, distant photos with yellow ropes blocking the face of his loved ones. Whatever this war does and does not mean to the history of this country nothing could have more greatly impacted the family of Lt. Col. Billy Hall. And if his story, and the story of other American heroes are kept from the American public, it is not the doing of the American media that somehow dishonors the troops. The blame lies clearly and completely at the foot of the Bush administration. IT does not want our heroes honored. It wants itself honored. And all else — Lt. Col. Hall, his family and their wishes – they can all, Mr. Bush is saying, go to hell.

Download | Play Download | Play (h/t Silent Patriot) Just a few days ago, appearing on ABC’s “The View,” John McCain talked about the importance of increasing the size of the U.S. military. To entice more volunteers, he said, the government should focus on incentives: “[O]ne of the things we ought to do is provide [the troops with] significant educational benefits in return for serving.” Naturally, then, McCain indicated a few days later that he’ll withhold support for a bipartisan measure to renew and expand the GI Bill for a new generation of veterans. Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, seemed to give a thumbs down to bipartisan legislation that would greatly expand educational benefits for members of the military returning from Iraq and Afghanistan under the GI Bill. The reason for the opposition fears about retention is completely absurd. This should be a no-brainer. Sens. Jim Webb (D-Va.) and Chuck Hagel (R-Neb.) unveiled a GI Bill modernization bill over a year ago, which would increase troop benefits to pay for their education. From a patriotic perspective, this is showing real support for the troops. From a military perspective, it might make recruiting easier if young people know they can go to college after their service for free. From an economic perspective, the country benefits when thousands of educated young people enter the workforce with degrees, as opposed to the alternative. (Even Joe Lieberman supports the bill, and he never wavers from Bush’s position on matters relating to the military.) And yet, there’s John McCain. Typical. UPDATE (SilentPatriot): Once again, John McCain reveals a fundamental misunderstanding of what s going on in Iraq. This is what Hendrik Hertzberg, a New Yorker reporter who was present during the infamous exchange, says: But what the context shows, I think, is that yanking that sound bite out of context isn t really all that unfair. McCain s wants to stay in Iraq until no more Americans are getting killed, no matter how long it takes and how many Americans get killed achieving that goal—that is, the goal of not getting any more Americans killed. And once that goal is achieved, we ll stay. That about sums it up perfectly. McCain doesn t seem to realize that what fuels the violence is not some abstract concept of chaos. Iraq is volatile and unstable almost entirely because of our presence; not despite it. The NIE puts it most succinctly: The Iraq conflict has become the cause celebre for jihadists, breeding a deep resentment of U.S. involvement in the Muslim world and cultivating supporters for the global jihadist movement. In short, they hate us because we re there. No surge or 100 years presence will change that. In fact, it will only exacerbate it. But McCain doesn t get that. Or he just refuses to.

Today s #5 story on Countdown resembled Keith Olbermann s many Special Comments as he tore apart President Bush, his lies and cruel treatment of our soldiers by fact-checking his speech about Iraq this afternoon. Download | Play Download | Play President Bush has decided to put a hold on troop withdrawals, but tries to give the appearance that he s actually reducing troop levels. He also reduced tours of duty for our soldiers from 15 months to 12, but with a cruel caveat it doesn t apply to any troops currently in Iraq or those deploying before August. Olbermann rips Bush for saying troop morale would plummet if we were to lose in Iraq by not fulfilling HIS goals, pointing out that some 120 soldiers committed suicide last year alone, and for them, the war is already over. Last year he escalated the war in Iraq, today he announced that there would be deescalation beyond July, yet somehow stood there with a straight face and lied about how he was withdrawing troops. Now, that was hardly the lone instance of dissembling, tortured logic, sophistry and outright dishonesty in Mr. Bush s latest sugar-coating of the undeniable and unforgivable fact that he is continuing to arrange for the needless deaths of American heroes.

C s testimony from General David Petraeus and Ambassador Ryan Crocker on Capitol Hill about the progress in Iraq. As always, the best analysis of the day comes from Keith Olbermann on Countdown. Download | Play Download | Play Keith spoke with former Director of the NSA retired Lt. General William Odom, who says that Petraeus s testimony did little more than confirm what he has believed all along that the situation in Iraq is actually worse than is being reported. Odom praised members of the Senate who finally pushed back hard against the Bush/McCain surge propaganda, but scorned the media for failing to report the realities in Iraq. Odom: The major media in this country have also, I think, failed to report a lot about what s going in Iraq. True, there have been drops in violence, but they didn t look at what the consequences of that were, and they didn t look at the politics of that. If they had looked at the politics they d see more fragmentation, a weaker government and a much more hopeless situation than a year ago.

Download | Play Download | Play This Week with George Stephanopoulos notes the passing of actor and former NRA president Charlton Heston, NYT photojournalist and subject of the film The Killing Fields, Dith Pran, former Congressman Bill Dickinson (R-AL), and the Pentagon released the names of 10 more soldiers killed in Iraq and Afghanistan, which now brings the Iraq casualty total for U.S. servicemen and women to 4,013.

McCain s mouthpiece, Lindsey Graham went on Face the Nation and used every talking point to support the war in Iraq, but can t come up with an explanation why McCain will not support Webb s new GI benefits Bill. It s for the welfare of our troops that have been ordered into this nightmare situation in the middle east, and as strong war advocates, you d think McCain and Graham would be first on the list of the Senator s who have signed to show how committed they are to our troops. Graham has a lot of words to say about everything else and goes off topic because he doesn t have a good answer. Supporting the troops is nothing but a talking point for McCain and Graham it would appear. Download | Play Download | Play (h/t Heather) WEBB: Yes. Well, there are too many people in the Pentagon who are seeing a good GI bill as affecting retention rather than rewarding service, and we need to get those politics aside, we need to get to those issues to help our troops. STEPHANOPOULOS: Senator Graham, Senator Webb has introduced this legislation to provide the same GI bill benefits to Iraq War veterans that veterans of World War II got. Neither you nor Senator McCain have co-sponsored that bill. More than 50 senators have. Why not? (transcript below the fold via ABC News) GRAHAM: Well, number one, the first term enlistee gets the same benefits as somebody who d been there for 20 years. I d like to do two things. One, I d like to work with Jim to enhance benefits, but the focus on retention and recruiting and to improve benefits. I worked with Senator Clinton to provide military health care to every guard and reserve member, so sign me up for sitting down with Jim. But one thing I want a point of agreement. Iraq is not an island. I ve never looked at it that way. The reason we need to win in Iraq, because the outcome in Iraq, winning or losing affects our national security interests. I do not want to leave Iraq as an extension of Iranian theocracy in the south. I don t want to leave Iraq where Anbar province is occupied by Al Qaida, where there is a war between the Turks and the Kurds in the north. There is a tremendous amount of reconciliation, politically and militarily, that has been achieved since the surge. In July of 08, there will be 140,000 troops. In January of 07, there was 140,000 troops. We had a surge in the middle. What s happened in the middle is dramatic political and economic progress that s been brought about by better security. We want a wining outcome in Iraq so that when we do leave, we re going to leave behind a country that s part of the solution, not the problem. That is why people reenlist. That is why I support this new strategy. The old strategy was failing. The new strategy is producing results, and I hope we ll stay with it. WEBB: I ve got to take 30 seconds to respond to what Lindsey said, because I can t let that hang out there. You know, people don t reenlist because of the war in Iraq. People reenlist because they love their country and they have family traditions and they love to soldier. And they ll fight in Iraq, they ll fight in Afghanistan, or they ll serve anywhere they are called upon to serve.

Download | Play Download | Play (h/t Heather) The surge is working, so sayeth the latest NIE. Or at least, that s what the White House says it says. Unfortunately, since the White House refuses to declassify it, they re just expecting us to take their word for it (and we all know how well that s worked out for us in the past). The Congressional Democrats have issued a strongly worded letter to express their dissatisfaction. (Ironically, Russ Feingold has issued a strongly worded letter to the Congressional Democrats, asking to think for once about not enabling Bush s plan). Rachel Maddow, doing a fantastic job of subbing for Keith Olbermann on Friday s Countdown (c mon MSNBC, get with the program already Rachel did better on her first appearance than Joe Scarborough, David Gregory and Tucker Carlson in all their appearances put together) speaks to VoteVets Jon Soltz about the politicization and incomplete picture of what s happening in Iraq that the White House is trying to paint in preparation for Gen. Petraeus s testimony next week. MADDOW: And in a democracy, the idea is that when a democracy goes to war, the citizenry is informed about why and how it’s going and what the point is. Jon, do you expect that the testimony from Gen. Petraeus and Amb. Crocker is going to be substantive and frank, or are you expecting White House P.R.? SOLTZ: Well, obviously it’s White House P.R., because it is Gen. Petraeus and Amb. Crocker. Now that’s not to say they’re going to lie, they’re two very honorable men who deserve Americans’ respect. But this is not about a couple of streets in Baghdad, this is not about troops and tactics. The question for Democrats next week and organizations like ours, and VoteVets, is we’re going to broaden this debate. The fact of the matter is that Adm. Fallon retired because he was being undermined by a direct channel that the Iraq commander had to the White House. And so the fact of the matter is that Adm. Fallon, who was concerned about Afghanistan you know, had to retire. So where is the Centcom commander? Where is the Secretary of Defense? Where is the Chief of Staff for the Army, Gen. Casey, to say the Army can’t hack this, this troop deployment any more? So they’re giving you a very limited scope and that limited scope will be honest, but we’re not…they’re not going to tell you that George Bush and John McCain have our country in a policy of retreat and people who served in the military, we’re tired of it.

Skye, our beloved moonbat slayer, was assaulted last Saturday during an interview. The story has been reported at several prominent places within the blogosphere including Michelle Malkin, Melanie Morgan and others. While the incident should not be overlooked, it should not be overblown. After speaking with Skye about the matter, I'm confident that she's handling the situation perfectly. PODCAST VERSION

Download | Play Download | Play This Week s In Memoriam notes the passings of British actor Paul Scofield, science fiction writer Arthur C. Clarke, director Anthony Minghella, actor and director Ivan Dixon, and the Pentagon released the names of 5 more soldiers killed in Iraq, which now brings the Iraq casualty total for U.S. servicemen and women to 3,996.

Winter Soldier: Iraq and Afghanistan was a 4-day event from March 13-16 in DC that brought together veterans from across the country to testify about their experiences in Iraq and Afghanistan. Although the news media has unsurprisingly ignored the event much as they did its predecessor in 1971, this time we have digital media and the intertubes to document it and bring it to a wider audience. Download | Play Download | Play Contains Some Graphic Content (The full 18 min minidocumentary on IVAW s site here) Iraq Veterans Against the War: In 1776, Thomas Paine wrote: “These are the times that try men’s souls. The summer soldier and sunshine patriot will, in this crisis, shrink from the service of his country; but he that stands it now, deserves the love and thanks of man and woman.” In 1971, a courageous group of veterans exposed the criminal nature of the Vietnam War in an event called Winter Soldier. Once again, we will demand that the voices of veterans are heard. Spencer Ackerman has had ongoing coverage of Winter Soldier: Iraq and Afghanistan and much of it is beyond disturbing: That was the first time I ve ever seen a six year old girl dead. And it was not drown[ing] in a swimming pool, but because she had been shot by a bunch of teenage American kids. Not because we want to, but because it happens. (read on) and My company commander personally congratulated me, Turner continued. That same individual said, Whoever gets his first kill by stabbing them to death will get a four day pass when we get back from Iraq. (read on) Mike Prysner s testimony was particularly revealing (YouTube here deliberate use of racism as a tool to motivate soldiers to fight and die to control the market of another country. (excerpted transcript after the jump) Prysner: When I first joined the army we were told that racism no longer existed in the military. A legacy of inequality and discrimination was suddenly washed away by something called the Equal Opportunity Program. We would sit through mandatory classes and every unit had this EO representative to ensure that no elements of racism could resurface. The Army seemed firmly dedicated to smashing any hint of racism. And then September 11th happened and I began to hear new words like towel head and camel jockey and the most disturbing: sand nigger. And these words did not initially come from my fellow soldiers but from my superiors: my platoon sergeant, my company first sergeant, battalion commander. All the way up the chain of command these terms, these viciously racist terms were suddenly acceptable. [ ] We were told we were fighting terrorists, but the real terrorist was me and the real terrorism is this occupation. Racism within the military has long been an important tool to justify the destruction and occupation of another country. It has long been used to justify the killing, subjugation, and torture of another people. Racism is a vital weapon deployed by this government. It is a more important weapon than a rifle, a tank, a bomber or a battleship. It is more destructive than an artillery shell, or a bunker buster, or a tomahawk missile. While all of those weapons are created and owned by this government, they are harmless without people willing to use them. Those who send us to war do not have to pull a trigger or lob a mortar round. They do not have to fight the war. They merely have to sell the war. They need a public who is willing to send their soldiers into harm s way and they need soldiers who are willing to kill or be killed without question. They can spend millions on a single bomb, but that bomb only becomes a weapon when the ranks in the military are willing to follow orders to use it. They can send every last soldier anywhere on earth, but there will only be a war if soldiers are willing to fight, and the ruling class: the billionaires who profit from human suffering care only about expanding their wealth, controlling the world economy, understand that their power lies only in their ability to convince us that war, oppression, and exploitation is in our interests. They understand that their wealth is dependent on their ability to convince the working class to die to control the market of another country. And convincing us to kill and die is based on their ability to make us think that we are somehow superior. Soldiers, sailors, marines, airmen, have nothing to gain from this occupation. The vast majority of people living in the US have nothing to gain from this occupation. In fact, not only do we have nothing to gain, but we suffer more because of it. We lose limbs, endure trauma, and give our lives. Our families have to watch flag draped coffins lowered into the earth. Millions in this country without healthcare, jobs, or access to education must watch this government squander over $450 million a day on this occupation. Poor and working people in this country are sent to kill poor and working people in another country to make the rich richer, and without racism soldiers would realize that they have more in common with the Iraqi people than they do with the billionaires who send us to war.

Snooper and I discussed the 2 clips from the debate that was held in the Berkeley City Council last week. The first clip was from a woman named Debbie Lee whose son, Mark Allen Lee, was killed in Iraq. This hero's mother stood proudly before the Berkeley City Council and made her case against them. The second clip was from Berkeley's councilman Max Anderson. PODCAST VERSION

Remember this memorable Rumsfeld quote: You go to war with the Army you have. They re not the Army you might want or wish to have at a later time. Download | Play Download | Play Well as the USA TODAY found out. That was a fib. Pentagon balked at pleas from officers in field for safer vehicles. Oh wait, they did decide to buy them for the troops. The Iraqi troops that is. Even as the Pentagon balked at buying MRAPs for U.S. troops, USA TODAY found that the military pushed to buy them for a different fighting force: the Iraqi army. On Dec. 22, 2004 two weeks after President Bush told families of servicemembers that we re doing everything we possibly can to protect your loved ones read on Their decision cost a lot of people pain. Except Rummy that is .

On The Chris Matthews show, Richard Stengel, the managing editor of TIME gives us a chilling new report that the Pentagon is releasing about the serious head injuries our troops are sustaining in Iraq. Download (271) | Play (297) Download (215) | Play (142) Stengel: When we got into the Iraq war we didn t know how long it would last. When we got into the Iraq war we didn t know how much it would cost. It s lasted longer, it s cost more than we ever expected. The real toll is coming out now. The Pentagon is releasing a report saying, one in five American serviceman and women who have been in Iraq are coming back with brain injuries. Mild, traumatic brain injuries. More than 250,000 people. That legacy of that will last all of our life times and it s incalculable. It is incalculable and unforgivable, but it would appear that Bush, Rumsfeld and Cheney still sleep very well at night. Does Stengel really believe all the spin that BushCo. fed the public and the media before we attacked Iraq? I believe Cheney told us on Meet the Press that it wouldn t be very long at all and we d be greeted as liberators. Andrew Natsios told us it would cost US taxpayers about 1.7 billion for reconstruction that was later scrubbed from the WH website. I believe we were told that it wouldn t cost all that much and Wolfowitz told us that Iraqi oil would pay for it anyway. Enlisting countries to help to pay for this war and its aftermath would take more time, he said. I expect we will get a lot of mitigation, but it will be easier after the fact than before the fact, Mr. Wolfowitz said. Mr. Wolfowitz spent much of the hearing knocking down published estimates of the costs of war and rebuilding, saying the upper range of $95 billion was too high, and that the estimates were almost meaningless because of the variables. Moreover, he said such estimates, and speculation that postwar reconstruction costs could climb even higher, ignored the fact that Iraq is a wealthy country, with annual oil exports worth $15 billion to $20 billion. To assume we re going to pay for it all is just wrong, he said. (h/t Heather)

Face the Nation host Bob Schieffer had harsh criticism of Ret General Tommy Franks over his charging $100,000 to allow his name to be used to endorse an F rated veterans charity known for ripping off donors and wounded veterans. Download (473) | Play (579) Download (338) | Play (287) Schieffer: [W]e don t hire our generals to rubber-stamp every idea their civilian bosses come up with. We hire them for their expertise on military matters, and Franks went along with a plan that violated the first rule of warfare: never invade unless you have an overwhelming advantage and a firm idea of what to do next. Franks has since retired, but I have questions now that go far beyond his military expertise. [ ] What kind of PERSON would insist, or even ALLOW himself, to be paid to raise money for those who were wounded while serving under him? Franks says he severed his connection to the fundraiser when he realized most of the money he helped raise went to the fundraiser, not the troops. But doesn t he owe the troops a little more than that? Indeed.

On Friday, Billo showed off his pundit wisdom idiocy following the Iowa caucus and went after John Edwards for saying the US should be taking better care of our veterans. Download (631) | Play (747) Download (417) | Play (443) O Reilly: As for John Edwards, Good grief! this guy has no clue. (plays clip) Edwards: and tonight, 200,000 men and women who wore our uniform proudly and served this country courageously as veterans will go to sleep under bridges and on grates. We are better than this. (see Edward s speech here) O Reilly: That was Edwards concession speech last night. I mean, come on. The only thing sleeping under a bridge is that guy s brain. 10 million illegal alien workers are sending billions of dollars back home and Edwards is running around saying nobody has any money. Hard to believe. Billo, who has a history of insulting veterans, just dismissed outright the plight of homeless men and women who have served in our nation s military and implied that they don t even exist. To mask his callous indifference he threw out illegal immigration as a red herring and insulted Edwards by saying he has no clue. Well, as usual, Falafel Boy is the one who desperately needs to get a clue. In 2006, approximately 195,827 veterans were homeless on a given night—an increase of 0.8 percent from 194,254 in 2005. More veterans experience homeless over the course of the year. We estimate that 336,627 were homeless in 2006. What s more, Huckabee s 40,000 votes were 32% of the republican turnout (just 11% of the overall) so O Reilly s claim that Huckabee won because 60% of the voters described themselves as evangelical Christians, and just about all of them voted for the governor is also something he just pulled out of his you-know-what. The 60% figure O Reilly cites came from exit polling from the Republican caucus, but since no one ever bothered to poll the Democrats on their faith the statistic is meaningless except it does show that nearly half if not more of Iowa s self-identified evangelical/born-again Republican caucus-goers must have voted for someone besides Huckabee.

While patriots like us support the troops and counter-attack the public displays of ignorance from moonbats, one of the troubling observations that some have observed is the how the number of moonbats is sometimes larger than the number of patriots who publicly protest them. But there is a very good reason for this and that reason should give all of us cause to pity those poor moonbats who have no clue. Originally recorded on November 21, 2007. PODCAST VERSION

Download (2559) | Play (3508) Download (2223) | Play (1590) h/t Jamie On Wednesday s Tucker, the hopefully soon to be unemployed host gets riled up because Democratic presidential candidate, John Edwards, had the nerve to mention homeless veterans and those less fortunate in his holiday ad. Tucker calls it the Scrooge ad, and then attacks Edwards for not being Jesusy enough, and mocks him for being wealthy. Tucker, as usual, is offensive, annoying and wrong. As a favor to those of you who can t stomach Tucker, I have posted Edwards holiday ad below. Enjoy

In the tradition of "The Gathering Of Eagles", Skye and Rich protest against so-called "peace" rallies held in West Chester, Pennsylvania. After observing lunatics like Cindy Sheehan and Code Pink, I've made an interesting observation about these people and their physical abnormalities. After explaining these observations with Skye, Rich and Paul, a caller chimed in to express his outrage. To add insult to injury, the moonbat caller was also a ronbot. Originally recorded on November 16, 2007. PODCAST VERSION YOUTUBE VERSION

Download (334) | Play (252) Download (174) | Play (111) h/t Heather This Week s In Memoriam segment today noted the passing of musician Ike Turner, TV syndicator Roger King, former ABC producer John Alexander and Indiana Representative Julia Carson. Also shown were the names of 11 more soldiers who have been killed in Iraq and Afghanistan.