Charles M. Smith, the Pentagon official in charge of the Halliburton Iraq contract, uncovered a billion dollars of unjustified spending by the Texas company. As James Risen reported in the NYT, he was fired for his pains. And so he should have been. The story recalls the time when Pentagon auditors called Halliburton’s charge of $27 million for fuel that cost the company $82,000 "illogical." As if we needed more evidence that auditors are mere bean counters.  Unimaginative drones, they lack the vision, imagination, and talent essential in the world of modern business.

I just read this from Reuters:

Susan Rice, a top Obama foreign policy adviser, told MSNBC on Tuesday that "we absolutely have to draw down and redeploy our forces from Iraq."

"But he has said over and over again we have to be as careful getting out as George Bush was careless getting in. So he will redeploy our forces responsibly, at a rate that our commanders say is safe and sustainable."

Letting commanders have a say in the pace of withdrawal is new language from the Obama campaign.

He said that even with that faulty intelligence he felt the war was justified since Saddam Hussein had twice used weapons of mass destruction, broken international sanctions and was “a threat” to the United States. McCain said that conditions in Iraq would have gotten much worse if Hussein's regime had continued.

Source: McCain: US winning in Iraq
By: BRIAN SCHEID (Tue, Jul/01/2008)

Call it a qualified victory.

On July 1, the Pentagon agreed to investigate the showers built by KBR, a private military contractor in Iraq. More than a dozen U.S. soldiers have been fatally electrocuted by faulty wiring in the showers. There has been a lot of blogger commentary and reporting about the electrocution, including several items I wrote for Progressive Future.

And while I think we certainly helped push this issue into the mainstream, I'm pretty sure all the blogger activism in the world would not have made a bit of a difference without the efforts of Cheryl Harris.

Would Adams, Jefferson, and Franklin have been in church on Sunday? The short answer is yes, no, and maybe.

During that hot summer of 1776 in Philadelphia, when you try to imagine the core leadership of that Continental Congress, without whom the Declaration of Independence might not have been written and approved unanimously by the delegations from the thirteen colonies, what names come to mind?  I know that we and historians could debate this for a long time without consensus, but I suspect few would leave out these three: John Adams from Massachusetts; Thomas Jefferson from Virginia; and Benjamin Franklin from Pennsylvania.  Would you agree?

This takes us back to the question I asked at the outset: would these three patriots have been in church when Independence Day fell on a Sunday? There is much made of "the faith of our founding fathers" that is much more a myth of how some folks wish it had been with these giants in our history than how it actually was.

There was a story in the New Yorker for June 30 which includes the money quote from Obama's speech against involvement in Iraq. I've selected one sentence for my sig, but the whole thing is worth reading.
The story is here, and is not especially about the quotation.

I know that even a successful war against Iraq will require a U. S. occupartion of undetermined length, at undetermined cost, with undetermined consequences. I know that an invasion of Iraq without a clear ratiohnale and without strong international support will only fan the flames of the Middle East, and encourage the worst -- rather than the best -- impulses of the Arab world, and strngthen the recruitment arm of Al Qaeda. I am not opposed to all wars. I'm opposed to stupid wars.

This is the guy who needs more experince in foreign affairs?

The following appeared on the Front Page of Daily Kos on July 2, 2003. (There was only a Front Page in those days - no right-margin Diaries yet).

Bush is a badass

You know, it's really easy to play cowboy from the safety of a Secret Service protective ring in the United States.

Our soldiers in Iraq don't have that luxury.

"There are some who feel like that conditions are such that they can attack us there," Bush told reporters at the White House. "My answer is bring them on."

Our Cowboy in Chief is now daring Iraqi irregulars to attack our men and women on the ground?

Is he literally out of his fucking mind?

Tonight we honor the memories of three Guardsmen and a Green Beret – all killed in action in Afghanistan last week. Making the ultimate sacrifice in service to their country was completely in character for these men who all had dedicated their lives to service at an early age.

Sgt. 1st Class Joseph A. McKay, 51, of Brooklyn, NY, was born on the 4th of July. He joined the New York Army National Guard more than 30 years ago, had also served in Iraq and had guarded Grand Central and Penn Station in the days following 9/11.

Sgt. 1st Class Matthew L. Hilton, 37, of Livonia, MI, had been a reservist for 18 years and served in Iraq prior to volunteering for his most recent mission to Afghanistan.

Spc. Mark C. Palmateer, 38, of Poughkeepsie, NY wanted to serve his country all his life and his daughter recalled he would do anything for anybody.

Staff Sgt. Travis K. Hunsberger of Goshen Indiana, may have only been 24, but had accomplished much in that time – excelling as a Green Beret on his second tour in Afghanistan.

Please join me beyond the fold to celebrate their lives and mourn their loss.

Chalk up another one for John McCain under lessons unlearned:

McCain: US winning in Iraq

By BRIAN SCHEID
Bucks County Courier Times

Sen. John McCain said that he is willing to stake his presidential campaign, as well as his political career, on his support for the war in Iraq.

In an interview with reporters on the back of his campaign bus, the "Straight Talk Express" Monday afternoon, McCain said that even in retrospect he would still have voted to authorize the war, as he did in 2002.

"I think there's no question," said the Republican's likely presidential nominee. "I owe too much to these young people who are serving there to let political considerations interfere with what I know is right.

"I believe the American people, over time, will side with me, but if they don't I'll accept that," he said. "I'd much rather lose a political campaign than lose a war."

Stubborn, delusional, unwilling to admit error, even with advantage of hindsight. Is it any wonder that two-thirds of Americans are "very concerned" that McCain will indeed govern as the third Bush administration?

I haven't seen this diaried today, but in case we forget in all the FISA and Clark hullaballoo...we have a tin-eared, addled and confused candidate on the other side.  Let's not lose sight of just who we're competing against.

John McCain moments ago gave a speech unveiling his new Iraq plan, a bigger disaster than the last one. The speech just absolutely proves Wes Clark correct: this man's "experience" does not make him qualified to be Commander in Chief.

Still waiting for CNN, NY Times, etc to pick it up, but the story is already up over at RSN: McCain Taps Experiences in New Iraq Plan

So some good will come from the death of Ryan Maseth after all. The Pentagon -- after Ryan's mother, and my friend, Cheryl Harris, brought his death by electrocution to national attention --  has just ordered electrical inspections of all buildings in Iraq maintained by KBR, the major military contractor.

Cheryl, as I have written here previously, has  researched other electrocutions and pressed a wrongful death lawsuit against KBR. You remember: the military lied to her in trying to blame it all on him.

The senator from Cheryl's state, Pennsylvania, Bob Casey made public on Monday afternoon a written statement by Gen. David Petraeus, the American commander in Iraq.  Petraeus informed Congress of the new inspections -- while also disclosing that at least 13 U.S. soldiers had been electrocuted in Iraq since the war began, and many others had received electrical shocks. Until now, the Pentagon had said 12 had been electrocuted.

General Wesley Clark inadvertently touched off our indignation-du-jour yesterday by commenting that Senator John McCain's lack of "executive responsibility" — commanding at the broad strategic level rather than at the immediate tactical level — means that McCain's military experience, as much as it proves his courage, dedication, patriotism, and character, does not by itself qualify him for the ultimate "executive responsibility" of being President of the United States with two full-blown shooting wars. General Clark made the point awkwardly and undiplomatically, and in particular sounded somewhat self-serving in pointing out that he, too, had been wounded in battle, but that he had also held a position of strategic command responsibility. I've written my own remarks to more clearly make the point I believe General Clark ought to be making.

Tonight on Countdown, Keith Olbermann asked Jim Webb what he might suggest next in support of the troops and Senator Webb though committed to their cause did not have a ready answer. For me, whenever I see an insipid Support The Troops sign on someone's lawn, or worse, a bumper sticker to that effect on a gas guzzling SUV, I think Why not a $ 10,000 bonus for each tour that these folks have served and will continue to serve? If all these Superpatriots were willing to put their money where there overly large mouths are, Support The Troops might mean something to war critics like me.

You couldn’t be blamed for turning away from this title. After all, you probably read, listen to, or watch the news every day. In the last couple of days we’ve been reminded of more flooding in the Midwest, wildfires in California, the stock market’s continued decline, record prices for crude, the mortgage crisis with Congress tied in knots, and all of that is without mentioning Iraq or Afghanistan. If all of that is not enough to depress you, then maybe you need to see a psychiatrist, or else chuckle at Lord Acton’s words below.

If the title and recitation of recent headlines doesn’t turn you off, my lack of qualifications to write about them might. My training is in history and theology, not economics and engineering. But because of friend who is an engineer and financial observers like Joseph Lazzaro (a.k.a. "Hunter" on Kos), I decided that it was time more of us non-specialists need to try to grasp this larger economic picture. It seems to me that we are experiencing the first waves of several mini-catastrophes, the confluence of which would constitute a major one. These mini-catastrophes are all inextricably linked: war, a sick national and global economy, global warming, and a collapsing infrastructure.

Read on at your own risk.

"This bill shows the American people that even in an election year, Republicans and Democrats can come together to support our troops and their families"    George Bush June 30, 2008

No Blood for Oil was the catch phrase of us anti-war demonstrators during the leadup to the Iraq War.  There were so many in the media back then who dismissed or ignored our great concern over the rush to war. They bought the propaganda coming out of the White House that the war was over Saddam Husseins threat to the United States.  A third world despot was such a monsterous scary thing that the worlds greatest military power had to attack his country in order to be safe?

But the first paragraph of an article in the NYT explains a lot about the Iraq War.

Please also visit JeNoCo’s diary, IGTNT: Band of Brothers. Thanks to all who bear witness with us so faithfully!

Lives of great men all remind us
   We can make our lives sublime,
And, departing, leave behind us
   Footprints on the sands of time...

~ Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, "A Psalm of Life"

Six more soldiers and Marines have perished in Iraq and Afghanistan. Most of them probably didn’t know each other, and yet they were all there for the same reason: to make a difference for their families, their friends, and their country. And in so doing, they left behind them footprints that will not soon fade.

Let us remember together these six great men: Staff Sgt. Christopher D. Strickland, Chief Warrant Officer Robert C. Hammett, Major Dwayne M. Kelley, Lt. Col. Max A. Galeai, Capt. Philip J. Dykeman, and Cpl. Marcus W. Preudhomme.