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The Toll

From Friday’s MotherJones.com, the casualty figures in Iraq are: Number of U.S. service members killed in Iraq since Operation Iraqi Freedom began on March 19, 2003: 732 Number killed since George W. Bush declared an end to “major combat” on May 1, 2003: 594 Number killed this month: 136 Paul Wolfowitz, the man considered one of the architects of this war, doesn’t know that. Is it because we can’t hear the names of the dead? Or because we can’t see them? Despite the recent charges against the guards at Abu Gharib prison, the great majority of men and women in…

Writing on Israel and Palestine, and now Lebanon

Traditionally I have not commented on the Palestinian and Israeli conflict. As you can tell by Who You?’s and Ghost Dog‘s posts, it’s not a site-wide reluctance. My reluctance has stemmed from the belief that the issue is too emotionally charged to have a meaningful conversation on the issue without having to spend a lot of time cleaning the mud off and fighting the fires from flames. I am not personally invested in the issue; to me, as I would argue to most Muslims, the fight is not between Muslims and Jews. It is between Israelis and Palestinians. I am…

Yet another, “I hope this isn’t true” moment

From the Gadflyer are revelations that the Saudis may be working rather stridently, and perhaps illegally, to help get Bush re-elected in November. The same news source – The Gadflyer – has a different take on the same interview. I’m not sure the second interpretation is as strong, especially in light of the first posting. I haven’t seen the interview yet, but I expect it to mirror closely what we are beginning to hear in the 9/11 commission hearings – consistent with view 2, but with great nuggets that article 1 gives us.