Blood Flood

More than 100 people were killed and almost 150 wounded during today's suicide bombings in Iraq, this picture below is of workers cleaning up a large (I'd say HUGE) pool of blood from the explosion.

Buh Bye

Talon News Web Site Closes Amid Heavy Criticism

Looks like Gannon/GuckertGate is beginning to take its toll anyway. Strong criticism from website visitors? Hmm, that's one way of putting it. I'm sure they got some truly lovely invectives.

Makes me wonder who's really putting up the posts over there at JeffGannon.com, eh? Sure is a shame the comments are turned off. Those would be fun to read through and get a real idea of the sense of righteous indignation and anger being levelled at this guy.

Changing Quotes to Suit Themselves?

FoxNews, taking yet another giant leap away from anything resembling "Fair and Balanced" has decided that quotes are changeable if it suits them.
FOX News doctors AP reports to mimic White House and what did they change? Just a little thing that Senator Clinton said about suicide bombers that FoxNews has decided should actually be called "homicide bombers" and "homicide bombing". Which pretty well completely overlooks the absolute fact that if you're quoting someone, you don't really have any damned right to change what they said or what they intended.

Are you listening, Brit? You can't just decide what someone actually meant and warp their words to fit your stupid little conclusions.

News is supposed to be about news, not about changing quotes to suit your fucking twisted world view, you pathetic fuckers.

via

When I Say Freedom or Democracy, You Say......

Bush to Press Putin on Democracy in Russia.

This is likely to happen since the article points out that Georgie and Vladimir call each other by their first names. I'm sure Vladimir (or as George likes to call him, Vladdy the Baddy) would take the advice of an incredibly incompetent dumbfuck from Texas for what its worth.

Which is, pretty well nothing.

I love how George gives them about ten minutes of his "southern charm" and then assumes that everyone near him has been completely won over by him and he can then start to dictate how they should be running things. You're not that charming, they aren't that dumb and the world would just as soon you didn't exist, you simpering moron.

Now go stare into his eyes some more, there's a full moon tonight, maybe you'll get lucky.

Dissension in the GOP Ranks

Off with his head for daring to speak honestly about the stupidity of trying to ram Social Security reform down the throats of the American people. GOP leader issues caution on Social Security.

He has a novel idea (for Bush at least) demonstrate the problem and then try to garner support. He may have a problem demonstrating a problem though, since the people who know say there is no problem.

On a side note, expect Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist to be lame-ducked out of power right quickly for having the gall to publicly disagree with Shrubya.

How Much Will You Gain or Lose Under Bush's New SS Plan?

Check out the calculator over at Social In-Security and see.

I stand to lose $5K a year under his plan. The Bush Social Security "crisis" is a manufactured crisis. The Social Security Administration says there's no problem, the General Accounting office says there's no problem but ol' Shrubya knows more than all them number geeks combined, I'm sure. See, God told him Social Security was in danger and God's always right.

Yeah, hey, George, leave it alone. Go jack off or something.

Brit Hume Must Resign

Via Oliver Willis.
Brit Hume willfully and intentionally warped FDR's words to make it appear as if FDR supported privatization of social security. This is a brazen falsehood. President Roosevelt's grandson, James Roosevelt Jr., describes Hume's journalistic malfeasance as an "an outrageous distortion".

And anyway, the guy's been dead for like seven years and someone just forgot to tell him to go lie in the ground.

This is a worse scandal than RatherGate (or MemoGate) really because this is intentional misrepresentation of a previous president's beliefs to try and propel the current president's fake crisis agenda.

How Hume calls himself a journalist is beyond me, he's a GOP lapdog, probably a Shih Tzu.

White House Turns Tables on Former American POWs

White House Turns Tables on Former American POWs who have been awarded a judgment for being tortured in Iraq during the Gulf War but Bush doesn't want them to be compensated. Most likely because it will open the door to us being sued like mad for the blatant, repeated and still continuing abuse and torture of POWs in Gitmo and Iraq.

What an ugly, ugly legacy this adminsitration will leave. I just hope its not on a plaque next to a smoking crater that was once the USA.

Take Action: Dean's List of Action Items

Take Action: Show Your Support:

# Show Up! Never concede a single state, county, district, or voter. Build a truly national party that wages a permanent campaign in all 50 states.
# Strengthen State Parties and the Grassroots. Better integrate state and national party operations and support Democrats organizing in local communities.
# Focus on Our Core Values. Articulate core Democratic values strongly and clearly, and show people how our agenda for reform reflects those values.
# Take Advantage of Cutting-Edge Technologies. Leverage the Internet and cutting-edge technologies to better organize, empower, and communicate with people.
# Train Tomorrow's Leaders. Strengthen our leadership institutes so we can recruit new talent, cultivate new leaders, and elect Democrats at every level of office."

Free Speech Against the Iraqi Debacle Attacked

A Sacramento couple has decided to demonstrate their anti-war stance by placing, not an effigy as the news calls it, but a dummy soldier's body, against their house with a sign on its neck sayin "Bush lied, I died" and outraged people tore it down.

The couple put up another one and the FOX40 Soldier Effigy has been Stolen... Again.

The guy I saw interviewed on the news was an idiot who said that they shouldn't be allowed to display such a hateful message on their home and they should leave. The guy had no concept of what the First Amendment is about and didn't care, he didn't like seeing open dissent for this illegal and unwinnable holy war of ShrubCo.

I hope they videotape one of these self proclaimed vigilantes, who are the only ones breaking any laws, and have them arrested and prosecuted for vandalism, theft and trespassing. These people have a right, called the First Amendment, to say what they want to say regardless of whether the Intolerians want to to hear it. Its not their choice to muzzle or allow speech as they see fit.

It would be nice if these idiots would remember that.

Seymour Hersh on The Daily Show

It is a truly sad commentary that I get more real news from a fake news show than I get from Fox or CNN. Sure I get the trainwrecks and the snarling Democratic senators but there's more going on.

Hersh has laid out what the Bush agenda is for the Middle East and it ain't pretty or good or healthy. Iran, Libya, Syria, Lebanon. Bush is planning on jamming a funnel down each and every one of their throats and forcing them to partake of his brand of freedom. I think Freedom is going to be a swear word in the Middle East if it isn't already. I'm sure Bush is, I'm sure Democracy is a spit worthy curse of the highest order.

How many people in Iran actually even have any idea what a Democracy is? How many care? Democracy and freedom at the barrel of a really big ass gun. That's Bush-style democratizing, yeah Pardner.

Anyway, Hersh had alot of good and interest points to make. That their are basically two types of person in any position of control. The knuckleheads who actually buy into Bush's brand of colonization by forced democratization. And then there are the ones who've realized that saying anything but yes to whatever bizarre crap ol Bushface spews. I wish it were fun and games like on That's My Bush but he strikes me as a deadly serious but horribly, horribly misguided crusader. Like a modern day acid trip version of the Man of La Mancha.

And you know, that's fine for the crazy motherfucker who shouts at traffic and listens to a walkman with no batteries but its not such a great trait in your country's leader.

So he thinks he's this great Christian crusader that will bring his democracy and freedom to the Middle East, whether they want it or not. Um yeah, and when shit starts exploding in this country. I hope they start with his place.

A Call for Public Pledges of Ethical and Moral Journalism

In the face of the repeated and incredibly damning evidence of ShrubCo's complicity in willfully misleading the public with paid shills posing as reporters, I want some reassurances that the media is behaving in an ethical and moral manner.

I want all of the journalists operating right now to publicly pledge their adherence to a strict and ethical code of conduct. I want the public media to be held responsible for their inaccuracies, lies and deciet. And I want to know who can be trusted.

Call it a Journalism License or something. Call it whatever you like but it means that the media either plays fair or they're publicly outed like Guckert, McManus, Williams and Gallagher. And they should be.

There should also be severe sanctions placed on them as well. They sold their ethics, now they need to pay the bill.

ShrubCo's Manufactured Journalism

Fake reporter's questioning of the president fits into the administration's widening pattern of manufactured journalism.

Which, I suppose, is fitting because they don't like the real news so they'll go with just making the news completely untrustworthy altogether in the hopes that people will also stop paying attention so they can continue to flagrantly violate the law.

ShrubCo has no interest in truth or honesty or integrity, they only have an interest in appearing to be honest.

They are not, quit being fooled by their lies. They don't care about you or me or anyone else. They are looting the national coffers like its going out of style.

At least we've now got Howard Dean to help guide our party. I'm sure the GOP haters are having a field day replaying his "scream" and getting their jollies but that's fine. He's a very bright man with a plan. I'm behind him and expect great things.

I'm not overly thrilled with the religiousity of it all but I understand that fire fights fire best (though I hear water works pretty well too).

At Least He's Not a Hypocrite

At the least you can say in a positive light about Alan Keyes disowning his gay daughter is that he's not a filthy unrepentant hypocritical douchebag like Dick Cheney for using his daughter's gayness when it suits him but being shamed by it the rest of the time.

That said, Alan Keyes is a pretty despicable asshole for not loving his own child. Especially in light of her tireless efforts to help serve him.

What a piece of work. I hope you trip down a flight of stairs, Alan Keyes.

During the MeFi thread that I saw this news piece on, someone posted a link to a place called The Point Foundation where kids that get screwed by their school or family for being gay are helped out with scholarships to college.

And that makes me feel better about the world.

Bush UNITES!!!!!

Bush is a uniter! He is making good on his often repeated campaign promise to unite and not divide. The only problem is that he's uniting radical and moderate factions of Iranian politics against America.

Smooth move, Ex-Lax.

What's next? Pre-emptive nuclear (sorry, nukular) strikes?

How about uniting the US of A? How about trying to make our nation stronger at home? How about not setting up smokescreen after smokescreen? What about sending a huge budget to Congress and not having your pet war's escalating costs included? What about not including your stupid Social Security crisis fix (yeah, a crisis that'll happen in THIRTY SEVEN YEARS!, you simpering fucknut!)? What about really addressing this nation's long and shameful history in the middle east? What about consiging a half million children to starvation?

I hope I'm visiting the White House the day the international police come to arrest you and take you before a World Court for your crimes.

Oh Boy, It's Coulter Time

Coulter on Journalist Assassinations by the US Military, guess what? Its not good but hey, who gives a shit, she's the voice of the GOP. A stupid, stupid moronic fool without any grasp of reality.

So hey, good for you, Ann. You're still spouting ridiculous things because you must have attention.

Wither and die, scarecrow, wither and die. You'll still be useful in death to scare off the baby GOP's who need a boogeyman. Sorry, boogeytwat.

Thanks Oliver.

Jeff Gannon Equals James Dale Guckert

Boo-fuckin'-hoo, Online Reporter Quits After Liberals' Expose:
"Jeff Gannon, who had been writing for the Web sites Talon News and GOPUSA, is actually James Dale Guckert, 47, and has been linked to online domain addresses with sexually provocative names."

What's nice is Markos of Daily Kos helped expose him because Gannon's anti-gay stance, and since he's resigned, Talon News and GOPUSA (two of the sites that Gannon need Guckert's work appeared on) have removed his old articles. I wonder why? Not because its pretty readily apparent that he's a gay-hating Bible-humping fraud?

Nah, that couldn't be it, must be a server that went down. Yuh!

Eyes on the Prize? Oh Yeah, They GOT Saddam Already

Still patting themselves on the back for capturing Saddam in a hole, now ShrubCo's got some serious shit to deal with. I don't hold out much hope that our new Secretary of Snarl will have any positive impact. That is, if she's not too busy threatening Iran with the UN and pouring over her attack plans (hint, I'm guessing the oil gets secured first, again).

Anyway, there's this little bit in the news, of no real importance, I'm sure, N.Korea Says It Has Nuclear Arms, Spurns Talks.

Bush's Take on Veteran's Benefits

You see, the problem, as our head honcho sees it is that too many of these soldiers are coming back from the wars they're sent to. In Bush's warped mindset, a good veteran is a dead veteran (unless he knows them or their family and then he prays for their safe return nightly, I'm sure).

So he's gonna make sure more of them die in combat and that'll help keep the cost to keep them alive after their no longer of any use to him anymore.

Maybe this is part of his retirement plan for the Iraqi vets, just send them on to Iran and see if they can get killt there. That'll save him some duckets that he can figure out a way to funnel to his over-rich asshole pals.

Jeff Gannon Poofs from White House Press Corps

It couldn't have been because he was quite literally nothing but a GOP plant without any journalist credentials and yet another sign that the Bush administration considers the "truth" just another tool to use to keep the cows in the pasture.

Via Media Matters for America" Bios of Gannon, others vanished from Talon News

Budget? What Fuckin' Budget? He's Got a MANDATE!!

Bush's $2.5 Trillion Budget Calls for Sweeping Cuts and hey, he forgot to put in the extra money he'll need in Iraq and Afghanistan and his proposed privatization of Social Security.

Seriously, is there anyone out there who thinks Bush is anything but an Old Boy Network bitch? He says what sound like the right things but then goes and does exactly what his handlers, cronies, toadies, masters and bosses tell him to. Which is, basically, make them more money, ALOT more money. And damn the consequences.

Fuck you, Mr. Bush. Fuck you on that Dick you rode in on.

What We Are Up Against

Looking at the images on this page bring home the brutal, efficient and deadly reality of modern war. Homeland Protection: Bomb Vest and Briefcase Bomb Training Device's

Anti-War: The Skinny on the SOTU

We've Been WarnedThe state of our union:perpetual war- by Justin Raimondo found via Captain Normal and worth the read.

The Wrongness of it All

Handicapped boy who was made into a bomb.

This story hits home and demonstrates how grotesque and disconnected from humanity the terrorists are. To use a boy with Down's Syndrome as a human bomb is beyond reprehensible. I didn't have any respect for them before and now, now I just want them all to die, slowly and painfully.

This is so wrong and demonstrates the depths of depravity these people will stoop to in order to accomplish their "mission", in this case, trying to kill alot of people who were trying to vote last Sunday.

I am so fucking pissed off about this. I want to strangle the bastards who did this with my own hands.

Make George Speak: The Speechwriter

Have you wanted to hear George Bush speak the truth? Well now you can make him speak the truth by writing it for him. Check out George W Bush Speechwriter and enjoy your new power.

Very good stuff indeed.

The State of the Smirk

This is long, very, very long. I'll move it off to IP Politik in the morning but I want it here for now.

You know, he was doing pretty well tonight in laying out his happy, Prozac and Zanax inspired dream world State of the Union address tonight. He was reading his words clearly and got out ethanol without saying asshole like he was thinking.

The camera showed the crowd reaction, the Republicans coming to standing ovation after standing ovation and clapping loud and long, the Democrats rarely rising, rarely clapping with any enthusiasm, listening, remarking to each other and being attentive without being rude. They know not to be rude, its a good thing.

I had left the room to care for the baby when the Social Security boo's were heard. Good, I'm glad that dissent was displayed or heard. Has it happened before? Have the members of Congress and the House ever catcalled the State of the Union before? If there ever were one that deserved multiple ugly repeated catcalls and maybe a few run-by pie-ings, this was it.

Bush and his smarmy smirk spewed a torrent of half truths bolstered by quarter truths that relied on vapor. I wasn't expecting any critique of his work thus far, this isn't a man who could ever consider his own actions objectively and give a truthful assessment of them, he's been taught for years to never look within. He's been taught to seek validation from without, from Uncle Dick, from daddy, from his bobblehead cabinet of yes men and women, from everywhere, from his personal and deep relationship with the one true God (I hear him taunting in my head "You're god sucks, my god could totally kick your god's scrawny punk bitch ass, nyah, nyah, nyah. Now watch this drive." My internal dialogue should go on the road.)

He said lots of things that rung in the ear like they were good things but, if one examines the speech more slowly and considers how the words compile on each other and what his intentions really are, its apparent, it becomes easy to see his plan.

He talked about dictators siezing power and pursuing a plan of world domination. But no, we, we mighty America and Americans will spread freedom and democracy to any damned place we fucking well choose. So there, world. Ha, ha, ha. George Bush is gonna come and ram freedom down your throat, if you've got adequate natural resources to warrant the raping of course, freedom at the barrel of a gun.

And I have to chime in that I am truly weary of the Democratic silence. Has the bitchslapping been that brutal behind closed doors? I want and need something, some show of strength, some sign that the party is there, that they haven't just packed up and gone home. Make a move that will bring people into the party again, make a move that will energize and invigorate instead of distance and alienate.

Learn the new rules of the game, learn them and then beat the fucking GOP at their own twisted and illegal game. And then hold the mother fuckers to task for war crimes, turn them over to the international criminal court and let them pay for their crimes against the world.

So yeah, that's my State of the Union. The Union is corrupt and dirty and criminal and disgusts me in ways I never thought politics could.

Is this a clear and factual accounting of the broadcast this evening? Nope and I'm not in a mood for caring. I'll move it off to IP Politik tomorrow but for now, I'm going to exercise my rights here and say how I feel. You can agree or you can not agree and that's fine.

Oh yeah, I also fucking hated hearing the shit about faith-based initiatives being singled for specific funding. That's crap and basically says he's going to give alot of money to groups that are going to try and make more Christians. He admits to funding the brainwashing, sorry, conversion of the masses to his own faith. Don't want your faith, George, don't need your faith and, when you get down to it, I don't actually even believe that you have any real faith, I think it and you are a big, grotesque sham. You are the hollow president, ready to be filled with whoever needs you to puppet for them.

You are a sad man and I would pity you in any other situation. But, as it is, you are a truly dangerous threat to the world and me.

If you want to avoid another 9/11 then change the US's foreign policy and quit annihilating cultures and calling it freedom on the march. Quit starving children. And take your fucking marriage amendment crap and jam it in your ass. That's patently fucking ridiculous to deny benefits to people who live as married people in every aspect of their lives save the government's. Its pathetic bleating and pandering to the fundie fuckbags who think they have some right to tell me how I should live my life.

If you can tell me how to live my life then I can tell you how to live yours and you're living a lie. You have backed a crook, you are a shameful and hideous human being who should be so consumed with guilt as to be paralyzed in a fetal position until death takes you. You are the problem, you are not any salvation, you are the cancer in the world and pretend to be some holy salvation.

Was I the only one that thought he was going to talk about a draft when he spoke about the gang members who needed something positive to do with their energy, a honorable role model to aspire too, sounded like they were gonna get scooped up, put in uniform and sent to the front.

And, last thought, the war in Iraq was waged on the premise that Saddam had weapons of mass destruction and was an imminent threat to the contined existence of the USA and its interests. Not (NOT!) to liberate the Iraqi people from Saddam, not to create a focal point for the global terrorist network to concentrate on to keep them from attacking us here (an incredibly short sighted and retarded platitude for the flyover states). The war in Iraq was waged on a lie, the responsibility for acting upon bad intel or false intel or whatever is nobody but George W. Bush's. He is the final authority, he took the country to war on a lie.

Bush Administration Abandons Deadline for 80 mpg 'Supercars'

Back in 2001, there was a mandate (a real one) to the American car makers to develop a car that got 80 mpg and could be put into production within a few years. But the Bush Administration Abandons Deadline for 80 mpg 'Supercars' (from May 2001).

And, in the light of history, it made sense to keep us all on the oil teat. How else could he continue to make billions for his oil pals?

Me? I want a car that can go fast and not pollute, we were well on our way towards that goal and the eventual weaning of our nation and the planet off the stuff they call crude.

More pie on your face, Mr. Bush?

Signorile on Press Whores

Oooh, president-boy, love you long-time, $5000 dollah, suckee, suckee.

Yeah, maybe not but $5000 AN IDEA, FULL-SERVICE is Michelangelo Signorile's take on the Armstrong Williams and Maggie Gallagher mess.

Here's a nice excerpt about why Maggie can and should be compared to Armstrong Williams:

Both are no-talent vipers who prostitute themselves as members of groups (blacks and women) into which conservatives would love to drive a wedge. Both also babble incoherently with little grasp of facts.

.

Looks like I just found another voice to read.

A Suggestion for You Superiority Types

I was reading a pal's blog about her pending trip to New York, she was asking for insights into cool places to eat, shop and party.

And the comments were being helpful until one dumbfuck GOP fool had to chime in with "Stupid libral democrat". Which is really just about the funniest thing ever.

If you're going to insult someone's intelligence and call them stupid, you might want to at least spell the insult correctly. Its "liberal", dumbfuck. No get back to listening to Rush and nodding in time. Or is it time for the O'Reilly Fun with Reality Hour? Or maybe its time for Ann Coulter's latest utterly retarded screed that you "righties" love so much?

Either way, if you're going to insult someone, at least spell your insults correctly or you risk looking like the dumbass.

Context is Key to Comprehension

There is a long and (mostly) good MeFi thread on this subject from yesterday when I started writing this post.

The problem with the whole GOP and Democrats is that both sides will have a tendency and inclination to take the words of the other out of context. And words out of context are without meaning.

It's entirely possible that someone could have a perfectly valid reason for a statement that is utterly reprehensible out of that context. Context is not everything but it is the second most important aspect.

There's an amazing brouhaha about a man named Ward Churchill. His words have been taken out of context and then used to attempt to destroy his character and they even stirred some sad, sick souls to threaten his life. For his words, that they took and used out of context. Here, go and read his words Some People Push Back and think it over for yourself. Don't let the snippet enraged fools deprive you of your opportunity to learn, for yourself, what its all about.

And that is exactly what they wanted to happen. They wanted to scare the living shit out of him, they wanted to drive him into a hole where he would shut up and not dare to speak in public ever again.

Ha.

Here is Churchill's response.

The essay that has set fire to so many people regards the reasons for the attacks against the US on 9/11 and earlier. Churchill explores the history of US intervention in the Middle East, the sanctions, the installment of dictators, the over-riding sense of USA-superiority, the entitlement to behave like planet-sized bullies.

He makes good points, his argument isn't polished too well but its damned coherent for me and his points score often.
In writing of the hijackers of the planes used to inflict the tragedy upon our country on 9/11, he says this:

The Iraqi youngsters, all of them under 12, died as a predictable – in fact, widely predicted – result of the 1991 US "surgical" bombing of their country's water purification and sewage facilities, as well as other "infrastructural" targets upon which Iraq's civilian population depends for its very survival.

Note that they hated America and wanted all Americans to die, they were responding to attacks, long and brutal campaigns of aggression that Churchill later says were admitted to by Madeline Albright, responding to attacks by fighting back. In fact, from his response he says: "In 1996 Madeleine Albright, then Ambassador to the UN and soon to be U.S. Secretary of State, did not dispute that 500,000 Iraqi children had died as a result of economic sanctions, but stated on national television that "we" had decided it was "worth the cost." I mourn the victims of the September 11 attacks, just as I mourn the deaths of those Iraqi children, the more than 3 million people killed in the war in Indochina, those who died in the U.S. invasions of Grenada, Panama and elsewhere in Central America, the victims of the transatlantic slave trade, and the indigenous peoples still subjected to genocidal policies. If we respond with callous disregard to the deaths of others, we can only expect equal callousness to American deaths."

In discussing the accusations of insanity for the attackers of 9/11, he has this:

And still less were they/their acts "insane."

Insanity is a condition readily associable with the very American idea that one – or one's country – holds what amounts to a "divine right" to commit genocide, and thus to forever do so with impunity. The term might also be reasonably applied to anyone suffering genocide without attempting in some material way to bring the process to a halt. Sanity itself, in this frame of reference, might be defined by a willingness to try and destroy the perpetrators and/or the sources of their ability to commit their crimes. (Shall we now discuss the US "strategic bombing campaign" against Germany during World War II, and the mental health of those involved in it?)

People may be outraged by Churchill's use of the Eichmann label and I think it was a stupid mistake on his part since that one descriptive taints much of the rest of the thought train. I am willing to overlook a few stupid blunders to try and get the bigger picture being painted.

Ward Churchill isn't an idiot, he's not trying to derail the Democrats, he's not trying to provide juicy ammo for the GOP spin & hate machine (first you spin, then you hate, rinse and repeat as needed). He makes some good points if you can steer clear of those huge and loaded potholes.

Teens are Much, Much Worse Than We Thought

The brainwashing has been especially tough on the youth of America, check out CNN's Freedom of what?

Freedom of Speech goes too far?

One in five said unpopular views shouldn't be aired? WTF? A nice counterpoint is that 99 percent of school principals said they supported the expression of unpopular views.

You know, part of the problem is this damned rap music I keep hearing about. No wait, its probably got alot more to do with the throwaway society we have raised. They don't care, make more, consume, consume, consume, churn the engine of the American economy like good little trained shopper-bots.

Why Are They Still Angry? They Had Thier Election!

Iraqi insurgents threaten to behead captured soldier unless the US releases some Iraqi prisoners.

Um, yeah, I'm sure that'll happen.

And I'm sure its not helped very much by the fact that the pic of the GI doesn't look all that real. I'm not saying he isn't a real US GI who's been captured but it doesn't look like it in the pic.

And the claim of a captured soldier hasn't been verified so I think they'll hold off on releasing some scum of the earth.

But this situation does present an intense and difficult position to put our military and country in. If individual soldiers are captured and executed in ever spiralling nasty ways, how long will it be before the US people demand an end to the conflict?

I don't know and I don't want to find out just how strong our resolve is. Especially since it wasn't so strong to begin with based on the flimsy and now vaporous justification for the war.

[Update: Damn, I am good! I called it, I said the pic looked like a fake and now we know it is. US GI is Toy Soldier. Suckers. Did the terrorists actually think that the military was just going to release dangerous prisoners because they said they had one of ours? And we weren't going to check? Damn, that's stupid or desperate.]