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Sunday, July 15, 2007

All the Benchmarks I Need

Yesterday, Iraqi Prime Target Minister Nouri al-Maliki said that Iraqis can handle security and American forces can leave "any time they want."

And then there's this from AP on a trial of Marines charged with killing Iraqi civilians:
A Marine corporal testifying in a court-martial said Marines in his unit began routinely beating Iraqis after officers ordered them to "crank up the violence level."

Cpl. Saul H. Lopezromo testified Saturday at the murder trial of Cpl. Trent D. Thomas.

"We were told to crank up the violence level," said Lopezromo, testifying for the defense.

When a juror asked for further explanation, Lopezromo said: "We beat people, sir."
...
Lopezromo, who was not part of the squad on its late-night mission, said he saw nothing wrong with what Thomas did.

"I don't see it as an execution, sir," he told the judge. "I see it as killing the enemy."

He said Marines consider all Iraqi men part of the insurgency.
Meanwhile, back at home, pResidential candidate John Edwards tries to discount Maliki's message by calling him a "weak leader." Edwards also made headlines, although not enough, for plotting with fellow big-money corporate Dumbocrat Hillary to eliminate all quality opposition in their path to the White House.
According to the Associated Press, Fox News Channel microphones picked up Clinton and Edwards on stage discussing their desire to limit future joint appearances to exclude some rivals lower in the crowded field. "We should try to have a more serious and a smaller group," Edwards said into Clinton's ear following a Presidential Forum in Detroit hosted by the NAACP on Thursday.

Clinton agreed with Edwards, according to print reports and video footage of the exchange. "We've got to cut the number. ... They're not serious," she said. Clinton added that she thought representatives of her campaign and Edwards' had already tried to limit the debates, and "we've gotta get back to it," according to the AP.
In case you're wondering, Hillary's definition of "serious" is "having millions of corporate bribe money on hand." Hillary has been in the Senate for more than six years, and hasn't once been serious about stopping the war in Iraq or the fascist takeover of our government. If she and Edwards want to eliminate the "unserious" candidates, they should be the first to go.

In fact, on Thursday Hillary joined 96 other senators in supporting a Joe Lieberman amendment to a bill which basically declares war on Iran. Only three senators didn't vote for this saber-rattling BS, including Sen. Johnson (D-SD), who is still recovering from brain surgery, and Sen. Vitter (R-LA), who is currently on the sexual lam. (His wife once said she'd be more Lorena Bobbitt than Hillary Clinton if her hubby cheated on her, and now that there's evidence he did, he apparently won't come back--even to vote for another war!) Of course, Michigan's icreasingly horrible senior senator was all for it:
"There is no division when it comes to threats to the troops of the United States," Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman Carl Levin, D-Mich., said. "We want to make it very clear to the government of Iran that we speak as one when it comes to protecting those troops from those kinds of threats."
...
Levin immediately signaled that he wanted to join Lieberman, even though the two have been at sharp odds over Iraq for months. Still, Levin said of Iran, "We should speak with one voice on this issue."


Hillary, Edwards, Lieberman, Levin. Scum of the earth, they are, really.