Wars in Iraq, Afghanistan and ...

Understanding the Conflict between Georgia and Russia

noreply@blogger.com (Jennifer Allen) — Sat, 16 Aug 2008 15:06:00 +0000

We all know that Russia has attacked Georgia viciously and without provocation, right? We know that it has something to do with the Caucasus region, right? And we know where the Caucasus region is, right?

Our own motives in Iraq notwithstanding, why would any country unilaterally and without provocation attack another? War and politics are rarely as black and white as the movies where the evil attacks without cause and the innocent is vindicated in the end. War and politics are by nature grey areas. In this case there is a long history of ethnic disputes.

An excellent editorial in the NYT is a must read for a basic, but solid understanding of the conflict.

John McCain has spoken out sharply against Russia's recent actions. His understanding of the conflict, has no doubt come directly from his Foreign Policy Advisor, Randy Scheunemann who has lobbied for and whose firm still lobbies in Washington for Georgia and whose questionable tactics trace directly to Jack Abramoff.

John McCain's hasty and over the top condemnation of Russia and his statement that "today we are all Georgians" shows a clear misunderstanding of the ethnic issues and the need for diplomacy as even our current clueless absolutist administration has showed some restraint by condemning Russia's actions, yet calling for calm in the region.

If John McCain's choice of advisors and full reliance on them is any indication as to how he will staff his cabinet and direct his foreign relations policies we should be afraid, very afraid.

Fight the negative smears against Barack Obama with a positive move for change. Click here whenever you run across a nasty troll, when you see a negative ad or when you see media promotion of Jerome Corsi's latest manifesto fight the negative with a positive.

Help spread the message for positive change in our country's direction. Support the Democrats in their efforts for a filibuster-proof majority in the Senate.

Americans Fail to Support their Troops

noreply@blogger.com (Jennifer Allen) — Fri, 15 Aug 2008 23:10:00 +0000

We are All Proud of and Grateful to Our Troops

We are all deeply proud of our troops and we are fortunate to have them as our protectors – but we should all be ashamed. Our troops and their families put more on the line for our country than we civilians could ever imagine. How do we support them? By putting yellow ribbon magnets on our cars and by bickering over policy, each side claiming to know what the troops want.

We Have a Duty to Support Our Troops

As American citizens, regardless of political affiliation we have our jobs to do as well. Our job is to elect officials who will make sound policies and who send our troops into combat as a last resort, manage the effort to prevent American casualties and get our troops in and out as quickly and expeditiously as possible. Our job is to elect, support and hold our officials accountable to our troops not just while they are overseas, but when they return and to support the families of our troops overseas.

The troops are doing their jobs in the finest form with complete loyalty and unwavering dedication. How are we doing?

We Do Not Support Our Troops

For the past 8 years the officials we elected fabricated reasons for the war in Iraq for selfish financial gain and radical political ideology. Our elected officials failed to provide our armed forces with the equipment, strategy, goals and personnel they needed to do their jobs. By the end of the year we will have paid $100 BILLION dollars to private companies who are making unparalleled profits and delivering little.

We took our eye off of Afghanistan and failed to provide the few troops left there with the support or attention needed to get their job done there. We kept our troops in a war which needed to end when we reelected the politicians who falsely sent them to war without support. Years into the wars, we barely passed a bill which provides only meager increases in benefits for our veterans.

As of October 2007, we have abandoned an estimated 100,000 veterans who developed mental illnesses from their experiences in the war. These men and women were discharged without benefits because of a policy to try to minimize the cost of treatment for PTSD and other mental health illnesses. (They're Throwing Them Away, By Philip Dine — St. Louis Post-Dispatch Washington Bureau, Oct. 21 2007)

To list our failures to support our troops would take an entire blog, but I think you get the point. At least we plaster yellow ribbon and American flag magnets on our SUVs, and at least we accuse each other of failing to be patriotic when speaking out against the war.

Come on people - we have failed and we continue to fail our troops.

Our Troops Want Our Support

How do the troops feel about our failures? Who knows? They don't complain. They just do their jobs and while they are doing their jobs they are also having to do our jobs. They are limited in what they can say as far as policy and politics goes, but they are speaking loudly and clearly with their dollars. Our troops are setting up foundations to provide services for returning vets and they are funding these organizations with their own money. Our armed forces overseas are contributing six times as much to Barack Obama's campaign as to McCain's campaign. Our troops are speaking out by sending their hard earned money to Barack Obama in the hope that he will stop our obsession with war and move forward with a different kind of government. Veterans are speaking out for Barack Obama and anti-war Congressional candidates

For those of you thinking of voting for McCain, you had better rethink your position. The Disabled American Veterans, a nonpartisan, not-for-profit organization gives John McCain a score of 20 vs. Obama's score of 80 (out of a possible 100) when it comes to legislation for veterans. McCain is clearly exited about a war with Iran and he is baiting Russia even more than Bush in the recent crisis with Georgia. He is a loose cannon, not a maverick. He deserves our respect and gratitude for his sacrifice and military service, but that is no reason to put him in charge of our country and our troops. McCain is driven by anger and rage, not reason and his voting record on veterans' issues (you must click on "veterans' issues after clicking the link) is abysmal (see also http://www.thenation.com/doc/20080602/beutler).

For those of us who do not support McCain, what have you done for our troops? By expressing your opinions online and by voting for Barack Obama you have made a great start, but it pales in comparison to what the troops are doing for us. Do something, anything every single day until our troops come home and we have elected a President and Congress who will rationally resolve our problems within and outside of our country. What are you willing to do?

How You Can Support Our Troops

Keep blogging, commenting, writing. Take your comments to more mainstream sites to motivate others and make the Independents and reachable Republicans think about this election.
Talk about these issues with your friends and family. Motivate them to do something constructive to support our troops.
Donate your time and money to Obama's campaign (http://my.barackobama.com/page/outreach/view/main/PositivelyOnline), or to a Senate campaign whose candidate opposes the war like Al Franken in Minnesota (http://www.alfranken.com/) who is locked in a tight battle with a rubber stamp Republican and hero and veteran Rick Noriega of Texas (http://www.ricknoriega.com/) who is falling behind a massively funded GOP candidate.
Contribute financially or with your time to the veterans groups which are trying to change our direction (http://www.votevets.org/,) or veterans groups which help other vets transition back home (http://www.citizenleadership.org/index.html).
Sign up for online action committees and sign the petitions and take action when you receive one of their e-mails.
Take the time to exercise your right to vote. Don't just say you support a candidate. Show your support by using your one precious vote to stand behind those who have put their careers on the line to support our armed forces, veterans and all citizens.

Support Them Every Day

I don't have the financial resources to financially contribute often enough so I will be posting suggestions on my blog as to how to take a minute or two a day or each week to thank our troops and to work for positive change in our government. Please bookmark this page and check back often to see what you can do to make a difference for our troops and our country.

Every day our men and women in uniform face death for us. What are we willing to do for them each day?

A positive message must be repeated many more times than a negative one.
Help Barack Obama stay the course for positive change and our goal of energy independence.
JUST AS IMPORTANT: Please help the Democrats win a filibuster-proof majority to make these goals a reality.

The War Wasn't Mismanaged - It Was Planned that Way

noreply@blogger.com (Jennifer Allen) — Wed, 13 Aug 2008 23:27:00 +0000

After the Gulf War Cheney explained the reasons why invading Iraq would be a disaster. Watch the clip. He has never explained why he did a complete reversal.

Until I watched this clip I thought that Rumsfeld and the Bush Administration were just inept in their decision to attack Iraq, and in their preparation for and execution of the war in Iraq. Like most people, I thought that the Administration had failed to take into consideration the history of the region as well as the tensions between all of the factions and ethnic groups. Those who spoke out against the war said that toppling Saddam's secular government would lead to civil war and anarchy in the region. Dick Cheney, George Bush, Donald Rumsfeld, John McCain and many others assured us that we would be "greated as liberators" and that we would be in and out quickly.

I stand corrected. The war has gone exactly as planned and will continue to do so for years unless and until we elect leaders who do not stand to benefit financially from the war industry and the neoconservative base which promotes its wrong-headed radical ideology.

A positive message must be repeated many more times than a negative one.

Help Barack Obama stay the course for positive change and our goal of energy independence.

JUST AS IMPORTANT: Please help the Democrats win a filibuster-proof majority to make these goals a reality.