Azerbaijan has prevented a shipment of Russian nuclear equipment from getting to Iran. Pretty damn good news if you asked me. It’s going to take more than the United States or France to reign in Iranian Mullahs (not to mention circumnavigating Putin’s rogue policies). Thank you, Azerbaijan!
Five British citizens who were kidnapped in Iraq over a year ago are being held inside Iran by Iran’s Revolutionary Guard. … Um, this ain’t good news: a direct link between terrorism inside Iraq and the government of Iran. Right. This will give the US more reason to consider military force against Iran for its meddling with Iraq. Basically, this nightmare just got prolonged. Ugh.
Americans should be raising their voices in protest at the way both fronts in the “War on Terror” are being conducted. But, more disturbing than Iraq is our quagmire in Afghanistan.
Afghanistan’s US-anointed President, Hamid Karzai, is highly critical of America’s “handling” of the War in Afghanistan. Innocent Afghans continue to die at the hands of American soldiers. Security is still a joke in the country. The US is still searching rural Afghan villages for Taliban and Al Qaeda members while everyone with an internet connection knows that the Taliban and Al Qaeda regrouped to Pakistan’s Northwest Tribal Regions long ago. Our forces in the country are understaffed and overwhelmed. Tribal warlords and local chieftains barely bother with Kabul, the capital. And Afghanistan is free only in name.
And all of this is not to mention that our own generals are saying that we should expect things to “get worse” in Afghanistan this year.
What is going on here? What could possibly be the reason that the White House stopped looking for Osama bin Laden or hunting down the Taliban and Al Qaeda??? How in the world did we let the Taliban set up shop next door in Pakistan?
Unfortunately, Bush has ensured it so that Afghanistan will remain fertile ground for extremist groups hostile to the United States for at least another decade. Probably another generation.
Afghanistan should have been our number one priority from 9/12 onward. No question.
But, dwelling on the Bush Administration’s criminal flaws can not be our number one concern at the moment.
Now we need to turn as much of our attention as possible back to Afghanistan and get the job done once and for all. Get the job done right.
The country needs to be cleared of all terrorists. It needs security. It needs rebuilding. It needs to learn self-sufficiency. And it needs to be lead down the path towards prosperity. Like an orphan we need to take Afghanistan by the hand and finally treat her like a long lost family member now found.
This isn’t some pie-in-the-sky-polly anna-rant. All of this is possible. All of this can be done.
Our future depends on it.
We cannot forget what happened last time we let Afghanistan fall into ruin. We cannot let it happen again. And at the moment it looks like Afghanistan may be slipping further down that slope. Time to regroup. Time to refocus.
Seriously. 
Muqtada al-Sadr is threatening full-scale war with the US in Iraq. 
Listen up White House: do you plan on doing anything about this guy and his army? We tried fighting him (via the “Iraqi National Army”) in Basra and lost. Maybe it’s time for a different approach? A little “thinking outside of the box”? A little nuance.
Calling Tehran to the table to negotiate a peace, a truce, an anything! (You know it’s bad when you need Iranian mullahs to wax diplomatic on your behalf.)
Like it or not, al-Sadr cannot be ignored. He is and will remain a permanent fixture of Iraqi life. And we can’t go in there and simply “obliterate” him in some Sadr City bloodbath - that will only make things worse.
Where is the State Department?! Where is the Pentagon?! Where is the White House?!?!?
Message to Bush: Start doing your (insert expletive) job!!!
The Enough Project released a report today detailing how the genocide and humanitarian disaster inside Sudan’s Darfur region has spilled over onto neighboring Chad and has fueled a proxy-war between the two countries.
What we need to understand, however, is that the border war and tension between Khartoum and N’Djamena are not byproducts of the Darfur situation, they are partly to blame! The Darfur conflict is a tribal and political, genetic (Arab v. black, clan v. clan), life-style (farmers v. nomads), land-rights and environmental nightmare which has roots tracing back generations of Sub-Saharan men and women.
But, forget all that. Because the real crisis here is that innocent Darfuris are dying daily at the hands of the Sudanese Army and Sudanese backed militias. 
Men are killed, women and girls are raped, boys are kidnapped and forced into slavery, crops are destroyed, livestock is stolen, clean drinking water contaminated and villages burned to the ground. This is happening right now as I type this sentence.
And it isn’t going to stop unless the UN or the African Union or the EU or the US or all of the above step in and take action NOW.
The Darfur Genocide has been raging on for five years and shows no sign of ceasing. At this moment: up to (some report more than) 500,000 people have been murdered and 2.5 million people displaced and remain in camps without adequate shelter, food, security or medical supplies.
Start emailing and cold-calling your elected officials and demand that the world put an end to this atrocity once and for all!
Presidential “hope”full Senator John McCain still can’t tell his Shia’s from his Sunnis, or Maliki from Sadr, or a ceasefire from all out defeat. He keeps on getting it wrong. All wrong. You just can’t make this stuff up!
But, hey: cut him a break! McCain’s just calling it as he sees it … through McCain-colored glasses that is. Keep on livin’ that dream, McCain!!!
I’m sure McCain will find all sorts of stuff to forget about if he makes it to the White House. (Anybody seen my “Straight Talk Express” lying about?)
Check out these peacenik grannies:
Drumbeat of war that is. U.S. officials are finally waking up and smelling the coffee, realizing that Iran has more influence over Iraq than they do. … And Iran doesn’t want the U.S. in Iraq. Shocker! Anyone with a layman’s knowledge of history (or who’s read the headlines for the past 5 years) could connect these dots. … So U.S. officials are sounding the alarm and once again accusing Iran of training and suppling weapons to anti-American Shi’ite militias inside Iraq. And of course what is their first response: WAR! Ugh.
Note to the Bush Administration: a war with Iran is not going to fix your legacy. Or redeem you in the history books. Get a clue.
Why don’t we start actively engaging Tehran with diplomacy??? Haven’t tried that route yet. And nothing
we’ve done so far has produced any good results. Just a thought. Duh.
Obviously, Tehran is just as guilty here - more so - of stoking the passions of war. Most of the mullahs are simply trying to prove their worth by poking a stick at America. Mullahs: wake up! This pissing contest will not turn out good for you. It’s time for Iran to put away their weapons and rhetoric and start revisiting their wonderful poetry. Calling on the spirit of Hafiz!
