A post by Matthew Slutsky

Unfathomable

The United Nations today released figures on the number of Iraqi civilians killed in Iraq last year. The number: 34,452. This figure is far greater than the Iraqi Government’s estimate of 12,357.

What does this say about the effort? We went to war with Iraq to find the weapons of mass destruction, liberate the people of Iraq from a dangerous dictator, spread freedom and Democracy throughout the region, protect Americans from an imminent strike, give the people in Iraq a better chance at a free and secure life.

Sadly, we’ve failed on all fronts and instead have made things so bad there that an enormous number of civilians and thousands of our own brave men and women have died.

It’s time to bring the troops home. We should begin deploying the vast majority of U.S. troops in February of 2007 and have all non-essential troops out of the region by early summer.

The war is over. It didn’t go as we would have hoped. Let’s get our troops out of harms way and bring them home, today. Let’s get smart America. While we’re being distracted by the wrong war in Iraq what threats are building against us? Are we ready for another attack? Would we have the capacity to retaliate if we were attacked again here at home?

Fighting a smart war against extremist terrorists means keeping an eye on the ball and never getting distracted from defending this country. Right now, we are entirely off course.

Jan 16, 2007 by Matthew Slutsky in
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United States Ambassador

to the United Nations John Bolton has just resigned. Bolton did not have enough support in the U.S. Senate to win confirmation. President Bush gave Bolton a recess appointment to the United Nations in August, 2005. More on Bolton’s resignation here. Complete article on NYTimes.com.

Dec 4, 2006 at 10:04 AM | No Comments »

A post by Joshua Skaroff

Still In S. Philly

Day 1
1:52 PM ET.

While we’re now officially on the road (read: not at work), there’s still lots of work to do booking, packing, and organizing the marathon journey we’re about to start. Peter is doing research for an interview tonight, Matt is working on the script for an upcoming episode, and I’m editing together audio of a recent sitdown with a friend from MoveOn.org. And while we work in my living room in South Philly, still mourning the collapse of our Eagles on Sunday, we’re catching Bush’s speech to the UN on CNN.

The most interesting part of the speech is watching the reactions of the international representatives in the room. The president’s speech is all boilerplate rhetoric at this point so the the occasional chuckles from various Middle Eastern ambassadors are about the only thing to look for. They don’t look too happy. John Bolton looks fantastic with his ear translator piece however.

Bush is also adopting a very strange style in this speech, constantly using “you” to describe each region and state as he comes to it. He really feels the need to dictate everyone’s actions.

Ok, back to the grindstone. We’ve got lots of writing and editing to do before we get in the van tonight.

-Josh

Sep 19, 2006 by Joshua Skaroff in
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The Senate Panel Vote

on John Bolton has been delayed without explanation by committee Chairman Richard Lugar (R-IN). Bolton is the controversial ambassador put in the job through a recess appointment by President Bush. We’re hearing that embattled Sen. Lincoln Chafee (R-RI) would have voted no. UPDATE: Yup, it was Chafee.

Sep 7, 2006 at 11:57 AM | No Comments »

The United Nations

has passed a resolution to create a UN peacekeeping force in Sudan’s Darfur region. The resolution calls for up to 22,500 U.N. troops and police officers and an immediate injection of air, engineering and communications support for the 7,000-member African force already in the region.

Aug 31, 2006 at 12:49 PM | 1 Comment »