John McCain hits rock bottom - shame on the creater of Sarah Palin

Senator John McCain was mocked by Republican candidate Donald Trump, yet the same man who stood up to the intimidation by the North Vietnamese, is kow-towing to the man who disdained his days as a Prisoner of War (POW) in North Vietnam.

Senator John McCain has become a lock-step political clone. Rather than lead the Republican party to overcome right wing bigotry and destructive anger, McCain made the wrong decision to build on stupid conspiracy theories about President Obama. Remember the Senator McCain who stood up to a woman in a town hall meeting, when she accused the President (then candidate) Obama of being a Muslim, when he wasn't?  

Where is that man today? He's running for re-election in Arizona and, therefore, finds himself saying anything to avoid another lost election, especially one at the end of his political career. 
Shame on him.

Senator John McCain remained a leader of the Republican party following his presidential defeat in 2008, but he has now caved to right wing extremism, rather than stand against candidate Donald Trump.

Governor Mitt Romney (left), on the other hand, is opposing Donald Trump, because he doesn't risk loosing any  political office.  

McCain should show leadership by supporting President Obama during times of grief and moruning, especially during the aftermath off preventable mass gun massacres, most recently the devastation in Orlando. 

Incredulously, McCain has accused President Obama of somehow being responsible for the Orlando massacre. Why? Because, he says, of the war in Iraq? OMG. It's conspiracy theory paranoia.

John McCain is showing symptons of short term political memory loss. He forgets how the failed Operaton Iraqi Feedom led to the rise of Middle East religious extremism because the invasion of the soverign nation of Iraq pulled the scab off of decades of simmering ethnic misrust.

Some linear thinking people feel like it was a town hall questioner who asked about President Obama's ethnicity that led the path to Senator McCain's 2008 presidential defeat. Yet, the fact is, it was his Vice-Presidential nominee, the Governor (who did not finish  her term) Sarah Palin who lost the 2008 presidential election, rather than any encounter in a Town Hall meeting.

What Senator John McCain said about President Obama somehow being responsible for any mass killings, especially the murders in Orlando, is reprehensible. Surely, Senator McCain is showing signs of short term memory loss. He's forgotten who caused the War in Iraq, in the first place. Furthermore, Senator McCain has also forgotten the candidate he was when he led the Republican party in 2008, against now President Barack Obama. Although Senator McCain lost the election, he retained his dignity as a patriotic American. Now, by building on weird conspiracy theories, Senator McCain is loosing his political moral compass.  

In fact, the enablers of evil ISIS, the terrorist Islamic State, are those who fuel the movement by feeding the hate they use for energy.

Shame on you, Senator John McCain. At the end of your political career, you have hit rock bottom.

Assad crimes against humanity- Syrian Refugees continue escape to Europe

American intervention in the Middle East during Operation Dessert Storm and Operation Iraqi Freedom contributed to the terrible instability, causing the humanitarian crises in Syria, Yemen, Iraq and beyond. 
In fact, Syrian refugees are causing a lot of stress in Jordan.

Syrian Refugees map

Nevertheless, the Republicans, whose policies led to the invasion of Iraq, are unwilling to assist the refugees who are suffering as a result of agressive American foriegn policy.

A horrific humanitarian crisis is destroying Syria and, at the same time, causing upheavel of social stability networks in Germany and throughout Europe. Nevertheless, Europeans are doing their best to respond, to the extent they can do so. Americans, not so much.

A refugee resettlement graph by nation is at this link.

Bashar al-Assad  is one evil man. He's only one man, who is at the root of the horrific humanitarian crisis in Syria. Obviiusly, Assad is guilty of crimes against humanity. The relentless persecution of his citizens is the root cause of the mass exodus of desperate refugees who are floating across the Mediterranean Sea, into Europe on dangerous inflatable boats, after they flee to Greece. 

There's no way to know how many refugees drowned. 
Moreover, the world will never know how many died in the Syrian civil war, during the carnage that's causing the exodus.

Refugees of the Syrian Civil War
More than four million refugees of the Syrian Civil War left the country during the course of the war. 

Most fled to neighboring Turkey, Lebanon, Jordan,[43]and Iraq, while thousands ended up in distant countries of the Caucasus, the Persian Gulf, North Africa and Europe. 

As of December 2015, Turkey was the world's biggest refugee hosting country with close to 2.5 million Syrian refugees; the nation had spent more than 8 billion Euros since 2011 on direct assistance to them according to estimates by Turkish Ministry of Education deputy secretary Yusuf Büyük.

The refugee crisis began in 2011, when thousands of Syrian citizens fled across the border to neighboring Turkey and Lebanon. By early July 2011, 15,000 Syrian citizens had taken shelter in tent cities, set up in theYayladağı, Reyhanlı and Altınözü districts ofHatay Province, near Turkey's border with Syria. By the end of that month, 5,000 of the refugees had returned to Syria.[46] However, by late June 2011, the number of Syrian refugees in Lebanon had reached around 10,000 people. By mid-July 2011, the first Syrian refugees found sanctuary in Jordan, with their numbers reaching 1,500 by December. On September 21, the European Union approved a plan committing to taking in 120,000 refugees. The newly elected Liberal Government announced that it would bring 25,000 Syrian refugees to Canada by the end of 2015 and fast tracked their resettlement.

Refugees are paying for false documentation to help them enter Europe. In 2015, fake Syrian passports were being used by non-Syrians in the hopes of fraudulently gaining legal residency in Europe. According to the European Union border agency, Frontex, trafficking in fake Syrian passports increased. In September 2015 German customs officers seized packages containing Syrian passports which police suspect were being sold illegally to those hoping to gain entry to the country

Unfortunately, tragically, America has not agreed to accept the numbers of refugees we should be receiving. Although President Barack Obama is opening up immigrations to the Syrians, the Republicans are resistant to increasing their numbers. 

I'd like to apologize to Syrians and the European nations that are responsibly accepting refugees who are desperately fleeing their homes, one of the consequences of America's agressive foriegn policy and Assad's  persecution. 

If it were possible to turn back the clock, to prevent our invasion of Iraq, I'd join millions of Americans and do it.

Of course, the probability of time travel to the past is an impossibility. Therefore, all I can do now is to apoligize and sincrely pray for Middle East peace. Yes, and to support bringing more Syrian refugees into the US.

Republicans have an obligation to support American values - show compassion for Syrians

Sadly, I haven't heard anything from selfish and small minded Republicans about how desperate the tragic Syrian refugees are as they flee their homes to find safety from civil war in Europe. Instead, Republicans have leaped to a conclusion that the victims of an international humanitarian disaster are harboring terrorists.

Syrian refugees pouring into Europe

Irresponsibly, the self righteous "pro life" Republicans appear to have no interest in protecting the lives of children who are victims of the Syrian civil war. Republicans choose to ignore the terror inflicted on these desperate refugees by the evil President Assad, who poison gassed and dropped kettle bombs on his own people. So much for "right to life" Republicans. Right wing reactionism is spreading unfounded fear about innocent people, when there's no evidence that Syrians are terrorists.

Syrian refugees are not terrorists!

Republican leadership in the US Congress has an obligation to demonstrate compassion for Syrian refugees.  

Accepting Syrian and Iraqi refugees into the US is the right thing to do. Allowing the refugees to find safety in the US is consistent with our American values of accepting the "tired, the poor, the huddled masses yearning to be free", as Emma Lazarus wrote in the compassion poem inscribed on The Statue of Liberty, in New York Harbor.  

Statue of Liberty

Unfortuantely, too many Democrats seem to be falling victim to Republican fear mongering of targeting a group of refugee people who aren't even in the US yet.

Moreover, it's certainly ironic to consider how pro-life Republicans can't do anything to prevent innocent Americans from becoming victims of prevetable gun violence, while blaming Syrian refugees for terrorism, when they aren't even in the US.

Americans must come to terms with the hypocrisy of convoluted anti-immigration Republican rhetoric. We're descendents of immigrants. Americans must stand up to terrorism and those who have taken up arms to threaten our civilization. Yet, at the same time, we have a moral obligation as humanitarians to welcome those who are experiencing the horror that we're fighting against.

Republicans are morally wrong to continue stoking fear about innocent Syrian and Iraqi refugees. Shame on Roman Catholic Speaker Paul Ryan, for contributing to the morally wrong Republican legislation to make it more difficult for the refugees fleeing to Europe to enter the US.

Speaker Ryan is a political leader who has has an obligation to support American values in support of legal immigration. Americans must respond to the Syrian and Iraqi refugee crises because, the truth be told, our nation is not innocent in this turmoil - the Operation Iraqi Freedom invasion of Iraq opened the Pandora's box to this growing international turmoil.

Most important, Americans must show compassion for Syrian refugees because it's the right thing to do. Let's honor our immigrant ancestry by supporting our immigrant friends.

Jeb! Go back to your family for first person history lesson

An op-ed penned for Politico, former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright slams Jeb! Bushy Boy for his attempt to change history and calls him a liar (says "Occupy Democrats" blog).

While the news media continues to create a cacophony about Secretary Clinton's email messages, the Republicans are imploding with Jeb! Bushy Boy now reinventing history about his family's role in the Iraq war debacle. Listen up news media! Instead of following every tired nuance about an email server in Secretary Clinton's home, the media would better serve the American public by finding out why Jeb! Bushy Boy insists on telling lies about his family's Iraq War history? Now, former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright has challenged Jeb! Bushy Boy's version of events. Unfortunately, the Bush family has more to explain about the failed Iraq War and Operation Iraqi Freedom than Mrs. Clinton has to disclose about her email.

Republican presidential candidate Jeb! Busy Boy has been on a mission to rewrite history and fool the American people into believing that President Obama and Hillary Clinton are to blame for the rise of ISIS/ISIL/Daesh in the Middle East. 

Jeb! Bushy Boy said on a number of occasions, most recently at the Iowa State Fair, that “ISIS didn’t exist” when George W. Bush was president (it did) and that Obama’s “decision” (really President Bush’s decision) to pull troops out of Iraq in 2011 is to blame. Unfortunately for him, his lies are not fooling anyone and now he is being called out by a very prominent political figure: former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright.

In an op-ed penned for Politico, Albright slams Jeb Bush for his attempt to change history and calls him the liar he is:

“Republican presidential candidate Jeb Bush’s brazen attempts to rewrite history in a series of campaign appearances last week cannot go unchallenged," wrote Albright. 

"By blaming President Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton for the rise of ISIL, Governor Bush is clearly seeking to absolve his brother’s administration of responsibility for today’s problems in Iraq. This argument may serve Governor Bush’s political interests, but it does a disservice to the truth.”

The country’s first female Secretary of State hit the nail right on the head. Jeb! Bushy Boyt, who refused to even admit his brother was wrong for invading Iraq in the early days of his campaign, is now trying to pull one over on the American people, just like his brother did more than a decade ago.

President Obama and Hillary Clinton are absolutely not to blame for the rise of ISIS. 

Albright points out that ISIS actually emerged after the 2003 invasion of Iraq. When President Bush invaded the country, unseated Saddam Hussein and disbanded the military, the terrorist organization rose from the ashes. Many of the members of the group were former members of al Qeada, something Jeb “forgets” to mention while he is busy blaming Obama. Just like he “forgets” to mention that his brother was actually the president who negotiated our pull-out date and even though President Obama wanted to stay in Iraq a little longer, he didn’t because Iraq was refusing to grant U.S. soldiers immunity from prosecution.

The former Secretary of State also mentions that Jeb! Bushy Boy makes it a point to refer to member of ISIS as “Islamic terrorists.” Ms. Albright explains that it is offensive to call ISIS “Islamic terrorists” because “it feeds the false narrative that we are at war with a religion.” He does this, because he wants to appeal to the Islamophobic GOP base who are always claiming that President Obama refuses to acknowledge that Islamic extremists exist — another Republican lie. She then gives the president and Hillary Clinton credit for the gains we have made in the Middle East:

“Words matter in the world of diplomacy, and so does leadership. The reputation of the United States was severely damaged during President’ Bush’s administration. Today, America’s place in the world is far stronger than it was in 2009 thanks to the leadership of President Obama and former Secretary Clinton. They renewed alliances, relentlessly pursued our terrorist enemies, and forged international coalitions on Iran sanctions and on the fight against climate change. That’s a laudable record of achievement—one that needs no re-writes.”

President Obama has done much to repair our diplomatic relationships, in spite of Republicans’ every effort to sabotage him and them. The GOP has done absolutely nothing to support our president since he took office in 2008, but it didn’t matter because no matter how many roadblocks they put in his way, he prevailed. A perfect example of this is the Iran nuclear deal. Republicans have been up in arms over Obama’s negotiations with Iran. They, and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netenyahu, do not believe in diplomacy; they want the USA to become in yet another unwinnable war in the Middle East that will cost trillions of dollars and thousands of lives. Fortunately for America, President Obama has a level head and believes war is the last resort, not the first.

The GOP candidate refuses to acknowledge any of this and continues to place the blame for the Islamic State on Obama’s shoulders, because it not only appeals to the right wing base, but Jeb! Bushy Boy can’t admit that his brother is an incompetent fool who thrust our country into an unwinnable war and cost many thousands of American and Iraqi lives.

Former Secretary of State Albright concludes her op-ed by explaining why it's important to call Jeb!Bushy Boy out for his lies:

“The United States cannot afford another President Bush who blinds himself to global reality and who forges ahead into chaos. Americans deserve a president who will acknowledge the past and will forge a better future.”

Indeed, an American president cannot begin a campaign for the job by telling lies right out of the gate, even while primary  elections are still being organized.

Moreover, American news media need to hold Jeb! Bushy Boy just as accountable for his revisionist history as they are obsessed by old news email in Secretary Clinton's home server.  

Dear "Jeb!"- "Don't Touch our Medicare!"

Americans must stop Bushy-Boy from promoting "coupon medicine" by advocating for a Medicare voucher system.

It's impossible to understand how "Jeb!" i.e., "Bushy-Boy", could gain political traction, in his struggling attempt to build a campaign voters can identity with, by criticizing Medicare as being "unsustainable".  

Dear "Bushy-Boy", your brother's failed Operation Iraqi Freedom was an unsustainable war, but we're still pouring money into this decade long struggle. There's always "sustainable" funds found someplace for war and defense contracts. Therefore, there must be enough money to care for Americans who have contributed to Medicare and deserve the insurance coverage they've paid into.

Moreover, Americans also deserve "Medicare for All". In other words, when a worker has paid 40 quarters into the program, the beneficiary should be able to access and receive the coverage.

(CNN- reports) On July 30, 1965, 50 years ago this coming Thursday, President Lyndon Johnson signed Medicare and Medicaid into law, creating some of the biggest changes in social programs in America's history.

The politics surrounding Medicare and Medicaid remain contentious. Several red states are still refusing to expand Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act (ACA), claiming it constitutes yet another excessive expansion of government. (Meanwhile, deserving Americans are denied coverage available under the ACA but their states are blocking their access!)

While Republicans backed away from Wisconsin Rep. Paul Ryan's plan to radically overhaul Medicare, GOP candidate Jeb Bush just brought the issue right back into the campaign by telling a Koch brothers event in New Hampshire that Congress should phase out the program. What Bushy-Boy is calling for is "coupon medicine", in other words, "vouchers".

"We need to make sure we fulfill the commitment to people that have already received the benefits," he said, "that are receiving the benefits. But we need to figure out a way to phase out this program for others and move to a new system that allows them to have something, because they're not going to have anything."

Faced with an immediate backlash that he was veering far right, Bush backed off and said his statement was taken out of context.

Well, Bushy-Boy should never go there.  It didn't work for Congressman Ryan and it sure won't work for Busy-Boy, either.

Bushy-Boy was picking up on Ryan's claim that Medicare won't have enough money to pay for benefits by 2026, which ignores the fact that adjustments can be made to the revenue stream of the program that would keep it solvent (there have been many times since 1965 when projections indicated a shortfall and Congress and the president resolved the problem through adjustments to taxes and benefits, such as when Ronald Reagan was president in 1983).

It also ignores the fact that the recent report by trustees of Medicare includes much more favorable projections than the one on which Bush and Ryan are relying. Whereas in 2005 they projected that spending on Medicare would increase to 13% of gross domestic product by 2080, now, as a result of a number of factors including Obamacare, the projections are down to 6% of GDP in 2090.

On the anniversary, Americans should take this moment to look at some lessons from the history of those policies.

Fifty years ago, liberals were optimistic the passage of Medicare and Medicaid would transform health care. The program's founders hoped to end one of the biggest policy problems of the post-World War II period: the fact that, as health care costs started to skyrocket for older Americans with advances in medicine and technology, a huge percentage of the elderly lacked access to adequate insurance.

Medicare works! Therefore, it's impossible to understand why rich Republicans like "Bushy-Boy" want to deny Americans their right to access a health insurance benefit they've paid into for 50 years!

What is the agenda in Bush-Romney Kennebunkport lunch

"Jeb!" (aka Jeb Bush son of Presidents George and brother of "W",  is planning to win the Republican nomination to run for the 2016 US presidential election.  He's raising oodles of money and now there's a report, in the Maine newspaper "Portland Press Herald", about a scheduled power lunch, planned between "Jeb!" and the previous Republican presidential nominee, Governor Mitt Romney. They're reported to be scheduling a lunch meeting in Kennebunkport, Maine at Walker's Point, the home of President Bush and his family.

It's difficult to understand why "Jeb!" needs to align himself with Mitt Romney. The former presidential candidate won't bring anything new to a 2016 presidential campaign. Think about it. "Jeb!" has money and name recognition.  I suppose what "Jeb!" lacks is Republican party enthusiasm for his candidacy. After all, the Republicans have lost every election where their candidate has been a centrist. Therefore, party loyalists are pulling their political alliances towards the right. In other words, Republicans need another Ronald Reagan. They're hoping for a candidate who can "sell" the Republican brand. "Jeb!" isn't a Ronald Reagan caliber of political salesman, someone who can delude the American voter into believing in right wing conservatism.  He simply doesn't have the right stuff.  

On the other hand, Mitt Romney is a vetted conservative. Although Romney lost his election in 2012, to President Barack Obama, his conservative experience might help "Jeb!" to gain credibility among ambiguous partisans, who don't want another conservative who pretends to be a centrist, just to win an election. Evidence of this is the strong showing of the business magnate and acrimonious ideologue Donald Trump in the presidential race. Most Americans polled can't imagine voting for the brazen Donald Trump, especially after his absolutely obnoxiously outrageous stereotyping of Mexican immigrants. Nevertheless, right wing political partisans appreciate the outspoken non political Trump style (gulp!).  

Trump is unapologetic when speaking the conservative message

Obviously "Jeb!" needs help selling his brand of conservatism to Republicans. Otherwise, he wouldn't invite Mitt Romney to lunch in Kennebunkport, at Walker's Point.  "Jeb!"needs a salesman to promote his brand and he'll ask Mitt Romney for help. Surely, he could ask his brother, the former President Herbert Walker Bush, for help. Nevertheless, doing so raises the ghosts about the "hanging chad" 2000 election. Worse, the former president, who is "Jeb's!" brother, will remind Americans about the failed Operation Iraqi Freedom, a war where thousands of Americans and Iraqi people were killed as a result of America's illegal invasion of a sovereign nation, without cause.

It's difficult to understand how Mitt Romney can help "Jeb!" to sell his Republican conservatism to the party faithful.

As the obnoxious Donald Trump rises in the public opinion polls on the Republican right and Bernie Sanders is cresting on the Democratic left,  even eclipsing Hillary Clinton, it seems "Jeb!" is reaching out to the only lifeline he knows.  Mitt Romney may well be the only friend "Jeb!" has, among political conservatives.

Meanwhile, "Jeb!" continues to roll in campaign contributions.
He has plenty of money to spend, but he still must explain to the American people how it is our nation continues to be embroiled in an Iraq war, when we never should've invaded the country, in the first place. Money won't help "Jeb!" to win the 2016 election, unless Republicans are convinced he can win the election. And they are not convinced, regardless of how much money or name recognition the Bush legacy can access.

Meanwhile, too many GOP candidates are in the field of egotistical clowns who think they can be the next Republican President of the United States. None of them have the right stuff.  


Maybe a lunch is just a "lunch". Although "Jeb!" doesn't need money, he sure needs a political friend. (It's remotely possible, the lunch was even requested by Mitt Romney, rather than by "Jeb!".)

Most of all, what "Jeb!" needs to win are votes in the 2016 Presidential election. Maybe, Mitt Romney can bring in the same 47 percent he won in 2012, but he certainly won't convince the Independents and Democrats who are unimpressed by the failed Bush family legacy.   

We may never know what the agenda is for the Bush-Romney lunch in Kennebunkport. Yet. whatever it is, the outcome will not impact Democratic voters, who remain completely unimpressed by right wing conservatives, regardless of how they're sold to the electorate.

Americans must retake Mosul from ISIS and erect a memorial for all who died there

In 2004, Americans fought ferociously to win the Battle of Mosul Iraq. Now, in an infuriating defeat for the Iraq army, the evil Islamic State (ISIS) has taken back Mosul and occupied this territory.

Although the American main stream media continues to report on the consequences of national winter ice and snow accumulations, the fact is, another ferocious battle is being planned to win back Mosul, in Iraq.  

Thankfully, BBCNews is reporting on this battle, while the American news media are obsessed about reporting on winter ice.

Of course, weather, ice and snow, especially in winter, will make dramatic visual news.  

But, this seasonal imagery can't trump the significance of the battle to win Mosul back from the evil ISIS. (The Battle for Mosul was fought by U.S. forces under the leadership of General David Petraeus, in 2004, during the Iraq War.)

BBCNews is reporting how Iraq and Kurdish troops will fight to regain Mosul from the ISIS radical terrorist fighters.  

Mosul, which was home to more than a million people, fell to ISIS last June.

A joint Iraqi-Kurdish military force of up to 25,000 fighters  are being prepared to retake the Iraqi city of Mosul from Islamic State (evil ISIS), a US official says.

A senior military official said that the operation to recapture the northern Iraq city would probably take place in April or May.

Iraq's second largest city was currently being held by 1,000 to 2,000 ISIS militants, the official added.

Mosul, which was home to more than a million people, fell to ISIS last June.

The unnamed official told reporters that no decision had been made on whether a small group of US military advisers would be needed on the ground to direct air support.

The official said all of the fighters in the force would have gone through training by the US.

The official added that the operation would be needed by May, otherwise it would be compromised by the summer heat, although he added that it could be delayed if the Iraqi forces were not ready.

Julie's postscript - when Mosul is eventually recaptured from evil ISIS, a success that, no doubt, will cost many more lives.....the ultimate victory must include the plans to erect a mammoth tribute monument, including the names of every person who has been killed in this blood bath - including the known civilians.  

There was no reason, whatsoever, for the cowardly Iraq army to loose Mosul to evil ISIS.  Nevertheless, when it's finally reclaimed, the territory must erect a monument that should remind the world about the terrible carnage caused by the entire failed operation Iraqi Freedom. 

When Jeb Bush officially launches his campaign to become president of the United States, he must be asked how it was the Americans lost Operation Iraqi Freedom under his brother's leadership.  Moreover, Jeb Bush  must be asked how he intends to prevent Mosul from ever again being captured by Islamic extremists.

ISIS and Middle East terrorism are outcomes of Iraqi Freedom - a timeline of failure

Republicans are like spectators at a Medieval joust, waiting until the death match in the Middle East.

As Americans are blindsided by the eruption of splinter Al Qaeda groups now terrorizing the world, the fact is, these radical Islam zealots are the result of the failed Operation Iraqi Freedom. 

This is a timeline where the string of events resulting from the failed invasion of Iraq are succinctly described.

Operation Iraqi Freedom and Operation New Dawn Fast Facts

By CNN Library

updated 5:32 PM EDT, Wed September 3, 2014

(CNN) -- Here's a look at what you need to know about the Iraq War which was known as Operation Iraqi Freedom until September 2010, when it was renamed Operation New Dawn.

Timeline:
February 5, 2003 - U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell makes the case to the United Nations that Iraqi President Saddam Husseinposes an imminent threat.

February 14, 2003 - U.N. Chief Weapons Inspector Hans Blix reports to the U.N. Security Council that his team has found no weapons of mass destruction in Iraq.

March 17, 2003 - President George W. Bush issues an ultimatum to President Hussein and his family - leave Iraq within 48 hours or face military action.

March 19, 2003 (10:15 p.m. EST) - President Bush announces U.S. and coalition forces have begun military action against Iraq.

March 20, 2003 - President Hussein speaks on Iraqi TV, calling the coalition's attacks "shameful crimes against Iraq and humanity."

March 23, 2003 - Members of the 507th Maintenance Company are ambushed and captured outside Nasiriyah, Iraq.

April 1, 2003 - Pfc. Jessica Lynch is rescued from a hospital by U.S. forces.

April 9, 2003 - Coalition forces take Baghdad. A large statue of Saddam Hussein is toppled down in Firdos Square. The White House declares "the regime is gone."

April 13, 2003 - Seven U.S. prisoners of war are rescued by U.S. troops.

May 1, 2003 - Speaking on the U.S.S. Abraham Lincoln, President Bush declares "major combat operations" over, although some fighting continues.

May 22, 2003 - The United Nations Security Council approves a resolution acknowledging the U.S. and Great Britain's right to occupy Iraq.

July 22, 2003 - Saddam Hussein's sons, Uday and Qusay, are killed by U.S. forces.

December 13, 2003 - Saddam Hussein is captured in a "spider hole" in Tikrit. This is not confirmed until December 14 by the U.S. Defense Dept.

June 28, 2004 - The handover of sovereignty to the interim Iraqi government takes place two days before the June 30 deadline previously announced by the U.S.-led coalition.

June 30, 2004 - The coalition turns over legal control of Saddam Hussein and 11 other former top Iraqi officials to the interim Iraqi government. The United States retains physical custody of the men.

July 1, 2004 - Saddam Hussein makes his first appearance in court. A judge charges Hussein with a variety of crimes, including the invasion of Kuwait and the gassing of the Kurds.

August 2004 - U.S. and Iraqi forces battle insurgents in Najaf who are followers of Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr.

September 6, 2004 - The number of U.S. troops killed in Iraq reaches 1,000.

November 2004 - U.S. and Iraqi forces battle insurgents in Falluja. About 2,000 insurgents are killed. On November 14, Falluja is declared to be liberated.

October 25, 2005 - The number of U.S. troops killed in Iraq reaches 2,000.

November 19, 2005 - At least 24 Iraqi civilians, including women and children, are killed in Haditha, Iraq. Suspicion falls on Marines from Kilo Company of the 3rd Battalion, 5th Marine Regiment. Eight U.S. Marines faced charges in the deaths, but only one is convicted of a crime, that of negligent dereliction of duty.

November 5, 2006 - The Iraqi High Tribunal reaches a verdict in the 1982 Dujail massacre case. Saddam Hussein is found guilty and sentenced to death by hanging, pending appeal.

December 30, 2006 - Saddam Hussein is hanged a few minutes after 6 a.m. Baghdad time (10 p.m. EST).

December 30, 2006 - The number of U.S. troops killed in Iraq reaches 3,000.

January 10, 2007 - A troop surge begins, eventually increasing U.S. troop levels to more than 150,000.

September 3, 2007 - Basra is turned over to local authorities after British troops withdraw from their last military base in Iraq to an airport outside the city.

March 22, 2008 - The number of U.S. troops killed in Iraq reaches 4,000.

July 10, 2008 - Gen. David Petraeus is confirmed by U.S. Senate as commander of U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM). General Ray Odierno succeeds Petraeus as Multinational Forces commander in Iraq.

July 16, 2008 - The surge officially ends, and troop levels are reduced.

December 4, 2008 - The Iraqi Presidential Council approves a security agreement that paves the way for the United States to withdraw completely from Iraq by 2011.

January 1, 2009 - The U.S. military hands over control of Baghdad's Green Zone to Iraqi authorities.

February 27, 2009 - President Barack Obama announces a date for the end of U.S. combat operations in Iraq: August 31, 2010.

June 30, 2009 - U.S. troops pull back from Iraqi cities and towns and Iraqi troops take over the responsibility for security operations. However, U.S. troops remain in the country to continue combat operations and patrols in rural areas.

August 19, 2010 - The last U.S. combat brigade leaves Iraq. 52,000 U.S. troops remain in the country.

September 1, 2010 - Operation Iraqi Freedom is renamed Operation New Dawn to reflect the reduced role U.S. troops will play in securing the country.

May 22, 2011 - The last British military forces in Iraq, 81 Royal Navy sailors patrolling in the Persian Gulf, withdraw from the country. 179 British troops died during the country's eight-year mission in Iraq.

October 17, 2011 - A senior U.S. military official tells CNN that the United States and Iraq have been unable to come to agreement regarding legal immunity for U.S. troops who would remain in Iraq after the end of the year, effectively ending discussion of maintaining an American force presence after the end of 2011. (Americans need to know how this decision was essential if the US military was to stay in Iraq. It was totally unacceptable for our troops to remain in the country without the legal immunity).

October 21, 2011 - President Barack Obama announces that virtually all U.S. troops will come home from Iraq by the end of the year. According to a U.S. official, about 150 of the 39,000 troops currently in Iraq will remain to assist in arms sales. The rest will be out of Iraq by December 31.

December 2, 2011 - The last U.S. troops to occupy Camp Victory leave as the Iraqi government assumes control of the complex.

December 15, 2011 - American troops lower the flag of command that flies over Baghdad officially ending the U.S. military mission in Iraq.

December 18, 2011 - The last U.S. troops in Iraq cross the border into Kuwait.

Tragically, when US troops exited Iraq, the void created a leadership vacuum. Like a destructive tornado, the situation became a funnel cloud of destruction as Iran's President Maliki became a tyrant whose oppression of Sunni Muslims caused the growth of splinter terrorist groups. Unfortunately, the splinter groups used money obtained from the ransom of Western hostages to obtain US military equipment left behind by our failed Operation Iraqi Freedom. Now, those same weapons, paid for by US taxpayers, are being used to terrorize the entire Middle East.

Regardless of how the evil ISIS and another Khorazan Group have grown to become, the fact is, their momentum's are correlated with the failed leadership following Operation Iraqi Freedom. This failed leadership could have been prevented if the US had never invaded Iraq, in the first place. Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD) didn't exist, therefore, the premise for the invasion was non-existent.

It's time Republicans are reminded again about why America is re-engaged in a Middle Eastern war. This current anti-ISIS coalition is the third time since 1990 that we're involved in war, beginning when the Desert Storm coalition, in response to the invasion of Kuwait by the now executed Saddam Hussein.

Therefore, Republicans who are stoically watching from the deadly jousting bleachers, waiting to see what's to become of the daunting US involvement in the Middle East, should evaluate and take responsibility for their complicity in these incendiary catastrophes. 

Syria - Killing Innocents with Weapons of Mass Destruction

"The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing." Edmund Burke (1729-97)
Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD) were non-existent when President George Bush made the decision to invade Iraq on March 1, 2003.   We now know, those Weapons of Mass Destruction didn't exist.

Meanwhile, as a result of American intervention in Iraq, thousands of people were killed, including American military and Iraqi civilians, in Operation Iraqi Freedom. 

Today, the world has evidence of genocide committed in Syria with President Bashar-al-Assad using the evil terror of deadly gas to murder his country's citizens; but the world seems to be in a state of paralysis about how to respond.  This makes no  sense. If Assad is allowed to kill his own people because he wants to murder future opposition, then all dissenting groups in other countries will be at risk for similar retribution.  Maybe, President Obama should have claimed, as President Bush did, that Assad harbors Weapons of Mass Destruction.  After all, what are gas killing weapons? Deadly weapons that kill innocent people with noxious gas are, in fact, weapons of mass destruction.  

President Obama decided to take the issue of how to respond to the Syrian genocide to the US Congress, for a vote.  He'll seek a Congressional vote before moving forward with an assault against the Assad regime.  If the Congress votes down any military action, the consequences of inaction will be theirs to bear. 

Almost as soon as President Obama announced his decision to procrastinate, the Syrian Government began yet another offensive against rebels.  More Christians will die as a result.

Let me get this right:  Americans invaded Iraq because Hussein was supposed to harbor Weapons of Mass Destruction - except he didn't.  But, America balk rather than retaliate against Assad because he killed thousands of his own people, in the face of President Obama's threat of retaliation.  There was no evidence of the former and plenty of brutal evidence to support the later.  

America invaded Iraq with no evidence; but we're in a delay pattern with Syria, in spite of evidence.

Nevertheless, a reasonable reticent response is understandable.   American intervention in the Middle East has had an overall negative impact. In fact, the Middle East has been in a tailspin ever since 1991, when President George Herbert Walker Bush decided to invade Iraq in Operation Dessert Storm, because Saddam Hussein had invaded the sovereign nation of Kuwait.  

Bush, remembering the lessons of Vietnam, sought public support before the Gulf War. Although there were scant opponents of the conflict, the vast majority of Americans and a narrow majority of the Congress supported the President's actions. When all the forces were in place, the United States issued an ultimatum to Saddam Hussein: leave Kuwait by January 15,1991 or face a full attack by the multinational force.

But, President Bush 1st didn't finish the job after the successful multinational  invasion led by General Norman Schwarzkopf, Jr.

Although Schwarzkopf led a brilliant effort, Saddam Hussein remained in charge of Iraq.  

After the war, Saddam Hussein executed a reign terror against the Iraqi groups that assisted the multinationals. The unfinished business after the Gulf War became complicated over time, but ultimately led to the Second Iraq War.  This second invasion was based upon a false premise that Hussein harbored Weapons of Mass Destruction. Tragically, in the aftermath of both wars, the country of Iraq has since broken into civil unrest.

In other words, American intervention in Iraq has not advanced the nation one iota.  

Intervention in Syria will presumably create the same dismal outcome.

But, Syrian President Assad is getting away with genocide; he's murdering his people, including hundreds of children, using Weapons of Mass Destruction!  

Inevitably, civil wars and religious carnage in the Middle East will lead to a confrontation of Apocalyptic proportions. Unspeakable nuclear options are certainly another horrendous threat. The world can't continue to ignore growing instability in the Middle East.  

"The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing." Edmund Burke (1729-97)

President Obama told Americans today that he will take action against the Syrian Government - “We cannot and must not turn a blind eye to what happened in Damascus,” Obama said during an address at the Rose Garden. “This has implications beyond chemical warfare," he said.

Unfortunately, the implications he spoke of will create more carnage, as Assad sees he's getting away with murder.  It's likely he'll destroy his opposition, most of them Christians, before our gridlocked US Congress reconvenes on September 9th.  

Assad will use more Weapons of Mass Destruction in the process.

Maybe, President Obama's Rose Garden statement today should have included President Bush, the President who used WMD as the premise for the Iraq invasion, standing with Vice President Biden.

So, we've finally found a valid reason to attack a sovereign country, but the weapons of mass destruction we sought in Iraq are being used to kill innocent people in Syria.  Typically, our US Congress will do about as much to help Syrian rebels as they do about immigration reform - ie nothing.

"The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing." Edmund Burke (1729-97)

Although Americans have every reason to be averse to any wars, the Assad "in you face" actions to deliberately violate international law must be punished.  Syrian people must rise up to initiate a regime change before the entire Middle East turns into the fulfillment of Apocalyptic prophecy; and the weapons of mass destruction used will be more than the world can continue to ignore.