Our home away from home.

Change we can believe in:

U.S. special operations forces in Iraq will remain at current levels even as the number of American troops there is nearly halved over the next five months, the top special operations commander said today.

As the 98,000-strong force in Iraq is reduced to 50,000 by Aug. 31 in accordance with a U.S.-Iraqi agreement, roughly 4,500 special operations forces will maintain a presence there, military officials said.

“The special operations forces are not experiencing a drawdown in Iraq,” said Navy Adm. Eric Olson, commander of U.S. Special Operations Command. “Supporting them is a continuing mission of the rest of the force.”

[...]

As of last week, he said, special operations forces were engaged in 79 countries globally, including six “at-risk” countries where danger is probable, if not imminent. The number of forces engaged around the world was about 12,000 — about 10,000 of which were assigned to U.S. Central Command, an area of operations that includes Afghanistan, Iraq and the greater Middle East.

This is what I think is going to happen. Obama will tout the Iraq withdrawal during the next presidential election. He will talk about how he delivered on his promise of bringing home the troops. Then once he gets reelected, BOOM, he’ll send the troops back to Iraq.

Don’t believe me? Ask General Odierno.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=MkXtWwNDSdA

I don’t know about you but I love how my tax dollars are funding a war where we’re fighting the guys we supported and trained in the 1980s. I also love how we’ve replaced a general that ran secret torture prisons with a general that authorized the use of white phosphorus in a battle that killed hundreds if not thousands of innocent Iraqi civilians.

So invading two countries on false pretenses, slaughtering hundreds of thousands of innocent civilians, increasing infant birth defects by 15 percent, and holding civilians for years without charges doesn’t endanger American soldiers, but releasing 21 torture pictures will?

Defense Secretary Robert Gates has blocked the public release of any more pictures of foreign detainees abused by their U.S. captors, saying their release would endanger American soldiers.

Jesus Christ Gates, do you think we’re that fucking stupid? We know that every person that lives in the Middle East wants to chop off an American soldier’s head and shit down his/her neck because of the damage they’re doing. Which means the release of these photos has nothing to do with endangering American soldiers’ lives, and has everything to do with covering up the war crimes our government has committed.

And you can’t let that happen, because then our government won’t be able to continue its favorite pastime: telling other countries they need to prosecute their citizens for war crimes.

That’s why you can’t release these pictures of our soldiers raping men, women, and children with broom sticks, gun barrels, and cocks. Because once the world sees those horrific pictures then our government would have to investigate.

And if there’s one thing our government hates it’s doing its fucking job.

I bet the Taliban are excited.

U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates on Monday announced a temporary increase in the size of the U.S. Army that would boost the force by up to 22,000 troops for three years.

He told reporters at a news briefing that the increase, intended to cope with strains from the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, would raise the total strength of the Army to 569,000 soldiers.

You don’t think this increase has anything to do with July being the deadliest month for troops in Afghanistan, do you? I mean, our government didn’t look at the 30 American soldiers deaths and say, “Listen, we need to increase the number of live troops going into Afghanistan in order to offset the number of dead troops going out. So how many more do you think we need to send in?”

No, that’s crazy talk. Our government wouldn’t do that. They’re just increasing the number of troops because they want to win, that’s all.

Anyways, you know what I’m hapy about? I’m happy we aren’t going to spend more money sending these troops overseas, because I don’t think our economy could handle it.

What’s that? We are going spend more money?

The Pentagon plans to absorb an initial expansion cost of $1.1 billion through fiscal year 2010, which begins October 1, without additional funding from Congress. But Gates suggested more funds could be necessary in fiscal years 2011 and 2012.

You’ve got to be fucking kidding me. Robert Gates suggesting more funds could be necessary in 2011 and 2012 is the same thing as me suggesting to a hooker it could be necessary for her to blow me.

I don’t understand this shit. We have an economic and health care crisis, which is causing both Republicans and Democrats to whine about the national debt, yet neither party says anything about spending money on these idiotic wars. Why is that?

Do any of you know what WW2-era Germany and Italy and present-day Russia, Cuba, Venezuela, Peru, Iran, Saudi Arabia, Zimbabwe, North Korea, and China have in common with the United States?  It isn’t torture.  And it isn’t the slaughtering of thousands of innocent people either.  Give up?

It’s propaganda!!!

What propaganda?  The propaganda David Barstow reported on and won a Pulitzer Prize for.

Awarded to David Barstow of The New York Times for his tenacious reporting that revealed how some retired generals, working as radio and television analysts, had been co-opted by the Pentagon to make its case for the war in Iraq, and how many of them also had undisclosed ties to companies that benefited from policies they defended.

Of course some people will say, “The White House telling the Pentagon to hire retired high-ranking generals and putting them on ABC, NBC, CBS, Fox News, MSNBC, and CNN, and having them read talking points that the Pentagon prepared just for them so they could drum-up support for the Iraq war, which in turn helped the companies they worked for, isn’t called  propaganda.  It’s called patriotism.”

And those people are fucking wrong.

You see, propaganda is the dissemination of information aimed at influencing the opinions or behaviors of people. Propaganda often presents facts selectively (thus lying by omission) to encourage a particular synthesis, or gives loaded messages in order to produce an emotional rather than rational response to the information presented. The desired result is a change of the attitude toward the subject in the target audience to further a political agenda.

It’s what the White House used to gain support for the Iraq war.  It’s what the Germans used to gain support for the Holocaust.  It’s what North Korea uses to make its citizens think Kim Jong il pisses gold.  It’s what China and Russia uses to control their populations.

Of course those countries don’t admit to using propaganda.  They like to hide behind the “patriotism” statement just like retarded Americans do.

So if you’re one of those people who doesn’t believe our government uses propaganda, and the Main Stream Media really cares about America – please do the world a favor and follow in David Kellermann’s footsteps. Because we don’t need dumb motherfuckers like you reproducing.

I honestly thought Barack Obama was going to change Washington and that scared me the shit out of me. I didn’t know what would happen if a politician followed through on their promises.  Would the world stop turning?  Would there be peace on Earth?  Would I get laid more?  Lucky for me he’s just like the rest of those slimy pussies.

Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates is asking many of the Bush administration’s 250 Pentagon political appointees to remain on the job until the incoming Obama administration finds replacements — a move designed to prevent a leadership vacuum with U.S. troops engaged in wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, the Washington Times reported Tuesday.

The unusual request ensures that key policy positions will not be left to “acting” subordinates as typically occurs when political appointees are directed to resign during a presidential transition, according to the Times.

Man, Barack Obama fooled a ton of people. He made millions off of false promises to stupid people.  He will continue the war in Iraq and Afghanistan.  He will continue to bailout worthless companies with our money. He will continue to do the same stupid shit that George Bush has been doing for the past 8 years.

And I love it.  It’s about time a black man fucked this country up.  At least this man will sound intelligent giving a speech tricking us into a war with Iran and Russia. I can’t wait until he does…