Shocking as it may seem, the civilian casualty figures that General David Petraeus used in his Iraq war progress report dog-and-pony show earlier this month differ from the generally higher numbers less partisan body counters use. But what’s really interesting in a grotesque sort of way is that the general’s numbers also differ significantly from the Pentagon’s official numbers, which are higher in some cases and lower in others. Now before we impugn this whole crowd for having...

In a terrific instance of comity across the political spectrum, five blogs have joined together to set up up a memorial fund in the names of Sergeants Omar Mora and Yance T. Gray. The men were among the seven GIs in Iraq who wrote a controversial New York Times op-ed piece questioning the war. They died on September 10 when a cargo truck overturned in western Baghdad just as General David Petraeus was about to report to Congress on progress of the surge. A third author, Staff Sergeant Jeremy Murphy,...

One of the more puzzling traits of the right wing, which waves Old Glory at every opportunity and professes to have a deep and abiding love for America, is how little faith it actually has in the pillars of the American legal and political system when push comes to shove. In the wake of the 9/11 attacks, the right wing has slavishly supported the Bush’s administration’s efforts to suspend habeas corpus, secretly spy on the citizenry, ignore international treaties and promote the use...

It took years for New Jersey to wrestle the unofficial Most Corrupt State title from Louisiana and public officials there are determined not to relinquish the crown. Just the other day, in yet another round of government corruption-related arrests yet another passel of mayors and other public officials from three counties were caught accepting payoffs from undercover agents in yet another sting operation. Given that voters associate corruption more with Democrats, a reasonable person would think...

Given the kerfuffles over whether Mahmoud Ahmadinejad should be allowed to visit Ground Zero and questions over whether there is something strange in the drinking water at Columbia University, it has been easy to overlook that as the Iranian president makes his annual sojourn to the U.S. and the U.N., he arguably has played the fools in the White House . . . for fools. Put aside for a moment that Ahmadinejad is a bully of the first water and a Holocaust-denying loony-tune who has some very real...

. . . that federal troops escorted nine black students into an all-white high school in Little Rock, Arkansas, and struggles over race and segregation in America are still far from resolved. More here.

The conservative business press is exulting over how Alan Greenspan took down Jon Stewart when the former Federal Reserve chairman and economic guru appeared on the Daily Show the other day. Indeed, the usually inscrutable Greenspan was downright irrationally exuberant and got off some good ones. This included a barbed suggestion that Stewart reread The Age of Turbulence, his new book on the global economy, so he can better fathom why the nannies who babysit America’s so-called free market...

“There’s no such thing as a good war, only necessary wars and just wars,” says former Marine Corps torpedo bomber pilot Sam Hynes in the opening minutes of The War, the magisterial Ken Burns documentary that premiered on most PBS stations last night and continues in seven parts and some 14½ hours in all through early next month. In fact, the first episode is called “A Necessary War” and would seem to be a backhanded reference to Iraq. But Hynes was speaking of Japanese...

As a very grown-up 18 year old (or so I thought), I traveled to New York City alone for the first time during my senior year in high school. Some 40 years later, I vaguely recall getting off a Trailways bus at the Port Authority Terminal and walking out into the teeming throngs on 42nd Street. I lunched on a freshly sliced roast beef sandwich at an Irish pub near Madison Square Garden and washed it down with my inaugural English ale. I dropped some pocket change in the open guitar case of the first...

. . . Ouch! Ouch! Ouch! Ouch! Correspondent Patrick Graham does note that the U.S. has reached out to Saddam Hussein’s former henchmen, but that certainly does not make him “the new Saddam” as hyped on the cover of the new Maclean’s magazine. That so noted, Graham’s commentary is most excellent for its perspective, depth and balance. Click here to read excerpts and here for the entire article.

The New York Times reports that Blackwater USA employees have returned to work in Iraq guarding convoys. It was not immediately clear whether the Iraqi government had okayed the action, but it’s a good bet that it had at least given its tacit approval. End of kerfuffle.

These women are 9/11 widows. They’re not afraid of Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who says he wants to lay wreath at Ground Zero when he comes to New York to address the U.N., even though it was Iran that attacked the U.S. on 9/11. So why are so many Americans freaked out by the possibility that some good may actually come of such a gesture? Why are you so freaked out?

If you are a black, it wouldn’t take a stretch of imagination to think that the Republican presidential candidates would like nothing more than to ship you off to Jena, Louisiana. If you are a Hispanic, it wouldn’t take a stretch of imagination to think that the Republican presidential candidates would like nothing more than to ship you off to Mexico or wherever the heck you came from. That is the resoundingly negative message being delivered almost without exception by the Republican...

The intrinsic half-assedness of virtually everything associated with the planning and execution of the Iraq war is on full display in the raging controversy over Blackwater USA. Let me hasten to say that the military, despite sometimes crossed and changing signals from the White House and Pentagon, has comported itself with the utmost professionalism. But the latest consequence of the Bush administration’s make-it-up-as-we-go-along approach to war is that the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad has indefinitely...

While the legendary Walter Cronkite is tacking quietly into the sunset aboard his sailboat, Dan Rather, his controversial successor at CBS News, is determined to settle old scores. And while my initial thought when I first heard that Rather had filed a $70 million damage suit against his old bosses was that he should have signed on as Uncle Walter’s first mate, I’ve reconsidered. Yes, the lawsuit is a world-class case of sour grapes, but it could serve a significantly more important...

It is said that cats have nine lives. The question of the moment is how many O.J. Simpson has. By my reckoning, The Juice has squandered four lives so far: Lives One and Two went poof when he skated after the so-called Trial of the Century for the murders of his former wife, Nicole Brown Simpson, and Ron Goldman. Life Three concluded with a $33.5 million wrongful death civil judgment against him, little of which he has paid, while he left behind Life Four when he walked out of a Las Vegas courtroom...

CPA boss Paul Bremer with Blackwater guard The fog surrounding a weekend incident in which Blackwater USA security guards allegedly killed at least 11 Iraqis and wounded others grows thicker. There have been these developments: * A preliminary review by Iraq’s Ministry of Interior found that Blackwater security guards fired at a car when it did not heed a policeman’s call to stop, killing a couple and their infant. The report said that Blackwater helicopters also had fired, a finding...

Am I the only person who didn’t realize until after President Bush’s speech last week on Iraq that he all but came out and said what we have known for some time — that it would be up to his successor to end the war? You too, eh? In retrospect, this was far and away the most important aspect of a speech that has been dissected to a fairthewell but an aspect that was overlooked by a mainstream media that seems only marginally capable to sussing out the big picture. There are three...

Blackwater choppers: A familiar sight over Baghdad How richly ironic that, like the U.S. in Iraq, Blackwater USA is a law unto itself – answerable to no one no matter how questionable its actions may be. As reported here yesterday, Iraq has withdrawn the license of the controversial security firm, which provides many of the mercenaries who work alongside U.S. troops and diplomats, after company bodyguards allegedly shot dead eight civilians and wounded 13 others in west Baghdad on Sunday. Blackwater’s...

If you’ve been waiting for a chance to bust my chops . . . er, talk back to me, I’ll be making two radio appearances off of my posts at TMV. At 8:45 p.m. Eastern Time on Monday night, I’ll be on The World Tonight on CHQR in Calgary, Alberta Canada, with host Rob Breakenridge. The topic: My post today n “O.J.: ‘Race Neutral & All Too Human. You can listen in here. At 4 p.m. Eastern Time on Tuesday afternoon, I’ll do a star turn on The Rick Moran Show on...

Blackwater Mercenaries Iraq’s Interior Ministry has canceled the license of Blackwater USA, the controversial American security firm that supplies many of the American mercenaries in the war zone, after company bodyguards allegedly shot dead eight civilians and wounded 13 others in west Baghdad. Said Brigadier General Abdul Kareem Khalaf, a spokesman for the ministry: “It has been revoked. They committed a crime. The judicial system will take action.” Blackwater has become the...

O.J.’s Latest Mug Shot In a society that judges a person by the color of their skin, Orenthal James Simpson had something that few well-known black Americans can claim: He was so accomplished and at one time was so popular that, in advertising parlance, he was “race neutral.” That is to say that when most people looked at him they saw not a black man who happened to have overcome a disadvantaged childhood in a broken home, but a handsome and gifted athlete who had found fame and...

I started reading Against the Day, Thomas Pynchon’s latest magnus opus, in early May. The Dow Jones Industrial Average stood at 13,136, the New York Mets led the National League East and 3,361 Americans had died in Iraq. By the time I got to the 1,085th and final page the other day, the Dow stood at 13,423, the Mets led the National League East and 3,776 Americans had died in Iraq. Very little seems to have changed, right? But if you muck around beneath the surface, a whole lot has changed...

Among the most serious of the consequences of the war in Iraq no matter when it ends — and we were reminded this week that it won’t end anytime soon — is a United States Army that George Bush has all but broken. The president declared during his prime-time speech on Thursday night that there may be a drawdown of some 30,000 soldiers — or roughly five combat brigades — by next summer. That would return in-country troop levels to what they were before the surge. What...

Lady Margaret Thatcher visits the London Zoo today. You can surely do better than that. What caption would you write for this photo? (Be funny, but be nice.)