By Leila Fadel

Sometimes it is hard to get out of bed in the morning here. I have friends in the States who tell me they don't read the news.

"It just makes me so depressed," they say. It is a luxury of sorts to ignore Iraq, Somalia, Afghanistan, Lebanon, Sudan.

To skip over the news channels and discontinue the papers and flip through a couple hundred cable shows, watch the latest on Britney Spears and Paris Hilton and laugh at their antics; it's a luxury of sorts.

In memory of Anwar
by Leila Fadel

Anwar Abbas Lafta, a CBS translator and a friend, was killed by gunmen who stole him from his home. His body was found in the morgue last night among so many others.

I remember talking to him about fear. I asked him if he was ever scared that someone would come for him.

By Nancy A. Youssef and Leila Fadel | McClatchy Newspapers
Posted on Monday, September 10, 2007

WASHINGTON — The Bush administration's top two officials in Iraq answered questions from Congress for more than six hours on Monday, but their testimony may have been as important for what they didn't say as for what they did.

YouTube Video Captures Moment Petraeus Concedes He Doesn't Know if Iraq Plan Makes America Safer; Quotes Three Republican Senators
VoteVets.org has unveiled a new internet ad on YouTube, which captures the moment that General David Petraeus admits during an exchange with Senator John Warner, that he doesn't know if the White House plan for Iraq will make America safer, and hasn't put much thought into it. It also captures similar moments of frustration from Republican Senators Chuck Hagel and Richard Lugar.

Of all days, on September 11, Americans were reminded that we need to be vigilant against real threats to America, and how our military is used will either help or hurt security. But, General Petraeus has a very limited area of concern - the US military in Iraq. With three words, he confirmed yesterday that his responsibility isn't to worry about the world outside of Iraq, or our global commitments, or the overall war on terror.

This is not a knock on General Petraeus. It is the duty of the commander in chief to listen to those whose job it is to worry about such things. From Admiral Fallon to Admiral Mullen to Secretary Gates, the president is ignoring the people who are telling him this war is not sustainable, or advisable for our security; instead hiding behind General Petraeus to justify his failure as commander in chief.

http://www.votevets.org/

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Dear Senators Inhofe, Coburn and Rep. Cole:

After listening to General Petraeus and Ambassador Crocker, as well as listening to General Jones regarding his Independent Assessment of Iraq Security, I must conclude that the surge has not been effective in allowing the Iraq government the 'breathing room' to put aside sectarian violence and take steps to toward reconciliation.  Thr Iraqis have not taken advantage of the incredible sacrifices of our troops on their behalf.  They continue to kill each other  in a mad struggle for control of the country. 

For more information,
Contact OKCPS Art Teacher Gail Sloop, at 405/640-5699

Thousands of Students create pinwheels for peace
Celebration at the Gold Dome Multicultural Society
N.W. 23rd and Classen on Friday, September 21st from 5:30-8:00

FREE and Open to the Public.  SHARE invitation with friends.

Constitution Day Town Hall Meeting:
     "ONE NATION UNDER SURVEILLANCE"
  A panel of Constitutional Scholars
     moderated by Dr. Robin Meyers

My Good Freind Carol sent this: On 8/28/07 groups around Tallahassee got together to take a stand against this war and to let our legislators know "No More"!

August 31,2007 12:09 pm, Stillwater NewsPress
Morton Skorodin

“It is no longer a choice between violence and nonviolence in this world; it is nonviolence or nonexistence,” proclaimed Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., on April 3, 1968, the evening before his untimely, but inevitable demise. I have never heard it stated better or more simply.

Rolling Stone
Aug 23, 2007 8:51 AM

How Bush Allowed an Army of For-Profit Contractors to Invade the U.S. Treasury

How is it done? How do you screw the taxpayer for millions, get away with it and then ride off into the sunset with one middle finger extended, the other wrapped around a chilled martini? Ask Earnest O. Robbins -- he knows all about being a successful contractor in Iraq.
You start off as a well-connected bureaucrat: in this case, as an Air Force civil engineer, a post from which Robbins was responsible for overseeing 70,000 servicemen and contractors, with an annual budget of $8 billion. You serve with distinction for thirty-four years, becoming such a military all-star that the Air Force frequently sends you to the Hill to testify before Congress -- until one day in the summer of 2003, when you retire to take a job as an executive for Parsons, a private construction company looking to do work in Iraq.