MedWorm provides a medical RSS filtering service. Over 6000 RSS medical sources are combined and output via different filters. This feed contains the latest medical blog items that have been tagged with 'iraq'. Sat, 03 Sep 2011 01:50:54 +0100 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5130728&cid=t_100857_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2FxDXT_bThQMU%2F By Christopher PrebleA wave of violence spread across Iraq today with 70 dead and some 300 injured. Iraqi security forces are blaming al Qaida affiliates, but no group has officially claimed responsibility. The New York Times puts the events in context: Coming a little less than two weeks after the Iraqi government said it would negotiate with the United States about keeping some of its 48,000 troops here after the end of the year, the violence raised significant questions about the capabilities of the Iraqi security forces. This is indeed a tragic loss of life, but this level of violence actually has become less common and usually occurs when the Iraqi government is making important decisions on the future of the country and U.S. troop presence. Each time a bomb is detonated in Iraq, comm... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5130728 Mon, 15 Aug 2011 18:41:59 +0100 5130728 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5125967&cid=t_100857_150_f&fid=35777&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FPharmalot%2F%7E3%2FLSYf4qbxl5I%2F In another instance in which a drugmaker appears to have bribed overseas officials, Pfizer has “voluntarily” provided the US Department of Justice and the US Securities and Exchange Commission with information concerning “potentially improper payments” made by Pfizer and Wyeth personnel in connection with certain unspecified sales activities outside the US. The move comes amid increased scrutiny by the feds into the pharmaceutical industry and its interactions with foreign health care systems. In late 2009, the head of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division warned drugmakers that there will be more criminal enforcement against interactions with foreign officials as they seek violations of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (see here). In April, Johnson & J... Pharmalot blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5125967 Fri, 12 Aug 2011 12:36:53 +0100 5125967 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5107899&cid=t_100857_150_f&fid=35777&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FPharmalot%2F%7E3%2FRkVSK5_Bu9Y%2F Good morning, everyone, and nice to see you again. We hope the weekend was invigorating. Now, of course, the time has come to resume the routine of meetings and deadlines, even if it is a slow time of year. To get started, yes, we are brewing that mandatory cup of stimulation, so feel free to join us. Meanwhile, here are some tidibts from around the world. Hope your day goes well and stay in touch… Pfizer And UCSD Collaborate On Early Drug Discovery (San Diego Union Tribune) China’s Healthcare Push May Curb Sales For Brand-Name Pharma (Bloomberg News) Nestle Eyes Pfizer Formula Milk Powder Business (Business China) EU Approves Botox For Treating Urinary Incontinence (Reuters) Takeda Pharmaceuticals Faces Rising Number Of Actos Lawsuits (Associated Press) Bayer Is Eyeing Pfizer ... Pharmalot blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5107899 Mon, 08 Aug 2011 11:50:32 +0100 5107899 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5077659&cid=t_100857_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2FqQqjfL3BAxo%2F By Doug Bandow Many advocates of promiscuous military intervention angrily reject the claim that America is an “empire.” Granted, the U.S. doesn’t directly rule its imperial dependents. But Washington policymakers do insist on maintaining a military presence wherever and whenever possible, irrespective of America’s defense needs. The Obama administration’s attempt to pressure the Iraqi government into “inviting” the U.S. to remain is almost comical. Rather than requiring Baghdad to demonstrate why a continuing American presence is necessary, U.S. officials have been begging to stay. Former Defense Secretary Robert Gates said: “I hope they figure out a way to ask.” His successor, Leon Panetta, recently blurted out: “dammit, make a decision.” However, it is Washington t... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5077659 Thu, 28 Jul 2011 19:16:07 +0100 5077659 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5028052&cid=t_100857_85_f&fid=34798&url=http%3A%2F%2Fcommitmenttoliving.com%2F2011%2F07%2F11%2Fmental-health-during-deployment-study%2F A group of US and UK colleagues have published an interesting qualitative study about the challenges and resiliency of military mental health professionals (MMHPs). They had a small non-representative sample of British MMHPs who had completed a period of deployment in Iraq between 2003-2005. For the study, they participated in detailed interviews about their experiences practicing in a deployment setting. The authors did a nice job pulling together themes from the interviews in order to develop a conceptual model for the goals, challenges, and resources, and to draw out some recommendations about training and planning. Recommended: McCauley, M., Liebling-Kalifani, H., & Hughes, J. H. (2011). Military Mental Health Professionals On Operational Deployment: An Exploratory Study. Community... Commitment to Living blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5028052 Mon, 11 Jul 2011 16:17:18 +0100 5028052 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4975846&cid=t_100857_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2FI7c-rTbplTw%2F By Chris EdwardsIn the Washington Post Friday, Ezra Klein partly confirmed what I fear the Republican strategy is for the debt-limit bill—get to the $2 trillion in cuts promised through accounting gimmicks. As I have also noted, Klein says that there is about $1 trillion in budget “savings” ($1.4 trillion with interest) to be found simply in the inflated Congressional Budget Office baseline for Iraq and Afghanistan. Klein says, “I’m told that a big chunk of these savings were included in the debt-ceiling deal” that Rep. Eric Cantor (R-VA) and Sen. Jon Kyl (D-AZ) are negotiating with the Democrats. Republican leaders have promised that spending cuts in the debt-limit deal must be at least as large as the debt-limit increase, which means $2 trillion if the debt-limit is extended ... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4975846 Mon, 27 Jun 2011 12:52:43 +0100 4975846 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4841445&cid=t_100857_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2FQ7Si-UIh_C4%2F By George Scoville Why are we still in Iraq? Despite the world’s greatest nation-building efforts, things in Bosnia are still getting worse. Vouchers offer parents more choice in education than they currently have, but education tax credits are still better at helping the poor. Although federal courts have already held parts of current National Security Letter statutes unconstitutional, we still have a way to go in restoring civil liberties in the post-9/11 era. While Osama bin Laden has been dispatched, we still have many issues to navigate in our national security strategy. Please join us on Facebook at 12:30 p.m. Eastern today, where Cato legal policy analyst David Rittgers, who served three tours in Afghanistan with Army Special Forces, receiving an Army Commendation Medal with &... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4841445 Tue, 17 May 2011 14:32:32 +0100 4841445 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4813250&cid=t_100857_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2FuNKtjcc03sI%2F By Justin LoganWhat Does This Mean? (Reuters/Ceerwan Aziz) Today’s New York Times has a piece on the running discussion in Iraq about the prospect of U.S. military withdrawal from their country. As the article highlights, the discussion itself “reflects a nation still struggling with issues of sectarian identity, national pride, and how to secure its future.” One of the few things former President Bush said about Iraq that I agreed with was his claim on Al Arabiya in 2005 that “the future of Iraq depends on Iraqi nationalism and the Iraq character—the character of Iraq and Iraqi people emerging.” In general, I am not very fond of nationalism, but if you want to hold together a country of 25 million people, especially when they have been riven by decades of s... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4813250 Wed, 11 May 2011 15:15:33 +0100 4813250 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4789223&cid=t_100857_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2Fj0oEcTlXCrY%2F By George Scoville Osama bin Laden’s death gives us a chance to end what might have become an era of permanent emergency and perpetual war. The Cold War ended–what are we doing in Korea? Two cheers for President Obama for ending eight (well, three) tax breaks to oil companies. Does Osama bin Laden’s death mean an end to U.S.-Pakistan relations? Please join us next Tuesday, May 10 at 4:00 p.m. Eastern for a Cato Book Forum on America’s Allies and War: Kosovo, Afghanistan, and Iraq, by University of Mary Washington political scientist Jason W. Davidson. Council on Foreign Relations senior fellow and Georgetown University international relations professor Charles Kupchan will join Professor Davidson in a discussion of the book and its themes, particularly U.S. relation... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4789223 Wed, 04 May 2011 14:52:52 +0100 4789223 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4693503&cid=t_100857_150_f&fid=35777&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FPharmalot%2F%7E3%2F4qYFmFlSQzk%2F The healthcare giant was charged by the US Securities and Exchange Commission with violating the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act by bribing public doctors in several European countries - and paying kickbacks to Iraq - to illegally obtain business. The FCPA forbids US companies from bribing foreign government officials (read here). Specifically, various Johnson & Johnson units paid bribes to public doctors in Greece who chose J&J surgical implants; public doctors and hospital administrators in Poland who awarded contracts to J&J, and public doctors in Romania to prescribe J&J meds. The subsidiaries - including DePuy and Janssen Pharmaceutica - also paid kickbacks to Iraq to obtain 19 contracts under the United Nations Oil for Food Program, according to the SEC complaint. T... Pharmalot blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4693503 Fri, 08 Apr 2011 20:03:33 +0100 4693503 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4676762&cid=t_100857_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2Fuv0ru12imco%2F By George Scoville "One of the first rules of negotiating is never to threaten to do something unless you are prepared to do it." Policymakers and pundits assume the U.S. is so dominant that we're prepared to fight multiple fronts at once, and that it won't affect our security. Candidates for office should prepare to raise money, not rely on taxpayer subsidies. More market liberalization could help prepare Japan for any other natural disaster. Are Tea Party-backed Republicans prepared to go the distance on spending cuts? Monday Links is a post from Cato @ Liberty - Cato Institute Blog (Source: Cato-at-liberty) Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4676762 Mon, 04 Apr 2011 14:42:02 +0100 4676762 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4626794&cid=t_100857_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2FZ5n_ytEPc6M%2F By Julian SanchezGlenn Greenwald observes that we're hearing a familiar false dilemma from advocates of intervention in Libya—the same one that was trotted out so frequently in the run-up to the war in Iraq: Either you support American military action, or you must be indifferent to the suffering of civilians under Qadaffi. Bracket for a moment the obvious empirical questions about the general efficacy of bombs as reliable means of alleviating suffering. What I find striking is the background assumption that whether the United States military has a role to play here is taken to be a simple function of how much we care about other people's suffering. One obvious answer is that caring or not caring simply doesn't come into it: That the function of the U.S. military is to protect the vital i... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4626794 Wed, 23 Mar 2011 12:53:17 +0100 4626794 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4615081&cid=t_100857_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2FMS8NpV5DC1U%2F By George Scoville "The New Health Care Law: What a Difference a Year Makes," featuring a keynote address from constitutional attorney and counsel in Florida v. HHS David Rivkin, and panels including economist and former CBO director Douglas Holtz-Eakin, Cato director of health policy Michael F. Cannon and vice president for legal affairs Roger Pilon, and many more, begins at 1pm Eastern today. Please join us as we stream the event at our new live events hub, or watch on Facebook. If you prefer television, the forum will be broadcast live on C-SPAN 2. "The next time gun-control advocates point to violence in Mexico and call for more restrictions on gun sales or a revived assault-weapons ban, they should consider that the problem may not be with the laws on the books, but with those who enf... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4615081 Mon, 21 Mar 2011 14:46:35 +0100 4615081 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4605808&cid=t_100857_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2FylrVxaxm9Po%2F By Benjamin H. FriedmanI wrote a long post for the National Interest yesterday arguing against US participation in a no-fly zone over Libya. Here are highlights: Given the spectrum of ways that the United States can help Libya’s rebels, it’s odd that debate here centers on a no-fly zone, a form of military intervention that shows support for rebels without much helping them. No-fly zones commit us to winning wars but demonstrate our limited will to win them. That is why they are bad public policy. No-fly zones are best suited to helping ground forces that can defend themselves against an opponent once we suppress its airpower. Northern Iraq in the 1990s is arguably a successful example. But they do little to overthrow entrenched leaders or help lightly-armed rebels defeat heavier forc... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4605808 Thu, 17 Mar 2011 20:48:08 +0100 4605808 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4489636&cid=t_100857_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2Fe2n1jTBYksY%2F By Christopher PrebleIn testimony yesterday before the House Armed Service Committee, Defense Secretary Robert Gates stated that the United States has an “interest” in keeping troops in Iraq past the agreed date of withdrawal, December 31, 2011.  Rep. Duncan Hunter (R-Calif.) pressed Gates by asking: How can we maintain all of these gains that we've made through so much effort if we only have 150 people there and we don't have any military there whatsoever," Hunter asked. "We'd have more military in Western European countries at that point than we'd have in Iraq, one of the most central states, as everybody knows, in the Middle East? The logic of Rep. Duncan’s question provides some interesting context. His logic implies that the thousands of U.S. troops stationed in wealthy, develo... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4489636 Thu, 17 Feb 2011 20:48:45 +0100 4489636 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4477699&cid=t_100857_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2FTiVWVOvmBW8%2F By Christopher PreblePresident Obama might want it to appear as though he is reining in defense spending with his budget submission for FY 2012, but his approach to the Pentagon’s budget reveals the opposite. Perhaps the president hopes that his adoption of the faux cuts that Secretary Gates put on the table last month will be seen as responsible. Perhaps he is taking a prudent first step and signaling to the military, and its suppliers and contractors, that the days of double-digit increases are over. That may be; but far deeper cuts are warranted. . If the president had truly wanted to send a signal, he would have followed the advice of his own deficit reduction commission and endorsed far deeper cuts in military spending. The Department of Defense will spend $78 billion less over the ... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4477699 Mon, 14 Feb 2011 17:48:26 +0100 4477699 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4436731&cid=t_100857_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2FeMS0QKy7dL0%2F By David BoazThe U.S. ambassador to Iraq expects to have 17,000 people on his staff after the United States "withdraws" from Iraq at the end of the year, he told the Senate this week. This is astounding. A typical American embassy in a small country might have 100 employees, in a big country such as Great Britain or Russia maybe a few hundred. A staff of 17,000 (including contractors) is not an embassy, it's an occupation force. Or at least a viceroy's staff. Here's the Washington Post report: The top U.S. diplomat in Iraq on Tuesday defended the size and cost of the State Department's operations in that country, telling lawmakers that a significant diplomatic footprint will be necessary after the withdrawal of U.S. troops at the end of this year. James F. Jeffrey, the U.S. ambassador in... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4436731 Fri, 04 Feb 2011 20:10:51 +0100 4436731 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4433084&cid=t_100857_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2FFfin-h0xPaY%2F By Malou InnocentOverall, President Obama was right to applaud the Egyptian military for defending (at least for now) rather than killing Egyptian civilians, potentially avoiding  the Arab world’s Tienanmen Square. Whether Obama’s rhetoric could have been more supportive, as we saw with Tunisia, is up for debate. But it appears that Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak’s attempt to shape an orderly transition is running into trouble. The New Yorker’s Jane Mayer reports that Mubarak’s recently appointed Vice President, Omar Suleiman, was “the C.I.A.’s point man in Egypt for renditions—the covert program in which the C.I.A. snatched terror suspects from around the world and returned them to Egypt and elsewhere for interrogation, often under brutal circumstances.” Suleiman... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4433084 Thu, 03 Feb 2011 18:02:31 +0100 4433084 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4349493&cid=t_100857_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2FMlxQa9OOemg%2F By Justin LoganStuart Reid’s Twitter points to this Condi Rice discussion with Katie Couric in which the following exchange takes place over the decision to invade Iraq: RICE: …I’m also, frankly, just very glad [Saddam Hussein is] out of power. Now, to be frank, we tried to take him out of power without going to war. We tried to take him out of power by — we got a report from an Arab state that shall remain nameless that he would take a billion dollars to lead — to leave. We said, deal. Right? (Laughter.) We tried to (find ?) him – COURIC: Has that — has that been made public before? RICE: Yeah, I — it may be in President Bush’s book. I’m not sure. I don’t remember. But we did. We said, if he’ll go, everybody’s happy. A ... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4349493 Fri, 14 Jan 2011 21:10:34 +0100 4349493 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4277815&cid=t_100857_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2Fe-kuu90lUGU%2F By David BoazThis simple chart dramatizes something that I don’t think most Americans realize: the tripling of U.S. troops in Afghanistan by President Obama. Now it’s true that when candidate Barack Obama vowed, “I will bring this war to an end in 2009,” he was talking about Iraq. In July 2008 he suggested that he would send two more brigades — about 8000 troops — to Afghanistan. He has far exceeded that, and we can only wonder whether the voters who responded to his antiwar message anticipated that he would increase the number of troops in Afghanistan by almost as much as he reduced the number in Iraq. The Incredible Expanding Afghan War is a post from Cato @ Liberty - Cato Institute Blog (Source: Cato-at-liberty) Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4277815 Tue, 21 Dec 2010 21:05:38 +0100 4277815 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4122068&cid=t_100857_151_f&fid=35797&url=http%3A%2F%2Fnewrecovery.blogspot.com%2F2010%2F10%2Fsliding-into-iraqistan.html [Originally posted 29 Oct 2010 on hellowellness.in]Drug use among the Karzai government forces in Afghanistan is old news. That country is, after all, the world’s leading producer of opium, and high government officials, including the President’s brother, are widely believed to be among the kingpins in the heroin trade.  Now comes a report, in Monday’s New York Times, that government troops in Iraq have been sliding in the same direction. Reporters Timothy Williams and Omar al-Jawoshy write from Baghdad: “A growing number of Iraqi security force members are becoming dependent on drugs or alcohol, which has led to concerns about a significant addiction problem among the country’s armed services as the insurgency remains a potent force and American troops prepare to ... New Recovery blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4122068 Sat, 30 Oct 2010 21:15:00 +0100 4122068 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4065347&cid=t_100857_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2FXGrJhxU0r9k%2F By Malou InnocentThe Department of State recently released newly declassified documents covering U.S. policy toward Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from January 1973-July 1975. At a State Department conference commemorating the release of these documents, diplomat, strategist, and Nobel laureate Henry Kissinger bemoaned the torment that consumed a generation of Americans as the conflict wore on. The insight Kissinger provides–possibly unintentional–underscores why assessments of war should go beyond critiques of its political and geostrategic ramifications; they should also extend to the various ways that war affects our society and public more generally. In Kissinger’s somber assessment of America’s involvement in Southeast Asia, he said he regrets that what should have been ... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4065347 Wed, 13 Oct 2010 17:06:43 +0100 4065347 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4045076&cid=t_100857_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2FeIRdhzfpV4Q%2F By Christopher PrebleI’m thrilled to be participating in a day-long conference on Capitol Hill next week to coincide with the release of a new book from the University of Chicago, Cutting the Fuse: The Explosion of Suicide Terrorism and How to Stop It. Co-authored by Robert Pape and James Feldman, the book builds on Pape’s earlier pioneering work, including here and here, into the causes of terrorism. Drawing on data compiled by the Chicago Project on Suicide Terrorism (CPOST), the book includes chapters on Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Lebanon, Israel and Palestine, Chechnya and Sri Lanka. The authors’ concluding observations offer some hope for those of us who have been calling for a new narrative pertaining to counterterrorism, one that begins with the presumption that... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4045076 Fri, 08 Oct 2010 15:03:48 +0100 4045076 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=3929429&cid=t_100857_136_f&fid=37852&url=http%3A%2F%2Fdonnatrussell.com%2F2010%2F09%2F02%2Fobamas-speech-fail%2F New cartoon by Trussell & Trussell on Politics Daily. Obama’s Speech: Fail! Filed under: Politics Daily Tagged: comics, democrat, humor, iraq war, obama, political cartoon, republican, speech, teleprompter (Source: Donna Trussell) Donna Trussell blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=3929429 Thu, 02 Sep 2010 18:07:05 +0100 3929429 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=3924887&cid=t_100857_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2FxPO3Es4zw2Q%2F By Justin LoganAs someone who has his own snarky tendencies, I am really starting to have a hard time discerning when Matt Yglesias is being serious and when he is being sarcastic these days.  For example, he writes of President Obama’s Iraq speech last night that I think Barack Obama’s Iraq policy was perfectly clear as of last week—war kinda sorta ending on August 31, 2010 and more honest-to-god ending in December 2011—so I wasn’t exactly glued to the set to watch his speech last night. So Obama’s “perfectly clear” Iraq policy is that “the war” “kinda sorta ended” yesterday, and will have a “more honest-to-god [than kinda sorta?]” end on New Year’s Eve next year?  But when does it just plain end? Or maybe the bes... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=3924887 Wed, 01 Sep 2010 20:04:33 +0100 3924887 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=3924889&cid=t_100857_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2FhP5lCVGFMiw%2F By Roger PilonResponding to my POLITICO Arena post this morning about the Tea Party’s potency as a notional political force, David Biespiel, poet, editor, writer, and founding executive director of the Attic Writers’ Workshop in Portland, Oregon, points to opposition to the Iraq War as he argues that “the anti-war left were tea partiers before being tea partiers was cool!” Look here and scroll down a bit for Biespiel’s argument and my response. (Source: Cato-at-liberty) Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=3924889 Wed, 01 Sep 2010 18:04:52 +0100 3924889 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=3921038&cid=t_100857_136_f&fid=37852&url=http%3A%2F%2Fdonnatrussell.com%2F2010%2F08%2F31%2Firaq-war-rebrands%2F New cartoon by Trussell & Trussell on Politics Daily. Iraq War Rebrands. Filed under: Politics Daily Tagged: comics, humor, iraq, operation new dawn, political cartoon, robert donna trussell, war (Source: Donna Trussell) Donna Trussell blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=3921038 Tue, 31 Aug 2010 15:55:29 +0100 3921038 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=3920826&cid=t_100857_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2FWvHypO842XQ%2F By Christopher PreblePresident Obama will not declare “mission accomplished” in his prime-time speech on Iraq tonight, nor should he. He should not claim that a flowering democracy has been created in Iraq. He should not make unrealistic predictions about the long-term prospects for that shattered country. The war isn’t over for the 50,000 U.S. troops left behind in Iraq. The president should recognize the sacrifice of all our troops, who have performed admirably. The war won’t be over for Americans back home until every last man and woman in uniform returns home safely from a conflict that has claimed so many lives and consumed so much treasure. The president should reaffirm the strategic rationale for the drawdown set in motion by the Bush administration in consultation with th... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=3920826 Tue, 31 Aug 2010 14:09:18 +0100 3920826 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=3885332&cid=t_100857_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2FyJGSdDLReOg%2F Several of today’s front pages feature iconic images of U.S. troops marching onto troop transports and into the sunset in Iraq. Today’s story by Ernesto Londoño in the Washington Post, features Lt. Col. Mark Bieger of the 4th Stryker Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division,  “This is a historic mission!” Beiger bellows as his troops prepared to depart Baghdad for the last time, ”A truly historic end to seven years of war.” No disrespect to Col. Bieger and his troops, but the war isn’t over, and it won’t be so long as there are significant number of U.S. troops in Iraq at risk of being caught in the cross-fire of a sectarian civil war. The Iraqi government, more than five months after nationwide elections, remains in limbo. Talks over a power shari... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=3885332 Thu, 19 Aug 2010 17:40:04 +0100 3885332 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=3880841&cid=t_100857_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2FuA55WNm8Kmk%2F Ronald Brownstein points to the many measures showing Americans have lost confidence in their government and in some private institutions.  He concludes that these signs of distrust “point toward a widely shared conviction that the country’s public and private leadership is protecting its own interest at the expense of average (and even comfortable) Americans.” Maybe. But there is another interpretation. Consider the recent performance of the government and of more than a few businesses. Most Americans do not pay attention to the details of governing. They have other things to occupy their time. They do, however, notice important matters like war and the economy. Since about 2004, Americans have steadily soured on the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. The economy remains wea... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=3880841 Mon, 16 Aug 2010 21:25:39 +0100 3880841 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=3812956&cid=t_100857_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2Fa4AacbiOrYs%2F By Christopher PreblePresident Obama’s announcement that the U.S. will meet the August 31 deadline for removing combat troops from Iraq is welcome news. It is encouraging that the president remains on track to end the war in Iraq as he promised to do. The president should continue this progress and adhere to the Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA) and remove the 50,000 troops that will remain in Iraq by the end of 2011. Although political and security uncertainties remain, these concerns should not delay the withdrawal. There will always be excuses, especially from those who favored the war at the outset, for an open-ended presence. Such a policy reversal would be neither warranted nor wise. An expeditious military withdrawal from Iraq, and a handover of security responsibilities to th... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=3812956 Mon, 02 Aug 2010 16:58:29 +0100 3812956 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=3764184&cid=t_100857_109_f&fid=34750&url=http%3A%2F%2Fpsychcentral.com%2Fblog%2Farchives%2F2010%2F07%2F18%2Farmy-suicides-hit-all-time-high%2F For the month of June, the U.S. Department of Defense reported late last week that the number of soldiers who took their own lives — those who committed suicide — was an astonishing 32 individuals, 21 of whom were on active duty (but only one-third of those on active duty were serving in either Iraq or Afghanistan). This corresponds to the ongoing record-setting of the number of suicides in the past year — 245 who died in 2009 and the 145 who have committed suicide already in 2010. At the rate of suicides so far this year, 2010 will exceed 2009 in suicides. Who does the Army blame for this rise in suicides? Why, the people who commit suicide, of course, and the very culture they work to instill from Day One in boot camp. Tim Embree of the Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans o... World of Psychology blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=3764184 Sun, 18 Jul 2010 17:30:39 +0100 3764184 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=3729857&cid=t_100857_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2FzCVkHGlGw_8%2F By David BoazThe folks at the Center for American Progress, in their daily anti-right email, wrongly call the Cato Institute conservative and wrongly spell our name CATO. But what I find more amusing is that the email, prompted by Michael Steele’s confused remarks about Afghanistan and the reaction against him, is titled “The Right Wing’s Addiction to War.” They have a point. But who’s running the Iraq and Afghanistan wars now? Isn’t it the man who once said I opposed this war in 2002. I will bring this war to an end in 2009. It is time to bring our troops home. and I was opposed to this war in 2002….I have been against it in 2002, 2003, 2004, 5, 6, 7, 8 and I will bring this war to an end in 2009. So don’t be confused. The right wing may be addicte... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=3729857 Tue, 06 Jul 2010 19:37:35 +0100 3729857 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=3714381&cid=t_100857_133_f&fid=35452&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.graphictruth.com%2F2010%2F06%2Fon-blowback-and-judgement-of-history.html Blowback: The unintended consequences of intervention in the affairs of others.This is blowback. Given this modern era, it comes faster and harder than at any previous time.I'm not saying I agree or disagree with the statements made in the above video. That's not the point I'm trying to make. The point is that these tensions exist and are inevitably created when you send young men and women to war. Those who come back are affected and changed.This will change your culture and indeed, the world as a whole these days - in ways that are unpredictable, but directly related to the material and obvious justice of the cause.So here is the question - for those of you who are deeply and passionately in favour of the various wars out there - do you think the risk to your way of life is wor... Graphictruth blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=3714381 Wed, 30 Jun 2010 20:31:00 +0100 3714381 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=3706660&cid=t_100857_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2Fw30G62ODVkI%2F By Justin LoganOn the occasion of the death of Sen. Robert C. Byrd, libertarians will rightly think about the senator’s flamboyant defense of federal largesse rained down on West Virginia and the garish and unseemly tendency to name things purchased with this largesse after the senator.  No doubt his membership in the Ku Klux Klan will be a centerpiece of the remembrance as well. What hopefully will not go unremembered are a few additional facts.  As Adam Clymer’s obituary observes, Byrd was a jealous defender of the rights of Congress against imperial presidentialism, likely the last of a breed.  You probably could count on one hand the younger senators or congressmen who take as seriously as did Byrd their duty as members of the American legislature.  Byrd frequently was ... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=3706660 Mon, 28 Jun 2010 14:01:22 +0100 3706660 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=3687089&cid=t_100857_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2Fn8dVQCjbHys%2F Conclusion Koehl admits that gays “have served in every army in every war since we began recording the history of warfare.” If that is the case, and if we can change policy without impacting American readiness – and yes, combat effectiveness – as the British and Israeli experiences show, then resistance to ending DADT seems less a matter of national security and more a political football. (Source: Cato-at-liberty) Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=3687089 Tue, 22 Jun 2010 13:59:48 +0100 3687089 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=3665954&cid=t_100857_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2Fq5FZkQAzo-M%2F By David RittgersStuart Koehl has a piece at The Weekly Standard against ending Don’t Ask Don’t Tell (DADT). He presents a comprehensive set of arguments based on readiness, that ending DADT will hurt the effectiveness of the force. I disagree, and it’s worth pointing out that he is quick to dismiss the fact that other first-rate militaries have allowed gays to serve without damaging readiness. As he puts it: But history provides plenty of evidence that homosexuality does undermine unit cohesion.  The current practices of other armies are an experiment in progress, which should not overturn empirically proven policies.  There are also significant differences between those armies and the United States military.  The first is scale—the entire British army is barely the size of the... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=3665954 Tue, 15 Jun 2010 21:09:44 +0100 3665954 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=3618050&cid=t_100857_136_f&fid=37852&url=http%3A%2F%2Fdonnatrussell.com%2F2010%2F06%2F01%2Fwar-casualties-and-the-emptiness-left-behind%2F My new post on Politics Daily / Woman Up. War Casualties and the Emptiness Left Behind. The first reply to my post “On Memorial Day, Remember the Mothers, Children, Wives and Lovers Too” was from a high school teacher. She remembered Sgt. Ronald Kubik, one of the soldiers featured in the story. She had him in her English class. Sgt. Ronald Kubik, 1988-2010 A month ago Kubik died in Afghanistan. His teacher wrote: “It seems like yesterday that I taught him, but in reality, 7 years have passed since the last day of his freshman year. Ron’s passing has really hit me hard. I might not have seen him in over 4 years (he always stopped by to visit even after he moved and graduated) but I am still having difficulty coming to terms with his untimely death.” I don&#8217... Donna Trussell blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=3618050 Tue, 01 Jun 2010 14:11:57 +0100 3618050 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=3614569&cid=t_100857_109_f&fid=34750&url=http%3A%2F%2Fpsychcentral.com%2Fblog%2Farchives%2F2010%2F05%2F31%2Fmemorial-day-2010%2F Another Memorial Day here in the U.S., and another year that we commemorate and remember those who’ve given their lives for our freedom and our nation. Those who have died did so that, in the future, our country might be safer. They died so that great evils could be done away with in WWII (and WWI). They died so that politicians could wage endless, unwinnable wars for political ideals (Vietnam, Korea, and now Iraq). They died, quite simply, so that we could enjoy the freedoms we so often take for granted in our country. I am grateful for the country I live in and for the sacrifices others have made to not only attain its freedom, but to keep it. Today, we remember their lives. For every veteran and every active duty soldier and individual in military uniform — thank you. Than... World of Psychology blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=3614569 Mon, 31 May 2010 13:08:11 +0100 3614569 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=3614520&cid=t_100857_87_f&fid=39187&url=http%3A%2F%2Fgetbetterhealth.com%2Fnew-readings-on-combat-medicine-and-battle-zone-care%2F2010.05.31 When Americans think about wartime medicine, “MASH” reruns and the comic antics of Hot Lips Houlihan and Hawkeye Pierce are likely to come to mind. A decidedly more authentic view can be found in “Paradise General” and “The Nightingale of Mosul,” books by a real-life Army surgeon, Dr. Dave Hnida, and an Army nurse, Col. Susan Luz. Both authors served in Iraq during some of the bloodiest days of the war in 2006 and 2007. At an age when people often retire from the military, 48-year-old Dr. Hnida, a family physician in Littleton, Colo., volunteered for service, answering the Army’s call for doctors. Col. Luz was a 56-year-old Army reservist—her previous tours had included delivering babies for military families stationed in Germany and bringing humanitarian aid to South A... Better Health blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=3614520 Mon, 31 May 2010 12:00:58 +0100 3614520 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=3581587&cid=t_100857_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2F2WW2ZrJanck%2F By David BoazGeorge Will, whose speech at the Milton Friedman Prize for Advancing Liberty Dinner can be heard here, writes today about Rand Paul’s victory in Kentucky: Democrats and, not amazingly, many commentators say Republicans are the ones with the worries because they are nominating strange and extreme candidates. Their Exhibit A is Rand Paul, winner of Kentucky’s Republican primary for the U.S. Senate. Well. It may seem strange for a Republican to have opposed, as Paul did, the invasion of Iraq. But in the eighth year of that war, many Kentuckians may think he was strangely prescient. To some it may seem extreme to say, as Paul does, that although the invasion of Afghanistan was proper, our current mission there is “murky.” But many Kentuckians may think this... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=3581587 Thu, 20 May 2010 15:33:07 +0100 3581587 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=3515337&cid=t_100857_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2FqIPxW_7tQLc%2F By John SamplesEd Morrissey kindly mentioned The Struggle to Limit Government and responds to the advice for Tea Partiers in my video. Morrissey says: I don’t think it’s accurate to say that some Tea Partiers “like” big government; it’s more like some aren’t enthusiastic about dismantling as much of the federal government as others, especially the more doctrinaire libertarians. In the video I noted that polls showed a majority of the people who identify with the Tea Party movement also thought the entitlement programs were worth their cost. My colleague, Jagadeesh Gokhale, has estimated that paying for current entitlements would require 9 percent of GNP in perpetuity. This is unlikely. Entitlements will have to be changed since too much has been promised. People who thi... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=3515337 Wed, 28 Apr 2010 20:58:36 +0100 3515337 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=3453873&cid=t_100857_87_f&fid=36050&url=http%3A%2F%2Fblisstree.com%2Flive%2Fphoto-of-the-day-nowruz-spring-festival%2F Iraqi Kurds celebrate the Nowruz spring festival with fireworks in Akra on March 20, 2010. The Persian new year, which coincides with the vernal (Spring) equinox, is a Zoroastrian tradition celebrated by Iranians and Kurds. (via Big Picture) SAFIN HAMED/AFP/Getty Images Post from: BlissTree Photo of the Day: Nowruz Spring Festival (Source: Breastfeeding 1-2-3) Breastfeeding 1-2-3 blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=3453873 Fri, 09 Apr 2010 12:32:22 +0100 3453873 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=3440773&cid=t_100857_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2Fr8fY6JzKBAY%2F By Chris Moody How to make tax law more fair and efficient. Gene Healy: Why terrorism isn’t an existential threat: “It’s worth remembering that terrorism has always been a weapon of the weak — and it usually fails” Was the Iraq War worth it? Malou Innocent: “Don’t believe the hype. The Iraq war remains a mistake of mammoth proportions. And Iraq’s election represents a pyrrhic victory, as the economic, political, and moral costs of the occupation far outweigh any benefits.” Doug Bandow on the problem with international alliances: “Washington collects alliances like people collect Facebook friends. …Contrary to the U.S. government’s current practice, America needs fewer allies. Washington should no longer act as the world’s ... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=3440773 Tue, 06 Apr 2010 14:51:58 +0100 3440773 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=3440747&cid=t_100857_87_f&fid=34872&url=http%3A%2F%2Fblisstree.com%2Ffeel%2Fwho-am-i-anyway-adoption-dna-testing-and-figuring-myself-out%2F This article by Elizabeth Spiers originally appeared on our sister site, TheGloss.com. The earliest available photos of me were taken when I was five months old, just after I was adopted. I have dark hair and freakishly large eyes that seem far too big for my face, like a Japanese anime character. In fact, they’re so big and dark that the rest of my facial features seem almost invisible. All you see are eyes. “Alien baby!” shrieks my friend Clare, spotting one of the photos on the wall of my grandmother’s house. “Look at your eyes!” She puffs out her cheeks and opens her eyes as wide as possible, and laughs. It’s 2003, and Clare has decided that my native Alabama would be more anthropologically interesting than her native U.K. for the Christmas hol... Healthbolt blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=3440747 Mon, 05 Apr 2010 16:54:47 +0100 3440747 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=3420439&cid=t_100857_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2FP4x9clKvvp0%2F By Justin LoganI’ve been asking this question for a while now (see here and here).  Now the influential liberal foreign policy analyst Kenneth Pollack and coauthor worry that the United States is headed for “premature evacuation” [.pdf] in Iraq.  Pollack and coauthor argue that “if the United States turns away from Iraq prematurely, it would have dire consequences for Iraq, whose fragile government will be more likely to fail, and for the United States, because success in Iraq is vital to U.S. interests.”  Accordingly, the United States needs to aim at “securing a new agreement with the Iraqi government that would allow U.S. military forces to remain in the country beyond 2011.” Oh, and it’s not just Iraq.  “Like Iraq, Afghanistan w... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=3420439 Mon, 29 Mar 2010 19:49:04 +0100 3420439 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=3382800&cid=t_100857_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2FJ0KIpyNcdHA%2F By Chris MoodyIn a Thursday panel at Cato on conservatism and war, U.S. Reps. Dana Rohrabacher (R-Calif.) Tom McClintock (R-Calif.) and John Duncan (R-Tenn.) revealed that the vast majority of GOP members of Congress now think it was wrong for the U.S. to invade Iraq in 2003. The discussion was moderated by Grover Norquist, who asked the congressmen how many of their colleagues now think the war was a mistake. Rohrabacher: “I will say that the decision to go in, in retrospect, almost all of us think that was a horrible mistake. …Now that we know that it cost a trillion dollars, and all of these years, and all of these lives, and all of this blood… all I can say is everyone I know thinks it was a mistake to go in now.” McClintock: “I think everyone [in Congress... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=3382800 Thu, 18 Mar 2010 21:06:17 +0100 3382800 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=3346517&cid=t_100857_109_f&fid=34817&url=http%3A%2F%2Fshrinkwrapped.blogs.com%2Fblog%2F2010%2F03%2Fsenators-son.html Several weeks ago Luke Larson offered to send me a copy of his first novel.  There was no quid pro quo involved but I promised to have a look.  If I had found the book uninteresting, that would have been the end of the matter, but as I started to read, it quickly became apparent that I was entering a fascinating and important world. I found the book gripping and it crowded out a number of other books I am currently reading.  That is unusual since I typically am reading 3-4 books concurrently and usually range through the library in my Kindle in a semi-random fashion.  Senator's Son has an immediacy and intimacy that the finest novels have.  There is a "You Are There" feeling to the novel that invests you emotionally in the lives of the mai... ShrinkWrapped blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=3346517 Tue, 09 Mar 2010 14:38:44 +0100 3346517 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=3311659&cid=t_100857_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2FTR2FNJ0SwAs%2F By Justin LoganA follow up on yesterday’s post about my skepticism that we would be able to get out of Iraq by 2011 (and get all “combat” troops out by September 1 of this year): Tom Ricks reports that Gen. Odierno has formally requested keeping a combat brigade in Kirkuk beyond the September 1 deadline; but Laura Rozen says we should keep our eyes peeled for a Senate resolution whose “group of cosponsors will confirm that, at long last, the war over the war is over.” One way to square these two seemingly contradictory statements is if the bipartisan consensus Rozen implies exists reflects an agreement between Democrats and Republicans that the United States should use Iraq as a new military base in the Middle East like we used to use Saudi Arabia.  Ricks&#... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=3311659 Thu, 25 Feb 2010 18:48:50 +0100 3311659 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=3200426&cid=t_100857_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2F0dPQYKhI0_4%2F By Christopher PrebleLast week, Iraq’s independent electoral commission disqualified 511 candidates — most of them Sunnis — from running in the parliamentary elections scheduled for March. Today’s Washington Post reports that Vice President Joe Biden is hurrying off to Baghdad to try to convince the Iraqis to change their minds. U.S. troop withdrawals were supposed to accelerate after the elections were held and a new government seated. But the elections have already been postponed at least once, and the administration is worried that the obvious bias against Sunnis could stoke sectarian tensions. “U.S. officials are in a precarious position,” the Post story explains: They are stuck between the government they created and bolstered — a coalitio... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=3200426 Fri, 22 Jan 2010 17:06:52 +0100 3200426 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=3193701&cid=t_100857_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2FayJwHR5nDX4%2F By Chris Moody David Boaz on Obama’s first year: “From this libertarian, Obama’s first year looks grim. …He may well end up like Lyndon Johnson, with an ambitious domestic agenda eventually bogged down by endless war. But I don’t think his wished-for FDR model — a transformative agenda that is both popular and long-lasting — is in the cards.” The message from Massachusetts: “There can be no denying that this election was a clear cut rejection of the Democratic health care bills.” Attacks from all sides: See what happens when the Right takes on free enterprise. A new dictator in Iraq? Podcast: Daniel Ikenson discusses Obama’s trade policy. (Source: Cato-at-liberty) Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=3193701 Wed, 20 Jan 2010 20:43:27 +0100 3193701 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=3133583&cid=t_100857_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2FAdXDT33zON0%2F By David BoazThis is not the change we hoped for. President Obama rose to power on the basis of his early opposition to the Iraq war and his promise to end it. But after a year in the White House he has made both of George Bush’s wars his wars. Speaking of Iraq in February 2008, candidate Barack Obama said, “I opposed this war in 2002. I will bring this war to an end in 2009. It is time to bring our troops home.” The following month, under fire from Hillary Clinton, he reiterated, ”I was opposed to this war in 2002….I have been against it in 2002, 2003, 2004, 5, 6, 7, 8 and I will bring this war to an end in 2009. So don’t be confused.” Indeed, in his famous “the moment when the rise of the oceans began to slow” speech on the night ... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=3133583 Wed, 30 Dec 2009 16:22:13 +0100 3133583 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=3096827&cid=t_100857_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2FXKut6CftOp8%2F By Justin LoganForeign Policy magazine performs an important public service, publishing a compendium of the “top 10 worst predictions for 2009.” My favorite? “If we do nothing, I can guarantee you that within a decade, a communist Chinese regime that hates democracy and sees America as its primary enemy will dominate the tiny country of Panama, and thus dominate the Panama Canal, one of the world‘s most important strategic points.“ —Rep. Dana Rohrabacher (R-Calif.), Dec. 7, 1999 Rohrabacher made this alarming prediction during a debate on the U.S. handover of the Panama Canal. His fellow hawk, retired Adm. Thomas Moorer, even warned that China could sneak missiles into Panama and use the country as a staging ground for an attack on the United States. Well, ... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=3096827 Thu, 17 Dec 2009 16:01:10 +0100 3096827 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=3079318&cid=t_100857_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2FZ1-mN5zL5Qg%2F By Benjamin H. FriedmanI have two complaints about the President’s Nobel Prize acceptance speech, one factual, one theoretical. The first concerns his repetition of the common claim that we live in a world of growing instability and civil war. The president said: The resurgence of ethnic or sectarian conflicts; the growth of secessionist movements, insurgencies, and failed states — all these things have increasingly trapped civilians in unending chaos. Truth requires changing “increasingly” to “decreasingly.” Andrew Mack’s Human Security Brief makes the point. The chart below shows that civil war (intrastate war) — what Obama is talking about here — has become less common over the last several decades. Elsewhere in the report, you can also see that civil war now kills f... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=3079318 Fri, 11 Dec 2009 09:54:07 +0100 3079318 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=3075712&cid=t_100857_133_f&fid=35452&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.graphictruth.com%2F2009%2F12%2Fbob-herbert-writes-in-new-york-times.html BOB HERBERT writes in the New York Times: "The air is filled with obsessive self-satisfied rhetoric about supporting the troops, giving them everything they need and not letting them down. But that rhetoric is as hollow as a jazzman’s drum because the overwhelming majority of Americans have no desire at all to share in the sacrifices that the service members and their families are making. Most Americans do not want to serve in the wars, do not want to give up their precious time to do volunteer work that would aid the nation’s warriors and their families, do not even want to fork over the taxes that are needed to pay for the wars.To say that this is a national disgrace is to wallow in the shallowest understatement. The nation will always give lip-service to support for the troops, but ... Graphictruth blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=3075712 Wed, 09 Dec 2009 19:40:00 +0100 3075712 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=3067018&cid=t_100857_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2Fcm-z88jSw5E%2F By Malou InnocentSecretary Gates and Secretary Clinton, among other administration officials, indicated this weekend that the July 2011 date for troop withdrawal from Afghanistan should not be interpreted as an exit strategy, but as a “ramp rather than a cliff.” It now appears the president will not be obligated to adhere to any withdrawal date and can adjust as he deems fit. President Obama’s decision to include a withdrawal date in his speech sends a mixed message to allies and enemies about America’s commitment to the region. It is a misguided effort to placate the American public’s waning support for the mission. Obama should instead be looking for ways to leave Afghanistan, not excuses to dig us in deeper. Essentially, the strategy is to apply the Iraq mo... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=3067018 Mon, 07 Dec 2009 20:56:41 +0100 3067018 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=3063245&cid=t_100857_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2FyaTPtAg5IkA%2F There is something immensely moving about young men and women willing to sacrifice their lives for their country.  Indeed, patriotism mixed with a desire for action can be a fearsome thing.  This combination was on display at West Point after President Barack Obama’s speech on Afghanistan. The Washington Post reported on a phone call between Academy professor Mike Meese and his son, an Academy sophomore: Said Col. Mike Meese, chairman of West Point’s social studies department: “There has been an incredible intensity here ever since 9/11. The cadets have a strong belief that this is the defining struggle of their lifetime. Every one of them elected to come here because they want to be a part of it.” Not long after the speech, Meese received a call from his son, Br... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=3063245 Mon, 07 Dec 2009 13:37:47 +0100 3063245 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=3052120&cid=t_100857_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2FY5BCCLS_L6E%2F On Tuesday I hosted a Book Forum for Tom Palmer’s new book, Realizing Freedom: Libertarian Theory, History, and Practice. You can see the video here. I thought Tyler Cowen’s comments were very astute, so I reproduce an abridged version here: The first question is, “What do I, as a reader, see as the essential unity or unities in the book?” And I see really two. The first is I see this as a construction and articulation of a vision of what I call reasonable libertarianism. I think we’re in a world right now that is growing very partisan and very rabid, and a lot of things which are called libertarian in the Libertarian Party, or what you might call the Lew Rockwell / Ron Paul camp, are to my eye not exactly where libertarianism should be, and I think Tom has been a very br... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=3052120 Thu, 03 Dec 2009 14:48:59 +0100 3052120 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=3052128&cid=t_100857_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2FqfczHlmalmQ%2F Barack Obama first became a credible presidential candidate on the basis of his antiwar credentials and his promise to change the way Washington works. But he has now made both of George Bush’s wars his wars. The Washington Post’s front-page analysis began, “President Obama assumed full ownership of the war in Afghanistan on Tuesday night…” The cover of the tabloid D.C. Express was even more blunt. Speaking of Iraq in February 2008, he said, “I opposed this war in 2002. I will bring this war to an end in 2009. It is time to bring our troops home.” Responding to Hillary Clinton’s criticisms in March 2008, he said, “I will bring this war to an end in 2009, so don’t be confused.” Now he is promising to end the Iraq war in 201... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=3052128 Wed, 02 Dec 2009 17:38:15 +0100 3052128 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=3030082&cid=t_100857_140_f&fid=34843&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.furiousseasons.com%2Farchives%2F2009%2F11%2Ffort_hood_shooterpsychiatrist_to_employ_insanity_defense.html I suppose I've been expecting some news along these lines concerning the accused Fort Hood shooter, an Army psychiatrist. The Wall Street Journal is now reporting: "Maj. Hasan's lawyer, John P. Galligan, separately said he was considering an insanity plea for his client. 'Based on my preliminary assessment, it's very clear that mental responsibility issues will play a very important part of the case,' he said in a telephone interview." If Maj. Hasan has mental health issues, then it might certainly bolster the case some readers have made that they suspect he was on anti-depressants and that those may be connected with his behavior. I have my doubts, but we shall see. The other thing is that if Maj. Hasan had problems, then why didn't his psychiatrist colleagues pick up on them and push ... Furious Seasons blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=3030082 Wed, 25 Nov 2009 00:00:00 +0100 3030082 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=3026894&cid=t_100857_140_f&fid=34843&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.furiousseasons.com%2Farchives%2F2009%2F11%2Ffort_hood_shooterpsychiatrist_to_employee_insanity_defense.html I suppose I've been expecting some news along these lines concerning the accused Fort Hood shooter, an Army psychiatrist. The Wall Street Journal is now reporting: "Maj. Hasan's lawyer, John P. Galligan, separately said he was considering an insanity plea for his client. 'Based on my preliminary assessment, it's very clear that mental responsibility issues will play a very important part of the case,' he said in a telephone interview." If Maj. Hasan has mental health issues, then it might certainly bolster the case some readers have made that they suspect he was on anti-depressants and that those may be connected with his behavior. I have my doubts, but we shall see. The other thing is that if Maj. Hasan had problems, then why didn't his psychiatrist colleagues pick up on them and push ... Furious Seasons blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=3026894 Wed, 25 Nov 2009 00:00:00 +0100 3026894 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2999491&cid=t_100857_87_f&fid=36069&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffrankiespeakingfrankly.blogspot.com%2F2009%2F11%2Fwhat-are-we-doing-in-afghanistan.html Afghanistan is all over the news at the moment, it is a big problem.But what are we really doing there and why?This is what puzzles the general public. And just try and get a straight answer to the question from any politician. Why are we in Afghanistan? You won't ever get an answer that makes the slightest bit of sense.Does any politician really care about the people of Afghanistan, and if they do, then why Afghanistan above other countries where people were suffering much more (before they invaded it)? Does anyone honestly believe that we are in threat of the Taliban attacking the UK if we don't stamp them out in their own country?We went into Afghanistan to catch Bin Laden, and we went to Iraq to destroy weapons of mass destruction, didn't we?Many people knew then, and still know now, t... Frankie Speaking Frankly blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2999491 Tue, 17 Nov 2009 11:14:00 +0100 2999491 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2993746&cid=t_100857_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2FuKrznrefbVg%2F When the Bush administration started its misguided adventure in Iraq, the president and his Neocon chorus presumed that the U.S. would be acquiring a loyal, even obseqious ally.  With the American-subsidized bank embezzler Ahmed Chalabi in charge, Baghdad would create a Western-style democracy, enshrine women’s rights, recognize Israel, provide the U.S. with permanent military bases, and offer a new market for American businesses. Alas, we’ve struck out:  zero for five.  Although America’s uber-hawks bridled at reference to our “occupation” of Iraq, Iraqis had no hesitation in using the word and surprised the Bushies by demanding a deadline for the withdrawal of American forces.  And Iraqi opposition to the U.S. occupation has affected their attitude t... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2993746 Sun, 15 Nov 2009 14:40:43 +0100 2993746 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2967506&cid=t_100857_140_f&fid=34843&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.furiousseasons.com%2Farchives%2F2009%2F11%2Farmy_ptsd_psychiatrist_suspected_shooter_at_ft_hood.html UPDATE: 6.29 p.m. PST. Following an Amry press conference, I've update this a bit and correct some repprting that was out there in media land. The AP is now reporting that Army Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan, an Army psychiatrist, was the suspected shooter at Ft. Hood, Texas earlier today. The tragedy left 12 soldiers dead and 31 wounded and there were reports of other shooters. Two soldiers were taken into custody but later released. Maj. Hasan was said to be upset about his pending deployment to Iraq. The New York Times reports that Maj. Hasan was a "Fellow, Disaster and Preventive Psychiatry, Department of Psychiatry, F. Edward Hebert School of Medicine, Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences." In other words, it sounds like Maj. Hasan had a specialty in PTSD. Said Lt. Gen. Rob... Furious Seasons blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2967506 Thu, 05 Nov 2009 00:00:00 +0100 2967506 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2943760&cid=t_100857_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2F59kcNwZCpA4%2F Najim Abed al-Jabouri, former mayor of Tal Afar, has a piece in the Times that seems like cause for alarm: Both the military and the police remain heavily politicized. The police and border officials, for example, are largely answerable to the Interior Ministry, which has been seen (often correctly) as a pawn of Shiite political movements. Members of the security forces are often loyal not to the state but to the person or political party that gave them their jobs. The same is true of many parts of the Iraqi Army. For example, the Fifth Iraqi Army Division, in Diyala Province northeast of Baghdad, has been under the sway of the Islamic Supreme Council of Iraq, the Shiite party that has the largest bloc in Parliament; the Eighth Division, in Diwaniya and Kut to the southeast of the capital,... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2943760 Fri, 30 Oct 2009 12:39:14 +0100 2943760 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2904859&cid=t_100857_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2FZNjmx3H1Gk0%2F A. It’s encouraging to see Rahm Emanuel and John Kerry saying that we shouldn’t up force levels in Afghanistan without a reliable partner. But if we shouldn’t send 40,000 more troops to prop up a crooked government, why keep the 68,000 we have there? A focused counter-terrorism mission would require far less than that. B. According to Dexter Filkins’ article in the New York Times Magazine, the war in Iraq taught General Stanley McChrystal the following: No situation, no matter how dire, is ever irredeemable — if you have the time, resources and the correct strategy. In the spring of 2006, Iraq seemed lost. The dead were piling up. The society was disintegrating. One possible conclusion was that it was time for the United States to cut its losses in a country that it n... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2904859 Mon, 19 Oct 2009 12:51:04 +0100 2904859 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2879393&cid=t_100857_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2FfNHYTd3LBes%2F Worse choices have been made than Barack Obama for the Nobel Peace Prize. There was Woodrow Wilson in 1919, an award that rates as one of history’s more grotesque international jokes. Wilson promised to keep us out of war and promptly got us into it, meanwhile laying the ideological and geopolitical foundations for 90 years of war-nationalism, war-liberalism, and war-socialism. To say nothing of saddling us with the terrible idea of world government. Among those who weren’t Nazis or communists, Wilson may have done more than any other individual to promote human suffering in the last hundred years. So yes, there have been worse choices. (Next to Wilson, I’d have to give Al Gore and Yasser Arafat both honorable mentions. We could go on, of course.) But still, Barack Obama?... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2879393 Fri, 09 Oct 2009 15:15:34 +0100 2879393 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2876010&cid=t_100857_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2FfNHYTd3LBes%2F Worse choices have been made than Barack Obama for the Nobel Peace Prize. There was Woodrow Wilson in 1919, an award that rates as one of history’s more grotesque international jokes. Wilson promised to keep us out of war and promptly got us into it, meanwhile laying the ideological and geopolitical foundations for 90 years of war-nationalism, war-liberalism, and war-socialism. To say nothing of saddling us with the terrible idea of world government. Among those who weren’t Nazis or communists, Wilson may have done more than any other individual to promote human suffering in the last hundred years. So yes, there have been worse choices. (Next to Wilson, I’d have to give Al Gore and Yasser Arafat both honorable mentions. We could go on, of course.) But still, Barack Obama?... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2876010 Fri, 09 Oct 2009 15:15:34 +0100 2876010 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2823951&cid=t_100857_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2FR7XAGt9qZN4%2F President Obama’s address to the United Nations General Assembly this morning, and his chairing of the UN Security Council on Thursday, is a grand attempt to tell the world–after eight years of George W. Bush–that the United States will no longer go it alone. The president has a very difficult task, however, if he expects to invest the United Nations with renewed credibility. The UN is a weak and fractured institution, whose limited power and authority has been steadily undermined by a progression of U.S. presidents, both Democrats and Republicans. We should not forget that President Bill Clinton explicitly circumvented the UN Security Council when he chose to intervene militarily in Kosovo in 1999. Clinton’s evasion of the UNSC established a precedent for future mi... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2823951 Wed, 23 Sep 2009 18:29:12 +0100 2823951 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2814399&cid=t_100857_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2F_dapXlMk1w0%2F Pat Tillman, who gave up a lucrative NFL career to join the Army after 9/11, was a true patriot:  he wanted to defend America, not conduct social engineering overseas.  That led him to oppose the Iraq war. Reports the Daily Telegraph: According to a new book, Tillman, who was killed by friendly fire in 2004 and hailed as an all-American hero by the former president, was disillusioned by Mr Bush and his administration’s “illegal and unjust” drive to war. In Where Men Win Glory: The Odyssey of Pat Tillman, by Jon Krakauer, the author relates the strong views of Tillman – who gave up his NFL football career to serve his country – and his brother Kevin, who joined the same Rangers unit. The war “struck them as an imperial folly that was doing long-term dam... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2814399 Mon, 21 Sep 2009 13:32:10 +0100 2814399 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2800369&cid=t_100857_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2FPXaZmmp6wYQ%2F Item: The Coalition for a Realistic Foreign Policy, a group of concerned scholars and authors who work on international security and U.S. foreign policy, have issued an open letter to President Obama warning him not to expand U.S. involvement in that country.  (Full disclosure: I was a signatory.)  The list of signatories includes many of the scholars who urged President Bush not to invade Iraq.  Politico was the first to run the story: see here. Item: Via Michael Cohen, former CIA counterterrorism honcho Paul Pillar takes to the pages of the Washington Post to think through the concept of “safe havens” in Afghanistan.  His conclusion? Among the many parallels being offered between Afghanistan and the Vietnam War, one of the most disturbing concerns inadequate examination o... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2800369 Wed, 16 Sep 2009 14:44:15 +0100 2800369 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2796402&cid=t_100857_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2FQC5hrp9VWks%2F Columbia University IR guru Robert Jervis has a smart post at Foreign Policy’s “Af-Pak” blog.  For those who couldn’t get enough at yesterday’s Cato forum on Afghanistan, Jervis’ post is well worth a look: Prof. Robert Jervis Most discussion about Afghanistan has concentrated on whether and how we can defeat the Taliban. Less attention has been paid to the probable consequences of a withdrawal without winning, an option toward which I incline. What is most striking is not that what I take to be the majority view is wrong, but that it has not been adequately defended. This is especially important because the U.S. has embarked on a war that will require great effort with prospects that are uncertain at best. Furthermore, it appears that Obama’s com... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2796402 Tue, 15 Sep 2009 15:21:55 +0100 2796402 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2772577&cid=t_100857_111_f&fid=36048&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeeds.b5media.com%2F%7Er%2Fb5media%2FAHeartyLife%2F%7E3%2F96Egs8SMxqQ%2F It took a long time for post-traumatic stress disorder to be classified as a real diagnosis and even longer to find ways to help people who were experiencing it. You can have a mild version of PTSD or you can have life-affected PTSD, making it almost impossible to live as you would like. Sadly, many people who live with PTSD are returning service men and women. Regardless of their work in countries like Iraq and Afghanistan, the events they see, hear, their experiences, have an enormous impact on them once they return home. While some veterans are able to cope with counseling and other types of psychological or psychiatric help, others are affected severely and need alternate methods. For this, enter the service dog. Service dogs have come a long way from being just for guiding people who ... A Hearty Life blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2772577 Mon, 07 Sep 2009 02:05:18 +0100 2772577 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2757731&cid=t_100857_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2FixQzP3RhJ68%2F Will Afghanistan become Obama’s Vietnam? Why America’s experience in Bosnia and Iraq offers ample warning against taking the mission too far in Afghanistan. Will Japan remain pacifist? Paul Krugman claims a victory for Big Government, which he says “saved” the economy from an economic depression. Alan Reynolds debunks his claim and shows why bigger government  produces only bigger and longer recessions. Podcast: Johan Norberg explores the causes of the financial crisis. For more, don’t miss his new book, Financial Fiasco: How America’s Infatuation with Homeownership and Easy Money Created the Economic Crisis. (Source: Cato-at-liberty) Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2757731 Tue, 01 Sep 2009 20:49:28 +0100 2757731 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2744054&cid=t_100857_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2Fim1QPFz52KY%2F The White House and the CBO announced this week that: The nation’s fiscal outlook is even bleaker than the government forecast earlier this year because the recession turned out to be deeper than widely expected, the budget offices of the White House and Congress agreed in separate updates on Tuesday. The Obama administration’s Office of Management and Budget raised its 10-year tally of deficits expected through 2019 to $9.05 trillion, nearly $2 trillion more than it projected in February. That would represent 5.1 percent of the economy’s estimated gross domestic product for the decade, a higher level than is generally considered healthy. What is the right response to these deficits? One view holds that most current expenditure is desirable — indeed, that expenditure should ideall... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2744054 Fri, 28 Aug 2009 14:55:57 +0100 2744054 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2734015&cid=t_100857_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2FYgNnHI3-O_A%2F Getting into Iraq was easy.  Fighting the war was expensive in lives and money.  Getting out will cost more cash. In fact, the Pentagon figures that taxpayers will have to spend tens of billions of dollars to bring home or transfer the equipment strewn about Iraq.  According to Jason Ditz: A lot of the cost is going to depend on what the military decides to do with the various items it required to occupy the nation and then fight an insurgency for several years with well over 100,000 US troops. Some of the gear will be shipped back to the US, others will be sent to Afghanistan for the ongoing war there. Still others will just be given to the Iraqi government so they don’t have to deal with the other two options. The US has spent over two thirds of a trillion dollars on the war in Ira... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2734015 Tue, 25 Aug 2009 12:35:55 +0100 2734015 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2724814&cid=t_100857_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2FAt84iZaQaoM%2F In a discussion on Bloggingheads, David Frum offers his thoughts on the sad state of the GOP these days: He blames the predicament, in part, on the “conservative entertainment-industrial complex,” a term coined by Andrew Sullivan.  In Frum’s telling, this complex has “distorted conservative dialogue to suit the wishes of the Fox audience.”  He says that drawing on such a group, “you can get seriously rich out of that, but you can’t govern a country with that kind of voter base, it’s a tiny minority-within-a-minority.” This is an interesting thesis.  Frum was the coauthor of a seemingly successful, widely discussed foreign-policy book titled An End to Evil, which posited that terrorism posed a “threat to the survival of our n... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2724814 Fri, 21 Aug 2009 17:03:51 +0100 2724814 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2712076&cid=t_100857_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2F0B1Nrb4_wcM%2F Afghanistan is voting for president. Unfortunately, the outcome, even if a fair result, is unlikely to matter much. The war will continue. In 2008 President Barack Obama was seen as the anti-war candidate.  In fact, his reputation reflected his prescient opposition to the Iraq war, but he said little to suggest that he was out of sync with Washington’s interventionist consensus. We see his status quo foreign policies with his support for continued NATO expansion as well as maintaining American garrisons around the globe, including in South Korea and Japan.  But his escalation in Afghanistan most obviously demonstrates that he is a man of the interventionist left. He is now making it clear that Afghanistan is his war.  Reports Reuters: President Barack Obama will seek to shore... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2712076 Tue, 18 Aug 2009 12:43:02 +0100 2712076 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2683978&cid=t_100857_136_f&fid=35302&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FWhitePebble%2F%7E3%2F6ThXG3J7qZc%2F I’m all for spiritual exploration, but I think that taking the Book of Revelations too literally in a phone call between heads of state can make you look just silly in posterity. Incredibly, President George W. Bush told French President Jacques Chirac in early 2003 that Iraq must be invaded to thwart Gog and Magog, the Bible’s satanic agents of the Apocalypse. Honest. This isn’t a joke. The president of the United States, in a top-secret phone call to a major European ally, asked for French troops to join American soldiers in attacking Iraq as a mission from God. via Council for Secular Humanism. Related articles by Zemanta Bush told French President Iraq was a quest foretold in the Bible (inquisitr.com) Former French President says Bush invaded Iraq to thwart Gog and Magog&#82... white pebble blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2683978 Sun, 09 Aug 2009 00:55:16 +0100 2683978 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2645275&cid=t_100857_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2FdSUdUYuYpCw%2F The Bush administration has many legacies.  One is the more than $700 million U.S. embassy, set on 104 acres, only slightly smaller than the Vatican’s land holdings, in Baghdad.  It was an embassy designed for an imperial power intent on ruling a puppet state. It turns out that Iraq’s Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki doesn’t plan on being anyone’s puppet.  U.S. troops have come out of the cities and will be coming home in coming months.  Provincial reconstruction teams also will be leaving.  The Bush administration’s plan for maintaining scores of bases for use in attacking Iran or other troublesome Middle Eastern states is stillborn.  And Prime Minister Maliki isn’t likely to ask for Washington’s advice on what kind of society U.S. offi... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2645275 Mon, 27 Jul 2009 12:30:58 +0100 2645275 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2637782&cid=t_100857_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2FYx8Yl7kIa1Y%2F In relation to the story that prompted my moaning and wailing about abuse of PowerPoint, “Starbuck” at the Small Wars Journal has posted a follow on.  In it, s/he  passes along the following story: In January 2009, a military-oriented site, “Company Command”, asked current Army commanders and platoon leaders in Iraq what they spent most of their time doing. One officer, Lt. Sam Nuxoll, answered flat-out: “Making PowerPoint slides”. When pressed, the lieutenant continued: “I’m dead serious, guys. The one thing I spend more time on than anything else here in combat is making PowerPoint slides. I have to make a storyboard [a PowerPoint slide] complete with digital pictures, diagrams and text summaries on just about anything that happens. Recon a water pump? Make a s... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2637782 Fri, 24 Jul 2009 17:11:07 +0100 2637782 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2630053&cid=t_100857_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2FUIFag96H7DQ%2F As I have written previously, President Obama and the members of Congress who voted to kill funding for the F-22 did the right thing. The Washington Post reports: The Senate voted Tuesday to kill the nation’s premier fighter-jet program, embracing by a 58 to 40 margin the argument of President Obama and his top military advisers that more F-22s are not needed for the nation’s defense and would be a costly drag on the Pentagon’s budget in an era of small wars and counterinsurgency efforts. While this vote marks a step in the right direction, the fight isn’t over. The F-22’s supporters in the House inserted additional monies in the defense authorization bill, and the differences will need to be reconciled in conference. But the vote for the Levin-McCain amendme... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2630053 Wed, 22 Jul 2009 14:34:13 +0100 2630053 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2610879&cid=t_100857_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2FMS8FlZ3UcZI%2F If Congress votes to build even more F-22s in the 2010 Defense Authorization bill, it will be a sad example of parochial interests overriding our nation’s security. The move would defy the wishes of the Pentagon and Defense Secretary Gates, who have wisely called for the program to come to an end. The Raptor’s whopping price tag—$356 million per aircraft counting costs over the life of the program— and its poor air-to-ground capabilities always undermined the case for building more than the 187 already programmed. In the past week, Congress has learned more about the F-22’s poor maintenance record, which has driven the operating costs to more than $44,000 per hour of flying, which is well above those of any comparable fighter. And, of course, the plane hasn’t seen a... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2610879 Thu, 16 Jul 2009 19:57:40 +0100 2610879 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2598194&cid=t_100857_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2FM6g2kRwPis8%2F The U.S. government has been providing so-called foreign aid for decades, but the waste never stops.  So it is in Iraq. Reports Stars & Stripes: Provincial reconstruction teams in Iraq are scrambling to submit a large number of multimillion-dollar aid project proposals by July 15, something critics suggest will result in a rash of big construction projects they were never intended to run. Further, they say, big-budget projects are being put forward too quickly, are too ambitious given the scheduled 2011 withdrawal from Iraq and are crowding out simpler schemes. “Our goal is not necessarily to help [Iraqis] with building projects,” said Rick Gohde, an engineer with the Diwaniyah provincial reconstruction team, known as PRT. “We are supposed to be beyond that. We are supposed to b... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2598194 Mon, 13 Jul 2009 12:46:29 +0100 2598194 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2576542&cid=t_100857_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2FX_hFORlAwJY%2F Here’s a roundup of bloggers who are writing about Cato research, commentary and analysis. If you’re blogging about Cato, let us know. Blogger Melissa Clouthier helps spread the word about Cato’s analysis of Obama’s health plan by posting a video of Cato experts dissecting the ABC special last week. David Kirkpatrick examines Obama’s record on civil liberties by quoting Cato scholar Doug Bandow. Education blogger Brandon Dutcher links to Neal McCluskey’s analysis of American public schools. At the Real Clear World Compass blog, Kevin Sullivan quotes Juan Carlos Hidalgo on the political crisis in Honduras. Blogging for Townhall.com, Kevin Glass quotes Michael F. Cannon on Wal-Mart’s  support of an employer mandate to provide health care. ... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2576542 Mon, 06 Jul 2009 20:49:55 +0100 2576542 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2570376&cid=t_100857_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2FYTWEc7fIpeU%2F Andy McCarthy makes a good point over at The Corner about Laith al-Khazali, a member of a Shiite militant group responsible for the deaths of American troops in Iraq. Al-Khazali has been released, allegedly as part of negotiations with terrorists holding British hostages. Senators Sessions and Kyl have questioned this action in a letter to President Obama. McCarthy lays out the facts on al-Khazali here. Al-Khazali participated in a sophisticated attack on American troops in Karbala. The militants wore American uniforms and took American soldiers hostage. After leaving the site of the attack, the militants executed their prisoners. Though I have disagreed with McCarthy on other issues, he makes a valid point here. Al-Khazali is guilty of honest-to-goodness war crimes. Wearing an enemy&#8217... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2570376 Thu, 02 Jul 2009 19:14:27 +0100 2570376 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2556082&cid=t_100857_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2Fx2eR4WlcWos%2F The U.S. is not yet out of Iraq, but American forces have pulled back from Iraqi cities.  Iraq’s future increasingly is in the hands of Iraqis.  And most Iraqis appear to be celebrating. Reports the Washington Post: This is no longer America’s war. Iraqis danced in the streets and set off fireworks Monday in impromptu celebrations of a pivotal moment in their nation’s troubled history: Six years and three months after the March 2003 invasion, the United States on Tuesday is withdrawing its remaining combat troops from Iraq’s cities and turning over security to Iraqi police and soldiers. While more than 130,000 U.S. troops remain in the country, patrols by heavily armed soldiers in hulking vehicles as of Wednesday will largely disappear from Baghdad, Mosul and Iraq... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2556082 Tue, 30 Jun 2009 12:40:22 +0100 2556082 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2609187&cid=t_100857_46_f&fid=38787&url=http%3A%2F%2Fmsf.ca%2Fblogs%2Fphotos%2F2009%2F06%2F09%2Firaq-2%2F photo: Siavash Maghsoudi September 2008 Hassan, 43, was driving his taxi in Bagdad, Iraq, when a bomb exploded. He underwent surgery with the MSF team in Mehran, in neighbouring Iran, and he is now getting follow-up treatment in Amman, Jordan. (Source: MSF Blogs) MSF Blogs blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2609187 Tue, 09 Jun 2009 11:36:43 +0100 2609187 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2452378&cid=t_100857_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2FRIkypU_0spk%2F I listened live to the president’s Cairo speech this morning on my ride into work. I know that it will be parsed and dissected. Passages will be taken out of context, and sentences twisted beyond recognition. At times, it sounded like a state of the union address, with a litany of promises intended to appeal to particular interest groups. That said, I thought the president hit the essential points without overpromising. He did not ignore that which divides the United States from the world at large, and many Muslims in particular, nor was he afraid to address squarely the lies and distortions — including the implication that 9/11 never happened, or was not the product of al Qaeda — that have made the situation worse than it should be. He stressed the common interests th... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2452378 Thu, 04 Jun 2009 12:44:17 +0100 2452378 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2441166&cid=t_100857_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2FADUEJ6bOFEg%2F Former vice president Richard Cheney gave his big address on national security (pdf) over at AEI last week.   He covered a lot of ground, but this passage, I think, tells us quite a bit about Cheney’s worldview: If fine speech-making, appeals to reason, or pleas for compassion had the power to move [al-Qaeda], the terrorists would long ago have abandoned the field.  And when they see the American government caught up in arguments about interrogations, or whether foreign terrorists have constitutional rights, they don’t stand back in awe of our legal system and wonder whether they had misjudged us all along.  Instead the terrorists see just what they were hoping for — our unity gone, our resolve shaken, our leaders distracted.  In short, they see weakness and oppor... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2441166 Fri, 29 May 2009 11:47:13 +0100 2441166 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2424345&cid=t_100857_129_f&fid=36035&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.everydayhealth.com%2Fblog%2Flife-with-chronic-pain%2Fthe-war-on-daily-pain%2F Funny, isn’t it, all the little truisms you pick up along the highway of life; kind of like road signs? Remember the old Burma Shave signs we used to read along the road when we would travel as children? Today, we’re all grown up and the road of chronic pain and illness is somewhat like those thoroughfares in Iraq; mined with hazards all along the way. Some days you maneuver along just fine, detecting the mines, driving cautiously and being just plain lucky. Those are the days your radar is working and you have gained the upper hand. Other days, a bomb goes off in your face or if it doesn’t, you almost pray one would. Each day is different than the previous one. You wonder, cautiously, “What will tomorrow bring?” It’s never boring, living this way, that’s for certain. We are ... Life with Chronic Pain blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2424345 Tue, 19 May 2009 19:59:53 +0100 2424345 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2405024&cid=t_100857_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2FIy4GrKPSUNE%2F Richard Haass’s op ed in today’s Post is worth a read. Sure, it amounts to a well-placed advertisement for his new book, War of Necessity, War of Choice. And it’s not like Haass, current president of the Council of Foreign Relations, and former director of policy planning at the State Department, lacks for exposure. But while I would quibble with his characterization of the first Gulf War as “necessary”, it is refreshing for a man so firmly fixed in the foreign policy establishment to focus not on the United States’ supposed capacity for refashioning the global order, but rather on the limits of our power. He urges President Obama to resist the impulse to expand our objectives in Afghanistan, and should not dedicate far more resources to the effort i... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2405024 Thu, 14 May 2009 15:44:09 +0100 2405024 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2405042&cid=t_100857_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2FeOWIO4B9lUg%2F Fred Kaplan and the New York Times say that the decision to replace General David McKiernan with Lt. General Stan McChrystal as the principle US commander in Afghanistan is another step in the COINification of the Pentagon under Robert Gates. They say we’ve replaced a conventional warfare guy with an unconventional warfare guy. That’s too simple. McChrystal is known for his mastery of the sharp or kinetic end of the counterinsurgency mission. The command he headed from 2003 to 2008 – Joint Special Operations Command — is essentially the operational component of Special Operations Command, which has really become a fifth service. JSOC organizes special operations missions in war zones.  According to many officers, JSOC has also become enraptured with direct a... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2405042 Wed, 13 May 2009 12:40:20 +0100 2405042 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2375843&cid=t_100857_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2F-YKIb_IA6zc%2F While Iraq’s security situation has been improving–though the possibility of revived sectarian violence remains all too real–the conflict in Afghanistan has been worsening.  The challenge for allied (which means mostly American) forces is obvious, which is why the Obama Administration is sending more troops. But the administration risks wrecking the entire enterprise by turning American forces into drug warriors. Reports the New York Times: American commanders are planning to cut off the Taliban’s main source of money, the country’s multimillion-dollar opium crop, by pouring thousands of troops into the three provinces that bankroll much of the group’s operations. The plan to send 20,000 Marines and soldiers into Helmand, Kandahar and Zabul Provinces this summer p... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2375843 Wed, 29 Apr 2009 15:20:58 +0100 2375843 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2375847&cid=t_100857_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2FHCqoRE_cuhg%2F Here are a few highlights from Cato Today, a daily email from the Cato Institute. Dan Ikenson and Scott Lincicome argue in a new study that restoring the pro-trade consensus must be a top priority for the Obama administration. In the DC Examiner, Gene Healy discusses Obama’s first 100 days and argues that he’s massively expanded the power of government in a short period of time. In the Asia Times Online, David Isenberg discusses private security contractors in the war in Iraq. Watch Patrick J. Michaels discuss energy on CNBC. In Tuesday’s Cato Daily Podcast, Peter Van Doren discusses the interaction between Congress and regulators on the issue of food safety. (Source: Cato-at-liberty) Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2375847 Tue, 28 Apr 2009 21:07:20 +0100 2375847 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2249702&cid=t_100857_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2FV7U3SngOCSM%2F Counterinsurgency expert Andrew Exum, of Abu Muqawama war blog, takes on Justin Logan’s post below. At the risk of restating Justin’s points, I feel compelled to jump into the fray. Exum says basically this: Our policies have tended to result in small wars, however foolish. We want an Army of our policies. There is, in other words, a difference between operations and strategy. Counterinsurgency experts are just preaching good practice in the former. They just work here. Grand strategy is someone else’s gig. There is merit in this view. But it has two problems. First, the COIN gurus do not confine themselves to the operational side of things. Exum works for the Center for New American Security, which has collected counterinsurgency experts who argue that 1) Americans can become profi... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2249702 Thu, 05 Mar 2009 21:52:21 +0100 2249702 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2167616&cid=t_100857_140_f&fid=34843&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.furiousseasons.com%2Farchives%2F2009%2F02%2Fmore_suicides_than_combat_deaths_among_soldiers_in_jan_2009.html You read that right. According to the US Army, 24 soldiers killed themselves in January, a staggeringly high and tragic statistic, reportedly outpacing combat deaths that month. The Army openly admits it doesn't know what's going on, but one Army official at least partly pointed the finger at anti-depressants. From cnn.com: "Col. Kathy Platoni, chief clinical psychologist for the Army Reserve and National Guard, said that the long, cold months of winter could be a major contributor to the January spike. "'There is more hopelessness and helplessness because everything is so dreary and cold,' she said. "But Platoni said she sees the multiple deployments, stigma associated with seeking treatment and the excessive use of anti-depressants as ongoing concerns for mental-health professionals ... Furious Seasons blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2167616 Fri, 06 Feb 2009 05:00:00 +0100 2167616 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2144569&cid=t_100857_140_f&fid=34843&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.furiousseasons.com%2Farchives%2F2009%2F01%2Farmy_suicides_up_hit_three_decade_high.html This from the AP, which has tracked this issue very aggressively: "Suicides among U.S. soldiers rose last year to the highest level in decades, the Army announced Thursday. At least 128 soldiers killed themselves in 2008. But the final count is likely to be considerably higher because 15 more suspicious deaths are still being investigated and could also turn out to be self-inflicted, the Army said. "A new training and prevention effort will start next week. And Col. Elspeth Ritchie, a psychiatric consultant to the Army surgeon general, made a plea for more U.S. mental health professionals to sign on to work for the military. "'We are hiring and we need your help,' she said. "The new suicide figure compares with 115 in 2007 and 102 in 2006 and is the highest since record keeping began i... Furious Seasons blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2144569 Thu, 29 Jan 2009 05:00:00 +0100 2144569 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2134720&cid=t_100857_140_f&fid=34843&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.furiousseasons.com%2Farchives%2F2009%2F01%2Fmore_views_on_the_purple_heart_ptsd_decision.html As I mentioned two weeks ago, the US military has determined that post-combat PTSD does not merit awarding of the Purple Heart, given to service members wounded or killed in action with an enemy. Yesterday, two separate writers responded to the finding. First up is Simon Maxwell Apter writing in The Nation, who, once he gets done being snotty towards the military (you'd expect that from the lefty magazine), he expresses a sentiment with which I agree: "A wounded soldier, whether he or she suffers from PTSD or from an RPG-shattered face, is a wounded soldier. By shining honor, and not shame, onto the psychological wounds of victimized soldiers, the armed forces can perhaps begin to update their decidedly old-fashioned vision of sacrifice and give their fighting men and women the credit an... Furious Seasons blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2134720 Tue, 27 Jan 2009 05:00:00 +0100 2134720 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2095027&cid=t_100857_87_f&fid=36069&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffrankiespeakingfrankly.blogspot.com%2F2009%2F01%2Fwhite-phosphorous.html Please just go and have a look at some videos on white phosphorous. Have a search on Google video and You Tube, there's plenty of footage. It burns through to the bone and it will burn through anything, including buildings and bomb shelters. Now there is evidence to suggest that the Israelis are using it over Gaza. It is true that the American army used it to devastating effect on Fallujah in Iraq. There is evidence from medics that it was also used previously by the Israeli army against civilians in Lebanon.Listening to the Israeli spokesperson this evening he did not deny its use in Gaza, but justified their choice of weapons saying that they only use the same weapons that are used by other armies in the world. Last week I heard the same spokesperson talking about the Israeli army being ... Frankie Speaking Frankly blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2095027 Sat, 10 Jan 2009 23:17:00 +0100 2095027 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2095028&cid=t_100857_87_f&fid=36069&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffrankiespeakingfrankly.blogspot.com%2F2009%2F01%2Fholy-day.html Humanitarian aid is not allowed through the border of Gaza today, because it is a holy day of rest. The bombing, however, continues. 13 Israelis and over 800 Palestinians are dead now. Over 400 of them women and children. A further 3,500 injured, 400 seriously (you know, life threatening burns and dismembered limbs, that kind of thing). Now I hear that war tourists are gathering on the borders of Israel, over watching the terror through binoculars, laughing and cheering on the dropping of bombs - please someone correct me and tell me that isn't true.Very few of the dead have been identified as militants. How many innocent people can one justify killing in order to kill a militant I ask myself? Let us imagine one hundred people lined up. Let us say that 35 of them are children, 20 are women... Frankie Speaking Frankly blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2095028 Sat, 10 Jan 2009 17:39:00 +0100 2095028 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2086918&cid=t_100857_87_f&fid=34872&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.healthbolt.net%2F2009%2F01%2F07%2Fdoctors-without-bordersmedecins-sans-frontieres-2008-list-of-top-ten-humanitarian-crisis%2F Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF), the international medical humanitarian organization, has been providing an annual list of the “Top Ten” humanitarian crises since 1998 in an effort to generate greater awareness of the magnitude and severity of crises that may or may not be reflected in media accounts.   In a year where most of the media has been focusing on the American elections, these are the ten Most unreported humantiarian stories of 2008…   Somalia’s Humanitarian Catastrophe Worsens Beyond the International Spotlight, Critical Health Needs in Myanmar Remain Unmet Health Crisis Sweeps Zimbabwe as Violence and Economic Collapse Spread Civilians Trapped as War Rages in Eastern Congo Millions of Malnourished Children Left Untreated Despi... Healthbolt blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2086918 Wed, 07 Jan 2009 11:46:25 +0100 2086918 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2081090&cid=t_100857_140_f&fid=34843&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.furiousseasons.com%2Farchives%2F2009%2F01%2Fsomething_is_different_about_the_iraq_war.html Last week, the New York Times had an interesting article on a large number of violent incidents, including murder, involving Iraq War vets stationed at Fort Carson, Colo. It's the usual story of post-combat stress--or PTSD, if you prefer--and an Army that doesn't seem to know what to do about the situation mixed with a new base commander who's looking into all the incidents to see if he can find common threads and figure out a solution. His son, you see, was an ROTC cadet who killed himself several years ago. All the usual elements are at work: sergeants who discourage clearly-troubled troops from getting mental health evaluations, a mental health system that doesn't seem to produce good results when soldiers get "help," and soldiers popping pills and drinking themselves into oblivion (un... Furious Seasons blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2081090 Tue, 06 Jan 2009 05:00:00 +0100 2081090 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2065216&cid=t_100857_99_f&fid=34593&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeeds.feedburner.com%2F%7Er%2Fscienceblogs%2FAyaJ%2F%7E3%2F494022209%2Fbagdad_hack_and_cannon_fodder.php The Bagdad Hack is neither a journalist nor a clever trick to get something done in Iraq. It's a cough. And reading about it is dismaying and maddening. As someone who did a lot of work on unexplained illness following the Gulf War of 1991 -- illnesses steadfastly denied by the Pentagon and the Department of Veterans Affairs -- when these same folks djinned up the steaming pile of shit we call the War in Iraq they had plenty of time to plan for prevention. But when I inquired of colleagues (I was by then no longer involved) if there were any pre-deployment plans to establish baselines and surveillance to alert them that something similar might be happening, they answer was "no." My informants were as incredulous as I was. And now it's happening again with the Bagdad Hack:. Read the rest of... Effect Measure blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2065216 Wed, 24 Dec 2008 12:31:41 +0100 2065216 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=1990599&cid=t_100857_99_f&fid=34593&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeeds.feedburner.com%2F%7Er%2Fscienceblogs%2FAyaJ%2F%7E3%2F466598326%2Firaq_bush_very_pleased.php In a recent interview with a Japanese broadcasting company, still-President George Bush summed up his judgment on the Iraq debacle: it's a great success. He's "very pleased," mainly that he toppled Saddam Hussein. What about the rest. Like the streets being rivers of sewage? Read the rest of this post... | Read the comments on this post... (Source: Effect Measure) Effect Measure blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1990599 Wed, 26 Nov 2008 20:49:29 +0100 1990599 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=1981738&cid=t_100857_105_f&fid=36987&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeeds.feedburner.com%2F%7Er%2FIvorKovicMd%2F%7E3%2F462481043%2F I just watched a great documentary by the team of Emmy Award winner producer/director Jon Alpert and Matthew O’Neill called Baghdad ER. This HBO documentary brings a story of medical personnel of the 86th Combat Support Hospital, the US Army’s premier medical facility in Iraq. It is quite shocking and a great reminder how pointless and stupid any war is. For now own, every time I catch myself thinking that I am having a rough night, I am going to thing of these brave people. You think your ER is hard, think again. I was left feeling kind of helpless at the end of the movie, because the number of killed and injured, for the most part young, people just keep increasing without any sign of stopping. Dear colleagues in Iraq, or anywhere else in the world where there is a war, you... Ivor Kovic, M.D. blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1981738 Sun, 23 Nov 2008 04:21:00 +0100 1981738 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=1920916&cid=t_100857_99_f&fid=34593&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeeds.feedburner.com%2F%7Er%2Fscienceblogs%2FAyaJ%2F%7E3%2F435745740%2Fmuch_misery_in_this_world.php There is a lot of misery in this world, too much of it the result of what we humans do to each other. And it's getting worse. A typical example, is a country where 28% of the children are malnourished, up from 19% five years ago; where in 2006 11% of the newborns were underweight, up from 4% three years before; where 15% of the population doesn't have and can't afford enough food and is dependent food assistance programs for survival; where 70% don't have adequate water and 80% don't have adequate sanitation so that in the poorest urban neighborhoods people drink a water and sewage mixture; where hospitals can no longer respond to need and 90% of them lack basic medical and surgical supplies; where violence has reduced what was once a force of 34,000 doctors 5 years ago down to 20,000, wit... Effect Measure blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1920916 Wed, 29 Oct 2008 12:24:33 +0100 1920916 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=1892204&cid=t_100857_109_f&fid=36089&url=http%3A%2F%2Fthesituationist.wordpress.com%2F2008%2F10%2F21%2Fwithout-the-filter%2F Governor Sarah Palin wants “to talk to Americans without the filter” of the “media elite.”  As she explained in the vice-presidential debate, she aims to cut out the middleman in conveying information to the public: “I may not answer the questions that either the moderator or you [Senator Joe Biden] want to hear, but I’m going to talk straight to the American people and let them know my track record also.” Those statements reflect a radical challenge to our American system: the elimination of an institution—the press—that has traditionally been championed as a vital check on the abuse of power and distortion of the truth by politicians.  In the words of the late Supreme Court Justice Potter Stewart, historically, “[t]he free press meant organized, expert scrutiny ... The Situationist blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1892204 Tue, 21 Oct 2008 04:40:29 +0100 1892204 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=1862746&cid=t_100857_140_f&fid=34843&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.furiousseasons.com%2Farchives%2F2008%2F10%2Fhyperbaric_oxygen_as_brain_injury_ptsd_treatment.html Every so often a reader passes on something that utterly surprises me and this is one of those times. According to the American Association for Health Freedom, researchers are seeing promising results using hyperbaric oxygen therapy--yes, those big chambers sometimes used for treating burns, non-healing wounds and scuba divers--as a treatment for military vets who've suffered traumatic brain injuries and PTSD suffered as a result of concussive blasts in combat. Given how rotten the results are from using standard psych meds for treating PTSD, this sure does sound interesting. "This year Dr. Harch [an LSU researcher] applied HBOT 1.5 to five combat veterans of the current war who have traumatic brain injury and post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) from concussive blasts. So far, all of th... Furious Seasons blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1862746 Thu, 09 Oct 2008 04:00:00 +0100 1862746 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=1731898&cid=t_100857_111_f&fid=34615&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.emergiblog.com%2F2008%2F08%2Furgent-helpsupplies-needed.html This is a quick post to let you know what I found on Healthcare Today. You really need to see this. The 73rd Calvary in Iraq working in a convoy support center are running a burn unit! These are non-medical guys, they work on trucks, but they are seeing/treating about 40 kids a day with burn injuries. Why? They volunteered. The Iraqis built a primitive but effective triage center and our guys are working to help these kids heal. These are not war-related burns - there is a high incidence of domestic burns secondary to boiling water and oil from cooking. Because they are not war-related, the guys of the 73rd cannot use Army supplies to treat the burns (a rules-of-engagement thing). They need donations of physical supplies (not money or checks). Lots of them. I found bulk gauze rolls and no... Emergiblog blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1731898 Mon, 25 Aug 2008 16:01:23 +0100 1731898 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=1696278&cid=t_100857_133_f&fid=35096&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeeds.b5media.com%2F%7Er%2Fb5media%2FAutismVox%2F%7E3%2FImdqiyCyYLQ%2F A CBS News story on No help for autistic children in Baghdad asks, what if you think you detect the symptoms of autism in your child but there’s no doctor—because he’s fled the country—-to even give you a diagnosis, let alone any services? Tags: asd, asperger, autism, autism blog, baghdad, child, disabilities blog, disability, doctor, Family, family blog, iraq, iraq war, Parenting, pdd-nos, warShare This (Source: Autism Vox) Autism Vox blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1696278 Mon, 11 Aug 2008 17:00:00 +0100 1696278 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=1639011&cid=t_100857_125_f&fid=34819&url=http%3A%2F%2Fflapsblog.com%2F2008%2F07%2F19%2Firaqi-prime-minister-al-maliki-supports-obamas-withdrawal-plans-after-bush-wins-war-update-al-malikis-remarks-misunderstood-mistranslated-and-not-conveyed-accurately%2F +++++Update+++++ Now, a spokesman has said that al-Maliki’s remarks “were misunderstood, mistranslated and not conveyed accurately.” Government spokesman Ali al-Dabbagh said the possibility of troop withdrawal was based on the continuance of security improvements, echoing statements that the White House made Friday after a meeting between al-Maliki and U.S. President Bush. Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki says he agrees with US presidential candidate Barack Obama’s plans for withdrawing US troops from Iraq The LEFT and Team Obama will try to spin Iraqi Prime Minister’s Nuri al-Maliki’s interview with Speigel Online - even with the change in the quote.The first quote: SPIEGEL: Would you hazard a prediction as to when most of the US troops will fin... FullosseousFlap's Dental Blog blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1639011 Sun, 20 Jul 2008 00:00:32 +0100 1639011 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=1634824&cid=t_100857_125_f&fid=34819&url=http%3A%2F%2Fflapsblog.com%2F2008%2F07%2F17%2Fbarack-obama-on-the-iraq-war-whatever-the-politics-demand%2F +++++Update+++++ Ed Morrissey over at Hot Air has the poop on the afternoon Team McCain blogger conference call (to which Flap was invited) featuring Representative Marsha Blackburn, R- TN and Michael Goldfarb, the offical blogger at the The McCain Report. Flap’s question: Flapsblog - Will the latest ad (see below)be going on broadcast television? Not in its current form It’s a web ad. Will they run contrast ads during Obama’s trip? Yes; Obama set the precedent for that during the Colombia trip. John McCain’s web video - The Obama Iraq Documentary: Whatever the Politics Demand In a townhall meeting in Kansas City, Missouri, this afternoon, John McCain ripped Barack Obama’s Iraq War policy, including his sixteen month artificial timetable to withdraw American tr... FullosseousFlap's Dental Blog blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1634824 Thu, 17 Jul 2008 21:38:43 +0100 1634824 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=1625538&cid=t_100857_125_f&fid=34819&url=http%3A%2F%2Fflapsblog.com%2F2008%2F07%2F15%2Fjohn-mccain-watch-today-we-know-senator-obama-was-wrong%2F Political Cartoon by Gary Varvel, Indy Star The MSM is FINALLY recognizing that Barack Obama’s Iraq War policy, including his Flip Flop “Refine” moment is putting Obama on the defensive. The anti-war Left of which Obama is a member last Fall said “The Surge” was a failure, the Iraq War war was lost and that the United States should pull out. Over the weekend, as first reported by the New York Daily News, the Obama campaign website changed language from declaring “the surge is not working” to that which instead states: “despite the improved security situation, the Iraqi government has not stepped forward to lead the Iraqi people and to reach the genuine political accommodation that was the stated purpose of the surge.” An older Obama ca... FullosseousFlap's Dental Blog blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1625538 Tue, 15 Jul 2008 21:19:39 +0100 1625538 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=1625539&cid=t_100857_125_f&fid=34819&url=http%3A%2F%2Fflapsblog.com%2F2008%2F07%2F15%2Fbarack-obama-watch-the-changing-iraq-war-policy%2F Graphic courtesy of ABC News Consistent with Barack Obama’s FLIP-FLOP on his Iraq War policy a week ago or so, BarackObama.com has been scrubbed of any references to Obama’s opposition to the “Surge.” Barack Obama’s campaign scrubbed his presidential Web site over the weekend to remove criticism of the U.S. troop “surge” in Iraq, the Daily News has learned. The presumed Democratic nominee replaced his Iraq issue Web page, which had described the surge as a “problem” that had barely reduced violence. “The surge is not working,” Obama’s old plan stated, citing a lack of Iraqi political cooperation but crediting Sunni sheiks - not U.S. military muscle - for quelling violence in Anbar Province. Well, Obama was wrong on th... FullosseousFlap's Dental Blog blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1625539 Tue, 15 Jul 2008 15:15:36 +0100 1625539 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=1622062&cid=t_100857_125_f&fid=34819&url=http%3A%2F%2Fflapsblog.com%2F2008%2F07%2F14%2Fjohn-mccain-beats-barack-obama-in-commander-in-chief-test%2F Graphic courtesy of ABC News The latest ABC News/Washington Post poll is not even close. John McCain beats Obama 72% to 48% . So, what has happened? Iraq War success and American voters recognize that John McCain was RIGHT about the war all along. America will NOT support surrender in Iraq. Obama’s flip-flop on his Iraq War position is validation of this - even Obama recognizes the anti-war left has an untenable position. As Iraq War success increases so will John McCain in the polls. (Source: FullosseousFlap's Dental Blog) FullosseousFlap's Dental Blog blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1622062 Tue, 15 Jul 2008 01:21:46 +0100 1622062 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=1622063&cid=t_100857_125_f&fid=34819&url=http%3A%2F%2Fflapsblog.com%2F2008%2F07%2F14%2Fbarack-obama-watch-my-plan-for-iraq%2F Michael Ramirez on Iraq Prime Minister al-Maliki The question:Who is the bigger JACKASS? Technorati Tags: Iraq, Barack Obama, Nuri Kamal al-Maliki (Source: FullosseousFlap's Dental Blog) FullosseousFlap's Dental Blog blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1622063 Mon, 14 Jul 2008 21:03:46 +0100 1622063 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=1596493&cid=t_100857_133_f&fid=35096&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeeds.b5media.com%2F%7Er%2Fb5media%2FAutismVox%2F%7E3%2F330112068%2F 37-year-old Wafaa al Nuaimi has three children, one of whom, 8-year-old Mustafa, is autistic. His father, a doctor, has remained in Iraq while his wife and three children are now in Syria where, CNN reports, Mustafa is getting the training he needs towards helping him be more independent. His mother first tried to get him treatment in Iraq, to no avail; the situation simply was too dangerous. “What is preventing the development of specialized centers in Iraq is the war,” she says. “In the end it used to take me five to six hours to get to the center — most of the roads were blocked. We used to arrive around noon, and my son would miss the whole program because by the time we got there, we would have to return home.” She tells how she reacted when she realized ... Autism Vox blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1596493 Tue, 08 Jul 2008 20:03:12 +0100 1596493 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=1596397&cid=t_100857_140_f&fid=34843&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.furiousseasons.com%2Farchives%2F2008%2F07%2Fdrinking_due_to_ptsd_apparently_way_up_among_iraq_war_vets.html An interesting piece in today's New York Times that details drinking problems among returned troops and the utter lack of substance abuse and mental health services available to help out vets with PTSD. It's worth a read and it's kind of clear that there's a problem out there. I've made the point before on this site that we are going to be paying the price for the Iraq War for a long time in terms of returned troops with PTSD (a term I know some readers don't like and which I use merely for convenience). It's beginning to sound like the Iraq War will make what went down with Vietnam vets look like a warm up. We need to heed the experiences of that era and the homelessness and psychological wreckage it caused and get things right this time. We've put these folks through a real meat grinder... Furious Seasons blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1596397 Tue, 08 Jul 2008 04:00:00 +0100 1596397 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=1582908&cid=t_100857_125_f&fid=34819&url=http%3A%2F%2Fflapsblog.com%2F2008%2F07%2F06%2Fteam-mccain-now-puzzled-over-obamas-iraq-war-policy%2F Barack Obama’s shifting or “REFINED” Iraq War Policy Barack Obama on Saturday said he was “puzzled” over the reaction to his statement this week that he might “refine” his timetale for withdrawing U.S. combat troops. Now, Team McCain is questioning Obama’s words as to what he exactly means on Iraq War policy. Sen. John McCain’s campaign said Sunday that Barack Obama’s remarks on Iraq “have left a significant question as to exactly what he intends.” “He has held almost every conceivable position in the course of his relatively brief career in the Senate,” said Randy Scheunemann, McCain’s foreign policy adviser. McCain’s campaign suggested Obama’s views could be becoming more in line with McCain’s... FullosseousFlap's Dental Blog blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1582908 Sun, 06 Jul 2008 20:05:42 +0100 1582908 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=1582910&cid=t_100857_125_f&fid=34819&url=http%3A%2F%2Fflapsblog.com%2F2008%2F07%2F06%2Fbarack-obama-says-he-is-puzzled-over-iraq-war-flip-flop%2F Barack Obama’s shifting or “REFINED” Iraq War Policy Why is Barack Obama puzzled? He flip-flopped on his Iraq War policy. Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama said on Saturday his plan to end the Iraq war was unchanged and he was puzzled by the sharp reaction to his statement this week that he might “refine” his timetable for withdrawing U.S. combat troops. “For me to say that I’m going to refine my policies I don’t think in any way is inconsistent with prior statements and doesn’t change my strategic view that this war has to end and that I’m going to end it as president,” Obama told reporters on his campaign plane. Obama, who based his drive to capture the Democratic nomination on his early and ardent oppositi... FullosseousFlap's Dental Blog blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1582910 Sun, 06 Jul 2008 14:32:09 +0100 1582910 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=1577249&cid=t_100857_125_f&fid=34819&url=http%3A%2F%2Fflapsblog.com%2F2008%2F07%2F04%2Fbarack-obama-watch-new-and-not-improved%2F Michelle Malkin on Barack Obama’s Flip-Flop on Iraq War Policy Even the New York Times is NOT impressed with Barack Obama’s decision to “REFINE” his policies. We are not shocked when a candidate moves to the center for the general election. But Mr. Obama’s shifts are striking because he was the candidate who proposed to change the face of politics, the man of passionate convictions who did not play old political games. There are still vital differences between Mr. Obama and Senator John McCain on issues like the war in Iraq, taxes, health care and Supreme Court nominations. We don’t want any “redefining” on these big questions. This country needs change it can believe in. How about Obama’s new theme: “political expediency you can count on&#8230... FullosseousFlap's Dental Blog blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1577249 Sat, 05 Jul 2008 03:41:36 +0100 1577249 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=1575372&cid=t_100857_125_f&fid=34819&url=http%3A%2F%2Fflapsblog.com%2F2008%2F07%2F03%2Fbarack-obama-watch-in-a-shocker-obama-flip-flops-on-iraq-war-now-wants-to-clarify-his-remarks%2F Barack Obama speaking in Pennsylvania Mark Halperin reports that in a hastily scheduled second press availability, Barack Obama sought to clarify his remarks made earlier and insisted that his position on Iraq has not changed. “I intend to end this war… That position has not changed. I have not equivocated on that position. I am not searching for maneuvering room with respect to that position.” Though he also says: “I have always reserved the right to do what’s best for America’s national interest… I would be a poor commander-in-chief if I didn’t take facts on the ground into account.” But that is NOT what he said before. Senator Barack Obama said Thursday the United States cannot sustain a long-term military presence in Iraq, but added that he would be open to “ref... FullosseousFlap's Dental Blog blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1575372 Thu, 03 Jul 2008 22:22:54 +0100 1575372 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=1575374&cid=t_100857_125_f&fid=34819&url=http%3A%2F%2Fflapsblog.com%2F2008%2F07%2F03%2Fbarack-obama-watch-in-a-shocker-obama-flip-flops-on-iraq-war%2F Democratic presidential candidate, Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., center, speaks during his campaign stop in Fargo, N.D., July 3, 2008 In a shocking reversal of Iraq War policy, Barack Obama moves to the RIGHT and now says he would be open to “redefine my policies” about a timeline for withdrawing troops after meeting with American military commanders during his trip to Iraq next month. Mr. Obama, whose popularity in the Democratic primary was built upon a sharp opposition to the war and an often-touted 16-month gradual timetable for removing combat troops, dismissed suggestions that he was changing positions in the wake of reductions in violence in Iraq and a general election fight with Senator John McCain. “I’ve always said that the pace of withdrawal would be dictated by... FullosseousFlap's Dental Blog blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1575374 Thu, 03 Jul 2008 20:15:43 +0100 1575374 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=1526372&cid=t_100857_135_f&fid=35247&url=http%3A%2F%2Fmyjourneywithaids.wordpress.com%2F2008%2F06%2F17%2Fmom-to-mccain-you-cant-have-him%2F Mom to John McCain: “When you say you would stay in Iraq for a hundred years were you counting on Alex, because if you were you can’t have him.” (Source: My journey with AIDS) My journey with AIDS blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1526372 Tue, 17 Jun 2008 18:44:32 +0100 1526372 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=1526184&cid=t_100857_140_f&fid=34843&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.furiousseasons.com%2Farchives%2F2008%2F06%2Funexplained_troop_deaths_something_very_wrong_with_ptsd_treatments.html Over the weekend, there was a long, discouraging article in the Austin American Statesman detailing the unexplained death of a young Marine from Texas at Twentynine Palms, Calif. He'd been taking a host of meds for PTSD, including Seroquel and Prozac. The story is far too depressing to recount in its details. But this is not the first time that there's been unexplained troop deaths involving Seroquel and anti-depressants. Last month, a report out of West Virginia identified four recent deaths of Iraq War vets who similarly died in their sleep. "Military doctors prescribed Paxil, Klonopin and Seroquel for Johnson, the same combination taken by veterans Andrew White, 23, of Cross Lanes; Eric Layne, 29, of Kanawha City; and Nicholas Endicott of Logan County. All were in apparently good phy... Furious Seasons blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1526184 Tue, 17 Jun 2008 04:00:00 +0100 1526184 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=1521965&cid=t_100857_125_f&fid=34819&url=http%3A%2F%2Fflapsblog.com%2F2008%2F06%2F16%2Fbush-lied-and-people-died-well-not-so-fast-part-2%2F ANOTHER Bush never lied to us opinion piece.Key graph: This may sound like ancient history, but it matters. After Sept. 11, President Bush did not want to risk allowing Hussein, who had twice invaded neighboring nations, murdered more than 1 million Iraqis and stood in violation of 16 U.N. Security Council resolutions, to remain in possession of what he believed were stocks of chemical and biological warheads and a nuclear weapons program. By glossing over this history, the Democrats’ lies-led-to-war narrative provides false comfort in a world of significant dangers. You don’t say. (Source: FullosseousFlap's Dental Blog) FullosseousFlap's Dental Blog blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1521965 Mon, 16 Jun 2008 20:33:04 +0100 1521965 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=1502489&cid=t_100857_125_f&fid=34819&url=http%3A%2F%2Fflapsblog.com%2F2008%2F06%2F09%2Fbush-lied-and-people-died-well-not-so-fast%2F From a Cindy Sheehan Rally The mantra from the Anti-War LEFT has been Bush Lied and People Died. But, did President Bush lie? Sen. John D. Rockefeller IV (D-W.Va.), chairman of the Select Committee on Intelligence, set out to provide the official foundation for what has become not only a thriving business but, more important, an article of faith among millions of Americans. And in releasing a committee report Thursday, he claimed to have accomplished his mission, though he did not use the L-word. “In making the case for war, the administration repeatedly presented intelligence as fact when it was unsubstantiated, contradicted or even nonexistent,” he said. There’s no question that the administration, and particularly Vice President Cheney, spoke with too much certainty a... FullosseousFlap's Dental Blog blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1502489 Mon, 09 Jun 2008 16:40:00 +0100 1502489 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=1502851&cid=t_100857_109_f&fid=36089&url=http%3A%2F%2Fthesituationist.wordpress.com%2F2008%2F06%2F09%2Fthe-law-and-situation-of-military-propaganda%2F The War in Iraq has received much criticism, including for the manner in which the Defense Department and the White House misled the public on now dubious policy arguments. Two arguments routinely employed by War advocates were the alleged national security threat posed by Saddam Hussein and the supposed linkage between Hussein and Al-Qaeda. Like so many other rationales offered for the War, those two have not withstood the test of time and appear to have been borne more for persuasion than illumination. Anne Flaherty of the Associated Press has an interesting piece on recent legislative efforts by Congress to prevent the current White House and future ones from engaging in the same styles of deception. * * * Congressional Democrats want to ban Pentagon propaganda on the Iraq war, but the... The Situationist blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1502851 Mon, 09 Jun 2008 04:01:16 +0100 1502851 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=1500283&cid=t_100857_150_f&fid=35777&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeeds.feedburner.com%2F%7Er%2FPharmalot%2F%7E3%2F306161056%2F Seven months after sergeant Christopher LeJeune started scouting Baghdad’s dangerous roads — acting as bait to lure insurgents into the open so his Army unit could kill them — he found himself growing increasingly despondent, Time magazine writes. “We’d been doing some heavy missions, and things were starting to bother me,” says LeJeune, whose unit was protecting Iraqi police stations targeted by rocket-propelled grenades, hunting down mortars hidden in dark Baghdad basements and cleaning up its own messes. “You don’t always know who the bad guys are. When you search someone’s house, you have it built up in your mind that these guys are terrorists, but when you go in, there’s little bitty tiny shoes and toys on the floor — things like t... Pharmalot blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1500283 Fri, 06 Jun 2008 15:12:43 +0100 1500283 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=1497450&cid=t_100857_140_f&fid=34843&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.furiousseasons.com%2Farchives%2F2008%2F06%2Fmedicating_our_troops.html There's a fascinating article in Time this week, and that's not something I say about that mag very often. The mag has gone and taken an in-depth look at how many troops in Iraq and Afghanistan are being medicated for depression and sent back to the front lines. Sixteen percent of troops are taking anti-depressants and it all just goes from there. War is truly hell. It's nice to see someone in the mainstream media take a poke at this issue. I'm not sure that the article is entirely successful--there are some stats in it that are just wrong--but globally I give the mag credit for doing a fair and balanced job. One Army official, for example, is quoted saying he believes the troops get good care (which I doubt, but what else would he say?) and the magazine even delicately swings at the que... Furious Seasons blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1497450 Fri, 06 Jun 2008 04:00:00 +0100 1497450 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=1475095&cid=t_100857_125_f&fid=34819&url=http%3A%2F%2Fflapsblog.com%2F2008%2F05%2F28%2Firaq-war-veterans-call-out-barack-obama%2F Iraq War veteran Specialist Kate Norley Iraq War veteran Kate Norley asks presumptive Democrat Presidential nominee Barack Obama two questions: Senator Obama, when will you finally decide to go back to Iraq, to see the progress first hand? And when will you finally decide to meet one-on-one, unconditionally, with General Petraeus? Senator McCain asked the same questions today. Well, over to Obama. (Source: FullosseousFlap's Dental Blog) FullosseousFlap's Dental Blog blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1475095 Wed, 28 May 2008 21:36:40 +0100 1475095 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=1475097&cid=t_100857_125_f&fid=34819&url=http%3A%2F%2Fflapsblog.com%2F2008%2F05%2F28%2Fmccain-rips-obama-over-iraq-war-again%2F McCain in Reno, Nevada May 28, 2008: Obama Needs To See The Facts On The Ground In Iraq. Skip ahead to 1:20 John McCain in a townhall forum today in Reno, Nevada ripped Barack Obama for having ONLY been to Iraq one time two years ago (before the Surge) and for failing in his duties as a member of the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee. Key Quotes: “A little over two years ago he went and he has never seized the opportunity except in a hearing to meet with General Petraeus. This is about leadership and learning.” “Why is it that Senator Obama wants to sit down with the president of Iran but has not sat down with General Petraeus…” Flap wonders if Senator McCain has been reading Jim Geraghty over at National Review who this morning made similar observations. Is Obama Willi... FullosseousFlap's Dental Blog blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1475097 Wed, 28 May 2008 20:18:39 +0100 1475097 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=1469572&cid=t_100857_125_f&fid=34819&url=http%3A%2F%2Fflapsblog.com%2F%3Fp%3D7059 Republican presidential candidate, Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., speaks at the New Mexico Veterans Memorial on Monday, May 26, 2008, in Albuquerque. In an interview today with the Associated Press, Senator and presumptive GOP nominee for President rips into Senator Barack Obama (the presumptive Democrat Presidential nominee) over the Iraq War. Republican John McCain on Monday sharply criticized Democratic rival Barack Obama for not having been to Iraq since 2006, and said they should visit the war zone together. “Look at what happened in the last two years since Senator Obama visited and declared the war lost,” the GOP nominee-in-waiting told The Associated Press in an interview, noting that the Illinois senator’s last trip to Iraq came before the military buildup that is cr... FullosseousFlap's Dental Blog blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1469572 Tue, 27 May 2008 01:28:18 +0100 1469572 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=1466835&cid=t_100857_122_f&fid=34755&url=http%3A%2F%2Fneuropsychological.blogspot.com%2F2008%2F05%2Fmilitary-traumatic-brain-injury-and.html An interesting feature article in tomorrow's New York Times Sunday Magazine:The Sergeant Lost WithinBy DANIEL BERGNERPublished: May 25, 2008"Roadside bombs have caused hundreds of dire brain injuries to soldiers in Iraq. One of them is Shurvon Phillip, and a team of specialists has worked avidly trying to reach him."A good deal of the article deals with the Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago (RIC).[ ... Read the full article ... ] (Source: BrainBlog) BrainBlog blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1466835 Sat, 24 May 2008 21:19:00 +0100 1466835 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=1446542&cid=t_100857_129_f&fid=36035&url=http%3A%2F%2Fblog.healthtalk.com%2Fchronic-pain%2Flife-with-chronic-pain%2Fwar-wounds-create-chronic-pain-in-soldiers%2F Imagine, if you will, a handsome young man in military garb, sitting in an armored vehicle reading a letter from his wife, hearing all about his children and their latest antics. Perhaps, sitting next to him is a young woman reaching into her pocket to find a stale cookie she just got from home when POW their vehicle is hit by an explosive device. Their lives will never again be the same. Young and old alike are affected by the devastating pain of chronic disease. Those of us who have autoimmune disease often go into a tailspin when we are “attacked” by our own bodies. There is, however, another segment among us, including the very brave, young, male/female of our society who has suffered grievously; that segment is the approximately 12,000 soldiers who have been injured in the Iraq/Af... Life with Chronic Pain blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1446542 Fri, 16 May 2008 05:44:30 +0100 1446542 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=1413448&cid=t_100857_150_f&fid=34768&url=http%3A%2F%2Fpharmagossip.blogspot.com%2F2008%2F05%2F100-million-people-knew-that-they-were.html Today is the 5th anniversary of "Mission Accomplished".'Hillary Clinton Blew it in October, 2002' (VIDEO)'John McCain Couldn't Get a Job' (VIDEO)'We Just Lost Eight Years' (VIDEO)'Free HBO for Everyone' (VIDEO) (Source: PharmaGossip) PharmaGossip blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1413448 Thu, 01 May 2008 14:34:00 +0100 1413448 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=1409672&cid=t_100857_125_f&fid=34819&url=http%3A%2F%2Fflapsblog.com%2F%3Fp%3D6887 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x1V7rJfo1TE The MORONS at MoveOn.org cannot get the McCain context right - same as the Democratic Party. Previous: Republican National Committee Asks Democrats to Pull 100 Years Iraq War Ad Barack Obama Lying About John McCain and 100 Year Iraq War John McCain Watch: The 100 Year Iraq War? (Source: FullosseousFlap's Dental Blog) FullosseousFlap's Dental Blog blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1409672 Wed, 30 Apr 2008 20:08:24 +0100 1409672 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=1409674&cid=t_100857_125_f&fid=34819&url=http%3A%2F%2Fflapsblog.com%2F%3Fp%3D6885 Secretary of Defense Robert Gates “REMINDS” Iran with a second carrier group in the Persian Gulf. U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates said Tuesday that sending a second aircraft carrier to the Persian Gulf could serve as a “reminder” to Iran, but he said it is not an escalation of force. Speaking to reporters after meeting with Mexican leaders, Gates said heightening U.S. criticism of Iran and its support for terrorist groups is not a signal that the administration is laying the groundwork for a strike against Tehran. Still, he said Iran continues to back the Taliban in Afghanistan. “I do not have a sense at this point of a significant increase in Iranian support for the Taliban and others opposing the government in Afghanistan,” Gates said. “There... FullosseousFlap's Dental Blog blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1409674 Wed, 30 Apr 2008 15:40:00 +0100 1409674 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=1410041&cid=t_100857_109_f&fid=36089&url=http%3A%2F%2Fthesituationist.wordpress.com%2F2008%2F04%2F30%2Fthe-disturbing-mental-health-situation-of-returning-soldiers%2F The military conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan have led to over 4,700 deaths of U.S. soldiers (in addition to over 1.2 million deaths of Iraqi and Afghan people) and tens of thousands of physical injuries to U.S. soldiers. As we know too well, some of those injuries are catastrophic. The mental health of returning soldiers has received much less attention, no doubt in part because those injuries are less apparent, because many people still view mental illness as less serious than physical illness, and because of choice myth in the context of mental illness: there is a common presumption that mental illness reflects a weak will (as opposed to biological impairment) of the person and that it can be corrected by the person, if the person so chooses. Given the horrific conditions of warfare, h... The Situationist blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1410041 Wed, 30 Apr 2008 14:00:14 +0100 1410041 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=1405318&cid=t_100857_125_f&fid=34819&url=http%3A%2F%2Fflapsblog.com%2F%3Fp%3D6864 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f6ul9iMgmOw Ad from the Democrat Party The Democrats and Democrat National Chairman Howard Dean are lying about John McCain again. The Republican National Committee demanded Monday that television networks stop running a television ad by the Democratic Party that falsely suggests John McCain wants a 100-year war in Iraq. The ad says President Bush has talked about staying in Iraq for 50 years, then plays a clip of McCain saying, “Maybe 100. That’d be fine with me.” The announcer then says: “If all he offers is more of the same, is John McCain the right choice for America’s future?” Republican National Committee Chairman Mike Duncan said the ad deliberately distorts what McCain, the likely GOP presidential nominee, said. Th... FullosseousFlap's Dental Blog blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1405318 Tue, 29 Apr 2008 01:21:21 +0100 1405318 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=1358507&cid=t_100857_125_f&fid=34819&url=http%3A%2F%2Fflapsblog.com%2F%3Fp%3D6733 Michael Ramirez parodies General David Petreaus’ testimony in the Senate today Iraq Is Improving, But Gains ‘Fragile,’ Gen. Petraeus Says Gen. David Petraeus and Ambassador Ryan Crocker spoke directly to the next U.S. president Tuesday, giving a cautiously optimistic assessment of the situation in Iraq. They just weren’t certain when they talked to the president. Was it in the morning before a congressional panel that included Sens. John McCain, R-Ariz., and Hillary Clinton, D-N.Y.? Or that afternoon when they spoke to another that included Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill. In either case, the two top U.S. officials in Iraq said the military is making progress, with Petraeus calling for a halt in troop withdrawals to consolidate the surge’s gains. If carried out, th... FullosseousFlap's Dental Blog blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1358507 Wed, 09 Apr 2008 03:38:12 +0100 1358507 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=1356008&cid=t_100857_125_f&fid=34819&url=http%3A%2F%2Fflapsblog.com%2F%3Fp%3D6730 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ts3U939CD3g Barack Obama Continues His 100 Years Of War Attack In a great catch from MKH, Barack Obama is caught in a LIE about John McCain’s 100 year war comment (H/T Allah over at Hot Air). Here is Obama’s comment from the other day: Barack Obama misstates John McCain’s position on the Iraq War again. In a back and forth at today’s press conference, Obama insisted he was not taking out of context McCain’s comments about keeping troops in Iraq for 100 years. Asked if his attack was disingenous, Obama had the following to say: “I don’t think it’s unfair at all,” Obama said. “John McCain, I mean, we can run the YouTube spot, has said that we will stay there as long as it takes. And if it takes another 100 years, he’s up for tha... FullosseousFlap's Dental Blog blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1356008 Tue, 08 Apr 2008 15:35:23 +0100 1356008 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=1340503&cid=t_100857_125_f&fid=34819&url=http%3A%2F%2Fflapsblog.com%2F%3Fp%3D6687 John McCain would stay in Iraq for a hundred years - the context explained on Meet the Press Barack Obama misstates John McCain’s position on the Iraq War again. In a back and forth at today’s press conference, Obama insisted he was not taking out of context McCain’s comments about keeping troops in Iraq for 100 years. Asked if his attack was disingenous, Obama had the following to say: “I don’t think it’s unfair at all,” Obama said. “John McCain, I mean, we can run the YouTube spot, has said that we will stay there as long as it takes. And if it takes another 100 years, he’s up for that commitment and that implies that there is some criteria by which we would understand how long it takes. “John McCain has not been clear about what exactly wo... FullosseousFlap's Dental Blog blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1340503 Tue, 01 Apr 2008 13:48:03 +0100 1340503 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=1329936&cid=t_100857_125_f&fid=34819&url=http%3A%2F%2Fflapsblog.com%2F%3Fp%3D6662 Rep. Jim McDermott, right, D-Wash., and Rep. David Bonior, D-Mich., left, are shown during a Capitol Hill news conference in this 2002 file photo. Saddam Hussein’s intelligence agency secretly financed a trip to Iraq for three U.S. lawmakers during the run-up to the U.S.-led invasion, federal prosecutors said Wednesday. These members of Congress COULD NOT or WOULD NOT find out who funded their trip to Iraq immediately preceding the start of the Iraq War? Saddam Hussein’s intelligence agency secretly financed a trip to Iraq for three U.S. lawmakers during the run-up to the U.S.-led invasion, federal prosecutors said Wednesday An indictment unsealed in Detroit accuses Muthanna Al-Hanooti, a member of a Michigan nonprofit group, of arranging for three members of Congress to travel... FullosseousFlap's Dental Blog blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1329936 Thu, 27 Mar 2008 11:50:35 +0100 1329936 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=1323125&cid=t_100857_99_f&fid=34593&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeeds.feedburner.com%2F%7Er%2Fscienceblogs%2FAyaJ%2F%7E3%2F257227383%2Fwhy_so_they_hate_us.php The other day, as I was bemoaning the tanking of the dollar versus the Euro (yes, my European friends are not crying in their beer over it; I'm glad for them. Now they can visit), I mentioned that it wasn't just the dollar that had taken a bath since GWB but also the US reputation as a force for Good in the world. Now the BBC World Service has put some numbers on this in a survey of 26,000 people from 25 different countries: Read the rest of this post... | Read the comments on this post... (Source: Effect Measure) Effect Measure blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1323125 Mon, 24 Mar 2008 20:47:48 +0100 1323125 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=1309167&cid=t_100857_109_f&fid=36089&url=http%3A%2F%2Fthesituationist.wordpress.com%2F2008%2F03%2F18%2Fthe-situation-of-soldiers%2F NPR’s All Things Considered has a 3-minute audio report on an event (sponsored by Iraq Veterans Against the War) in which veterans told of their experiences in the conflicts in Afghanistan and Iraq. One 19-year-old soldier is quoted in the report, explaining, much as Phil Zimbardo or Stanley Milgram might, the mechanisms of obedience: “I watched a prisoner, and we denied him water and food, and to my understanding he did not have sleep for three days. . . . [Y]ou don’t really think about it because it’s being allowed. You know, cause you’re just thinking this is what I’m doing. This man came down from the airfield command center there. Taking it as another directive order from our coalition forces, I just did what I was told.” To listen to the ent... The Situationist blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1309167 Tue, 18 Mar 2008 04:01:53 +0100 1309167 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=1305851&cid=t_100857_131_f&fid=35743&url=http%3A%2F%2Fthegenesherpa.blogspot.com%2F2008%2F03%2Fthought.html What if we had a 1000 USD genome by next year? Where would we be? What would we have? What problems would that create? Who would benefit? Who would lose?I have been thinking alot about this lately. Mainly because I had known for a while that the Applied Biosystems' Product was coming in under 60k. Trust me....under 60k USD. My friend and ex-President of TV Guide had sent me something this week and I wondered how quick this would move up the charts and into the press.So I ask my readers..."Where would we be in 1 year from this date if we had the capability to sequence a whole genome for 1000 USD? No not the SNP scans being paraded on the Today show...A whole genome, CNVs and all. What problems would that create? Who would lose? Who would benefit?I have some ideas and will post them in the c... Gene Sherpas: Personalized Medicine and You blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1305851 Sat, 15 Mar 2008 23:35:00 +0100 1305851 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=1277939&cid=t_100857_136_f&fid=35302&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeeds.feedburner.com%2F%7Er%2FWhitePebble%2F%7E3%2F245543877%2F Copyright © 2008 Patti. Visit the original article at http://www.white-pebble.net/?p=4075. Good article with it, too. ShareThis (Source: white pebble) white pebble blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1277939 Tue, 04 Mar 2008 15:24:25 +0100 1277939