Day: July 4, 2006

The following is the finest selection of macho bluster I’ve had the privilege to peruse in quite some time. It’s the lead paragraph in a story that ran this past weekend in the Los Angeles Times, quoting America’s top anti-terror showmen: “President Bush says Democrats want to ‘wave the white flag of surrender’ in Iraq. Vice President Dick Cheney accuses the opposition party’s leaders of ‘defeatism’ in the global war on terrorism.’ ” The rhetoric might be comical but for one minor detail: the truth.

Rep. John Murtha’s suspended, but not abandoned, quest to become House Democratic leader has added one more layer of scrutiny to the already intense responses to his outspoken critique of the Bush’s administration’s war policy.

About 150 protesters sat in front of the White House on Monday to savor their last meal before starting a hunger strike that some said will continue until American troops return from Iraq.

When U.S. military officials found the bodies of four Iraqis inside a burned house near Mahmoudiya in March, they at first blamed insurgents. Three of the bodies had gunshot wounds, and the body of a woman was burned. Authorities believe she was raped before being shot in the head.

Paul R. Smith posthumously became the first soldier in the Iraq war awarded the Medal of Honor, America’s highest military award, given in recognition of extreme valor in combat. More than three years later, Smith remains the only service member to receive the honor for action in either Iraq or Afghanistan.

The CIA has shut down a unit assigned to hunt down Osama bin Laden and his top lieutenants. The news comes as the widow of Iraq al-Qaida leader Abu Musab al-Zargawi claims his own organization sold him out in exchange for a U.S. promise to ease up on the hunt for Osama bin Laden.