In this war based on lies and deceit we Americans have suffered the biggest loss so far. In 2007 900 of our fellow citizens have died in Iraq. Despite victory being claimed at every turn our government keeps sending our young people to kill and die. Post surge violence in Baghdad is loudly touted as a new victory but the insurgents have just moved. Some north, some south. They had enough sense to move their battle to where US troops aren’t.

With a new battle front on the Turkish border the war rages with a renewed intensity. In a region under battle clouds for the length of history there is no wonder the war is going on in different locations. As this past week has shown us civil wars and unrest isn’t limited to Iraq. Pakistan has their version of internal strife and the battle rages on. Israel and Palestine are warring over a rock they both consider holy. I guess the Bush administration thought they could get somewhere trying to force democracy down another cultures throat.

The high number of losses is just a few short of the 4000 predicted if the surge hadn’t “worked”. Officially the number of US soldiers killed is 3902. That is a number too high. Even without the additional soldiers that would be too many losses. Kids dying for a false patriotism has always been bad in my book but these young people continue to be lied to and continue to swallow the lies. The deaths of our soldiers is horrible. Equally horrible are the permanent injuries to the men and women of our national security forces. 28,711 soldiers have been injured in the Iraq conflict.

Injured soldiers range from quick fixes to multiple amputees and severe brain injuries. A lot of the injured soldiers are ok in hours or days and return to battle. Thousands have returned to their homeland forever disabled though. The military medical system is in poor shape. Probably the poorest since our civil war in the 1860’s. We all remember the Walter Reed Hospital scandal this year. The miserable conditions aren’t just at W.Reed though. The whole system is in shambles.

There is an average wait of 25 months to get classified as disabled by the Veterans Administration. This means soldiers with their limbs blown off, sitting in wheel chairs are being denied medical, disability pay and shelter. Many become homeless or have to return to their parents house until the government they served so well decides to treat their injuries as real. According to the estimates John Edwards quoted in his Christmas ad that ran in Iowa and New Hampshire, 1 in 4 of our nations homeless are military veterans. Those numbers aren’t all Iraq vets but according to the VA the number of homeless who served in Iraq and Afghanistan are growing daily.

Both the Senate and the House overwhelmingly passed a bill just before the holiday break that not only gave the soldiers a 3.5 percent pay raise but also funded revamping the crippled medical system for returning vets. The bill also included some thing about releasing Iraqi funds to settle lawsuits against the Iraqi government for atrocities from the Hussein regime.

Sitting in Crawford TX on yet another vacation, our president is ignoring the bill as a pocket veto. If congress isn’t in session for 10 days and the president doesn’t sign the bill then it is considered a veto. Bush doesn’t want to piss the Iraqi’s off so the bill will remain unsigned. He doesn’t care about the troops. He doesn’t care if those injured come back to nothing. He isn’t concerned about the paychecks of those who are putting their very lives on the line for Bushco. He doesn’t give any thought about the American peoples desires.

George W. Bush cares more for the puppet regime he installed in Iraq than he does Americans. He obviously isn’t a patriot. He is harming the troops to benefit the government of a country we are at war with.

That sounds like treason to me.

Stumble it!