Have you ever heard someone try to argue that the Iraq War was a mistake but that now the proper course is to continue the mistake a bit longer or to carefully end it in a long and complicated way that could take months or years?  Have you ever wondered how such a position, if examined in detail, could possibly make any sense?

Wonder no more.  Such a position, in various forms, actually makes no sense.  In fact, such a position requires a stunning degree of illogic.

There's an important book at http://www.endthewartour.org called "Iraq: The Logic of Withdrawal" by Anthony Arnove.  The book has a Foreword and an Afterword by Howard Zinn, who in 1967 published "Vietnam: The Logic of Withdrawal."  Arnove's book is important because it refutes all the major claims against immediate withdrawal.

Arnove begins with some historical background, and then lays out an overwhelming case for the following points.  I'll list them here, but you'll need to read the book (it's only 100 pages) for the arguments:

I’ve been thinking about Tariq Aziz a lot since the New York Times printed a front-page story on the former Iraqi deputy prime minister in late May. A color photograph showed him decked out in what the article described as “an open-necked hospital gown, with a patient’s plastic identification tag on his wrist.” He looked gaunt.

The last time I saw Aziz, at a Baghdad meeting two months before the U.S.-led invasion began, he was still portly in one of his well-tailored business suits. If Aziz was worried, he didn’t show it.

Now, he’s playing a part that U.S. media seem to relish. The Times headline said “Hussein’s Former Envoy Gushes With Adulation on Witness Stand,” but to sum up the coverage it might have just as aptly declared: “How the Mighty Have Fallen.”

The Times reported that Aziz defended Saddam Hussein in his May 24 testimony -- after he was not able to cut a deal with Baghdad’s current legal powers-that-be. “At an earlier stage of the trial, American officials said Mr. Aziz had offered to testify against Mr. Hussein on the condition that he be released early, a proposition the Iraqi court and

"It's past time for HIV and AIDS to be relegated to history so that 25 years from now, we can look back at what was and what is no more," said Human Rights Campaign President Joe Solmonese.

WASHINGTON - Human Rights Campaign President Joe Solmonese made the following statement on the 25th anniversary of the first reported case of AIDS:

"In a heartbeat, a generation of Americans was lost to AIDS," said Human Rights Campaign President Joe Solmonese. "While the government's reaction was slow, the gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender community united into a political force that demanded action and, with an enduring commitment, secured it. Today is a day to honor the lives lost, to pay tribute to the many who took action, and to recognize the great challenges that still stand before us in fighting the scourge of HIV and AIDS.

Solmonese continued, "While we've come a long way, HIV/AIDS continues to devastate communities around the world and in the United States, particularly among men who have sex with men and communities of color. We must demand that more resources are devoted to this fight. The

At Last!!!!

The story of the stolen election of 2004 has FINALLY busted into the mainstream media, thanks to Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., and Rolling Stone Magazine.

We all owe them great thanks.

Now we'll see if there's any further media follow-up. And if the Democratic Party actually DOES SOMETHING about the fact that America is about to be hijacked again in 2006, and then for the third straight presidential race in 2008.

The massive article in this week's RS focuses on the impossible contrast between exit polls showing a clear and overwhelming Kerry victory versus bogus "official" vote counts giving George W. Bush four more catastrophic years in the White House. It also details some of the horrific intimidation, manipulation and outright theft used by Ohio's GOP Secretary of State J. Kenneth Blackwell to deny hundreds of thousands of mostly Democratic voters their right to a ballot. And it discusses in some depth the fact that Diebold and other electronic voting machine and software producers make it possible for any inside operator to use a laptop and a few keystrokes to flip an entire election in a matter of seconds.

Revolutionary Greetings!

On Sunday, May 21st, ‘Joe’ a WWII veteran was standing at a regular vigil at 15th and High Street on the Ohio State University Campus in Columbus, Ohio. Joe also attends a Saturday vigil that I attend. Joe’s sign says,”Jail Bush.” Joe told me he was walking up the sidewalk arguing about the war in Iraq with an ROTC student in uniform.Hewas attacked from behind by a male in civilian clothes who is thought to be a friend of one of the ROTC Gestapo and is reported to be an OSU Pre-Med student. A witness to this cowardly act told me that the male ran up behind Joe and jumped into the air to hit Joe around the shoulders which knocked him to the ground. The attacker continued to run but was arrested. Although Joe sustained both a injuredwrist and rib in the assault, he was at the Saturday vigil the following week.