This is a really powerful piece:

A progressive veterans group is making a fiery push to get comprehensive energy reform passed into law, going up on air with a new ad tying oil consumption to Iranian-backed attacks against U.S. troops.

In a spot set to air in eight key states, the group, VoteVets.org (with an assistance from the energy independence group Operation Free) splices footage of highly developed improvised explosive devices being used against U.S. soldiers alongside Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. Narrated by Iraq War veteran Christopher Miller, who earned a Purple Heart as the result of an IED explosion six years ago, the ad makes the case that passing energy legislation is a national security imperative.

"That's the type of IED that earned me a purple heart in Iraq six years ago," Miller says, as footage of a U.S. convoy being blown off a dirt road runs in the backdrop.

"This is what our troops are up against today: EFPs [Explosively Formed Projectile] specially designed to pierce American military armor. It is a devastating weapon and it was created in oil-rich Iran. They are ending up in the hands of our enemies. And every time oil goes up a dollar, Iran gets another $1.5 billion to use against us."

What Donald Rumsfield failed to mention when he famously said that America had to "go to war with the army it has" in response to criticisms from soldiers about a lack of armor is that the US went to war with the army it couldn't be bothered upgrading.

The US Marine Corps asked the Pentagon's inspector general to perform the audit after coming under fire for setting aside an urgent request from field commanders in 2005 for Mine Resistant Ambush Protected (MRAP) armored vehicles.

"DoD (Department of Defense) was aware of the threat posed by mines and improvised explosive devices (IEDs) in low-intensity conflicts and of the availability of mine-resistant vehicles years before insurgent actions began in Iraq in 2003," the audit found.

"Yet DoD did not develop requirements for, fund, or acquire MRAP-type vehicles for low-intensity conflicts that involved mines and IEDs," a summary of the report said.

"As a result, the department entered into operations in Iraq without having taken available steps to acquire technology to mitigate the known mine and IED risk to soldiers and Marines," it said.

Heads should roll for this, even now, including those in charge of Marine Corps procurement, the Corps itself and Rummie as top man at the DoD at the time (and we all know where the buck eventually stops). Their inertia and lack of action even long after it was obvious what was needed led to hundreds of unnecessary deaths and tens of thousands of wounded, ruined lives. We're talking about at least half the entire butcher's bill from Bush's military adventures. This isn't a matter of history to the crippled, the dead and their families and justice demands accountability.

Can servicemen even bring a class action suit? I'm thinking about if the powers-that-be won't respond appropriately, which I highly doubt they will.

The Newshoggers: BU$HCO'S weapons of mass distraction. But this story is scarier

First Draft: Experts warn that a national security crisis looms for the 2009 administration transition because the Department of Homeland Security is so heavily stacked with political appointees

The Terrorist's Dictionary: The Pentagon multi-billion-dollar project to defeat IEDs ("Joint IED Defeat Organization") says they are "weapons of strategic influence."

The Kingsland Report: Rupert Murdoch of Newscorp fame maybe be about to be chewed up and spit out by the Bancroft family of Wall Street Journal fame. There's a lot of cockiness to this Murdoch takeover attempt of Dow Jones. I'm not so sure it's a foregone conclusion

IraqSlogger: Forced labor building our new Baghdad embassy?

HOLY CRAP: Fired McCain religion-outreach aides say they were ignored..."Pray for rain", urges Aussie Prime Minister...Moses didn't write about creation...Virginia Christian teachers want constitutional protection limited to them...U.S. a theocratic state, says former Canadian ambassador...A recent study on how much MSM coverage is devoted to religion and who gets to talk...More fun with Fundies and sodomy...The Pope and Islam...Televangelist compares Romney to Satan...Atheists arise! Cartoonists are making fun of you!...Religion and politics loom large in 2008 race...