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It was not immediately clear exactly how many protesters showed up for the march on the chilly but sunny afternoon, but they began moving over the Memorial Bridge at about 1 p.m. and were done about an hour later. During that time, however, they generally filled the bridge with a steady stream of marchers.
I can't seem to recall a time when the WaPo wouldn't at least "Guestimate" a crowd size.
I don't know how long I can do this, but I am making screen caps from the "protest." What a cluster. If you need a break from reality, pay a visit.
I am so glad I am on the side I am.
One thing al-Qaeda excels at; making new enemies. With this series of dirty chemical bombings a war between al-Qaeda and the tribes in Anbar is no longer a possibility. It just became a fact.
Some background on chlorine as a weapon and its threat potential here.
I had a couple of hours free in the DC area - so I visited Arlington.
The Boston Globe quotes unnamed "senior Pentagon officials" on page one:
WASHINGTON -- The top US commander in Iraq has requested another Army brigade, in addition to five already on the way, as part of the controversial "surge" of American troops designed to clamp down on sectarian violence and insurgent groups, senior Pentagon officials said yesterday.But buried a bit further down (okay, actually a lot further down) in the story, an acknowledgement that (if the rumors are true in the first place) like all the other "surge" brigades (except for the one that was already there and the one that went in on its original schedule), this one is just going to Iraq a few weeks earlier than originally planned:The appeal -- not yet made public -- by General David Petraeus for a combat aviation unit would involve between 2,500 and 3,000 more soldiers and dozens of transport helicopters and powerful gunships, said the Pentagon sources. That would bring the planned expansion of US forces to close to 30,000 troops.
News of the additional deployment comes about a week after President Bush announced that about 4,700 support troops will join the initial 21,500 he ordered in January. They are in addition to the estimated 130,000 troops already in Iraq.
"This is the next shoe to drop," said one senior Pentagon official closely involved in the war planning, who requested anonymity because of prohibitions against publicly discussing internal deliberations. "But you cannot put five combat brigades in there and not have more aviation guys, military police, and intelligence units."
The additional troops designated for the strategy are expected to be in Baghdad and western Anbar Province by May.
But even supporters of the stepped-up US commitment in Iraq criticized the Bush administration yesterday, saying it should have been more straightforward about how many troops the strategy might require.
"There is a problem in the way the administration reported the surge numbers to begin with," said Frederick W. Kagan , a resident scholar at the conservative American Enterprise Institute. "When they initially reported the numbers they only reported the combat strength of the brigades, and they did not count support troops" and other personnel that the operation would need.
"Petraeus has now requested what many thought would be needed to begin with," Kagan said, "but it looks like another surge."
The aviation brigade Petraeus wants is likely to come from the Army's Third Infantry Division at Fort Stewart, Ga., which would accelerate its plans to return to Iraq, said another Pentagon official who asked not to be identified while discussing internal planning. The division was scheduled to go back before the White House adopted the "surge" plan.
Breaking story on two dump trucks with chorine gas blowing up in Anbar province -- about 350 Iraqis reported suffering from the effects of inhaling chlorine gas.
End of an era, that. WaPo article here. Earlier article about him and his academics here.
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