Okay, maybe more people should be listening to me.

Okay, this is a big I TOLD YOU SO post. Except nobody was listening to me the first time (I mean, my babu was listening, but he doesn't make foreign policy or anything) so this won't feel as satisfying as it could.

I said back in 2003 that invading Iraq would lead to a huge mess, and accurately identified large chunks of the mess that have now resulted.

I said months and months ago that mortgage lenders were going to start going under because of all the people losing their homes & foreclosing. And here's the news.

"New Century may be insolvent because too many of its own customers -- most of whom have poor credit histories or heavy debt burdens -- aren't repaying their loans. Bad U.S. subprime mortgages are at a seven-year high, forcing more than two dozen lenders to close or sell operations. Their woes may contribute to more than 1.5 million Americans losing their homes and 100,000 people losing their jobs, according to real estate executives, economists, analysts and a Federal Reserve governor."

Eh, enough of I told you so's. No satisfaction.

I'm reading horror stories about how soldiers unfit for duty are being sent back to Iraq. I don't just mean the mentally unfit ones, the ones suffering from PTSD or depression or whatever - 'cause after all, they're not REALLY sick, right? *growl* - No, I'm talking about the soldiers who are PHYSICALLY UNFIT FOR DUTY ACCORDING TO PHYSICIANS.

As the military scrambles to pour more soldiers into Iraq, a unit of the Army's 3rd Infantry Division at Fort Benning, Ga., is deploying troops with serious injuries and other medical problems, including GIs who doctors have said are medically unfit for battle. Some are too injured to wear their body armor, according to medical records.

About those mentally unfit ones being redeployed - those are the ones that survived. Heard an interview on Fresh Air today about the special report done by Lisa Chedekel and Matthew Kauffman of The Hartford Courant (they're getting the George Polk Award for it): Mentally Unfit, Forced to Fight. Listening to the horror stories of suicidal soldiers who were told that they were faking it, or given antidepressants and told to get back to work - who then went off and shot themselves...

"In a case last July, a 20-year-old soldier who had written a suicide note to his mother was relieved of his gun and referred for a psychological evaluation, but then was accused of faking his mental problems and warned he could be disciplined, according to what he told his family. Three weeks later, after his gun had been handed back, Pfc. Jason Scheuerman, of Lynchburg, Va., used it to end his life."

He's only one of many. As a person who has been suicidal before, who has attempted before, who has been hospitalized for psychiatric reasons - this makes the hair on the back of my neck stand up. It makes me weep. It makes me want to take the officials responsible for this out behind a barn and hurt them in creative ways.

I don't think I can read any more news tonight.