British activist Peter Tatchell informs us that an Iraqi gay activist was gunned down at a barber shop this morning. This is only one of many, many murders carried out since the American invasion, most of which are carried out by organized death squads.

Tatchell wrote a good summation of the violence in today's edition of the Guardian, which went to press before the most recent assassination.

After the jump, a video on the "sexual cleansing." It's very depressing and called Gay Life, Gay Death in Iraq.

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Hey, Meghan McCain, before ever again going on national television to say things like "No one knows what war is like other than my family—period," you should pick up a newspaper and read about the thousands of other people – both Americans and foreigners – killed and wounded in America's wars.

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The United States government likes to say that Iraq's more "democratic" since the 2003 invasion, but that's definitely not the case for the nation's homo population.

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The American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees and MoveOn.org make quite the team!

The two groups - who endorsed Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton, respectively - joined forces to take on presumptive Republican presidential nominee John McCain, especially his stance on Iraq:

This ad will begin airing nationally Wednesday on CNN and MSNBC, and in Ohio, Michigan and Wisconsin markets. It will run for a week at a cost of $543,000. In the ad, an actress with an infant child speaks as if she were addressing McCain, the likely Republican presidential nominee.

"Hi John McCain," she says. "This is Alex. And he's my first. So far his talents include trying any new food and chasing after our dog. That, and making my heart pound every time I look at him. And so, John McCain, when you say you would stay in Iraq for 100 years, were you counting on Alex? Because if you were, you can't have him."

That's right, girl! You keep that baby, a concept that will likely appeal to McCain's pro-life supporters.

Meanwhile, if we were to stay in Iraq for another 100 years, poor fictional baby Alex's children and grandchildren could potentially follow him abroad. That is, if Alex lived long enough.

John McCain and his campaign have released a new commercial in which the Republican insists he's against war. His family, of course, have been ravaged by aggressive endeavors, so he's running for president to "keep the country I love safe." In fact, he opens this 30-second spot thus, "Only a fool or a fraud talks tough or romantically about war." Sure, McCain hasn't romanticized war games, but he's still too tough to consider diplomatic measures. Anyone smell a small contradiction?

There's no honeymoon for these two Iraqi gays. A reader sent us this video which shows the men after police pulled them from their car between Baghdad and Al-Kut. The coppers got their kicks by recording the queers, then made a small mint when Iraqi LGBT bought the footage to post here.

Coloradan congressional candidate and openly gay man Jared Polis got a bit of gay-baiting last week. The distasteful drama started when a Polis mailer used an image of American soldiers raising a flag over Iwo Jima. Polis' ad, however, superimposed controversial security force Blackwater's logo over the stars and stripes. The mailer read, "When American troops risk their lives for our freedoms it's heroic. When companies risk American lives for their profits it is anything but". While this may be true, Colorado Veterans for America - which supports Polis' rival, Joan Fitz-Gerald - ain't happy and have accused Polis of defacing the flag. Member Jim Hudson, meanwhile, questioned Polis' commitment to the country.

"When he was over in Iraq, who provided his security?" Hudson asked. "If these security companies weren't doing it, who would? It would require that we have more young people in the military."

Hudson, a former solider, took his critique of Polis one step further in a telephone interview with The Denver Post, questioning why Polis, who is openly gay, hasn't served in the military.

"He says that he has to 'tell' that he's gay," Hudson said. "I can tell you, when I served in Vietnam, I served with many gays, and was honored to do so. And they didn't feel compelled to make an issue of their orientation, because, I presume, that they thought it was more important that they serve their country."

Polis was quick to reply, calling Hudson comments "homophobic":

This is the kind of homophobic comment that we have worked so hard to overcome in order to reach some sort of tolerance in America. I was in ROTC as a college student and the 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell' policy of the military definitely played into my decision to not continue my training. I don't feel that anyone - man or woman - should have to pretend or hide who they are to serve our nation and I look forward to a time when gay men and women can serve openly in our military.

I ask Joan Fitz-Gerald to disassociate herself with this obviously homophobic group.

No word on whether Fitz-Gerald will honor Polis request. It's not as if the CVA can really do that much damage: they've only got 2,000 members!

Just in case you didn't know:

A study by two nonprofit journalism organizations found that President Bush and top administration officials issued hundreds of false statements about the national security threat from Iraq in the two years following the 2001 terrorist attacks.
…
The study counted 935 false statements in the two-year period. It found that in speeches, briefings, interviews and other venues, Bush and administration officials stated unequivocally on at least 532 occasions that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction or was trying to produce or obtain them or had links to al-Qaida or both.

That is all.

The American government pledged to bring democracy, freedom and equality to Iraq. They have not:

The Iraq government is considering the release of some 5,000 prisoners but a spokesperson said it would not include terrorists or homosexuals.

The Iraqi government has about 20,000 people in custody, while the U.S. military holds about 25,000.

Homosexuality itself is not illegal in Iraq, but police regularly arrest gays on other charges often trumped up.

The amnesty bill drafted by the Shiite-dominated government falls far short of Sunni demands. About the only thing on which the two sides agree is that imprisoned gays not be freed.

Oh, come on, don't act like you're surprised!