Bush Tells U.S. Iraq Sacrifice 'Worth It'

AP

President Bush on Tuesday rejected suggestions that he set a timetable for withdrawal from Iraq or send in more troops, counseling patience for Americans who question the war's painful costs.

"Is the sacrifice worth it? It is worth it and it is vital to the security of our country," Bush told a nation increasingly doubtful about the toll of the 27-month-old war.

Bush spoke in an evening address for a half-hour from an Army base that has 9,300 troops in Iraq, hoping to convince the public that his strategy for victory needs only time — not any changes — to be successful. He offered no shift in course.

"We have a clear path forward," he said. "As the Iraqis stand up, we will stand down."

The audience of 750 soldiers and airmen in dress uniform listened mostly quietly — as they were asked to do to reflect the somber nature of the speech — only breaking into applause when Bush vowed that the United States "will stay in the fight until the fight is won."

Bush said he understands the public concerns about a war that has killed over 1,740 Americans and 12,000 Iraqi civilians and cost $200 billion. "Like most Americans, I see the images of violence and bloodshed," he said. "Every picture is horrifying and the suffering is real."

It was a tricky balancing act, believed necessary by White House advisers who have seen dozens of deadly insurgent attacks each day eat into Americans' support for the war — and for the president — and increase discomfort among even Republicans on Capitol Hill.

Democrats and other critics said the country needed to hear more specifics about how to reach success in Iraq.

"The president's Iraq policy is adrift, disconnected from the reality on the ground and in need of major midcourse corrections," said Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev. "Staying the course, as the president advocates, is neither sustainable nor likely to lead to the success we all seek."

Recalling the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks a half-dozen times and suggesting a link with the Iraq war, Bush said the United States faces an enemy that has made Iraq the central front in the war on terror. Fighters have been captured from Saudi Arabia, Syria, Iran, Egypt, Sudan, Yemen, Libya and other nations, Bush said.

He described the insurgents in raw terms, calling them "ruthless killers" who commit "savage acts of violence."

Bush's repeated acknowledgment of the likely deaths and difficulties to come was less than a month after Vice President Dick Cheney proclaimed the Iraq insurgency "in the last throes." Still, the president's overriding message was to proclaim progress and predict victory.

Despite their violent campaign, the terrorists, he said, are no "closer to achieving their strategic objectives."

And, he said: "The American people do not falter under threat, and we will not allow our future to be determined by car bombers and assassins."

Bush has faced calls for a withdrawal of the 135,000 U.S. troops in Iraq, on the one hand, or, on the other, an increase in forces to intensify the battle against the enemy.

But he said a timetable would be "a serious mistake" that could demoralize Iraqis and American troops and embolden the enemy. "America will not leave before the job is done," he said.

He also said sending more troops would undermine the U.S. strategy of training Iraqis to be able to as quickly as possible take over the security of their country.

"Sending more Americans would suggest that we intend to stay forever," he said.

Marking the first anniversary of the transfer of power from the U.S.-led coalition to Iraq's interim government, Bush cited advances in the past year. These included elections in January that drew 8 million men and women voters; improvements to roads, schools, health clinics and basic services like sanitation, electricity and water; and gains in the number and quality of Iraqi security forces who "are proving their courage every day."

He announced new steps the military is taking to prepare Iraqis to take over the anti-insurgency battle: conducting operations together with Iraqi units, embedding U.S. transition teams inside Iraqi units and intensive management training inside the Iraqi Defense and Interior ministries.

The president also noted that more countries had stepped forward with assistance and that the United Nations is helping Iraqis write a constitution and conduct their next elections. Iraq faces the next milestone in its rocky transition to democracy on Aug. 15, the deadline to produce a draft of a new constitution.

"Our progress has been uneven — but progress is being made," Bush said.

A recent Associated Press/Ipsos poll found a majority of Americans now think the war was a mistake.

Public patience is even being tested here in military friendly North Carolina. In the past year, 100 troops from North Carolina's bases have died in the war, trailing only the toll from California, according to an Associated Press analysis. A statewide poll released Tuesday showed that for the first time more North Carolinians think the war is not worthwhile than think it is.

Earlier Tuesday, a suicide car bomb attack that killed an influential Shiite member of parliament provided a reminder of the difficulties.

Before his speech, Bush spent nearly three hours privately consoling the loved ones of 33 fallen soldiers. The widow of one of the men, Crystal Owen, gave him a bracelet engraved with the names of her husband and another soldier killed with him on Oct. 15, 2004. Bush wore the bracelet during his speech.

In his remarks, Bush sought to bolster troop morale by asking Americans to mark the July 4 holiday by flying the flag, writing letters to soldiers, or helping a military family with someone deployed.

"The American people are behind you," the president said.

He also made a direct appeal for more people to join the armed forces, saying "there is no higher calling" than a military career.

The Verdict Is In

WHAT?!?!?!

NOT GUILTY OF ANYTHING!?!?!?!?!?!?!

Nada, Zilch

FREE!?!?!?!?!?

This is like the simpson case all over again.

Michael Jackson

about 12 minutes till the verdict.

with all the fans the media and the gaurds are saying it will get pretty ugly.

Clinton: Impeachment Charges Were 'False'

Ex-president Bill Clinton is backing away from the deal he made with Independent Counsel Robert Ray four years ago, which required him to admit that he gave false testimony under oath to a federal grand jury.

In an explosive interview with NBC's Brian Williams broadcast Wednesday night, Clinton insisted that articles of impeachment passed by the House in 1998 - which included the accusation that he lied under oath - were false.

"The charges that the House sent to the Senate were false," Clinton claimed for the first time since signing off on his 2001 plea bargain with Ray. "So I did a bad thing. I made a bad personal mistake. I paid a big price for it. But I was acquitted because the charges were false."

On December 19, 1998, the House passed two out of four articles of impeachment against Clinton. Article One, charging that he committed perjury before the grand jury, passed 228 to 206. Article Two, perjury in the Paula Jones civil case, was defeated, 229 to 205. Article Three, obstruction of justice, passed 221 to 212, and Article Four, abuse of power, was defeated, 285 to 148.

On January 19, 2001, after hammering out a plea bargain that allowed him to avoid prosecution and possible jail time, Clinton issued a carefully worded statement to meet Independent Counsel Ray's terms:

"I tried to walk a fine line between acting lawfully and testifying falsely," Clinton said in a statement read by his then-press secretary, Jake Siewert. "But I now recognize that I did not fully accomplish that goal and that certain of my responses to questions about Ms. Lewinsky were false."

In his Wednesday night interview with NBC, however, the ex-president blasted the press for covering the Monica Lewinsky investigation without telling his side of the story, which included the fact that he'd been impeached on false charges.

"People in your business [liked the Lewinsky investigation] very much," Clinton told Brian Williams. "And they like what Ken Starr did because they thought it made good ink.

"[But] they didn't do a very good job of reporting for years all the innocent people he persecuted and indicted because they wouldn't lie and the assault on the American Constitution that he waged or that I was acquitted.

"And that the charges that the House sent to the Senate were false. So I did a bad thing. I made a bad personal mistake. I paid a big price for it. But I was acquitted because the charges were false."

Howard Dean May Be Out at DNC Job

We keep hearing chatter from Democratic circles in Washington that Howard Dean's days are numbered as head of the Democratic National Committee.

Dean's pitiful performance on Tim Russert's show in May did little to help his crumbling position.

But the key reason Dean won't last another year at the DNC is money.

New figures reveal that Dean has done a woeful job of raising money for the party since he became party chief.

After essentially matching the Republicans in fund-raising in 2004, the Democratic National Committee raised $14.1 million in the first quarter of 2005, while the Republicans raised $32.3 million, according to the Federal Election Commission.

Dean attracted about 20,000 new donors, but the Republican National Committee picked up 68,200.

And much of the new Dean money, Washington insiders say, came from John Kerry's backing after Dean took the DNC position. Kerry sent out an email urging his email supporters to give to the DNC.

The majority Republican party now has $26.2 million in the bank, compared to just $7.2 million for the Democrats.

"Given Dean's 2004 run as a populist crusader, moderates were never wild about his takeover of the Democratic National Committee. So some big donors are sitting on their wallets," Business Week reports.

Dean appears intent on raising money through small-time contributors and has made little effort to reach out to major corporate donors, according to insiders.

"Howard Dean is the wrong person to be chair," declared real estate developer William W. Batoff, a longtime Democratic fund-raiser, who says he will boycott the DNC as long as Dean is in charge - which given his fund-raising troubles, might not be as long as he'd hope.

Another problem for Dean is the Clintons. They control the Democrat money machine - and they absolutely despise Dean.

Hillary has reshaped her image to a party moderate, and Dean appeals to the ultra-left.

Dean has become a key member of the Gang of Four - the leading Democrats who want to stop Hillary's 2008 presidential bid. The three other members of the Gang are Al Gore, John Kerry and Ted Kennedy.

Hillary Clinton Lashes Out at New Biography

An angry Hillary Clinton has responded to a new book highly critical of the New York Senator, calling it a "work of fiction."

But a new report about the book confirms what was first revealed exclusively in NewsMax’s Insider Report this past weekend: The late Sen. Daniel Patrick Moynihan and his wife, Liz, despised Hillary.

For the Insider Report, NewsMax pundit John LeBoutillier chatted with Ed Klein, author of "The Truth About Hillary: What She Knew, When She Knew It, and How Far She’ll Go to Become President."

LeBoutillier said the book cuts through the mainstream media’s pro-Hillary propaganda and gives readers "a look at the lying, manipulating, dishonest – and extremely dysfunctional – former first lady who has been on an inexorable march to the Oval Office for over 30 years."

In a sign the Clinton camp is clearly worried about the book and its revelations about Hillary, Hillary’s aide took the unusual step of slamming the book, which is being excerpted in Vanity Fair magazine and will roll off the presses later this month.

As NewsMax first reported, the Vanity Fair excerpt will focus on the vitriol between Hillary and the Moynihans.

"Sen. Clinton will always be proud to have had the support of Sen. Moynihan, and as she has said many times, wishes she still had his wisdom and counsel," said spokesman Philippe Reines.

"Beyond that, we don’t comment on works of fiction, let alone a book full of blatant fabrications."

Our Insider Report predicted the angry response to the book from Hillary’s camp: "Team Clinton undoubtedly plans a fierce counterattack on Klein as soon as the book is published, but with this author they are going to have a tough time."

Klein has worked for the most liberal publications in the U.S., including Newsweek and The New York Times Magazine, and he spoke to almost 100 people close to Hillary going back to the 1960s.

NewsMax's Insider Report revealed details of Clinton’s meeting with Moynihan when she decided to run for his Senate seat and came to Washington to seek his blessing.

Clinton expected a "cakewalk" of an endorsement meeting, but things quickly grew ugly, said LeBoutillier.

"Both the Senator and his wife, Liz, went 'after' Hillary for her years of lies, deceptions and exaggerations. Clearly there was no love lost between the Moynihans and Hillary Rodham Clinton.

"As Liz Moynihan questioned Hillary about her repeated dishonesty, and as Hillary dodged and weaved and lied even more, Pat Moynihan could take it no longer. He stood up and said, 'I have to go up to the Senate.' He left – but actually just went next door to another apartment to get away from Hillary."

Now the New York Post is running a preview of the book, based on the Vanity Fair excerpt, that echoes the Insider Report.

"Sen. Moynihan's wife, Liz, griped to a friend that Hillary Clinton is 'duplicitous. She would say or do anything that would forward her ambitions,'" the Post reports.

Klein's book also quotes Liz Moynihan as saying: "She can look you straight in the eye and lie, and sort of not know she’s lying. 'Lying' isn’t a sufficient word; it's a distortion of the truth to fit her case."

Klein writes that at a meeting, Liz Moynihan was furious when Clinton claimed credit for a health care bill making its way through Congress.

According to the book, Liz barked: "Hillary! That's Pat's bill!"

Some Hollywood Skepticism over a Hillary Run

When Senator Hillary Clinton danced through Hollywood recently, she managed to rake in a million bucks.

The communications director for Friends of Hillary, Ann Lewis, reportedly said that "most of the checks" were made out to Friends of Hillary for her '06 re-election campaign.

Some folks in Tinseltown were asking that nagging question, though: Can Hillary win the presidency?

One "veteran fundraiser" told the Los Angeles Times that it's the Republicans who are "talking her up more than anybody."

"I think she can win the Democratic nomination in a heartbeat. I question whether she can win the presidency...If she's that good, she could coach the Lakers," he added.

Hollywood mogul and Dem mover and shaker David Geffen didn't think so a couple of months ago, when he publicly stated that Hillary couldn't win and that "she's an incredibly polarizing figure and ambition is just not a good enough reason."

Warner Brothers COO Alan Horn recently threw a mucho moola $1,000-per-person dinner for Hillary's senate campaign. So did billionaire radio mogul Norm Pattiz.

The Pattiz guest list included a bevy of Hollywood Dem fundraising insiders including Norman Lear, Bud Yorkin, Barbra Streisand's political consultant Marge Tabankin, and DreamWorks' advisor Andy Spahn.

A younger, hipper event was later hosted by Lindsay Lohan, Christina Aguilera, Scarlett Johansson, Jake Gyllenhaal and 22 others. It was held at the home of Roland Emmerich, the director and executive producer of "Godzilla" and "Independence Day."

The Left Coast Report wonders if there are any plans to hold Kodak Theater coffees or rent out Barbra Streisand's bedroom.

'Moron' Bush Beat Kerry at Yale

President Bush, who is routinely derided as a "moron" by embittered Democrats, earned slightly better grades at Yale University than Sen. John Kerry, the supposed Massachusetts intellectual.

According to college transcripts from the top Ivy League school obtained by the Boston Globe, Kerry was well on his way to flunking out during his freshmen year, receiving no fewer than four D's.

Kerry's intellectual deficit revealed itself in geology, two history courses and, most surprisingly for a top politician, political science.

"I always told my dad that D stood for distinction," the failed presidential candidate told reporters.

He showed a slight improvement in subsequent semesters, topping out with an 81 average his senior year. Kerry had a cumulative average of 76, or what some might call "a gentleman's C."

The president received just one D in his freshman year - a 69 in astronomy - to Kerry's four. His cumulative grade point average was 77 - a point higher than Kerry's.

Last year, when an analysis of Kerry's Navy aptitude test showed that Bush actually had a higher IQ, the top Democrat blamed his lackluster performance on drinking.

"I must have been drinking the night before I took that military aptitude test," Kerry told NBC anchorman Tom Brokaw.

President Bush suffered the same type of derision during the 2000 campaign, when critics regularly portrayed him as intellectually inferior to Al Gore.

Gore attended divinity school after graduating from Yale. But transcripts from Vanderbilt University showed that he received F's in five of the eight classes he took over the course of three semesters.

Gore left Vanderbilt without receiving a degree.

Hezbollah Claims Win in Southern Lebanon

Hezbollah and its Shiite allies claimed a massive victory in southern Lebanon in Sunday's second stage of national elections, a vote the militant group hopes will prove its strength and send a message of defiance to the United States.

Hundreds of Hezbollah supporters people drove through the streets of Beirut waving the group's yellow flag and the green flag of Amal in celebration. In Beirut's predominantly Shiite southern suburbs, people up lit the sky with fireworks.

Four hours after polling stations closed, Hezbollah's deputy leader, Sheik Naim Kassem, and election ally Nabih Berri of the Shiite Muslim Amal movement, said they had won all 23 seats in this region bordering Israel. Official results aren't expected until Monday.

"It has become clear that all members of the Resistance, Liberation and Development Ticket have won in (southern Lebanon's) two regions," Kassim told reporters. "The south has declared through this vote its clear stance in supporting this track."

He said that in one constituency, with more than half the votes counted, Hezbollah official Mohammed Raad was leading with 69,207 votes against his closest rival, Elias Abu Rizk, with 7,000 votes. In the another, with more than third of votes counted, Berri was leading with 35,560 while his closest opponent, Riad Asaad had 5,304 votes, Kassim said.

Berri thanked the people for "renewing the confidence in the ticket that all its members have won."

The elections, divided by region and spread over four consecutive Sundays, began last week in the capital Beirut where the dominant issue was the February assassination of former premier Rafik Hariri. His killing triggered massive street protests at home and international outrage abroad that eventually forced Syria to pull its army out of Lebanon, ending three decades of military domination.

"All the south came out today to send a clear message to the Americans that they embrace the resistance (Hezbollah's) weapons and that they are independent in their decision and they are not subservient to international resolutions," Sheik Nabil Kaouk, Hezbollah's commander in southern Lebanon, told reporters shortly after voting began in Sunday's second phase of four-stage parliamentary elections.

The United States, which labels Hezbollah a terrorist organization, wants the guerrilla group to abandon its weapons in line with last year's U.N. Security Council Resolution 1559. Hezbollah has refused to disarm, a position backed by Lebanese authorities.

Voter turnout was noticeably heavy in Shiite areas and lower in Christian and Sunni Muslim districts, according to preliminary estimates by candidates' campaigns and local television stations. Amal and Hezbollah campaigners estimated voter turnout at about 45 percent.

One reason for the lack of interest by some of the 665,000 eligible voters is that six of the 23 seats were won uncontested before the balloting even began because there were no major challengers.

Those citizens who did vote expressed strong support for Hezbollah, the guerrilla group that fought Israel during an 18-year occupation. Israel occupied south Lebanon from 1982-2000.

"We should show our support for the resistance and those who were martyred for the sake of liberating this country," a smiling Kamel Hamka, 77, said as he walked out of a polling station in Bint Jbeil, a Shiite town a few miles from the Israeli border.

Outside a polling station in the town's center, veiled young women Hezbollah activists distributed candidate lists and cars blared guerrilla songs and speeches from loudspeakers to encourage voters.

"The people's participation in the elections is a vote for the resistance and its weapons," said Hassan Fadlallah, a Hezbollah candidate allied with Amal.

Hezbollah expects strong voter support will give it greater political influence to confront international pressure to disarm now that its Syrian backers have withdrawn from the country.

The elections, which are scheduled for two more Sundays in other regions, follow the assassination last week of an anti-Syrian journalist and continuing calls by the opposition for President Emile Lahoud's resignation. The anti-Syrian opposition hopes the elections will end Damascus' control of the legislature.

In last Sunday's polls in Beirut, anti-Syrian opposition candidates took most of the capital's 19 parliamentary seats.

But the vote in the predominantly Shiite south is centered on Hezbollah and its weapons.

Hezbollah, backed by both Syria and Iran, is fielding 14 candidates across Lebanon, hoping to build on the nine seats it already holds in the 128-member legislature. It has already won a seat in Beirut.

While the balloting in southern Lebanon was peaceful, the first major violence of the elections broke out in central Lebanon, where Druse supporters of opposition leader Walid Jumblatt and rival Talal Arsalan clashed. Seven people were wounded in the gunfire in the mountain resort of Sofar before troops intervened and separated the two sides, the official National News Agency reported. The region votes next Sunday.

The Lebanese army said it had detained 20 people involved in the clashes in Sofar.

Networks OK TV Condom Ads on Prime Time

If you don't want your kids watching condom commercials, stay away from the WB network after 9 p.m. tonight, and NBC after 10.

While airing condom commercials is not against the law, networks have so far been unwilling to permit ads for condoms because they fear a "backlash family-values advocates," reports the New York Post.

Condom ads that did run were relegated to late nights when children were assumed to be asleep.

Until now.

Church & Dwight, which makes Trojan condoms, has negotiated a new ad campaign with NBC and the WB, and said it is making a pitch to other networks for more ads.

With a market estimated to be $400 million nationwide, it's not difficult to see why condom makers covet the heretofore inaccesible prime time market.

"I expect there will be people who do feel a need to react negatively because we're discussing sexuality," Jim Daniels, vice president of marketing for Trojan told the Post. "I hope most people will see this and acknowledge that these are responsible and appropriate discussion points."

Radio listeners are familiar with "Trojan Man," the baritone-voiced hero who appears just as the canoodling starts to heat up, and supplies the lovers with Trojan condoms.

But the TV spots will differ from the humor-laced radio ads in that Trojan will try to emphasize responsible behavior - i.e. safe sex.

"This is not an easy thing to get right," Daniels told the Post. "You can start sounding like a health class or too sophomoric."

The ads will detail statistics regarding sexually transmitted diseases that won't necessarily put the viewer in a playful, amorous mood, and in a nod to those who may not take too kindly to sex out of wedlock, the commercials even mention giving abstinence a try.

NBC Hits Tom DeLay a Second Time

LCR

Guess it wasn't enough for NBC to use its crime show "Law & Order: Criminal Intent" to slam Tom DeLay.

Now the show's producer has gone and given the House Majority Leader a verbal jab as well.

During an episode that dealt with the fictional slaying of two judges by suspected right-wing extremists, a police officer character cracked, "Maybe we should put out an APB [all points bulletin] for somebody in a Tom DeLay T-shirt."

NBC's Entertainment President Kevin Reilly denied that the show intended any political message.

"This isolated piece of gritty 'cop talk' was neither a political comment nor an accusation," Reilly said. "It's not unusual for L&O to mention real names in its fictional stories. We're confident in our viewers' ability to distinguish between the two."

Producer-creator Dick Wolf showed his true colors by adding a dig of his own.

"I ... congratulate Congressman DeLay for switching the spotlight from his own problems to an episode of a TV show," Wolf sneered.

The Left Coast Report thinks that the arrogance in Hollywood is growing faster than Newsweek's excuse pile.

Cult-Like Lure of 'Ana' Attracts Anorexics

By MARTHA IRVINE, AP National Writer

They call her "Ana." She is a role model to some, a goddess to others — the subject of drawings, prayers and even a creed. She tells them what to eat and mocks them when they don't lose weight. And yet, while she is a very real presence in the lives of many of her followers, she exists only in their minds.

Ana is short for anorexia, and — to the alarm of experts — many who suffer from the potentially fatal eating disorder are part of an underground movement that promotes self-starvation and, in some cases, has an almost cult-like appeal.

Followers include young women and teens who wear red Ana bracelets and offer one another encouraging words of "thinspiration" on Web pages and blogs.

They share tips for shedding pounds and faithfully report their "cw" and "gw" — current weight and goal weight, which often falls into the double digits. They also post pictures of celebrity role models, including teen stars Lindsay Lohan and Mary-Kate Olsen, who last year set aside the acting career and merchandising empire she shares with her twin sister to seek help for her own eating disorder.

"Put on your Ana bracelet and raise your skinny fist in solidarity!" one "pro-Ana" blogger wrote shortly after Olsen entered treatment.

The movement has flourished on the Web and eating disorder experts say that, despite attempts to limit Ana's online presence, it has now grown to include followers — many of them young — in many parts of the world.

No one knows just how many of the estimated 8 million to 11 million Americans afflicted with eating disorders have been influenced by the pro-Ana movement. But experts fear its reach is fairly wide. A preliminary survey of teens who've been diagnosed with eating disorders at the Lucile Packard Children's Hospital at Stanford University, for instance, found that 40 percent had visited Web sites that promote eating disorders.

"The more they feel like we — 'the others' — are trying to shut them down, the more united they stand," says Alison Tarlow, a licensed psychologist and supervisor of clinical training at the Renfrew Center in Coconut Creek, Fla., a residential facility that focuses on eating disorders.

Experts say the Ana movement also plays on the tendency people with eating disorders have toward "all or nothing thinking."

"When they do something, they tend to pursue it to the fullest extent. In that respect, Ana may almost become a religion for them," says Carmen Mikhail, director of the eating disorders clinic at Texas Children's Hospital in Houston.

She and others point to the "Ana creed," a litany of beliefs about control and starvation, that appears on many Web sites and blogs. At least one site encourages followers to make a vow to Ana and sign it in blood.

People with eating disorders who've been involved in the movement confirm its cult-like feel.

"People pray to Ana to make them skinny," says Sara, a 17-year-old in Columbus, Ohio, who was an avid organizer of Ana followers until she recently entered treatment for her eating disorder. She spoke on the condition that her last name not be used.

Among other things, Sara was the self-proclaimed president of Beta Sigma Kappa, dubbed the official Ana sorority and "the most talked about, nearly illegal group" on a popular blog hosting service that Sara still uses to communicate with friends. She also had an online Ana "boot camp" and told girls what they could and couldn't eat.

"I guess I was attention-starved," she now says of her motivation. "I really liked being the girl that everyone looked up to and the one they saw as their 'thinspiration.'

"But then I realized I was helping girls kill themselves."

For others, Ana is a person — a voice that directs their every move when it comes to food and exercise.

"She's someone who's perfect. It's different for everyone — but for me, she's someone who looks totally opposite to the way I do," says Kasey Brixius, a 19-year-old college student from Hot Springs, S.D.

To Brixius — athletic with brown hair and brown eyes — Ana is a wispy, blue-eyed blonde.

"I know I could never be that," she says, "but she keeps telling me that if I work hard enough, I CAN be that."

Dr. Mae Sokol often treats young patients in her Omaha, Neb., practice who personify their eating disorder beyond just Ana. To them, bulimia is "Mia." And an eating disorder often becomes "Ed."

"A lot of times they're lonely and they don't have a lot of friends. So Ana or Mia become their friend. Or Ed becomes their boyfriend," says Sokol, who is director of the eating disorders program run by Children's Hospital and Creighton University.

In the end, treatment can include writing "goodbye" letters to Ana, Mia and Ed in order to gain control over them.

But it often takes a long time to get to that point — and experts agree that, until someone with an eating disorder wants to help themselves, treatment often fails.

Tarlow, at the Renfrew Center, says it's also easy for patients to fall back into the online world of Ana after they leave treatment. "Unfortunately," she says, "with all people who are in recovery, it's so much about who you surround yourself with."

Some patients, including Brixius, the 19-year-old South Dakotan, have had trouble finding counselors who truly understand their struggle with Ana.

"I'd tell them about Ana and how she's a real person to me. And they'd just look at me like I'm nuts," Brixius says of the counselors she's seen at college and in her hometown. "They wouldn't address her ever again, so it got very frustrating.

"Half the time I'm, like, 'You know what? I give up.'"

Other days, she's more hopeful.

"I gotta snap out of this eventually if I want to have kids and get a job. One day, I'll get to that point," she says, pausing. "But I'll always obsess about food."