Clearly what is required in order to achieve these political/governmental/legislative goals is to simply explode more bombs!

In all seriousness, what I find so ridiculous is that we insist on referring to the civil violence raging in Iraqi between three different racists groups (Sunni, Shitte, Kurds) as a “war” -- as if WE were fighting some singular, unified enemy or that any of these groups have any “terror” ambitions (global or otherwise) grander or more complex than just killing a Kurd or a Sunni.

In reality, dude, we’re just standing there in the crossfire between three different groups of Iraqi citizens that just happen to hate each other. The Sunni blow up a Kurd mosque and we’re stuck in the crossfire. The Kurds retaliate by blowing up a Sunni mosque and our troops are stuck in the crossfire.

How is this a “war” that has anything to do with us? The Janjuwee kill the refugees in Darfur and sometimes the refugees get lucky and kill a Janjuwee. Putting our troops in the middle of that “war” is dismissed by neocons as needless interference – yet sticking our troops in the middle of an Iraqi civil war somehow translates into “protecting America.”

Nothing occurring in Iraq has anything to do with us in any real sense – real in the sense that nothing we do there is going to prevent a Pakistani suicide bomber from sneaking into the US via Mexico and blowing up 75 people in a JC Penny.

Why wont we ask the real question: How does anything happening in Iraq protect us from Islamic extremists from Iraq or any other country from sneaking in here and blowing us up while we shop at Target for back to school supplies??????

Logic check: how does our actions in Iraq protect the local JC Penny in your hometown from a sucicide bomber from Pakistan?

Answer: it doesn't.

Do I hope the Iraqi citizens live long and happy lives?

I do.

Do I want to sacrifice my national security to do it?

No.

If 100 percent of our military/intelligence and logistical resources are devoted exclusively to Iraq and Afghanistan -- how are we supposed to secure our borders and keep suicide bombers from Pakistan and Saudi Arabia from sneaking in? How are we supposed to find any terror cells hiding in the United States? How are we going to be able to send troops elsewhere in the world to find terror cells in other countries?

What Americans want is to be safe from suicide bombers right here in America.

Spending 1 trillion dollars a year in Iraq referring a civil war between Sunni and Kurds does nothing to accomplish that goal.

How come the press never mentions that?

This cannot be serious.

The progress report is basically going to be a 15min oral report?

Well, I guess that's 14min and 40secs longer than it takes to say "We're kicking ass!"

Is the remainder of that time to be spent high fiving each other and doing shooters?

If a teacher allowed a student to graduate High School based entirely on a 15min oral presentation --- would Bush and the "No Child Left Behind" super-accountability crowd think that was just peachy?

In a bold move the President has decided to use his broad (and vaguely god-like) powers as President to declare the jobs report an "enemy combatant!"

The report has been surrounded by US troops and is taking heavy fire.

"We're kicking ass!' declared the President. "Within six months we expect the troop surge to quell the evil jobs report and restore stability to America!"

If using the military to solve political problem in Iraq is working so wonderfully -- this must make sense!

How does mediating a civil war in Iraq protect us from Saudi suicide bombers blowing themselves up in a crowded JC Penny?

We need to "win" in Iraq in order to "protect" America.

Ooooookay.

So how is anything we're doing in Iraq protect us from Pakistani suicide bombers sneaking into the US via Mexico and blowing up buses?

Not clear on how anything happening in Iraq prevents a Syrian suicide bomber from sneaking into the US and blowing themselves up while waiting in the security lines at the airport? (Forget getting on the plane! There are more people waiting in the security lines -- and there is no way to stop somebody from just blowing up the line. We're all just sitting there. Exposed.)

Okay. Cool. We got the Iraqi people on the run ---- but what about the dozens of other countries (*cough*Saudi Arabia*cough*) that we are totally ignoring because every single penny of our defense budget and every single soldier is sitting in Iraq?

Just curious!