Letters to the Editor
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Is September a magical month?
Every time I hear Bush or any of the other idiotic Republicans (Lindsay Graham on Meet the Press Sunday for one) talk about September, it is laughable. Do they really believe that in less than 60 days, something miraculous is going to happen in Iraq? They are all waiting on Petraeus' report like it will have all the answers they are looking for and this horrific war will finally be justified because we are "winning." Whatever that means. The thing I don't get is that I know there are Republicans out there who don't believe this nonsense and won't do anything about it. Why aren't they speaking out? What are they afraid of? How much longer can they support Bush and co. when their constituents are telling them that the war must end soon? My only hope is that a lot of these guys are not going to get reelected in 08.
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Gee, the Hot Stove Still Buns My Finger, Maybe It Won't the Next Time...
Bush: issues statement of fact.
Public record: fact refuted.
Bush: punts to military "expert" who cannot be criticized
Democrats & Media: refuse to pass judgment on military
Bush General/Stooge: issues statement of fact*
Public record: fact refuted
(repeat...)
*The only exception is when the stooge goes off message, which then leads to firing. In this case they are never heard from/sought out by the media again.
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Replace spokesbeings with random (positive) talking point rendering machines!
we have achieved what we believe is a reasonable degree of tactical momentum on the ground
Information value = 0
same for quite a bit of the rest of the honorable general's utterings.
Every official should be fitted with a phrase separator but that would turn them into mutes quite effectively.
----
The captured AQI head is reported to have told interrogators that most of the anti-US activity is by foreigners.
My bet is that they used enhanced information extraction again
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How Much Stock Should We Put In The September Report?
I'd say roughly the same as in the Senate testimony of Alberto Gonzales.
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What happens...
when in September the report comes back and it's a "mixed bag" with Bushies pointing to the "satisfactory progress" we've made in 8 out of the 20 "benchmarks" to justify staying there for another 6 months, and opponents pointing to the "less than satisfactory progress" we've made in another 8 as justification for withdrawing, and "unclear results" in another two that just confuse the hell out of me?
Does anyone actually think that after September, the issue will be resolved and we'll either be united and in Iraq or united and out of Iraq? Does the President expect us to hear his report in September, reconsider and say "you know what, on second thought, we ARE making significant progress, it should all be wrapped up in another six months or so. I'm for it now,"? Is he really that naieve?
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@ Wesley_Powell
"I'd say roughly the same as in the Senate testimony of Alberto Gonzales."
Huh? I don't recall Gonzales giving any testimony to the Senate.
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They never stop shillin'
Now I feel free to place General Petraeus in the company of another famous snake oil salesman, Allardyce T. Merriwhether, from the movie Little Big Man:
Jack Crabb: Mr. Merriwhether, you don't know when you're licked!
Allardyce T. Merriwhether: Licked? I'm not licked. I'm tarred and feathered, that's all.
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It's Never Going To Be Good Enough To Leave
Even if it gets to the point where the various Iraqi factions are all together having campfire marshmallow roasts every night and singing "Give Peace A Chance"....then it will be----We can't leave now and risk losing all we have accomplished.
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Who is naive?
Analogboy 490,
They're hoping that we're that naive (I know, doesn't look the same without the umlaut).
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Is there really any question?
Is there really any question of what Gen. Petraeus is going to say when the time comes? It doesn't matter what the situation on the ground will be in September. The general will maximize some faint signs of progress somewhere amidst the carnage, minimize the difficulties elsewhere, declare that it is enough to justify continuing with the president's policy and make a plea for patience and fortitude, saying that it will just take more time. What else can he do? What else has Bush himself been doing for years now? The script might as well have already been written out. We know what it's going to say.
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Once Again
Thank you, thank you, thank you, Glenn. Once again you have zeroed in on the most important aspect of the coming political fight over Iraq. Bush, who always listens to the "commanders on the ground," -- that is until he doesn't and then blames them for the disasters he brings about -- along with his enablers in the media and Congress, have made Petraeus a minor God whose proclamations must be accepted without question.
Who doubts he will report exactly as you predict? Who also doubts that that report will be as divorced from reality as all his prior assessments about the Iraq situation? Who will have the courage, in the face of a relentlesss media assault to make any criticism of Petraeus akin to treason, to actually satnd up and demand the truth? This article, and many more like it, need to be brought up again and again so by Septemeber we may have the proper amount of skepticism and hard nosed reality to slice thought the bull we are being served and deal with the enormous problems this occupation is creating, rather than solving.
The time is now to bring all this up and awaken Petraeus' prospective audience.
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The legacy of General Petraeus
If Bush and Cheney somehow manage to deny themselves the pleasure of attacking Iran, General Petraeus may yet avoid the embarrassment of having the George A. Custer of his day appended to his resumé, but the William C. Westmoreland of his day seems an odds-on bet at this point.
If he lives to be 91, as General Westmoreland did, he should have plenty of time to reflect on his choices, which might just be penance enough for what he's helped inflict on the rest of us.
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Again, thanks for the care
to collect the documentation behind your assertions. Come September we'll need it against the inevitable "I told you so's" from the clueless cheerleaders.
I couldn't help but notice that surge has become a verb as in "we have been surging our forces during that time". Needless to say, there's a lot we could say about that but well leave that for Chris Matthews to explain.
In the meantime:
putting the comments of Gen. Petraeus into their proper perspective is imperative, as is treating them realistically, with the understanding that he has a history of making almost uniformly optimistic claims about Iraq, even when the reality in Iraq was anything but encouraging.
Correct me if I'm wrong, but wasn't Gen. Petraeus selected to that position in the first place due to his reliabilty as a propogandist?