Precisely, L.W.M.

Which is exactly the reason that you and William should not step off this merry-go-round. I know you're tired of saying it. I know you're tired of listening to yourself say it. But, some things need to be repeated ... over, and over, and over.

Aren't teachers like farmers? Farmers don't really retire; they simply plant fewer acres. Teachers offer fewer lectures to fewer students, perhaps, but the good ones never really do stop teaching, do they?

Can't you at least assign yourself an emeritus status? And, encourage William to adopt one, too? And, you're right. Where is quickstrategy when we need him?

It took over two years and compared to this, Iraq is a quagmire and a nightmare. A quagmare.

Announcement by Adam Ingram on the Normalisation plan for military sites in Northern Ireland, (28 March 2006)

MINISTRY OF DEFENCE NORMALISATION PLAN

http://cain.ulst.ac.uk/issues/violence/mod280306.htm

You consider the difference between legal and illegal a matter of semantics? - Shooter 242

No, it is your "argument" that is a matter of symantics, as it is for the most part devoid of substance. No one posting on this article, including me, has written or even implied that the difference between legal and illegal is "a matter of semantics"; you just made that up. Perhaps your resorting to straw man arguments is just another manifestation of your insubstantial claims

@ L.W.M. -- my concern has been that Obama supporter seem to believe that their candidate has almost magical powers to "make it happen" ...

The difference is that Obama, unlike Kucinich or Paul- and possibly Nader, is intelligent enough to know that belief in magic is for people under the age of 12. He was never my first choice, if for no other reason that he is young enough to run again in 2016. I still prefer him to the other candidates that some on the left are enamored with. None of you would like me if I was president, either. That's one way to be sure a president is doing his job: he or she pisses some people off because some people want things that are not possible without a magical powers. If you are paying attention to campaign statements and rhetoric you probably shouldn't be. I never read their lips or listen to what they say. I take the aphasics approach.

That skill was suspected for a long time, but the new study is the first to prove it. In the book, The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat, neurologist-author Oliver Sacks describes a group of aphasics watching Ronald Reagan speaking on television and laughing at what they perceived as deceptive statements by him.

http://www.hno.harvard.edu/gazette/2000/05.18/aphasic.html

It helps if you've been hit in the head alot.

;-)

I second everything bystander said.

LWM, what are you trying to say?

That it is difficult to get troops and mercs out of a hostile quagmire, and thus there will be no withdrawal of troops from Iraq at all? Or what?

The Busheviks are parading around right now saying they are "withdrawing troops" from Iraq. Those "surge" forces?

Combat brigades? You know? They are actually leaving (well, some) and more or less on schedule (well, pretty much.)

There is no parsing of Obama's statements about his own troop withdrawal intentions. He will remove 1 - 2 combat brigades a month until such time as only a residual force remains, charged with protecting the Embassy and American Interests, training up the Iraqis to look after their own defense interests, and pursuing "al Qeada" to the ends of the earth. This residual force is estimated to number 60,000-80,000. Anyone who thinks that plan actually amounts to a "withdrawal" (a la Saigon, c. 1975) is dreaming. It's a plan to remain in the conquered and pacified satrapy of "Iraq" forever, with the natives taking care of their own wet work. Anyone who has followed Obama's statements on the topic and not let their hopes and dreams overwhelm their good sense knows that.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/25573237/

"We compared aphasics to healthy people, to those with other types of brain damage, and even to students at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (M.I.T)," says Nancy Etcoff, a clinical instructor in psychology at Harvard Medical School. "Aphasics are clearly superior at perception of deception."

That skill was suspected for a long time, but the new study is the first to prove it. In the book, The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat, neurologist-author Oliver Sacks describes a group of aphasics watching Ronald Reagan speaking on television and laughing at what they perceived as deceptive statements by him.

But honestly, do you need a "special skill" to tell you that if a politician's lips are moving, he's not really saying what he really thinks?

With al-Malaki having not been a good puppet by stating the USA should start thinking about ending the Occupation of Iraq,leaving Iraq and not coming back anytime soon one may speculate just how good the Iraqi leaders security set-up is.

One is reminded of past American "get rid of the puppets who will not dance to American string pull and find others" activity.

Finally,another take on claims that "the American people" only want to leave Iraq when "conditions on the ground" permit it.

More likely it could read "American petro energy interests and ME petro interests minions in or allied within Bush/Cheney WH,the GOPer party or the DC DEMs in WashingtonDC" will want to and insist on staying in Iraq until "conditions under the ground" are where they need to be. That is to say Iraqi oil is under direct or very close indirect control of American and western petro biz interests. It is about the oil. Always was.

With the Bush/Cheney WH now suggesting that al-Malaki could not or did not really "mean" timetables for Americans to get out of Iraq surely now the matter has come into focus regarding Bush having said Americans will leave Iraq if asked by Iraqis to do so.

Again...one may speculate regarding what may befall al-Malaki and his regime at the hand of the Americans.

Anyone who still would suggest American Occupation of Iraq is not/was not about Iraqi oil,the profits from that oil and not letting the Iraqis get in the way of that desire you have now been fully schooled regarding original goal of Americans being in Iraq.

The American super-bases,American control of Iraqi airspace,the SOFA terms Americans are seeking,the Embassy Citadel in Baghdad,the American fingerprints all over these new Iraqi oil field deals with doors ajar going into the future. It was about,is about Iraqi oil.

So how many Iraqis have died since Americans "rescued" Iraqis from Saddam?

There are some war criminals running around free in WashingtonDC. They ought to be arrested,given trials and sent to prison.

Bush,Cheney,Rice,Rumsfeld,Wolfowitz,Feith,Abramsand Bolton just for starters. Then reach deeper still. Then expand into the Pentagon and CIA. This is where the truth leads. This is where truthseekers would go. Failure to do so fully exposing the hipocrisy,duplicity,lies and arrogant ignorance that infests WashingtonDC in this early 21st century.