I certainly hope someone is paying you to lie, because it is hard to imagine that Americans really are that ignorant/gullible/lazy. Oh, who am I kidding? Enough of you voted for "worst president ever" to dispel any notions of redeeming qualities in my fellow Americans.

"200 'insurgents'"... Hmmm, someone needs to Google "Vietnam" and "body counts" before spouting unprovable assertions like, "newly formed Iraqi Special Forces Brigades are starting to turn the tide." Would those be the Iraqi forces "standing up" that Petraeus told us about three years ago?

Can't you get some better, or at least original talking points, troll?

Cut the crap, and acknowledge that American Soldiers, Marines and Airmen, along with their newly formed Iraqi Special Forces Brigades are starting to turn the tide.

--- pdboccia

So what?

How does that translate into actual prevetion of suicide bombings here in America?

How does "turning the tide" in quelling the violence in an Iraqi civil war:

Prevent Saudi Arabian terrorists from blowing up a movie theater?

Prevent Syrian terrorists from parking a U-Haul in front of an airport passanger loading zone and blowing it up?

Prevent a Turkish terror cell from sneaking into the US via Mexico and breaking open vials of ebola in New Yorks subways?

Nothing occuring in Iraq is protecting us from Islamic terror cells.

Once again, the wounds were opened, the great and terrible losses brought to the TV screens of America and beyond.

Once again, the Bush administration and the compliant media have made this sad day of remembrance all about flag-waving and militarism and fist-shaking revenge speeches by everybody from Chertoff to Gen. Pete Pace. Bush and his dimwit wife, Cheney and his little Wyoming cheerleader at his side, stand on the White House lawn with bowed heads, looking so leader-like and resolute.

It's easy for America to forget that this same bunch had been in office for nine months when the terrorists struck. But on this day, there won't be any critical analysis of Bush's failure, his "my pet goat" moment in history, his cavalier attitude of a long August vacation, cutting brush and fishing, and leaving the crucial memo "Bin Ladin Determined to Strike America" laying on his unused desk, unread.

Bush had a new style of running the country. Hire some friends and loyal sycophants to do all the work, then he could play golf and ride his bike, work on his abs, go to bed at 8 p.m. and watch sports on TV. Like everything else in his worthless, privileged life, he never had to do a lick of work, he never had to be responsible for anything, and if he fucked up, there was always mommie and daddy's friends to fix it, cover it up, make it go away.

And it looks like he's going to get away with it again.

What a sad day this is for Americans, and for America.

Of these two gentlemen about Iraq, there's way too much "Al-Qaida" in it for me. Do these guys wear specific tattoos or something? They keep saying enemy without uniforms. Then how do you know who is who?

It's really taking on a catch-all flavor now--you say "Al-Qaida" and that is clearance to do what you, when you want, to whoever you want.

...what about the 200 "insurgents" (call em what they really are.....terrorists !) that were killed, and how many of them were Iraqi "Freedom Fighters" as Cindy Sheehan likes to call them. My guess is none.....were Iraqis, and none were Freedom Fighters either.

Cut the crap, and acknowledge that American Soldiers, Marines and Airmen, along with their newly formed Iraqi Special Forces Brigades are starting to turn the tide.

You're just another defeatist, who are given the privilege to say what you want, where you want, when you want, because of these brave men and women. So just keep blowing it out your.........

The Neocons did not anticipate or plan for the consequences of their actions. It was all very simple-minded. The American right wing and their grade-school platitudes stampeding militarily into the complex world of Middle Eastern Islam. They thought the air-craft carrier party ended it.

Now we are up shit creek. Iran is poised to take full advantage of the poorly planned and thought out disaster.

And that ain't gonna happen, even if a few hundred thousand Iranians have to die too.

And spell my name right, OK?

And you are wrong, period, full stop.

You're beaten. Know when to quit.

Again I say to all rational people of the progressive movement, getting the White House in January of '09 is THE most critical goal at hand. Without it, you get nothing. There is no prize for runner-up in a presidential election.

It's time to grow up and get smart. I want more Joan Walsh's and more Rachel Maddow's and Thom Hartman's and a hell of a lot less of the juvenile screamers who may as well be on the payroll of the Republican National Committee.

I worry about another major attack on the US mainland. If that happens, all bets are off. I think the American Experiment is in terrible danger right now. If another attack comes, that experiment may be suspended. Permanently. By the people in power who've always wanted a dictatorship, and might take that opportunity to create one.

-- had_enough

I agree. One more attack in the US and we'll have an all-powerful dictator for life in the White House. But isn't he doing everything he can to prevent another attack in the US? Common sense and basic logic say, "Hell no!"

Today is September 11th.

We were attacked by terrorist hijackers from Saudi Arabia on this day in 2001.

We vowed never to let that happen again.

How does mediating a civil war in Iraq protect us from terrorists sneaking into the US via Mexico and blowing themselves up in a crowded shopping mall?

I love all people. I deeply want the Iraqi people to be as happy and healthy as we are --- but I’m not going to pursue that goal at the expense of our OWN freedom and security.

3 trillion dollars and 150,000 troops can prevent another terrorist attack --- but not if we waste it all mediating a pointless civil war between Sunni and Kurds in Iraq.

We need to pull our troops out. Patrol our borders. Inspect our overseas cargo containers. And use our remaining forces to pursue actual terrorists in Pakistan and Syria and (if we dare) Iran. Wasting time and resources chasing Iraqi citizens throwing rocks at US tanks isn’t protecting us from Pakistani suicide bombers.