If you look closely at Condi Rice's face, what is betrayed, to me at least is a sense of resignation. Some part of her must know that she has become the bearer of lies for this administration, and the burden of that is surely taking its toll. I have the recorded hearings on C-SPAN now, and it's clear that she is working her thong off to peddle the White House spin before a Congress and an American public that has lost faith, not only in the war, but in the President who continues to prosecute it despite the best expertise available which advises exactly the opposite. This will not end well, and if Chairman Biden has his way, Rice will be raked over the coals in the weeks to come. I would be very surprised if there is anything like bi-partisan support for this half-ass "escalation" by the time we're done here. The truth is 20,000 more troops will change nothing on the ground. Rice must know that, but here she is, honor bound to try to sell the same bullshit story one more time. Once more unto the breach. Except this time, she may well fall in. It would be laughable if it weren't so pathetic and the consequences not so catastrophic.

Damned fools...

I liken it to a wife beater who lashes out over his wife's inability to properly prepare a souffle.

More like a guy who sends his dog over to crap on his neighbor's lawn and then complains that the neighbor hasn't cleaned up his yard.

The sad thing for me is that my two year old will have to fight this battle when he is an adult because we don't want to take the responsibility now.

Joe, a lot of people's kids had to go to Iraq due to fight your tin god's war. Did you notice that none of them were his, or any other top Republican's, kids? More than 3,000 of those "other people's kids" aren't going to be coming home, they were pushed into the maw of the "War President's" Moloch.

I'm going to let you in on a little secret Joe, you'll probably pick up on this as you get older, but I'll give you the crash course. My sons are all in their 20s now but you wanna know something - I still see the two-year olds they used to be just about every day. I betcha I'll see those two year-olds for the rest of my life. Not a bad thing at all.

I imagine that each and every one of those 3,000 + Soldiers, Sailors, Marines, and Airmen is still somebody's two year-old, too. More of "somebody else's two years-olds" won't becoming home until George W. Bush screws up his courage enough to say "I Fucked Up" to the rest of the world and asks for their help to hammer out a comprehensive political solution to the problems in the Mideast. I don't think that this will ever happen.

Oh, and by the way Joe, what makes you think that the permawar that Bush just had to have will be over by the time your little two year-old gets old enough for it? This Recrudescent Crusade has a long time to run yet and like the last one, there is no military solution.

It's nice to see some of his own party finally talk back to his Secretary of Evil. I'm suprised Satan's Little Helper Condi didn't show up in her Gestapo boots and try to intimidate her inquisitors. I guess this is the kinder, gentler Condi. The things one has to do for the Devil....or Dick Cheney.

GWB's handlers must have been rehearsing him day and night for the past 3 days on this speech. I didn't watch it because I can't stand to look at or hear the lying son of a Bush. I have been curious, when did he(or has he)discover he's Cheney and the neocon's patsy? When did he discover that Daddy sold him out? Is his new facial expression that of a deer caught in the headlights or a man who has discovered that those closest to him have screwed him over and left him holding the bag?

Tell me, who ordered the illegal war of aggression, who lied through his teeth about the dangers of WMDs etc.,who promised freedom and democracy to Iraq? Wasn't it your beloved Shrub? So you are worried about your 2 year old son having to fight in the continuation of the Bushwar? I asked you before why did you not sign on and go to the scene, you may have learned something about war which some of us already did, instead of spouting bullshit. Face it my boy, Bush lost that war when he started it. It seems you have even less brain than your idol. That must be real hard.I am not even a lefty, just a realist who believes that wars dont solve things, just cost lives, a lot of my friends paid for this knowledge with theirs.

The solution for ending (as well as paying for) this fiasco is simple... make it a pay-as-you-go proposition. All future Iraqi Operations money should paid for via a "Freedom Payment" imposed on the top 2% of taxpayers and a "Mideast Defense Fund" surcharge on the oil companies. If Dubya's gang wants this war... make THEM pay for it.

Stu Gotts

Joe wrote, in entirety:

Well...

the left and the Bush haters are finally getting what they want. Total failure in Iraq.

Bush has to shoulder his share since he screwed up the reconstruction, but the haters have to shoulder it also. If the world had seen support from the left of this effort it would have had a greater chance for success.

But the left has fought against Bush as hard as any insurgents or terrorists. How much solace have our enemies received from this?

The sad thing for me is that my two year old will have to fight this battle when he is an adult because we don't want to take the responsibility now.

-- joe

*********

Hm. Joe is either a troll, or very stupid, or mentally ill, or he's been watching WAY too much Fox News.

Those are the only explanations that make any sense. Oh, other than, like the rest of the 30-odd percent of the adult population that *still* thinks GW is just fine, Joe simply cannot face how wrong he has been all these years, and so, he's in denial. Understandable, Joe, that you'd be in denial at this point. But don't blame your feelings on us Bush-haters. We had nothing to do with ANY of this. I was against the Iraq war from the start. Because it's only purpose was to win Bush re-election in 2004. It had no other purpose. Saddam had Iraq well-in-hand, and we had HIM well in hand, in 2000.

And if you really believed Bush's rationale for the war, then, now, or ever, I have a bridge in Brooklyn you might be interested in. Seriously.

Nope. Your boy Bush is TOTALLY responsible for this entire tragic mess, and your adolescent whining about "Bush-haters" doesn't change that in the least.

I appreciated the other deliberate posts here responding to old Joe; but I think a few of us need to be a little more blunt: before you post here Joe, at least get your damned facts straight. You embarrass yourself.