Letters to the Editor
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We've been "surging"
since February and the 30k extra troops still aren't "in place?" Sounds like Petaeus is as incompetent as Rumsfeld.
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SO TIRED
I'm so tired of this war and all the empty promises.
And all those in power have let us down. We want out of Iraq what do we get? A "Surge"!!!
I want our troops home to patrol the borders, help out during hurricane season, and go after Osama Bin Laden! Why is this to much much to ask?
When will our country have sanity again?????
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I'm deeply suspicious
The administration simply has no credibility.
I'm pretty much convinced that the report has already been written. Gee, I wonder what it's going to say?
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Light, Meet Tunnel
We're turning the corner. There's a light at the end of the tunnel. Don't look at that chimp behind the curtain. Death strewn as far as the eye can see. Impeachment, now.
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September
Gee, I wonder what it's going to say?
"We're making progress. The next six months will be crucial. Another blank check, please."
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In September
General Petraeus will say that his work is difficult but he feels progress is being made. We can't quit now!
McCain will go on TV and say that he read Fiasco and Cobra II and knows "mistakes were made" but we have a new plan in place and a new exalted General and it needs more time.
Lieberman will go on TV and say that anyone who questions the exalted General is treasonous and loves Osama bin Laden.
Bush will say that he trusts what Petraeus says and he can't find them over here so we have to fight them there.
Dick Cheney will snarl and sneer at Wolf Blitzer.
In other words - SEPTEMBER IS GOING TO BE EXACTLY THE SAME AS FEBRUARY. NOTHING IS GOING TO CHANGE. I can't believe the media is really buying the idea that September is the cutoff date. It's a delay tactic and that's all this administration has right now.
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Bait and Switch
In business, that's considered a crime against the consumer. Promises made in order to attract/complete a sale are expected to be in good faith.
GWB implied that results would be forthcoming sooner, rather than later... which was the only way he was able to justify his surge.
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Prediction - May 2008
WASHINGTON -- In press conference today, President Bush implored the public to give his surge plan, initiated in February 2007, enough time to be successful.
"We've got to have time to defeat the enemy," Bush said, "A year and a half just isn't enough time to get it all done. See, they want to keep Iraq unstable. In other words, that's what they want to do. So we've got to get everyone in place and give it the time to work. I'm confident that our new commander in Iraq, General So and So, will get this thing done."
April 2008 was the worst month since the war began in terms of U.S. casualties. Bush, however, views this as proof that the "enemy is on the run".
Meanwhile, Democrats in Congress approved a supplemental funding bill, the "Totally final last ultimate supplemental funding bill we're going to give" in the words of Senate Majority leader Reid. "We mean it this time, this bill provides 4 more months of totally unregulated, unbenchmarked, un-timetabled money and this is the last one we're doing. Seriously. I mean it. At least until we revisit this issue in the fall."
Vice President Dick Cheney criticized the Democrats for not funding the war through the rest of the year, for which Reid apologized Tuesday.
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and if they fail to meet all benchmarks, what then? will congress EVER find the "courage of their convictions"
or the convictions of the electorate ... I'm doubtful.
As best, they are INTENTIONALLY playing out the clock ... to dump this problem in the next administration's lap...
at worse, they are unintentionally doing the same ...
I cannot imagine what event would increase the "popularity" of this war ... rather than "legitimizing" it, another attack would make Iraq only more irrelevant ... or is that why they are trying to now -- bafflingly -- trying to suggest that
1. Iraqis are funding Al-Qaeda (those would be those car-bomb, suicide-vest using saudi-supported Sunni and no other).
2. Bin Laden has directed Iraqis to attack America, in their spare time, no doubt, making use of their freedom of movement and booming economy no doubt.
I don't think they could pull off a Reichtstadt Fire*, but they might try.
* they are totally incompetent and the necessary bonds of loyalty have already been loosened except for a tiny remaining inner cadre.
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Secured Green Zone
That is why during the visits of Blair and the UN Secretary General mortar rounds exploded nearby. And why McCain needed hundreds of troops and a helicoper screen to do his "free wandering" shopping trip. Incompetent Bush sounds off, as usual, Um. eh, see, but he himself is ignorant and seemingly blind, carry on Dumbo! And as far as the press is concerned? They hunger for his words and dont even know how to ask they right questions. Or may be dont want to.
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Just heard a radio story
I didn't catch the names, but apparently they are already building the groundwork for the September excuse. I'm paraphrasing a lot, but according to the report, insurgents will cleverly use the "deadline" to ramp up and increase their attacks in order to create the illusion — the illusion — of chaos and disorder in order to discredit the surge.
The logic is inescapable, and typically Rovian in its duplicity: If it wasn't for the barrage of death, slaughter, blood, carnage, murder and mayhem -- looking past all that, we can see that the surge is a thundering success... if it only had more time, it could work even better.
We are in hell. I can't think of another explanation.
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Et tu, Brute?
The good general had better watch his back. This commander-in-chief cum decider is a politician, first.
Now that Mr. B is listening to the "general" rather than the politician (Wolfowitz), he has found the last refuge for "The Buck Stops... yonder."