Anyone Really Surprised?
Some anonymous White House officials are letting us know that it doesn't matter what Petraeus & Crocker's September report says. Just as it hasn't mattered what the American public and the rest of the world has said. After all those admonitions by Bush & Co. to "wait until the September report" before making any judgments on what comes next in Iraq, what do we hear from the White House?
Well, of course, that it doesn't matter WHAT the report says. The White House plans to keep its current strategy & troop levels going. They're saying that Democrats have been telling them that they can see an upturn in the war and so think they've got support to keep going. One of the officials noting that instead of pulling out our troops, "We all know that there will be a long-term robust troop presence that will outlast this president." It almost makes me wish there could be a third Bush term so he would have to clean up the mess he made. (ok, ok, I hear you, he couldn't clean it up in 2 terms, given one more term, it would just be the same and whoever got the White House after that would have to deal with it. You're right.)
And those benchmarks the Iraqi government needs to have made? Well they're not making them, duh. So what is the White House going to say about that? The spin is going to be that although the goals haven't been met in full, they've been met "in spirit." No doubt that will quickly be followed by an argument that we're winning the war in Iraq "in spirit." Sorry, I have to take a short toss my cookies break at the thought of all this.
Well, of course, that it doesn't matter WHAT the report says. The White House plans to keep its current strategy & troop levels going. They're saying that Democrats have been telling them that they can see an upturn in the war and so think they've got support to keep going. One of the officials noting that instead of pulling out our troops, "We all know that there will be a long-term robust troop presence that will outlast this president." It almost makes me wish there could be a third Bush term so he would have to clean up the mess he made. (ok, ok, I hear you, he couldn't clean it up in 2 terms, given one more term, it would just be the same and whoever got the White House after that would have to deal with it. You're right.)
And those benchmarks the Iraqi government needs to have made? Well they're not making them, duh. So what is the White House going to say about that? The spin is going to be that although the goals haven't been met in full, they've been met "in spirit." No doubt that will quickly be followed by an argument that we're winning the war in Iraq "in spirit." Sorry, I have to take a short toss my cookies break at the thought of all this.
posted by Anonymous at 2:14 PM
4 Comments:
I'm so sick of saying this I could scream, but no amount of American military coercion will make the necessary political agreement. The Iraqi parties themselves have to do this, and I have not seen any evidence that the Shia will accommodate the Sunni minority, or the Sunni minority will agree to live under Shia domination. Unless we have an alchemist in Petraeus's office, we're not going to see that, either. I wish I could prevent the waste of lives we are going to see until someone puts a stop to it, IF someone puts a stop to it.
Why bother pretending that the September report has any meaning?
Why bother pretending that anything in the US has any real meaning anymore? The only thing that maters here is MONEY. If you want your opinion to mean something, you need to say it with your spending power, but most Americans can't be bothered to find out what the companies where they are speniding their money are doing, let alone even think about making the changes in their shopping habits to support the businesses who ARE doing the right thing. Others simply can't AFFORD to shop anywhere but Wal-Mart.
You're very right - and one of my links to the right (under "support the good guys") is a link to Buy Blue. A place where we can look before we shop at where our money is going.
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