When the Generals Lied - Part IV

The Newshour broke the M$M blackout yesterday.

Watch:



Can't watch video online? Here is the transcript.

Is anyone else sick to death of hearing about how the "Surge™" has been a stellar success?

When the guns fall silent, the safest bet is to assume that the other guy is reloading.

Why does that simple truth seem to so thoroughly elude those who support the so-called Surge™?

Google "surge is working" and look what pops up - 1,910,000 hits in .32 seconds. The Surge™ got underway on February 14, 2007 - and less than two weeks later, the keyboard commandos with the waning erections were already talking up the success of the scheme and their own flagging Johnsons. Patrick Ruffini at Townhall.com was the first in line to slaver, a mere ten days after the first boots hit the ground. It took less than a month for fatassed chickenhawk Robert Kagan to smirk from the pages of the Washington Post that, yeah, people criticized Bush for not having a plan B, but (witty and erudite as he is) he found an unimpeachable response to the critics: Did the critics have a backup plan in case it did? (Kagan has apparently mastered the playground retort of "I know you are, but what am I?") A week later, Gordon Cucullu was penning mash notes to David Petraeus and the AEI architects of the scheme from the pages of the nutty-as-squirrel-poop New York Post.

Except...

None of these paeans to the success of an unsustainable troop buildup took a careful assessment of the situation. For one thing, very few of those who touted the success considered the impact of Muqtada al Sadr ordering his militia, the Jaish al Mahdi, to stand down for six months. Another tactic that has been touted as brilliant since it's inception was that of arming and paying off Sunni militants, many of whom had been insurgents, to form into neighborhood protectorates to oppose the foreign jihadists that have taken up arms in Iraq to train in real-time against American forces.

What an unholy, fucked up mess these idiots have created.

It was a given that desperate measures were going to have to be taken during the brief time the surge window was open. Too bad that they took the drastic steps that they did instead of the ones proposed by Dr. Steven Metz. Instead, they stubbornly pursued a path that many pointed out severe problems with from the outset.

And now, a lot of those warnings that were issued by people like me who have consistently opposed the United States occupation of Iraq are coming true - just read this one paragraph from a post at Abu Aardvark, and follow the links, and see what I mean:

What with this and the Anbar Salvation Council threatening to take up arms against the elected council and refusing to fly the new Iraqi flag and dismissing the entire Parliament as illegitimate and Awakenings leaders declaring that no Iraqi police are allowed in their territory and clashing with them when they do and blaming Shi'ite militias (and not al-Qaeda) for the wave of attacks against them and fighting over territory and threatening to quit if they aren't paid, it really is hard to see why anybody would think that there might be anything troublesome about the relationship between the Awakenings and the Iraqi "state". Nothing to see here but great big gobs of victory folks, please move along.

On Friday, hundreds of members of the newly armed Sunni militias in Baquba donned traditional keffiyeh headdresses and took to the streets demanding that the police chief, who has been accused of operating with a Shiite death squad, be fired. They shut down two neighborhoods in the capital of Diyala province. Shops were ordered closed, and people were ordered to stay inside. The police ordered a curfew be instituted.

And on Sunday, explosions and gunfire wreaked havoc and killed approximately 50 people in attacks that targeted Iraqi Security Forces and American-backed ad hoc militias. The attacks unleashed as Secretary of Defense headed to Iraq for an unannounced get together with Iraqi leaders and members of the US General staff, including David Petraeus and Raymond Odierno.


Just hours before Gates landed in Baghdad, a massive suicide car bomb exploded on the periphery of a local market in Salahuddin province north of Baghdad. That blast alone killed 23 and injured at least 45. The blast frought down part of the market structures, and additional victims might still be trapped in the rubble said a police spokesman.

Another car bomb detonated near Ramadi, killing three. Two more car bombs were reported in Mosul. In all of the attacks, Iraqi soldiers and security personnel were specifically targeted, and in one of the explosions, four Iraqi soldiers were killed.

West of Mosul, at least 21 people were killed as insurgents battled members of one of the US backed Sunni militias. Five "Awakening council" members were killed and 10 insurgents perished in the fighting.

And John McCain has staked his entire presidential bid on convincing us that four more years of staying the course and experiencing more of this "success" is just what the country needs.

Live-Blogging the Presser

The incumbent has called a press conference for this morning.

I am expecting petulance in spades and that shrill tone his every utterance has taken on of late, as well as "that look" - you know the one I mean - the annoyed one...

The press is waiting in the Brady Briefing Room.

Here come the topics...

"Tomorrow Congress will attempt to override my SCHIP veto." And he wants FISA to be expanded and the overreaches made permanent. He wants the intel community to be able to spy on you and me unencumbered. They need to pass the remaining spending bills one at a time. (Why is he suddenly so pissy about omnibus bills?) Education and housing are also on his radar...ditto trade. "Congress needs to get moving on trade agreements..." Veterans issues and the VA appropriations bill. "I ask congress to send me a 'clean bill' without unnecessary spending." And the Mukasey nomination...

He sure knows what Congress needs to do....When did he serve in the legislative branch again?

Jeebus I hate agreeing with this petulant fucking worm on anything...but Congress does need to shut up already about the Turks and Armenians...

First question is about the Turks pursuing PKK terrorists across the border into Iraq, where they have safe haven.

Why is he sticking a thumb in China's eye by giving the Dalai Lama an award. About the only thing that made sense in his answer was "I like going to the gold medal ceremonies."

David Gregory wants him to say something about the apparent Israeli-Syria episode, but he ain't commenting...

Now, Putin in Iran, talking tough...What does he think? "Sure there will be a nice picture to send a good message...he wants to talk to Pooty-Poot and see what went on..." He has no answers for this one. Sad to watch, sadder to listen to...

North Korea - he isn't elaborating. "Diplomacy only works when there are consequences if the diplomacy fails..." Consequences, consequences, consequences...Without a trace of irony...

He dissed Martha, and my husband shook his head and called him a "mother fucker."

Iraq..."Can't be won militarily." (No foolin'?) Should the U.S. be prepared for a significant troop presence in Iraq after his term of office expires? He gave a non-answer..."That will be determined by the commanders."

I just gotta rant a sec...I don't give a rat's ass if anyone has a new-que-lar weapon, seein' as how there is no such god-damned thing. I can not take seriously anything he says about nuclear matters when he can't even fucking pronounce it! That verbal affectation is not charming...it's humiliating.

He is droning on about "isolating Iran" while the Russians and Caspian states are cozying up...Sooo...How's that workin' for ya there, George? Iran doesn't look too damned isolated to a whole bunch of us...

How would he assess himself on dealings with the Democrats? We are finding common ground on Iraq, because the Petraeus Promenade was successful...telecoms need immunity for violating our civil liberties...But it's the fault of the Democrats that bills aren't moving.

Now he is lying about SCHIP. Still repeating the $83,000 lie.

Sanchez just came up..."I admire [him], I appreciate his service, the situation...has changed...so I am pleased with the progress we are making and I admire the fact that he served." What a pussified non-answer....

On to Blackwater...They provide a vital service...They have saved lives...(iow: Mercenaries are really good guys! Just misunderstood!)

"What is your definition of 'Torture'?" Glossed over..."That is defined in U.S. law, and we don't torture."

He insists he isn't an irrelevant lame duck, he has never been more vital...

Back to SCHIP and still with the lying. Please, Congress, override this petulant asshole tomorrow...

Washington Post: "Al-Qaeda in Iraq Reported Crippled"

Well, the frothing fuckwits will have a field day with that WaPo headline. I can hear the chest thumping and chickenhawk bravado from here. They are already lighting bonfires around which to dance naked while chanting “Boo-Ya, Bitches! We Win! U!S!A! U!S!A!”

They are so predictable.

They will read the first sentence:

The U.S. military believes it has dealt devastating and perhaps irreversible blows to al-Qaeda in Iraq in recent months, leading some generals to advocate a declaration of victory over the group, which the Bush administration has long described as the most lethal U.S. adversary in Iraq.

Then conveniently overlook the inconvenient parts…

But as the White House and its military commanders plan the next phase of the war, other officials have cautioned against taking what they see as a premature step that could create strategic and political difficulties for the United States. Such a declaration could fuel criticism that the Iraq conflict has become a civil war in which U.S. combat forces should not be involved. At the same time, the intelligence community, and some in the military itself, worry about underestimating an enemy that has shown great resilience in the past.

"I think it would be premature at this point," a senior intelligence official said of a victory declaration over AQI, as the group is known. Despite recent U.S. gains, he said, AQI retains "the ability for surprise and for catastrophic attacks." Earlier periods of optimism, such as immediately following the June 2006 death of AQI founder Abu Musab al-Zarqawi in a U.S. air raid, not only proved unfounded but were followed by expanded operations by the militant organization.

I hate that these jokers make me a conspiracy theorist, but what the hell? I’m just a crackpot blogger anyway, so here goes…is the WaPo article just a piece of a larger PR campaign?

Let’s take stock…last spring more astute observers started noticing that suddenly every single thing that happened in Iraq was the work of al Qaeda in Iraq. If a swarthy man sneezed, it was the work of al Qaeda. By last summer, virtually every report out of Iraq was citing violence by “al Qaeda” – but in reality, al Qaeda in Iraq has never really been more than a bogey-man, even the most generous assessments put their numbers at 10% of the insurgency, and likely only about 4%. (It has been long acknowledged that Shi’ite militias have represented a far greater threat than Sunni insurgents and jihadist fighters professing membership in AQI.)

Then the references slowed down.

And now, the WaPo prints a specious headline (Fred Hiatt is a perennial contender for the Wurlitzer Prize) and yellow feathers fill the air as the self-congratulating cowards and chickenhawks bust out the beer-bongs, launch at one another in belly-bumps and exchange high-fives and Hulk poses. “We’re kickin’ ass!!!”

Of a piece? That’s possible I suppose.

It’s always good news when groups attacking Americans are on the wane. But only if there is some “there” there, and this cast of characters has a lousy track record where honesty is concerned - having lied to get us into the war in the first damned place - so you'll just have to pardon me if I don't come running when the little boy cries "wolf!"

The NeoCon Hydra Sprouts Another Head

With PNAC discredited, it's craven agenda exposed and it's signatories openly mocked, many having been hounded out of public life under clouds of scandal, what, pray tell, is a bloodthirsty right-wing, warmongering Jewish Chickenhawk to do with that million dollars burning a hole in his pocket?

Why, form a new *policy group* of course! This time, though, they are focusing on regaining control of "the message" from us DFH's who question their motives and their "More War!!!" answer to every damned thing. Last winter, when the Republican Jewish Coalition met, the evil seeds were planted, and over the summer the poison plant germinated. The cartoonish-sounding "Freedom's Watch" was born, fronted by Ari Fleischer. In August they started airing misleading commercials featuring Sgt. John Kriesel, a National Guardsman who lost both legs in Iraq. In the commercial, the vet begs congress to keep funding the fuckup in Iraq because "They attacked us, and they won't stop." and then the obligatory 9/11 shot of the second plane just before it hit the second tower.

When asked, Fleischer could not come up with the Sergeant's name.

Of course, their disinformation campaign is pure propaganda. The sort of propaganda that would give Goebbels a woody.

Several of the group’s spots suggested that Iraq, rather than Al Qaeda, was behind the Sept. 11 attacks, even though the independent Sept. 11 commission investigation and other inquiries found no evidence of Iraq’s involvement. But in August, when the organization rolled out the advertisement with Sergeant Kriesel to two focus groups in Pennsylvania, its upbeat, patriotic message was well received, even causing a few viewers to weep, Mr. Blakeman said. (emphasis mine)

“The focus groups couldn’t tell whether it was a Republican ad or a Democratic ad,” he said.

Their intent is to hide their warmongering agenda by presenting an image that they intend to be mistakenly conveyed as the voice of "real people."

It's bullshit, of course, but it is their intent none the less. In reality, the voice being conveyed is that of a handful of agenda whores and billionaire backers, every last one with a war fetish and ethics in inverse proportion to their bank accounts.

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Now - let me say a couple of words to my fellow sane Jews - you know who you are - you have a peace fetish and you either support Brit Tzedek v'Shalom, or you should ought to (the "Let's Talk" badge on the left sidebar). We have to speak up! These neocon assholes have pretended they speak for all of us for too long, while dismissing us as "self loathing" because we deign to question the martial stance of the modern state of Israel - and they absolutely do not! They do not speak for me, on any issue, and certainly not on matters of life and death, which is what we are talking about here. I have to believe there are more of us than there are of them, so can we start pushing back, please?

And that brings me to set up, and eventually ask, a question: I am an American first. I'm not even a Jew second. Mother, wife, daughter, friend - I am a lot of things before I get to Jew on the list. My Jewishness influences my fulfillment of those roles, but it is not my be all and end all.

Like I said - I am an American first. I take the Constitution and the admonishments of the founders seriously. I am supposed to question a government that I think is on the wrong path. It is my duty to do so. But I am supposed to just pledge blind fealty to Israel, and not question, simply because my Mothers lineage follows a certain path?

Sorry. I can't reconcile that, so the questions will continue.

Heh...I guess you could call me a Jewish American Princess. (If I wasn't prone to decking anyone who called me "Princess" that is...)

Update @ 10:00 a.m.: Gosh! I almost forgot! I hope you all had a rockin' Sukkot! I'm not the only leftie Jew in my building. We set up a sukkah in the courtyard and commenced showing the gentiles how to party.

Somewhere, Goebbels is smiling

I can believe that Michael Ramirez (michael.ramirez@investors.com) drew this. He is a loathsome toad.

I can't believe any self-respecting newspaper would run it. But the Columbus Dispatch (gsheller@dispatch.com) did. Maybe they are not a self-respecting newspaper?

We should all email them and, civilly of course, tell them that we find such warmongering and dehumanizing images unworthy of print in a serious news publication. And maybe remind them that by playing into this sort of propaganda campaign, they are falling in with a crowd that they do not want to be associated with.

Or do they?

(h/t Crooks & Liars)

More Spin and Chicanery from the KC Star

The Kansas City Star has a really bad habit of watering down the fine reporting of the McClatchy organization. When the Department of Justice scandal was front page news, they routinely edited Greg Gordon's fine reporting to take the spotlight off of malfeasance committed by the Missouri GOP.

Now they are doing it with Iraq casualties.

Compare the headlines today.

The Kansas City Star happy-talk headline reads:

American casualties plunge in Iraq


While the headline from the website reads:

Combat deaths in Iraq decline; reasons aren't clear

The spin is dizzying, and the Star is willfully complicit. To the point that they can not be trusted. I do not believe a single word I read on their pages about the occupation of Iraq, including "and" "the" and "of."

Paging Winston Smith...

The Pentagon just needs to change the name of the American Forces Press Service (the PR arm of the Pentagon) to The Ministry of Truth and be done with it.

Extended Deployments Should Lessen Army Stress, Commander Says
By Gerry J. Gilmore
American Forces Press Service

WASHINGTON, April 24, 2007 – Extended overseas deployments affecting soldiers serving in Afghanistan and other locales overseen by U.S. Central Command should help to alleviate the stress on the Army, a senior U.S. officer in Afghanistan told Pentagon reporters today.

“I’m absolutely confident that that’s going to work and that’ll manage the pressure and the stress on the force,” Army Col. Martin Schweitzer, commander of the 82nd Airborne Division’s 4th Brigade Combat Team, said during a satellite-carried news conference.

All active U.S. Army units already operating within U.S. Central Command’s area of responsibility, including Afghanistan, Iraq and the Horn of Africa, or en route there “will deploy for not more than 15 months and return home for not less than 12 months,” Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates announced April 11 at a Pentagon news conference.

The change automatically increased the length of soldiers’ overseas tours in those areas from 12 to 15 months...

The 15-month deployments are needed to ensure that the Army retains the capacity to sustain the deployed force, Army Lt. Gen. Raymond T. Odierno, commander of Multinational Corps Iraq, said April 13 from Baghdad during a teleconference with Pentagon reporters.

The tour extensions will provide more predictability and stability for soldiers and their families, Odierno said, noting the policy “will ensure 12 months at home station between rotations.”

Schweitzer acknowledged difficulty in measuring how the extended deployment affects individual soldiers under his command. However, he expressed strong support for the personnel decisions made by senior defense department and Army leaders.

The Pentagon’s civilian and military leaders “put a lot of rigor and analytical analysis into this (tour extension) to determine what is best for the service and what is sustainable,” Schweitzer said. (emphasis mine)

Yeeaahhhh...

In other news: "War Is Peace; Freedom is Slavery; Ignorance is Strength."

Oh...And we have always been at war with Eastasia.

"Rep-re-fucking-hensible"

My husband is a pretty low key guy. He has a Zen quality that comes from having reckoned with doomsday machines up close and personal. But when he saw this, that is the epithet he spit out.

"Rep-re-fucking-hensible."

And he didn't say another word.

He didn't have to.












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Sometimes a man of few words says it best.

Rep-re-fucking-hensible, indeed.