With five percent of Americans saying (in a NYT/CBS poll) they most trust the Bush administration to resolve the war, Gen. David Petraeus and Ambassador Ryan Crocker will plop their posteriors before Congress and warn against changes in Bush Iraq strategery. Since the Bush administration actually wrote the report, I’m sure it will be an epic performance of half-truths and slippery statements. If only the seats were wired to give them a little jolt every time a lie comes out. We would see a lot of tap dancing.
“The reality is that, although there has been some mild progress on the security front, there is, in fact, no real security in Baghdad or Anbar province,” said Sen. Joseph Biden, D-Del., a 2008 presidential candidate who chairs the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.I think all that you need to know about the level of spin control is the fact that somehow Brit Hume got an “exclusive” interview wtih Petraeus and Crocker tonight to further massage the message.Pennsylvania Sen. Arlen Specter, a moderate Republican, said he respected Petraeus’ judgment but would not blindly follow it.
“We’re going to look behind the generalizations that General Petraeus or anybody gives us and probe the very hard facts to see exactly what the situation is,” Specter said. “As I’ve said in the past, unless we see some light at the end of the tunnel here, very closely examining what General Petraeus and others have to say, I think there’s a general sense that there needs to be a new policy.”
Lindsey Graham weighed in as well:
Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., said he trusts the military judgment of Petraeus and that it was foolish for Congress to try and second-guess commanders on the ground…”If politicians in Washington pick an arbitrary date, an arbitrary number to withdraw, it’s not going to push Baghdad politicians. It’s going to re-energize an enemy that’s on the mat,” he said.
31 Responses to “How will ‘The Betray-Us’ report go over?”
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Anyone want to take the other side of a bet that, after claiming not to be a lapdog, Specter votes for whatever the hard-liners want?
The great general speaks…
I like to imagine the likelihood of me walking across the office and telling my boss that she’s full of crap and that “our” project is full of crap and that the whole project was doomed from the start, when she pulled the idea from her ass.
But, then again, as big a dumbass as my boss is, even she knew Iraq was gonna turn to shit.
I’ve seen this show already.
A few FUs from now, Petraeus will resign. Then, 2-3 more FUs later, Petraeus will pen a memoir saying that he really thought we turned Iraq into the clusterfuckeriffic place it is now and they we had no way of turning it around. Evah. But, that he served at the pleasure of the President so there was nothing he could do. Then he’ll go on tour with Cindy Sheehan and make appearances on Air America.
Wanker Joe Biden has already said that he will continue to give Bush a blank check for his war. He admits that Iraq is a clusterfuck, but we gotta stay the course! Gotta support the troops, even if that means wasting money on profiteers while sending the same folks back again and again until they die. It’s not supportive to bring them home.
Even though Al Qaeda Iraq isn’t the Al Qaeda that attacked us. Even though AQI is the cause of only 10% of the violence. Even though most of the violence is directed at US. Even though most of America wants to get the hell out of there.
Proceding along a sane line of evaluating the costs both monetary and in human life vs. what we might ever achieve in Iraq–well that’s not supporting the troops.
“Supporting the troops” = pretending that Bush’s War is going just peachy!
BBC/ABC poll shows that most Iraqis believe the surge was a failure. Funny how I haven’t heard that on US TV–not even ABC, which helped sponsor the poll.
Ugh. I hate everyone again. Spineless Dems and Chicken Hawk Repugs and Asshole, Insane, Bubble-dwelling, Selection-stealing, Name-Dropping, War Pretzeldents.
The essential problem is that no matter what the best course of action is, we are stuck with Bush/Cheney for another 3 FUs or so. Impeachment has no chance, so the only solution is trying to minimize the harm until we can get an adult into the White House.
It’s not clear to me what congress can do other than simply defund the ongoing occupation and put up funds to bring the troops back home. I doubt that they have the spine for that, and doing it might well result in the loss of the house, senate, and presidency, with predictably awful consequences.
Impeachment so needs to be on the table. No President has ever deserved it more.
The fact that no one will pull the trigger just makes me sick.
My next door neighbors will just eat it up and may even come bounding out to my car, cornering me with the “news.”
Really these people totally depress me, I look at them and feel all hope leave my body. I don’t even try to educated these sheeple and more. I just go “bah” when they corner me in my car, as the electric window goes up.
Caren-
I think removing it from the table helps with the feeling of dispair and hoplessness.
You know, a thing occured to me about this “energising the enemy” thingy they keep trotting out.
I mean, precisely HOW much more energised is it possible for them to get? Because, seriously, they’re already pretty damn energised, I have to say.
Sarah -
Right now we aren’t doing air drops of Red Bull. Afterwards. . .well who knows
Your link doesn’t go to the poll. You can see a summary of the results at this link. It’s true that 5% of Americans think the Bush administration is the most trusted to resolve the war. 21% say Congress is most trustworthy. A whopping 68% say the military leaders on the ground. That would be the same military leaders who say the surge is having an effect and that we should stay the course.
I’ll split the difference: I think the made-up name is a craven attempt by MoveOn to garner interest and membership, rather than actually discredit his testimony.
As for QT’s cited poll, I’d trust the military more as well, if Bush didn’t tear through leaders until he found somebody willing to support a “surge” with numbers deemed inadequate to produce any sort of progress.
norbizness - I love it. Many of us do it. For instance I call Tancredo; Tancretin.
Move On is just tapping frustration with our spineless democrats (who will give Bush whatever he wants) and the moving the goal posts.
I don’t approve of making fun of people’s names. It’s cruel andd childish and doesn’t contribute anything to understanding or consensus-forming.
Far better to let the lickspittle show with his own words that he has chosen to betray us.
Cly: The negative externalities will outweigh all of that. The Malcolm X / MLK model only works if MLK has a plan.
you’re down to the the final 28% .. there will be no more consesus forming … the ones who were/are going to cross over, have crossed over …
If this were a school yard, yeah it’s cruel. But this is politics and people are being killed.. frankly I like calling Hannity “Slant head” is far worse than calling him “Insannity”
like should have read “think”
Somehow, I think the argument “but people are being killed” would vitiate against an organization deliberately parroting a nickname that has the potential to become a bigger story that the statistical spin cooked up by the General.
Or come up with three nicknames, and hold a contest/fundraiser, if it’s that important.
Well here’s a Vietnam parallel. Perhaps these Bush Co. morons will have to destroy the military before we think of getting out of Iraq. Maybe then the majority of troops will be so demoralized that they will say “fuck it, get us out of here, or else.”
Really, to the ‘tards running this administration our troops are just like the poor in the U.S. — good for the ocassional photo-op, but ultimately expendable. When the soldiers and Marines on the ground call “bullshit” on this “strategery” nonsense of Bush Co., we’ll have to get out.
But they’ll get pulled out during a Democratic administration, so the Libs will have “lost” another war we coulda won because hope is apparently a strategy, yadda, yadda, Jane Fonda, spitting on troops, dirty hippies…
Whether the White House wrote it or not, the fundamental problem is that this is a military report.
This will not be solved by the military. The entire design of the US service is to take territory, kill enemies and destroy war-making equipment and infrastructure. This is not a war that can be fought in that fashion. It’s not a war at all, in fact. It’s an insurgency. The enemy here cannot be defeated if attacked and engaged as we attack a rival superpower.
We are fighting insurgents and terrorists, which are criminals, not members of an advancing army.
We should have made the transition from military control to law enforcement control three years ago.
Thomas, you’re not Very Serious. Don’t you know that the future of all of civilization is hanging on us beating them there so we don’t have to beat them here? Or something?
[My next door neighbors will just eat it up and may even come bounding out to my car, cornering me with the “news.”]
Clytemnestra, just arm yourself with a squirt bottle/gun of water and soak them like you would a cat scratching the new curtains. After one or two applications, I promise you they will never come bounding out to your car again!!
Of course, they may not be overly friendly afterwards…
Because saying anything else will get you fired.
Actually, Thomas, it’s The White House Report and Petraeus just contributed to it. There’s no Petraeus Report, nor any meaningful analysis of what has happened before, during or, potentially, after the surge.
People will just keep dying while the profiteers get richer.
Mass, did you see the recent Doonesbury thread regarding one of the insurgents following Ray home from Iraq? It was fabulously done and exactly along these lines- Gary nailed it.
”If politicians in Washington pick an arbitrary date, an arbitrary number to withdraw, it’s not going to push Baghdad politicians. It’s going to re-energize an enemy that’s on the mat,” he said.
Referring, of course, to the left(ish) wing of US politics.
Mister Nice Guy, Boggart of Fried Potatoes and Saus and Sausage writes:
I don’t approve of making fun of people’s names
Can’t imagine why…
Louise, Bringer of Party Platters and Heinekens
Well they said somethingm or should I say, HE, said something to my son about me and my husband which I finding unforgiveable, so as of now we aint on speaking terms anyway.
I call O’Relly, O’Leily or Bildo
I call Mitt Rommey, Gitt or Twitt
etc. etc.
They made a choice to be in the public sphere. . . I am not calling the anything close to what they call us, and I will never do anything close to calling Obama, Osama, or say anything regarding a physical atribute.
It is probably one of the healthier releases for the frustration I have with these people and the sheeple that follow and quote them.
Citizens who say they trust the military folks probably mean Petraeus’s boss, who says the surge isn’t working.
But of course the fact that the surge isn’t working has already morphed into yet another rational for why we have to keep surging…
Oh for crying out loud, here’s the ad. They found this objectionable? Ann Coulture, Melannie Morgan, etc. etc. say and print things DAR more objectionable than this.
http://bp0.blogger.com/_c5U1BLm4Z1o/RuYJButGgCI/AAAAAAAAAOc/lf6q8DBDwSY/s1600-h/GeneralPetraeus-BetrayUs-ad–NYTimes–MoveOn.org.PoliticalActionJPG.JPG
DAR should read FAR
I need not only a new keyboard where the letters aren’t worn off the keys, but also new and better lighting.