Think Progress

The Only News That Matters Is Good News

By Judd Legum on Jun 28th, 2005 at 11:34 am

The Only News That Matters Is Good News

The message the President will deliver tonight is that persistent violence in Iraq does not mean that we aren’t making progress. (Rather, we should focus on the “political track.”) Of course, when it appeared violence was abating, the administration cited it as evidence of success against the insurgency.

Here is Pentagon spokesman Larry DiRita on 3/3/05:

Q: Can I ask you about the fact that the casualty rate in Iraq for U.S. troops for February was apparently the lowest that it’s been since last July? I wonder how significant you think that is and what’s your analysis of why the number has gone down. Does it — what does it represent?

MR. DI RITA: Well, the commanders have spoken about their — the fact that the insurgencies are becoming — their capability is becoming somewhat cruder in its — in their ability to anticipate and target, because their — the coalition’s intelligence is getting better. And one of the reasons it’s getting better is because there are more and more Iraqi security forces directly involved in counterinsurgency activities….So I think you’re seeing also a growing public opposition to — and more — and people more willing to make public their opposition to the insurgency. And that’s almost certainly having an effect on the ability of the insurgents to operate with some — with impunity…

So, in March, the fact that violence went down was a sign that the insurgency was weakening, security forces were strengthening and Iraqi opposition was increasing. Now, as violence increases, we are told these issues are unrelated.



13 Responses to “The Only News That Matters Is Good News”

  1. Ron says:

    What he might say:

    “I will be flying to Baghdad immediately after my speech and show those insurgents who is boss.” – George Bush

    You’re gonna get fooled again.


  2. Susan says:

    I doubt anybody will even be listening to the traitor tonight. His prime time ratings are very low.


  3. LeCar says:

    The Godfathers are gathering in Kennebunkport – he will be speaking to them. They let him have his way -they advised him not to attack Iraq, he claimed God spoke to him and that’s the only advise he needed. He listened to his gang of thieves instead of the Godfathers, and now he is making the organized crime family of Bush look bad. The war profiteers are getting nervous. Iraq is a bloody mess. Bushboy doesn’t want to withdraw. But the dons are starting to put the pressure on.

    Bush cares nothing about public opinion. He is in love with his own voice and power. Like Nixon, Bush boy will be destroyed by his own, the final blow will come from within the family. Et tu Brute.


  4. Susan says:

    LeCar,
    You do realize that Bushie’s family on his grandmothers side have disowned Bushie and did not support his campaign.
    I remember reading about one family member who said he’d stop at nothing to get Bushie thrown out of office.
    Have you heard any updates on Grandma’s side of the family? Is their last name House?…
    Is this the final blow you speak of?


  5. Jon says:

    Planning to watch President Bush’s Iraq address tonight?

    Use the “Guide to the Bush Iraq Speech” to help determine if the President is full of hope and new plans, or just full of it.


  6. LeCar says:

    Susan
    Which grandmother is that? Maternal persumably. I had not heard that they disowned him. Barbara’s family would be yet another branch of the larger crime family as they intermarry.

    Final or fatal blow will come probably from the CIA as did Nixon’s. He let them into the White House and they ensnared him in the Watergate scandal. The story about deep throat is just a front for an even deeper story. Nixon’s enemies were within the Howard Hughes-Cuba gambling casinos-Bebe Rebozo world of money laundering through Cuban casinos.

    BushCos money comes from war profiteering (WWII, Bechtel, Halliburton et al) and wall street money laundering. It’s when those profit centers are threatened that the problems arise.


  7. Andros says:

    I’m a politco, a polisci by training, but I can’t get myself to watch Bush tonight. He has lost all credibility with me; everything he says is not informative but a poor attempt at spinning the truth. I thank Thinkprogress for doing the chore of dissecting his speech.


  8. LeCar says:

    Perhaps Thingprogress should not have bolded some phrases in DeRita’s remarks. Because the bolded phrases are not the critical part of the comments. The critical words are:

    “their (the insurgency’s) ability to anticipate and target” is being weakened by more and more “Iraqi security forces directly involved in counterinsurgency activities” and the insurgency is having a harder time operating “with some — with impunity”

    BushCo is no longer bothering to address the US public. They are now speaking to the spy community – telling them ‘look we are going to win the insurgency war – we just need time’

    Iraq is our Soviet Afghanistan – We are breeding the Osama bin laden’s of the future as we fund more and more insurgents to fight insurgents. We are creating a civil war in Iraq because it is in BushCo’s interest to do so.

    Tonight, if you listen to him, pretend you are a CIA covert operative and you want to know his position on Iraq. He’s talking to those people, not to the average US citizen. Every once in a while he’s throw in a boner to the public – with code words like 9-11 to keep the hate vote alive.


  9. Russ Ruszkowski says:

    I’ll definitely watch tonight – what else is on? Plus, there’s nothing funnier (and more sad) than the leader of the free world trying to spit-out a coherent sentence on the fly. I just love “nuc-u-lar”


  10. Zookeeper says:

    Don’t know if I’ll watch the f**ktard’s speech tonight. Luckily I’m on Pacific Time, so I’ll miss most of it. I’m looking forward to Jon Stewart’s George W impression on the Daily Show. Truly evil…


  11. Skid says:

    I plan on watching it with three or four backup TVs because “BS Hour with Bush” tends to bring out the Elvis in me.


  12. Randy says:

    I wonder how liberals would rather that we fight the terrorists here in this country as opposed to Iraq? It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out that we are actually using Iraq to draw Al Qaeda there so we can kill them. Most liberals have forgotten what happened on 9/11. Fortunately, most Americans have not as evidenced by last year’s election. I wonder if the media will ever report on the progress we are making in Iraq. Apparently, that is not newsworthy or does not fit with their liberal agenda. I do wish that we could bring the troops home, but I also realize that if we did now, Iraq would morph into something worse than when Saddam ran the country.


  13. Xool says:

    Randy, that is a truly novel idea. I haven’t heard that justification for the illegal invasion of a sovereign nation yet. Sure, let’s just use them as a roach motel, who cares if innocent civilians get killed?

    Liberals haven’t forgotten 9/11. No one in the entire country or world has forgotten 9/11. And neither should you forget that Iraq had *nothing to do with 9/11*.

    Quit with the whole “liberal media” schlock. There is no such thing anymore. Most major news outlets share members of their boards of directors with corporations such as Halliburton (ABC/Disney), Carlyle Group (NYT), Microsoft (NBC), etc etc. The message is prepared and controlled by corporate interests.

    If Iraq turns into something worse than it was during Saddam Hussein’s rule, then the fault is all Bushco’s. Iraq is on the brink of collapse directly because of the policies of the administration, and their continued dogged adherence to them in the face of overwhelming evidence of failure.

    Open your mind, think for yourself, don’t just spit the party line back at us.



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