Comments on: Schakowsky On Iraq Visit: ‘Surge Is A Failure,’ Warns There Is ‘Major PR Effort Going On’ http://thinkprogress.org/2007/08/10/schakowsky-iraq/ Thu, 26 Nov 2009 23:13:31 -0500 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.5 hourly 1 By: PDA http://thinkprogress.org/2007/08/10/schakowsky-iraq/comment-page-5/#comment-4007758 PDA Mon, 13 Aug 2007 18:02:18 +0000 http://edit.thinkprogress.org/2007/08/10/schakowsky-iraq/#comment-4007758 <blockquote>"Wow, Ms. Schakowsky better be watching her back. They really don’t like it when people tell the truth."</blockquote> By that measure, the good representative has nothing to fear.

“Wow, Ms. Schakowsky better be watching her back.
They really don’t like it when people tell the truth.”

By that measure, the good representative has nothing to fear.

]]> By: rockyroad http://thinkprogress.org/2007/08/10/schakowsky-iraq/comment-page-5/#comment-4007003 rockyroad Mon, 13 Aug 2007 09:11:11 +0000 http://edit.thinkprogress.org/2007/08/10/schakowsky-iraq/#comment-4007003 KARL ROVE HAS SUBMITTED HIS RESIGNATION. KARL ROVE HAS SUBMITTED HIS RESIGNATION.

]]> By: Estanislao http://thinkprogress.org/2007/08/10/schakowsky-iraq/comment-page-5/#comment-4005220 Estanislao Sun, 12 Aug 2007 18:35:39 +0000 http://edit.thinkprogress.org/2007/08/10/schakowsky-iraq/#comment-4005220 IRAQ is an Absolute SUCCESS! According to PNAC. The plan was to pacify America with fear and continual promises and stay indefinitately... Mission Accomplished. Bush, idiot or savant? IRAQ is an Absolute SUCCESS!

According to PNAC.

The plan was to pacify America with fear and continual promises and stay indefinitately… Mission Accomplished.

Bush, idiot or savant?

]]> By: Probus http://thinkprogress.org/2007/08/10/schakowsky-iraq/comment-page-5/#comment-4003988 Probus Sun, 12 Aug 2007 03:48:14 +0000 http://edit.thinkprogress.org/2007/08/10/schakowsky-iraq/#comment-4003988 Is the current strategy a goal for failure? Comment by Reggie — August 11, 2007 @ 9:52 pm It is because the surge was supposed to give Maliki room to make political progress. Yet no political progress has been made. The Sunnis have left his cabinet. The Joint Chiefs of Staff and Gen. Casey didn't support the surge. They knew it would fail and it has. Is the current strategy a goal for failure?

Comment by Reggie — August 11, 2007 @ 9:52 pm

It is because the surge was supposed to give Maliki room to make political progress. Yet no political progress has been made. The Sunnis have left his cabinet. The Joint Chiefs of Staff and Gen. Casey didn’t support the surge. They knew it would fail and it has.

]]> By: Reggie http://thinkprogress.org/2007/08/10/schakowsky-iraq/comment-page-5/#comment-4003891 Reggie Sun, 12 Aug 2007 01:52:22 +0000 http://edit.thinkprogress.org/2007/08/10/schakowsky-iraq/#comment-4003891 If Petraeus is correct the US will be in Iraq for 10 years, then how will the surge be maintained. We don't have the troops to continue the surge and people are not joining the military. Is the current strategy a goal for failure? If Petraeus is correct the US will be in Iraq for 10 years, then how will the surge be maintained. We don’t have the troops to continue the surge and people are not joining the military. Is the current strategy a goal for failure?

]]> By: The Oracle http://thinkprogress.org/2007/08/10/schakowsky-iraq/comment-page-5/#comment-4003763 The Oracle Sat, 11 Aug 2007 23:58:39 +0000 http://edit.thinkprogress.org/2007/08/10/schakowsky-iraq/#comment-4003763 Schakowsky is right "that there’s a major PR effort going on to convince the Congress and the media and the public that just enough progress has been made to justify staying." In fact, all the dots are connecting. September: chosen as the month to report on Iraqi progress, and what the "surge" has accomplished. August: 1) Congress goes on recess, 2) the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad extends invitations to congresspeople on break to visit Iraq to see firsthand how "well" things are going over there, 3) Schakowsky's observations and assessments will be downplayed while all the wingnut Republican congresspeople will get extensive air-time on Faux News and wingnut radio. Plus, 4) Alberto Gonzales just visited the Green Zone, and now is reporting back how "great" the legal system in Iraq is working. Even though attentive and patriotic U.S. citizens know better. Question: where do most of those Iraqi bodies dumped on Iraqi streets come from, bodies that show signs of torture? Answer: the secret prisons run by shariah-court Shias, who torture their captives, try them before a secret shariah religious tribunal, secretly execute them and then dump their bodies in public as a warning to all other Iraqis that they better bow to their shariah version of Islam or else they will suffer the same fate. One of these secret torture prisons containing hundreds of tortured prisoners (primarily Sunni) was discovered several months ago in a Shia neighborhood. I bet the Shia have hundreds of these secret prisons as well as hundreds of secret shariah religious tribunals. And Gonzo will report that things are going great in the Iraqi judicial system? Just as Gen. Patraeus will report that the "surge" is working wonders? Just as all the wingnut Republican politicians visiting the Green Zone while on August break will parrot the same "things are going great in Iraq" talking points? Some people just don't know when to stop lying. Schakowsky is right “that there’s a major PR effort going on to convince the Congress and the media and the public that just enough progress has been made to justify staying.”

In fact, all the dots are connecting.

September: chosen as the month to report on Iraqi progress, and what the “surge” has accomplished.

August: 1) Congress goes on recess, 2) the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad extends invitations to congresspeople on break to visit Iraq to see firsthand how “well” things are going over there, 3) Schakowsky’s observations and assessments will be downplayed while all the wingnut Republican congresspeople will get extensive air-time on Faux News and wingnut radio. Plus, 4) Alberto Gonzales just visited the Green Zone, and now is reporting back how “great” the legal system in Iraq is working.

Even though attentive and patriotic U.S. citizens know better.

Question: where do most of those Iraqi bodies dumped on Iraqi streets come from, bodies that show signs of torture?

Answer: the secret prisons run by shariah-court Shias, who torture their captives, try them before a secret shariah religious tribunal, secretly execute them and then dump their bodies in public as a warning to all other Iraqis that they better bow to their shariah version of Islam or else they will suffer the same fate.

One of these secret torture prisons containing hundreds of tortured prisoners (primarily Sunni) was discovered several months ago in a Shia neighborhood. I bet the Shia have hundreds of these secret prisons as well as hundreds of secret shariah religious tribunals.

And Gonzo will report that things are going great in the Iraqi judicial system? Just as Gen. Patraeus will report that the “surge” is working wonders? Just as all the wingnut Republican politicians visiting the Green Zone while on August break will parrot the same “things are going great in Iraq” talking points?

Some people just don’t know when to stop lying.

]]> By: Probus http://thinkprogress.org/2007/08/10/schakowsky-iraq/comment-page-5/#comment-4003364 Probus Sat, 11 Aug 2007 21:07:36 +0000 http://edit.thinkprogress.org/2007/08/10/schakowsky-iraq/#comment-4003364 What makes Bush think he can control what's going on in Iraq? He can't even stop the parliament from going on vacation. What makes Bush think he can control what’s going on in Iraq? He can’t even stop the parliament from going on vacation.

]]> By: Badger http://thinkprogress.org/2007/08/10/schakowsky-iraq/comment-page-5/#comment-4002632 Badger Sat, 11 Aug 2007 15:59:24 +0000 http://edit.thinkprogress.org/2007/08/10/schakowsky-iraq/#comment-4002632 With 160,000 troops in a country of 28 million, we should not... and CAN NOT tell Iraq what to do. To think we can control Iraq is delusional. With 160,000 troops in a country of 28 million, we should not… and CAN NOT tell Iraq what to do. To think we can control Iraq is delusional.

]]> By: anonymity http://thinkprogress.org/2007/08/10/schakowsky-iraq/comment-page-5/#comment-4002610 anonymity Sat, 11 Aug 2007 15:50:20 +0000 http://edit.thinkprogress.org/2007/08/10/schakowsky-iraq/#comment-4002610 The tragedy of our day is the climate of fear in which we live, and fear breeds repression. Too often, sinister threats to the Bill of Rights, to freedom of the mind, are concealed under the patriotic cloak of anti-Communism. Adlai Stevenson wrote this in 1952. Today, simply replacing the word Communism with terrorism makes this statement valid once more. The tragedy of our day is the climate of fear in which we live, and fear breeds repression. Too often, sinister threats to the Bill of Rights, to freedom of the mind, are concealed under the patriotic cloak of anti-Communism.

Adlai Stevenson wrote this in 1952. Today, simply replacing the word Communism with terrorism makes this statement valid once more.

]]> By: bilbobaggins http://thinkprogress.org/2007/08/10/schakowsky-iraq/comment-page-5/#comment-4002510 bilbobaggins Sat, 11 Aug 2007 15:00:24 +0000 http://edit.thinkprogress.org/2007/08/10/schakowsky-iraq/#comment-4002510 <em>"We don’t want to occupy Iraq, we want them to pull themselves up, and become contributing members of the international community. Comment by p"</em> What gives us the right to tell Iraq what they should and should not do? Who or what gives us that authority. If the people of Iraq want to fight a sectarian civil war, that is their business. And who are we to define what is a "contributing member of the international community"? Are you for subjugating the people of Iraq? Also, how would you feel if Russia or China invaded the US and started telling us how to run our government? “We don’t want to occupy Iraq, we want them to pull themselves up, and become contributing members of the international community.
Comment by p”

What gives us the right to tell Iraq what they should and should not do? Who or what gives us that authority. If the people of Iraq want to fight a sectarian civil war, that is their business. And who are we to define what is a “contributing member of the international community”?

Are you for subjugating the people of Iraq?

Also, how would you feel if Russia or China invaded the US and started telling us how to run our government?

]]> By: O. Bigfoot http://thinkprogress.org/2007/08/10/schakowsky-iraq/comment-page-5/#comment-4002393 O. Bigfoot Sat, 11 Aug 2007 12:31:00 +0000 http://edit.thinkprogress.org/2007/08/10/schakowsky-iraq/#comment-4002393 "All the major news outlets are repeating the LIES as though they are gospel. How do we get back to an independent honest truth telling watch dogging press?????? I don’t have any idea. I think it is too late. But for god’s sake, call LIARS what they are. LIARS. Comment by foolme1ns — August 11, 2007 @ 7:02 am" Wasn't there a blog topic here on TP recently about how folks who watch Fox News don't trust the news? “All the major news outlets are repeating the LIES as though they are gospel.

How do we get back to an independent honest truth telling watch dogging press?????? I don’t have any idea. I think it is too late. But for god’s sake, call LIARS what they are. LIARS.

Comment by foolme1ns — August 11, 2007 @ 7:02 am”

Wasn’t there a blog topic here on TP recently about how folks who watch Fox News don’t trust the news?

]]> By: foolme1ns http://thinkprogress.org/2007/08/10/schakowsky-iraq/comment-page-5/#comment-4002368 foolme1ns Sat, 11 Aug 2007 11:02:56 +0000 http://edit.thinkprogress.org/2007/08/10/schakowsky-iraq/#comment-4002368 No one is trying to "win" this war. The goal is to keep it going so that we have to stay there for "ten more years" (Patraeus latest). The idea is to stay until all the oil is sucked out and to give us a permanent base from which to attack all the other countries that are inconveniently sitting on the cartels oil. Call a liar a liar. That is what "PR" means. LIES. MORE, BIGGER AND BETTER LIES. And even if the American people don't buy them the god damned incompetent impotent cowardly weasel democrats in office will. The LIES have started already, and they are growing daily, even as the factual news reaches us at the same time. "The surge is working" reports two "critic"/bush lovers who spent 8 days in heavily guarded safety in Iraq. And yet we continue to hear about decapitated tortured bodies, car bombs suicide bombs, helicopters being shot down...... and Petraeus telling congress we have to be there for 10 more years. All the major news outlets are repeating the LIES as though they are gospel. How do we get back to an independent honest truth telling watch dogging press?????? I don't have any idea. I think it is too late. But for god's sake, call LIARS what they are. LIARS. No one is trying to “win” this war. The goal is to keep it going so that we have to stay there for “ten more years” (Patraeus latest). The idea is to stay until all the oil is sucked out and to give us a permanent base from which to attack all the other countries that are inconveniently sitting on the cartels oil.

Call a liar a liar. That is what “PR” means. LIES. MORE, BIGGER AND BETTER LIES. And even if the American people don’t buy them the god damned incompetent impotent cowardly weasel democrats in office will.

The LIES have started already, and they are growing daily, even as the factual news reaches us at the same time. “The surge is working” reports two “critic”/bush lovers who spent 8 days in heavily guarded safety in Iraq. And yet we continue to hear about decapitated tortured bodies, car bombs suicide bombs, helicopters being shot down…… and Petraeus telling congress we have to be there for 10 more years.

All the major news outlets are repeating the LIES as though they are gospel.

How do we get back to an independent honest truth telling watch dogging press?????? I don’t have any idea. I think it is too late. But for god’s sake, call LIARS what they are. LIARS.

]]> By: Johnsnottoodistracted http://thinkprogress.org/2007/08/10/schakowsky-iraq/comment-page-5/#comment-4002365 Johnsnottoodistracted Sat, 11 Aug 2007 10:17:22 +0000 http://edit.thinkprogress.org/2007/08/10/schakowsky-iraq/#comment-4002365 Let's hope she is on all the talk shows. This is not news but at least she says this very clearly. There has never been a plan to exit.There is no intent to leave,ever. The plan is go in, get rid of any obstacles including humans and suck out the treasure. The military are just guards now.Guarding the treasure to make sure it stays in the right hands. Hey, go look at the plans for permanent bases.Those plans were drafted before making up all the excuses to be there.Years before. But why does anyone listen to what this gang says anyway? Is there nothing better to do? Has it become enjoyable to be lied to?? Let’s hope she is on all the talk shows.
This is not news but at least she says this very clearly.
There has never been a plan to exit.There is no intent to leave,ever.
The plan is go in, get rid of any obstacles including humans and suck out the treasure.
The military are just guards now.Guarding the treasure to make sure it stays in the right hands.
Hey, go look at the plans for permanent bases.Those plans were drafted before making up all the excuses to be there.Years before.
But why does anyone listen to what this gang says anyway?
Is there nothing better to do?
Has it become enjoyable to be lied to??

]]> By: buzzbomb http://thinkprogress.org/2007/08/10/schakowsky-iraq/comment-page-5/#comment-4002363 buzzbomb Sat, 11 Aug 2007 10:05:02 +0000 http://edit.thinkprogress.org/2007/08/10/schakowsky-iraq/#comment-4002363 One of the four killed in Diyala province is from my town in MN. What a waste of lives, money, and reputation George Bush's little adventure has cost our country. While our current Congress has absolutely no guts to hang the neocon chickenhawks and war profiteers. One of the four killed in Diyala province is from my town in MN. What a waste of lives, money, and reputation George Bush’s little adventure has cost our country. While our current Congress has absolutely no guts to hang the neocon chickenhawks and war profiteers.

]]> By: Probus http://thinkprogress.org/2007/08/10/schakowsky-iraq/comment-page-5/#comment-4002360 Probus Sat, 11 Aug 2007 08:51:01 +0000 http://edit.thinkprogress.org/2007/08/10/schakowsky-iraq/#comment-4002360 Iraq is Bush's Vietnam. If he'd served he know what our soldiers are going through in Iraq. He doesn't because he avoided combat service in Vietnam. Coward. Iraq is Bush’s Vietnam. If he’d served he know what our soldiers are going through in Iraq. He doesn’t because he avoided combat service in Vietnam. Coward.

]]> By: Probus http://thinkprogress.org/2007/08/10/schakowsky-iraq/comment-page-5/#comment-4002359 Probus Sat, 11 Aug 2007 08:49:42 +0000 http://edit.thinkprogress.org/2007/08/10/schakowsky-iraq/#comment-4002359 The surge has failed. Time to get out. The surge has failed. Time to get out.

]]> By: bilbobaggins http://thinkprogress.org/2007/08/10/schakowsky-iraq/comment-page-5/#comment-4001945 bilbobaggins Sat, 11 Aug 2007 05:13:28 +0000 http://edit.thinkprogress.org/2007/08/10/schakowsky-iraq/#comment-4001945 <em>"#If “victory” was what Bush really wanted in Iraq would he have put Donald Rumsfeld in charge? Would he take advice from Wolfowitz, Perle, and Bremer? Comment by ZalYanovsky "</em> "Victory" has never been one of Bush's goals. Chaos was his main goal. With Chaos he has created vast wealth for his cronies and has destabilized a country to the point where he thinks he can take over their oil assets. George Bush always had two goals for Iraq. The first to punish Saddam Hussein for wanting to kill his daddy and the second was to make his buddies rich off of war profiteering. I think it would be wonderful if the Democratic Congress would pass a bill outlawing profiting off the "war" in Iraq. George would have a hard time opposing it because if he did, his real intent would become obvious to the few remaining people who don't get it. “#If “victory” was what Bush really wanted in Iraq would he have put Donald Rumsfeld in charge? Would he take advice from Wolfowitz, Perle, and Bremer?

Comment by ZalYanovsky “

“Victory” has never been one of Bush’s goals. Chaos was his main goal. With Chaos he has created vast wealth for his cronies and has destabilized a country to the point where he thinks he can take over their oil assets.

George Bush always had two goals for Iraq. The first to punish Saddam Hussein for wanting to kill his daddy and the second was to make his buddies rich off of war profiteering.

I think it would be wonderful if the Democratic Congress would pass a bill outlawing profiting off the “war” in Iraq. George would have a hard time opposing it because if he did, his real intent would become obvious to the few remaining people who don’t get it.

]]> By: bilbobaggins http://thinkprogress.org/2007/08/10/schakowsky-iraq/comment-page-4/#comment-4001898 bilbobaggins Sat, 11 Aug 2007 04:56:33 +0000 http://edit.thinkprogress.org/2007/08/10/schakowsky-iraq/#comment-4001898 <em>"“She said Petraeus told her “the U.S. would be in Iraq for 9-10 years if we want to win,” We do. Comment by p"</em> Please tell us how we can "win" in Iraq. How do you "win" an occupation? Inquiring minds need to know. ““She said Petraeus told her “the U.S. would be in Iraq for 9-10 years if we want to win,”
We do.
Comment by p”

Please tell us how we can “win” in Iraq. How do you “win” an occupation? Inquiring minds need to know.

]]> By: ZalYanovsky http://thinkprogress.org/2007/08/10/schakowsky-iraq/comment-page-4/#comment-4001731 ZalYanovsky Sat, 11 Aug 2007 03:56:48 +0000 http://edit.thinkprogress.org/2007/08/10/schakowsky-iraq/#comment-4001731 If "victory" was what Bush really wanted in Iraq would he have put Donald Rumsfeld in charge? Would he take advice from Wolfowitz, Perle, and Bremer? If “victory” was what Bush really wanted in Iraq would he have put Donald Rumsfeld in charge? Would he take advice from Wolfowitz, Perle, and Bremer?

]]> By: astrocreep http://thinkprogress.org/2007/08/10/schakowsky-iraq/comment-page-4/#comment-4001637 astrocreep Sat, 11 Aug 2007 03:10:16 +0000 http://edit.thinkprogress.org/2007/08/10/schakowsky-iraq/#comment-4001637 i coulda told her that the surge would have been/is a failure. IED attacks dont seem to have stopped, death squads dont seem to have stopped, truck bombs havent stopped, and you still need body armor to go a few miles. none of this sounds like success. i coulda told her that the surge would have been/is a failure. IED attacks dont seem to have stopped, death squads dont seem to have stopped, truck bombs havent stopped, and you still need body armor to go a few miles. none of this sounds like success.

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