where did I say “waited” moron? if things are going so well, why was he saying it at all, at any point?
and I was referring not just to his criticisim of the bush administratation, but also to his desciption of iraq as a “nightmare.” if iraq isnt a nightmare now, why is he saying it is? isnt he worried about looking foolish?

if things are going so well in iraq, why not just critize the president? why go further and give “aid and comfort to the enemy” by portraying that situation as going poorly when in fact its going swimmingly.

Sec Def Gates says the Political side is still LAGGING behind. Until that can be solved, all our troops are doing is HOLDING the enemy back.

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If this General didn’t play cards, his career would be ruined and he’d be out a Commander of forces in Iraq. So there it is, that’s his reason for lying, plus he’s probably a Republican anyway. When Generals play politics we all lose. And as for the idiots who think I have no right to criticize this guy, my citizenship and service to my country in the military gives me that right. This may be a dictatorship under Bush, but I’m speaking up in spite of that fact.

Oddly, he turned to Andrea Mitchell, Alan Greenspan’s wife and a notorious rightwinger. Andrea repeatedly referred to the war in terms of Viet Nam. Rather than saying, “in Iraq today” and “in fighting in Iraq” etc. she repeatedly said, “In Viet Nam today” and “in fighting in Viet Nam today” until Mr. Gibson corrected her. Odd.

ps. you think the AP count being down has anythign to do with the new iraqi law making it illegal to report on terrorist attacks?

…An Associated Press poll in February found that the average American believed about 9,900 Iraqis had been killed since the end of major combat operations in 2003. Recent evidence suggests that things in Iraq may be 100 times worse than Americans realize.

…the respected British polling firm ORB released the results of a poll estimating that 22 percent of households had lost a member to violence during the occupation of Iraq, equating to 1.2 million (Iraqi) deaths.

http://www.baltimoresun.com/ne…..6773.story

Another disturbing trend is the increased reliance on air/artillery strikes in lieu of foot patrols. This nasty little tactic (Oddly enough, they used to call it “terror bombing”. Ironic huh?) is disastrous to our, already fractured, reputation. Like the abuse of prisoners, I fear that this will prove catastrophic to any American, military or otherwise, who falls into the hands of a hostile group. Not to mention the alienation of allies and potential allies.

We will be cashing the checks, that Bushco is writing, for decades if not generations. And they WILL be paid in blood.

Talk with the guys on the ground, listen to what they say, the ones that have to do the dirty work. You may be a decent sort, but you are sorely misguided if you still support Bush.

The only thing sadder is the media’s continued willingness to obediently accept whatever pile of manure the administration dishes out. The only question the media seems capable of asking is, “Thank you, sir. May I have another?”

“Over the past four months, attacks and security incidents have continued to decline. This trend represents the longest continuous decline in attacks on record and illustrates how our operations have improved security since the surge was emplaced. Of note, this four-month decline includes Ramadan, a time during the previous three years when enemy activity has traditionally spiked. Also total attack levels are back before their levels since the first Samarra mosque bombing in February 2006 — an event that ignited a wave of sectarian violence. …

“As you can see on this chart, Iraqi civilian deaths have also declined in recent months. This has a great deal to do with the overall drop in violence but also has a lot to do with Iraqis coming together as a nation and not dividing along ethnic and sectarian lines. Sectarianism is still present but it has diminished, and we are seeing more evidence of the populace identifying themselves not as Sunni or Shi’a but as Iraqi. One of the key tasks we set for ourselves was to protect the population.

And while we welcome the reduction in civilian casualties, it is still too high and still must be further decreased…

This slide depicts coalition forces killed in action over the past 12 months, and nothing is more important to any of us than the lives of our courageous servicemen and servicewomen. Even one coalition death is too many, but we are experiencing a five- month decline in combat deaths. While this is encouraging, we will not be satisfied until we drive this to zero …

“As we assess the security gains made over the past four months, I attribute the progress to three prominent dynamics. First, the surge allowed us to eliminate extremist safe havens and sanctuaries, just as importantly to maintain our gain. Second, the ongoing quantitative and qualitative improvement of the Iraqi security forces are translating to ever-increasing tactical successes. Lastly, there’s a clear rejection of al Qaeda and other extremists by large segments of the population, this coupled with the bottom-up awakening movement by both Sunni and Shi’a who want a chance to reconcile with the government of Iraq.”

Comment by gummitch — November 1, 2007 @ 6:29 pm

I would say that too many people are being killed because we are engaged in the illegal occupation of a sovereign nation. Heck, we can’t even play the “colony card”.

A million freed Iraqis. With no job or no homes and no help. Somehow Im not feeling the compassion conservatism here. How is this freeing the Iraqi people exactly? They are not terrorists, are not evil, were not even our enemy. Their crime? Being born in Iraq. Did they attack America? No. Did they fly planes into WTC? No.

Where did 120,000 weapons disappear to? Why did parents have to provide protective gear for their kids? Tell me again how well this administration is doing for our service men and women. Tell with a straight face.

Second, on good information the patrols are finding a safe place to wait, call into the base every hour til their duty is done. If no one else looks out for them they will do it for themselves. Pretty damn sad when the brass touts a lying, sack of crap, to our military as someone with alot of energy.

I agree with you 100%.