Iraq fading as an issue?
Iraq fading as an issue?
Peter Beinart writes, “The reason Iraq is fading is simple: Not as many people are dying there.” Kos responds:
Beinart, like his pro-war buddies on the Right, want to pretend that the fact that “only” 40 Americans G.I.s are dying a month in Iraq is great news and knocks Iraq from the public’s mind. And it may be true that Iraq is getting less discussion in the national press than before. But the discontent in Iraq was never driven by media coverage. [..]
If anything, the relative quiet on Iraq is a sign that the debate is over. There is no longer any doubt that the American people have decided they want out, and there’s no new information possible that could change their minds.
The Center for American Progress Action Fund warned in a memo last month that progressives are at risk of “drifting themselves into offering only a vague and muddled vision” for the future course in Iraq, rather than providing the “clear alternative” that is needed.
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If anything, the relative quiet on Iraq is a sign that the debate is over. There is no longer any doubt that the American people have decided they want out, and there’s no new information possible that could change their minds.
nailed it. the debate has been over for years now.
December 4th, 2007 at 12:34 pmHere’s a clear alternative…
Get the Phuck Out!
December 4th, 2007 at 12:34 pmEven if Iraq were to fade in the minds of voters, there’s a whole freight train of other issues right up behind that voters will rightly hold against the Republican party.
December 4th, 2007 at 12:35 pmWelcome to the FACISTS STATES OF AMERICA!!!!
December 4th, 2007 at 12:36 pmPeter Beinart is just another fantasy warrior Neocon, in other words a certifiable pussy who loves war when other people are fighting it.
As for his numbskull conclusion about the political impact of the war, nothing could be further from the truth. Most Americans have decided that they want the U.S. out, and that the GOP is the primary obstacle to getting out. This war is owned lock, stock, and barrel by Bush and the GOP, and they are going to pay for it at the polls next November.
December 4th, 2007 at 12:37 pmBut why are we throwing billions into the 3rd most corrupt country out of 185 countries? Bush made a slip of the tongue last week and commented without the next supplement for the war “sub-contractors” would not be paid. Blackwater maybe?
An audit needs to be done to see who would get this next supplement.
Our food, water, ports, borders need people and money and yet we are paying Iraq’s bills ??????
December 4th, 2007 at 12:38 pmNBC News/Wall Street Journal Poll conducted by the polling organizations of Peter Hart (D) and Bill McInturff (R). Nov. 1-5, 2007. N=1,509 adults nationwide. MoE ± 2.5 (for all adults).
“In general, do you approve or disapprove of the job that George W. Bush is doing in handling the situation in Iraq?” Half sample, MoE ± 3.6 (Form B)
Approve 27
Disapprove 68
Unsure 5
These numbers don’t lie.
December 4th, 2007 at 12:40 pmOne other point about Beinart and the rest of the neocons: these pussies wanted everyone to believe that Iraq was WWIII, that Saddam was Hitler and Stalin combined, and that Bush was Churchill, Lincoln and Roosevelt, yet they now want everyone to believe that the war is politically inconsequential. The intellectual dishonesty of this position is shocking and depraved.
December 4th, 2007 at 12:42 pmSame poll
“Do you think the U.S. should keep military troops in Iraq until the situation has stabilized, or do you think the U.S. should bring its troops home as soon as possible?”
Keep in Iraq Until Stabilized 41
December 4th, 2007 at 12:42 pmBring Home As Soon as Possible 54
Unsure 5
.
The clear alternative is to GET THE HELL OUT!
The election of 2006 was THAT clear alternative.
And now, to actuate THAT clear alternative, “The People” still have some House cleaning to do.
The 2008 elections are a Congressional Job Performance Review.
.
December 4th, 2007 at 12:43 pmMeanwhile, back at the Death Star
Vice President Dick Cheney: Job Ratings
The Harris Poll. Oct. 5-8, 2007. N=1,003 adults nationwide. MoE ± 3.
“How would you rate the job Vice President Dick Cheney is doing: excellent, pretty good, only fair, or poor?”
Excellent/Pretty Good23
Only Fair/Poor 72
Not Sure/Refused 5
The sad part is that there’s still 5% of Americans who aren’t sure about much of anything.
December 4th, 2007 at 12:45 pm.
RUCerious,
Thanks for the poll numbers.
More worrysome is the margin of error.
Thus, it could be as much as 8% unsure about anything.
Now that’s getting scary.
.
December 4th, 2007 at 12:49 pmRUC, Mormons?
December 4th, 2007 at 12:49 pmZim ~ Morons?
December 4th, 2007 at 12:53 pmThe real reason in the decline of Violence is come 31st Dec 2007 the Iraqis want The Iraqi Parliment to NOT renew the Mandate for troop presence
With less troops being killed its easier to ask the US to leave
Come on , thats why the democrats dont want to sign another 50 billion to bush before this decision
December 4th, 2007 at 12:54 pmMax-1 MOE was +- 2.5 and 3, which equates to a six spread at worst..?
December 4th, 2007 at 12:54 pmMax ~ never mind, I misread your meaning. Yeah, we could have as many as 8% zombified…
December 4th, 2007 at 12:55 pmRUC,
Zombiefied… LOL.
Let’s here it for the sheeple.
.
December 4th, 2007 at 1:02 pmAccording to the NIE Iraq is still embroiled in a civil-war. The Sunni and Shia have both marked their territory and cleansed it for the next stage of the battle for control.
I dont think our troops should be stuck in the middle and should redeploy to border areas and stem the flow of insurgents.
And what about Afghanistan? Thats been off the medias and the WH radar for some time.
December 4th, 2007 at 1:06 pmI think the only reason Iraq is “fading” is because broadcast media have become more obsessed with Britney Spears and Lindsay Lohan than the war.
The most recent poll I could find on what Americans think is important is an NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll conducted November 1 – 5 (about a month ago). 26% said Iraq was the top priority for our government to address, followed by health care (16%), and job creation and economic growth (14%).
Americans still think Iraq is an important issue, even if the media don’t.
December 4th, 2007 at 1:14 pmComment by John Kerry — December 4, 2007 @ 1:05 pm
When I look at the caliber of the remaining support for Bush and the GOP, it’s hard to see how they can pull out of their free fall.
December 4th, 2007 at 1:22 pm19 – you’re a “winner”
December 4th, 2007 at 1:43 pmTom, are you sure you don’t mean “wiener”?
December 4th, 2007 at 1:47 pmIraq is fading (and is NO LONGER an issue in the ‘08 elctions) simply because even wacked out left nut libs and the left media are now forced to admit that we are WINNING.
Comment by John Kerry — December 4, 2007 @ 1:05 pm
It’s adorable that you lunatics still continue to use the words “winning” and “losing” in relation to a military occupation and civil/tribal war.
And a current dip in civilian casualties does not mean Iraq is on its way to a sustainable peace. What do you think is going to happen when all the Iraqi refugees in Syria and Jordan start coming home and trying to reoccupy their homes:
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=16855971
December 4th, 2007 at 1:49 pm#19 – you’re not winning! If killing people is innocent people is winning – you’re sick!! Us non-Americans ( oops non-usa people) don’t need you to get involved in our affairs!!!
December 4th, 2007 at 1:50 pmDoes anyone else find it ironic that the thread entitled “Iraq fading as an issue?” generates 27 comments while the one on Iran gets 240?
December 4th, 2007 at 2:08 pmHere is message from me personally to that pussy Kos –
The debate was over when Murtha admitted that the surge in Iraq was working.
December 4th, 2007 at 2:16 pm# 28 Personal attack is the lowest form of defence!
As a “non-USA” person even I have read John’s full comments! The USA has no rights to be in Iraq or any other country in the world! You can’t impose democracy on anyone! Get over it! Leave us to solve our own problems! BTW we don’t have much oil in this area :-(
December 4th, 2007 at 2:26 pm“The debate was over when Murtha admitted that the surge in Iraq was working.”
Comment by Jason M. Hendler
Trust Jason to get the story half-right. What else can one expect from a half-wit?
December 4th, 2007 at 3:13 pmIt’s probably fading from peoples mind because there is no real reporting of what is going on from inside Iraq that does not come from the government propaganda machine, and the you tube debates have over-tasked the critters minds.
Empires have long learned that it is best to keep the critters at home ignorant of what conditions are like in the occupied territories, and when MSM is the propaganda machine of government, that is easy to do. This gives them more freedom to plunder. Actually, the plundering is in the form of taking from the American peoples loot, or more accurately, borrowing from China and OPEC in our name, and giving it to private contractors in Iraq. Not much left to plunder in Iraq except for the oil, and we don’t take that yet so as to keep oil prices high to enrich Big Oil. But the critters are oblivious.
As for the surge working, my memory as to the primary objective for the surge was to create conditions that would allow reconciliation between the various factions. What has happened instead is ethnic cleansing to eliminate or reduce the mixed areas and replace them with segregated enclaves that has resulted in a reduction in violence between the different groups, but no reconciliation.
In other words, the violence will stay down only so long as we maintain a presence in Iraq. Without reconciliation, the violence flares up once we leave. Our arming of the Sunni tribes to use against the so called AQI, whose numbers have always been exaggerated, will most likely be used against the government forces and Shia militias if we leave. Which means of course, a long term stay, which is what we want.
So the surge did not work, but it was never meant to, it was just a stalling tactic, buying time so the critters would forget what the point was in the first place. Mission Accomplished.
Besides, we need to control the oil in the Middle East as sooner or later the world is going to recognize we are broke and no one will take our worthless currency. You could say we will back our currency with oil that the world needs (only 8% of our oil comes from Saudi Arabia) and going on the Black Gold standard.
Middle East oil is more important to the rest of the world than to the US at this moment in time and having a large military presence in Iraq puts us in position to grab Saudi Arabias and Iran oil if and when we need to (most of Iran, Saudis and Iraqs oil is basically all in the same area, all with Shia Arab populations). When Saudi Arabia and Irans oil fields start to run dry, and oil is well over 200 dollars a barrel, we go to business in pumping Iraqs oil, and we determine who gets the last drops.
Thats the plan as I see it anyways.
December 4th, 2007 at 11:12 pmComment by MiMiCcs — December 4, 2007 @ 11:12 pm
Spot on !!
∞
December 5th, 2007 at 2:22 am