I do think that the military commanders were right to support the Sunni Awakening Council’s but that started a good 3 months before the Surge was even announced. We were seeing good results in Anbar well before August 2007 and rotated some of those troops into Baghdad.

And, yes, the extra troops did make a difference on the ground over time but what about the other element that was central to the Surge strategy which was the political reconciliation process. That remains stalled to this day. Without that the chances of backsliding are high, just as they have been in Afghanistan. Then what?

Palin, in particular, seems fated to stomp on the wrong foot.

OT:
If anyone is running a legal, accredited, pool on when the VP candidate blows it, assuming she hasn’t already? I will put no more than $1.00 on 10/31.

I’m not terribly superstitious but, if a soul-eating demon is going to jump out of someone’s chest? Halloween is as good a day as any. Or, she might just say that every mother in America is; “sending their children to Hell when they send them out to beg for Satan on Satan’s Unholy Day!!!”

While we’re at it, let’s toss out a few more salient points here…

What about the enormous number of Blackwater-type “security contractors” BotchCo flooded the country w/? They SOOOOOO like to brag about the success of the surge while ignoring the fact that they’ve also had an estimated 150,000 plus hired guns running amok just under the radar the whole time, answering to no one but themselves.

And what about the estimated $30MM/month BotchCo is paying the Sunni militias to NOT attack US troops?

The Anbar Awakening was NOT a result of the surge…

Listening to McCain, the only Iraq war is the part he calls the “SURGE”. There is no Operation Iraqi liberation (OIL). No Shock and AWE. Just a surge for McCain.

Yet vaguely I remember congressional hearings with Generals that were fired for responding to the question(s) put to them by Congress that, “they needed 400,000 to 500,000 troops to war with Iraq. Wasn’t this just before the war?

McCain didn’t seem interested in supporting the Generals assessment of what was required. President Bush fired the generals that requested those troop levels for initial invasion and then Occupation.

Bush & Cheney most definately did not support those troop numbers provided by the Generals. McCain?

Rummy wasn’t suppoting those numbers. As a casual accountant, Rummy was working magic cost saving numbers on his cost saving life risking calculator.

So this must have been one of the 90% of the times that McCain was with Bush and the Troops came in second. Not first as John speaks of now.

Where was Sen John McCain’s support of the (original surge) Generals personnel requirement assessment needed to initiate and follow through the war? Before it even began? Was Rumsfeld to strong for McCain to fight and place America first?

The packers were 1 game from superbowl, lost to NFL champs in overtime, and they did not want the NFL’s all-time leading quarterback back.

They lied about him using a team phone to talk to vikings – an egotistical bunch of morons up there.

It is easy for me to root for the jets.

yeah…. I know, off-topic…

Man, what a thing of beauty! While it is incongruous beyond belief to see Favre not in in Green and Gold, the man never fails to entertain.

Jeez…I dunno if I can be a Jets fan. GO STEELERS!

John McCain, sitting with an interviewer, confronted with video evidence of something he’s said has boldly insisted he hadn’t said it.

Imagine a Jedi, a cross between OB 1 and Yoda (looks wise), with the skill set of Young Master Luke and Darth Vader – the force is too powerful for a mere interviewer of Chris Wallace’s stature to defend against.

Now, with the fourth estate under mind control, you get 8 years of Bush and seemingly another 8 with John Bush.

The surge also allowed the military-industrial complex to continue to loot even more of the federal treasury – much of it totally unaccounted for.

Isn’t that really what this is all about?

GO BRETT – let’s show the packers up for the fools they are. THEY HAD TO HIRE ARI FLEISCHER TO LIE AND HELP COVER UP THEIR DISHONEST TACTICS

yeah…. I know, off-topic…

had enough Says:
Where did John McCain ever say the troop surge — “I’m going to support it but I don’t know that it’s going to really work?”

Everyone conveniently forgets that it was bush & rummy who prosecuted this war without sufficient troops.

Democrats had been calling for increased troop levels way before mcbullfrog ever opened his mouth.

mccain is the ultimate plagerizer:

Takes credit for claiming more troops would help after the democrats flew it.

stole music that he doesn’t even vet the lyrics to from legitimate musicians, illegally.

Now he has his finger to the wind and has stolen Obama’s Change theme…..who will that fool?

Even to the average Faux viewers this statement has to be… weird. Where are you going with this Wallace?

Whatever mclame’s personal defects may be, he is an effective tool. It does not matter if he remembers or forgets. The people behind the neocon/repug agenda are laughing all the way to the bank.

What matters is that bush and now mccain are doing the dirty work for a criminal cabal that knows they need to stand behind the curtain to loot the federal treasury.

Please folks, they win when we reduce this to a dialog about personal competence.

BP has Anglo-Iranian Oil in its history. That’s the company that induced President Eisenhower to tamper in Iran. The CIA helped overthrow Iran’s democratically elected President in 1953.

Goldman Sachs has the lion’s share of oil futures trading. C’mon media, start asking questions!