Posted on 12/03/2007 8:14:31 AM PST by pabianice
[from the December 17, 2007 issue]
Any decline in violence in Iraq is welcome. But the relative quiet that reigns in Baghdad does not mean that the troop surge has been successful. This elementary point--which even some antiwar Democrats hesitate to make--now routinely elicits accusations of "defeatism" and worse from Republicans and their water carriers in the media. Yet it is the war party's triumphalism that deserves to be met with outrage. Did they think no one would notice that they have rewritten the script? The surge was supposed to improve security as a means to an end; the end was to find a political solution for Iraq's internal conflicts. In President Bush's own words, "Victory in Iraq will bring something new in the Arab world--a functioning democracy that polices its territory, upholds the rule of law, respects fundamental human liberties and answers to its people." Does that sound like today's Iraq? The country is no closer to having a workable government or to reconciliation among hostile parties than it was when the surge began. A poll released in September showed 70 percent of Iraqis saying the surge has "hampered conditions for political dialogue, reconstruction and economic development," and no political advances have followed the ebb in violence since then. One of the surge's tactics was to empower local militias, and as a consequence Iraqis may feel safer in their neighborhoods but they are further from having a central government with the ability to maintain law and order. The Shiite-led government, for its part, seems no more inclined to compromise on key issues than it was eight months ago.
(Excerpt) Read more at thenation.com ...
Treason during wartime.
When a rat is trapped and fearful you can smell it, even in print.
Spin, spin, spin. It’s simultaneously hilarious and pathetic that these people have to desperately look for signs of defeat in an undeniable victory.
When Senator Webb had to spend 6 minutes on what should have been a simple answer to a simple question on Meet the Press on Sunday you know they are in a panic.
Tim Russert asked Senator Webb “is the surge working”. Senator Web literally spent 6 minutes on his answer and managed to include Pakistan, Turkey, the Kurds, and even Iran in his long winded answer; still leaving the listener at the end wondering what his answer was.
I’m actually very pleased with the MSM reaction to success in Iraq these last few months.
Its become easy to identify which reporters put their political party ahead of both their profession, and their country.
Good line!
Shifting the goal posts. Typical. As for the Iraqi govt not functioning, it’s been maybe a month or two since the security situation really turned around. I give it 6 months before the left has to eat their words on the lack of movement in the govt. Where will they move the goal posts then?
Politians make me sick when they won’t even answer a simple question.
"Just because the surge is working, doesn't mean it's really working"
Must be an article from The Nation.
More Leftist Bull Turdery...”Progress” for them, can only come from the aerie lofts of the elite and “enlightened” ones, like themselves. Oh sure, they depend on the “grass roots” to back their edicts, but only when done in compliance with the letter of their diktats.
The people, maaking ptogress by themselves, without direction from their pre-approved political “guiders”...Why...that’s an outrage!
Are they talking about Iraq or the U.S.?
Surge is working, but facts don’t matter
“Iraqi death toll falls for third straight month” is the headline of Kim Gatel’s Associated Press article in many Sunday papers. “I think the ‘surge’ is working,” Pennsylvania Pork Barrel Spending King, Johnstown Democrat Representative John Murtha recently stated. Murtha reported favorably on the results of President Bush’s belated decision to commit 20,000 additional combat troops to Iraq, but also warned that the Iraqis “have got to take care of themselves.” Murtha had previously stated about the war in Iraq, “We cannot win this militarily,” and “The US can not accomplish anything further in Iraq militarily. It’s time to bring the troops home.”
For those unsure of which Congressman Murtha I quote, he’s also an unindicted co-conspirator from the FBI’s “Abdul Scam” (ABSCAM) sting of the early 80’s, and he’s the leading Democratic Congressman who had recently, regally, pronounced, before any trial, that our Marines in Haditha, Iraq had “killed innocent civilians in cold blood.” Many Marines say that he who was once a Marine is always a Marine, but many Marines also say that Congressman Murtha, who is a retired Marine Reserve Colonel, is the exception to that rule.
And many of the leading Democrat internet “spin-meisters” and party compasses likely see Murtha and his very latest statements as an exception, too. At a “BlogWorld and New Media Expo” in Las Vegas, on November 9th, an audience questioner asked, “What about recent facts on the ground in Iraq? Do these facts change or color the effort to pull all of our troops out when it appears we might become victorious for the hearts and minds of the people of Iraq?” Panelist Jeralyn Merrit, of TalkLeft, responded, “The facts don’t matter!” When pressed for clarification, she continued: “That’s right. Facts don’t matter. We want our troops home. Until they are home, this war was just a mistake.” Three of the most respected and read liberal Democrat political weblog posters, Joe Sudbay of AMERICAblog, Jerome Armstrong of MyDD, and DailyKOS founder Markos Zuniga, who were either sitting on panel or in the audience, all agreed and repeated, emphatically, “The facts don’t matter.”
And there you have it, folks. To some of today’s more influential Democratic opinion leaders, facts don’t matter. Or, as MoveOn.org’s Political Action Comittee Director Eli Pariser wrote of the Democratic Party, in 2004, “Now it’s our Party; we bought it, we own it,and we’re going to take it back.” Don’t know if Pariser is stating true facts about MoveOn.org actually purchasing the Democrats, but, since he’s a Democrat communicating with other Democrats, facts don’t matter, do they?
(my recent LTTE to the local paper)
First they were against the benchmarks -— such as first free and fair elections ever -— and demanded progress on the ground.
Now there’s progress on the ground and they’re demanding benchmarks.
What they really want, they don’t have the courage to say: US defeated. Jihadists in control.
A classic in the “Yeah, we’re winning, BUT...” genre.
Another proof that when it comes down to the nitty gritty.. Leftists/socialists/communists...really don’t give a damn about people, or what happens to them...ours, theirs, or humanity in general...they’ll let all the people get slaughtered, as long as it leaves them in control of those who survive.
How dare the Iraqi people rebuild their country from their villages up, and ignore their do nothing (Democrat) leaders?
..that is till the next election when they throw them out of office and send them back where they came from, in disgrace!
If these jackasses at The Nation said the sky was blue I would walk outside to check...
SOP of the left.
Sort of like some of Romney’s answers in last weeks GOP debate.
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