Posted on 03/19/2006 2:41:36 PM PST by SmithL
WASHINGTON -- President Bush marked the anniversary of the Iraq war Sunday by touting the efforts to build democracy there and avoiding any mention of the daily violence that rages three years after he ordered an invasion.
The president didn't utter the word "war."
"We are implementing a strategy that will lead to victory in Iraq," the president assured a public that is increasingly skeptical that he has a plan to end the fighting after the deaths of more than 2,300 U.S. troops.
Administration officials repeated the mantra that progress continues toward building a unified Iraqi government and nation.
"Now is the time for resolve, not retreat," Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld wrote in a column for The Washington Post. "Turning our backs on postwar Iraq today would be the modern equivalent of handing postwar Germany back to the Nazis."
Yet there were acknowledgments from the top commander of U.S. forces in Iraq that the situation is fragile and that he did not predict the strength of the insurgency.
"I did not think it would be as robust as it has been," Gen. George W. Casey said on NBC's "Meet the Press.""And it's something that, obviously, with my time here on the ground, my thinking on that has gained much greater clarity and insight."
Bush did not mention the insurgent attacks, the car bombs or the mounting Iraqi deaths in a two-minute statement to reporters outside the White House after returning from a weekend at Camp David. Avoiding the word "war," he called the day "the third anniversary of the beginning of the liberation of Iraq."
(Excerpt) Read more at sfgate.com ...
you win by 52 seconds..grin
What the heck is a Nedler anyway....
Come on, with a name like Nedra Pickler, who cares what it writes anyway.....
Nedra Pickler... That's a good one....
Think of all the fun we can have with that one......
Nedra is so far out in left field a bird could drop something on her and we would never know it.
Realism may be setting in - it's not called the war on terror.
it's not a war. The war ended three years ago. These idiots can't get that through their heads.
Although he didn't say "war", I'm sure he said "onomatopoeia".
Nedra Pickle was in a pickle since she didn't know how to spell it.
I'll simply repeat what Dr. Frank fan said on a duplicate thread of this thread since it was so correct and is exactly what I have been thinking. There is no "war" going on now. It's a peace-keeping operation.
"Actually I'm sick of people lazily referring to it as "the war" or "the Iraq war". We invaded Iraq three years ago and successfully toppled their government shortly thereafter. That was "the Iraq war". It's actually quite inaccurate to refer to the current situation as "the war" or "a war"; what we are doing is occupying and counterinsurgency for the purpose of caretaking their nascent democratic government. Flame on, but in my opinion (although there is obviously shooting and, at times, military operations involved) that's not a "war" per se anymore." - Dr.Frank fan
"Don't mention the war." --- John Cleese in Fawlty Towers.
I don't very often scream bias, but this headline and lead are over the line.
If it's not a war, what is it?
Make sure you tell the loved ones of those that have been killed so they can get it through their heads.
Of course, because this isn't a "war". We're spending money like we are not at war, we get little good news or updates or pep talks from our Commander-in-Chief like we were at war, and Bush panders to Islam like they are some kind of "ally".
We were sold on the fact that we were at "war", but now I'm not surprised that now our CIC cannot even say the word. This is now a "managed military conflict".
(scoff)
If it's not a war, what is it?
It's an occupation and counterinsurgency to safeguard a new democratic government.
If you think it's a "war", then who is it against? I know who the 2003 war was against (the Hussein government), but Hussein's regime is gone. How can it still be the same "war" as the 2003 war if the 2003 enemy no longer exists?
At the very least, if you insist on calling it a "war", at least learn to recognize that it's a different war from the one we waged in 2003.
Make sure you tell the loved ones of those that have been killed so they can get it through their heads.
The fact that there is violence doesn't make it a "war". Cops die in the line of duty, does that mean they're "fighting a war" as well?
Again, try to think it through logically. Iraq is a democratic nation now - they have written and democratically ratified a constitution, they have democratically endorsed an interim government, and they have (subsequently) democratically elected a new government. That democratic government has formally asked our government for aid when it comes to putting down insurgents and terrorists attempting to undermine it. It's completely in our interest to do so (the insurgents are allied with our declared enemies and it would be Bad For Us if they gained power over Iraq), and that's what we're doing.
Speaking of that endeavor as "the war" or "the Iraq war" just misleads more than anything else. It conveys a false impression that we're fighting the war against "Iraq" (we're not! we're fighting on Iraq's side!), that there is some territory out there that we are attempting to take (there isn't! we already did that in 2003!), and that we could somehow "end" the "war" by withdrawing from it (we can't! our withdrawal would just make Iraq's government that much less secure from attacks and destabilization).
Bush didn't mention the daily vio;ence in LA, NY, Florida, Dallas, or anywhere else either.
I don't know how these Lunatics can make it any more clear that they don't have a clue (or could care less) what would happen if we "cut and ran" out of Iraq at this point.
Then again, The RATS never sid care about human life and freedom anywhere in the world, all they care about is getting back in the White House so they can have access to the public purse again.
I might respond to your post but after reading it 3 times it's still unclear to me what you are trying to say.
Something you can always count on from Nedra.
AP must not have adult supervision on the weekends.
At least the Stalinist idiot media never says the word "liberal."
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