Just in case you weren’t paying attention for the last 3 years. Three years since the Iraq War started. 2318 American soldiers dead.
Not Samarra
Well, we got snookered again. Turns out that the big air assault on Iraq was just a lot of smoke and sand: The press, flown in from Baghdad to this agricultural gridiron northeast of Samarra, huddled around the Iraqi officials and U.S. Army commanders who explained that the "largest air assault since 2003" in Iraq using over 50 helicopters to … Read More
Samarra
U.S. Launches Biggest Air Assault On Iraq Since Invasion Hello? Anybody remember "major military operations in Iraq have ended"? Anybody remember "last throes"? Jeez. As for the assault itself, I’m with Kevin: A review of military data shows that daily bombing runs and jet-missile launches have increased by more than 50 percent in the past five months, compared with the … Read More
No Shit, Sherlock
Rumsfeld today on the subject of an Iraq civil war: "…I think until I’ve had a chance to think more about it and-and-uhh-I-I will say I don’t think it’ll look like-ahh- the United States’s civil war." Damn. And I was so hoping there would be a Shia/Sunni chess set one day.
Not Again
WaPo headline: "Bush Goes On Offensive To Explain War Strategy" Yup. Another series of speeches to hand-picked audiences. Again. “Bush supporters cite Iraq speeches as start of rebound” [AP, 12/13/05] “Bush vows victory, not retreat; Speech gives strategy for winning Iraq war, rejects exit timetable” [Toledo Blade, 12/1/05] “Bush Goes on the Offensive Against Critics of War in Iraq” [Los … Read More
What Matt Says
This really is one of the most pig-ignorant dumb things that Rumsfeld has said. Matt Yglesius explains: "The U.S. military will rely primarily on Iraq’s security forces to put down a civil war in that country if one breaks out, Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld told lawmakers yesterday," thus emerges the dumbest thing I’ve heard today. Iraq’s security forces are … Read More
Bush Was Told “No Imminent Threat” Before Iraq War
Murray Waas at the National Journal reports today that Bush was specifically told in advance of the Iraq war, via two reports, that: (1) There was disagreement about the aluminum tubes/nuclear program issue: Among other things, the report stated that the Energy Department and the State Department’s Bureau of Intelligence and Research believed that the tubes were "intended for conventional … Read More
Neil Cavuto – Suffering From Mental Illness?
I’m not saying he is — I’m just asking. You have to laugh at Fox’s Neil Cavuto. Apparently, his show is the trial balloon output portal of the Republican wingnut noise machine (which runs on KoolAid). Just last Friday, they were having a discussion in which the following issue was discussed: Note the question mark. That’s the Fox News way … Read More
Bush Ignored Intelligence (Again)
The party line from the right is that faulty intelligence is what screwed things up in Iraq. And, no doubt, there were many incorrect intelligence assessments regarding Iraq prior to the war. (There were also, as neocons ignore, many intelligent assessments casting doubt about Saddam’s capabilities). But that "faulty intelligence" argument presumes that the Bush Administration would have listened to … Read More
Tinkerbell Is Dying
… but Bush is still clapping as hard as he can: Bush told ABC News he had spoken to leaders of all Iraqi sects after last week’s bombing of a major Shi’ite mosque and "I heard loud and clear that they understand that they’re going to choose unification, and we’re going to help them do so." AP: A series of … Read More
Other Poll News
A first-ever survey of U.S. troops on the ground fighting a war overseas has revealed surprising findings, not the least of which is that 72% of American troops in Iraq think the U.S. should exit the country within the next year. Gadflyer Paul Waldman comments: Man, our troops really don’t support our troops. How can our troops be expected to … Read More
Yup, It’s Civil War
Some conservatives latched on to heartening news in the past few days that the violence we saw last week in Iraq following the Golden Dome bombing has subsided. The daytime curfew, no doubt, did quelch some violence, but now that the curfew has been lifted, the violence continues once again. Furthermore, we are now discovering that the prior spate of … Read More
Blame Game
Glenn Greenwald’s thesis here is pretty straightforward. First, Glenn notes that conservative Bill Kristol pointed the finger at the U.S. military, as an explanation of the Iraqi debacle. Kristol got the blame game started, and now that it’s in full swing, Glenn plays it himself. Glenn then turns to blogger Jeff Goldstein, who "shared this blame-shifting gem with us yesterday": … Read More
Halliburton Overcharges; U.S. Pays Anyway
It kind of makes you wonder what these people are thinking. Halliburton had a contract with the U.S. Army to deliver fuel and repair oil in Iraq. (It actually was one of many no-bid contracts that Hallilburton has with the government with respect to Iraq). The contact was for $2.4 billion, but Halliburton overcharged Uncles Same by $236 million. Obviously, … Read More
Another Conservative Admits The Truth
This time, it’s none other than Bill Buckley: One can’t doubt that the American objective in Iraq has failed. The same edition of the paper quotes a fellow of the American Enterprise Institute. Mr. Reuel Marc Gerecht backed the American intervention. He now speaks of the bombing of the especially sacred Shiite mosque in Samara and what that has precipitated … Read More