Afghanistan = A Bag of Smushed Assholes

“If I knew exactly what the mission was, probably so, but I don’t.” ~ Sergeant Christopher Hughes when asked if the mission was worthwhile.

Bush handed Obama a shit-filled leaky plastic bag of a mismangled war in Afghanistan. Deaths have been on the rise the past two years, including the cold blooded murder of two American Soldiers by an Afghan National Police Officer.

With COIN and most guerrilla wars the campaign remains at a low simmer for years with the occasional flare up. The Insurgents only real goal is to remain alive. They do not have to conduct any operations and the occasional successful attack on the occupying force is enough to bolster their recruitment or morale while trying to provoke the occupiers into a poor heavy handed response. Insurgencies end when the occupier leaves or begins colonization of the region.

If an occupier does colonize an area the attempt can become a mass migration and displacement (The Magyars into European Hungarian plain, the Normans into Sicily, The Europeans into the Americas, The English into Australia),
Or succeed for a few years or centuries (The Berbers into Spain, the French into Indochina, the Chinese into Tibet, The English in India) and then become reversed and the conquerors leave behind a sizable minority.

Most of the recent extended 4GW conflicts of the post-world war 2 world stem from repeated colonization attempts, e.g. Ireland, Israel/Palestine, and The Balkans.

Afghanistan has always been a crossroads of empire and warfare, especially the last 30 years; following the failed Soviet attempts at subjugation of the region, the Warlord battles of Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, Burhanuddin Rabbani, Abdul Dostum, the Taliban gained control and waged campaigns against the ethnic minorites of Tajik, Uzbek and Hazara in the country, until the US and Coalition forces invaded in response to the Terror Attacks of 9/11.

Any way, 8 years later, I don't know what the mission in Afghanistan is today and the Troops in Country don't know either. I don't think Obama knows either. It's not as if we're trying to diminsh the ridiculous growth of poppies flooding the world with Heroin, but, we have set up a Government, which conducts Bush-esque fair democratic elections, killed thousands of Al Qaeda terrorists, Taliban supporters and innocents, and brought back corporations to the region and revitalized infrastructure during the 7+ years we and ISAF occupied the area. Sooooo, now why are we staying? And what would be the point in adding 50,000 more troops as General McChrystal requests?

"You can always hear the people who are willing to sacrifice somebody else's life. They're plenty loud and they talk all the time"... Uber-Patriots Sean Hannity and R. Limbaugh are attacking Obama on his strategy in Afghanistan. They demand to know his plans, they demand he listen to General McChrystal! The pure unmitigated gall, the lack of compunction of these Chicken Hawks is what I've come to expect from the cowardly Punk Ass Bitches of the Right.

There was never a word against Bush's utter colossal failures, gross negligence and incompetence in fucking over America, Afghanistan and Iraq. His failures were points of pride for these Toxic Pukes. They spent the entire time attacking Democrats and adhering to the IOKIYAR mantra. Obama has no idea what to do with the Afghan War but to his credit is taking time to meet with Advisors and analyze the Bag of Smushed Assholes he inherited from Bush. But to the Punk Ass Bitch Conservatives and REMFpublicans Obama's to blame for not immediately doubling down and supporting the mantra of War Today, War Tomorrow, War Forever!

The Iraq War, an analogy

But he had been so much hurt that something inside him had perished, some of his feeling had gone. There was a blank of insentience. ~ Lady Chatterley's Lover, D.H. Lawrence

Picture your neighborhood, a bit dry, somewhat wealthy, nice large brick homes 3 car garages, 5+ baths, hardwood floors, ceramic tile and granite countertops dominate. Down the street is a nice home which over the years has been allowed to fall into a state of disrepair. Police are always coming around because the father is decidedly not a nice man, he constantly beats his wife and multiple children. There is even a very credible rumor he is keeping illegal substances in the home. He became involved in a property dispute with his neighbor which resulted in a lot of damage and injuries between the two families. And a family member who fled the home stated the father purposely killed one of his children.

You as a righteous person. You support the decision to have the Police use force enter into the home, in order to end the father's multiple crimes. The father is captured and imprisoned awaiting his trial. Unfortunately, during the raid one child is killed, another seriously injured and one of the officers dies. But the man is captured, the wife and other children are free of him. Expectations are they will be able to live a happy life, free of the tyranny of the father.

But, then, instead of leaving, you learn, the surrounding neighborhood is beset with drug dealers, pimps and murderers. The Chief of the Police decides to have the Police stay and set the house up as a trap, using it to lure drug dealers, users and other unsavory characters to the house in order to rid the neighborhood of them and end their crimes and violence.

The vast majority of the Police are noble upstanding people. But, they are put in a very difficult situation. The family wants them to leave, one of the sons attacks an officer one day and kills him, the Police in defending their lives kill the son. Additionally, the Drug Dealers who sneak into the house engage in multiple short gun battles with the Police. The wife is wounded and two of her daughters are killed in the crossfire because the Dealers use them as shields.

The Police find they are becoming hated by the family while defending themselves and actively killing the murderous scum who have been drawn to the house.

Many of the rooms of the house became damaged. The Village Board decides to rebuild them but use substandard materials and shoddy contractors for the work, resulting in the money allocated being basically lost. It also turns out the food and water supplied to the Officers on duty in the house is contaminated and the injured Officers end up not being taken care of when the leave the home at the end of their shifts.

The Village budget is severely compromised by the escalating spending needed to sustain the open-ended "crime" fighting measures. And none of the Board members is brave enough to stop the excursion because some citizens call them Weak on Crime.

Eventually after several long years and the deaths of many innocents and Officers, crime begins to subside. But, the citizens of the Village learn it's because the Chief of Police and Village Board decide to pay the criminals money to stop attacking the Officers. The Chief of Police retires, leaving the incoming Chief the task of what to do...

Using the Dead

The Dead can't Speak... but that doesn't stop those those who wish to take or maintain power from using them. The most recent incident is Barack Obama wearing a bracelet with the name of soldier killed in Iraq during the Presidential debate. It appears the family has asked Obama not to wear the bracelet.

Of course, the Demopublican/Republocrat side would never stoop to such behavior. My side is pure and righteous, the other side evil and ghoulish. My side has every right to invoke the dead and use them to take power because my side will do what is right with that power.

No one in politics has the right to use the dead. It is odd the side of the blog-o-shpere which supports McCain (or simply loathes Obama) is just finding out now those in power use the dead to support their continued control. Where or where have you been during the last seven years? You haven't been listening to Bush use the dead as the main reason we have to stay in Iraq?

But of course, supporting The War to Realign the Middle East to conform to American business and military interests, by simultaneously protecting Israel and Saudi Arabia, placing a puppet regime in Iraq with which to gain access to their oil reserves and possessing force projection ability towards both Syria and Iran is a good and proper use of American lives...

The truth is there is only one side in America, the ruling side, the Party of Property which controls you, does not have your interests at heart and to whom you are nothing more than an interchangeable and replaceable cog wheel in the machinery of industry or war.

You can always hear the people who are willing to sacrifice somebody else's life. They're plenty loud and they talk all the time. You can find them in churches and schools and newspapers and legislatures and congress. That's their business. They sound wonderful. Death before dishonor. This ground sanctified by blood. These men who died so gloriously.

They shall not have died in vain. Our noble dead.

Hmmmm.

But what do the dead say?

Nobody but the dead know whether all these things people talk about are worth dying for or not. And the dead can't talk. So the words about noble deaths and sacred blood and honor and such are all put into dead lips by grave robbers and fakes who have no right to speak for the dead. If a man says death before dishonor he is either a fool or a liar because he doesn't know what death is. ~ Excerpt from Johnny Got His Gun by Dalton Trumbo

God sure is Mad!

God just sent Americans another message. If you even think about electing Barack Obama and not John McCain he'll kill Americans via a Hurricane.

You see obviously, the now 22,000 dead and rising in Myanmar from a cyclone is due to homosexual Sin, just as Hagee said, "I believe that the Hurricane Katrina was, in fact, the judgment of God against the city of New Orleans."

Listen to John Hagee from his NPR Fresh Air interview (it's at 23:03). "All hurricanes are acts of God because God controls the heavens. I believe that New Orleans had a level of sin that was offensive to God and they were recipients of the judgment of God for that."

I can see the bumper sticker now:
If you don't Vote for McCain
You'll Suffer A Hurricane

Now I know what you might be thinking! Why would God speak in Hurricanes? It's because he's a blowhard.

Oh... And ignore the 4 Marines killed in Anbar by an IED because the Surge has succeeded.

Bush here's your Court Martial for Missing Movement.

Soldiers can’t get home from Iraq. From the Army Times Article:

Vermont soldiers who have completed their tours of duty in Iraq cannot get home because of flight delays caused in part by the recent bankruptcy of ATA Airlines.

The soldiers, whose names the lawmakers did not disclose for privacy reasons, are stuck in Baghdad.

Ole Tipsy Canoe & Cheney, Too! had no problem getting the Troops into Iraq for his surge. Getting home? Well, that's their fucking problem. Once again the Bush Regime shows it's utter disdain for The Troops. The Troops are nothing less than Cogs in the Machinery of War.

The DC Drunk Commander Guy likes to jog around in his spiffy C-in-C duds, so here's something else you should get:

UCMJ X. Punitive Articles 877 87: Any person subject to this chapter who through neglect or design misses the movement of a ship, aircraft, or unit with which he is required in the course of duty to move shall be punished as a court-martial may direct.

Crisis of Credibility?

So, the Push continues. The Push to delude the American people about the Surge.

Lt. Col Lindsey Graham and Vice President Joe Lieberman have declared, "advocates of retreat" and "antiwar critics, meanwhile, face a crisis of credibility – having confidently predicted the failure of the surge, and been proven decidedly wrong." You can read the bios from Sourcewatch of Graham and Lieberman.

The utter ignorance of these cold-blooded chicken heartened Warmongering bastards is unbeliveable. They are willing to make the American people pay any price, they are willing to let American mothers and fathers sacrifice their children, they are willing to let the American people shoulder any burden, while they jet back and forth across the globe and sit on their pampered asses snidely pontificating to those who are against war, needless death, bloodshed and the theft of Trillions.

The surge is not a noun! It is a disgusting political euphemism to obscure from the American people the reality of what is happening in Iraq. The government continue to use thousands of American men and women as pawns in the transfer of Trillions of dollars to the MIC. By using collectivist, frankly Soviet style, lanagauge, Lieberman, Graham and other warmongers and chicken hawks in power deride the traitorous "advocates of retreat" while extolling the true heroes of the Homeland!

And of course these two push for the next chapter of the Occupation to be opened by claiming the "Iranians have American blood on their hands." Note the all inclusive Iranians and their, indicating I suppose every Iranian is guilty.

This is guerilla warfare. The enemy is not defeated by your stupid political rhetoric. The enemy has one goal: stay alive. As long as they can stay alive in the occupied area, THEY ARE WINNING. Each death of an American soldier is an extra added victory for them.

So, Mister Lieberman and Mister Graham while you were penning you little fantasy piece about decisive victory another 10 US soldiers have died. Why don't you go to the families of those who just died take your speech out of your suit coat pocket and stand in front of their mothers and read each word slowly so the gravity of the victory can sink in with them...

And maybe, just maybe, with you, too.

Update:
ThinkProgress has a nice critique on the Graham/Lieberman Propaganda piece.

The Surge! The Surge! The Surge!

Violence increases in 2007! The Surge is working!

Violence decreases in 2007! The Surge is working!

Violence increases in 2008! The Surge is working!

The Surge is working so well the increased US forces have to remain throughout 2008 and 2009. Bush lives in a fantasy world.

When the deaths of Iraqis and US service members increased in the summer of 2007. Bush trotted out of his intoxicated slumber and touted the increase as signs of success.

Violence decreased at the end of 2007, because the insurgents realized attempting to fight a modern military head-to-head is a surefire way to be annihilated. Bush managed to rouse himself out of his drunken stupor and declared Major Strategic Victory and proof the Surge had worked. Bush declared in the State of the Union with glassy eyed certainty, "Some may deny the surge is working, but among the terrorists there is no doubt."

Now violence is increasing again. Bush managed to grab hold to a podium to keep from swaying or failing over to declare the resurge in violence is a sure sign of the Surge's success! Crooks and Liars has the video of a clearly inebriated Bush Declaring Victory in Iraq.

Of course, Bush isn't left alone to declare Victory, several Warmongering Chicken Hawk professional talkers all wait anxiously by the phone for CNN, CSPAN, or the Wall Street Journal to call them up so they can spout off on how awesome and safe Iraq is, from the rugged confines of an American studio.

On 03/24/08, during Iraq: The Way Ahead at the American Enterprise Institute, Fred Kagan, Michael O'Hanlon and Ken Pollack trumpeted the Victory in Iraq.
"The first thing" Fred Kagan wanted to say is, "The Civil War in Iraq is over". Michael O'Hanlon stated Chicken Hawks who supported the Surge "did two things that I think would have made Vince Lombardi proud."

How is it this progress in Iraq is so neubulos that while it's "substantive, it is reversible". What happened to the analogies to struggles of World War II? Could the victories at Tarawa, Iwo Jima and Okinawa been couched in these terms? We're winning but we can't leave. The continued violence means success. It's insanity and the right-wingers are so blinded by their political aspirations and hatred for liberals they will allow more and more Americans to die and be maimed than look at the realities of what the Iraq has cost us and is costing us...

The Four Year Itch

Every 4 years or so the American people allow themselves to be duped into the belief their vote for President matters.

It's Election Insanity!

As Howard Zinn writes,

This seizes the country every four years because we have all been brought up to believe that voting is crucial in determining our destiny, that the most important act a citizen can engage in is to go to the polls and choose one of the two mediocrities who have already been chosen for us. It is a multiple choice test so narrow, so specious, that no self-respecting teacher would give it to students.

Well Dana Perino, with her bubbly "Like OMG, I am so a Valley Girl!" personality slipped up with a terse response to Helen Thomas.

Dana Perino: You had input. The American people have input every four years, and that’s the way our system is set up.

Bush was elected and Americans once you've chosen the President you need to shut up and take whatever he does right on the chin, let's leave aside that only 1/5th of Americans voted fro Bush in 2004. Every choice he makes is backed with the LEGITMACY of the DEMOCRATIC PROCESS;

Torture? Check, Bush won in 2004
Signing statements to ignore any law he doesn't like? Check, Bush won in 2004.
The Surge in Iraq in 2007? Check, Bush won in 2004.
And now forces to remain around 140,000 in Iraq throughout 2008? check, Bush won in 2004.
Enduring (not permanent) Bases in Iraq? Check, Bush won in 2004.
Government bailouts of Rampant money speculators? Check, Bush won in 2004.

And on and on and on....

The Argument from Authority has morphed from the Divine Right of Kings to the Divine Right of those Democratically elected. Dictators love elections. It coats their misdeeds in a thin panacea of righteousness. After all in October 2002, Saddam was re-elected with 100% of the vote.

So, I now have to rescind my previous indignation at Co-President Cheney's nuanced SO? and realzie he was elected , whatever he says goes...

VICTORY! YES!

I am proud to declare on my blog Super Duper Iraq Victory Day! 19 March 2008! (Oh and also 1 May 2003) shall go down in American history along with November 11, May 7 and 8, and August 15 and April 12. The war is over... Again.

I apologize for my ignorance at the victory which, as it turns out, was right around the corner. We have won in Iraq. Period.

In the soon to be immortalized words of The President Bush from his Victory Speech of 19 March, "The surge ... has opened the door to a major strategic victory in the broader war on terror," (emphasis mine). "No one would argue that this war has not come at a high cost in lives and treasure," Bush said. "But those costs are necessary when we consider the cost of a strategic victory for our enemies in Iraq." (Fortunately no one from the Imperial Bush family had to serve in Iraq)

We have stopped THEM from achieving a strategic victory in Iraq, ergo WE have acheived a strategic victory in Iraq!

And Cheney echoed Bush, "Think about what would have happened if Abraham Lincoln had paid attention to polls, if they had had polls during the Civil War. He never would have succeeded if he hadn't had a clear objective, a vision for where he wanted to go..."

Bush has succeeded in Iraq the same way Lincoln succeeded in the Civil War.

And when asked if he was certain of victory, Cheney replied, "I am."

I am literally crying for joy here a my keyboard. I can only hope those brave souls who have been fighting the Culture War here on the homefront have emerged unscathed by the slings and arrows of those Anti-War terrorist lovers. Sure the likes of Jason Mattera, Ben Ferguson, Matthew Continetti, Chris Vucovich or the other College Republican Chicken Hawks never had to face IEDs, Mortars, snipers or skin-lesions from contaminated water, but they did fight against the mothers of US soldiers here in the US.

And Gathering of Eagles, Melanie Morgan, Rush Limbaugh, Bill O'Reilly, Sean Hannity your tireless efforts and Support for the Mission ensured those serving in the Regular Army, National Guard, Active Reserves, THE CORPS, US Navy and Air Force ending up going 3 or 4 or even 5 times to Iraq showing your true dedication to the Troops! Because if there's one thing those serving in the military know it's your efforts had nothing to do with politics and everything to do for your care about the people spending years away from home.

Hell, the fact you never mention the thousands of veterans who have PTSD, suffer depression, attempt suicide, suffer at Walter Reed and attack anyone including anti-war veterans whom Rush calls "phony soldiers" who disagree with your political view points, never crosses their minds.

And if something were to happen in Iraq (like the continuing deaths of US service members or the revelation of the number of Iraqis killed) why all you patriotic americans can blame the "Moonbat" Anti-war Veterans just as Bush continues to Blame the Troops for not winning Iraq for him earlier.

Positive Battlefield News

“How could Democrats possibly hand McCain a better issue than to let him run on his record of advocating a robust U.S. presence in Iraq with all the positive battlefield news that is filtering out of that country?” asked Michael O’Hanlon.

From the Politico article, Support for war effort highest since 2006 by David Paul Kuhn.

O'Hanlon is, of course, one of the chief Chicken Hawks, who has been touting how well the Occupation has been going since the War began.

From a 09/28/2003 interview with NPR: "I think the counterinsurgency effort is going fairly well." Hey Mister O'Hanlon why don't you tell the families of the 3667 US killed, since your interview, how well the effort is going?

Glenn Greenwald has two excellent articles (here and here) collecting many of the Happy Happy Joy Joy We are Winning comments from O'Hanlon.

O'Hanlon has supported the War, the Occupation, The Surge and continuing the Surge all throughout.

3 US soldiers killed in a rocket attack? O'Hanlon would say: It's okay because the counterinsurgency effort is going well overall...

A 10 year old girl killed by US soldiers because of the Fog of War? Oh well, shrugs O'Hanlon, at least the counterinsurgency effort is going well overall...

And unfortunately, since the War is so removed from the eyes of America, we can allow ourselves to be coaxed into believing violence is down and the War in Iraq is going well overall...

Pay No Attention to the Carnage in Iraq

The ignorance or deceit by Bush and his rabid chicken hawk warmonger supporters about Iraq continues unabated.

In early 2007 when US and Iraqi deaths increased during the vaunted Surge, it was a sign of progress. Later when deaths tailed off because the insurgents went to ground to out wait the increased troop concentration it was hailed as even more progress.

Now Iraq is experiencing an increase in deaths and violence (only a troop hating anti-american terrorist would click any of these links) and the insurgents are adapting their techniques by using the mentally handicapped, to circumvent the identification of the stereotypical suicide bomber.

Of course, when you're funnelling 12 Billion dollars a month (Estimates are now 3 Trillion just for Iraq!) to the coffers of War profiteers, you need to keep lying.

America Doesn't Support the Troops

An' it's Tommy this, an' Tommy that, an' anything you please;
But Tommy ain't a bloomin' fool - you bet that Tommy sees! ~ Rudyard Kipling

If a loved one of yours isn't currently serving or hasn't been to Iraq or Afghanistan you really don't support the troops. Except perhaps in same nebulous way people support ending poverty or ending worldwide hunger. You'd like to as long as you're not burdened. And if Yellow Magnetic Stickers or care packages of Beef Jerky are your idea of support you really need to read about what is going on in Iraq and examine your conscience.

“Someone being sympathetic to this? I don't know if I'd be sympathetic if I wasn't in the army. After you watch this, you're gonna go get your popcorn out of the microwave and talk about what I said, and you'll forget me by the end of this.” ~SGT Beatty, Gunner Palace.

The latest incident involves Bill O'Reilly repeatedly insulting homeless veterans. To Bill, Veterans are homeless because they don't "work hard and keep it honest" like Bill.

Do you think the Government supports the troops?
When they lose 26 million veterans personal information?
When David S. Chu complains Veterans benefits are hurtful to national security?
When after Chu's comments the scandal at Walter Reed finally comes to the attention of the people?
When more and more emotionally scarred veterans are abandoned and left to take their own lives?

To the Government the troops are expendable, once you are used up advancing the National Interests you are to be discarded and forgotten. In fact for them it's better if you died gloriously on the battlefield. Then you could be enshrined and eulogized. Liars and Chickenhawks can place words like Honor, Bravery, and Duty on your dead lips. And if the Dead Hero, like Pat Tillman, doesn't agree with the Imperial ambitions of the Government and is against Wars of Conquests, why you can simply say like Hannity and Coulter, "I don't believe it".

But, of course, it gets worse. Many troops have reservations about the war but realize their situation. An endless stream of authority figures have instilled and ensured that the individual soldier knows he is powerless and if he opposes the War of Occupation: He'll:

be court-martialed,
be called a coward or traitor,
receive a dishonorable discharge,
be ridiculed back home,
be labeled as anti-American,
be called an anti-war pussy by some washed-up, has-been, pompous ass.

And if the soldier stands against the Government and says No Sir I won't go, he'll stand alone. After all who voted to send him there and who continues to vote to keep him there? Congressmen can’t be counted on because they have one priority, getting re-elected. And as John Bruhns stated on Huffington Post it has been "established that we have a bipartisan majority of Congress with a crystal clear intent to keep the U.S. military in Iraq..."

What does Supporting the Troops mean? I don't know.

Of course, I know the sinister reason the Warmongers use the Support the Troops mantra, to give cover to those whose actions are quite the opposite. Inadequate personal body armor, no rush to up-armored HMMWVs or even M113s, extending troops rotations in country and reducing time back stateside, the advancement and prosecutorial immunity gifted to Blackwater and Walter Reed should be enough evidence to prove the Government, War profiteers does not “support the troops”. But, in hiding behind the Troops and casting dispersions on the Anti-war position they gain the advantage. And it is an advantage they will never relinquish.

The Surge has worked so well everyone can come home.

Or Maybe Not...

The surge has been such a blinding success a freeze of the troop reduction is necessary and more troops may be in Iraq by the this time next year after Bush slimes his way into history. Of course, I may be wrong since no Americans or Iraqis are dying in Iraq anymore...

The last year has been a barrage of incessant chirping from Chicken Hawk Warmongers, like Robert Kagan, who declared the Surge worked before it started.

Of course, the latest tactic Bush has unveiled is the somewhat unsubtle claim if we leave Iraq, Iran will think Americans are pussies. Nothing like impugning the manhood of Americans in order to ensure they continue to support an occupation, which has freed a million Iraqis from the drudgery of their daily lives.

I feel like I've written this post before...

Surprises: Bush & The Surge & Weasel Words

Surprise, The Bush Regime used 935 falsehoods and lies to build up support among the American populace for the Iraq War.

And after the lies brought us into War the Bush Regime bullied everyone who questioned them over the past 5 years with "Give us Just another 6 month". Surprise, Petraeus is asking for... ANOTHER 6 MONTHS!

And now, surprise, the Bush Regime is planning on using weasel words to ensure the US is stuck in Iraq for generations, by sidestepping the word treaty in order to sidestep Congress.

Remember the weasel words concerning the fate of US bases in Iraq? Let's call them Enduring instead of Permanent. Surprise, enduring means permanent.

I don't know if the Surge has actually produced a fundamental paradigm shift in the 4GW battlefield of Iraq, the history of insurgent wars would tend to indicate the guerilla forces are laying low until the extra US troops go home and operations against American forces aren't as dangerous. At which time, the insurgents will step up their attacks once more.

What I do know is obscene amounts of money have been transferred to the Warmongers running this Government. If you're eagerly awaiting your $600 rebate the Warfare State has effectively deluded you into being happy with crumbs while it gobbles down BILLIONS daily.

Mission Accomplished 2... This time it's for real...

Lieberman and McCain have spoken, The Surge Worked. Mission Accomplished all over again.

And apparently America should believe Bush with his upbeat assessment of the Surge calling it "incredibly successful beyond anybody's expectations".

Well, after being treated to repeated claims of progress by Bush:

April 24, 2003: "And we're making progress. There's tangible, visible progress on the ground there in Iraq"

April 30, 2004: "We're making progress, you bet,"

May 24, 2004: "We're making progress. Yet there still is much work to do."

August 11, 2005: "And we're making progress training the Iraqis. Oh, I know it's hard for some Americans to see that progress, but we are making progress."

I could go on posting links to the Bush mantra of progress but The Eye of The Witch blog has already done an excellent job of documenting the White House press releases hailing progress.

Here is Keith Olbermann's Progress Retrospective from Countdown:


I'll wait to proclaim success when Americans aren't dying.

Why do Americans ignore the last 5 years of death, mayhem and destruction in Iraq?

Probably because Neocon Warmongers and Warfare State supporters, who predicted the Surge succeeded back in March or April before it began, Surge Results Visible by Charles Krauthammer. Surge's Success Going Unnoticed by William Kristol and others spend all their time bombarding Americans with the Progress and Mission Accomplished meme.

Remove Brain. Wash Brain. Reinsert. Repeat as needed.

The Surge occurred to save Bush from the prospect of having to pull troops out under his presidency. Now, he'll be able to keep troops in Iraq until he slinks his way out of the White House and down onto his ranch in Crawford or Paraguay.

And if the next President is so foolish as to try and limit the amount of money being made by the peddlers of death and lobbyists of destruction he (or she) will find themselves the subject of brutal and non-stop "You lost Iraq" attacks until the uninformed populace believes...

This means they can come home now, right?

Al-Qaida in Iraq 75 percent destroyed.

Oh, but Gen Petraeus states the gains are, "tenous... and could be reversed".

And so the cycle of almost success continues. The cycle of just another six months and We're makin' progress which will keep us in Iraq for... 50 years?

Operation Everyones Al Qaeda

The propaganda continues unabatted from the Bush Regime. Everyone in Iraq is a Member of Al Qaeda.

But, don't worry because the Surge is working and Al Qaeda in Iraq is being isolated and destroyed.

Except AQI are still a danger and we need to stay...

But, rest assured, "We're kicking ass."

Of course, Al Qaeda in Iraq is nothing more than the latest smoke-screen/boogeyman used by the Bush Regime to keep forces in Iraq. Even my old boss Corps Commandant James Jones admitted 98% of the violence in Iraq is done by Iraqis.

In the end it doesn't really matter, Bush is merely attempting to keep the clock ticking. I await the already infamous PETRAEUS REPORT in a few days, which Bush will use to bludgeon the nation into keeping 150,000+ troops in Iraq until he is safely ensconced in his retirement castle doing his daily power hours.

The "Surge" isn't working but it doesn't matter.

Because we aren't leaving Iraq, ever.

The blitz is on, to convince you some way anyway the Surge is working and we are "winning" in Iraq. Winning is, of course, left as nebulous as ever by the Bush Regime.

But, that won't stop the War proponents from claiming, after some have spent as much as a whole week themselves in Iraq, the tide has turned. Bill Kristol is the latest. When he was asked if the Surge was working, "Yes. No one there thinks it’s not..."

Really, Bill? By all of the measure ables; violence is up, security is down, the infrastructure is in shambles, the political situation is as dysfunctional as ever, things don't seem to have improved. But I guess saying it is makes it so.

However, from time to time the Generals on the ground slip up and reveal, no matter what happens with the Surge, the US isn't leaving Iraq anytime soon.

General David Petraeus, "We're going to be engaged in Iraq for some foreseeable future." And "I don't know whether this will be decades, but the average counter insurgency is somewhere around a nine or a 10 year endeavour."

The Top Marine Corps General, Commandant James Conway, The U.S. military needs more time in Iraq than the American public is willing to invest and that difference is "troubling."

General Raymond Odierno endorses a 50 year+ model ala the US presence in South Korea.

All this back and forth over the Surge is a game of 3 Card Monte, with the true goal being the swindling of billions from the American people.

Chapter 3 : Offensive Strategy

To subdue the enemy without fighting is the supreme excellence.

Thus, what is of supreme importance in war is to attack the enemy's strategy. Next best is to disrupt his alliances by diplomacy. The next best is to attack his army. And the worst policy is to attack cities. Sun Tzu.

So, due to the intractable "bravery" of the Mighty War Leader, the US is using the 2 worst strategies and Al Qaeda is employing the 2 best.

WE WILL STAY THE COURSE.