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September 04, 2008

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a new order reference in re the 'new wave of terrorists'? power, corruption and lies, indeed.

(like Saddam, only Shiitier!)

I tip my hat to you sir.

After 20-something Palin threads, I feel obliged to comment here. Even if it is just to say – nah, you’re wrong. ;)

Your post lacks adequate bluster regarding Iran, which is the transcendent issue of our time, my friend.

Heh.

My guess is that all of this stays on low heat until after November. Which means that we're in for a few more months of McCain declaring victory and Obama tiptoeing around whatever position it is he has about the surge.
It's a shame, because having spent all of this blood and treasure to establish yet another authoritarian regime (pretty much the inevitable endgame now, I think) has been such a total disaster, and yet it's basically taboo to say so on the political stage.

Heh

links to insty, observing that "WITH VIOLENCE, AND AN IRRETRIEVABLY CORRUPT POLITICAL LEADERSHIP, I think we should just pull out of Chicago: "Nearly 125 Shot Dead In Chicago Over Summer. Total Is About Double The Death Toll In Iraq.""

Only, Insty forgot about the Iraqi armed forces and civilians- guess they don't count. (Of course, Im surprised that he counts ghetto blacks, but anything for the cause, however painful it might be).

"Only, Insty forgot about the Iraqi armed forces and civilians- guess they don't count"

They never do. It's always only about Americans.

Meanwhile, what Bob Woodward is reported to report here isn't in the least surprising, but it's nice to see the prominent story:

The Bush administration has conducted an extensive spying operation on Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, his staff and others in the Iraqi government, according to a new book by Bob Woodward.

"We know everything he says," according to one of multiple sources Woodward, a Washington Post assistant managing editor, cites about the practice in "The War Within: A Secret White House History, 2006-2008," scheduled for release Monday.

The book also says that the U.S. troop "surge" of 2007, in which President Bush sent nearly 30,000 additional U.S. combat forces and support troops to Iraq, was not the primary factor behind the steep drop in violence there during the past 16 months.

Also interesting:
[...] The discord between Bush and Casey is one manifestation of an often-debilitating rift that Woodward portrays between the U.S. military and its civilian leadership. The book describes a "near revolt" in late 2006 by the Joint Chiefs of Staff, who felt that their advice was not reaching the president. Adm. Michael Mullen, then chief of naval operations, expressed fear that the military would "take the fall" for a failure in Iraq. According to the book, Casey and Abizaid resolutely opposed the large surge that the president ultimately ordered, as did Rumsfeld. Casey went so far as to refer to Baghdad as a "troop sump."
And:
[...] Bush chose Rumsfeld's replacement, Robert M. Gates, without consulting Vice President Cheney, Rumsfeld's chief patron, the book reports.

I have to disagree with Drew. I don't actually find tired puns on the similarity between the word Shi'ite and the word shit very funny. Maybe you can make some really funny jokes about someone named Gopu next. Those always bring down the house.

Also, if you'd skipped that little witticism, I might have actually read past that point. My loss, I'm sure.

Bush chose Rumsfeld's replacement, Robert M. Gates, without consulting Vice President Cheney, Rumsfeld's chief patron, the book reports.

You coulda knocked me over with a feather.

Wait, does Chicago have a population of 25 million? I know that Insty and many other Republicans are functionally innumerate, but this is stupid even for them.

Also, if you'd skipped that little witticism, I might have actually read past that point. My loss, I'm sure.

No Charles, the loss is all mine. Or should I say, "ours." Certainly you would have been a very productive, insightful and witty contributor to the discussion here. But that one pun I threw in ruined it. For all of us.

To the greater ObWi community, I apologize.

Only, Insty forgot about the Iraqi armed forces and civilians- guess they don't count

Here's the thing: they didn't even count all the American combat deaths.

90 US soldiers were killed in Iraq in June, July and August. The Insty article lists 125 Chicago fatalaties. How is that "About Double The Death Toll In Iraq"?

Further, the Insty article started tracking fatalaties from late May, so it's likely that the 90 death toll for the same period is actually higher than 90.

And 2 coalition soldiers were killed during that span.

If anyone's wondering, there were approximately 1,200 Iraqi civilian and security forces fatalaties during that span.

Safer than Chicago!!!!

I meant to say:

"Further, the Insty article started tracking fatalaties from late May, so it's likely that the US death toll for the same period is actually higher than 90"

Excuse me, but doesn't the refusal of the current Iraqi government to negotiate any agreement, other than an agreement for a withdrawal of US troops, render a lot of this irrelevant?

Yes and no. We still have 150,000 troops in country.

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