freecounterpoint: Iraq 'success' possible, US says

Tuesday, October 24, 2006

Iraq 'success' possible, US says

The brass is coming to the rescue of the GOP.

A hilarious line: Gen Casey said that although the situation was "hard", Iraq was not "awash in sectarian violence".
Sure thing, man.

15 comments:

Mr roT said...: Up to this point the guy was right. You would think 'awash' you would mean generally distributed, but in fact it was (to 2005) concentrated in the area of Baghdad and to the southeast.
What is awash is us in news coverage mounting for the election. It was wonderful to hear NPR say that violence in Iraq is 'the highest in approximately two years" without ever mentioning that it curtailed after the election.
Talk about being willfully manipulated by the jihadis.; 10/24/2006 4:57 PM
Tecumseh said...: Fourth estate=Fifth column? Looks like that, especially in the feeding frenzies that occur like clockwork every other October -- well, of course, unless Billy Boy or someone like that is in charge.; 10/24/2006 7:08 PM
Tecumseh said...: As Taranto says in today's column:

"What inflames the Arab street is not American strength but the perception of American irresoluteness." The jihadis in Iraq are stepping up the violence in the hope that that irresoluteness will express itself at the ballot box two weeks hence, making retreat inevitable. It seems undeniable that this would, as Gerecht says, "fan the flames of jihadism"--the flames that consumed some 3,000 Americans, most of them across the street from where we are writing this, just over five years ago.

Laments, regrets and recriminations about Iraq are a dangerous indulgence. What America needs is to show some backbone.

Is there a word for backbone in the pinko-lefty jargon?; 10/24/2006 7:23 PM
The Darkroom said...: ah, the exhalting macho rhetoric. rha-rha-rha, we're number one, resolve, stay the course (oops, not that anymore), backbone! But backbone without a strategy isn't going to take them anywhere.; 10/24/2006 8:25 PM
The Darkroom said...: It was wonderful to hear NPR say that violence in Iraq is 'the highest in approximately two years" without ever mentioning that it curtailed after the election
Your point is that it is possible, if you dig enough and squint real hard, to find an angle whereby this whole mess is slightly less than total disaster and why doesn't npr present this perspective ? isn't that the role of the fair and balanced media ? to broadcast the positive outcomes of the war ? I wonder how much more traction they're going to get out of zarky's death...; 10/24/2006 8:31 PM
Arelcao Akleos said...: Agreed backbone without "a strategy", or, better, "action without clear intent}, is useless. But, forgive me for the astonishment,, since when was Pepe for the Vertebrates? Alas, I really must make use of Pepe.doc on my desktop. Had hoped not to....but Revisionists and Their Running Dogs make for prey on FCP.; 10/24/2006 8:56 PM
The Darkroom said...: since when was Pepe for the Vertebrates
If what you mean by vertebrates are those that advocate continuing the useless and endless massacre, I am not. just pointing out the absurdity in the statement.

Alas, I really must make use of Pepe.doc on my desktop.
oh, my. should i be shaking in me booties?; 10/24/2006 10:09 PM
Arelcao Akleos said...: No, by Vertebrates one doesn't mean Pancho Villa heehaing it on Texas rubes, one means making the decision that if one is going to fight a war, then one is going to fight to win it. Not that Pepe speak would find that an inconvenient truth. Now go back to mulling over what exactly is "backbone" in war to an instinctive capitulationist.; 10/24/2006 10:35 PM
Mr roT said...: Please put that .doc away. Much more interesting to kill fresh bad ideas than stale bad ideas.; 10/24/2006 11:59 PM
Mr roT said...: As to Pepe's thing about squinting to find a positive way of looking at things, that's not at all what I intend.
I think it is clear what happened during the Tet offensive and the news media ought to learn from history and deduce that to repeat their error will cost as many lives of innocents this time as last time.; 10/25/2006 12:02 AM
Tecumseh said...: Noble sentiment, JJ, but are you sure it's a correct analysis? More precisely, why do you think the media made an "error" in 1968 with the Tet offensive. I thinki that, by and large, they knew precisely what they were doing -- stabbing Uncle Sam in the guts, just for the hell of it. And they will do that, again, again, and again, with no regrets or remorse, but with sheer joy. That's their idea of having backbone.; 10/25/2006 4:25 AM
Mr roT said...: I can't believe they want a boat people and reeducation camp redux.; 10/25/2006 6:19 AM
The Darkroom said...: I am amazed at the implication that, in times of war, the media ought to morph itself into a propaganda tool for the military and that the propagation of bad news is seen as aiding the enemy.

Of all people, I didn't think you are those that miss the pravda most.; 10/25/2006 8:45 AM
Mr roT said...: Who said that? It should morph itself into something objective when the stakes are high and millions of people's lives hang in the balance. Seems fair.; 10/25/2006 3:28 PM
The Darkroom said...: It is objective!; 10/26/2006 8:38 AM