Tag: David Petraeus

Categories
Politics Politics Feature

MAD AS HELL: “…But to Do and Die.”

Bush has bought himself another year in Iraq. Mission
accomplished — again! Barring a miracle (doubtful) or impeachment proceedings
(inconceivable), our brave troops are guaranteed to be stuck in Iraq for the
next 16 months. Kick the can on down the road.

The buildup to this Crocker/Petraeus dog-and-pony show
has been coming for months, and arrived on the Hill like a big whoopee
cushion. General David Petraeus, Bush’s new poodle, threw out some stats,
flipped a few charts, and pointed to tables indicating the so-called surge is
working. Surge splurge. This rigged report, contradicted by a host of recent
independent reports, was total poppycock and to quote the immortal words of
Bob Dole, “You know it, I know it, and the American people know it.”

Petraeus, like the other cast members in this show, tried
to stick to script. There were a few shockers, however, when the general was
forced to extemporize.

Petraeus made the claim that the surge of 30,000
additional troops is working to improve the security of Iraq. However, he also
announced that the same number of troops will soon be leaving Iraq. If Iraq
is so safe as the result of the 30,000 troops, why would we suddenly
jeopardize the nation’s safety by pulling them out? It was a simple question
the general tap-danced around and, like the other lies Bush and his lackeys
have told, this boner brazenly defies all logic. It reminds us of their
continuing whopper that Saddam Hussein had something to do with 9/11.

When Senator John Warner astutely asked the most
important question in the hearings, “Is the strategy this administration laid
out making us safer?”(a Howard Baker moment), Petraeus squirmed like a greased
pig until blurting out, “I don’t know.” Petraeus then volunteered stutteringly,
that in fact, he just could not say for sure if we are safer or not as a
result of being in Iraq. Imagine that! Almost a trillion dollars, over 3,500
casualties, and five years into a war – a war he is supposedly leading, this
general does not know if being there has made us any safer. Not one to suffer
fools, Warner’s insightful question led the general to admit, however
indirectly, that the entire war policy of this president has been a failure.
It was deja vu, as we suffered another “heck of a job, Brownie” moment.

The other revelation that should get everyone’s focus off
Britney Spears is the news that, as General Petraeus later strongly implied in
a news interview, it would soon be necessary to obtain authorization to take
action against Iran within its own borders, rather than just inside Iraq.
This is a confirmation of several reports made chiefly this year by the New
Yorker’s Seymour Hirsch claiming we currently are, and have been, fighting
a proxy war with Iran within the borders of Iraq. Bush, lacking any clear
record of achievement in Iraq, is now wanting to drop bombs on Iran.

Let’s be clear about what is happening right before our
eyes: our government, of the people, by the people, and for the people is openly
stating, by way of its highest general, that it is of no consequence to this
administration whether the people of the United States or the people of Iraq
obtain their desire to stop this occupation. After years of being told that if
we fight them over there, we won’t have to fight them over here, we learn, by
the military’s reluctant admission, that we are no safer over here for having
invaded Iraq over there. Unfortunately, only a brave few in either the congress
or military have mustered the grit to call this form of governance and military
aggression by its real name—–tyranny.

General David Petraeus, ever the good soldier, has followed
the orders of his commander in chief. He seems to have adopted, literally, the
words of the poem “Charge of the Light Brigade” by Lord Tennyson:

Not tho’ the
soldier knew

Someone had
blunder’d,

Their’s not to make
reply

Their’s not to
reason why,

Their’s but to do
and die.

Categories
Editorial Opinion

Progress Report

Last week, comedian and satirist Bill Maher said, “The surge is working — not the actual surge, but the phrase ‘the surge is working’ is working.”

It would be hard to come up with a more succinct summation of our current Iraq contretemps than Maher’s. The Government Accounting Office’s Iraq report, commissioned by Congress, stated that the Iraqi government has failed to meet 15 of the 18 benchmarks set out by the military and the Bush administration to indicate progress in Iraq.

But, as this administration has done since the very beginning of this ill-fated Iraq debacle, when one set of stated goals isn’t met, it simply moves the goalposts. Six months ago, we were told the goal of the surge was to allow the Iraqi government to make political progress. They were to meet the aforementioned 18 benchmarks.

Oops. No political progress occurred. Just the opposite, in fact, unless you consider meeting three of 18 benchmarks sufficient progress. So now we’re being told that the goal of the surge is to provide increased security for the Iraqi people. Meanwhile, certain administration insiders and some of its supporters in Congress are calling for the ouster of Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki. He was the man the people of Iraq voted into office via parliament during the much ballyhooed elections awhile back. Purple fingers, remember?

Ah, but here’s the rub: Iraq is majority Shiite and so is Iran. So when the U.S. took out Saddam and instituted democracy in Iraq, we created a potential ally for Iran. Who could have anticipated such a result? In our opinion, Maliki would be well-advised not to take out any long-term magazine subscriptions. And Iran? Well, let’s just say Vice President Dick Cheney wants to attack sooner than later, and President Bush has called Iran’s Revolutionary Guards a “terrorist threat.”

In the midst of all this, General David Petraeus is supposed to provide another progress report later this month. It is widely assumed that since the report will also serve as a de facto summation of his own efforts in Iraq, Petraeus will give himself — and the surge — high marks.

This five-year game of “whack-a-mole” would be funny in its ineptitude if it weren’t so tragic. How many times do the American people have to hear the phrase “six more months” before they realize it’s a shell game? It reminds us of the big sign on the patio wall at Neil’s in Midtown: “Free Beer Tomorrow.” And, of course, the sign says the same thing tomorrow — and the next day and the next. The joke is there ain’t no free beer.

The administration’s tactics seem ever more clearly to be an elaborate stall, the goal of which is merely to keep as many troops as possible in Iraq for as long as possible. “Six more months.” “The surge is working.” “Support the troops.” “We can’t cut and run.” Pick your poison, and these guys have tried it.

And now, shortly before Petraeus’ report is due, the president makes a “surprise” visit to Iraq. And, surprise! The surge is working.

Why are we not surprised?

Categories
News

After 10 Hours In Iraq, Sens. Corker And Alexander See “Clear Success”

Returning from a trip to Iraq, Republican Tennessee Senators Lamar Alexander and Bob Corker “gave an upbeat report on progress in Iraq” to reporters this morning.

Alexander said a strategy devised by General Petraeus to work with local leaders and win them over to the U.S. cause has shown “clear success, province by province.”

“They are fed up with random murders of their children” by al-Qaida terrorists, he said.

“There are probably seven provinces where enough progress has been made to involve Iraqis in their own security,” claimed Alexander during the call with reporters.

Unmentioned in press accounts of Alexander and Corker’s trip, however, is the fact that they only spent half a day on the ground in Iraq.

Read more on the senators’ “fact-finding” tour at ThinkProgress.com.

www.thinkprogress.org