Iraq'd
A suicide truck bomber blasted a Shiite town north of Baghdad on Saturday, killing more than 100 people, police said, in a sign Sunni insurgents are pulling away from a U.S. offensive around the capital to attack where security is thinner.
The marketplace devastation underlined a hard reality in Iraq: There are not enough forces to protect everywhere. U.S. troops, already increased by 28,000 this year, are focused on bringing calm to Baghdad, while the Iraqi military and police remain overstretched and undertrained.
The top U.S. commander in Iraq, Gen. David Petraeus, told The Associated Press he expected Sunni extremists to try to "pull off a variety of sensational attacks and grab the headlines to create a `mini-Tet.'"
He was referring to the 1968 Viet Cong and North Vietnamese Tet offensive that undermined public support for the Vietnam War in the United States.
But hey, take heart. Lindsey Graham wants you to know the surge is working "beyond his expectations." Wonder if the Iraqis would agree with that assessment.
I suppose if you're expectations are *REALLY* low then....
Didn't the Sunnis just get a bunch of weapons from us recently? Is this how they are going to use them, to blow up women shopping for food?
Why don't you give equal time to the good things that are happening in Iraq?
Hey didn't the U.S government recently announce it was going to be giving arms to the Sunnis because they promised to go after only Al Quieda? Yeah, that surge sure is working out great. In fact, maybe it's time for John McManiac and Lieberman to go to Baghdad for another shopping trip.
These are the signs I put up yesterday:
http://freewayblogger.blogspot.com/2007/07/todays-signs.html
bob @ 3:
so, what's happening lately that would be considered good, bob?
The rest of the Graham quote:
"“We literally have the enemy on the run. The Sunni part of Iraq has really rejected al-Qaida all over the country. We’re getting more information about al-Qaida operations than we’ve ever received.”
On the run? If he means that they're runnin' to the areas that we've left undefended, then, yeah, they're on the run.
IIRC, it was 19th century baseball player Wee Willie Keeler, who, when asked the secret to his hittin' prowess answered, "I hit 'em where they ain't."
It's beyond pathetic. The fucktard-in-chief, you know -- the Deciderer, Commander Guy, Chimperor is STILL spewing the same empty rhetoric after all these years.
WHAT will it take to get him and the sneer out of office and bring our troops home??!!!!!!!!!!!
Face it -- the longer our troops remain in harm's way the worse it will be for them.
And Busholini here's an FYI -- the "terrists" just want their country back. They're not going to "follow us back here" you fucking MORON. I think they all KNOW WHERE THE UNITED STATES IS!!!!!!!!!!!!!
bob @ 3:
Ummm... well... hey! Iraq had weather again today!
There are reports that the monetary cost for this Iraq disaster are near $12 billion a month. We are going to go bankrupt very shortly if we don't stop this insanity.
Amazing how the terrorists groups and the Republicans are on the same page when it comes to the future of our government; both want the government destroyed.
bob @ 3:
Ya know, bob, when my local public school district asks fer a millage increase, it usually involves a few bucks a year in additional taxes. The folks in my town don't really love the idea of shellin' out a Franklin fer our public schools.
I just wonder how the people of Iraq feel about a levy of 600,000 dead and millions of displaced refugees. Kinda steep, if ya ask me. Hell, I wouldn't vote fer it.
bob @ 3:
If you know of any, post them.
"on the run" or "they got away"? Sounds like ‘when the enemy advances, you retreat. And when they retreat, you attack’ tactics.
graham had that low of expectations and still supported the surge? - wow!
Bob, are you joking? Are you really serious?
Do people who say things like this really exist?
Try living in a country with ten years of sanctions with your children dying of things that simple antibiotics would cure, try doing that after your country was shelled like crazy and lots of men killed. THEN after that, try having your country demonised, your people demonised, your country bombed and strafed... try doing that and then get back to us with the good news you find to report.
On top of that, try having your countries valuable resources plundered, not just now, but for decades, while your people scramble for a small percentage of things that people in America take for granted.
Breaking News:
Scott Stanzel identified as George W Bush and Victor Ashe's love child.
Source close to the President's ass told CandL:
"Oh, yes, after a furious weekend of bum blasting in the Smokies, W awoke one night in Ashe's cabin complaining of a massive pain in the ass. Scott leaped from between W's ass cheeks. W shouted, 'How'd a woodchuck get up my ass!?' but Victor recognized Scott as a 'shit baby' that can be a result of parthogenesis in the asshole of male lovers. They named him after the paper towels they used to clean the place up. "
Lynda from Australia @ 15:
Introducing: The 30%.
The Irrepressible Falcon of the Adirondacks @ 16:
Kina the converse of Athena springin' from the head of Zeus, huh?
Hey, guys, I think Bob at 3 is being a little sarcastic. He's taken the words right out of the mouths of the Bushes. You know, that Laura thing about how the press always focuses on the one little bombing a day and ignores all the good stuff happening.
I call him General Betray-Us...
General Petraeus is concerned that more attacks by the resistance fighters will result in a "mini Tet." Petraeus is referring to the Tet Offensive, a military drive launched by the North Vietnamese and Viet Cong forces which ended up being a Pyrrhic victory for the United States. It also demonstrated to the people back in the United States the horrible cost that that war was inflicting and ended up being a tipping point, causing many to side against the war, including many of those in the U.S. military itself [ as evidence, see the documentary Sir! No Sir! to see how many in the military ended up turnng against the war]. The last thing the U.S. military wishes to have happen is for anyone to engage in any kind of self-introspection by seeing that the Iraqis are fighting for their homeland by trying fervently to eject the invader, i.e. the United States, from their soil.
Hey Betray Us!
Quick! Run down there and get them!
Whoops, now there back in Baghdad! Quick, go back to Baghdad to get them!
Uh oh, now they're in Anbar. Run! Quick! You'll surely get them this time!
Uh oh....missed again!
The death of every single person, man, woman and child, in this occupation lays at the feet of Bush and Cheney and the goons now clustered in the White House like vampires, sucking the lifeblood out of Iraq. And all for oil.
bob @ 3:
You're right.
McCain and Lieberman say you can get great deals on rugs now.
(Though the cost of the military escort sort of overwhelms any savings.)
How about Petraeus' "mini-Tet" analogy?
Perhaps the General fergot that, in the wake of Tet, Walter Cronkite came out on the air with these remarks(on 2/28/68):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i214f5-w19w
A coupla weeks later(3/12/68), Gene McCarthy won 42% of the primary vote in New Hampshire. On March 31, 1968, Lyndon Johnson said this: "I shall not seek, and I will not accept the nomination of my party for another term as your President".
Thanks fer the reminder, General.
Anyone seen bob?
I'll bet his pc crashed. ;)
Petraeus is right. These suiciders are sitting around the conference table, smoking a dube, saying - How can we grab some headlines?
But, of course, I'm just kiddin'. Yer right.
It only hurts when they laugh.
Perhaps Iraq should take this whole thing more seriously.
Wait, Petraeus said Sunni extremists will pull off spectacular attacks a la Tet offensive, we just recently gave Sunnis weapons and ammunition as stated by a commenter up thread, and Bush keeps spouting how Al Queda is fighting there so we won't have to fight them here, but they show up in England, Iran is covertly fighting us by funding Al Sadr, Saudi Arabia is funding the...Sunnis...? yeah, right the Sunnis...ya know this would be easier for Bush and Co. could get their 'bad guys' straight.
Jo @ 23:
They couldn't care less.
Strawberry @ 29:
And our only friends in Iraq- the Kurds- are bein' threatened by our ally, Turkey.
(Sarcasm Alert)
Geez, I never saw that comin'.
For those of you bashing Petraeus, please note he doesn't say Al Queda is planning the attacks, but Sunni extremists. Military men can't speak out against the CIC. This is about as close as he can come to dissing the pres. You need to read between the lines when listening to SOME military folks.
Hey Bob here is one for you
http://www.iraqslogger.com/index.php/post/3398/The_Baghdad_Death_Map
Iraqis Offer Their Own Security Assessment of Baghdad Neighborhoods
AndyK, I heard a quick blip on Turkey actually invading Northern Iraq to go after the PKK but when I went back to do some further reading POOF the story was gone.
[...] House Link to Article iraq Iraq’d » Posted at Crooks and Liars on Saturday, July 07, 2007 [ [...]
This was the real goal for the neo-criminals in Iraq. Saddam wouldn't go along with their plans to rape their country, so after failing to remove him, they decided to just hit the reset button. After about twenty years of chaos, after millions more people have died, there will be a new dictator in Iraq. Maybe he will go along with their plans for stealing Iraqi oil, maybe he'll let Chevron and Exxon and all the rest take what they want so nobody else gets hurt. Maybe the new Saddam will be content with his tiny slice of pie instead of controlling everything.
When will this administration be held accountable for all killings???? I want them behind bars. I am mad and getting more every day! All Repubs senators that were vocals for this Iraqi war should be throw out office. All the turncoats are coming out because they now know they might loose if they do not come out against bush. Get them all out of office, too late guys. You were in power and did nothing.
We can deal with the Democrats after. It is about time to put limit of the time you can serve in each office. The only thing they seem to agree is to vote is on their salaries.
My house taxes when up again by 8%. And some are more than 10% in my town and the increases are every 2 years. When you think that the average increase for most people is about between 1.5 to 3% if you are lucky!
I want bush out of office tomorrow before he can harm our world more that he has done before. He is an idiot! I saw on C-span a historian who agreed with me! He did mention that Nixon was nothing compare with this little man. This one is the worst.
Who agree with me!
Strawberry @ 34:
Yeah, I heard it, too.
That's the kinda news not even the majority of Stupor Mundi's supporters could handle, no matter how much ya spin it.
I'm pretty sure that Turkey's not in Kurdish territory in force, but ya can bet yer ass they have a presence there. Definitely intelligence ops. I'd be surprised if the Turks aren't testin' the borders on a nightly basis.
Kirkuk's not so far from the Turkish border, and that area is full of oil.
I have been waiting for a reply from Bob. I guess if you can't stand the heat, get out of the kitchen. Bob got out.
http://myfightfordemocracy.blogspot.com/2007/07/new-declaration-of-indep...
I have to wonder Andy, if the violence occurring in Northern Iraq lately is Turkey, not insurgents, God damn. What the frig does it take to get real questions answered, get on a plane and get them ourselves...I swear, how do I go about becoming a foreign correspondent. I'm not kidding here folks, where do I send a resume? This is screwed.
Okay, wait a sec.....first we were told at the start of this sad mess that comparisons to Vietnam are both irrelevant and irresponsible. No connection, no comparison.....so they said. Now, we get the good General (Bush's) 'Pet' telling us the insurgents are using Viet-cong tactics. So,.....still no comparison? *whew!* Not only are the White House whores not able to get their by-lines straight but now the military is following suit! We're in seriously deep shit here folks.
NYT - U.S. Aborted Raid on Qaeda Chiefs in Pakistan in ’05
-- we can only fight them so as to keep profits manageable.
We're going to be in Iraq for years. Democrat or Republican. In what scenario can you envision a pullout of all of our troops from a country we've spent hundreds of billions of dollars to occupy? Our embassy takes up hundreds of acres. We have enormous and permanent military bases there. There is oil underneath that sand and we aren't leaving without it. Is this right? Absolutely not. It's morally and ethically wrong. But Hillary has said that some troops will "need" to be left behind to ensure order and she has the Democratic nomination at this point. And what serious Republican candidate is even talking about withdrawing our troops?
Iraq is doomed because of its oil and our obsession with its oil will be our Achilles heel. That, and our blind and unquestioning support of Israel.
eom
gene214 @ 4:
We could put FOR SALE sign on each of them.
Would anybody buy them?
Can you possibly come up with a more demeaning headline than Iraq'd for a story like this???
Lindsay Graham is a true believer in two lost causes: John McCain's candidacy and the war in Iraq. So still hoping to be McCain's running mate, he had to accompany him and have lunch in Rimadi: http://ajliebling.blogspot.com/2007/07/lindsey-graham-soldiers-on.html
yahoo!
Key Breakthrough, Long, Detailed New York Times Editorial Calls for Rapid Withdrawal from Iraq: "It is time for the United States to leave Iraq, without any more delay than the Pentagon needs to organize an orderly exit....President Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney have used demagoguery and fear to quell Americans’ demands for an end to this war. They say withdrawing will create bloodshed and chaos and encourage terrorists. Actually, all of that has already happened — the result of this unnecessary invasion and the incompetent management of this war." Take a Deep Breath. Maybe, Just Maybe, We are Crossing Back Through the Looking Glass. [buzzflash]
Editorial
The Road Home
Published: July 8, 2007
It is time for the United States to leave Iraq, without any more delay than the Pentagon needs to organize an orderly exit.
joe! @ 45:
what is so demeaning: the use of Iraq as a verb?
Sensing a Shift, Reid Will Press for an Iraq Exit
By CARL HULSE and JEFF ZELENY
Published: July 8, 2007
WASHINGTON, July 7 — Democratic voters are not the only ones bitter over their party’s failure to use new Congressional power to force a withdrawal of troops from Iraq. Senator Harry Reid, the occasionally obstreperous Democratic leader, is upset as well. [more...]
Bush continues his policies of death and Islamic hornet's nest molesting while the truely elected president has the whole world singing in harmony for a worthy cause. Oh, the ironity.
The few Bush\Cheney bumper sticker clad vehicles that can still be found should be used for RPG practice.
of course gordon and brooks still work for the times and they have been importing wingnut temp editorialists for a while.
and there is no historical precedent to indicate that hairy reed is doing more than his usual pontificating. I mean, they STILL have LIEberman on some committees. thus there is no proof that dems have a spine or the capability to grow one.
Gayle @ 33:
Holy Joe!
That's considered safe? That's hell on earth.
Excuse me, but didn't Mr. Bush say Iraq was better now that Saddam was gone? Looks to me like more people, Americans and Iraqis, are dead because of this senseless war. But hey what do I know? I'm just a pesky Democrat who twice didn't vote for the Chimperor...
Gore/Obama/Anyone but Bush '08
#47-Bascombe
That is major news. The Olympian, the newspaper in Olympia, the capital of Washington state, came out with a similar proclamation a few days ago. The hope is that this will release the floodgates for more newspapers across the country to do the same thing, urging the United States to recognize that it is folly to remain in Iraq as an occupying force and to bring about a groundswell of opinion among the grassroots that the U.S. should leave Iraq as quickly and as rapidly as possible. Support the troops-bring them home safely-now.
joe! @ 45:
It's what soldiers call it when you get killed in Iraq. I hate it too, but that's the way things are over there. Iraq'd.
Blaed @ 6:
My attempt at sarcasm was clearly lost on you.
Andy K @ 26:
Bush Bites @ 24:
Sorry, I spent the day with my kids...not monitoring this board. In the future, I'll make my sarcastic comments more blatant as to equal the ridiculousness of the current administration and its handling of everything it touches.
bob @ 57:
sorry about that bob :)
bob @ 58:
I thought ya was one of them hit & run trolls. Nice to know I was mistaken.
Try tackin' on a ;) next time, wouldjya?
Andy K @ 60:
;)
Guerilla warfare 101.
American occupiers begin well-annouced "surge" into insurgent territory and meet slight resistance.
Insurgents, instead of facing the "surge," shift operations to another area where occupiers are weak, and execute signifigant stikes at a time when the occupying force thinks it is prevailing.
Didn't Petraus and his guys learn anything in West Point or Vietnam?
Didn't Petraus and his guys learn anything in West Point or Vietnam?
Imagine you have two choices:
a) Go to a place like West Point, where you get a piss poor education, get to take shit every single day for at least one decade, and make minimum wage in the process.
or
b) Go to a top university, get a top education, get a high paying job or make your own business, and make a decent living... or at least have the potential to do so.
Hum, wonder what decision the best and brightest make when faced with this dilemma.
Then again, they point was never to win the war... but to fight a war. Which are not the same. In fact, the better the insurgency does... the better American defence contractors do as they have an excuse to get more funding to help fighting the increasing insurgency. So what is the motivation of the American industrial-military complex for ending this joke of a war? NONE.
At the end of the day, military suppliers make money from dropping bombs. Since they are liable to their shareholders, this means that they have to ensure that the bombs keep on falling. Their allegiance it is not with the American people's interests... but with the financial interests of their shareholders. This is quite an fascinating situation.... American taxpayers have to pay for a product that has no positive applications, not only that but the corporations producing the product have pledged allegiance only to their share holders due to the nature of a chartered corporation. Significant amounts of these shareholders pay little or no taxes... This is in deed the ultimate inverse Robin Hood effect; I always get a kick when some GOP blowhard comes foaming from their mouths whenever it comes to discuss social welfare. Yet, these assholes are sifoning the public coffers over to a select few which give us a product with no positive side effects. A bomb by its mere definition is a waste of money -it has only one single purpose: explode. A social programme in contrast, at least may help some poor sap get a hot meal, obtain an education that will make him/her a complete person, help a community deal with natural disasters, have better infrastructure, healthcare, you name it.
Fascinating how the backers of the so-called "culture of life" don't want to see their taxes going to anything remotely related with providing a better life for someone in need, yet they have no problem wasting other people's tax dollars on things whose only purpose is destroy that "precious" life the claim to love so much. Yet the average American is blissfully unaware of all this and keeps on working 3 jobs to barely make enough money to survive while subsidizing the people who forced him to work 3 jobs to begin with. Americans are not dumb, they are morons... and yes I am generalizing. But at this point, there is little point in giving any more benefit of the doubt to the common American. 7+ years of this shite have made most people around the world aware of where Americans stand...... I am sure that the average Joe comprehends the consequences of pissing on 5+ billion other people.
What a sweet man! Petraeus is comparing Iraq to Vietnam so we don't have to.
Terrible, just terrible tragedy. 100 people dead in Bush's war of blood. I don't know who's crazier, the Islamic extremists who do this or the neocon lunatics who let these wars go on.
So sad. There will be a special place in hell for Cheney and Bush when they meet their makers. If hell even exists.
Lynda from Australia @ 15:
Thank you. Well said. Yes Lynda people like this really exist. Here in the states we have a host of right wing talking heads Like Rush Limbaugh and Ann Culter who are paid good money to tell the likes of Bob to support the president no matter what, and that the good news is there but noone is reporting it. You see it's not enough for our soldiers to risk their lives for this BS expedition, they now want reporters to risk their lives to get to the good news that's as you pointed out is in short supply. I submit if a reporter leaves his or her hotel or a soldier without getting kidnapped is about as good of news you can expect.
bob @ 57:
Sorry Bob :-)
Oops. Was Bob just kidding? I didn't read that far down before I just had to respond. Well, my comment stands, just substitute Bob for Bush's Only Buddies, or 'BOB' :-)
My friend is now in Iraq. He just got there and there is no shortage of getting shot at and near misses :-( .
I hope Lindsey Graham doesn't think that we are suppose to support this surge and the risk of our boys and girls' lives as well as civilian loss of lives so that he can get carpet on the cheap. Talk about reaching!
Lindsey Graham wants you to know the surge is working “beyond his expectations.“
Just how low were his expectations???
Bombings like this are designed togarner media attention away from the positive things happening in Iraq. The people who did this bombing did so to increase the pressure for American withdrawal. It is getting better over there. Much different from when I was over there 14 months ago. Still bad, but much better if you can imagine.
Given enough time we can bring the violence down and stabilize the security forces and the Iraqi governmet then get the hell out.
Smack_dab @ 36:
Without being too callous, I like to think that by the time Iraq settles down to the point where some Chevron or Exxon can come riding in on a white horse and revitalize their oil economy with their former expertise, oil itself will no longer be a valuable commodity on the world market having been rapidly replaced by sugar or corn ethanol or biodiesel or a hundred other converging replacement technologies. And that those companies' assets have been seized and their corporate officers and board members jailed for various stripes of extortionary actions and war profiteering.
It's not that I hope that this all turns out to be a colossal waste of human life and money. That unfortunately has already occurred. It's that I sincerely hope that the worthless sons-of-bitches who are pursuing this awful, selfish goal end up having the worth of it snatched out from between their fat, sweaty little hands, leaving them quivering, useless, and vulnerable. I hope in other words that it blows the fuck up in their faces and destroys them. It's the least of what they deserve. I hope that there is just a little bit of justice in this universe.
62 MeMyselfAndI Says:
Didn’t Petraus and his guys learn anything in West Point or Vietnam?
Imagine you have two choices: Go to a place like West Point, where you get a piss poor education, get to take shit every single day for at least one decade, and make minimum wage in the process.
---------------
My father volunteered and served in Vietnam before he went to Harvard and my grandfather served in WWII before becoming a surgeon. It is called service and duty to country you moron. You've been listening to John Kerry a little to much. To all liberals think like this?
I can hear freedom ringing.
Wait, that's only my ears.
JohnnyBravo @ 67:
Praise Bob!
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