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And yet another definition of Victory in Iraq...

WH Briefing:

MR. SNOW: You don't define victory as keeping troops there. Victory is defeating al Qaeda

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BaScOmBe's picture

coward and liar!

Eamon's picture

victory is killing a few al Qaeda and inciting many more thousand to join their ranks

m's picture

Victory seems to be just maitaining a defiant position no matter what.

Dr. Matt's picture

If "victory is defeating al Qaeda", then how come we are in Iraq and not fighting AQ?

Orwell's Illegitimate Son's picture

Victory is allowing the villainous inhuman scum that controls the world to kill and maim as many people as it can forever and ever, Amen.

trixr4kids's picture

Thanks for the clarification Tony....

Zio-Sheep's picture

Good thing AQ got uniforms and t-shirts so the "bushies" can identify them...

Liberal AND Proud's picture

Endless War.

Zio-Sheep's picture

SNOW: - We figure it'll take about 20 years and your entire life savings X 1000!...

vbg's picture

Snow said:

"Al Qaeda continues to be the chief organizer of mayhem within Iraq, the chief organization for killing innocent Iraqis. About 80 to 90 percent of suicide attacks in Iraq are conducted by foreign-born al Qaeda terrorists. And as many as 70 percent of those foreign-born terrorists make their way into Iraq through Syria."

Does he have a source for that? Does anyone know if he has a credible source for those stats, or was he just pulling them out of his ass and the press corps didn't challenge them?

Homer4prez's picture

If al Qaeda is there because we are... then if we leave they will leave or be forced out by the Iraqies...

right on!'s picture

Hey Tony! Blah, blah, blah... lying all the time... yadda yadda yadda. Nobody's listening, Tony... You're a redundant meaningless liar.

Orwell's Illegitimate Son's picture

Liberal and Proud.

We all know that War is Peace, right?

Dr. Acula's picture

"The enemy is al qaeda". AQ in Iraq is NOT the AQ who attacked us 9/11. Fuck you, Snow. Fuck you, press corpse.

L.A. Confidential's picture

SNOW: James Bond will get Osama soon or later.

PNAAC Minister's picture

I thought we defeated them back in Afghanistan!?!

Oh, that's right - we only TALKED about defeating them.

Los Populistos's picture

warner wants us out..kinda

Gayle's picture

And as many as 70 percent of those foreign-born terrorists make their way into Iraq through Syria.

Each month al Qaeda lures 60 to 80 terrorists into Iraq.

From Saudi Arabia please note!!!

I LOOOVE Helen!!!!

Helen.

Q You're initiating this new press room in the strangest way. You deny an exodus of the power brokers in your own Republican Party. You have contributed --

MR. SNOW: I have what?

Q You deny an exodus.

MR. SNOW: Oh, okay. I was asked about two senators, Senator Snowe and Senator Smith --

Q You deny -- you shade what they're saying, and so forth. It may make you happy, but it's not true. You're also acting like the resistance in Iraq is al Qaeda and wholly al Qaeda. People fight for their country. We brought in the al Qaeda by attacking them.

MR. SNOW: Are you telling me that the mass graves that have recently been found were created by patriotic-minded Iraqis --

Q I'm telling you that we brought them in, they were not there before. Even the President said that. So let's get real. Also, you keep speaking for the American people, who are saying exactly opposite of what you're saying.

MR. SNOW: Okay. Helen, thank you very much, and let me -- if I forget any of the points, please remind me as I proceed.

Q You're welcome.

MR. SNOW: No, she raised a series of points, and I want to respond to them. Number one, on the so-called exodus of power brokers: Gordon Smith and Olympia Snowe have long made clear their opposition to the way forward and they've been skeptics of what's going on. That is not a new position. The people who Terry mentioned today are not new in their opposition. The conversation -- we continue to have conversations --

Q You don't think that any of these people are bowing out?

MR. SNOW: Some of these people have already bowed out, in terms of supporting the administration on this. On the other hand, when you say I speak for the American people -- the American people don't want this war to go on, and neither do we. But on the other hand --

Q No one says so -- but the polls show they want out.

MR. SNOW: Well, polls also say they want to hear from the generals what they have to say.

Q I've never heard of any polls that say that.

MR. SNOW: Well, look at the USA Today/Gallup poll, which, despite 51 percent Democrats in the poll sample, indicated that 55 percent of the American people said they want to hear -- I'm just -- I'm telling you, Helen, it was in the paper three days ago, right there.

Q The generals are not running this country.

MR. SNOW: Okay, but the generals are, in fact, conducting military operations, and I thought that was -- finally, when it comes to the Iraqi people, when you have 90 percent of the vivid acts of violence being created by outsiders, I think it is safe to say that those outsiders represent --

Q Who brought them in?

MR. SNOW: They brought themselves in. They saw what they thought was an opportunity to destroy --

Q After we attacked and invaded?

MR. SNOW: We're back to our normal colloquy. Let me get around and I'll get back to you, Jim. There are a lot of people I haven't gotten through to.

L.A. Confidential's picture

The neocons are not only idiots, they are evil. They show a complete disdain for peace, a callous disregard for human life, and utter contempt for the rule of law. If that ain't evil, the devil had better retire.

rend's picture

Victory is something kids shout when they play King Of The Mountain. It is probably the only time in ones life when one personally experiences it as well. Defeat being a way more likely possibility.

These men are children.

There is an excellent piece on "victory" at Oxford University Press.

Bush Bites's picture

To bad Bush can't accomplish that either.

Keep setting the bar lower, Tony, and you'll eventually come up with a benchmark Bush can hit.

Eamon's picture

11 : "If al Qaeda is there because we are… then if we leave they will leave or be forced out by the Iraqies…"

You still haven't got it, have you? If we leave they will follow us home. How have you not realised that already? No wonder the president is frustrated.

EnricoFermi's picture

"It does not matter whether the war is actually happening, and, since no decisive victory is possible, it does
not matter whether the war is going well or badly. All that is needed is that a state of war should exist. " - 1984

Bush Bites's picture

So, "Democratizing the Middle East" is no longer the goal?

Gee, and it seemed so realistic........

Orwell's Illegitimate Son's picture

Eamon @22.

And you know this, how?

Dr. Matt's picture

Eamon @ 22:

You still haven't got it, have you? If we leave they will follow us home. How have you not realised that already? No wonder the president is frustrated.

How? Are they going to hide in the wheel wells of our C5s, C141s, and C130s?

Strawberry's picture

Eamon @ 22:

11 : "If al Qaeda is there because we are… then if we leave they will leave or be forced out by the Iraqies…"

You still haven't got it, have you? If we leave they will follow us home. How have you not realised that already? No wonder the president is frustrated.

Well, I hope to shit Bush seals those open borders then....oh wait.

Orwell's Illegitimate Son's picture

Eamon.

Just like we're going to find the WMD "in the area north, south, east and west of Baghdad", to paraphrase our former SecDef?

Boy, you are gullible.

uncle wally's picture

I never understood the "terrorists will follow us home" argument, since both attacks on the world trade centers occured prior to knocking over Saddam. They actually invited themselves over, kind of crashed a party if you will.

Eamon's picture

25 : I have a direct line to Osama.

26: Yes, that is exactly it. It seems so audacious that no one would even consider to check the wheels.

I am obviously playing parodying a la Colbert just in case anyone's sarcasm detectors are malfunctioning.

Strawberry's picture

Will someone please tell me why I still watch Chimpy's press conferences?

Cowboy Bob from Austin's picture

God knows WE BETTER WIN SOMETHING in Iraq... or the Bushies won't have anything to crow about in the Bush Presidential Library.

Oh, wait a minute... NOBODY here in Texas WANTS a Bush Presidential Library!

I have to say, though, that Tony Snow is the best god-damned presidential SNAKE-OIL-SALESMAN we've seen in a long time. Gotta give W some credit for that... he sure knows how to keep a good LIAR 'N CHEAT standing in front of him!

Spock's picture

Spin it baby!!!

Dr. Matt's picture

Eamon @ 30:

25 : I have a direct line to Osama.

26: Yes, that is exactly it. It seems so audacious that no one would even consider to check the wheels.

I am obviously playing parodying a la Colbert just in case anyone's sarcasm detectors are malfunctioning.

:-D

Eamon's picture

I have tried this tack before in comments. People don't seem to get that I'm being sarcastic so maybe that's not a litmus of your astuteness but an indictment of the retarded republican trolls and 30%ers.

Orwell's Illegitimate Son's picture

Sorry, Eamon, for not getting your Colbert-esque routine. I don't do comedy when it comes to this stuff anymore. That wore out shortly after the 2004 selection ended.

Dahgrostab'ph-r-i's picture

I thought victory was finding the weapons of mass distruction...oh, no wait victory is removing Saddam from power...oh, no wait victory is when they hold elections...oh, no wait victory is when AMERICAN IMPEACHES THE ENTIRE BUSH CRIME FAMILY...everything else equals defeat!

StirFry's picture

Semen@22 must be kidding. If not, man you dumb.

Dave's picture

The truth is Victory comes when Halliburton and all the other contractors are finished with their job and the oil is flowing. Evidently there are more contractors than troops there, so why doesn't ANYBODY (including anyone who posts on this blog!) talk about them??

Strawberry's picture

Eamon @ 30:

25 : I have a direct line to Osama.

26: Yes, that is exactly it. It seems so audacious that no one would even consider to check the wheels.

I am obviously playing parodying a la Colbert just in case anyone's sarcasm detectors are malfunctioning.

You're Irish aren't you? Yeah, Americans just aren't one the same level as far as sarcasm goes compared to our Gaelic cousins.

StirFry's picture

i knew it. I've done that. its hard to write that type of shit. Just think , some do it and really mean it.

Strawberry's picture

Ugh. Bush is slurring worse than ever. It sounds like steam escaping.

Samson-'s picture

MR. SNOW: You don’t define victory as keeping troops there. Victory is defeating al Qaeda

well, call me crazy, but tony snow has just endorsed pulling our troops out of iraq.

why?

b/c AQ is in pakistan, not iraq.

AQ in iraq is in iraq, not al qaeda proper. tony needs to be more careful in his lies misinformation message

Doggiebobo's picture

Tony snow-job is beyond description. I was shocked that our new Iraq plan
has "been in effect for only 2 weeks"...Yep, that is what that lieing SOB said
to the Capital Press Corp...and NOT ONE OF THEM CHALLENGED that bold-faced
lie.

BillD's picture

Why do reporters even BOTHER wasting their time attending the "Snowjob White House Briefing"? They all know by now that all they are going to get fantasy stories. They all should simply just boycott the briefing until such a time as the White House decides it will let "Snowjob" brief on believeable information and not fairytales and bedtime stories about how "wonderful" everything is going under the Bush administration. In other words, eliminate the White House Briefing altogether.

Eamon's picture

Strawberry @ 40

Yeah, I'm Irish. Thanks for the info. Been reading for a few months, only recently started to look at and post comments thanks to my extremely cushy summer job. I shall postscript any future attempts at irony!

Dr. Matt's picture

Eamon @ 46:

Strawberry @ 40

Yeah, I'm Irish. Thanks for the info. Been reading for a few months, only recently started to look at and post comments thanks to my extremely cushy summer job. I shall postscript any future attempts at irony!

I figured your original post was sarcastic because it was so sad and pathetic....but, I was also thinking that there are still many reich-wingers that really ARE that sad and pathetic to post those exact comments. Nonetheless, you get an A+ for your reich-wing impression. Congrats.

Jack Damage's picture

Sometimes I just really hate stating the obvious.. But.. 'on the other hand' yadda yadda... Tony Snow redefining bullshit or attempting to, doesn't change anything, not even 1 iota.. It's still all.. just more bullshit..... From the minds of the people who gave us all these wonderful things we see happening in the world today from fractured and nearly obliterated cultures in some cases, to the cratoring political systems we are all enduring, to everything else in between, plus all the really secret underhanded shit we won't know about for 50 to 60 years or ever if some get their way... Need I spell it or them out... Nah, I don't think so..... JD

marbotty's picture

If this is the measure for victory, then this has been one of the largest military blunders in the history of warfare.

Of course, that's true under any victory condition given by the WH.

Doggiebobo's picture

Cowboy Bob from Austin @ 32:

God knows WE BETTER WIN SOMETHING in Iraq... or the Bushies won't have anything to crow about in the Bush Presidential Library.

Oh, wait a minute... NOBODY here in Texas WANTS a Bush Presidential Library!

I have to say, though, that Tony Snow is the best god-damned presidential SNAKE-OIL-SALESMAN we've seen in a long time. Gotta give W some credit for that... he sure knows how to keep a good LIAR 'N CHEAT standing in front of him!

Bob: Also give Ailes and R. Murdoch some credit, for snow-job got his
education(telling lies) from working for them at Faux Noise.
As to bush-lites's Presidental Library....If the Baptist in Waco don't agree to
having his trash pile in their local, then I've heard that it may be established
in Pittsburg, Kentucky; next door to the Creation Museum...where diansours(like
bush) co-existed with man/woman and in fact were together on Noah's Ark ONLY
6,000 years ago.

PNAAC Minister's picture

uncle wally @ 29:

I never understood the "terrorists will follow us home" argument, since both attacks on the world trade centers occured prior to knocking over Saddam. They actually invited themselves over, kind of crashed a party if you will.

Well, I think we actually did kind of invite them over. Then we ignored them as they sat in the living room, feeding their faces and drinking everything in sight (to push the analogy a little too far). The amount of AQ intel that was ignored by this administration is astounding (site monitor: I'm really not trying to provide a launch point for the conspiracy theorists among us!).

Gort's picture

“Victory is defeating al Qaeda”
I wish the White House would just define al Qaeda! Since 9/11, al Qaeda has gone from a finite number of followers of Osama bin Laden – a guy hiding in the mountains of Afghanistan, issuing instructions through his cell phone - to an infinite number of persons of the persuasion that anything Western is wrong. How the hell do you have a final victory against this gaseous enemy?

Farmer's picture

Who will do the signing for al Qaeda at the surrender signing party?

jr's picture

Tony has a hernia from moving the goalposts every day

Dr. Acula's picture

Doggiebobo -- "the surge has only been in effect for 2 weeks" is the new reichwing talking point. Nevermind that it began in JANUARY. Those few thousand final troops who just arrived will make ALL the difference.

FYI

For an insightful analysis of Iraqi politics, check out Counterspin's interview of journalist Bob Dreyfus.

It sheds light on the media's mimicking of the White House narrative and utter lack of understanding of the situation in Iraq.

Gort @ 52:

“Victory is defeating al Qaeda”
[...] How the hell do you have a final victory against this gaseous enemy?

You mean, they're now hanging out at Chipotle's all over the U.S. gobbling down one bean burrito after another...?

Eamon's picture

jr @ 54:

Tony has a hernia from moving the goalposts every day

I love it!!

Doggiebobo's picture

Dr. Acula @ 55:

Doggiebobo -- "the surge has only been in effect for 2 weeks" is the new reichwing talking point. Nevermind that it began in JANUARY. Those few thousand final troops who just arrived will make ALL the difference.

Ain't it the truth !!! But, again to be redundant, repeatitive and to say again..
"Why in the hell doesn't the Capital Press Corp. ask a follow-up question and
MAKE Snow-job clarify his total, complete, inaccurate statement(s). Rethoritical Question.

labdad95's picture

The last name of Kristol could be a clue to this man's insanity.

Dr. Acula's picture

It's Kristol clear that the man is an asshole of the first order!

Janet's picture

So Snowjob is saying 90% percent of the crap going on in Iraq is from al Qaeda? Where does Tony get his facts?

MR. SNOW: Well, polls also say they want to hear from the generals what they have to say.

Q I’ve never heard of any polls that say that.

I haven't heard that either. Why is the press letting these liars get away with their conflicting statements? Give the surge time to work, it's only been 2 weeks, or the surge is working? Can't have it both ways.

Liberal AND Proud's picture

Gayle @ 18:

And as many as 70 percent of those foreign-born terrorists make their way into Iraq through Syria.

Each month al Qaeda lures 60 to 80 terrorists into Iraq.

From Saudi Arabia please note!!!

I LOOOVE Helen!!!!

Helen Thomas is an absolute national treasure.

Helen.

Q You're initiating this new press room in the strangest way. You deny an exodus of the power brokers in your own Republican Party. You have contributed --

MR. SNOW: I have what?

Q You deny an exodus.

MR. SNOW: Oh, okay. I was asked about two senators, Senator Snowe and Senator Smith --

Q You deny -- you shade what they're saying, and so forth. It may make you happy, but it's not true. You're also acting like the resistance in Iraq is al Qaeda and wholly al Qaeda. People fight for their country. We brought in the al Qaeda by attacking them.

MR. SNOW: Are you telling me that the mass graves that have recently been found were created by patriotic-minded Iraqis --

Q I'm telling you that we brought them in, they were not there before. Even the President said that. So let's get real. Also, you keep speaking for the American people, who are saying exactly opposite of what you're saying.

MR. SNOW: Okay. Helen, thank you very much, and let me -- if I forget any of the points, please remind me as I proceed.

Q You're welcome.

MR. SNOW: No, she raised a series of points, and I want to respond to them. Number one, on the so-called exodus of power brokers: Gordon Smith and Olympia Snowe have long made clear their opposition to the way forward and they've been skeptics of what's going on. That is not a new position. The people who Terry mentioned today are not new in their opposition. The conversation -- we continue to have conversations --

Q You don't think that any of these people are bowing out?

MR. SNOW: Some of these people have already bowed out, in terms of supporting the administration on this. On the other hand, when you say I speak for the American people -- the American people don't want this war to go on, and neither do we. But on the other hand --

Q No one says so -- but the polls show they want out.

MR. SNOW: Well, polls also say they want to hear from the generals what they have to say.

Q I've never heard of any polls that say that.

MR. SNOW: Well, look at the USA Today/Gallup poll, which, despite 51 percent Democrats in the poll sample, indicated that 55 percent of the American people said they want to hear -- I'm just -- I'm telling you, Helen, it was in the paper three days ago, right there.

Q The generals are not running this country.

MR. SNOW: Okay, but the generals are, in fact, conducting military operations, and I thought that was -- finally, when it comes to the Iraqi people, when you have 90 percent of the vivid acts of violence being created by outsiders, I think it is safe to say that those outsiders represent --

Q Who brought them in?

MR. SNOW: They brought themselves in. They saw what they thought was an opportunity to destroy --

Q After we attacked and invaded?

MR. SNOW: We're back to our normal colloquy. Let me get around and I'll get back to you, Jim. There are a lot of people I haven't gotten through to.

bbk's picture

"Victory is not pulling troops out of Iraq, victory is when I pull my head out of my ass"

Anon's picture

Snow: "Victory is defeating al Qaeda."

Why did we not focus on Victory in Afghanistan before our action in Iraq attracted "the forces of defeat" to Iraq?

"Victory" isn't the assertion of victory, but defeat of the enemy. The US is emboldening the opposition. This is like Hitler's mindless winter drive into Moscow in WWII: At the worst time, with insufficient equipment, and against a better equipped inspired by the Siberian troops who were better prepared than the Germans to fight in the cold.

bamboozled's picture

Snow: “Victory is defeating al Qaeda."

That's akin to saying "Victory is defeating poverty." Or "Victory is defeating unwanted pregnancies."

Only instead of putting our tax money toward problems that will never be completely solved THAT MATTER, they're putting our tax money toward a problem that will never be solved THAT DOESN'T EXIST.

"al Qaeda" is the boogeyman.

So long as there is terrorism, which has existed from the dawn of man, there will be an "al Qaeda."

When will someone call them on this bullshit?

"When the last al Qaeda surrenders..."

Bullshit.

Motorhead Vette '67's picture

Al Qaeda was defeated at Tora Bora. Why are they still hanging around?

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