Prebuttal to Petraeus: The Surge has Failed
By John Amato Tuesday Apr 01, 2008 12:41pm
h/t Open Left and Matt Stoller for sending this over:
Here's Tom Andrews, of Win Without War. It's a pretty comprehensive view of the war, the fighting, and the domestic politics of the surge.
General Odom will be saying this to Congress when he testifies: "Not only has the surge failed to meet its objectives, its actually set things back."
And don't forget to check out "A Responsible Plan to end the War in Iraq" Let me know what you think about it.
Login or Register to post comments.
Tom Andrews can say the surge has failed, but he must NEVER rhyme Petraeus with "betray us." THAT would be a REAL war crime...
Well according to Con logic this must be good because we'll have to just dig in over there and keep the merry cycle spinning.
The Iraqi government forces are nothing without the Badr brigade propping them up.
And us of course.
how many in the shia militias?
how many sunni's?-i know at least 80,000 sunni's
who would ever step between these ???
as mr. lawrence said only a fool or a dictator could rule iraq, well at least with bush we have both
The real question should be what is working in Iraq.....besides mortuaries.
Just imagine...
There will be MORE troops in Iraq on Inauguration day 2009 then there were on election day in 2006 when the Democratic Party took control of the House and equal control of the Senate.
REALITY!
The "Responsible Plan..." is well thought out and a good start. I signed it.
Sounds like we should not call him "Betray-us", rather it clearly is "Betrayed-us".
Winter Soldier has prooven some Vets do have integrity. Being a vet myself I know the good ones outnumber the villians. We can still bring our country back together if we could just impeach Bush and Cheny and Pelosi and for Karl and Rummy they need to get the same acid treatment they dished out to children.
The Decider has decided not to listen to the generals. The Decider decides if the surge is working and the Decider has decided it has. End of discussion.
Mr. Andrews seriously needs some training on public speaking. He doesn't pace himself, and he uses "uh" too much.
But wait! The corporate media have been reporting, in lockstep, the cult phrase
"Teh surge (R) is working!!!!1" So it must be true. I heard it on the TVs!
Teh surge is a registered trademark of The Decider Media Corporation. All rights reserved. Unauthorized users will be tortured.
The only thing successful about the "surge" is the way the media picked up the term "surge" and ran with it like spoon-fed toddlers.
It was and is an escalation of occupying troops. Nothing more.
We should get out of Iraq immediately and leave Iraq to the Iraqis. Period.
The surge has been successful at sinking our country further into debt and raising fuel prices and sinking our economy.
goat hussein sage @ 14:
Yep. A "surge" is, by its nature, a short-lived phenomenon. We should now be discussing how well the OCCUPATION is going.
Another Bad Sign in Iraq: Top-Rated Program is ‘Welcome Back Sadr’
http://satiricalpolitical.com/?p=1681
Nonsense.
The "Surge" did exactly what it was intended to do: Undercut the pressure which had built in 2006 with the Democratic victory in Congress and the elite "Iraq Study Group Report" to change the administration's 'Occupy Forever' policy.
The "Surge" involved the military, both on the ground in Iraq and as a propaganda front against Congress, Democrats, and the media, but it was not mainly a "change in strategy" or all the other nonsense Petraeus claimed.
It was a domestic propaganda operation, and it succeeded brilliantly, with almost zero Democrats having the guts to resist its lure.
102.5 billion dollars more to be flushed down the Iraqi shithole.
Americans are retarded to vote for people who waste money like this.
Please waste more of my taxes so I can go without decent healthcare and risk my life every time I cross a bridge in this country. And don't forget to export my job overseas and replace it with a shitty mcjob.
And you wonder why the world laughs at us and calls us stupid Americans?
Odom will speak and if it actually gets any wings with the MSM, someone will trot out Brittney Spears who will then flash her cootch and then all the press will be all over that.
"as mr. lawrence said only a fool or a dictator could rule iraq, well at least with bush we have both..."
I would say 'mr. lawrence' [sic] is well impeached, no?
As Bush is both and Iraq remains un-ruled...
Perhaps after the elction he can go to Iraq (I am sure they would welcome him with flowers!!!) and rule it DIRECTLY!!
I'd pitch in for the airline ticket!!
Someone needs to tell my old friend Tom Andrews that when he does this sort of video standup (and a good one) he needs to do it in front of a darker background with better lighting. Having that bright white background is incredibly distracting, all he needed to do was swap places with the camera and have that light on his face. It may seem like a small thing but we need to get this sort of stuff right.
I'm really glad to see this sort of pushback happening and I'd love to see us also beginning to point out that bush is basically feeding our military into a shredder and justifying it by saying we have to honor all the previous troops he's fed into the shredder by feeding in more.
the surge is just like the iraq war and certain types of deregulation.
how so, you ask?
they all promised to do something and all have not only failed miserably, that have left things worse off. They have achieved exactly what they were supposed to prevent. one step forward and 2 kilometers back.
the surge: promised that by injecting more troops into iraq it would create conditions suitable for political stability. the result? shi'a civil war, with iran as the deal maker.
deregulation: was sold to the public as a way to get govt out of the market and then the market would do its magick, leaving us better off. the result? subprime fiasco, rolling blackouts, lead in our toys, etc., etc., etc.
and the iraq war: was sold (see, telling lies) to the public as a way to fight the war on "terrorism." the result? increased terrorism, increased ranks of terror orgs, america more isolated, more despised and less trusted.
many more examples can be provided, if need be.
so, next time some rightwing wackjob professes the efficacy of something pretend it is opposite day and do the inverse of what they say.
Wouldn't it be something if Betrayus stood up and said: I'm not lying for these weasels anymore, this is a meatgrinder and only a fool would waste one more life on this shithole.
The surge has failed if you look at the stated goals for it; the surge has been INCREDIBLY successful when you look at the real reason it was done: to shut the democratic opposition up and move the end date of this war past the election.
"20 McCain the Liar Says: 102.5 billion dollars more to be flushed down the Iraqi shithole.
Americans are retarded to vote for people who waste money like this.
Please waste more of my taxes so I can go without decent healthcare and risk my life every time I cross a bridge in this country. And don’t forget to export my job overseas and replace it with a shitty mcjob.
And you wonder why the world laughs at us and calls us stupid Americans?"
Yeah, don't be concerned with the dead and dieing, the lives destroyed...
I think this is why the calls your mind set stupid - It is not the money for them.
But the death, distruction and GRAFT that the 102 billion represents is CRIMINAL.
How can Congress continue to fund this crime??
I thought it was all dem controlled and stuff??
ABout 20%, or maybe more will end up DIRECTLY in the hands of HALIBERTON, KBR, BLACKWATER et all...
Opps, military contractors profits are a little higher - Say 40% of that money will become profit for the WARCORPERATIONS...
If hanging SADAM was the 'right' thing to do what would be....? (edited by JA)
Neocon mantra....Sung to the old pop tune, world without love..mid sixties brit invasion tune....
ahem...
please ship them away..
so they can count the days.
I don't care, where they'll stay
in this Iraq mess...
I don't what they say
I won't play in a world without war......
Snarky... but oddly enough, still with a ring of truthiness... They don't care.. They will send all our sons and daughters to fight, bleed, be maimed, die for their hubris and ego... To make them money. Maybe we ought to be listening to those Iraqi locals more closely if nothing else.. Most of them just aren't that crazy about us traisping all over their country shooting the place up... I guess they're just funny that way...
Yea, yea, I know, in many many instances we are only defending ourselves from guerrilla warfare attacks...Cowardly remote control bomb attacks at that..Though some would call that supremely smart strategizin.... But on the other hand.. IF we weren't there in the first place.....IF Bush hadn't fucked up royally??? Who'd get shot up... Maybe noone, maybe some locals engaged in tribal civil war.. But it wouldn't be our sons and daughters.... Someone from Canada intoned on some thread yeaterday that we broke it, we need to fix it... I submit, that, at this point, maybe the best way to fix it, is to get the hell out of the way and let someone with a clue have a crack at it.. Or maybe just let the Iraqies alone so maybe they can fix it themselves.. It is their nation after all... And their oil too...
Ohh, did I just veer into verboten subjectland??? Look, I'm just trying to be a bit snarky because I am tired of bitching all the time about this shit George Bush caused and saddled everyone with.. If I start talking about what I really think what I'd really like to do??? Well, that would be verboten and the site monitor would have to up and spank me... So, I won't go there today.................JD
Just how has the surge been a failure? Oil is at $100 a barrel and Exxon's quarterly profits are still in the billions. Immensely profitable, no-bid defense contracts are still coming down the pipe. Sounds like a success to me.
The Bush Administration: forever promising one thing to the public, and capable of only delivering its exact opposite.
I like how the comments are all concerned with debating 'if the serge worked or not' it helps distract from the fact that the war had no basis.
The war is a lie.
The war is a crime.
The war is a (another) shamfull stain on our shining little hegemonic hilltop city.
We need regime change here at home.
We need an offensive to SAVE what shred of a NATION still exists.
Cary @ 8:
GMFB. There's no plan at all. It's a mere mission statement with zero on implementation. It's worse than nothing because it claims to be a plan when it isn't.
Why did the videographer stand him in front of a window? Backlighting like that is something usually reserved for those times when you don't want the subjects face shown, as when a disgruntled employee reports his company's lawbreaking practices. Hint: one can make perfectly servicable "video lights" out of cheap ass work lights from Costco or Sears or wherever.
http://www.lowes.com/lowes/lkn?action=productDetail&productId=246911-527...
I told you he would Betrayus.
I was talking to some guy on the bus, who works where I do, who was so enthused about the return of the status quo in Basra, and kept insisting it was historic!
33 Paul In SF Says: Why did the videographer stand him in front of a window? Backlighting like that is something usually reserved for those times when you don’t want the subjects face shown, as when a disgruntled employee reports his company’s lawbreaking practices. Hint: one can make perfectly servicable “video lights” out of cheap ass work lights from Costco or Sears or wherever.
Not Walmart?
First it's, "The United Staes will not negotiate with terr'ists." Now we're paying terr'ists to lay down their weapons?
Is Blackwater helping to foot the bill?
Maybe Blackwater should expand. Maybe Wal-Mart employees should join in securing Iraq. C'mon Javier and Helen the cashier: Grab a gun and your Wal-Mart vest and let's go!
Shade Tail @ 12:
However, no where near as much as the president!
ysbaddaden @ 36:
Wouldn't you agree that it's the substance that counts?
jack damage @ 28:
Jack, for some more original lyrics with original music, you might want to check out Wackiavelli.
In other news : General Odom is expected to announce his "retirement" soon........
The surge was bound to fail from the beginning....
Simply because Bush made a big boo-boo in invading a country with too few troops and then suspending hostilities without informing the Iraqi Army (insurgency)...
While repeating the mistake Saddam Hussein made (trying to run a war without affecting civilians).....
And with no
excusejustification whatsoever.The 'surge' should be taken in this context....it's the 'foot' that kicks the occupation past the election, and it IS working.
28 jack damage
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fCKHdetNBxA
Is that where the term crackers came from?
Marc@40;
Maybe I will... But my snark isn't really that big a deal. I have a few original protest songs of my own that I penned... I was really just using music off the top of my head and vamping the lyric in place of one of my more normal colorful language tinged rants against the Bush machine... I'm sure there are plenty of good rant songs out there relating to the moron and chief.. But thanks for the tip...
YS@44;
Thanks dude... That was a nice blast from the past.. I just saw them again doing that tune on one of those PBS fossils of pop shows... I know the vid says electrotek but I could sware I saw that performance in prime time at an impressionable age...Ed Sullivan? Shindig?, Hallaballoo?... I can't remember but that backgound looked oddly familier... Damn I'm gettin old man... And it ain't no goddamn fun either...........JD
The Decider is the decider for everything, except for the war in Iraq. That is the domain of Gen. Pataeus, even though the Decider is Commander-in-Chief.
The return of nose-up-neocon-ass Betrayus. Hmmm... Iraq is destoryed-- end story. Spin that.
Where is the WAR CZAR?
Tememebr when Saddam Hussein was saying, "The Americans will end by coming to me becasue I am the only one who can pull Iraq back together."?? I believe he may have been right about that; : he may have been the only one to do it. His mistake was believeing the neocons wanted, or even cared about that.
Frat boy wants to prove to daddy, he has the power baby!!!
*Remember (it's very early here!!!)
Max-Hussein-1 @ 7:
El Cid @ 19:
McCain the Liar @ 20:
Yes, it was/is a brilliant domestic propaganda operation supported by idiot ALL-American sheeple, not only fleeced to extinction, but electing to Kongre$$ supposed Democrats, who send more of the sheeple children (and resources) to be killed/ wasted in Iraq.
Not much chance for changes w/TWO Repig candidates: shillary and McInsane.
The King-of-Pork, Murtha, was supposedly against the war, now had the change of arse, and supports ..shillary. Obviously, mooore pooork possible if shillary steals the nomination..
Then, McInsane rules - hopefully not for 100 years. Dems never learn, so repigs rule.
Actually the DRAFT might not be a bad thing - repigs would have to go to Iraq finally as well. Since everybody/ ALL the sheeple would be involved, that might be the beginning of the war's END.
CappuccettoRosso @ 51:
If you really think it would work that way, you haven't been paying attention. Throughout America's history, it has **always** been 'Rich man's war, poor man's fight.' Even if they dared to take the chance of instituting a draft, they would put in plenty of deferments to make sure the well-off wouldn't have to go.
That said, it would almost certainly wake everybody else up. And that's why the Bush regime aren't doing it; they don't want Americans to suddenly have a personal stake in their games. If that happened, the people would actually start to care.
So?
Where's Cheney when you need him?
Marc @ 39:
Wouldn't you agree that the American people have been taught over the years to value style over substance? I would be the last one to say that it should be that way, but what is - is. The packaging of the message, ie the production values, give the viewer subconscious cues as to how seriously she should take what she is watching. If the video looks as if it were shot by a couple of throwbacks from a 1960's cable channel, the viewer will probably not give it as much value than she would if it looked like it had been shot by a crew from, say, NBC's flagship station. In the latter case, it looks real, it must be real. (Think those "video news releases" that so insidiously have been making their way onto the air as "real" news.
What I find so frustrating is that now, for the first time in history, affordable "consumer" video gear is capable of producing "broadcast quality" video, but the people using it aren't taking the little bit of time needed to learn the basics of photography.
I have seen too many videos with excellent substance, videos that could have been picked up and gotten seen by a lot of viewers die pretty much unwatched because they were poorly lit, shaky, so full of zooms that they made the viewer sea-sick or whatever. Some of the biggest names in the progressive blogosphere are guilty. I watched a video of Josh Marshall a while back. When I came away the only thing I remembered about the video was the wall he was standing in front of - that wall held a clock (mounted crooked) and a computer cable running from the top left of the picture down to the bottom right. No matter what was coming out of Josh's mouth, that wall was screaming "Don't take me seriously! Don't take me seriously!"
I guess the message I want to get across to the folks with the video cameras in their hands is good, glad to see you out here documenting all this, and working toward making this a better world. But buying a camera is only half the equation. The other half is learning how to effectively use that camera to speak truth to Fox Noise's power. How to put yourself on equal footing, quality wise, with the news crews from the MSM. Believe it or not, you can do it. You can be churning out video that looks just as good as that made by the crews in the gawd all expensive satellite trucks. That is the beauty of the technology in 2008. What used to take a $15,000 Betacam and a $40,000 editing machine can now by done by someone with halfway decent camcorder and a computer.
The great part about it? You don't even have to go to school to learn how. All you have to do is put aside Obama and Clinton for a couple of evenings. Sit down here in front of the Internets for a couple of evenings and you can easily learn the basics of making your footage look as if it were shot by a pro. I would suggest starting at Videomaker magazine's website. You can find 14 year's worth of their back issues there online. You will not only learn the basics there, but will find tons of tips on how to make do, like using work lights instead of expensive video lights, as I mentioned above.
I don't work with Videomaker or have any connection with them other than I used to read their magazine regularly and learned a lot from it that I was able to put to use in the 10 plus years that I worked as one of San Francisco's top freelance TV stringers, shooting video and selling it to not only all the local stations here in the 5th largest TV market, but also to all the networks.
Oh, Josh, if you read this, the green background is better than the wall with the cable. But not much.
General Odom will be saying this to Congress when he testifies: “Not only has the surge failed to meet its objectives, its actually set things back.”
*********************************************************
I can't even begin to fathom why this would surprise anyone. Virtually from Day One, the Bush administration seems to have been suffering from a chronic case of what my father calls the Reverse Midas Touch -- everything they touch turns to crap.
Jack in SF: So right. I'm a photographer and was immediately appalled. I'm all for his message, but we will never beat the media savvy right wingers with amateur junk.
Note to Mr. Andrews: A decent videographer is worth the price!
And so are a few lessons in presentation...
(Don't mean to be rude, but really, go back and watch the thing again).
And that leaf! Sheesh!
Login or Register to post comments.