Whither War
Bush is on the air re faceoff with Iran, vote Iraq. Here’s a quick round up of some thinking, reporting on the subject:
Dem hopefuls face key vote. This should be entertaining.
Joe Klein takes a good news/bad news look at Iraq, notes the successes that so many are loath to acknowledge, and includes the money quote of the year from an American official: “How many Srebrenicas do you have a stomach for?”
AP’s Robert Burns, in reporting on a review of the surge strategy, naturally casts it as “salvage” rather than the logical adjustment of a campaign underway, pays only barest lip service to progress and makes the remarkable statement:
Pressure on the administration to succeed in Iraq comes not only from the Democratic-led Congress - including some members of the president’s own party - but also from the inescapable fact that the U.S. military - particularly the Army and the Marine Corps - are getting worn down by the unrelenting pace of fighting.
I believe the pressure from the Democratic-led Congress has in fact been to fail in Iraq.
Me, at Pajamas: “Iran wants a Tet. So do the Democrats.”
Glenn Greenwald, who truly is a moron, snarks at length on Klein. My eyes glazed over pretty quick, but I think his point was he didn’t like what Klein had to say. I woke up again when he admitted nothing is going to change in September, an admission that only indirectly acknowledges that the Democrats’ famous mandate to precipitously end the war does not exist, and fails entirely to note that their political strategy and core beliefs are utterly bankrupt.
Olbermann, another colossal moron, does in the main nail the Dem failings accurately on points of fact, though his conclusions are tragically but not very surprisingly flawed. He like so many others confuses the American people’s desire to see an end to bloodshed with a desire to lose and see more bloodshed.
NYT: Losing sucks. Key graph:
Democrats said they did not relish the prospect of leaving Washington for a Memorial Day break — the second recess since the financing fight began — and leaving themselves vulnerable to White House attacks that they were again on vacation while the troops were wanting. That criticism seemed more politically threatening to them than the anger Democrats knew they would draw from the left by bowing to Mr. Bush.
But leave Washington for Memorial Day break they will.
WaPo sounds the retreat: sectarian killings on the rise again this month. Key talking point in surrender strategy. Story notes however that an undetermined number of the 321 bodies in question may have died of non-sectarian causes. Also, while citing failure to stop car bombs, fails to note significant successes in raids on car bomb factories in the last three months. Those would be all the car bombings that didn’t happen.
Topics: Iraq
Posted by Jules Crittenden at 12:34 pm on Thursday, May 24, 2007
3 Responses to “Whither War”
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May 24th, 2007 at 1:36 pm
and leaving themselves vulnerable to White House attacks that they were again on vacation while the troops were wanting.
But will the White House press the advantage? I despair.
May 24th, 2007 at 7:22 pm
“How many Srebrenicas do you have a stomach for?”
Zero. I could hardly look a Dutch officer in the eye in our kaserne in Sarajevo in the Summer of 1997. I don;t want our nation stained thusly.
May 25th, 2007 at 3:34 pm
Yeah,
I can’t help but noting the relative silence in the MSM regarding that Blakan Adventure thing….
Every frikkin’ editor is a policy wonk regarding Iraq, but no one wants to mention the stagnation that’s been in the Balkans for nigh on 10 years now…..
Let’s see now… how many elections have been held there? Hmmm… problem that.
Respects,