It's September 2007 in Iraq

killed some folks, hung out

Isn't this just going to be the white House remix?

and the Dems will go "oh OK, let's keep this going full-bore another 14 months"

Ain't it marvelous how BushCo is always able to find another reason why everyone should wait another 6 or 8 months until we reach some future landmark before deciding if his policy in Iraq has really, truly failed, or it only looks that way due to insufficient data?

How many times have we heard that some insignifigant piece of recent good news that the White House has cherry-picked indicates that at long last the overall awful trend toward chaos is finally reversing itself and we can all look forward (always forward, if you please) to a much improved situation next year?

Seems like we get this constantly. The Petraeus report is just another in a long line of such ploys. I say fuck this noise.

yes fuck it with red hot pokers

Seems like we get this constantly.

It's not like defeatism ever takes a holiday.

There's really no reason to even have separate monthly threads at this point.

Force of habit, ie, paying homage to the larger situation.

Yeah, I know. When this thing drags on another couple of years, I'm going to just post links to every monthly thread, one after the other, and it will be like the Vietnam War Memorial.

It's not like defeatism ever takes a holiday.

Smile when you say that, pardner.

We're kicking ass, it says. Thanks, George.

Yes, but don't worry: the Dems are the opposition party!

Oh, next year will be such fun.

so nauseating, just cut the fucking funding already

OH PUHLEAZE: "his bushy beard newly dyed as black as his evil heart "

http://www.nypost.com/seven/09072007/news/nationalnews/just_dye_already_.htm

I wonder who came up with that line.

Read the first paragraph of that NY Post article in a Mr Garrisson voice. It works.

Krauthammer with the zingers: Despite some ethnic cleansing, the capital's future is uncertain.

Krauthammer looks like the child-catcher in Chitty Chitty Bang Bang

(I find him only slightly less laughable/reprehensible than Li'l Billy Kristol)

http://unsinkablecork.com/chitty/images/childcatcher.jpg
"what's a little ethnic cleansing between friends?"

Krauthammer's a marginally better polemicist (and pretty liberal socially) than the other neo-cons, but he's got the same memory problems: I don't remember him calling Joe Biden a thoughtful thinker or whatever in 2006.

If Kraut ever opened his mouth wide, I can only imagine the serpents that would dart out.

I saw this new doc No End in Sight -- greatest hits of Occupation Dumbass -- and I just wanted to kill kill kill.

how was it?

huh, my mom just recommended that to me last night

It's not got a whole lot we haven't seen -- aside from a parade of career military / diplo types saying "NO REALLY, WE DIDN'T EVEN HAVE ANY PHONES AND WE COULDN'T BELIEVE BREMER FIRED THE FUCKING ARMY" -- but it pretty cogently establishes that no one who knew anything was remotely listened to for very long.

Bremer apparently did a fantasy NY Times Op-Ed rewriting of history yesterday.

Those Bush quotes from the Draper book have more flair for language than Bremer, who can't even lie well.

There's a surge, alright, a surge in Sunni vs Shiite odium

George Packer's "Planning For Defeat" is epic aerial patrol (with zoom lens) of various plans, although most of 'em try to not use the d-word too much (He starts scolding "the left" in the middle, and forgets some stuff he's correctly busted others for forgetting earlier, but then comes out of it)Also his blog links to "Planning" and also to lots of studies etc cited in it
http://newyorker.com/online/blogs/georgepacker

Now I need to catch up with the rest of The New Yorker's Iraq Packet, by Hersh, Jon Lee Anderson, others too, I think:
http://www.newyork.com/reporting/index/Iraq

No surprises form Petraeus then

I wish all of you a Happy Petraeus Day. So far, this ranks right up there with National Eat More Pickles Day.

So, remember that NY Times piece from the seven soldiers in Iraq saying "You know, this is all really ridiculous" from a few weeks back? Two have died in an accident.

And speaking of death:

Iraqi tribal leader Abdul Sattar Abu Risha, a key figure in U.S. efforts to turn local residents against al-Qaeda in the restive Anbar province, was killed today by a roadside bomb, U.S. military and Iraqi sources confirmed.

Abu Risha was a leading member of the Anbar Salvation Council and worked closely with U.S. officials -- a fact that made him a target of insurgents angry about his cooperation with the U.S. and his ability to convince other tribal sheiks to follow him.

He and two bodyguards were killed near his home in Ramadi, a town that as recently as February was under the effective control of al-Qaeda backed insurgents. The explosion at roughly 3:30 local time decimated the vehicle they were riding in.

...

The council has been credited with helping tamp down violence in the area and retaking control, progress touted by U.S. officials as a sign their current strategy in Iraq is showing results. Abu Risha met just last week with President Bush during Bush's surprise trip to the country.

And how at ease all must now be feeling over there.

That Krauthammer article reflects quite a sea change though, doesn't it?

http://data.tumblr.com/11695156_500.jpg

Blackwater gets theirs. For the moment.

Oh good, another showdown between the puppet and the master. I wonder if it'll turn violent.

Gee.

Mmm.

Filmmaker responds to Bremer's sorry-ass NY Times op-ed:

http://www.cinematical.com/2007/09/15/no-end-in-sight-director-makes-mini-film-in-response-to-nyt-ar/