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09.01.10 - 10:19 AM
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Now that Obama has declared the Iraq War over - while mildly noting its 'huge price' - the lying, inept scumbags who started it all are creeping out of the woodwork to demand "credit" for its "success." Their chutzpah is breathtaking. Think Progress, at least, takes note of it. They also offer an excruciatingly detailed timeline to remind us what a long, bloody road it has, in truth, been.
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Bush sez: "Had we had to do it over again, we would look at the consequences of catastrophic success–being so successful so fast that an enemy that should have surrendered or been done in escaped and lived to fight another day."
***
Brings to mind the brilliance of sending home Iraqi servicemen -- with their weapons, but without a paycheck.
That had "catastrophic success" written all over it from Day 1.
Obama enabled these claims of glory when he:
1) tacitly concurring with John McCain's allegation during the 2008 campaign that the Iraq Surge was a success.
2) explicitly telling the world that the Iraq Surge was a success earlier this year and again during his August 31 Iraq milestone speech.
Not that tacit:
“…during the interview on the September 4 (2008) edition of The O'Reilly Factor, after Obama said, "I've already said it succeeded beyond our wildest dreams," host Bill O'Reilly asked, "So why can't you say, 'I was right in the beginning, and I was wrong about the surge?'" Obama responded, "Because there's an underlying problem with what have we done. We have reduced the violence, but the Iraqis still haven't taken responsibility, and we still don't have the kind of political reconciliation. We are still spending, Bill, $10 to $12 billion a month." http://mediamatters.org/research/200809060004
Senator Obama (in 2008) and the rest of the public according to ThinkProgress timeline was lied to by the Bush Admin about the reduction of violence. What else could he have said at the time?
Not that explicit, either:
“As with the surge in Iraq, these forces will be in place for a limited time to provide space for the Afghans to build their capacity and secure their own future. But, as was the case in Iraq, we cannot do for Afghans what they must ultimately do for themselves. That’s why we are training Afghan Security Forces and supporting a political resolution to Afghanistan’s problems. And, next July, we will begin a transition to Afghan responsibility. The pace of our troop reductions will be determined by conditions on the ground, and our support for Afghanistan will endure. But make no mistake: this transition will begin – because open-ended war serves neither our interests nor the Afghan people’s.” Obama Aug 31, 2010
After 7+ years, the U.S. Gov't says.... "We have... uh, nevermind".
The pictures are certainly appropriate for the purposes of the various groups involved.
Every honeydipper knows that the biggest turds float to the top.
War is not over. That should not be conceded for a moment, even rhetorically. Even if the US were to disengage, i.e., bring home all troops and close all bases, it wouldn't mean the war was over.....
Speaking of scumbags starting to creep out of the woodwork, Tony Blair's book (memoirs) goes on sale today. I have no doubt it will contain the same kind of bullshit such as he "can’t regret the decision to go to war." And that "we" did not anticipate the role of al-Qaida or Iran. And he cites George Bush as the political leader with the "most integrity" that he has met. While not regretting the invasion of Iraq, Tony Blair does regret one thing: banning fox hunting and thereby offending so many people. He is apparently paid about £5 million for the book, and he is richer by tens of millions of pounds since leaving office in 2007.
Now that these criminals are crawling out from under their air conditioned rocks - let's ask them what happened to the trillions of dollars that have gone missing from the Iraq War military "appropriations".
As I recall when Cynthia McKinney asked Rumsfeld about it during the last election cycle he said he "Didn't have the paperwork in front of him and couldn't answer her question" (see youtube video)
Found that missing paperwork yet Donald? George?
"Unlike those nations whose rulers use their country's resources to seek conquests, to carry on warring contests with one another, and consequently plunge their people into debt and devastation, free societies are organized for the happiness and prosperity of their people, and this is best pursued in a state of peace."
- Thomas Jefferson
Yeah, TJ was a great one for fine quotes. Then he went and bought the "sovereign rights" for about one third of the continent, inhabited by people who never knew about TJ and his fine quotes.
I agree he's no saint. Just trying to point out the contradictions, as you are.
Don't forget the fact that he owned other people and had intercourse with one of them. I'm not sure if she was willing. Can a slave be willing?
Bush et al should be given full credit for Iraq...in the Hague
I agree.
Mission accomplished!
$1 Trillion spent while americans cant find work and lose their homes
4,400 dead US Military
50,000 more Military "advisors" stuck there indefinately
150,000+ dead Iraqi civilians
A major sectarian civil war started
No current government
The USA now a known torture state
The USA now a known Imperial power, ready to remake anyone else's country in their own image
ZERO WMD found.
But bush got to hang the guy who supposedly tried to kill his daddy
This is why bush should have been impeached and tried as a war criminal...THEY will not put this behind them, nor see it as the past, but rather a blueprint for the future when they next gain(steal) power
I utterly denounce Mr. Bush and Ms. Condoleeza Rice, Mr. Dick Cheney, Mr. Donald Rumsfeld, Mr. Powell, Mr. Karl Rove and Mr. Paul Wolfowitz, and their minions, I Lewis Libby, Ari Fleischer, John Ashcroft, Richard Perle, Kenneth Adelman, Mr. Zalmay Khalilzad, Douglas Feith, Hillary Clingon, James Woolsey, and Bill Pryor who have morally and financially bankrupted America.
I likewise denounce Democrats who supported the lies and the lying liars who told them.
I similarly damn those faint-hearted silent Americans who didn't even take to the streets to protest against this utter ruination of all the virtuous acts we have accomplished--all are tainted with the carrion-breath of death-dealing.
I denounce Mr. Obama for meekly making obeisances to these horrible human beings; they are cut from the same cloth as the terrorists we call our enemies. Their ideologies and methods are mirror images of one another which include, religious intolerance, lies, propaganda, war, and torture.
I do not honor our troops, especially not the torturers. These people had consciences that they did not exercise.
I condemn and censure commentators, tea partiers, and other manipulators who would turn this utter failure to their political or financial advantage.
Cheney and Gang were able to apply their learned lesson from Vietnam and "embed" the Media, but they don't seem to be shutting down the Internet fast enough: as the argument becomes more concise and available, as this litany avails, to more people the bombastic windbags like Beck and your local Congressional representative will become easier to overcome in debate.
(great picture: wonderful dartboard material)
It should be noted that the draw down started at least a year before President Obama took office. It was a plan already in the making. This just could not happen over night.