The justifications for George W. Bush's escalation of the Iraq war continue to be eviscerated.In the last few days we've watched pro-war candiate, John McCain, commit political hari-kari, hoisted on his own "never-land" petard of rosy "skipping through Baghdad" descriptions of the success of the Bush War Escalation. But there's more.
It's always harder to support any claim of the Bush Administration after it has to run the juggernaut of reality. The discipline of truth is simply that the ideal must be able to engage the real if it is to retain truthfulness. This is the great failing of the Bush Administration in particular, but also of the conservative movement and republicanism in general. Despite the pretty promises, none of it holds water.
Now the prime model for the Bush Escalation has failed to pass the reality test. There is no laugh test with the forces of ignorance, hatred, and greed only the trial and trail of tears.
The example by which the Bush Administration promised success for the escalation plan was the seeming excellence of operations in an Iraqi area called Tal Afar. As with all of this President's flash-in-the-pan promises, Tal Afar is another case of fool's gold.
Back in 2005, the US launched a major offensive in Tal Afar, and were able to keep some semblance of security in the area. At the time George W. Bush had this rosy picture to paint. This is from a speech given by the President:
See, if you're a resident of Tal Afar today, this is what you're going to see: You see that the terrorist who once exercised brutal control over every aspect of your city has been killed or captured, or driven out, or put on the run. You see your children going to school and playing safely in the streets. You see the electricity and water service restored throughout the city. You see a police force that better reflects the ethnic and religious diversity of the communities they patrol. You see markets opening, and you hear the sound of construction equipment as buildings go up and homes are remade. In short, you see a city that is coming back to life.[...]
The example of Tal Afar gives me confidence in our strategy, because in this city we see the outlines of the Iraq that we and the Iraqi people have been fighting for: a free and secure people who are getting back on their feet, who are participating in government and civic life, and who have become allies in the fight against the terrorists.
And now, the harshest reality has fallen upon the President's "Que Sera-Sera" vision for Iraq.
-- Last week's suicide truck bombing in the northern city of Tal Afar is the deadliest single attack since the beginning of the Iraq war in 2003, a high-ranking Iraqi Interior Ministry official said Monday as a new death toll for the blast surfaced.The Wednesday attack -- in which a truck packed with 4,000 pounds (1,814 kilograms) of explosives detonated in a Shiite area of the city -- was initially blamed for 85 deaths, according to an Iraqi army officer in Tal Afar who estimated the death toll Thursday. Hundreds of others were wounded.
But the Interior Ministry official said Monday that the death toll was 152, making it the war's deadliest single attack.
In a separate and apparently retaliatory attack, gunmen stormed homes in a Sunni area of the city, killing 70 people and wounding 30, according to the army officer. Forty others were kidnapped.
Before last week's attack, police said a November 23 string of car bombs in Sadr City, a Shiite slum of Baghdad, was the war's deadliest single attack.
At least 138 people were killed and more than 200 were wounded when six car bombs detonated there, Health Minister Ali Shammari said in November.
George W. Bush is excuting ongoing defeat in Iraq. Every victory we accomplished ended with major combat operations. Since then we have remained an occupying force inside of a civil war. History dictates that this is a universal position of failure and it is one to which this president clings regardless of the costs in American and Iraqi life and treasure.
We are beyond wondering why. We only know that Bush must stop. His war must end. Our vital interests in the region must be overseen by a credible and capable leader, of which George W. Bush has proven himself neither. Nobody in this sad tale lives happily ever after, if they live at all.
2. The speakers at the press conference painted a rosy picture of what they'd seen. But don't they realize that these short visits are highly scripted, and conditions carefully controlled? Hundreds of politicians have made these brief visits to Iraq. Why don't they stay there for a couple of weeks? Then they might really see something. (This trip was just a photo-op.)
3. The casualty statistics Josh pointed out don't lie. I remember years ago when I first was a fan of the new Washington Capitals and they were really terrible. I'd say things like -- "yeah, well the Bruins won 8-1 but we had almost as many shots on goal as they did." Talk about self-delusion.
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Pentagon said on Monday it will send another 9,000 U.S. troops to Iraq, with about half of them returning to combat ahead of schedule, in order to maintain troop levels in its new security crackdown through at least August.Two of the affected Army units, totaling about 4,500 troops, will return to combat short of their promised year at home, reflecting the strain placed on U.S. forces by commitments in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Was Bush the Manchurian candidate, sent to harm the U.S. military and tarnish the country's foreign policy?
Also, how about the way he and the "terrorists" seem to play off each other in a symbiotic arrangement? The latest example is that of Iran providing him with an excuse to bluster and perhaps bomb in a pretense of backing up his co-conspirator, Tony Blair? Just when he needs an excuse for war, the Iranian leader provides it. A strange and frightening ballet is repeated once again.