George Bush: Spiraling Iraq Violence "A Very Positive Moment"

Think Progress:

Violence continues across southern Iraq today, as radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr is threatening to end his crucial cease-fire by calling for the "downfall of the U.S.-backed government."

In response, the administration has gone on a desperate PR blitz to label renewed violence in Iraq as "byproduct of the success of the surge." "It's "what critics have wanted to see," said White House Press Secretary Dana Perino, calling it a struggle led by Iraqi security forces.

Today -- as rockets rain down on the Green Zone and two American soldiers died -- Bush cast the activity as a "very positive moment" in an interview with the Times of U.K.:

Read the whole story: Think Progress

Comments

[Presidentclouseau]

Maliki's party has been cozying up to Iran; The Sadr party is on the outs with Iran. The offensive is intended to suppress the Sadrist vote in October. Silly me, but it looks like George Orwell Bush has the U.S. military fighting for Iran and against democracy. On the bright side, when Iran controls Iraq, we can declare victory and bring our guys home.

[iratior]

The current Iraqi government is a Shi'ite-dominated police state, in which Sunni Muslims are treated as second-class citizens at best, and targets for death squad murder and ethnic cleansing otherwise. Yet the current violence in Iraq shows that the government is not even doing right by all its Shi'ites. I don't know if Moqtada al-Sadr's militias had anything to do with the death squads and ethnic cleansing, but if he can bring down al-Maliki's government, that can't be all bad. It ought to tell us something that tens of thousands of people in Baghdad demonstrated against the government.

[syllepsis]

The ludicrous thing is that while al-Maliki's government is indeed a Shi'ite-dominated police state, it is also Iranian-dominated to the core, as Porter's article points out. And this struggle for Basra is precisely where Iran has the most strategic interest. Iran wants to back a winner: Hence they, like the U.S. but much less cluelessly, play one faction against another. This is al-Maliki's power grab, and opportunity to get Iran behind him. He then can deal with the Sunnis. But first, he has to ensure that there is no Shi'ite challenger.
We, of course, backing Saudi Arabia (suicidally, since they make up the bulk of foreigners fighting US in Iraq) see this as al-Maliki quashing Shi'ite pro-Iranian rebels. This is wishful thinking. Saddam kept a very tight lid on the cauldron of factions and sects that threatened central rule. We let the genie out of the bottle, and now have only losing options. Bush means to hide this until January, 2009. How many will die for his vanity?

[iratior]

Thank you for your analysis. I'll have to make a point of reading Gareth Porter's work. Unlike such writers as Charles Krauthammer, Richard Perle and William Kristol, it sounds as though Mr. Porter actually seeks to base his writing on what is real, rather than on what Republicans like to hear. Of course, his readers will need to gird themselves to comprehend a level of horror that the average brain automatically recoils from processing. The idea that an American president could cynically use American military power in the service of a religious faction with a proved tendency to commit full-scale genocide -- in this case, Iraqi Shi'ites against Iraqi Sunnis -- is ... what it is. It goes far beyond the territory to be addressed by mere impeachment; it's one for The Hague.

[sassafra]

the shelling of the green zone is a postive moment because the bunkers there needed testing.

[doug108]

So, the surge was working because it was tamping down violence. Now, it's working because it's ratcheting up violence.

I mean, after a while the only appropriate response is: F**K YOU!

[bogananda666]

I wonder if the American troops who are getting shot at and bombed know that being shot at and bombed is a romantic endeavor, first, and that by getting injured or killed means they are signs of a successful surge. Those troops are so dumb they may have thought that not getting shot or bombed was successful because they weren't getting injured or dead and to them may have signified success. Success can only be determined when people get shot or are bombed with injuries and death being the true criterion of success.

[mydogshakespeare]

Bush:

Violence Down: The Surge is Working!

Violence Up: The Surge is Working!

22nd Amendment: The Purge is Working!

[JerryJef]

Moqtada al-Sadr may be a thoroughly reprehensible person. From what I have read about him, however, he has one commendable virtue: he is an Iraqi nationalist. He doesn't want the United States in his country and he doesn't want Iran in his country either. He wants Iraq for Iraqis. Also, he seems to have the support of themajority of the population.

Abdul Aziz al-Hakim, Sadr's chief opponent, on the other hand, seems to be a slimy greaseball, the kind of man who tells you what you want to hear one day and stabs you in the back when it suits his purpose. Even if this is untrue, he is a product of Iran. Even his organization, the Islamic Supreme Council of Iraq, takes the name of its Iranian counterpart. There is no doubt he envisions an Islamic theocracy in Iraq modeled upon that in Iran. He clearly intends Iraq to be a satellite of Iran.

Now it is the Mahdi Army of al-Sadr against the Badr Brigades of al-Hakim with the Iraqi government and the U.S. military on the side of al-Hakim. This is consistent with the American practice since World War II to back the side that will have the worst long term effect upon America.

This is not the government taking insurgent outlaws. It is about destroying the political opposition.

[iratior]

I'm glad I'm not the only one who thinks the government of Iraq is execrable. Regime change in Iraq is needed now more than it was needed under Saddam Hussein!

[totalliberal]

I can hardly wait until January when 'Enchanted' George is miraculously transported into the real world. (Dress and all.)

[thebanana]

What does it take to get a psych assessment on a sitting US President? Just asking.

[bogananda666]

In order to join the military the recruits have to pass a test and a physical while their is no such requirement to be their Commander in Chief of the military. With CAT SCANS and MRI'S it's possible to determine if someone has brain damage. Now, why isn't this a prerequisite for being the Commander in Chief and why is it more difficult to be a Buck Private recruit than it is to be their Commander in Chief? WE use the18th century standards for the 21st century tasks, only for politicians.

[CaptainHowdy]

Darn... I don't know why I didn't see this earlier. He's not a President, he's a Stand-up Comic.

[samuraijack]

From Democracy Now, April 29, 2004:
Dems Ignore Negroponte’s Death Squad Past, Look to Confirm Iraq Appointment
At a Senate hearing on the appointment of John Negroponte to the U.S. embassy in Baghdad, Negroponte was never questioned about supporting widespread campaigns of terror and human rights abuses as ambassador to Honduras. We speak to a priest and a nun who lived in Latin America in the early 1980s as well as a human rights activist who disrupted Negroponte at the Senate hearing.

[bogananda666]

Negroponte is in Pakistan this week, to bolster Musharef[?]. Where Negroponte goes death squads follow. Central America, Iraq and who knows where else.

[Tabasco]

Spiraling Iraq Violence "A Very Positive Moment"

No, George.

It means that you f*cked up, couldn't get the job done, sacrificed untold lives, spent us into record debt and couldn't plan your way out of a game of spin the bottle.

And when all else fails, do the only thing you do well.... pretend it's good news.

[syllepsis]

I wonder if anyone in the upper echelons of our Government, hearing this latest pronouncement, has given serious thought to the possibility that Bush is insane, and if so, what can be done about it.

[jerrypenguin]

It's only the National Decider that is spiraling. When will he be placed in five point restraint?

[ashabot]

Was Bush in his flight suit and cod piece when he announced this latest "MISSION ACCOMPLISHED" moment?

[bogananda666]

The sequel "Missions Accomplished 2" is in production until January 2009. It is being heavily advertised on the MSM complete with production spokesmen and and all of their minion being interviewed extensively. They all say, in concert, how wonderful the sequel is,like it is scripted, but we know better than that, don't we? Funding for another installment of the Missions Accomplished series is in process and it too will have a budget of $100's of billions. Their is concern that the production costs of $3,000,000,000,000 trillions for the 1st 2 of the Missions Accomplished series won't be covered by ticket receipts alone but that the DVD release will help.

[Tabasco]

Spiraling Iraq Violence "A Very Positive Moment"

Just think about how positive it will get when we're in Iraq permanently, have 1000s more positive Amercan casualties, billions more positive dollars wasted, 100s more families shattered (in a positive way).

Why, I can almost feel that magic moment of victory aginst the terrist within my grasp.