Lying for Bush
On September 11 George Bush contrived with Democratic assistance to send David Petraeus and Ryan Crocker to tell Congress how the Iraq war is going.
Bush wanted the date not because he thought it would be, in Lincoln's words, an altogether fitting and proper way to honor the fallen, but because he thought it a clever way to reinforce a lie he has been caught in many times -- that his war was an answer to that attack.
While Petraeus and Crocker pitched Congress, General Peter Pace, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, used a Pentagon memorial service to peddle the same line: we avenge the innocent by waging war in a country unconnected to their tragedy. It's all in keeping with a long held administration belief that it is unpatriotic for anyone else to politicize 9/11.
Petraeus, Crocker and Pace took a page from Karl Rove's White House Iraq Group playbook: Craft sentences that imply more than they say. Deliver them with conviction. When found out, reveal the artful parsing that proves you never said what everyone heard.
It always worked better than it should. We believed Saddam was behind 9/11; that he had weapons of mass destruction; that his oil would pay for Bush's war; that Iraq wanted to be just like us; that the mission was accomplished, resistance in its last throes.
To make it work Bush counts on us not to read any more than he does. Petraeus and Crocker's tales of progress contradicted the published findings of military and intelligence professionals across the administration and in Congress:
A 2006 National Intelligence Estimate, a report of the consensus views of all intelligence agencies, said flatly that the Iraq War undermines the war on terror. It warned that the worst threat we now face is from "dispersed, self radicalizing" terror cells that are almost impossible to engage, let alone defeat, in pitched battles.
A report of the non partisan Government Accountability Office gave Iraq passing grades on just 3 of 18 'benchmarks'. General Petraeus awarded passing grades on 9, a hell of a curve by any standard. GAO staff leaked their report early to ensure that it and not some watered down facsimile got to the public.
A 14 member mission led by Retired General James Jones, former head of NATO, unanimously concluded that Iraqi's security forces are a disaster. When polled, a substantial majority of Iraqis voice their agreement.
Don't trust anything our government says? Check out the official Iraqi tabulations of sectarian killings, according to which Petraeus' claim of a 55% drop is utterly false.
Petraeus touted success in Baghdad and Anbar Province. In Baghdad, Shiites simply drove Sunnis out. If one side finishes the other off, casualty rates drop but it's not what you or I mean by progress.
In Anbar, locals came together to snuff out a home grown strain of Al Qaeda that sprouted up after we invaded. It would appear its prospects of finding safe haven in Iraq are dimmer than Bush lets on. This isn't a small point.
Bush says early withdrawal will mean a bloodbath. (If only he'd thought this much about casualties before going in.) Baghdad and Anbar suggest hanging around forever isn't the best way to avoid one.
What Baghdad shows is how well and how quickly a partition of Iraq might work. Anbar proves Al Qaeda isn't the worst threat to Iraq, which doesn't need 100,000 American troops to deal with it. In a reasoned and informed debate these two "success stories" would be seen for what they are-- two more arguments for getting out.
On Thursday Bush asked support for "General Petraeus's strategy." He seemed to promise troop cuts but really said only that with luck the 'surge' might end by July, 2008. After that, 130,000 troops -- Rumsfeld's original force -- will fight on into someone else's presidency.
In the Senate, John Warner asked Petraeus if the war is making America safer. Petraeus squirmed, as if haunted by the ghost of Colin Powell at the UN. Petraeus generally ducked big questions, confining himself when he could to the merely tactical. He hopes we'll remember the strategy as Bush's.
Just before the 2004 election, Petraeus wrote a Washington Post piece informing voters that things in Iraq were really turning around. His optimism then puts his testimony now in context. Maybe things were going even better then -- or maybe his willingness to carry political water for Bush is what got him his present job.
The administration wouldn't feel it had wrung all the propaganda potential from the 9/11 anniversary without at least one attack on the war's critics. Actually there were many but the one that took the spotlight was the attack on MoveOn.org.
MoveOn's play on Petraeus' name -- general betray us -- was puerile. When will liberals learn how to talk to people not already in agreement with them? Still, if Americans read more they'd know MoveOn got its facts right. Petraeus didn't even try. It may not be treason to lie about a war, but the real patriot is almost always the one telling the truth.
This is Petraeus' first combat. He led the failed effort to train Iraqi security forces. He got the top job due to his one proven skill, talking to Congressmen. Today he's a Republican kitchen saint but when the truth catches up with him he'll look like George Tenet, Colin Powell, Condoleezza Rice and everyone else who disgraced themselves lying for Bush.
Before Bush's speech, a leader of our new Anbar coalition was murdered. Worse yet, Iraqi Kurds, till now our only true allies in country, undercut the vital effort to divide Iraq's oil revenues among its three major factions. This they did by cutting their own deal with Hunt Oil of Texas.
Hunt's president, Ray Hunt is a close Bush ally and member of his Foreign Intelligence Advisory Board. Did Bush green-light this prolonging of Iraq's chaos while asking our troops to prolong their sacrifice? If he did he betrayed his alleged mission and our troops and we need to know it.
Our democracy grows weak. Before the war Bush had to hide findings of government experts showing Iraq's nuclear program was peaceful. Now government hides reports in plain sight of a public that can't be bothered to read them.
In New York last week, families of the dead wept as the names were read aloud. At night, a "tribute in light" shot columns from 44 search lights up into the night from Ground Zero. The effect is of a ghostly specter of the twin towers. People are said to find it comforting. Better to honor our democracy and our dead with the truth.
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Typical conservative-led discussion (especially in evidence in this particular editorial's discussion):
Conservative: Tell us something that is a lie, liberals.
Liberal: We are living on the planet Mars.
Conservative: Well, liberals? I'm still waiting. Tell us something that is a lie.
Get it? Most of the conservatives that "contribute" to the discussions on the Huffington Post are not interested in reasoned debate. They don't listen, they don't respond to any statements of fact. It does very little good to even acknowledge their posts since they seem to be more interested in simply angering the rest of us who are grounded in reality and concerned with trying to solve problems. I suppose the slang term is trolls; boy did they turn out for this discussion.
I think of them as throwing pitches in batting practice so that we can work on hitting their curve balls in the real world out there. We should appreciate the batting practice.
lao,
I wish we loved exchanging ideas with like minds in order to maximize the forces of synergy.
I like to spread truth, and it's NOT unknown. Just rare. But too many of THEM just want to fight.
Here's my analogy:
Suppose a group of doctors got together to discuss a cure for cancer.
But before they’d gotten far, a group of children came along, arguing AGAINST the benefits of aspirin.
The doctors would be compelled by their oath to try to impart truth to those in greatest need. Thus cancer discussions would never take place.
Some children are ignorant, some misguided, some simply disruptive.
Guess you know by now which category THEY are in. (Actually, a couple of these guys today are clearly in all three.)
Wouldn't it be great if they were REALLY here to learn, and GROW? And then they'd either LEAVE, or CONTRIBUTE in a positive manner?
Laughed so hard I wet my pants.
To: washpost.c
Sent: Wednesday, November 23, 2005 11:31 AM
“Sometimes we can predict the future if someone just wants to believe it."
bohdan yuri
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IRAQ -the Votes, the Tally, the War:
"The Inevitable"
by
bohdan yuri
The Bush Administration keeps stating that "we" cannot leave Iraq: until the votes for democracy are complete; until Iraqis establish a democratic government, until Iraqi forces can protect their citizens, not until...
Well, not until we realize The Inevitable will the true Iraqi solution come forth. It's the obvious one, the one that Iraqis are in the midst of forming themselves through violence.
This "insurgency" is not going to end until the most important lines are finally drawn, --- the boundary lines, separating each "tribe" into their own ruling domains.
Mankind has always and will always fight to the end for their country, their territory, their religion, their everything
That is a Truth of any country, any heritage. Call it nationalism, call it anything you want except an untruth.
Presently, lines already mark territories guarded by numerous militias that answer only to their own leaders.
Therefore --- The INEVITABLE --- divide Iraq into three countries: Kurds, Sunnis, and Shiites. And most important, divide the wealth equally. Then and only then can true nation building take place. That should have been the goal from the beginning.
Iran will control the south no matter what. If Turkey invades the Kurdish "nation" then NATO is nothing more than a farce. Central Iran (Sunni) can then play out it's power over itself, as will the others.
If it's still not too late, perhaps it's worth diverting our efforts towards that solution.
But would the Bush Administration condone such a change in its policy, it would mean admitting a mistake --- and aren't they all infallible --- it's always someone else's fault - (does "faulty intelligence" come to mind?)
"Stay the Course" has been mapped by lies.
Does the Administration have the Strength, Courage, and Wisdom to understand the future --- and not use the excuse of, "...nobody could have predicted, nobody could have imagined."
"MoveOn's play on Petraeus' name -- general betray us -- was puerile. When will liberals learn how to talk to people not already in agreement with them?"
Don't worry so much about the Betray Us thing. It's working. he truth got out. Sometimes you have to slap people. The American populace is overrated. They know about the evil around them. They know they're helping it. Bush couldn't survive in a humane country. So these people need the straight truth, as MoveOn gave them, if for no other reason that we know they know and the sham is over. Progress usually follows this action.
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad say BUSH is a Liar!
Liberals now want Ahmadinejad to run for President of the USA.
His support from the LIBERAL'S is the highest seen in the history of the USA.
why don't you do something? all you do is write and write and write and write and talk and talk and talk and talk.you don't recall, recall, recall, or march, march, march, demonstrate, demonstrate, demonstrate, demonstrat
I just Neutered the Cat!
Now he's a Liberal!
This forum is for everyone, but I much prefer to speak with neutered NEO-CONS, but only when they will listen to reason. When these dirt bags destroy the world, I hope you will remember where you stood when you come to see that all will be affected not just us "liberal cats"!
what is wrong with this blog lately?
slow!!! I wanted to post on the Dan Rather thread but couldn't get it to work. you would think the right would stop using 9-11 since Bin Laden is still out there and we are in a huge bloodbath in Iraq. but they just keep on milking it. not to mention that there is still a huge gaping hole in NYC...or is that part of their plan too? keep the wound wide open and festering with infection? bastards.
GO DAN RATHER!!!!!
I HOPE YOU GET 70 MILLION OR MORE!!
When will liberals learn how to talk to people not already in agreement with them?
__________
Who do you suppose will learn this little trick first, libs or cons?
And the Republican counterattack goes on and on. Webb couldn't get his amendment passed (56-44) because he didn't get the 60 needed. Then a half hour ago I watched Senator Cornyn try to pass an amendment to the Defense Appropriations Bill that would talk about the great Petraeus and label Move On as a liberal organization who smeared a great American.
Democrats aren't going to score any political victories any time soon. The good news is time is on our side; in 3 to 4 months Americans will see Iraq descend into more anarchy.
It's the same thing with the economy; Bush is hoping the interest rate cut announced by the Fed will buy him 17 more months but it won't. The peak for the housing loan resets won't occur until April or May of next year. Plenty of time before the election for the economy to go down the toilet.
Bush and Nero; both playing while their respective republics burned.
I posted this in response to some folks who seem to be taken in by this all. It was President Lincoln who said,
�You may fool all the people some of the time, you can even fool some of the people all of the time, but you cannot fool all of the people all the time.�"
This Administration and its enablers are fooling some of the people, 30% or so, all of the time.
It's ironic that Lincoln said it, no? The party of the President credited with freeing the slaves is now the party that seeks to enslave consumers in a prison of national and personal debt, to imagined benefit of the pretend John Galts and Jettro Hellers, who themselves are legends in their own minds.
The policy of misdirection is working on the sheeple majority of this country. Even the people who are basically against this illegal occupation of Iraq are not as informed as they need to be.
I love the lyrics of this song by A Perfect Circle. I think it says it all...
Counting Bodies Like Sheep To The Rhythm Of The War Drums Lyrics - A Perfect Circle
Don't fret precious I'm here
Step away from the window
Go back to sleep
Safe from pain and truth
And choice and other poison devils.
See, they don't give a fuck about you, like I do.
Count the bodies like sheep
Count the bodies like sheep
Counting bodies like sheep to the rhythm of the war drums
Count the bodies like sheep
Go back just sleep
Go back just sleep
Go back just sleep
Go back just sleep
Go back just sleep
Go back just sleep
Go back just sleep
Go to sleep [x15]
Go back just sleep
Go back just sleep
Go back just sleep
Go back just sleep
Go back just sleep
Go back just sleep
Go back just sleep
Go back just sleep
Go back just sleep
Go back just sleep
Go back just sleep
Go back just sleep
I’ll be the one to protect you from your enemies and all your demons
I'll be the one to protect you from a will to survive and a voice of reason
I'll be the one to protect you from your enemies and your choices son
They're one and the same, I must isolate you, isolate and save you from yourself.
May we mere citizens ask what the net worth of the Bush family is today compared to ,say,1990?. Has it increased as exponentially as the number of wattles under Barebra Bush's jaw,or the diameter of Laura's rump?
Moveon only called a spade, a spade when they called General Patraeus, General Betrayus!!!!!
The TRUTH will always come out.
I agree..."P
Meanwhile, the Dems are still so concerned with being PC, kissing AIPAC ass, and playing footsies with Bush under the lunchtable that they have allowed themselves to be neutralized when they SHOULD be acting like a genuine OPPOSITION party, which is what we sorely need right now, before it's too LATE!
Bush says early withdrawal will mean a bloodbath ?
Well Bush has been totally, head up your ass wrong about every single aspect of Iraq - from fissile matierals, mobile biowarfare labs, the open armed greeting and on and on and on....
So what makes anybody think that Bush has it right this time. I realize that the mentally defective 28% of the people who think Bush is doing a swell job and have sex with their sisters believe this claptrap, but Bush has absolutely no way of knowing what will happen in Iraq.
Where is the bloodbath that was supposed to follow the British withdrawal from Basra?
This dimwit couldn't predict rain in the middle of a thunderstorm.
Unfortunately ... our reps and senators do absolutely nothing to stop this as you call him dimwit !!! Sad Sad Sad while more troops are killed maimed....
Bill,
Thank you for getting the message out. As a former adviser to President Clinton your thoughts here are helpful for regular Americans trying to understand how the brightest lights of the Democratic party think.
I think its extremely important for prominent Democrats like you to voice the claim General Petraeus is "lying for Bush" just months after the Democrat-controlled Senate confirmed him 81-0. Americans need to know how quickly you will turn on appointees when it seems politically expedient.
I'm also glad you managed to take a shot at Rove even though he resigned more than a month ago and probably had nothing to do whatsoever with Patraeus' appointment. Whether motivated by paranoia or envy, your consuming antipathy for Rove is an important indicator of how Democrats manage psychologically in the face of opposition.
Your comments here will be welcome by the 35% of self-identified Democrats who believe Bush knew about 911 before it happened (that's according to Rasmussen in May - this month Zogby claims its 43% see link below).
We'll find out how the rest of America responds to your ideas in 2008.
Thanks for your hard work - keep it up!
http://tin
I love the smell of sarcasm in the middle of the night. Thank you.
I DONT THINK SARCASM IS WHAT YOUR SMELLING.
the comment about confirming Patreaus disturbs me as someone who believes you should give even an opposition president some deference in getting the appointee he desires. Given the way you use that to argue Gen. P. is beyond criticism because he was confirmed, how do you expect us to ever give Mr. Bush any difference at all in the future about anything he wants. We can only assume approval of any request will be treated as approval of everything from now on. any compromise will be treated as capitulation. do you really want to present such a bad faith argument?
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