WH Defends 'Last Throes" Comments

[Nbadan]

White House defends comments that insurgency in "last throes"
Source: AP


WHITE HOUSE -- The White House is defending Vice President Cheney's assertion that the Iraq insurgency is in its "last throes."
White House officials reject a top GOP senator's assertion that administration claims on Iraq are "completely disconnected from reality."

The senator -- Nebraska's Chuck Hagel -- says in a magazine interview the reality is that America is "losing in Iraq."

However, Press Secretary Scott McClellan says President Bush is optimistic -- and he gets his information direct from US commanders. He says Iraqi security forces are getting "better each week" at thwarting insurgent attacks.

Meantime, the spokesman says the administration stands by Cheney's assessment of Iraq in a recent TV interview. McClellan says the terrorist and regime elements there are clearly desperate -- since they've got nothing to offer but chaos and death.

<</SNIP>>

Link (http://www.krqe.com/expanded.asp?ID=10613)

Exactly what corner has the administration turned in Iraq?

http://www.liberty-news.com/cartoons/TurnedTheCorner.gif

Or, the propaganda corner...

http://www.president-bush.com/baghdad-bob.jpg

http://truthout.org/imgs.art_01/3.mcclellan.denial.jpg

[The Ressurrected One]

Here's an interesting bit of very good news from Iraq, from the New York Times (http://www.nytimes.com/2005/06/21/international/middleeast/21spear.html) of all places (albeit buried on page 6 of the paper paper). It turns out the U.S. Marines "have for months been seeing a strange new trend in the already complex Iraqi insurgency." The military calls it "red on red," or enemy-on-enemy, fire:


Insurgents, they say, have been fighting each other in towns along the Euphrates from Husayba, on the border, to Qaim, farther west. The observations offer a new clue in the hidden world of the insurgency and suggest that there may have been, as American commanders suggest, a split between Islamic militants and local rebels.

A United Nations official who served in Iraq last year and who consulted widely with militant groups said in a telephone interview that there has been a split for some time.

"There is a rift," said the official, who requested anonymity, citing the sensitivity of the talks he had held. "I'm certain that the nationalist Iraqi part of the insurgency is very much fed up with the Jihadists grabbing the headlines and carrying out the sort of violence that they don't want against innocent civilians."

The nationalist insurgent groups, "are giving a lot of signals implying that there should be a settlement with the Americans," while the Jihadists have a purely ideological agenda, he added.
If this is right, I believe it does seem to vindicate both Vice President Cheney's much-maligned view that the indigenous insurgency is in its "final throes" and the "flypaper" theory that liberating Iraq is drawing in terrorists and forcing them to face the U.S. military.

Pay attention Nbadan.

[Vashner]

2nd Marine Division been fucking up some shit out there recently... They some good troops.

[The Ressurrected One]

2nd Marine Division been fucking up some shit out there recently... They some good troops.
Yep. Finest Military in the world.

They're certainly not Khmer Rouge, Nazis, or Commies...like Dick "Turban" Durbin must think.

[Nbadan]

Here's an interesting bit of very good news from Iraq, from the New York Times (http://www.nytimes.com/2005/06/21/international/middleeast/21spear.html) of all places (albeit buried on page 6 of the paper paper). It turns out the U.S. Marines "have for months been seeing a strange new trend in the already complex Iraqi insurgency." The military calls it "red on red," or enemy-on-enemy, fire:


If this is right, I believe it does seem to vindicate both Vice President Cheney's much-maligned view that the indigenous insurgency is in its "final throes" and the "flypaper" theory that liberating Iraq is drawing in terrorists and forcing them to face the U.S. military.

Pay attention Nbadan.

This has been a virtual law-less area of Iraq for 100's, maybe even 1000's of years. Of course there is going to be fighting among the locals and foreign fighters over Money and Power, but that hardly points conclusively toward a breaking-point in the insurgency.

The Iraq Rebels Are Battling Foreign Fighters they've been battling them for over two years now. Over a hundred thousand of them. The Green Zone is the headquarters for them Foreign Fighters. That place is just crawling with them Foreign Fighters.

Is this story from the Onion?

[Nbadan]

Meanwhile, did you see that Durbin caved in today:


WASHINGTON - Under fire from Republicans and some fellow Democrats, Sen. Dick Durbin apologized Tuesday for comparing American interrogators at the Guantanamo Bay prison camp to Nazis and other historically infamous figures.

"Some may believe that my remarks crossed the line," the Illinois Democrat said. "To them I extend my heartfelt apologies."

His voice quaking and tears welling in his eyes, the No. 2 Democrat in the Senate also apologized to any soldiers who felt insulted by his remarks.

"They're the best. I never, ever intended any disrespect for them," he said.

Yahoo News (http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20050621/ap_on_go_co/guantanamo_durbin_3)

This is example # 854,895 why Democrats appear weak-kneed and are falling behind in National politics

Durbin needs to grow some balls and take a page from TomDeLay's book. Ignore the rightwingers cries for apologies and find more and more topics to go after them with like the DSMs. DeLay's only problem was believing exit polls, moral values, and jumping on the Schiavo bandwagon only to fall off when the majority of 'Mericans said that congress should stay out of it.

Christ, DeLay has fallen through the cracks and these idiots are letting him or at least helping him by playing their little whiny ass games. Stop it!!!

Durbin, Dean and all the other stupid, crying, whining libs need to grow a backbone and never, ever apologize again for speaking the TRUTH!

[Nbadan]

Why doesn't this top General just switch sides? Why does he hate Merica?


Top general in Iraq says Cheney wrong on insurgents
By LIZ SIDOTI
Associated Press Writer
June 23, 2005

WASHINGTON - The top American commander in the Persian Gulf told Congress on Thursday that the Iraqi insurgency has not grown weaker over the past six months, despite a claim by Vice President Dick Cheney that it was in its "last throes."

Gen. John Abizaid's testimony came at a contentious Senate Armed Services Committee hearing at which Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld clashed with members of both parties, including a renewed call by Sen. Edward M. Kennedy of Massachusetts for him to step down.

Citing what he called repeated "gross errors and mistakes" in the U.S. military campaign in Iraq, Kennedy told Rumsfeld: "In baseball, it's three strikes, you're out. What is it for the secretary of defense?"

"Isn't it time for you to resign?" Kennedy asked.

MORE:KATU (http://www.katu.com/stories/77965.html)

[Nbadan]

http://cagle.slate.msn.com/working/050622/cohen.gif

[Nbadan]

Washington - Defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld said on Sunday it may take as long as 12 years to defeat Iraqi insurgents and that Iraqi security forces will finish the job because US and foreign troops will have left the country.

Rumsfeld, addressing a question about whether US troops levels are adequate to vanquish the increasingly violent resistance, said, "We're not going to win against the insurgency. The Iraqi people are going to win against the insurgency. That insurgency could go on for any number of years. Insurgencies tend to go on five, six, eight, 10, 12 years.


<snip>

At the same time, Rumsfeld defended Vice President Dick Cheney's description of the insurgency as being in its "last throes." Rumsfeld said the US commander in the Middle East did not contradict Cheney when he told the Senate last week that the insurgency was as strong as it was six months ago.

"If you look up 'last throes,' it can mean a violent last throe," Rumsfeld said on ABC's This Week.

News24 (http://www.news24.com/News24/World/Iraq/0,,2-10-1460_1727548,00.html)

12 Years? Maybe I'm wrong, but that hardly qualifies as 'last throes'. Most of our troops fighting and dieing in Iraq are less than 20 years old - a number that McCain said yesterday that American troops could be fighting in Iraq.

Anyone remember when Rummy predicted this war would be over in less than 6 months?


* Feb. 7 2003, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, to U.S. troops in Aviano, Italy: "It is unknowable how long that conflict will last. It could last six days, six weeks. I doubt six months."

USA Today (http://www.usatoday.com/educate/war28-article.htm)

[Nbadan]

Talk about catapulting the propaganda...


(KRT) - Stung by plummeting polls, the Bush administration is working on a new message about Iraq. Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld road-tested it on the Sunday talk shows, and President Bush will flesh it out during a speech Tuesday night. The basic message, as articulated by Rumsfeld, goes something like this:

1. "Progress is being made politically and economically" in Iraq.

2. But the casualties could get worse over the next six months, and fighting could go on for "five, six, eight, 12 years."

3. And we have never miscalculated, erred, or misled you.

It's an ambitious message - a mix of the upbeat, the downbeat and the defiant. Whether a restive public buys the message may depend not on Bush's persuasive powers, but on the news from the battlefield. And this message arrives at a crucial juncture, with solid majorities of Americans now saying that invading Iraq was a mistake (a sharp reversal of the polls one year ago). At this point, 91.5 percent of all American military deaths have occurred since Bush declared on May 1, 2003, that "major combat" was over.

Ledger-Enquirer (http://www.ledger-enquirer.com/mld/ledgerenquirer/news/nation/11992687.htm)

http://www.commondreams.org/headlines03/images/1030-02.jpg

'NOPE, never misled ya'

:rolleyes