Democrats Praise Progress In Iraq, Then Criticize

[Purveyor]

Source: Associated Press

One senator said U.S. troops are routing out al-Qaida in parts of Iraq. Another insisted President Bush's plan to increase troops has caused tactical momentum.



One even went so far on Wednesday as to say the argument could be made that U.S. troops are winning.

These are not Bush-backing GOP die-hards, but Democratic Sens. Dick Durbin, Bob Casey and Jack Reed. Even Sen. Carl Levin, chairman of the Senate Armed Services committee, said progress was being made by soldiers.

The suggestions by them and other Democrats in recent days that at least a portion of Bush's strategy in Iraq is working is somewhat surprising, considering the bitter exchanges on Capitol Hill between the Democratic majority and Republicans and Bush. Democrats have long said Bush's policies have been nothing more than a complete failure.

The Democrats' choice to acknowledge the military's progress in Iraq signals support for the troops, a message that voters want to hear. But they still heap criticism on Bush and his Iraq strategy, which promises to be a prominent issue in next year's presidential election.



Read more: http://www.timesleader.com/news/ap?articleID=35751

[Exiled in America]

1. Media Blitz for War - from FAIR

Media Blitz for War
The big guns of August

Media Beat (8/2/07)

By Norman Solomon

The U.S. media establishment is mainlining another fix for the Iraq war: It isn’t so bad after all, American military power could turn wrong into right, chronic misleaders now serve as truth-tellers. The hit is that the war must go on.

When the White House chief of staff Andrew Card said five years ago that “you don’t introduce new products in August,” he was explaining the need to defer an all-out PR campaign for invading Iraq until early fall. But this year, August isn’t a bad month to launch a sales pitch for a new and improved Iraq war. Bad products must be re-marketed to counteract buyers’ remorse.

“War critics” who have concentrated on decrying the lack of U.S. military progress in Iraq are now feeling the hoist from their own petards. But that’s to be expected. Those who complain that the war machine is ineffective are asking for more effective warfare even when they think they’re demanding peace.

If Michael O’Hanlon and Kenneth Pollack didn’t exist, they’d have to be invented. The duo’s op-ed piece on July 30 in the New York Times, under the headline “A War We Just Might Win,” was boilerplate work from elite foreign-policy technicians packaging themselves as “two analysts who have harshly criticized the Bush administration’s miserable handling of Iraq.” A recent eight-day officially guided tour led them to conclude that “we are finally getting somewhere in Iraq, at least in military terms.”

(more)
http://www.fair.org/index.php?page=3152

[Joe for Clark]

3. The truth is - I do admire the salemanship of it,

These pricks could sell sand in the middle of the Sahara Desert in the middle of a sandstorm.

Joe

[Joe for Clark]

2. Fair weather friends all -

What happens when the cycle reverses? They going to go the other way again??

SO brave with other peoples blood.

And so blind to anything but getting reelected.

For christ sake figure out where your balls are.

Joe

You know no matter what those kids do - It will mean nothing unless the Iraqi government comes thru.
Fat chance of that.

[TwilightGardener]

4. Glad the troops are successful--I expect no less from our folks in uniform.

Big picture, though--it's still time to end this thing. Law of diminishing returns and all that.

[Name removed]

5. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Warren Stupidity]

7. Yup. Welcome to DU.

You will be attacked here on a regular basis for insufficient loyalty to the Party of No Principles Worth Fighting For. I prefer to make it clear that I am opposed to the War Party, and let the Pom Pom Squad make the case for why I should support the War Party when it happens to have a 'D' next to one of its prominent member's names.

[Warren Stupidity]

6. Reset the freidman unit! Right on schedule.

How many times can they re-run the same game? My guess is indefinitely.

[Mr Rabble]

8. Friedman unit rears its head!

I still laugh every time I see that in print.

It is us against the war party.

[wisteria]

9. The war won't be won militarily. We are only there in numbers to keep the peace.

And our soldiers are great, so yes I would imagine there is improvement. The Iraq government is in shambles. Mostly all the Sunni cabinet members have left and if the Iraqi's don't start standing up and fighting for their country then nothing will change. Withdraw,diplomacy and benchmarks will offer better results.
I can't wait to see what happens in September. I am worried about Levin and Reed and what they will do when Patraius comes to Congress asking for more time for the surge to work.

[Rose Siding]

10. Fresh hell

TWENTY SIX dead in the last week

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2007/08/07/iraq/main3140063.shtml?source=mostpop_story

Winning WHAT exactly? The race to lose friends, breed enemies and empty our pockets? Or the contest to see who can make the highest pile of corpses.