Arianna Huffington| Iraq: The Battle of September Has Already Begun

[Demeter]

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/arianna-huffington/iraq-the-battle-of-septe_b_52516.html


The Huffington Post

Arianna Huffington| Iraq: The Battle of September Has Already Begun


According to the White House -- and to the dwindling number of Congressional dead-enders still backing the war in Iraq -- we have to wait until September to be able to judge whether President Bush's escalation strategy has been a success. Well, I've just returned from September and I can tell you two things:

1) I've seen the future and it doesn't work.

2) The administration will lie and claim that it does.

How did I accomplish this time-traveling feat? Very simple -- I just watched Meet the Press, and there was Ryan Crocker, U.S. ambassador to Iraq, who together with General Petraeus will testify to Congress. He demonstrated that along with the surge in troops, there's also been a surge in BS. Crocker served up his crock in a bizarre, robotic manner that made him look like he had been put together by Disney imaginers -- not surprising since the administration is running out of actual human beings willing to defend the war. So instead they rolled out the Crockerbot2000.
Today's show was required viewing for anyone who cares about ending this war, because it's clear that Crocker's talking points are a preview of the spin the administration will use come September. They were trial balloons, and Democrats should start shooting them down now.

So here, courtesy of Ambassador Crocker, is a sneak peek of some of what you're going to hear in September -- and what it really means:

"America could not ask for a finer, more experienced and more able military leader than they have in Gen. Petraeus. I have heard him give tough, clear assessments to the president, to congressional visitors as they come through, and you've heard him in the open media... He calls it as he sees it." Translation: So, in September, when he tells you that the surge is working, you had better believe him!

"The other thing I think we're going to do , because we owe it to our leadership at both ends of Pennsylvania Avenue, is also try to provide an assessment of what the consequences might be if we pursue other directions." Translation: Even if the surge isn't going so well come September, we are going to tell everyone -- especially those in Congress -- that if we leave Iraq we will unleash a genocidal bloodbath and war throughout the planet and, indeed, the entire galaxy. So we really need to give it more time.

"The surge buys time for a political process to get some legs under it." Translation: We really, really need to give it more time.

"There is nothing easy about the task in front of , and I have certainly been struck since I've been here at the amount of commitment and effort that senior Iraqi officials have demonstrated to try and get the job done." Translation: We really, really, really need to give it more time.

ARTICLE CONTINUES, FOLLOWED BY INTERESTING COMMENTS FROM READERS....

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[ixion]

1. good advice... they're laying out the frame of the debate, as usual

nip it in the bud.

[acmavm]

2. Nip it in the bud? Why bother? Our illustrious dems will just hand

them a wad of cash with no strings attached. Nothing will change.

Nothing.

[necso]

3. Funny piece. /nt