Rove's Real October Surprise

[Mike L]

I posted this on Tuesday, but everyone dismissed it. I suggest that we pay attention now. It has started.

"I recall that Bush's numbers increased 4-5 points in early April when the 'Battle of Fallujah' started. His numbers decreased later when the operation was stopped. I know that the lemmings have a tendency to "rally round the Commander-in-Chief" when a crisis occurs. The April 'Battle of Fallujah' was enough to cause this effect. I'm concerned that Rove saw this in April and is using it now."

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U.S., Iraqis launch attacks in Falluja

Friday, October 15, 2004 Posted: 12:39 AM EDT (0439 GMT)

BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- American troops and Iraqi special forces launched a major operation in Falluja late Thursday aimed at disrupting future attacks by insurgents who control the volatile city, the U.S. military said.
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The operation in Falluja, on the eve of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, marked the first time U.S. forces have gone into the Sunni Triangle city since April, when a tenuous cease-fire with insurgents was reached to try to restore calm.

Since then, U.S. forces have operated in the region but not the city itself, and the insurgency has gotten bolder around Iraq.

http://www.cnn.com/2004/WORLD/meast/10/14/iraq.main/index.html
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Rove doesn't miss anything. He is using our military as a political pawn. He is betting on Bush getting a good bump from the 'crisis' effect of the Fallujah battle. If things go really well and the city is taken before the election, Bush should get a 'victory' bounce.

[liberal N proud]

1. He will stop at nothing

He is cold calculated and cruel

[Catfight]

2. So, in Roves logic, the more dead soldiers, the higher the polls?

Kind of like, King of the Dead?

[zinsky]

8. Rove Could Give A Shit About American Soldiers

The hideous "Billy Balloonhead" of the Bush Administration is a wimpy piece of garbage who has not the least respect for American democracy, freedom, or any other characteristic other than servile, toady devotion to Dumbya. He is like the character Wormtongue, to Bush's King of Rohan in the LTR trilogy....

[NewYorkerfromMass]

3. Sure. whatever.... meanwhile troops are defying orders...

IN LBN NOW:

A 17-member Army Reserve platoon with troops from Jackson and around the Southeast deployed to Iraq is under arrest for refusing a "suicide mission" to deliver fuel, the troops' relatives said Thursday.

The soldiers refused an order on Wednesday to go to Taji, Iraq — north of Baghdad — because their vehicles were considered "deadlined" or extremely unsafe, said Patricia McCook of Jackson, wife of Sgt. Larry O. McCook....

http://www.clarionledger.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20041015/NEWS01/410150366/1002

[popstalin]

4. However...

I think this will backfire. I believe the insurgents who traded their weapons for money, used the money to buy better weapons and that they will give our forces hell during the Holy Month. I think the rest of this month is going to bring us higher US casualties and this is something the American people won't like.

[Mike L]

7. Pop, it doesn't matter. As long as there is an immediate "crisis", the

lemmings will 'rally round the flag'.

[louis-t]

5. He is also using Cheney's daughter as a pawn

'feigning outrage' is a way to get the fundie base fired up, as * has abandoned the quest for undecideds.

[JPZenger]

6. Conventional Wisdom

The conventional wisdom is that Bush is going to keep U.S. troops in Iraq surrounded by barbed wire and armor until after the election to minimize troop deaths. Then right after the election, we will see the body count go way up.

The bombings in the Green Zone show some vulnerability to this strategy of keeping the troops hunkered down in a self defense "force protection mode".

[Mike L]

9. We'll see if the conventional wisdom is correct.

To me, it looks like Rove is ready to start an assault on Fallujah.

[gauguin57]

10. check out this powerful photo on CNN main page...

British contractor Michael Fitzpatrick was wounded by a bomb attack in the Green Zone.