Tony Snow on the concept of "people dying every day" in Iraq: "So it's a consequence, Ed..."

[Amerigo Vespucci]

Press Briefing by Tony Snow, September 10, 2007

Q For months the White House has been saying, wait until September, wait until September. It's here now. It seems like the message is: surge is working, starting to work, give it more time. So is this really more about kicking the can down the road another six months, wait till the spring, and you're going to just keep kind of running up the clock?

MR. SNOW: I don't -- number one, what we've said is, wait until September so you can see if the surge is working. And every network here has been reporting that in significant ways the surge is working. It's not kicking the can down the road, that's trying to have a factual assessment of a change in policy that the President outlined in the State of the Union address and also in an address to the nation, and that became the focus of a shift in military and on-the-ground strategy. It is clear that there have been in fact some positive results from that. So I don't think you -- I think it's a little glib to try to characterize it as kicking the can down the road.

Furthermore, again, you're asking me to make preemptive characterizations of what might come out of congressional testimony that I haven't seen. We're going to have to wait to see --

Q The President has already been briefed by Petraeus and Crocker, you're not going to be shocked by what they say.

MR. SNOW: No, probably not, but on the other hand, again, I'm just not going to leak to try and to draw characterizations because, again, they're going to be asked to give their independent assessments of what's going on.

The question now is, is the surge producing results? You saw a number of lawmakers, Democrats and Republicans, coming back after their -- during their time off last month and saying that they were -- that they were very impressed by especially the military progress they had seen and also the so-called bottom-up, the grassroots change in attitude; what had happened with tribal leaders who a year ago were shooting at Americans, have now embraced them and said, your blood and our blood are co-mingled here, we're part of the same plight.

Q People are dying everyday.

MR. SNOW: And it's -- so it's a consequence, Ed. The real question for Congress is, how do you assess this? Rather than kicking the can down the road, it is now an opportunity to say to Congress, you have obligations as well in terms of assessing the situation and figuring out what you're going to do.

http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2007/09/20070910-3.html

[iamahaingttta]

1. Just as dying of cancer is a consequence...

...of carcinogens in our food and air.
Right Tony?
It's not like there's anything we can or should do about it, right Tony?

[jhrobbins]

5. As a Christian, I am trying hard to muster the appropriate empathy

for someone in his position - especially since cancer plagues my family like the, well, like the plague. I'll get there - probably not until after he has left the WH though.

[gratuitous]

2. And every selling point peddled in January

Back in January, this "surge" was sold with the idea that the Iraqis would take control of their own security, pass legislation that codified the sharing of oil revenues, and so on and so forth. And none of these points has been achieved. Time is up. Bring the troops home, because there isn't a military solution to the problem of Iraq.

[calimary]

4. BINGO. That's why bush won't leave. THANK YOU for saying it.

You score AGAIN, gratuitous.

The Iraqis have yet to work up a Revenue-Sharing Agreement - specifically one that is sufficiently satisfying to bush and his oil baron pirate buddies. He doesn't want to leave until he has that signed and sealed and clenched in his greedy little fist.

Galling how NOBODY in the MSM is mentioning this, AT ALL. bush will be dragged kicking and screaming out of Iraq if he doesn't get that agreement. And, just for the record, I believe this is the one that would give SEVENTY-FIVE PERCENT of the profits from Iraq's oil to American and British oil companies. But then again, republi-CONS never did care much for the idea of a level playing field.

[Arkansas Granny]

3. What more do you expect from "it's a number" Tony?

From June 15, 2006 Press Briefing

Q Tony, American deaths in Iraq have reached 2,500. Is there any response or reaction from the President on that?

MR. SNOW: It's a number, and every time there's one of these 500 benchmarks people want something.

http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2006/06/20060615-4.html