WH-We're At The Starting Point Now

[babylonsister]

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/huff-wires/20070710/us-iraq/

Dems Call for Combat to End by 2008

ANNE GEARAN and ANNE FLAHERTY | July 10, 2007 11:45 AM EST | AP
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WASHINGTON — A senior Democrat said Tuesday it was obvious the Iraqi government has made no progress and the only way to propel it was to begin pulling out U.S. troops.

Sen. Carl Levin, chairman of the Armed Services Committee, proposed legislation with Sen. Jack Reed, D-R.I., that would order President Bush to begin pulling out troops in 120 days and end combat by April 30, 2008.

snip//

Rebuffing all such talk, President Bush said he won't succumb to political pressure. During a visit to Parma, Ohio on Tuesday, he reiterated that troop levels in Iraq "will be decided by our commanders on the ground, not by political figures in Washington, D.C."

"I fully understand that this is a difficult war. It's hard on the American people but I will once again explain the consequences of failure," he said.

White House spokesman Tony Snow earlier Tuesday confirmed that the coming administration report to Congress would say that Iraq has not met all the benchmarks set for it. The nature of that report was revealed earlier to The Associated Press by a senior administration official, speaking on condition of anonymity.

But Snow argued that the assessment is only "a look at the starting line" of the U.S. troop surge and shouldn't be used by critics to demand withdrawal.


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[spanone]

1. Stonewalling, stalling, murder, greed, a few words that come to mind.

[RoBear]

2. How many fuckin "starting points" and "final throes"

does this thing have?????

[Jeff In Milwaukee]

4. That depends...

how long until 2008? They're trying to run out the clock and leave it for a Democratic Administration.

I think we all know that.

[RoBear]

9. Indeed we do.

Been obvious for some time now...

[JustABozoOnThisBus]

16. And can we get a little "light at the end of the tunnel"?

Re-using old cliches is economical, maybe almost "green".
:rofl:

I'm confident the war will go strong through 2008. I just hope it starts to wind down in 2009. I'm beginning to doubt that any of the Democratic candidates can end this war quickly. Maybe Kucinich, but he's a loooong shot.

[zbdent]

21. This war has "turned the corner" so many times, it's more of a spiral than

a 33 & 1/3rd vinyl album ...

[AndyA]

3. Bush has tried to sell that "commanders on the ground" bull before.

When they reported something he didn't want to hear, he replaced them.

Bush is so full of shit.

When is the media going to start throwing this shit back in his face?

He says one thing, then does another. And we aren't supposed to notice.

He says something, then later denies he said it, yet we have it on tape. Where is the accountability?

There's only one way to fix this mess: IMPEACHMENT. And it better happen FAST.

[wordpix]

5. pRes AWOL & 5-Deferments Dick want to reassure us they know what they're doing

yeah, right :puke:

[meegbear]

6. So we're rounding the corner of the final throes of the start of the Surge?

:wtf:

[babylonsister]

8. Sigh. I think you've got it. nt

[RoBear]

10. hehehe

:rofl:

[Ghost in the Machine]

19. we've rounded so many corners that we've come full circle right back to

the starting point. Now, if we could just go back in time 4 years and leave without doing any damage, we'd be in perfect shape!

[Dhalgren]

7. Mr. Bush says that he

"will once again explain the consequences of failure." He doesn't have to, we are living through the "consequences of failure". It is already here. This is failure. All we need do now is stop killing Iraqi citizens and leave their country. We need to stop the failure, which is on-going...

[RoBear]

11. GOOD analysis.

I'll use it when I can (unless you object)...

[Dhalgren]

17. Feel free!

:hi:

[Warpy]

12. If it took that bunch of incompetent halfwits FOUR YEARS

to get to the damned starting point, then it's proof positive they need to be relieved of command and isolated from hurtful things for the rest of their miserable, rotten lives.

Starting point, my ass.

[leftofthedial]

13. running out the clock

successful political strategy, as usual

[Squatch]

14. I suppose when considering geologic time scales, he's correct.

[doni_georgia]

15. Assessing the War NCLB-Style

The Resident in Chief is all in favor of accountability where it applies to teachers. Well, what would happen to him if the same standards were used to assess his damn war?

Way I see it, he has failed to make Annual Yearly Progress for 4 years. In NCLB terms, that would mean a school would be taken over - so time for someone else to take over and CLOSE DOWN this damn war.

Can't have it both ways Georgie.

[underpants]

18. Good lord! YOU are a political figure in DC you simple twit

and we already know that you HAVE TO start pulling them out next spring you have stretched them so thin that you HAVE TO pull them out

[babylonsister]

20. WHO you calling a twit?

:yoiks: