As the thirty-percenters say, the war is going great: “Over the past six months, American troops have died in Iraq at the highest rate since the war began, an indication that the conflict is becoming increasingly dangerous for U.S. forces even after more than four years of fighting.
From October 2006 through last month, 532 American soldiers were killed, the most during any six-month period of the war. March also marked the first time that the U.S. military suffered four straight months of 80 or more fatalities. April, with 58 service members killed through Monday, is on pace to be one of the deadliest months of the conflict for American forces.”
Surge.
The more appropriate term for the surge is the administration’s use of the word aumentation – what else could be expected from the inflation of boobs!
The increased US deaths shows the desperation of the dead ender saddamist who are in their last throes.
The news is to grim to bear.
Soon ALL our troubles will be over!
Dakota Fanning would be a step up from what we got in the WH now, that’s for sure.
Wilbur: Never let it be said that you had a sense of humor…
You think I’m kidding?
Quite the opposite
Never let it be said that you had a sense of humor…
Oliver, You’re starting to sound like TV sports announcer with this thing: “Mulcahy is 9 and 17 against left handers in away games where the city where the stadium is located has more than two vowels in it”
Quite the opposite
Wrong again, Frank. I was kidding, both times. I do think that just about every adult in the US (with a few notable exceptions) would be less of a fuckup in the oval office than GWB.
Now, was I kidding that time?
Oliver, You’re starting to sound like TV sports announcer with this thing:
I know it’s hard for you to follow, Frank, but what Oliver’s saying is actually pretty simple. Let me break it down for you:
-The past 6 months have been the bloodiest 6 months of the war for US troops.
-April may end up as one of the most bloody months yet.
Pretty damning stuff.
You mean you don’t detect the glee in his voice that this is damaging to Pres. Bush, and / or his clinical, statistical attitude towards the war?
At the risk of sounding like a “thirty percenter” (I’m not sure exactly what that means, but I know it ain’t good), of course, the terrorists have read the papers, or are watching CNN.
They have redoubled their efforts, because dying is no problem for them, but they know it is for us. If they can kill a lot of people in a short amount of time, (they believe) they can incite their American leftist allies to pressure the Dems to pack it in.
Oliver’s statistical “blow – by – blow” is evidence that it is working.
Now, was I kidding that time?
Probably not.
>>sigh
“The terrorists read the papers or watch CNN.”
Nobody has yet to prove this dubious “fact” about how our media “emboldens” the terrorists…do we have accounts of slain al-Qaida fighters being found with fresh copies of the NYT on their person? Abandoned hideouts with TVs still tuned to Anderson Cooper?
This may seem far-fetched to Frank and others, but I think terrorists and insurgents are more greatly emboldened by their ability to persistently fight a superior military force to a stalemate–for years, now–than by anything a journalist may or may not say or write. And I suspect the same situation demoralizes our troops moreso than the media analysis as well.
“More of the same” is not a strategy, it is laziness; and the “surge” is quite literally and tragically more of the exact same.
“I think terrorists and insurgents are more greatly emboldened by their ability to persistently fight a superior military force to a stalemate–for years, now …”
Exactly.
I think terrorists and insurgents are more greatly emboldened by their ability to persistently fight a superior military force to a stalemate
Assuming you are correct (and I don’t believe that that belief, were it true, and the idea that al Qaeda has operatives that are capable of political analysis — are mutually exclusive), there is no reason to believe that our departure will do anything less than encourage and embolden.
If you were able to question the right people, and they were authorized to answer, you probably could get information about the documents and things found when their positions are overrun.
I wasn’t suggesting that “G.I. Achmed” has a WiFi notebook hooked up with “Like Kryptonite to Stupid” bookmarked.
You can clearly detect my “glee” from the hidden messages inbetween the letters, you moron.
If you were able to question the right people, and they were authorized to answer, you probably could get information about the documents and things found when their positions are overrun.
And since you don’t have this access or authority, either, I can only assume that you’re doing little more than hypothesizing about the reading materials of terrorists and presenting it with a false air of fact.
Furthermore, I don’t see why the issue of “encourage and embolden” the terrorists is the thing we seem to most fear will happen. If we can get our troops out of the muck of Iraq, rethink our strategy in a more effective manner and then redeploy the military against our enemies using that strategy, then any “encouragement” will be short-lived.
The war is chess and our leaders are playing Hungry Hungry Hippos–do one action over and over again in the hopes that you get the most marbles.
SpiderJ: What you call “the false air of fact” I call a fairly safe assumption. You’re not suggesting that there is no one in al qaeda who is attuned to the American political situation?
If it is common knowledge that it worked for the North Vietnamese, why would al qaeda not have this knowledge, and make use of the tactic?
If we can … rethink our strategy in a more effective manner
What if this is the strategy for years to come?
Then we’re like firefighters who are having trouble putting out a fire, who decide to go away, and come back later when they have figured out a way to put out the fire.
Meanwhile, the building burns to the ground, taking the neighborhood with it.
Even the military people who have advocated withdrawal haven’t suggested that there is a strategy we are not using, that we should be using.
And no one is suggesting that these guys can’t be beaten. You’re not, are you?
Great point fd10801, the Surge, like the decision to invade Iraq in the first place, is awsome and necessary. And that’s a fact.
Frank assumes Al Qaeda wants us out of Iraq. Bad assumption Frank.
Your metaphor would make sense if the terrorists behaved in the same way as fire–mindlessly consuming with no further agenda and no capacity for change. The enemy is cannier than fire, and when it adapts we should also do so.
Frank assumes Al Qaeda wants us out of Iraq. Bad assumption Frank.
I assume they want us — all of us — to accept Islam, or die.
The enemy is cannier than fire, and when it adapts we should also do so.
But they don’t assess American politics?
You call evacuation adapting?
That’s how gazelles have “adapted” to lions.
“I assume they want us — all of us — to accept Islam, or die.”
And because there’s a very real and imminent likelyhood that a handful of radical islamic yahoos could actually force us all to submit to their religious beliefs we better change our entire way of life, including the shredding of the constitution, to ensure it never happens here.
we better change our entire way of life
I don’t remember saying that; but I wouldn’t encourage that idea.
Of course, I don’t recall the Constitution being shredded, either.
But you’re about to change the topic to what you want to talk about, huh, frame?
You call evacuation adapting?
That’s how gazelles have “adapted” to lions.
Must be why there are so many more gazelles than there are lions.
No, Repack, that’s why gazelles are lion food, and not the other way ’round.