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So Many Friedman Units, So Little Time & Other News From George Bush’s Forever War

January 24th, 2008
By SHAUN MULLEN, TMV Columnist

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It seemed like only yesterday that General David Petraeus wowed the chuckleheads on Capitol Hill with his progress report on George Bush’s Forever War. Well, it actually was September, at which time the commander of U.S. forces in Iraq said that any decision on beginning to withdraw his troops should “be put off for six months.”

I know this is going to shock – just shock – you, but Petraeus now says the U.S. needs at least one more Friedman Unit, pretty please:

“We think we won’t know that we’ve reached a turning point until we’re six months past it. We have repeatedly said that there is no lights at the end of the tunnel that we’re seeing. We’re certainly not dancing in the end zone or anything like that.”

If you find yourself feeling whipsawed at this point, you’re not alone because much of the Republican establishment and a goodly number of Democrats are dancing in the end zone. And expect the commander in chief to do a jig during his State of the Union address next week.

The reality is 6,000 miles due east of Washington. Except for thankfully lower U.S. and Iraqi civilian death tolls because of the initial success of Petraeus’ Surge strategy, there has been no progress whatsoever toward reconciliation, a prerequisite for troop withdrawals and the ultimate test of whether the Surge is a lasting success.

The recent passage of the un-de-Baathification law was hailed by some Iraqis as a sign of progress, but the law is a bad joke and not even the Bush administration is embracing it. Then there is Mosul, Iraq’s third-largest city, where insurgents blew up a massive weapons cache in a vacant apartment building yesterday as an Iraqi army unit arrived to investigate it. At least 150 Iraqis are dead or wounded.

Please click here to read more at Kiko’s House.



This entry was posted on Thursday, January 24th, 2008 at 5:20 am and is filed under Withdrawal, Military Affairs, Bush Administration, Gen. Petraeus, Surge, Iraq, George W. Bush, 2008 Elections. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

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