"The Surge has worked" - Let's destroy this lie once and for all.

I'm sick and tired of hearing from Republican apologists (and let's call them apologists, because they are nothing more than paid "defenders of the faith" for right-wing dogma) that "The Surge has worked".

BULLS**T!

If it has worked, then why are our troop levels in Iraq not back to pre-surge levels?

As a former US Army Special Forces Captain, I know a little bit about tactics and strategy. And quite frankly, when I hear Repigs spout off about how "we must win in Iraq", I'm truly shocked by what must be either their ignorance or their cynicism. We have ALREADY lost in Iraq.

Consider: Osama bin Laden had several goals he wished to achieve post-9/11. He wanted American troops out of Muslim Holy Lands in Saudi Arabia. He wanted the US embroiled in pointless conflicts in the Middle East, which would make Muslims all over the region hate us. He wanted to wreck the American economy. He's accomplished all those goals. He won. We lost the moment the first boot of the first American trooper hit dirt in Iraq.

To cite The Surge as a victory is like the British celebrating the Evacuation of Dunkirk as a great victory; yes, some small thing was salvaged, but it by no means makes up for everything which preceded it being a complete clusterf**k.

Spread the word: the Iraq troop surge is nothing more than turd-polishing on an epic scale.

Case closed.

Obama was dumb enough to go on O'Reilly Factor and has given them exactly what they wanted. Why he did it I will never understand. But it could cost him the election.

I'm sure he thought he needed to make that admission, but I know he's smart enough to realize the truth of things. It's disheartening.

BO is a fucking bully ... the motherfucker wasn't letting Obama speak .If you think this kind of "Putting you on the spot" ..and "Gotcha" is supposed to reveal inner thoughts then you probably belong to his audience.

The Falafel doesnot know shit about how things work on the world stage .. So what does he do? He pulls out hypothetical scenarios from his ass .. and expects an answer like "We will Destroy them" ... The guys thinks Chest Thumping trumps smart maneuvering ...

Despite what Obama said -- There is nothing to hold him to and hold him against. He is doing his best to be heard across the party lines with the hope that 1% of Republicans see him for what he is . So lets all applaud him for it

And I stand by what I said. Obama must've known this would be a hit-piece like the Gibson "interview" of Bill Clinton, but he walked into it anyway, and LET Billo bully him and speak over him. It was not a smart move, and now the righties have their clip of Obama admitting the surge worked.

Bad move, no matter how you try to spin it.

Thankfully, this is a very rare bad move by Obama and his campaign, so I'm not worried. Yet.

Which he is correct about. But I think he needs a better answer too. The surge hasn't worked if we can't bring our troops home. It's that simple.

I don't know when Dems will ever understand the Repukes. O'Rielly had Obama on to dis him and get "clips" and he succeeded beyond his wildest dreams

Somehow we need a way to make the talking heads of the right wing media irrelevant. They keep repeating that the surge worked and the low information voter thinks there is something good to it.

Historically, this is why the services have distrusted journalists. Of course, embedding journalists with units, without really teaching them anything of tactical and strategic realities simply tuns the journalists from know-nothing anti-military, to know-nothing pro-military propagandists.

In this case, reporters are just as ignorant as the general public to whom they pontificate. Military science is difficult subject matter, and takes years of training to properly comprehend. Therefore, it's easy for those in power to lie about military matters.

If it worked, that means the troops can come home.

no one knows what is going to happen when we leave

Any band-aid success from the surge just shows how badly the Republicans screwed up the war in the first place by not getting enough troops on the ground (General Shinsheki, anyone?). Granted that would be more effective if we were running against Bush/Cheney again.

Obama was right about the war in the first place - only Republicans could screw something up so colossally and then try to act like much too late efforts to fix it are a selling point.

Only question IMHO is whether the unraveling will become apparent to the common prole before or after the election.


NPR's piece yesterday

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=94229791

Violence has fallen dramatically across Iraq, due in part to the contributions of the Sunni paramilitary groups that are supported and funded by the U.S. military.

Called the "Awakening Councils" or the "Sons of Iraq," they are former insurgents and tribal leaders who turned against al-Qaida in Iraq. There are about 100,000 of them across the country on the U.S. payroll.

But now, Iraq's Shiite-led government is targeting the movement in parts of Iraq, including Diyala province north of Baghdad.


Snips from Juan Cole's blog:

http://www.juancole.com/

Kurdistan president Masoud Barzani calls the al-Maliki government "totalitarian," comparing it to Saddam's tyranny. He warns that if a referendum is not held soon in Kirkuk province over whether it will join the Kurdistan Regional Government that Barzani heads, he will act to support the Kirkuk council's call for the city to be annexed into Kurdistan. Barzani's frustrations are clearly boiling over in this interview, and signal how near a military confrontation his Peshmerga security forces are with the Iraqi army and other Iraqi groups such a s Arabs and Turkmen.

. . .

Al-Hayat reports in Arabic that the US military has decided not to hand over security to the Iraqis in 6 ethnically mixed provinces until after the US elections. They include Salahuddin, Mosul, Baghdad, Diyala, Kirkuk and Hilla. The 12 provinces in which the US has given the lead to Iraqi forces on security are more ethnically or religiously homogeneous, in the Shiite south or the Kurdish north.

1. the original idea - easily invade and occupy Iraq, then use this base to launch regime changes throughout the middle east, was a failure. The surge should have been the original plan.

2. we should have never invaded Iraq because it will require a long term commitment, perhaps 100 years or more, of hard work and sacrifice, to achieve victory.

3. So the surge is working, but will need to work for a very long time into the future.

The war was a strategic blunder and we are stuck there unless we admit defeat. Don't expect Obama or McCain to do that.

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