Bush Will Announce 'Mission Accomplished" this Wednesda

[mburbank]

W is widely expected to announce in a speech on Wednesday that Iraqi troops have suddenly become ready to take over the fighting, even though a month ago only one battalion was ready. He is expected soon after to announce a... wait for it... timetable for the withdrawl of American forces from Iraq.

Anyone who is still with the current Bush talking points has just two days to get in this thread and call the idea treason. After that, you will need to pretend we were always at war with Oceana.

[ArrowX]

The question now is when will there be a large terrorist attack or catastrophe that happens and proves the Iraqis are not fit to take charge of themselves.

I just want to see ol' bushy boy eat his hat.

[ItalianStereotype]

you're not allowed in here, little boy, this is where the grown-ups play. where are your mommy and daddy?

[Tetsu Deinonychus]

I stopped watching Bush-speaches when watching him flub his lines stopped being funny.

But, I do wonder if he'll have a big stupid banner behind him like the last time he claimed the war was over?

[Marc Summers]

Hey guys I just came back from my trip two days into the future and I took pictures!


WHOA now this looks familiar...or...does it :o

Oh ya I also saw myself getting gangraped by the L.A. Philharmonic

[Preechr]

I honestly doubt that he's going to announce our day of departure from Iraq. If he calls whatever he's going to say a "timetable," it will likely be just a fancy version of the same song the administration has been singing all along: "We'll leave when they're ready." Proposed dates? I doubt it. So far, most of their projections have been realized, if their goals not met ahead of schedule, but the end of troop-time in the sandbox is related to the end of terrorist action in Iraq, if not the larger MidEast.

When you say timetable, I'm hearing that you want somebody to tell you the date we can reasonably hang up that banner and evacuate Iraq. You won't be hearing that from Bush. Wars don't work that way. They've already floated the idea that troop levels will be reduced early '06. You'll probably get a general timetable for business as usual through Spring. The GOP will be able to say they answered your question, and you guys will have to come up with something else to harp about incessantly.

Care to make a prediction in that regard? What's gonna be the next demand made of the Bush administration every day, all day long to the point that my ears bleed from hearing about it? What will be the next big outrage foisted on us by Shrub and his gang of pirates? I'm sure something big is right around the corner, and I'm equally sure THIS is gonna be THE thing to bring down the Evil House of Dubya... at least the one that will actually live up to the hype, unlike the hundreds of other things that were supposed to be THE thing to do just that.

I know y'all read Kos and all those guys... Why wait until they tell you what to be hopeful about next. Let's go ahead and put something together right here in the I-mock Think-Tank.

[KevinTheOmnivore]

Or we could live in a fantasy world where only readers of the Daily kos are upset with the president.

oh, and max...TREASON! To me, what's worse than withdrawal is "gradual" withdrawal. If we simply reduce troop levels by '06, and Iraqi forces can't handle it, then we will have set ourselves up for failure there, and there will still be enough American troops there for the so-called insurgents to scream "occupation!" over.

[Geggy]

I spent my thanksgiving at my brother in law's sister's house in new hampshire. his sister in law's husband served time in iraq for a little less than a year and came back home last week tuesday. he told me the us soldiers are making progress and vast majority of them are pro-bush. i just thought it was interesting. we also talked about the media's lack of coverage on the progress and that they exaggerate the bad news in order to boost their ratings. as sick as that may seem, i find it to be true. i guess i should stand by and trust that things are peachy over there like he said, afterall he was the one who gained experience and outlook of the war, not me and certainly not the media, i dont think.

although i admire the us soldiers for sacrificing themselves for others to live a better life, he was a little miffed when i told him that i thought the bush administartion doesn't really care about rebuilding and spreading democracy in iraq and that the war was only for their own interests business-wise. bush only uses these "spreading democracy" talks as an excuse of being in iraq.

the bush speech this wedensday should be inneresting

[mburbank]

Preecher, ever heard of 'death by a thouand cuts'?

Whoever was talking banners, he ain't tired of 'em yet. His speech on Immigration... uh, not amnesty, what's that other thing where a whole class of people guilty of a crime aren't guilty anymore, but isn't amnesty? Anyway, he delivered it in front of a banner reading 'protecting our borders'. And what could make them safer than making crossing them without papers no longer a crime?

And W will never eat his hat because we have always been at war with Oceana and saying otherwise is historical revisionism.

I don't think W will be giving dates. I think he'll be stating that the Iraqis are now 'standing up' and we are 'standing down'. Rice floated the test balloon for this last week when she said that we would no longer need the numbers of troops we've had there. Murtha, though he pissed W et al off, speaks for the pentagon, hawks and doves alike. My guess is their top brass told him they can no longer sustain an Iraq ground war. They told him instead of W because if you tell W stuff he doesn't like it ends your career. By now it's filtered up to Rove and Chenney and they've told W that the Iraqi army is all set and it's time to leave, just like he always said we would. Come December there will be an election and howvere it goes, Democracy has arrived, which was always our mission, which has now been accomplished. And just in time for the mid terms!

Don't get me wrong, I'm not complaining. I have been saying for over a year that I think while our leaving would be a terrible thing, our staying is making things even worse. I'm just digging on the Whitehouses ability to try to make roses out of shit.

[Preechr]

I just wonder who's really getting cut from all the constant naysaying and carping. I've not noticed the uptick for the Dems in the election day totals that would indicate We the People are digging on the endemic Bush-Hate/Bash strategy. Ever hear of the Boy that cried Wolf?

[KevinTheOmnivore]

I'm not really sure what kind of "uptick" you're looking for. The two most prominent races this year both went to Democrats (granted, one was friggin Jersey). The VA race was close, and the conservative spin on that is that Kilgore was too incompetent. Right. it had nothing to do with Mark Warner's immense popularity in the state.

The really noticeable difference may not come until early next year, when we really begin to see the quality comparisons between the candidates. The "word on the streets" is that a lot of realy good GOP candidates are opting to sit out in these House races, sort of making the whole thing a self-fulfilled prophecy.

[mburbank]

"Bush's speech did not break new ground or present a new strategy. Instead, it was intended to bring together in one place the administration's arguments for the war and explain existing strategy on a military, economic and political track. The president's address was accompanied by the release of a 35-page White House document titled "National Strategy for Victory in Iraq."

OUCH! I was totally, totally wrong. I seriously thought W was going to redefine what 'staying the course' meant and claim he hadn't denied it, or say that the goals of 'staying the course' were mostly met. I still think what Murtha said about serious troop reductions being immenent is going to turn out to be the case, but I thought W would acknowledge tht in this speech, while claiming he wasn't.

So maybe I'm wrong about troop reduction as well. Maybe W is really in control enough to keep this party going until the army breaks.

[ranxer]

no, you're not wrong.. reducing troops will ease some of the pressure from the get out now coalitions no matter what they call it he seems to be doing it slowly, but Bush's speech is summed up in the headline below...

"George Bush, Meet Reality
President's speech on Iraq strategy conjures a dreamworld"
http://villagevoice.com/news/0549,ridgeway,70575,2.html
haha yeah bush does nice window dressing.. argh


the problem about it all that is not being discussed is the problem with our main reasons for the war in the first place.. contracts and the U.S. dollar. If we get the troops out, all at once or slowly, how will haliburton maintain the contracts? how will we maintain the Iraqi Oil monies being transferred in U.S. currency instead of Euros??

probably through attempted puppet regimes and mercs but we'll see.

[KevinTheOmnivore]

Originally Posted by Tetsu Deinonychus

I stopped watching Bush-speaches when watching him flub his lines stopped being funny.

I just caught this, and thought it was worth quoting.

[Geggy]

of course bush isnt ever going to flub his lines in his speech again. he's been practicing giving the damn same speech every time to perfection. noticed how flashy his speech was yesterday? its a sign he has gotten better at it...

Originally Posted by ranxer

the problem about it all that is not being discussed is the problem with our main reasons for the war in the first place.. contracts and the U.S. dollar. If we get the troops out, all at once or slowly, how will haliburton maintain the contracts?

any idea when halliburton's contract will expire? you forgot to mention the bradley weapon machines which is also under the contract.

someone raised an interesting point about the army's tactic to have as many as extremists killed and to minimize the us soldiers casualty. theyre training the insurgents (or "freedom fighters" whatever rumsfeld wants us to call them), right? so as soon as the army push for civil war, the insurgents (or freedom fighters), sunni extremists and whoever all end up fighting each other while the army sit back, drink beer and watch them kill each other until theyre all dead! hmmm....

[adept_ninja]

look all I know is that 2+2=5 and that black is white and thats all you people should know

[Preechr]

delete, please