[Ninong]

This morning on the semi-official propaganda organ of the RNC, Gretchen Carlson called Sen. Ted Kennedy (D-MA) a "hostile enemy" of the United States because he demanded that Congress vote on whether to approve funding for escalation in Iraq.

Fox News anchor Gretchen Carlson: "You talk about the hostile enemy, obviously being Iraq, but hostile enemies right here on the home front. Yesterday Senator Ted Kennedy, proposing that any kind of a troop surge should mean there should be congressional approval of that."

Well, what can I say? This isn't any worse than the President of the United States warning us in the week before the November 7th election that a vote for Democrats was a vote for terrorists.

Fox News is just as delusional as the White House.

[Ninong]

The President is expected to tell us tonight that sending more troops will achieve victory in Iraq. He intends to send 4,000 more Marines to al-Anbar Province and 17,500 U.S. combat troops (five combat brigades) to Baghdad. The first brigade will arrive by next Monday. The next brigade is to arrive by Feb. 15. The remainder will arrive there in 30-day increments.

It's too little, too late! We're caught in the middle of a sectarian civil war and we do NOT have the support of the Iraqi people!

V-I-E-T-N-A-M

[Ninong]

While President Bush is sending more U.S. troops to Iraq, Prime Minister Blair is expected to withdraw 40-60% of U.K. troops by the end of May.

[Ninong]

The Iraq Study Group specifically warned against sending additional troops to Iraq. The Joint Chiefs of Staff unanimously warned against sending additional troops to Iraq. Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki told President Bush that sending more troops to Iraq would be a mistake, but more troops are on their way.

"The government believes there is no need for extra troops from the American side. The existing troops can do the job." -- Haidar al-Abadi, a Parliament member and close associate of Maliki, Jan. 10, 2006.

Bush says we must support the Iraqi government. What Iraqi government? They haven't conducted any business in the last six weeks because they can't get a quorum. Al-Sadr has withdrawn the 30 members of Parliament and six cabinet ministers that he controls and many of the rest are in hiding outside the country. They find it safer to watch the news on the BBC in London.

Bush says we will now go after al-Sadr's Mahdi Army. He has been promising that for nearly four years now. He once promised to arrest al-Sadr and try him for murder. It's difficult for us to "go after" the Mahdi Army when al-Maliki won't let us enter Sadr City.

Yesterday al-Maliki called on the Mahdi Army to voluntarily disarm. Yep, you heard that right. He asked them to please turn in their weapons. What a crock. Does he really think anybody in Iraq believes he's serious on that? That was a PR stunt to fool our boy king. Does anyone seriously believe that the Iraqi Army will take on the Shia militias? The Iraqi Army is 80% Shia! They will not fight the Shia militias!!! The Iraqi national police are controlled by the Shia militias! This is why Bush has announced that our troops will take on the Shia militias while the Iraqi Army takes on the Sunni insurgents. We already know how this game works. The Interior Ministry and the Defense Ministry will alert the Shia militias in advance of our planned operations.

Bush continues to push the phony argument that we must fight the terrorists in Iraq or fight them here. And if we leave Iraq before the job is complete, the terrorists will take over the country and use it as a base to launch operations against the rest of the civilized world. There were more al-Qaida operatives in the United States than there were in Iraq before we invaded. Saddam may have been a ruthless dictator, but he was no friend of al-Qaida. Al-Qaida followed us to Iraq because we didn't secure the borders. In fact, we didn't secure anything in Iraq because we expected to be greeted with flowers and kisses. Al-Qaida doesn't need Iraq as a base. They're perfectly happy operating out of Pakistan now that the government there has guaranteed them a safe haven.

The ISG recommended opening diplomatic talks with Iran and Syria. Bush rejected that idea outright. In fact, this morning we invaded an Iranian diplomatic mission in Iraq and arrested "six individuals," including Iranian diplomats. We seized records and computer equipment. Who else thinks this was related to Bush's warning in his speech last night that we would go after anyone who helps the insurgents in Iraq? It appears obvious that Bush is intent on attacking Iran and possibly Syria and is now looking for evidence to use as the excuse. Maybe that's why we recently sent additional carrier groups to the region? Maybe that's why the new CENTCOM commander is a Navy admiral?

I don't believe there was any mention of Saudi Arabia in last night's speech. The fact that the Saudi government is supporting the Sunni insurgents is being overlooked. No one in the Bush Administration has said anything about the recent statement from 30 leading Saudi clerics praising the Sunni insurgents in Iraq and calling on all devout Sunnis to come to their aid in fighting the foreign forces.

The Iraq Study Group was doomed from the start. It was made up of a bunch of his daddy's buddies and we all know that our boy king does not listen to his earthly father, who couldn't even get reelected to a second term. Bush has not only rejected virtually all of the ISG's recommendations, he is going out of his way to do exactly the opposite.

[Kirk_M]

So, they were able to get impeachment hearings for Clinton's lying about gettting BJ's and the inappropriate use of a cigar, but, for this moron, there's no penalty, no calls for removal from office, nothing whatsoever, for continuing the slaughter of American citizens in an unjust, out of control war that we have had no business being in, from DAY ONE!

[Ninong]

From Newsweek: Jan. 22, 2007 issue - Intel director john Negroponte gave Congress a sobering assessment last week of the continued threats from groups like Al Qaeda and Hizbullah. But even gloomier comments came from Henry Crumpton, the outgoing State Department terror coordinator. An ex-CIA operative, Crumpton told NEWSWEEK that a worldwide surge in Islamic radicalism has worsened recently, increasing the number of potential terrorists and setting back U.S. efforts in the terror war.

"Certainly, we haven't made any progress," said Crumpton. "In fact, we've lost ground." He cites Iraq as a factor; the war has fueled resentment against the United States.

P.S. -- Let's not forget that it is only within the past couple of weeks that Bush has admitted that things are not going all that well in Iraq. As recently as November, we were treated to Darth Cheney telling us what a "remarkable job" the Iraqi government was doing and Condi Rice telling us that we were making "wonderful progress in Iraq." In fact, in the first week of November, leading up to the November 7th elections, the lies were flying fast and furious.

We were also warned by the President himself that a vote for the Democrats was a vote for terrorists. Every single Democratic incumbent running for Governor, Senator or Representative was reelected! Not a single Democrat lost! And since three-fourths of the American people do not support the President's policies in Iraq, that must mean that three-fourths of Americans support the terrorists.

[Ninong]

As expected, Saudi Arabia has made it quite clear to the Bush Administration that they do not expect the al-Maliki government to survive in Iraq and they intend to intervene on behalf of the Sunni minority:

Saudi Arabia believes the Iraqi government is not up to the challenge and has told the United States that it is prepared to move its own forces into Iraq should the violence there degenerate into chaos, a senior U.S. official told NBC News on Tuesday.

Saudi Foreign Minister Saud al-Faisal made no effort to mask his skepticism Tuesday about President Bush’s proposal to send 21,000 more U.S. troops to Iraq to stem sectarian fighting.

P.S. -- You can't get much more chaotic than this. If you consider that Iraq has less than one-tenth the population of the U.S., that's equivalent to us having 1,000 civilians killed violently every day, day after day. However, just this Sunday Vice President Cheney assured us once again that the government of Iraq is making great progress! He actually said that. He is totally nuts! It's time to send him off to the funny farm.