Let's call it what it is: FUBAR

There's just no more putting lipstick on this particular pig. The Iraq war is a complete and utter clusterfuck put together by people who are either incompetent (the neocon axis), greedy (the Cheney/Halliburton axis) or just plain evil (the whole bunch of them).



MoDo:

President Bush has finally acknowledged that the Iraqis can't hack it as far as securing their own country, which means, of course, that America has no exit strategy for its troops, who will soon number 150,000.



News organizations led with the story, even though the president was only saying something that everybody has known to be true for a year. The White House's policy on Iraq has gone from a total charade to a limited modified hangout. Mr. Bush is conceding the obvious, that the Iraqi security forces aren't perfect, so he doesn't have to concede the truth: that Iraq is now so dire no one knows how or when we can get out.



If this fiasco ever made sense to anybody, it doesn't any more.



[snip]



...despite all the American kids who gave their lives in Mosul on the cusp of Christmas, battling an enemy they can't see in a war fought over weapons that didn't exist, we're not heading toward the democratic halcyon Mr. Bush promised.



"I think looking for a peaceful Iraq after the elections would be a mistake," Mr. Rumsfeld said.

I'm sure that's a comfort to the parents and loved ones of the kids who were blown to bits while eating their creamed chipped beef on toast in a tent in Mosul the other day, especially while they watch their re-elected king celebrating himself to the tune of a $40 million party on January 20. [/bitter sarcasm]



Sgt. Maj. J. David Gallant, instructor at the Army Military Intelligence Center and School at Fort Huachuca, Arizona:

National will is going to falter in its support of this U.S. involvement -- more than it already has -- if our soldiers cannot even be secure in large, semi-hardened containment areas," he says. "This is a damned cold slap in the face, and not one of these soldiers should have been killed or injured...Iraq is heading for civil war and total chaos and the Jan. 30 election is like putting a Flintstones Band-Aid on a gushing femoral artery.



I am afraid 2005 is even going to be worse than 2004

And the Administration keeps trying to salvage itself, even as President Bush has LOST support since the election, by continuing to draw lines connecting Iraq and 9/11:

[Gen. Richard B.] Myers, appearing at the news conference with Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld, said the attack was "the responsibility of the insurgents, the same insurgents who attacked on 9/11. The way you prevent this is to win the war on extremism."

Last night I heard a caller into Mark Levin call for all ACLU members to be lined up and shot. So OK, Gen. Myers, how about we start winning the war on extremism right here at home? I'm game.



And if you're enjoying what's happening in Iraq, look what's coming next:

US Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage warned Syria that Washington was prepared to impose new sanctions if it failed to clamp down on fugitive Iraqi officials and end its involvement in Lebanon.

Did you vote for another 4 years for this crew? If so, and you have a son who's between 17 and 24, be sure to give him extra hugs this Christmas. You have no assurance you'll have him with you next Christmas, given the way this Administration is running things.