WILLIAM KRISTOL (Weekly Standard editor): What's amazing is how far left the Democratic Party in the Senate has gone. And they're voting -- as you showed that [Sen.] Evan Bayh [D-IN] -- they're voting, Evan Bayh is voting for something he said two years ago would be a huge mistake, a date-certain timetable for withdrawal of troops from Iraq. The entire Democratic Party voted for that. Maybe everything will fall apart in Iraq and they can say, "We wanted to get out earlier." Maybe things will continue to improve with the surge and [Gen. David] Petraeus' counterinsurgency strategy in Iraq, and the Democratic Party is gonna look six months from now as if they wanted to pull the plug just as our military was giving us a real chance to prevail in Iraq.
[snip]
WALLACE: Let me throw something else into this, Brit, and ask you about it. Because you did see this week clearly not only with General [Raymond] Odierno [commanding general of multi-national forces in Iraq], but also, as e pointed out, with General [Rick] Lynch and General [Walter] Gaskin, you talk about, it's going to take into next year, well into next year for us to secure the gains. Otherwise, we will have fought and some of our troops will have died to clear these areas, and the bad guys will come right in. What do you think is the possibility that congressional Republicans will stand firm not just until September, but into November or next year?
HUME: That depends on upon what level of military progress will be reported in September. My guess is there will be noticeable, notable military progress to report in September. There's already some now. And the question will then become how seriously do we take the objectives we set for the Iraqi government. And how important in the face of Al Qaeda beginning to lose ground and the terrorist violence subsiding Iraq are we going to take those benchmarks. And are we going to then think about pulling the plug as we're beginning to win on the ground militarily on the effort because of the failure of the Iraqi government to function properly.
WILLIAMS: How many years have you been saying this?
HUME: I just said that just now. Didn't you hear me?
WILLIAMS: You've been saying this for a long time. "Oh, more time." Bill says, "Oh, what's wrong with the strategy now?" Come on, guys, I mean, acknowledge there's a problem here. We're not winning in this thing. And it's not -- I can see if you say to me, "Don't encourage the terrorists." OK, we don't want to do that. We want stability in the Middle East.
HUME: Juan, you need to read the news more carefully and recognize that, when you say, "We're not winning," that we may now well be winning.
Meanwhile, back in consensus reality:
Three parked cars exploded in a predominantly Shiite area in Baghdad on Monday, killing at least 12 people and wounding 19, police said.
The first explosion, which occurred about 11 a.m., targeted a passing police patrol, killing six people — three policemen and three pedestrians — and wounding nine other people, a police officer said.
At least seven cars also were damaged in the blast, which struck near the Interior Ministry's nationality and social affairs directorate and the 14th of July bridge in Karradah, he added.
Another parked car bomb about 500 yards away struck at about the same time, ripping through a bustling market of vegetables and household goods, killing three civilians and wounding five others, the policeman added.
AP Television News footage showed U.S. soldiers milling about the charred wreckage, with shattered glass and blackened debris from nearby shops and street stalls strewn on the bloodstained pavement.
Another car packed with explosives struck a police patrol in Elway square at about 11:30 a.m. in another part of Karradah, killing two policemen and a civilian and wounding five people, police said.
Karradah, a popular shopping area, has been hit by several high-profile bombings, and Monday's attack occurred despite a five-month-old U.S.-Iraqi security operation aimed at stopping such violence in the capital.
A roadside bomb also was aimed at a police patrol but missed its target, killing a civilian and wounding two others in the southern Shiite area of Hillah, another officer said. Gunmen elsewhere in the province killed a 35-year-old lawyer, he added.
Elsewhere, gunmen opened fire on an open-air market in Iskandariyah, killing a man and his wife as well as a policeman who started firing at them, another officer said.
Three bullet-riddled bodies of men in civilian clothes also were found at a construction site in Iskandariyah, a mostly Sunni Arab city 30 miles south of Baghdad, police said. The men, ages 25 to 35, had been bound by their hands and legs and bore signs of torture.
I've long felt that the American people were behaving like victimized spouses in an abusive relationship, trying valiantly to find something to believe in the utter horsepuckey being spewed by this president in regard to terrorism. "Only I can keep you safe. I'm the only one that loves you. Those Democrats want to see your children killed. Stick with me and don't leave the house and you'll be fine" -- right before bringing out the belt in the form of shoveling our tax dollars into the pockets of his cronies and systematically eviscerating the Constitution. But as the Americans have decided they don't want to be beaten anymore, now it's right-wing pundits who are behaving like the abused spouses: "This time it'll be different. This time it'll work. He really loves me. He's so big and strong and I know he only has my best interests at heart."
Sometimes I wonder if these guys would just shatter into a million pieces if they had to face the truth.
Aucun commentaire:
Enregistrer un commentaire