Someone finally gets it right--Iraq invasion was f*cking stupid

Someone with Whitehouse connections has finally gotten it right about the war in Iraq.

Iraq invasion was f*cking stupid!

David Kilcullen, a counter-terrorism expert from Australia, who is now an adviser to Condoleezza Rice, called the decision to invade Iraq "stupid" -- in fact, he said "f*cking stupid." He goes on to say, "The biggest stupid idea was to invade Iraq in the first place."

Kilcullen's comments are printed by The Washington Independent from a draft copy of A Counterinsurgency Guide for Politicos-Eighth in a Series: The Rise of the Counterinsurgents. This manual is be prepared to help those involved in policy making to have the same kind of understanding that the military does. It is intended for "Cabinet-level" officials and their staffs.

Among the novel concepts included in the manual are:

• negotiations are a two-way street in counterinsurgency


• integrate civilian and military agencies into a concerted strategy


• intervening to support an oppressive, authoritarian or abusive government against an insurgency is extremely problematic


• it is folly to intervene . . . unless there is a reasonable likelihood that the affected government will cooperate


• and a really novel idea (at least for the Bush Whitehouse) RESPECT PEOPLE

Since this is draft, one must wonder how much of this will make it into the published version. I seriously doubt that the "f*ucking stupid" comment will survive. Of course many of us started saying this (without the colorful metaphor) before the war and have been saying it continuously for years. Of course, I do not have the slightest doubt that it will be ignored by those who make the decisions.

IMPEACH BUSH NOW! Why? 935 Reasons

President Bush . . . and officials in his administration made 935
false statements on Iraq in the two years following the 2001 terrorist attacks,
according to a new study.

See the article at http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/22794451/from/ET/

See my post

Bush has Lied, is Lying, and Will Continue to Lie as long as people continue to listen

How many ways are there to say "I told you so?"

Avoid the rush, IMPEACH BUSH NOW!

Patreus or Betray Us

Yesterday the right wing pundits were all having a hissy fit because MoveOn.org ran an add which questioned Petraeus credibility. They were crowing about the great success his testimony was for Dubya and his cronies. Following is a critique of his testimony from the MoveOn folks which will convince any thinking person that Patraeus is just another part of the Big Lie that Bush has been trying to sell the country for six years.



Yesterday, General David Petraeus misled the country.

He used faulty statistics and cherry-picked intelligence to argue that American troops should stay in Iraq for the foreseeable future. The general said we're making major progress¹—and we have to stay the course. Sadly, independent assessments show that things in Iraq have gone from bad to worse (see below for more on how Petraeus stretched the truth).

Some of you have emailed to say it reminds you of the day four and a half years ago when President Bush sent General Colin Powell to the U.N. to make a trumped-up case for war.

Powell's WMDs helped justify the invasion of Iraq, and Petraeus' version of "progress"—if it goes unchallenged—will justify keeping troops there for years. Can you take a few minutes to write a letter-to-the editor reminding folks that the "surge" didn't work—and that the responsible thing to do is bring our troops home?

http://pol.moveon.org/lte?campaign_id=84&id=11221-8292763-PChjRg&t=2

Petraeus based much of his assessment on the claim that violence in Iraq is dropping.² That just isn't true:

• Petraeus is using "funny math." According to the Washington Post, Petraeus and the Pentagon are using a bizarre formula for measuring violence in the country. For example, deaths by car bombs don't count.³ And assassinations count only if you're shot in the back of the head—not in the front.⁴
  
• Iraqis believe the surge has failed. According to a massive new ABC/BBC poll, every single Iraqi polled in Baghdad, the primary target of the "surge," said it had made security worse. Iraqis themselves overwhelmingly think the situation in Iraq is deteriorating, in terms of security, political cooperation, the economy, and other measures. Overall, 70% think the escalation worsened rather than improved security conditions. ⁵
• The independent GAO report found that violence is up. A comprehensive Government Accountability Office report ordered by Congress found that "average number of daily attacks against civilians have remained unchanged from February to July 2007."⁶ In August, things got worse, with civilian casualties rising according to the Associated Press⁷ and the Los Angeles Times.⁸
• For our troops, it's the bloodiest summer yet. More U.S. troops died every month this year compared to the same month last year.⁹
  

Petraeus claimed that he compiled his report without conferring with the White House. But the Washington Post recently reported that Petraeus or his staff joined daily conference calls with the White House and former RNC chairman Ed Gillespie this summer to "map out ways of selling the surge." The Post reported that Gillespie's White House political unit was "hard-wired" to Petraeus' military unit.¹⁰

We would all like to see life improving in Iraq. But it's not—it's getting worse. And if US forces stay in Iraq both Americans and Iraqis will pay a terrible price.

Today is the anniversary of the worst terrorist attack in American history. The wounds of 9/11 are still fresh for many of us. After 9/11, President Bush used fear, lies and trumped-up intelligence to stampede us into Iraq. Now, America is bogged down in an unwinnable civil war, and Al Qaeda has regained enough strength to once again menace the United States.¹¹

It would be a tragic irony if, six years later, the administration used skewed intelligence to head off the growing momentum for an exit strategy from Iraq.

Please write a letter reminding America and Congress not to fall, ever again, for White House lies—we need a timeline to bring our troops home.

http://pol.moveon.org/lte?campaign_id=84&id=11221-8292763-PChjRg&t=3

Thanks for all that you do,

–Nita, Karin, Laura, Eli, and the MoveOn.org Political Action Team
Tuesday, September 11th, 2007

P.S. Yesterday, MoveOn members sponsored an ad in the New York Times debunking Petraeus' claims. Click here to see the ad—and the evidence to back it up:
http://pol.moveon.org/petraeus.html?id=11221-8292763-PChjRg&t=4

The ad stirred a controversy on Capitol Hill—it accuses Petraeus of "cooking the books." And it charges that Petraeus is betraying the American peoples' trust by spinning the facts to support the White House. Some Democrats were uncomfortable with such strong language, and Republicans attacked MoveOn.

We're sure if we'd run an ad debunking Colin Powell's testimony in 2003, they would have done the same thing—but sometimes it's important to set the facts straight.

SOURCES
1. Washington Post, "Petraeus Backs Initial Pullout," 9/11/07
http://www.moveon.org/r?r=2958&id=11221-8292763-PChjRg&t=5 2. Ibid.
3. New York Times, "Time to Take a Stand," 9/7/07
http://www.moveon.org/r?r=2941&id=11221-8292763-PChjRg&t=6
4. Washington Post, "Experts Doubt Drop in Violence in Iraq," 9/6/07
http://www.moveon.org/r?r=2938&id=11221-8292763-PChjRg&t=7
5. ABC News, "Iraqis' Own Surge Assessment," 9/10/07
http://abcnews.go.com/US/Story?id=3571504
6. Washington Post, "Experts Doubt Drop in Violence in Iraq," 9/6/07
http://www.moveon.org/r?r=2938&id=11221-8292763-PChjRg&t=8
7. Associated Press, "1,809 Iraqi civilians killed in August," 9/1/07
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/20543737/
8. Los Angeles Times, "Iraqi civilian deaths climb again," 9/1/07
http://www.moveon.org/r?r=2956&id=11221-8292763-PChjRg&t=9
9. http://www.iCasualties.org
10. Washington Post, "Among Top Officials, 'Surge' Has Sparked Dissent, Infighting," 9/9/07
http://www.moveon.org/r?r=2957&id=11221-8292763-PChjRg&t=10
11. Washington Post, "Scarier than Bin Laden," 9/9/07
http://www.moveon.org/r?r=2959&id=11221-8292763-PChjRg&t=11

Fool Me Once . . .

As Dubya tried to say one time, "Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me." If there is anyone out there still being fooled about "progress" in Iraq, it is because they want to be fooled. See

http://pol.moveon.org/troopshome/?id=11197-8292763-A7ozWt&t=3

Don't fall for the Whitehouse spin on whatever next weeks report might say. The truth is American troops are their few allies are being killed everyday because Iraqis are fighting Iraqis. They will not take responsibility for their own security as long as we are doing it for them. We need to start bringing the troops home today and not stop until they are all out of harm's way.

Help Stop Censorship at CBS

From the Moveon.org folks,

Remember when shock-jock Don Imus used racist and misogynistic terms to refer to a women's college basketball team? Well, it took CBS two weeks to fire him for that but it only took them TWO DAYS to fire a respected General from Iraq for speaking out against the president on the war.

CBS shouldn't be censoring or firing people for speaking their mind. I signed a petition urging CBS to re-hire General Batiste -- can you join me at the link below?

http://pol.moveon.org/batiste/?r_by=-8292763-amvLeI&rc=paste
There's more information on the firing on that page, too.

Thanks!

The Ongoing Iraq Intel Fraud

After my rant on the lies of George Bush I was directed to this article which lays out the facts of the lies about the Iraq war much more thorougly than I was capable of. If anyone you know still gives the president the benefit of any kind of doubt, refer them to this article.

The Ongoing Iraq Intel Fraud

Why no one in congress is seriously addressing this issue I don't know. The leadership seems to be content to study the issues to death. But as I heard a man say in a different context recently, "When you study something to death, death is not your goal." Unfortunatley while they are studying people keep dying. I don't care what it takes, GET THE TROOPS OUT, BRING THEM HOME.

Bush has Lied, is Lying, and Will Continue to Lie as long as people continue to listen

It's here folks. It's time to stand up and recognize that you cannot believe anything that comes out of the Whitehouse. If there is anyone out there who has not acknowledged the lies that have come out of his mouth and the mouths of all of his subordinates. If you cannot see it you need to pull your head out of your a$$ and pay attention. He has been lying for years. He lied in his Texas campaigns. He lied about his service in the national guard. He lied about WMDs. He lied about Iraq's nuclear capability. He lied about Saddam and Al Qaeda. He lied about wiretaps. He lied about firing US attorneys. He is lying today about the so-called surge and its effects on the stability of Iraq. He lies
readily, easily, and convincingly. And yet somehow 30% of the people in this country still say that they believe him. I really don't think they do. I think they are lying about it because they cannot admit to themselves or to us that they could have been so wrong. I posted the impeach banner a few days ago more as a symbol or protest than anything else, but I am beginning to believe that we cannot afford another year and a half of his lies.