To be fair, the Repubs are singing a similar tune. They are playing the lets wait and see what happens in Sept before we pull the plug. For the Dems, they got veto'd, so now they are flexing the "it's over in September if the news sucks" platform, so they look good when we draw down. BTW, we will draw down come Oct-Feb, trust me. Tell me though, who stands to lose the most if the results are good? This is why this stuff upsets me some. We should all want good news. Bad news means more deaths, no progress, and a sh!ttier situation. How anyone could want bad news is beyond me. Yet, because of the current political BS going on, bad news is beneficial to some. Worse, good news will be painfull. Really sad.

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"A theory that explains everything, explains nothing"

You need to get away from the sources that tell you what you want to hear, and get to reading multiple perspectives. I've been telling you (toot horn ) that we needed a surge there last year, that it was what the troops on the ground were reccomending. They had to do this for numerous reasons, namely, to thwart the strength of the shia militia's in Bagdhad, refinforce the sunni tribes in Al-Anbar who are fighting AQ, bridge the hand over of key security controls to Iraqi units, and most importantly, because we have to draw down in 2008 whether we like it or not. If you stick to reading your politicians favorite spin, you're only doing yourself a diservice. Iraqi units are doing 90 day tours in Baghdad. What is important to note about these tours, is that it is the first time units from out side of the Baghdad area are running ops inside ethnically diverse neighborhoods inside the city. This may not seem like much to you, but to the people on the ground this is progress.

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"A theory that explains everything, explains nothing"

Speaking of good news, Sadrs militias are still laying low. We havent even begun to see a Shia uprising yet, which is when the S really hits the fan. Hopefully, Sadrs corps will go head on into Anbar for us and take out the Sunni scumbags, but then of course Dick Cheney will be all upset because the Saudis will soon be handing him another spanking.

Go Shia. Kick some wahhabi arse!

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"I fear all we have done is to awaken a sleeping giant and fill him with a terrible resolve." - Isoroku Yamamoto's quote following the attack on Pearl Harbor

You sound so ignorant. You do know that the Sunni tribes have been backing us in Al-Anbar right? That they have turned against AQ and with US forces. Of course you knew that though. That's why 4,000 reinforcements, as part of the surge plan, are going to Al-Anbar. Also, I'm sure you knew about the infighting that is going on inside the Mehdi Army, and how he's been at odds with his higher-ups since the surge began. He's in exile in Iran, and there's been a bit of a struggle for power in his absence. Also, he fired a couple of cronies who had met with US officials. Does this mean it's all roses? Of course not, but it means that there is a process going on, and that some people are clearly hoping it doesn't succeed i guess. I know though, you want us to succeed over there.

Note the key word in the headline, success.

http://www.latimes.com/news/printedi...ck=1&cset=true

An Iraq success story

Once-violent Ramadi, which now enjoys relative calm, shows that Iraqis can achieve peace -- with our help.

April 24, 2007

'A FEW WEEKS ago you couldn't drive down this street without being attacked. When I went down this street in February, I was hit three times with small-arms fire and IEDs." Col. John Charlton was describing Ramadi as we drove down its heavily damaged main street, dubbed Route Michigan by U.S. forces. Even though this was an unlucky day — Friday the 13th (of April) — we did not experience a single attack on our convoy of Humvees.

The previous week, a suicide bomber drove a truck filled with explosives and chlorine gas into a police checkpoint, killing 12 people (not the 27 or more cited in most news accounts). But such violence, once the norm, has become the exception. Ramadi, which used to see 20 to 25 attacks a day, now sees an average of two to four a day. By the time I visited, no U.S. soldier had been killed in the town for weeks.

That remarkable success is worth pondering at a time when most Americans are willing to write off Iraq as a lost cause. There is no doubt that U.S. forces face an agonizingly difficult task in Iraq. The bombings that killed nearly 200 people in Baghdad last week make clear how hard the challenge is. But as Gen. David Petraeus said on taking command in February, "Hard is not hopeless." The experience of Ramadi — which has gone from being one of the most dangerous cities in Iraq to one of the safest — provides a glimmer of hope.

........................

Yet for all the shortcomings of their government, Iraqi forces have begun to participate effectively in coalition operations, and nowhere more so than in Ramadi. Key to the success of this undertaking has been the recent decision by most of the major Al Anbar tribes to turn against Al Qaeda and its indiscriminate reign of terror. The Sunni tribal forces are still too weak to defeat Al Qaeda on their own and probably always will be, but they have been of critical help in generating tips that aid coalition forces. They are also now encouraging their sons to join the Iraqi police and army.

Among police and army, I saw encouraging signs of integration across sectarian boundaries. For example, an Iraqi army sergeant-major, a Shiite from Baghdad, was in charge of supervising the rebuilding of a Sunni neighborhood. This kind of inter-communal cooperation was once the norm in Iraq and could be again, if Shiite and Sunni extremists are defeated at gunpoint.

Ramadi is not an isolated example. There is progress across Al Anbar province. According to coalition briefings, attacks in the province are at a two-year low. Tips to coalition forces are soaring. U.S. troops used to find only 50% of IEDs. Now they are defusing 80% before they detonate. (Al Qaeda in Iraq has responded with chlorine gas bombs. In other words, using chemical weapons against Sunni civilians — not a tactic likely to win over the populace.)

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"A theory that explains everything, explains nothing"

RW, of course being omniscient you understand that the Sunni sect attacked us on 9-11. Why do you support those who harbor terrorists (sunnis)? And why do you hate our troops so much that you cant even take a side in this civil war??

Repeatedly Ive asked the question whose side are you on? Apparently, you support the same people who killed 3000 civilians in NYC and DC. It is clearer every day with your posts.

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"I fear all we have done is to awaken a sleeping giant and fill him with a terrible resolve." - Isoroku Yamamoto's quote following the attack on Pearl Harbor

I'm on the side of the United States soldiers who are fighting in Iraq. It's too bad you're not too.

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"A theory that explains everything, explains nothing"

Actually Al Queda is more closely aligned with the Wahabbi sect which is a sub group among the Sunni's.

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If the devil can keep you from asking the right questions he never has to worry about the answers.

It's more important for their political enemies in the US to lose than for Al Queda to lose. sad really.

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If the devil can keep you from asking the right questions he never has to worry about the answers.

that's an assanine stretch, and not what he was saying at all... in fact, quite the opposite...

but then, here is a shining example of exactly what we've come to expect from you, our strawman champion...

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... CBS, NBC, ABC, FOX, CNN, NYT.
"They have redefined General news."

Actions speak far louder than words.

IMO you for example would be very upset if we win and Bush were vindicated and popular. You couldn't stand it. You would be very happy of we failed and withdrew so you could say "I told you so".

JMO.

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If the devil can keep you from asking the right questions he never has to worry about the answers.