Some potential bad news scenarios happening in Iraq -

[NRaleighLiberal]

We must be a complete and utter laughing stock for the world, what with our current misleadership. First we have the Card deck and statements like "we caught #4...we caught #12"...as if we've pissed off a finite, static group of people. On the contrary, our very actions are likely the most effective recruiting tool for putting a bullseye on our troops possible.

so, the Iraq study group comes out - we have statements that it is not a matter of months, but perhaps weeks or days, and all will be lost. What does our misleader do but go on his famed "Listening tour" and delay for - how long? We must be into the weeks, and approaching the months. I have a dreadful feeling that McCain et al - the infamous Surgers - are going to play right into the hands of those who plainly want us out of there, and all we are doing is creating a much easier game of target practice for them, which will not only greatly increase the casualties, but just drive Iraq further and further into a permanent, unwinnable mess. I just sense that we are being mismanaged into playing right into the hands of people lying in wait - Tet Offensive revisited. And whatever lull we are experiencing in the violence (and that is relative only) is likely only the deceptive calm before a dreadful storm.

Somehow, our madman misleader and his ilk must be stopped in this insanity!

[Little Wing]

1. I went outside during work today and sat on a bench near the office

for a little while. There was a large US flag flying at half-mast, and while I watched the wind blow across it, I couldn't help but think about the damage Bush has done to it as a symbol. The US flag used to mean incredible things, now it's just the physical representation of screwup.

[Dhalgren]

2. Yeah, the uneasy feeling is just becoming more and more intense.

I am afraid that the powder keg is about to blow, and everything that has gone before will seem small in comparison. The the giant yellow elephant in the room is what is the purpose of any size escalation? No one (so far) has explained what, exactly, this escalation is supposed to accomplish. There is some sort of vague lip-service given to "stability" (whatever that means) and that's about it. Why would anyone (I'm not even talking about trained military people, but anyone, at all) think that sending an additional 15, 20, or 25 thousand extra troops into that hell-on-earth would result in anything but increased casualties on all sides? The Iraqis will not stop fighting until the US is out of their country (they might not even then, but they surely won't if the US remains), so, again, what is the purpose of escalating the war of occupation?

I have a worse feeling about this gigantic crime, now, than ever before...

[Old and In the Way]

3. Cheer up...we have not yet begun to reep what we have sown.

This is a looong term damage to our international reputation. And with that will be all sorts of ramifications that won't show up on the balance sheet. Exchange rates, debt purchases, trade agreements...all this stuff will be negatively impacted for many years to come. I think if we had kicked these pricks out in '04 then many in the world would understand...but we sent the world a message, we like Bush and validate his actions by electing him again (sorta).

Of course, we still don't know what the entire bill will be because Bunny McDecider and Daddy Warbucks still have a couple of years to make things worse.

[FogerRox]

4. I think your Tet Offensive analogy is excellent

unfortunately.

KnR.