Finely a report we can all trust to be just what we need to hear,not like the GAO report,OHanlon  and the repuckers have already decided its wrong because it doesn't fit his spin.Isn't a shame ,but if he waits a little longer he can have the report he likes .IT says STAY THE COURSE,if we leave we will cause as much misery as our army invading,well they wont say that but I could write the report for patraus and never even left this country.

Balance the BUSH Massaged water down report with the following:
Sure, it will work even better if we commit another trillion dollars. So far we have seen a lot of surge results, such as:

A surge in death and injury to troops -almost 4,0000 US Soldiers Killed, 27,500 Seriously Wounded

A surge in spending, Spent & Approved War-Spending - Over $600 billion of US taxpayers' funds.

U.S. Daily Spending in Iraq - over $200 million, in 2007, now approaching $300 million with the surge.
Cost of deploying one U.S. soldier for one year in Iraq - $390,000 (Congressional Research Service)
Lost & Unaccounted for in Iraq - $9 billion of US taxpayers' money

Also a surge in missing weapons, per ABC News, 190,000 guns, including 110,000 AK-47 rifles.
Mismanaged & Wasted in Iraq - $10 billion, per Feb 2007 Congressional hearings.

Overcharges Classified by the Pentagon as Unreasonable and Unsupported > $4.6 billion

A surge in Iraqi Civilians Killed, averaging more than 62 per day.

A surge in insurgent attacks/week:

Feb 2004 - 14
July 2005 - 70
May 2007 - 163
Estimated Insurgency Strength, Nov 2003 - 15,000
Estimated Insurgency Strength, Oct 2006 - 20,000 - 30,000
Estimated Insurgency Strength, June 2007 - 70,000

Estimated Al Qaeda in Iraq, Jan 2003   4 - 6
Estimated Al Qaeda in Iraq, July 2007  3,000 - 5,000


A surge in refugees:
Iraqis Displaced Inside Iraq, by Iraq War, as of May 2007 - 2,135,000
Iraqi Refugees in Syria & Jordan - 1.3 million to 1.75 million
Iraqis Displaced 1st half 2006 60,000 per month
Iraqis Displaced 1st half 2007 100,000 per month

Iraqi Unemployment Rate - 27 to 60%, where curfew not in effect

A surge in inflation:
Consumer Price Inflation in 2006 - 50%

A surge in Child suffering:
Iraqi Children Suffering from Chronic Malnutrition - 28% in June 2007 (Per CNN.com, July 30, 2007)

A surge in Iraqis without access to adequate water supplies: - 70% (Per CNN.com, July 30, 2007)

A surge in Iraqi's who want us out:
Iraqis "strongly opposed to presence of coalition troops - 82%
Iraqis who believe Coalition forces are responsible for any improvement in security - less than 1%
Iraqis who feel less secure because of the occupation - 67%
Iraqis who do not have confidence in multi-national forces - 72%

But no surge in oil output, now less than Jan 2003 output vs. July 2007 (2.7mbpd versus 2.4mbpd)
No surge in electricity  about 12 hours per day Jan 2003 vs. less than 5 hours per day Jul 2007

Only 3 of the 18 Benchmarks agreed to by the Decider-n-Chief have been met. HOOORAY!





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Congress  needs to askPetraeus and Croker what the IMPACT will be if we stay for another decade. The top GENERAL ON THE GROUND Petraeus has stated that it will take AT LEAST a decade"WIN" and his forecasts have been to optimistic .

So here are a list of questions:
How many more US Troops killed? 10,000?
How many more US Troops wounded? 50,000?
How many more ISF killed? 30,0000?
How any more ISF Wounded? 150,000?
How many more Iraqi Civilians killed? 250,000?
How many more Iraqi Civilians wounded? 1.5 Million?
How many more Iraqi's will be displayed from their homes? 100,000/month? 12-24 Million?
How much more TAXPAYER Money will be needed to "WIN"
$5Trillion?
What will be the ongoing cost to Taxpayers after we "WIN"? $100Billion per year?
Will there be any Iraqi's left to GOVERN or be GOVERNED when we "WIN" and establish a DEMOCRATIC IRAQ?

Oh ya, then ask what the impact will be if we withdraw 100,000 troops by the end of 2008?

I want to know, 1.) Will they be under oath? @.) Will the Dems be smart enough to read escerpts from the reports coming out lately showing how the IRaqi gov't has NOT taken advantage of the surge, and 3>0 how significantly the human testimony will differ---if at all, if Petraeus and Crocker are sufficiently knowed,---from the White House Whitewash.
Also, I wonder if the Dems will have the balls to FINALLY force the issue of getting out of Iraq, and by that I mean forcing it down the Emperor's thrat, no matter how much he bitches and moans.

Class Warrior,

Do you know anything about what you are talking about?

1) If they testify, and that is a big if, they will be under oath, but it does not matter, everything said will be "an opinion." There will be not any "evidence."
2) Smartness does not have anything to do with being a Democrat, or a Republican. Duh! The question here is, "Will the speaker be required to answer the questions?"
3) Both the House and the Senate have demanded changes in the Iraqi war, but the president has vetoed their challenges, and the Republicans have upheld his Veto. If you want a change, then we need at least 60 Democrats in the Senate - Since he will always vote for Israel, Sen. Lieberman does not count, believe me, Israel cares what happens ANYWHERE in the Middle East. Vote for America(ns), not your religion!

Oh yeah, if your "class" war is based on social issues, then let's start with excerpts from the dictionary.

Political rhetoric today is either entertaining or frustrating but never meaningful.  The emphasis and credibility always seems to be based solely on what is said being an acceptable cover without ever needing to have real integrity or value.  That is a pity but it is simply a reality in America’s current political environment.  Obviously the acceptance shouldn’t be based on who can lie the best but rather on what truthfully represents what is best for the American people. Regrettably that just isn’t the case today and it has gotten so bad that the public literally accepts it as long as it allows them to stick to there individual bias.

Today Jack Snow presented that the GAO report and the pentagon report, both analyzing the progress in Iraq, were different in their conclusions because of their different criteria for success.  Let us consider what was presented.  If, as the GAO report presented, only 5 of the 18 goals experienced (some) significant accomplishment, then that represented at best a 28.8% accomplishment.  And, considering what the pentagon is expected to report, the fractionally measured achievement of individual goals resulted being maybe a possible overall 40% accomplishment.  Then, accepting those (generous) statistics, the absolute best we could say is that there has been a 28.8 to 40% improvement.  Is that satisfactory?  Have our troops been demanding of themselves only a 28.8 to 40% performance objective?  Has the American taxpayer been repaid with a 28.8 to 40% performance, especially realizing this has only been over the last few months (while before they experienced practically nothing)?  Is a negligible performance today, after six years of support and sacrifice, a satisfactory offset for the costs the American people have paid?  Jack, you seem to be a nice guy and I would like to be generous but really it is totally offensive to think that you expect the American people to buy into that deception.

It is apparent that the only goal this war has ever met is that it has been extremely profitable for Special Interests and a select few, which is simply not a goal that benefits the American people.  We really need things to change!

    Okay. Way I see it is that the epublicans aren't gonna bude about the war in Iraq. No one is Congress is raising alarm bells about the President's increasing war rhetoric about Iran.
    So, the president will initiate some type of action against Iran within the next six months.
    Lee Holmes, you'll be happy. You'll get your neo-con wish. Keep looking for those shiite cells here. Keep the blog informed when you find them.
    Ryan, Michigan, you have pre-teenagers. Get ready to suit them up. That draft will be headed your way and since they probably don't have cystic fybrosis like you, they'll be elegible.
    Carrie, Iowa gal, I know you're 32, but hey, this will be a long one, so you may even be eligible. Oh, I forgot, you have a 9-5 job already working for the government, doing "research". So, you can just continur to monitor blogs.
    See you all in another life, brothers.
    Desmond

Desmond, it was 'An Affair To Remember"-movie

"The day the music died". So long, Buddy.

First off, forgive my faux pas contained in my previous comment and correct Jack Snow to read Tony Snow; sorry about that but then I'm not running for anything and really only concerned with the real meaning of things.
Now to the point, we are hearing so much about the progress in Iraq accomplished with the 'surge' and see the political manuvering, even to today's theatrical surprise visit by President Bush, yet there is just so much contridiction in all of the reports seen daily.  Personally, because of the past six year history, I am very skeptical of anything the Bush administration offers and simply tend to put more faith in the facts presented in news articles.  Consider the article, also available today, located at http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/20546328/site/newsweek/page/0/
and then the one covering the British pull out.  I think what has always offended me most, more than the self-indulgent, egotistic political manuvering, has been the bold and arrogant constant dishonesty that says, they could simply care less, the American people are just gullible and don't count and they (the Bush administration) can do whatever they want.

Ayep, my last post should read the Republicans won't budge. The rest of my post is devoid of errors.TaTa!

Desmond: I already have. You forget that the last NIE acknowlaged the presence of Iranian and Syrian Shia HEZBOLLAH cells now operating in the US. The bi-partisan Council On Foreign Relations also observes Shiite HEZBOLLAH activity occurring in several states,with the most notorious being the Charlotte cell located in North Carolina and one in Dearborn,Michigan. Others are located in Ohio, Illinois, California, Virginia,Oregon, Missouri, Texas, Kentucky, Florida, Massachusetts, and New York among other places. FBI Director Robert Mueller admitted to Congress last year that HEZBOLLAH operatives were caught trying to cross the Mexican border into Arizona to conduct terrorist activity against the US during the Lebanese War against Israel. This problem remains one of the most underreported areas of terrorism in the world today by the American press.

Also see: www.cfr.org- The Council on Foreign Relations-''HEZBOLLAH''.

''Lightning Out Of Lebanon: HEZBOLLAH Terrorists On American Soil'' Newman,Diaz. Presidio Press Books,2005.

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