I'll start with Bush in the cross hairs because it's easy...

Boy King's mouth says

"All Americans can have confidence in the military commanders who are leading the effort in Iraq, and in the troops under their command ... They have made important gains in recent weeks and months; they are adapting our strategy to meet the needs on the ground; and they're helping us to bring victory in the war on terror."

First of all I wouldn't call it a victory, if we come out of this 100% victorious it would only be a return to normal with respect to terror. Iraq had nothing to do with terrorism and, try as you might, was not a front against terror. But now it is. Now men flock from surrounding countries and Northern Africa to fight American and Western troops. Now about the 100% victory, it'll never happen. We will cut-n-run. The MSM will hardly notice and take the bait hook, line, and sinker. There will be a big celebration, a Bush speech, and lots of back-patting; but in a short time Iraq will spiral out of control and Bush and the war party will blame the new Iraqi government and/or Syria and Iran.

In addition, when Bush pleasures himself to the thought that the Iraqi army will step in and begin taking the lead and indicating (as was in July) that we can pull (at least our ground troops) out of Iraq. That is all talk, I don't think anyone that understands the reality of this war and what is going on all across the Islamic world thinks we'll be out of there anytime soon. Gen. Casey, who brought up the idea of troop withdrawal in July (to begin pull out in 2006) has now reneged on that idea as nothing has changed in Iraq and the upcoming referendum doesn't appear to be a turning point in terms of sectarian violence in Iraq. Furthermore;

The commander of American troops in Iraq has shocked Congress with a bleak assessment of the state of the Iraqi security forces, admitting that the number of battalions ready to fight on their own has dropped from three to one.
...
Under stiff questioning in Congress however, Gen George Casey said that only one out of 86 Iraqi army battalions was able to fight on its own, down from three six months ago.

Moderate Repubs sense that Iraq is slipping away

John McCain, a senior Republican senator, said the Pentagon had tried to fight the war with too few troops and he lambasted the outgoing chairman of the joint chiefs of staff, Gen Richard Myers, for being too optimistic.

"Things have not gone as we had planned or expected nor as we were told by you," he said during a meeting of the Senate armed services committee.

So how do we leave Iraq? I'm not arguing for immediate withdrawal, I can't understand why that would make things any better; for the Iraq people we have occupied and for the long-term repercussions of handing over Iraq to two opposing militias. But in contrast, isn't our presence there some of the cause of the fighting?

[UPDATE] expressed by US Generals here. Finally I think they are getting it.

America wants a new plan but a lot of the Dems in Washington still repeat the tired talking point; "stay the course". F that! We need a new course!, a new vision and we know it isn't coming from Bush (I suspect some fat cat is getting his pockets lined). Of course some Dems have spoken out but few are leaders or bid names. The ideas are out there: there is a new one from The Center for American Progress (here), and a great summary of the current debate here. But clearly something needs to change. When a scholar at the Hudson Institute (neocon Street, USA!!) says

The invasion of Iraq was the "greatest strategic disaster in United States history," a retired Army general said yesterday
...
The U.S. should withdraw from Iraq, he said, and reposition its military forces along the Afghan-Pakistani border to capture Osama bin Laden and crush al Qaeda cells.

"The invasion of Iraq I believe will turn out to be the greatest strategic disaster in U.S. history," said Odom, now a scholar with the Hudson Institute.

Mr. pResident, yet again you have deceived. Please purge your foreign policy, it sucks, and UBL is still free!

Posted by Geoff

Man when it rains it pours in Washington. The GAO just reamed the administration, how convenient it’s on Friday...

Federal auditors said today that the Bush administration had violated the law by purchasing favorable news coverage of President Bush's education policies, by making payments to the conservative commentator Armstrong Williams and by hiring a public relations company to analyze media perceptions of the Republican Party.

In a blistering report, the investigators, from the Government Accountability Office, said the administration had disseminated "covert propaganda" inside the United States, in violation of a longstanding, explicit statutory ban.

What an apex of late; Frist, Delay, Miller then this! Add to that list the ongoing occupation and clean-up efforts in the Gulf(s). If I only thought something would come of any of these...

Posted by Geoff

[UPDATE] just for you bloggingpoet

link through Col. Lang

MILES O'BRIEN: You know, General, I've got to say, I'm having a hard time seeing the signs of success. We don't have much evidence that the Iraqis are stepping up to the plate. The U.S. is having to provide whatever security there is. We're approaching now 2,000 fatalities, lost U.S. men and women, and I see what I see are an increase spade of violence and I see a country on the cusp of civil war. How is that success?

MYERS: Well I think there's nobody that thinks they're on the cusp of civil war.

MILES O'BRIEN: Really?

MYERS: The Shia community no, of course not, Miles. The Shia community is not at war. The violent Sunni extremists. There are four provinces in Iraq and the city of Baghdad, a very important place, obviously, where the violence occurs. It does not occur in the rest of the country. There has been we've had elections. That is progress. We're going to have a we have a draft constitution. That is progress. We have a constitutional referendum coming up. Even the Sunnis I mean, we're talking about 80 or 90 percent of the Iraqi population, according to polls, say they're going to vote in the constitutional referendum and then they'll vote in the national elections that follow in a couple of months. That is progress. Iraqi security forces are in the fight. They're losing twice . . .

MILES O'BRIEN: Are they really, though? Are they really there?

MYERS: Absolutely. I mean all you have to do is look at the casualty figures for Iraqi security forces. You'll see that they're twice the rate or three times the rate of coalition forces. They're absolutely . . .

MILES O'BRIEN: Well, that's an odd way of measuring the success of their ability to fight.

MYERS: It what it measures is their courage and their willingness to stand up and fight for their country. Just like our troops did in 1776. I hope you've read the book. This is not easy building countries. It's not easy building democracies. In 1776, George Washington was down at one point to 3,000 rag tag troops. And, yes, they were dying. And if people had lost hope then, this country that we call America wouldn't be. And so our men and women know that. They're the ones over there. I just visited about a month ago, August, I visited the troops in Iraq. Let me tell you, they know the stakes are high. They know that what they're doing is securing this country, as well as that region. They know they can win. They know they can win. And I know they can win and they will win.

What a hack, and just a while ago Rummy said he (Myers) may be the best Joint Chiefs of Staff Chair ever!!! Better than Marshall? I highly doubt that unless he does something very special in the coming days...

Oh wait... He's gone, stepped down. Col. Lang takes him to task as well...

Do as I say, not as I do ... Fuel prices are higher than ever, the pResident urges us to "be better conservers" by carpooling, using public transportation and avoiding unnecessary trips ... WHILE HE JETS AROUND, SPENDING OVER $170,000.00 IN JET FUEL.

Liar! Liar! Pants on Fire ... Brownie continues to lie about his "coordination" of emergency measures and still blames everybody but himself about the Katrina fiasco, WHILE STILL DRAWING A SALARY AS FIRED FEMA DIRECTOR (I see the Douan Rule has made it to the Federal level).

Stick and stones may hurt my bones, but words will never harm me ... Self-righteous as ever, all The "innocent" Hammer can say in the face of his indictment is that a "rogue prosecutor" and a "partisan fanatic" have produced the "weakest, most baseless indictments in American history. It's a sham." Meanwhile, Scottie assures us, "I think the president's view is that we need to let the legal process work." ... Legal process ... since when?

An apple a day sends the doctor away ... or maybe unloading some hospital stock will do the trick. I can't imagine the good Dr Frist missing that diagnosis.

Carpool, walk, take the bus, hail a cab, flag down Air Force One ...
just make sure you can get to Voodoo Thursday evening for your weekly dose of liberal talk and maybe even a drink or three.

Voodoo Lounge
15 Magnolia (West Ashley)
Every Thursday
5:30 pm
FREE PARKING BEHIND THE BAR

This is most certainly a necessary trip. Reporters from West Of may actually put on their liberal faces as they develop a story about Drinking Liberally Charleston!

Former FEMA director Michael Brown blamed others for most government failures in responding to Hurricane Katrina on Tuesday, especially Louisiana Gov. Kathleen Blanco and New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin. He aggressively defended his own role.

...

"My biggest mistake was not recognizing by Saturday that Louisiana was dysfunctional," two days before the storm hit, Brown told the panel.

Upon reading this my first instinct was to grab Brown by the throat and shake the BS out of him. Screaming "You don't shift blame like that, not when your at the helm of a major gov't outfit you f'n hack." I mean what is he, a Republican?

But then, while talking to a friend, I began to realize that he may have become the Repub fall guy for the Katrina disaster. I can sort of understand defending yourself over party. But this is a Republican, they don't do that. For them it's party over everything. That's the way it is for them.

fortunately, no one is buying it;

His efforts to shift blame drew sharp criticism from Democratic and Republican lawmakers alike.

"I'm happy you left," said Rep. Christopher Shays, R-Conn. "That kind of look in the lights like a deer tells me you weren't capable of doing that job."

Rep. Gene Taylor, D-Miss., told Brown: "The disconnect was, people thought there was some federal expertise out there. There wasn't. Not from you."

...

Brown's testimony drew a scathing response from Rep. William Jefferson (news, bio, voting record), D-La.

"I find it absolutely stunning that this hearing would start out with you, Mr. Brown, laying the blame for FEMA's failings at the feet of the governor of Louisiana and the Mayor of New Orleans."

And in a testy exchange, Shays compared Brown's performance unfavorably with that of former New York Mayor Rudolph Giuliani after the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks.

"So I guess you want me to be the superhero, to step in there and take everyone out of New Orleans," Brown said.

"What I wanted you to do is do your job and coordinate," Shays retorted.

...

In Baton Rouge, La., Blanco's press secretary, Denise Bottcher, ridiculed Brown's line of attack. "Mike Brown wasn't engaged then, and he surely isn't now. He should have been watching CNN instead of the Disney Channel," Bottcher said.

But to sum up my feelings, Tom Davis, R-Va

"At the end of the day, I suspect that we'll find that government at all levels failed the people of Louisiana and Mississippi and Alabama and the Gulf Coast," said Davis.

Apparently brownie still gets a paycheck from the gov't!! Sighhhhh.

Posted by Geoff

Did anyone NOT know this?

Military officials told President Bush on Sunday that the U.S. needs a national plan to coordinate search and rescue efforts following natural disasters or terrorist attacks.

I mean seriously. This is just now being suggested to Bush? What is going on in DC?

But then, the very next paragraph,

Bush said he is interested in whether the Defense Department should take charge in massive national disasters.

Whhaaaa? Yeah, that's great, I want the DoD in Charleston after a major hurricane, What BS.