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Christmas Eve of Destruction [DOWD - NY Times]
NY Times ^ | Dec 23, 2004 | Maureen Dowd

Posted on 12/22/2004 7:55:22 PM PST by Tumbleweed_Connection

In Iraq, as Yogi Berra would say, the future ain't what it used to be.

Now that the election's over, our leaders think it's safe to experiment with a little candor.

President Bush finally acknowledged that the Iraqis can't hack it as far as securing their own country, which means, of course, that America has no exit strategy for its troops, who will soon number 150,000.

News organizations led with the story, even though the president was only saying something that everybody has known to be true for a year. The White House's Iraqi policy has gone from a total charade to a limited modified hangout. Mr. Bush is conceding the obvious, that the Iraqi security forces aren't perfect, so he doesn't have to concede the truth: that Iraq is now so dire no one knows how or when we can get out.

If this fiasco ever made sense to anybody, it doesn't any more.

John McCain, who lent his considerable credibility to Mr. Bush during the campaign and vouched for the president and his war, now concedes that he has no confidence in Donald Rumsfeld.

And Rummy admitted yesterday that his feelings got hurt when people accused him of being insensitive to the fact that he arrogantly sent his troops into a sinkhole of carnage - a vicious, persistent insurgency - without the proper armor, equipment, backup or preparation.

The subdued defense chief further admitted that despite all the American kids who gave their lives in Mosul on the cusp of Christmas, battling an enemy they can't see in a war fought over weapons that didn't exist, we're not heading toward the democratic halcyon Mr. Bush promised.

"I think looking for a peaceful Iraq after the elections would be a mistake," Mr. Rumsfeld said.

His disgraceful admission that his condolence letters to the families of soldiers killed in Iraq were signed by machine - "I have directed that in the future I sign each letter," he said in a Strangelovian statement - is redolent of the myopia that has led to the administration's dystopia.

The Bushies are betting a lot on the January election, even though a Shiite-dominated government will further alienate the Sunnis - and even though Iraq may be run by an Iranian-influenced ayatollah. That would mean that Iraq would have a leadership legitimized by us to hate us.

International election observers say it's too dangerous to actually come in and monitor the vote in person; they're going to "assess" the vote from the safety of Amman, Jordon. Isn't that like refereeing a football game while sitting in a downtown bar?

The administration hopes that once the Iraqis understand they have their own government, that will be a turning point and they will realize their country is worth fighting for. But this is the latest in a long list of turning points that turn out to be cul-de-sacs.

From the capture of Saddam to the departure of Paul Bremer and the assault on Falluja, there have been many false horizons for peace.

The U.S. military can't even protect our troops when they're eating lunch in a supposedly secure space - even after the Mosul base commanders had been warned of a "Beirut-style" attack three weeks before - because the Iraqi security forces and support staff have been infiltrated by insurgency spies.

Each milestone, each thing that is supposed to enable us to get some traction and change the basic dynamic in Iraq, comes and goes without the security getting any better. The Los Angeles Times reported yesterday that a major U.S. contractor, Contrack International Inc., has dropped out of the multibillion-dollar effort to rebuild Iraq, "raising new worries about the country's growing violence and its effect on reconstruction."

The Bush crowd thought it could get in, get out, scare the Iranians and Syrians, and remove the bulk of our forces within several months.

But now we're in and it's the allies, contractors and election watchdogs who want out.

Aside from his scintilla of candor, Mr. Bush is still not leveling with us. As he said at his press conference on Monday, "the enemies of freedom" know that "a democratic Iraq will be a decisive blow to their ambitions because free people will never choose to live in tyranny."

They might choose to live in a theocracy, though. Americans did.


TOPICS: Editorial
KEYWORDS: aging; dowd; dowdy; driedup8spinster; dustywomb; iraq; mandatorybarfalert; maureendowd; mba; mccain; rummy; single8and8hating8it
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Merry xmas M.
1 posted on 12/22/2004 7:55:23 PM PST by Tumbleweed_Connection
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To: Tumbleweed_Connection

Hell if this is a theocracy, it's way better than the rule of JohnJohn. Maybe we should run Kerry in the Iraqi election?!


2 posted on 12/22/2004 7:58:45 PM PST by edmond246 (*With that much B.S. America flushed both the Johns*)
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To: Tumbleweed_Connection

"the enemies of freedom" know that "a democratic Iraq will be a decisive blow to their ambitions because free people will never choose to live in tyranny."

Mo, you oh-so-coiffed and coutured airhead, what part of this do you NOT understand? President Bush is right.

A little off topic, I'd like to hear more from her conservative brother.


3 posted on 12/22/2004 8:02:38 PM PST by Theresawithanh (Snappy, witty, humerous tagline needed! Will pay in Marlboro Miles...)
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To: edmond246

I'm damn sick of watching these dickheads scoff at our country, leaders, citizens, and soldiers. Screw them.


4 posted on 12/22/2004 8:03:27 PM PST by Tumbleweed_Connection (www.whatyoucrave.com)
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To: Tumbleweed_Connection

I dare this witch to go to the Kurdish and Iranian survivors of Saddam's gas attacks and tell them that these weapons never existed......


5 posted on 12/22/2004 8:05:24 PM PST by Yossarian (Remember: NOT ALL HEART ATTACKS HAVE TRADITIONAL SYMPTOMS)
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To: Tumbleweed_Connection

Paging Ms. Zeta-Jones...


6 posted on 12/22/2004 8:05:54 PM PST by Ogie Oglethorpe (The people have spoken...the b*stards!)
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To: Tumbleweed_Connection

7 posted on 12/22/2004 8:07:28 PM PST by finnman69 (cum puella incedit minore medio corpore sub quo manifestus globus, inflammare animos)
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To: Do not dub me shapka broham; NYC GOP Chick; Gabz; Happygal; cyborg

More insane ramblings from Mr. Catherine Zeta Jone's ex-girlfriend.


8 posted on 12/22/2004 8:09:54 PM PST by NeoCaveman (If you can't be a good example, atleast be a billboard of what not to do)
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To: Tumbleweed_Connection

eat me M


9 posted on 12/22/2004 8:10:47 PM PST by leadpencil1 (98% of all statistics are made up on the fly)
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To: Yossarian
I don't see it happening anytime soon.

It doesn't appear that Ms. Dowd has exactly embraced the "Christmas Spirit."

10 posted on 12/22/2004 8:12:48 PM PST by Do not dub me shapka broham (Why did it take me so long to come up with a new tag-line, huh?! What's up with that?)
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To: Tumbleweed_Connection

Dowd's Christmas party with her Democrat pals


11 posted on 12/22/2004 8:13:40 PM PST by Free ThinkerNY ((((Dowd is a humbug))))
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To: dubyaismypresident

Mo is definitely a MoFo


12 posted on 12/22/2004 8:18:07 PM PST by NYC GOP Chick (www.Hillary-Watch.org)
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To: Tumbleweed_Connection

If its a theocracy, I want Billy Graham leading us, his son will do nicely as well. Just a little nepotism to add to the pot. Then I want all non-believers to become our slaves. If this was a theocracy, I don't think idiots like dowd would be allowed to walk free.


13 posted on 12/22/2004 8:18:42 PM PST by vpintheak (Liberal = The antithesis of Freedom and Patriotism)
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To: finnman69

A wet CZJ is worth a thousand dry Dowds.


14 posted on 12/22/2004 8:20:31 PM PST by manic4organic (We won. Get over it.)
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To: finnman69

http://www.nypost.com/gossip/celebp/archive/zetajones/photo11.htm


15 posted on 12/22/2004 8:22:47 PM PST by Paladin2 (SeeBS News - We Decide, We Create, We Report - In that order! - ABC - Already Been Caught)
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To: Tumbleweed_Connection
They might choose to live in a theocracy, though. Americans did.

In a Theocracy they would take this braindead broad out and Stone her for writing such tripe. It must be tough living with all that hatred on the Ash Heap of History.

Merry Christmas and Prayers to Our Troops

16 posted on 12/22/2004 8:22:47 PM PST by bray (Keep Christ in the Manger!)
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To: Tumbleweed_Connection
Ahem.

I'm waaaaaaaaaiting...

17 posted on 12/22/2004 8:24:28 PM PST by AmishDude
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To: finnman69

Thank you.


18 posted on 12/22/2004 8:24:39 PM PST by AmishDude
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To: Tumbleweed_Connection
Now that the election's over, our leaders think it's safe to experiment with a little candor.

Maybe if we had an honest media, we have more candid leaders.

19 posted on 12/22/2004 8:25:11 PM PST by My2Cents (To those inclined to receive it, "Merry Christmas!" To those NOT so inclined, "Bah Humbug!")
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To: leadpencil1
No doubt this incessant handwringer finds time each day to launch brainless diatribes.

But not untill after she wets the bed.

If she spent more time with Krugman or Kristof, they could all just wet the bed together.

It would take less sheets and improve the environment.

Must be an idea for a bumper sticker there somewhere.

Something like: SAVE THE SHEETS,BYRD NEEDS THEM

20 posted on 12/22/2004 8:26:45 PM PST by smoothsailing (Eagles Up !!)
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