"This month we've lost 93 service members in Iraq; the most since October of 2005."
That's what the Bully Boy said yesterday morning in his press conference. We noted it in the snapshot yesterday and noted the number wasn't right. CNN has this remark in their partial transcript.
Who was going to call Bully Boy out in the mainstream media? I have no idea I was on plane when the networks broadcast their evening news. What I do see in the e-mails is anger and disbelief that our independent media not only didn't question the figure but repeated it as fact.
Fearless leader says it so it must be true? Is that how it works?
That's embarrassing and shameful and if you're doing the news and you don't know the count then you're not paying enough attention to Iraq.
From CNN today:
Five U.S. troops have died during military operations in Anbar province, west of Baghdad, a U.S. military statement said Thursday.
The deaths bring the U.S. military death toll in October to 96, the highest monthly toll since October a year ago.
"One Sailor assigned to 3rd Naval Construction Regiment, two Marines assigned to Regimental Combat Team 5 and two Marines assigned to Regimental Combat Team 7 died Wednesday from injuries sustained due to enemy action while operating in Al Anbar Province," the statement said.
Thursday the military announced five US troops had died. That brought the toll to 96. 96 minus 5 is? 91. Which was the number when Bully Boy spoke yesterday.
Bully Boy didn't get the number right. If you think the number matters then his 'mistake' matters. If you look at the casual way he's treated this illegal war from the start, then his 'mistake' goes to pattern. He stood up before the press and the people to make his soft-sell on his illegal war yesterday and he couldn't even get the number of troops who had died this month correct. That is shameful.
That others don't want to call him out on it shows you how timid and frightened many still are. (But don't forget the lapdogs and the handmaidens who've served this administration from the start.)
Here's AP:
The U.S. military on Thursday announced the deaths of five U.S. troops in fighting in Iraq, raising to 96 the number of American forces killed this month.
The four Marines and one Navy sailor all died in fighting in Anbar province, a hotbed of the Sunni insurgency against U.S. troops and their Iraqi government allies.
The latest deaths raised to 96 the number of U.S. forces killed in October, the highest toll for any month this year and on course to surpass the October 2005 total of 96.
From the New York Times transcript of the song and dance yesterday:
And we've suffered casualties of our own. This month we've lost 93 servicemembers in Iraq; the most since October of 2005.
Watch how Jim Rutenberg looks the other way in "Conceding Missteps, Bush Urges Patience on Iraq" (New York Times):
Before taking questions from reporters, Mr. Bush offered an opening statement that amounted to a kind of scorecard for Iraq, in which he acknowledged disappointments as well as successes. Among successes, he listed the capture of Saddam Hussein, free elections, and economic progress for farms and small businesses. Among the developments he called "not encouraging," he listed "the bombing of the U.N. headquarters in Baghdad, the fact that we did not find stockpiles of weapons of mass destruction, and the continued loss of some of America’s finest sons and daughters."
Notice it? Rutenberg takes a pass on Bully Boy's mistake because, heaven forbid, to this day, that the idiot get called out on the fact that he doesn't pay attention to anything. From the CNN transcript:
Other developments were not encouraging, such as the bombing of the U.N. headquarters in Baghdad, the fact that we did not find stockpiles of weapons of mass destruction, and the continued loss of some of America's finest sons and daughters.
Recently, American and Iraqi forces have launched some of the most aggressive operations on enemy forces in Baghdad since the war began. They have cleared neighborhoods of terrorists and death squads and uncovered large caches of weapons, including sniper scopes and mortars and powerful bombs.
There had been heavy fighting. Many enemy fighters had been killed or captured.
And we've suffered casualties of our own. This month we've lost 93 service members in Iraq; the most since October of 2005.
I understand (from the e-mails) that one program made a big to do about the fact that Bully Boy didn't note the 655,000 from The Lancet study (Iraqis who've died due to the war). Way to focus. Way to zoom in. Bully Boy's denied that. He's refused that study. (I believe the study.) He's not going to attempt to sway the American voters by bringing up that number. Get real and grow up.
If you mistook that critique for bravery, it wasn't. Bully Boy's never been concerned about Iraqi fatalities. He is, however, attempting to switch the debate by acting as though he's concerned about the 'toll' it's taken on 'all of us' (which, in his mind, translates as American voters). And to show his 'concern,' he tosses out a number of Americans troops who died this month in the Iraq war. The number is incorrect. That does matter.
The press covering for him (apparently the press is all press, big and small)? That's shameful.
The count was 91 until the US military announced the five today. Bully Boy doesn't announce the count. If you have a loved one serving in Iraq and you heard '93,' chances are (unlike the news media) you knew the count, you knew the number. Your first thought was, "Two more?" And your second thought was wondering if it was your loved one? If that was your story, you spent Wednesday trying to find out details.
Bully Boy got the count wrong. While pretending that he cares about American troops who have died while serving in his illegal war, he couldn't even be bothered with getting the number right and our media, big and small, seems too scared to tell the American people that fact.
Also flying his coward flag today is John M. Broder with what's billed as a "news analysis" by the New York Times and entitled "Bush's Gamble: Turning the Spotlight on the Iraq War as Republicans Try to Dim It." Broder's 'analyzing' the speech but can't point out that Bully Boy didn't know how many American troops died this month in Iraq.
Alternative theory, the media's not a coward -- they, like the Bully Boy, just don't give a damn about how many American soldiers died.
The number who've died matters. You're dreaming and worse if you think Bully Boy's going to suddenly say, "By golly, The Lancet study was right!" But if you're trying to demonstrate that he just doesn't care, the answer was right there but, from the e-mails, even small media couldn't address it. That's shameful. The American toll was tossed out as sap for American voters. This wasn't an 'international' speech, this was an attempt to sway voters. The point, that media wants to look away from, is that even when trying to sway (American) voters, Bully Boy and his handlers don't even care enough to get the number of American troops who've died in this war correct. Looking the other way or jerking off to the fact that (no surprise), he didn't mention the 655,000 number (which he doesn't accept) is making yourself useless.
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