Dumb Ass is the key word for today. It applies to the New York Times and, as we'll see in a third entry this morning, it applies elsewhere. It certainly applies to the Bully Boy. But why is he so proudly sporting his Dumb Ass. You won't find out in the New York Times though war pornographer Gordo's all ready to "analyze." You'll find out in the third entry when we turn our attention to a Dumb Ass who sold the war and still tries to. He gets an interview with Matthew Rothschild because he makes some hollow, meaningless statements but he can't help but be a War Cheerleader.
We're going to start with Peter Baker's "U.S. Not Winning War in Iraq, Bush Says for 1st Time" (Washington Post) and I'm noting this article:
President Bush acknowledged for the first time yesterday that the United States is not winning the war in Iraq and said he plans to expand the overall size of the "stressed" U.S. armed forces to meet the challenges of a long-term global struggle against terrorists.
As he searches for a new strategy for Iraq, Bush has now adopted the formula advanced by his top military adviser to describe the situation. "We're not winning, we're not losing," Bush said in an interview with The Washington Post. The assessment was a striking reversal for a president who, days before the November elections, declared, "Absolutely, we're winning."
That's the opening and you can't note or highlight the article without noting it -- unless you're the New York Times where Thom Shankar and Rottin' Tootin' Jim Rutenberg contribute a long article entitled "President Wants To Increase Size Of Armed Forces." How do you write so much garbage -- and it is garbage -- without noting the most important part -- even Bully Boy has to admit that currently there's no 'win.'
Now he thinks there's a 'win' around the corner and he thinks that for a reason that you won't find in the Post or in the New York Times. The Times is all over the story they didn't get but they're missing all the points and print and the reasons why Bully Boy's still thinking 'win.'
Now as they roll out the next wave of war lust, it's really important that they ignore certain things which is why, for instance, you won't read in today's Times what the US military announced yesterday:
An Iraqi national police battalion commander was relieved of duty Dec. 18 after giving permission to two Iraqi police officers to illegally arrest two local nationals near a security checkpoint within the Iraqi capital. The commander from 1st National Police Division permitted two Iraqi Police officers, claiming to be under orders from the Ministry of the Interior, to arrest two brothers for unknown reasons. Reports indicate the brothers were placed in two separate cars which departed in different directions. Investigation by the National Police Headquarters Deputy Commander led to the discovery that the capture was not authorized by the Ministry of the Interior. The deputy commander then ordered the arrest of the battalion commander and the individuals manning the check point where the incident occurred. The incident is still under investigation.
When you've signed up to serve in yet another wave of Operation Happy Talk (what, you thought it was over?), you don't note the realities. You jerk off to this statement or that and you pass on an 'analysis' to the leadering war pornographer where he continues his call for War! War! War! all the time.
And the American people cannot be told by the Times that Bully Boy has admitted the war is not a 'win' -- though he just knows it will be shortly. (Again, there's a reason for that. We'll get to it in this morning's third entry.)
Here's some reality as we wade slowly through the latest Operation Happy Talk spin -- Reuters is reporting that the US military admits 22 troops killed themselves in 2005 -- that's the number the military admits to.
In yesterday's snapshot, we addressed a [PDF format] report Chatham House. Look in vain through the 'reporting' in the Times today for anything on that report. That which doesn't sell the war goes unnoted. Which is why, though Colin Brown and Andy McSmith (Independent of London) broke the news last week, the paper of no record still can't tell readers that Carne Ross' 2004 testimony to the Butler inquiry (released last week) establishes that the British government knew Iraq was no threat and had no WMDs.
When you sign up for Operation Happy Talk, you have to ignore a lot.
The e-mail address for this site is common_ills@yahoo.com.
the washington post
peter baker
the new york times
michael r. gordon
thom shankar
jim rutenberg
