Washblog

NY Times: President Bush Is Winning Iraq War. - Updated

I know! I didn't think it was possible either! But then the NYT told me so this morning! Cool, right?

Just look at the picture!!! The surge has worked! Kids are in playgrounds! Soon there will be victory, baby! It'll be just like in Afghanistan! That victory was AWESOME, dude! Remember that?

Strangely, the Times doesn't.

But anyway, they are totally going to report what Petraeus is going to "report" to the Nation -- in sober, careful, somewhat tentative, yes, but hopeful words : Victory in Iraq may finally be on its way.

The Bush Administration hasn't won the peace in Louisiana yet, - still a need for troops there, three years after Katrina, still haven't quite sorted out the security situation IN AN AMERICAN CITY AFTER THREE YEARS - but it's very important for us to realize - the New York Times believes - that the Administration is making things better in Iraq.

Of New Orleans, the Times said:

People who dream of a better future are trying, fitfully, to create one, while the government they once thought would protect and serve them slumbers on. New Orleans has been slammed into the 19th century, and it’s going to be a long way back.
Of the "Big Gains" the Times sees in Iraq, they ask, breathlessly:
What's going right? And can it last?
It's true that this Administration hasn't even finished demolishing the 9th Ward houses thrown around by Katrina - let alone rebuilding the city, like a self-respecting government. But the "Paper of Record" thinks Americans should know that the Administration is succeeding at putting Iraqi society back together.

I know what you're wondering: "But how?"

Well, it's just below the second full 'graph in the Gray Lady's big story:

For Hatem al-Bachary, a Basra businessman, the turnabout has been "a miracle," the first tentative signs of a normal life.

"A miracle" - now THAT is the kind of journalism folks get Pulitzer Prizes for.

We've been reminded again and again that "the terrorists know" when American elections are coming and change their behavior accordingly. One has to wonder if the people whose livelihoods depend on the American occupation know - unless you're the New York Times. One has to wonder if the  American Central Command reminded them at all - unless you're the New York Times. One has to wonder if President Bush...

...might have reminded Nouri al-Maliki himself of this when they talked on...oh,...I don't know...Thursday? Wonder, that is, unless you are the New York Times.

Because if there's one thing the New York Times knows about, it's credibility.

Log in  to the Times with his handy link in order to click the next two. Then wonder aloud with me:

"Didn't the New York Times get sick of making fools of themselves during the Vietnam war?"

No need to log in for the next links and I won't keep you in suspense. That answer is:

"Apparently not".  

But what could possibly explain this intransigent stupidity?

You know I actually don't care?

But if you're a more responsible person and, like General Petraeus in 2003, your question is "Tell me how this ends," let me offer you this from - you guessed it - the New York Times:

Consider the latest caricatures of Mr. Maliki put up on posters by the followers of Moktada al-Sadr, the fiery cleric who commands deep loyalty among poor Shiites. They show the prime minister's face split in two -- half his own, half Saddam Hussein's. The comparison is, of course, intended as a searing criticism.

This is a criticism which is apparently lost on the New York Times. Incredibly, they seem blithely to be headed towards endorsing the scenario of the loved-then-hated military strongman. You know: the one that leads to decades of bloody civil conflict. You remember: the one America has repeated over and over and over again.

Who knows, maybe they'll even endorse John McCain.

Update [2008-6-22 13:9:5 by dlaw]: - New Meme!!! This morning on "Meet The Press," I heard Senator Lindsey Graham declare proudly how "for four years John McCain fought the Bush Administration". This is a contention which borders on insane. John McCain's only problem with the Bush policy on Iraq, ever, has been that it's not extreme enough, it's not big enough, and that some people want it to end.

< It's election day somewhere. | Smith, Dicks & Baird: A Chorus of Lies on FISA >
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Campaign on Carter - I've despised that rag paper ever since, especially since they consistently live up their record of spewing fascist talking point conventional wisdom as if it is the truth.

Digby does a great job of skewering what she calls 'the village' - the village being the cadre of media self important, elitist scum, who,

like Tim Russert,

excel at

comforting the comfortable,
afflictlicting the afflicted,
self promotion,
pretending to have ethics,

...

IF the NYT were printed on charmin, I would buy it.

The TWO things the paper excels at:

  • passing along the conventional wisdom from the top scum to keep the bottom scum on the bottom,

  • providing the apologists and synchophants of the top scum with their talking points du jour.

rmm.

http://www.liemail.com/BambooGrassroots.html

by rmdSeaBos on Sat Jun 21, 2008 at 05:06:14 PM PST

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They're having a fun week over at the New York Times. Bush is bringing peace to Iraq and George Lakoff.

In this piece the reviewer of Lakoff's latest book writes that while "no one has more brilliantly dissected conservative spin," Lakoff nevertheless reasons as that he was "lobotomized" and his ideas are "neither democratic nor scientifically warranted".

Seems the New York Times has decided they have to be the enemy of Progressivism this week.

It's a very bad choice.

by dlaw on Sat Jun 21, 2008 at 08:41:01 PM PST

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is a newly release book by Vincent Bugliosi, the author of Helter Skelter (Charles Manson murders).  Bugliosi is best known for prosecuting Charles Manson and other defendants accused of the Tate-LaBianca murders.  

I ordered the book from my local library and plan to be reading it. I appreciate Bugliosi's argument that impeachment does not go far enough, in that Bush retains all the privileges of former Presidents, with pension, $$, medical, speaking opportunities, etc.

Prosecute this man for murder - it was his watch and he ordered the invasion into Iraq for unfounded reasons.  It has become clear he knew the intelligence did not point in the direction of Iraq.  It has also become clear the President knew of the efforts to deceive the American public into believing the false claims for invading Iraq.  

I wait now with slightly held breath for the term of this President to pass without more catastrophic actions, (ie, invading Iran) that would merit the potential of him declaring martial law and remaining in office.  I think that less likely now, but I won't breath easy again until he is out of office.

Impeachment is not enough for what this President has done.  He has so dishonored the office of President of the United States, which by itself deserves impeachment.  But the killing he has ordered, the murders in his name -- he well deserves prosecution for murder.

Read more from Bugliosi himself on this book here.

On the Surge in Iraq "--we have set the bar so low it's buried in the sand at this point." - Barack Obama

by Lietta Ruger on Sun Jun 22, 2008 at 10:36:52 AM PST

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Yes, it certainly is.

By any ethical standard, once we overthrew the government of that country, we became the responsible party - and we still are.

Which is why we have to get rid of the Republican control of this operation.

Because the one thing we know the Republicans will NOT do is rebuild the nation they destroyed. Look at Afghanistan. Look at New Orleans. They have a record. These aren't mistakes or accidents, these are deliberate policies.

Republicans are abusers. They believe that if they hit people hard enough, everything will be fine.

And because we are responsible for this Republican abuse - because WE ALL have responsibility for it - if we can't fix that nation (and I don't believe I can) the least we can do is get out.

Hopefully, we can at least protect them from the predations of Iran, Turkey and the Sunni extremists - but I don't think we can. It would be nice if we could

And I'm sure we never will unless we admit what went wrong and stop digging the hole deeper.

by dlaw on Sun Jun 22, 2008 at 12:20:57 PM PST

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