Archive for 'Iraq'

Saturday, December 1st, 2007

Murtha Briefly Sees Light, Pelosi Shoves Back Into Darkness

If the stakes weren’t so high, the recent headlines surrounding John Murtha would be downright hilarious in their illustration of Pelosi’s Principles of Partisanship.  John Murtha just got back from Iraq and said a quite remarkable thing, given his history on the war:
Rep. John Murtha (D-Pa.) acknowledged that the surge of U.S. troops in Iraq […]

21 Comments » - Posted in Donkeys, Iraq by Mark

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Sunday, November 25th, 2007

An Improving Iraq Forcing Dems To Reevaluate

Not even the Democratic presidential nominees can ignore the progress in Iraq any longer:
As violence declines in Baghdad, the leading Democratic presidential candidates are undertaking a new and challenging balancing act on Iraq: acknowledging that success, trying to shift the focus to the lack of political progress there, and highlighting more domestic concerns like health […]

1 Comment » - Posted in Iran, Israel, Elephants, Donkeys, Iraq, Election 2008 by Mark

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Monday, November 19th, 2007

Hitchens Greets The Rising Tide In Iraq With Welcoming Skepticism

Perhaps still stinging from his fervent declarations in the war’s beginning that it was only a matter of time until the WMDs were found, Christopher Hitchens now plays the skeptic to news of a turning point in Iraq - although certainly a hopeful skeptic, at that:
A few weeks ago, in Britain’s Prospect magazine, the paper’s […]

30 Comments » - Posted in Iran, Hitchens the Great, Radical Islam / GWOT, Iraq by Mark

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Sunday, November 18th, 2007

Is It Too Late For Bush?

That’s the subtext of this Peter Baker article in the Washington Post:
The war in Iraq seems to have taken a turn for the better and the opposition at home has failed in all efforts to impose its own strategy. North Korea is dismantling its nuclear program. The budget deficit is falling. A new attorney general […]

13 Comments » - Posted in POTUS, Iraq by Mark

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Thursday, November 8th, 2007

Don’t Let The Door Hit You On The Way Out

Al-Qaeda in Iraq is a thing of the past, in Baghdad, at least, according to the U.S. military:
American forces have routed Al Qaeda in Mesopotamia, the Iraqi militant network, from every neighborhood of Baghdad, a top American general said today, allowing American troops involved in the “surge” to depart as planned.
Maj. Gen. Joseph F. […]

8 Comments » - Posted in Iraq by Mark

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Sunday, October 21st, 2007

Victory Within Reach?

Hmmm…even I haven’t been THIS optimistic about the war:

Should we declare victory over al Qaeda in the battle of Iraq?
The very question would have seemed proof of dementia only a few months ago, yet now some highly respected military officers, including the commander of Special Forces in Iraq, Gen. Stanley McCrystal, reportedly feel it is […]

3 Comments » - Posted in Iran, Radical Islam / GWOT, Iraq by Mark

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Friday, October 19th, 2007

My Friends On The Left Will Surely Disagree…

…but the last couple of months have been pretty good for George W. Bush: a seeming turnaround both on the ground and in public opinion on Iraq, a line in the sand on expanded entitlements (albeit with some PR scars from ‘not caring about children’ rhetoric), and relative ease in swiping away ill-considered Democratic initiatives […]

21 Comments » - Posted in Domestic Affairs, POTUS, Elephants, Donkeys, Iraq by Mark

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Sunday, October 14th, 2007

Washington Post Editorial Board: Critics of Petraeus Were Wrong

I’ve had an undisguised admiration for the Washington Post editorial board for quite some time now.  There is no doubt that the Post leans left, as does the NY Times, but unlike the Times, the Post is not so blinded by partisanship that it cannot see any good news that doesn’t fit its political agenda.  […]

2 Comments » - Posted in POTUS, Radical Islam / GWOT, Iraq, Progressive Nonsense / Nutroots®, NY Times/Media Watch by Mark

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Monday, October 8th, 2007

Let’s Get Real: Somes “Options” In Iraq Are Long Off The Table

A word to Joe Biden and others who have ‘plans’ for Iraq that involve major tinkering with their form of government: that time has passed.  Joe Biden seems to think (along with, ahem, certain readers of this blog) that the Iraqi government is a puppet regime that is at the bidding of America.  Just look […]

11 Comments » - Posted in Joe Biden, Iraq by Mark

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Thursday, September 20th, 2007

BRILLIANT Idea, Sherlock!

Boy, that MoveOn.org ad worked out well for the far left, didn’t it?
The Senate voted Thursday to condemn an advertisement by the liberal anti-war group MoveOn.org that accused the top military commander in Iraq of betrayal.
The 72-25 vote condemned the full-page ad that appeared in The New York Times last week as Gen. David Petraeus, […]

38 Comments » - Posted in Iraq, Progressive Nonsense / Nutroots®, Hillary Clinton, Democratic Candidates by Mark

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Sunday, September 16th, 2007

Checking In On The Polls…

With just a 4.8% average spread between Rudy Giuliani and Fred Thompson at the RealClearPolitics polling page, the GOP race is as tight as it has been since…well, maybe ever. Or is it? Thompson is, of course, benefiting from his recent announcement at the moment, and enjoying a bounce that will probably decline. […]

4 Comments » - Posted in Iraq, Mitt Romney, Mike Huckabee, Fred Thompson, Rudy Giuliani, John McCain, Republican Candidates, 2008 Polls, Hillary Clinton, Democratic Candidates by Mark

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Thursday, September 13th, 2007

The President Makes His Pitch

From tonight’s speech:
Gen. Petraeus believes we have now reached the point where we can maintain our security gains with fewer American forces. He has recommended that we not replace about 2,200 Marines scheduled to leave Anbar province later this month. In addition, he says it will soon be possible to bring home an Army combat […]

26 Comments » - Posted in POTUS, Donkeys, Iraq by Mark

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Tuesday, September 11th, 2007

One Mystery Solved, Two More Posed

The ancient mystery revealed:
If a tree falls in the woods, and there’s no one there to hear it, does it make a sound?
Answer: of course, you nitwit. The production of sound waves by a falling object is a physical process independent of the physical process of the receipt of sounds waves by a listening […]

8 Comments » - Posted in POTUS, Radical Islam / GWOT, Iraq by Mark

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Tuesday, September 11th, 2007

The Wrong Thing To Say

Time and time again the extremist elements on the left (and occasionally on the right, as well) overestimate their reach among the rank and file and go way, way too far. This time, it was MoveOn.org:
Republicans have seized on a liberal advocacy group’s print ad attacking Gen. David Petraeus and have called on Senate […]

17 Comments » - Posted in POTUS, Iraq, Progressive Nonsense / Nutroots®, NY Times/Media Watch by Mark

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Sunday, September 9th, 2007

Showdown

The big day is tomorrow, as General Petraeus begins his testimony:
The top American commander in Iraq, Gen. David H. Petraeus, has recommended that decisions on the contentious issue of reducing the main body of the American troops in Iraq be put off for six months, American officials said Sunday.

General Petraeus, whose long-awaited testimony before Congress […]

2 Comments » - Posted in POTUS, Elephants, Donkeys, Iraq, NY Times/Media Watch by Mark

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Tuesday, August 28th, 2007

Is The War Lost? Yes, If You’re A Democrat…

Oh, there I go again. Only it’s not me, it’s the Democrats themselves, according to the latest Zogby Poll:
A majority of Americans - 54% - believe the United States has not lost the war in Iraq, but there is dramatic disagreement on the question between Democrats and Republicans, a new UPI/Zogby Interactive poll shows. […]

1 Comment » - Posted in Elephants, Donkeys, Iraq by Mark

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Sunday, August 26th, 2007

It Never Ceases To Amaze Me…

…that there are those on the left who think Christopher Hitchens is some sort of Bush Administration apologist simply because he supported the Iraq War (like most of the Democrats in Congress, and not a few Democratic presidential candidates, lest we forget). Let that supposition be forever laid to rest:
How do I dislike President […]

4 Comments » - Posted in Hitchens the Great, POTUS, Iraq by Mark

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Wednesday, August 22nd, 2007

In Iraq, The Glass Is Always Half Empty…

…when you’re a Democrat:
Democratic leaders in Congress had planned to use August recess to raise the heat on Republicans to break with President Bush on the Iraq war. Instead, Democrats have been forced to recalibrate their own message in the face of recent positive signs on the security front, increasingly focusing their criticisms on what […]

22 Comments » - Posted in Elephants, Donkeys, Iraq by Mark

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Wednesday, August 15th, 2007

The Summertime Blues

Ain’t no cure for what ails the Dow, apparently, as the DJIA closes below 13,000 in the midst of continued fears of a credit meltdown sparked by subprime mortgages.  And from Iraq, truly appalling news, as the death toll from yesterday’s bombings may have reached 500 or more.  A major catastrophe, by any standards…I’m never […]

8 Comments » - Posted in Domestic Affairs, Radical Islam / GWOT, Iraq by Mark

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Monday, August 6th, 2007

Opinion Shifting On Iraq?

The latest Gallup poll shows a 9-point shift towards the view that the surge is making things better in Iraq.  That’s the good news.  The bad news is that this is still a minority opinion by a good margin:
USA TODAY’s Susan Page reports that President Bush is making some headway in arguing that the […]

4 Comments » - Posted in Rudy Giuliani, Iraq, Hillary Clinton, 2008 Polls, Republican Candidates, Democratic Candidates by Mark

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