zimv20
Oct 31, 2003, 01:06 PM
link (http://online.wsj.com/article_email/0,,SB106747722393164300-H9jeoNjlaR2oJ6nZHyJcaWDm4,00.html)
By AL HUNT
"It became necessary to destroy the town in order to save it."
________-- U.S. Army major, Vietnam, 1968.
"The more successful we are on the ground, the more these killers will react."
________-- President Bush this week explaining why the surge of violence in Iraq actually is a sign of American success.
The Iraq war is going badly and the rationalizations are even worse.
First, let's face up to reality. "We are at war," notes former United Nations Ambassador Richard Holbrooke. "People are getting killed every day." The press should cease referring to this as the postwar stage.
The Bush administration's mistakes and misrepresentations -- since May 1 -- continue unabated. There's the pretense the war is over, that the press is hiding all the good stuff, and the region and the world are safer and more secure.
The president's rare Tuesday news conference was embarrassing. Administration insiders, with an eye to the presidential election, privately talk about a downward "glide" of U.S. forces in Iraq next year, but when asked if there will be lower troop levels next year Mr. Bush declared that's "a trick question." More troops now, given the increasing violence? That's Gen. Abizaid's task, not mine.
(more)
imo, when the WSJ starts questioning the war, you know things must not be going well.
By AL HUNT
"It became necessary to destroy the town in order to save it."
________-- U.S. Army major, Vietnam, 1968.
"The more successful we are on the ground, the more these killers will react."
________-- President Bush this week explaining why the surge of violence in Iraq actually is a sign of American success.
The Iraq war is going badly and the rationalizations are even worse.
First, let's face up to reality. "We are at war," notes former United Nations Ambassador Richard Holbrooke. "People are getting killed every day." The press should cease referring to this as the postwar stage.
The Bush administration's mistakes and misrepresentations -- since May 1 -- continue unabated. There's the pretense the war is over, that the press is hiding all the good stuff, and the region and the world are safer and more secure.
The president's rare Tuesday news conference was embarrassing. Administration insiders, with an eye to the presidential election, privately talk about a downward "glide" of U.S. forces in Iraq next year, but when asked if there will be lower troop levels next year Mr. Bush declared that's "a trick question." More troops now, given the increasing violence? That's Gen. Abizaid's task, not mine.
(more)
imo, when the WSJ starts questioning the war, you know things must not be going well.
