The Garlic: The Surge

Showing posts with label The Surge. Show all posts

Wednesday, July 23, 2008

Was It The Surge, or Anbar Awakening, That Allowed Robert Novak To Run Over Pedestrian?

The way the shit is flying, give the Stumblin' Bumblin' John McCain Campaign a few hours to find something in RWFS hack Robert "No Facts" Novak running over a pedestrian to pin on Barack Obama.

Now, anyone can have an accident, true enough, but what makes this one so deliciously noteworthy is that Novak attempted to get away with it ... He didn't stop and, even after being flagged down, still was making an effort to beat it on the lam.

From Skippy, the bush kangaroo's "bob novak, [bodily orafice], cited after hit-and-run";

Politico goes on to describe novak driving away from the scene, only to be chased down and detained by a guy on a bicycle:

The bicyclist was David Bono, a partner at Harkins Cunningham, who was on his usual bike commute to work at 1700 K St. NW when he saw the accident happen…

Bono said the pedestrian, who was crossing the street on a "walk" signal and was in the crosswalk, rolled off the windshield and then Novak made a right into the service lane of K Street. “the car is speeding away. what’s going through my mind is, you just can’t hit a pedestrian and drive away,” bono said.

He chased novak half a block down K St., finally caught up with him and then put his bike in front of the car to block him and called 911. traffic immediately backed up, horns blared, and commuters finally went into reverse to allow Novak to pull over.

Bono said that throughout, Novak "keeps trying to get away. he keeps trying to go.” he said he vaguely recognized the longtime political reporter and columnist as a Washington celebrity but could not precisely place him.

Or, as Jane Hamsher noted it, the pedestrian was “Splayed Onto the Windshield”.

Hmmm ... Was "No Facts" angry, venting, lost in thought of mayhem?

Did it flash before him, as his black Corvette (who would have thunk that this old hack would be driving a 'Vet'?) approached the intersection, that it was one of the Wilsons in the crosswalk? ... Perhaps Rove or Cheney?

After all, the Stumblin Bumblin John McCain Campaign, just burned him, so, perhaps, as the car first rammed into the pedestrian, "No Facts" let out a scream of "I'll give you a god-damn vice president!" ...

Or, maybe, he met someone recently, a certain someone named Bruno Anthony, who, undoubtedly, would approve of "No Facts" running someone over, and then trying to get away with it.

"I admire people who do things," Anthony would, devilishly, smile.

Bonus "No Facts" Follies

Dday: I Am Now Become Death, Destroyer Of Worlds

Think Progress - Witness: ‘No way’ Novak didn’t know he hit someone; victim was ’splayed across the front’ of his car

Edward McClelland: Bob Novak is not one of the popular kids; The prickly right-wing columnist, covert-agent outer and all-around "Prince of Darkness" explains how he rose to the top of D.C.'s journalistic heap

Bolton Defends Novak; Laments Not Using Same Tactic, Cussing With Senate Panel

Breaking News! White House, Congress To Clear “Outrage Backlog”; Bush, Congress Plan Retro Rebuke Of Novak, Sun-Times Over Plame Leak; Tracing Funds, Gay Marriage, Flag Amendment, War On Terror Cited For “Outrage Backlog”

Wednesday, April 09, 2008

Ambassador Crocker Meets Eddie Izzard

Or, "The Lord almighty came down and sat in the middle of the table there and said ‘Mr. Ambassador you can eliminate every Al Qaeda source in Afghanistan and Pakistan, or every Al Qaeda personnel in Iraq,’ which would you pick?"

Sometime ago (nearly two-years) the Friedman Unit, after ol' Lead-Luvin' Tom, was established, designating the term to mark six-months as a unit of time for things to turn around in Iraq.

So, with the Golden Boy, General Petraeus yesterday, once again, calling for extra time, now 45-days (to evaluate things after they stop the troop pulldown), the question to be asked is what do you call it, in relation to the Friedman Unit.

The Petraeus Pint?

The Petraeus Horseshoe (both for his sunny optimism, and with a nod to Colt 45 Malt Liquor)?

The Bush Grindhouse's marketing seminar didn't go so well

In fact, if it were a sporting event, say, a basketball game, the various Senators can retire to the bench, and bring in the second team scrubs to mop up.

We have heard, for years, the bedrock principle for our being in Iraq (keep in mind, this has shifted many times), was that Iraq was the "Central Front on the War on Terror".

It was Al Qaeda, Al Qaeda, Al Qaeda, all the time.

If we moved one inch away from Iraq, teams of Al Qaeda would swoop in to that inch, and build a metropolis of terror in it.

Hell, even announcing that we would move that one inch out of Iraq, brought sordid tales of Al Qaeda, impatiently waiting at the border, moving van engines running.

Well, that got blown out of the water yesterday, and not by some "defeatocrat" or anybody "Feeling morally, intellectually confused?"

No, it came from the U.S. Ambassador to Iraq, Ryan Crocker.

From Think Progress;

SEN. BIDEN: Mr. Ambassador, is Al Qaeda a greater threat to US interests in Iraq, or in the Afghan-Pakistan border region?

AMB. CROCKER: Mr. Chairman, Al Qaeda is a strategic threat to the United States wherever it is, in my view–

SEN. BIDEN: Where is most of it? If you could take it out? You had a choice: Lord almighty came down and sat in the middle of the table there and said ‘Mr. Ambassador you can eliminate every Al Qaeda source in Afghanistan and Pakistan, or every Al Qaeda personnel in Iraq,’ which would you pick?

AMB. CROCKER: Well given the progress that has been made again Al Qaeda in Iraq, the significant decrease in its capabilities, the fact that it is solidly on the defensive, and not in a position of–

SEN. BIDEN: Which would you pick, Mr. Ambassador?

AMB. CROCKER: I would therefore pick Al Qaeda in the Pakistan-Afghanistan border area.

SEN BIDEN: That would be a smart choice.

Think Progress also has the video of it, so check it out.

And that brings us to our Eddie Izzard moment.

Writing in Salon today is Mark Benjamin, with "Sizing up Petraeus on Iraq; The top U.S. general gave Congress an upbeat assessment of the war Tuesday. Here's the reality behind the rhetoric".

And there's this gem;

Claim: The Iraqis have redesigned their flag -- which is a big deal because it suggests that Iraq is pulling together as a nation and that things will turn out well.

Crocker: "In January, a vote by the Council of Representatives to change the design of the Iraqi flag means the flag now flies in all parts of the country for the first time in years."

We now turn it over to Mr. Izzard.

Eddie Izzard - Do you have a flag?

Time to cue up Que Sera Sera...

Bonus Through The Looking Glass Links

Ezra Klein: A Superman Approach to Foreign Policy; Our nation's favorite comic book hero might have had the right idea: Use power sparingly and judiciously

Barry Crimmins: Prevarication Nation

Robert Scheer: Everything His President Wants to Hear

Nicole Belle/C&L: The Situation Room: Michael Ware On Who Wields Power In Iraq

"What If Spartacus Had To Account For 190,000 AK-47 assault rifles and pistols ..."

Tom Engelhardt: Launching Brand Petraeus

Thursday, March 27, 2008

The Sweet Smell of Success

No, not the awesome movie.

It appears that the Pentagon has adopted the Hillary Clinton Campaign strategy, of, well, making up the benchmark of success as you go along.

Exhibit A - Pentagon says new Iraq fighting arises from surge's success

The Pentagon on Wednesday said an eruption of violence in southern Iraq, where US-backed government forces were battling Shiite militias, was a "by-product of the success of the surge."

Pentagon press secretary Geoff Morrell said it showed that the Iraqi government and security forces were now confident enough to take the initiative against Shiite extremists in the southern port of Basra.

Morrell, however, disputed suggestions that the fighting showed the risks of drawing down US "surge" forces.

"This has just begun this week," he said. "But I think at this early stage, it looks as though it is a by-product of the success of the surge," referring to the sharp hike in US troops in Iraq from earlier last year to quell violence.

"I think they would tell you just the opposite: that this is a sign that the Iraqi security forces are now capable of confronting, fundamentally, their problems," he said.

Got that?

Silly us.

We believed, as we were told, by The Commander Guy himself, that the Bush Grindhouse Surge Policy was to end the violence and give the Iraqi Government the time and space to get their business done.

Now it comes out, that it was merely a confidence-building exercise.

We just had to be patient, so the Iraqi Security forces were "capable of confronting, fundamentally, their problems."

And, the biggest surprise of all, the the Surge was really designed to increase the violence, to turn the dial up!

Brandon Frasier, over on VetVoice was knocked out by it;

"That's some impressive spin, if you ask me. Takes balls to get up there in front of the media--and the world for that matter--and tell everyone that the conflagration we're on the verge of witnessing is due to how awesome we are."

Michael Stickings, at The Reaction, says it's a sign that "Iraq returns to "normal".

The only thing left now is to wait for John McCain to ride in, and explain to us who was training who for this.

Bonus Bush Grindhouse Riffs

Flutie Sends "Cease-and-Desist" Letter To Media Over 'Hail Mary' References Regarding Surge; Diminutive QB Longtime Copyright Holder; "It Still Feeds My Family"; Says Open To Negotiate On Usage

Breaking News! Analyst: President May Soon Need To Deny He Has Troops In Iraq; White House Plunges Into New Iraq Strategy; Moving From ‘Keystone Cops’ To ‘Marx Brothers’; Denials Of “Stay The Course” Signal Major Shift; Possible Complete Erasing Of Iraq May Come In Time For MidTerms

Breaking News! With DisneyBaghdad, Bush Says “Nobody Wins Hearts and Minds Better Than Disney; Disney, With Secret Contract, Working With White House, Military On Building Baghdad Moats; ‘Pirates of the Caliphate’, Other Attractions To Mask Security Measures; State Dept. Touts “DisneyBaghdad Will Pay For Itself”

Top Ten Cloves: Difficulties DC Comics' Batman May Have Fighting Osama bin Laden