Opening Morning Edition's piece on Iraq is "Straight Talk Express" McCain trying to pass off a load of b.s. about progress in Iraq: "Things are better, and there are encouraging signs....Never have I been able to drive from the airport. Never have I been able to go out into the city as I was today."
Instead of taking on McCain's lethal dishonesty and obvious con job, NPR gives him an assist with Steve Inskeep talking to Lourdes Garcia-Navarro about "some progress" in the security situation in Iraq. Garcia-Navarro is a bit more sanguine than the upbeat Steve Inskeep. She notes that "last week alone 600 Iraqis were killed...US soldier deaths are not down either...official figures from Iraq’s government shows that in general, civilian deaths were up last month about 15%..." but she does add that "the good news, it has to be said, is sectarian murders, yesterday there were 24 victims in the capital. The numbers we’re seeing go from the 20s to the 40s, and that is really much, much lower than during the height of the blood letting." She also notes what Juan Cole of Informed Comment predicted months ago: the insurgency has stepped up its attacks outside of Baghdad.
Here is the part that really got my goat. Inskeep observes, "I want to make sure I understand this. You’re saying that in recent weeks extra American troops have put their lives on the line to buy time for the Iraqi political process and so far at least people have not used the time."
Well, Inskeep, they have put their lives on the line not to "buy time for the Iraqi political process" but because they've been ordered to do it by their bumbling commander-in-chief who ignored his own Iraq Study Group and the will of the voters in a gamble to save the failure, the disaster, the horror of his making that is Iraq. They're sacrificing to buy time all right, time so that Bush can finish his term without the failure becoming an utter defeat before he leaves office. Yes, its the bloody calculus of this soulless President - and now Sunshine McCain - who feel that thousands more Iraqi and American lives are a worthwhile price for their political ambitions.
2 comments:
On Democracy Now!, Amy made me laugh at McCain's statement by reporting "he was accompanied by one hundred American troops, three Blackhawk helicopters and two gunships. McCain also wore a bullet-proof vest."
Also, McCain's voice sounded like he's deep into a droopy-drawers depression. Didn't anybody in the media note how the man sounded? Of course, being a senior citizen, he might have just been tired, but there was a weariness in his words that made him sound like he was just reciting the appropriate script, something that even he didn't really believe. It was left to the stout little South Carolina dumpling, co-traveler Lindsay Graham, to buck us all up with his little-engine-that-could talk.
Thomas Ricks (of 'Fiasco' fame)was on 'On Point' recently, and he gave a very valuable assessment of the Iraq status at this point in time. McCain's Baghdad moment was used as a starting point. Ricks now uses the word 'tragedy' to describe the Iraq disaster, which is way past 'fiasco' in its implication and power.
As far as his tone is concerned, McCain sounds like he has no will left. On the other hand, there's the condescending hypocrite side of him that comes across via a mock-quiet, mock-patient facade. I wouldn't trust him further than I could spit in a hurricane. Granted, these particular examples are observations based on radio and not TV, but I can't help but notice his tone. One thing is certain: McCain's sibilance is getting worse.
Personal note: I've been in Canada for the past week. I know it's no utopia, but what a relief it's been to be out of the American Empire for a time. In the Vietnam War days, hardass types would say, 'America: love it or leave it.' Thing is, America cannot be abandoned to its imperial fate. This is no time to jump ship.
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