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Mother of All News Dumps: Generals Agree to Bush’s Troop Surge

Jon Ponder
With the clock ticking down on his term in office, George W. Bush is only after one thing: saving his own sorry ass from the dustbin of history.

Operation Double Down: On the Friday before Christmas, when the news industry is essentially on hiatus, the Bush team announced that U.S. generals in Iraq have reversed course and will support the president’s plan for a troop surge.

It is increasingly clear that the surge has been Bush’s plan all along — that he will gamble America’s blood and treasure on a risky scheme to tamp down violence so he can declare a faux victory in Iraq in order to save his sorry-assed legacy from the dustbin of history.

The news dump came on the evening that newly sworn-in Sec. of Defense Bob Gates returned from a quick trip to Iraq to confer with his generals. Did Gates deliver marching orders on the surge to the generals? The connection between his trip and their abrupt reverse course is so obvious that it’s puzzling why — other than a reflexive need to lie about everything — the Bush team insists it’s all a big coincidence. And yet they do:

The U.S. command in Iraq decided to recommend an increase of troops several days ago, prior to meetings in Baghdad this week with Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates, the defense official said.

Looking back, it is apparent that the plan was set early this fall and that neither the results of the elections nor the recommendations of the Iraq Study Group could have ever made any difference.

The reason is simple: George W. Bush will do what is best for George W. Bush. Politically, and personally, the surge is his only option. With the clock running down on his failed presidency — and as has been discussed here, and more comprehensively here — salvaging what he can of his legacy trumps what is best for the troops, the nation and world peace.

The president’s “listening tour” and conferences with Democrats, experts and academics this month were simply for show. If his plans had been to bring the troops home, he would have gotten the good news out before the holidays. Tellingly, he delayed an address to the nation from mid-December until after the holidays. With two-thirds of the country opposing the war, his political handlers figured that a buzz kill by this president two weeks before Christmas risked shrinking his approval rating to Nixonian levels.

The surge strategy has been referred to as the president’s “double down” on Iraq. The reference to raising the stakes in Blackjack perfectly captures the cynicism of the present gambit.

The question is, can anyone — the Democrats or members of his own party who face reelection in 2008, even the American people — do anything to stop him.

GAO Cites Defense Dept. for Poor Oversight in Iraq – Again!

Buck Banks

Contractor con men: The Government Accountability Office has issued a report that chastizes the Pentagon for failing to provide adequate oversight of private contractors supporting American military operations in Iraq.

The report cites a shortage of front-line managers overseeing contractor support that has led to a lack of accountability or assurance that the military is getting the services it has paid for. Before he “retired,” Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld had assured the GAO that the military would comply with recommendations made in earlier GAO reports. He must have had his fingers crossed at the time.

It appears the Pentagon has basically outsourced the war in Iraq:

The military’s global war on terror has coincided with a massive outsourcing of jobs traditionally performed by uniformed personnel. In Iraq and Afghanistan, hundreds of private companies provide battlefield support to the troops, supplying them with everything from food and housing to Internet service and intelligence analysis.

While 9,200 contractors supported the 1991 Gulf War, the Army alone estimates that at least 60,000 contractors support combat operations in Iraq and Afghanistan, according to the new report (GAO-07-145).

The Pentagon does not know how many contractors currently are working in Iraq and living on the American bases that have sprung up around the country, GAO noted.

Besides getting bad service, the result is millions of dollars lost each year through waste and abuse. For instance, the Army estimates that $43 million is lost annually due to contractors eating free meals while receiving a per diem allowance for food. Hey,that sounds like good work if you can get it.

[…]

Jeb Bush: “I Have No Future”

Trish

At last, a reason to thank George W. Bush! The shame and disgrace he has brought upon the fine Bush name might keep Jeb from running for president.

At least that’s what Mr. Crybaby Snitty-Snear is saying.

“No tengo futuro,” Jeb Bush told Spanish-language reporters in Miami

The shadow of President Bush seemed to loom large over his younger brother on Wednesday, as the outgoing Florida governor ruled out any plans to return to elected office.

“No tengo futuro (I have no future),” Jeb Bush told Spanish-language reporters in Miami, when asked about any possible political ambitions after he steps down next month.

…the unpopularity and dismal job-approval ratings of his brother may have scuttled any plans Jeb Bush may have had for a future in politics after running one of America’s most crucial swing states for the past eight years.Bush did not elaborate on his terse “no future” comment.

Has Jeb ever made a comment that wasn’t terse?

Anyway, it’s just so sad when the name that was your free pass to success in life is turned into a liability by your half-wit big brother. So. Very. Sad. Just ask GOP lackey Sam Brownback.

“Jeb would have made an outstanding presidential candidate,” said Kansas Sen. Sam Brownback…

In a backhanded slap at President Bush, Brownback cited “a heritage issue” as one factor currently weighing against a Jeb Bush presidency.

“People may be wanting to see a different name,” he said.

Ya think?

Live Animals Eaten to Show Iraqi Machismo

Trish

As new Secretary of Defense Bob Gates visited Baghdad, a commemoration was held in Najaf province to mark the turnover of control from U.S. troops to Iraqis. To illustrate the potency of the new law enforcers, animals were eaten live. Yes, frogs and bunnies were ripped apart live and munched.

Chewing on live animals is a traditional display of ferocity for elite troops in Iraq and was also observed by special units during Saddam Hussein’s rule.

About 1,500 police officers, soldiers and security personnel staged a parade around an infield of stubby brown grass, in festivities complete with warriors on horseback.

At one point, a small group of soldiers stepped forward with a live rabbit and tore it to pieces. The leader bit out the heart with a yell, then passed around the blood-soaked remains to his comrades, each of whom took a bite. The group also bit the heads off frogs, as some of those in the crowd held their noses from the stench.

Chewing on live animals is a traditional display of ferocity for elite troops in Iraq and was also observed by special units during Saddam Hussein’s rule.

Police then steered shiny new cruisers and motorcycles with ribbons and flowers stuck to their windshields around a track ringing the soccer field, which was still littered with fur and discarded frog legs.

“Our soldiers do a lot of things, but I’ve never seen them do anything like that,” said Maj. Gen. Kurt Cichowski, who attended the ceremony.

Our troops do indeed do a lot of things. Charges will be filed today against eight Marines accused of murdering 24 Iraqi civilians in Haditha in November, 2005.

Good Lord. What are we doing in this place?

GOP Radio Host: Send Critics of Dear Leader Bush to Detention Camps

Jon Ponder
“I think we should round up all of these folks. Round up Joy Behar, round up Matt Damon, who last night on MSNBC attacked George Bush and Dick Cheney. Round up Olbermann, take the whole bunch of them and put them in a detention camp until this war is over because they’re a bunch of traitors.”
— GOP mouthpiece Mike Gallagher

The black soul of Republican authoritarianism was in full voice on Bill Hemmer’s show on Fox News this week. Rightwing radio talk show host Mike Gallagher made his case for rounding up liberals like Joy Behar, Matt Damon and Keith Olbermann and sending them to concentration camps:

Bill Hemmer: They talk about Godwins Law, internet junkies, as discussions grow longer someone makes a comparison to Hitler and that person loses the argument. The view, Joy Behar weighing in on the Times Person of the Year.

Video Clip of Joy Behar: “I don’t think anyone cares anymore about Time Magazines Person of the Year. You have to put like a Hitler type, like you put Donald Rumsfeld there or something.”

Onscreen is a picture of Hitler and Donald Rumsfeld side by side and the words ‘The View from the Left?’

Bill Hemmer: Rob, can you defend that?

Rob Thompson: Who can? Godwins Law stands true in all instances. Nobody believes he’s like Hitler, c’mon.

BH: I like Joy Behar. I think she’s smart. I think she’s funny but this is a bit unexcusable, Mike?

RT: Now, if she’d have said something like Rumsfeld alone or Rumsfeld is a lot like Bob MacNamera, we’ll put him on the cover of Time Magazine.

Mike Gallagher: You know it’s a little bit ridiculous that we continue to watch these TV stars and movie stars who smear our leaders. I just wonder, Rob, if you’ll think for a moment what our enemies think … of seeing TV personalities comparing the outgoing Defense Secretary to Adolph Hitler.

[…]

On This Date – December 21

Jon Ponder

1970 – Elvis is in the building: On December 21, 1970, Elvis Presley paid a visit to President Richard M. Nixon at the White House in Washington, D.C. The meeting was initiated by Presley, who wrote Nixon a six-page letter requesting a visit with the President and suggesting that he be made a “Federal Agent-at-Large” in the Bureau of Narcotics and Dangerous Drugs. The events leading up to and after the meeting are detailed in the documentation and photographs included here, which include Presley’s handwritten letter, memoranda from Nixon staff and aides, and the thank-you note from Nixon for the gifts (including a Colt 45 pistol and family photos) that Presley brought with him to the Oval Office. [GWU]

Have a Very Merry Mithras

Jon Ponder

Mithras was a god whose mythology originated in Greece in the 2nd century B.C. and spread to Rome 100 years later. As gods’ bios go, the story of Mithras has a familiar ring:

  • Mithras was born of a virgin on December 25th in a cave, and his birth was attended by shepherds.
  • He was considered a great traveling teacher and master.
  • He had 12 companions or disciples.
  • Mithras’ followers were promised immortality.
  • He performed miracles.
  • As the “great bull of the Sun,” Mithras sacrificed himself for world peace.
  • He was buried in a tomb and after three days rose again.
  • His resurrection was celebrated every year.
  • He was called “the Good Shepherd” and identified with both the Lamb and the Lion.
  • He was considered the “Way, the Truth and the Light,” and the “Logos,” “Redeemer,” “Savior” and “Messiah.”
  • His sacred day was Sunday.
  • Mithras had his principal festival of what was later to become Easter.
  • His religion had a eucharist or “Lord’s Supper,” at which Mithras said, “He who shall not eat of my body nor drink of my blood so that he may be one with me and I with him, shall not be saved.”

Mithras ascended into heaven at the age of 64, in 208 B.C.

Gingrich Lashes Out at Bush and Rove – Won’t Run in ’08 Out of Fear of Hillary

Jon Ponder
Gingrich may be averse to running against Hillary Clinton because, as speaker, he persecuted her husband over an extramarital affair while he, Gingrich, was having an affair with a staff member.

You probably thought Newt Gingrich never had an unexpressed thought, but sources close to the GOP Big Thinker say he’s been biting his tongue for months about the incompetence of Bush and Rove. Well, no more. Rightwing Moonie rag WashTimes (edited by Gingrich’s former staffer, Tony Blankley) has him dishing on the Mayberry Machiavellis like they were Dems:

Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich has decided to break with President Bush.

Sources close to Mr. Gingrich said that, after having kept silent for more than a year, he has become openly critical of the administration, portraying the president as a weak man akin to Gerald Ford and Jimmy Carter.

As Newt surely knows, Gerald Ford is in failing health right now, so what better time to trash him. And comparing George W. Bush to a decent, highly intelligent humanitarian like Jimmy Carter is obscene. Neither Newt nor Dubya are worthy of shining his shoes.

There is not a dime’s bit of ideological difference between Newt Gingrich and his fellow travelers, Bush and Rove. If the GOP had kept control of Congress last month, he’d still be their BFF. Instead, he’s kicking them while they’re down:

“Newt bit his tongue for months and now feels he has to tell his base the truth: the White House does not have the will or the power to promote any agenda,” a source close to Mr. Gingrich said.

The sources said Mr. Gingrich … blames White House Deputy Chief of Staff Karl Rove for Mr. Bush’s mistakes, including the loss of Congress in 2006. They said Mr. Gingrich’s criticism of the top Bush political adviser has been considered by the president and this could lead to Mr. Rove’s early departure.

On Nov. 30, Mr. Gingrich … spoke at a private fund raiser for the Virginia Conservative Action PAC. Mr. Gingrich, lamenting the waste of the Republican Party’s huge ad campaign during the 2006 election, called on Mr. Rove to either change his losing strategy or quit.

“2004 was pathetic, and 2006 was worse,” Mr. Gingrich said, referring to the Rove-directed GOP campaigns.

The same sources say that Gingrich is leaning toward running for president in 2012, rather than in 2008, because he is terrified of running against Sen. Hillary Clinton. He may be averse to running against her because, as speaker, he persecuted her husband over an extramarital affair while he, Gingrich, was having an affair with a staff member.