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Blogs Eric Reads
Ours Too
Still-President George W. Bush:
The biggest regret of all the presidency has to have been the intelligence failure in Iraq.
I think we can all agree with that.
(via)
Post-Turkey Update
- Oh, Bill Kristol. For the life of me, I can’t figure out why anyone even publishes anything you say anymore. Yesterday, you wrote that Still-President Bush should not only pardon torturers and NSA wiretappers, but give them the Medal of Freedom as well. Congratulations! You managed to find the complete opposite of accountability. (Weekly Standard via Andrew Sullivan)
- Meanwhile, one of the soon-to-be Medal of Freedom-winners who actually was an Air Force interrogator in Iraq says that American torture has been a successful recruiting tool for al-Qaeda in Iraq. The greatest accomplishment of America’s torture policy is that it has killed thousands of American soldiers. Hardly worthy of the Medal of Freedom. (Washington Post)
- Washington University political scientist Steven Smith notes that the Constitution places final authority over who is elected to the Senate in the hands of the Senate. That means the Senate could reverse the state canvassing board’s decision not to count disputed absentee ballots, a move that could shift the recount in Al Franken’s favor. Time to watch the “strict constructionists” freak out because something in the Constitution benefits Democrats. (UPI)
- And over in the other remaining Senate race, Georgia Sen. Saxby Chambliss still won’t admit that we’re in a recession. The Federal Reserve and 96% of economists surveyed by the National Association of Business Economists say we’re in a recession, but all Saxby Chambliss can come up with is a botched definition. Please, oh please, can we kick this guy out of Congress on Tuesday. (ThinkProgress/Los Angeles Times/MarketWatch)
Sunday Blogging, Christmas Cross-Burning Edition
- Celebrate the election of the first Black Presidizzle of the USA by putting this burning cross on your front lawn! That’s the message from the American Family Association, which is offering this “beautiful Christmas Cross” on their website for only $81.85 + shipping and handling. This year, the science-hating, gay-hating, and generally hateful AFA is honoring the Baby Jesus Ku Klux Klan style. Ugh. Makes me want to declare a war on Christmas. (AFA Online via Balloon Juice)
- Meanwhile, in the sane world, Barack Obama’s election has spurred the Iraqi cabinet to approve a security agreement that will set a January 1, 2011 deadline for the withdrawal of American troops. Said one Iraqi politician, “If Republicans were still there, there would be no respect for this timetable. This is a positive step to have the same theory about the timetable as Mr. Obama.” (New York Times)
- The 2008 election continues! Bill Clinton is heading to Georgia to campaign for Democratic Senate candidate Jim Martin. Martin is looking to replace Shameless Saxby Chambliss who, if you’ll recall, was responsible for the despicable ad in 2002 that put triple amputee and true American hero Max Cleland on the same screen as Osama bin Laden. If you live in Georgia, make sure you vote on December 2! (CNN)
- And finally, the GOP Civil War took to the airwaves this morning, with Bobby Jindal, Newt Gingrich, Tim Pawlenty, and Michael Steele all making the rounds on the Sunday talk shows. Arnold Schwarzenegger was also on TV this morning which I find weird since, y’know, his state is on fire again. (Associated Press)
I think we just invaded Syria
Well, this just got strange:
DAMASCUS (AFP) — American helicopter-borne troops launched an assault on Sunday on a building in a Syrian border village with Iraq, killing eight civilians, official Syrian media reported.
The government has summoned the official US and Iraqi representatives to protest, state television and the official SANA news agency said.
“Four American helicopters violated Syrian airspace around 16:45 local time (1345 GMT) on Sunday. They penetrated eight kilometres (five miles) into Syria,” the official media said.
“American soldiers” who had emerged from helicopters “attacked a civilian building under construction and fired at workmen inside, causing eight deaths,” the reports said.
“The helicopters then left Syrian territory towards Iraqi territory,” SANA said.
The news agency said one person was also wounded in the attack on the village of Al-Sukkiraya, around 550 kilometres (340 miles) northeast of the capital in the Abu Kamal area.
The U.S. military in Baghdad is “investigating” and no comment from the Pentagon on the Iraqi Defence Ministry. Ummm…. whoops?
Don’t Know Much About Geography
Sarah Palin, demonstrating her impeccable foreign policy credentials, doesn’t know where we’re at war:
Three days after a mostly gaffe-free debate performance, the Alaska governor fumbled during a speech in which she praised U.S. soldiers for “fighting terrorism and protecting us and our democratic values”.
“They are also building schools for the Afghan children so that there is hope and opportunity in our neighboring country of Afghanistan,” she told several hundred supporters at a fundraising event in San Francisco.
Ah, yes, our lovely neighbors to the (Middle) East. Even if you count Iraq as an occupied territory of the United States, there’s still a little problem called Iran, or, as John McCain prefers to call it, the Iraq-Pakistan border.
But John McCain was a POW and Sarah Palin can see Russia from her house, so we just have to trust them more on foreign policy than someone who serves on the Senate Foreign Relations and Veterans’ Affairs Committees and the Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.
Biden Takes the Warmongers to Task
The next Vice President of the United States rips Republican war hawks a new one for their support of George Bush’s failed war in Iraq.
Surrender
Apparently that’s what most Americans want to do:
With the news that Iraq’s prime minister wants the US to set a timetable for withdrawal, 60% of registered voters believe it’s a good idea for the US to set such a timetable, while 30% say it’s a bad idea.
Why does America hate America?
McCain Proves the Surge Isn’t Working
Wow, it is just great to see the McCain campaign imploding over its self-appointed “best” issue, the War in Iraq. First, there was the lost in translation nonsense, then the Iraq-Pakistan border conflict, and now we get this:
The major Sunni sheik who John McCain said was protected by the surge and subsequently helped lead the Anbar Awakening, was actually assassinated by an al-Qaeda led group in midst of the surge.
On Tuesday evening, McCain falsely claimed that the downturn in violence in Iraq’s Anbar province was a result of the surge, when in fact the surge began months afterward. Moreover, he said, if it weren’t for the work of U.S. forces, the major Sunni figure leading that awakening wouldn’t have had the protection he needed.
“Colonel MacFarland was contacted by one of the major Sunni sheiks,” said the Senator. “Because of the surge we were able to go out and protect that sheik and others. And it began the Anbar awakening.”
The Arizona Republican’s campaign went further the next day, claiming that the major figures that turned around Anbar province would have been killed had the surge policy not been in place. “If Barack Obama had had his way, the Sheiks who started the Awakening would have been murdered at the hands of al Qaeda,” said spokesman Tucker Bounds.
Sadly, that murder took place even with the surge underway. In September 2007, Abdul Sattar Abu Risha, the sheik widely credited with persuading Sunni leaders to turn against al Qaeda in Iraq, died in a bomb attack in Anbar. His work, prior to then, was held as a major effort in transforming the province from one of Iraq’s deadliest areas into one of its safest.
So in other words, the Glorious Surge is only working in some alternate universe where up is down, black is white, and people who died are still alive. I wonder if CBS will ever report that.
John McCain, Foreign Policy Expert
Because knowing how to win wars and knowing where we’re fighting wars apparently have nothing in common:
Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) refused to call the situation in Afghanistan “precarious and urgent,” but admitted that “We have a lot of work to do.” He warned of a “very hard struggle, particularly given the situation on the Iraq-Pakistan border.”
Ah yes, the periolous Iraq-Pakistan border, otherwise known as Iran.
Maybe in John McCain’s mind, he’s already skipped ahead to the part of his presidency where he has bomb bomb bomb, bomb bombed Iran and absorbed it into the “sovreign” nation of Iraq that he would have us occupy for a hundred years. Until then, though, maybe he ought to check out a map before he starts showing off more of that famous foreign policy expertise.
Shorter Nouri al-Maliki
Iraqi leader meets Obama, calls for U.S. troops out by end of 2010
“Hey McCain campaign, translate this!”