War Times Monthly Report
Washington's Wars and Occupations:
Month in Review #25
May 29, 2007
By Max Elbaum, War Times/Tiempo de Guerras
IRAQ: "HANDWRITING IS ON THE WALL"
This time the admission came from a senior military official of Washington's
only remaining major ally:
"The evidence does not suggest that the surge is actually working," said
Alastair Campbell, the outgoing defense attache at the British Embassy
in Baghdad
May 20. According to Britain's Sunday Telegraph, Campbell also disclosed that
U.S. commanders had decided that the criteria for "success" would be only
a reduction in violence to the level prior to last year's bombing of
the al-Askari
Mosque in Samarra. That means 800 dead Iraqis a month - a figure that
the Telegraph
admits "few would regard as anything remotely approaching peace."
The administration's utter failure in Iraq is the driving force behind Bush's
loss of public support and the fracturing of his right-wing coalition.
The latest
poll (May 24) shows opposition to the Iraq war at an all-time high: 60% say the
U.S. should have stayed out of Iraq; 76% - including a majority of Republicans -
say that the additional U.S. troops sent this year have had no impact
or are making
things worse. Bush's overall approval level is just 30% compared to
63% disapproval.
Bush won some breathing space when the majority of House and Senate
Democrats caved
in to "don't-stab-our-troops-in-the-back" demagogy and approved Iraq
war funding. But defeat in Iraq and popular disgust with the war are
here to stay.
Even Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell predicted a change: "I think
the handwriting is on the wall that we are going in a different direction in the
fall." He added the Republican spin that Bush "is going to lead"
this policy shift and the White House leaked its standard scam that
Bush is "considering
major troop reductions next year." But the President will be even weaker in
September than he is now.
( Collapse )
Month in Review #25
May 29, 2007
By Max Elbaum, War Times/Tiempo de Guerras
IRAQ: "HANDWRITING IS ON THE WALL"
This time the admission came from a senior military official of Washington's
only remaining major ally:
"The evidence does not suggest that the surge is actually working," said
Alastair Campbell, the outgoing defense attache at the British Embassy
in Baghdad
May 20. According to Britain's Sunday Telegraph, Campbell also disclosed that
U.S. commanders had decided that the criteria for "success" would be only
a reduction in violence to the level prior to last year's bombing of
the al-Askari
Mosque in Samarra. That means 800 dead Iraqis a month - a figure that
the Telegraph
admits "few would regard as anything remotely approaching peace."
The administration's utter failure in Iraq is the driving force behind Bush's
loss of public support and the fracturing of his right-wing coalition.
The latest
poll (May 24) shows opposition to the Iraq war at an all-time high: 60% say the
U.S. should have stayed out of Iraq; 76% - including a majority of Republicans -
say that the additional U.S. troops sent this year have had no impact
or are making
things worse. Bush's overall approval level is just 30% compared to
63% disapproval.
Bush won some breathing space when the majority of House and Senate
Democrats caved
in to "don't-stab-our-troops-in-the-back" demagogy and approved Iraq
war funding. But defeat in Iraq and popular disgust with the war are
here to stay.
Even Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell predicted a change: "I think
the handwriting is on the wall that we are going in a different direction in the
fall." He added the Republican spin that Bush "is going to lead"
this policy shift and the White House leaked its standard scam that
Bush is "considering
major troop reductions next year." But the President will be even weaker in
September than he is now.
( Collapse )
