Predictable as clockwork. Last summer all we heard about was that Bush was going to withdraw a significant portion of the troops in Iraq (just like the year before and the year before that) as the surge wound down. Now? Well, the times (and the lies) they are a changin’, as they say:
BAGHDAD (AFP) — US Defence Secretary Robert Gates said in Baghdad on Monday he was in favour of a short pause in troop drawdowns from Iraq after about 30,000 soldiers have been sent home by July.
Gates said the security situation in Baghdad remained “fragile,” a comment echoed on the streets of the capital which was rocked by two car bombings that left 19 people dead just as he was winding up his surprise trip to Iraq.
“I think that the notion of a brief period of consolidation and evaluation probably does make sense,” he told reporters after a two-hour meeting with the US commander in Iraq, General David Petraeus.
My prediction? In July those 30,000 troops they are still saying will be withdrawn will still be “over there” defending us from having to fight “them” over here. And they’ll probably stay there until someone in the office of the next President has the guts to actually say it’s time for us to go home.
Just keep one thought in your head whenever you hear anyone in the Bush administration make a promise that something, like say relief for Katrina victims is coming, or Osama will be captured dead or alive, or the war will cost no more than $30 billion tops, will happen: they’re lying. And they know they’re lying. And they think you are so stupid that you’ll just keep believing their lies. And even of you don’t, they don’t give a shit.
And of course, they can always count on the media to never question their pronouncements, but instead just happily type them up as if they were public relations foofs working for the RNC. Bet that will happen with President Hillary or Barack in office? Yeah, me neither.
Update [2008-2-11 13:17:3 by Steven D]: Here’s one of the soldiers who they will likely be keeping in Iraq:
FORT CARSON A Fort Carson soldier who says he was in treatment at Cedar Springs Hospital for bipolar disorder and alcohol abuse was released early and ordered to deploy to the Middle East with the 3rd Brigade Combat Team.
The 28-year-old specialist spent 31 days in Kuwait and was returned to Fort Carson on Dec. 31 after health care professionals in Kuwait concurred that his symptoms met criteria for bipolar disorder and “some paranoia and possible homicidal tendencies,” according to e-mails obtained by a Denver newspaper.
