Chupacabra Report

News that Gets My Goat:

Petraeus & Crocker reported to Congress last week that they saw progress in Iraq but warned that it is reversible. There was also some baloney about a bottle of champagne in the back of the refrigerator. It’s like these guys are highway contractors that are building a useable road but can’t tell you where the road goes. They are asking us to keep pouring blood and money into this project until next January, when Bush will helicopter to his compound in Paraguay.

The Sunni insurgents we were fighting are now on our side, as long as we meet payroll. The administration is now leading us to war with Iran. Notice that when you hear them use the name “Al Qaeda,” you also hear the name “Iran,” often in the same sentence. They did the same thing when they were ginning up the Iraq war, just keep repeating it, and many people will believe it.

We have always been at war with Eastasia.

The most appalling news last week was Bush’s cynical announcement that Army tours in
Iraq would be shortened from 15 to 12 months, see fine print for details;
such as the fact that this limit doesn’t apply to troops now in Iraq, and
wouldn’t go into effect until August 2009, when Bush is out of office.

Last year the Republicans defeated the Webb-Hegel amendment to the defense
appropriations bill which would have required that troops be given a year
stateside between one year deployments overseas. Now Bush is trying to have
it both ways.

"We have always been at war with Eurasia."

Last week “Frontline” aired “Bad Voodoo’s War,” video from National Guard troops in Iraq. I learned that soldiers are prone to urinary infections because they have to drink lots of fluids in the heat, but can’t leave the vehicles to pee. They get kidney stones from drinking too much Red Bull to stay awake. I saw the guys tie field dressings around their door-side extremities so that if they’re hit their buddies have a better chance to bandage them before they “bleed out.”

And the administration is trying to “run out the clock” so they can turn this whole mess over to the next president. God damn.