September Song; But if you could examine the goods they bring, They have little to offer but the songs they sing

Let me me Frank with you. Remember how we're all supposed to wait for the September report from General Petraeus to see how progress is going in Iraq? Surely you remember, it was touted over and over as an example of how Bush listens to his generals, (well except for the ones he fired because they wouldn't tell him a bedtime story.)

Gee, it turns out that that report is going to be written by President Bush, (well actually his staffers, because Crayons are so hard to get off the teleprompter), and that the White House claims that's always been been the case (the report, not the crayons) ... and they might get away with it, unless you have a functioning memory or access to the intertubes:

when asked about this during yesterday's press briefing, White House spokesman Dana Perino said:

Well, let me remind you of a couple of things. The Congress asked for these reports from the President; they asked for the President to report to the Congress.

Check the link and then come back and let me know if you still think elephants have a long memory.

We'll wait for you, but in the mean time, let's look at the law:

(Sec. 1314) States that, hereafter, U.S. strategy in Iraq shall be conditioned on the Iraqi government meeting specified political, security, and economic benchmarks

And how are those 'benchmarks' going?

Administration and military officials acknowledge that the September report will not show any significant progress on the political benchmarks laid out by Congress.

Well golly, I guess that means we can leave, right ... right?

Sadly, no. General Petraeus is already saying it will take "8 or 9 years."

And while Bushco keeps saying the escalation is working, the facts are Americans' deaths are up from last year, Iraqi civilian deaths are increasing and even in Baghdad, where the 'surge' is concentrated there is less drinkable water, less sewage disposal and less electricity than before the 'surge.'

We gotta get out of this place, if it's the last thing we ever do.



Cross posted at VidiotSpeak