I am a political agnostic.. "NO PARTY AFFILIATION" is my official designation..

Michale.....

They desperately want me to become one, and you desperately want to pretend I am one. Partisan hatred? Where do you get this stuff?

No, I am not sure.. But you seem to be sure there is...

More partisan hatred rearing it's ugly head...

Michale.....

The Bush Surge began around Jan 2007. During the 4 months or so, troops were still being moved into Baghdad. And US forces were stepping up their offensive operations against the insurgents, so naturally casualties would be higher..

But recent activity has shown that the number of casualties is dropping. The insurgents are being beaten back and "pacified"...

War is a very fluid situation and is impossible to predict accurately to every dotted 'T' or crossed 'I'..

Come mid to end September, we will get our progress report and then we shall see what we shall see..

Your Democrats in Congress of decided to support the war until then. Why can't you do the same??

Michale.....

It's clear that the year is on track to be the bloodiest for American soldiers, are you sure there isn't some other goal?

And you are right.. I don't agree with it.. But probably not for the reasons you think..

In my opinion, the surge had one priority and one priority only.. SAVING AMERICAN LIVES... Once we start doing THAT, then we can turn our attentions to the political situation and make sure the croony of the hour is propped up..

But first and foremost, we MUST stop the hemorrhaging of American lives... And, I believe that is what the American public has wanted too... I believe that the American public really don't give a rat's ass about the political situation in Iraq... One corrupt croony is just as good or as bad as the next corrupt croony.. But what the public DOESN'T want is to see our troops dying over there...

Now, here's where I get cynical...

The Left has been pushing and pushing to end the war, ostensibly to get our troops out of harms way... I say "ostensibly" because you and I both know that the Left doesn't give a rat's... ass??... about the troops. They just want to make Bush and the GOP look bad... (Present company excepted, of course)..

So, anyways, here comes the "Bush Surge" and lo' and behold... The casualty count is going down... So, now the Left is in a quandary.. Quandary, hell.. They are in a flat out PANIC!! The surge is saving American Lives!!

"Holy crap!!! The surge is working!!! NOW WHAT DO WE DO" wonders the Left...

Wait... "We can still claim the surge is not working because it is not addressing the POLITICAL situation!! Yea... That's the ticket..."

So, that is where I see the SALON article coming from... The Left has shifted to focus from the safety of our troops to the political situation in hopes of still painting the "Bush Surge" as a failure..

But I think this will backfire on the Left and backfire BIG...

Because, as I indicated, the US Public doesn't give a damn about the political situation. They just don't want their sons and daughters, their wives and husbands and their mothers and fathers to die in Iraq..

If the Bush Surge can deliver this, then all the bellyaching and whining that the Left is going to do about the "political situation" in Iraq will, at BEST, fall on deaf ears.. At worst, it will deliver the 2008 elections, including the Presidency, to the GOP...

Michale.....

I also have a healthy mistrust of polls, which is why I haven't written a whole lot of articles like these two. But sometimes ya just gotta...

"There are three types of lies -- a lie, a damned lie, and statistics."
- Mark Twain

I bet the Dems will roll with the changes if Iraq truly does start sprouting flowers, though. I've been thinking for a while now something that others seem to be missing: what would happen if the Dems actually DID force Bush to get out of Iraq in six months? What would happen if Iraq was in the midst of a bloodbath RIGHT DURING THE CAMPAIGN? It's a tough question for Democrats to answer, but they haven't been answering it -- because nobody's been asking them.

Here are two articles you may be interested in. the first is a pretty indepth look at Iraq from the left's perspective (you won't agree with it, but if you're interested in how the other half thinks, it's a pretty rational case). The second is an interesting take on "maybe Iraq won't be the Big Issue in the election next year - maybe it will be the economy."

http://www.salon.com/opinion/feature/2007/08/07/surge/

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/hale-stewart/warning-economy-may-beco_b_59365.html

-CW

Multiple reports from independent sources clearly indicate the Surge is working.

Though you know my feelings about polls, the simple fact is many people of lesser intelligence puts their stock in what the polls say.. And the poll numbers for Bush's Presidency is going up (34% up from 29%) and the numbers for "The Surge Is Working" have gone from 31% to 45% or thereabouts..

Once again, the Democrats are put into the position of hoping that things go bad for the US.. That more troops get killed and things like that...

What a sad, sad commentary for the Democrats that they must pin their hopes on BAD things happening to this country in order to politically survive...

Michale.....