Indeed it is. 15 of the 18 benchmarks are satisfied. That's almost double from one year ago.

Satan_Sunburn:Indeed it is. 15 of the 18 benchmarks are satisfied. That's almost double from one year ago.

Yes, but the report came from the Bush administration, which means they are lying. Except when previous reports said that the benchmarks weren't being met. Those times--they were telling the truth. The left wing of the German press may buy this "progress," but not here in the good 'ol USA. Iraq was/is/will be a failure, and no "facts" or "evidence" could ever change that.

In summary:

Bad news about Iraq = front page spread, exhaustive TV coverage

Good news about Iraq = lies, not newsworthy

That is great news. Good for Iraq, good for us, good for the region, good for the world. Lots of hard work and sacrifice by Iraqis, Americans, British and others.

vernonFL:That is great news. Good for Iraq, good for us, good for the region, good for the world. Lots of hard work and sacrifice by Iraqis, Americans, British and others.

You SHUT your WHORE mouth...

The Army and Marine Corps, to their credit, has done a very good job retooling their doctrine to dight a counterinsugency. Unfortunately the implementation has been slow, and it's taken 4 years to slowly undo the damage done in the first 2.

The war still should never have been fought, but as the Obama analogy goes: once you've driven the bus into the ditch, there's only so many ways to get out. This is definitely a good thing when compared to leaving the bus in the ditch.

Well done, men & women of the military. You've gone far and above the call of duty in performing the often times impossible tasks asked of you.

Since we never should have been there in the first place, can we please leave now?

BravadoGT:Yes, but the report came from the Bush administration, which means they are lying.

Bingo!

THIS

From now until they hit Iran (before the inauguration) everything coming out of that administration will be bullshiat on top of bullshiat.

Is this enough progress to create a time table for withdrawal?

BravadoGT

Careful, your shtick will get shtuck.

So the Iraq government finally passed the oil sharing bill?


No? oh, I see.

vernonFL:That is great news. Good for Iraq, good for us, good for the region, good for the world. Lots of hard work and sacrifice by Iraqis, Americans, British and others.

You forgot Poland!

You jokers will fall for anything. I know a lot of your weren't alive for Nam, but you could at least farking learn some history.

The bacon metric is one I can understand.

Well that settles it.

Progress is astounding?

Yeah, right.

Hundreds of thousands of Iraqi and Afghan civilians DEAD, Thousands of our troops DEAD, U.S. Economy about to turn inside out and explode, ...

Is this what we call progress? Our little chance to implement a democracy so we can control them isn't working. Americans believe that democracy is good, which is not. Americans believe we're a democracy, which isn't true. I pledge the allegiance to the flag, of the United States of America, and to the -- REPUBLIC for which it stands... Not democracy.

A democracy is We The Sheeple, a republic is We The People

Progress for the global elite is being made, not progress for its property such as Americans and the Middle East

The sooner they become self-sufficient, the better. I hope Maliki kicks some ass so we can GTFO.

How many cities are there in Iraq anyway?

/Baghdad's covered

So last month we had 1.03 US military deaths per day.

So if like McCain wants we are there for 100 years then that makes only 37,595 Military US deaths (not counting leap years or non military US deaths.).

Great.

Still doesn't begin to suggest that it was a good idea.

Or that I should vote for anyone who thought it was a good idea, still thinks it was a good idea, and thus would do the same thing again.

Now can we get out?

No. Ah, yeah. Exxon and Chevron got those contracts. So, we've got to defend them, now.

They got pork again, so our job is done.

BravadoGT:Iraq was/is/will be a failure

That is what is called a 'self-fulfilling prophesy.'

Look up WAR CORPORATISM, and it'll explain why "we're over there bombing the shiat out of them for bogus reasons"

Jeremy Bates:Hey, retards, for the amount of money we've spent in Iraq, we could have already funded an alternative energy program to successfully wean us from oil.

Or, if we really wanted to spend our tax money wisely, we could have bought The Dallas Cowboys, New York Yankees and Manchester United.

and STILL have had enough left over to fund an alternative energy program to successfully wean us from oil

submitter:left-wing German news magazine

Aren't all news magazines in Europe left wing?

HansensDisease:No? oh, I see.

Umm no. That "goal post" was made a long time ago. It is listed in the milestones made for the iraq war years ago. And what the Bush admin said the would accomplish themselves.

So it's the right moving the goal posts not the left.

Talking about moving the goal posts: how is finding those weapon of mass destruction going?

I don't think that Spiegel is particularly left wing.

So it's time to withdraw. Good.

HansensDisease:
No? oh, I see.

Nice pic, but shouldn't it say, "it's easier to not let your opponent win when you move them"?

How is finding those weapon of mass destruction going? You know the original reason for this war?

YouTube vid on War Corporatism, a must see (new window)

All credit goes to the guys in the sandbox. Well done.

But where do we go from here? There's still a lot of work to be done, and don't forget about Afghanistan. How long will we need to support the ineffective government of Iraq? How will we pay for all that, with the falling dollar and weakening economy?

These are questions Washington needs to answer. And not band-aid solutions, either. Personally, I don't think there is a good answer, only "less bad" ones. That doesn't mean we shouldn't do anything, but right now no one is willing or able to step up and lead the way, and that irritates me to no end. I know I'll have to wait until after the election, but I shouldn't have to.

I'm ranting. But people are dying, military and civilians alike. We need a plan today.

Does "left wing" mean the same in Germany as it does here? If it does, comparing to Fox News = FAIL.

Corvus:So it's the right moving the goal posts not the left.

I was underscoring your point.

"The progress is astonishing" is What Al Qaeda in Pakistan and the Taliban in Afghanistan are saying while we fark around where we shouldn't have been in the first place.

Cat Food Sandwiches:Does "left wing" mean the same in Germany as it does here? If it does, comparing to Fox News = FAIL.

Are you suggesting that a network that calls a Democratic presidential candidate's wife his "baby mama" might lean a douche to the right? Surely you jest.

So it's almost back to the safety level of the Sadaam era. Sweet.

Cat Food Sandwiches:Does "left wing" mean the same in Germany as it does here? If it does, comparing to Fox News = FAIL.

That was subby's whole point - it isn't just Fox news that says things are going better, left-wing sources admit it, too so it must be true.

vichuck:Cat Food Sandwiches:Does "left wing" mean the same in Germany as it does here? If it does, comparing to Fox News = FAIL.

Are you suggesting that a network that calls a Democratic presidential candidate's wife his "baby mama" might lean a douche to the right? Surely you jest.

Personally I liked "Terrorist Fist Jab." The classiest moment in Foxnews history.

Satan_Sunburn:Indeed it is. 15 of the 18 benchmarks are satisfied. That's almost double from one year ago.

do you know which 3 have been left undone?

I believe they are:

-oil revenue sharing
-acceptable professionalism in the police force
-disarm the militias

that seems to be the big problems IMO.

the oil rev. sharing alone is enough to keep a civil war going, add in the armed militias and that looks farked.

certainly many things have improved, but there are still major problems sitting on the table being ignored.
I think obama's plan to put more pressure on these guys by giving them a countdown is a good idea.

I never understood the 'timelines aid the terrorists' line.
whether we leave on a date certain or at a time when we think we can make a run for it, one day, we'll be gone. the terrorists are going to notice, it's on the iraqis at that point, and I think they're in need of a deadline to motivate them.

unexplained bacon:I never understood the 'timelines aid the terrorists' line.

as it turns out, if you understand it, YOU ARE A TERRORIST!

Quite a catch, that catch-22

Corvus:How is finding those weapon of mass destruction going? You know the original reason for this war?

Hah!

I still can't believe that anybody ever bought this. Even when Clinton sold it, it was patently just a legal fiction sold to the UN so the tinpot dictators who make those decisions would feel threatened by Hussein and not the US. The real reason for the war - GHWB failed to provide support to the post Gulf War uprisings and both administrations since have been finding ways to clean up the mess made by him, Reagan, and Carter.

This will go on a long, long time, at least until the generation raised in a post-Saddam environment rise to power, if not longer.

/Just like it is in Eastern Europe, and did in Korea, Japan, the Philippines, Hawaii, the former CSA, former northern Mexico, Texas, the Louisiana Purchase, and on and on and on.
//Read some damn history

Wayfarer's Freedom:Is this what we call progress? Our little chance to implement a democracy so we can control them isn't working. Americans believe that democracy is good, which is not. Americans believe we're a democracy, which isn't true. I pledge the allegiance to the flag, of the United States of America, and to the -- REPUBLIC for which it stands... Not democracy.

A democracy is We The Sheeple, a republic is We The People



Hold on--we are just receiving some late breaking news. According to independent sources around the world, it appears that "democracy" and "republic" are not mutually exclusive terms, and that "sheeple" is the most retarded pseudo-word ever, shortly behind "blogosphere." We'll have more on this as the story develops.

MasterThief:Satan_Sunburn:Indeed it is. 15 of the 18 benchmarks are satisfied. That's almost double from one year ago.

Here's a nice little comparison to the U.S. Congress.

Its a quagmire.

Congress, that is.

We should pull out of Nancy Pelosi.

Phil Moskowitz:Personally I liked "Terrorist Fist Jab." The classiest moment in Foxnews history.

I dunno, have you seen the photoshopped pictures of the NY Times guys they posted yesterday? They made their teeth yellow and put dark circles under their eyes, that is pretty classy.

They photoshop you decide.

Jeremy Bates:Hey, retards, for the amount of money we've spent in Iraq, we could have already funded an alternative energy program to successfully wean us from oilfree health care, end homlessness, save the planet, stopped animal testing cloned rainbows and unicorns for everybody! .

Did I get all the hippy talking points or did I miss a few.

fernt:brap:Careful, your shtick will get shtuck.

The horror...the horror.

priestrape:unexplained bacon:I never understood the 'timelines aid the terrorists' line.

as it turns out, if you understand it, YOU ARE A TERRORIST!

Quite a catch, that catch-22

it's just another one of those nonsensical talking points that gets thrown around to muddy the water.

timelines put pressure on the iraqis to make progress.

basing our timeline one the progress of the iraqis simply rewards them for dragging their feet. they can take their time while we take the heat. that's bullshiat.

those farkers have to get this oil sharing issue settled. they've had years to work on this and they've left it on the table because it's hard.

well fellas, we're about to go, you're time to wait is up.