absolutelycertain

Excerpt from a popular political blog today ....

--/


It's FUBAR.
More than 200 U.S. troops were wounded in Iraq in the past week, the
Pentagon said Tuesday, and the total since the invasion was launched in
March 2003 is now 7,245.
Of the 219 wounded in the past week, 81 were returned to duty; the 138
others were not.

The Pentagon generally reports its wounded totals each week. Fatality totals
are updated daily.

The number of Americans killed and wounded has grown rapidly amid an
intensifying and increasingly effective insurgency. There were more wounded
over the past five months -- about 4,000 -- than in the first 13 months of
the war, when there were about 3,300, according to Pentagon reports.

Body armor is the only thing keeping Iraq from producing Vietnam-type KIA
figures. As Newsweek noted, this is Phase II of the insurgency. Phase I,
recruitment, is finished. Now the insurgents are out for blood (to the tune
of over 70 attacks every day).
Weve lost this war. We've literally lost entire swaths of Iraqi territory to
the insurgents. We've empowered Al Qaida and Islamist militants with new
recruits and pictures of prison torture and rape to fuel their cause. We''ve
stretched our military thin, hurt recruitment, made it impossible to respond
to actual threats.

In short, this is the biggest political and military blunder this country
has faced since -- I'll let the historians decide when. But as things are
going, this is going to have worse repercussions for our nation than Vietnam
ever did.

khobar

Gosh, you'd think the "Islamist militants" only started murdering Americans
because of Bush.

Paul Nixon

absolutelycertain

I don't think anyone would think that. But I think you'd say it.

khobar

You didn't read what you posted then, eh?

Paul Nixon

tw

Killing members of an occupying military force is not generally regarded as
"murder".

absolutelycertain

Translation: You didn't *understand* what you posted, but luckily I, Paul
Nixon, am here to explain it to you.

Fuck off, Paul.

khobar

I think you did understand it, but posted it for "effect" anyway.

Paul Nixon

khobar

I was, of course, referring to the line "[w]e've empowered Al Qaida and
Islamist militants with new recruits". Islamist militants have been
murdering Americans long before Mr. Bush ever came to office.

Paul Nixon

absolutelycertain

Up your nose with a rubber hose, compadre. "Effect"? What the hell do you
think Usenet is? Putting electronic messages into bottles and hoping that
somebody, someday reads them and gets a warm feeling in their pants?

Other than Kozel-esque cutting and pasting aviation accident news stories
(oh, and let's not forget Jai Maraj, who does the same thing), what is going
on here? Do you think this is a class, and you are the teacher? Well, if
it's a class and you are the teacher, please unmatriculate me. I need
better instruction.

The article I posted had one and only one message: The situation in Iraq
gets steadily worse, not better, by any reasonable objective or subjective
measures. Do with that information what you will, I don't give a shit. But
if you try to put lipstick on it and pimp it as something it isn't, I'm
right here to shove a freshly sharpened stick right up your ass.

tw

I see. The writer does not make it clear if that line refers to militants
inside Iraq or outside though from teh context I assumed the former.

That is certainly true. Mind you they were killing an awful lot of Russians
in Afghanistan when Reagan was in office, perhaps that gave them the
practice and the firearms?