BCT Editorial – 9/23/07

This page was last updated on September 23, 2007.

Reality check; Editorial; Beaver County Times; September 23, 2007.

Below is a detailed critique of the subject editorial.

“The problem with President Bush’s dream world is that reality keeps intruding on it.

“Since Gen. David Patraeus [sic], the top American general in Iraq, and Ryan Crocker, the U.S. ambassador to Iraq, presented their report to Congress, the president and all his men and women have been telling Americans that things are going much better in that country.

“It was a tough sell. The Associated Press reports that Petraeus’ report to Congress and Bush’s nationally televised pro-war war speech failed to bring Americans around. Overall, two out of three said their views on the war had not been changed.”

[RWC] “[P]ro-war?” Yep, I’m sure President Bush wants to be at war – not.

Regarding the views of some people not changing, should that be a surprise? After all, we heard members of Congress declare Gen. Petraeus and Mr. Crocker to be liars even before they presented their reports. Face it, a significant number of Americans are politically invested in our defeat, and nothing will change their minds.

“The news didn’t get any better for the president on Tuesday when the U.S. embassy in Iraq announced that it had suspended all land travel by U.S. diplomats and other civilian officials outside Baghdad’s heavily fortified Green Zone because of questions about the status of the private firm that provided security for them.

“Think about this. Almost four-and-a-half years after ‘Mission Accomplished,’ American officials cannot move around Iraq without tight security. A week after Petraeus and Bush were talking up the success of the so-called surge, American officials were relatively safe only in the Green Zone, a 3.5-square-mile compound in the center of Baghdad.”

[RWC] It’s been almost four-and-a-half years, and the Times still misrepresents the “Mission Accomplished” banner on the USS Abraham Lincoln.

“With the total U.S. death toll in Iraq approaching 3,800 and with tens of thousands more maimed and wounded, the situation in Iraq is no better than it was in the weeks and months after the fall of Saddam Hussein.”

[RWC] Come on guys, at least write something credible.

“To make matters worse, a first-class military organization is being ground down through misuse and abuse.”

[RWC] As I’ve written numerous times before, it’s not really a Times Iraq editorial without the obligatory “a first-class military organization is being ground down” or ground up comment. Times editorials have been using this language since at least September 2004. Our armed forces are doing pretty well for a “military organization” that was allegedly “ground up” three years ago.

“That’s a reality most Americans understand. It’s too bad their president doesn’t grasp that.”

[RWC] Gee, a war doesn’t go according to a script. Who would have thought such a thing?