by cyberotter
Fri Nov 17, 2006 at 11:43:12 AM PST
Yesterday the Baker group met with cabinet officials for the first time. During this meeting an outline of a four-point plan was introduced. The Baker Report will be the Administrations "
last big push" to win the war in Iraq. The Republicans are buying time with this report. Time to recover from a devastating loss in mid-term elections. Time to create the look and feel of "staying the course" being the only option that makes any sense. Time to denounce the "
cut and run" platform the Democrats have been labeled with. Buying precious news cycle space promoting the new direction the Republicans have come up with, recognizing the will of the people at last. Buying time to allow the General to give his assessment of what is going on "
on the ground" in Iraq.
Snip...
Does anyone else feel the "stay the course" vibe unfolding within this "new" approach to the war in Iraq? A senior US official said this about the Baker Report.
"Bush has said 'no' to withdrawal, so what else do you have? The Baker report will be a set of ideas, more realistic than in the past, that can be used as political tools. What they're going to say is: lower the goals, forget about the democracy crap, put more resources in, do it."
Most rational congressmen and women know Iraq is a failed policy. Most will not take a firm stand without the Baker Report to hide behind, including our fearless leader. So what is this cowardice costing us?
Here was yesterday's payment.
Anbar ProvinceBring `em on: One U.S. soldier and three Marines were killed during combat in Anbar Province, the insurgent stronghold in western Iraq, the military said in a statement Wednesday. The soldier assigned to 1st Brigade, 1st Armored Division and the three Marines assigned to Regimental Combat Team 7 died Tuesday from wounds sustained in "enemy action while operating in Anbar Province," the statement said.
BaghdadA suicide bomber drove his car into a tent where a funeral was being held in the mostly Sunni-Arab neighborhood of Dora in southern Baghdad, killing three people and wounding 15.
Three bodies, blindfolded with their hands and legs tied, were found by police in eastern Baghdad.
A car bomb exploded in a parking lot in central Baghdad on Wednesday, killing eight people and wounding 32. The car exploded near a gasoline station about 9:45 a.m. in the Bab Shargi neighborhood.
Gunmen attacked the convoy of Salama al-Khafagi, a former member of the governing Council, wounding a bodyguard and killing a passer-by in the western Jamiaa district of Baghdad.
Two Shiites were killed by gunmen who set fire to their home in southern Baghdad.
BaqubaIn Baqouba, Luma al-Karkhi, who worked for the independent weekly al-Dustor, was shot and killed while on her way to work. With the slayings of al-Taie and al-Karkhi, at least 91 journalists have been killed in Iraq since hostilities began in March 2003
Two mortar rounds landed near a police station in the city of Baquba, 65 km (40 miles) north of Baghdad.
BasraBritish forces killed an insurgent when they came under fire from a house in Basra. A British soldier was wounded and an Iraqi woman was killed by the insurgent.
Near DiwaniyaGunmen abducted 12 workers at a brick factory on Tuesday in a town near Diwaniya, 180 km south of Baghdad.
KirkukIn Kirkuk, gunmen killed a police officer in a drive-by shooting as he was heading to work.
Gunmen killed a traffic police officer in the northern city of Kirkuk.
KutA former member of Saddam Hussein's Baath Party was gunned down outside his home in the city of Kut.
LatifiyaPolice found 10 bodies in the town of Latifiya, 40 km south of Baghdad, and they were investigating whether they were those of 10 Shi'ite travellers kidnapped at the weekend.
Mosul
In Mosul, gunmen intercepted the car of journalist Fadia Mohammed al-Taie, killing her and her driver. Al-Taie worked as a reporter for the independent weekly newspaper al-Massar.
The morgue in Mosul received the bodies of four people shot dead, including two policemen.
SamarraPolice retrieved the body of a woman from the Tigris river in Samarra. She had gunshot wounds in her head and was bound.
Seems like we are being over billed for the lip service tactics this President is selling.