General's Assessment of Iraq Questioned

[tocqueville]

By PAULINE JELINEK, Associated Press Writer
34 minutes ago

WASHINGTON - The Pentagon's top general acknowledged Sunday that "anything can happen" in Iraq, but he said things aren't as bad as some say. "I wouldn't put a great big smiley face on it, but I would say they're going very, very well from everything you look at."

The comments drew criticism that Gen. Peter Pace is glossing over problems in the three-year-old U.S. campaign.

"Why would I believe him?" asked Rep. John Murtha (news, bio, voting record), D-Pa., a major critic of the Bush administration's handling of the war. "This administration, including the president, (has) mischaracterized this war for the last two years."

Pace, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, cited political progress such as holding elections and writing a constitution as well as military progress like training Iraqi security forces.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060305/ap_on_go_ca_st_pe/us_iraq

[libodem]

1. A rose by any other name is still a rose

Civil war by any other name is still civil war. Just because they can't call a spade a spade and a shovel a shovel doesn't mean the conflict between the factions is not a civil war. How many more mosques need to be blown up before they start calling, what we started, what it has turned out to be. They lie out their asses to us, mislead, misinform, misguide, us and 34% of the country is still buying bullshit. It could be full-blown civil war and they would dumb it down to a frat boy cafeteria food fight. Read between the lines and decide, because no one will spell it out for us.

[roguevalley]

2. I saw that. Murtha is a treasure. A damned treasure and he's on our

side. Take that, Repubs!