the SURGE IS A SUCCESS! ! ! RAH! RAH!!

[ChairmanAgnostic]

three suicide bombs kill one hundred.
five us soldiers die in a chopper crash
four us soldiers die elsewhere.

Hey Betrayus, let's see you spin this one.

[shaniqua6392]

1. Oh he will spin it alright!!

They can spin everything. BTW....love the Betrayus!!

[IndianaJones]

2. the butchers bill. nt.

[ChairmanAgnostic]

4. first used by napoleon, then by

that NIH doc in Boys in the Band. how fitting.

I prefer to use the term LIVES WASTED in honor of several dem senators who got shat upon for using that term. because that is precisely what it is - a terrible waste of their precious lives.

[IndianaJones]

5. was this about how Patraeus would spin it..or you? nt

[ChairmanAgnostic]

7. petraeus, O'Hanlon, or any of the paid mouthpieces - does it matter?

their responses will be predicable. and painful to the friends and familes of those dead and injured.

[shain from kane]

6. Here's a quote from "Zulu", where another modern army fought the natives.

Lieutenant Gonville Bromhead: Fear certainly dries the throat, doesn't it? I was never so thirsty in my life!
Lieutenant John Chard: I could have drunk a river.
Lieutenant Gonville Bromhead: Was it like this for you? I mean, how did you feel the first time?
Lieutenant John Chard: How do you feel?
Lieutenant Gonville Bromhead: I feel afraid and there's something more. I feel ashamed. There. You asked me and I told you. How was it your first time?
Lieutenant John Chard: Do you think I could stand this butcher's yard more than once?

[shain from kane]

3. Lieutenant John Chard: The army doesn't like more than one disaster in a day.

Bromhead: Looks bad in the newspapers and upsets civilians at their breakfast.

[TwilightGardener]

8. OK, at the risk of inciting a riot on DU, let's not use bad news to political

advantage. I know you don't mean to sound like you're gloating over bad news, but your post sorta sounds that way. Petraeus is a tool of the administration, but I'm pretty sure he cares about his troops (especially the fallen ones) and the Iraqis, and is making the best out of a really tough task. Let's not get too political here. This is just a sad day.

[spanone]

9. no political progress...it's a meat factory....

[WI_DEM]

10. I was disappointed to read that Sen. Durbin was saying that the surge was showing some success.

[TwilightGardener]

11. Well, I don't think it's ever harmful to be honest, if that's what he saw--

assuming that BushCo and the Republicans are filthy liars, it behooves Dems to be the better party and state the facts, not spin anything for political advantage. I expect some military successes--of course that's going to happen, when you put troops on every corner, put up traffic barriers and crack down on the population. No point in denying that, and I'm glad that the troops are able to help the Iraqis out some, where they can--maybe some of the citizens have a little more peace, maybe some lives were saved, in some areas. Their efforts are not totally in vain, if they're doing some good. It doesn't change the fact that the occupation needs to end. That's the point we should be hammering home, regardless of the "surge" bullshit. We've reached the law of diminishing returns in Iraq.