Sorry My Liberal Friends

This is why I'd rather have Cheney right where he is. During the run up to the Afghanistan war we told Pakistan we'd bomb them back into the stone age if they didn't cooperate. I imagine Cheney had a similar exchange with Musharraf to encourage this.

Pakistan intelligence sources say a second high-ranking Taliban leader has been taken into custody, as the country appeared to be responding to Vice President Dick Cheney's showdown meeting with Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf.

But I really must apologize to my Liberals readers for this next link. I know how sad it makes them when I post good news from Iraq.

Comments

[Hard Right]

I hear heads exploding. Gee, I wonder what nonsense the lefties will come up with?

[Legalize]

Well, of course it's good that "Pakistan intelligence sources" say they caught a Taliban leader. We can trust the same Pakistan intelligence that pretty much lets the Taliban and Al Q types move about freely in Northern Pakistan, right? I'm sure they'd never just nab a guy and claim that he's a terrorist mastermind or anything.

As for Iraq, fewer civilian deaths is, in fact a good thing. Of course, when Al Sadr has expressly ordered his boys to go underground until the shit storm is over, it seems pretty likely that there would be fewer deaths. I mean we all knew that the "surge" and the alleged counter inurgency program would result in less short-term violence. No one ever disputed that. Hell, how many times have we seen temporary reductions in violence? I'll tell you - every time the administration claims that its new plan of the month is working .... And anyone who isn't a raving hack, i.e. not you, recognizes this every time. Stil1, 1,645 deaths is 3 times as many deaths that occured per month before the all-out civil war began about a year ago.

You guys really are the masters of meeting really really really really low expectations.

Besides, I thought that there really wasn't all that much violence in Iraq prior to this "story."

[Legalize]

Meanwhile, in ACTUAL news, it is appearing more and more likely that the Bush Administration REALLY doesn't know what the hell it is talking about re the axis of evil possessing nuclear weapons: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070301/ap_on_re_as/nuclear_iran_nkorea

[mightyjoeyoung]

Are these the same Intelligence Sources that \"rolled up\" the AQ Khan network...and by rolled up I mean pardoned and released him?

Is this the same \"Al Qaeda\" or \"Taliban\" leader that they kill every month that\'s supposed to turn the corner?

I thought we defeated the Taliban? How are they able to pull off an assassination attempt against Dick Cheney if they were defeated? My Cognitave Dissonace is itching.

[Hard Right]

That's what I expected from the left-more negativity and pessimism. Thanks Legalize. Forget that we've arrested significant numbers of Sadr's boys as they "laid low". Also, the Surge isn't the only thing we are doing. The surge may or may not be the only reason for the reduction. Time will tell.

[scarshapedstar]

Okay, so, can we bring the troops back now?

[yyy]

Shouldn't the benchmark for success be to compare the cumulative death toll of Iraqi civilians over the past four years with that of Iraqi civilians in the last four years under Saddam Hussein?

But, something tells me that the Butcher of Bagdad's death toll of his last four years in power doesn't come close to the number of deaths that have occured after the glorious liberation of his people.

So we have four years of failure and fewer dead people in the last four months. Spread the good news.

[Purple Avenger]

"it is appearing more and more likely that the Bush Administration REALLY doesn't know what the hell it is talking about re the axis of evil possessing nuclear weapons"

Sad, but true. 8 years of Clinton damaged our intel apparatus so much it will take decades to repair.

[scarshapedstar]

And, as Legalize noted, isn't this an old story? Baghdad has had a lower murder rate than San Francisco since the start of the war, or at least I remember the wankosphere saying something along those lines. It's only the MSM that gives anyone the impression that things aren't all sunshine and happiness.

Well, that and the fact that

a) these figures only include bodies that somebody dragged the the morgue, which doesn't often happen because you stand a pretty good chance of getting shot or blown up

and

b) the situation is so awesome that "The Iraqi government has stopped publishing casualty figures and has banned officials from giving numbers to the media, leading those who do so to request anonymity." (somehow, this part didn't make it into the post you linked, what a terrible oversight.)

[BobInStamford]

Yawn. You heros are always claiming to have killed or captured someone. A week later it always turns out to be the wrong guy or a wedding party or something. Before you start claiming 'mission accomplished' get your facts straight.

[Hard Right]

"it is appearing more and more likely that the Bush Administration REALLY doesn't know what the hell it is talking about re the axis of evil possessing nuclear weapons"

If not for Bush NK would have Nukes had they kept to the path set by Clinton.

[Legalize]

"Sad, but true. 8 years of Clinton damaged our intel apparatus so much it will take decades to repair."

Haha, it's always Clinton's fault that the Bush administration is totally incompetent. Please keep up this line of "reasoning;" I'm sure people will start giving it credence once again if you keep applying it to more scenarios. What you are intentionally ignoring is that when Clinton left office, NK had 1, 2, 3, wait ZERO nukes. Now they have potentially a dozen because the Bush administration de-railed the Clinton track by grossly overestimating NK's potential - the irony being that NK's actual potential was realized 4 years after the Bushists dropped the ball.

The Bushists have no one but themselves to blame for 6 years of lying about Iran, Iraq, and NK's weapons capacity, as a means of attempting to justify its militarism. It's one thing to say "intelligence is conflicting," and another thing to cook that intelligence and push it as "we know what the intelligence says for a fact."

[JS]

1,645 dead = good news?

That's kind of twisted, don't you think?

[yyy]

Maybe Bush should have spent a few more $$$ on the intelligence apparatus instead of the failed star wars defense system that the Pentagon sunk billions into and couldn't get to work even in its scripted PR tests.

But, I'm sure that is also Clinton's fault.

[charles]

I hear heads exploding. Gee, I wonder what nonsense the lefties will come up with?

well hard right, you asked for it

the lefties love this blog, they post more than anyone else combined - i think they have a wicked man crush on dan

if it was up to me, in one afternoon i could make this entire planet a peaceful quiet place,,,,,,,,

"trident submarines" look it up lefties

until then i'm willing to give the jihadis one last chance to leave the dark ages behind, give up their barbarian ways and join modern society in improving life on this planet

but they are running out of time

[Legalize]

"I hear heads exploding."

No, you hear a number of people disposing of Riehl's bullshit - again. What I hear - again - is a group of whiny cultists who are unable to grasp reality, but chose instead to grasp at straws for any sign, no matter how immaterial, that their Dear Leader has somehow been successful in his military adventures, evidenced by the fact that none of the aforementioned cultists is remotely capable of countering the facts on the ground, with material facts of their own that would lead one to believe that "victory" was anywhere in the vicinity they claim it is.

That and the rest of your post addresses approximately nothing of substance. Shocking.

How many times do you guys really have to hear "last throes," and "turning the corner," only for things to get even worse, before you snap out of your delusions.

[Zifnab]

"If not for Bush NK would have Nukes had they kept to the path set by Clinton."

I hate to pee on your parade, HR, but North Korea has nukes. And they have the nukes because Bush pulled out of negotiations and let Jong-Il spend the last few years reopening his bomb making plants that were closed under Clinton. NK tested a nuke last year. It was all over the news.

[Legalize]

"It was all over the news."

Yes, but everyone knows that the news has a liberal bias. Thus it is clear that (a) NK has no nukes; (b) Iran has LOTS of them; and (c) Iraq, in fact, was responisble for 9/11 because an Iraqi intelligence man shared a soda, and played a round of darts with Mohammed Atta in Prague - this totally proves complicity, you see.

[charles]

And they have the nukes because Bush pulled out of negotiations and let Jong-Il spend the last few years reopening his bomb making plants that were closed under Clinton

amongst other things a nuclear reactor is a "bomb making plant"

where do you imagine the norks got one of those?

[yyy]

I just love it that NK was full of freaking nukes according to the decider until just recently, and now that he's gotten NK to agree to a few things, SUDDENLY, the original intelligence was wrong, and NK now ain't got no nukes afterall.

And you know, the Pakistani's, they really, really, really do want dismantle Al Quada...really, they do.

And the house of saud are great, democracy loving dudes as well.

[templar knight]

Dan, first you had a mob, and now you have a cult. Or is it a cultish mob, or a mobbish cult? Either one calls for a celebration.

You boys eat your hearts out, cause at 5:00pm I'm frying catfish and crappie, hush puppies and french fries, with banana pudding to top it off. And a big jug of sweet tea. Yum...yum...! Now what were we talking about?

[Legalize]

That sounds good, TK. I'm having fish myself for dinner - the raw variety, and with green tea.

[Purple Avenger]

"1,645 dead = good news?"

I know, I know, the left always prefers 6 and 7 digit body counts...Cambodian killing fields, Soviet purges, Rwanda, etc.

You'll have to excuse republicans, their such amateurs about the massive body count thing.

[Jeff]

I disagree Purple. The left's Glorious Leader, Stalin said, "The death of one man is tragic the death of millions is a statisic. "

The left needs the tragedy of one man to pull at our hearts, but one man statistically speaking is irrelevent. So they mention the death of millions.

"Today in Iraq 4 people were killed for Bush's War For Oil. This brings the total of people Bu$hitler has killed to 9,002,339"

[Hard Right]

Thanks for proving what I said about heads exploding, Legalize. The left cannot tolerate good news from Iraq. You must be a blast at parties with your humble attitude and sunny disposition.

[templar knight]

Raw fish?, with green tea?. OK, Legalize, I hope I see you here tomorrow. Uh, what kind of fish? Or is it that fish surprise you get in those little balls?

[yyy]

What I can't tolerate is lies.

Now, if the "good news" was packaged more along the lines of 'the out of control civil warefare that has consumed Iraq for the past year appears to be slowing, since in the last four months the death toll has gone down..." I might be more inclined to take it seriously.

I can't speak for the whole left, but I am tired of course corrections, stay the course, victory announcements and the rest of the ridiculous bullshit that has been proffered by the Bush Administration to prop up their pathetic forray into Iraq.

The "Iraq War" was a failure. It will be deemed a failure even if the Iraqis stop killing each other tomorrow. There is no functioning democracy in Iraq and our removal of Saddam Hussein has changed the balance of power in the ME in ways that BushCo appear not to have thought of..or, more probably, they expected to be able to install Chalabi as a friendly tyrant, and then go on and invade Syria and bomb Iran back to the stoneage.

It was only their collasal arrogance and imcompetance that prevented this 'success' from occuring.

But, not to worry, they appear hell bent on starting a war with Iran anyway, we can only hope the Iranians don't really bloackage the Strait of Hormuz? and cause a worldwide oil panic.

[Legalize]

"Raw fish?, with green tea?. OK, Legalize, I hope I see you here tomorrow. Uh, what kind of fish? Or is it that fish surprise you get in those little balls?"

No no. Tuna, my man. TUNA!

[templar knight]

Oh, by the way, Legalize, I get to speak at the county Bar Association next Thursday at their regular monthly meeting. I have to convince them to set up a sub-committee to handle indigent veterans issues on a pro bono basis. The Association already handles indigent needs, but I have to convince them that veterans fall in a special category. Wish me luck.

[Legalize]

"Thanks for proving what I said about heads exploding, Legalize."

If by that you mean, "proving that you can not support a point with anything approaching factual accuracy," then yes.

"The left cannot tolerate good news from Iraq."

No, we just have a hard time tolerating spin, packaged as "good news" by deluded cultists who are too blinded by their own prejudices to admit what the whole world has known for some time now - Iraq is a clusterfuck, and it's Bush administration's fault. If you think that 3 times as many dead per month than 1 year ago is "good news," you're not really worth talking to - which you amply prove at ever turn. One last time: we've heard how many times that every down-tick in violence, every "election," every insurgent killed really is the final swing to "victory"? We've heard it over and over, YET THE SITUATION CONTINUES TO GET WORSE. This is a fact only the most dense among us do not realize.

"You must be a blast at parties with your humble attitude and sunny disposition."

If by "humble" you mean, "accurate, as supported by obvious fact," and "sunny disposition," as "the capacity to hold a conversation without having to fall back on the Kool Aid I've been spoon-fed for 6 years" - yes.

[Legalize]

"Oh, by the way, Legalize, I get to speak at the county Bar Association next Thursday at their regular monthly meeting. I have to convince them to set up a sub-committee to handle indigent veterans issues on a pro bono basis. The Association already handles indigent needs, but I have to convince them that veterans fall in a special category. Wish me luck."

Holy smokes; you work fast. Good luck indeed. Let me know if you want some pointers as to how to talk to a room full of douche-bag lawyers.

[templar knight]

I thought about telling the truth, Legalize, but I figured the shock of that might cause quite a few deaths, so I figure I'll spin, embellish, and then just beg. Whatever it takes.

[Hard Right]

YYY, that's it. Keep posting the moonbat talking points you free thinker, you.

[yyy]

The difference between my points and your points is that my are backed up with verifiable facts.

YOu know, those facts about no WMD, no restarted nukes program, no mobile chemical weapons labs, no internal Iraqi support for Chalabi, the 9/11 commission and the recent wholesale changes made in intelligence gathering in an attempt to prevent the cherry picking that the neocons did.

[Purple Avenger]

"And they have the nukes because Bush pulled out of negotiations and let Jong-Il spend the last few years reopening his bomb making plants that were closed under Clinton."

So how long would you pay the extortionist?

Clinton bribed'em with some nuke plants too. Smooth move.

[Zifnab]

"So how long would you pay the extortionist?"

You'd have to ask Bush. He just renewed their lease to the tune of 50 million barrells of oil today and 950 million more over the next ten years.

[Jeff]

"Clinton bribed'em with some nuke plants too. Smooth move."

The left will remind you that you cannot use that anymore; Clinton isn't in office anymore, therefore he can't be criticized, plus blaming Bush is easier...

But since we are on the topic of blaming Bush, why didn't he support the Brits in the Boer War? Why didn't he end the Inquisition?

Bush is such a coward!

[Rafter Mike]

Hard right is right on re: lefties! We oughta kill 'em all! Nuke 'em all! Kill the Iraqi babies! Kill the lefty babies! We right-wingers gotta stick together against all the lefty crazies! Kill 'em all!

Bush and Cheney are right on! Kill 'em all, Bushie baby! It's all about keepin' the power where it belongs - with the Hard Rights! Right On! Kill all the lefties! They're all crazy! The only good lefty is a dead lefty!

All this crap about Jesus and doing the right thing is the ridiculous left-wing pablum! Kill 'em all! Condoleeza for President! She'll help us kill 'em all! The lefties are all crazy!

Love your site, man! You're right on, Hard Right! Kill 'em all!