TOTAL HAWKSHIT

WILL THE LAST HAWK Bush declare victory and leave Iraq?  Can he do it without cutting and running?  Or will he say the troops are trained enough and now we can start to pull out of that country we fucked helped towards democracy?  Are we witnessing freedom on the march interruptus? We interrupt this occupation for an important announcement.  As Iraqi forces stand up, we will stand down.  We will fall down getting out of there quickly, but not quickly as those who would cut and run would. We will throw up as they stand down. We now return to regular programming.  Is there a principle here or is everything secondary to politics?

WHEN DOVES CRY the war has been a disaster, they are attacked as fools. When former hawks say it’s time for a change, they are charged as traitors by the likes of Schmidt and Coldsore Coulter.  When can we expect the attack dogs of the Bush administration to attack the Bush administration for its cowardly cut and run ways?  The last hawk Bush now prepares to fly from what he said before. Will it fly or is what flies bullshit changed policy?   

SOMETHING NOW falls from the skies and must be called for what it is.  Hawkshit.  Put on a hat because the storm won't end soon

A CLARIFICATION When the last hawk plans his flight out of Baghdad, it is not cutting and running, it is groundwork.  Oy.

SO WILL IT FLY?
The fire of freedom burns at The Heretik.  Diebold democracy rules. Some votes are in on Bush’s new “groundwork.”  John Cole of Balloon Juice votes NO, sort of: While drawing down 40k of 160k troops over the next year is certainly not cutting and running, I think it is pretty clear this decision is being based on domestic political considerations rather than facts on the ground.  The  mood grows tense.
Maha votes YES, wtf: In other words, he’s going to declare victory so the troops can go home. Which is, of course, ENTIRELY DIFFERENT (snark) from “cutting and running.” And I’m predicting now that the “two-year withdrawal period” will be considerably shorter than two years.

THE HERETIK WILL tally the votes and if they are not as he would like, they will be discarded in favor of ones that are.

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SAY IT AIN'T SO, CONDI Frozen Eli Lake suffers meltdown in the NY Sun: If this latest diplomatic foray is not checked by some common sense it could become the exit strategy so many of the Bush administration's more feckless critics are demanding. 

THE DEVIL IN THE DETAILS Joe Gandelman points out an inherent dishonesty: The Bush adminstration has insisted that setting any kind of even nebulous date for a withdrawal encourages the enemy to hold out and get even bolder. Translation: it has insinuated that by setting a timetable more American military could be killed. And it turned this into a partisan jihad, going after one political party when even some members of the GOP are voicing increasing doubts.

THE HERETIK SAYS to Bush and the rest: Oy.  Somebody buy me a rubbersuit. The hawkshit will rain down for years, not that I am setting a timetable.  Critics of the Bush administration must not encourage the enemy by criticizing the Bush administration that encourages the enemy.  Or something.