Comments Posted By trrll
Displaying 1 To 3 Of 3 Comments
SENATE SUGGESTS TELLING THE JIHADIS WHEN WE'RE LEAVING
Given how reckless the President has been to this point, I think that he'll win if it comes down to "playing chicken." Congress will definitely believe that he is willing to sacrifice American soldiers' lives to get his own way.
As for setting a date for withdrawal, presumably that will have to be done at some time, unless we are planning to stay forever. The logistics of withdrawal are such that American forces could not simply vanish suddenly one night under cover of darkness. So the terrorists will inevitably know when we are leaving, and they will most certainly know when we are gone. So the real question is, "How long are we willing to give Iraq to develop the capability to provide for its own security, given the inevitability that the terrorists WILL know when the US will be leaving?"
Comment Posted By trrll On 28.03.2007 @ 11:36
DEMS NEW INDUSTRIAL STRATEGY: MANUFACTURING SCANDAL
As is so often the case, it is not the action, but the coverup that is the real scandal. The attorneys serve at the pleasure of the President, who can replace them whenever he chooses. It is certainly unusual to do so midterm, rather than after inauguration, but well within the rights of the President.
The scandal is that rather than honestly acknowledging that this was a political patronage move, the Bush administration tried to cover it up and pretend that the attorneys were being fired for cause. In other words, rather than taking responsibility for their decisions, they chose to damage the careers of US attorneys (Republican appointees, no less) who were doing their jobs and doing them well.
Comment Posted By trrll On 14.03.2007 @ 22:27
I'd be very hesitant about trying to place much interpretation on figures for car bombing. To begin with, we are talking about 38 reports, only 13% of total deaths, so the margin for error in extrapolating to the entire country will be very large. Moreover, while the investigators were able to verify most death reports by examining death certificates, they have no independent way of confirming the accuracy of third party reports as to the cause of death, and a lot of the respondents probably don't have direct knowledge of what happened. So the cause of death statistics are probably more useful for telling us what the Iraqi people are blaming for the loss in life than for telling us what is actually the case.
Comment Posted By trrll On 13.10.2006 @ 14:18
