Obama could throw another wrench into the surge debate. Big bro 43's latest GAO report stated that the surge has not resulted in the political reconciliation. The only purpose of the surge was to achieve political reconciliation.
The article "GAO Report Faults Post-'Surge' Planning -- Lack of Comprehensive Strategy Cited, but Pentagon Study Sees Gains in Iraq" at
click here
states "The administration lacks an updated and comprehensive Iraq strategy to move beyond the "surge" of combat troops President Bush launched in January 2007 as an 18-month effort to curtail violence and build Iraqi democracy, government investigators said yesterday. While agreeing with the administration that violence has decreased sharply, a report released yesterday by the Government Accountability Office concluded that
many other goals Bush outlined a year and a half ago in the "New Way Forward" strategy remain unmet.
The report, after a bleak GAO assessment last summer, cited little improvement in the ability of the Iraqi security forces to act independently of the U.S. Military, and noted that key legislation passed by the Iraqi parliament had not been implemented while other crucial laws had not been passed. The report also judged that key Iraqi ministries spent less of their allocated budgets last year than in previous years, and said that oil and electricity production had repeatedly not met U.S. targets.
Bush's strategy of January 2007, the GAO said, "defined the original goals and objectives that the Administration believed were achievable by the end of this phase in July 2008." Not meeting many of them changed circumstances on the ground and the pending withdrawal of the last of the additional U.S. forces mean that strategy is now outdated, the report said."
Back on September 4, 2007 Joe Conason's article "Bush's Magic Benchmarks" at
http://www.observer.com/2007/bush-s-magic-benchmarks
noted that "As the deadline approaches for official assessments of
American policy in Iraq, the Bush Administration is maintaining a steady barrage of diversions, obfuscations and manipulations. These great clouds of smoke, emanating from Washington's think tanks and the mainstream media as well as the press offices of the White House and the Pentagon, have a single purpose: to blind us to objective realities so that the war can continue indefinitely. The arguments change but the underlying style remains the same. Since they're losing the debate, they want to change the subject."
Now, less than two years later, we have given up. We know that big bro 43 is running out the clock and that the Democrats won't impeach him as they figure if they W's popularity will surge from all-time lows to slightly better. Clinton's poll number reached the mid-70s during his impeachment.
That accounts for Dana Milbank article "Kinda Sorta Impeaching the President" at
click here
states "House Democrats had called the session, given the anodyne title "Executive Power and Its Constitutional Limitations," to allow the left wing to vent its collective spleen. The left, led by diminutive Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D-Ohio), wants impeachment proceedings against the lame-duck president. Democratic leaders have said there will be no such thing, because the proceedings would be practically useless (there isn't enough time) and politically reckless (it would disrupt an election environment that heavily favors Democrats). They therefore settled on a compromise: a non-impeachment impeachment hearing.
Kucinich and his ilk could talk about impeachable offenses at the hearing, but it would not be called an impeachment hearing. John Conyers Jr. (D-Mich.), the chairman, delicately skirted around the word impeachment" in his opening statement, referring obliquely to "the power to remove" officeholders. He closed with a plea that "it's in all our interests to
work together." ..
"This committee should immediately begin impeachment hearings!" thundered Rep. Robert Wexler (D-Fla.), a key ally of Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama. The audience members cheered. 'Let's restrain ourselves, please," Chairman Conyers counseled. ?Rep. Hank Johnson (D-Ga.) also played to the gallery with his eye-for-an-eye logic: "If lying about consensual sexual activity fits the bill for impeachment,
then certainly lying to the American people about the reason for invading Iraq . . . qualifies as an official -- excuse me -- as an impeachable offense."
If Obama can fight off mini-me's slanderous remarks then the trail for W's crimes are hot. W's aiding of mini-me's campaign is not about burnishing big bro 43's legacy-it is about keeping the Democrats from having subpoena power while all of the crimes are still fresh.
The article "With so many Bush scandals, Slate makes detailed diagram --
Reporters find Gonzales' fingerprints in five cases" at
click here
states "Keeping track of all the scandals and malfeasance that have marked
President George W. Bush's two terms in office can prove rather taxing to even the most vigilant White House watchdog. Now the online magazine Slate has created a handy visual aide pointing out which
administration officials -- including Bush, Vice President Dick Cheney, former
Attorney General Alberto Gonzales and scores of others -- are implicated in
various scandals.
The interactive Venn diagram gives Gonzales top honors as perhaps the most corrupt administration figure. Slate says Gonzales, who was White House counsel before becoming Attorney General, is implicated in all five scandals it studied:
coercive interrogation, warrantless wiretapping, Justice Department hiring,
Justice Department firing and CIA tapes."
It is a psychopathic, symbiotic relationship between big bro 43 and mini-me. W needs mini-me to win. That's why when mini-me backs off-shore drilling w rescinds its ban almost immediately. Mini-me needs W's support if he is to win enough red staters to win the election. If mini-me wins he'll follow-up on W's plans to make Status of Forces agreements with Iraq for not just the near future, but for the hundred years of US soldiers dying that McCain dreams of.
(Note: You can view every article as one long page if you sign up as an Advocate Member, or higher).
