"Your cloak hides the sinner . . ."--Doolittle


Once again, the media is stepping out in front of Bush's obstinate campaign to remain in Iraq to cover for administration lies and lay new groundwork for the continuing of their increased occupation. Robert Burns, a military writer for the AP, yesterday, hailed the success of the U.S. military escalation of force in cowing Iraqis into a state of submission to their repressive occupation as as evidence that their 'surge' is "working." Burns tries on the administration's new three piece suit of deceit as he parses the Iraq chaos by pointing to the military success in holding down violent resistance on the territory they presently occupy.

Burns shamelessly slips into the first article of administration apparel. "The new U.S. military strategy in Iraq, unveiled six months ago to little acclaim, is working," he writes.

Observing the U.S. military "on the ground and interviewing commanders, strategists and intelligence officers," Burns relies on "senior U.S. commanders in Iraq" to explain away the sobering price paid for the ground they've re-occupied since the beginning of the 'surge' of almost 700 U.S. troops dead and 3,665 killed since the initial invasion.

After asking whether the "potential benefits of sticking with the war strategy outweigh the cost, in American blood and treasure," Burns quotes Lt. Gen. James Dubik, in charge of training and equipping Iraqi forces: "It was fought over and died for, and there's no reason to give it back right now," Dubik reportedly told AP.

Yet, the escalation of force into Iraq, after years of promises of 'victory' amid stunningly devastating counterproductive effects of Bush's invasion and occupation, was supposed to be about more than just the suppression of Iraqis into submission to the new regime which he helped install behind the shock and awe of our military. The escalation of force was supposed to give the Iraqis political "breathing space" to complete their imposition of power. However, those Iraqis who have assumed the positions of contrived authority within the new regime have all but abandoned the play of 'democracy' that Bush has been tutoring his henchman, Prime Minister Maliki, to parrot for the international press.

Burns steps into the second piece of Bush's ploy to remain in Iraq as he allows the instinct from the military to 'press forward' to give justification to the notion that an exit from Iraq would undo any prospect for political reconciliation to end the chaos and bloodshed. After questioning whether Iraq's political leaders would be "more likely to settle their sectarian differences if they knew that America's patience was ending and that its troops were leaving," Burns offers up a dose of the administration's fear-mongering that, a "early pullout" would "propel the country further into chaos."

Burns quotes U.S. Ambassador to Iraq, Ryan Crocker to make his point. "A massive human catastrophe (could follow), with the bloodshed among the Iraqi civilians on a scale we have not seen and may find hard to imagine," he reportedly told the AP. Crocker is hoping that no one will point out the "massive human catastrophe" of Iraqi civilians killed since the initial invasion, as well as ignore those thousands of Iraqis who've lost their lives as sectarian violence has increased right along with the administration's cynical escalation of their occupation.

Finally, Burns puts on the last piece of the outfit of Bush's obstinacy in Iraq by throwing out a bone for those who might be convinced that a "troop drawdown," stretched-out over "many months," was progress which would lead to the withdrawal Americans have been clamoring for since they voted last September to replace Bush's republican enablers in Congress with Democrats pledged to end the occupation.

"Petraeus might be inclined," he wrote, "to send home, perhaps as early as January, one of the extra five Army brigades that Bush sent to Baghdad. Some of the roughly 4,000 extra Marines in Anbar province might head out by then, too," writes Burns as he completes his delivery of the administration's next pacifying dodge.

Today, media proponents of the Iraq occupation across the board were busy promoting their sponsored findings that the Bush administration's campaign to continue their Iraq occupation indefinitely has managed to soften some of the opposition among Americans polled. Exploiting the pathetically low expectations that Bush has benefited from in the past, they cite a rise in Bush's job approval rating from 28% in June to 31% in July as proof that the administration's sophistry on Iraq is convincing.

While Bush and his generals in Iraq busy themselves with softening up the U.S. political battlefield by pointing to their deadly intimidation of the Iraqis in the areas they've occupied in their 'surge,' the casualties are still mounting -- and the Iraqi regime is still just a Potamkin Village for the democracy they claim our nation's defenders are fighting and dying for. It's really not surprising at all to see the press, once again, modeling the administration's new cloak of resistance to abandoning the Iraqi ground our soldiers are dying to defend. They still haven't outgrown the first enabling cover for the initial invasion of Iraq Bush and his minions sold them all of those many years ago, however worn and bare the slim threads of that deceitful garment have become.