Newswire:

For The Fifth Anniversary Of The War, Bush Wore His Rose-Colored Blinders

Bush gave a yippe-kai-yay speech to commemorate the fifth anniversary of the U.S. invasion of Iraq yesterday, and while he didn’t say anything new, we certainly weren’t going to let him get away with the usual spin.

Let the un-spinning begin!

Bush said: “Civilian deaths are down, sectarian killings are down, attacks on American forces are down.” [Audio, :07]

FACT: This is good, but irrelevant to the success or failure of the surge, which was designed to further political reconciliation. A recent conference to reconcile Iraqi political groups “began to unravel even before it got underway” and half-baked legislative achievements still reveal “deep and persistent divisions between and within Iraq’s main sects.” [Mic Check] [AP] [Progress Report]

Bush said: “As a return on our success in Iraq, we’ve begun bringing some of our troops home.” [Audio, :05]

FACT: We are withdrawing troops from Iraq not because of successes, but because of a dangerously overstretched military. “Over 130,000 troops have been deployed to Iraq for nearly five years, and another 25,000 have been deployed to Afghanistan for the last six. Many of these combat units are in their third and fourth tours in Iraq and Afghanistan. While President Bush may claim that the four additional combat brigades being withdrawn from Iraq are a reward for success, in reality, their redeployment is an obligatory step in restoring military readiness.” [American Progress]

Bush said: “The surge has done more than turn the situation in Iraq around, it has opened the door to a major strategic victory in the broader war on terror.” [Audio, :08]

FACT: The war on Iraq has been the most devastating strategic error in American history, and has distracted us from engaging the Taliban and Al Qaeda in Afghanistan and the mountainous regions of Pakistan. In fact, “the current Iraq strategy is exactly what Al Qaeda wants—the United States distracted and pinned down by Iraq’s internal conflicts and trapped in a quagmire that has become the perfect rallying cry and recruitment tool for Al Qaeda.” [American Progress]

Bush said: “No one would argue that this war has not come at a high cost in lives and treasure, but those costs are necessary.” [Audio :06]

FACT: As of March 19, 3,988 American soldiers have been killed and over 30,000 wounded in Iraq. The United States currently spends $12.5 billion every month in Iraq, more money than the annual budgets of all but 13 states in America. A study by Nobel-prize winning economist Joseph Stiglitz has put the total price tag for the war in Iraq at $3 trillion, including caring for wounded soldiers and the cost to the U.S. economy. He says this amount is “judicious, and probably errs on the low side.” Necessary? You decide. [AntiWar] [Guardian]

Bush said: “Removing Saddam Hussein from power was the right decision, and this is a fight America can and must win.” [Audio, :07]

FACT: We’ll win with a strategic reset, “a new overall Middle East strategy, not just a series of tactics focused heavily on Iraq.” Find out what it entails here: [American Progress]

Time to take the blinders off.

--------

Comments