Everything we tell you about Iraq is wrong

Last month's glowing Republican reports revealed again and stronger than ever as complete BS

This is from a USA today story on war critics from military towns that mentions a pro-war, conservative Republican Congressman from my home state of Minnesota:

Rep. Gil Gutknecht, R-Minn. In a debate last month in the House of Representatives, Gutknecht defended the U.S. presence in Iraq. "Now is not the time to go wobbly," he said. He visited Iraq last week hoping to meet some of the 2,900 Minnesota Guard and Reserve members stationed there, and returned shaken. "It's a much more dangerous place than I thought," says Gutknecht.

Now he's calling for a phased U.S. troop withdrawal and more Iraqi involvement in enforcing security.

"I don't think 'stay the course' sells," Gutknecht says.

I had expressed fears that the Rovian panic-button line where the Republicans last month bet the farm ``that the American people will see their war in Iraq in just this way--stay in it for victory or withdraw for `defeat'''--therby creating a big November disappointment for Democrats playing on out-of-Iraq sentiments. We still have to wait and see.

Suddenly, however, we do have a situation where just a few weeks past those Congressional debates and Bush's War Council & surprise Iraq visit, Iraq is rapidly deteriorating and spiraling out of control. Today, with Iraqi Prime Minister Malaki in Washington, there is a report out saying more US troops are on the way just to shore up an utterly failed attempt to clamp down on mayhem in the Iraqi capital.

Back on June 14, the White House promised to launch operation ``Forward Together'', a giant sweep of Baghdad, along with Iraqi forces.

The President will provide, through the Commander, MNF-I, 12 battalions (approximately 7,200 troops) of Coalition forces in Baghdad to support 36 battalions of Iraqi Army forces (approximately 26,000) and nearly 23,000 Iraqi police who will work together to secure the city. Their goal will be to deny terrorists safe haven in areas around Baghdad and to deny terrorists freedom of movement in the city.

Result? Skyrocketing uncontrolled violence with over 3,000 dead in one month.

In this report, Patrick Cockburn says,

While the eyes of the world are elsewhere, Baghdad is still dying and the daily toll is hitting record levels. While the plumes of fire and smoke over Lebanon have dominated headlines for 11 days, with Britain and the US opposing a UN call for an immediate ceasefire, another Bush-Blair foreign policy disaster is unfolding in Iraq.

In a desperate effort to stem the butchery, the government yesterday imposed an all-day curfew on Baghdad, but tens of thousands of its people have already run for their lives. In some parts of the city, dead bodies are left to rot in the baking summer heat because nobody dares to remove them. I drove through empty streets in the heart of the city yesterday, taking a zigzag course to avoid police checkpoints that we thought might be doubling as death squads. Few shops were open. Those still doing business are frantically trying to sell their stock. A sign above one shop read: "Italian furniture: 75 per cent reductions.''

Iraqis are terrified in a way that I have never seen before....

Cockburn goes on to say that, ``Baghdad is now breaking up into a dozen different hostile cities,'' and ``The Iraqi government is a prisoner of the Green Zone''.

Cockburn also has significant quotes from Iraqi government ministers, ``Iraq as a political project is finished,'' and, ``The parties have moved to plan B''.

With all this in the background, the Malaki-Bush meeting today had an air of continuing unreality, ``And, God willing, there will be no civil war in Iraq,'' said Malaki.