BushCo Just Can't Stop Lying About Iraq

So, let me see if I got this right: The Bush Regime spent the better part of last week criticizing the Democrats who initially supported the Iraq War for changing their positions. When Rep. John Murtha announced that he supported a U.S. withdrawal from Iraq, the Bush Administration -- and those in Congress who have provided aid and comfort to the Bush Administration -- went on the attack.

Scott McClelland compared war hawk Murtha to "Michael Moore and the extreme liberal wing of the Democratic party," then equated a call for withdrawal from Iraq with "surrender." Cheney jumped into the fray, and we all remember what "Mean Jean" Schmidt said (and was later forced to retract). But Bush ended up calling off the attack dogs.

Now we know why -- it looks like political pressure is forcing Bush to flip-flop on Iraq:

President Bush will give a major speech Wednesday at the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, Md., in which aides say he is expected to herald the improved readiness of Iraqi troops, which he has identified as the key condition for pulling out U.S. forces.

The administration's pivot on the issue comes as the White House is seeking to relieve enormous pressure by war opponents. The camp includes liberals, moderates and old-line conservatives who are uneasy with the costly and uncertain nation-building effort.

Now Bush is about to engage in the Mother of All Flip-Flops when it comes to Iraq, and will have to lie to the American people in order to do it. Oops.

I laughed out loud when I read the following paragraphs from the above-linked L.A. Times article:

Some analysts say the emerging consensus might have less to do with conditions in Iraq than the deployment's long-term strain on the U.S. military. And major questions about the readiness of Iraq's fledgling security forces remain, posing risks for any strategy that calls for an accelerated American withdrawal.

As recently as late September, senior U.S. military commanders said during a congressional hearing that just one Iraqi battalion, about 700 soldiers, was considered capable of undertaking combat operations fully independent of U.S. support. Administration officials now dismiss that measure of readiness, saying more Iraqi units are able to conduct advanced operations each day.

A former top Pentagon official who served during Bush's first term said he believed there was a "growing consensus" on withdrawing about 40,000 troops before next year's congressional election. That would be followed by further substantial pullouts in 2007 if it became clear that Iraqi forces could contain the insurgency.

The Democrats will, of course, let Bush get away with this flip-flop. What they should instead do is jump all over him by stating the obvious, namely, that Bush appears incapable of telling the truth to the American people when it comes to his debacle in Iraq -- he lied to get us in there, and now he is lying to get us out.

And they called John Murtha a coward?