BushCo Lays Groundwork For Strategic Retreat In Iraq

I feel it is my patriotic duty to watch FauxNews on occasion. As Thomas Jefferson once said: "The price of freedom is eternal vigilance." What this means to me is that every once in a while, I have to sit down and actually observe what the Fascists over at FOX are doing.

Some may point out that "every once in a while" would not satisfy Jefferson's "eternal" requirement, but I can only handle so much Ann Coulter, and she seems to be on FOX all the time. It would be easier for me if she would simply take her meds before making her appearances, but that is probably asking too much.

The latest FoxNews theme is that things are going so well in Iraq now that Bush will be able to start withdrawing our troops in early 2006. In other words, FOX has BushCo's latest Iraq talking points and is running with them.

Last Friday, Rumsfeld got the ball rolling when he told an audience of 400 to 500 U.S. troops that, "[a]t the recommendation of our military commanders and in consultation with our coalition partners and with the Iraqi government, President Bush has authorized an adjustment in U.S. combat brigades in Iraq from 17 to 15."

Of course, this has nothing to do with a recommendation of any military commander and everything to do with the 2006 U.S. mid-term elections. As I said last month, there will be significant troop reductions in Iraq starting this Spring, regardless of what the conditions are on the ground there. The political situation with the G.O.P. in 2006 will require such reductions.

But the Bush Administration has a problem. It can paint all the rosy pictures it wants, but if yesterday is any indication, Iraq promises to be a very bloody place in the months to come:

Guerrillas killed 10 Iraqi policemen and soldiers in attacks north of Baghdad on Monday, while in the capital five major explosions left at least eight dead and one U.S. soldier was killed on a patrol.

It was one of the bloodiest days in Iraq since the largely peaceful election on December 15, when rival ethnic and sectarian groups took part in a vote for a new parliament. By nightfall, at least 20 were killed and over 40 injured.

In the capital, five people were killed and 15 wounded when four car bombs exploded in quick succession as civilians traveled to work in the morning, the U.S. military said.

It later said one U.S. soldier was also killed in the city when a rocket-propelled grenade hit his patrol vehicle.

Bush may have been able to rely on the folks at TIME and The New York Times to keep their mouths shut for the last few years, but those days appear to be coming to an end. Although there are exceptions, most members of the mainstream media are now refusing to be outlets for BushCo propaganda.

What this means is that the American people will probably get the full story of all the carnage in Iraq that is certain to occur during the run-up to the 2006 U.S. mid-term elections. Since all of this carnage will be occurring as Bush is withdrawing troops from Iraq, it will be very hard for BushCo and its apologists to base such a retreat on improving conditions on the ground.

Indeed, the best that the right-winged whining machine will be able to do in the months ahead is complain about how the Liberal Media are not reporting any of the good news coming out of Iraq. Expect to hear a lot of grumbling along those lines.