… President Bush yesterday hailed the decision of Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki to launch a full-scale military offensive against militias in Basra as a "defining moment" for his leadership. But other officials said the administration remains unsure of Maliki’s motives and warned that the ongoing battle risks sending the country spiraling back toward the cataclysmic violence levels of 2006 and early 2007.
"This is a precarious situation," a senior official familiar with U.S. intelligence in southern Iraq said, with "a lot to be gained and a lot to lose." This official and others said that even as Maliki takes needed military action in Basra, he appears to be positioning himself and his Shiite political allies for dominance in provincial elections this fall…
I just don’t believe him. He’s trying to sell the idea that Prime Minister al-Malaki decided to clean up Southern Iraq all by himself and we’re being "drawn in" to help him. I think that’s a carefully crafted lie pushing a scenario so unlikely that I’m awed that anyone believes is. It’s up there with "Saddam Hussein has Weapons of Mass Destruction", "We don’t use torture", and "We don’t spy on Americans."
Here’s what we’re asked to believe. One week after Vice President Cheney goes to Iraq and meets with Nouri al-Malaki, he launches a major military operation in Southern Iraq all by himself against his [and our] biggest enemy there – Moqtada al-Sadr – that just happens to be an area with Iraq’s oil port. Not the truth. Simply not true…
I’ve just read in truthout.org that there is always somone in Guantanamo prison who is on a hungar strike and in need of a feeding tube. I want to scream bloody murder. Just once I’d like to believe that Bush/Cheney and all their cohorts will get what is coming to them. I’m not usually a vengeful person but I’ve reached my limit in this insanity.