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You are here: Home / Foreign Affairs / It Is Official

It Is Official

by John Cole|  November 30, 20036:03 pm| 16 Comments

This post is in: Foreign Affairs

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The Rebuilding of Iraq is over. It is done. A bloody failure. We are fucked. We are cutting and running. We have quit. We have failed. Democrats are going to have to fix everything.

Oh, and while you are at it, to what extent are Democrats merely obnoxious partisan naysayers willing to say anything to make Bush look bad and to what extent are they merely opportunistic political hacks with a superiority complex and a jaded view of reality? Inquiring minds want to know…

*** Update ***

You know, there are a lot of questions about Iraq that need to be answered. There are a lot of things that need to be done better. but now that the economy is recovering quite nicely, the full-on attack on everything Iraq (check my liberal blogroll) is pretty god damn predictable and prett god damn amusing. The words transparent and shallow come to mind…

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Reader Interactions

16Comments

  1. 1.

    JadeGold

    November 30, 2003 at 6:22 pm

    Actually, Tacitus has a plan:

    http://38.144.96.23/tacitus/archives/001171.html#001171

    It’s flawed, it’s unrealistic, it’s a political non-starter–but it’s a plan that goes beyond hoping everything works out.

  2. 2.

    Glen

    November 30, 2003 at 6:26 pm

    Stop putting words in my mouth: it’s unsanitary.

    I looked up several Iraqi bloggers this morning and posted a sample. The reactions ranged from skeptical to very favorable. Even though I don’t think much of the trip or the motives behind it, I posted favorable ones, too.

  3. 3.

    John Cole

    November 30, 2003 at 6:49 pm

    What are you talking about, Glen? I was linking on Yglesias’s wall to wall know-it-all prognostications about Iraq. Anything he does not immediately understand, anything he does not completely approve of or like, and anything that can be spun negatively is used as proof that we have failed. Which is why I am making fun of him.

  4. 4.

    Patrick

    November 30, 2003 at 8:27 pm

    A bunch of 20-something wankers who haven’t the common sense and/or real-life experience to tell the difference between academe and real life. They barbeque the President for being an imbecile, then accuse him of manipulating the Iraq situation for his political advantage, then claim he has no plan. Fed by the leftmedia who, because NSA Rice and the DOD won’t show them the plan, say “there is no plan”.

    How about a nice hot mug of STFU there, Matt? Better yet, ride your solar-powered Segway down to the USO and do some good with your life.

  5. 5.

    Terry

    November 30, 2003 at 9:09 pm

    Well stated, Patrick. I couldn’t improve on it at all.

  6. 6.

    WillieStyle

    November 30, 2003 at 9:34 pm

    “How about a nice hot mug of STFU there, Matt? Better yet, ride your solar-powered Segway down to the USO and do some good with your life.”

    Ladies first.

  7. 7.

    Kimmitt

    December 1, 2003 at 12:52 am

    I’m kind of curious — if the President really does “cut and run” (i.e. massively reduce the US presence in Iraq to avoid casualties at the expense of providing security to ordinary Iraqis or the various voting processes), would that actually make a difference in your opinions?

  8. 8.

    JC

    December 1, 2003 at 1:40 am

    Naw, they’ll blame it on the unbearable propaganda war waged by the left. We’re soooooo powerful.

  9. 9.

    Emperor Misha I

    December 1, 2003 at 3:23 am

    What makes you think that he’s going to cut and run, Kimmitt?

    But sure, to give your silly question more consideration than it deserves, I’ll answer you:

    If he pulls a Bill Klintoon on the war and runs away with his tail between his legs, then I think it’s safe to say that he needn’t bother running for office anywhere outside of Mongolia, as far as I’m concerned.

  10. 10.

    Slartibartfast

    December 1, 2003 at 9:14 am

    Agreed, Misha. Bush does Iraq wrong in this manner, and Republicans across the nation will decline to vote for him. I’m one of them.

  11. 11.

    JadeGold

    December 1, 2003 at 10:04 am

    Kimmitt: You give the rightwingers too many weasel-options.

    Come next year, Junior will pull out (substantially reduce the US presence)of Iraq, proclaim Iraq is free and secure and some sort of Mid-East utopia–and the wingers will all vote for the twerp.

    The rightwing simply has invested itself too deeply in Junior’s lies; they’re not about to abandon him when he cuts and runs.

  12. 12.

    Slartibartfast

    December 1, 2003 at 12:07 pm

    I’d hope someone as clairvoyant as JadeGold would be heavily invested in the stock market, sporting events, and anything else where one might stand to gain from a confident vision of the future.

  13. 13.

    CadillaqJaq

    December 1, 2003 at 3:10 pm

    IMO, the left would salivate in their jeans at GWB “cutting and running.”

    Then when the internal condition of Iraq turned to total manure, they could inflate their collective chests and call him a “quitter” as they did Bush-41 when all he did was conform to the blessed UN mandate to rid Kuwait of Saddam’s invasionary forces.

    No hypocrisy there… but feel free to dream on, leftists.

  14. 14.

    JadeGold

    December 1, 2003 at 5:31 pm

    “salivate” in our jeans, Jaq?

    Why do I get the impression your life will be a series of disappointments from this point on?

  15. 15.

    Patrick

    December 1, 2003 at 9:42 pm

    Willie,
    Well stated. Excellent comeback from a Princeton alum. Gives me a boost of faith in academe. Couldn’t be prouder – really! Terrific! Awe-inspiring! Really put me in my place. I’m humiliated, browbeaten, heartbroken, downtrodden.

Comments are closed.

Trackbacks

  1. DiscountBlogger says:
    November 30, 2003 at 6:22 pm

    WORD FOR WORD

    I’m copying this post by Ricky, because it’s good and he’s right!:I love his work, but one wonders when Matt’s post about someone in the Bush administration running with scissors is going to appear.We’ll keep watching! :-) John Cole is…

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