No Troop Draw Downs are Imminent

There will be no troop draw-downs in time for the election, so the Publicans are on their own this November. In fact, according to the top U.S. Military officer in the middle east, General John Abizaid, not only will there be no troop draw-down before the election, as many suspected the president and the RNC wanted for purely political reasons; it is highly unlikely that we will see any reduction of U.S. forces in the Iraqi theatre of operations before next summer, at the earliest.

In fact, we just might see a troop build-up in the near future. More American troops could be deployed in an attempt to quell the increasing sectarian violence. "If it's necessary to do that because the military situation on the ground requires that, we'll do it." General Abizaid was quoted as saying. (Will he get Shinsekied for being honest?)

About six months ago, I had a heated discussion with a Publican who was gloating and calling the Democratic party a bunch of losers. He gloated that the president would "bring troops home just before the election and we will win again. Fuck you guys. We win. We have Diebold if we don't have the actual votes. Get used to it. We are a permanent majority, and you candy-ass losers can't do a fucking thing about it. You are weak on terror, tou are weak on defense, you are just plain weak." (At least he admitted his parties propensity for playing politics with the lives of our troops, as well as Publican willingness to circumvent the will of the people and steal elections.)

Hmmm. Not looking likely. Since we had that discussion, the number of troops in Iraq has actually risen. By about 20,000. The 172nd Stryker Brigade has seen their deployment extended by four months.

Remember when this mess started, we were assured that it would be a short-term deployment because our troops wouldn't be able to handle the summer heat? We were going to go in and get out.

Someone remind the troops about that, because they have now spent four summers in the sandbox, and have another to look forward to.

Fucking wonderful.

Can we just fast-forward to the day that Bush is dragged out of the country in shackles and disgrace to stand trial for war crimes at the Hague? I will gladly send him some tuberculosis medication.