I'm Underwhelmed

Remember when the mission was accomplished? Hundreds of billions of dollars, hundreds of thousands of dead Iraqis, thousands of dead Americans, one live dictator and a civil war ago?

Ah, the good ole days.

The president just addressed the nation from the White House library. He needed to offer a healthy dose of reality and determination, and he needed to offer specifics and accept responsibility. He didn't pull off the first two at all; and he only hinted at the last two. For instance - specifics - here are his "specifics" for restoring security to Baghdad.

1. Clear and secure neighborhoods.
2. Help and protect the Iraqi people.
3. Train Iraqi security forces.
4. Increase Activity against Iranian actors.
5. Increase naval strength in the Gulf.
   

Never forget - the number of troops he calls for we have had in-country in the past, and we have always engaged in clearing and securing neighborhoods, and we have always (supposedly) held as part of the mission assisting the Iraqi people, and we have been trying to train Iraqi security personnel since day one, so I didn't hear anything new and inspiring that would lead me to believe that this time it will work! This time for sure! We have been engaging Iran, in case you didn't know, and for the first time in my life all seven Carrier Strike Groups are at sea...But they have been since late last summer. For the first time ever, all are in the east and middle east.

Interesting times indeed.

There were two things that deeply disturbed me in the choice of words his PNAC-lovin' speechwriters went with. It really sounded like he was taking sides in the civil war. The Saudi's can't be happy right now. Bet you cash money Bandar is on his way to Washington right this very minute. He probably watched the speech from the runway in his private luxury jet, and they started to taxi the second those words were spoken.

I also noticed that he didn't metion that troops will be pulled from Afghanistan and repositioned in Iraq. He did say something about the brave men and women who freed Afghanistan from the grip of the terrorists, and we couldn't let them re-group in Iraq.

Newsflash! They have regrouped and they are re-emerging in Afghanistan. So apparently the terrorists can have Afghanistan, but hands off Iraq...

Oh yeah - the oil's in Iraq.