Preparing The Faithful for Failure

"The Bush administration is significantly lowering expectations of what can be achieved in Iraq, recognizing that the United States will have to settle for far less progress than originally envisioned during the transition due to end in four months, according to U.S. officials in Washington and Baghdad.

The United States no longer expects to see a model new democracy, a self-supporting oil industry or a society in which the majority of people are free from serious security or economic challenges, U.S. officials say."

Well slap my ass and call me Saddam. I could have told you that in March of 2003, or in August of 2002 if you really want to go all the way back. The supporters of this war are all scractching their heads as if its some brand new revelation that this whole operation is a treasury and soul sucking lie. Thanks for the newsflash "U.S. officials," you're two years and 100,000 + deaths too late.

"The U.S. decision to invade Iraq was justified in part by the goal of establishing a secular and modern Iraq that honors human rights and unites disparate ethnic and religious communities."

The above is a complete lie. The invasion was never justified for these reasons until after the WMD never appeared. Anybody recall Colin Powell saying anything about uniting desparate ethnic and religious communities at the U.N.? I sure can't. I do remember him holding up George Tenet's urine sample and exclaiming that flying monkey in turbans were going to drop it over Roy Moore's Ten Commandments display. We can't unite disparate ethnic and religious communities here, but we're going to achieve it in a country that most Americans still can't locate on a map. "Democracy" was Cover Story B, it was never a goal.

U.S. officials now acknowledge that they misread the strength of the sentiment among Kurds and Shiites to create a special status. The Shiites' request this month for autonomy to be guaranteed in the constitution stunned the Bush administration, even after more than two years of intense intervention in Iraq's political process, they said.

Unless, of course, you look to that pesky post invasion report those traitors at the State Department whippped up to help "win the peace." You know the one. The one that very clearly stated what the political challenges would be after removing Saddam -- i.e. avoiding a civil war between the Kurds, the Sunni, and the Shiites. Bush officials are STUNNED? They are not stunned. They are STUPID. I sure can't think of any reason why your average Iraqi isn't supporting our liberation of their country "even after two years of intense intervention in Iraq's political process." It's so nice when you have a new governement which is absolutely 100% autonmous from the occupying army that has seized your inoperable oil fields and rewritten all of your economic policies so that you will get nothing.

The goal now is to ensure a constitution that can be easily amended later so Iraq can grow into a democracy, U.S. officials say.

Please alert our troops that a "constitution that can be easily amended" is now their mission. It has nothing to do with an existential threat to our country. You're risking your ass so that the Iraqi's can have political flexibility to "grow into a democracy." Please pay no attention to the theocracy. Nothing to see here, folks, please move along.

The surprising scope of the insurgency and influx of foreign fighters has forced Washington to repeatedly lower expectations -- about the time-frame for quelling the insurgency and creating an effective and cohesive Iraqi force capable of stepping in, U.S. officials said.

Surprising to who? Kristoff? Bolton? Cheney? Wolfowitz? Rumsfeld? There's definitely one thing I have in common with "Washington" -- repeatedly lowering my expectations.

Last week was the fourth-worst week of the whole war for U.S. military deaths in combat, and August already is the worst month for deaths of members of the National Guard and Reserve.

The light at the end of the tunnel. Have you registred for the "Freedom Walk" yet? Not to be confused with "Freedom on the march" or "Freedom Fries." That's a whole other cake walk.

"There has been a realistic reassessment of what it is possible to achieve in the short term and fashion a partial exit strategy," Yaphe said. "This change is dictated not just by events on the ground but by unrealistic expectations at the start.

I'm so pleased that we have 1,800 + dead Americans rotting in the ground because of "unrealistic expectations at the start." That will sound smashing on the tombstones of Arlington. "He died for unrealistic expectations at the start." Another astounding Bush/Neocon/Spineless Democrats success story!

Washington now does not expect to fully defeat the insurgency before departing, but instead to diminish it, officials and analysts said.

Not "fully defeating" somebody loosely translates to "lost," but the MSM isn't quite ready to use that word. "Washington now expects to lose the war to the insurgency" is much more disconcerting than "does not expect to fully defeat." I've got three words for you -- mass cultural denial.

Pentagon officials originally envisioned Iraq's oil revenue paying many post-invasion expenses. But Iraq, ranked among world leaders behind Saudi Arabia in proven oil reserves, is incapable of producing enough refined fuel amid a car-buying boom that has put an estimated 1 million more vehicles on the road after the invasion. Lines for subsidized cheap gas stretch for miles every day in Baghdad.

I'm so happy Paul Wolfowitz got a promotion. He was so dead on about Iraq paying for its own reconstruction with its oil revenue. Prophetic insight like that is what makes this administration so admirable.

Water is also a "tough, tough" situation in a desert country, said a U.S. official in Baghdad familiar with reconstruction issues. Pumping stations depend on electricity, and engineers now say the system has hundreds of thousands of leaks.

I am not familiar with reconstruction issues, but I think that anybody above the age of 5 may have made the connection that water isn't overly abundant in a desert. Of course, when you bomb the hell out of somebody with cluster bombs and depleted uranium you are bound to cause "thousands of leaks." Good thing the grown ups are in charge. "Re" construction means that something "constructed" was there before. Only the delusionary American mind can convince itself that putting up a building would be just as easy as bringing one down. There are three buildings in New York City that still haven't been "reconstructed" three years later. Now multiply by 1000 and you've got Bagdhad.

"Ironically, White said, the initial ambitions may have complicated the U.S. mission: "In order to get out earlier, expectations are going to have to be lower, even much lower. The higher your expectation, the longer you have to stay. Getting out is going to be a more important consideration than the original goals were. They were unrealistic."

Oh the irony. Let's just all sit around and have a big laugh about the irony. It's so damn funny it's killing me.