Everything is OK! W, is great!
Topic: Bush Administraiton

Tom Lasseter of the Philadelphia Inquirer has a very scary story about the Iraqi First Battalion, the unit the US military hopes will be a template for the future Iraqi Army. This is basically the only Battalion that is capable of operating on its own, although on big missions it still needs US help. The First is populated by Shiite soldiers and officers who are mainly bent on exacting revenge from the Sunnis for Saddam and the latest violence perpetrated by the insurgents. One major in the unit he interviewed, Swadi Ghilan, said, "There are two Iraqs; it's something we can no longer deny. The Army should execute the Sunnis in their neighborhoods so that all of them can see what happens, so that all of them learn their lesson." That's real promising. These guys can't wait for the referendum and the December elections because afterwords there will be a Shiite dominated government in charge and they can get to whipping out the Sunnis.

Another part of the problem with the First is that its top commander, Swail, takes his marching orders from a Shiite cleric associated with Ayatollah ali-Sistani. At a meeting with his officers he was asked why the unit was being deployed mainly in a Shiite neighborhood and not in a Sunnis one where the unit is taking casualties because they are undermanned. Swail told them Ayatollah Hussein al-Sadr had told him the troops had to stay in the Shiite neighborhood to protect the faithful. "Sayyid Hussein al-Sadr has more influence than Ibrahim al-Jaafari." Lasseter quotes one officer saying, "But sir we need more troops." Swail answers, "The problem is convincing Sayyid Hussein al-Sadr." [See more on the First Battalion's storied history.]

Today in W.'s phony baloney video pep rally,he asked a soldier---who had already been told what she'd be asked and had practiced the answer--"In the last 10 months, what kind of progress have we seen?" Master Sgt. Corine Lombardo answered, "Over the past 10 months, the capabilities of the Iraqi security forces are improving ... They continue to develop and grow into a sustainable force." The question is; do we want them to be a sustainable force? Nice attempt to make the disaster over there look like A-OK, but no one is buying it anymore; except maybe W. himself. I've asked this before, but are these made up events made for our benefit or for his?

Something his advisor's will be reluctant to show him is the WSJ/NBC News poll out today:

"For the first time in the poll, Bush’s approval rating has sunk below 40 percent, while the percentage believing the country is heading in the right direction has dipped below 30 percent. In addition, a sizable plurality prefers a Democratic-controlled Congress, and just 29 percent think Supreme Court nominee Harriet Miers is qualified to serve on the nation’s highest court."

Looks like all that house building and speechifying' isn't doing the trick. Finally, the blinders have been removed for the America people's eyes and they now see the emperor has no clothes.