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Politics : Foreign Affairs Discussion Group -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: geode00 who wrote (178163)	12/18/2005 6:41:48 AM
From: stockman_scott	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 281500

We Got Gamed firedoglake.blogspot.com Would Dubya have offered up his "kiss my ass in Macy's window" taunt to the public about the authorization of the NSA's warrant-free wiretaps had it been revealed a year ago when the New York Times first knew it was happening? Which would have put it... take off my shoes, 10, 11, 12...around election time last year? This isn't the first time we've heard of a major news media outlet rolling over for the White House as they sought to keep their dirty laundry out of the election headlines. As emptywheel reminds us, the New York Times was also at this very same time covering up the fact that Scooter Libby was quite possibly trying to obstruct Judy Miller's testimony. And let's not forget the fact that Time Magazine did not even seek a waiver from Karl Rove on behalf of Matt Cooper until long after the election. From the LAT: "Time editors were concerned about becoming part of such an explosive story in an election year....The result was that Cooper's testimony was delayed nearly a year, well after Bush's reelection." Much of this probably comes from not wanting to suffer the fate of Dan Rather at the hands of White House thugs -- after all, the same news outlets who became so delicate about "influencing the election" had no trouble giving those Swift Boat nutjobs the copious amounts of time they needed for their deranged accusations to induce a national fugue state. But for whatever reason they decided they had priorities that superseded reporting important stories during an election year which could quite possibly have changed the outcome. The GOP found a much more effective and subversive way to steal an election in 2004 that avoided all the flap and hubub of 2000. And the next person who pops off about the "liberal media" takes one in the eye.

To: geode00 who wrote (178163)	12/19/2005 9:03:17 AM
From: Dennis O'Bell	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 281500

Regardless of what Bush wants to do, the original plan called for a fast reduction down to a core 30,000 troops, less than 1/5th the number there are at this late date. I didn't know that they had a definite plan, but given the swaggering Shock and Awe of the initial invasion, it sounds plausible. Who knows what the heck is being said in private at the WH but can we really afford to be in Iraq for years to come at this pace ? We couldn't afford the initial invasion in reality - the disaster at NO has shown the risks of draining real money from support of our domestic infrastructure for this Napoleonic adventure. We have three long years ahead of us, and it's conceivable that things could improve enough in Iraq in this time that the Chimp won't go out in the total shame he deserves. I look at Algeria as a kind of data point, as I witnessed the civil war there while I lived in France in the late 90's. It eventually petered out, and I guess the insurgency in Iraq could as well.