Baghdad’s morgue almost tripled its count for violent deaths in Iraq’s capital during August from 550 to 1,536, authorities said Thursday, appearing to erase most of what U.S. generals and Iraqi leaders had touted as evidence of progress in a major security operation to restore order in the capital.
Separately, the Health Ministry confirmed it planned to build two new branch morgues in Baghdad and add doctors and refrigerator units to raise capacity to as many as 250 corpses a day.
Asked Thursday about the latest government figures, U.S. spokesman Lt. Col. Barry Johnson only cited a previous statement by Maj. Gen. William B. Caldwell, which said the murder rate in Baghdad had dropped 52 percent from July.
Anyone who witnessed the weekly puppet show of Pentagon Brass reeling off body-counts that were supposed to show the War Against Communism was being won in VietNam — suffers deja vu listening to shills in uniform tell us how well the War On Terror is doing in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Why does this remind me of times in the past when the Labor Department would report that unemployment was down, when in fact the lower numbers were a result of people running out of benefits, not because of more people getting back to work.
Are they so stupid they don’t see the discrepency, or is it that they think we are too stupid to notice it?
#1 – Are they so stupid they don’t see the discrepency, or is it that they think we are too stupid to notice it?
Comment by Hawkeye666 — 9/9/2006 @ 4:26 am
Yes?
Number one, I agree with number two. The answer to both of your questions is yes. The most effective way to handle SNAFUs like this is just to wait a week, in which time, no one will remember it.
When was the last time you heard one of the war’s supporters respond to criticism of the war’s prosecution that was not dismissed, however passive-agressively defined, as an attempt by Al Qaeda or others outside the Iraqi mainstream intended to sabotage public opinion because they do not want Iraq to be a democracy?
The Ministry of Health? How can anybody cite a source like that and NOT recognize they’re dealing with someone using a title to present a credible mouthpeice for America’s enemies?
Screw daisy cutters, MOABs and bunker busters; the most impressive and sophisticated example of weapon development in recent years is the reduction of rhetorical deceit to a formula that is nearly foolproof and so simple that it could be presented in pictographs the way emergency information about airplane crashes is printed on vomit bags.
Bush: Details, details, details…
Ed, you are showing your unAmerican slant when you publish opinions that show the truth. Why can’t we all bow down and worship the ground Bushes shadow graces instead of constantly nitpicking the little things that the Bush cabal can’t get perfectly right. We all know that if the Pentagon could execute the White House plans as they were intended, none of this would have happened. And those damned Iraqis, playing chicken all the time,…
Under The Bush Administration’s plans, they weren’t even supposed to be there that long. It was to be an In and Out operation. In fact, Rumsfeld threatened to fire anyone who suggested even making plans to remain in Iraq.
http://tinyurl.com/gd7ym