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Related: About this forumReviving the Myth of the "Successful Surge"
http://smirkingchimp.com/thread/robert-parry/56503/reviving-the-myth-of-the-successful-surgeReviving the Myth of the "Successful Surge"
by Robert Parry | June 20, 2014 - 8:59am
A beloved myth of Official Washington especially among Republicans, neocons and other supporters of the Iraq War is the fable of the successful surge, how President George W. Bushs heroic escalation of 30,000 troops in 2007 supposedly won that war; it then follows that the current Iraq disaster must be President Barack Obamas fault.
The appeal of this myth should be obvious. Nearly every important person in the U.S. foreign policy establishment and the mainstream media endorsed the illegal invasion of Iraq in 2003 and such well-placed and well-paid people do not like to admit that their judgment was so bad that they should be disqualified from holding any responsible position forever.
Further, since almost no one who promoted this criminal and bloody enterprise was held accountable after Mission Accomplished wasnt, these opinion leaders were still around in 2007 at the time of the surge and thus in a position to cite any positive trends as proof of success. Many are still around voicing their august opinions the likes of Sen. John McCain, former Vice President Dick Cheney and neocon theorist Robert Kagan so they still get to tell the rest of us how really great their judgment was.
On Wednesday, McCain fulminated from the Senate floor, accusing Obama of squandering the surge, the success of which he deemed a fact. Cheney along with his daughter Liz accused the President of securing his legacy as the man who betrayed our past and squandered our freedom.
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Reviving the Myth of the "Successful Surge" (Original Post)
unhappycamper
Jun 2014
OP
tularetom
(23,664 posts)1. I don't understand why Obama (or any Dem) wanted to be president after the Bush clusterfuck
He had to know that two terms would never be enough to clean up the mess left by that gang of fools and that he would get blamed for the whole thing by the actual perps and their buddies in the liberal media.
I mean, hell, if I saw this coming, the president, presumably a hell of a lot smarter than I am, sure as shit should have. Is he so naive he didn't believe it would get this bad? Or so cynical he just wanted to set himself up to make a lot of money after he left the White House and didn't care about getting blamed for the fuckups?
AAO
(3,300 posts)2. I don't think he knew how difficult It would be
to be "President'n while Black"....