Opening The Files: 6/16/06
Baghdad Bush, Amnesty and the 2500.
Man, it's been a heck of a week. After the timely death of Abu Musab Al-Zarqawi last week, the Bush administration made plans to hold a two-day summit to discuss a post-Zarqawi Iraq. The summit was suppose to show President Bush as being on top of things, in charge, strategerizing a plan for victory. So what does Bush do? He bails after the first day to go play in his new sand box for a few hours (aka Operation Photo-op). The trip included a daring six-minute daylight flight from the Baghdad airport to the US embassy in the Green Zone in which, depending on who you talk to, our War Prez bravely went without protective gear. But hey, at least he didn't bring a plastic turkey this time.
Upon returning home from that bastion of democracy in the Middle East, Bush held a presser (aka Victory Lap) where he touted the steady progress being made there. During the conference, he also admitted that Gitmo damages our image around the world (ya think?).
But Bush's little visit might not have been such a good idea since we learned yesterday that the new Iraqi government was considering amnesty for members of the insurgency (though at this point, it's hard to say what the official stance is given that the aide who blabbed to media has since resigned).
We also reached a grim milestone with the news of the 2500th soldier killed. One wonders how many of those 2500 were killed by insurgents who may or may not be given a free pass because they choice not to shed the "wrong blood".
Oh, and the increasingly irrelevant Congress held aPR stunt debate on the war too.
Christy is curious to know, since Iraq is now a sovereign nation, how come Bush doesn't extend the same courtesy that is extended to other sovereign nations. You know, like asking if he can come for a visit instead of just showing up like he owes the place? Oh wait, in his mind, he does.
Peter Daou notes how this trip is being heralded as part of a "recovery" narrative for the beleaguered War Prez.
Shakespeare's Sister discusses a new National Geographic documentary about an endangered species.
Georgia10 dares the Republicans to have a real debate on the war, and lists some things they might want to talk about.
AMERICAblog has the Republican and Democrat response to this call for "amnesty".
And on a somber note, Desi tells us a story from this war that just keeps on giving.
Update: Very interesting. Steve caught WaPo doing a scrub job on their article about the aide resignation. Seems they deleted a paragraph that suggested it was US Embassy officials who first brought up the idea of amnesty.
Man, it's been a heck of a week. After the timely death of Abu Musab Al-Zarqawi last week, the Bush administration made plans to hold a two-day summit to discuss a post-Zarqawi Iraq. The summit was suppose to show President Bush as being on top of things, in charge, strategerizing a plan for victory. So what does Bush do? He bails after the first day to go play in his new sand box for a few hours (aka Operation Photo-op). The trip included a daring six-minute daylight flight from the Baghdad airport to the US embassy in the Green Zone in which, depending on who you talk to, our War Prez bravely went without protective gear. But hey, at least he didn't bring a plastic turkey this time.
Upon returning home from that bastion of democracy in the Middle East, Bush held a presser (aka Victory Lap) where he touted the steady progress being made there. During the conference, he also admitted that Gitmo damages our image around the world (ya think?).
But Bush's little visit might not have been such a good idea since we learned yesterday that the new Iraqi government was considering amnesty for members of the insurgency (though at this point, it's hard to say what the official stance is given that the aide who blabbed to media has since resigned).
We also reached a grim milestone with the news of the 2500th soldier killed. One wonders how many of those 2500 were killed by insurgents who may or may not be given a free pass because they choice not to shed the "wrong blood".
Oh, and the increasingly irrelevant Congress held a
Christy is curious to know, since Iraq is now a sovereign nation, how come Bush doesn't extend the same courtesy that is extended to other sovereign nations. You know, like asking if he can come for a visit instead of just showing up like he owes the place? Oh wait, in his mind, he does.
Peter Daou notes how this trip is being heralded as part of a "recovery" narrative for the beleaguered War Prez.
Shakespeare's Sister discusses a new National Geographic documentary about an endangered species.
Georgia10 dares the Republicans to have a real debate on the war, and lists some things they might want to talk about.
AMERICAblog has the Republican and Democrat response to this call for "amnesty".
And on a somber note, Desi tells us a story from this war that just keeps on giving.
Update: Very interesting. Steve caught WaPo doing a scrub job on their article about the aide resignation. Seems they deleted a paragraph that suggested it was US Embassy officials who first brought up the idea of amnesty.
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