Generals Admit: Surge Not Working (Yet)

WASHINGTON - For months September has been cast as a pivotal time for determining the course of the war in Iraq, yet a top general now says a solid judgment on the U.S. troop buildup there may not come until November.

Lt. Gen. Raymond Odierno told reporters after a Senate hearing Thursday that he would need beyond September to tell if improvements in Iraq represent long-term trends.

"In order to do a good assessment I need at least until November," said Odierno, a deputy to Gen. David Petraeus, the U.S. military commander in Iraq.

Petraeus and other officials testified before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and briefed reporters on Thursday. Making strides toward security and political goals could take more time than first thought, they warned.

A stark assessment came via video link from the Iraqi capital when Ryan Crocker, the U.S. ambassador, told the committee that Iraq is gripped by fear and struggling to meet security and political goals by September.

The goalposts are being moved again. Instead of admitting that the clusterf**k that is Iraq got that way because of the insistance of a venal, incompetent, imoral, lying, Cowboy - they keep it going in order to squeeze the last drops of gold out of our treasury to the benefit of Halliburton. The same Halliburton who recently moved to Dubai. (Oh yeah, that's their main just another office)

It's long long past time to get our people out of the meatgrinder.

The heart and soul of America is the rule of law, and the principle that those laws apply to all of us equally. By taking into our heart and soul the terrorists' values and strategies, by spreading fear and violence and helplessness, we destroy ourselves, and encourage chaos in the world.

This is a time in history when we need the goodwill and the cooperation of everyone - the whole world - to turn global warming around and save our grandchildren. Instead, we are running around throwing bombs, killing innocents, and trying to steal their oil.

This. is. immoral.

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