taibbi is on point once again

Good lord. This sounds worse even than I had imagined. I wish I had something to say that sounded smart or something, but I’m too stunned.

David Brooks “professional Crate and Barrel shopper.” Too funny…and too true. It’s shocking that a bozo and full-time suck-up like Brooks is still allowed to pen a column for the Times. Men like him were around during Nixon’s time and making the same we-haven’t-risked-eoungh-of-ot her-people’s-kids excuses for failure then. If any of these sofa samurais and telephone tough guys had to so much as risk a bloody nose to save their little sister from getting raped, well, you would hear the same excuses then too. Our troops are mostly good people who should have an esteemed and noble place in our society. They deserve better than this sad and deadly treadmill they’ve been forced onto.

i am a disgusting wild animal who likes to be spanked

And so Matt answers the most crucial question about this “surge”: what will these troops be doing? Answer: more of the same. What will we see as a result? More dead, and about as much progress.

your columns sustain me.

Excellent work as usual.

But what do you do? Saudi Arabia has already threatened to go in there if the US pulls out. And then Iran will follow suit. This whole gig was stupid from out the gate, but we did break it. And when that happens, sadly, you have to buy it.

And now we are positioning ships in the Persian Gulf to “stop” any Iranian or Syrian support to the Iraqi insurgency. If this gets any bigger it’s gonna be bad. But hey, at least Jesus will come back.

well Buddha is certainly not gonna be comin back from anywhere considering the fact that hes a mere statue of a very very dead fat man

We live in such an “instant gratfication” society. LOOK AT THE LONG TERM PEOPLE!!!! Pulling out now would mean an insurgency/al quada type stronghold in Iraq……..worse than ever was in Afghanistan…..right in the middle of Iran and Syria! Disaster in the long run.

By the way……that “Mission Accomplished” banner on the battleship was put up by the Navy commanders for the troops that were coming home on the ship, Not Bush! Bush said over and over that it would be a long, hard process. Bush never said “Mission Accomplished.”

I was in Iraq for ten months and look forward to serving my country again in the near future over there. This plan by President Bush is exactly what we have needed for a while. Most of the nay sayers are selfish and have yet to do anything for their country or fellow man. The critics talk about us soldiers like they care about us. If they cared, they would support us in our mission. Negative words said here reach our soldiers over there and bring their morale down. Thank God for President Bush and his constant support for us soldiers! And thank God he is not following the inconsistant and idiotic opinions of the Democrats. Democrats have no idea how to win a war, and if they lived in the Revolutionary War times they would have demanded Washington resign.

im right with you Captain Repenning. everything he says goes double for me

excellent job, taibbi! Keeping the level of juvenile humor down helps the overall strength of the article, and this is by far your most effective and well-written piece since you went undercover for the 2004 elections.
And why don’t we hear anything at all about the ‘fobitt’ situation in the mainstream media? You’d think the New York Times would eat that stuff up. I suppose it doesn’t shed the most noble light on the soldiers, and GOD FORBID that that sentiment is ever made.

The truth hurts, everyone, so don’t flinch.

you american are in a big fuckin’ mess now… you should’ve opened up and listened to the world when we all said “no war”… now many are dead.. why? to kill terrorism? it’ll never die..it’s all juste a shame… and it’s just the beginning.. how will it end?

Way to go Taibbi! I just got back being from being a Fobbit. It was boring as hell and served no purpose. Glad to hear more guys are going over to lose thier minds from boredom!

Matt:

I am a loyal (20+ years) reader of R.S. and I have to say that every time I read your articles I get more pissed off at the way things are. It doesn’t do much for my temperment but it always puts things in perspective. I wish I knew what to do about it other than hope a lot more people get the same reaction – and soon.

1- Every time the press speaks to an American soldier in Iraq, they always say something snidey like “People back home don’t understand what we’re doing here”. This is true. We don’t know what you are doing there. Here’s an idea, why don’t you tell us what you are doing instead of sneering at our ignorance? I read articles on the Iraq war daily, but Matt Taibbi is the only writer currently providing us with a glimpse into the daily lives of soldiers in Iraq.

2- All the condemnation of Saddam aside, the simple fact of the matter is that Iraq was peaceful before we invaded it.

Ah, xanthippas, things are going to be jumping in that neighborhood soon. It’s not gonna be just “more of the same.” Notice that second carrier group in the Persian Gulf? Life is shortly going to be very interesting for troops in Iraq.

I wouldn’t worry about them dying of boredom. Just IEDs, gunfire, the odd Silkworm missile.

Thunderbolt Buddha: I think Jesus will come back in His own good time, not George W.’s. But that doesn’t mean things couldn’t get very nasty, both there and here.

The surge is preparation for war with Iran, pure and simple. A needless war. The IAEA has shown repeatedly there is no evidence of an Iranian nuclear weapons program. Ahmadinejad’s quotes about wiping out Israel have been shown to have been a quote from a Khomeini speech, ripped out of context. The Iranian people have shown in recent elections they’re ready to throw him and his party out of power.

The only thing we can really nail him on is the anti-Semitism. And that’s not a good enough reason to plunge the whole region into war, no matter what Israel’s ruling cabal wants. We need to deal with that bunch on a “tough love” basis.

Iraqis did a damned fine job policing themselves before the Americans arrived. They can do it again.

Look, it’s going to take at least 5 years for Iraq to reconstruct itself, with or without American forces. Why don’t we pull our troops out and aid the Iraqi government with loans and equipment instead. If anything, the American presence is exacerbating the problem by undermining the Iraqi government’s authority and legitimacy in the eyes of it’s people.

Wow, that just explains everything, doesn’t it?

Bush’s speech last night is a Bad Re-Run of every military “strategary” Bush and his Bottom Dwellers have come up with.

And when Bush claims, “He will take the responsibility for the failers in Iraq, it means nothing, since he is going to subject the troops, Iraqis, more years of wandering in the wilderness(yes, and that does describe Bush’s brain)and more Fun years of “Spethel” terms like “Surges” that mean nothing but are part of the Con Job
Bush and his buddies(Cheney, Rove, Wolfowitz, Perle, Rumsfeld{
still slithering about, somewhere)use-like middleschool children coming up with meaningless and Silly Words.

Sure, why not put 20,000 more U.S. troops at risk in Beautiful Downtown Iraq.

Take more National Guard from American cities so that when Natural Disasters like Katrina or another 9/11, we’ll all be so much better off.

But Bush/Cheney’s Control of the Iraqi oil, still trying to stuff ”
Democracy” down the throats of hapless Iraqis’.

And when you have made a disgusting mess out your “Military Moves”, don’t listen to the millions of U.S. citizens who are saying, “Whoa!” and not listening to your military “strategists”, top Generals who are now loudly saying, “We need to start getting our troops out of Bush’s Hornet’s Nest and allow the Iraqis to start doing their own policing.

Wasn’t it Bush who said he needed twenty thousand more troops, then, too? Weren’t they supposed to be Teaching the Iraqi’s their American military skills?

Military families are under huge stress, inadequate pay, inadequate medical and other benefits, tours of duty that have far exheeded the time they were supposed to serve.

And, “more money” for rebuilding Iraq(This is after four-hundred billion taxpayer monies, much unaccounted for, and contracts(no-bid) that will go to Bush-friendly corporations-who will make big profits, again, and get paid by our money to give the soldiers more unfit supplies and food(Stand Up, Halliburton) and rob Iraq just like Bush has robbed the Gulf Coast.

If any Americans believe this Oaf,(Bush) after all he has drained from the U.S. economy, the loss of lives taken to fight in a war(Bush’s War)that was immoral, unethical and it has allowed the deaths of one-hundred thousand Iraqis(Many just civilians)and, over 2000 of American troops…

But Bush and Cheney, Exxon, Halliburton, etc. are profiteering like the Pirates in Peter Pan….

Let’s allow A “Surge” of Bushs’, Cheneys’, Wolfowitzes, Perles’ and, Rumsfelds’ to go over and “Accomplish that Mission”….
Who better than the instigaters of the Fabulous Bush War!!!!!!!

Come on, George and Dick-show us how its done)The Kings of Deferments…..

Barbara Boxer, Chuck Hagel(and all the other House and Senate, were more than fair in questioning Rice-she’s just another Bush flunky, not qualified to be sos…Like all of Bush’s “appointments”…

And, folks, say, “Hello” to the funest new words, How about “Gaggle”, “Eruption”, a “Swell”, a “Glut”, a “Bevy”, a “Downpour”, a “Mob” a—’em, isn’t it Fun to Play Word games -the Bush White House just loves to add words that are “Nice and Inaccurate” but they are easier to inject into their foul “Policies”.

HMmmmmmmm-A Tangle of Troops, a Slurp of Soldiers-could be fun but not so funny to families and the troops serving in Iraq(And will Bush add Iran and Syria?)

Now the Bush administration will have to get busy and villify Iran and Syria…Aren’t they starting to sound like Iraq? (Planning to get us, storing arms, adding more terrorists to Iraq).

Sure, boy-George, do what you want with Our Country, another four or five times and nothing will be left here, to Protect….And probably, No One left to Guard…

These clowns need to be Impeached and Imprisoned…Cheney and Bush are Con Artists and are Still allowed, to make decisions they have no right to make, regarding our country and its welfare….

Insane, dangerous, incompetent “Humans” should have the power of Life and Death in their hands…

Will our Country ever learn?

This is one of the better articles that I’ve read of Matt’s. My question is what can we do to bring an end to this madness? What needs to happen for the American people to wake up and start getting angry? I don’t know. I’ll leave it to the reader’s of this post to respond.

D

The posts by Captain Robert Repenning & Nick J really make me sad. These guys are (or were) right in the middle of this mess, and they still want to cheerlead for Bush. I DON’T GET IT.

Maybe I should just ask the two of you: Why do you continue to support this war & this President? Hoenestly – I really want to understand, because I don’t. SO MANY people are dead now – thousands upon thousand of Iraqis, 3000+ US soldiers (your comrades, mind you) – and it’s not enough for you. What do you want? Do you want the US to EVER get out of Iraq? Do you EVER want to see your fellow soldiers come home? “Victory” in this situation, as has been progressively re-defined for the last few years, is LITERALLY no longer an option. So what is it that you think will be accomplished by continuing to stay?

Just for the record, I don’t reflexively dislike or have a problem with military folks, but I don’t understand this kind of thinking. At all.

The first part of military training is to remove independent individual thinking.
Then they must inculcate a loyalty stronger than even the will to survive, to the point of commiting suicide for the team leader.
The innate aversion to killing must then be quelled (unless it already has by television or gangs) so that murdering innocents or enemies won’t cause a psychological problem (which doesn’t always work).
By now the brainwashing is almost complete, and even though the campaign may be unjust, the method of carrying it out is self defeating, the tactics employed are innefective, and the support upon returning is almost non existent, they will carry out orders even though they know they are unlawful and criminal and it could be themselves being prosecuted(lindy england and co.), they will still carry them out and support their leaders, because that is what they have been programmed to do.

taibbi=awesome

Larry Miller, a right-wing comedian of anomalous intelligence, once succinctly described our war strategy in Iraq as “Driving around until people shoot at us.”