The Skinny: Cut-And-Run In Iraq?

Not So Fast, Say Two Top Military Critics Of The War

(CBS)  The Skinny is Hillary Profita's take on the top news of the day and the best of the Internet.

---

While talk of withdrawal from Iraq is all the rage, some very well-respected military analysts – including former CENTCOM commander Gen. Anthony Zinni, and retired Army Major Gen. John Batiste, are calling an immediate withdrawal not such a swell idea, The New York Times reports on its front page.

One of the reasons why? Zinni says taking troops out now would likely incite more violence: “There is a premise that the Iraqis are not doing enough now, that there is a capability that they have not employed or used. I am not so sure they are capable of stopping sectarian violence.”

Harry Reid's Log Cabin

The Washington Post has an interview with incoming Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, who again emphasized a plan to withdraw troops from Iraq. Also, his biography sounds much like a Willie Nelson ballad. He grew up in a “tin-roofed shack” in a Nevada mining town and hitchhiked 40 miles to school.

Paging Harriet Miers

The LA Times profiles President Bush’s pick to replace Ken Mehlman as Republican National Committee chair, Florida Sen. Mel Martinez. Martinez, a Cuban immigrant, favors more liberal immigration laws and is therefore hated by some members of the party, one of whom described Martinez’ appointment as a potential “Harriet Miers moment." Nonetheless, says the Times, Martinez probably won’t pull a Harriet Miers and will actually get the post.

NASCAR Overkill

In news that will surely disappoint those potential 2008 candidates who were planning on pandering to NASCAR Dads, USA Today reports on its front page that interest in the sport is apparently lagging. One “third-generation driver” told the paper that one reason might be the length of the racing season -- “36 freaking races a year” – which might be a bit much for the average viewer to tune in for every week.

Don't Turn Your Back On Chocolate

While this study will probably be followed by another study revealing that chocolate will most certainly result in the growth of additional limbs and premature death, the LA Times’ front page today screams this: that chocolate is good for your heart.

The bad news, of course, is that getting a significant benefit for your heart would require eating several bars of chocolate every day. And then, of course, you’ll be fat, get diabetes and your teeth will fall out. Indeed, the story features a quote from the lead epidemiologist for the study, who says she would “never tell people to go ahead and eat chocolate.” In other words, if you see this story somewhere today, ignore it.

Sunny Iraq

A mass kidnapping at an Iraq Ministry of Education building is getting coverage on all the front pages (and the top of the WSJ news box) this morning. While worse news from the region seems all but impossible, all of the papers are emphasizing just how bad this incident appears to be. The New York Timesis calling it “one of the most brazen mass kidnappings since a wave of sectarian abductions and killings became a feature of the war.” The Los Angeles Times says it’s “audacious even by Iraq war standards” and The Washington Post has a similar description, that it is “startling even by the standards of a nation reeling from sectarian strife.” Just how many were kidnapped is unclear, various sources are saying anywhere from 50 to 150 people were taken.

"Something Special" from John Edwards

“The Daily Show” used to be one of the go-to destinations for those announcing their political candidacy. Now, apparently, it’s the official destination for those who are insinuating the potential of a run.

Because that’s what Democratic presidential wannabe John Edwards did on the program last night, when asked if he was going to announce his candidacy in 2008. He said instead that interested viewers should go to his Web site, where they might find “something special” in the next few days. Maybe he’s throwing his hat into the ring for town council somewhere in North Carolina.

[kwlambi]

I went to Vietnam in 1969. I survived, and it did not bother me that people here didnt care about it. They protested cause it was the thing to do in the 60s, with everything, and now we are here again in Iraq with weird black haired people again. Why is it that this country is so hung up with black haired people?

[tomgrey2]

3 years is too short to do nation building AND fight an insurgency.

If we had stayed in Vietnam 16 more years (from 1973 "Paris peace" ), S. Vietnam would be more like S. Korea, instead of more like China.

We should be expecting to stay at least 10 years; but we should be doing more training of Iraqis, and blaming the Muslim murderers for the murders.

[ketch65]

If we'd of never went to Iraq, what would the difference in Iraq be? Saddam would be alive and ruling with his iron fist.

He was "the famed butcher of baghdad!" Now no one wants the job, and we are not equipped to stay there and do that job he did so well!

Sad to say that, but it's true. It's all backfired, and only going to get worse from here on out. Mark my words, if America does not come home from the entire world, and strengthen itself from within, and around, we're all doomed, and soon.

We'll see it in our lifetimes, our children will all groan under the fallout of what's being started like when a big tall giant like Goliath starts kicking up dust.

I'm not saying, that the Muslims are to be likened to King David, only that a Giant is only good if he doesn%u2018t let pride fool him into thinking he%u2018s too big to fall.

He needs to listen to his commanding officers%u2026 But only if they have the fonts of wisdom with their midst! And they must drink of it at all times%u2026.

As it is, the commanding officers support Goliath going up against those who only have a sling and a few rocks!

Sooner or later, everyone falls, they stumble for a lack of counsel, they fail because they became to proud and arrogant, refusing to admit maybe they've made a mistake.

When someone, even a great person says, "I've done no wrong, committted no errors," that is the beginning of the end for that man. Pride runneth high, right before a fall!

Proverbs 14:32-34

[mh4cbs1]

Who invented this "Cut and Run" Orwellian bull***t phrase, which the corporate media dutifully repeats over and over and over...?

Must be the same NeoCons that coined "stay the course".

How about we rename "stay the course" to "endless death and destruction for power and profit". I wonder if the press would be inclined to coin this factual phrase?

[tibu987]

How about a common sensical approach, something unheard of in politcal circles in Washington.
Gather all the friendly Iraqi military officers along with all the American military officials, then get the ranking Iraqi political people too. Ask them for their ideas as to withdrawal. If a consesus of opinios is workable, do it. What seems to be the problems is that the armchair generals in Washington make decisions that are, to put it mildly, assinine. Leave it to the professionals to decide.

[talk2kim67]

Can someone tell me exactly why chocolate and Iraq were thrown together in a story?

[bluestardad]

WHAT PART OF GET OUT DO YOU NOT UNDERSTAND?

[annabanana-1]

This is an odd patchwork of misinformation and gossip...Dear Ms. Profita, Pick a subject, learn about it and write what you have learned.

[peterbaldwin-2009]

The violence is escalating already. This month already, we have 48 kia coalition casualties and hundreds more wounded. October was the beginning of a trend, not an anomaly. All this hemming and hawing
amounts to nothing more than chucking the bird at the American people.

This is an illigitimate war. Woodward's State of Denial describes how Bush called in Powell to tell him he had decided on having a war. It was like telling someone about having a pick up baseball game at a White House picnic. Congressional consent was not even discussed. This war is an act of aggression, and, therefore, ipso facto, a war crime.

[mjv2944]

Let me get this straight, if we leave the violence will escalate? What a statement, now I know that the military leadership is just as bad as the administrations. There will be violence and a lot of it 10 years from now. Split the country into 3 parts, spilt oil revenues 3 ways and GET THE HELL OUT!!!!

[finewoven]

It's amazing out people poke at others so to get them to do their bidding. It's a bully's approach to inciting a response by ridiculing the alternative. Then there%u2019s the appeal of having a %u201CVictory%u201D at a moving target, whether its eliminating WMDs or creating a Democracy, or winning the peace. The spiel is meant to prevent any useful dialogue in place of the autocratic perceptions of a few people. The damage is done by creating such a haze about where the accountability really lies, and by confusing the reality of the situation.

[peterbaldwin-2009]

"Will the Dems raise taxes?", CBS wonders. The tax breaks to the top 1% need to be reinstituted and the total amount plus interest needs to be redistributed to the middle class. The Dems better raise taxes on these leeches. Who started the class war?

[random_radar]

This isn't comedy central? Then why do I laugh when I read the latest escapades?

[peterbaldwin-2009]

The Comedy Central blog is a better source of the truth than CBS and the rest. How pathetic.

By their vote, Americans repudiated the mainstream media propaganda machine and proved that they could no longer be fooled. We can only hope that the hapless Dems don't succumb to the current braianwashing tactics of CBS news.

[peterbaldwin-2009]

This propaganda offensive against the Dems and the American people is highlighted here(and CBS Public Eye blog), and the relapse into Judith Miller cheerleading by the Times.

Media Matters gives a frightening chronology of corporate/Republican control of the media that goes back decades. Let's hope that this latest spin will be repudiated by the people, who overwhelmingly want the US to get out of Iraq now.

A disillusioned public has invested its trust in the Dems. They need to get Murtha in and the US out. Kerry and Murtha had it right. It's time to cut the cord.

Strange page, what does Chocolate and NASCAR have to do with the headline The Skinny: Cut-And-Run In Iraq?

[freethink1]

FreeMarket needs to check his history. The killing fields were not the result of the Vietnamese, but of the Kamir Rouge in Cambodia. It was the Vietnamese Army that finally ended the killing by overthrowing Pol Pot and reinstating the original Cambodian Government.

[freemarket-2009]

When we cut and ran from Vietnam 3 million people lost their lives in the killing fields. Where are the killing fields of Iraq going to be if we cut and run?