An interesting part of this whole Iraqi war / right wing nut adventure has been watching the wing nuts implode on themselves. Today, if you read any wingnut blog you will continually read about how bad the "MSM" is with the poster child being the New York Times. They believe that the NYT is almost single handily (along with the WaPo I suppose) losing the war for the US in Iraq (Ignoring the incompetence of the US Military and the White House).
Of course, it was not always this way; enter the Judith Miller scandal. For readers of the book, "The Greatest Story Ever Sold" this is not new news but Judith Miller was nothing but a White House Shrill in the guise of a newspaper journalist. She basically took all the information from the White House, covered it up in what appeared to be "investigative journalism", then reprinted what the White House wanted us to think about the lead up to the Iraq War. So, unbenownst to the wing nuts, the NYT actually was, at one time, on their side basically spoon feeding the US public whatever the Rummy, Cheney, Bush WH wanted us to think was happening.
Then Valerie Plame hit and, well, Judith Miller's fame came crashing down and the NYT actually started investigating things. Once Bush claims started to actually be investigated, the house of cards came tumbling down.
Now, we are starting the same thing all over again with Iran. The Bush White House is starting the planning and the media machine to get us all ready to attack Iran. Even the rhetoric sounds the same. Remember this line from Bush concerning Iraq (From a Press Conference in June of 2002):
" THE PRESIDENT: Yes, I told the Prime Minister there are no war
plans on my desk.
{emphasis mine] I haven't changed my opinion about Saddam Hussein,
however. He is -- this is a person who gassed his own people, and
possesses weapons of mass destruction. And so as I told the American
people, and I told John, we'll use all tools at our disposal to deal
with him. And, of course, before there is any action -- military
action, I would closely consult with our close friend. There are no
plans on my desk right now."
Now, let's listen to the words of our dear Presidente in regards to Iran:
"
"Nobody's talking about that,(invading Iran)" he told ABC News' Betsy Stark."
No plans on my desk, nobody is talking about it yada yada yada... the same 'ole tune. If you still believe this nonsense, please, let's do business.
And, right out of the beginning playbook of Iraq, the NYT is now regurgitating White House claims even when they do not make any sense. Juan Cole does a great analysis of the latest WH claim which cannot be true and was immediately published in the NYT. Here is an excerpt from Juan (Although I highly recommend Juan be daily reading in it's entirety):
"This NYT article depends on unnamed USG sources who alleged that 25 percent of US military deaths and woundings in Iraq in October-December of 2006 were from explosively formed penetrator bombs fashioned in Iran and given to Shiite militias:
In the last three months of 2006, attacks using the weapons accounted
for a significant portion of Americans killed and wounded in Iraq,
though less than a quarter of the total, military officials say.'
This
claim is one hundred percent wrong. Because 25 percent of US troops
were not killed fighting Shiites in those three months."
I am reminded of the Who song, "Won't Get Fooled Again" and how I have to keep reminding myself of that line or we will all get caught in the next step of Bush's Christian Crusade to save the world from itself.
Does Bush really think that he can fool this Country again?
AN UPDATE TO A PREVIOUS STORY: I had reported a while back about the Individual Ready Reserve being used as a "back door draft" to force people into the military. Well, it is worse than even I suspected.
The initial call up was for about 535 days - basically 1.5 years. However, it was discovered last night that people are now being involuntarily required to stay in for basically 2 years. The story is reported here at, "IRR Deployments Are Extended to 730 Days!!