Let me be the first to say:

[Cuddlefish]

MISSION ACCOMPLISHED

[Adios]

WTF?

[Nephew Twiddleton]

Operation Iraqi Freedom. COmbat mission is over.

[Cain]

So long as we ignore all those special forces guys still engaged in "counter-terrorism" activities, the doubling of the size of the private military forces in the area, that many of the units who are currently being designated as "training forces" for the Iraqi military are in fact redesignated front-line units who still have combat duties listed, oh, and the fact that insurgents don't give a shit if a soldier is doing paperwork or carrying a gun and will continue to target American military bases and personnel regardless...

If we ignore all that, then there is no more American involvement in combat in Iraq, and the mission is over.  Hooray!

[Adios]

So long as we ignore all those special forces guys still engaged in "counter-terrorism" activities, the doubling of the size of the private military forces in the area, that many of the units who are currently being designated as "training forces" for the Iraqi military are in fact redesignated front-line units who still have combat duties listed, oh, and the fact that insurgents don't give a shit if a soldier is doing paperwork or carrying a gun and will continue to target American military bases and personnel regardless...

If we ignore all that, then there is no more American involvement in combat in Iraq, and the mission is over.  Hooray!

Well said.

[Cuddlefish]

Oh, if you couldn't tell, I was being sarcastic.

[Cain]

I thought so.  But I thought bypassers might get confused, since the press is actually saying this is a victory, and retroactively vindicates Bush etc etc  So that is for their sake.

[MMIX]

I thought so.  But I thought bypassers might get confused, since the press is actually saying this is a victory, and retroactively vindicates Bush etc etc  So that is for their sake.

who can tell the difference any more???

[LMNO]

I thought so.  But I thought bypassers might get confused, since the press is actually saying this is a victory, and retroactively vindicates Bush etc etc  So that is for their sake.

Saying "Fuck this, I'm leaving, sorry I raped your country" is vindication?

[Cain]

That's pretty trippy.  I like it.

Saying "Fuck this, I'm leaving, sorry I raped your country" is vindication?

Oh, if only people were saying that.  I believe the press and the cheerleaders are saying "I raped your country and it deserved it, later, bitch".

[Dysfunctional Cunt]

They can name it whatever the fuck they want it's still the same shit!

[Jenne]

Apparently some talking bobbleheads in the media were butthurt Obama didn't mention "bringing democracy and justice to Iraq" as part of his speech. 

[AFK]

As weaksauce as the President has been, I have to say I don't envy him at all for having to give that speech.  Because it's over but it's not really over.  You're in that position because the guy before you made a bad decision of epically fatal proportions, but you're President now and it's not very Presidential to go on a rant about how Bush, Cheney, and pals fucked everything up.  So there probably wasn't really anything he could say that was going to inspire anyone on either side of the political divide.  It was just something he had to do and the delivery was pretty much that.  A by-the-books, let me get this out of the way speech. 

That said, I really don't understand why he had to go and drag Bush into it.  Everyone knows who started it.  Why even bring it up? 

[Nephew Twiddleton]

As weaksauce as the President has been, I have to say I don't envy him at all for having to give that speech.  Because it's over but it's not really over.  You're in that position because the guy before you made a bad decision of epically fatal proportions, but you're President now and it's not very Presidential to go on a rant about how Bush, Cheney, and pals fucked everything up.  So there probably wasn't really anything he could say that was going to inspire anyone on either side of the political divide.  It was just something he had to do and the delivery was pretty much that.  A by-the-books, let me get this out of the way speech. 

That said, I really don't understand why he had to go and drag Bush into it.  Everyone knows who started it.  Why even bring it up? 

Mid-term elections. He wants to remind everyone who got us into this mess before they go to the polls.

[Jenne]

He's been on about Republicans not deserving the driver's seat for a while now.  The last 2-3 months he's used allegory after allegory about how they fucked shit up so why allow them back in to fuck it up some more.

He has a point.

Problem is, not much has been fixed by his administration for him to sit pretty on that one.  I mean, maybe almost-2 years is not enough time?  But his record on what he promised vs. what he's delivering, and the now-souring relationship between the Dems-at-large and the White House due to the warranted criticisms of the former on the latter seem to, well, weaken his message somewhat.