My discouraged spouse is discarding about ten pounds of articles printed out over the past year that were intended to document the atrocities of the Bush administration. We ran out of room to keep them.
It was very depressing to see how far we haven't come, and how many lies still thrive. If I had had articles going back to 2003 on hand, many of them would have looked similar.
The only difference is that there is a sort of government in Iraq other than Americans, but its future isn't looking very rosy.
Some examples below the fold.
Washington Post, April 30, 2004
George Will wrote:
"'An uptick in localized engagements,' was the U.S. command's description of the wave of violence that menaces the four main roads from Baghdad to Syria, Jordan, Turkey and Kuwait."
May 14, 2005 U.S. Calls Iraq Border Operation a Success
The U.S. military pronounced its weeklong offensive near the Syrian border over Saturday, saying it had successfully "neutralized" an insurgent sanctuary and killed more than 125 militants.
The pronouncement came hours after U.S. forces had encircled the Euphrates River village of Obeidi, causing frightened residents to flee indoors as American helicopters hovered overhead and military vehicles briefly rumbled through Obeidi's old quarter, meeting no resistance.
Insurgents, meanwhile, staged a series of attacks elsewhere in Iraq, killing at least 10 people, including a top Iraqi Foreign Ministry official who was assassinated in a drive-by shooting as he stood outside his Baghdad home.
U.S. air strikes also destroyed two unoccupied buildings near Fallujah, 40 miles west of Baghdad, on Saturday that the military identified as an insurgent command center.
Washington Post, April 30, 2004
Jim VandeHei quotes John Kerry:
It's nearly two and a half years after 9/11, and the administration is still dragging its feet when it comes to fighting to secure our chemical plants. This administration unfortunately has been unwilling to take these steps because they have sided with the chemical industry.
April 25, 2005 Chemical plants' vulnerability at issue
Richard Falkenrath, who left the White House in May, said in a written statement he expects to deliver to Congress on Wednesday that he bears some responsibility for the Bush administration's policy on chemical plant security.
Falkenrath is among a growing number of officials who are rethinking the government's policy to count on chemical plants to voluntarily beef up their own security.
More than three years after the Sept. 11 terror attacks, Falkenrath will tell the Senate Homeland Security committee that chemical plants and rail cars that transport deadly chemicals are easy, unprotected targets for terrorists.
New York Times, March 2, 2004
Edmund L. Andrews
Trustees of the Medicare and Social Security funds predict that the two programs will run surpluses of more than $200 billion a year for at least the next decade. But the Medicare trust fund will start running deficits in 2013 and run out of money by 2026. Starting in 2018, the Social Security System starts paying out more than it takes in and will have to dip into its trust fund. By 2044, the trust fund will be exhausted.
Most experts say the problems of Social Security are much smaller and more predictable than those of Medicare, because retirement formulas are fairly simple and the cost of benefits depends primarily on demographic trends that are quite predictable.
But Medicare's condition is more ominous, because medical costs have been rising much faster than the overall rate of inflation and the demand for health care is expected to soar as the baby boomers retire.
The Bush administration estimated last year that Medicare's obligations would be more than $10 trillion over the next 75 years. But that was before President Bush signed the law that will add prescription drug benefits to Medicare- which the administration now predicts will cost $540 billion over the next 10 years. The costs would climb rapidly after that, as the number of elderly people soars. The Congressional Budget Office has predicted that the new program could cost as much as $2 trillion in its second decade.
I don't think I need to provide a link to demonstrate that the Chimperor's administration has thoughtfully made Social Security its focus rather than Medicare because of its good friend Big Pharma.
New York Times, March 19, 2004
Donald H. Rumsfeld "The Price of Freedom in Iraq"
Recognizing the threat, in September 2002 President Bush went to the United Nations, which gave Iraq still another "final opportunity" to disarm and to prove it had done so. The next month the president went to Congress, which voted to support the use of force if Iraq did not.
And, when Saddam Hussein passed up that final opportunity, he was given a last chance to avoid war: 48 hours to leave the country. Only then, after every peaceful option had been exhausted, did the president and our coalition partners order the liberation of Iraq.
May 13, 2005 British Intelligence Warned of Iraq War:Blair Was Told of White House's Determination to Use Military Against Hussein
"Blair's senior advisers at the July 2002 session decided they would prepare an 'ultimatum' for Iraq to permit U.N. inspectors to return, despite being told that Bush's National Security Council, then headed by Condoleezza Rice, 'had no patience with the U.N. route,' according to the notes. 'The prime minister said that it would make a big difference politically and legally if Saddam refused to allow in the U.N. inspectors.'"
New York Times, April 30, 2004, Opinion
"Troops Without Armor in Iraq"
While political spokesmen have played down the seriousness of the fighting that has killed 126 Americans just this month, field commanders have been pleading desperately for more armor. This week, the Pentagon finally ordered that thousands of armored vehicles be sent to Iraq, from 70-ton Abrams tanks to lighter and faster Bradley and Stryker combat vehicles, plus an armored version of the Humvee, whose production is now being accelerated.
April 6, 2005 Ky. Guardsman says inadequate equipment endangers troops
Rogers told the AP his unit drives Kentucky National Guard M915 trucks - essentially a military tractor trailer - that are 22 to 26 years old and often break down. Some armor plating was added to the trucks when they were first shipped overseas in January. The unit went to Iraq in February. But the armor was added only to doors and another piece was placed behind the driver. Since arriving in Iraq, more armor has been added in the cab, especially around the floorboard, but only to about half of the unit's vehicles, Rogers said.
