Something must have been lost in translation… I doubt his first concern in such a situation would be the killers of his little son and brother losing “the support of the people”?

How do you feel about accepting that we ended the bulk of the Sunni insurgency in Iraq under the direction of Petraeus and that his priority was to protect the population and separate it from the foreign element of the insurgency? That he was following the precepts of Kilcullen and that Kilcullen insists that hearts and minds of the population is the decisive factor?

Hmmm… anything to do with massive population transfers and over a million refugees fleeing? Anything to do with 100,000s killed, and miles of walls in Baghdad? But now Iraq has been made peaceful… oh yeah, except for all the violence. From NY Times article, 7 Bombs Strike in Iraq as Violence Spreads (6/25):

Meanwhile, the death toll from a bombing at a crowded market in the Sadr City section of Baghdad on Wednesday night continued to rise. Hospital officials said Thursday that 76 people had been killed and 158 wounded.

That bomb, which was mounted on a motorcycle, was at least the third in two weeks to cause dozens of deaths in Iraqi Shiite communities. On Saturday, a truck bomb in Taza, a Shiite Turkmen area in northern Iraq, killed at least 68 people. On June 10, a car bomb exploded outside Nasiriya, the capital of a predominantly Shiite province in southern Iraq where bombings are rare. That attack killed at least 28 people and incited a near riot among survivors who threw stones at the police, blaming them for lax security.

The bombings on Thursday occurred just five days before American forces were scheduled to withdraw from Iraqi cities, towns and villages, as required under the Iraqi-American security agreement. In Baghdad, many of the troops have already withdrawn, and whatever preventive effect they had may well be quickly evaporating. In their absence, insurgent groups appear to be testing the security system now run almost wholly by Iraqis.

You must think we are fools.

Re your questions, they are rhetorical, nu? You don’t really expect to be convinced by a comment here, do you?

I saw Gen. Mullen on Cspan today talking about the importance of not releasing photos of torture, and implying dissidents of military policy in this country were making it hard for them. This said grimly and severely. They are the ones putting troops and civilians in harm’s way, but that old chestnut about criticizing the conduct and even existence of the war is betrayal of the troops. Double bind crazymaking jingoistic knot-making.

Your heartbreaking videos of the children especially bring a level of reality one thinks one carries, but not by a long shot. Even not understanding the language we understand the outrage and horrifying pain of these traumatized people. No we don’t, can’t understand, but we get a small taste of it from our safe computers.

Thanks once again for consciousness raising.

if so , congratulations, and here’s to hope, because when enough people realize that voting (D) is a vote against peace, social justice and the environment the political landscape will be at a tipping point.