Talking the talk

MANIFESTO

Bush apologists General David Petraeus and Iraq Ambassador Ryan Crocker will testify before Congress today and tomorrow to let the legislators know just how swimmingly things are going in that Godforsaken country.

They certainly won't get any argument from the very senior Senator from Arizona, who just yesterday opined

that Congress should reject, as it did last year, calls for what he labeled "a reckless and irresponsible withdrawal of our forces just at the moment when they are succeeding."

Dontcha just love the way these militarists throw around empty words like "succeeding" and "victory" and—God help us—"mission accomplished"? Who knows what Senator Septuagenarian means when he talks about success. He certainly can't be referring to this:

The monthly figure of people killed in Iraq rose by 50% in March compared with the previous month, according to official government counts.

A total of 1,082 Iraqis, including 925 non-combatant civilians, were killed, up from 721 in February.

Or this:

In one of the most intense days of fighting in [Baghdad] involving US troops in recent months, American helicopters fired at least four Hellfire missiles and an Air Force jet dropped a bomb on a suspected militia target as Iraqis struggled to bury their dead amid fierce street battles.

Rockets and missiles launched from militia strongholds pounded US bases around the city, where troops also came under fire from small arms and rocket-propelled grenades. Targets included the Green Zone, where the US Embassy and most Iraqi government buildings are located.

Three more Americans were killed, two from a rocket-propelled grenade and the third by small-arms fire, according to the Associated Press. The US military did not say where the deaths occurred. The latest casualties increase US combat deaths in Iraq to nine since Sunday and 18 since March 25, when fighting spread to the capital after Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki's decision to launch an offensive against Shi'ite militiamen in the southern city of Basra.

So just what does the senator mean by succeeding?