"To retreat before victory would be an act of recklessness."

--White House spokesman Blair Jones

Actually it would be something I would expect from Ambrose Burnside. We're not doing anything of the sort of course. We're trying to get the hell out of Dodge before the walls of Jericho come tumbling down around our ears (to mix a few references).

Harkin calls for pullout

A nationwide strike called by Islamist parties paralyzed Pakistan on Friday hours before U.S. President George W. Bush arrived for talks in which he is expected to urge greater efforts against Islamist militants.

"Them little Pakistani folks just love me. They all took the day off to see me come in."

Bush arrives in Pakistan - Yahoo! News

officials from the Homeland Security and Treasury departments told him weeks ago that their 30-day review of the deal did not look into the question of links between DP World and al Qaeda.

Well then what the hell were they looking at? How big a tax break they needed to give them to make the deal go through???

Port deal never probed for terror ties - Mar 1, 2006

"And, more importantly, we've stopped a mass murderer in Saddam Hussein. Nobody denies that he was supporting al-Qaida."

In a clear attack on Democrats, Hatch added, "Well, I shouldn't say nobody. Nobody with brains."

Um Orrin? I hate to break this to you, but not even Cheney is still pushing that line. Everyone with brains knows Saddam and Al Q were about as together as oil and water.

Hatch still claiming Saddam Al Q link.

"In regards to selling American ports to the United Arab Emirates, not just NO — but HELL NO," conservative Rep. Sue Myrick, R-N.C., wrote Bush in a terse letter on Wednesday that she also posted on her Web site.

Ya think he missed the mark with this one?

Bush Port Defiance Fuels Bipartisan Anger - Yahoo! News

On another issue, Bush acknowledged that a pre-war failure of American intelligence — claiming that Saddam Hussein possessed weapons of mass destruction — has complicated the United States' ability to confront other potential emerging threats such as
Iran.

"Where it is going to be most difficult to make the case is in the public arena," Bush said. "People will say, if we're trying to make the case on Iran, `Well, if the intelligence failed in Iraq, therefore, how can we trust the intelligence on Iran?'"

So what he's saying here is that he's planning to invade Iran? That's what it sounds like.

Bush Says NSA Surveillance Necessary, Legal

The officials said the captive, Ibn al-Shaykh al-Libi, provided his most specific and elaborate accounts about ties between Iraq and Al Qaeda only after he was secretly handed over to Egypt by the United States in January 2002, in a process known as rendition.

In other words, we have a guy who we don't really believe, so we hand him over to the Egyptians to kick the crap out of him until he sings a song we do like? And then we start a war over it?

This is really, amazingly simple, because we have similar cases. When a police department does something like this, pretty much everyone involved loses their jobs, probably gets criminally prosecuted, certainly gets civilly prosecuted, and, if they're lucky, they only look like Daryl Gates at the end of the day.

The White House needs a house cleaning by guys with badges.

Qaeda-Iraq Link U.S. Cited Is Tied to Coercion Claim - New York Times

Al-Arian, 47, remains in jail, where he's been since his February 2003 indictment, while the federal government decides whether to retry him on the deadlocked charges, which include three key counts accusing him of conspiracy to support the Palestinian Islamic Jihad. Officials say there is no timetable for a decision.

Not-guilty on 8 charges, no decision on the deadlocked ones, but still in jail and probably to be deported if they don't think they can get him on those. Either they're overzealous and going for something that isn't there, or they're inept. Either way, this is not how to run a "War on Terror" much less a railroad.

U.S. May Deport Accused Fla. Ex-Professor - Yahoo! News

"I resent the fact that on Veterans Day, they criticized Democrats for criticizing them," Murtha said. "This is a flawed policy wrapped in illusion. The American public knows it, and lashing out at critics doesn't help a bit. You've got to change the policy. That's what's going to help the American people. You need to change direction."

Murtha is not a guy to say something lightly, and in defense circles, he's a very heavy hitter. I would say opposition to the war in Iraq just got ratcheted up a few notches.

CNN.com - Senior Democrat calls for U.S. troops to leave�Iraq - Nov 17, 2005

The death of secret detainee Manadel al-Jamadi was ruled a homicide in a Defense Department autopsy

CIA allegedly hid evidence of detainee torture: report