White House Already Misses First Escalation Goal

[Coexist]

Seriously.

It seems almost inconceivable: The White House actually invites the press corps to hold it accountable -- but when the time comes, and a key benchmark is missed, the press is silent.

<snip>
"You're going to have to -- you're going to have some opportunities to judge very quickly," one senior administration official said at an official background briefing on January 10, a few hours before Bush's prime-time announcement.

"The Iraqis are going to have three brigades within Baghdad within a little more than a month. They have committed to trying to get one brigade in, I think, by the first of February, and two more by the 15th," the official said.

But at a Pentagon press conference yesterday, Joint Chiefs of Staff chairman Peter Pace acknowledged that only two of those three Iraqi brigades are there: "You've got two of the Iraqi brigades in -- that were going to plussed up in Baghdad in Baghdad now. The third one is moving this month," Pace said.

Other press reports suggest that even those two brigades are not anywhere near full strength.

the rest...

Yeah, sure, please - spend a few billion more of my tax dollars on Iraq, risk thousands more American and Iraqi lives, because you are so responsible. Yeah.

[SpiralHawk]

1. "So I screwed up. Again. As usual. Big Deal. Get over it." - George AWOL Bush

"You were maybe expecting something different from me?
My corporate cronies in the media have all ASSUMED THE POSITION
and don't give a shit,
so why should taxpayers give a flying fig?
Bwaaa ha ha ha ha.
Smirk, smirk, smirk."
- Commander AWOL