Quotes of the Morning: New Year's Strategy

“The New Year has come and with it a new strategy in Iraq.”
-Skippy

“US President George W Bush intends to reveal a new Iraq strategy within days, the BBC has learnt.
The speech will reveal a plan to send more US troops to Iraq to focus on ways of bringing greater security, rather than training Iraqi forces.
[…]
The BBC was told by a senior administration source that the speech setting out changes in Mr Bush's Iraq policy is likely to come in the middle of next week.
Its central theme will be sacrifice.
The speech, the BBC has been told, involves increasing troop numbers.”
-BBC News, January 2, 2007

“Oh good.. We have a new ‘strategy’. Apparently this one involves staying the course, but with more targets.. oops, I mean troops, in place. Don’t worry, they’ll figure out what the troop’s mission is some time soon.”
-Skippy

“The exact mission of the extra troops in Iraq is still under discussion, according to officials, but it is likely to focus on providing security rather than training Iraqi forces.”
-BBC News, January 2, 2007

“Still, as long as we have the troops in place we don’t need to worry. It isn’t like a clear mission is important.”
-Skippy

"I learned some good lessons from Vietnam. First, there must be a clear mission. Secondly, the politics ought to stay out of fighting a war. There was too much politics during the Vietnam War. There was too much concern in the White House about political standing.”
-George ‘Dubya’ Bush, March 13, 2002

“The news isn’t all bad though. Saddam is dead. Yep, we handed him over for execution. Sure, that might have violated the Geneva Conventions a little bit, but after the torture we’ve already allowed I don’t think that that is a major concern. Now the Iraqi people can see that monsters like Saddam will pay for what they have done. Hopefully that will help bring some stability to the situation...”
-Skippy

“Until Saddam's execution Saturday, most Sunnis sympathized with militants but avoided taking a direct role in the sectarian conflict -- despite attacks by Shiite militia that have killed thousands of Sunnis or driven them from their homes. The current Sunni protests, which appear to be building, could signal a spreading militancy.
Sunnis were not only outraged by Saddam's hurried execution, just four days after an appeals court upheld his conviction and sentence. Many were also incensed by the unruly scene in the execution chamber, captured on video, in which Saddam was taunted with chants of ‘Muqtada, Muqtada, Muqtada.’
The chants referred to Muqtada al-Sadr, a firebrand Shiite cleric who runs one of Iraq's most violent religious militias. He is a major power behind the government of Shiite Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki.”
-Associated Press, January 1, 2007

“…unless of course it manages to inflame the Sunni population due to some blatant heckling by people supporting al-Sadr, the guy in Iraqi politics with the closest connection to Iran. Splendid. Man, there doesn’t seem to be anything that Dubya and Co. get right.”
-Skippy

“Many Sunnis are also upset that Saddam was put to death the day that Sunni celebrations began for Eid al-Ahda, a major Muslim festival. The judge who first presided over the case that resulted in Saddam's death sentence said the former dictator's execution at the start of Eid was illegal according to Iraqi law, and contradicted Islamic custom.”
-Associated Press, January 1, 2007

“And apparently we are teaching the Iraqi government well. Sure, the execution may have been illegal under Iraqi law, but if the government does it it isn’t illegal. I learned that from Fearless Leader’s domestic spying program. Ah yes, the Iraqi government has got their shit together this year.”
-Skippy

“Six Iraqis were killed in a U.S.-led raid on the Baghdad offices of a top Sunni politician, Saleh al-Mutlaq. The U.S. military and Iraqi police said they suspected the offices were being used as an al-Qaida safe house.”
-Associated Press, January 1, 2007

“The government we are propping up seems to be the same one that is fighting us, and, happy as I am that Saddam has shuffled off this mortal coil, I don’t think that the situation is any better for the Iraqis or for us thanks to his leaving power.”
-Skippy

“The U.S. death toll, meanwhile, climbed to at least 3,002 by the final day of 2006 as the American military reported the deaths of two more soldiers in an explosion Sunday in Diyala Province, northeast of the capital. With the announcement, the Associated Press count of fatalities showed that at least 113 U.S. service members died in December. That makes it bloodiest month of 2006.
Iraqi authorities Monday reported that 16,273 Iraqis — including 14,298 civilians, 1,348 police and 627 soldiers — died violent deaths in 2006. The total exceeds the Associated Press count by more than 2,500.”
-Associated Press, January 1, 2007

“Let’s all hope that this year is better than last year for everyone involved.”
-Skippy