Someone Please Stop the Iraq Talking Points

General George Casey is sounding more like William Westmoreland everyday.

Iraq isn"t awash in sectarian violence, . . .Most sectarian violence in Iraq is concentrated across a 30-mile radius around Baghdad, and, 90 percent of all violence in Iraq is taking place in five of the country"s 18 provinces.

Apparently, Casey is fogetting to mention Basra.

The first time a rocket lands within a few yards of you in the heart of the British compound is pretty instructive. There's someone out there who wants to kill you for no better reason than you're British.

Basra may be a picnic compared with the hell of Baghdad, but even so the violence overwhelms everything.

When you can't drive into the centre of the city; when even the helicopter which brings you into the Foreign Office compound can fly only at night; when the shortest trip outside the British base needs a military escort of 18 men and a column of armoured vehicles.

Why does the the Bush administration keep treating the American people like they're stupid? What is interesting is President Bush can't seem to keep his talking points straight. Case in point.

My attitude about our – look, I'm into campaigning out there: People want to know, can you win? That's what they want to know. I mean, there's – look, there's some 25 percent or so that want us to get out, shouldn't have been out there in the first place – and that's fine. They're wrong. But you can understand why they feel that way. They just don't believe in war, and – at any cost. I believe when you get attacked and somebody declares war on you, you fight back. And that's what we're doing.

I seem to not remember Iraq declaring war on the United States. In fact, President Bush made it clear that Iraq did not attack us.

BUSH: What did Iraq have to do with what?

QUESTION: The attack on the World Trade Center.

BUSH: Nothing. Except it’s part of — and nobody has suggested in this administration that Saddam Hussein ordered the attack. Iraq was a — Iraq — the lesson of September 11th is take threats before they fully materialize, Ken. Nobody’s ever suggested that the attacks of September the 11th were ordered by Iraq.

Boy, the White House is so confused about what to say these days. First they dropped "stay the course" and now we are back on the Iraq responsible for 9-11 meme, again. This is enough to make a person's head explode.