Ghost Written Imperial Patrio-Porn & The Occupation Continues Indefinitely

It is getting even sickly funnier how the next ‘wait until this moment (and if you buy this shit you’ll be in Iraq far into the next decade)’ Iraq occupation scam is shaping up, in this case the supposedly hard nosed military report on progress by General Brown-nose Petraeus-

U.S. Ambassador to Iraq Ryan Crocker and the top U.S. commander in Iraq, Gen. David Petraeus, will likely testify to Congress about progress in the war on September 11 or September 12, the White House said on Monday. White House spokesman Gordon Johndroe, speaking on Air Force One headed with President George W. Bush to a summit in Canada, said the hearing date was not related to the anniversary of the 2001 attacks.

Veteran CBS newsman Bob Schieffer offered a commentary Sunday on the upcoming report from General Petraeus on conditions in Iraq, observing, “When I ask a question and guests start laying out conditions … I know that we’re headed down the old rabbit trail.”

“Excuse me for getting a little suspicious,” Schieffer said, pointing out that “the White House want[s] the general to deliver the report to Congress behind closed doors while Cabinet officers do the talking in public. And suddenly we’re told the general won’t actually write the report, but that his thoughts will be included in a summary prepared by the White House.”

“This is the report the president has said over and over that he will use to decide where we go from here in Iraq,” concluded Schieffer. “Maybe it’s because I’ve been dragged down the old rabbit trail too many times by too many people with something to hide, but this does not sound like we’re headed to a straight answer.”

D’you think Bob? Still good to see bastions of corporate news are beginning to squirm, so in summation-

• written by the Bush administration.
• rubber stamped by the General to give the veneer of objective military judgment for the stupid & gullible and…
• released on 911 anniversary to further imply the invasion is related to the terrorist attacks as opposed to what it was, a long term strategic goal since the 90′s.

And even now we see the emergence of strategies to present the occupation as being scaled down-

U.S. military officials are narrowing the range of Iraq strategy options and appear to be focusing on reducing the U.S. combat role in 2008 while increasing training of Iraqi forces, a senior military official told The Associated Press on Monday.

Ignoring the simple fact that as long as any foreign troops are in the country it is occupied, the people are not free, and will all the year zero extreme neo-liberal laws be removed? Will unions be able to form? Will privatised utilities be brought back into public hands? Who will own the oil and who will get the revenue? Meanwhile the UK military tells Brown time to withdraw there is nothing more that can be achieved-

Senior military commanders have told the Government that Britain can achieve “nothing more” in south-east Iraq, and that the 5,500 British troops still deployed there should move towards withdrawal without further delay.

Last month Gordon Brown said after meeting George Bush at Camp David that the decision to hand over security in Basra province – the last of the four held by the British – “will be made on the military advice of our commanders on the ground”. He added: “Whatever happens, we will make a full statement to Parliament when it returns [in October].”

Two generals told The Independent on Sunday last week that the military advice given to the Prime Minister was, “We’ve done what we can in the south [of Iraq]“. (h/t Balkan at Tomorrow, what?)

The military advice is clear, so we’ll be withdrawing as of October? Hey wait a minute this is a war, you put off a decision for weeks causing hundreds more deaths because you won’t recall parliament? Hmm let me guess, we’ll be withdrawing at precisely the moment America tells us to and not a moment sooner. So the schedule of the decision is kinda elastic, because Brown is not the one making it, the organ grinder is. Although one aspect we can affect is to stop Brown/e from screwing over the translators. But October? Yet another ‘wait until this point’ delaying scam, Friedman units of all manner and lengths abound and all that really…, really happens is the occupation goes on. Magicians call it misdirection, look at what I want you to look at not at what I am really doing and the casualty counter climbs inexorably to the next milestone 1 million 1 hundred thousand. And both American parties fake votes and tell us there is nothing up their sleeves however much they bulge with huge permanent military bases. We’re being played people, we are being played.