9/14 Morning Report

Why is everyone so surprised that Bush stated the war in Iraq will stretch beyond his administration? When it all started, he said it would be years before this was completed. Admittedly, he thought it would be around the end of his administration at the time. I seem to recall hearing others who thought it would be longer. Nevertheless, he was up front about it. Our problem, as Americans, is we are so short sighted on the future. We tend to think everything can be solved quickly and efficiently, when in fact the problem really requires a long term fix. I really snorted over the MSM’s idea that Bush is “finally agreeing to troop cuts”. The truth is he is following the directives of the man he put in charge, General Petraeus, just like he promised. You might want to check out Frederick Kagan’s view of how the surge has gone. He is believed to be it’s chief architect.

The assassination of Abdul-Sattar Abu Risha is a blow to Coalition efforts.

On Thursday, Bush spokeswoman Dana Perino said Abu Risha "was one of the first to come forward to want to work with the United States to repel al-Qaeda."

"Remember, al-Qaeda was killing some of the sheiks' children and, in one instance, severed several heads from young children and put them in a cooler to deliver to the sheiks," Perino said. "This is the type of enemy that we're dealing with."

She said that while the death was not a setback to the U.S. efforts in Anbar, U.S. officials would "have to redouble our efforts to work with the local populations to get the support they need to prevent other such murders."

At the same time, it is also a blow to al-Qaeda forces in Iraq. It has seriously damaged al-Qaeda’s efforts to separate Iraqis and Coalition forces. Of course, they haven’t been doing themselves any favors through their murderous deeds among the people. Michael Yon did a great job of documenting some of it—though the rest of the media has not paid nearly enough attention. It has left the American people thinking al-Qaeda is not a major presence in Iraq.
(…but we trust the MSM to tell us everything that matters…right?...yeah, sure whatever…)

The good news of the day is someone is hitting back at MoveOn.org. After their “Betray Us” ad denouncing Petraeus’s as yet unmade Congressional testimony, Freedom's Watch is mounting a multimillion dollar ad campaign against the liberal foul-mouth piece. Democrats as yet have not denounced the campaing, although Sen. John Kerry (?) did cal it “over the top.” And, how is the liberal media reacting?

The Hill reports that presidential candidate Rudy Giuliani, who criticized the ad as "abominable," is asking The Times for the “same heavily discounted rate they gave MoveOn.org” for an ad.

The New York Post has reported that The Times charged MoveOn $65,000 instead of its standard $181,000 for the ad. The Times, according to Reuters, responded that there are many different categories of ads, with varying rates depending on variables such as multiple buys.

(…I’m glad there is no bias in the media…aren’t you?...)