9/8 Morning Report

Spoiling Petraeus’s report yesterday that gains are being made, but they are in a fragile state, come the Osama video. The only surprise was unlike his 2004 video, this one lacks any threats. He made two statements, one of which has no bearing on reality. He called the killing of insurgents and terrorists who murder innocent women and children wrong. The removal of murders is wrong? That’s frightening because he and his followers sincerely believe it. Somewhat more disturbing, and perhaps more realistically possible, he said the way to bring this to an end is for America to convert to Islam.

Meanwhile, as Reuters reports, General Petraus’s report is a mixed bag.

"Up front, my sense is that we have achieved tactical momentum and wrested the initiative from our enemies in a number of areas of Iraq. The result has been progress in the security arena, although it has, as you know, been uneven," Petraeus wrote to coalition forces.

But he said Iraqi politicians had not made the gains hoped for when the Bush administration added 30,000 U.S. troops to the war under the "surge" strategy.

There are, of course, no real surprises in the letter released to the troops in advance of his testimony to Congress. Many sources, mainstream and independent, have been saying this in one form or another. Unfortunately, the Democrats are already set to denounce it.

In advance of Petraeus' appearance, the No. 2 Democrat in the Senate charged the general was part of a Bush administration attempt to mislead the public with manipulated information to show the current strategy a success.

"By carefully manipulating the statistics, the Bush-Petraeus report will try to persuade us that violence in Iraq is decreasing and thus the surge is working," said Sen. Dick Durbin of Illinois.

Many liberal officials have been in the news for the last month saying everything has failed and to expect just such a thing as
Durbin described, should we be surprised there has been no change?
(…and they say conservatives have closed minds…)

And, here in the States, Sir Hillary is having legal problems again. Just weeks after suspicions were raised about contributions to her Presidential campaign, a court in California will hear arguments about a possible illegal fundraiser for her Senate campaign in 2000. The principle issue is the inclusion of a video tape where Clinton is acknowledging direct involvement with what would constitute an illegal fundraising act. The judicial panel will consist of two Democrats and one Republican.
(…I’m interested to see where this does…and how much Bush bashing goes on to drown out the whole event…)

Of course, given the political hey made over the Republican campaing contribution scandals, the MSM is soft peddling the damage of Mr. Hsu for Democratic campaigns. After failing to show up in California court again, he was found on a train in Colorado…ill. Despite several felony charges and a long history of questionable activity, the media still paints him as a poor unfortunate—instead of the criminal he is. Meanwhile, Democratic candidates are painted as heroes for offering to give the contributions he gave them to charity.
(…I thought if it was illegal for one, it was illegal for all…must be nice to be Democrat and able to make the laws do what you want…)

And, finally, I missed some sad news reported by Any Soldier on 30 August:

Maj. Henry S. Ofeciar, 37, of Agana, Guam, died Aug. 27 at Forward Operating Base Naray, Afghanistan, from wounds suffered when insurgents attacked their unit during combat operations in Jalalabad, Afghanistan. He was assigned to the 1st Brigade, 1st Infantry Division, Fort Riley, Kan.

Major Ofeciar, at our house we remember your cry—the cry of all warriors:

"Tell them of us and say,
For their tomorrow, we gave our today."
--The Kohima Epitaph--

We remember what you have given. And we say thank you for the tomorrows you have given others. May God give back to your family more than they have sacrificed and lost.

And, now, we dance In Memoriam.