Iraq War: What Rove did

"I think we are winning.  Okay?  I think we're definitely winning.  I think we've been winning for some time." - Gen. Richard Myers, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, on the Iraq War 04/26/05

"I just wonder if they will ever tell us the truth." - Harold Casey, Louisville, KY, October 2004.

Steve Gilliard pegs it: The war continues 06/27/05

The right can pretend that the left is the problem, but that's nonsense. Rove's comments pissed off half the country and made them a lot less likely to support Bush again. What the GOP likes to pretend is that they are the majority, and they are not. To many people, it's like Rove pissed on graves. Now Cheney is going after Chuck Hagel, the Vietnam Vet, about his support for the war. This is going to get ugly, and the Vets are gonna hit right back. Cheney and Rove are bullies, but they are cowards. I think a lot of people on the left don't get the deep offense Rove caused with his comments. The American military takes pride in being politically agnostic. They may have their personal beliefs, and the advanced education helps, but they don't like politicans any more than anybody else. To suggest that people didn't serve their country because of politics is obscene, not just offensive. That one political ideology was superior to another when it came time to fight for your country. The White House may play cute with this, but the next time Bush goes to Walter Reed or one of the ranking generals, somebody's mother is going to raise this.

Part of the reason Bush is in so much trouble about the war is that Americans have never been told how intense the combat is in Iraq. They don't understand that US troops are facing a real, trained enemy. Sure, they can't face the US man to man, but it's no Somali mob. These folks know what they're doing. They know how to set ambushes and they seem to have a plan to restrict US mobility and intelligence which is working.