A DEMOCRAT ANSWERS McBUSH'S IRAQ WAR PROPAGANDA BARRAGE-- HILLARY

So while Cheney is in Baghdad trying to strong arm the puppet regime there to sign over Iraq's oil wealth to his cronies at the big oil companies and while McCain and the other 2 stooges are trolling for media time to push a third McBush term, Hillary Clinton was delivering a serious address on Iraq policy. Oh you didn't know? Maybe that's because the Republican-owned corporate media is too busy talking about Obama's pastor or Spitzer's mistress or whatever they've ginned up to try to make the GOP look less like a stinking, smoldering heap of garbage. I just looked at the NY Times (nothing; although that is understandable since Heather Mills just got a $48.6 million) settlement from Sir Paul McBeatle) and the Washington Post (also nothing-- but a startling revelation that when she made her ridiculous racist remarks last week Ferraro was channeling the Clintons and that white male voters are important in the election. The only place I could find where the speech was covered was the Moonie Times, of all places. Perhaps when the Times figues out that the no one cares about Heather Mills' millions and when the Post realizes that white men have always been... uh... "important," they'll get to the Iraq speech by the probable next president of the United States. The report on her own blog starts with a sensible where are we now statement:

Five years after the start of the war, we have come to a crossroads. The war has sapped our military and economic strength, damaged U.S. national security, taken the lives of almost 4,000 brave young men and women in uniform, and placed a lasting toll on the tens of thousands of wounded, many with invisible injuries like Traumatic Brain Injury and Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. The George W. Bush-John McCain strategy is to continue this failed policy. We need to end this war and bring our troops home. We need to press the Iraqis to take responsibility for their own country. We need to rebuild our alliances and enlist the international community in securing stability in Iraq and the region.

The full text of her speech is here and it's worth reading, certainly more so than the details of the McGreevey menage a trois with the chauffeur. The short version is basically an outline of how to disengage from the role of an occupying power. "As President, one of Hillary's first official actions will be to convene the Joint Chiefs of Staff, her Secretary of Defense, and her National Security Council. She will direct them to draw up a clear, comprehensive plan for withdrawal that starts removing our troops within 60 days," although she also says she plans on retaining "counterterrorism forces in Iraq and the region to fight al Qaeda and will not permit terrorists to have a safe haven in Iraq from which to attack the United States or its allies." She supports banning the use of mercenaries by the U.S.