(Return of) Suggested Reading -- 8/23/07

Raw Story: Ex-Bush aides conflate 9/11, Iraq in pro-war ad campaign
From the story: "A collection of former Bush administration officials and allies launched a new advertising campaign that uses injured war veterans or relatives of those killed in action to urge a continuation of the US occupation of Iraq by conflating it with the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.

"'We want to get the message to both Democrats and Republicans: Don't cut and run, fully fund the troops, and victory is the only objective,' said former White House press secretary Ari Fleischer in an interview with USA Today.

Related:
Ex-White House spokesman can't name vet in his own ad. The ex-aide? Ari Fleischer.

Associated Press: Report Finds Iraqi Government Precarious
From the story: "The Iraqi government will become more precarious over the next six to 12 months and its security forces have not improved enough to operate without outside help, U.S. spy agencies conclude in a new assessment of the country's political and military fortunes...

"'Iraqi political leaders remain unable to govern effectively,' the 10-page document, a declassified summary of a more detailed National Intelligence Estimate, concludes. A copy was obtained by The Associated Press in advance of its release Thursday."

Making progress...

Bloomberg: Warner Says U.S. Should Start Withdrawing Troops on Sept. 15
From the story: "Virginia Senator John Warner said President George W. Bush should begin withdrawing troops from Iraq on Sept. 15 to show the Iraqi government that the U.S. commitment there isn't open-ended.

"Bush should announce that 'we will start an orderly, carefully planned, thought-out redeployment,' said Warner, the No. 2 Republican on the Senate Armed Services Committee."

The crazy, "yay for war" crowd is getting smaller and smaller.

Think Progress: Right-Wing Operatives Plot To Overthrow Maliki, Replace Him With Reliable Collaborator Allawi
from the story: "he powerful Republican lobbying group of Barbour Griffith & Rogers is plotting an effort to displace Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki and supplant him with former interim Iraqi Prime Minister Iyad Allawi...

"...Allawi has been described as “Saddam lite.” In 2004, he handcuffed and blindfolded suspected terrorists and shot them in the head with a pistol."

Just Bush's kinda guy.