Gray Lady Bitch Slaps Bu$hCo & GOP "Leaders"

A New York Times Editorial from today entitled "A Long Road Ahead in Iraq" is especially solid. Without mentioning Karl Rove the piece makes it clear that his approach to an election cycle is hardly selling at least for some folks. Of course, some will drink the Kool- Aid and the media might not press the issue enough to suit many on the left yet this is worth culling out some portions as follows:

Rather than engage in a serious debate about America's future course in Iraq, President Bush and the Republican Congress have again opted for sound bites and partisanship. ...

... Pretending things are better than they are will not make them so. America has some very hard strategic choices pressing down on it in Iraq — much more complicated than whether to set an arbitrary target date for troop withdrawal. ...

A Congressional leadership doing its job would hold hearings on these critical issues instead of setting partisan bear traps for November's election.

After a week in which the American military death toll in Iraq passed 2,500 and in which an Iraqi official spoke of a possible amnesty offer to insurgents who killed some of those Americans — an offer we can safely predict Washington will never allow — the real tragedy of Iraq lies not just in the thousands of Iraqi and American lives lost or the shame of Abu Ghraib or Haditha.

It lies even more in the continued lack of leadership and candor from the White House. No upbeat presidential trip to Baghdad or flag-waving Congressional resolution can long divert attention from the sorry reality. More than 130,000 American troops are now spending their fourth year mired in a dangerous and ill-defined mission with no realistic plan for success and no end in sight.

This is but one newspaper and resource wanting the grown ups back in charge. Admittedly, until the mass media and their reporters step up to the plate and insist the tough questions be answered it is difficult. However, this editorial was a worthy addition to the discussion. Peace ... or War!