There’s a sports cliche that has made its way into society in general. People say that they’re going to make a 110 percent effort to succeed. The idea of giving 110 percent has been overused to the point of being tiresome, but there’s a good idea behind it. Success is the usually result of a total commitment, not a half-baked ambivalent wandering around, hoping for the best.
Unfortunately, the Bush White House and its Republican supporters don’t see things that way. For them, success is whatever they can get away with. In September, they’re hoping that they can get away with convincing the American people that 16.67 percent success in Iraq is good enough.
The Bush Administration is claiming that its surge strategy to maintain the military occupation of Iraq is working. However, the Government Accountability Office looked at the available information and came to a different conclusion. The GAO found that, out of 18 benchmarks set for the American military operations in Iraq, only 3 had been successfully met. 3 out of 18 is 16.67 percent.
The Republicans say that meeting 16.67 percent of the goals in Iraq counts as success. The rest of us, who know better, will elect an anti-war, progressive candidate for President in 2008.
(Source: The Washington Post, August 30, 2007)
In the words of our infamous “president”: “That there’s good progress!”