Tony Snow–the Bushie mouthpiece du jour–is once again trying hard to avoid speaking the truth (see here).  Just days after we learned that July was the deadliest month for Iraqi civilians since their liberation (3,400+ dead in July alone, see here and here), and in the wake of news that the insurgents are blowing things up more frequently now than ever before (1,660+ explosive devices detonated in July alone, see here), Snow nevertheless had the audacity to not only deny that Iraq is experiencing a civil war, but he also suggested that:

[T]he other thing that’s happening is that there has been — there has been some improvement at least in the situation on the ground, slightly. Yes, you have a number of sectarian violence operations going on, but you’ve also seen now in targeted neighborhoods in Baghdad, there has been a notable decrease in violence in three of the neighborhoods that have been targeted in the last week, and that’s obviously a promising sign; that’s not a victory lap.

Not a victory lap indeed!  Consider, for instance, the following assessment of what’s happening on the ground in Iraq by a  senior Defense Department official (see here):

The insurgency has gotten worse by almost all measures, with insurgent attacks at historically high levels…the insurgency has more public support and is demonstrably more capable in numbers of people active and in its ability to direct violence than at any point in time.

And while the number of American soldiers killed in Iraq during the month of July was "merely" 38, the number of wounded soldiers was a staggering 518!  Good thing our politicians are busy cutting the funding for research into the type of brain injuries that are quickly becoming the hallmark of Operation Enduring Freedom (see here)!

Where’s the outrage from those who "support our troops"?  This war has been bad for us, bad for the Iraqi’s, and bad for the world.  And we owe it all to our deceitful, war-mongering, dolt of a president–a president that prefers slogans to substance, and photo-ops to effective policies.  We can no more rhetoric our way out of this mess than he can bamboozle his way out of eventually being saddled with responsibility with the quagmire unfolding in Baghdad.  History will prove to be his cross to bear rather than his saving grace.

*Cross-posted at truth to power (with open comment thread)