“U.S. and Iraqi negotiators have reached agreement on a proposal calling for a complete U.S. military withdrawal from Iraq by 2012…

…President Bush was briefed on the negotiations and then spoke by secure video conference with Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki. The spokesman said the two agreed that their negotiating teams would continue discussions.

…last date for the presence of U.S. troops in cities and towns will be June 30, 2009.”

Don’t you find it odd that European news media obtained this information for mass consumption before the American media? Also, they state “Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and al-Maliki was helpful in reaching the tentative agreement.” The tentative agreement spoke of on Aug 14th occurred before she was even in Iraq.

House #1 A 20 room mansion (not including 8 bathrooms) heated by natural gas. Add on a pool (and a pool house) and a separate guest house, all heated by gas. In one month this residence consumes more energy than the average American household does in a year. The average bill for electricity and natural gas runs over $2400 per month. In natural gas alone, this property consumes more than 20 times the national average for an American home. This house is not situated in a Norther n or Midwestern ’snow belt’ area. It’s in the South.

House #2 Designed by an architecture professor at a leading national university. This house incorporates every ‘green’ feature current home construction can provide. The house is 4,000 square feet (4 bedrooms) and is nestled on a high prairie in the American southwest. A central closet in the house holds geothermal heat-pumps drawing ground water through pipes sunk 300 feet into the ground.

The water (usually 67 degrees F) heats the house in the winter and cools it in the summer. The system uses no fossil fuel s such as oil or natural gas and it consumes one-quarter electricity required for a conventional heating/cooling system. Rainwater from the roof is collected and funneled into a 25,000 gallon underground cistern. Wastewater from showers, sinks and toilets goes into underg round purifying tanks and then into the cistern. The collected water then irrigates the land surrounding the house. Surrounding flowers and shrubs native to the area enable the property to blend into the surrounding rural landscape.

HOUSE #1 is outside of Nashville , Tennessee ; it is the abode of the ‘environmentalist ‘ Al Gore.

HOUSE #2 is on a ranch near Crawford , Texas ; it is the residence of the President of the United States , George W. Bush.

Snopes Link

“American soldiers will withdraw from cities across Iraq next summer and all US combat troops will leave the country within three years, provided the violence remains low, under the terms of a draft agreement with the Iraqi Government.

…Nouri al-Maliki, the Prime Minister, Jalal Talabani, the President, and other Iraqi leaders must give their approval – something that could happen this month…

The “time horizon” for the exit of US troops would depend upon the ability of the Iraqi police and army to maintain security gains in Iraq after a surge of US forces in 2007 helped to push violence to its lowest levels in 4½ years.

We are talking about combat troops, maybe in 2010-11, there could be drawdowns…”

Do you think the media giants who have invested so much time in destroying the image of the Republican Party and President Bush will provide any time to anything good at this point in time? Highly doubtful. Why try and alter the winds of change and waves of hate directed their way when Obama is the media darling of these same media giants?

What we see, hear, and read is skewed by marketing and political flunkies in the backrooms deciding how the news should be portrayed. You referred to Vietnam. Very similar situation that we are in now. The enemy was extremely hard to determine and winning was never going to be a clear cut surrender. The media failed to support the troops and they paid the price in the lack of respect from our nation.

I fear that complacency will set in as it’s been almost 7 years now since 9/11 and the attitude of our nation is nowhere near the first few years past the attack. We cannot assume everything will be ok just because nothing new has happened to us today. Our next President will have an even tougher job than Bush has had because the unknown is far more scary than the known.