The Prophet Atrios

Atrios can be a huge smart ass. I'm sure I'm not the first one to say that and I'm sure he's been told many, many times by many, many people. But one thing the man has been is completely prophetic when it comes to many issues, like the Iraq war. Here's a post from today shamelessly reprinted in full:

Oh Well

Now.

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Defense Secretary Robert Gates says he has abandoned hope that troop levels in Iraq will drop to 100,000 by the end of the year.

Last May:

It is the first indication that growing political pressure is forcing the White House to turn its attention to what happens after the current troop increase runs its course.

The concepts call for a reduction in forces that could lower troop levels by the midst of the 2008 presidential election to roughly 100,000, from about 146,000, the latest available figure, which the military reported on May 1. They would also greatly scale back the mission that President Bush set for the American military when he ordered it in January to win back control of Baghdad and Anbar Province.

My astute pundit commentary on this at the time:

NA GA HA PEN

-Atrios 15:20

Now I ask you. How many times have you seen Duncan Black, AKA Atrios, on CNN, Faux, MSNBC or quoted in any newspaper? Oh, you see the likes of Billy Kristol, Freddydrick Kagan, and even Peter Beinart who have all been wrong WRONG WRONG about Iraq. And you see any number of politico's doing the same "Friedman Unit" thing. It's so crappy in Iraq that they're not even offering up any Friedman Units, which is part of what I'm trying to get at here. But the people who have gotten this war exactly correct from the beginning are nowhere to be found.

The dismay and shame that the media must feel on the entire issue of Iraq is surely profound. And denial is not just a river in Egypt. And without the internets and bloggers, the media would continue to get away with their lazy-ass habits of not doing their jobs. But as the internets grow, that's gonna change now isn't it?