OP-ED COLUMNIST
Barney and Baghdad
By THOMAS L. FRIEDMAN
Published: October 18, 2006


In the competition for the biggest “October surprise” of the 2006 election cycle, it might seem hard to top North Korea’s nuclear test. But I’d suggest that in time we’ll come to see the events unfolding — or rather, unraveling — in Iraq today as the real October surprise, because what we’re seeing there seems like the jihadist equivalent of the Tet offensive.

For those of you too young to remember, the Tet offensive was the series of attacks undertaken by the Vietcong and North Vietnamese armies between Jan. 30, 1968 — the start of the Lunar New Year — and June 1969. Although the Vietcong and Hanoi were badly mauled during Tet, they delivered, through the media, such a psychological blow to U.S. hopes of “winning” in Vietnam that Tet is widely credited with eroding support for President Johnson and driving him to withdraw as a candidate for re-election.

Total U.S. troop deaths in Iraq this month have reached at least 53, putting October on a path to be the third deadliest month of the entire war for the U.S. military. Iraqis are being killed at a rate of 100 per day now.
http://mparent7777.livejournal.com/13595757.html



Reports: NATO Operations Kill 22 Civilians in Afghanistan
http://mparent7777.livejournal.com/13593519.html



Congress aides ignored bribery signs: report
http://mparent7777.livejournal.com/13594038.html



U.S. Death Toll in Iraq Hits 69 in Oct.
http://mparent7777.livejournal.com/13592947.html



Some Seek 'Pink Purge' in the GOP
http://mparent7777.livejournal.com/13592819.html



Rep. on an Abramoff junket to Marianas: You Call This a Sweatshop? I've Seen Worse in New York
http://mparent7777.livejournal.com/13591644.html



An More on Today's Newswire
http://mparent7777.livejournal.com/2006/10/18/



MARC PARENT

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