Whew! Thanks John. We Were Worried There For a Minute

Personally we blame Howard Dean, the Democrats and anyone who doesn't support Joe Lieberman. Well, them and the mindless lapdog press that endlessly parrot the liberal, terrorist coddling party line against the president's freedom agenda.So it's about time someone wasn't afraid to tell it like it is.The top U.S. general in the Middle East on Thursday praised a major U.S.-led security clampdown in Baghdad, saying it has brought "great progress" and said that Iraq was far from civil war.

General John Abizaid spoke to reporters in Baghdad on a day when three car bombs and two roadside bombs were reported in the capital, wounding 24 people. "No worse than Compton on a summer weekend," the General said.

Abizaid, who met General John Casey, the top U.S. commander in Iraq, said comments he made earlier this month before the U.S. Senate in which he said the sectarian violence in Iraq was the worst he had seen had been misrepresented. "When I said 'worst' what I meant was things are going great. No need to send over any more reporters." Vice president Cheney, who was standing behind General Abizaid on the podium with his hand in his pocket, nodded approvingly. Later an aide to the General said the vice president had invited him hunting.

The U.S. military has sent reinforcements to Baghdad to help the government take back the streets from sectarian militias and death squads, blamed for killing thousands. It has boosted the number of its troops in the country from 127,000 to 135,000 as part of the clampdown. "We'll be home by Christmas," Abiziad said. "It's just a little mop up, that's all. Last throes stuff, you know."