Well, Sawz... Not one person in the world knows the answer to the question about the success of the surge... We do know that when we started paying Sunnis not to shoot at us that they quit shooting at us... Heck, like you suggest, maybe they quit shooting at us because we had sent in more troops but that kinda doesn't match up with the istory of the Iraq war too well in that troop level had fluctuated up and down before the surge...

The problem I have with the surge is that most Americans are completely unaware of of components of it... They have been misled into thinking it was purely more troops yet that is not correct... It was an entire new concept that Gen Petrais came up with that had troops embedded in the neighborhoods they patrolled during the day but now stayed in those areas at night... And, yes, it was also about scmoozing the Sunnis and paying them not to fight with US...

I don't ven think that Bish understood the component of the surge or he would have renamed it to something that better represwented the US's shift in strategy which had little to do with increased troop levels... That is reality, Sawz... You can play games with it all you want... I really don't care about your games... That's just something you do for you entertainment and not anything that intersts me...

Yo, Rigs... I love the picture of Obama in the back of a bi-plane... Hey, I'd be more than willing to fly front seat if he can get me cleared to fly him without an "offical" pilot's license... Details... Yeah, I'd love to take him up.. Maybe he could get us cleared to fluy into restricted air space and we could do a little touring around DC.. That would be a gas...

As for Obama's campaign plane... All I know is that it was used, had alot of hours on it and had some mechanical troubles during the campaign... That, in my book, qualifies as a "beater"... Kinda like the junk I used to fly... You know, beaters... The one I crashed on my 16th birthday was built in the 30's... Hey, it was an okay plane... Kinda... No instruments to speak of... Kinda like an old Volkswagen... Kinda like Obama's campaign plane compared to AirForceOne... BTW, folks, how many of ya'll know that there are two idential AirForceOnes and that when the president has to make a trip that both are prepared as if they are the one that is going to be used??? Purdy interesting, ain't it... They don't ven tell the crew which plane is going up...

Yeah, I know... Sawz is gonna say, "Prove it"... I can't... But it is true... I know a crew member of AirForceOne... That's all I am going to say on this so don't bother buggin' me about it 'cause. like I said, that's all I'm going to say... Period...

What else??? Well, nothing... Nice day in the mountins... Found my first "mergals" (morells) mushrooms this afternoon so life is good...

B~