68()。
A. It was an immature display of street-corner machismo(男子气概)that appalled people familiar with the agonizing ordeals of combat.
B. The American death toll in Iraq at that point was about 200, but it was clear that a vicious opposition was developing.
C. This is another example of the administration's inability to distinguish between a strategy and a wish.
D. Some were little more than children when they signed up for the armed forces, like Ramona Valdez, who grew up in the Bronx and was just 17 when she pined the Marines.
E. The latest fantasy out of Washington is that American-trained Iraqi forces will ultimately be able to do what the American forces have not: defeat the insurgency and pacify Iraq.
F. That has not been the case, which is why we can expect to remain stuck in this tragic quagmire for the foreseeable luture.
A.
The Bush crowd bristles at the use of the "Q-word"--quagmire(沼泽)---to describe American involvement in Iraq. But with our soldiers fighting and dying with no end in sight, who can deny that Mr. Bush has gotten us into "a situation from which extrication is very difficult," which is a standard definition of quagmire
B.
More than 1,730 American troops have already died in Iraq. _____66 one of six service members, including four women, who were killed .She was a suicide bomber struck their convoy in Falluja last week.
C.
With evidence mounting that U.S. troop strength in Iraq was inadequate, Mr. Bush told reporters at the White House, "There are some who feel that the conditions are such that they can attack us there. My answer is, Bring'em on."
D.
_____67 A New Jersey Democrat said: "I am shaking my head in disbelief. When I served in
E.
the Army in Europe during World War II, I never heard any military commander-let alone the commander in chief-invite enemies to attack U.S. troops."
F.
_____68"We've learned that Iraqis are courageous and that they need additional skills," said Mr. Bush in his television address. "And that is why a major part of our mission is to train them so they can do the fighting, and then our troops can come home."
G.
Don't hold your breath. _____69
H.
Whether one agreed with the launch of this war or not, the troops doing the fighting deserve to be guided by leaders in Washington who are at least minimally competent at waging war. _____70