Hope in one hand...

From your Chicago Tribune:

Bush, noting that Gen. David Petraeus has received only half of the additional forces he is seeking in Iraq, insists that the new security initiative supported by nearly 30,000 promised new troops has generated signs of hope.

From the very same page of your Chicago Tribune:

Shiite militants and police enraged by deadly truck bombings went on a shooting rampage against Sunnis in a northwestern Iraqi city Wednesday, killing up to 70 men execution-style and prompting fears that sectarian violence was spreading outside the capital.

The killings occurred in the mixed Shiite-Sunni city of Tal Afar, which had been an insurgent stronghold until an offensive by U.S. and Iraqi troops in September 2005, when militants fled into the countryside without a fight. Last March, President Bush cited the operation as an example that gave him "confidence in our strategy."

U.S. military spokesman Rear Adm. Mark Fox warned that "there will be rough days ahead" due to the extremists' "desperate changes in tactics.":

The new tactics included using chlorine, a highly toxic chemical, in at least eight bombings since Jan. 28. On Wednesday, suicide bombers detonated explosives on trucks carrying the chemical outside the Fallujah government center, about 40 miles west of Baghdad.

Thank heavens the 22nd Amendment prevents the Tribune from embarrassing itself with another endorsement of our hopeless president.