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In spite of what the president says, his military does not agree with him. They doubt that victory is possible. Here is the article.
From the report:
“Measured in blood and treasure, the war in Iraq has achieved the status of a major war and a major debacle,” says the report’s opening line.
The presidents choir is continually shrinking.
Here’s something you might find a bit interesting:
Imagine this!In 1961, a young African-American man, after hearing President John F. Kennedy’s challenge to, “Ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country,” gave up his student deferment, left college in Virginia and voluntarily joined the Marines.
In 1963, this man, having completed his two years of service in the Marines, volunteered again to become a Navy corpsman. (They provide medical assistance to the Marines as well as to Navy personnel.)
The man did so well in corpsman school that he was the valedictorian and became a cardiopulmonary technician. Not surprisingly, he was assigned to the Navy’s premier medical facility, Bethesda Naval Hospital, as a member of the commander in chief’s medical team, and helped care for President Lyndon B. Johnson after his 1966 surgery.
For his service on the team, which he left in 1967, the White House awarded him three letters of commendation.
What is even more remarkable is that this man entered the Marines and Navy not many years after the two branches began to become integrated.
While this young man was serving six years on active duty, Vice President Dick Cheney, who was born the same year as the Marine/ sailor, received five deferments, four for being an undergraduate and graduate student and one for being a prospective father.
Presidents Bill Clinton and George W. Bush, both five years younger than the African-American youth, used their student deferments to stay in college until 1968. Both then avoided going on active duty through family connections.
Who is the real patriot? The young man who interrupted his studies to serve his country for six years or our three political leaders who beat the system? Are the patriots the people who actually sacrifice something or those who merely talk about their love of the country?
After leaving the service of his country, the young African-American finished his final year of college, entered the seminary, was ordained as a minister, and eventually became pastor of a large church in one of America’s biggest cities.
This man is Rev. Jeremiah Wright, the retired pastor of Trinity United Church of Christ.
Don’t throw the word patriot around so easily.
The results of a CNN poll indicate that 86%, (no typo), say we are on the wrong track. Here is the story. That number is up from 69% last year. In spite of this, the president’s approval remains unchanged at 28%.
While speaking to the Senate Foreign Relations committee, 3 star general, William Odom, says the the US occupation of Iraq is actually the problem in Iraq, not the solution. The article is at After Downing Street.
…I see no reason to change my judgment now. The surge is prolonging instability, not creating the conditions for unity as the president claims.
Another 100 years says McSame. General Odom says this:
Their break with al Qaeda should give us little comfort. The
Sunnis welcomed anyone who would help them kill Americans,
including al Qaeda. The concern we hear the president and his aides
express about a residual base left for al Qaeda if we withdraw is utter
nonsense. The Sunnis will soon destroy al Qaeda if we leave Iraq.
The Kurds do not allow them in their region, and the Shiites,
like the Iranians, detest al Qaeda. To understand why, one need only
take note of the al Qaeda public diplomacy campaign over the past
year or so on internet blogs. They implore the United States to bomb
and invade Iran and destroy this apostate Shiite regime.
As an aside, it gives me pause to learn that our vice president
and some members of the Senate are aligned with al Qaeda on
spreading the war to Iran.
He ironically points out that many of the neo-cons are actually in agreement with Al-Qaeda in that we should invade Iran. Talk about strange bed-fellows.
I think our experience in Iraq has to be much like the European colonial experience around the world. They tried to impose their way on people in Africa, Asia, etc. But eventually, they all had to leave. Weakened by world wars and the excessive costs of maintaining troops in far flung colonies, Europe finally realized that colonization was not the game to play anymore.
Two thirds of Americans think this war in Iraq was a bad idea and those numbers have held up over the last couple of years. Its about time our politicians caught up with the American people.
Way back when she was working in Washington during the Watergate scandal, Hillary was accused of unethical conduct in attempting to conspire to deny President Nixon legal counsel during the hearing. Hot Air has the story here. This is an interesting read and just goes to show you: “You can’t trust a Clinton”
If this becomes a bigger story, she just might be finished whether she’s ready or not. I’ve heard no comment from the Obama campaign. They’ll likely wait to see if the story gets bigger.
She’s down to 37% now in the latest NBC/WSJ poll. There’s even a link to Tim Russert video analyzing the poll. This is just one more reason she should reconsider the viability of her campaign. Even if she does win the nomination, it will be difficult for her to win the general election when 2/3 of Americans don’t like her. People just don’t vote for people they don’t like. Her strategy would have to be make people dislike John McCain more. Imagine a campaign like that. It would be comical, worthy of a SNL skit.
Loading …We keep hearing from the administration, and now John McCain, that we cannot leave Iraq until we have achieved victory. Does anyone have idea what victory will look like? McCain has never given a definition of victory, the administration’s definition has changed since the war started. So how will know when we’ve won? Here is an article you might find interesting.
Personally, I think we should have just declared victory once the violence receded and got the hell out. But now the Sadrists are starting to rebel again, the Sunni Awakening hasn’t been paid in months and are not doing their jobs anymore. So the violence may pick up again and then what? Re-surge? More troops?
Trying to toughen up her image, Hillary Clinton told an audience about her recollection of events when she went to Bosnia in 1996. Her account was in stark contrast with the record of reporters who covered the event. There is even videotape of the arrival that is consistent with the reporters account. In response Hillary says, “I misspoke”, the article is here. This one is going to be difficult for. If she wins the nomination, McCain will have his way with this. From the article:
‘Now let me tell you what I can remember, OK — because what I was told was that we had to land a certain way and move quickly because of the threat of sniper fire. So I misspoke — I didn’t say that in my book or other times but if I said something that made it seem as though there was actual fire — that’s not what I was told. I was told we had to land a certain way, we had to have our bulletproof stuff on because of the threat of sniper fire. I was also told that the greeting ceremony had been moved away from the tarmac but that there was this 8-year-old girl and, I can’t, I can’t rush by her, I’ve got to at least greet her — so I greeted her, I took her stuff and then I left, Now that’s my memory of it’
I don’t know how her and her campaign can make her statements jive with the records. It’s clear, to me at least, that she wants to trump up her foreign policy credentials. But instead she comes out looking like a liar. I find it very illuminating that she thinks she can say whatever she thinks “sounds good” and then try to cover up an obvious lie with a simple, “I misspoke”. She did not misspeak, she lied. She lied for political gain. She should be ashamed of herself.
That’s what Cheney had to say about the soldiers killed in the Iraq. The full Martha Radatz interview in which he said, “So”, when told the American public thinks the war was a bad idea is on ABC tonight at 6:30 ET. The ABC story is here. From the write up:
Noting the burden placed on military families, the vice president said the biggest burden is carried by President George W. Bush, who made the decision to commit US troops to war, and reminded the public that U.S. troops in Iraq and Afghanistan volunteered for duty.
I guess that makes it OK, Dick.
How were they supposed to know he was an a**hole? Crooks and Liars has a write up here.
I’ll bet a lot of the folks who voted for him in 2006, wish they had gone for Ned Lamont instead. Although he’s supposed to be liberal on social issue, his steadfast support for the war has caused him to leave the Democratic party. He’s not even a super delegate anymore. Given his liberal past, you have to wonder if the Republicans will support when his term is up, or even if he’ll bother to run again. Only time will tell.
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