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Monday, January 29, 2007
Frank Gaffney :: Townhall.com Columnist
Driving While Defeatist
by Frank Gaffney
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Members of the 110th Congress are behaving like drunken drivers with respect to the conflict in Iraq, veering wildly all over the road, seemingly oblivious to the risk they pose to others. Before they do actual harm by voting on various resolutions aimed at repudiating President Bush and further undermining his wartime leadership, they should be obliged to sit through the sort of sobering, behavior-modification program to which courts assign those found operating heavy equipment while inebriated.

Typically, such "Driving While Intoxicated" (DWI) courses feature grisly films about accidents, injuries, deaths and other life traumas inflicted by drunk drivers. They convey forcefully the unvarnished truth: Irresponsible behavior has a high cost.

The centerpiece of the "Defeat for Iraq" (DFI) remediation program I have in mind would be a couple of videos, too. Any sentient being will be affected by these films – perhaps even partisan Democrats whose antipathy to President Bush is so profound that they are willing to have the country lose a war in order to hand him a defeat.

The first of these video therapies would be "Obsession: Radical Islam’s War Against the West." This documentary dissects the phenomenon of Islamist totalitarianism, drawing on the words of its practitioners and promoters in Saudi Arabia, Iran, Lebanon, the Palestinian Authority and in Western nations. While other experts, both Muslim and non-Muslim, provide important context and texture, the vivid counterparts in "Obsession" to the gruesome gore of the DWI movies are the bloodcurdling calls to jihad and “death to America” emanating from our enemies’ pulpits, television outlets and other propaganda instruments.

Viewers of this film can harbor no illusion that the war we are in is confined to Iraq. It is, instead, a truly global conflict with an ideology, Islamofascism, that is determined to destroy us. Should those animated by this ideology succeed in defeating America in Iraq, they will be one step closer to achieving their avowed goal: global domination.

It would be a good thing if some judge would require clueless aging celebrities like Jane Fonda and wannabes like Cindy Sheehan to see “Obsession” now that they are behind the wheel of a nascent anti-war movement. But such folks are like the hardened repeat-offenders for whom DWI school is but a speed bump, an inconvenience on the way to their next irresponsible act.

One would hope, however, that many – if not all – Members of Congress would behave better if confronted with the reality of the determined and implacable enemy we face in this War for the Free World. To be sure, there are the equivalent of unrepentant drunks on Capitol Hill – members whose indifference to the far-reaching strategic consequences of their actions is a matter of record. (In some cases, they actually are unrepentant, or at least unreformed, drunks.)

Still, it seems unlikely that the majority of legislators would be willing to be associated with defeatism in Iraq, let alone to champion it, were they absolutely clear about the stakes. If, however, sitting through “Obsession” does not induce senators and congressmen to understand how high the costs of such behavior would be for the country, the DFI course would take a page from DWI programs’ playbook: Show them another film.

The next one should be a terrific short video produced late last year by one of Hollywood’s most successful directors, David Zucker, and his partner, Myrna Sokoloff. It can be viewed on YouTube.

Entitled "the Fabulous Baker Boy," it treats with appropriate contempt – and hilarious sight gags – the centerpiece of the 79 recommendations served up by the Iraq Study Group (ISG, better known as the Iraq Surrender Group): the idea of having the future of Iraq determined in negotiations with Iran and its wholly owned subsidiary, Syria. ISG co-chairman James Baker is parodied as a hapless, sycophantic appeaser of Iranian President Mahmoud Amedinejad, playing Neville Chamberlain to his Hitler.

Amazingly, the idea of negotiating with the Islamofascist regime most responsible for the mayhem in Iraq – Iran – has increasingly become a staple of the defeatists in Congress. Virginia Senator Jim Webb featured it in his party’s response to the President’s State of the Union. Most, if not all, of the Democratic presidential candidates have embraced it, as, of course, has that dark horse contender for the Democrats’ nomination, Republican Sen. Chuck Hagel.

For most legislators, the prospect of having their face and name – rather than Jim Baker’s – ridiculed for believing we can safely and usefully negotiate with Iran our surrender of Iraq may be enough to sober them up. They certainly should be on notice: They will be held to account, later if not sooner, if they recklessly ignore General David Petraeus’ testimony that he will be unable to succeed in Iraq if the Congress denies him the manpower and wherewithal called for by the President.

What is more, such legislators will in due course be held responsible for favoring defeat over victory in the Iraqi theater and making our triumph infinitely harder in Afghanistan and elsewhere. At some point, like incorrigible drunk drivers, they will have their license to enact legislation revoked by an electorate that did not vote last November for a "change" that makes things far worse.

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About The Author

Frank Gaffney Jr. is the founder and president of the Center for Security Policy and author of War Footing: 10 Steps America Must Take to Prevail in the War for the Free World .
 
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puzzling
Why would seeing the seriousness of the threat of Islamic radicalism lead anyone to want to leave such a large part of our army babysitting an Iraqi civil war instead of dealing with the threat of Islamic radicalism?

Islamofascism = Iraq Insurgency
Frank Gaffney raises many valid points. Many of my conservative friends are confused and wrong on this issue; more so my libertarian friends. We need to win this war not surrender, period.

Let me first say I hate the Iraq was much as anyone and the sooner we get out the better. But we must end this war on the high ground and not the defeatist low ground that liberals so desperately want. The common goals of Democrats and our enemy: the immediate withdrawel of all U.S. forces, is absolutely the wrong course of action. We must win or the Islamofacists will be here bombing us again. They intend to do this whether win or lose. Traditional grand military strategy dictates that we fight them there, in the ME, not here.

Our Congress needs to wake up and support the Administration's new way forward. There should be NO resolution unless that resolution supports a Ronald Reagan "We Win; They Lose" philosophy.


Why would they change their minds?
The new majority in Congress has convinced themselves that Iraq = Vietnam. That retreat bought them the Presidency for one term, and control of Congress for almost two decades. In their worldview, the fate of Iraq's people pales in significance compared to the opportunity a defeat in Iraq offers;

Namely, the prospect of being able to seize control of the reins of government for at least as long as they did the last time around. For the purpose of protecting the world from American aggression while they reach a rapprochement' with their latest idols. The Islamists, whom they are absolutely certain are true-believing fellow progressives who just dress funny. And after all, the Islamists will let them run things after the Caliphate is established, because the Islamists will recognize the inherent superiority of the progressive elite'. The progressives hate Western civilization at least as much as the Islamists do, and firmly believe in the old doctrine of "The enemy of my enemy is my friend".

This is their worldview. Never mind that it bears little or no relation to reality. Because they have spent their entire lives operating on the principle of "If the facts conflict with the theory, the facts must be disposed of." And it's always worked before.

Of course, they weren't around when Chamberlain went to Munich, either. Otherwise, they might just have second thoughts somewhere in their watertight-compartment minds.

cheers

eon

To Lon
You do not understand who is in Iraq and why the war has taken the course it has. I assume that you will grant that al Qaeda is radical Islam, and al Qaeda is in Iraq supporting the Sunni insurgents. I assume that you will grant that Iranian militants are another branch of radicl Islam, and Iranian militants are in Iraq and supporting certain of the Shiite militias. The game plan of radical Islam was to trigger sectarian strfe. But for the foreign jihadists, the war would not have taken the course it did.

My older son is a US Army Lieutenant serving in Iraq. When his unit was in combat last November, they wiped out an al Qaeda unit. It was a fine piece of work in wiping out a contingent of radical Islamists. If you are concerned that the American army should be available to fight radical Islamists, you should not worry about the American army's deployment to Iraq.

Nor should you worry about the American army "babysitting" a civil war. Among other things, the Americans are training an Iraqi army so that it can defend Iraq's young democratic government. Also, the war in Iraq is not a civil war. It is part of larger struggle we have with radical Islam, and we have more opportunities there to do battle with radical Islam right now than elsewhere. The radical Islamists themselves see the war in Iraq as a front in the conflict between an American-led West and jihadist radical Islam, and it is.

The truth is that you want to call the Iraq War a civil war in order to rationalize cutting and running. To me, you are calling upon a page in the old Vietnam protest playbook and are being foolish in doing so. The end game of that playbook is that we abandon people to tyranny, while you show your immoral hypocrisy in turning your back. This time, however, it will be far more dangerous because radical Islam intends to come after us.

Congress debates the wrong stuff
I have yet to hear anyone in congress discuss what will actually happen when/if we pull out. Of course, the Dems and RINOs have not actually voted to pull out yet. The anti-US liberals who actually want to pull out now have more integrity than the Dems and RINOs who are participating in this current farce.

American Patriots in the US Senate...
or traitors??

The media has been drooling over the recent anti-Bush, anti-troop increase, “non-binding” resolution blather being thrown around in the United States Senate…and many Senators seem favorably inclined (read listing to the left) to accommodate.

The sad aspect of the Senate, as in most politicians, is their ability to say one thing but when decision time comes, they are either absent or side with the majority…the recent example of cowardice by the United States Senate was in the vote to confirm General Petraeus as Commander in Iraq…….

General Petraeus, testifying and being questioned before the Senate Armed Services Committee, told the Senators what he was going to do, he couldn’t do it without a troop increase, said cutting and running would lead to disaster, all the things the Senators did not want to hear. Yet, the General was confirmed by a 81-0 vote. I know Senator Johnson was in the hospital, but who the gutless 18 were that could, but did not vote I don’t know. I suspect it was many of those that didn’t have the courage to vote for Petraeus or against him…but many Senators continued to spew their anti-Bush, anti-troop, American is the problem venom, while saying they support America and the troops……….that is pure, unequivocal lies and political cover tactics.

Senator Hagel lashed out at his Senate colleagues stating, “I think all 100 senators ought to be on the line on this. What do you believe? What are you willing to support? What do you think? Why were you elected?” Mr. Hagel said, his voice booming. “If you wanted a safe job, go sell shoes.”

My fax to Senator Hagel and others was “If you are not a shoe salesman Senator, then introduce a “binding resolution” to cut off the funds for the Iraq war and do it now.

Your rhetoric in the safe confines of the United States Senate mean nothing unless you exercise courage of words and take action. Either put up or shut up.

If you don’t, you are branded as a hypocrite, a coward, and worse, a traitor.”

I hasten to add that Hagel’s, Kennedy’s, Warner’s, and others words do mean something…they give aid, comfort, and embolden the Islamic butchers. The enemy views them as weak, America as weak, America as divided, America as toothless…our warriors in harms way are put to disadvantage by the reckless anti-war shrill while these Senators quickly add “I support our troops”…I wonder how many good old gullible Americans will swallow this crap, close their mind, go back to sleep, or at least to a snoozing stupor……

United States Senators who carry out this farcical “non-binding” debate against President Bush’s troop increase are nothing short of traitors, should be tarred and feathered and left in Washington, D.C.

Phil Byler
Lon is a waste of time.

Thank you, George Washington
for having the wisdom to insist that he alone be designated Commander in Chief, reporting to Congress, but not controlled by it.

We have 535 CinC wannabes, posturing and preening before a fawning and drooling media, sputtering their double speak and skirting the issue on the one side, and continuing a relentless subversion of national security and the President on the other.

Hagel, Boenher, Biden, Kerry, Reid, Pelosi, Murtha, et. al. need to shut the F__K up and do what is right and necessary for our country. This is going to be a long struggle but these nitwits in congress are going to make it even longer and more costly with their stupidity.

If whatever you say or do SEEMS like you may be giving aid and comfort to the enemy, or anything that indicates to them that we're weak and folding and they only need to hold out a little longer in order to drive us out and bring us to our knees, you need to STOP IT!

It's so simple a fourth grader can grasp the concept. Oh, I forget. These people are still at the 3rd grade level.

roadmaster
OUTSTANDING POST and SPOT ON!

How I've often wanted to tell them exactly that while on active duty.

I once had to sit through a brief from 0900 to 1400, with a couple of scumbag Congcritters, through lunch!

Oh, BTW, the Congcritters had lunch brought in...for them, not us. This was of course during the Clinton years.

A total waste of time.

GunnyG
The soldiers lament: "Hurry up and wait"!

For eon
On the title of your post "Why would they change their minds?"

Do many of the Dems HAVE minds to change?

Driving While Defeatist
Mr. Gaffney,

I enjoyed your perspective on the behaviors of the "politicians in D.C" (my emphasis). However, I think the problem is much worse.

In counseling situations many times, the "presenting problem" is never THE problem. I believe that the change in the attitude of the Republicans in Congress has much to do with some insidious, yet very real anger.

Their anger, were this the case might first be focused on the President for his failure to be popular thus causing their impotence in the face of a political enemy as determined to defeat them as are the "Islamo-fascists".

Secondly, I think that they are absolutely furious at a clear Republican majority of voters...who failed to vote for them. I can see them in disarray holed-up in their caucuses trying to spin gold out of straw.

They have shown to me that they lacked the courage needed to rally the Party behind its leader and the country around its commander in chief.

Much is said about the anger of the "Far-left" whackos, but how did they attain their distinction as being 'far-left'. In a political landscape that resembles a desert more than an oasis who can tell one dune from the other?

None of the Republicans running in my state stood up and declared their position on the vital issues. The way of the war and how to 'fight' does seems inscrutable. Perhaps, in minds of a number of the Republcan politicians, that unless we receive a sign from heaven, or Christ returns. There will be is solution for their dilemma.

Democrats care not a wit for the seriouseness of the situation. Most of them don't even believe there is a situation. The Republicans care but are waiting for Divine intervention, a vision, a miracle. "If only we had another Reagan"

I have been in driver training class,(in the dark ages of my youth) and I don't think the class would do them any good. What is needed is an "intervention". That happened in November this year.

However, rather than respond positively, by supporting the President, and I do believe this was a critical factor in the last election, it was every man for himself.

Our enemies promised us peace if we did the right thing. (Elect a Democrat.)There was no outcry, there were no marches, there was no out rage? Although I heard a few whispers,they were confined to the ether, via talk radio. WE simply must find our own strength, depending on this media will not win an election.

President Bush has a fire in his belly. He has admitted that the policies we began with were left in place too long. We were not flexible enough, he responded to the cries of the people.

When this non-binding resolution comes up, every Republican to sign, will write their names in the blood of our fighters.

Driving defeatist in this case is a capitol felony and the offender worthy of scorn. It will be the coup de gras, CRIME make no mistake about my words or feelings.

I am a Viet Nam Vet, and I'v been here before. The other young men with whom I went to war were true believers, betrayed. Yes millions of those for whom we claimed to fight, These Asians died because of our cowardice and not our defeat. But now who in Washington will not only sober up, but stand up as well?

Please forgive my passion, it is honest. I was a true believer betrayed. Will it happen again?

Thank you for your article, May God bless America. GDZ.

I wish LD would come here
LD really needs to pen one of his (her?) satirical comments about how radical Islam needs to defeat the West (because the West needs defeating for its own good) but then how the Western Left will be the only ones able to then calm the radical elements of militant Islam through talking and caring and sharing.

Or something like that.

Taking the Monkey off Benedict Arnold's
back. Old Benedict must be smiling somewhere because now EVEN ELECTED OFFICIALS dont have a problem with aiding the enemy.

Frank, I think this brings and even more ominous point into view, especially for families that have young men and women who may choose to serve their country in the armed forces. I as a parent am now advising my kids NOT to join the military even though I believED it to be a great honor. No more. The behavior of all of the left side of the aisle and a few from right DURING A TIME OF WAR has convinced me that their politics MEANS MORE THAN ANY SOLIDERS LIVES.

Why decide to serve your country when even your ELECTED REPRESENTATIVES (which are your country) sell you out to score points for their political cult-like beliefs????

Points
EON--is right about accountability for mistakes made. Jane Fonda and John Kerry are living, walking free, proof no one is or ever will be held accountable. Treason and sedition are dead concepts.

Now to the real point--THE DEMOCRATS ARE NOT INTERESTED IN DEAD SOLDIERS OR NATIONAL DISGRACE--they are only interested in power. They buy it with your tax dollars (Katrina Hotel accommodations at tax payer expense is an example), they are paid to write legislation favorable to special interest groups (homosexuals and conservationist--ANWR), they champion every Socialist judge, they will let anyone cross our borders (they prefer the uneducated) because the DEMOCRATS WANT A SOCIALIST COUNTRY. You cannot be a Socialist without being a Communist. Therefore, they want a COMMUNIST COUNTRY. The blue print for subverting a country by the Communist was drawn up in Russia--just this past week I saw 2 major newspapers contain "by line " articles where the USA was referred to as being like Czarist Russia.

Assertive discipline
Everyone must remember that during the 1930s, here and in Western Europe the political parties, all the political parties raced each other to be the part of "peace through appeasement". It even was almost understandable to a point. The world only a little over a decade before had fought a war that in Europe almost wiped out an entire generation of men. The first day of a single battle might cost a country 85,000 causalties. It had been a most horrible war, "The War to End All Wars!" or at least to that point in history.

During the 1930s the Western Democracies had a choice between war and dishonor through appeasement. They chose dishonor[appeasement and retreat] but they got war, a war where not only did troops die in the millions but millions of civilians. But just as bad millions of civilians did not die in combat but through organized murder.

This weekend the LA Times asked and answered the question "Was 9-11 Really that Bad?" and the question "have we over responded?" They used examples from WWII as comparison. What if we asked the LA Times today, "Was Pearl Harbor really that bad? Did we over react by going to war, not only with Japan the country that attacked us, but Germany as well?" Their answer would be yes and they would use the causalties of World War One to defend their arguments.

So what if Germany rearms against the provisions of international treaty? So what if Austria is taken over by Nazis? So what if the Sudtenland is engulfed by Germany? So what if Poland is invaded? So what if Japan invades and slaugthers tens of thousands of Chinese?

Of course the intellectually superior left believed in the 1930s, the 1960s and now today that they are above war and demand their country to be above war as well. Only problem is that just as with Japan and Germany we have enemies that want to do us great harm. How do we know? They have told us so through words and actions.

The last time we ignored the bad guys it ended with having to drop nuclear weapons. Do we wish this one to start with nuclear weapons? Apparently the answer from the LA Times and like thinkers would be obviously yes!

Eagleone
You understand perfectly. Anyone on this board that would suggest voting Democrat is a fool and has a view of our country that is too parochial(narrow) to understand the true intent of the Democrats.

What are we waiting for?
From the author:
'It is, instead, a truly global conflict with an ideology, Islamofascism, that is determined to destroy us. Should those animated by this ideology succeed in defeating America in Iraq, they will be one step closer to achieving their avowed goal: global domination.'

This is what we hear over and over. Why then have we not gone into War Mode as a society, as an economy, as a nation? Why are we quibbling over 20,000 additional troops? We have 300 million citizens, why are we not mobilizing the might of our nation to combat this threat? If we are indeed so threatened, and we respond ONLY with our forces deployed as they currently are, we are contributing to our own demise as we predict its arrival. Do we not need to be producing materiel and expanding our armed force to meet this all-encompassing global threat? Where is the courage of this conviction? Our actions ring hollow, even as we argue amongst ourselves, if we are truly faced with the threat we are told of and choose not to respond with a response in kind. If it is as truly ominous as we are led to believe, where is our justified response? We have the capacity to overwhelm with sheer numbers. We have the resources and capital we can surely expend if our very existence is threatened.....What are we waiting for?

Warrior
You make some good points. However, even the Republican base now supports socialism if you look at their spending habits of the last few Congresses. Technically we've been a socialist nation since the inception of a national income tax in the early the 1900's. We've been ingoring the Constitution and the Bill of Rights ever since and with ever increasing regularity. If I ever ran for elected office, I would would re-educate my constituents on the long forgotten Tenth Amendment.

Matthew
The Iraqis already have a time table. They know that by Jan 2009, a Democrat may sit in the WH. They most certainly understand what that means. There is no need to throw out any additional deadlines. If Iraq has risen to the occasion by then, they know they are cooked.

To Matthew
How many times have you written a post to the DU or Kos protesting U.S. troops still being in Kosovo?

Dunkel
We are waiting for the Democrats to shut up and sit down.

Vic
You obviously don't understand. We (the U.S.) have absolutely nothing to gain by being in Kosovo. No one there is threatening to kill each and every one of us; no one there has attacked us on our soil. They aren't sitting on huge quantities of oil. So, you see, our presence in Kosovo is completely honorable.

Besides, the GOOD president put us there, the one that never lied to us (he was only kidding when he said we'd be out by Christmas, whatever year that was). It's a GOOD war.

Don
I'm not buying that. I don't see action coming from anyone anywhere that shows a willingness to respond in any way that is commensurate to the threat. The actual force we are deploying is but a portion of that we put forth in WWII, and is miniscule in relation to our capability. If the threat is as dire as is reported, we are OBLIGATED to respond in a manner that indicates we acknowledge the threat. We all agree the president has the power to send the force, why is the administration limiting the force? Our actions contradict the message of urgency we are being fed. If politics don't matter, we should open the floodgates and rain destruction upon those who would destroy us. If politics don't matter, we should crush those who seek to dominate us. If this is a worldwide struggle for our liberty, then it follows that left/right disagreements don't matter and should be subjugated for the greater good. However, the courage of the conviction is lacking if the administration allows politics to interfere. The anti-war faction will be there no matter the course of the war. If we have the power to escalate the war and exploit our advantages, and we choose not to, we do ourselves a disservice. Crying about dissent and its treasonous implications is a waste of time. Those who have the power to use the military as an instrument of war are obligated to do just that. Which is more important, elections or America? Looks like elections to me. Sheesh.

Conservatives are on the wrong side ...
... of the road.

What all the democrat bashers miss with all their name calling and venom is that the majority of the people in this country now disagree with them. They don't understand that it is not treason or aiding and abetting the enemy to try to get the administration to abandon what they believe is a course towards disaster.

HOW AN OBSERVANT PERSON SEES BUSH'S CONDUCT OF THE WAR IN IRAQ:

Suppose you are a passenger on a bus. The driver is speeding and swerving all over the road. He has missed several obvious turns and is now lost and extremely late according to the schedule he promised he would keep when you got on the bus. He is trying to make up time and has started having one near fatal crash after the other. He appears much less confident now then when the journey started and is driving at high speeds with one hand on the wheel and an obsolete map in the other.

After every near death experience the driver screams and yells that it wasn't his fault, and all the other drivers on the road are bad drivers and its only because of his skill that you are all still alive. He curses anyone who suggests he slow down or listen to any advice, saying they WANT him to remain lost so he -- the best driver in the world -- will be fired for doing the job he was hired to do. He pleads with the minority of passengers who still have faith in him to shout down every suggestion offered to him no matter how reasonable. He suggests the majority that disagree with him should be gagged or thrown off the bus because they are disloyal and helping the bad drivers on the road get him fired.

Now no one denies that there really are bad drivers on the road, and that some would be even worse bus drivers than the one currently in the drivers seat. But there are many, many better drivers than him and you remember that almost all of the suggestions and turns they offered in the past would have gotten you to the destination already. The longer this driver stays at the wheel, the more dangerous the trip becomes and the less likely it appears you will get to your destination.

QUESTION: In this scenario are the people who honestly think making stronger and stronger suggestions to the driver that are evil traitors. Is it really in your best interests to ignore everything they suggest and listen only to the driver.

ANSWER: There will always be a small minority of fools who would rather die and take the entire busload of passengers with them than admit they have been wrong in trusting this bus driver. But it is human nature to expect a larger and larger majority of the passengers to stop listening to the driver's empty promises and threats and start looking for safer alternatives of getting to their destination.

A Wise Man once said: You can fool some of the people all the time, and all the people some of the time, but you can't fool all the people all the time.

Face it those of you who blindly defend every thing Bush is doing in Iraq, you are the part of the population any bozo can fool all the time. The rest of us are just smarter and wiser than you, not traitors.

Go to the People
I agree with this articles idea of an education course. I do not agree with were the focus of that education should be. Many of those in congress have been there for several terms and those that do not believe in the anti war effort will support those who do out of party loyalty.

It is time to pull a Reagan. Go around the congress and go straight to the people. Yeah I know the poll numbers as to who supports the war and who is against it.

However who has been setting the national discussion on this issue.When I talk to people about supporting the surge the conversation usually winds down to how and why we got to Iraq in the first place.

Even if you talk to people who supported the Iraq war at first but are skeptical now will go back to the beginning and talk of wmds or democratization.

They do not talk of war on terror or how Saddam continually positioned himself as on the same side of The war on terror as the terrorist when he (Saddam) continually threatened the U.S. in one of the Most vital regions of the World.

I believe Archipelago got it right about some repulicans in Congress "lacked the courage to rally the party behind its leaders" I also think that until recently I have done a terrible job of supporting this cause by failing to correctly counter the anti Iraq movement with my friends and family and other aquaintences

I believe that Phil Byler is a good example of a first rate lesson writter on the war on Iraq for the general public. He did not try to counter continuous shifting points. He presented factual statements that oulined the overall war effort in a reasoned and respectful manner. Even if it does no good for Lon I belive the revelation of character throughout, blogs,opinion pages, and conversations will turn the momentum back to support for the war.

spelling
Man and sometimes my inability to spell really ticks me off. Phil I think you are a first rate lesson "writer" ....oh well.

Polls
To all of you anti-Bush frothing at the mouth liberal pukes. Some people do not govern based on polls. Everyone is not a draft-dodging liar who sticks his finger in the air every time he needs to know if its time to take a dump. Particularly, I would not traust any poll done by those lying dogs in the MSM. There is only one poll that counts and that is when the public votes. The public has NOT voted on any kind of referendum on the War in Iraq. When they do, I may, that is MAY, start to believe what the public’s desires are.

Vic
Silly man.

You know that ANYONE posting ANY KIND of pro-American, Pro-Bush, Pro-military post is immediately banned from Dhimmicrats Underground and their post wiped clean. Why do you think the libdolts come here? It's the only place that they can get a fresh view, even though they really don't understand it.

BTW, check my blog for a story on Canuckistan's Socialized Medicine WITH...documentation to support the view that socialized medicine SUCKS!

Any libstooges are free to visit and TRY to defend the abject scumbaggery of Soc. med.

Saudis pay Sunnis, Iranians pay Shiites
Saudi Arabia, Iran: Defusing Violence In Lebanon
Stratfor. com, January 30, 2007

Saudi Arabia and Iran are working together to defuse the ongoing violence in Lebanon and Iraq, Saudi Foreign Minister Saud al-Faisal said Jan. 30. He added that Iran approached Saudi Arabia about cooperating to avoid Shiite-Sunni violence in spite of U.S. attempts to internationally isolate Iran, and a Saudi envoy is currently in Tehran studying possible Iranian contributions to resolving the crises.

http://www.stratfor.com/products/premium/read_article.php?id=283634

Polls
OK Vic, if polls are not the driving force and politics are driven by polls, my questions above are that much more relevant. Any insight?

I'm Sorry Gunny...
I forgot. I support Bush only on one score and that is carrying the war to the enemy. My gripe with him on that score is that we are not carrying it hard enough. What raises my blood pressure is when you move from column to column here at TH regardless of the actual TOPIC, certain insane libtards continually wish to scream and throw poo about BushhitlerHalliburton Iraq.

To Dunkel
I wasn't responding to anything you wrote. Do you consider yourself a "frothing at the mounth anti-Bush liberal"? But to answer your original question, which I believe was "why aren't we responding with more force?". My response to Gunny should give you the answer to that.

dunkle
I believe in fighting the war on terror correctly. You seem to believe you know how to properly fight the war just like a lot of other people that say we are not fighting this war hard enough. Others say there needs to be a political solution.

I say to you and all of you war fighting experts. When you are elected Commander in Chief, or when you are promoted to Theater Commander. That's when you can put your ideas forward and implement your war strategy. Until then you'll just have to sit back here and continue monday morning quarterbacking while the current experts execute THEIR plans.

Saudis pay Sunnis, Iranians pay Shiites
The Middle East on a Collision Course (2): The Saudi Position
MEMRI, January 31, 2007

The Sunni/Saudi vs. Shi'ite/Iranian conflict, which has grown more acute in recent months and has spilled over into a U.S.-Russian conflict, is focused on two primary fault lines, Lebanon and the Persian Gulf -- each of which has its own zero hour ... MEMRI will be publishing, following up on our January 26, 2007 report, "Recent Saudi-Iranian Contacts to Resolve the Lebanon Crisis," a series of analyses tracking developments that might lead to the outbreak of a regional war in February-March 2007.

http://memri.org/bin/articles.cgi?Page=archives&Area=ia&ID=IA31907

Vic, Sentry
Vic, No I'm not a frothing at the mouth anti-Bush liberal. But I'm frustrated.

Sentry, I don't claim to be an expert. I'm not anti-war either. I wonder if we are doing enough based on what we are being told. I see the fingerprints of politics all over it. If our survival as a Western civilization is riding on the war, than to He!! with the ROE and all that. Get the draft going. Do something that indicates the WILL to be victorious. There is no reason we couldn't crush these radicals. I realize it is not a conventional war where brute force can occupy territory. I get, generally speaking, the nature of small cells and more mobile forces. But knock off the candy-azz response, worrying about what people will think if we relax the ROE. Will that matter if we are bowing toward Mecca 5 times a day?

Saudis in Iraq
The Roving Eye
by Pepe Escobar
Asia Times, December 14, 2006

Although the House of Saud's Interior Ministry will deny it, the Iraq Study Group (ISG) had to admit that Sunni Arab guerrillas are being financed -- to the tune of tens of millions of dollars -- by wealthy, private Saudi and, to a lesser extent, Gulf state donors, following instructions of powerful Wahhabi clerics.

Thirty-eight of these have just released a statement on Saudi websites calling on Sunnis worldwide to "mobilize" against Iraqi Shi'ites. This has stopped short of being a formal declaration of jihad not only against Shi'ites in Iraq but also Shi'ites in Iran, as well as US troops.

The guerrillas' Russian Strela anti-aircraft missiles in Iraq have been paid for by Saudi money (according to Khudair al-Murshidi, a Ba'athist spokesman based in Damascus, "We have stockpiles of Strelas.") There's no US pressure capable of reverting the situation: this is a matter of Arab tribal solidarity -- not a state affair.

There can be no direct negotiation with the Sunni Arab muqawama (resistance) because in essence what they want is the breakup of the Washington/Shi'ite majority government collaboration and their return to power. The Nuri al-Maliki government -- in fact, any Shi'ite majority government -- cannot possibly quash militia hell and the non-stop carnage because the Saudi-financed Sunni Arab guerrilla identifies any government as an occupier's tool.

http://www.globalpolicy.org/security/oil/2006/1214rovingeye.htm

surrender talk
We've allowed too much surrender talk. It's put chinks in our armor, already...

read more, here:
"A Tale of Two Wars"
http://thechristianheartbeat.townhall.com/

Or:
http://www.geocities.com/thechristianheartbeat/welcome.html

dunkle
I hear this all the time.

Would someone please tell me where I can get a copy of the current ROE's so I can see for myself how our hands are being tied.

Probably not because they are sensitive documents.

rhampton7 I think you have it right
I am not completely sure that it is impossible to bring some form of stability to Iraq. But it seems quite likely in spite of Petraeus's willingness to try that it will require much more than just minor strategy changes and 21,000 additional troops for 3 to six months or so.

There are a lot of people posting on TH that seem to think the main enemy in Iraq is al Qaeda. It is clear that they are there, primarily because of Bush's blunders. However the main problem seems to be civil war between the Sunni (who believe they are doomed if they allow the Shia to run the government) and the Shia who want revenge for how they were treated under Saddam for years and have no intention of letting the Sunni have any real power again. Throw in al Qaeda and assorted other religious militias based on nutty theories like the crazy zealots that were wiped out only with significant help from the US yesterday and you have an ugly and volatile mix.

If I am correct the big battle yesterday was in Najaf (if I spelled that right) which is not even Baghdad or Anbar, but an area that we had declared safe last year and handed over to the Iraqi's with great fanfare. If so, then so much for all the blood and treasure we expended to get to the great handover of the province back to Iraq.

In any case, I would have at least a little respect for Bush if he recognized this last year and called for a draft or some mechanism to raise a large enough force to impose order in Iraq. I might be OK with giving Petraeus a few months to show something if Bush were willing to impose some discipline and benchmarks on the Iraqi government. It seems neither is going to happen.

It is going to come down to mounting a real effort later this year or next to cut off funding for further adventures and escalation in Iraq and for Congress to kick start discussions with neighboring countries who are stakeholders in the outcome on containing the catastrophe the administration has created.

Less than 2 years left of W. Counting the days. No way most of the candidates on either side could be worse than Bush, except perhaps for that weenie Huckabee or whatever that Arkansan former governor's name is.




Once again, History is repeating itself
Check out this translated modern-day German film that connects the Grand Mufti of WWII to today's Islamofascism directly. What is not pointed out in this film is that the Grand Mufti was the Uncle of Yasser Arafat who was trained under his tutelage. America is once again the victim of the chronic ignorance of the Lobotomized Liberals who don't have any more sense than God gave an ant.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d51poygEXYU

The Islamofascism-Nazi connection
Here is an excerpt that shows the link between Yasser Arafat and Hitler...

"Haj Amin al-Husseini eventually died in exile in 1974. He never returned to Jerusalem after his 1937 departure. His place as leader of the radical, nationalist Palestinian Arabs was taken by his nephew Mohammed Abdel-Raouf Arafat As Qudwa al-Hussaeini, better known as Yasser Arafat. In August 2002, Arafat gave an interview in which he referred to "our hero al-Husseini" as a symbol of Palestinian Arab resistance."

Here is the actual source...

http://www.palestinefacts.org/pf_mandate_grand_mufti.php.

Now, you Lobotomized Liberals, Moderates, fencesitters, bedwetters, crybabies, and RINOS know the rest of the story. We who are ULTRA-CONSERVATIVE are the TRUE REAL CONSERVATIVES because we know what's going on. We have the facts, and because we know the truth, we know that there is no room ever for compromise with evil and that is exactly what trash the Left ALWAYS peddles to the masses.









The Drunk Congress
What else should we expect from overpaid millionaires living off of daddy's or the wife's trust fund money like Teddy Kennedy and John where-can-I-find-a-drunk-millionaire-divorcee? Kerry?

Why don't they get it?
... with Sharia and burkas for all.

Take Back et al
Hi guys. Click this link for what has been happening with Islam over the last 45 or so years

http://www.thereligionofpeace.com

Send the link to any mindless Leftie you know who may still be able to get themselves straightened out.

Click that link above, and learn
The link actually takes you all the way back to the origin of the murderous cult, with all the horrible deeds done in its name. Did anybody know that the original Crusades were started by Muslims, 400+ years before the French and British finally responded? It's in there

Click that link above, and learn
The link actually takes you all the way back to the origin of the murderous cult, with all the horrible deeds done in its name. Did anybody know that the original Crusades were started by Muslims, 400+ years before the French and British finally responded? It's in there

Ignoring Saudi Arabia is Suicidal
U.S. District Judge Upholds Suit by Suicide Bombing Victims
AP, January 30, 2007

Israelis and other foreign nationals can pursue in U.S. courts claims accusing the Jordan-based Arab Bank of promoting Palestinian suicide attacks by FUNNELING SAUDI MONEY TO BOMBERS' FAMILIES, a judge ruled Monday.

The lawsuit, filed in 2004, claims that Arab Bank aided terrorism by acting as the administrator of an "insurance plan" by the Saudi Committee in Support of the Intifada Al Quds, which paid $5,300 to the families of Palestinian bombers killed in attacks by Hamas, Islamic Jihad and Al Aqsa Martyrs’ Brigades.

http://www.judeoscope.ca/breve.php3?id_breve=3135


Saudi Terrorism isn't spam
Craig C,

It's not spam -- the comment applies equally to both topics.

rhampton7
"the comment applies equally to both topics"

Fair enough.

Back to Politics
The overriding concern of those elected is to be re-elected, not the situation in Iraq or anywhere else for that matter. That is what the Resolution is about, campaign propaganda, nothing more.

if bush was serious about winning he
would send 500000 troops or at least give armor to the ones going.
it came out today that only 40% of the humvees being sent with these guys is uparmored.

Pipe dreams, Gaffney
"What is more, such legislators will in due course be held responsible for favoring defeat over victory in the Iraqi theater and making our triumph infinitely harder in Afghanistan and elsewhere. At some point, like incorrigible drunk drivers, they will have their license to enact legislation revoked by an electorate that did not vote last November for a "change" that makes things far worse."

Nice idea, Gaffney, but Kerry and Kennedy, to name a couple, have never been held responsible for the communist takeover of Viet Nam. They are still in office and still getting reelected every 6 years.


Defeatism
Wanting the troops home now is not being a defeatist, the fact is, we do not need all those troops over in Iraq mainly when the Iraqis themselves want us to scale back our troop level.
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