the forgotten american dead: rural america paying the ultimate price in iraq

http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2003/05/20030501-15.html

THE PRESIDENT: Thank you all very much. Admiral Kelly, Captain Card, officers and sailors of the USS Abraham Lincoln, my fellow Americans: Major combat operations in Iraq have ended. In the battle of Iraq, the United States and our allies have prevailed.

How many Americans died after the president in each of those wars announced the end to major combat operations?

Here's some trivia for you. Guess who offered this gem?

"I think we've got to be very careful when we commit our troops. The vice president and I have a disagreement about the use of troops. He believes in nation building. I would be very careful about using our troops as nation builders. I believe the role of the military is to fight and win war and therefore prevent war from happening in the first place. So I would take my responsibility seriously."

 

You mean skeptical. Cynicism is not a good trait, in journalism or anywhere else.

As for you "believing nothing," you must be one of those superhuman liberals in the media who are never swayed by anything they see, think or feel.

 

So the same people who complain that Bush is stubborn and never changes strategy now are complaining when he does what they want hin to? Odd.

 

That's not it.

We never should have been there in the first place. Ever.

 

I believe in reality, and as we all know reality has a liberal bias.

Pallister, the good book said we shouldn't judge either. How about them apples?

Lyman,

When did anyone suggest we should nation build in Iraq? The war was over on May 1, 2003. W said it. Why do we need a surge?

Even you cannot be that ignorant.

Since you seem to have all the answers, give me W's exit plan for Iraq? I've repeatedly asked for someone on the right to deliver a way out, please get off the talking points and deliver a plan. Here's your chance to shine.

 

I don't claim to have all the answers, but I know your answer isn't the right one right now.

 

Someone from the left asking someone from the right what their plan is? Now that's rich. The left's only plan is to be against anything and everything. If Bush said to pull out of Iraq and let the Iraqis handle it themselves, the left would be up in arms. If Bush in 2003 had said, screw it, let the Iraqis deal with Saddam, the left would be treating Iraq like they're treating Darfur right now and campaigning for a full-scale invasion.

 

Somebody should send a copy of this to Yankees fans everywhere.

 

I love to see W, Cheney and Co. on TV every day bitching about how the "other side" has no plan.

"If you think our plan is wrong, give us a better one."

It's such horseshit. This group has screwed up in every possible way for three-plus years, they've ignored the advice of hundreds of people, they've failed to listen to the majority of the American public most of the way and they've turned what should have been a relatively simple invasion/democracy insertion into a great big steaming pile of shit.

And now they're demanding a plan for victory from the other side because people are screaming that they're tired of the same direction?

Gotta give 'em credit, that takes balls ... or a complete lack of conscience.

Fact is, they've been given plans for victory. At least a dozen times, people on their side said, out loud, "this shit ain't gonna work." And what happened? Those people were fired, demoted or shouted down. Anyone from "the other side" who dared question these assholes was immediately labeled "anti-American" or "unpatriotic." Anyone who disagreed with the idea of leaving our fellow citizens in an unwinnable war were informed they simply "didn't have the stomach for a fight."

You don't get to come back now -- when your party is no longer controlling the purse strings and no longer has the backing of the American people -- and act as if you've really been willing to work with these other guys if only they'd given you a plan for victory. It's dishonest, it's immoral and it's flat wrong.

There is but one plan for victory now -- scorching the earth. The only possible way for our troops to fly out of Iraq knowing that the country won't slip into an ugly civil war or become an absolute haven for terrorists is for us to wipe out most of the country, killing scores of innocent men, women and children along the way. That's it. There's nothing left. We can't control any portion of that country which we occupy. Our soldiers are a magnet for violence over there. Wherever they go, terrorist activity and death follows. We can't identify these terrorists before they start shooting at us and we can rarely find them when the bullets stop. And even if we are lucky enough to kill a few of them, three times as many roll in the next day to take their place.

Our leaders were outsmarted and outplanned by the leaders of various terrorist groups -- mainly al Qaeda. The boys heading up al Qaeda, astonishingly, had a better marketing plan. And they thoroughly kicked our ass with it. This war isn't about stopping terrorism anymore -- not to the people in the Middle East. It's about the US trying to kill all Muslims. If you don't believe that, just look at the groups of people who have joined together to fight us -- Iraqis and al Qaeda members. There's a reason al Qaeda had no meaningful presence in Iraq prior to this invasion. It's because the fundamental beliefs of the two were completely different. Hell, al Qaeda hated Iraqis just as much as they hated Americans. And the Iraqis wanted no part of the extremist beliefs held by al Qaeda. Now, a terrorist organization that was all but dead after our invasion of Afghanistan is stronger than ever and has spread throughout Iraq, even driving US forces out of Anbar Province.

We have lost control (if we ever really had it) to such a degree that a few months ago, one of our plans was to build a trench around Baghdad in order to protect that one city. And now, these assholes want a plan to ensure victory? That's swell. Maybe they should demand the Democrats and the American people also send them a cure for cancer. It would be just as likely, and just as reasonable a request.

There's no honor in admitting defeat and pulling out. But there's not even a smidgen of honor in allowing your fellow citizens to die day after day because your pride and arrogance won't allow you to admit that you've fucked this up so badly that it's the only legitimate option remaining.

 

Wow. That was about as nicely done as such a sad truth can be presented.

 

**crickets**

 

I've suggested on this board that we put the responsibility on the Iraqis to take control of their country by giving them 6 months. At the end of six months we are redeploying 40,000 soldiers. Six months after that we redeploy 40,000 more. We'll still have about 80,000 troops there a year from now to provide training and logistical support. But, we are not going to stand up for them when they won't do it themselves.

A year from now, we will access the situation and bring home another 40,000 leaving support personnel.

John Murtha offered an exit strategy. Dems in Congress have urged Bush to head a regional summitt (Kerry promised that in 2004).

There are plans on the table for those who don't have their heads in the sand and fingers in their ears.

Chirp, Chirp

How anyone would follow someone who has repeatedly taken his foreign policy off a cliff is criminal. The definition of insanity is ...