Friday, September 14, 2007

Abandoning our troops to "sell" lies to the country

Front paged at Booman Tribune and ePluribus Media

By now, it is patently obvious that basically all of the rosy news on Iraq is false, distorted, irrelevant to the big picture and frankly insulting to the intelligence of anyone that even has a cursory knowledge of the NIE report, the unedited GAO report as well as all of the news about bombings, killings, sectarian cleansing and lack of progress by the Iraqi government in meeting any of the benchmarks that were laid out earlier this year.



Yet, to add insult to injury (and mounting deaths), Mister Bush and many republicans are looking to “market and sell” the ideas of good news and progress in an attempt to justifying another $200 billion dollars and thousands more of our troops’ lives over the next fifteen months – at a minimum.


Of course, we already know what the House Minority Leader thinks of our troops’ lives, and we know what one of the leading republican Presidential candidates thinks when it comes to his own sons “serving their country”. What is most baffling to me is that, over the past few days, even as basically all reports I have read, seen or heard indicate that facts contradict the rosy assessments of “progress” in Iraq, this is still being framed in terms of Bush (or whoever else) trying to “sell success”. If this isn’t the most dishonest and disingenuous of things to do to our troops, then I really am hard pressed to think of something that is.



It is sad that it took a republican Senator (Warner) to ask General Petraeus if the situation in Iraq is making America safer, and it is sadder that Petraeus said that he didn’t know. Apparently, even some republicans are feeling a bit queasy about Bush’s rosy assessment and snake oil salesman imitation.



And now, we are on the precipice of a substantial debate on just which direction to go in Iraq. This past month, the “hard sell” that we have been subjected to really showed precisely how little so many of our elected leaders care about our troops in Iraq. Still no mission, still no talk about exactly what our troops are supposed to be doing in Iraq, still no talk about a bill that will address proper rest or equipment or a timeline for them to leave.



Every single member of Congress at least is aware of what is going on in Iraq. They have seen the numbers in terms of troop casualties, they voted on bills for withdrawals, for proper rest, armor and equipment, and nearly all of them know that Petraeus said back in March that there is no military solution in Iraq. Despite the “catapulting of propaganda” over the past few weeks while Congress was in recess, somehow, many more people are aware of the real and true assessments of this “success” in Iraq. Yet, many are still resigned to a continuation of the same lack of strategy and policing of a civil war, leaving our troops as sitting ducks for attacks.



It seems as though we are being set up for another round of moving the bar and not one, not two but three more Friedman Units. Rahm Emanuel recently said that “George Bush has one strategy at this point, to make sure Iraq is someone else's problem”. Yet, there have been numerous Democratic House and Senate members (including Levin, Clinton, Obama, Clyburn, Baird, Durbin and McNerney) who have talked about continuing to leave our troops stranded and abandoned in Iraq by not taking the steps to get our troops out and not have a significant ongoing presence in Iraq.



Long term, that is one thing and is bad enough. However, when we are talking about our troops – the brave men and women who are doing all that is asked of them at least ten times over – anything other than fully funding a withdrawal of our combat troops within short order and dismantling our permanent bases is nothing more than abandoning our troops in Iraq.



There are a good number of Democrats who will be voting against any form of “compromise bill”, a bill which does little more than compromise our morals and values more than they have already been compromised. What is interesting is that there will likely be a good number of republicans who will vote against any bill with even nonbinding and toothless recommendations.



Public sentiment has not really changed all that much – even though there may have been a temporary uptick in the lies and lipstick on a pig pleas for “buying more time” to “continue the progress” – this too will fade quickly as the deaths and attacks continue to mount. Even still – even if this uptick wasn’t temporary, there is still an overwhelming view that we should be taking substantial and significant steps towards getting our troops out of Iraq much sooner than January 2009. Regardless of whether people are thinking there has been some progress – these people still don’t think that there has been enough progress to stay indefinitely.



And even if there was progress, that is all the more reason that we should be talking about a larger and real drawdown of our troops. We are now anxiously awaiting what comes out of Congress over the next few days and weeks with respect to the $200 billion request by Mister Bush to pass the Iraq disaster that was created and enabled and fostered off to someone else.



Congress was overwhelmingly unimpressed with Petraeus’ testimony. More republicans with nothing to lose (or their jobs to lose) are starting to talk about voting against abandoning and stranding our troops at least until 2009. Many in Congress talk about having to continue dumping hundreds of billions of dollars into Iraq. Their justification is that by not doing so, they would be abandoning the troops.



Too bad they have it backwards. To vote for anything other than funding a withdrawal is abandoning our troops.



There is no other way to put it and be honest.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Clammyc:

What in God's name does being a tax consultant have to do with running a war? Your analogy is so way off. The next thing you'll be telling us that you drive a Volvo, which is what I would expect from the far radical left who have always hated our military and belittled their sacrifices.

I hope by tax consultant you mean helping the poverty stricken deal with tax issues, but I have a funny feeling you are a corporate lackey who talks the talk, but certainly doesn't walk the walk.

Get some credibility. You sound like John Kerry explaining his vote authorizing the War in Iraq.

Maniac

clammyc said...

Maniac--

Your posts are getting more laughable and have more traits of wingnut talking points than anything else.

At first they actually had some good points mixed in with the lunacy and uninformed crap that you sling.

Now, you just sling crap.

Reading your comments and baseless strawman and ad hominem attacks on me (as opposed to any credible comments about my posts) makes me even more sure that my posts are spot on, and you are nothing more than my own personal troll.

I'm honored.

Anonymous said...

Clammyc:

You are not that credible so get down off your high horse. What do you really know about Iraq? Have you been there? Do you know any military leaders who have been there? I'm sure you run accross many in your travels as a "tax consultant."

As for talking points, all your stuff is not that original. It is right from the far radical left playbook, which is funded by Soros, a man who is not permitted in France as a consequence of his illegal business dealings.

No responsible foreign policy expert believes it is a good idea to withdraw troops from Iraq at this point. All the radical left keeps yammering about is how Bush got into the war in the first place without a rational solution.

It is more than clear that the US Intelligence services badly served the President and were poorly managed as a consequence of the failed Clinton foreign policy. That is all documented in the 9/11 Report.

Although the Report was a whitewash in some regards, it can not be completely dismissed. Furthermore, it also points out that Bush did nothing to rectify the failures of the Clinton era during his first 9 months of office. Those are facts, not fiction unlike most of your charges.

Maniac

clammyc said...

wow, that is mighty impressive. So many talking points, ad hominem attacks and strawman arguments in one post - all devoid of any facts or support for your attacks.

I take it that you have been to Iraq many times yourself, or have talked to many veterans as well, or read the 9/11 report, other government reports and whatever other information is out there in between your rambling rants against a blogger who happens to read a hell of a lot about the Middle East and talk to more than a few people who have either served or had family who served.

And the name "Maniac" really adds another layer of "credibility" to your ramblings.

If you weren't so amusing, I'd ignore you and hope you went away. But your posts are just hysterical.

Anonymous said...

Clammyc:

I find you equally amusing and I'm glad to know you "read" a lot about the Middle East. For your information, I have read the 9/11 report and been to Iraq several times as a means of providing humanitarian assistance to those who have suffered as a consequence of this war. I have spoken with many of our troops on the ground, who are dedicated to the mission, with the exception of left wing idiots like the one who posted fabricated stories in the New Republic.

Although you can mock my nickname all you want, I got more street credibility than you since I have been to Iraq, communciated with our troops and read the 9/11 Report. I am a "Maniac" when it comes to the facts, which you clearly seem to want to ignore.

Once again, these are not talking points since I am not working for any political organization. Why is it that any time one challenges a lefty, the canned response is that you are Karl Rove's lackey? Can't you come up with something a little better.

In the end, despite all the reporting, I still suspect that the Democrats will be shut out of power once again since they have handled the Iraq issue with such dishonesty that America will not accept it. Despite the fact that Bush has been a seriously misguided leader, America stuck with him over the Democrats.

You have to ask yourself why? I guess they rather have a principled yet misguided fool over an intellectually dishonest and morally bankrupt hack financed by an economic war criminal like Soros via Gore or Kerry.

Enjoy your tax consulting business. I will be off to Iraq for a while putting my money were my mouth is unlike your arm-chair radicals.

Maniac.