The VP of Iraq wants a timetable for US troops withdrawal. The President of Iraq supports this request. However, every time anyone mentions removing troops from Iraq, the Right goes into it’s pre-recorded mantra of labeling them with the concept of supporting “cut and run” policies. Of course this sounds cowardly and foolish, which is exactly the point.
It never seems to dawn on these idiots that supporting our troops means that we should care about their well being and not just some glorified concept of the job being done. If we kill them all off leaving none to bring home, will that finally make the Right happy? Will the job be completed then?
Companies in bankruptcy have plans for either going out of business or restructuring. Companies who have a bad quarter have plans for turning things around. Companies who have good quarters have plans to keep things that way and those plans rarely just say, “stay the course.” Staying the course is a sure plan to fail. Complacency sets in and that’s never a good thing.
The irony of this whole thing is that now we have General Casey laying out a plan for troop withdrawal in Iraq and yet the Right magically doesn’t label this as “cut and run.” Hmm. Talk about hypocrisy. It’s ridiculous. It’s only cut and run if a Democrat suggests it. How is that?
7 Comments
Election year remember?
Happens on both sides. Party in power has home field advantage in these matters. 🙂
How many times does it have to be said before people will allow it to sink in and be understood? If we announce our timetable for leaving Iraq, the enemy will just sit back and wait us out – plain and simple. Look, you want to sell your house and decide, “Hey, I’ll put it on the market for one month at $200,000 and if it doesn’t sell, I’ll drop to $175,000.” Now, do you put that on the for sale sign? DUH! 🙂
Again, a global media means we must be cautious of what is said publicly. I have no doubt that plans are in the works but for heaven’s sake, we don’t need to announce them to the world! “Hey everyone! We’ll be out of Iraq on July 14th! Get yourselves ready now!”
Prediction: you would see a decrease in violence almost immediately, as the terrorist would bide their time. They are cowards and know they can’t beat us on the battlefield anywhere. Once we’re gone, they’ll strike hard at the underdeveloped Iraqi military, cripling them and all the world would scream at the U.S. for leaving an ally in a time of need and they would be fully justified in doing so. Look at Lebanon right now? Why is Hezbollah so strong there? Because the Lebanese government is just plain not strong enough to kick them out! This WILL happen in Iraq if we back out too quickly.
So now even General Casey is wrong???
John, the enemy is going to fight us there before we leave, while we leave and continue to fight there after we leave. Some date in the air isn’t going to change that one way or the other.
The problem many of us have is that we just don’t believe Bush. Not having any date sounds very much like not having any PLAN and he’s not exactly been the most reliable person for planning ahead on things. Thus, not giving HIM a date leads to never getting out of there. That’s the concern.
The President could say they have plans but won’t be announcing a public date. He won’t even do that.
As far as the terrorists being cowards, you and I have dramatically different definitions of cowardice. Are you willing to strap bombs to your body and blow yourself up in a crowded area for your relgion? I think they’d call you a coward.
I have no problem with calling these people lunatics but they’re certain anything but cowards. You want to see real cowardice? Bring back the draft. Once everyone’s children are eligible to be sent overseas on these endeavors, I have no doubt that the 95% of the so-called hawks turn to doves overnight.
Even Iraq has asked for a timetable but of course we pay no attention to that either.
Sadly the kind of occupation you’re talking about is like the one we had in Japan. Decades of occupation, except with an enemy that won’t accept defeat as Japan did. Admit it.
“John, the enemy is going to fight us there before we leave, while we leave and continue to fight there
after we leave. Some date in the air isn’t going to change that one way or the other.”
First part is certainly true. You’re starting to understand the nature of the enemy – that’s good! There’s
hope! 🙂 (I’m just teasing now)
Here’s why the second part is absolutely false. If we were to leave BEFORE the Iraqi’s are fully
prepared to take over the defense of their country, the terrorists WOULD destroy everything we’ve fought
for there. Announcing a timetable to the world would let them know they could just hang back a bit and
when we’re out, it’s blitzkreig in Iraq. Besides, the goal again was to take the fight TO the enemy,
wasn’t it? Better to fight them there, with the best America has than you and I facing them in
downtown.
Further, if we need a better illustration, look at Lebanon. Hezbollah has basically hijacked that country
because it’s simply not strong enough (or willing) to kick their asses out (excuse me). Now, Hezbollah
is at war with Israel and Lebanon is paying the highest price.
“Not having any date sounds very much like not having any PLAN”
Sorry but, that’s bogus. Was the government tracking the financial records of terrorists before it
became public? Was the NSA conducting surveillance between suspected terrorists and people in the
US before that became public? Did Sec. Rumsfeld drag out a whiteboard and hold a press conference,
detailing each and every sortie into Iraq before operations began over there? Just because the world
doesn’t know everything that we’re planning, doesn’t mean there is NO plan. That’s just poor reasoning
and I think you’re smarter than that.
And just to bring this around to aviation, Howard Hughes kept the Constellation project pretty secret if I
recall. That doesn’t mean they just through some parts together and the Connie rolled out – they had a
plan but they kept it secret because it was required to maintain a tactical advantage – which
unfortunately, evaporated but anyway… 🙂
“he’s not exactly been the most reliable person for planning ahead on things.”
Examples?
“The President could say they have plans”
He has, consisitently. He said the commanders on the ground tell him what they need and when they
can reduce their numbers, they will reduce their numbers. What’s so difficult to understand about this?
I’m not trying to sound rude here – I honestly don’t understand why some people don’t get this.
Look at Joe Torre when Steinbrenner aquired Daryl Strawberry. Torre said, “I don’t want him! Where
am I going to play him? You want me to sit out Paul O’Neill whose been busting his butt all year for me
and putting up numbers?” Torre was in a much better position to tell what he needed and what he
didn’t.
“As far as the terrorists being cowards, you and I have dramatically different definitions of cowardice.”
On that, I can’t argue. True, I could not strap a bomb on and blow myself up. I also couldn’t build a
headquarters in a civilian area for the express purpose of seeing those civillians killed WHEN it is
bombed. I also couldn’t grab an AK47 and hide behind a woman while taking pot shots at Marines. I
also couldn’t strap a young girl to a barricade on a road in Iraq to force the driver of a Humvee to either
stop and get RPG’d or drive through the barricade, killing the innocent one to save his troops. THAT,
my friend is what a coward is. They know they couldn’t stand 5 seconds on the battlefield against a
real soldier, so they hide in the shadows and attack the defenseless or they use the same as shields
while they shoot at true soldiers. No, I’m sorry but someone who commits suicide while committing
mass murder does not disqualify them from being a coward – it only indicates that they are insane,
murderous human beings. Would the same being willing to take his cause to the battlefield? Of course
not.
“You want to see real cowardice? Bring back the draft.”
Thankfully, there is no need. There are still plenty of brave souls willing volunterr to wear the uniform
and serve their country and yes, even take a bullet if neccessary – one that might otherwise being
targeting you or I. And I thank God for them – past, present and future. I will concede part of your point
in that it is very easy for someone over here, in their $500 suit and climate controlled office to sit and
pass judgement on the rest of the world, until they are called to action. However, those folks who wear
the uniform of the United States military understand that there ARE things worse than death. I believe
that’s one of the reasons they can face it everyday. Because they know that their cause is just and not
in vain.
“Sadly the kind of occupation you’re talking about…”
Why is the word, ‘occupy’ tossed around so much?! We are NOT occupying anything! We liberated a
country from a ruthless dictator/terrorist and are now helping to rebuild (and in some cases, BUILD as a
lot of services weren’t there to begin with) and develop this emerging democracy. When we and they
both agree that they are at the stage where our assistence is no longer needed, it’s check out time.
And what if we did build a base or two there? As far as I know, Ramstein is still a major asset in
Germany. Should we close that down?
The thing that kills me about this is the numbers that people throw around so much when, if they would
only stop and think about what they’re saying, well…
I think we’ve become an impatient people, as a whole. We want everything and we want it yesterday at
no cost. Not the way the world works. Our own independence cost us plenty and took longer than it
has taken Iraq to get to the point where it is today. D-Day, if viewed through todays 24 hour news
cycles would have been called the biggest failure in the history of warfare, yet it was THE turning point
of WWII and one of the many reasons we’re not all speaking German today. Freedom doesn’t come
without a price and no, I don’t say that lightly. Every single life lost is a tragedy – period, no buts. I
could go on and on about that but, I shan’t for the sake of respecting O’Reilly’s patent on bloviating. 🙂
I keep going back to an old quote from, of all places, Battlestar Galactica, which illustrates why we
must remain on the offensive in the war on terror – whether in Iraq, Afghanistan, or wherever:
Captain Apollo: “I come from a world where we thought the opposite of war was peace. We found out
the hard way that theopposite of war, was often slavery. And that strength, strength ALONE, could
insure freedom.”
The slogan is true – freedom isn’t free. Many have paid the ultimate price for it. Christ Himself gave
everything so that anyone who comes to Him by faith could be set free. Not to ever belittle the
sacrifices others have made but, here’s a line I recall from Star Trek’s Q: “If you’re afraid of a bloody
nose, go home and crawl under your bed.” Unfortunately, we no longer have that option. If we learned
anything from 9/11, it’s that these people will follow us home and destroy us here, if we ever show a
sign of weakness, if we ever let up even in the smallest way – they will exploit it and make us suffer. It’s
their goal. You cannot formulate a solution until you understand the enemy. Now we understand this
enemy and there can be only one response – nothing short of that will due. It is unfortunate but, the
words of VP Cheney DID in fact, say it best, cold as they may sound:
“We don’t negotiate with terrorists. We destroy them.”
Sorry about the last two posts – the format. I did then in notepad and pasted them over, not realizing what would happen to the format. DOH!
Wow, I completely missed that last point about Gen. Casey and the “cut and run” deal. Cut and run basically means, “Yo! Everybody out! We’re all going home!” Anybody who proposes that needs to serious rethink things. That’s not what troop reduction or redeployment is and I will give you that one. For someone to label Casey’s plan to REDUCE troop levels as “cut and run” is simply irresponsible, conservative or liberal.
Sorry, one more! 🙂
“Staying the course is a sure plan to fail.”
I will also give you that one, not what you said but hearing the same old tired, “We’re staying the course ’till we finish the job,” is making me weary. So many people don’t understand WHAT the job is and WHAT staying the course means. It is not so simplistic as just bobbing along. It’s more like remaining fixed on the goal, another thing many are confused about. I would love to see the administration come out with more details on what specifically is being accomplished in Iraq and what we are doing to reach the goals that have been set. They pop up from time to time but not always during prime time, when most folks are able to catch up. I actually saw an interview with the President in which someone (don’t recall who it was) asked him about WMD in Iraq and where they were. The popular concensus is that Bush lied – Hogwash, and everyone knows it! I won’t even go down that road – it’s a tired argument that warrants no response anymore. However, why we hadn’t found the weapons was a legitimate concern. The President said falt out: “I don’t know where they are. I expected we’d find them. I honestly don’t know why we haven’t.” But, you never hear that reported anywhere. Regardless, getting rid of Saddam was the right thing to do – period. Through the lense of history, who wouldn’t have taken a shot at a young Adolf Hitler? Maybe Hussein would never rise to the stature of Hitler but, he was certainly mad enough to make the attempt.
Hey we’re not perfect – none of us. We do the best we can under difficult circumstances and the President is doing what he feels is best to defend this country from another attack like 9/11 and agree with him or not, so far, it’s working.
Okay, now I’ll stand down. 🙂
Oh, by the way, about the “glorified notion of finishing the job?” The people in the fight understand the job, know exactly what it is and are not themselves willing to leave before it’s done. And don’t ever say that WE are “killing them off!” To do so exhibits an incredible ignorance and lack of respect that I can’t even begin to address.