MoveOn.org has released a new anti-Bush video. I’d heard from various sources that it depicted an American soldier surrendering in Iraq. I pictured one of our men surrounded by rag tag thugs with machetes at his throat. I was ready to blow my stack until I saw the video.
It’s just the usual useless garbage. A soldier sinks deeper into the sand as he runs in the desert, and a voice drones on about Bush’s “quagmire.” Here’s the link.
By the way, I don’t think it’s treasonous. I just thought the post title would be provocative. 
Former Senator Bob Dole comments.
(Hat tip: Power Line)
{ 20 comments }
How can you call a reality like the one our military faces useless garbage? The US military is facing growing insurgency within Iraq and the unfinished and forgotten war of Afghanistan.
In Afghanistan the Taliban now again control 35% of the country, not to mention the countless tribal warlords which powers equal or are superior to the newly situated afghan government. It is clear that we have failed to provide adequate protection and failed to commit needed resources to the struggling democratic government of Afghanistan. The failure to provide that aid when it was needed will result in further problems which will require more resources to patch up. GWBs plan in afghanistan was to a attack and leave a shaky government without any real support.
As for Iraq, problems there are of greater magnitude. Fallujah is not under US control, recently insurgents have taken the offensive and attacked within the green zone, have attacked and overrun police stations, killed countless Iraqi soldiers, have successfully bombed pipelines and disrupted delivery of electricity. No plans exist and no new ideas are being implemented, to slowly lessen US military involvement. 40% of US forces currently serving within Iraq are reservist, was that GWB’s plan? to flood Iraq with inexperience? There was a reason Bush Sr. didnt go into Iraq, and the reason was that there is no clear exit strategy.
The video is useless garbage.
I’ve been indignant with Bush about this war. I believe going in was the right thing to do, but I don’t think he’s being aggressive enough. The U.S. should have razed the place and cleaned all hotspots out before sending Americans in there. You don’t dismantle a leader and then send soldiers in without vanquishing all the rag tag “rebels” in your sights. Bomb them out, smoke them out, then send soldiers in.
But we’re there now. I trust Bush to handle this mess more than I do John Kerry, for crying out loud.
Daniel, if your’e a soldier over there, then your comment means something. Otherwise it’s as useless as the video. Those brave people are over there roughing it both in the sense of creature comforts and guerilla attacks as well as risking life and limb so that you can sit in your pajamas and spout the oblivious natterings.
And how DARE you impugn the experience and integrity of the “Weekend warrior”. Ever since the Total Force concept was implemented, and strengthened by the Gipper, Guard and Reserve units have become a force to be reckoned with whether in war games (William Tell, Volant Rodeo among other inter/intra /international competeition) or on the battlefield. Normally I don’t “care” about commenters that post ideas contrary to mine. But if you continue to cherish the notion that the reservists are incompetent and inexperience,
then I will as emphatically as Cheney tell you to get LOST!!!
As for your site, excellent job. As for MoveOn.Gore’s ad, I disagree with its fundamental premise, but it’s fair play in a political year. It’s certainly no worse than the SwiftBoat Ads against Kerry.
LaShawn -
I agree with your comments entirely. I totally supported going into Iraq and in spite of that, I am very concerned that we haven’t been aggressive enough – or weren’t prepared to be aggressive enough – to really close this thing out in the manner that it required. It *is* hard to hear the casualties counted and not wonder what could/should have been done differently. However, those qualms aren’t enough for me to give my vote to Kerry. I’d rather trust Bush to correct this mistake, than empower Kerry to pull back (and out) entirely. No matter what is said, this world is a better place for Saddam Hussein being out of power; now we must take the next necessary steps and disempower those trying to fill his void in the wake of our reluctance to do what it really takes to win the war on Arab terrorists.
PC
Love your site. thanks for the link to the video. I agree that it is not treasonous and is protected by the first amendment, since it clearly describes itself as a partisan ad – unlike some shlockumentary movies and TV “news” magazines.
Daniel, You sit at your computer demeaning our country, our President, our motives, our abilities, our methods, and our servicemen. What have you contributed lately other than cheap, misguided, unpatriotic criticism. So 35% of Afghanistan is controlled by the Taliban? That means 65% isn’t. You opposed the war in Afghanistan, until the Taliban scurried like rats, and we moved on to Iraq. Now you say we should be fighting in Afghanistan. You don’t like the exit strategy in Iraq, and you criticize the exit from Afghanistan. “Insurgents” in Iraq, my butt… those are amoral suicidal Islamic fascist terrorist barbarian psychopathic baby-killers doing what they do — killing people and getting killed. GWB and his team are smart cookies. Iraq is the flypaper, and the alcayda flies and maggots go there instead of here. With all their problems, the Afghans and Iraquis are considerably better off than they were before, and eventually, our awesome and impressive American military brethren and our friends will prevail. When we go back into Afghanistan to run the rats off again, I expect you’ll be criticizing that, too. What do you really want? I think we all know. Don’t you realize that your collective badgering encourages the enemy, prolongs our engagement, and causes more casualties? How does it feel to be an accomplice to the murder of Americans, Iraquis, and those who have gone there to help, only to be attacked or kidnapped, and killed. I suspect that after the election, when GWB doesn’t have to be politically correct, he’ll drop the hammer big time on the bad guys. It’s tough to be “agressive” when the media wing of the Democratic party (CBS, ABC, NBC, PBS, and CNN) capitalize on on every casualty?
To Mike in San Diego: Thanks, great comment
To: Daniel I don’t think I was “inexperienced” when I served as a reservist in Vietnam or in the Gulf. Nor was my son when he served in the Gulf and Afghanistan. Since my daughter is a regular, we really can’t consider her service in the Gulf and Iraq.
I do, however, remain interested in national defense and suspicious of the traitor son-of-a-bitch with the blood of his brothers on his hands – John Kerry.
We should definitely make our ‘exit strategy’ known…., the day after insurgents in Iraq make theirs.
Remember it was bush that got us into this mess!
“Daniel, if your’e a soldier over there, then your comment means something. Otherwise it’s as useless as the video. ”
Why would that be? A soldier might have a closer look at one place, but may not have as good a look at the overall situation. Recent intelligence estimates tell us that Iraq will at best continue to stumble and maintain the current situation — at worst will completely disintegrate. I happen to think neither Kerry nor Bush have a plan to get us out of this mess, but at least one candidate doesn’t seem to be in denial.
Whatever man.
Earth to Actus. The Islamofacist declared war on us years ago and demonstrated their ability to attack us at home.
My bit about Daniel the soldier was only aimed at the claim of “inexperience” and not seeing an exit–yes, some soldiers do feel frustrated. It means something only in that he’s in the sandbox and that’s how he feels. That it means something is directly tied to what capacity–as a private, NCO, contractor or officer. Otherwise, he’s only repeating the half-MT/pull-out now pyschobabble.
Don’t you get it? It doesn’t matter that Saddam had “nothing” to do with 9/11. It matters that he was a loose cannon and had the resources to terrorize us by proxy–by that logic Saddam=bin Laden=Chechen=every-other-islamofascist.
Iraq is our strategic flypaper that’s attracting “freedom-fighters” and diverting their resources to fight us there, rather than here . I’d rather have them tactically reacting to us there, than strategizing here.
And I suppose if it was WWII, you’d be advising us not to engage Hitler by pointing to Dunkirk. After FDR ignored your insightful advice, you’d then point to the Battle of the Bulge (75K casualties) as ’see I told you so’. And questioning what Italy has to do with anything. Likewise with every battle in between, win or lose, you’d rant about a lack of battle plans and exit strategy.
Then you’d carp about the thosuands lost, in a training exercise in the run-up to D-Day, as evidence of quaqmires/suicide mission, as evidence of the futility of sending woefully inexperienced soldiers into harm’s way. As the D-Day casuality counts pour in, you’d be calling for regime change of our own govt and all the more shriller about bringing the boys home–Hitler’s too strong etc, etc and so forth and so on.
Funny that you can blast pre-9/11 and pre-war intel as weak/inept, yet accept pre-handover intel as gold.
The ONLY way to get out of the mess is to exterminate the pestilence. We’re in the fight one way or another for the long haul–at worse for a generation until we have not only political regime changes, but religious (iman/mullah) as well. Denial of this fact IS suicide.
Furthermore, what do you think the lesson-learned will be for Iran/NK if we pull out?
Like it or not, we’re in WWIV and you can be sure that Satan will do his utmost to make the casuality count as high as possible, if it means taking out 1/3 of the world population.
I see I’ve hit a nerve. And all because I mentioned that our intelligence services predict things aren’t getting better, despite the claims of one presidential candidate. Now that the right wing is in power, they’re getting as whiny as the liberals.
No, intel is but a tool. I’m whining about the hypocrisy in your use of Intel as it pertains to war critics.
Intel indicating possible attacks on the US were pooh-poohed and actively marginalized prior to 9/11. Then used as “smoking gun” evidence that Bush knew and ignored it. Now it’s used to claim that our Iraqi experiment is pointless waste of American lives.
“Now it’s used to claim that our Iraqi experiment is pointless waste of American lives”
When all that it says, and all I claimed it says, is that things aren’t getting better and are not likely to, but some of our politicians insist they are. Pointlessness is another discussion.
WW2 had no exit strategy other than complete destruction of the enemies’ (Germany & Japan)will to fight. This exit strategy nonsense began after a dubious conclusion to the Korean conflict and the subsequent fiasco that Vietnam became.
I, for one, get livid over talk of exit strategies. Such a strategy is nothing more than revealing your plans to your enemy. Yeah, ok. We’ll exit after your will to murder innocents is completely destroyed. Hide in mosques, we’ll destroy them. Hide in schools, we’ll destroy them. Hide behind women and children, we’ll do our best to rescue them and destroy you, but you will be destroyed.
The alternative? Fight on their terms, because the fight will be fought, like it or not. I’d rather fight on our terms.
Im not a soldier, but does that make my input invalid? Andy do you honestly believe “weekend warriors” as you said are as experienced, trained and as capable as career military persons? Compared to career military people are reservist as well trained and experieneced? no they are not.
Mike in Sandiego, Im not opposed to the war in Afghanistan, i even thought we should commit more to the war in afghanistan but President Bush failed to finish his job in Afghanistan, and speedily moved to invade Iraq. You fail to recognize differences between Insurgents within Iraq, and islamic fundamentalist which are present in Iraq as well. What i really wanted was to be fully engaged in Afghanistan, after that we had to intelligently look and find the next greatest problem Americas security faced and im sorry it wasnt Iraq, as it is very evident North Korea has capability of nuclear weapons and Iran is much further in nuclear capability than what our intelligence believed. We made the incorrect choice of entering Iraq, when other problems had more priority to be faced and finished.
Andy, Which resources did Saddam have to attack us i would like you to clarify that? How does Saddam = binladen When did Saddam provide assistance to Bin Laden? Al Qaeda training manuals clearly state that their goals are to kill dictators and others in power which do not want to relinquish power to form a Pan-Islamic State. Bin Laden was set upon Killing Saddam to establish Islamic fundamentalist state. Saddam is not a islamo fascist, why do you think we gave him aid against Iran? or have you forgotten Rumsfeld with Saddam. How can you compare WWII to present wars? that comparison is just idiotic. Im not saying we should pull out either, im saying we should have a strategy that will eventually lead us to completing the war. WW4? that would be accurate if the world was actually committed to this war.
Daniel, you contend that reservists are inexperienced, give me some proof.
I happen to know that reservists are comparable to Active Duty in practically any head to head comparisons. You forget the Minuteman tradition–a ragtag army of militia put the professional redcoats in a world of hurt.
But then again, your statements reveal your lack of appreciation for the “nuances” in military matters. I suppose you also believe the DNC line that we need to reinstate the draft–some mumblo-jumbo about quantity trumps quality. If you’re going to repeat DNC talking points, just remember Kerry was a Navy Reservist “hero”, not real Navy. Do you reckon that inexperience perhaps explains some of his dumb luck in Nam?
Whatever dude. But when touble comes, who ya gonna call?
————
Of course bin Laden would just as soon chop Saddam’s head off sooner or later. But like Lenin, he had an appreciation for useful fools. Saddam likewise had his uses for both religious fanatics and peace-at-any-cost moonbats.
The mullahs want to bring about a new Islamic empire — the 3rd caliphate — and nothing short of total world domination will appease them. Laden & friends wanted a theocratic world empire.
Saddam wanted more or less the same, but in a secular context. Do you know the history of the Baath party? One and the same as the Nazi party. Aryan supremancy for Germany, Arab supremacy for SWA. Same horse–different colors, if you will.
Saddam thot he was the reincarnation of Saladim. He also commisioned a custom handwritten copy of the koran in his own blood. He also paid out $25,000 to families of so-called martyrs who terrorized Isreal among other targets. And undisputedly funded other islamofascist terror organizations–enemy of my enemy is a friend, however temporary.
Wonder why some of the non-Kuwaiti terrorists cooling their heels in Gitmo had Kuwaiti passports/identification/documentation? Wouldn’t have anything to with the brief time that he occupied Kuwait 14 years ago, would it? What about paramilitary training given to Al Queda/Hamas/Abu whathizname? What about safe passage, medical care for jihadiis transiting SWA? What about persistant defiance of UN resolutions, ie shooting at our planes in the no-fly zone? What about the genocide of 1/2 to 1.5 million of his own countrymen?
Rummy with Saddam; so what, that was then, and then he was acting as an official representative of the US Goverment. Unlike sKerry meeting with the VC in Paris as a representaive of the antiwar movement.
And many thot Churchill was idiotic for comparing pre-war German agression on Poland/Austria/Czech to WWI. The world wasn’t ready to commit to war until it was too late. There was a good decade of rumblings and warning signs leading up to the “official” start of WWII.
Are you proposing that we go back to bed; until we wake up with them in running around in our streets. Your theories on war strategy are seriously lacking; I take it that you’ve never played chess, or you’d realize how ridculous your position is.
History teaches that the first thing to be jettisoned is the battle plan. After all, the enemy also have their strategy as well. Ultimately, the only thing that counts is commitment to winning unconditional surrender.
It is the islamofascist that declared war on us, and have repeatedly attacked us here and there over the years. We can either pooh-pooh their declaration and go back to our pre-9/ll koolaid drinking. Or we can sober up and gird up our loins for a long drawn out fight. Either way, they are deadly serious about taking us down.
Andy,
you used the word Practically, that hints that there is degree of separation when comparing active duty and career soldiers to reservist, so i believe you may know the amount of separation of the two.
Im glad and thankful our rag-tag militia won against professional british army, that is why i express worry for our soldiers in Iraq, i worry that because of President Bushes failures to in the begining set up strategy for effectively combating a resistance that rag-tag militias in Iraq, will serve our soldiers with hurtful blow.
When was it the DNC line that we need to reinstate the draft? when did i ever say or hint that we should reinstate the draft? quantity doesnt trump quality but perhaps its not evident to President Bush who has lowered the standard to become part of Special Operations groups from 4 years of training to 2 years.
Bin laden and friends believe in Pan-islamic rule of the world, they also would reinstate a Caliphate to rule.
You present evidence of Saddams backing of Islamo-fascist, now i dont know if you realize it but there are other countries which have provided more monetary funds and aid to terrorist organizations than Saddam did. Saudi Arabia is a country which educational system breeds islamic terrorist, they also support other islamic terrorist groups monetarily and President Bush hasnt even placed them upon evil axis list because they are untouchable because of US dependency upon their oil. Iran which holds religious authority over its people backs many and parhaps more terrorist factions than Saddam. Iraqi war did not concentrate on the real priority and problems which will threaten our security. other countries threathen it alot more.
Im not proposing we slumber while these terrorist engage us abroad, i suggest that we could have had a more positive and much more succesfull campaign against these terrorist had we chosen a different country, a more dangerous country to attack rather than Iraq. We cannot wage war continously we had to pick the most dangerous and most threatening and engage them first. and this administration failed in doing so.
Daniel,
Which more dangerous country would you have preferred? Any others that have tried to assassinate our presidents? Invaded allied nations? Ignored UN resolutions? Intimidated journalists to get favorable reporting?
3 out of 5 will do.
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