Aug 22 2008 - Seattle PI
by Deroy Murdock
TEMECULA, Calif. –– As top Democrats address their national convention in Denver, they will propose "ending" Operation Iraqi Freedom, demand a speedy withdrawal of U.S. forces there, and insist that "Bush lied, and people died."
What they will not do is apologize for their nearly universal failure in judgment regarding President Bush's spring 2007 Surge of 20,000 troops into Iraq. Widespread Democratic defeatism and lack of faith in our GIs' ability to win gouged a gap between their forecasts of doom yesterday and Iraq's far sunnier outlook today. With few exceptions, Democrats got this one dead wrong.
Aug 10 2008 - The Weekly Standard
by Matthew Continetti
In January 2007, with Iraq in flames and Democrats set to take over Congress, President Bush had two options. He could side with Senator Barack Obama and begin a gradual drawdown of American troops in Iraq, leaving the Iraqis to a grim fate and dealing a serious and consequential blow to American interests in the Middle East and beyond. Or he could side with Senator John McCain and change strategies, sending additional troops to Iraq in an effort to secure the population and assist the Iraqis in their fight against al Qaeda and the Iranian–backed Shiite militias––the so–called "surge" policy. This latter option was the one Bush eventually adopted, of course. And for that, he deserves the thanks of Americans, of Iraqis, and indeed the world.
Aug 07 2008 - Town Hall
by LARRY ELDER
Listening to National Public Radio on the way home from work, I found the interview –– at least at first –– fun enough.
NPR's Terry Gross interviewed comedian/actor Will Ferrell, actor John C. Reilly and writer/director Adam McKay –– to promote a new film.
All yukked about their careers, and then the interviewer asked Adam McKay how he and Ferrell began their collaboration years ago on "Saturday Night Live." "We had several writers writing a lot of the political stuff," said McKay. "But yeah, I had written a couple pretty big ones with Will. We actually wrote a sketch right after (Bush) was elected where Dick Cheney came out and said, 'Now a message from the president of the United States,' and it was Dick Cheney. And he was telling everyone, 'If you make less than $250,000, turn the channel right now because this doesn't apply to you.'
Aug 06 2008 - Town Hall
by Michael Medved
Most Americans remain utterly ignorant of this nation’s first foreign war but that exotic, long–ago struggle set the pattern for nearly all the many distant conflicts that followed. Refusal to confront the lessons of the First Barbary War (1801–1805) has led to some of the silliest arguments concerning Iraq and Afghanistan, and any effort to apply traditional American values to our future foreign policy requires an understanding of this all–but–forgotten episode from our past.
Jul 25 2008 - Town Hall
by John Hawkins
The enormous improvement in Iraq's security situation caused by the surge has been so undeniable that even the mainstream press has started alternating between ignoring Iraq completely and acknowledging, albeit reluctantly, that the surge has put victory within reach in Iraq.
So with that in mind, it's worth taking the time to look back at what the crème de la crème of the Democratic Party has had to say about the war and the surge over the last few years.
Jul 25 2008 - Times Union, Albany NY
by Ellen Goodman
Is it any wonder that John McCain was feeling a tad neglected? There was Barack Obama on a nine–day trip through eight countries with three network anchors and all John got was a lousy T–shirt. Or to be more exact, all he got was a ride in George H.W. Bush’s golf cart and a rejection from The New York Times’ op–ed editor.
Even McCain’s inner circle began to get snarky. They keep referring to Obama as The One. The straight talker’s Web site even posted a video of “The Media is in Love,” a montage of fawning sound bites against a soundtrack of Frankie Valli singing “Can’t Take My Eyes Off You.”
Jul 22 2008 - Investor's Business Daily
by EUGENE ROBINSON
It's not a "timetable" for extricating U.S troops from Iraq that George W. Bush is suddenly talking about, and heaven help anyone who accuses him of proposing a "timeline."
No, the Decider says he is now amenable to a "time horizon," which apparently is a whole different kind of time thing — not at all like the sensible course of action that Democrats and other critics of the Iraq occupation have been demanding.
If Bush were known for exquisite subtlety in his use of the language, I'd note that a horizon is, by definition, a line that can never be reached. But pigs will streak across the sky at Mach 2 before this president displays a diabolical mastery of semantics.
His new "time horizon" formulation is just smoke, intended to obfuscate and stall. In six months, Iraq becomes somebody else's problem.
Jul 22 2008 - Seattle PI
by MARGARET CARLSON
We all think our jobs are hard. Even though I can pop out freely for school plays and doctor appointments, I go around thinking mine is a doozy. It's not, and neither are those of the loudly suffering hedge–fund managers, who work in climate–controlled offices on ergonomically correct chairs and get outsized rewards.
Any garbage man, meter maid or retiree flipping hamburgers would trade places.
I raise this because I discovered the two hardest jobs in the world over the July 4th weekend while lounging on the beach: First is the person who notifies NOK (next of kin) that a loved one has been lost in combat, immortalized in a new book, "Final Salute: A Story of Unfinished Lives" by Jim Sheeler.
Jul 21 2008 - Town Hall
by Paul Greenberg
Have you been keeping up with the good news out of Mosul, al–Qaida's last urban stronghold in Iraq? The good news is that it's not an al–Qaida stronghold any more. Thanks to the latest American and Iraqi offensive.
But you might not have heard about that welcome development. American victories don't get all that much play in this country – a pattern that dates back at least to David Halberstam's heyday as a New York Times war correspondent and behind–the–scenes player in Vietnam.
For news of victory, Americans may have to look to the foreign press. For example, The Times of London, which carried a piece by Marie Colvin the other day. She reported that "American and Iraqi forces are driving al–Qaida in Iraq out of its last redoubt in the north of the country in the culmination of one of the most spectacular victories of the war on terror."
Jul 19 2008 - Investor's Business Daily
by INVESTOR'S BUSINESS DAILY
Media: Leave it to the New York Times to take a major story discrediting Barack Obama's Iraq policy and pitch it as a human interest feature on "mixed feelings."
After interviewing 18 Iraqis in Baghdad and elsewhere, no fewer than eight Times reporters found notable trepidation about Obama's plans to withdraw U.S. troops from Iraq.
But those revelations were smothered in the headline, lead paragraph (which had an Iraqi general "melting into smiles" when asked about Obama) and the thrust of the front–page article.
Smiles aside, the Anbar Sunni officer who was interviewed, Gen. Nassir al–Hiti, commander of a predominantly Shiite unit in western Baghdad, had misgivings about Obama's planned pullout.
Jul 15 2008 - Seattle PI
by LEONARD DOYLE
WASHINGTON, D.C. –– President Bush wants to speed up the withdrawal of American combat troops from Iraq, a move that could help to quell the anti–war anxieties of voters before November's presidential election.
Drawing down large numbers of troops would enable the Republican candidate, John McCain, to say that his forceful military strategy for Iraq was correct. Alone among Republican and Democratic politicians, he consistently urged Bush to take on the insurgents with extra forces. He is now attacking his Democratic opponent, Barack Obama, for preaching policies of defeat by calling for a withdrawal in 16 months.
Jul 12 2008 - Seattle PI
by MARGARET CARLSON
There are two kinds of people –– and candidates –– in the world: One says the U.S. troop "surge" is working, therefore we must stay in Iraq. The other says the surge is working, therefore we can leave.
If either John McCain or Barack Obama moves from one category to the other in the slightest, it will be termed a flip–flop and attributed to the darkest of motives. That's too bad because they could both use some much–maligned flexibility.
In the surge–is–forever camp dwells McCain, who says the U.S. will leave Iraq as a conquering hero with a ticker–tape parade down Fifth Avenue, or not at all.
Jul 12 2008 - Town Hall
by Michael Barone
Sixty years ago this month, the top story in campaign year 1948 was not the big poll lead of Republican nominee Thomas Dewey or the plight of President Harry Truman. It was the Berlin airlift.
On June 23, the Soviets cut off land access to West Berlin. Gen. Lucius Clay, the military governor in Germany, called for sending convoys up the autobahns, but Allied troops were vastly outnumbered by the Red Army, and everyone feared they would overrun Western Europe unless the United States retaliated with the atomic bomb.
Air Force generals said that there was no way planes could ferry the 8 million pounds of food and coal Berlin would need every day. Secretary of State George Marshall and Joint Chiefs Chairman Omar Bradley, two of America's most respected generals, felt Berlin was indefensible and we should withdraw. One man disagreed. President Harry Truman, in one crucial meeting after another, said, "We're not leaving Berlin."
Jul 09 2008 - Seattle PI
by SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER EDITORIAL BOARD
Given the mess we're in in Iraq, it's encouraging to see that there's a bipartisan proposal on the table for Congress to update the War Powers Act of 1973. In the lead–up to the invasion of Iraq, President Bush did get congressional approval for military action, but it was only to disarm Iraq, (remember, this was done in the heat of the weapons of mass destruction hysteria). It's safe to say Bush has overstepped the bounds of what Congress intended.
Editor's Comments:
Mess, huh? Not a bad mess, as it turns out. bbm
Jul 06 2008 - Times Union, Albany NY
by RUSSELL BANKS
This morning when I drove into town for my dail
nd to fill up my car with gas, I noticed something that had been there all along but that somehow had escaped my attention. In front of the white, wood–frame Town Hall, where the Town Board meets and once a month traffic court is held, 12 wooden plaques had been attached to a carefully carpentered frame. It was the "Town of Keene Honor Roll," and on each of the plaques was the name of a local resident serving in the military.
These are my neighbors, and in a few cases my friends or my friends' children, who have been placed in war zones in Iraq and Afghanistan by the U.S. government. One of them was a cook at the Ausable Inn for a while; another drove a municipal snowplow in winter; a third, until she graduated from high school and enlisted in the Marines, had worked part–time at the local hardware store.
Jul 01 2008 - Seattle PI
by SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER EDITORIAL BOARD
Not only was our invasion, and now, occupation, of Iraq unjustified, but a new Army report proves that it was also botched. The 720–page report –– a must–read for presidential candidates –– confirms what we've seen unfolding month after month, year after year in Iraq: Our war there has been a tactical failure.
According to The Associated Press account of the report, which covered the war until 2005, "Commanders with the mindset that victory had already been achieved believed that a post–combat Iraq would require 'only a limited commitment by the U.S. military and would be relatively peaceful and short as Iraqis quickly assumed responsibility' ... During an April 16, 2003, visit to Baghdad, coalition commander Gen. Tommy Franks told his subordinate leaders to prepare to move most of their forces out of Iraq by September of that year."
Jul 01 2008 - Investor's Business Daily
by INVESTOR'S BUSINESS DAILY
Energy: A free Iraq has invited foreign oil companies to bid on its massive oil fields. Why do Democratic senators want the U.S. to thwart the will of the people in the country we liberated?
It's too bad so many Americans have been conditioned by the powers of this country's media establishment into believing that oil is a filthy, diabolical substance — rather than the lifeblood of today's economy on which our national security and economic well–being depend. What the people of Iraq, through their free government, did this week is something both Iraqis and Americans can be proud of:
Jun 28 2008 - The Nation
by Laura Flanders
Free trade... Free oil contracts... There it is again, that cute word "free."
Of 46 international oil companies, including firms from China, India and Russia that had their eye on the first major oil deals in post–Saddam Iraq, guess who got the gig? Exxon–Mobil, Shell, Total and BP!
The western giants got the first–of–a–kind no–bid contracts to service Iraq's biggest fields NOT because the US invaded Iraq for oil. Oh NO. According to the Iraqi Oil Ministry, Exxon–Mobil, Shell, Total et al received the first–of–a–kind, no–bid deals because, of the years of "free" consultations those companies have been giving to the ministry. The ministry also cited a certain "comfort level" in their joint operations. That's the ministry's word.
Editor's Comments:
Too bad liberals never took economics courses. bbm
Jun 24 2008 - Town Hall
by Lee Culpepper
Now that gay marriage is legal in California, I feel a lot safer than I did last month. Islamic terrorists no longer need to fear waterboard interrogations, but I bet they will break just as easily when liberals force homosexual marriages down their throats.
Then again, liberals normally subject only conservative Americans to queer (as in perplexing) policies. Even liberals understand that discussing homosexuality with Muslims could potentially lead to increased violence. And obviously, coercing an Islamic terrorist to tolerate gay marriage violates the rules of multiculturalism.
