Resolute on August 13, 2007 at 9:24 PM

If Iraq turns out OK it will be prove positive that there has been divine intervention, and a whole lot of it.

MB4 on August 13, 2007 at 3:02 AM

That quote is exactly what is wrong today. That he said it before Sept 11 doesn’t mean it is wrong. The whole point is exactly that policy did not change after sept 11, we are using the same failed formula which he campaigned against. If the Iraq eventually turns out okay it will only be beacuse of Bush’s sheer stubborness not because he used a good method.

First the writer shows an incredible ignorance of why the British left Basra to begin with. Lets look back to the statements made at the time, back in February of 2007….

Nonfactor on August 13, 2007 at 4:49 AM

And on September 11, 2001 God created the heavens and the earth. Before that there was only a void.

I love though that they consider it a better idea for the US to allow a new terrorist front to be created than to stay in Iraq.

Also, wait, Iraq would be a new terrorist front??
HOW??

There are no terrorists in Iraq! It’s a civil war!

A short recon of what’s out there that might draw your attention, updated throughout the day…so check back often….

This guy’s a prat…

Or have I misread them?

No, I think the person who wrote this is confused. That or he’s trying to ride the fence between total commitment and total pullout.

The US “surge” of troops in Iraq is likely to fail, a British parliamentary committee said…

You know, every time I’ve watched Prime Minister’s Questions, what’s really lept out at me is the dramatically impressive military acumen of the British MP’s. It’s just self-evident to the casual observer. Reading the update link, you’d be convinced they’d gotten those chops from our own best military experts, Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid.

And no 9/11 did not override that. It should have reinforced it.

MB4 on August 13, 2007 at 3:02 AM

I automatically ignore any quotes prior to September 11, 2001. Everything before that is irrelevant.

“Maybe I’m missing something here. I mean, we’re going to have kind of a nation-building corps from America? Absolutely not. Our military’s meant to fight and win war. That’s what it’s meant to do. And when it gets overextended, morale drops. But I’m going to be judicious as to how to use the military. It needs to be in our vital interest, the mission needs to be clear, and the exit strategy obvious.”

And no 9/11 did not override that. It should have reinforced it.

It is all very sad.

The wise man does now what the fool does later.
- Niccolo Machiavelli

Even as they call for an end to the war and pledge to bring the troops home, the Democratic presidential candidates are setting out positions that could leave the United States engaged in Iraq for years.

Also, Iraqi politics may be a bit more complicated than we read about in the NYT.

But the methods (rules of engagement) are so self-cripppling that we lose troops because they are being forced to do footpatrols into sniper-zone or boody-trapped houses, or are driving insufficently-strong vehicles into murderous IED’s.

I thought this would be a fight to crush the Jihad and force our will on the terrorists and their supporters.

Sadly, it has become a “hearts and minds” folly.

Crush their will, the rest will follow.

And if it doesn;t crush what’s left.

This is an apocalpytic conflict (Koranically-induced), and our side fights it like it is Korea, redux.

The Jihadists will not settle for such a benign stalemate.

Opening their instuction manual (Koran) shows that it is a fight for world conquest to their most devout.

Either we kill these devotees of terror as fast as we can, or we tempt their gaining enough power to make our hesitation to crush them a crime …of mass-suicide …of ourselves.