Tag: Iraq

Some good reading on the Iraq War

This is some good reading here. It is a progressive magazine and writer; but man does he ever have a point. The sick part is, we might just be doing it again, with Iran.

Not to put too fine a point on it, but the invasion of Iraq turned out to be a joke. Not for the Iraqis, of course, and not for American soldiers, and not the ha-ha sort of joke either. And here’s the saddest truth of all: on March 20th as we mark the 10th anniversary of the invasion from hell, we still don’t get it. In case you want to jump to the punch line, though, it’s this: by invading Iraq, the US did more to destabilize the Middle East than we could possibly have imagined at the time. And we—and so many others—will pay the price for it for a long, long time.

via Why the Invasion of Iraq Was the Single Worst Foreign Policy Decision in American History | The Nation.

As for the Nork’s, I think that is a bunch of bluster myself. Of course, we are watching them and making sure nothing major goes on over there.

The Further Consequences of Wilsonian Foreign Policy in Iraq

This is what happens when you invade sovereign nations based upon bad intelligence  and do not bother to verify said intelligence.

BAGHDAD –  Car bombs struck two outdoor markets and a group of taxi vans in Shiite areas across Iraq on Friday, killing at least 36 people and wounding nearly 100 in the bloodiest day in more than two months, as minority Sunnis staged large anti-government protests.

Sunni protesters have rejected calls to violence by an Al Qaeda-linked group, but there is concern that Sunni insurgents could step up attacks ahead of the April 20 provincial elections — the first country-wide vote since the U.S. troop withdrawal more than a year ago.

via 4 car bombs at outdoor markets in Iraq kill at least 36, wound 100 | Fox News.

Now I am not going to sit here and write a posting blaming Bush for all the above. Yes, Bush was wrong about Iraq; but Bush has not been President since 2009, when he left office. Obama took the reigns of the Country and he now is the President, so, basically, Iraq was Obama’s baby when he took office. There are some who believe that Obama removed our troops too early; to be quite honest with you, I really do not agree with that at all. Because to be honest with you, our presence there was causing a good deal of friction in that Country, or at the very least, adding to the friction that was already there. Now the total anti-war people say that, if we would have never invaded Iraq, this above would not be happening; because Saddam would not tolerate it. This is true, but Saddam also was a brutal dictator, who did horrible things to his people as well. So, while it is not a good thing that we invaded that country, we did get rid of someone who was a horrible tyrant. This is why I never took, and still do not take a hard stance on the Iraq War and the middle east; because it is such a complex subject, and seems to get more complex by the minute. This is why I never really bought into the, “blood for oil” meme by the Democrats and the anti-war crowd. I did feel however, that once we got Saddam, we should have started making the moves to leave the Country.

However, I will say this; this Wilsonian bungle that did happen in Iraq, will be a black mark on America for a very long time to come. The Wilsonian foreign policy crowds biggest flaw, is that they cannot see past the end of their noses. They never look past the “here and now.” They always live in the moment. They do not stop to think about what might happen down the road; they never do. All they care about is defending Israel, no matter the cost of life or money. This is their fatal flaw and they have ruined America’s credibility around the World. What gets me is, how the Republicans like to blame Obama for ruining America’s standing in the World. The problem is, Obama is a very little part of that; the Neoconservatives, with their Wilsonian foreign policy ruined America’ reputation in just eight years time. True the Democrats did destroy the housing market and the economy. But, our standing in the World was done by Bush and the Neocons.

Anyone that tells you anything different than that, is either lying or a partisan. But, then again, I repeat myself.

Taking Religion out of the Military?

I have mixed feelings about this one:

“Soldiers with minority religious beliefs and atheists often feel like second-class citizens when Christianity is seemingly officially endorsed by their own base,” American Atheists president David Silverman told Fox News. “We are very happy the Pentagon and the Army decided to do the right thing.” A military spokesman told Fox News the cross was literally dismantled and will be removed from the base to be in “compliance with Army regulations and to avoid any misconception of religious favoritism or disrespect.” “After a Christian prayer, the cross was removed from the roof of the chapel,” the spokesman said. “During the removal, the cross was dismantled; however the cross was reassembled and currently awaits transportation to a larger operational base.” The military told Fox News the cross will only be brought out during Christian services and will be designated as a “non-permanent religious symbol.” Silverman said a Christian chapel on an Army base in Afghanistan could have put American troops in danger. “It inflames this Muslim versus Christian mentality,” he said. “This is not a Muslim versus Christian war — but if the Army base has a large chapel on it that has been converted to Christian-only, it sends a message that could be interpreted as hostile to Islam.” An Army spokesman said all chapels must be religiously neutral. “The primary purpose of making a chapel a neutral, multi-use facility is to accommodate the free exercise of religion for all faith groups using it,” he said. “We take the spiritual fitness of our Soldiers seriously and encourage them to practice their faith and exercise their beliefs however they choose.” Retired Lt. Gen. Jerry Boykin, of the Family Research Council, told Fox News a Christian cleansing of the military is under way. “I don’t think you can categorize it any other way,” he said. “There is a strong effort, led partially by the Administration as well as by atheist groups to destroy the identity of who we are as a nation and that means robbing us of our history.” —- Military: Crosses Removed ‘Out of Respect for Other Faiths’ | FOX News & Commentary: Todd Starnes

On one hand, I would hate to think that having Christian symbols on a battle front could be putting our Military at risk. On the other hand, I would hate to see Christianity being removed from the Military entirely. However, we are in a Muslim Nation is Afghan region; one would think that the Military would want to be respectful of those people and their culture.

It is a mixed bag, and all the more reason why we really need to get out of that Country. Our mission is done there; we killed Osama and we need to leave. We do not want to make the same mistake the Russians made there. Besides all that, Al-Qaeda has moved into other regions and is much more a threat to other interests in other parts for the world now.

So, to this Independent, the quicker we leave, the better.

Jennifer Rubin never met a diamond that she couldn’t polish

Hey, the way I see it, if she can get away with slandering a public servant like Chuck Hagel, then so can I. She, and the Jewish right are doing this because Chuck Hagel does not run around with his nose firmly planted up the Israeli Lobby’s ass. As he should not.

Screw them, screw them hard. It is because Rubin and the rest of the goddamned Jewish right, that we have 4000+ of our young man and woman in graves across this Country; from fighting a war that had ZERO to do with 9/11! All because President George W. Bush could not be bothered to check to see of the intellegence that “Curveball” in Germany gave us was good or not.

People want to know what is wrong with the Republican Party? Start looking at the damned Neocons, and the history of the Jewish Right; and you will see just what is wrong the Republican Party!

…and don’t even get me started on the fact that Rubin and her ilk are the direct descendants who brought bogus charges against the Lord Jesus Christ and put him on the cross. I haven’t forgotten about that; and neither has God the Father. Their judgement is coming and swiftly. I await the day with hope and faith that the Lord will give unto those who played the role of useful idiot to Satan himself. (See the gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John for reference, best done in the King James Version of the Bible.)

 

Iraq’s President Talabani has had a stroke

I don’t know what role this might play in this stability of that Country, but it is news:

BAGHDAD (AP) — Iraqi President Jalal Talabani has had a stroke and his medical team in Baghdad is still trying to stabilize his condition, a spokesman for the prime minister said Tuesday.

Talabani, a rare unifying figure who is seen to rise above the country’s ethnic and sectarian fault lines, has been actively involved in trying to mediate an ongoing crisis between Iraq’s central government and the country’s Kurdish minority.

The spokesman, Ali al-Moussawi, told The Associated Press on Tuesday that Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki is at the hospital where the president is being treated.

Doctors have not decided whether Talabani will continue to be treated in Baghdad or will be flown to another country for treatment, he said. He was unable to provide further details.

Talabani’s office earlier said the Iraqi president had been rushed to the hospital after showing signs of fatigue on Monday evening, and that he was being treated for an unspecified health problem.

Talabani’s spokesman could not immediately be reached for comment.

via Iraq official says President Talabani had a stroke – Washington Times.

I will say this much; as someone who was not a huge fan of that war, I really hope that we do not have to end up going back there again. I mean, once was enough, we gave 4000+ of our blood and treasure there, that was enough, if that Country cannot remain stable then let them be victims to their fate.

I just do not believe that America should be the world’s policeman, we cannot afford it, our Military has been run ragged because of it and we need to just allow the Iraqi’s to handle their own issues. Heck, we gave the Iraqi Government enough military equipment to defeat anyone, who dare tries to invade that Country.

Therefore, I believe America’s mission there was truly accomplished, when President Obama announced the end of American’s military presence there. I pray we never need to return again.

Iraq descends into chaos again

Even more residual effects from a ill-thought invasion of a sovereign Country:

BAGHDAD — It was just the sort of episode that observers have long worried could provoke a serious conflict: when federal police agents sought to arrest a Kurdish man last month in the city of Tuz Khurmato in the Kurdish north of the country, a gunfight ensued with security men loyal to the Kurdish regional government.

When the bullets stopped flying, a civilian bystander was dead and at least eight others were wounded.

In response, the Iraqi prime minister, Nuri Kamal al-Maliki, rushed troop reinforcements to the area, and Masoud Barzani, the president of Iraq’s semiautonomous northern Kurdish region, dispatched his own soldiers, known as the Peshmerga, and the forces remain there in a tense standoff.

Almost a year after the departure of the United States military closed a painful chapter in the histories of both nations, Iraq finds itself in a familiar position: full-blown crisis mode, this time with two standing armies, one loyal to the central government in Baghdad and the other commanded by the Kurdish regional government in the north, staring at each other through gun sights, as officials in Baghdad, including American diplomats and an American general, try to mediate.

via Iraq’s Latest Crisis Is a Standoff With Northern Kurds – NYTimes.com.

My Mother was right, she always is. In 2003, when United States announced that we were invading the Country of Iraq, my Mother, the eternal Democrat that she is, told me that President George W. Bush was simply wrong in his assumptions that invading that Country was necessary.  Turns out, she and many others were correct, and people like me; someone who watched 9/11 happen on live TV, were wrong.

To be clear, I supported invading Iraq and the United States presence in the Country of Iraq until it became very clear that there were no weapons of mass destruction in that Country. This was around 2006, and when the War in Iraq turned into a meat grinder. This is also when I began my career as a blogger.  (Please Note: That archive linked, only shows from 2007, which is when I bought my domain. I previously blogged at Blogspot/Blogger)

Like another well-known so-called Conservative blogger, who I will not link to, because of her stupidity towards me — said; invading Iraq was nothing more than a present to the Iranians. Furthermore, it was destabilizing factor in the region and this story above is proof of that.

I think America needs to think very hard and very long before attempting to play the World’s policeman again.

 

 

Ooops: Joe Biden fibs on his vote on Iraq and Afghanistan

The Video:

Um, Oops. According to the Washington Free Beacon:

Vice President Joe Biden accused Rep. Paul Ryan of putting two wars on the “credit card,” and then suggested he voted against the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.

“By the way, they talk about this great recession like it fell out of the sky–like, ‘Oh my goodness, where did it come from?’” Biden said. “It came from this man voting to put two wars on a credit card, at the same time, put a prescription drug plan on the credit card, a trillion dollar tax cut for the very wealthy.”

“I was there, I voted against them,” Biden continued. “I said, no, we can’t afford that.”

Well, there is only one little problem with that:

Then Sen. Biden voted for the Afghanistan resolution on Sept. 14, 2001 which authorized “the use of United States Armed Forces against those responsible for the recent attacks launched against the United States.”

And on Oct. 11, 2002, Biden voted for a resolution authorizing unilateral military action in Iraq, according to the Washington Post.

When I wrote my review, I was trying to be respectful of the man’s age; unlike some. However, when someone who is old tells a lie, just I do not respect that at all. Again, this is all that the Democrats have left; lies, scaremongering, class warfare and race warfare. Anymore, it pretty much comes with the territory of the left.

Others: Mediaite, Naked DC, Babalú Blog, Weekly Standard, Weasel Zippers, Jammie Wearing Fools, Instapundit and The PJ Tatler

Chart: Obama’s Spending versus Bush

It is an updated one, via InstaPundit. Show this to Democrats when they try to blame our budget problems on Bush’s wars. This will prove that they are, as always; full of crap.

Drop in voter registration in Ohio

Despite what has happened locally here and how I feel about it; I must continue on writing and blogging about what I consider to be important.

It seems that in Ohio, there has been a decline in voter registration, especially in Democratic Party strongholds. This is also signaling a national trend. Here is the Story and Video via Fox News Channel:

The Video:

The Story:

“Don’t boo, vote,” President Obama often says in his stump speech whenever crowds boo a Romney plan.

The off-hand call to vote may be by design. It comes amid a precipitous decline in Democratic voter registration in key swing states — nowhere more apparent than in Ohio.

Voter registration in the Buckeye State is down by 490,000 people from four years ago. Of that reduction, 44 percent is in Cleveland and surrounding Cuyahoga County, where Democrats outnumber Republicans more than two to one.

“I think what we’re seeing is a lot of spin and hype on the part of the Obama campaign to try to make it appear that they’re going to cruise to victory in Ohio,” Cuyahoga County Republican Chairman Rob Frost said. “It’s not just Cuyahoga County. Nearly 350,000 of those voters are the decrease in the rolls in the three largest counties, Cuyahoga, Hamilton and Franklin.”

Frost points out that those three counties all contain urban centers, where the largest Democrat vote traditionally has been.

Ohio is not alone. An August study by the left-leaning think tank Third Way showed that the Democratic voter registration decline in eight key swing states outnumbered the Republican decline by a 10-to-one ratio. In Florida, Democratic registration is down 4.9 percent, in Iowa down 9.5 percent. And in New Hampshire, it’s down down 19.7 percent.

“It’s understandable that enthusiasm is going to wane a little bit from that historic moment (in 2008),” says Michelle Diggles, the study co-author and senior policy adviser for Third Way. “You can only elect the first African-American president of this country once.

Of course, there are other reasons why people are just not happy anymore with the Democrats:

One Democratic Party consultant told Fox News that independents in Ohio may be leaning Democratic – an effect that may be tied to the bailout of Chrysler and GM. One of eight people in Ohio work in businesses directly tied to the auto industry. The state has been carpeted with Obama ads that point to his bailout of the industry and it’s managed bankruptcy.

I do not mean to toot my own horn; but in this case, I must. I predicted that stuff like this would happen on my old blog. When the bailouts happened, and when the healthcare bill was pushed through. The truth is Independents are simply running away from Obama. Another thing too that this report did not cover; is that some Democrats are simply not happy with the Obama Administration. This is for a number for reasons: The continuation of Bush’s polices on the war on terror and the war is one. The failure to close the prisons in Gitmo is another. The continuing of the war in Afghanistan is another. Also too, Ohio is also a union State and when Obama’s chief of staff at the time, said “F*** the big three!”, many in Ohio heard about that too. This all makes for a unpopular President.

Also too; the economy in Ohio, here in Michigan; and nationally, just plain sucks. There are many small businesses in Ohio, many of whom are faithful Democrats; and they are just looking at their bottom lines and are looking at this President and wondering, “What on earth are they doing to us?” To be fair, it is not all of Obama’s fault. The Federal Reserve with it’s QE1, QE2 and now QE3 is not helping the situation at all. When the fed prints more money, inflation happens, which drives the prices of everything up and this, in turn, hurts businesses. Which, in turn, hurts the economy. Bill Clinton learned this lesson early on, and made adjustments. Jimmy Carter and this President, did not. For that, they are paying a price at the polls.

I should also mention that this current foreign policy debacle in Libya, and Egypt and the rest of the Arab World is also weighing heavy on the minds of people as well. As it was in 1979, with the Iran hostage crisis. Now, Iran is being a problem again. Which is very ironic.

History has such a strange way of repeating itself.