Comments on: McCain: Obama Tried To Legislate Iraq Loss
At Veterans Conventions, GOP Candidate Criticizes Democrat's Opposition To The Surge
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- RosieOD - when Bush god funding from Congress to support the surge he agreed to the 18 benchmarks in the legislation that came before the Surge officially started according to the administration which was the arrival of the last of the surge troops not the date of announcement in January -- review the following U.S. Troop Readiness, Veterans'' Care, Katrina Recovery, and Iraq Accountability Appropriations Act of 2007
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- IOWEIGN - I read your article.
I would say that was money well spent.
What is cheaper in your opinion 5.8 billion over several years, or X number of servicemen and women''s lives along with their equipment; not to mention peacefull means are the best anyway. - Reply to this comment
- When will Obama apologize to the troops?
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- When will Obama apologize to the troops?
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- When will Obama apologize to the troops?
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- truthmatterz ---- - but not to this liberal idiot.
Misha and Micma - since you seem to be in denial - let''s cover what the President said were the goals, ok:
"In a nationally televised address on January 10, Bush stated %u201CAmerica will change our strategy to help the Iraqis carry out their campaign to put down sectarian violence and bring security to the people of Baghdad. This will require increasing American force levels. So I''ve committed more than 20,000 additional American troops to Iraq. The vast majority of them %u2013 five brigades %u2013 will be deployed to Baghdad%u201D[28]
Immediately following the speech, the Bush administration issued talking points and transcripts about the strategy to communicate the strategy to the public. According to the "Fact Sheet: The New Way Forward in Iraq " issued by the White House,[29] "the President''s New Iraq Strategy Is Rooted In Six Fundamental Elements" as follow:
Let the Iraqis lead;
Help Iraqis protect the population;
Isolate extremists;
Create space for political progress;
Diversify political and economic efforts; and
Situate the strategy in a regional approach. "
I encourage you to discuss the above benchmarks, if you can do so without name calling or changing the truth.
And afterwords - how about you tell us if the ''unoffical'' goals were met too, ok. - Reply to this comment
- verified_CBS Obama needs to apologize for what? Saying the surge did not work -- as outlined in a prior post this is not a rating for the troops and their execution of a mission. It is an evaluation of the ability of the leadership of this country to specify a mission (such as the surge) to achieve the stated goals of the surge. The mission''s execution by the troops succeed and we should respect their efforts and scarifices. Unfortunately the mission failed to address all concerns or lacked the robust planning and coordination necessary to achieve the goals (benchmarks) which is a leadership or management failure on the part of this administration unrelated to the superlative efforts of the troops.
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- When will Obama apologize to the troops?
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- Has McSame and McBush told us what we are winning? Is it the oil rights for their corporate masters Exxon, Chevron, Wal-Mart, Halliburton, etc?
Is there ONE good reason to vote for 4 more years of Butch? McSame = McBush = GOP fat cat fascists. - Reply to this comment
RosieOD -- Why do many people believe the surge still has not worked Simple the benchmarks that were to measure the results of the surge are largely still unattained. Effective management requires the setting of goals before initiating the tactic or strategy and the subsequent evaluation of a tactic or strategy based on the attainment of the goals after the fact. For a change the Iraq war finally stated goals before initiating tactics with the surge. Based entirely on the stated goals of the surge that were established before the surge the surge clearly has failed to achieve a majority of those goals. Anyone arguing success on any terms other than the goals established is a Monday morning quarterback moving the goalposts in an attempt to excuse failure. Failure of the tactics to achieve the goals which is the responsibility of those in charge. Not the failure of the troops in any way to carry out the mission (which I might add the troops deserve our respect for their part of the operation). These are two entirely separate matters.
Posted by misha128 at 02:29 PM : Aug 18, 2008
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Exactly!
Well said.- Reply to this comment
- Why did Obama insist the surge wouldn''''t work, even going so far as to vote against material to support the troops that were involved in it and how do you see that affecting his potential leadership in foreign affairs ?
Posted by RosieOD4Prez at 02:19 PM : Aug 18, 2008
Why the surge is not the answer ?
Did you read the below article about US forces paying cash to stop the violence??
Talk about Appeasement...
U.S. Said To Use "Money As Weapon" In Iraq
Washington Post: U.S. Troops Pay Cash To Iraqis To Cover Expenses And Win Over Civilians
http://tinyurl.com/63dny8 - Reply to this comment
- RosieOD -- Why do many people believe the surge still has not worked Simple the benchmarks that were to measure the results of the surge are largely still unattained. Effective management requires the setting of goals before initiating the tactic or strategy and the subsequent evaluation of a tactic or strategy based on the attainment of the goals after the fact. For a change the Iraq war finally stated goals before initiating tactics with the surge. Based entirely on the stated goals of the surge that were established before the surge the surge clearly has failed to achieve a majority of those goals. Anyone arguing success on any terms other than the goals established is a Monday morning quarterback moving the goalposts in an attempt to excuse failure. Failure of the tactics to achieve the goals which is the responsibility of those in charge. Not the failure of the troops in any way to carry out the mission (which I might add the troops deserve our respect for their part of the operation). These are two entirely separate matters.
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John McCain quotes pre-Iraq War and during Iraq War:
"Because I know that as successful as I believe we will be, and I believe that the success will be fairly easy, we will still lose some American young men or women." [CNN, 9/24/02]
"We%u2019re not going to get into house-to-house fighting in Baghdad. We may have to take out buildings, but we%u2019re not going to have a bloodletting of trading American bodies for Iraqi bodies." [CNN, 9/29/02]
"But the point is that, one, we will win this conflict. We will win it easily." [MSNBC, 1/22/03]
"But I believe, Katie, that the Iraqi people will greet us as liberators." [NBC, 3/20/03]
"It%u2019s clear that the end is very much in sight." [ABC, 4/9/03]
"There%u2019s not a history of clashes that are violent between Sunnis and Shiahs. So I think they can probably get along." [MSNBC, 4/23/03]
"This is a mission accomplished. They know how much influence Saddam Hussein had on the Iraqi people, how much more difficult it made to get their cooperation." [This Week, ABC, 12/14/03]
"I%u2019m confident we%u2019re on the right course." [ABC News, 3/7/04]
John McSame has been wrong at every step in the Iraq boondoggle. He''s supported Bush in every failure. Now he wants to stay the course.
Americans want and deserve change.
Obama 08!- Reply to this comment
- IOWEIGN - another liberal in denial about the surge working.
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- Obama has had two shots on how he will react in regards to being commander-in-chief. First in Iraq his policy was to cut and run before victory was achieved. Hey whether you agree with the war or not we are there and since we are we should have a policy to win, not to run away making the sacrifices of the troops and the billions of dollars spent all be in vain. Second, when Russia reared its old Soviet head Obama took 3 days to respond in the most timid of voices. Not the leader I want for our troops or our security. nevadapunditdotcom
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- Hey Smirk5 - it has been almost 10 minutes of crickets.
You still with us - - Reply to this comment
- Petreaus performed some analysis, and instead of crying cut and run, made the realization that while we are hated in the country for our religion,
Posted by RosieOD4Prez at 02:19 PM : Aug 18, 2008
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We are hated for our religion now?? Are you really that ignorant or just pretending to be? - Reply to this comment
McCain: "The great difference is that I intend to win it first."
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My god, how many times is this going to take place, John.
May 1, 2003 - "Mission Accomplished"
Since that time, the United States has been nothing but a large police force for a civil war...and John wants it to be a "Groundhog Day" for a hundred years !!- Reply to this comment
- "If the "surge" was such a great thing, WHY DID IT TAKE 4 YEARS TO THINK OF IT? - actornaught
A reasonable question.
The surge happened at the same time as General Petreaus came into power in Iraq. His predecessor thought the war could be won by blunt force.
Petreaus performed some analysis, and instead of crying cut and run, made the realization that while we are hated in the country for our religion, we would be hated less than our adversary if we protected the populace from our adversary.
So, in a way the surge thought came about as a result of those 4 years of pain. I''m not happy with the learning curve either.
But, I''d like to ask you a question now. Kinda a quid pro quo thing. And, I''d like a plausible answer from you, just as I have given you on your question.
Why did Obama insist the surge wouldn''t work, even going so far as to vote against material to support the troops that were involved in it and how do you see that affecting his potential leadership in foreign affairs ? - Reply to this comment
- Oh bull *****, we had to have the surge because the terrorist were piling into Iraq like rats on a piece of cheese....
Posted by WellHell3 at 01:42 PM : Aug 18, 2008
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Something that was predicted before the invasion but ignored by Wolfowitz, Perle, Feith, and the rest of the PNAC crowd. - Reply to this comment
