Comments on: Turning The Iraq Tide, From The Bottom Up

Former Marine, Author Says The Perspective of Grunts On The Ground, And A Visionary Sunni Sheik, Reversed Course Of War

[misha128-2009]

Why doesn''t Col MacFarland get credit for his own work?

First McCain claims is has part of his "extended surge" no one else recognizes (it was between several and many months before the surge started according to any other source). Then Stephen Hadley get credit for copying it and taking it to Baghdad?

[downsteamjim]

How dare someone say something positive about the American and Iraqi success! The left is very fearful that democracy may take hold in Iraq.

[jacques42]

The Sunnis and the Shiites briefly interrupted fighting each other in the 1100s when Saladin pointed out that the Knights Templar had parked their horses at the Temple Mount?

Senator John Kennedy pissed off the Vietnamese people when he suggested that the Catholics could run the country better because they spoke better French.

President John Kennedy and this Harvard/Yale team decided that Fidel Castro was a commie because he wore a beard, just like Karl Marx. Later, Fidel pissed of Kennedy when he threw the Italian Mob out of Havana and took away their hotels and casinos. Kennedy and the CIA then began to cause mischief on the island, to the extent had Fidel asked Nikita for help. The real hero of the %u201CKennedy Legacy%u201D is Nikita.

The real casualties are the young men that continue show up at the recruiting stations. As long as they are %u201Csmart enough to do the work, but dumb enough to do the job,%u201D the president and congress will continue the same, repetitive misadventures, based on ignorance and arrogance.

Until the American people learn to read, and to read history, the longer we will be throwing away our cash and our children.

There is always the opportunity to support the VA in their efforts to disown and distain the American serviceman. The solution, and we%u2019re getting close, no warrior, no war. Our young men can come home to die.

[andrew_693]

First of all, the war is not over yet, today a suicide bomber killed 25 so there''s a lot of *** going on every day. The situation is not normalized, in no normal city around the world bombs go off every day, nowhere in the civilized world there are mercenaries from another country running around pointing guns at people, like the blackawater guys are doing. Also "not fighting" the war and letting the iraquis take the hits is not exactly winning. Third, the operation was to find weapons of mass destruction.....there are no weapons anywhere, it''s basically a waste of taxpayers money for a mistake that nobody is being held accountable to this day. Lastly, if the operation was meant to take out Saddam because he was dictator, it''s totally a lie because there are dictators all over the world, some of them are even our allies and commit barbarities against their own people every day and we don''t invade them. When you start to see that iraq is the second largest producer of oil in the world, than the invasion makes sense and when you see that the "coalition of the willing" is made up of countries that have huge debts with the US it also makes sense why Bush found some support in commiting this barbarity. They are doing the same thing in afghanistan, if you read, there civilians being bombed by mistake every day by american bombers. They are cleaning up in order to run a pipe line to steal more oil.

[missingamerica]

[bq]
That radical change was, of course, the surge - sending five more combat brigades into Baghdad - everything the Army had left - plus a new commander, David Pretraeus.

"He took one look at the changed conditions in Anbar and said, ''What''s going on here?'' And they said, ''Well, the tribes are now with us.'' Just like that, he got it.
[...]
"His brilliance was recognizing success and reinforcing it," Martin said.
[eq]

There are better ways to get people to act the way you want them to than by an invasion and their forcible removal from all of their roles in their society.

Bush, Cheney, & PNAC, LLP, of course, were inadequately prepared to learn that because of too little offshore experience and far too much experience with instant obedience due to their grip on the economic survival and/or careers of their subordinates in the States.

Gaining the capability to say "You''re fired!" in no way makes you a leader - in today''s America, it just makes you a politician.

Secondly, re-read that phrase "everything the Army had left" and ponder Putin''s moves in light of that information; ponder too Putin''s undoubted awareness that we have crippled our industrial base.

Republicans lack the long-term vision it takes to be a leader; their decisions are driven by their need for instant gratification - typically, of their greed.

Worse, they feel unduly safe in their cocoon of accumulated wealth and power, and so they don''t hesitate to start wars or over commit our forces.

[missingamerica]

[bq]
That radical change was, of course, the surge - sending five more combat brigades into Baghdad - everything the Army had left - plus a new commander, David Pretraeus.

"He took one look at the changed conditions in Anbar and said, ''What''s going on here?'' And they said, ''Well, the tribes are now with us.'' Just like that, he got it.
[...]
"His brilliance was recognizing success and reinforcing it," Martin said.
[eq]

There are better ways to get people to act the way you want them to than by an invasion and their forcible removal from all of their roles in their society.

Bush, Cheney, & PNAC, LLP, of course, were inadequately prepared to learn that because of too little offshore experience and far too much experience with instant obedience due to their grip on the economic survival and/or careers of their subordinates in the States.

Gaining the capability to say "You''re fired!" in no way makes you a leader - in today''s America, it just makes you a politician.

Secondly, re-read that phrase "everything the Army had left" and ponder Putin''s moves in light of that information; ponder too Putin''s undoubted awareness that we have crippled our industrial base.

Republicans lack the long-term vision it takes to be a leader; their decisions are driven by their need for instant gratification - typically, of their greed.

Worse, they feel unduly safe in their cocoon of accumulated wealth and power, and so they don''t hesitate to start wars or over commit our forces.

[edward1975-2009]

Jimbo554: I don''t see it as a party thing, more from those who have never served and question these patriots that do. We are safely enjoying life here in the states, while those abroad are tasked with keeping their butts alive, then have some question the manner in which they do that. That is who this was directed too. And thank you for your comment.

[jimbo554]

Edward1975, in all fairness I haven''t heard anybody disparage the troops themselves. Except for that Abu Ghraib thing and a few out of control soldiers, all the criticism has been directed at those leading the military. I think it is a popular myth among Republicans that Democrats and "liberals" say disparaging things about the troops, but I''m just not really seeing such a thing.

[jgertzma73kv]

Thanks for the McCain commercial. While Mr West''s credentials as military strategist are strong, your story was about how the war was mismanaged, but finally, b/c we listened to our boots on the ground, we "got it right," and got the better of the evil ones. No mention of how Al Qaeda metastasized to its present power through our unilateralist policy. More, more occupation: a hundred years if necessary. No mention of what happens in a country when its natural resources are appropriated after an invasion built on lies. No mention of the number of young people rounded up and thrown into prison, the number of homes invaded, the chaos that still is Bagdad. That was b/c of bad judgment, not the fact of preemptive invasion. After all, once we "get it right," the benefits are enormous: to Big Oil, arms manufacturers like (hmm) G.E., and military privatizers who train mercenaries to do tasks of occupation that make ordinary young men and women mentally ill. I''m referring to those Americans who, when they return from the dehumanizing tasks imposed on them, wait months and years for treatment while the money goes to fight more battles for the sake of Blackwater, Exxon, and -- yes -- GE.

[edward1975-2009]

It was always known that the strategy for Iraq was flawed and this is what caused this to be as strung out as it has been. But this in no way, shape, or form, excuses people here in the states that make disparging comments about the men and women who serve and have made the ultimate sacrifice for this great nation. You don''t have to agree with the politics of the war, but you should absolutely support those who serve.

[smtownmayor]

Palin/Patraeus 2012!

[jerr11]

This book is a load of cra*p.

The surge is a cover for an elaborate scheme to defraud the American taxpayers by PAYING Sunni warlords and Islamic jihadists to keep the peace.

Yes, our soldiers are handing out FREE MONEY to those who''ve bombed and killed us!

Gen Betrayus''s brilliant war strategy:

If you can''t beat them PAY THEM WITH HARD CASH!

That''s called giving in to blackmail!

[pensacola98]

This is a very pleasant article to read, because it provides the first evidence that Iraqi were producing their heroes and leaders as they repelled Iranian sponsored insurgency.

I was always a critc of two things: I didn''t like the president or presidential candidates going to Iraq to meet with anyone there. It proved hazardous for Sattar, who was assasinated the next day, and the loss was never revealed until now.

I didn''t like Donald Rumsfield use of media to propel Pvt. Jessica Lynch into stardom. It reminded me of the captured Nazi media film reels about patriotism that were distributed to control the country and dampen dissention.

History will not be kind to us for the Iraqi invasion for quite some time regardless of the outcome. Twenty or thirty years may pass and the Iraqis will teach their young, that they repelled the coalition forces.

What the USA has finally learned is that only brutal force can stave down religious-based dissention. This is why removing Milosevec and Saddaam Hussien was comparable to removing a cork from the bottle and allowing the villanous genie to escape.

[jerr11]

Posted by obamaisaho2 at 11:27 AM : Sep 07, 2008



I''m sick and tired of these Israeli agents trolling these boards posing as Americans.

Their only agenda is to get McCain elected so America will continue to fight their endless wars for them in the middle east!

If you''re against the war in Iraq,

a war costing us $12 billion a month,

so far over 4000 dead,

they call you a NAZI!!

Hey buddy,

one war for Israel is enough!

[obamaisaho2]

jerr,

another neo-nazi girlieboy coward who needs to change his diapers. he''s pissed because the Surge is working and that his allies, the Islamohitlerites are dying like the roaches they are.

Go change the diaper, little boy. And don''t forget to scream sieg heil like the rest of the Neo-Nazi girlieboys and Plantation Slave (Obama) supporters as the doors hits you in the - you know.

LOL.

[obamaisaho2]

CAMEO,

A memo for you and the other girlieboys like Hacker and Jerky.

Did you ever serve this country? Probably not, unless it was the Dairy Queen that even Obama thought he was too good for. Or the Salvation Army.

I was NOT a big fan of John McCain but if you want to call anyone senile or stupid, it is a "Black" guy who forgot the role of the Democratic Party in establishing Slavery and Secession - and after the Civil War, "Jim Crow" but one who goes running to kiss his good buddy Grand Kleagle aka Senator Byrd on the anal cavity. Or a plagarizer who claims he''s against terrorism yet voted to give the Iranian Revolutionary Guards a pass - to kill our servicemen -on the flimsy excuse it would give President Bush a pretext for war on Iran.

Nice. You call these non-serving cowards Americans? I call Chimp and Chump stupid senile ***.

Because it is they - NOT McCain, nor Bush, nor Cheney who truly are.

NEXT...

[ajaxtheleast]

Just read that yesterday''s suicide bomber

in Iraq first got into an auto accident,

then started an argument with the other drive,

waited for a crowd to gather

then blew himself up killing 6 and

wounding 24.

(If Mohammid wont go to the crowd,

bring the crowd to Mohammid)

[jerr11]

This book is a load of cra*p.

The surge is a cover for an elaborate scheme to defraud the American taxpayers by PAYING Sunni warlords and Islamic jihadists to keep the peace.

Yes, our soldiers are handing out FREE MONEY to those who''ve bombed and killed us!

Gen Betrayus''s war strategy:

If you can''t beat them PAY THEM WITH HARD CASH!

That''s called giving in to blackmail!

[obamaisaho2]

jerkytree,

your name says it all. If anything the "total failure" are gutless, non-serving Lib cowards like you, your friends, especially Obama and Biden. Or as we say, Chimp and Chump.

Go hump Bin Laden. That''s really your speed, isn''t it.

[jerkytree]

I guess Bush and Cheney will be on the board of the big oil giants and Rice will be promoted to be the next Secretary General of the UN. That would be in line with they way Washington works. Rewards for total failure.