Comments on: Agreed: Something Needs To Change In Iraq

Whether It's Now Or In The Fall, Both Sides In Congress Say Conditions Must Change

[micma-2009]

President Ahab (Bush) and his administration has mangled everything it has touched. They were and are criminally incompetent.

The war in Iraq is over. Bush has lost. Bring the troops home.

Bush has seriously injured our economy and put our lives at greater risk. He should be impeached, then imprisoned.
Posted by Selenite1 at 08:33 AM : Jun 18, 2007

[dodaz-2009]

Somthing ??...lol..DUH

[pwrslm]

Look at you people. You should be ashamed at your selves. Your traitors to your own children in Iraq. American troops on the line, and your gambling that they get get killed by a weak enemy. How shameful.

AQ in Iraq has enjoyed the support of the militia's, including the Bathists, since the fall of Saddam. Now that the Iraqi people realize that AS want nothing more than thier absolute obedience at the threat of death, now that they have awoken and stood up on thier own feet to defend themselves, you condemn, and condemn, and condemn.

You are the darkness, the hatred, the conniving evil in our society. You bring nothing but hatred to the table, and are the sheep of the greedy, power lusting fools that spawned you.

[abbe7]

"They believe that Pres. Bush will find some reason to stay the course and keep U.S. forces in Iraq no matter what, until the end of his term, trying to avoid an inevitable defeat and save face at any price! "
Posted by tbweb at 04:57 AM : Jun 18, 2007

I agree, but he already found some "reasons". What he needs to find now is more pretexts.

[antoniof123]

It is amazing that in 1994 the Dems didn't listen to America and in just 12 short years the Reps aren't listening. I guess it is true you can't teach an old dog new tricks. Just shoot it and put it out of its misery.

The old saying you can't lead like that. This is not business it is a government. The President and Congress don't have a choice in the matter. You either do as you are told or you die the political death.

I wonder what part of that they don't understand.

[abbe7]

"And they are going to have to leave Iraq together, like it or not. "
Posted by cfin5 at 07:37 AM : Jun 18, 2007

With Bush vetoing any timetable ?
Only if republicans help reaching a veto-proof majority. That's the republicans responsability, more than ever.

[abbe7]

"It is the Iraqi government, McConnell said, that deserves the lions share of the blame for the chaos in Iraq. "

With a straight face ?
The chaos is the result of Bush's politics.
He deserves the lions share of the blame when others
got the lions share of the oil

http://news.independent.co.uk/world/middle_east/article2132569.ece

[selenite1]

President Ahab (Bush) and his administration has mangled everything it has touched. They were and are criminally incompetent.

The war in Iraq is over. Bush has lost. Bring the troops home.

Bush has seriously injured our economy and put our lives at greater risk. He should be impeached, then imprisoned.

[bluestardad]

McConnel is from Kentucky where there are large military bases and has milked the military vote for years! in 08 he will be defeated for reelection!

Carl Levin is from Michigan and is also up for reelection and has sided with Israel on every vote for this war! he will also be defeated in Primaries for Reelection.

they are both israeli and bush stooges!

[prinzowhales]

We've invaded and occupied a nation on the basis of lies--and apparently are still of the notion that it is the intention of the Washington Regime to extricate itself from Iraq as soon as possible...as soon as the Iraqis 'can manage by themselves.'.

THE REGIME HAS NO INTENTION OF LEAVING! Remember, from the beginning they started on the construction of 14 permanent bases. Now they are completing a 100+ acre embassy complex. Is this the work of some one who plans to 'leave as soon as possible'?

The Regime will continue with its 'Snow job' that they are trying to bring order to Iraq so that we can leave, but everything they are doing speaks to precisely the opposite goal.

The only way to get out of Iraq, is to leave and not cast about for rationalizations of why we cannot leave.

Bring the troops home, NOW! Bring the Usurper and his minions to trial and, hopefully, to the end of a rope. Take care of our vets and repair the damage that we have done to Iraq.

[forthepeopl1]

as i have been stateing here for awhile now, generals in iraq said yesterday that american force will be needed for decades in iraq.

great job congress and all you americans out their that didn't support our troops..the only way to support our troops was to tell the president no more money..than our troops would have to come home.now that you all p,u,s,s,y,s just handed the president his money you have nothing to say. all he will have to say is yes we are makeing progress even if it is in ouw head like this war. thanks

we have no governemnt for the people of this country anymore and once americans see this maybe we the people will take our government back.

congress isn't listen to us americans . why cant anyone see this. the whole mid-east is in a civil war know because we allowed this president get away with not following our constitution. and i blame all you so called americans and this congress of all the murders of our troops.

shame on all of you..

[neoconrcrazy]

I believe Pres. Bush may need to invoke that Insurrection Act, because at that point many Americans will really start to freak out!
Posted by tbweb

I wonder how many American even know of its existence?

[cfin5]

Some other media stories say Dems are looking for a "bumpersticker" slogan for an exit out of Iraq that will save face in the surrender department. First of all, the Dems went into it with the Reps, like it or not. And they are going to have to leave Iraq together, like it or not. Both parties need to prepare their resolve to do this with cold heartedness toward the "RELIGIOUS CIVIL WAR" slaughter that is going to happen when the exit happens.....As for the bumpersticker, I think it should run along the lines of the slogan about "You can lead a horse to water, but you can't make him drink".....You can't fix a religious smoldering fire with cash! We actually have won our responsibility toward the Iraqi people in getting them free. It is up to them "TOTALLY" now to keep themselves free as with any nation that is currently considers themselves free.....We have done an honorable thing to get them free. However, it becomes dishonorable to keep up the nation building welfare program when they as a nationality just don't care. Why should our concern for them trump theirs for themselves?

[ramos937]

I would like to add the following. Our guys are doing heroic work in Iraq. I would never critize them. But I am convinced we need to fight the war on terror in a very different way. While deadly, Al Queda forces are relatively few compared to our numbers on the ground. After we leave (and before), we should make full use of the Special Operations Forces which the Pentagon has under development. These guys will soon reach a force of over 8000 according to news. We would use them wherever they would be needed on a short term basis to help other countries. Maybe some military expert can prove me wrong? If so, where.

God Bless

[tbweb]

neoconRcrazy,,,

Many in the Press believe and so do some U.S. Senators that Pres. Bush has no intention of pulling U.S. forces from Iraq even if the news from General David Petraus is bad in September. They believe that Pres. Bush will find some reason to stay the course and keep U.S. forces in Iraq no matter what, until the end of his term, trying to avoid an inevitable defeat and save face at any price! If that scenario occurs I believe Pres. Bush may need to invoke that Insurrection Act, because at that point many Americans will really start to freak out!

[neoconrcrazy]

Insurrection Act

The Insurrection Act governs when the President can declare a form of martial law. When the act is invoked, the military, including the National Guard, can carry out law enforcement functions without the consent of a Governor. Posse comitatus, a broad law that generally prevents the military from policing within the domestic United States, does not apply when the act is invoked.

Until the %u201CInsurrection Act Rider%u201D was enacted in the fall of 2006, U.S. law focused on enabling the President to invoke the Insurrection Act during violent situations where the states or local communities were resisting lawful orders. The intent of the law, as the title suggests, was to deal with insurrection from individuals or groups. The law was not designed to address other situations, including natural disasters, or attacks from outside the country.

The Act has been invoked sparingly -- only ten times in the past five decades. Over the past 40 years, the act has only been invoked with the consent of the governors, using authorities under other sections of the U.S. Code that allow states to invite in federal military forces for police functions.
Under the new language, added to the law in the fall of 2006, the President can invoke the act and declare martial law in cases where public order breaks down as a result of a natural disaster, epidemic, terrorist attack, or under the nebulous term of %u201Cother conditions."

US senate website

[ramos937]

Someway, somehow, the administration has to finally concede that the Maliki government cannot control the country. The reason for this is simple. The bad guys have been infiltrating the Iraq security forces for years and everybody who can read and listen to the news realizes this.

Let's look at the proof: (1) we have been training these their security forces since 2004. Yet they are nowhere near being trained. (2) our field commanders do not dare to let their Iraq counterparts in on joint operations planning until the very last minutes. If they do, the bad guys will know what we intend to do. (3) IEDS kill/multalate thousands of our guys but very few of the Iraq forces. They know where these are but fail to tell us. (4) One MG once said, we give the Iraiqs funds in cash. Our responsibility ends when they take delivery. The Iraq IG has consistently compiled instance after instance there these funds are not used for their intended military purposes but to enrich Iraq politicians/citizens.

Question - How can we posibly expect the Maliki government to honor its committments while the above conditions exist?

[tbweb]

This Iraq war is Vietnam all over again, in the context that the U.S. is doing its part, buying the Iraqi govenment time to get its political and military act together but its not happening. The Iraqis had 4 years and still they crawl along with nothing to really show for the lost of U.S. blood and treasure. I also heard on a Sunday talk show the Iraqis were still considering taking that 2 month vacation, I thought that vacation drama was over and done with but NOT! If the Iraqi government takes that 2 month vacation anyway with U.S. and Iraqi forces dying daily the U.S. should just pull up and leave in my view! They reduced it to 2 weeks at one point but now its back to 2 months! This is the same thing that happened in Vietnam, I was there I know, the U.S. did its part like now, but like Vietnam the U.S. will get the blame and credited with the lost if Iraq falls! The U.S. has given Iraq 4 years or over 3500 killed in action and over 25000 wounded so in September if this nonsense is still not showing significant results on the Iraqi political and military end, I say no more American blood wasted, enough! I think the Iraqi government is jerking the U.S. chain and playing us for fools but soon the joke will be on them because the U.S. commitment is not unlimited. I like Senator Levens threat, reduce the protection around the Green Zone and let the Iraqis do it, lets see how fast they get their act together then! What a waste!

[iceman_1960]

"It is the Iraqi government, McConnell said, that deserves the lions share of the blame for the chaos in Iraq."

Bush's incompetence and lack of plannning don't deserve much blame ? So it's just like the Katrina aftermath: it was all the fault of the local government, right ?

In your dreams, partisan.

We'll see what the American people have to say about it, when Bush's would-be Republican successor tries that line out on the voters.

[iceman_1960]

"It is the Iraqi government, McConnell said, that deserves the lions share of the blame for the chaos in Iraq. "The Iraqi government, so far, has been a big disappointment," he said. "They've not done the things that they know they need to do to hold their country together."

The Iraqi congress is also thinking of taking a two-month summer vacation."

-------------------------------------------

Were they ever given a DEADLINE to get things done ?

There's the problem right there.

Given them an ironclad deadline. Tell them the American troops are leaving by a definite, reasonable date.

Then if they still want to loll by the pool for two months, to h*ell with them.