Comments on: General Grilled By Congress

Gen. John Abizaid Says Timetable For Exiting Iraq Would Increase Ethnic Violence

[bobgee_1999]

There is nothing quite as nauseating---or blatantly brainless--as someone calling to "nuke" anyone else (ignoring for the moment that we created the problem in the first place). Since 1945, every one of us has lived under the threat of nuclear annihilation. Hiroshima & Nagasaki changed all the rules and the lives of everyone who has lived since anywhere on Earth. But, to mankind's credit, another one was never dropped, however crazy, stupid, aggressive, fascistic, imperialistic or "evil" any world leader has been. Fortunately, the significance of the atomic bomb was realized, and a new, sadly cautious paradigm came into existence. However, the minute anyone next uses a nuclear weapon in war, ALL the rules change again, and you can forget about global warming, getting laid Saturday night and putting your kids through college. And next time you hear how "evil" another country is, remember who the ONLY country ever to drop a nuclear weapon on anyone was.

P.S. LOVED your summation, pakaal

[radiob-2009]

Abizaid has made this statement before that we needed about another 4-6 mths. to stabilize Iraq before it collapses into total civil war.He made the statement prior to our redployment in Bagdad.He thinks the situation on the ground is better than August when the mth. of October was one of the most deadliest mths. for our troops.November has stared out with a big bang,the last 4 days there have been over 300 Iraqis killed,unknowned number kidnapped in broad daylight.I do not know where he is getting his intel from but from all press reports liberal,consevative or unbiased the situation is deterioating with Al Malki doing nothing but lip service.It is time for a change in strategy not cut and run or stay the course which Abizaid seems to be advocating.Partioning Iraq is not the answer either as it would lead to a terrorist state inside of a state.I do not know the answers and as so many generals have stepped forth and said neither does Abizaid.

[gdmoore2]

It is not surprising that our political and military leadership would disagree on the grand strategy, when they do not seem to know what works for individual neighborhoods. The U.S. cannot put together a comprehensive plan until we understand what works. Among other trials, the U.S. Army should test the notion that our presence is a major cause of the violence in Baghdad. Talk to sectarian militias and see if they can maintain acceptable order in a couple of neighborhoods as U.S. troops gradually pull back. The Iraqis keep saying that our presence is causing the violence. Test it.

[tomar0317]

It's time we set a time table, advise the Iragis that at that time they're on their own and if they can't come together by that time, whose fault is it really? Certainly not America's. The impression I get from a questionable media is that the majority of the Iraqis want us out. No problem. If they want us out sooner than the timetable, simply have their leadership tell us to leave. We'll be happy to. We voted in part to end the war. For those new folks we put in Washington, you have a directive. For those that weren't up for re-election, your time is coming.

[pakaal]

Unfortunately, cbscrash07, your idea of "nuking" Iraq has a few flaws. the resultant radiation would make the vast majority of oil unusable (creating massive trade problems worldwide), the deaths of Iraqis would make America the world's greatest perpetrator of genocide in history, and it would create vast worldwide swatches of radioactivity that would affect the US population as well as the rest of the planet.

All that, of course, is secondary to the fact that you're a murderous lunatic for even suggesting it.

[elgraz]

It's time for our troops in that Iraqi hell to pack up and come home. Let the Iraqi's sort it out. They and the rest of the Middle East have been waging war and tension for quite awhile throughout the centuries without any permanent resolutions.....It's Islam versus Judaism versus Christianity......Humans will never change until the end of the world finally comes. Hopefully it will be soon.
Have a nice day humans !!!!!!

[cbgb31]

A Quote

"I'm of course disappointed that basically you're advocating the status quo here today, which I think the American people in the last election said that is not an acceptable condition."

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

Sen John McCain, R-Ariz

And of course the American people know more about his anyone. So there you go.

[Syndicate]

Sounds like time for plan B. The scorched Earth policy. Bring the troops home then nuke Iraq. We win problem solved. No more Civil war to worry about no more country for terrorist to take over. No more worries. Problem solved. We tried but some places and some people are not worth saving. Just nuke it.

[pakaal]

Dang Alphaa10, how do you REALLY feel about Bush's foreign policy? Don't be shy now! ;-)

[edward j. sullivan]

i hope that the dems are not going to push us into actions that are not in out best interest yes at dome point we have to get out, on our terms. to leave too early will spell disaster for years to come ed sullivan

[pakaal]

Tank611, you said "The plan involves winning the 'hearts and minds' of the Iraqis."

After three years of war, here's how our winning the hearts and minds of Iraqis is working out:

Almost four in five Iraqis say the U.S. military force in Iraq provokes more violence than it prevents.

About six in 10 Iraqis say they approve of attacks on U.S.-led forces

About 61 percent approved of the attacks - up from 47 percent in January.

A solid majority of Shiite and Sunni Arabs approved of the attacks, according to the poll. The increase came mostly among Shiite Iraqis.

The State Department poll found that two-thirds of Iraqis in Baghdad favor an immediate withdrawal of U.S. forces, according to The Washington Post.

Much as I support the sentiment, I don't think your 'new shoes for the kids' idea is going to work....

[alphaa10-2009]

AngryAtLiberals lamented--

1. "Congrats American People....this is what we voted for... now Carl Levin knows more about the Iraq war than our top general? The democrats need to wake up..."
--- Reply

1. No sleepers among the Democrats, certainly, as Levin at once begins to address the GOP-led folly of Iraq. As for "waking up", who has gone to sleep for the past three years after hearing, "Stay the course... stay the course... stay the course..."? Who but Bush ignored Gen. Shinseki and other Pentagon generals who counseled Iraq was a half-cocked plan? You call Iraq a policy? Or is it called "State of Denial" (the book)? With disaster cascading about them, how could anyone suspect the GOP of having any idea how to remedy Iraq? While Iraq self-destructs into civil war after the Bush-led invasion, you GOP bozos sound like unwelcome guests who still protest you have more stories to tell, more excuses to offer. Talk about sleepers, you GOP bozos are the last to admit the Iraq you created is dragging America and its security down to disaster.

[alphaa10-2009]

AngryAtLiberals-- 2
2. Of course, that is why the elections surprised you. America elected the Democrats precisely because they found the GOP asleep at the switch, awash in corruption and incompetence dating back literally for years--

Not only Iraq, but the sheer neglect of Afghanistan. Not only Iraq, but even the complete state of denial about al Qaeda *before* 911 (Bush and planners wanted to talk about only Iraq. Not only Iraq, but the deceitful public relations campaign waged by Bush, when he knew he had no excuse to justify invading Iraq, in the first place.

Not only Iraq, but head-over-heels Iraq spending which has sent America into fiscal oblivion. Not only Iraq, but GOP plundering of the public treasury, voting in tax writeoffs for only the richest, but with no forward gains on the economy.
Not only Iraq, but the declining status of America on technology and education, the ignorance of clues about environmental disaster. Not only Iraq, but federal incompetence contributing massively to Katrina, and wholesale corruption in its "rebuilding". Not only Iraq, but leaving America's airports and seaports and borders unprotected for years after 911 demonstrated they should have been first priority-- not last, long last after Iraq.

[alphaa10-2009]

AngryAtLiberals-- 3
Not only Iraq, but a presidential pretender who breaks the law (and violates Constitutional prohibitions and guarantees) with covert NSA spying on Americans not once, but continuously over the years-- this despite protests from members of his own party! Not only Iraq, but a wannabe president who, in November, 2005, angrily dismissed his own party faithful who protested his criminal acts, "Stop throwing the Constitution in my face! It's nothing but a GD##! piece of paper!" No, this is only a small part of the long, long list of Bush and GOP INcompetencies fully demonstrated to the American people, who have been more than tolerant.

Now, Sen. Levin speaks for the majority of Americans who have had enough of half-truths, lies and deceit from Bush and the GOP. Americans have decided the GOP is clueless about how to salvage the war they created, a war which had nothing whatever to do with 911-- as even Bush finally admitted only months ago. In all fairness, if Democrats manage ONLY to stop the GOP hemorrhage, foolishness and losses in the MidEast and elsewhere, that puts this country back on track with a solid hope it has not seen in years. Yes, the years past have been a sheer policy nightmare hatched by Bush neocons and buttressed by GOP deadheads falling asleep at the words, "Stay the course... stay the course... stay the course."

[alphaa10-2009]

AngryAtLiberals-- 4
3. With the election victory, those GOP boosters who liked to protest "liberal whiners" are doing the whining, themselves, and with embarrassing gusto. (We tend to forget the decades of documented GOP whining while that party was on the outside.) With the Dems not even in full stride, the chorus of mendacious whining from GOP circles has begun, with Rush Limbaugh and his ilk frantically grasping to explain their failure to gain traction with America. We should not underestimate them-- their Karl Rove-led campaign has been a model for every wannabe tyrant around the world eager to twist truth and hide the facts.

AngryAtLiberals said-- "The more I see this unfold, the more it seems that the republicans lost on purpose so they can sit back and laugh at the dems while they try to figure out their "change" for Iraq....brillint strategy....if it works."
-----
Well, your disguise is really askew at this point, "AngryLiberal". You note a low cunning to the GOP I am surprised you articulate publicly. But how much in character for the GOP to leave from the back windows to escape the angry crowd in front! Yet, despite your attempted defense of a "GOP strategy" in all this (to avoid the appearance of a graceless defeat), for the GOP simply to surrender and leave the mess they created in the White House is their only option. When did this become "strategy"? What can they do except, "stay the course... stay the course... stay the course"?

[alphaa10-2009]

AngryAtLiberals-- 5
Iraq is only the first of many Bush policy disasters the Democrats face, but the American people certainly can be at least as patient and tolerant with Democrats, as they were with Bush and the GOP while they created them! Why deride the Dems in advance for your own failures?

As a glimpse of the future, at least with foreign policy, consider the Bush approach of preemptive strikes and unilateralism to be a thing of the past-- childish and ignorant, in the extreme. As Bush himself admits, he is now "committed to diplomacy", if only after only six years of the disastrous opposite.

UK diplomatic envoy Jeremy Greenstock has commented the future of the MidEast will be driven by regional solutions, not the point of a American bayonet. After all, unseating Saddam is what any of the other powers, in concert, might have done years before, had it posed practical value. But they left Saddam alone because removing him created more problems than it solved. The current Iraq fiasco probes his point dramatically for shamefaced neocon strategists and their GOP camp followers.

In his book, The Cost of War, Greenstock says the Bush Iraq war was clueless and clumsy beyond description-- not only "'politically illegitimate" but Bush attention to UN negotiations "never rose over the level of awkward diversion for (Bush)".

[usawatchman]

One_American

I think bluestardad may have a more VALUED opinion

When you have a kid in the fight, your opinion is more VALUED

a person who has a kid in the fight, does more THINKING before
they start a war....

...just In My Humble Opinion.. IMHO


THE PROBLEM WITH IRAQ
is they didn't CLOSE THE BORDERS

SOUND FAMILIAR...?
DO WE SEE A PATTERN..?
What do we think our GREAT LEADER are going to do if this STUFF
comes home..?

DO YOU THINK
they CLOSE THE BORDERS...?
or will they take away more of our rights..?

[agnim]

How about sending Gen. John Abizaid to the front line? LOL

I miss the good old days when the warmongers would have to lead their battles if they ever wanted other idiots to fight their wars for and with them.

This disgraceful state where warmongers dodge drafts and then sit at home and send people like puerile pawns to fight THEIR wars, and 'stay the course' to hell is most disgusting to me.

I know why Cindy Sheehan protest; the life of her beloved son was wasted; and she knew it...... but late!

[ceekuei]

Who got us into this mess in the first place? Bush and gang! We had no business there then, we have no business there NOW! The guys who did us harm are the Talibans and they are in Afghanistan. It is like you going to a doctor with a headache and he operated on your ***. Not only that, he created a mess of it! What do you do? Sue the %$#*&. Then he tells you he has to go in further and takes out anything and everything he finds. He will only stop when you are stabilized. What do you do? You sue the ^%$#@. Then he tells you he is doing you a favor because he wants to get rid of your headache. What do you do? You sue the son of a %$#@*. That's exactly where we are in Iraq. Bush and gang are the doctors and surgeons, and we are the patients. What do we do? Get rid of the *&^%#

[houser123]

So unless we can get Scotty to beam the troops out, we should accept the facts of the situation and stop looking for magical solutions.

The above post cannot go without comment. To set back while people are dying is absolutely not the right thing to do. I dont think anyone is looking for a magical pill or solution to this mess, its a matter of making hard choices and done of those are good but they must be made. Judging from the elections ( sorry for your losses ) the American people want a solution and want it now. This war is now a civil war between waring factions in a soverign country between two ethnic and realigous groups. Correct me if I am wrong here, but how can our military on the ground help solve a civil war without taking sides and doing so would be even more of a disaster. TheIraqis must solve their own problems. For those of you who say we will lose, I say we have already won. We toppled Sadaam, the Iraqis developed a constitution and held free and open elections to select their leaders. Its time for those leaders to lead, (disarm the militias)and do the work the people elected them to do.