Comments on: New Plan Will Shorten Army Combat Tours

Administration Expects To Reduce Soldiers' Tours Of Duty From 15 To 12 Months This Summer

[excoachken]

How ironic for this to happen just as an election campaign gets underway. How amazingly ironic!

[ajmarine1]

In retrospect, it seems clear that Iraq had long been seen by this group, which became empowered first by Bush%u2019s election and then super-charged by 9/11, as the first, easiest and most available step toward achieving a %u201CPax Americana%u201D that would not only establish the U.S. once and for all as the dominant power in the region, but whose geo-strategic implications for aspiring %u201Cpeer competitors%u201D would be global in scope.


According to a 1996 paper drafted by prominent hard-line neo-conservatives %u2014 including some, like Douglas Feith and David Wurmser, who would later serve in senior posts in Cheney%u2019s office and the Pentagon in the run-up to the invasion %u2014 ousting Hussein and installing a pro-Western leader was the key to destabilising Israel%u2019s Arab enemies and/or bending them to its will. This would permit the Jewish state not only to escape the Oslo peace process, but also to secure as much of the occupied Palestinian (and Syrian) territories as it wished.

Indeed, getting rid of Hussein and occupying Iraq would not only tighten Israel%u2019s hold on Arab territories, in this view; it could also threaten the survival of the Arab and Islamic worlds%u2019 most formidable weapon against Israel %u2014 OPEC %u2014 by flooding the world market with Iraqi oil and forcing the commodity%u2019s price down to historic lows.



That%u2019s how it looked five years ago anyway.



http://www.commondreams.org/archive/2008/03/19/7760/

[rowdytexan2]

Posted by Husein_Pasha at 02:06 PM : Apr 05, 2008

It won''t be for Obama, I can tell you that!

[rowdytexan2]

Posted by IDNNSG at 02:00 PM : Apr 05, 2008

Sorry but your statement that he hasn''t flip flopped is ludicrous! It''s out there in his own words! It''s visible all over the place! You can deny it till the cows come home, but he has flip flopped on every stance he''s ever taken.

[husein_pasha]

Rowdy Texan, which candidate do you like? how do you think to vote?

[idnnsg]

RowdyTexan2 claims, "Obama doesn''t have a clue! That''s why he jumps around on his stances. He doesn''t know what stance to take on a different day!"

Actually, Obama has done very little flipping, compared to the other candidates, most especially when compared to McShame. Little Johnny McShame claims he was tortured for 5 years, but never gave the enemy any information. For many years, he was strongly opposed to torture. Now, he says he SUPPORTS torture. Why? Here are the possibilities:

1. He revealed military secrets to the enemy under torture, so he believes torture works. He is thus a liar and a TRAITOR.

2. He didn''t reveal secrets, so he knows torture DOES NOT work. Therefore his support of torture is just pandering to the blood-thirsty repugs. But the effect will be to get OUR soldiers tortured. Thus he is our own soldier''s ENEMY.

3. Five years of torture drove him completely in.sane, so any crazy thing he says should just be ignored because he doesn''t have a clue about the real world.

Any way you look at it, McCain is NOT FIT FOR DUTY.

Besides, he has melanoma and he will be dead soon. So a vote for McShame is really just a vote for his as-yet unnamed VP. I wouldn''t be the least bit surprised if it turns out to be Cheney again. The Dark Lord does love his work.

[ajmarine1]

Check out PBS''''s story''''s some time, Cheney had his own intelegence people to counter the CIA''''s

Posted by j-whitman at 01:52 PM : Apr 05, 2008


What gets me is bothe Cheney and Bush senior advised againist taking out Saddam and creating a vacum in 94;..........what did George think he knew that would make those reasons for not going in go away?

[getcentered]

We had a good discussion, the Foreign Minister and I and the President and I, had a good discussion about the nature of the sanctions -- the fact that the sanctions exist -- not for the purpose of hurting the Iraqi people, but for the purpose of keeping in check Saddam Hussein''s ambitions toward developing weapons of mass destruction. We should constantly be reviewing our policies, constantly be looking at those sanctions to make sure that they are directed toward that purpose. That purpose is every bit as important now as it was ten years ago when we began it. And frankly they have worked. He has not developed any significant capability with respect to weapons of mass destruction. He is unable to project conventional power against his neighbors. So in effect, our policies have strengthened the security of the neighbors of Iraq...

Colin Powell %u2013 February 2001

But in terms of Saddam Hussein being there, let''s remember that his country is divided, in effect. He does not control the northern part of his country. We are able to keep arms from him. His military forces have not been rebuilt.

Condoleeza Rice %u2013 July 2001

[getcentered]

Excerpt from "Why We Didn''''t Remove Saddam" by George Bush Sr. and Brent Scowcroft, Time (2 March 1998):

"While we hoped that popular revolt or coup would topple Saddam, neither the U.S. nor the countries of the region wished to see the breakup of the Iraqi state. We were concerned about the long-term balance of power at the head of the Gulf. Trying to eliminate Saddam, extending the ground war into an occupation of Iraq, would have violated our guideline about not changing objectives in midstream, engaging in "mission creep," and would have incurred incalculable human and political costs. Apprehending him was probably impossible. We had been unable to find Noriega in Panama, which we knew intimately. We would have been forced to occupy Baghdad and, in effect, rule Iraq. The coalition would instantly have collapsed, the Arabs deserting it in anger and other allies pulling out as well. Under those circumstances, furthermore, we had been self-consciously trying to set a pattern for handling aggression in the post-cold war world. Going in and occupying Iraq, thus unilaterally exceeding the U.N.''''s mandate, would have destroyed the precedent of international response to aggression we hoped to establish. Had we gone the invasion route, the U.S. could conceivably still be an occupying power in a bitterly hostile land. It would have been a dramatically different--and perhaps barren--outcome."

[getcentered]

"Check out PBS''''s story''''s some time, Cheney had his own intelegence people to counter the CIA''''s
Posted by j-whitman"

The point isn''t the weapons or inteligence or the lack of........

There were many opinions about what Saddam was doing.......the opinions that matter the most to me are those of the people who started the war in Iraq in the first place......

"If we had gone to Baghdad, we would have been all alone. It would have been a U.S. occupation of Iraq."

"Once you got to Iraq and took it over, took down Saddam Hussein''s government, then what are you going to put in its place?"

"That''s a very volatile part of the world, and if you take down the central government of Iraq, you can easily end up seeing pieces of Iraq fly off."

"It''s a quagmire if you go that far and try to take over Iraq."

*** Chenney 1994

[rowdytexan2]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9g5f2LG0cVg&feature=related

Obama lies again...

[j-whitman]

AJMarine1,,,, Hmmmm, seems like this White House must obtain some incredible stupid intel to keep us in one failure after another doesn''t it ???

Check out PBS''s story''s some time, Cheney had his own intelegence people to counter the CIA''s

[rowdytexan2]

Bush has sold us out for the interest of the oil and incorporation of the Middle East. The plan was on his desk on day one!

[idnnsg]

So what if the papers say "12" instead of "15"! As long as they can use the "stop loss" policy, it''s a life-time commitment.

[rowdytexan2]

Rowdy,,,, They all lie about special intrests -- But, McBush''''s sells out our country & or national security assets.


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

Posted by j-whitman at 01:43 PM : Apr 05, 2008

I understand Bush lies! Bush is a delusional meglomaniac! But he''ll be gone soon! And has to be replaced!

I want him to be replaced by somebody that''s competent! Who takes the stances, stands by them, not someone who takes a stance one week and different one the next!

Obama doesn''t have a clue! That''s why he jumps around on his stances. He doesn''t know what stance to take on a different day!

[getcentered]

"Administration Expects To Reduce Soldiers'' Tours Of Duty From 15 To 12 Months This Summer"

What our administration expects to do and what they do in the end is often different....oh......

Maybe Bush is going to hire more mercenary armies from Blackwater?

We hire mercenaries because we can''t fill the gaps in recruitment.......the neo-cons built themselves an Army that has no accountability.....go figure......

Republicans are sad; an angry tragedian%u2026the worst America has to offer%u2026.

We have yet to endure the tactical and strategic blunder that the war in Iraq really is.

I know! Why don''t we bomb other countries that have schools, water, power, and police for their people? We can quickly lower the population, while creating enemies for our industrial military complex?

How''s that sound Republicans?

Bush Sees "Defining Moment" In Iraq? He saw WMD, Al Qaeda; mobile weapons labs, terrorist training facilities, missiles that could reach New York, 45-minute ready chemical weapons, none of which were there.

What he will see is his legacy and his Parties demise, but at least I got my $600 %u201Ctax-rebate%u201D check from China!!

You wanna get some Republicans?....lets go.........other wise go sit in the corner with your talking point spewing fallacy of a constituency.....

%u201CThe great Rousseau said it:
"...Conservatives have learned nothing and forgotten nothing"

[ajmarine1]

We will still have forces in Iraq for awhile.

Posted by j-whitman at 01:40 PM : Apr 05, 2008


What I have come to the conclusion is, not matter how long we are there, as soon as Sadr and Iran decide they are ready, they will take over.

[jazz_jeff2]

Why don''t they just pay more illegal armies like Blackwater to shoot more people? They have had enough practise - see: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KZX1odzHdAo&feature=related

[rowdytexan2]

Rowdy,,,, Sorry, I don''''t get my news from YouTube, they are good at exploiting sound bites.


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

Posted by j-whitman at 01:37 PM : Apr 05, 2008

Oh then do you just believe them when they''re applied to Hillary Clinton?

HIllary''s plans were put out there months ago. She has stood straight on her stances, she explains them in detail, they''re the same every time she says them.

The YouTube videos are just videos of the debates! It is exactly Mr. Obama''s words! Why would you not believe his own words?

Because you know he lies?

[j-whitman]

Rowdy,,,, They all lie about special intrests -- But, McBush''s sells out our country & or national security assets.