WASHINGTON, Jan. 12, 2007

U.S. Forces Fighting Iranians In Iraq

Former Assistant Secretary Of State: New Efforts Against Iran Significantly Raise Stakes

  • Video Former Ambassador On Iraq

    Former ambassador to Iraq Paul Bremer speaks with Harry Smith about the situation in Iraq and the president's new war strategy.

  • Video Selling The New Iraq Plan

    As President Bush visited Ft. Benning, Ga., to muster up support for his new plan, members of his administration were grilled by Congress. Bill Plante reports.

    • Pentagon sources tell <b>CBS News</b> the U.S. military has planned covert cross-border raids into Iran but so far none has been approved. Photo

      Pentagon sources tell CBS News the U.S. military has planned covert cross-border raids into Iran but so far none has been approved.  (AP)

    • Sens. Edward Kennedy, Carl Levin and John McCain listen to remarks from Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Peter Pace, seated front left, who is flanked by Defense Secretary Robert Gates during a Senate hearing on Jan. 12, 2007. Photo

      Sens. Edward Kennedy, Carl Levin and John McCain listen to remarks from Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Peter Pace, seated front left, who is flanked by Defense Secretary Robert Gates during a Senate hearing on Jan. 12, 2007.  (Getty Images/Mark Wilson)

    • Defense Secretary Robert Gates, left, accompanied by Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, addresses reporters during a news conference, Jan. 11, 2007, in the Eisenhower Executive Office Building adjacent to the White House. Photo

      Defense Secretary Robert Gates, left, accompanied by Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, addresses reporters during a news conference, Jan. 11, 2007, in the Eisenhower Executive Office Building adjacent to the White House.  (AP Photo)

    • Senate Foreign Relations Committee member Sen. Chuck Hagel, R-Neb. takes part in a hearing on Iraq before the committee, Jan. 11, 2007. Photo

      Senate Foreign Relations Committee member Sen. Chuck Hagel, R-Neb. takes part in a hearing on Iraq before the committee, Jan. 11, 2007.  (AP Photo/Dennis Cook)

    Previous slide Next slide
  • Interactive New Plan For Iraq

    Key elements of the plan, excerpts from the president's speech, reaction and more.

  • In The Spotlight Bush's New Iraq Strategy

    A glimpse at some of the key elements in President Bush's new plan for Iraq.

  • Who's Who Congress Reacts To Plan

    Reaction to President Bush's new Iraq stategy, which includes an increase in troops.

(CBS/AP)  As President Bush tries to sell his new Iraq policy, his administration is keeping an eye on another threat — Iran, reports CBS News national security correspondent David Martin.

U.S. officials tell CBS News that American forces have begun an aggressive and mostly secret ground campaign against networks of Iranians that had been operating with virtual impunity inside Iraq.

The chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff told Congress on Friday that Iranians are now on the target list.

"Twice in the last two or three weeks, in pursuit of those networks, when we have gone and captured those cells, we've captured Iranians," said Gen. Peter Pace.

According to U.S. military figures, 198 American and British soldiers have been killed, and more than 600 wounded by advanced explosive devices manufactured in Iran and smuggled in through the southern marshes and along the Tigris River. Attempts to disrupt these networks, combined with the decision to send a second aircraft carrier to the Persian Gulf as a warning to Iran, significantly raises the stakes, according to former Assistant Secretary of State Martin Indyk.

"It's going to have, you would expect, some rather serious consequences," he said.

Defense Secretary Robert Gates tried to assure the Senate Armed Services Committee the U.S. military will not widen the war into Iran.

"We believe that we can interrupt these networks that are providing support through actions inside the territory of Iraq and there is no need to attack targets in Iran itself," he said.

But with the future of oil-rich Iraq at stake, the revolutionary leaders of Iran are not likely to back down.

"Since the president has taken the gloves off, I would expect that they would respond by taking the gloves off, too," Indyk says.

Pentagon sources tell CBS News the U.S. military has planned covert cross-border raids into Iran — but so far none has been approved.

Meanwhile, Sen. John McCain defended President Bush's Iraq plan on Friday as a difficult but necessary move, parting company with lawmakers fiercely resisting the military build up.

"I believe that together these moves will give the Iraqis and Americans the best chance of success," said McCain, R-Ariz., a leading presidential contender for 2008.

McCain also took a shot at Democrats who say the U.S. must bring home some troops within four to six months.

"I believe these individuals ... have a responsibility to tell us what they believe are the consequences of withdrawal in Iraq," he said. "If we walk away from Iraq, we'll be back, possibly in the context of a wider war in the world's most volatile region."

McCain spoke at the Senate Armed Services Committee, where Gates and Gen. Peter Pace, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, spent a second day on Capitol Hill defending the president's strategy.

As they did, Democrats continued considering strategies for challenging Mr. Bush's war policies. One influential lawmaker, Rep. John Murtha, D-Pa., said he'd like to require closing the U.S. prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, and better training for troops heading to the war zone as conditions of Congress providing more money for Iraq.

"We have to close the prison at Guantanamo," said Murtha, who heads the House panel that controls the Pentagon's budget. He said Democrats would decide later whether to pursue the idea.

The Bush administration has said military the detention center is still needed. It holds almost 400 detainees suspected of links to al Qaeda and the Taliban.

Gates and Pace on Friday assured lawmakers there were no immediate plans to attack targets in Iran. In his speech this week on Iraq, Mr. Bush vowed to disrupt Iran's aid to insurgents in Iraq and "destroy the networks providing advanced weaponry and training to our enemies in Iraq."

CBS News Poll On Bush Speech
'08 Contenders Weigh In
Key Elements Of Bush Plan
Speech Excerpts
Congressional Response
World Reaction
Mr. Bush's comments refer "strictly to operations inside the territory of Iraq, not crossing the border," Gates said, later adding that "any kind of military action inside Iran itself, that would be a very last resort."

Despite pointed questions from Democrats, the testimony of the two top officials drew considerably less consternation than Thursday's testimony from Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice. Sen. Chuck Hagel, R-Neb., told Rice that he feared Mr. Bush's plan would be the worst foreign policy blunder since the Vietnam War.

On the Senate Armed Services Committee are several staunch Bush supporters, including John Cornyn of Texas, Jeff Sessions of Alabama and Saxby Chambliss of Georgia. In addition to McCain, committee members Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., and Joseph Lieberman, I-Conn., support sending more troops to Iraq.

Sen. Carl Levin, D-Mich., the panel's new chairman, said deepening America's commitment in Iraq would be a grave mistake. Mr. Bush wants to add 21,500 more U.S. troops to the 132,000 already there.

"Increasing the number of U.S. forces in Iraq is flawed strategy because it is based on a flawed premise that there is a military solution to the violence and instability in Iraq, when what is needed is a political solution among the Iraqi leaders and factions," Levin said.

Repeating an admission that the president made in his nationally televised address on Wednesday, Gates told the senators, "Mistakes certainly have been made by the United States in Iraq. However we got to this moment, the stakes now are incalculable."

Mr. Bush on Friday sought support for his new Iraq military buildup in telephone calls to Jordan's King Abdullah II and Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak.

Late Thursday, the bipartisan Iraq Study Group, led by James Baker and Lee Hamilton, warned against sending more troops for long. The group had called for withdrawal of U.S. combat troops by early 2008, but said that a temporary troop increase might be justified under some circumstances.

"We are encouraged by the president's statement that 'America's commitment is not open-ended' and Secretary Gates' statement that the addition of 21,000 troops would be viewed as a temporary surge," Baker and Hamilton said in a statement. "The violence in Baghdad will not end without national reconciliation."

Republican Sens. John Warner and Susan Collins said Friday they were gravely concerned about the fate of Iraq. Collins, R-Maine, asked Gates and Pace why the administration thinks the plan will work when past attempts have failed.

Warner said the goal must be to keep Iraq from imploding and being "scattered to the winds" in the region.

"I don't call it victory. I don't call it a win," said Warner, R-Va. "But to enable this government and its people to continue to seek their own level of democracy and freedom."

On Thursday, Gates announced that he was requesting an increase in the size of the Army and Marine Corps by 92,000 troops over the next five years.

He also said the Pentagon would recall to duty sooner than planned some National Guard and Reserve troops who have served yearlong tours in Iraq or Afghanistan.




© MMVII, CBS Interactive Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Video and Galleries from Politics

Add a Comment See all 536 Comments
by random_radar January 12, 2007 11:57 AM PST
Kiss the presidency goodbye, Mr. McCain.
Reply to this comment
by inventagod January 12, 2007 12:06 PM PST
Makes me wonder what Karl Rove has on Mr. McCain...

Fear and intimidation is the oldest Bu$hCo trick, and has worked well on the $heep...

Reply to this comment
by vancouverboo January 12, 2007 12:11 PM PST
So his handlers are betting there are more knee-jerk hawks in the country than doves. It'll be interesting to see if they are right.
No one has ever lost money by underestimating the intelligence of the American voter.
Reply to this comment
by mbievtea January 12, 2007 12:17 PM PST
I support the President's decision to send more troops because although the main difficulty in Iraq is political -- aren't all things political -- without some degree of security political ambitions and goals can't be progressed due to the violence. Some say there is no strategy. Well, the strategy is to take key areas back from the insurgents and radicals in Baghdad and provide the semblance of a foothold for the Iraqi government to begin work they could not otherwise do because of the threats. There is no strategy? When you look at Iraq's situation now, there are two main areas which are holding back all of Iraq: the Anbar Province area and the continued violence in Baghdad. The increased troop presence is meant to fight back in these two areas and -- again -- give the Iraqi's a chance to get a foothold there. Is the President making a mistake? I differ with the statements regarding "American security" as a reasoning. We are there to HELP THE IRAQI PEOPLE OVERCOME A HISTORY OF TRYANNY AND POLITICAL TERROR and the "reward" for America will be realized if we believe in ourselves, our cause and the vision of millions of Iraqi's who voted and haven died trying to do exactly what we are helping them to do. AMERICA HAS NOTHING TO BE ASHAMED OF AND SHOULD BE VERY PROUD OF OUR ABILITY IN THIS WORLD. Because I can't imagine what kind of world this would be otherwise!
Reply to this comment
by frankly6 January 12, 2007 12:29 PM PST


It makes me happy to see one of the front runner GOP candidates tying his political future to the failing and failed policies of a man who has no political future.

Reply to this comment
by arthurcl1 January 12, 2007 12:30 PM PST
Everyone rent DVD called Bushes Brain which shows how Karl Rove orchestrated even ruined John McCain in comercials so that Bush could win. Now of course for the 2008 Elections McCain will want good old Karl to be his Brain and run his Election! Rove also orchestraed Bushes campaign to brain wash us to get into Iraq. He probably wrote the Bush Speech we watched the other night. McCain is now in Bushes sided Pocket because he wants Rove to get him into the white house next! How Disgusting!
Reply to this comment
by rsoxfan1123 January 12, 2007 12:38 PM PST
mbievtea-are you sure you're not recruiting for Viet nam? Oh wait, this is a different war. your argument was so similar I couldn't tell them apart. No doubt had bush spent less time evading his duty in Viet Nam and more time watching people get their arms and legs blown off, he'd notice this similarity also. let your kids die for Iraq if you love that country so much, but leave mine out of it.
Reply to this comment
by webdepot January 12, 2007 12:50 PM PST
Posted by mbievtea at 12:17 PM : Jan 12, 2007
"Some say there is no strategy. Well, the strategy is to take key areas back from the insurgents and radicals in Baghdad and provide the semblance of a foothold for the Iraqi government to begin work they could not otherwise do because of the threats."

Guess what mbievtea.... that strategy is nothing more than "stay the course"... We have taken back key areas not once, but several times.. and each time at a cost of a few hundred American lives... And once we clear it out and turn it over to the Iraqi control... they let all their insurgent friends back in, or, if the particular insurgents are not their friends, they run like hell...

Just how many times, at a cost of how many Americans, do we keep trying the same-o tactic only to have the Iraqi's give it back.. ***... let the morons kill each other... get get us out to the borders where we can observe instead of being in the middle of the cross-fire...



Reply to this comment
by randalds January 12, 2007 1:00 PM PST
It's sad to see a once honorable man lick the boots of Bush and the neocons. During the 2000 election Rove savaged McCain and now McCain rolls over like a beaten puppy, with his legs in the air and his tail curled. What the North Vietnamese were unable to do when he was a prisoner, he's own political ambition has done to him now. He sold out and has become a pathetic shadow of the man he once was.
Reply to this comment
by drinuk January 12, 2007 1:03 PM PST
They will have to go back to square one, forget the collateral damage and start using smart bombs again, take whole areas out where these fanatics are holed up, just like they are doing right now in Afghanistan to great effect. If they get the clerics that will be a major step forward. However, I feel that those nutters are orchestrating the insurgents from over the border in Iran.
Reply to this comment
by johnshaft4 January 12, 2007 1:07 PM PST
Since when does merely being captured by the enemy make McCain an 'expert' in foreign affairs?
Seems like he's been sitting way too long on the "poor me" pity pot.
Reply to this comment
by bluestardad January 12, 2007 1:10 PM PST
He is just spouting the party line! Is he up for Reelection? See how his tone changes when he gets close to election time.
Reply to this comment
by obie1013 January 12, 2007 1:24 PM PST
It amazes me that we have, for the most part, bought into our president telling us that the war in Iraq is stopping terrorism. I spent two years in VietNam listening to and believing the same ***. I seriously doubt that the planners for attacks on our country are all sitting in Iraq waiting for us to capture or kill them. I think that Bin Laden is laughing his butt off at the way we are bankrupting our nation to fight another unwinnable war. I agree that there are problems in the middle east, but I feel that we should be looked at as part of the solution, with the rest of our planet chipping in to create peace. It seems like a lot of empires went down by sending large numbers of their armies to far off places and overextending.
Reply to this comment
by marcelde January 12, 2007 1:25 PM PST
Stay the CURSE! Stay the CURSE! Stay the CURSE! Stay the CURSE! Stay the CURSE! Stay the CURSE! Stay the CURSE! Stay the CURSE! Stay the CURSE! Stay the CURSE! Stay the CURSE! Stay the CURSE! Stay the CURSE! Stay the CURSE! Stay the CURSE! Stay the CURSE! Stay the CURSE! Stay the CURSE! Stay the CURSE! Stay the CURSE! Stay the CURSE! Stay the CURSE! Stay the CURSE! Stay the CURSE! Stay the CURSE! Stay the CURSE! Stay the CURSE! Stay the CURSE! Stay the CURSE! Stay the CURSE! Stay the CURSE! Stay the CURSE!

S
T
A
Y

T
H
E

C
U
R
S
E

Reply to this comment
by marcelde January 12, 2007 1:28 PM PST
"MISSION ACCOMPLISHED" "MISSION ACCOMPLISHED" "MISSION ACCOMPLISHED" "MISSION ACCOMPLISHED"
"MISSION ACCOMPLISHED" "MISSION ACCOMPLISHED" "MISSION ACCOMPLISHED" "MISSION ACCOMPLISHED"
"MISSION ACCOMPLISHED" "MISSION ACCOMPLISHED" "MISSION ACCOMPLISHED" "MISSION ACCOMPLISHED"
"MISSION ACCOMPLISHED" "MISSION ACCOMPLISHED" "MISSION ACCOMPLISHED" "MISSION ACCOMPLISHED"
"MISSION ACCOMPLISHED" "MISSION ACCOMPLISHED" "MISSION ACCOMPLISHED" "MISSION ACCOMPLISHED"
"MISSION ACCOMPLISHED" "MISSION ACCOMPLISHED" "MISSION ACCOMPLISHED" "MISSION ACCOMPLISHED"
"MISSION ACCOMPLISHED" "MISSION ACCOMPLISHED" "MISSION ACCOMPLISHED" "MISSION ACCOMPLISHED"
"MISSION ACCOMPLISHED" "MISSION ACCOMPLISHED" "MISSION ACCOMPLISHED" "MISSION ACCOMPLISHED"
Reply to this comment
by gwagener January 12, 2007 1:31 PM PST
McCain is taking a bold gamble with his presidential campain, but it's not really a surprise since he claims he'd use 50,000 more troops.
If things get worse during the surge, then McCain's run for president will be doomed.
Reply to this comment
by observantx January 12, 2007 1:32 PM PST
I had great respect for Senator McCain until he and Lindsey Graham and John Warner put on the Kabuki performance over torture and warrantless evesdropping. What happened there? They got on TV and in the newspapers putting up a brave front about confronting the president over the issues. Then they met with King George and came out with their tails between their legs. Was that all for show, or what?

Now he's cheerleading for this misgiuded and doomed escalation. Can he want to be president SO BAD that he's sold himself this cheap?

Senator McCain: Please save yourself and tell the truth!



Reply to this comment
by notblue January 12, 2007 1:34 PM PST
All the left wing ideologues who think Teddy Kennedy and Carl Levin are right when they say there is no military solution to this conflict lose sight of the fact that the insurgents believe there is a military solution to defeating democracy. How can withdrawel and diplomacy forward a solutuion when the lunatics we are fighting would wipe out entire civilizations if they had the means. People are carping about it being another Viet Nam, well if the left has there way as they did in Viet Nam then hundreds of thousands if not millions will perish at the hands of the radicals just like when we left Viet Nam. To think they will only kill themselves is we leave is blind indifference and stupidity.
Reply to this comment
by rsoxfan1123 January 12, 2007 1:35 PM PST
Flip flop flip flop
Reply to this comment
by bluestardad January 12, 2007 1:36 PM PST
John McCain if you want to increase troops in Iraq take your ballon jaw bayonette toe happyass on back over there and grab a gun!
Reply to this comment
by inventagod January 12, 2007 1:37 PM PST
McCain is the best Bu$hCo can do?

Failure is the benchmark of this administration, except maybe that 9/11 assault on America....

Reply to this comment
by jsilver2th January 12, 2007 1:41 PM PST
At least McCain served in the military himself unlike some that are willing to send troops...

Does not look like he will be President though as this makes him look more like Bush every day...
Reply to this comment
by randalds January 12, 2007 1:41 PM PST
John McCain needs to withdraw from the world stage in shame. His political ambition has caused him to sell his soul to the very neocons who spread such vicious rumors about him 6 years ago. Once upon a time he was a real man. A man to be respected and honored. Now his naked desire to become president has caused him to become a worldwide embarrassment. Slink away John, while you still have a shred or two of self-respect left.
Reply to this comment
by oxmyx-2009 January 12, 2007 1:56 PM PST
Let's all remember this wack job's collective Iraq positions in '08!
Reply to this comment
by oxmyx-2009 January 12, 2007 2:06 PM PST
Even worse, during the 2000 South Carolina primary campaign to stop McCain's momemtum,Bush's liars ,(who later admitted same),distributed a letter accusing McCain of fathering a mixed race child and his wife of dealing drugs in her youth. A week later McCain was hugging Bush in front of the cameras out west. His campaign finance reform bill was a farce- "Straight Talk Express my ***.
Reply to this comment
by joesal698 January 12, 2007 2:13 PM PST
Just read a great piece by Keith Olbermann on MSNBC called "Bush's legacy: The president who cried wolf"

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/16583889/
Reply to this comment
by observantx January 12, 2007 2:16 PM PST
I%u2019VE GOT IT!

Here%u2019s how we fight the war in Iraq. It will be over in a week if we PRIVATIZE it.

We send Private Bush, Private Cheney, Private Gates, Private Rice, Private Rove, Private Snow, Private Rumsfeld, and any other private aide or staffer we can find in the White House and give them nonstop flight to Iraq. We drop them off in Sadr City in one of Rummy%u2019s unarmored Humvees,. They each get a rifle, five ammo clips, three grenades and body armor. No rations, however, they won%u2019t last until lunchtime. Then we can all go home.

Problem solved.

Reply to this comment
by duffyn January 12, 2007 2:21 PM PST
LOL!! I LOVE Observantx's comments!!! We can all see bush just switched generals and officials until he got a new set that would do want he wanted, which, I am sure is the wrong thing. bush & Gang don't want to win in Iraq they want a whole middle east war - betcha! Somebody better stop bush & gang now!!!!
Reply to this comment
by luvny-2009 January 12, 2007 2:22 PM PST
ObservantX - NICE!
Reply to this comment
by jimibear January 12, 2007 2:29 PM PST
I love the way notblue thinks. "We've killed somewhere between 150,000 and 650,000 Iraqis so far, but we can't leave in case more get killed."

How about if we'd never gone there in the first place? Our presence there is not helping; it's fueling the flames. We are either target of violence, or the catalyst for violence against those who support us.

When did this country so comprehensive forget how to mind its own business? The whole existence of the terrorist threat can be traced back to the muddle-headed, misguided and unjustifiable theft of Palestine to found a Jewish home state. If we were so concerned that the Jews be safe, why did we steal Arab land (guaranteeing hostility) and stick them where they were surrounded by enemies?

Whose brilliant idea was that? Hmmmm ... could it be that it was a way to set up a friendly regime to ride herd on the Arabs so we could have unfettered access to their oil? Perish the thought.

And this great wave of death that took place after we left Viet Nam ... erm, that happened when and where, exactly?
Reply to this comment
by jimibear January 12, 2007 2:30 PM PST
oops. ComprehensiveLY.
Reply to this comment
by macusweil January 12, 2007 2:33 PM PST
If someone can't drive to the point where it's unsafe to ride with them, would you feel safer giving them a car with more horsepower?
Reply to this comment
by patriotic9 January 12, 2007 2:44 PM PST
Keep on sending more troops to get killed by our tax money which Bush is giving to the ISLAMIC RADICALS "MALIKI","SADR",etc on the name of REBUILDING IRAQ.How lucky are Iraqi Insurgents who just need join the Iraqi security forces to get trained and use the training and weapons given to them by our tax money to kill our soldiers.Please stop spending our tax money in the killing of the finest men and women in uniform.If we don't raise our voices against our tax money to be used to kill our troops in Iraq,we all will be guilty of murder.
Saddam Hussain was fighting an American war against Islamic Radicals of his own country and Iraq whereas Bush is fighting an ISLAMIC JIHAD against America by giving our TAX MONEY on the name of REBUILDING IRAQ and our weapons on the name of ARMING THE IRAQI SECURITY FORCES for the killing of our troop in Iraq by the hand of a DEMOCRATICALLY ELECTED ISLAMIC RADICAL "MALIKI"whose RADICAL RELIGIOUS BELIEF teaches to kill us for pleasing his ALLAH.
Reply to this comment
by notblue January 12, 2007 2:47 PM PST
Jimibear, you had better do some research on Viet Nam, when the U.S. pulled out the kemir Ruche (don't know the correct spelling) was estimated to had slaughtered over 1 million south vietnamese. Since you claim that 150 to 650 thousand have been killed in Iraq ( a pretty big spread) another half a million is no big deal to you as long as we leave, nice thinking! typical of the cut and run mentality of you left wing defeatists. Your rants are nothing more than a typical liberal rationalization.
Reply to this comment
by grazinggoat January 12, 2007 2:52 PM PST
Walking-Liar is going it alone again. He calls our allies in the Middle-East and plays hard balls, not to say bully them... to accepts his plan despite the fact they have already issued a lot of negative reserve toward it. Those two have no other choice but to agree on the bully walking-liar's troop surge plan. They are very dependant on the aid USA is providing them with. Of course they'd sell their mothers if they needed to. And it's the case here now.

This Walking-Liar needs to go before another catastrophy takes place in the Middle-East. He's not willing to consider any diplomatic approach. It's really strange to use diplomcay with our allies, to make them follow him, while where needed the most, he only prefers to militarily confront the foes in Iraq. Not even one single diplomatic approach to Moqtada AlSadr's position.
Reply to this comment
by January 12, 2007 2:52 PM PST
It would be great if the were the right kind of support from th Arab neighbors but that is less likely. They have interest of their own and has nothing in common with Bush's plans. It is a biblical fact the Arab nations have always be warring one another. This leads me to believe that this plan is not going to work
Reply to this comment
by rharrin1 January 12, 2007 2:56 PM PST
McCain should withdraw never get elected.
Reply to this comment
by debugged-2009 January 12, 2007 2:56 PM PST
i'm seventh generation american and in my opion we should run the jews out of our country NOW starting with our goverment. *** them.
Reply to this comment
by drinuk January 12, 2007 2:57 PM PST
Hi jimmibear,
On the button Mate, this lot all goes back to 1948, we allowed them to steal a country and set this whole chain in motion. You keep treating people like S H I T in defending the minority, the Chosen People, and sooner or later these folks will kick back.
Reply to this comment
by patriotic9 January 12, 2007 2:58 PM PST
notblue
America comes first.You are talking about Iraqi casualties.What about the American troops who are dying every day by our own tax money.You need to understand one simple thing.
"A SECULAR DICTATOR in the MIDDLE EAST is much better then a DEMOCRATICALLY ELECTED RELIGIOUS RADICAL".
Saddam was a SECULAR guy who had killed his own people because ethey wanted to establish a RADICAL ISLAMIC GOVT based on our HATRED.Only people in Iraq who were previliged were the IRAQI CATHOLICS known as CHALDIANS(His foreing Minister Tariq Aziz was one of em)since he didn't have any fear of power from them as he knew that nobody in a MUSLIM COUNTRY would like to see a MUSLIM PRESIDENT.
According to Pentagon,there are one thousand attacks against our troop in Iraq a week which means four thousands attack a month which means atleast four thousands of our troops are dying every month even if we consider only one death per attack which is near to impossible if we look at the sophistication of those attacks.
Check out
www.memri.org
Click on
Islamist website monitor projects
Click on Islamist website monitor #17
Click under the link of
Islamist videos show bombings in Iraq.
Reply to this comment
by drinuk January 12, 2007 3:01 PM PST
debugged, I would'nt go that far but I would put a stop to their war mongering, stop financing them and kick the jewish lobby out of Washington
Reply to this comment
by pensacola8-2009 January 12, 2007 3:01 PM PST
The Executive Branch may feel that the Senate and House are giving them Hell, but the real story is that the House and Senate are telling the truth to the Executive brance, and it sounds like Hell!
Reply to this comment
by sty1 January 12, 2007 3:03 PM PST
All this little push means is, instead of 65 countrymen getting killed a day it wil be about 80.and instead 2 americans a day getting killed it will be about 3 a day. Lets be brave and take on Russia or China so that it could be 1000 or more every day ,now that would be REAL fun. Lets quit pussyfooting around and have a real world war
Reply to this comment
by notblue January 12, 2007 3:05 PM PST
patriotic9, So american lives are the only ones of value, nice thinking! Love that kind of response, no sense arguing with that twisted logic, what a great humanitarian you are.
Reply to this comment
by jimibear January 12, 2007 3:05 PM PST
The Khmer Rouge operated in Cambodia, not Viet Nam, and did its killing there, notblue. Perhaps your own research needs to be a little better? Or do you think all those little yellow people are the same? That would be pretty typical, as you also apparently think all Arabs are terrorists who need killing. In any case, the genocide of Cambodians was not brought about by the US pullout from Viet Nam.

I suspected that's the death toll you referred to, because you demonstrate a general ignorance of world affairs and history which (unfortunately) does not stop you sounding off on them. I was just waiting for you to put your foot in it.

Nice attempt to twist my argument. The reason the spread I gave was 150,000 to 650,000 is that the 150,000 is what the Bush administration will admit to, and the 650,000 is a figure cited by their most vocal opponents. I imagine the truth lies somewhere in the middle.

My argument was not "leave and let them kill each other" although frankly if they want to, that's their business, not ours. My point was that we started this slaughter, and our presence there is prolonging it.

Reply to this comment
by jimibear January 12, 2007 3:07 PM PST
(Cont.)

As for this steaming pile of vomitus:

"typical of the cut and run mentality of you left wing defeatists. Your rants are nothing more than a typical liberal rationalization."

You simply demonstrated again your inability to read, or, perhaps, to deal with what you read. I am not liberal, nor am I left wing. I am a former Republican, largely right-tending in thought, but tend to base my ideas on information rather than idealogy.

It's interesting to me that you, with your pathetic command of recent history and current events, ascribe to me a mentality to which I don't subscribe and base your arguments in faulty assumptions and ignorance. How is it that you are qualified to judge my statements, which are rooted in a knowledge of history and of current political realities, when you apparently have no such knowledge yourself?
Reply to this comment
by se4h4wk January 12, 2007 3:09 PM PST
I don't think that sending more troops will resolve Iraq bad situation.

But I think to every soldier they are there or those who will be sent to combat.

I really hope that US troops will be able to come back at home.

let's pray for them, they are greatly submitting to their duty. Keep them safe.
Reply to this comment
by vancouverboo January 12, 2007 3:11 PM PST
Homer Simpson has been certified, "not insane." How about John? We hear stories, and he has admitted contemplating suicide while a POW. Does his history indicate a stable mind?
Reply to this comment
by patriotic9 January 12, 2007 3:11 PM PST
DrinUK
What about that Christian lobby who consider JESUS loving Americans as GOD-NEGLECTED and JESUS HATING NON-AMERICAN EUROPEAN INVADERS IN PALESTINE as GOD-CHOSEN.Who want GOD-NEGLECTED AMERICANS to suffer for the GOD-CHOSEN ENEMIES of THE GOD'S ONLY SON.Who want to protect Israel even if it results in the destruction of United States as ISRAEL is a HOLY LAND whereas USA is not,who want GOD-NEGLECTED AMERICANS to lose their money and lives for the GOD-CHOSEN ENEMIES of THE GOD'S ONLY SON,as the only purpose of the creation of the GOD-NEGLECTED AMERICANS is to SERVE,SEND MORE THEN $3 BILLION A YEAR OF THEIR TAX MONEY,TO BEING SLAVE AND PROTECTORS of the GOD-CHOSEN ENEMIES OF THE GOD'S ONLY SON,who want US policies to be based on BIBLE which discriminates against Americans by not promising them a single penny and promising NON-AMERICAN EUROPEAN INVADERS IN PALESTINE a land in the MIDDLE EAST,as that ANTI-AMERICAN BIBLE is HOLY and our constitution which separates CHURCH from the STATE is UNHOLY.
Reply to this comment
by hungry1968 January 12, 2007 3:13 PM PST
patriotic9, So american lives are the only ones of value, nice thinking! Love that kind of response, no sense arguing with that twisted logic, what a great humanitarian you are.
Posted by notblue at 03:05 PM : Jan 12, 2007

I don't care about being a humanitarian. They believe that dying for the "cause" gives them 72 virgins, and milk and honey forever. How can you argue with a logic like that? Americans value and respect human life. (Well at least us liberal Democrats do.)
Reply to this comment
See all 536 Comments
  • MOST POPULAR
  • Viewed
  • Commented
Latest News
Featured Blogs