Posts filed under 'War on Terror'
John McCain on the deaths of Eldad Regev and Ehud Goldwasser:
I wish to extend my deepest condolences to the families of Eldad Regev and Ehud Goldwasser. When I met the Regev and Goldwasser families in Israel, I was moved by their profound love for their sons, who were kidnapped by Hezbollah in the summer of 2006. Now we know that Eldad and Ehud made the ultimate sacrifice for the country they served and loved. In spite of this tragic loss, Israel and the United States will remain united in their struggle against terrorism. The continuing attacks on Israel by Hezbollah, Hamas, and other terrorist groups supported by state sponsors of terror like Syria and Iran pose a severe threat to Israel. Our democratic ally is under siege, and these two deaths are just the latest in a long line of brave Israelis who have been killed by vicious terrorists. Though we mourn the loss of Eldad Regev and Ehud Goldwasser, we are reminded by this that we must never waver in our support for Israel, and we continue to demand the re lease of Gilad Shalit, taken captive by Hamas and held illegally since the summer of 2006.
Israel cares about its sons, and so it paid a high price just to get the bodies of their brave men back…Hamas views its sons as excellent guided bombs and so much cannon fodder. They call this “asymetrical warfare” - where the weaker side will make the stronger pay a higher price than they want to bother with. This is very tough to be, but it is beatable.
We have shown in Iraq that the evil of terrorism can be defeated, even when backed by outside players - the ultimate resolution of the problem of Lebanon will require, I believe, military action. But not another foolhardhy grinding match in the hills of Lebanon…no, when push comes to shove, Israel (with US backing, if need be) must strike at the real heart of Hamas, which is in Damascus…hold Damascus hostage to a complete Syrio-Hamas withdrawal from Lebanon.
Its either act decisively, or Eldad Regev and Ehud Goldwasser will just become two of a long line of Israeli dead.
Tags: Hamas, Israel, John McCain, Lebanon, Syria, Terrorism
July 18th, 2008
Just another sign that the new, free Iraq is taking its just place in the world:
When Benedict XVI returns from Australia, he will be visited in Castel Gandolfo by the prime minister of Iraq.
Nouri al-Maliki will visit the Pope on July 25, the Holy See reported.
Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, the Holy Father’s secretary of state, will also meet with the Iraqi leader.
Al-Maliki has been the prime minister in Iraq since 2006. He has repeatedly condemned violence against the Christian minority of his country as an attack on all Iraqis.
I’d say lets start a count down calendar to when the last liberal will finally admit that we’re winning in Iraq…but we might be waiting a long, long time for that…
Tags: Benedict XVI, Iraq, Prime Minister Al-Maliki, Vatican
July 17th, 2008
Can’t say it any clearer than this:
Over the last year, Senator Obama and I were part of a great debate about the war in Iraq. Both of us agreed the Bush administration had pursued a failed strategy there and that we had to change course. Where Senator Obama and I disagreed, fundamentally, was what course we should take. I called for a comprehensive new strategy — a surge of troops and counterinsurgency to win the war. Senator Obama disagreed. He opposed the surge, predicted it would increase sectarian violence, and called for our troops to retreat as quickly as possible.
Today we know Senator Obama was wrong. The surge has succeeded. And because of its success, the next President will inherit a situation in Iraq in which America’s enemies are on the run, and our soldiers are beginning to come home. Senator Obama is departing soon on a trip abroad that will include a fact-finding mission to Iraq and Afghanistan. And I note that he is speaking today about his plans for Iraq and Afghanistan before he has even left, before he has talked to General Petraeus, before he has seen the progress in Iraq, and before he has set foot in Afghanistan for the first time. In my experience, fact-finding missions usually work best the other way around: first you assess the facts on the ground, then you present a new strategy…
…In wartime, judgment and experience matter. In a time of war, the commander-in-chief doesn’t get a learning curve. If I have that privilege, I will bring to the job many years of military and political experience; experience that gave me the judgment necessary to make the right call in Iraq a year and half ago. I supported the surge because I believed it was our only realistic chance to reverse the disaster our previous strategy had caused, and the right thing to do for our country. And although events have proven me right, my position wasn’t popular at the time, and I risked my own political ambitions when I took it. When I tell you, I will put our country’s interests — your interests — before party; before any special interest; before my own interests, every hour of every day I’m in office, you can believe me. Because for my entire adult life, in war and peace, nothing has ever been more important to me than the se curity and well-being of the country I love. Thank you.
Obama was wrong about the surge - there is no way around that. More than his being wrong, however, there is now his rank dishonesty - his claims that he didn’t say the surge would fail, his Orwellian excising of his old Iraq position from his website, his attempts to spin himself into an architect of victory when he was singing the siren song of defeatism for the past 18 months. A dishonest man who can’t come up with the right solution - this is not the sort of man we want as President.
John McCain promises us that he’ll put country before everything - and we have the absolute proof that he’ll do that. He really did jump out in front of nearly everyone - including the President - in advocating one of the most unpopular acts our government has ever undertaken, and it worked…and our nation, and the world, is better off for it. All honor to those who saw the way clearly - and let us leave those who wanted to surrender in the dark recesses of our national memory, not elevated to the most powerful office in the world.
Tags: Barack Obama, Defeaticrats, Iraq, John McCain, liberal lies, Troop Surge
July 16th, 2008
We’re tied up in diplomatic knots with the Iraqi government over what to do regarding US forces in Iraq. As this news story notes, we’re not able to come to a complete agreement on how many troops will be in Iraq; for how long; where based; legal issues regarding the independent actions of US forces…pretty much the whole ball of wax, and so what is looked for now is a temporary arrangement to carry the US/Iraqi relations through from the end of the UN mandate on December 31st and the end of 2009. This, of course, will leave the final disposition of Iraq to President Bush’s successor. This means that whatever President Bush envisioned is at least partially set aside and that we don’t know for certain what a President McCain or Obama will do - its all rather up in the air. Here’s what I hope for:
1. A defensive military alliance with Iraq. This will have to be carefully scripted for Iraqi benefit vis a vis our alliance with Israel, but we’ll want an agreement that Iraq will maintain, at least, a benevolent neutrality should we engage in war with Iran, that Iraq will engage in no offensive combinations against Israel, and a right of US intervention should Iran ever attack Iraq. The Iraqi army should be re-equipped, as far as we can convince them to do so, on the American pattern and we should greatly encourage Iraqi military, air and naval officers to train in the United States. We’re trying to build a long-term friendship here.
2. At least two semi-permanent military installations with no more than 50,000 total US personnel based in Iraq - preferrably out in the middle of the Iraqi nowhere and up in Kurdistan. The idea here is two-fold. To provide a “trip wire” should either Iran or Turkey seek to upset the post-war Iraqi settlement and, of course, to secure the military purpose of going into Iraq at all - the ability to project American power into the heart of the middle east. I would still keep our primary miltiary focus on the Persian Gulf - with basing in Kuwait, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates being far more important given (a) the relative weakness of these States and thus their dependence on a de-facto US protectorate against Iran and (b) our ability to keep major forces outside of the main Arab lands.
3. A bi-lateral free trade agreement.
4. A pledge of US diplomatic support for Iraq in all non-military conflicts with Syria, Iran and Turkey.
That would suffice because, remember, the ultimate point of liberating Iraq is to place into the middle east a functioning, democratic government able to sustain itself against internal and external threats…in the end, it doesn’t matter if the Iraqis vote against us, as long as they vote. The key to winning the War on Terrorism has always been in a free choice by the Arab people to renouce terrorism - and the only way to get that action is by setting up a system where Arabs can choose. Our bet, as it were, always has been that given a free and fair choice, the peoples of the Arab world will choose to live and build rather than kill and destroy.
Keep in mind that as we transition from war to peace in Iraq, there will be bumps in the road - the Iraqis, justifiably, will want to stand up to us and be seen by the world - especially the Arab world - as standing up to us. We must be patient - and always approach the Iraqi people with a sense of understanding for their desire to be proud of their own nation. It is their country - we are in the process of a noble act and nothing can take away from the United States the fact that we sent our best thousands of miles from home to fight for the liberty and dignity of a foreign people. Are reward is the knowledge that after a half century of playing the cynical game of real-politic, we finally went out as Americans and did the completely right thing.
Tags: American-Iraqi relations, Iraq, Post-War Iraq, Troop Surge
July 14th, 2008
Seems we’ve gone some place the enemy prefers we stay away from, and they are determined to keep us out:
A multi-pronged militant assault on a small, remote U.S. base killed nine American soldiers Sunday in one of the deadliest attacks on U.S. troops since the 2001 invasion, a Western official said.
Militants fired machine guns, rocket-propelled grenades and mortars from homes and a mosque in the village of Wanat in the northeastern province of Kunar, a mountainous region that borders Pakistan, NATO’s International Security Assistance Force said in a statement.
The attack on the relatively new outpost began at 4:30 a.m. Sunday and lasted throughout the day.
Nine U.S. troops were killed in the attack, a Western official said on condition of anonymity because the deaths had not yet been officially announced.
Lt. Col. Rumi Nielson-Green, the top U.S. military spokeswoman in Afghanistan, said she could not comment because the battle was ongoing. She referred calls to NATO headquarters in Kabul.
NATO said in a statement that there have been casualties on both sides but accurate numbers could not be confirmed because the fighting was ongoing. (emphasis added)
The cruelty and fundamental cowardice of our enemies in Afghanistan is on display here by their use of homes and a mosque as cover for their assault on our troops. We’ll have to wait developments, but I’m confident that our troops will quickly win this battle. Meanwhile, pray for our soldiers, and the long-suffering Afghan people.
Tags: Afghanistan, Terrorism
July 13th, 2008
Geesh:
Today, Obama Told CNN He Supports The Death Penalty For Osama Bin Laden:
In A CNN Interview, Obama Says He Supports The Death Penalty For Osama Bin Laden. “In an interview with CNN, the Senator says he’s no ‘cheerleader for the death penalty,’ but ‘I think plotting and engineering the death of 3,000 Americans justifies such an approach.’” (Mark Halperin, “Obama: Death Penalty For Bin Laden,” Time’s “The Page” Blog, thepage.time.com, 7/11/08)
In June, Obama Said That If Bin Laden Were Captured, He Would Not Make Him A “Martyr“:
Obama: “I think what would be important would be for us to deal with him in a way that allows the entire world to understand the murderous acts that he’s engaged in and not to make him into a martyr.” (Caren Bohan, “Obama: U.S. Should Avoid Making Bin Laden A Martyr,” Reuters, 6/18/08)
Its getting harder and harder to find a position Obama hasn’t betrayed yet. This is the guy the left wants as President? A man who can’t hold to a position for even a month? What happens, dear lefties, when its time to push that universal health care plan and he runs up against GOP opposition? Has he given you any indication that he won’t surrender?
Tags: Barack Obama, bin Laden, Death Penalty, Obama Deceptions
July 13th, 2008
So says this Newsmax report:
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has dropped a bombshell by reversing course and suggesting that the Judiciary Committee might take up the issue of impeaching President Bush.
Pelosi’s change of heart comes after Rep. Dennis Kucinich moved a “privileged resolution” to force the House to consider whether Bush should be impeached for, according to the Ohio Democrat, lying to Congress and the American people about the reasons for invading Iraq.
Pelosi had previously declared impeachment to be “off the table” before the 2006 election. But she now believes hearings on the impeachment issue are “a distinct possibility,” according to The Nation magazine.
Pelosi told reporters on Thursday: “My expectation is that there will be some review of that in the committee. This is a Judiciary Committee matter, and I believe we will see some attention being paid to it by the Judiciary Committee.”
Rep. John Conyers, the Michigan Democrat who chairs the committee, has said he is reviewing the articles of impeachment Kucinich has proposed. Previously he had felt constrained by the Speaker’s “off the table” comment.
This is either a sop to the kook left - a means of keeping them occupied by smoke and mirrors (they are rather gullible, after all) while Obama shifts right for the fall election…or its a desperate attempt to make people hate President Bush enough to carry Obama over the finish line in November (this would be the case if internal Democratic polling shows that only a tremendously and continuously unpopular Bush gives Obama an edge over McCain). In either case, its a dishonorable thing to do…and, of course, real hearings will never happen, nor will articles of impeachment be passed by the House, because a trial in the Senate would expose that each and every criticism of President Bush vis a vis Iraq is massively overstated, at best, or an outright lie, at worst. The last thing Democrats want is a full airing of the Iraq issue prior to the November election.
Tags: Defeaticrats, Dennis Kucinich, impeachment, Iraq, John Conyers, Nancy Pelosi
July 12th, 2008
Seems to be more and more the case that while Obama will outspend McCain, the overall battle between Democrat and Republican will be more equal:
Republican presidential candidate John McCain raised more than $22 million in June, his best fundraising performance of the year, and ended the month with nearly $27 million cash on hand.
Campaign manager Rick Davis said Thursday that McCain and the national Republican Party together entered July with about $95 million in the bank. The Republican National Committee, which has been raising money jointly with McCain, collected nearly $26 million in June and had nearly $69 million on hand, officials said.
The campaign’s fundraising has given McCain the ability to spend more on television advertising than Democrat Barack Obama in key battleground states. Davis said about half of its income had been spent on television advertising.
Obama has not revealed his June fundraising.
In announcing McCain’s fundraising, Davis portrayed the campaign’s financial position as far brighter than ever before. He said the joint RNC-McCain fundraising through direct mail is now exceeding President Bush’s direct mail fundraising in 2004.
“We will have significant resources to prosecute a campaign that is very robust,” Davis said.
I wonder why Obama hasn’t released his June totals yet? I guess he doesn’t have to - but you’d think that if he were greatly outpacing McCain, he’d want to trumpet that…hey, just askin’….
The really crucial thing here for the GOP is the $69 million the RNC has - McCain is taking public financing, so all the money McCain raises must be spent by the end of August. That $69 million (which is likely to rise) will be used on party efforts to help McCain - and down-ballot GOPers (where we are trying to turn expected losses at least into holding our own). Meanwhile, the DNC is effectively broke, the Democrats can’t raise enough to pay for their convention and while the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee has a good sized bank account, it seems that Obama is sucking up all the rest of leftwing money, which opens the question about how down-ballot Democrats will fare even if Obama wins.
Things like the money totals; the continued ability of the military to secure recruits; the ability of President Bush to win on FISA and on war funding; the abysmal Congressional approval ratings….all fo this indicates that while Obama is still the favorite to win in November, he’s only marginally so and, meanwhile, the overall left - and the Democratic party - can’t figure itself a shoo-in (though, of course, they do believe that…and I hope they keep on believing they’ve got it in the bag).
My view is that the American people are worn out - tired out Iraq, true (but not so tired they are willing to lose in order to get out), but also tired of Congressional scandals (and, Donks, William Jefferson - you forced him to resign, yet?), tired of political back-biting, tired of heated rhetoric on energy while gas prices continue to rise, tired of shrinking home equity…change is, indeed, wanted and that is the whole point of Obama…but if specific change is proposed, which way will the electorate go? McCain is offering concrete proposals, while Obama keeps things as vague as he can. Which will actually resonate come November?
Tags: Barack Obama, Defeaticrats, fundrasing, John McCain, oil price, RNC
July 11th, 2008
You get Barack Obama’s policies:
Obama’s Iraq Withdrawal Plan May Prove Difficult
U.S. Commanders in Iraq Warn of Security Dangers, See Logistical Nightmare
Whatever nuance Barack Obama is now adding to his Iraq withdrawal strategy, the core plan on his Web site is as plain as day: Obama would “immediately begin to remove our troops from Iraq. He will remove one to two combat brigades each month, and have all of our combat brigades out of Iraq within 16 months.”
It is a plan that, no doubt, helped Obama get his party’s nomination, but one that may prove difficult if he is elected president.
Military personnel in Iraq are following the presidential race closely, especially when it comes to Iraq.
The soldiers and commanders we spoke to will not engage in political conversation or talk about any particular candidate, but they had some strong opinions about the military mission which they are trying to accomplish, and the dramatic security gains they have made in the past few months.
We spent a day with Maj. Gen. Jeffery Hammond in Sadr City. He is the commander of the 4th Infantry Division, which is responsible for Baghdad. Hammond will likely be one of the commanders who briefs Barack Obama when he visits Iraq.
“We still have a ways to go. Number one, we’re working on security and it’s very encouraging, that’s true, but what we’re really trying to achieve here is sustainable security on Iraqi terms. So, I think my first response to that would be let’s look at the conditions.”…
…On the streets of Baghdad, where a suicide bomber had struck just days before, Capt. Josh West told us he wants to finish the mission, and that any further drawdown has to be based on conditions on the ground.
“If we pull out of here too early, it’s going to establish a vacuum of power that violent criminal groups will be able to fill once we leave,” West said.
Capt. Jeremy Ussery, a West Point graduate on his third deployment, pointed to his heavy body armor as we walked in the 120-degree heat, saying, “The same people keep coming back because we want to see Iraq succeed, that’s what we want. I don’t want my kids, that hopefully will join the military, my notional children, to have to come back to Iraq 30 years from now and wear this.”
But Ussery added, “You can’t put a timetable on it — it’s events-based.”
The report further notes that while we may be able to get the troops out in 16 months, the logistics of getting all the equipment out makes a time table like that unrealistic. As a for-instance, moving out two combat bridages in a month means, among many other things, moving out 1,200 humvees. The fundamental problem with the left - other than the fact that leftwing thought is based on a lie - is that life doesn’t match leftwing conceptions. I doubt much that Obama has ever considered military logistics in formulating his policies - and not in the sense of he knew they were a factor but dismissed them, but that he didn’t know they were a factor. Most liberals aren’t concerned with such things - and this is the result of their over-concentration on purity of intentions as opposed to paying attention to results of actions.
Obama and his Democrats will pull us out of Iraq in 16 months…and they will “end” the war, which is another indication that Obama hasn’t actually thought about what he believes. Wars don’t “end” - they are won, or they are lost. Vietnam didn’t “end” - it was lost. People who have bothered to instruct themselves in matters of foreign and military policy understand that regardless of what one thinks of President Bush and the reasons for liberating Iraq, the fact that we are there now imposes upon us the choice to win, or to lose. Additionally, people who have bothered instructing themselves understand that losing a war is always worse than winning. No matter what high minded goal one has in life, it is better met with victory than with defeat. But in Obama’s fantasy world, intent trumps results and if he wins we’ll be given at least four years of leftwing fantasy clashing with life’s realities.
Thanks, but I prefer John McCain - warts and all - because he lives in the real world…
Tags: Barack Obama, Defeaticrats, Iraq, John McCain, liberal lies, Troop Surge
July 11th, 2008
Getting to be really old hat:
The Senate easily approved legislation to overhaul government eavesdropping rules in terrorism and espionage cases and effectively granted immunity to telecommunications companies that participated in a secret domestic spying program, ending a contentious debate that has raged for more than two years.
The vote was 69 to 28; not even close. And, as I’m sure everyone knows, even Despserately-Seeking-Triangulation Obama voted in favor. Each time we get to one of these major issues the Democrats shout about how they’ve finally got President Bush where they want ‘im…only to fold like a house of cards when push comes to shove. This is, I think, simply because President Bush doesn’t back down when vital issues are at stake and, additionally, he’s just a much better politician than the Democrats are. Democrats are good at bribery and log rolling, but they’ve really got nothing in their bag of tricks when confronted by someone who is determined to do the right thing.
Tags: FISA, Signals Intelligence Program
July 10th, 2008
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