Senators Grill General Petraeus

These politicians are clueless and Petraeus just amplifies how uninformed they really are. I would advise Biden to shut up and listen.

with the Dems attitude, Asia would be controlled by the Japanese…

Petraeus was also blasted by Sen. Joe Biden, D-Del., chair of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and a Democratic presidential candidate, who implored the general to end the President’s military surge strategy.
Senator, you are not fit to carry the general’s bags. What is it about the Roman Senate that makes these fools think they are so high and mighty? I am talking both sides of the aisle. We should make you people wear robes and wigs, maybe then your image will match your attitudes.

Strange. I watched the hearings. I actually heard positive comments about the reports. Are you sure your reporters were there??? Because they obviously missed some key testimony.

Come on folks, check out Biden’s Bio,he had WAR101 during his stay at Syracuse. What does a graduate from West Point with thirty years in the field know!!!
All those years Joe put in serving his country in the MILITARY should count for something!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The general is a soldier doing his job and doing it well. Senator Biden is an embarrasment. Only people who hate the military could enjoy this.

The posts here show basically why the military uses poor folks with the dream of education after they serve, to prop them up and make them look good. No use getting an educated person in the military frontline, that is held for the leaders only, like BETRAYUS…

Hey Brian,
When are you going to do your “investigation” on Hillary’s bribs.. I mean donations?? I’m still waiting on that one??? HMMMMM mmmmmm when I wonder.
Gutless wonder! Democratic Liberal Hack. Treasonist Loser!

Leave it to the brilliance of MYSTICDON to conjure up the SPECTER of FASCISM these republicans thrive under. The neo-con swindlers know the chapter from MEIN Kampf about how you forget the intelligent people and go for the easily misled among them…Vini Vidi Vici…

All politics, Biden could care less what the general has to say. He has already made up his mind and he knows best. This is a great example of what is wrong in DC. All talk, All show, no listen and thinking allowed.

low life democrats grilling a decorated 4 star general. A man who lives his life for honor and integrity. Shame on you democrats. You are the reason why I will never vote for a democrat again in my life.

ABC- what a lousy half written crappy story. you do not include our great generals responses to these lame attacks buy (pun intended) democrats. YOu are so obviously pro obl and terrorist its ridicilous. Get a grip. You are losing audience online and on tv. Support your country. Stand with us, not against us.

Joe biden for sale to the highest bidder. Say no to joe. loser.

Political horse and pony show by Biden.
Bidens verbal attack on Petraeus was disgraceful, cowardly and was one of the
lowest acts of political jocking for the day..

and GWB hated Hussein so much he was willing to start this mess of a war and kill innocent folks on both sides! that’s right – Iraqis love their children too!!

I wonder how many of the writers here were actually in the military. Go enlist if you are so concerned. Don’t let age be a factor. Or is your hero 5 deferment Chaney?

All you whiners on this post have obviously never worn a uniform or stood a real post. My fellow military borthers/sisters are dying because W’s and DIck’s lies and you support that? I should come to your neighborhood and enlist you, your wives and your sons and daughters. Then your pespectives will changes when you die and yours die for lies and oil.
Pathetic you are!

Does anyone else notice how this report was strategically timed to the anniversary of 9-11? There are no parallels between the attacks and the was in Iraq so the Bush Crime Family will do anything, no matter how despicable, to draw connections.

Bush Crime Family is right.
Let’s talk about how W’s gran dad did business with the Nazi’s and the recent reports on YOUTUBE that his daddy was in Dallas in proximity to the depository the day JFK was assissinated.

John Arquilla, an intelligence and counterinsurgency expert at the Naval Postgraduate School, is even harsher in his assessment of Petraeus. “I think Colin Powell used dodgy information to get us into the war, and Petraeus is using dodgy information to keep us there,” he said.

Seth, good post.

Tony, first I doubt you’re military. Second, winning this war will prevent future generations from paying an even higher price. Third, the aid and comfort the dems are giving the enemy is directly responsible for the deaths of many, it’s time to stop. Fourth, our soldiers aren’t kids that their parents send off to fight. They’re grown men and women who know the risk and join because they believe in the cause.
God bless our brave troops and shame on the treason of so many unpatriotic fools we have to suffer.

Are we to believe that MOP Biden who visited Iraq for a few hours knows more than a 4 star, unanimously confirmed General who is leading our troops in the War on Terror on a day-to-day basis? This is pure, shameless politics by the MoveOn.org Puppets in the Senate (MOPS).

Mr Biden receives my endorsement as the the Democrat nominee for President…of the Hair Club for Men.

Who left the door open at the psychiatric ward? There are more conspiracy theories here than there are congressmen. Seriously though, is MoveOn on lunch break?

“Only those that have actually been on the front lines have any business questioning this General. Biden, that doesn’t include you! You have now or ever known what you’re talking about!”
-sigh- Gimme a break…
Do you have to be dead to talk about death?

Kirk — it not patriotic to die in a mis-guided, mis-led war that had nothing to do with 9-11 or WMDs or anything to secure our defense in the first place.

Al Qaeda has indicated many times that Iraq is their Central Front in the war. Wake up!

While we’re busy slamming Biden, let’s not forget: Chuck Hagel, a dutiful Republican, blasted the general, too. I suppose he’s also a traitor. Maybe that’s why he’s quitting the Senate…or maybe now that he doesn’t have to worry about getting reelected, he’s finally able to say his piece.
We have GOT to keep our eye on the ball here, people. It’s been YEARS since we were first told, “be patient.” Let’s ask ourselves: At what point are we allowed to throw up our hands and say, “that’s enough patience” without having our patriotism or intelligence called into question? Or are we EVER?

It doesn’t take a genius to figure out that as long as our president and his general are willing to keep our troops in Iraq, the Iraqi goverment will not do what it will takes politically to unify their country. How many more American lives is it going to take before they admit they are wrong? The majority of the people in the U.S., the majority of the people in Iraq, and the majority of the people of the world think this war is wrong and want it to end. Only 3 men are keeping this war going, GWB, Patreaus, and Malaki. Unbelievable!

People of Delaware…please wise up and stop sending Joe Biden to D.C. He is, and has been for years, an idiot looking for the camera…

Interesting,
Biden is the same guy who gave a plagiarized speech when he last ran for president. The fact the speech was originally given by a socialist leader give us an indication of his ideology,
The most frightening thing about his and other defeatists is their reasoning. They want to the military to lose so the democrats can continue to lead congress. Never mind puttting our country in danger.
Putting politics ahead of security is not the answer but it is consistent. These are the same folks who want amnesty for illegal aliens so we can lure them into entitlement programs.

John the Man: Calling the anti Iraq war people traitors and terroist sympathizers is all the neocons have going for them now. They have no legitimate argument in favor of the war so they stoop to attack measures. The neocons are done and they know it so they are cursing everyone else. As one of theirs said they are in their “last throes” so they are babbling and bad mouthing as they go DOWN.

I’ve noticed for a long time, that the Bush opposition can do nothing but try and insult and quote one liners. If I didn’t have some very dear friends and relatives that are stron Democrats I would think the entire Party is a party of nuts….however, I know better, true Americans regardless of party don’t stoop to insults born out of ignorance and emotion.

I love that ABC is able to print the diatibes of our representitives but not a word of response from Gen. Petraeus……fair and balanced?

“daddy”
you obviously have done your research, however, you forgot to mention that the J Edgar Hoover meeting was called by the pope and it included Wernher von Braun, Comissioner Gordon, the Yetti, Colonel Tom Parker and Ruppert Murdoch…keep up the informative posts. By the way, how’s life in your moms basement?

Hey J-Man,
Usually you military types are good with figures and cite the years you served and the name of the operation. So for now, I am guessing your civil engineering degree came after your service. Army Corps of Civil Engineers perhaps????

Mike Sarkisian, WOW……I love how this nation labels everyone, and I bet you have a perfect picture in your mind of me and what I stand for? Guess what, it’s your right and your freedom to feel in this manor, no matter how idiotic it may sound to others. Truly amusing to me.

ABC shoyuld be ashamed as should those that can not even bring themsleves to utter the worgs…USA and Victory in the same sentence. You say Petraus is lying but bin Laden is telling the truth. What is ABC thinking?

Biden is a misplacement. He sit’s in the Senate like a toga’d Roman only because he was prematurely plucked from a Petri dish in a lab doing stool specimens.

This is great farce if it weren’t so deadly serious. The dems really know how to make America laugh.

“daddy”
now you have crossed the line, please don’t bring cats into this.

When do Sean Penn and Tim Robbins and other America haters get to question the general? It amazes me how many people here blame the administration for this war. It’s especially ironic today.

AJ, ummmm we are in Afghanistan, and I highly doubt the dems would authorize an attack on pakistan seeing as they don’t have the balls to support the current mission that THEY VOTED FOR. Also, my fellow soldiers and I die for our country and YOUR freedom of which you apparently don’t appreciate. Mis-led, mis-guided, whatever, although I disagree it doesn’t matter. We are all serving our nation and thats what we die for. We die for you and your freedom to hate us, your freedom to spit on us and devalue our mission. It is a sacrifice that you cannot and will not ever understand. At least not until you are willing to make it yourself.

We went into Iraq for no good reason, other then that a bunch of idiot neo-cons thought that a was a good idea.. Our kids are dying for no good reason, IRAQ WAS NEVER A THREAT TO OUR NATIONAL SECURITY!! When they say that are kids are dying to protect our freedoms they are lying, Iraq never was a threat to our freedoms. Our kids are being sent into this hell by Bush to extend this war until he leaves office and can push it off to the next guy and to try to save his legacy.This is an immoral use of our troops. Some day the parents and families of these troops will realize this and Bush will be remembered as the President who misused our troops for personal reasons and history will judge him harshly.

Treason comes to mind for the politicians.

Sorry AJ that last post was aimed at Bob Brown not you.

I’m sure of this whether General Petreaus is right or wrong on his assessment, we need to get out of Iraq. We don’t want to invest American blood on something that will not go our way.

Anybody posting here willing to DIE for the primitive bloodthirsty pack of tribes that make up Iraq…while they fight over the money and oil? That’s what our troops are doing. Nothing’s going to change a thousand years of blood hatred in Iraq…even if the US stays for 100 years. All you “gung-ho” warriors posting here…SIGN UP TODAY…get over there and sacrifice yourself for the tribes of Iraq!!! GO NOW!!! QUIT STALLING!!!

This questioning reminds me of a bunch of kids with sharp sticks standing around a dog in a kennel. Put the kids in the kennel one by one, without the sticks.

Why so quiet warmongers?

Jack, Unlike you, we have to get back to work.

So whoo hoo for the ‘educated’ torch bearers of liberalism.

The anti-war liberals frequently use the talking point-”American is shedding its blood for OIL”.Awaken liberals, walk toward the light. Oil is the blood of the American dream. Without oil America cannot provide security for its citizens, nor could we live the American dream or maintain our wonderful lifestyles. Without Oil America and every other developing nation in the world will cease to exist. Therefore, until we find a cheaper and better energy alternative, we must secure our oil interests which includes Iraq. Liberals take off your blinders and see the reality of the situation, every area in the world that produces oil is America’s national interest. Since the industrial revolution, OIL has been the source of world war…the devils blood heats our houses, fuels our automobiles, feeds our crops, cures our illnesses (pharmaceuticals), keeps our economy thriving, and gives our mighty military the means of operation, so yes we fight for oil or die.

this war is lost. not one added american life should be spent. get our brave soldiers out of there

It’s sad that we, the people of the USA, can’t be united to see this through. The hate doesn’t help, the repeat dredging up the past doesn’t help. Uniting will help. Whether you believe in the war or not, we have to unite and go forward. All the negativity is not helping us, it’s helping the enemy. Good God, can’t you people see that? This is playing into their plan. Dividing America is what they want. When a country is divided, they are easily attached or taken over. The hatred in America is scaring me. I feel we will soon have our own Civil War again in this country. I’ve never seen so much hate, and disrepect to our leaders and to each other. Stop and think what you are saying. I just read an article about an anti-war american killing someone, a stranger, jsut because he couldn’t find a soldier to kill. He doesn’t like the war. This is crazy. Stop the hate please! It’s not too late.

“1. War is never just. It is hell on earth. Unless you have been in combat, you cannot know how terrible war is.”
No, I think I can imagine how bad it is without having been through it. I’ve never had my testicles eaten off by a Pit Bull, but I can imagine that it wouldn’t be a picnic.
“7. If it is determined that going to war wa a mistake – that does not mean you can pull out. The ones who caused a freeze on ammunition to the Vietnamese Army are responsible to God and man for the immense slauters which occurred in Vietman after we pulled out and we pulled out even though we were beating the crap out of the Cong.”
What about those that started American involvment in Vietnam in the first place? What American freedoms were at stake such that we had to invade? Now that they’ve been Communist for 30+ years, have we lost more freedoms because of Vietnam or because of the PATRIOT act?
“8. The threat of Muslim extremists is greater than any threat laid in Vietnam. If we pull out of Iraq and environs, all hell will break out including the possibility of bombings in the major cities of the United States.”
Too bad the U.S. never stopped subsidizing oil consumption to reflect the true cost of oil. Too bad the money being used to invade a country that we were only too happy to arm in the 80s wasn’t used to develop alternative fuels that derive from inputs in the U.S. such that we don’t have to keep funding our enemy. Too bad the U.S. help whip that extremism up to mire the Soviets in Afghanistan and now it is biting us.

Hey, like they say the truth hurts.The general tells the truth and they can’t handle it.

Meet the village idiots, Biden, Hagel and Dodd.

rangerdahl, VoiceOfReason & tiny -
Great posts. I hope that ABC News realizes not all Americans are drinking the Kool-Aid and eating the cornbread. Not all of us rely on ABC, NBC, CBS, CNN, MoveOn.org and the Daily Kos for our education. There is a new revolution and it is against the traditional media and academia – we are onto your lies and distortions. Watch ABC News. Watch This Week; where their idea of fair and balanced is two liberals against one conservative, hosted by a former Clinton advisor. Of course, that would be a fair fight were the conservative alotted equal time.

Evidently, many of the people writing today who are upset that General Petraeus got a few tough (yes, FEW) questions from the Senate never served in the military. If they did, they would know that General Petraeus reports to his Commander In Chief. If he were to make George unhappy, he would suffer the same consequences that General Eric Shinseki did in 2003 at the hands of Rumsfeld. Of course, the general is going to report George’s line. It’s appalling that the House gave an even weaker performance yesterday. At least, Senator Chuck Hagel(R)took his job seriously and attempted to provide the people with some oversight of this administration. Too bad that he has chosen to retire from the Senate, most of the Democrats and Republicans are too afraid to ask hard questions. Oh yeah, I know what it’s like to be in the military even though it was forty years ago. If you’re in the service you have a mission. If you’re in the Congress, it’s your duty to provide oversight. Sadly, no one knows what the mission is.

It’s all Bill Clinton fault. He had several chances to prevent this but he was too busy wasting fine cigars. Those of you who want to pull out think it will end there, your wrong they have said over and over again they want all of us dead. So if we don’t fight them there then where?

I find it interesting how everyone can assess, if we pull out all hell will break loose. In fact we have not done it so how would you know, and if you can indeed predict the future please help me out with the lotto? The only thing we have done is increased our troops there and it does not seem to be working. So what do you do when something is not working, Stay the course, how dumb of me? How could I disagree?

“We Dems win our wars – why can’t you Republican loudmouths win yours?”
You mean like Johnson did in Vietnam and Truman did in Korea?
The Dems do at least have a lock on starting wars….WW I, WWII, Korea, Vietnam…something to be proud of…sure enough….

Gary Oura My Dad was FDNY for 40 years, so don’t tell me what sacrifice is all about. I’ve seen it up close and personal. And he would never advocate that only a soldier having civil rights because he and his brother fought in WW II to prevent fascists from detemining the new world order. I

The best shots of the day came from Chuck Hagel (fellow Husker) and John Warner, both Republican. Combine their Q&A sessions and it is easy to see that the general and the envoy really do not know why we are in Iraq sacrificing young American souls. And neither have they a clue as to the time line extent of their undefined mission.

should have read “…nearly killed…”

Nice try, Frank Linton, but Clinton didn’t invade Iraq or fail to plan for the occupation. Bush did and the success or failure of the operation rests with him. It’s not about “policy” it’s about performance – and Bush and Rumsfeld botched their war beyond belief. So stop blaming Clinton and take some responsibility for your party’s MASSIVE failure for once.

Malarky1 – what a load of, well, malarkey. Your insane partisanship is duly noted. If you Cons would spend as much time and energy on winning your war as you do on attacking and maligning your countrymen then maybe you wouldn’t have lost it. Stop blaming everyone else for your failures – sack up and take some responsibility for your mistakes.

Biden Grills? He interrupted the general more than a complaining housewife. These poli-chickens are rude! Mr Biden, you are rude and you don’t know how to listen.
Poli-chickens can not make it in the real world. Politics is the only place they can have a career.
Be honest. Would anyone hire these yahoos? Well, maybe Hillary. She did well for the Rose Law firm.

So you hate all our elected officials, eh SoonerJJ? Maybe representative democracy isn’t for you. You might be happier in a place where the military rules directly. Have you considered Pakistan or Algeria?

“Nice try, Frank Linton, but Clinton didn’t invade Iraq or fail to plan for the occupation. Bush did and the success or failure of the operation rests with him. It’s not about “policy” it’s about performance – and Bush and Rumsfeld botched their war beyond belief. So stop blaming Clinton and take some responsibility for your party’s MASSIVE failure for once.”
The point of such a post is to note that Clinton and other top dems (such as John Kerry) supported the removal of Saddam. The groundwork for the current mess was laid by Congress drafting and endorsing that act, and by Clinton signing it. Both Congress and the Bush administration sited that act for justification of the invasion.
It is 100% about the policy. That is why there was any real difference between Bush and Kerry on Iraq in 2004 (Kerry said he’d do things differently….good grief, what a fool…so would Bush with the benefit of hindsight) and there won’t be any difference if a Dem gets elected president in 2008. Notice how both Obama and Clinton have been beating the war drum and trying to sound very tough recently.

My grandmother who was alive during WW2 was really disappointed in America now.
She said “that in the America of the 40s and 50s if someone killed American soldiers we wanted THEIR heads.”
“Now we want each President’s and each others.”

Just curious rangerdahl – are all Petraeus’ hashmarks and combat experience from THIS war? There’s an old adage about Generals always being prepared to fight the last war…

“Just curious rangerdahl – are all Petraeus’ hashmarks and combat experience from THIS war? There’s an old adage about Generals always being prepared to fight the last war…”
Have you been in ANY war?
On the internet doesn’t count!!!!!

Last Post: Did I use the word Hate? I think they are incompetent. Very rarely do they succeed in any govt program. They would rather have ribbon cutting ceromonies for their little pet projects than fix bridges. They fail every time they try to deliver aid (16 cents out of every dollar given to Katrina victims was wasted through fraud). They believe raising tax rates is the only way to fix the deficit when we know they spend too darn much. The only thing that is working is we are kicking butt in Iraq. We’ve lost fewer people in this war than ever.
I stand by my comment about politicians. They are not very competent. These addressing the General are disrespectful, rude, grandstanding, and quite frankly would be asked to leave my house.

How much longer should we stay in Iraq? I don’t recall the democrats complaining about our troops being in Bosnia for 9 years. Yeah, they weren’t at anywhere near the same risk being there but then again the Bosnians were never our enemy whereas al Qaida IS and they are in Iraq desperately trying to stop bin Laden’s biggest nightmare – a FREE DEMOCRACY right on Islam’s 2nd most holy place. God Bless a FREE Iraq!

Thanks for that off-topic nonsensical, rant SoonerJJ – glad to see that you can’t seperate your partisanship or your ideological rigidity from a discussion of the facts. Good luck with that, hon! LOL

Nice try, Mike M. but the difference between our mission in Bosnia and Iraq is that in Bosnia, our peacekeeping forces were actually capable of keeping the peace. Iraq is a failure on every level.

Yes, that is true. Ike started, Kennedy (a Dem) wanted to end it, but Johnson, so he could make a little money for his boys at Brown and Root, ramped it up bigtime. A whole bunch of people were killed in that ditty. Of course, he didn’t run for re-election in ’68, which more than makes up for the mess… -cough-
It is also true that our Congress is still comprised of two parties and plenty of Dems gave the green light to Bush to do whatever he wanted.

Hagel (combat vet) and Biden are charged with the job of challenging a policy that is sucking treasure at the rate of $3B weekly, and our young soldiers UTTERLY without a coherent plan that does not need “upgrading” and amending about every eight months. Let’s see, what Does Iraq have to do with 9/11 again?

Tom,
By far the best post of the day.

Tom, by far the dumbest post of the day.

SoonerJJ – what a load of nonsense. You have got the situation 100% backwards. As Jane Says pointed out earlier, there are no more troops in the pipeline and the money is running out to fight this war. A drawdown within the next six months is an inevitibility.

LindaDEE – the differnce between Pearl Harbor, Japan and Iraq is that, after Pearl Harbor we actually attacked the people who attacked us. 9/11 had NOTHING to do with Iraq under Saddam. NOTHING!

It is part of the issue. The groundwork was laid during the Clinton administration.
(Then there’s his less-than-stellar response to the first WTC bombing, but I digress…) Key Dems supported his removal and supported Bush’s push to invade. The support existed before he was president (by both Republicans and Democrats).
1) I don’t know. I suppose because the American public is easily duped. The events of 9/11, probably the most covered event in history, and yet most Americans believe Iraq was involved somehow. They struck while the “iron was hot” so to speak…same with the ironically named PATRIOT Act, which again had many Dems in support.
2) Agreed.
Bush…Clinton…Bush…who in 2008?
Doesn’t matter which party is in charge anymore, they are both comprised of a lot of fools.

Your Mom Goes to College…I saw your post way up above before all this republican apologist spew hit the decks…and I apologize to you for bring the cats into the fray…but like the ending of the Tolkein trilogy everything and everybody from the cats to the trees will be brought into the war to end all wars as we have to extract the infinite war gamers from their position and watch them scurry into the dark ends of the earth…FRODO

EVERYONE knows Iraq did not plan 9-11. Bush even said so. Enough of the Iraq/9-11 association. But AQ is there. RIGHT NOW! Let’s get them. Hey peace activists. They want to come after you too. They hate our culture. They hate our R-Rated movies. They hate we do not pray to the moon god, allah five times a day. They hate we build cool things. They hate we can use a PC and type stuff on this site. We are not creating more terrorists. They are. They are making their stand there. We should be there too. Pray our troops take them out before they come after you.

And Jane, we can throw more troops at them. We can keep them coming. We have plenty. Don’t worry though, there won’t be a draft.

To everyone in support of the surge. A surge would have been most effective after the conclusion of the war and forced surrender of the enemy. Thats when more troops are brought in to securely occupy the enemy’s territory and to bring its people under subjection of the victors. Point is they waited to long to employ the surge for it to be effective. It should have been done after an end to major fighting was declared by bush. Then they could have got a jump on any attemps by insurgents.

Wrong again, Tom. Your fundamental assumptions are simply incorrect. Our enemies (plural, not singular) are factionalized for a variety of reasons, and were factionalized long before we ever got ourselves into the so-called “War on Terror.”

It is good to see you still support the right to vote. Once you support open debate, you’ll be on the right track.

SoonerJJ – wrong. Our military is simply stretched too thin right now, and having incredible difficulties meeting its recruiting goals. Moreover it takes months to train up and equipped new divisions – and there ARE no new divisions being trained or equipped. We’re simply training replacements for old divisions. Do you seriously not comprehend this? Whatever. You may not understand this, but Petraeus does.

It appears we have appointed our worst generals to command forces, and our most gifted and brilliant to edit newspapers. In fact, I discovered by reading newspapers that these editor/geniuses plainly saw all my strategic defects from the start, yet failed to inform me until it was too late. Accordingly, I am readily willing to yield my command to these obviously superior intellects, and I will, in turn, do my best for the Cause by writing editorials – after the fact.

Tom -By invading the right countries, for a start. And acknowledging that police and intel work is possibly even more important that military action in the fight against our enemies. And by fighting a smarter propaganda war for hearts and minds. And by picking our spots and recognizing that it’s more productive to fight our enemies one by one than to take them all on at once. And by realizing that we may be able to play our enemies off against one another instead of perceiving them as a united front.

Yes, Frank – the CIA-sponsored overthrow of the Mossedegh govt. of Iran in 1953 and our support of Saddam in Iraq are both matters of public record. The crackpot assertion that FDR provoked Pearl Harbor is not.

Tom -
Afghanistan. That’s where the guys who attacked us on 9/11 were all along. And I give Bush full marks for his invasion of Afghanistan right up until he inexplicably dropped the ball and focused all his attention on Iraq. There was no reason to open up a second front while we still had OBL and Al Queda on the run and in our sights in Afghanistan. Saddam was simply NOT a credible threat at that time. He was contained and could have been dealt with at a later date. Now our forces are stretched to thin in both fronts and we’re in danger of losing BOTH wars. Seriously, this stuff isn’t rocket science.

Tom,
Forget Korea: Viet Nam would be a more apt comparison to Iraq. A disastrous, unpopular war that cost the USA tens of thousands of lives, billions of dollars, and loss of face internationally. Yeah, that about sums up Iraq. At least we could pull out of Viet Nam… We are stuck in Iraq. There are no good solutions. What do you envision as the likely outcome in Iraq, and how do you think history will judge the decision to go in?

I just read an article about turning salt water into energy. I wonder if we would care about the sectarian violence if this pans out. Come on, do we really need to be picking sides in a civil war. What side would you pick? Sunni, Shia, Kurd , we have been on all sides at sometime or another. What is our mission? If Bin Laden was tried in a court, all the Muslims of the world would see him for what he is. A fanatic, hateful man without a plan to even save his own people.

Are there still people so stupid that they don’t realize that Bush invaded Iraq so that he and his oil billionaire buddies could seize control of its oil? And that he is looking for an excuse to do the same thing in Iran? And all the while planning to make fools of patriotic boobs as he waves the flag in front of their faces to hypnotize them into letting him send their sons and daughters to be slaughtered to enable US oil companies to charge more money at the pump because they will control more of the world’s oil?
Have a good time when you drive your gas guzzler over a bridge that has not been repaired in thirty or forty years.

This whole article and hearings… exactly why I dislike politicians and Washington D.C. This amounts to grandstanding by some presidential hopefulls. I can’t help but laugh about all the names that Conservatives and Liberals create for each other, as if they are clever and witty. In reality they are childish and well… not funny. The fact of the matter is this; we are there, might as well let the General do his job so we can get the heck out and bring our guys back home. I had family who served over there who believed in the mission, I can’t say I have any right to discount their feelings and opinions seeing as they are the ones in harms way. These congressional “leaders” should do the same.

Thats a big surprise coming from Biden!

Where’s the United Nations? We the United States of America are enforcing the 14 or 15 resolutions the United Nations passed against Iraq but didn’t have the balls to enforce

Tom – in reality 101 you may note that Iran has nothing to do with our war against Al Queda.
I realize that you deem yourself to be a military genius – after all, “It’s not rocket science.”

Rep – thanks, but it was an even less intelligent comment when a previous poster said the exact same thing about Democrats (looks like BOTH posts have been scrubbed now, btw). I was simply turning it on it’s head to reveal how ridiculous it sounded from either side.

Just thought I’d add my two bits for what they’re worth. The Iraq war is in part, about oil. I don’t believe that we are there to harvest or “steal” their oil, but it is in our best interest to see Iraq’s vast reserves in friendly hands. We saw the corruption of the UN’s “Oil-for-Food” program, and we saw the power oil revenues sway over greedy and needy minds. I truly believe that the Iraqi government and its people would benefit greatly from properly managed oil production, even if some Americans profited greatly as well. I truly believe that the Bush administration’s stated intent was, and is, to put Iraqi oil into Iraqi control.
General Patreaus was UNANIMOUSLY approved for his current appointment as commander of US forces in Iraq. It troubles me to hear some, such as J. Biden, to question the General’s reputation now instead of at his appointment hearings. At the General’s words, not all is well in Iraq, but he has demonstrated that there is military and security progress.
We all are at war with Al-Qaeda, they have declared war on us, they have declared that Iraq is their present primary battle ground. Some may say that we would gain popularity and respect if we left. We would truly gain nothing. Al-Qaeda, and the rest of the Islamic Extremist (Iran et al.) would gain their exaltation, the veneration of their stated prediction that we could not stomach war, the enslavement of countless women and children, the encouragement to extend their fanaticism closer to us, vast uncontrolled training grounds, and enormous oil reserves. They have more to gain by us leaving Iraq then we do for staying. The war will be won when, in hindsight, the brave and free Iraqi people form a government that can provide for their common defense, and ensure their domestic tranquility. We owe support to that cause of any nation we invade, rightly or wrongly.
Our enemy, Al-Qaeda, Hezbollah, Ahmadinejad, and others, know full well that old adage “A house divided cannot stand.” We are experiencing the onslaught of propaganda and doubt casting that is disheartening our resolve. Often, I have found, that the propaganda and doubt casting works best on those who for some reason or another, consider themselves intellectuals. I am inclined to believe that a graduate student is more likely to be mired in philosophical indecision than a high school graduate. Sometimes, the simple and generalized truths better suit the motivation of individuals. There is a place and time for deep and philosophical questioning, but there is a place also for mediation on the simple and straight forward. Self preservation, rapid response, team-work, and battle-field situations are usually the time and place for faith in the necessity of the straight forward. When we discredit so readily those who are trusted with the execution of battle, we risk becoming “aiders” and abettors of the enemy. There is no room in my imagination to compare any misstep of our President, our legislators, our military, with the true Evil that is in our present adversaries.
United we stand, but divided we fall. And our fall would be to the great liking of Usama Bin Laden and his ilk (to include Sadam).
I, for one American, detest the idea of being dishonored by defeat to such an evil. I will never bow to the Allah of extremist, I will never forgive them, I will never forget.
Timothy

when i was president we won the war. don’t forget that

Amazing! We have a congress that unanimously approved that General as being qualified to make an informed assessment, and as soon as the libs hear an answer they don’t like, the General becomes a liar, of course those Senators are the last people qualified to make an assessment and they have absolutely no proof that the data is not true. So the people need to demand proof when the Senate make wild unproven accusations.

Warner: “Does continuing the Iraq war make American safe?” Patreus: “I don’t know. I haven’t thought about it.” —– that says it all. He’s basically saying I’m just doing my job. I don’t know why the %$^# we’re doing here.

Will the Democrats and their leftist friends EVER discuss their plans for how to protect us? Be responsible, folks! The Islamists want to destroy us and all of our freedoms. Sure our efforts and those of President Bush aren’t perfect. What’s your proposal? Please tell me about your flawless strategy, that won’t cost lots of money and too much American blood. O.K., you don’t agree with the war in Iraq. Do you have to smear our Commander in Chief? Couldn’t you at least recognize that the barbarians we fight are not going to roll over and play dead? We will have to fight them someplace. How and where do you propose that we fight them? Denying that we have enemies that hate us for who we are will not make them disappear. I would like to just fight with words, but that is clearly not their preference. Your constant character assasination and lack of constructive ideas puts all of us in danger. They will hate us whether Carter, or Clinton or Bush is President. This loud mouthed slandering of the U.S. is a great recruiting tool for our enemies. No offense, but it’s is hard to tell who is more fanactical–Al Queda and or the American left.

Majorajam,
Thank you for your cohesive, and mostly respectful response.
Certainly, the image of a helicopter exodus of the remnant “faithful” would be greatly discouraging to me. I would have to, as I am now, trust in something greater than myself or my own understanding. I am fully aware that the possibility of that scenario exists. My faith in the principles of human freedom, and the Creator who endows them, leads me to believe that those principles are ubiquitous, despite cultural differences. The voices of those Iraqis who hold dear these ideals are rarely heard in the “mainstream” media, but most certainly exist. The perpetuation of only bad news in baffling to me, I have yet to see any constructive story on the success of the Kurdish area.
One could argue that the timing of such a revolution has to come from within, that such a hunger for freedom has develop before the populous has the fortitude to pay the price necessary for its achievement. I sense that you would make such an argument, I could be wrong. There are the examples of Japan as well as South Korea to detract from that argument, but one could easily point to Vietnam. The failure in Vietnam is multi-fold, but I do not believe that the situation in Iraq and the history of Vietnam are so easily and justifiably compared.
I do, however, question your unstated but implied conclusion that the missing oil revenues are in the hands of US sanctioned persons, and with knowledge of the administration. Sure corruption exists, sure there are individuals who fall to greed and stress. This is true in war and business. To apply that kind of guilt to the administration and military wholesale without proof seems to me presumptive.
Please point me to the poll that states that the Iraqi’s want us out “pronto.” I heard a congressman yesterday cite a poll with the same outcome. There is a danger, however, in leaning too much on polls. In truth, our own revolution would have not happened when it did if such dependence on popular opinion were heeded. Nor would the war with Mexico had been fought, and the entire Korean peninsula would now be in oppressive darkness.
Remember, that we live in a republic, and not a straight democracy. As Benjamin Franklin once wrote – “Democracy is two wolves and a lamb voting on what to have for lunch.” I warn you not to be so committed to a perfect and critiquing idealism that ignores the pragmatic. So if in the unfortunate event we continue to rationalize away the true threat, when the American version of the Taliban forces your wife to wear a burkah, or your children are forced to pray in school, don’t say you weren’t warned.
Regards, Timothy

The attack by these brave Senators is to be commended, next they need to attack a 9/11 responding fireman, that way they can humiliate another person who risked his life for the bigger good. They are attacking a person of honor and integrity, who is fighting a war and protecting our freedom. Petraeus should ask them to go to his office next time for the hearings, or better yet ask them to walk down his streets. I don’t know if the surge is working or not but you either have to believe what Petraeus tells them or replace them.
If the democrats want us out of Iraq get the votes, if they can’t get the votes to over ride a Bush veto then suck it up and support the troops. They are whining about their own failure to get the votes to do what they want. With Nancy and Harry incharge of both houses they still can not get the votes to do a simple override.

It is simple, a group of extremist decided we are their enemy, we can either fight them or we can die. TAKE the cuffs off our troops and let them win!!!

The vast majority of people either are ok with the war or ill informed by the left wing media/news. If more people paid attention to how congress treated a 4 star general & what he had to say instead of britney spear’s performance on mtv, then maybe the polls would be more accurate.

A lot of complaining and name calling. ‘Idiot’, ‘fool’, ‘spokesperson for Bush Jr’. But typical of the american way today which is sad. Respect for your neighbor or countrymen? Willing to make an extra effort to do something right? Of course not, it has to be easy and it has to benefit ME. People in England felt the same way about Hitler before WWII. Saddam wasn’t going to bother us, so what if he wanted to kill 500K of his own people, it’s none of our business. Like women being assualted in Central Park, it’s not my fight. God put us on this earth to make things better for our fellow man be they brown, black, white, red or other. We take up for the underdog, defend the weak and help the poor and infirm. Morally, WMD or not, we are on the right side of this and have a responsibility to win! Win is simple, help these people along to a free, democratic state where prople can treat each other like the americans treated each other here. For the complainers, stop name calling and give your answer. For people that insult our military, leave. Daddy and his powerful intellect has no idea what it means to take an oath to follow an order. I doubt that there is anything there, in his heart or puny soul, that would put fourth that kind of conviction. Note: I called no one a fool, an idiot, a lib or a neocon. I respect your right to disagree and promise as an american I will respect that right even if I have to bear arms (again) to protect it.
“I say to you today, my friends, so even though we face the difficulties of today and tomorrow, I still have a dream. It is a dream deeply rooted in the American dream.
I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: ‘We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal.’” – MLK
You can turn and run and leave this country to death and genocide or we can fight on and make it the first middle eastern country capable of the GREATNESS of these United States we live in.
God bless you and GOD BLESS AMERICA!
John in Texas

General Petraeus and Ambassador Crocker served the Commander in Chief well by delivering precisely their scripted upbeat appraisal of Mr. Bush’s otherwise disastrous misadventure into Iraq. One can not only assume but know for a fact that anyone, Petreaus and Crocker included, associated with or under the command of Mr. Bush will not even remotely be objective but mouth the implanted words of their master. Fortunately, Senators such as Warner, Hagel, Lugar, etc., all from Mr. Bush’s party pinned the General down and exposed him for what he is, a mere stooge of the President for whom voicing mistruths apparently brings no shame.

Hah Daddy, I haven’t heard an intelligent thing in any of your quotes yet. It’s a good thing they get the low lifes to serve in the military, promise of education or not. It appears the super intelligent among us, like yourself are big on pontification and little in the results department. Maybe we really do want a house senate and president of panty-waist democrats?

To bring to light a few things and dispel some bs.
1: THIS WAR IS NOT ABOUT OIL. We as the US do not get our oil,gasoline, or other petro products from Iraq. THIS HAS BEEN a fact for the past decade. So, those of you blinded by this, STOP playing the oil card. Talk about being lied to
2: IRAQ DID HAVE WMD. But why couldn’t we find it? Several reasons. A: Over 1/2 of the UN are Muslim and/or Muslim sympathizers. B: Several other countries came in with undercover and removed these weapons (Don’t believe me, do the search/research OUTSIDE of Democratic/Muslim control…preferably Dutch or Eastern European sites) C: Here is the tiers of control-Democrats are owned by Major Media, Major Media is owned by Muslim factions, Muslim factions are dictated by Iran, Iran is dictated by Howdy Doody Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. Think this is a lie or an outrageous claim? Track some monies being handled back and forth. With a bit of luck, you will see a connection as large as the Golden Gate Bridge.
3: What do we hope to gain from Iraq? What did we hope for and got from Japan? Imagine if we pulled out of Japan and not helped them rebuild. They would of likely been part of China. Or, they would of gone back to an extreme dictatorship/shogun type style. In either case, Japan would not be as it is today and one of the US’ staunch allies.
4: Have I been in the military? No, however I have 6 family members and 9 friends in the military-many of them mid level and front line officers. And each night I pray for every one of them. Each morning my face and pillow is wet as my tears fall for their well being. Would I love to hear they would be home tomorrow? Of course I would, anyone would. But their actions as well as the actions of brothers and sisters in arms are preventative, then of course anyone would say “Do it!”. For those that lost friends and family of the 3700 heroes so far, my heart bleeds for you. There is a silver lining-its only been 3700. The Bosnia fiasco-which to this day IS FUBARRED BECAUSE WE PULLED OUT, we lost 4700+ heroes. How many tens or even hundreds of thousands of innocents have been killed? And why did we go over to Bosnia? FOR THE SAME DAMN BOTTOM LINE REASON AS IRAQ..to try to institute a peaceful government, a stable government, a productive economy where its citizens benefit. BUT LO AND BEHOLD..what occurred? WE, THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA…PULLED OUT. That’s right. Pulled out. The Bubba and Bubbaette showed to the world a pure form of hypocrisy. Can you spell that with me? H Y P O C R I S Y. And yet, Bubbaette and her cronies want to ‘restore our world image’. Restore what..we are hypocritical wimps? Is that why our previous deceased citizens fought so hard from the times of the Revolutionary War til Vietnam and to the present? To have a country full of hypocritical, limp wristed, brain damaged lunatics running around WILLING to let our safety, our pride, our freedoms go asunder. So, in closing reason 4 why we are in IRAQ..TO PROVE AND VALIDATE THAT THE SYSTEM RUNNING THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA CAN WORK IF FILLED WITH PEOPLE WITH THE GOOD HONEST INTENT RATHER THAN HATE FILLED, GREED INFESTED, BRAIN DAMAGED, HYPOCRISY MINDED IDIOTS!
Well, I hope this has been elightening. Please feel free to respond back..that is, if you have the nerve.
SALUTE!

Someone actually said: The pre-emptive invasion and occupation of Iraq will undoubtedly go down in history as the greatest foreign policy blunder in the history of the USA.
Noooooooo! Jimmay Carter going to Korea in the 90s and coming back with a peace treaty and a promise they would not develop nukes was one of the biggest. Teaching China how to orbit rockets in the 90s was almost as bad. Actually, I like what Bush said in one of the State of the Union speeches: We cannot wait for threats to be emminent. We need to go in before the threat is emminent.
I only wish we prevent Iran from developing nukes. Would anyone volunteer Jimmay Carter? Yeah right!

Hillary Clinton knows absolutely nothing about the reality of war. Men die. I knew men that died. And they die for freedom. I don’t think she can face that fact.