The “Good” War

I see the pentagon is criminally charging the Navy seals who gave a wanted terrorist a bloddy lip. Houston, I mean America, we got a problem.

“That’s what I’m opposed to. A dumb war. A rash war. A war based not on reason but on passion, not on principle but on politics.” -Barack Obama, 2002
I am pleased that just like with the stimulus, health care, and foreign affairs, what I voted for is exactly what I got. (And there was some concern after the initial massive increase in troop strength Obama started within a month of taking office.)

So, now McChrystal and the other generals know to ask for twice the troops they need, many months before they need them to allow for the arbitrary reduction by half and the dithering… Gotcha.

“We’ve been over this before – the US is the most prosperous free nation in the world BECAUSE of its government, not in spite of it.”
Ok, it’s settled. You are insane.
Huh? | Nov 25, 2009 9:23:40 AM
No, I just don’t hold the work of our Founding Fathers in utter contempt and take for granted the blessing of living in this nation.
Our governmental system is the worst – except for all the other options.

And can you cite a case of graft – out of $787 billion (actually $499 billion of spending if you bothered to be honest and discount the tax breaks)
Posted by: jhw539 | Nov 25, 2009 9:18:09 AM
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
graft: West’s Encyclopedia of American Law (Full Article …
graft n. Unscrupulous use of one’s position to derive profit or advantages; … Graft usually implies the existence of theft, corruption, fraud, and the lack of
60,000 bogus jobs, $700,000+ use to raise pay in Ga head Start program instead of creating job, money going to non existent districts
That Boy Is GRAFT

We’ve been over this before – the US is the most prosperous free nation in the world BECAUSE of its government, not in spite of it. But that is just based on observation of the last 1000 years of real world history.
==========
1000 years of history will tell you countries rise and fall.
Just because we are the most prosperous free nation due to our system of government, it doesn’t follow that we can increase the government and government spending endlessly without eventually undermining that prosperity and power.

If you, my friend, believe that today’s federal government embodies the vision of the Founding Fathers then you must be absolutely 100% certfied insane.
Posted by: Huh?
and, your comparing the rural new american government in 1776 to the complex nation we live in now in 2009 is what?

60,000 bogus jobs, $700,000+ use to raise pay in Ga head Start program instead of creating job, money going to non existent districts
That Boy Is GRAFT
mickey maoist | Nov 25, 2009 9:42:34 AM
No, Boy, that is not “GRAFT”. That isn’t even fraud.
Every day I get closer to agreeing that English should be made our national language. How can we have rational discourse when so many people think this is “graft”???? Graft exists, stuff like what Cunningham was convicted of, and it is corrosive to any government. Exaggerating about the number of jobs created or applying stimulus money to raise pay in a Headstart program, as explicitly allowed by the law Congress passed, is not graft. It is not fraud. It is not illegal. It is not even considered an ethics violation.

I see the pentagon is criminally charging the Navy seals who gave a wanted terrorist a bloddy lip. Houston, I mean America, we got a problem.
Posted by: jamescbuilder | Nov 25, 2009 8:23:22 AM
**********
I saw this also. Who would make these charges? Who would leak these charges? This will really make our soldiers want to fight. Enemies are now using our own rights against us.

“If you, my friend, believe that today’s federal government embodies the vision of the Founding Fathers then you must be absolutely 100% certfied insane.”
The Founding fathers also thought women should not be allowed to vote and that slavery was ok.
The beauty of the system of government they designed is it adaptability within the structure of the Constitution.
The Founding Fathers did not expect an 18th century government to remain static for 225 years.

“I see the pentagon is criminally charging the Navy seals who gave a wanted terrorist a bloddy lip. Houston, I mean America, we got a problem.”
Except they didn’t even the right wing blog Hot Air had issues with FoxNews’s headline.
Allahpundit: “Even so, the fact that this turd got the Iraqi authorities involved may have left Central Command with little choice here. The last thing the military needs right now is another detainee-abuse headache, especially with some Iraqi pols already leaning on them about withdrawal. Giving the SEALs a zero-tolerance wrist slap reminds other troops not to do anything more seriously stupid that might be exploited politically. And it will be a wrist slap, I’m sure: The last thing The One needs after shipping KSM off to NYC for his close-up is the image of SEALs being hauled off to prison for busting some jihadi in the face. In fact, according to Fox, the SEALs requested a court-martial rather than nonjudicial punishment, presumably because they know full well how awful this looks for the military. Prediction: Wrist slap.”

George “W” Bush:
“Hey Navy Seals! I Got your back!”
Posted by: Walsh
so, why did yer boy, ‘W,’ abandon and not support the troops in Afghanistan for so long, if they were so smart how come they didn’t win and finish and win the war?
Republicans were running the whole show…..

They are only there as peacekeepers.
Posted by: James Danley
so, they’re not really running the show, as america is doing the majority of the fighting, dying and ‘reconstruction’

It is NOT A LIE that SOME of the NATO countries refuse to allow their troops to fight. Just Google it!

Thousands of American troops are under NATO command (as are most the other coalition troops). There are thousands of additional American troops that are under American command–separate from NATO.
Here is an excerpt from an article, “Afghanistan: Canada and the NATO allies,” by James Laxer posted on the Rabble.ca website, dated Apr 3, 2007:
“In absolute numbers, the United States dominates the list [of combat deaths]. Looked at it more closely, it is significant that the U.S., Canada and the United Kingdom accounted for nearly 84 per cent of personnel killed. Looking at the whole list, including the U.S. and the UK, in terms of the size of the populations of the countries participating, Canada has suffered the most casualties.
“Other important NATO countries, including Germany, France and Italy, respectively with 18, nine, and nine killed are involved in the mission, but are much less fully engaged than the U.S., Canada and the UK whose forces have done most of the fighting.
“Because of strong political opposition at home to participation in the Afghan war, and the view of the governments in Berlin, Paris and Rome that the mission will be long and unrewarding, these NATO countries have mostly kept their forces in the safer regions of the north and have placed restrictions on their forces operating in zones of conflict. Some of their forces are not even permitted to go on patrols at night.”
________
Here is an excerpt from an article, “When it comes to combat, it is a coalition of the willing and not-so-willing,” by Anna Mulrine posted on the U.S.News website, dated Jun 5, 2008:
“…that troops from the United States—along with just a handful of other countries—do the bulk of the heavy fighting, while a number of other ISAF [International Security Assistance Force] detachments are limited by their own governments’ combat restrictions. These include prohibitions, or “caveats,” against, for example, fighting in the snow for troops from some southern European nations. Other soldiers are required to stay in calmer areas of the country or to keep their aircraft grounded at night or to consult their home legislatures before operating near the volatile Pakistani border.”

“Republicans were running the whole show…”
Actually NATO was and still is running the “show” in Afghanistan.
Posted by: James Danley | Nov 25, 2009 1:28:37 PM
______________________________________
Under Bush and Cheney, the United States could have upped the number of its troops in Afghanistan any time it wanted – same as the current administration did.

Posted by: James Danley | Nov 25, 2009 8:46:57 PM
James you are acknowledging that Bush and Cheney could have upped the number of American troops in Afghanistan AT ANY TIME – same as this administration has and can.

Do you acknowledge that some of the NATO countries are refusing to fight? And that I didn’t lie?
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Honestly James, I can see why you said that, but I don’t think it’s exactly true. Which NATO countries specifically do you think are ‘refusing’ to fight? Which are not refusing to fight?
For instance, if I look under Danish troops in Wiki I see research indicating . . .
“The main part of the Danish military contribution consists of a battle group, which is currently operating with British forces in the Green Zone in the central part of the Helmand Province in southern Afghanistan. The battle group consists of two mechanized infantry companies, a tank platoon and a flight of light reconnaissance helicopters. The battle group also consists of combat support and support units.
In the nearby Kandahar Province, troops from the Royal Danish Air Force take part in manning the Kandahar Airfield Crisis Establishment (KAF CE), which is running the airfield.
But Danish troops are also deployed to other parts of Afghanistan. In northern Afghanistan app. twenty troops are serving in the German-led PRT in Feyzabad. In western Afghanistan ten troops are serving in the Lithuanian led PRT in Chagcharan. There is also a small contribution to HQ ISAF in Kabul and to the staffing of Kabul International Airport.
In Helmand Danish troops are involved in the worst fighting their armed forces have undertaken since the Second Schleswig War of 1864. Denmark has lost 30 soldiers in Afghanistan since 2002.
________________________________
So, it’s not the American involvement by any means, but “Danish troops are involved in . .. fighting . . . ” indicates they certainly aren’t refusing to fight exactly.

Charlie Gibson;
“Acorn? Never heard of it.”

Yet, now all of a sudden they are the experts on running a war.
Posted by: James Danley
can’t say for sure if this bunch of Dems will make it right, hopefully they will as there are lives at stake,,but, we do know for a fact, that the Bush/Cheney ‘experts on war’ were dismal failures in spite of their constant wrapping themselves in the flag…

I didn’t see the entire segment. But from the clip that is on the Internet, she was talking about the Fort Hood attack when she said: “There is one thing about Fort Hood that I feel very strongly about which is, and I don’t say this to be political, I think it matters a lot what we call it. And we had a terrorist attack on our country. And we should call it what it is because we need to face up to it so that we can prevent it from happening again.”
Clearly she was talking about a homegrown attack. But in this age of “gotcha” she, Sean Hannity and Stuart Varney should have immediately caught the misstatement and not waited to clarify. She has since explained, “Last night on Hannity, I obviously meant no terror attack on U.S. post 9/11 during Bush 2nd term. We have the tools, just need to use them!”
It was a misstatement, not denial or revisionism. Remember when then candidate Obama said back in Sept 2008: “What I was suggesting – you’re absolutely right that John McCain has not talked about my Muslim faith. And you’re absolutely right that that has not come.” George Stephanopoulos immediately corrected him with, “Christian faith.” And Obama quickly responded with, “My Christian faith. Well, what I’m saying is that he (McCain) hasn’t suggested that I’m a Muslim…” Because that was in the heat of the campaign, Stephanopoulos immediately recognized it was a serious misstatement. But he also knew that if he didn’t immediately correct Obama, that the misstatement could potentially sink Obama’s campaign.

Hey Jake Tapper maybe you can
write about ClimateGate Seems like the rest of ABC has forgotten about how BIG a story this is.
GEEZ