Posted on 09/17/2004 5:47:48 AM PDT by capt_west
'Bring them on!" President Bush challenged the early Iraqi insurgency in July of last year. Since then, 812 American soldiers have been killed and 6,290 wounded, according to the Pentagon. Almost every day, in campaign speeches, Bush speaks with bravado about how he is "winning" in Iraq. "Our strategy is succeeding," he boasted to the National Guard convention on Tuesday.
But, according to the US military's leading strategists and prominent retired generals, Bush's war is already lost. Retired general William Odom, former head of the National Security Agency, told me: "Bush hasn't found the WMD. Al-Qaida, it's worse, he's lost on that front. That he's going to achieve a democracy there? That goal is lost, too. It's lost." He adds: "Right now, the course we're on, we're achieving Bin Laden's ends."
(Excerpt) Read more at guardian.co.uk ...
Capt West
If Sidney Blumenthal is the author, he's not a brit, nor a supposed friend.
Ole sid is American last I knew........it is printed there though. Sid is a girly man.
FYI Sid the squid and john dean have something in common, they have both launched suits against people who supposedly defamed them, and gave up during the discovery phase, and ended up paying the people they started the suit against.
It gives all the doom sayers and losers a candidate to latch on to.
The terrorists are losing by the hundreds.
When they run out of stupid men, they will probably coerce their female children into becoming human bombs, just like that scourge of human scum, the Palestinians...
He is not even human.
5.56mm
Sidney Blumenthal!
There is not a more partisan shrill for the DNC. Please check your source before taking this man's opinions seriously. Perhaps we would be equally interested in James Carville's military assessment?
Yep- al Qaeda has lost all right. Lost the freedom to act with impunity. Lost 75% of its known leadership. Lost the ability to attack targets any harder than elementary schools and tourist hotels. Lost thousands of recruited fighters who rushed to Iraq instead of mosques and universities in Gaza, London and Hamburg.
Now reduced to slaughtering tiny children cowering in a gym for publicity purposes, al Qaeda lost the legitimacy of its cloak of islamic morality, even in the eyes of other muslims. And Al Qaeda lost the indifferent tolerance of Russia, who thought they were innoculated against international terror due to a long history of covert support for anti-western "national liberation movements".
Oliver North has spent considerable time with combat units in Iraq and reports reenlistment and morale have never been higher. If the guys on the frontlines think we are fighting a good fight- why should we give 5 minutes of our time reading the thoughts of "Sidney"?
And General Odom- IF you are accurately quoted- shame on you for publicly stating that "we have lost". Have you no shame, sir? As a student of the Vietnam War- have you no memory of the role such statements played in encouraging our enemies? If you wish to counsel the President on strategy- please do so privately.
General William Odom is, and always has been a dove. His opinions are predictable and usually wrong.
Of what possible value is a report like this if it doesn't list the losses on the other side? This report doesn't even state that we've captured Saddam and most his old regime leaders. Why not just report John Kerry's poll numbers and not give President Bush's? It makes about as much sense as this assinine report.
Of the 812 American soldiers who have been died, not all of them died from enemy fire. It would be very interesting, however, to see just how many Iraqi Republican Guard, Fedeyen Saddam, insurgents, and foreign terrorists have been killed, captured or wounded since the war began. Those numbers surely go into the tens of thousands. (btw, a great many of our wounded returned to duty).
Blumenthal sued Drudge over a purported "false story"(some suspect that the hit was ordered by the Clinton White House in order to shut down Drudge's website ).
The Squid has a very checkered history as a "journalist". His nickname was "Grassy Knoll", and even most of his Leftist media colleagues were appalled by his blatantly partisan pronouncements. He finally dropped the charade during the Clinton administration and went to work directly for the White House.
He was suspected of being involved in trying to spread the "Monica is a stalker" story (and had a falling-out with Kit Hitchens over that issue). If you Google his testimony before the grand jury investigating the Monica mess, you'll find that some feel that his testimony may have been a lot less than accurate.
You wouldn't want to step in Blumenthal on a hot summer day.
But we found that Saddam had plenty of WMD programs on hold, waiting for an opportune time to go forward with them. So we prevented a future catastrophy.
"Al-Qaida, it's worse, he's lost on that front."
Worse? America hasn't been hit by al Qaida since Bush went of the offensive. In any case, is this bumbling idiot retired general trying to say that al-Quaida wasn't going to get worse if we sat back and did nothing?
"That he's going to achieve a democracy there? That goal is lost, too. It's lost."
Hmmm, how has democracy been 'lost' even before it's begun? Just 18 months into the battle the Iraqi tyrant governemnt has been overthrown, its leaders arrested or killed, an interim government established and given control of government functions, and elections coming up in the near future. With progess like that it is obvious that if we hang in there we will crush the insurgency and democracy will reign.
"He adds: "Right now, the course we're on, we're achieving Bin Laden's ends."
I think the old retired General is helping bin Laden by this totally dark and hopeless synopsis of events. Gen. Odom needs to understand that if you're wearing sh!t stained glasses, everything looks like sh!t.
Indeed. Thanks for the ping!
Notice to Sid B. and other Old Left: We (I) learned a lesson from living through the Viet Nam War. The lesson is that America can win a war on the ground and yet lose it at home to a minority of lefties who sympathize with the enemy. This debacle will NOT happen twice. This time we will FIGHT at home as necessary to support our troops in the field. This fight will happen in the media, on campus, and at the ballot box. You and the other traitors will lose. November 2nd will be an object lesson.
I see you've only been here since June, so you weren't here during the Clinton years.
Any article with or about or by Sidney Blumenthal requires a MAJOR BARF ALERT.
He's not a Brit; he's a friend of Hillary's, probably running this latest smear on Bush AND Kerry.
It's just that nobody in America will publish his crap.
Heh. Thanks for the wonderful memories!! :-)
Sometimes when scandals/smears break in the news, I look to see who is NOT talking about them.
So far the only three people I've seen who haven't weighed in on "Rathergate" are
Sidney
Joe Conason
Gene Lyons
Lanny David
I'm suspicious.
Great catch! Indeed, these dogs did not bark.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.