Pennsylvania Marine fights for liberty in Iraq
For those of you so inclined, please say some prayers for Cpl.Justin Slep USMC that he returns home safely, along with his fellow Marines.
Posted on 08/11/2005 7:45:50 PM PDT by Crackingham
The Bush administration has sent seemingly conflicting signals in recent days over the duration of the U.S. deployment to Iraq, openly discussing contingency plans to withdraw as many as 30,000 of 138,000 troops by spring, then cautioning against expectations of any early pullout. Finally yesterday, President Bush dismissed talk of a drawdown as just "speculation and rumors" and warned against "withdrawing before the mission is complete."
If the public was left confused, it may be no more unsure than the administration itself, as some government officials involved in Iraq policy privately acknowledge.
The shifting scenarios reflect the uncertain nature of the mission and the ambiguity of what would constitute its successful completion. There is a dichotomy between the clarity of Bush's vow to stay not one day longer than needed and the muddled reality that no one can say exactly when that will be.
The events of the past week have brought home once again the difficulties confronting the president as he prosecutes what polls suggest is an increasingly unpopular war. With surging violence claiming more U.S. forces on the ground in Iraq and the angry mother of a dead soldier camping out near his ranch in Texas, Bush plainly cannot count on indefinite public patience.
Administration officials have all but given up any hope of militarily defeating the insurgents with U.S. forces, instead aiming only to train and equip enough Iraqi security forces to take over the fight themselves. At the same time, they believe that the mission depends on building a new political infrastructure, a project facing its most decisive test in the next three days as deeply divided Iraqis struggle to draft a constitution by a Monday deadline.
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
Let me answer my own question by saying that there's not a big difference for them.
I demand to know what our exit strategy is for Cuba,
Germany, Japan, Korea and the Balkans.
Here it is, for the historical illiterates at the Washington Post: Win the war. Straighten out what's left of the war-torn nation. Bring the soldiers home as soon as possible. There, was that so hard to write, or to understand?
Lastly, of course we want to turn the task of establishing and maintaining order over to the local authorities as soon as possible. Hellooo. We did exactly that in Germany (and Japan).
It takes more than merely political bias for a so-called major newspaper to print a story like this. It also takes a phenomenal level of ignorance about American history. Unfortunately, the Post has an ample supply of both bias and ignorance.
Did I miss anything?
Congressman Billybob
Reporter: "Mr. President when are our troops going to come home what is your exit strategy."
President: Let me ask you, what was our exit Strategy in World War II?
And while the reporter waffles on the answer,
The President sez "our strategy is to WIN THE WAR"
I think the President needs to come up with a better strategy to BELITTLE the idiots in the Press Corps.
So far he is way too nice to them.
Japan. We re-built their steel production infrastructure. I know that for a fact.
Are we there yet? When will we get there? How much further is it? Will it be dark by the time we get there? I'm hungry. I need to go to the bathroom. Can we stop at that park up ahead? My sister poked me. My brother pinched me. I'm tired. I'm hot. I'm cold. I'm restless. I want to go out and play...
In upcoming weeks, the comPost will print many more articles with punchlines similar to the ones above, and they'll all be about the boondoggle or quagmire in Iraq.
These writers were obviously the little boys and girls who pulled the wings off of butterflies as kids.
Now they've graduated to pulling the wings off our national determination, pride and honor.
Yellow journalism was never this bad...
The coalition went in to secure and dismantle WMDS, to oust (and hopefully capture) Saddam, and to set up an interim government. Check, check, check.
Beats the crap out of me what happened after the last "check." It seems to me that our job was over and done with once sovereignty was returned, Bremer flew out, and an interim government was elected. The rest should be up to the Iraqis.
"In Iraq, No Clear Finish Line"
Sure there is a clear finish line.
Train the new Iraqi Military
Get a Constitution in Place
Withdraw troops via Iran and Syria
Seems to be on schedule
Do you have any thoughts about this editorial? If so, why not share them? If not, why post an article you have no opinion about?
You seem to post many articles but very few comments.
Yeah, I guess giving birth to a new country is like having a kid. You're legally and morally obligated to take care of it for the next 18 years. Maybe we could put Iraq up for adoption. (Just joking.) But seriously, the Iraqis have got to get their asses in gear. I mean, does the US military have to teach the Iraqi recruits how to lace up their damn boots? And they all seemed to be armed to the teeth before we got there (no gun control laws under Saddam), so I'm assuming they know how to point and shoot. And they seem pretty damned skilled in demolition techniques, too.
Pennsylvania Marine fights for liberty in Iraq
For those of you so inclined, please say some prayers for Cpl.Justin Slep USMC that he returns home safely, along with his fellow Marines.
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