Posted on 10/02/2006 3:29:40 PM PDT by Roscoe Karns
Edited on 10/02/2006 3:49:15 PM PDT by Admin Moderator. [history]
Bill Frist: "I’m currently overseas visiting our troops in Afghanistan, but I wanted to take a moment to address an Associated Press story titled, “Frist: Taliban Should Be in Afghan Gov’t.” The story badly distorts my remarks and takes them out of context.
First of all, let me make something clear: The Taliban is a murderous band of terrorists who’ve oppressed the people of Afghanistan with their hateful ideology long enough. America’s overthrow of the Taliban and support for responsible, democratic governance in Afghanistan is a great accomplishment that should not and will not be reversed.
Having discussed the situation with commanders on the ground, I believe that we cannot stabilize Afghanistan purely through military means. Our counter-insurgency strategy must win hearts and minds and persuade moderate Islamists potentially sympathetic to the Taliban to accept the legitimacy of the Afghan national government and democratic political processes.
National reconciliation is a necessary and an urgent priority … but America will never negotiate with terrorists or support their entry into Afghanistan’s government. "
Related thread: U.S. Senate majority leader calls for efforts to bring Taliban into Afghan government
Well that sure screws up a perfectly good chance to knee jerk.
That's quite different from the AP story thread where I ripped him a new one.
Thank God. I thought Frist had lost his mind over this.
Should have known it was the MSM at their best (worst!).
Sounds like "I didn't say what I said and I'll say it again" to me.
You are right -- your link is perfect. Folks need to go to it and read down through the entries.
Damn, I JUSt sent an e-mail to Frist begging him to issue a clarification....I swear
If I'm reading what you provided correctly, Frist provided an updated clarification of his earlier remarks. But what were his earlier remarks, exactly? Or are they there and I missed them? Thx
Ping.
Wow! You're good! ;o)
I wondered when I read the first reports if this was another media hack job. I couldn't imagine Frist saying that--as presented, anyway.
It's just the drive by media game of..."divide the republican base'....Watch for more 'alarmist' stories and headlines to come out before the election!
I'm willing to believe the comments were distorted, but it's a politician's job to make sure he cannot easily be distorted. And for a Republican politician, it's a necessity.
It will be good to have someone else as majority leader.
With Frist, you always had to put that term in quotes.
Even if we do badly in this election, at least our leader in the Senate, if it's McConnell, will be better. And we probably couldn't do worse.
I don't find his explanation any more persuasive than the original statement.
Just lucky :)
Now I'm going to e-mail AP. Lot of good that will do but hey it'll make me feel a little better.
What's wrong with that?
NEVER NEVER NEVER NEVER NEVER NEVER NEVER NEVER NEVER NEVER NEVER NEVER NEVER NEVER NEVER NEVER NEVER NEVER NEVER NEVER NEVER NEVER trust the MSM!
If he and Hastart really wanted to do this nation a service they would give up their (lack of) leadership positions.
That's why the AP is called "Advocacy Press."
"Sounds like "I didn't say what I said and I'll say it again" to me."
After re-reading the original, I'll retract that post but I still don't like what Frist said. Of course he pretty much had to because it's true.
Personally, I think we overestimated the Muslim populations of these nations. We thought anyone in their right mind would choose freedom over oppressive theocracy. We were just wrong. Like the Palestinians, I think most Muslim countries, when given the chance to choose, choose very poorly, in accordance with what their Imam wants. By Frist's logic, we need to open dialog with the Imams of Iran and offer them government positions to solve the nuclear issue there. Not what I would call a good idea. They live to mislead and lie to us, just like the Talibanis.
The two schools of thought for our current conflict are "cut and run" and "stay the course". The former won't work and the latter isn't either. The "Course" is a touchy-feely PC crap war where we handle the enemy with kid gloves and grant too much comfort to our prisoners. How many American POWs are there? ZERO because our enemy doesn't take prisoners.
You don't win a war by winning hearts and minds. You win wars by killing the hell out of the enemy. We are not playing to win, we are playing not to lose, which is the surest way TO lose. The longer this war drags on, the more PC it gets and the weaker our side gets. Ultimately that will mean a "X" in the "L" column for America. I don't want that but the way we are "fighting" this war, I'm afraid it's coming.
Anyway, that's my "I quit smoking 3 days ago and everything is pi$$ing me off" rant. ;-p
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