ISG must stand for, uh, Inane Strategy Guesswork (Mark Steyn Nails The Illustrious Seniors Group)

Chicago Sun Times ^ | 12/10/2006 | Mark Steyn

[Rummyfan]

So there you have it: an Iraq "Support Group" that brings together the Arab League, the European Union, Iran, Russia, China and the U.N. And with support like that who needs lack of support? It worked in Darfur, where the international community reached unanimous agreement on the urgent need to rent a zeppelin to fly over the beleaguered region trailing a big banner emblazoned "YOU'RE SCREWED." For Dar4.1, they can just divert it to Baghdad.

Mark Steyn is simply a genius!

[Wilhelm Tell]

ISG = Iraq Surrender Group

ISG = Israel Sellout Group

ISG = Insane Senile Geezers

[Rummyfan]

No military representation, either active duty or retired, no Middle East experts or Arabists such as Bernard Lewis, no local Iraqi representation, no, just a bunch of career Washington insiders and politicians. Sandra Day O'Connor? I'm not even sure of her legal expertise much less any concerning conduct of a fight against an insurgency. Vernon Jordan? A Washington power broker? And Lee Hamilton? This man has done more damage with his 9/11 Commission work and now this ridiculous piece of garbage.

[Wilhelm Tell]

Our Arabists and Progressives are urging a "Final Recommendation for the Zionist Question" -- it does sound vaguely familiar....

[PhilDragoo]

[roses of sharon]

LOL, you wish.

[Steel Wolf]

LOL, you wish.

Wish what? That President Bush is going to ball the report up, toss it in the trash, increase the size of the military by 300k troops, and tell Iran, North Korea and Syria where to stuff it? Sure. I wish Santa would bring me a winning lottery ticket, a jetpack, and a harem of supermodels.

Wishes are fun. But we're not here to wish, are we? We're here to figure out what's coming next. And 'bipartisan sellout' is the program now, not 'smackdown theater'. He's either going to make drastic changes in Iraq that we won't like, or his replacement will in 2009. Odds are, he's going to eat as much of the report as he can, and turn it into policy. If not, the opposition will use it to harpoon us with in the next elections.

[Valin]

Saturday, December 09, 2006
I Know a Marine, and He Knows the Stakes
Posted by: Mary Katharine Ham at 12:09 PM
http://www.townhall.com/blog#ce3935c5-4267-4c3a-b862-3d3b606e0e20

This is my take on the ISG report. I got ticked this week when a bunch of preening politicians and pundits tried to project honor and bravery on the plan for losing-- losing slowly, "responsibly," diplomatically, but losing-- in Iraq.

There's nothing to smile about. There's nothing "passionate" and "bold" about running away from a job before it is finished, and in doing so leading the men and women of the armed services, who did not volunteer to lose, into failure. If you're gonna back that plan, fine, but don't pretend it's tough and brave. Doing so does a disservice to those who have actually been tough and brave in fighting the enemy without backing down.

My column this week is a nod to a couple of my friends who also happen to be those tough, brave men, and Tim Russert's got nothing on them.


Only in a Washington TV studio, perfumed with hairspray and haughtiness, could running away before the job is done be considered tough and resolved.

I know a Marine. He is packing his stuff this week. On Saturday, he will bend down, kiss his wife good-bye, and deploy again for Iraq. He will not leave with a mind to allowing the collapse of Iraq’s government, a humanitarian catastrophe, a propaganda victory for al Qaeda, the diminishing of America’s global standing, or negotiations with the enemy, just because it means we can get out of Iraq quickly.

He’ll go with a mind to win, and he will not find boldness, passion, toughness, glee, or honor in anything less. That is a practice for Washingtonians, not Marines.
Update: I also know a soldier, now. Got this today from a soldier serving his second voluntary tour in Iraq:

For the public, the consequences of cut-and-running are more disastrous than a weakened foreign image or a generation of disgruntled veterans. Because the Iraqi Army and Police are not yet ready to “stand up,” we cannot “step down.” Although many feel that host-nation forces would be obliged to take the place of American troops upon our mass exodus, their assumption is merely that – and their vision is more optimistic than even the most war-supporting neo-con. We have seen the Iraqis fail to secure their towns in Baghdad, ar Ramadi, al Fallujah, and sections of the al Anbar Province following the Coalition Forces’ mobilization to other hostile areas of Iraq. The sober realization that the Iraqis will not fight for their nation on a hasty timeline is not a reason to give up on them. Withdrawing combat troops from Iraq would send the already chaotic country into a vicious downward spiral.

[Democratshavenobrains]

The American people are just tired of hearing about this war. We all know liberals forgot about the danger of terrorism a month after 9/11. Now conservatives are starting to feel the same way.

[Sender]

I remember one of them at the release conference saying "This is out of our hands now, we've shown you what must be done and now it's up to you to implement the plan."

So if we don't implement everything in this stupid plan and there remains conflict in the region, it's all OUR FAULT.

[roses of sharon]

Well, we are here to wish, commiserate, throw ideas around, CELEBRATE a column by one of the few good guys, plot and plan against our enemies foreign and domestic, and be a "prison-style" tag team against surrender.

If the President and his generals in Iraq want to surrender, it is up to them, and there is not much we can do about it, its no reason to lecture Americans on FR that we shouldn't make our opinions heard, and make our hopes and wishes known.

There are plenty of negative, defeatists, BDS, Bush is an idiot, his generals are idiots, the Iraqi's are idiots, and Republican's are idiots threads on FR for you to celebrate.

Just one or two threads on the negatives of our enemies should not bother you in the least, everyone here knows the score, and just because every post is not filled with vile Bush hatred does not mean that we believe in Santa.

[Steel Wolf]

Just one or two threads on the negatives of our enemies should not bother you in the least, everyone here knows the score, and just because every post is not filled with vile Bush hatred does not mean that we believe in Santa.

Okay. I'll concede that you're not idly wishing for Santa to bring us victory for Christmas, if you'll grant that people can politely and rationally disagree with President Bush and his policies without being 'filled with vile Bush hatred', BDS or any other slur.

Sound fair?

[roses of sharon]

Very fair, considering that since I neglected to ck your posts, I have no idea if your criticisms were vile, conspirazoid, or full of BDS, since I was generalizing.

It is easy to tell the difference, between constructive, productive, and rational criticism, its like political porn, you know it when you see it.

[Billthedrill]

Indeed, insofar as this document has any novelty value, it's in the Frankenstein-meets-the-Wolfman sense of a boffo convergence of hit franchises: a Vietnam bug-out, but with the Jews as the designated fall guys. Wow. That's what Hollywood would call "high concept."

I'd have to throw in the notion that the international community, especially the UN, has once again been proposed as the savior of the situation despite a track record of screwing up every pie it's ever stuck its grubby fingers into. In the context of Hollywood that'd have to be Dumb and Dumber XVI - everyone with a mental age of over 12 knows it's stupid but they keep cranking it out anyway.

[bert]

I would argue it is an insult to granpa's. Great granpa's would have been more correct and appropriate.


The whole crew is desperate to return to the 4th quarter of the last game they played.

[snippy_about_it]

LOL. Perfect!

[SJackson]

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