Sunday Morning Talk Show Thread 10 December 2006

Various big media television networks ^ | 10 December 2006 | Various Self-Serving Politicians and Big Media Screaming Faces

[MNJohnnie]

No, I wish I did. Robin Williams had his people deny he said anything but the last one so he is not the author.

[kabar]

A lot depends on the situation on the ground. If it deteriorates into chaos, any political leader would have a hard time convincing the public that we should stay.

[kabar]

Djerejian is a career diplomat. He was Assistant Secretary for NEA under Baker. He is knowledgeable about the region, but there are limits to what diplomacy can achieve.

[rodguy911]

It depends on the issue whether or not the money is being spent improperly, if pubbies spend money it's always wrong. If dem/'rats spend on anything it's always right.

[rodguy911]

Osamma gets in at 2016 after Hillary (really after Rudy but let them have their fun.)

[Alas Babylon!]

Actually, the British took Bagdhad from the Ottoman Turks in 1917, Under General Sir Francis Maude.

[rodguy911]

Great post rat theology-- it is imperative that we forget 911, and the rats better hope we don't have another one any time soon.

[MNJohnnie]

This idea that you can negotiate with Syria and Iran while they are actively engaging in an Asymmetrical warfare effort directly against US in Iraq is nonsense. Diplomacy without the credible threat of military force is merely noise and wind. 1st there needs to be some solid punishment taken against both regimes to show them where the limits are. Talking to them without that step first would be farce.

[Wolfstar]

I don't really see how it shows that.

If the President fired Rummy, and if they were on bad terms, GWB would not have asked him to preside over this important meeting. The new Secretary of Defense has been confirmed, and has almost certainly had his official swearing in (the ceremonial swearing in comes later). If GWB wanted Rummy out of there post-haste, he'd be gone and the new SecDef would preside over the meeting this coming week.

Alternatively, the new SecDef could have asked Rummy to stay on for the meeting to help him out, but it wasn't Gates who asked. It was GWB himself.

A little logical reasoning goes a long way. :)

[rodguy911]

Agreed, here is hoping he will.

[rodguy911]

In the last month of WWII if I am not mistaken, we lost 10,000 troops. To only lose 3,000 in as many years is a true credit to the ability of our troops. Those who demagogue this and other issues surrounding our brave troops are nothing but traitors.

[Phsstpok]

These are the same people who complained that the US should have kept Saddam Hussein's army intact (sort of like having Himmler and Goering run the German defense force in 1946) after the fall of Iraq.

This is not on point, per se, but your comment reminded me of something.  One of my favorite new authors is John Ringo.  He was raised all over the world in places like Lebanon (23 countries and 14 schools), and served his own time in the 82nd.  He writes primarily military SF, though he has written some straight military novels as well as a number of op-eds on issues like the WOT.  He has a series of SF combat books involving our current Earth being sucked into an interstellar conflict as the foot soldiers for others who have an ingrained inability to fight on their own behalf themselves.  They give us tons of high tech stuff and send us out to die in their stead.  The first two books in the series are available for free download from the Baen Free Library as e-books (A Hymn Before Battle and Gust Front), in multiple formats.

One of the things the "friendly aliens" give us is the ability to rejuvenate virtually anyone who's still alive.  We take advantage of this to make young our best and brightest war heroes, going back as far was we can, primarily WW2, Korea and Vietnam, and getting their combat experience out and mixed in with the new recruits.  One of the novels in the series that I haven't read yet (and which isn't available in the free library) is Watch On The Rhine, which deals with the German government wrestling with the idea of rejuvenating the only truly experienced fighting force they have available, survivors of the WW2 Wermacht and the Waffen SS.  From what I've seen and heard about this book it tackles exactly the kind of ethical and moral issues such a problem would thrust upon you. 

I wonder if reading it would give some insight into the question of returning members of Saddam's army to action in the real world?  Do we simply assume that they are all monsters and be done with it?  Were there some who were simply patriots doing the job of any soldier and having to put up with the madmen in their midst?  How do you tell?

Anyway, if you like SF, particularly military SF, his stuff is really good.  And if you read e-books (with my eyes it's the easiest way for me to still read) then the fact that several of his books are available for free is a pretty easy way to see if you like his stuff.

Oh, and he has a tank that is the size of a football field and fires antimatter projectiles the size of Trident missiles in order to take down the bad guy alien landers.  The crew calls ground troops "crunchies."  And on the several story high turret of this behemoth his characters paint a huge picture of a bunny with a switch blade.  Yep, Sluggy Freelance's Bun Bun goes to war against the alien invaders!  Eat antimatter, Posleen boy!

[OldFriend]

I am totally tech challenged. If you post the story on every thread I'll cheer you on. It ought to win 1st. place for this week's entries too.

[snugs]

This is obviously why the official hand over is not until Monday week I suspect ceremonial swearing in will be probably be very early on Monday morning.

I read somewhere that Rumsfeld will officially be Secretary of Defense until first thing on Monday morning hence my reasoning for the above.

[OldFriend]

If Reyes doesn't sing Nancy's song, he'll never get invited on the shows.

[bybybill]

The job that the old guard did on Rummy through the media and with the Rats is shameful. Guys like him, and Bolton are heroes and we can only wish we had in Congress.

[Txsleuth]

A big part of the problem is: Who is stating it is chaos??

I believe the dems and MSM have been calling Iraq a quagmire, and chaos almost since the day it started..and that is why you have polls with 65-70% of Americans that are unhappy with the war...

As long as the media spins what is truly happening..there never will be support to stay, regardless of what Pres. Bush says or does.

There are way too many stories of what is going RIGHT in Iraq, that Americans are NOT hearing, and never will.

[ilovew]

It may show that GWB and Rummy aren't on bad terms but I don't think it necessarily shows that Rummy wasn't fired.

[snugs]

Exactly I know they will say war is different now but I am certain in particular the Iraq conflict has many similarities with old campaigns.

[snugs]

The Monday of course I am mentioning is Monday week.