Most important part of this night's speech yet NOT ONE PERSON HAS MENTIONED IT!!!
Succeeding in Iraq also requires defending its territorial integrity — and stabilizing the region in the face of the extremist challenge. This begins with addressing Iran and Syria. These two regimes are allowing terrorists and insurgents to use their territory to move in and out of Iraq. Iran is providing material support for attacks on American troops. We will disrupt the attacks on our forces. We will interrupt the flow of support from Iran and Syria. And we will seek out and destroy the networks providing advanced weaponry and training to our enemies in Iraq.
"We are also taking other steps to bolster the security of Iraq and protect American interests in the Middle East. I recently ordered the deployment of an additional carrier strike group to the region. We will expand intelligence sharing — and deploy Patriot air defense systems to reassure our friends and allies. We will work with the governments of Turkey and Iraq to help them resolve problems along their border. And we will work with others to prevent Iran from gaining nuclear weapons and dominating the region."
Take in account what the president said above and the ending of the speech and you get the picture. Iran and Syria stop supporting the insurgency or we will strike back. Everyone is to busy talking about the the partisan politics and not looking at the BIG picture.....
Good points about the big picture.
Iran and Syria must be confronted. It's the key to the whole region. Maybe this is the beginning of us finally doing something about that. It should have been done long ago.
bump for your observation:
We are also taking other steps to bolster the security of Iraq and protect American interests in the Middle East. I recently ordered the deployment of an additional carrier strike group to the region. We will expand intelligence sharing — and deploy Patriot air defense systems to reassure our friends and allies. We will work with the governments of Turkey and Iraq to help them resolve problems along their border. And we will work with others to prevent Iran from gaining nuclear weapons and dominating the region."
Agree this was the power point of the speech... I especially loved "I recently ordered the deployment of an additional carrier strike group to the region..."
You skipped past the posts that were written when President Bush mentioned intercepting Iran and Syria's contributions to the insurgency.
You nailed it! I read someplace this week that part of why we are still there so strong is for Kuwait and Saudi Arabia who have been our allies for years even if some people on here don't understand.
I think if we pulled out, it would totally destabilize the entire region including our allies. We cannot afford to do that IMHO.
BTW, good catch!
Great catch! BTTT
"Succeeding in Iraq also requires defending its territorial integrity — and stabilizing the region in the face of the extremist challenge. This begins with addressing Iran and Syria."
We will address Iran and Syria and the Iranians and Syrians know we are going to address Iran and Syria. Somalia wasn't a fluke. It was designed to let both countries know that we may just have boots on the ground there.
If anyone hasn't noticed, in the last week we have taken down many, many Jihadists around the world. I think this "new plan" has been in place for a long time.
Great point. Syria, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait are Sunni. Iraq and Iran are predominantly Shia. Trust me on this one.(OK, I'm not coming down off the mountain with this, you all now know) If you think partisan politics is bad in the USA, you are getting a good look at partisan politics in the Middle East. Take Liberals versus Conservatives and multiply it by 1,200 and that's how much the Sunnis hate the Shia. Or in a Math formula:
(Liberals) X (Conservatives)= 1,200 (Sunni) X (Shia)
The difference here in America is we all firmly believe (even the looney left, Kennedy, Pelosi and the dopes on Huffington and DU) that we are all part of something much bigger than ourselves. The idea of a great melting pot, the greatest country in the history of the planet Earth.
The Iraqis don't have a common national unity or philosophical identity.
Sounds like a plan.