Of Senators and Soldiers

The Weekly Standard ^ | July 16, 2007 | William Kristol

[gpapa]

The soldiers think they can win. Some Senators lose their nerve.

Richard Lugar of Indiana, George Voinovich of Ohio, Pete Domenici of New Mexico, and John Warner of Virginia have together served more than a century in the world's greatest deliberative body. Historians will remember their time in public office for Reagan's challenge to the Soviet Union, for the success of pro-growth economic policies, for welfare reform, for the reinvigoration of a constitutionalist approach to the courts, for the framing of a foreign policy for the post-9/11 world. None of these men played a leading role in any of these major developments. They have been followers of conventional opinion, not leaders.

[nj26]

I’m all for supporting the military but Kristol isn’t the best advocate... Kristol is an arrogant guy that has sat behind a desk his entire life. Better to have military guys make the case for staying in Iraq.

[WilliamofCarmichael]

The wars won by our armed forces are being lost by our alarmed farces.

When is enough enough?

[OKIEDOC]

WARNING STRONG LANGUAGE WARNING STRONG LANGUAGE

My young niece sent me this Email from her University and think it is somewhat apropos for cut and run liberals reading this thread.

If this offends then it may be that your head might be stuck up in the old anal cavity and severely needing dislodging.

Subject: Fw: GENERAL GEORGE S.PATTON

I think this is how General George S. Patton would sum things up . . . and then catch holy hell from Ike.
He sure had a unique way of expressing his thoughts.

Ghost of General Patton
A Message from the Ghost of General Patton....
ATTENTION!

To those whining, panty-waisted, pathetic Maggots, it’s time for a little refresher course on exactly why we Americans occasionally have to fight wars.

See if you can tear yourself away from your “reality” TV and Starbucks for a minute, pull your head out of your flabby ass — and LISTEN UP!!

Abu Ghraib is not “torture” or an “atrocity”.

This is the kind of thing frat boys, sorority girls,
and academy cadets do to newcomers.

A little fun at someone else’s expense.

Certainly no reason to wring your hands
or get your panties in a wad.

Got that?

Beheading is an atrocity!

Car bombs are cowardly.

Islam a peaceful religion, my ass???

Millions of these sons-of-bitches are plotting, as we speak,to destroy our country and our way of life any way they can.

Some of them are here among us now.

They don’t want to convert you and don’t want to rule you.

You are a vile infestation of Allah’s paradise.

They don’t give a shit how “progressive” you are,
how peace-loving you are, or how much you sympathize with their cause.

They want you dead, and think it is God’s will for them to do it.

And you think Bush and Cheney are your worst enemies?

Some think if we give them a hug or listen to them,
then they’ll like us... and if you agree?

Then you are a dumb ass!

If they manage to get their hands on a nuke,
chemical agents, or even some anthrax —
you will wish to God we had hunted them down and killed THEM while we had the chance.

Stop bitchin’ about your damn Health Care, Social Security, Gas prices, and your measly 3.25% unemployment rate...and start worrying about you, your family’s, and your friends’ asses.

How many more Americans must be beheaded before you stop blaming Bush for all your troubles??

You’ve fallen asleep AGAIN, maggots!

And you may not get another chance!

NOW GET OFF YOUR SORRY ASS - and pass this on to any and every person you give-a-damn about, that is if you ever gave a damn about anything!

DISMISSED!

Anom.

[California Patriot]

Excellent hit on these Senate punks.

[Brimack34]

These Turncoats will have blood on their hands. The scum we are fighting read the Internet and see these coward Senators turning yellow and blow up more innocent Iraq men woman and Children hoping to turn more sniffling little cowards to the side of our enemy. Sorry for the run on sentence.

[Chgogal]

General Patton’s ghost ((((PING))))! Enjoy! ; )

OKIEDOC, thanks for this delightful post. I truly enjoyed the read...there is hope!

[1COUNTER-MORTER-68]

Some folks are “Stuck on Stupid”...stuck wide open...

[OKIEDOC]

I have to thank my really great niece in Norman for this delightful Email.

While were at it I would like to post one more Email for a tribute to American troops by Toby Keith. You can copy the address and post into the address line for some really great songs, my favorite is Big Blue Note.

I don’t know Toby personally but used to hang out in some of the bars where he played and sang with his band. I thought he was good but never thought he was a big star. I have changed my opinion of this great supporter of America and out troops. So hope you enjoy the songs my 8 year old daughter picked out to send to my loved ones:

TOBY KEITH, IRAQ TOUR AND TRIBUTE TO AMERICAN MILITARY
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WIw-BP4zfW4&mode=related&search=

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ctVI5baftFo&mode=related&search=

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nHb6sZ4pJuc&mode=related&search=

GOOD AS I ONCE WAS - DAMN THIS BRINGS HOME MEMORIES
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f9f-lXqUZ18&mode=related&search=
VIAGRA AND BEER FUNNY

I WANNA TALK ABOUT ME
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cYrlzEUuBIM&NR=1

A LITTLE TO LATE - MY LIFE
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qa6Q3bWYG04&mode=related&search=

I LOVE THIS BAR - MAN I DO MISS MY STOOL
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q85rPq1u9sc&mode=related&search=

HIGH MAITENANCE WOMAN - MY WIFE AND DAUGHTER
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lNvWoi0TesY&mode=related&search=

HOW DO YOU LIKE ME NOW, NORMAN OKLAHOMA, ORANGE AND BLACK
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OOkhqxaKqVs&mode=related&search=

HONKY TONK U - A TRIBUTE TO HIS GRANDMOTHER
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BDmx9dwognM&NR=1

BIG BLUE NOTE-ONE OF MY FAVORITES BECAUSE IT’S SIMPLE
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zvmsHOnTZkM&NR=1

[nathanbedford]

I for one am prepared to give this new policy a reasonable chance to play out but I am not prepared to drink the Kool aid and I am certainly not willing to accept the admonitions of William Kristol who was personally responsible to some degree for getting us into this mess in the first place.

Crystal says Senator Lugar is upset because the war is hurting us diplomatically in the Middle East. Well, duh. The war is undermining us diplomatically around the world to the point where they are now booing the Statue of Liberty in Portugal. If there is such a thing as a monolithic Al Qaeda-which I doubt- I can conceive of no greater aspiration of these terrorists on the diplomatic front than for us to continue this war in Iraq as it is. We cannot win this war without allies and we are killing them off at a faster rate than Al Qaeda in Baghdad. We cannot win this war without the corporation of sane Muslims around the world and I need not say what the war in Iraq has done to us on this diplomatic front .

Kristol makes much of the senators making little of Al Qaeda's participation in the Iraq war. What is Al Qaeda? Is it a series of amoeba like a cell's or a single, monolithic, top down terrorist organization run with the discipline of the KGB? I strongly specked it is the former. You can shovel flies in Baghdad for the rest of this century and you will never defeat worldwide Al Qaeda . Nor will you prevent Al Qaeda from committing acts of terrorism in the United States by shoveling flies in Iraq. Such a proposition is worse than preposterous, it is a deception which sets America up for a gigantic and catastrophic terrorist strike on the homeland. On the other hand, maybe the war in Iraq is the best way to at least postpone a strike on our homeland. After all, why would Al Qaeda, or Iran, want to change the rules of the game when everything so far has been going their way in Iraq? Surely they will prefer to let America exsanguinate its superpower status in Iraq.

Kristol opines that we are fighting a proxy war against Iran in Iraq. Who is winning? We have managed to enervate our forces so thoroughly that we are now incapable of mounting a ground attack in Iraq. Hell, we don't even have the forces to maintain the present level of surge. Worse, we are incapable of credibly intimidating Iran with the possibility of such an attack. Every day that we spill our blood and treasure into the Sands of Iraq, Iran gets closer to the bomb. What a brilliant way to fight a proxy war! The proxy war against Iran is only one facet of the overall war against terror and war in Iraq has resulted in the death of the Bush doctrine and a gigantic setback in the war against terror.

Kristol dismisses the senators as non-entities in their century of service in the Senate and maintains that they are not the future of the Republican Party. Thank God I can say with equal conviction that Kristol is not the future of the conservative movement. He may be perfectly correct in his assessment that the surge is working-and I have published before that I think we must wait and see before we make conclusive judgments-but are these senators basing their pessimism, not on our feats of arms, but on the patent and disheartening absence of real cooperation from the politicians in Baghdad?

Kristol betrays that he is desperate and his appeal for a future leader of the party to step forward and support his foundering policy. No one hears him.

[OKIEDOC]

Man, you are one smart cookie.

I am sitting here tonight having lots of what George Strait calls attitude change in a bottle, thinking about an old and dear friend who just passed away.

It seems to me that there are those in this Great Country who would throw all that away just to prove a point.

On another note not to change the subject, I wonder how many children would know about the great General Nathan Bedford Forest who was one of the most knowledgeable Generals during the Civil War?

[nathanbedford]

Would you have a look at my “about” page?

[OKIEDOC]

I looked and would say this.

Nathan Bedford Forest would have been even a greater man had he stayed in the Union Army.

My Great Grandfather was the son of a slave owner.

However, he taught his children that all men were free.

My father, learned at my grandfathers knee that men should be judged by their accomplishments in the world.

I as a child grew up race neutral because of my father.

I was taught that respect was to be granted only to those who added to the American way of life.

I do not cringe at Civil war flags as I know that it’s all a part of history than can not ever be erased.

[george76]

We want this war over with. The quickest way to get it over with is to go get the bastards who started it.

[SoldierDad]

Now, how does this get before the whole of the American people and our Congressrats?