Posted on 05/28/2009 6:27:52 AM PDT by ksen
PRAGUE -- The head of U.S. Central Command, General David Petraeus, has told RFE/RL he thinks that "on balance" the expected closure of the Guantanamo Bay detention facility and abandonment of so-called enhanced interrogation techniques will "help" U.S. efforts in Iraq and Afghanistan, as well as the struggle against transnational extremist violence.
(Excerpt) Read more at military.com ...
Well put.
On the downside, can't waterboard 'em, either. But if we're not gonna do that anyway, may as well plug 'em.
Uh... No. It would be political suicide for Obama to run with Petreaus. The Dems can't afford to lose the "progressive" base. The "Barry zombies" were the same ones bashing Petreaus ("Betray Us", remember?). It would be too easy campaign fodder for the Pubbies... it would be the Mother of all hypocritical Flip-Flops.
I think you're right, it's Hollywood after all. They really do use words like "honor," "code" and "loyalty" as a punch line.
I agree with every word that is said here as well. The only reason that it carries some connotation of being 'wrong' is because they make up a story of a wrong-doing on the part of a man who believes this and by doing so infers that any such military man will behave in the same manner. Wrong! Big Time!
Notice how they are trying to tarnish VP Dick Cheney with this: Dick Cheney Channels A Few Good Men.
Devil Dog, thank you very much for your service to our country as a Marine!
I read the article you had about Dick Cheney channelling a few good men. The media is right on cue. Dick Cheney is evil and wrong. I’m sure the media would like to summon the MP’s and slap the cuffs on Dick Cheney as well...
One other thing, you don’t have to thank me. The best times of my life were in the Marine Corps, it was a priviledge for me to serve this country. There’s no better job in the world than being a L/Cpl in a rifle platoon. After getting promoted, it was all down hill.... : )
Disappointing. I guess the Bilderburg general goes on my sh*t list now.
Barry keeping Gates as SOD should have torqued off the progressive zombies. I can't see that it did.
As far as I can see, the MSM will never report anything Barry does as wrong. If he was to pick “Betray-us” as VP, it would be explained that the “Great Leader” is continuing to work as a consensus builder.
The PUMAs are (largely) a myth. They did not come out (if they existed) for the GOP as was rumored/hoped on part of the Right.
Gates is somewhat different. He was “lefty leaning” (re Iraq) before... and is the archetype of a technocrat. He is politically non-incentive. He was retained primarily as a “fall-guy” for the Iraq “pull-out”. Zero needs a Bush holdover to put the blame on for all eventualities. I suspect that Gates will be replaced 2010.
Petreaus would repel the hard left. And they really can be drama b*tches... I regularily check the snake dens at DU and Kos... and they don’t hold back on 0bama when he veers off the left track. It would be a field day for McKinney, Kucinich and Nader.
Also who is Zero going to win with Petreaus? Conservatives won’t be suckered into voting for Bambi and more likely be energized by such an blatant “defection”.
And “middle of the road” voters most likely won’t care about “the surge” and Iraq in 2012 anymore.
I think a Obama/Hillary ticket in 2012 is more likely and logical from a Democrat POV.
BTW it’s all highly speculative... since the “Petreaus is a Democrat” thing is nothing more than a rumor.
I agree we should close Gitmo.
I’d rather just kill them in the field.
Absolutely right Rintense. He's just flat out wrong.
There's been so much misinformation floating around about this issues, that I think he's unfortunately drunk the cool aide on this.
First of all, the Geneva Convention addressed the treatment of incarcerated military personnel. It did not address the treatment of terrorists, people who don't conduct themselves in accordance with Geneva Convention guidelines.
How is it responsible to place these terrorists in situations where our courts will be forced to allow them access?
How responsible will it be to allow them on our city streets when we can't reveal all our methods and sources in open court?
Petraeus is just dead wrong. And I predict the closing of Gitmo will ultimately result in the death at least 25,000 and the injury or many more people.
Of course he serves at the pleasure of the resident, nothing to see here move on
____________________________
The “resident” is very good. The resident thug is intimidating all sorts of people.
I haven’t seen this about Petraeus being a Democrat, but I certainly wouldn’t be surprised. Democrats in the officer corps are far more common than a lot of people seem to believe; the Army is, after all, a government bureaucracy. I also wouldn’t be surprised if he had political ambitions, and I certainly think Obama would find him an attractive running mate.
I seriously doubt Biden will be on the ticket in 2012. He’s a political liability, and I think Obama now realizes that choosing him as a running mate was a mistake.
I don’t think choosing Petraeus would cost Obama any significant support among the left. They’ve looked the other way on far more blatant departures in the past, and I think Obama is now taking their support for granted (probably justifiably). The problem with Petraeus, though, is that choosing him essentially amounts to Obama taking ownership of everything that will have happened in Iraq and Afghanistan. If things get ugly there, as I’m sorry to say I think they will, that’s the last thing he wants to do, even if it happens after Petraeus leaves CENTCOM.
Regardless, though, he’s definitely someone to keep an eye on.
I don’t know. The Democrat base has let Obama slide on a lot bigger things than that so far. I think it’s only a bad move for Obama if things get worse in Iraq during this term.
Where's the proof? What "guys" were killed because of Gitmo? What got Daniel Pearl killed? Or the guys on the Cole? Or Nick Berg?
I'd bet the fake Newsweek story about soldiers flushing the Koran caused more deaths than anything. Why not say continuous lies and political propaganda from the Left is what "gets our guys killed"?
He is backed into a corner now.
What else can he say? Keep it open. Obama is going to release “torture” pictures that perhaps were not even taken at Abu Ghraib. It will give the impression to the public and world that this is what is happening in Guantanamo bay and why Obama needs to close it down.
If the General says that it should stay open he is screwed.
No sense reading all the posts. Waterboarding is not permitted according to the Army manual. He’s in the Army. He’s against waterboarding.
He is wrong.
I could give a crap about any secretary of state. They're diplomats who deal in seudo-speak and have no relation to reality, but I'd still be curious where they said Gitmo "was getting our guys killed."
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.