Posted on 06/27/2010 5:10:20 AM PDT by Alas Babylon!
The Talk Shows
Sunday, June 27th, 2010
Guests to be interviewed today on major television talk shows:
FOX NEWS SUNDAY (Fox Network): Sens. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., and Lindsey Graham, R-S.C.; former Gov. Mike Huckabee, R-Ark.
MEET THE PRESS (NBC): Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz.; Rep. Barbara Lee, D-Calif.
FACE THE NATION (CBS): Sens. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., Jeff Sessions, R-Ala., and Carl Levin, D-Mich.
THIS WEEK (ABC): CIA Director Leon Panetta.
STATE OF THE UNION (CNN): Sens. John Cornyn, R-Texas, Robert Menendez, D-N.J., Saxby Chambliss, R-Ga., and Jack Reed, D-R.I.
“were actually devised by McChrystal from what I have read.”
See this comment re;ROE: “The mistaken notion pushed by the media is that the General is the one who is behind this reduction of air and arty and restricted ROE. Not exactly true. the rules of engagement that everyone is so upset about,and rightly so aim was to reduce civilian deaths but NOT by reducing the protection and support of our troops to the reduction of the use of air and arty to the level it has been. That has been pushed by the Afgan Government and our State Dept. as well as NATO brass. http://tinyurl.com/25atz84
The ISAF ROEs current directives (tho we don’t know the absolute specifics out of necessity) are “…are consistent with NATO publication MC 362/1 NATO Rules of Engagement.” McC’s predecessor, McKiernan, tightened up on the ROEs via NATO orders back in Dec 2009. (Nato tightens rules of engagement) http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/sep/09/nato.afghanistanMcC tightened them further in July 2009 because of criticism of collateral damage.
Per a Congressional Research Service Dec 2009 release about NATO in Afghanistan, the UN Security Council governs NATO’s responsibilities in Afghanistan, and the ISAF is a NATO led force. NATO generally operates strategy by committee, and no single commander calls the shots. Therefore I have to assume that any ISAF ROEs are a product of NATO rules, tempered perhaps by any additional agreement with the Karzai government. http://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/row/RL33627.pdf However to lay them solely at the feet of McChystal is not entirely accurate.
In two places in the CRS document, they cite that the ROEs are written by NATO, and that many member forces have been putting pressure on the higher ups for more flexibility.
I would dispute as a mere technicality that the “DNC” took prayer out of the school (in the early 1960s there was a gulf between the Dem party upper echelon and the ACLU—not the puddle that separates them today) but otherwise one of your most brilliant posts, bray.
That panel today was one of the BEST I have seen on sunday am...There was an ACTUAL DISCUSSION..points were brought up;counterpoints brought up and a lot of reality in the panelists (cept for Barbara Lee)..these panelists for the most part had been in Afghanistan for 10 years, one of them was born there..they may have been writers or strategy wonks, but at least they knew their stuff.
The overwhelming conviction of these knowlegeable people was “ If you leave now...terrorism will get worse, and the best outcome is we have a chance to go back in.”
If all the Sun shows were like this...the citizenry could get educated....but then I am dreaming..better get back on my meds (ha).
I agree with all you state in the referenced post except I think the logistics of the thing make your solution almost impossible. Bearing in mind, let me state right now, I’m not all that knowledgeable about the topography and politics of the region. I probably know more than most Americans but again, that’s not all that much.
It seems to me that the Taliban is not really an army; not a group of soldiers conscripted by a legal government, trained and uniformed and ready to fight under most recognized rules of warfare. So even if we were to get the “Taliban”, whatever that means, to agree to stop training terrorists, to give up Osama, who’s probably dead anyway but we can ask, to stop their tyranny of the Afghan people, there’s more where they came from.
And the “Taliban” might agree!
Two three weeks after this agreement, new fighters pour in from Pakistan and other crazed Muslim regions and soon a whole NEW “Taliban” is formed. They’ll certainly not obey any agreement by former terrorists and on and on it goes.
simply, the Afghanistan people need to defend themselves and as I understand it, these are not people who are such good fighters, they have no national pride, they associate themselves more as tribal members....and so on.
America’s job is to defend America because yes indeed, it was in Afghanistan that Al Queda thrived, grew and trained and hey, if I had to pick a place in the world to grow and train terrorists why...it would be Afghanistan! Saddam gave them some space but the whole world was watching Iraq so they had to find some devil place and Afghanistan it was.
I refuse to believe that it’s not possible to keep a predatory eye on the goings on in Afghanistan, to give the right guys a couple of bucks, to send in some CIA types....and keep such activities that endanger America...OUT. Beyond that, maybe help the Afghan “army”, “police” defend themselves against rogue nuts who would behead women in empty soccer fields, perhaps in advisory roles, perhaps by training.
But NOT with our troops in any way in danger or in any line of fire because it’s just not going to work.
At least as I see it and I am nothing but an armchair general, I acknowledge this.
Off topic, but the Friends had on some pastor this morning who removed the cross off his church rooftop and changed the name to C Cubed or something like that to not offend the non-Christian members of the community.
How convenient that its still 2 yrs away. Course the CIA has never been wrong about these types of issues.
What happened to Tapper, he used to be one of the good guys?
Pray for America
I read last week somewhere, I think it was here, that on a night time mission our guys were being fired upon by terror types.
They requested a night time lighting bomb or whatever it is, I am not sure, to light up the area so they could see where the bad guys were. Their request was refused.
Stuff like this is a nightmare for a warrior. Who is responsible for this tightening of ROE's?
“Is it just me, or did Huckabee do a bang-up job of saying nothing about the GOP presidential contenders?”
It’s not just you. Huckabee is a perfect example of someone who is well suited to stay in the job he currently holds. Well, I guess he would be okay to host a game show. But certainly I wouldn’t trust him to be a plus for the GOP or someone we could count on to advance fiscal conservative values.
How the Huckster can even claim any sort of lead when his ‘guys’ lost in Iowa and SC is beyond me.
The ROE are apparently classified but seem very pervasive. One troop said they can’t even get air cover. Pilots must see enemy muzzle flashes on arrival or they have to hold their payload. The muzzies just cease fire until the aircraft sail away, and then they fire away. Air cover is not even called in much any more. Pilots don’t want to be charged with murder or war crimes for violating ROE. Our ground troops even expose themselves to fire while aircraft are above to draw fire so planes can take a swoop. Crazy. War ala Obama.
The ROE are apparently classified but seem very pervasive. One troop said they can’t even get air cover. Pilots must see enemy muzzle flashes on arrival or they have to hold their payload. The muzzies just cease fire until the aircraft sail away, and then they fire away. Air cover is not even called in much any more. Pilots don’t want to be charged with murder or war crimes for violating ROE. Our ground troops even expose themselves to fire while aircraft are above to draw fire so planes can take a swoop. Crazy. War ala Obama.
Anyway, about “my” book....
http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Dstripbooks&field-keywords=Robot+Hearts
It’s called “Robot Hearts” and it’s a compilation of stories about folks who met online.
Last week husband and I celebrated our 22 anniversary and thank you for your congratulations. But I state this fact that you know that in this book I declare, rightly I assert, that husband and I are probably the longest running couple who met online.
“Online”, heh, being relative you must understand. For husband and I met on a little network called Qlink. Our computer was a Commodore 64 with a whopping 64KB’s of RAM, a disk drive that weighed 75 pounds and a keyboard that had the puter’s power workings inside.
For over two years we talked, email, OLM’d (online messaged) each other. I was married to someone else at the time but for now, I won’t go there. We were separated, however.
We met for the first time in Philadelphia. He flew down from Massachusetts and I drove up from Merryland.
I tell of our story of brain infections, heart bypasses and how we’re still together and I offer that long term relationships are very possible that begin over the computer and I did read the whole book.
The writing is very good. Obviously the folks who submitted their stories a)have had online dating/relationship experiences and b)write very well about them.
The stories are funny, very sad, sometimes depressing. MY story is the best of the lot...she says modestly. It’s the best because the writing is good and the story is one of the few with a happy ending.
Although my story is not ALL happy as brain infections and paralytic iliacs are not happy things but the point is...well there’s that “death till we part” thing.
Later on I’ll be posting a book review of the thing on the Blogger section of FreeRepublic. The book’s taken off and is great beach reading. I will be doing book signings at a few book stores in the region although I really don’t like those things.
I’ve also got a few more “books” coming out, stories in analogies, Chicken Soup for the Soul type things. It’s where I get accepted the most.
As a retireee I’m right happy with the direction my new “career” in writing seems to be taking me.
Don’t forget the new Medal of Honor for not fighting. If only Premier Insain fought the Taleeeeban as hard as he fights America.
Pray for our Troops
A huge play by all,control of the poppy fields and production of heroin is akin to Mexicon drug lords and equally as important but I don't hear too much talk/chat about it.
To carry your very correct observation one step further....I don’t know why Huckabee keeps popping up at top of polls for pub presidential nominee except that he’s a talk show host on Fox and for no other reason.
Anybody who really think Huckabee’s got a chance to be the pub presidential nominee....send me an email. I got a bridge to sell, really cheap.
recently renovated.
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