23 thoughts on “One Less Dem Hawk

  1. BBC senior foreign correspondent had some words on the topic of “redeployment” about a month ago:

    “What people are asking all over the middle east is, if the Americans are going to pull out of Iraq, what happens to the Gulf States? Well, they [the US] can say, “Oh well, we’ll remain in ships off shore, etcetra, etcetra. Be sure we’ll be told that Americans are merely redeploying from Iraq, as in Nepoleon’s redeployment from Moscow, or the British redeployment from Dunkirk, or Custer’s last redeployment.”

    Fisk had more words, which I transcribed for interested readers. You’ll need to skim down a bit to find them. In particular, the words of some Australian generals were telling.

  2. Custer’s last redeployment.

    I like that. Reminds me of when we redeployed out of Saigon.

    I’m sure Hillary is smart enough to know that we will have to “redeploy” pretty much out of the Middle East. But you can’t say the other “R” word, retreat. It makes the children whiny.

  3. Good news, along with several other Republicans like Chuck Hagel. The elite Republican guard that support this idiocy (ala senators Joe Lieberman and John McCain) will be marginalized into irrelevance.

  4. Lieberman and McCain baffle me. My wife thinks they can’t retreat from their positions since they’ve already put themselves so far out on the limb. I can’t think of any other explanation for what must surely be political suicide on their part.

    As for Hillary, it sure has taken her a long while to see the writing on the wall!

  5. Doug — re Hillary, I think it’s called “deserting a sinking ship.”

    I agree with whig that Lieberman and McCain are positioning themselves into irrelevancy.

  6. Message to Hillary, “Yes, it is heartbreaking in Iraq. Lots of us have been feeling that heartache since 2003. Did the polls open your heart? Whatever caused this difference, we’ll welcome your assistance in opening a lot more hearts to reality……maybe start with ‘Lie’berman and Mc’Cain’.”

  7. I’m sure it’s ‘the polls’ and not ‘the light’ that Hillary is seeing!

    I would like to see a Gore and Obama ticket in ’08 — if BushCo hasn’t nuked the planet by then.

  8. I certainly hope that whig & maha are right about McCain & Lieberman becoming irrelevant. I can’t stand either of them. I think Lieberman is a toady & McCain is a pompous ass.

  9. The Dems are just not getting it STILL — all they’re doing is TALKING. Like yapping dogs that never bite. We already know we can’t talk bush to death. He has to be stopped, and starting an impeachment is what’s left – he might laugh himself to death about the congressional threats of ‘censure’ or ‘vote of no confidence’………….. while he nukes Iran/Syria….
    read about it here: http://impeachforpeace.org/ImpeachNow.html Print the letter here: http://beingism.org/DIY/DIY.html (scroll down)
    MAIL To: Honorable Nancy Pelosi
    450 Golden Gate Ave.
    14th Floor
    San Francisco, CA 94102

    and the REASON we send it there instead of to the Congressional offices is this:
    Q: “Won’t the new ‘irradiation process’ (due to the anthrax scare) delay your mailings?
    A: Because of this process, we are using Nancy Pelosi’s home office.
    (the first mailings late last year may not have been ?delivered?received?answered?)
    HURRY!! Print out the Letter to Pelosi and mail one for every member of your family on MONDAY, JAN 15TH!!

    PS~ don’t worry about getting “president cheney” when you kill the snake, the head dies with it!

  10. How odd that Hil had to go all the way to Iraq to see what was obvious to two-thirds of the American people sitting in their living rooms. Better late than never, I suppose, but I’d have preferred her Iraq epiphany had happened before we started our war with Iran.

  11. biggerbox, you’d think washington dc society is a bit of a bubble, wouldn’t you? There’s a lot of money and talent on hand to keep our senators and representatives entertained with stories.

  12. Oh, so Hillary says it’s heartbreaking!..I’m glad to see she finally got in touch with her feminine side. Of course that’s if she’s talking about the human suffering that is heartbreaking and not the half trillion dollars that’s been squandered.
    I don’t know what’s with that girl..Doesn’t she know that it’s not like the Iraqis are human..they can’t feel pain,they love getting their loved ones killed American helicopter gunships and psychopathic Marines. Them Iraqis thrive on brutality.. that’s all they understand…and Hillary turns into a liberal marshmallow?
    Wow, just when we gotta start kicking in some doors and showing them Iraqis who is boss, Hillary reverts back to being a flower child, Go figure ! It’s no wonder Bush complains that our failure in Iraq is due in part to the restraints put on our military.
    Maybe I’m a little skeptical, but there’s been plenty of opportunity before now to have an epiphany of compassion for the suffering inflicted upon the Iraqi people before now. How can we kill three quarters of a million Iraqis and consider it an act of giving motivated by love and concern for their best interests. Something in the thought process is out of whack to draw that conclusion. Ya think?

  13. It’s nice to see Karl Rove hasn’t lost his touch;

    “To oppose everything while proposing nothing is irresponsible,” Bush said in his weekly radio address. “Those who refuse to give this plan a chance to work have an obligation to offer an alternative that has a better chance for success.”

    Now that Sen Clinton has punctuated a week’s worth of high volume senatorial utterances, exactly how many versions of ‘something else’ does he need? Someone get the cable fixed at Karl’s House.

    There has been a hunk of mockery for Hillary these past months. Some say she’s still to the right of Hagel-Brownback-Smith. Sort of in the Nelson-Voinovich “pity it didn’t work” camp. Nonetheless, her gravitas is now sufficient that her trip and this announcement moves the center of the discussion to the left.

    We’ve given this plan a chance to work, and more bloody Americans kids to save face must be removed as an option for further consideration.

    It is actonishing that George W. Custer can’t hear the rabble on the Hill, over even those across the street. At some point he will have riden too far in the wrong direction to avoid being enveloped by the Sioux.

  14. Viewing the YT video in #14 makes me doubt whether the republic is worthy of survival. The last set of comments almost made lose my stomach.

  15. You have to understand that it’s difficult for professional politicians, coached by professional soldiers, wooed by the military-industrial complex, to beleive that the remaining superpower can be held to a perpetual stand-off in Iraq. It’s hard for them to wrap their minds around the reality.

    A perpetual stand-off IS loosing. We presented the King of England a perpetual war, until he granted our independence to be rid of the problem. The Soviet Union was never beaten in Afghanistan. But the cost of the occupation, and the perpetual loss of life, finally forced them to abandon the adventure. The Viet Cong did not beat us in ‘Nam. They refused us a decisive engagement – again the perpetual stand-off.

    The ISG propsed a plan to break the stand-off. We were going to ‘redeploy’ and broker dialogue and participation of the surrounding countries to engage in supporting a stable, independent Iraq. It might have worked – or not – but the price for George W to put the plan in motion was to quit his vision of expanding the American Empire into the Middle East. Because noone in the Middle East is going to fix the situation in Iraq so American political and business fat cats can rake in the chips.

    George W keeps daring the Dems to come up with a plan for victory. There is none; we are stuck in the perpetual stand-off. The Dems know that no number of troops will break the stand-off. ALL realistic plans to break the stand-off REQUIRE our departure from the region; the best we can hope for is to lay the groundwork for a political settlement and use our withdrawl as the bargaining chip, the inducement to bring competing factions together. Their dislike for us is the one thing they have in common.

  16. You’re exactly right, Doug…That’s why Bush’s only option is to escalate..he’s being prodded by the horns of defeat…I remember back a few years ago where someone( I think Cheney) mentioned that insurgencies traditionally have a shelf life of 7 years, and I suspect that Bush’s administration is hoping that the insurgency gets tired of fighting and packs it in. The problem with that is when Bush pushed for democratic elections in Iraq he disenfranchised 40% of the Iraq population, and now they are compelled to fight for their freedom. I’m pretty certain that the Sunnis are not going to lay down and roll over anytime soon.

    “To oppose everything while proposing nothing is irresponsible”

    Well, if Georgie wants Swami’s responsible proposal…Admit that you lied and deceived to create this mess in Iraq. Admit that you’re over your head and out of your league as a man and a leader. Withdraw all American troops from Iraq. Resign the Presidency, and go back to Crawford. Owning up to a failure is considered a growth experience in responsibility.

  17. It’s incredibly frustrating to hear the dems use that ridulous word, “redeployment”, as it’s just more evidence of their timidity and unwillingness to express themselves plainly, a la George Lakoff and every stereotype hyped by conservo talking heads.

    Can’t they just say “bring them home?” And as far as asking Junior to set a deadline, they need to offer a specific one, because then the onus would be on him to explain why it’s too soon.

    I suggest May 1st, 2008, the five-year anniversary of that miserable carrier stunt.

  18. Hillary does nothing without the consultants in her bubble world. She doesn’t care about iraq or people. Only her. And she thinks we are stupid.
    She is a DLC corporate whore who only thinks of her ambitions.
    I think she is stupid and the past. Her time is done. it’s time to move on and to look to new leadership.

  19. Pingback: A great resource directory » Blog Archive » … for clinicians and addresses the unique needs

  20. Pingback: The Mahablog » Believing in War

Comments are closed.