Huh? I believe that a little self flagellation can be a healthy thing, but that statement is ridiculous… The invasion of Iraq was fucked up from the moment the Lord gave Bush his commandment to take out Saddam. Maybe the Lord gave Jousha the victory or gave David the victory…But I don’t think he’s going to give Bush the victory, surge or no surge.

I don’t have time to argue with people who aren’t listening to anything anyone else says. Read comment rules.

You levied some pretty heavy accusations about courage or integrity when he has specifically addressed your points in his previous posts.

He hadn’t addressed any of my points except to deny them and insult me.

Maybe you need to take a look in the mirror, dude.

I’m not a dude. I’m a ma’am

hope you don’t make it a point of banning anyone who is critical of your opinion and challenges you. Seems a bit like something the wingnuts would do.

I ban people who are not capable of honest discussion, because I don’t have time to mess with them and I don’t want them sucking the life out of comment threads. See comment rules.

Of course bush doesn’t make tactical decisions. As president he’s supposed to make high-level strategic decisions, but he’s not even done that, he’s just set goals. Nevertheless, as the commander-in-chief, it is his responsibility, and his responsibility ALONE, to know what kinds of things the military is good at and can do, and what kinds of things the military is not good at and can’t do, BEFORE tasking them to, you know, do something.

At the beginning of the Iraq war, our military was exceedingly good at, well, winning wars. And they did a damn fine job of it. They were not particularly good at occupation type work - anti-insurgency and the like - mostly because the situation was never really supposed to come up. The US liberates countries, we don’t conquer them.

But, the military did the best it could at the time, and steadily improved to the point that NOW the military is getting pretty damn good at occupation-work. I suspect THAT has way more to do with our current military successes than any surge. It is, however, way, way too late. Don’t get me wrong, the complete turn-around in tactics and weapons that has occurred in the past five years is astonishing for an organization as large and with as much beaurocratic inertia as our military; that, in fact, is part of my point.

This is not about “bashing the troops”. This has NEVER been about bashing th troops. This is about what is achievable and what is not.

And currently, the very best hope for peace and stability in Iraq for the short to medium term is for Iraq to become aligned with Iran. If we had sane policies in regard to Iran, that wouldn’t be such a problem. As is, it’s disaster for any American interests.

By banning him, you just proved his point.

You levied some pretty heavy accusations about courage or integrity when he has specifically addressed your points in his previous posts.

Maybe you need to take a look in the mirror, dude.

I hope you don’t make it a point of banning anyone who is critical of your opinion and challenges you. Seems a bit like something the wingnuts would do.

Cheers.

But ’twas arrogance that got them generals and admirals those stars in the first place…

And if you think you’re gonna make any kinda changes in this country with your mucho-macho bullshit…

Bring it the fuck on…

I spent thirty-three years and four months in active service in the country’s most agile military force, the Marines. I served in all ranks from second Lieutenant to Major General. And during that period I spent most of my time being a high-class muscle man for Big Business, for Wall Street and the bankers. In short, I was a racketeer, a gangster for capitalism.

I suspected I was just part of a racket at the time. Now I am sure of it. Like all members of the military profession I never had an original thought until I left the service. My mental faculties remained in suspended animation while I obeyed the orders of the higher-ups. This is typical with everyone in the military service.

Thus I helped make Mexico, and especially Tampico, safe for American oil interests in 1914. I helped make Haiti and Cuba a decent place for the National City Bank boys to collect revenue in. I helped in the raping of half-a-dozen Central American republics for the benefit of Wall Street. The record of racketeering is long. I helped purify Nicaragua for the international banking house of Brown Brothers and Co. in 1909-1912. I brought light to the Dominican Republic for the sugar interests in 1916. I helped make Honduras “right” for American fruit companies in 1903. In China in 1927 I helped see to it that Standard Oil went its way unmolested.

During those years, I had, as the boys in the back room would say, a swell racket. I was rewarded with honors, medals, and promotion. Looking back on it, I feel that I might have given Al Capone a few hints. The best he could do was to operate a racket in three city districts….

Poor ol Semper Fi cannot see what Smedley Butler saw, that he is simply a tool for capitalism. I am so tired of hearing from pompous moral pinheads like Semper Fi, and of paying their salaries no less, to go out and drench this country’s reputation in innocent blood, all so the fat cats can get fatter. I don’t give a shit that they’re in uniform and risking their lives. They’re wrong.

I’ve been on a slow burn ever since this guy showed up here, and I’m glad he’s banned.

There’s a link in the post to one source. Try to find any objective source who says otherwise. Good luck.

Yes, the situation on the ground has improved. Nobody says otherwise. But that’s beside the point. You are looking at the small picture and not seeing the big picture.

You lacked the courage or integrity to address any of my comments; you just hurl insults. Get help.

Continuing this discussion is pointless. I might have well have spent my entire day with my thumb in rectal defilade.

I feel the same way. I’m sure you won’t mind that you are banned now. Good bye.

All accounts? Citation? Source?

Your statement is not remotely accurate. Even Democrats are saying that both the situation on the ground and politically (as a result of last week’s de-Baathification reconciliation legislation) things are better. If you had actually read the article by which you have based your entire blog post, you might have noticed that both Clinton and Obama concede that the situation on the ground has improved! Both point to their pressure to pull troops as the catalyst instead of the surge.

OH that’s right! You couldn’t even “get past the blurb — ‘It is beyond Democrats to concede that Bush’s troop surge has been a substantial success’.” Evidently you can’t stomach even considering that someone who doesn’t subscribe to your world view could have anything of substance to contribute to the debate.

Continuing this discussion is pointless. I might have well have spent my entire day with my thumb in rectal defilade.

Semper Fidelis.

DoubleCinco,

Your last comment is straight up propaganda and completely divorced from reality.

“And the ass hat about it is that if he had been competent and executed the plan to the max (paying attention to all the research and smarts about screwing around in the mid-east) then he and the Republicans and the military would be King freakin’ Kong right now and we wouldn’t see a Dem president for a long time.”

First and foremost - I could care less which party inhabits the White House. What I do care about is that we learn the lessons and apply them to the future. There are plenty of “Dem” Presidents that I hold in the highest regard, the last two don’t even come close to making the cut.

Here’s the brutal reality - Bush didn’t “f” this thing up, we (the military) did. The military operates on mission type orders and commander’s intent. This also goes for the CinC / Military relationship - he gives us a mission, his intent and the desired end state and we come up with the plan, back brief him, get the green light and execute. That is what makes our military so “freakin” powerful on the battlefield - the same relationship exists all the way down the chain and today, no one comes close in a match up. It’s like having a football team that can effectively adjusts to any audible, made by any player at any given moment in a play. Anything more = micro management. Micro management in the GWOT rests squarely on the shoulders of the SecDef.

Bush isn’t the duty expert - the generals failed him, you and yes - me and my brother and sisters in arms. The generals sat by and let the SecDef sell the President on a plan that fit into Rummy’s transformation revolution. The generals, rubber stamped the plan even though they new that it was FUBAR. Why? Because they truly believed that they could turn a bad plan into success if they just concentrated on their own piece of the pie and didn’t rock the boat. Unfortunately, our senior leadership thought that protecting their jobs (and pensions) = protecting the men and women in their charge. Instead of throwing their stars on the President’s desk (they serve at the pleasure of the President, not the SecDef) in protest, they elected to try to make a flawed plan work.

Our general and flag officers committed the worst possible sin - they did not use their stars to ensure mission accomplishment and by doing so, sacrificed troop welfare to arrogance and ego.

Semper Fidelis.