This ain't Hell, but you can see it from here

Category: Antiwar crowd

  • Hoping against hope

    Unbeknownst to this blogger, there was an anti-war protest yesterday – the Associated Press is a little skimpy on details  ;

    SAN FRANCISCO — Thousands of people called for a swift end to the war in Iraq as they marched through downtown on Saturday, chanting and carrying signs that read: “Wall Street Gets Rich, Iraqis and GIs Die” or “Drop Tuition Not Bombs.”

    The streets were filled with thousands as labor union members, anti-war activists, clergy and others rallied near City Hall before marching to Dolores Park.

    As part of the demonstration, protesters fell on Market Street as part of a “die in” to commemorate the thousands of American soldiers and Iraqi citizens who have died since the conflict began in March 2003.

    The protest was the largest in a series of war protests taking place in New York, Los Angeles and other U.S. cities, organizers said.

    No official head count was available. Organizers of the event estimated about 30,000 people participated in San Francisco. It appeared that more than 10,000 people attended the march.

    “Other US cities” – too many to name? “Largest in a series” – that can’t be hard. Protest attendence has been falling off this past year – and in human-speak 30,000 is really about 3,000 given the miscounts by ten-fold I’ve see “organizers of the event” give here in DC. Marathon Pundit reports dreary numbers in Chicago and New York, too.

    Yesterday, Wordsmith at Flopping Aces wrote “What the anti-war movement is really fighting against“  – that answer of course, is that they’re just protesting war, in general. Every war is illegal, every war is immoral and there are no good causes that justify war – recent Left revisionism even has begun arguing that World War II wasn’t a just war.

    You can factor in that the US is winnng the war against the thugs (link to The Redhunter) in Iraq who’ve taken to bombing and beheading civilians just for the shock value. Michael Yon writes ;

    I was at home in the United States just one day before the magnitude hit me like vertigo: America seems to be under a glass dome which allows few hard facts from the field to filter in unless they are attached to a string of false assumptions. Considering that my trip home coincided with General Petraeus’ testimony before the US Congress, when media interest in the war was (I’m told) unusually concentrated, it’s a wonder my eardrums didn’t burst on the trip back to Iraq. In places like Singapore, Indonesia, and Britain people hardly seemed to notice that success is being achieved in Iraq, while in the United States, Britney was competing for airtime with O.J. in one of the saddest sideshows on Earth.

    Even today, with the stunning successes in the last few months over the psychopaths in Iraq, the Associated Press tries temper the good news that trickles down to the American public with an unsourced rumor that al Sadr may bring his goat-roping minions out of retirement;

    Radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr could end a ban on his militia’s activities because of rising anger over U.S. and Iraqi raids against his followers, an aide said Friday amid concerns about rising violence and clashes between rival factions in the mainly Shiite south.
     
    Al-Sadr’s call for a six-month cease-fire has been credited with a sharp drop in the number of bullet-riddled bodies that turn up on the streets of Iraq and are believed to be victims of Shiite death squads.

    “An aide” – some guy who says he’s al-Sadr’s aide. And the AP credits al Sadr’s non-participation in the campaign against Americans as the reason the “surge” worked. al Sadr was afraid he’d lose his entire Army – that’s why he stopped opposing the Americans. He was getting his ample butt kicked.

    And from the Washington Post we get “I don’t think this place is worth one more soldier’s life” – another newspaper article based on the fact that soldiers bitch;

    Their line of tan Humvees and Bradley Fighting Vehicles creeps through another Baghdad afternoon. At this pace, an excruciating slowness, they strain to see everything, hoping the next manhole cover, the next rusted barrel, does not hide another bomb. A few bullets pass overhead, but they don’t worry much about those.

    “I hate this road,” someone says over the radio.

    They stop, look around. The streets of Sadiyah are deserted again. To the right, power lines slump down into the dirt. To the left, what was a soccer field is now a pasture of trash, combusting and smoking in the sun. Packs of skinny wild dogs trot past walls painted with slogans of sectarian hate.

    I guess that’s more important than the fact that violence against our troops and Iraqis is down over 70%. Soldiers complain – that’s what they do when they’re not fighting for their lives. It’s not exactly worth a front page story. It wasn’t news in 1944, and it’s not news now.

    Any mention of the fact that Karbala and several other provinces have been turned over to the Iraqis?

    U.S. forces will turn over security to Iraqi authorities in the southern Shi’ite province of Karbala tomorrow, the American commander for the area said, despite fighting between rival militia factions that has killed dozens.
    Karbala will become the eighth of Iraq’s 18 provinces to revert to Iraqi control, despite President Bush’s prediction in January that the Iraqi government would have responsibility for security in all of the provinces by November.

    The public has to go on line to find support for the war, support for troops, and to discover the truth about conditions and successes in Iraq. Americans are shut out of the discussion by misleading editorial boards and the politics of misinformation.

    Scott Malensk at Flopping Aces wrote that the Democrats in Congress are trying to take credit for our planned withdrawals from Iraq next;

    Then it hit me like a shot o’ Irish Whiskey in the java! U.S. forces are already scheduled to be withdrawing in that time frame. Cutting the funding to force a withdrawal is moot. There’s no point. Just a few weeks ago General Petraeus told Congress (including specifically Senator Carl Levin who is trying to cut funding for the war next year). I searched for his speech, and there it was:

    The fact is; the reason we’ve been in Iraq for nearly 5 years is because the insurgents and the other malcontents in Iraq thought they had a shot at defeating us politically. The Iraqis themselves weren’t helping either because they were pretty certain we’d abandon them like we had in 1991 and the dozens of times we’ve abandoned struggling people in the past decade or so.

    Want to know why the “surge” worked? Because even after the loud-mouthed Democrat Congress won the election last year and promised to abandon the Iraqi people to their tormentors, President Bush did the opposite, increased presence and took the fight to the enemy. The Iraqis saw that as long as President Bush was in office, they would get our unwaivering support, despite the political climate. That’s what’s winning this war.

    I suspect that by this time next year, the Democrats in Congress are going to have egg on their faces when Americans come out of their polling places.

  • Discussion is good; dissention is not so much

    Ahh – Islamofacism Awareness Week, the brainchild of David Horowitz founder of FrontPageMagazine and the Center for the Study of Popular Culture. I was inspired in college by Horowitz’ story – a New York City Red Diaper Baby and one of the founders of the New Left movement in Berkeley in the 60s turned conservative. Horowitz began the dialogue about the atrocities of the Soviet Union and the moral bankrupcy of the Left. I first heard of Horowitz in my comparative politics class when his later (mature) opinions were compared to those of Noam Chomsky.

    Within a few years after I graduated college (at the age of 39), Horowitz was writing books – controversial books like his autobiography “Radical Son” and “The Politics of Bad Faith” that warned Americans about the war being fought against our Constitution and our way of life using the “gay rights” movement and the AIDS epidemic as cover. Horowitz is an excellent writer and his books are riveting.

    I met Horowitz on January 20, 2001 in front of the Supreme Court building at a Freeper rally in support of President Bush’s impending inauguration (I know it’s hard to remember, but the Left and the various factions were protesting President Bush before he even became President – before there was a war). After reading nearly all of his books, I expected a vociferous, passionate man – but all I met was a quiet, typical, little Jewish guy who was shivering from the cold, drizzling January morning. I was disappointed.

    I’ve seen him several times on television since then and he always comes off as this smart little guy who figures that if you don’t see things his way, he has no interest in talking to you. Well, that’s why, when I read Uncle Jimbo’s recounting in Blackfive of last night’s Islofacism Awareness Week event in Madison, WI, I smiled a bit, because Uncle Jimbo was just as disappointed as I was that wet January morning nearly eight years ago. Horowitz is a brilliant guy, but his presence is kind of weak. He should really just stick to writing.

    But the Islamofacism Awareness Week event has the Left pretty worked up, according to Ishmael Vera at Front Page Mag. The Kokesh merry band of tools and idiots has rewritten their flyer, spread it nationwide and they explain why they hate Americans – but don’t worry, it’s just a parody. Nothing worth punishing anyone over, I’m sure.

    Spanish Pundit writes that there is a plot afoot by Iran and the Saudis to disrupt the IFAW events – and they’re spreading out money to groups like Kokesh’s. They’re in good company – the Clinton Soros cabal is doing the same according to Horowitz. Gateway Pundit has complete coverage of the week’s events at his Incorrect University website.

    Pamela Geller (Atlas Shrugs) takes Charles Johnson (Little Green Footballs) to task for sounding like a CAIR press release. It’s sure getting muddy out there.

    I guess no one like to hear an opposing view – Horowitz just tells you you’re stupid for disagreeing, while the Left, typically, throws money at other people to tell you you’re stupid. MAS and CAIR tell us they want to have a discussion, but they don’t want to hear opposing views – we should just sit there with our hands folded and bleat out agreement sounds while they tell us what to think. That’s why people like David Horowitz have to use their same tactics to get attention. There is no discussion – there’s only CAIR and MAS megaphones.

    Kokesh and his bunch come right out and call us facists before a word is spoken for wanting to talk in public about the extremists who happen to be Muslims. That’s how the small-minded leftist leaders keep the smaller-minded students on the plantation – call the other side names first and keep calling names. Well, as long as Kokesh calls names from behind a police barricade with lots of armed protection. Can’t have those facists grabbing him by his scrawny neck and doing what his polo pony pushing Daddy should have done about 20 years ago.

    So I guess discussion is good, but dissention is good not so much. Discussion is much better than the alternative – as illustrated by Bloodthirsty Liberal.

    Kesher Talk reports that “Calm Breaks Out at Princeton” IFAW event.I guess most important is the fact that stuff is being said at all – ten years ago it couldn’t. Amazing times we live in.

  • Violence in Iraq Down by 70% (Seventy Percent)

    According to the Iraqi Interior Ministry, and they ought to know, since the surge was completed in June, violence in Iraq is down a staggering SEVENTY PERCENT!

    In Baghdad, considered the epicenter of the violence because of its mix of Shi’ites and Sunni Arabs, car bombs had decreased by 67 percent and roadside bombs by 40 percent, he said. There had also been a 28 percent decline in the number of bodies found dumped in the capital’s streets.

    In Anbar, a former insurgent hotbed where Sunni Arab tribes have joined U.S. forces against al Qaeda, there has been an 82 percent drop in violent deaths.

    “These figures show a gradual improvement in controlling the security situation,” Khalaf said.

    Reuters Story

    Jonn added: Greyhawk catches Newsweek accusing the Bush Administration of covering up the good news. Don Surber reports Democrat leadership meetings to head off the impending crisis of success in Iraq.

  • A Platoon Sergeant’s touch; by request

    Well, I was just sitting here doing the people’s business this morning when I get an email from my buddy COBDanny at Crotchety Old Bastard who writes me that out in Berkeley Californ-eye-ay, there was a protest. Of course, I’d linked to Gateway Pundit’s story yesterday about it. But Danny pointed me to Blackfive who pointed me to Neptunus Lex where I found the SFGate story on the protest;

    “None of us is pro-war! I’m pro-defense,” Kevin Graves, 50, of Discovery Bay shouted at one protester. Graves, whose son Army Spc. Joseph Graves was killed in Baghdad in July 2006, continued, “My son died so you and I can stand here and disagree.”

    In an interview, Graves said, “I think they’re misguided,” referring to Code Pink.

    But David Santos, 15, of Oakland, said the conservative element was on the wrong side of the issue.

    “They represent the social base that’s giving rise to this imperialistic war. Their so-called patriotic attitude,” he said, “just shows their blatant disregard for humanity and what the flag stands for. The very fact that they’re holding it up is enough for us to be out here.”

    David Santos, 15, of Oakland doesn’t even shave, yet he’s got the world all figured out already – moreso than a father who has sacrificed his son for the country’s security. I wonder where David Santos’ father is – David Santos probably wonders the same thing.

    But the part COB emailed me about is coming up;

    Graves yelled at another protester, Pablo Paredes, 26, of Oakland and mocked him for his long hair. “Are you a soldier? They wouldn’t let you looking like that,” he said.

    Paredes said later that he had served five years in the Navy and that people of color like himself bore the brunt of military service.

    “I think the color of my skin shouldn’t make me be on the front line,” Paredes said, adding that he left the Navy because he refused orders and opposed the war in Iraq.

    Say huh? Well, it turns out that Pablo Paredes has a Wikipedia page (I can only assume that Pablo was the only fellow interested enough in himself to write it, so I’m going to use it as a reference) and after reading it, I think I know Pablo pretty well;

    Paredes tried unsuccessfully to switch to the military police in order to avoid involvement in the war. Paredes then applied for discharge as a conscientious objector on January 4, 2005 but was denied by the Navy in July of that year.

    After deserting and missing movement, he returned to the Navy on December 18, 2004. The same day he made a statement to local press saying that he was fully aware of the possible repercussions of his decision.

    According to this, he deserted and missed movement and then returned to the Navy December 18, 2004. Then he filed for conscientious objector status January 4, 2005. So, actually, he went through the process backwards – by the time he filed for CO, he was already a criminal who’d broken laws and CO was his way out of the charges – the Navy refused him CO after he’d tried to use it as an excuse to get out of being punished. In fact, the civilian courts have refused two appeals, according to the Wikipedia entry.

    So like Adam Kokesh who turned against the war when the Marines busted him for smuggling a pistol back from iraq on his first tour, Paredes turned against the war when his own derelict behavior caught up to him. So what’s the first thing he drags out?

    “I think the color of my skin shouldn’t make me be on the front line,” Paredes said…

    A whole boat full of people went off to war – a crew – but unless that boat was full of strictly brown people, Paredes doesn’t have a leg to stand on. Neptune Lex probably said it well enough;

    After having enjoyed peacetime service in Japan you deliberately missed ship’s movement and shirked your duty to avoid a very minimal risk in sailing to the Arabian Gulf. You don’t get to claim front line service when you bailed on your shipmates and forced someone else to cover your watch, to take your spot on the line.

    Paredes is accustomed to misleading people. Take this Democracy Now statement that’s repeated around the internet in several other websites;

    Paredes was convicted in a court-martial on Wednesday. However a judge decided Thursday not to sentence him to jail – instead he will face three months of hard labor.

    Um, how is a three months sentence at hard labor in court martial procedings not jail time? If it was an Article 15 (or Captain’s Mast, I think the Navy calls it) there probably wouldn’t be jail time involved, but not in a court martial conviction. What a bunch of tools.

    Paredes, keep your mouth shut – you don’t even know why you were convicted let alone how. You let empty-head spazzes like Paul Rockwell give you legal advice – and then on top of it all, you blame the fact that you’re brown as a reason to get out of going to war. (wasn’t that a line from the South Park Movie – Operation Human Shield). I’m pretty sure you were going to be a long way from any shooting – you’re one of those weinies who can’t stand being at sea, or out in the field on weekends – that’s what really scared you – no off time to play with the girls (or boys…or whatever).

    After years of shore duty in Japan, you couldn’t stand the thought of actually doing your job – that’s why you missed movement. If it had been your conscience, you’d have applied for CO right after we went to war. The anti-war movement accepted you because there’s no one there who ever had to accomplish anything, no one whoever counted on them to do their job, or shoulder their own load – so you fit right in with them. And the chicks probably have hairier legs than yours, too.

    You can’t fool the real troops, paredes – that’s why I nominate you to join the ranks of Phony Soldiers.

  • Kokesh needs help

    Well, it had to happen. Adam Kokesh has gone ’round the bend. This is the banner on the primadonna’s website these days (thanks to Robin from Chickenhawk Express for twigging me to this);

    banner7+copy.jpg

    He’s been on Hannity and Colmes and he thinks he did such a bang-up job defending himself and his exercise in racist behavior by calling Ann Coulter “Coultergeist” and David Horowitz a “two bit bigot”. Ann Coulter isn’t even scheduled to speak at the Islamo-facism Awareness Week events at George Washington University – but he has to show everyone how clever he is by making up a new hateful word for someone who engages in free speech that happens to run counter to Kokesh’s…um…ideas, so to speak.

    Oh, and Adam, “two-bit” means 25 cents and has nothing to do with bigotry. I know they didn’t cover that at whatever art history or basketweaving class you’re taking at GWU, so I’ll give you a pass on that bit of ignorance.

    Now suddenly, because he has the GWU administration cowed into not punishing him and his cohorts, he’s a “ruthless anti-facist attack dog for hire”. Well, in the real world, he’s a pestering poodle humping rational people’s collective leg.

    But let’s look at stuff that points to Kokesh’s “gone ’round the bend” syndrome (well, besides the fruity banner);

    Frankly, I would be honored to share a stage with Kucinich and Paul. For Kucinich, I’m not so much a supporter as I am an enthusiast. He is one of the few members of Congress who still have principles and stick to them. I’m much more a supporter of Paul because I think his principles about the Constitution and limited government are closer to my own, but I have the same respect for both of them. It’s funny to note that Paul is now lumped in with this communist slur when his (our) views of limited government are really the opposite of communism. It also says “congressman Dennis Kucinich and presidential candidate Ron Paul” when they are actually both congressmen and both presidential candidates.

    That’s the kind of mental illness with which we’re dealing – someone so steeped in a false ideology that Kucinich and Ron Paul seem rational and worthy of support. And the reason Kokesh supports Ron Paul? “I think his principles about the Constitution and limited government are closer to my own” yet, he’s a Leftist and also supports Dennis Kucinich who wants to expand government – quite a disparate view – the view of an irrational person.

    Kokesh should have been honest and told us that the only government he wants restrained is a Republican-led government. He wouldn’t have the same restrictions placed on a Democrat-led government. Kokesh is just another tool of the Democrat party – and he’d support a Ron Paul candidacy right up until after a Paul win in the Republican primary.

    But according to his website, he’ll tell you what’s important for you to think after David Horowitz is done (in a larger room – if that’s even remotely significant).

    We have a venue now for my speech for next week. I will be going on the day after Horowitz in the room (a larger room) next door in the Marvin Center at GWU. The flier reads:
    RECOVERING
    FROM RACISM

    On the effects of war on racism and the dehumanization of the Iraqi people

    Um, Adam, m’boy, I’ll clue you in; dehumanization of the Iraqi people includes jerking our troops out of Iraq immediately and leaving Iraqis to their own devices to establish a working government and security for their people – like you want to do. When your daddy is not selling polo ponies, maybe he can explain it to you.

    And I noticed that Kokesh still calls himself Sergeant Kokesh – further perpetuating the “phony soldier syndrome”. Kokesh hadn’t been a sergeant for at least three years before his discharge, but he still clings to the title – despite the fact he was busted to private for smuggling an Iraqi pistol back from the war. That’s the real reason he’s dissatisfied with the war – he got caught being a sociopath.

    Speaking of crackpots, Robin at Chickenhawk Express finds that Cindy Sheehan has discovered our plot to install George W. Bush as our Emporer for Life. My question is; who’s leaking our dastardly plans to the Left? Gateway Pundit has a report of Moonbats Vs. Move America Forward in Berkeley. Its too bad these folks can’t find jobs to occupy them gainfully. Speaking of moonbats Crotchety Old Bastard writes that their queen Cynthia McKinney is planning a run for president from California as the Green party candidate. But we here learned about her impending run from Zombie last week who has pictures of McKinney and Sheehan stumping at Beach Impeach IV.

    Need some more moonbattery? Well watch Diane Watson on Redstate explain to a room full of them why the impeachment of George W. Bush can’t happen until 2009 – then watch out, buddy; narrative from Protein Wisdom. Watson claims Democrats have evidence of impeachable offenses – does anyone truly believe the Democrats have evidence and won’t show us?

  • Another Day, Another FALSE accusation by the left

    Randi Rhodes wasn’t attacked by rabid republican meanies after all:
    The NY Daily News has the story
    Air America host Randi Rhodes wasn’t mugged

    BY DAVID HINCKLEY and TINA MOORE
    DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITERS
    Tuesday, October 16th 2007, 12:28 PM
    There’s no truth to the rumors that Air America host Randi Rhodes (above) was mugged near 39th St. and Park Ave. Sunday night. She is scheduled to return to the air on Thursday.

    There’s no truth to the rumors that Air America host Randi Rhodes (above) was mugged near 39th St. and Park Ave. Sunday night. She is scheduled to return to the air on Thursday.

    Air America radio host Randi Rhodes is temporarily off the air, but claims she was brutally attacked near her Manhattan apartment are bogus, her lawyer and a police source said today.

    Fellow host Jon Elliott claimed on the liberal radio network that Rhodes had been mugged while walking her dog, Simon, on Sunday night. Elliot, who said Rhodes lost several teeth in the attack, waxed about a possible conspiracy.

    “Is this an attempt by the right-wing, hate machine to silence one of our own?” he asked on the air, according to Talking Radio, a blog. “Are we threatening them? Are they afraid that we’re winning? Are they trying to silence intimidate us?”

    A police source said Rhodes never filed a report and never claimed to be the victim of a mugging. Cops from Manhattan’s 17th Precinct called her attorney, who told them Rhodes was not a victim of a crime, the source said.

    Rhodes’ lawyer told the Daily News she was injured in a fall while walking her dog. He said she’s not sure what happened, and only knows that she fell down and is in a lot of pain. The lawyer said Rhodes expects to be back on the air Thursday. He stressed there is no indication she was targeted or that she was the victim of a “hate crime.”

    I guess it wasn’t her turn to “Speak truth to power…”
    Its sad she isn’t an illegal alien, then she’d be: Faking the muggings Americans won’t…

    Jonn added: Robin at Chickenhawk Express asks (with tongue planted firmly in her cheek) “But one thing we need to ask…. Where was Rove? Where was Cheney and his shotgun? Where was President Bush? And where the heck was Barney the dog?” Michele Malkin comes clean and admits (tongue planted firmly in her cheek, as well) “It was my fault!”

  • Washington Post’s Gang of 12 – the other shoe

    Yesterday, the Washington Post headlined the paper with news that operations in Iraq were working and it seemed that our goals there attainable. That “al Qaeda in Iraq Reported Crippled“. Thinking it odd that Washington post would allow such a thing to be published in their pages, let alone on the front page, I was waiting for the other shoe to drop – and it turns out it was twelve pairs of combat boots.

    This morning we’re greeted on the pages of the Washington Post by the headline “The Real Iraq We Knew” written by 12 former Army Captains. They’re names and times of service in Iraq;

    This column was written by 12 former Army captains: Jason Blindauer served in Babil and Baghdad in 2003 and 2005. Elizabeth Bostwick served in Salah Ad Din and An Najaf in 2004. Jeffrey Bouldin served in Al Anbar, Baghdad and Ninevah in 2006. Jason Bugajski served in Diyala in 2004. Anton Kemps served in Babil and Baghdad in 2003 and 2005. Kristy (Luken) McCormick served in Ninevah in 2003. Luis Carlos Montalván served in Anbar, Baghdad and Nineveh in 2003 and 2005. William Murphy served in Babil and Baghdad in 2003 and 2005. Josh Rizzo served in Baghdad in 2006. William “Jamie” Ruehl served in Nineveh in 2004. Gregg Tharp served in Babil and Baghdad in 2003 and 2005. Gary Williams served in Baghdad in 2003.

    I don’t intend to disparage their service, but I will point out that none have been there since the “surge” started – the latest service listed as “2006” – the “surge” didn’t even begin until November 2006 when troops began arriving and operations didn’t begin until late February 2007.

    The 12 former captains write;

    Against this backdrop, the U.S. military has been trying in vain to hold the country together. Even with “the surge,” we simply do not have enough soldiers and marines to meet the professed goals of clearing areas from insurgent control, holding them securely and building sustainable institutions. Though temporary reinforcing operations in places like Fallujah, An Najaf, Tal Afar, and now Baghdad may brief well on PowerPoint presentations, in practice they just push insurgents to another spot on the map and often strengthen the insurgents’ cause by harassing locals to a point of swayed allegiances. Millions of Iraqis correctly recognize these actions for what they are and vote with their feet — moving within Iraq or leaving the country entirely. Still, our colonels and generals keep holding on to flawed concepts.

    How do they know? They haven’t been there since the surge began – they haven’t heard (apparently) that the Washington Post declared yesterday that al Qaeda is “crippled” and the Mahdi Army has all but disbanded. The “flawed concepts” have all changed since last year – with a new strategy and a new commander.

    Iraq’s institutional infrastructure, too, is sorely wanting. Even if the Iraqis wanted to work together and accept the national identity foisted upon them in 1920s, the ministries do not have enough trained administrators or technicians to coordinate themselves. At the local level, most communities are still controlled by the same autocratic sheiks that ruled under Saddam. There is no reliable postal system. No effective banking system. No registration system to monitor the population and its needs.

    They write that the infrastructure of Iraq is in bad shape – none of that could have improved significantly over the last year? The sheiks are joining the US forces in battling their common enemy al Qaeda – that’s all changed in the last six months.

    If this letter was written a year ago, it might have been more significant – but now, it’s just a recitation of conditions long-ago passed. If this letter were written by 12 Captains currently serving in Iraq, it might be more significant – but these are all FORMER captains, none of whom have been in Iraq for more than a year.

    The main reason conditions were so bad in Iraq last year was because of ill-considered actions by people like the latest “gang of 12” and Congress who’ve been threatening to pull the troops out of Iraq – why should Iraqis commit to a cause when their main protectors (we’re the ones with the guns and the only people they can really trust right now) are always on the verge of abandoning them – especially since we have a history of abandoning people to evil doers around the world in the last half-century.

    President Bush proved, last November, that the Iraqis have his guarentee we’re not going to withdraw during his tenure – despite what the media and the Democrats say. That’s why the Iraqis are suddenly on our side, too. Like I said, this letter is nothing more than 12 former military people vying for jobs with political think tanks – and the left is a more attractive place to find think tank jobs – because you don’t have to think.

    They end their letter calling for a draft as our only way to win. Anyone currently serving on active duty doesn’t want draftees in their units. Period. Who needs a bunch of smelly ex-hippies trying to dodge work and patrols? But, then that should be apparent – given the source of this letter.

    I’ll bet a dollar to a donut, I get all kinds of hits today from those 12 former captains googling their own names. Anyone got a donut they want to lose?

    Uncle Jimbo of Blackfive weighs in, Greyhawk at the MilBlogs says that NCO write better op/eds than captains and the Left is waiting for us to call them “Phony soldiers”. Murdoc Online arrives at my conclusion on the “12 Captains” draft proposal. Confederate Yankee thanks the 12 captains for their history lesson. Curt at Flopping Aces calls the WaPo piece “the dirt which buries our victory”.

  • Bush blamed for Holocaust

    I’m attempting to track down the roots of this Armenian Genocide legislation because last night, Crotchety Old Bastard and I had an email exchange over it and we arrived at the same conclusion; this is nothing more than an attempt by the Democrats to defund the war effort in Iraq and Afghanistan. Yesterday, Ralph Peters arrived at that same conclusion in the New York Sun;

    That’s what the Democrats are aiming at. This resolution isn’t about justice for the Armenians. Not this time. It’s a stunningly devious attempt to impede our war effort in Iraq and force premature troop withdrawals.

    The Dems calculate that, without those flights and convoys, we won’t be able to keep our troops adequately supplied. Key intelligence and strike missions would disappear.

    The Pentagon might be able to improvise other options. But the loss of the base and those routes would definitely hurt our troops. Severely. And we’d be more reliant than ever on a single, vulnerable lifeline running from Kuwait.

    It’s a brilliant ploy – the Dems get to stab our troops in the back, but lay the blame off on the Turks. They pretend they’re responding to their Armenian-American constituents – while actually moving to placate MoveOn.org.

    The Guardian explains the importance of Turkey to our logistical support of our own troops in the Middle East;

    Turkey, which is a major cargo hub for US and allied military forces in Iraq and Afghanistan, has recalled its ambassador to Washington for consultations and warned that there might be a cut in the logistical support to the US over the issue.

    About 70% of US air cargo headed for Iraq goes through Turkey as does about a third of the fuel used by the US military there. US bases also get water and other supplies carried in overland by Turkish truckers who cross into Iraq’s northern Kurdish region.

    Despite the general’s strong words and the recalling of its ambassador, it is not clear just how far the Turkish side can go in expressing its dismay to Washington.

    Turkey suspended its military ties with France last year after the French parliament’s lower house adopted a bill that would have made it a crime to deny that the Armenian killings constituted a genocide.

    To set the tone for the vote, Pelosi actually used a normally nonpartisan activity in the House to push the voting her way, according to USAToday;

    Yet with the House’s first order of business Wednesday, Speaker Nancy Pelosi made clear that Turkey’s position was a hard sell. She introduced the Supreme Patriarch of all Armenians, Karekin II, to deliver the morning prayer — a daily ritual intended to be apolitical.

    “With the solemn burden of history, we remember the victims of the genocide of the Armenians,” Karekin said in the House. “Give peace and justice on their descendants.” 

    Sneaky and underhanded. Even California Democrat and Holocaust survivor Tom Lantos opposes pelosi’s latest dirt-dishing to the troops (USAToday);

    The Foreign Affairs Committee’s Chairman, Rep. Tom Lantos, D-Calif., warned of the potential fallout if the proposal passed. Lantos, a Hungarian-born survivor of the Holocaust, supported a similar resolution two years ago.

    “We have to weigh the desire to express our solidarity with the Armenian people … against the risk that it could cause young men and women in the uniform of the United States armed services to pay an even heavier price than they are currently paying,” Lantos said. 

    When Bill Clinton asked Dennis Hastart to cancel a similar bill in 2000, Hastert conceded that Clinton had primacy in foreign policy dealings for the United States by virtue of his office and deferred to Clinton’s judgement, according to CNN:

    House Speaker Dennis Hastert, R-Illinois, said the resolution had been pulled after President Bill Clinton said he was “deeply concerned” about the language in the document. Clinton and Hastert talked by telephone on Wednesday night about the legislation.

    Hastert said Clinton had warned of “possible far-reaching negative consequences for the United States” if the House voted on the legislation.

    Pelosi and Steny Hoyer even visited the Turkish Ambassador before he was recalled to discuss the issue and came away the pompous idiots they’ve always been;

    Pelosi and the second-ranking Democrat in the House, Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, met Wednesday with Turkish Ambassador Nabi Sensoy but emerged from the meeting unswayed. Hoyer told reporters he expects a floor vote on the measure before the House adjourns for the year.

    Hoyer said he hoped that Turkey would realize it is not a condemnation of its current government but rather of “another government, at another time.”

    Norman Markowitz takes the whole discussion one step further in Political Affairs Magazine – he blames Bush for the Holocaust of the 1930s and 40s;

    In 1931, Adolph Hitler, two years before the establishment of the Nazi dictatorship said “we intend to introduce a great resettlement policy….remember the extermination of the Armenians.” In 1939, in advocating a policy of mass killing in Poland to take the “Living Space” for Germans, he said privately to his officers, “who, after all speaks today, of the annihilation of the Armenians.

    Who does? Civilized people throughout the world for whom human rights aren’t an empty slogan. But not the Bush administration, its State Department, and its policy planners who have gone from one disaster after another in the Middle East and everywhere else.

    Hopefully, the U.S. Congress will remember.

    Remember? Historians will remember that the Democrat “leadership” (using the term loosely) are a traitorous bunch of double-dealing, back-stabbing punk-ass sissies who can’t summon the fortitude to stand up to a few squeakywheels on the internet. That’ll be their legacy.

    This isn’t my last word on this – I’ve got some interviews scheduled.Â