. . . I once thought it was suicidal of Obama to simply smile, talk inanely of change, offer no concrete proposals, and play rope-a-dope deflection to nonstop Clinton innuendo and rumor-mongering. But he may have far more insight that most of us: The more Hillary talks, attacks, cries, pontificates, and rewrites history, the more he appears sympathetic and above her petty fray as she punches herself out.
Posted by: Mike ||
01/17/2008 10:04 ||
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#1
He may be making points with the pack of fools who constitute the Dummocratic Party, but what I'm worried about is who the Pubs can nominate that presents a clear choice over either him or The Hill. Fred seems to be fading away. Hunter and Tancredo are history. I won't vote for the turncoat McClain. Romney...no. Giuliani,mmmm would be difficult. Huckleberry...the more he talks, the less likely I could vote for him. Dismal, simply dismal.
#5
I once thought it was suicidal of Obama to simply smile, talk inanely of change, offer no concrete proposals, and play rope-a-dope deflection to nonstop Clinton innuendo and rumor-mongering.
#6
That's right. Just stay home and don't vote Repub because you aren't going to get 100% of what you want.
No, instead, you'll get 14% of the private sector (healthcare) converted to socialism (probably forever), an endless stream of overt and covert efforts to ban firearms (probably forever), and two to three Ruth Bader-Ginsberg clones on the Supreme Court.
I find flaws with all of the Repub frontrunners. But to stay home to prove your anger or ideological purity is civilizational suicide.
Posted by: no mo uro ||
01/17/2008 17:13 Comments ||
Top||
#7
The repub race is very interesting and there are some very good candidates (some not so good too...ie the ones that the dems are promoting). They need our support and direction. They need to win and then have their feet held to the fire. Having Obama or that witch in the white house will do serious damage to this country for years to come.
#8
face it, all of the republican candidates are better than obama and Hillary. I'd even prefer McCain, to either one of them (and I really dislike him now). Hunter is my first choice then Fred, Rudy, Romney, Huckabee and McCain. They not be perfect, but they are so much better than Hillary the mentally unstable tyrant and Obama, the wolf in sheeps clothing.
AFA is pleased to learn that the United States Air Force has rectified a decade-long injustice against an outstanding former general officerTerryl J. Schwalier.
The Air Force Board for Correction of Military Records, having conducted a voluminous and confidential review of his case, recently concluded that he was the victim of "an injustice" and never should have been denied his second star. The board ruled he should regain that star, retroactive to January 1, 1997, and that he be placed on the retired list at the grade of major general. The Air Force affirmed the board's decision with an official order dated Dec. 21, 2007.
Schwalier, as many recall, was a brigadier general who was unfairly blamed by the Clinton Administration in the 1996 terrorist bombing of Khobar Towers in Saudi Arabia, in which 19 airmen died. Though the Senate had confirmed his promotion to major general before the Khobar Towers attack, and though no evidence of wrongdoing ever was produced, Defense Secretary William Cohen on July 31, 1997 cancelled this second star and effectively ended his career. Cohen alleged that Schwalier "could have and should have done more" to defend Khobar Towers. For more than 10 years, Schwalier persevered in seeking redress. He has finally succeeded. The Air Force's action was entirely logical and proper. We applaud it, as will any fair-minded person.
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#2
Yeah, because when disasters happen, it's never the commander's fault. Heck, nobody lost their jobs over 9/11 or the total failure to plan anything past invading Iraq.
#3
Schwalier, as many recall, was a brigadier general who was unfairly blamed by the Clinton Administration in the 1996 terrorist bombing...and though no evidence of wrongdoing ever was produced, Defense Secretary William Cohen on July 31, 1997 cancelled this second star and effectively ended his career. Cohen alleged that Schwalier "could have and should have done more" to defend Khobar Towers.
#5
Heck, nobody lost their jobs over 9/11 or the total failure to plan anything past invading Iraq.
gromky, direct me to the 'plan' the allies had after they secure the beach in Normandy cause they certainly didn't meet any of their timelines by weeks even short distances beyond that location. Direct me to the post-war occupation plans they had in place and ready to employ when they crossed the German border.
#6
And may I point out that we stood down our forces in Europe just after the surrender of the standing German forces, only years later to have to do our own 'surge' that included the introduction of a 'peacetime' draft to bring the occupation forces of just the Army to nearly a half million men. That wasn't in the plan either. Circumstances and situations change. During that deployment, which still continues today, we've suffered more total casualties in theater than we have in Iraq.
#7
I am confused. I have always thought that there were not any terrorists until Bush and his cabal stole the election in 2000. /sarcasm
Actually there were lots of measure that should have been in place but we didn't understand the nature of the beast. It's sad that some people died but this would be like blaming the first guy shot down by an SAM. He didn't know the weapon would/could do what it did until it did.
#8
Yeah, because when disasters happen, it's never the commander's fault.
There's always 'ultimate responsibility' that comes with command. However, The decision is usually made after determining by investigation of the conditions and what restrictions were placed on the commanding officer.
That's why I added the background-info link, so that people can read it and make their own decision whether Secretary Cohen's judgement was appropriate.
#9
Schwalier, as many recall, was a brigadier general who was unfairly blamed by the ClintonClintons Administration in the 1996 terrorist bombing...
Is this the sort of experience that ex co-president Hillary has been boasting that she can bring back to the White House? No thanks. I can do without their anti-miltary bias.
#10
Actually there were lots of measure that should have been in place but we didn't understand the nature of the beast.
Misunderstanding evidenced by Ollie North getting lambasted by Congress.
There's always 'ultimate responsibility' that comes with command.
In my opinion the "command" in this case was Congress and the civilian administration since they drive overall policy. Ollie warned them. Command flew in the face of reason and ultimately lost. Americans and the rest of the world have been paying for that loss with their lives and lifestyles ever since.
#11
you don't strip someone of a star just because they are present when a disaster strikes. It might kill your career, but unless an investiagtion held you responsible, they would not drop you in rank. Only the Clintons, seeking to deflect blame, would do something like that.
#2
Broadly speaking, Britain can be forgiven becuz theirs is an ISLAND NATION-CONTINENT [read, LIMITED RESOURCES]. CANADA, however, is geogrph much larger than Britain and part of the NORAM Continent, thus IMO has no excuse for only
"keeping a lid" on situations.
The Bush Doctrine born on Sept. 20, 2001, when President Bush bluntly warned the sponsors of violent jihad: "You are either with us, or you are with the terrorists" is dead. Its demise was announced by Condoleezza Rice last Friday.
The secretary of state was speaking to reporters aboard Air Force One en route with the president to Kuwait from Israel. She was explaining why the administration had abandoned the most fundamental condition of its support for Palestinian statehood - namely, an end to Palestinian terror. Rice's explanation, recounted here by The Washington Times, was as striking for its candor as for its moral blindness:
"The 'road map' for peace, conceived in 2002 by Mr. Bush, had become a hindrance to the peace process, because the first requirement was that the Palestinians stop terrorist attacks. As a result, every time there was a terrorist bombing, the peace process fell apart and went back to square one. Neither side ever began discussing the 'core issues': the freezing of Israeli settlements in the West Bank, the right of Palestinian refugees to return, the outline of Israel's border, and the future of Jerusalem. So Condi has bought the terrorists' line, lock, stock, and barrel. In effect she has said that Paleo terrorism against Israel is OK. And the bargaining points of Israel giving up everything for a weak promise (or something) from terrorists will work. She has legitimized the Paleo's playbook. This is really bad and destroys the moral authority of the US, too, in foreign policy.
"'The reason that we haven't really been able to move forward on the peace process for a number of years is that we were stuck in the sequentiality of the road map. So you had to do the first phase of the road map before you moved on to the third phase of the road map, which was the actual negotiations of final status,' Rice said. . . . What the US-hosted November peace summit in Annapolis did was 'break that tight sequentiality. . . You don't want people to get hung up on settlement activity or the fact that the Palestinians haven't fully been able to deal with the terrorist infrastructure. . .'" She should be a good lobbyist for them after she leaves office in January, 2009. I am beginning to feel physically sick.....
Thus the president who once insisted that a "Palestinian state will never be created by terror" now insists that a Palestinian state be created regardless of terror. Once the Bush administration championed a "road map" whose first and foremost requirement was that the Palestinians "declare an unequivocal end to violence and terrorism" and shut down "all official . . . incitement against Israel." Now the administration says that Palestinian terrorism and incitement are nothing "to get hung up on."
Whatever happened to the moral clarity that informed the president's worldview in the wake of 9/11? Whatever happened to the conviction that was at the core of the Bush Doctrine: that terrorists must be anathematized and defeated, and the fever-swamps that breed them drained and detoxified? Like the Pak NWFP, the new Afghanistan Taliban base, or Gaza, another terrorist base?
Bush's support for the creation of a Palestinian state was always misguided rarely has a society shown itself *less* suited for sovereignty but at least he made it clear that American support came at a stiff price: "The United States will not support the establishment of a Palestinian state," Bush said in his landmark June 2002 speech on the Israeli-Arab conflict, "until its leaders engage in a sustained fight against the terrorists and dismantle their infrastructure." He reinforced that condition two years later, confirming in a letter to Ariel Sharon that "the Palestinian leadership must act decisively against terror, including sustained, targeted, and effective operations to stop terrorism and dismantle terrorist capabilities and infrastructure." So, in a weird, perverted way, the President is working alongside the terrorists in the destruction of Israel on the installment plan. The Paleos crank out a bit of takiya, and the President takes the baited hook, in that vain reach for Legacy. If you want a good legacy, you have to do your homework. Cramming doesn't work.
Now that policy has gone by the boards, replaced by one less focused on achieving peace than on maintaining a "peace process." No doubt it *is* difficult, as Rice says, to "move forward on the peace process" when the Palestinian Authority glorifies suicide bombers and encourages a murderous yearning to eliminate the Jewish state. If the Bush Doctrine "with us or with the terrorists" were still in force, the peace process would have been shelved once the Palestinians made clear that they had no intention of rejecting violence or accepting Israel's existence. The administration would be treating the Palestinians as pariahs, allowing them no assistance of any kind, much less movement toward statehood, so long as their encouragement of terrorism persisted.
But it is the Bush Doctrine that has been shelved. In its hunger for Arab support against Iran and perhaps in a quest for a historic "legacy" the administration has dropped "with us or with the terrorists." It is hellbent instead on bestowing statehood upon a regime that stands unequivocally with the terrorists. "Frankly, it's time for the establishment of a Palestinian state," Rice says.
When George W. Bush succeeded Bill Clinton, he was determined not to replicate his predecessor's blunders in the Middle East, a determination that intensified after 9/11. Yet he too has succumbed to the messianism that leads US presidents to imagine they can resolve the Arab-Israeli conflict. Clinton's legacy in this arena was the second intifada, which drenched the region in blood. To what fresh hell will Bush's diplomacy lead?
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
01/17/2008 15:14 ||
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#2
"The 'road map' for peace, conceived in 2002 by Mr. Bush, had become a hindrance to the peace process, because the first requirement was that the Palestinians stop terrorist attacks.
I always knew Condi was a product of affirmative action, now we have proof. Bush and his administration of half wits have been a disaster.
#3
Rice upsets me so much I can't even comment. Virtually everything she gets involved in is screwed up. Gawd, I wish Colin Powell was still running State.
#4
TMK Israel hasn't dropped its tenet that the PA must demonstrate its worth to any future Pals State and Israeli-Pals relations by de facto controlling and stopping rocket attacks and terror agz Israel. E.g. HAMAS [JPOST/HAARETZ]> Israel will NOT stop its penetrations into GAZA until HAMAS = HAMAS-domin PA stops the rocket fire emanating from Gaza. ISRAEL IS REDUX ITS MIL PRESENCE IN GAZA-WB, NOT ITS ABILITY TO UNILATER MILPOL INTERVENE IN PA AFFAIRS, AND WON'T UNTIL THE PA PROVES IT CAN DE FACTO CONTROL ANY AND ALL ASPECTS OF A FUTURE PALS STATE + POPULATION.
#5
What would happen if the US said we would not give on red cent to anybody neighboring Israel. Pals, Jordan, Egypt, until they put a muzzle on the Pals and ended this nonsense and reconquered Gaza and West Bank to end the Pal branch of the Death Cult.
Seems Camp David just exchanged Soviet money for US money at the time Sadat realized he couldn't beat the Israeli's anyway. It was a dumb deal.
#6
what has happened to Bush?? Did aliens suck his soul from his body? I read today that his administration filed a brief (or whatever) defending the DC gun ban.
#7
rjs: Seems Camp David just exchanged Soviet money for US money at the time Sadat realized he couldn't beat the Israeli's anyway. It was a dumb deal.
Nope. Egypt got more than that - it got the Sinai back. Without the Sinai smuggling routes, I wonder whether the first intifada could have gotten off the ground. Note that this agreement was a Begin-Sadat show - they just needed Uncle Sam to sign the checks. I feel sorry for the Israelis, but they're big boys. Eventually, if they want to make their own decisions instead of having to defer to affirmative action appointees like Rice, they will have to stand on their own two feet. That means weaning themselves off US aid. For good.
A few weeks ago, articles published around the world reported that Hezbollah is undergoing two major changes. Both portend greater violence from the Iranian-sponsored global terrorist network.
The first change is a shift in leadership responsibilities. A report published initially in the Saudi-owned Sharq al Awsat said the office of Ayatollah Khomenei appointed deputy secretary general Sheikh Naim Qassim as the new supreme commander of Hezbollah forces and the personal representative of the Ayatollah in Lebanon. Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah, according to this report, remains as secretary general of the organization. Sources said this change in control and command is because of "differences in opinions" between Narsrallah and Qassim.
The Hezbollah media arm rushed to deny the veracity of this shift. But observers with direct knowledge of the organization's inside structure said Khamenei indeed ordered changes in Hezbollah's structures, but not because of differences between its leaders. They said it was in preparation for a potential massive move by Hezbollah to seize more power in Lebanon, and before a possible clash with the Lebanese government and the United Nations over the disarmament process.
Sources believe the assassination of Brigadier General Francois Hajj, director of operations in the Lebanese Army, was another preemptive measure ordered by the Pasdaran command in Lebanon. Hajj was slated to become the next commander of the Lebanese Army. The latter was to deploy across Lebanon and eventually begin the collection of weapons. Hence, believe the observers, a Syro-Iranian order was issued to preempt and eliminate a man who could have become the military commander to force Hezbollah to disarm. This would have been compared to the al Qaeda elimination of Masoud Shah in September 2001 just before the 9/11 strikes. Hence, the concerns that the assassination and the reshuffling within the organization may be a prelude to dramatic move by the Iranian funded terror group. Which lead to the other important information revealed by al Sharq al Awsat and published in the leading Lebanese newspaper al Nahar.
The second major change for Hezbollah according to these reports is a huge increase in annual budget funded by Tehran. Hezbollah's funding was elevated from $400 million US to $1 billion. This ballistic leap would enable the organization to crush any opponent inside Lebanon and engage in worldwide operations against Western democracies and Arab moderates. According to experts in Lebanon, the $400 million figure was enough to pay for hundreds of social centers and thousands of salaries, enough to insure a full control over the Shia community, its representatives in Parliament, and to buy significant influence inside the Sunni, Druze and particularly Christian community. One hundred million dollars alone, could pay for the activities of movements opposed to the Cedars Revolution and the democratically elected government of Seniora.
Hezbollah obtained support in the Christian districts and launched media outlets across the country. Another thirty million can put enormous pressures on soldiers and officers of the various sectors of defense and security. In return the government branches and the military have been deprived from solid financial support coming from outside the country. Those who rose against the Syrian occupation were mostly from the deprived and oppressed segments of civil society. And those who dared opposing Hezbollah's domination of the country lacked the basic means of NGOs. The confrontation was totally unbalanced. Iran was pouring 400 million of Petrodollars to roll back the Cedars Revolution while the latter was highly praised overseas but wasn't a recipient of freedom funds.
But if $400 million can buy Hezbollah a magic place under Lebanon's sun, what would a $1 billion do? Observers in Lebanon say: "anything anywhere." Indeed the Moguls of the so-called "resistance" have been able to create alternative TV and radio stations, launch multiple dailies, pay for a nonstop sit-in across downtown Beirut, and more importantly leap to hyper international power. Over the past year the Iranian-funded hydra is said to have hired PR companies from Beirut to major capitals to wage the mother of all war of ideas not just against the vulnerable Cedars Revolution in Lebanon but also in defense of Ahmedinijad's nuclear strategy. Indeed, stories filed out of Tehran can't be credible. But reports and analysis sprayed from dozens of apparently neutral web sites or forwarded from credible journalistic sources can do devastation in the West. And what better launching pad than Beirut, cultural capital of the Arab world, to use? All that the Iranian funded organization has to do is to "double" if not "triple" the income of any person of interest in any sector of choice: media, academia, military, consulting, intelligence, etc., both in Lebanon but also around the world, including if needed in the United States.
One billion dollars spent on Hezbollah in Lebanon can have ripple effects as far as Detroit and Argentina. There is no native force in Lebanon that can match this tidal wave nor even one tenth of it. This is Iran's Petro power deployed on the Eastern Mediterranean not a local social movement building orphanages. A month ago as I was participating in a crossfire program on al Jazeera facing off with a coordinator of Iranian propaganda in the Arab world, I was asked why the US maintains a Navy in the Middle East. "Where are Iran's fleets?" he asked. I replied that the Iranian regime maintains land fleets. "Hezbollah's 30,000 rockets and its millions of dollars are an Iranian fleet," I answered.
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
. . . I once thought it was suicidal of Obama to simply smile, talk inanely of change, offer no concrete proposals, and play rope-a-dope deflection to nonstop Clinton innuendo and rumor-mongering. But he may have far more insight that most of us: The more Hillary talks, attacks, cries, pontificates, and rewrites history, the more he appears sympathetic and above her petty fray as she punches herself out.
