Allen Says U.S. Police Have Same Loyalty Problems As Iraqi Security Forces
Allen Says U.S. Police Have Same Loyalty Problems As Iraqi Security Forces
This morning, the Washington Post reported on severe problems within the Iraqi security forces:
Shiite and Kurdish militias, often operating as part of Iraqi government security forces, have carried out a wave of abductions, assassinations and other acts of intimidation, consolidating their control over territory across northern and southern Iraq and deepening the country’s divide along ethnic and sectarian lines, according to political leaders, families of the victims, human rights activists and Iraqi officials.
While Iraqi representatives wrangle over the drafting of a constitution in Baghdad, the militias, and the Shiite and Kurdish parties that control them, are creating their own institutions of authority, unaccountable to elected governments, the activists and officials said.
On ABC’s This Week, George Stephanopoulos asked Sen. George Allen (R-VA) about the article. Allen said we have the same problems in the United States:
STEPHANOPOULOS: We read on the front page of the Washington Post this morning that these elements of the Iraqi military, the army and security forces we’re training up, are actually, many of them, still loyal to their parties, still loyal to their militias and it’s not a national army.
ALLEN: Well, that’s true. And you have that even in our United States. We have local police; we have state police, and you have the FBI…
It seems Allen is willing to saying anything to avoid admitting there are problems in Iraq.
UPDATE: Once again, Crooks and Liars provides the video.
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What the hell does that mean!?
August 21st, 2005 at 7:37 pmAmazing, just amazing he would say that.
August 21st, 2005 at 7:39 pmI am sure that Bushco, Faux News, or Republican congressman will be able to find a secret memo, retired agent, or some unknown hack wanting to peddle a book that can place the blame for Iraq’s police failures squarely where it belongs: On the Clinton Administration.
August 21st, 2005 at 7:51 pmAllen thinks he is going to run for president? What the hell is he saying? He sounds like Rummy who said looting happens. So does shit – and that is what is spilling from the mouths of all of them from Allen to Zell. To borrow from Hank (above) — it’s all Clinton’s fault anyway.
August 21st, 2005 at 7:55 pmGeorge Allen. Wingnut Crackpot Extraordinaire, He is the GOPstapos Great White Hope for 2008. ROTFLMAO…
Bring ‘em on.
August 21st, 2005 at 8:19 pmAllen is an extremist madman. This is what he wants.
The Origins of the American Military Coup of 2012
Powell was one of the judges at the time for this military essay contest. The essay written in 1992 by Lieutenant Colonel Charles J. Dunlap, Jr., USAF when he was studying at the U.S. Army War College in 1992. I remeber reading that it was making the rounds again at State, DoD and the Pentagon a few years back.
August 21st, 2005 at 8:35 pmSidney Blumenthal article in the Gurdian UK about a year ago.
America’s military coup
Donald Rumsfeld has a new war on his hands – the US officer corps has turned on the government
August 21st, 2005 at 8:37 pmNothin’ going on here folks, just keep movin’ along.
August 21st, 2005 at 8:48 pmApparently, George Allen is determined to prove beyond a shadow of a doubt that he is the dumbest SOB in the U.S. Senate. I have to wonder how many times he’s said to himself, “Gee, I wish I hadn’t said that?”
Every time I think he’s hit bottom, he comes through again. His father was rather notorious for saying some really wacky things, too, but he was just a football coach. I cringe to think that this clown is being given serious consideration as a presidential candidate. But after Boy George set the bar so low, I guess anything’s possible. God help us…
Keep listening; I’m sure he’ll manage to top even THIS outstanding exhibition of stupidity.
August 21st, 2005 at 8:49 pmI’ve seen a lot of Allen lately as he does seem to be positioning himself for a possible run in 08. He has that same batshit crazy demeanor that so many of the GOP’s “shining stars” possess, that straight-faced delivery, false bravado and bogus sincerity. Must be a prerequisite. Watching Allen, Lott and the rest of the GOP good ol’ boys look into those cameras and lie is disturbing, but knowing that 45% of the country believes every word that they say is downmright frightening. Maybe they don’t get their comeuppance in this life….but it’s coming.
August 21st, 2005 at 9:03 pmNothin’ going on here folks, just keep movin’ along.
Comment by Bob — August 21, 2005 @ 8:48 pm
There’s certainly something going on here, Bob…
What do you suppose it could be?
The current so called Compassionate Conservative republican sitting in the White House is a far cry from what Reagan, George Sr. and Richard Nixon were for their party. He is both inept and a follower being driven by the NEOCON warlords he mistakenly appointed. Little by little real conservative republicans are realizing they were duped by this man. These are the drops you are seeing in the polls.
Pat Buchanan was the first to see what GWB is really all about and what he would be doing to our country if elected. God help us, he was even re-elected.
August 21st, 2005 at 9:31 pmGeorge Allen:
The looks of George Burns and the brains of Gracie Allen.
It’s just a joke. Gracie was smarter than all three of the Georges put together, and the only one of the three Georges with any brains at all worked with Gracie, and he’d be the first to tell you that.
August 21st, 2005 at 9:37 pmYou know what this is called? It’s called retribution. Saddam, being a Sunni muslim made life miserable fro both the Shiites and Kurds. Now it’s payback time.I
August 21st, 2005 at 10:03 pmThen again, Senator Allen used to display a Confederate flag and a noose at his home…
August 21st, 2005 at 11:10 pm#11 … Ann Outhouse…. I think the implication is clear. This George and the prez George have found that you give some off the wall response and the press corps simply (appropriate for the group) looks at each other with a “What the hell” look and then instead of saying, “That’s a bunch of crap, now answer the question.” – they simply move on to the next scripted question. When the time comes that the press corps recall what they are suppose to be doing for Americans, this administration is in trouble.
If the NY Times headline read, “George Allen fails to comprehend major problems with Iraq Army.” His response might be a tad different next time!
August 22nd, 2005 at 12:13 amBut did Little George nail Senator Allen on the idiocy of his comparison? Not really, not forcefully enough. Why can’t any of these talking heads just tell the truth: “Senator, that’s an outrageous comparison and it doesn’t make sense.”
What scared me, besides Allen looking like a corpse on Six Feet Under, was that he parroted the 1776 crap we’re hearing from the White House. These spinmeisters are like Stepford Politicians/Media Men. They speak in unison and pound, pound, pound their message out, no matter how idiotic. Fred Kaplan nails the foolishness and dishonesty of the analogy at Slate:
August 22nd, 2005 at 3:45 amhttp://www.slate.com/id/2124691/nav/tap1/
Naw, the Times Headline should read “This is how stupid George Allen(R-VA) thinks YOU are…”
August 22nd, 2005 at 3:59 amAllen’s comments are simply a microcosm of the extreme thinking and actions of a government obsessed with keeping a party in power. Republicans and democrats alike have lost touch with the people who keep this nation alive. They simply do not care, and THAT is almost as tragic as this “war.”
August 22nd, 2005 at 7:44 amIt is time for the Democratic party to unify on Iraq, and take a stand.
John Kerry and Joe Biden are two of my favorite guys in the DNC. Both of them are correct about needing more troops in Iraq. However there is a problem with that…IT WON’T HAPPEN.
The President is NOT going to up troop levels, and Americans wouldn’t except it anyways.
The President has messed this thing up so bad, that at this point if we don’t win in Iraq, we are going to have a terrorist base in Iraq that will make Afghanistan look like a picnic.
I served four years as a Force Recon Marine. I served in Kosovo and Sierra Leone. That is hardly the same thing as serving in Iraq or Afghanistan, but serving in ANY warzone is enough to learn a few things about combating insurgents (Especially in Sierra leone, where we guarded the embassy from rebel Militias).
The best plan I can see is what Biden has reccommended. namely sending Iraqi soldiers to places like Jordan and Egypt where they can be trained in relitive safety. It does no good to train Iraqi police and soldiers when they get blown up at the recruiting station.
Second, we need to do anything and everything we can to get other countries to help with troops.
Now, that may not be possible, but if we don’t at least try, we won’t know will we.
If none of those things are possible, then we need to figure out a way to get our soldiers home.
Four more years of US Soldiers dying in a pointless war is four years that Americans just won’t support. And what happens if a REAL crisis comes up in four years that we REALLY have to counter, we won;t have the ability to do it with 100,000 soldiers in Iraq (unless we reinstate the draft, which I don’t think is an option).
If Democrats want to take back this country, the Senate, House, and Prsidency…they are going to have to sit down and come up with an alternate strategy or a better one. We have a real chance here, let’s not blow it.
PS. The one think Democrates need to do this week, is counter what the President will say about Iraq being akin to Sept. 11th.
August 22nd, 2005 at 8:41 amIraq nor anyone in Iraq had anything to do with Sept 11th. In fact the two guys most responsible for that atrocity are still running around Afghanistan, thanks to George Bush not finishing the job there.
Iraq is the way it is now, cause Bush invaded the country without knowing how to do the mission…Democrates need to make sure America knows that Iraq is a problem Bush gave us, Sept. 11th is a problem Bin Laden gave us, two different things.
i cant believe this guy is the front runner for the republicans(not counting Mccain for obvious reasons). the guy sounds like he talks out of his nose when hes not talking out of his ass.
August 22nd, 2005 at 9:15 amDevin, i have hope that most americans at this point are not that stupid to believe Iraq had anything to do with 9/11.the polls show that most people dont believe that anymore, so im hoping this blows up in his face.this is the qoute you will here over and over-”we are fighting the terrorists there,so we dont have to fight them at home”dont let them slide with that bullshit comment. Bush has been a godsend to Al-Qaedas recruitment efforts.the CIA agrees with me on that point.
August 22nd, 2005 at 9:18 amIf people didn’t like Bush smerk they should really loath Allen smerk. Has he ever had a serious look on his face.
August 22nd, 2005 at 9:53 amDifficult as it may be, I think it is time for ALL Democrats to unite (yes, unite!) and admit that those who voted for the war were MISLED – put the blame on Bushie, who gave years-old intel to the committees, as well as false info to the entire congress and the world. Admit it was wrong, apologize for being gullible, vow never to fall for anything like that again, and then declare that a Democratic congress elected in 2006, will get the troops out, and begin to repair the damage done to our name in the world. A little humility goes a long way.
August 22nd, 2005 at 9:57 amAnyone see “Dead Wrong” last night?
The International Brotherhood of Police Officers endorsed Kerry in 2004… so I guess Allen would call them the “Al-Democratic Loyalist Militia”
August 22nd, 2005 at 9:58 amYes, I watched Dead Wromg last night. The real question is if those that have been hornswaggled and hoodwinked by BushCo into supporting his BS watched it? Did Powell or Tenet watch it? There weren’t any car chases, so I’m fairly confident Bush didn’t watch it.
August 22nd, 2005 at 10:15 am#18 – “The President has messed this thing up so bad, that at this point if we don’t win in Iraq, we are going to have a terrorist base in Iraq that will make Afghanistan look like a picnic.”
Define “Winning”… do you mean we have to stay in Iraq until “every last insurgent in hunted down?” (to quote Cheney)
Here’s what I believe: As Sen. Feingold quoted a senior commander as saying, putting U.S. withdrawal on the table will “take the wind out of the sail of the insurgents”. The nationalist insurgents who hate U.S. presence on their soil will stop making IEDs and start policing their own streets. The minority of foreign jihadis will lose their recruiting slogan, and then will no longer have enough numbers to sustain their terror movement. Sure we’ll end up with another Iran, but most of Iraq IS another Iran anyway… it’s only natural. Plus, that would be better than the hellhole it is now.
I admire Biden but I’m not rallying around sending more troops to Iraq…
August 22nd, 2005 at 10:17 amyou mean some police don’t enforce laws they don’t agree with? like how did Eric Rudolph remain a fugitive for so long? and maybe some cops in California look the other way in a medical marijuana bust? is this right? well apparently some people think so.
August 22nd, 2005 at 10:38 amYeah sure, but when its 2am and the bars just closed and I compare the cops to the Mhadi army, I get a beat-down. Is that fair?
August 22nd, 2005 at 11:45 amI think Allan was talking about a future state he is working towards, when local Christian militias will drag people out of their homes in the middle of the night for un-Christian behavior and blasphemy. He just got ahead of himself, is all.
August 22nd, 2005 at 12:22 pmannie-outhouse… you write about the shrub (not a full bush) “He is both inept and a follower being driven by the NEOCON warlords he mistakenly appointed.” Hmmmm…. he didn’t appoint anyone. They (PNAC-the NEOCON Warlords, at http://www.newamericancentury.org) chose him as someone stupid enough to really believe he is president, and stupid enough to repeat the lines they wrote for him as they did for the reagan and poppy….
I remember laughing at people who said we had a “New World Order” coming courtesy of poppy bush….. how wrong I was (I apologize for laughing, Terry). It’s easy to see it was true then, but their extreme arrogance will do them in.
August 22nd, 2005 at 6:12 pmChilling…he has truly found ignorance in his bliss.
August 22nd, 2005 at 10:12 pmWhat a moron! The only good to come from all of these jackass presidential candidate wannabes is that they are all so incredibly stupid, which makes even the worst Democratic contender look like a John Kennedy!
August 22nd, 2005 at 10:24 pmThe Iraquis live in an ancient land and the Sunis & Shia smolder with resentments of over a thousand years…. The neo-cons have no sense of what to do there…
August 22nd, 2005 at 11:54 pmAllen must be as clueless and delusional as the rest of them. His comment made no sense, and I even tried reading it backwards and holding it up to a mirror.
Like Vietnam, this country must find its own way. We can’t impose a government on them.
I am from more liberal Maryland, temporarily working in Winchester, VA. These people around here are going to support Allen (and Bush) come what may. For them, heirs to the Confederacy, voting Democrat is voting with Blacks. White folks don’t do that. Period.
This is the heartland of the “massive resistance” to Brown v. Board led by the late Senator Harry F. Byrd (another wacko). Just recently, Virginia Military Institution, honored the memory of this local hero by holding a parade attended by the late Senator’s family. This is where many of your future military bureaucrats are trained. Nothing changes here since Stonewall Jackson.
These are the people who fought for their nasty vision right to the end at Appomatox Court House, not far from here. May they find some new Appomatox somewhere in Central Asia.
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January 9th, 2006 at 12:28 amAaron
Good work. I am going to read some more on this.
March 30th, 2008 at 8:01 am