Think Progress

LEAKED MEMO: Karen Hughes Thinks Small In Combating Iraq Insurgency

Under Secretary of State for Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs Karen Hughes heads off to the Middle East this weekend for a round of public diplomacy. Think Progress has obtained this internal memorandum sent from Hughes to National Security Council Principals earlier this month entitled “Thinking ‘bigger.’”

A key section of this memo offers the Bush administration’s strategy for “Public Diplomacy to Counter Insurgency in Iraq.” Far from “thinking bigger,” the recommendations for defeating the insurgency are small-minded, unambitious, and disconnected from reality. Here are Hughes’ three ideas:

– Substantially expand…[the] “Micro scholarship” program…targeted at youth in key disadvantaged areas in Iraq, such as Sadr City or Anbar Governorate.”

– Create a fund to support media projects by Iraqis, such as documentaries, short films, animation, audio-visual productions and other material that would show Iraq’s reality to pan-Arab and pan-Islamic audiences.

– Revive book publishing in Iraq to fill the intellectual vacuum…and support…Iraq’s hard-pressed intellectuals.

See the full memo HERE.

These are all nice ideas in theory, but the problems affecting Iraqi society go much deeper and are far more serious that the administration wants to admit. Iraq is in a state of endemic chaos, marked by four raging internal conflicts, ethnic cleansing, and few significant advances in Iraq’s economic reconstruction.

These recommendations fail to scratch the surface of the underlying problems and do not address what the recent Iraq NIE described as “a deep resentment of U.S. involvement in the Muslim world.” Hughes’ memo sadly reveals that the administration is not “thinking big” enough about the problems resulting from our current occupation of Iraq. To get things right in Iraq, we need to embrace a complete shift in strategy and adopt a policy of strategic redeployment.

Brian Katulis

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232 Responses to “LEAKED MEMO: Karen Hughes Thinks Small In Combating Iraq Insurgency”

  1. BigCynic.com says:

    “Polishing the brass on the Titanic” is one phrase that fits here.

    Not that I wish any more suffering on the Iraqi people, and not that I think we should have ever invaded in the first place, but stopping the Sunni-Shiite slaughter should be priority one, not hearts-and-minds programs like this.

    As usual, the Bush administration is proceeding as if everything is going swimmingly. They’ve lied to us so much that they’re starting to believe their own propaganda — always a sign of an out-of-touch autocrat.

    Read “The farce known as America’s immigration debate”


  2. The Confessor says:

    *Confessor shakes his head*

    It’s kind of bewildering to see this sort of fluff advanced by the Bush team, since it’s a perfect representation of the disconnection from reality which the GOP often ascribes to the progressive wing of the Democratic party.

    It reminds me of nothing so much as a snippit of dialogue from the VCPR radio station in the video game Grand Theft Auto: Vice City, obviously meant to lampoon such ill-considered solutions to problems.

    We’d award badges to good gangs, and give bad gangs a silly hat to wear!


  3. Badmoodman says:

    Create a fund to support media projects by Iraqis, such as documentaries, short films, animation, audio-visual productions – - Karen Hughes should send the Iraqis the upcoming episode of “The Simpson,” set to air on Nov.5:
    http://www.animationmagazine.net/article.php?article_id=6059


  4. BearCountry says:

    The whole WH clique has a view of Iraq that has nothing to do with reality. If we would get out, the Iraqis would fix their problems faster and easier than with us there. Then, once they actually had schools and reconstructed infrastructure, they could begin to think about doing these other things.

    How much love for the USA does she think that a recipient of a scholarship would have right now?

    Why would this money be better administered now than before? We have had so much go down the rathole that I can’t even count it. This peanut amount she is describing would be siphoned off so quickly we wouldn’t even know that it got there.

    She is supposed to be working on the “big picture” of how we can deal with the people of the Middle East, but she is looking at the edges. We need to leave them alone to work out their own problems, not slap them with one hand and hand them chump-change with the other.


  5. DW says:

    Given that the U.S. military brass and the Iraqi government personnel already fill most of the Green Zone in Baghdad, where does Karen Hughes expect these printing presses and video studios to be located?! And if they’re not in the Green Zone, will she venture forth into the rest of Iraq – the Red Zone – to oversee their organization and delivery?! Get real.


  6. west virginia hillbilly says:

    It seems to me, we should be looking for a disciple of Sufism that practice the early tenets of Islam of love and peace. If such a cleric exists, we should be helping him with all we got.


  7. Heterodoxy says:

    —Create a symphony and chess club organization as way to keep their baby democracy minds from being distracted with jihad thoughts.

    —Fund football programs so they can take their anger out on a safe haven. More scholarships and corporate tie in.

    —poetry department should be expanded to self actualize the wonderous democracy that is burgeoning.

    —If all else fails unleash the daisy cutters and lets move on to Iran.

    Sincerely,

    Karen “Soccer Mom” Hughes


  8. Random Rightie says:

    “These are all nice ideas in theory”

    It disturbs me to read realistic, sensible commentary on this website… the left/right inversion deepens. When oh when will the situation normalize. :(


  9. have skunk says:

    Yes, there are other issues that need to be addressed first like ELECTRICITY, WATER AND KEEPING PEOPLE FROM BEING KILLED IN THE STREET. Scholarships. Bloody hell.


  10. Your Conscience says:

    OMF GOD!!!!

    Did you read that memo?!!!!!!!!!!!!

    Talking about an inverse heirchy of needs. These ignorant hillbillies are so full of shit they are discussing self actualized objectives when avaerage Iraqi citizens operate on no electricity, food shortages, and simply trying not to get blown up and living another day????

    America gets what it voted for.

    The shit is going to be so much worse in the next 20 years because of this HISTORICAL COLLOSSAL FAILURE.


  11. Heterodoxy says:

    Random Rightie what was the name of Bob Woodwards book again?? It is on the tip of my tongue…………


  12. Mr.+Todd says:

    I dont know guys, Karen Hughes has no real capacity to shape US counterinsurgency strategy, so I wouldnt make a big deal out of this memo. Better to focus on people who actually have a say in it. Her job is basically to shill for president bush, using the same tired lines we’ve heard for years, and telling them to international audiences who have long ago decided we’re all full of sh*t. With Iraq as it is, there’s real no way public diplomacy of the kind she specializes in will have any effect on the situation on the ground in Iraq anyway, let alone on international opinion of the US. The best public diplomacy success at this point would be to keep water and electricity on in Baghdad for most of the day.


  13. Paul says:

    The contradictions of these Right-wingers never cease to amaze. They’ve been railing against things like arts grants for public media for decades, and now they suddenly believe they’re the cornerstone that will SAVE Iraq from CIVIL WAR.


  14. Paul says:

    Electricity has dropped from 20 hrs a day to 3. Karen, why don’t we keep the lights on first, huh?


  15. david o says:

    Karen Hughes has sh*t for brains.


  16. west+virginia+hillbilly says:

    Great suggestion to, “keep the lights on, Paul. Do you really think we could do it?


  17. Badmoodman says:

    13: Karen Hughes has no real capacity to shape US counterinsurgency strategy – - Hughes is one of Bush’s long-time closest confidantes, trusted advisor and a charter member of the inner circle. Not to mention Hughes is another surrogate wife of Bush’s.


  18. Dog_named_Boo says:

    Condi looks as if she wishes she had a knife in her hand.


  19. DB says:

    This is amazing. As the current occupants of the WH undermine public funding for major civic institutions such as the arts, media, and public education, K.H. purposes these same ideas to salvage victory in Iraq. These people are truly dilusional.


  20. margaret says:

    Sounds like the U.S. could benefit from this “thinking bigger” strategy!

    Hmmmm….. scholarships to disadvantaged youth, funds for independent media projects and support of intellectuals’ book publishing? Can we have some of that too?!


  21. katy says:

    “Under Secretary of State for Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs”…

    they just made that up for her, didn’t they? …i don’t know, it just sounds like some new-fangled thing they cooked up to keep karen busy…


  22. Suzanne says:

    What the heck is a leaked memo..really?
    Is a leak something that has now become institutionalized?
    Is there a book of leaking etiquette?
    Is a leak really a leak or just information framed a certain way in order to get more attention and to make us think it is a “leak”?
    How many different kinds of leaks are there?

    I don’t think people really know anymore…. Propaganda leaks, real leaks, fake leaks…..on and on. God, does anyone else here get tired thinking about how much this government and other “forces that be” are jerking us all around on a daily basis? The thugs in power were never on our team….the American team. They just wanted to steal……all about power and theft. They need to be held accountable………


  23. Linkmeister says:

    How come midnight basketball was a terrible idea for American youth but a good one for Iraqi kids?


  24. katy says:

    “Thinking ‘bigger.’”

    awww, karen… c’mon now… use your imagination… do it like this:

    “Think BIGGER” … there ya go… no charge…
    .


  25. hadenough says:

    How come gun control would be good for American youth but not for Iraqi kids?

    Also some clalmation shorts would help. Everybody lovs claymation.


  26. JohnG says:

    You guys are heartless liberals.

    First you criticize the administration for not thinking, then you criticize every single idea they use to adapt.

    Microshcolarhsips are a great idea!!! If you don’t understand why, go read about economics in developing nations and the most recent nobel peace prize.

    Liberal pessimists…everything is always wrong.

    All of us might wish at times that we lived in a more tranquil world, but we don’t. And if our times are difficult and perplexing, so are they challenging and filled with opportunity.

    Robert Kennedy


  27. aguafiero says:

    Karen, (you pathetic little poodle)
    You’re two decades late, and a few trillion short.
    Your ideas at this point in time are like trying to stop a forest fire with a bottle of Evian.


  28. Fools+in+the+GOP says:

    Clueless republicans. It’s a freakshow. That is what our government has become.


  29. katy says:

    —Fund football programs …
    Comment by Heterodoxy — October 28, 2006 @ 4:42 pm

    YES! MARCHING BANDS!!!

    it’s true that school band programs are a huge educational benefit…
    and since so many schools here in the states have had to give up their band programs, there should be plenty of instruments we could “lend”…

    w00t!


  30. Badmoodman says:

    #26: Microshcolarhsips (sic) are a great idea!!! – - Better give all the Iraqis laptops and make all the courses online because any brick and mortar school will get blown up. And those latops better come with a pre-charged battery powered by dilithium crystals.


  31. aguafiero says:

    #26
    Thank you for the quote from Robert Kennedy.
    Perhaps we can all remember back to the point in history when he spoke those words.
    Kind of a cosmic coincidence today for me, to see those words in print……..
    In the course of pulling up 3 layers of old linoleum from the floor of my house today, I found newspapers from the early sixties, here’s a couple short articles, exactly as they appeared:
    Albuquerque Journal, May 4th, 1960Testing Device Has Deafening (unreadable)
    Sandia Corp. “torture experts” have added a new torture to their routine of environmental testing – the power to create a screaming noise equal to that of 1000 hi-fi sets running at full power.
    The test facility creates the deafening roar to duplicate the sound vibration caused by rockets, missiles, and jet aircraft.
    According to W.H.Cross, environmental test engineer for the acoustic facility, sound up to 148 decibels can be produced. This is enough to cause instant deafness, he said.
    The facility has eight low…..”
    (the rest of the article is missing)


  32. Evelyn says:

    Micro-scholarships are not what the Nobel Prize was about–it was about micro-lending for micro-entrepreneurship. And if people need education, a functioning state with a bazillion barrels of oil at their disposal ought to be able to provide it. Why the hell should my tax dollars pay for Iraqi kids to get scholarships? I’m paying for my own kid to go to college. Why, someone tell me why, is Iraq poor? And if it is, why isn’t it Saudi Arabia’s job to finance their education? Why is that my responsibility?

    And if scholarships and publishing and the arts deserve U. S. taxpayer dollars in Iraq, is the same true in the U. S.?

    And someone tell me this–what gives Karen Hughes the least bit of credibility on how to re-build a Muslim country? According to her Wiki bio, she was a journalist for a short while after college and then worked for Bush pretty much ever since. And that qualifies her to do what?


  33. blogenfreude says:

    You know, we could work on getting them more than a few hours of electricity per day, but maybe we should just paint some more schools and grant a few more micro-scholarships … let’s hope the recipients survive to attend classes.


  34. james+k.+sayre says:

    When The Decider looks in the mirror each morning, he’s spying on the world’s biggest terrorist…
    Cheers.


  35. vwcat says:

    I have to laugh at this. It’s so beyond a rational person to understand the thinking of this deluded gang of dolts. It’s also scary to think they are running this country as well.


  36. chett says:

    Notice these are are all programs lending themselves to information management … which is why that’s all there is to her “plan” and why there’s no concern on their part about it’s considerably low bar. It’s just the advance PR for programs that will facilitate future propaganda within the Iraq. And it’s also probably easy to pillage the budgets of programs like these.


  37. jackson80 says:

    maybe she could turn on the electricity and control inflation along with her youth ministry…………….pure texas hogwash


  38. Briseadh na Faire says:

    I read the memo.

    Reality check.

    Iraqi police recruits are gunned down on a regular basis. How do you think Iraqi children will fare going to an American after-school center?

    Was this President Bush’s “secret plan” for success in Iraq? After-school centers staffed by Ameri-Corps volunteers? Create more targets for the Iraqi insurgents/freedom fighters?

    Think about it: this is seen as the best way to win the hearts and minds of occupied Iraq.


  39. theswan says:

    This broad and her boss simply don’t have a clue.
    They may be able to fool the We The People, but the Iraquis never.
    Predicted failure again.
    Heck of a job, karen.


  40. Budpaul says:

    Perhaps next she could have people plant flower gardens in the front of the rumble that used to be their houses.
    America’s Least Wanted


  41. Keone Michaels says:

    I did not realize anyone could be more out of touch than Mr. Bush. Well, Ms. Hughes has dissuaded me from that conclusion.


  42. El+Tonno says:

    This is nothing special. If you want ‘out of touch’, check this gem from as early as 2003:

    http://www.theregister.co.uk/2003/04/29/riaas_rosen_writing_iraq_copyright/


  43. sandy says:

    I hope someone in the msm gets this and reads it to America. These kids are being shot at, seeing people blown up, have limited electricty and this is the “plan” ms huge comes up with???? These people live in never never land. It’s pathetic and scary all at the same time…


  44. Heterodoxy says:

    Keyboard Cowboy John G. states

    You guys are heartless liberals.

    First you criticize the administration for not thinking, then you criticize every single idea they use to adapt.

    Microshcolarhsips are a great idea!!!
    Liberal pessimists…everything is always wrong.

    John G. It’s time already… You need to die for your criminal chimp. If you don’t enlist because you have “other obligations” – You have no business here pushing your propaganda spam while cheering the deaths of others.

    Air Force

    Air National Guard

    Army

    Army National Guard

    Coast Guard

    Marines

    Military Career Guide Online

    Minnesota National Guard

    Navy

    *FOR YOU BITCHES WHO LIE AND CLAIM YOU ALREADY HAVE SERVED OR YOU’RE TOO OLD, I GOT YOU COVERED TOO:

    Jobs with American Contractors in Iraq and surrounding countries Positions Currently (09-27-06) Available
    The conflict in Iraq, has opened opportunities in thousands of support jobs with hundreds of large US companies involved in a range of security, logistics and non military operations.
    The types of jobs available are shown on the left. But if your speciality is not on there, don’t worry, it is difficult to find a skill that is not being used in this operation.

    http://www.jobline.net/jobiraq1.htm

    BUH BYE!!!!!!!


  45. Rape-Public-Cans = Enemy #1 says:

    More proof male chearleaders make for poor commanders in chief.


  46. David Mead says:

    Delusional beyound believe. All of Iraq is a “disadvantaged area” now that we have unleased the wrath of terroist hell. Judging from the photo King George really likes to hear fantasies pour forth from the articulate but naive KH and KR. Reality on the ground is that Iraq will implode fairly soon, sucking the US down with it. Throw these bozos a life raft as they obviously can’t swim in the deep end.


  47. Zooey says:

    Sasquatch Hughes is unforgiveably stupid on her best day…


  48. trueblue says:

    The Death of a Marine

    Life over there.
    We have no clue.

    Bring these Americans home.


  49. katy says:

    Perhaps next she could have people plant flower gardens…
    Comment by Budpaul — October 28, 2006 @ 7:24 pm

    VICTORY GARDENS !!! YAY!!!!

    i was just reading an article in “the progressive” about how america’s fertilizer and pesticide industries grew out of the post war 2 need to use up left-over chemicals originally used for bombs and poison gases…
    hey! from lemons…

    (you all know i’m being facetious, right?) … right?
    .


  50. MY FLOATING WORLDS - … opinion, comments about life, lyfestyle, POLITICS AND ART on the planet …. » Think Progress » LEAKED MEMO: Karen Hughes Thinks Small In Combating Iraq Insurgency says:

    [...] Think Progress » LEAKED MEMO: Karen Hughes Thinks Small In Combating Iraq Insurgency By ghostwriter Think Progress » LEAKED MEMO: Karen Hughes Thinks Small In Combating Iraq Insurgency [...]


  51. trueblue says:

    Hi, Zooey.

    Any time I hear her name, all I can think of is Stephanie Miller.

    Any time they mention her name, they play a sound effect of some pretty hefty feet hittin’ the floor.

    It’s a riot.


  52. Zooey says:

    Hi true,

    That is funny.

    I’m tall, so I shouldn’t say anything, but she’s such an idiot all bets are off.

    Anyone know how tall Sasquatch Hughes is?


  53. Dog_named_Boo says:

    And that qualifies her to do what?

    Comment by Evelyn

    Spew and write propaganda


  54. gtsagan says:

    Give the girl a break, folks! She’s obviously there to Foleyate the prez.

    Let’s give her some help. Maybe she could add:

    - passing out bibles

    - organizing bake sales

    - starting some bowling leagues

    - boy scouts/girl scouts

    - water polo

    - spelling bees

    - scavenger hunts

    Uh, no. Better scrap the scavenger hunts. They might … find shit.

    Anyway, feel free to use my list, Karen. And don’t think you have to mention my name.

    We might both get waterboarded.


  55. Cromagnon says:

    Condi looks like a jealous wife!


  56. Briseadh+na+Faire says:

    31, the audio devise is already in use in Iraq and local police departments are considering it in the US:

    Another weapon, manufactured by American Technology Corp. in Topsham, Maine, is a large disk that blares instructions in several different languages and can broadcast deafening and highly irritating tones over great distances. The long-range device precisely emits a high-energy acoustic beam as far as five football fields away. To a reporter standing across the air strip from where it was set up in a hangar here, it sounded as if someone was shouting directly into his ear.

    The device ”has proven useful for clearing streets and rooftops during cordon and search, for disseminating command information, and for drawing out enemy snipers who are subsequently destroyed by our own snipers,” the 361st Psychological Operations Company, which has tested the system in Iraq, told engineers in a report.

    Temporary exposure to the audio system, which is also under consideration by the Boston Police Department for crowd control, does not risk permanent hearing damage, company officials said.

    http://66.102.7.104/search?q=cache:VUjsT5NJL-UJ:www.oft.osd.mil/library/library_files/article_461_Boston%2520Globe.doc+Testing+Device+Has+Deafening&hl=en&gl=us&ct=clnk&cd=2

    Unless, of course, they turn the volume up….


  57. Zooey says:

    Unless, of course, they turn the volume up….
    Comment by Briseadh+na+Faire

    I heard the volume goes up to eleven.
    (snark)


  58. JohnG says:

    #44

    John G. It’s time already… You need to die for your criminal chimp. If you don’t enlist because you have “other obligations” – You have no business here pushing your propaganda spam while cheering the deaths of others.

    I see, even though a majority of americans don’t won’t us to leave until the iraq is pacified, and I’m “challenging” your kool-aid cherry picked information….I should die. You facist. Way to debate on the points…oh wait, you just are a bunch of 20-20 hindsight critics.

    Liberals spew nothing but hate and wish the destruction of their citizens. You have so much hate from be propagandized by liberal 2 dimensional sound bites, you have all become disconnected from reality.

    Your shortsighted, “lets pretend everyone can talk it out” liberal thinking will be the death of America. Wake up to reality. I know you’re all rooting for the enemy.

    You have no idea about the future, so don’t preach to me about your “facts”…aka speculation.

    ##############################

    Winners win, Losers lose.
    Vote for a democrat, and vote for bad news.

    You’re liberals are right [sic], the US can’t win.
    Of course don’t help, just criticize past sin.

    Made some mistakes to win the cold war,
    Fixing it now so our kids avoid horror

    heads down we leave, from terrorists, thugs, and thieves?
    Japan, Germany, seemed to become free.

    our armed forced can succeed cuz we’re pretty smart
    if liberal senators stop speculating with their mouth farts

    just because we have no hindsight time machine
    doesn’t mean that we just give up on our team

    while democrats pretend there is no social security woes
    and sen. clinton says that parents can’t know

    with all the liberal special interest bills ready for the inking
    not yet, we’re not fooled…with your short sighted liberal thinking

    ##############################


  59. Zooey says:

    Wow, John G, that’s some big-time projection.


  60. Zooey says:

    Also, John G, that’s poetry a Vogon would be proud of.


  61. JohnG says:

    #60

    Also, John G, that’s poetry a Vogon would be proud of.

    Well, I have to give props to you…that was the best reply thus far :)


  62. Michele says:

    Look at the look on Condi’s face! What do ya think she is thinking?


  63. Dog_named_Boo says:

    Winners win, Losers lose.
    Vote for a democrat, and vote for bad news.

    Bwhahaha the last 6 years of bad news has been created by the GrOPes!


  64. rollotomasi says:

    Could be an idea for a new TV show – think Andy Griffith meets Mad Max Across Thunderdome.

    Besides her utter divorcement from the current reality that the typical Iraq citizen, including children, faces a battle to simply survive until the next day so he/she can fight the same battle all over again, the truly disturbing thing is that Karen Hughes’ memo, when read in entirety, clearly assumes a very long occupation of Iraq. I don’t know how inside the policy loop Hughes is, but she but two rungs below the President on the Executive org-chart. (Rice is between them.)

    Provide through these summer camps and after-school centers a safe and secure environment for instruction in English language learning and other language skills, as well as instruction in well-recognized opportunity building skills for children such as computer and financial literacy, math and science, and healthy living, while conveying democratic values through the process. The centers will be professionally staffed by local instructors the USG has trained and by American volunteers drawn from ESA exchange programs, Embassy families and the private sector.

    What are they planning to do, make Iraq the 51st state? If so, Iraq under Hughes’s plan would have better programs for underprivileged children than the other 50. While the neocons continue their grand experiment in privatizing a country – which has blown up in the lab to the tune of a half million or so dead and counting, funds for mental health and mental retardation programs in the U.S. continue to be cut.

    They never cease to amaze in their arrogance and wrongness. “Winning” (whatever that may mean) at the cost of our country’s financial, military and moral strength is anything but.


  65. Dog_named_Boo says:

    You’re liberals are right [sic], the US can’t win.
    Of course don’t help, just criticize past sin.

    Criticism is constructive, such as in changing the course [iceberg ahead mentality] criticize past sin? Whom has sinned? Republicans! We are helping the sinners to see so they can correct their dear leader course!!
    Murtha said redeploy a while back, now James Baker will propose the same and the GrOPes won’t DARE say a word. The GOP is brainless lemmings!


  66. have skunk says:

    You guys are heartless liberals.
    First you criticize the administration for not thinking, then you criticize every single idea they use to adapt.
    Microshcolarhsips are a great idea!!! If you don’t understand why, go read about economics in developing nations and the most recent nobel peace prize.
    Liberal pessimists…everything is always wrong.

    Comment by JohnG — October 28, 2006 @ 6:13 pm

    I’ll say it AGAIN: ELECTRICITY, WATER, SAFETY FROM BEING KILLED IN THE STREETS. My lord.


  67. Dog_named_Boo says:

    They never cease to amaze in their arrogance and wrongness. “Winning” (whatever that may mean) at the cost of our country’s financial, military and moral strength is anything but.

    Comment by rollotomasi

    I think because Rice is the daughter of an evangelical preacher from Alabama and Hughes is another of the 30% [Lahaye] crowd that see War in the middle east as part of the coming of the messiah and as such they care less. [my soapbox]


  68. Dog_named_Boo says:

    You guys are heartless liberals.

    We are against war, that would save hundreds of thousands of lives.

    Bush began this war. I think you mean. “You guys are heartless GOP warmongers”

    But even that would be a lie wouldn’t it?


  69. JohnG says:

    #63 No, we need a 60% majority, so the we can get some bills through. I wish the political reality would allow for us to pick up seats. Alas, wishful thinking.


  70. Badmoodman says:

    Hughes can bring back Gerry Ford’s W.I.N. buttons. Instead of Whip Inflation Now, they’ll stand for Whip Insurgency Now.


  71. Sharon Cox says:

    Would the last person to post please turn out the light’s……Blessings


  72. JohnG says:

    #65

    Criticism is constructive, such as in changing the course [iceberg ahead mentality] criticize past sin? Whom has sinned? Republicans! We are helping the sinners to see so they can correct their dear leader course!!
    Murtha said redeploy a while back, now James Baker will propose the same and the GrOPes won’t DARE say a word. The GOP is brainless lemmings!

    Oh really, you go read through these comments and tell me how “constructive” the remarks are.

    What is apparent, is the joy for bush to have 0% success, regardless how it impacts the world, our troops, and the future.

    “Redeploy”??? Wow, some big bold guy spots that general term…who before any investigation was accusing our soldiers of murder before any investigation on the senate floor a few days after “reports” started coming in. It’s obvious at some point we would change tactics…progress takes time. You people don’t understand the transfer from theoretical wishy thinking and executing that under fire from murdering thugs. (FYI – Since it may not be 100% clear to you liberals, the murderous thugs describes the terrorists, not the coalition forces).

    We still have troops in Japan and Germany and South Korea, etc, etc. What kind of expectations did you have?


  73. katy says:

    What are they planning to do, make Iraq the 51st state?…
    Comment by rollotomasi — October 28, 2006 @ 9:43 pm

    i do believe so… way back in 98 (?), with the pnac plan…
    it is totally a grand experiment… gone horribly wrong…


  74. Zooey says:

    Would the last person to post please turn out the light’s……Blessings
    Comment by Sharon Cox

    *snort*


  75. katy says:

    zooey- … vogons – are you referring to Hitchhiker’s Guide?
    i googled the word and most links pointed to that, and wiki…
    not flattering at all…
    oh! i see…
    :)


  76. JohnG says:

    #66 Well, we can’t make the insurgents stop sabotaging the stuff…it’s tough work in the Iraqi reality. You don’t give up when it gets tough, you don’t pull out and abandon what success we have made (albeit 50% optimal, based on the looting reality we assumed). I wish the Iraqi’s didn’t here from he NYT how we torture, how gitmao was standard operating procedure, and bush lied about stuff. Kind of makes the terrorists job easier.

    And before you accuse me of not understanding the value of democracy…I do. But the liberals “tone” has consequences, regardless of whether you have the right to do it.

    Disband the military that was shooting us two weeks early? Yes, maybe a bad idea…we made a lot of mistakes over there. But again, there is no text book for dealing with today’s global threats.

    We had bad intelligence, I know everyone thought we we’re perfect…we are the U.S. after all. But given what the president knew at the time, I hope any president would have reacted the same way. Thank god Gore wasn’t elected!!! Good environmental evangelist, not the guy we need to show stregnth in this nutty world.


  77. JohnG says:

    #68 In world of today’s reality, nothing you have said would save lives in the long term. Short sighted, “i hate bush cool crowd” drum beat as per usual.


  78. JohnG says:

    #75 thanks for making sure I understood the personal attack. Liberals cliques!

    It was props for the wit.


  79. 'sconset says:

    This woman is so far over her head–she is no more qualified for this position than the man in the moon. The only reason she has this job is because of her “unique friendship”with Chimpy McFlightsuit. She couldn’t find her ass with both hands behind her back.

    The only thing Hughes has to show for the last 2 years is a lot of frequent flyer miles. She is pathetic.

    Word is that she is not respected by career foreign service people because she has her own little fantasy ideas for other nations that are not workable.


  80. JohnG says:

    #79

    This woman is so far over her head–she is no more qualified for this position than the man in the moon. The only reason she has this job is because of her “unique friendship”with Chimpy McFlightsuit. She couldn’t find her ass with both hands behind her back.

    It’s funny you mention nothing of her actual record and accomplishments…just personal attacks.

    Liberals, still pissed off that they’re is no santa claus…how could they lie to me, bastards! [sic]


  81. WaltTheMan says:

    #79, #80 – ’sconset,
    That woman is so catty, I believe she licks it.


  82. Jeffrey Stewart says:

    Ms. Hughes is only capable of thinking small.


  83. tim says:

    I haven’t believed or trusted a word Karen Hughes has said since the 2000
    election… acting like she was a constitutional scholar or something, lol

    http://www.tothecenter.com


  84. Zooey says:

    That woman is so catty, I believe she licks it.
    Comment by WaltTheMan

    Oy god, Walt…


  85. tim says:

    Who could trust Karen Hughes after the 2000 election? Like she was a constitutional scholar or something! lol…

    http://www.tothecenter.com


  86. Audrey says:

    This big old girl is just one of the skirts Georgie hides behind besides Condi, Laura, Babs and Harriet. His women always get thrown into the fray when the going gets rough for the poor little frat boy. What do you suppose we’re paying K. Hughes for her bandaid diplomacy?


  87. JohnG says:

    #81 & #82

    ##############################

    Winners win, Losers lose.
    Vote for a democrat, and vote for bad news.

    You’re liberals are right [sic], the US can’t win.
    Of course don’t help, just criticize past sin.

    it’s tough so lets not try, let sjust forget all the tears
    while never debate the ideas, just spew venom and smears

    Made some mistakes to win the cold war,
    Fixing it now so our kids avoid horror

    heads down we leave, from terrorists, thugs, and thieves?
    Japan, Germany, seemed to become free.

    our armed forced can succeed cuz we’re pretty smart
    if liberal senators stop speculating with their mouth farts

    just because we have no hindsight time machine
    doesn’t mean that we just give up on our team

    while democrats pretend there is no social security woes
    and sen. clinton says that parents can’t know

    with all the liberal special interest bills ready for the inking
    not yet, we’re not fooled…with your short sighted liberal thinking

    while north korea and iran resist nuclear inspections
    go head and just spew your “i’m bitter” speculations

    ##############################


  88. WaltTheMan says:

    #84 – Zooey,
    I guess you know a cat. I learned the phrase from my Grandfather, born in 1880, died in 1976.



  89. Zooey says:

    I guess you know a cat. I learned the phrase from my Grandfather, born in 1880, died in 1976.
    Comment by WaltTheMan

    Well, I was the Zookeeper…

    My condolences, Walt. Sounds like your grandfather was an interesting man. :P


  90. Gonnuts says:

    What’s next? Balloons and Pop-Tarts?

    Folks, all is going according to plan – bush&co. are right on target. There is no reason for them to do anything that will actually work to reduce the chaos. It’s easier for Halliburton to hide their war-profiteering when chaos rains and certainly more profitable to drag this chaos out as long as possible.

    Know this – this a completely political regime. Nothing they do is being done for the benefit of anyone but themselves. There is no mercy for anyone that thinks otherwise. They have destroyed democracy through the decimation of the electoral process, murdered the very people they took an oath to protect (9/11 was an inside job – if you look at the evidence there is no other conclusion) and now are in the process of taking their insanity into Iran and there isn’t anyone that can stop them being congress has sheepishly given bush dictatorial powers only matched by modern tyrants such as Hitler and Stalin.

    What bush is doing with hughes and rice is a tap-dance of folly for the masses.


  91. Juan+C says:

    Comment by JohnG

    *yawn*


  92. katy says:

    …I wish the Iraqi’s didn’t here from he NYT how we torture, how gitmao was standard operating procedure, and bush lied about stuff. Kind of makes the terrorists job easier.

    oh man… are you a comedian? ’cause that line just cracked me up!
    how ’bout if there were NO torture, or gitmo, or lies, huh?
    that would make the job of diplomacy and democracy a lot easier…

    We had bad intelligence…
    Comment by JohnG — October 28, 2006 @ 10:12 pm

    no, johng, we didn’t… we had bad people ignoring the good intelligence…

    you are in way over your head here… you should just keep quiet and read and learn… your country needs your help… and you’re not helping…
    .


  93. brandX says:

    The house is on fire and Hughes’ response is to put up some cute Martha Stewart holiday decorations.


  94. Mike says:

    Here’s a memo for the dumbshits in the White House:

    1. Announce that all rebuilding contracts with American corporations are cancelled. The money will be distributed to the Iraqi government to Iraqi businesses.

    2. Renounce all claims to Iraq’s oil, allow the Iraqis to cancel contracts with American corporations, and allow them to undo the privatization and theft of their economy imposed by the Bushies.

    3. Announce the United States will suspend any work on permanent military bases until our troops pull out so the Iraqis can decide if they want them without being under duress.

    4. Suspend work on the mega-embassy for the same reason.

    5. Announce that all mercenaries will be withdrawn, but any who have committed war crimes will be turned over to the Iraqi police to do with as they see fit.

    6. Announce that our troops will pull out of all cities and will initiate no hostilities while they are being sent home.

    These things will not be done because the Bushies went their to steal. Just as they gave their rebuilding cronies billions in no bid contracts, they gave oil companies trillions worth of oil concessions and let those companies dictate the terms of the contracts and how the oil sector of the Iraqi economy is structured.

    It is to our undying shame that not only our president and republicans aren’t talking about this real agenda taking Iraq’s oil but neither is the supposed oppositon party, the Democrats, or most of the alternative press (let alone the mainstream press or right wing PR network).


  95. Zooey says:

    The house is on fire and Hughes’ response is to put up some cute Martha Stewart holiday decorations.
    Comment by brandX

    Bull’s eye, brandX


  96. Juan+C says:

    It is to our undying shame that not only our president and republicans aren’t talking about this real agenda taking Iraq’s oil but neither is the supposed oppositon party, the Democrats, or most of the alternative press (let alone the mainstream press or right wing PR network).
    Comment by Mike

    Of course. The political class will do everything to keep the attention of the people in emotional, useless stuff. But there wont be a word about who profits from it. Now, do you think the Muslim leaders are really pissed off by this war? Not a chance. They recruit more young poor kids with destroyed lives. If it was a matter of principles wouldnt OBL tape himself with C4 and blow himself? Oh no…Allah says only poor people should blow himself up. This is a beautiful world, ruled by people addicted to power and supported by sh*tless people…like Exley and JohnG.


  97. Taurus says:

    This is delusional! Karen Hughes thinks that films can help “show Iraq’s reality to pan-Arab and pan-Islamic audiences.” Does she have any idea what the reality in Iraq is? Has she been outside the green zone?

    You won’t believe it, but the plan is like something right out of the new novel The Futurist. It’s as if Hughes read the novel and cribbed her ideas from it.


  98. Dr. Bernardo says:

    I’ll just apply this here Ban-Aid to your gaping festering wound……seeeee……doesn’t that feeeeel… better?


  99. Zooey says:

    Well said, Juan, as usual. :)


  100. Karen Hughes says:

    - institute an “Itchy and Scratchy” cartoon marathon for the Iraqi children


  101. JohnG says:

    #92 I know, it’s not exciting unless everyone agrees with you


  102. GSD says:

    Frankly some warm milk, cookies and a nice bedtime story might really put a crimp in the insurgency.

    -Mama Hughes


  103. Maezeppa says:

    “and are far more serious that the administration”

    should be THAN.


  104. Kenneth E. Tucker says:

    #26

    JohnG’s post re:

    “heartless liberals …go read about economics in developing nations…”

    1) Iraq isn’t a developing nation, it’s a devolving nation, so… micro-economics/scholarships can’t/won’t apply.

    2) with less than 3hrs a day of electricity, you’re right I would have to be the one to go ‘read’, they obviously can’t.

    3) heartless liberals…? you kool-aid drinkers are so screwed up you are mixing/forgetting your metaphors. we’re ‘godless liberals’, and YOU are the ‘heartless bastards’.

    i know, i know. calls for supporting intellectuals, funding public access, and injecting capital into the hands of the masses by your standard bearers IS disconcerting but, please, try to keep up pretenses/appearances (at least for another week+) you’ve got an election to subvert by obfuscation, omission and/or theft.

    LMAO!!


  105. Juan+C says:

    Well said, Juan, as usual. :)
    Comment by Zooey

    *blush*


  106. Keith says:

    How about building wishing wells throughout the Sunni Triangle Karen, that ought to do it.


  107. Nat says:

    “What is apparent, is the joy for bush to have 0% success, regardless how it impacts the world, our troops, and the future.
    Comment by JohnG — October 28, 2006 @ 10:03 pm”

    -Bush brought it upon himself. he invaded a country based on dubious claims. It was inevitable that Iraq would turn out this way.


  108. Vince Farley says:

    madrassas…that’ll do it. karen hughes. heckuva job.


  109. Jim says:

    That can’t be a real document because the “ideas” are so silly that they could not possibly be considered serious proposals. Even W is not that stupid.


  110. JohnG says:

    #105

    1) Iraq isn’t a developing nation, it’s a devolving nation, so… micro-economics/scholarships can’t/won’t apply.

    2) with less than 3hrs a day of electricity, you’re right I would have to be the one to go ‘read’, they obviously can’t.

    3) heartless liberals…? you kool-aid drinkers are so screwed up you are mixing/forgetting your metaphors. we’re ‘godless liberals’, and YOU are the ‘heartless bastards’.

    1. Iraq is not lost. I know you want to give up, but more americans disagree with you.

    2. That is not the U.S. fault, it is the Iraqi’s for not securing their country.

    3. no heartless, you know about the death that will be caused if america pulls out, plus the long term fiasco of iraq as a terrorist breeding ground. You just want to be right, because you obvious don’t want the us to win.


  111. Nat says:

    “I wish the Iraqi’s didn’t here from he NYT how we torture, how gitmao was standard operating procedure, and bush lied about stuff. Kind of makes the terrorists job easier.
    Comment by JohnG — October 28, 2006 @ 10:12 pm”

    I disagree. It was Bush who made the terrorists’ job easier by torturing Iraqis and making Gitmo standard operating procedure.


  112. JohnG says:

    #105

    election to subvert by obfuscation, omission and/or theft.

    Of course, whenever the democrats lose…it’s under false pretenses. Maybe others just think you’re wrong…and the other side is right. It’s a lot more probable then “obfuscation, omission and/or theft”. But keep spreading your lies and talking points.

    Bash, bash, bash, bash…..


  113. JohnG says:

    #112 Back up your claims you liberal nut.

    A few bad apples at gitmo, you have no context outside your liberal sounding boards. Wake up in to reality. U.S. has never tortured…and here you spout this information helping terrorists by trying to achieve moral equivelence.

    The US doesn’t torture suspects, the knocking them around is not torture…these are very bad men. I’m sure you would rather free or their information lost to allow blowing up civilians. You are not thinking about the other side of the coin.

    Typical liberal democrat.


  114. JohnG says:

    #114 I backtrack a little…Never tortured as part of policy, I it’s probable that a rouge cia operative has ever done this in modern times.


  115. Nat says:

    “1. Iraq is not lost. I know you want to give up, but more americans disagree with you.”

    The military has done all they can do. They invaded a country and removed their government. Their mission is complete and if you see it as a failure that’s all on you.

    “2. That is not the U.S. fault, it is the Iraqi’s for not securing their country.”

    No. It’s Bush’s fault.

    “3. no heartless, you know about the death that will be caused if america pulls out, plus the long term fiasco of iraq as a terrorist breeding ground. You just want to be right, because you obvious don’t want the us to win.
    Comment by JohnG — October 28, 2006 @ 11:40 pm”

    It has been fiasco from the run-up to the war until the present. Blame Bush not us.


  116. Nat says:

    A few bad apples at gitmo, you have no context outside your liberal sounding boards. Wake up in to reality. U.S. has never tortured…and here you spout this information helping terrorists by trying to achieve moral equivelence.

    -It was not a few bad apples this was all sanctioned from the top by the Bush administration.

    -Again, it is Bush who is helping the terrorists by torturing people.

    The US doesn’t torture suspects, the knocking them around is not torture…these are very bad men. I’m sure you would rather free or their information lost to allow blowing up civilians. You are not thinking about the other side of the coin.

    Of course the Bush administration tortures. And how does anyone know these are very bad men. The Bush administration is full of liars.


  117. ren says:

    #114 I backtrack a little…Never tortured as part of policy, I it’s probable that a rouge cia operative has ever done this in modern times.
    Comment by JohnG — October 28, 2006 @ 11:52 pm

    #255 backtrack… bla bla bla…
    Hey, lets love one another, no?


  118. Ali in Iraq says:

    Micro- scholarships???????? Iv’e used all of the pages in my textbooks to wipe with….. now to get the damn toilet to flush……….little or no sanitation/sewer for years now.


  119. Kenneth+E.+Tucker says:

    #111

    JohnnyJohnnyJohnny

    you seem to feel SO strongly, why aren’t you ‘over there’? oh, probably ‘other priorities’ (like not getting your ass blown up), eh? just like ALL the ChickenHawk assholes that ‘walked us’ into this kill zone. btw, i served, volunteered in Vietnam, unlike Bush, Cheney, LimpBalls, Allen, Armey, Boehner, Gringrich, OReilley, Frist, Hannity, Delay, etc

    capital ‘D’ denial from the kool-aid drinker, a-maz-ing!

    you CAN”t possibly be this stupid. i understand now, it’s just about being an ‘irritant’. well, the great thing about low aspirations is that they are easier to achieve. good news, johnny YOU’VE SUCCEED!!

    as for the deaths that will be caused by AmeriKa pulling out, frankly i’m NOT concerned. what i AM concerned about are the 100 deaths this month of our guys/gals and the 3000-5000 Iraqis that are dead because we ARE there.

    we need OUR troops back in the US on OUR borders to quard OUR country from the very inflamed masses, thanks to the Neocon wet dream gone bad in Iraq.

    bring em home now, let the Iraqis sort out their tribal shit. deploy on our borders and IF the folks that wind up on top get ‘off message‘ with whatever oil profits they can squeak out of what we left them… we just ‘level’ the (oil) playing field with an air/sea cruise missle ‘reminder’ to play nice.

    easy peasy

    night all, i NEED some SNL to take the idiot ’stank’ of johnny’s stupidity off of me.


  120. GOPHater says:

    These people have no clue. They are nuts. Dangerous crazies. If we don’t rid ourselves of them soon, it’ll be too late. I just finished reading Thomas Ricks’ boot Fiasco. Having read that, and now reading this trash from Hughes in absolutely infuriating. God I hate em.


  121. ren says:

    “The Iraq War” Eddie Bauer edition


  122. JohnG says:

    #117 how was it sanctioned, please provide some information from a reputable news agency or government agency.

    Liar.


  123. ForTruth says:

  124. ForTruth says:

    The road to hell is paved with good intentions.


  125. Dan Calvin says:

    As a lifelong Liberal, I’m actually liking the ideas Karen Hughes has come up with and wish her Godspeed. Too bad this wasn’t the approach the day after we entered Baghdad.

    At least is shows a grasp of letting the Government leverage its influence in a way helpful to the poor and desparate, something this Administration has not seen fit to do even in “the Homeland”. The adminstration is just not good at governing, just at dismantling governments, both home and abroad.

    I think America and the world would be far safer by switching the absolute budgets of the State department and the Defense department for about 5 years.

    There also should be a new “truth in labeling” approach to reverse the Orwellian perversions of departments and legislation. The Department of Defense should revert back to its original name as the War Department, which fits so much better. The Department of Homeland Security should be renamed the Department of Domestic Spying. The INS should be renamed “Borders”, whoops, that one is already taken.


  126. JohnG says:

    #120 nothing in your comment acknowledgers the consequences of your “i hate bush” happy dance iraq pullout.

    Typical “blah blah bush, blah blah orrielly”


  127. Nat says:

    #117 how was it sanctioned, please provide some information from a reputable news agency or government agency.

    Liar.
    Comment by JohnG — October 29, 2006 @ 12:38 am

    -Gonzalez writing torture memos with the help of that crazy Neocon Francis Fukuyama who says it’s alright for the president to crush the balls of the children of suspected terrorists to extract information.

    -Little supervision at the prison.

    -The troops convicted of torturing prisoners were not allowed to submit evidence that the Bush administration or any of their superiors sanctioned the torture.

    -Similar allegations between the torture at Gitmo and Abu Gharib.

    -The president over the last couple of months trying to secure a right to torture sending a specific message to the military and the world.

    -The liars are in the white house.


  128. Nat says:

    #120 nothing in your comment acknowledgers the consequences of your “i hate bush” happy dance iraq pullout.

    Typical “blah blah bush, blah blah orrielly”
    Comment by JohnG — October 29, 2006 @ 1:08 am

    What consequences have you imagined?


  129. Henk says:

    Bush and his crew are absolutely clueless. Support scholarships, Book publishing, intellectuals? Jesus Christ, intellectuals are leaving Iraq in droves because of the violence. Nothing, NOTHING! is going to work until the violence has stopped, or greatly reduded. Until people can go about their daily lives without fear of kidnapping, totur, being blown up or caught in the crossfire there’s not one damn thing Karn Hughes can do that will help, but these dim-bulbs don’t, won’t, can’t get it. As long as Bush reigns there will be no hope for the Iraqis.


  130. Henk says:

  131. Sharon Cox says:

    Would the last poster please close and lock the gate when johng leaves, clearly he is a cull and need’s to be cut out of the heard……Blessings


  132. Sharon Cox says:

    error….herd….Peace


  133. JonnySocko says:

    http://www.politicallyerectshirts.com/Designs/Left/images/I-think-therefore-im-Democrat.jpg

    JohnG you’re a typical fascist bloviating his bs. You talk about these sanctions as though they never happened. Well, wimpy someone had to authorize this policy and someone had to propose the legislation to allow this. Now if you can’t see the writing on the wall, which I doubt you can than obviously you hate our freedoms! I suggest you come back after serving over in Iraq, otherwise you really are not loyal to your principals are you? By answering back you obviously hate our troops!


  134. Leebuhrul says:

    (pardon the intrusion, i just found this discussion).

    Would someone remind me again what’s up and what’s down? Karen’s “ideas”, futile as they are to the romans caught in town while Rome burns, do seem an awful lot like the kind of compassionate nationbuilding Bush criticized and for which he pledged never to commit American troops.

    am I straying back to the reality based world again? would someone pass me a red pill, I’m all out (yes I know it’s not covered, I’ll replace it when my next shipment from canada comes)


  135. Election Countdown » Blog Archive » Think Progress » LEAKED MEMO: Karen Hughes Thinks Small In Combating Iraq Insurgency says:

    [...] Think Progress » LEAKED MEMO: Karen Hughes Thinks Small In Combating Iraq Insurgency [...]


  136. JonnySocko says:

    #117 how was it sanctioned, please provide some information from a reputable news agency or government agency.

    Liar.
    Comment by JohnG — October 29, 2006 @ 12:38 am

    Cheney confirms that detainees were subjected to water-boarding
    By Jonathan S. Landay
    McClatchy Newspapers

    * PDF | FORGETTING THE HISTORY OF WATER TORTURE IN U.S. COURTS

    WASHINGTON – Vice President Dick Cheney has confirmed that U.S. interrogators subjected captured senior al-Qaida suspects to a controversial interrogation technique called “water-boarding,” which creates a sensation of drowning.

    Cheney indicated that the Bush administration doesn’t regard water-boarding as torture and allows the CIA to use it. “It’s a no-brainer for me,” Cheney said at one point in an interview.

    Cheney’s comments, in a White House interview on Tuesday with a conservative radio talk show host, appeared to reflect the Bush administration’s view that the president has the constitutional power to do whatever he deems necessary to fight terrorism.

    The U.S. Army, senior Republican lawmakers, human rights experts and many experts on the laws of war, however, consider water-boarding cruel, inhumane and degrading treatment that’s banned by U.S. law and by international treaties that prohibit torture. Some intelligence professionals argue that it often provides false or misleading information because many subjects will tell their interrogators what they think they want to hear to make the water-boarding stop.

    Republican Sens. John Warner of Virginia, John McCain of Arizona and Lindsey Graham of South Carolina have said that a law Bush signed last month prohibits water-boarding. The three are the sponsors of the Military Commissions Act, which authorized the administration to continue its interrogations of enemy combatants.

    The radio interview Tuesday was the first time that a senior Bush administration official has confirmed that U.S. interrogators used water-boarding against important al-Qaida suspects, including Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the alleged chief architect of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. Mohammad was captured in Pakistan on March 1, 2003, and turned over to the CIA.

    Water-boarding means holding a person’s head under water or pouring water on cloth or cellophane placed over the nose and mouth to simulate drowning until the subject agrees to talk or confess.

    Lee Ann McBride, a spokeswoman for Cheney, denied that Cheney confirmed that U.S. interrogators used water-boarding or endorsed the technique.

    “What the vice president was referring to was an interrogation program without torture,” she said. “The vice president never goes into what may or may not be techniques or methods of questioning.”

    In the interview on Tuesday, Scott Hennen of WDAY Radio in Fargo, N.D., told Cheney that listeners had asked him to “let the vice president know that if it takes dunking a terrorist in water, we’re all for it, if it saves American lives.”

    “Again, this debate seems a little silly given the threat we face, would you agree?” Hennen said.

    “I do agree,” Cheney replied, according to a transcript of the interview released Wednesday. “And I think the terrorist threat, for example, with respect to our ability to interrogate high-value detainees like Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, that’s been a very important tool that we’ve had to be able to secure the nation.”

    Cheney added that Mohammed had provided “enormously valuable information about how many (al-Qaida members) there are, about how they plan, what their training processes are and so forth. We’ve learned a lot. We need to be able to continue that.”

    “Would you agree that a dunk in water is a no-brainer if it can save lives?” asked Hennen.

    “It’s a no-brainer for me, but for a while there, I was criticized as being the vice president `for torture.’ We don’t torture. That’s not what we’re involved in,” Cheney replied. “We live up to our obligations in international treaties that we’re party to and so forth. But the fact is, you can have a fairly robust interrogation program without torture, and we need to be able to do that.”

    The interview transcript was posted on the White House Web site. Interview of the Vice President by Scott Hennen, WDAY.

    CIA spokeswoman Michelle Neff said, “While we do not discuss specific interrogation methods, the techniques we use have been reviewed by the Department of Justice and are in keeping with our laws and treaty obligations. We neither conduct nor condone torture.”

    McClatchy correspondents James Rosen and Marisa Taylor contributed to this report.

    JohnG that was to easy my four year old could debate you. He says your pants are on fire, I agree. You must have a pretty long nose. Tootaloo loser!


  137. RayW says:

    You just can’t make this kind of stuff up… The ignorance of this administration and disconnect from reality is profound.


  138. JohnG says:

    #137 I understand that you believe water boarding for the dozen or so high profile terrorists the president authorized…makes the U.S. government guilty of torture. This is your ONLY fact that you use to spew AMERICA TORTURES, AMERICA TORTURES!!!! Poor supervion at one detention center doesn’t constitute standard operating procedure.

    Typical liberal propoganda!!!!!

    Realistic Americans understand you can’t just yell at these people…or just “talk it out”…you live in peter pan world.

    Hopefully your four year old can teach you some critical thinking.


  139. JohnG says:

    #133 Facist liberal. Don’t agree, and will kill you. I wouldn’t want to be your elder grandparents.


  140. JohnG says:

    #134 Saying Bush lied and U.S. torture is not criticizing, it’s being a propagandist for terrorists.

    All that extra casualties in Iraq this month, trying to scare the weak Americans. You don’t think there is bored Islamic fascists posting on this web site right trying to swing your opinion. Liberal suckers!

    You just don’t understand the nature of our enemy. They want to slit your throat.


  141. Zooey says:

    You just don’t understand the nature of our enemy. They want to slit your throat.
    Comment by JohnG

    You may find that the feeling is mutual.


  142. Adrian Browne says:

    To stop the car bombings in Iraq Hughes is recommending taking away driver’s licenses.


  143. Taurus says:

    A cabby in NJ was telling me we had to “get the job done” and keep civil war from breaking out.

    I didn’t arguem I just quietly asked him if he knew Iraq’s history. How it was cobbled together by the British from three provinces of the Ottoman Empire that had no intrinsic connection. I asked him if he knew about the promises made to the Kurds back then for an independent nation. I compared its devolution to Yugoslavia’s after Tito died. He was very silent and chastened, and finally said, “I didn’t know any of that–why didn’t they tell us?”

    Many of us saw the disaster coming.

    We knew troops were being taken out of Afghanistan at the wrong time.

    We knew talk of war as a lastr esort was bull.

    We knew the strategy was idiotic.

    We knew that when looting the national museum and library began, Iraq was in big trouble, given that our govt. didn’t care.

    We knew civil war was a strong possibility, as was an insurgency.

    Being right in this case isn’t fun or satisfying. It’s horrible. Would that we had been wrong! We love America, and that’s why we wanted our country to remain true to its ideals, to not wage unprovoked war.


  144. MakesYaThink says:

    JohnG,

    Back spewing BS again? Everyone agrees Iraq has made us LESS safe, well everyone except Bush. Staying the course only make us LESS safe.
    It’s time to come home, the American citizens want our soldiers out, our soldiers want out, and the Iraqi people want us out.

    The only ones wanting to stay are BushCo, Haliburton, BP, Exxon, Chevron, and you nut cases who live in fear, and feel the need to spread fear. Tell ya what JohnG, I wasn’t afraid of Commie Red Russia, I sure as hell am not afraid of a few terrorists. Are you such a coward as to really fear a few poor terrorists, most who cannot even afford to take a slow boat to America to inflict their terror? I worry more about some domestic gang member jacking my car, and shooting me in the process. So tell my why are you so SCARED of someone who’s 10,000 miles away? I’ll answer it, it’s not so much fear, as it is hatred of people who live, and worship differently from you.

    And stop posting your BS that the rise in violence has to do with the elections, it has EVERYTHING to do with increased USA patrols, and spending less time in the green zone, in an attempt to secure Baghdad during Ramadan That is your administration telling commanders to “rout out those terra’ists”.

    As for your comments on we do not torture as SOP, and to provide links. I can sit here all day and post them, why don’t you Google:

    Torture at gitmo
    CIA torture
    torture at abu ghraib

    Are you SCARED of what you might read? and don’t nitpick the URL attempting to find a site which might portray your twisted views.

    And you really showed your stupidity with your comment of islamic fascists posting on here, yah right, Akbul Mohammed age 23, Born in Baghdad, hops online when Iraq just happens to have electricity, or maybe uses a solar powered laptop and Verizon to get on here in between hiding from the US, setting IED’s, and prepping himself for his suicide bombing. He also has a page on MySpace, loves his Ipod, and votes GOP, the greatest tool for recruiting new members to their Jihad. He would like a job, but with unemployment at 70%, he struggles for a few crumbs out of the dumpsters.

    The only fascists posting here are the GOP-Qaeda, meaning you trolls.


  145. NorMan says:

    Katulis,

    What, you didn’t have the balls to quote the memo verbatim without slicing and dicing its content?

    Think Progress: giving you the parts of the facts we want to show you.

    Because you know damn well that very few of the readers clicked the link to read the full document. Brainwashing in all its glory.

    The document was about a strategy for a large part of the world, not just Iraq, and thus “thinking bigger” describes the entire scope of the document, not the one section Katulis sliced up.

    I’d also ask just what in the world the magic strategic redeployment plan (otherwise known as withdrawal) would do to quell all the problems in Iraq. Pulling our troops out won’t solve the problem – but letting Iraqis connect with the outside world, with each other, and get a stronger debate going within the country and the region as a whole will. Just as outlined in the document.


  146. BushBites says:

    That’s just pathetic.


  147. Bush Bites says:

    That’s just pathetic


  148. MakesYaThink says:

    NorMan,

    The Iraqi problem is not an easy one to solve, but I guess the idiots in charge should have had a REAL PLAN before invading a country. Cowboy diplomacy at it’s finest.

    Now how to get out of Iraq, First I think this Administration should publicly apologize to the Iraqi people, as well as the world. Secondly work with countries surrounding Iraq to help establish peace and how it is for their benefit as well. It’s clear to all but the blind staying the course is not working. Violence just keeps going up. Perhaps work with Iran to provide nuclear technology in which the byproducts cannot be used to create nukes. And is over all safer for the Iranian people.
    If surrounding countries refuse to help, we pound it in to the Iraqi people that our soliders and a large portion of our money will be gone in a year, and their security, and rebuilding is their responsibility. 5 years is enough time for them to stand up, so we can stand down.

    I didn’t read this pdf of Hughes word for word, bust just a quick browse and it’s completely laughable, after school programs, sports, books. Christ these people just want FOOD, and Jobs. Want to quell the insurgency, decrease the 45%poverty rate, the 47% of the people who can’t get food to eat. The PDF has good ideas, just at the wrong time, sorry you don’t worry about after school programs, until the children are fed, and going to school in the first place.

    An interesting read http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/IRIN/c14c2cc0f6c99e87f284df922a039cad.htm


  149. Bush Bites says:

    Sorry about the re-post, but IT IS pathetic squared so, technically, I’m correct.


  150. chuckbushnow says:

    Maybe they should set up a chamber of commerce, or have the NRA support their freedom, or how about a vote on should the US leave or stay.


  151. pete says:

    hugh’s is another of a long line of bush bull shitters, god help us if she and rove ever procreate.


  152. Darlene Brice says:

    That guy in Germany during World War II did the same thing Karen is doing in Iraq. He understood the importance of popular culture in controlling thought and forming communal beliefs. He skillfully used print and art to reinforce the party line. Same old. Same old. But, this time in history Bush won’t be pleased with the results. Give people the opportunity to speak and they will speak the truth.


  153. RUCerious says:

    Ms. Hughes defines the word shallow.


  154. whichwitch says:

    Ah yes, lets give th Iraqis scholarships, lets throw more money into the black hole of Bagdad. Mean while, our highschool students here at home cann’t read, write, do simple math etc… Funding education over seas is much more important then funding it here at home. Does it matter if our own kids don’t know where they are being sent off to, to die, get mutilated, get spit on? Nah, its better that they don’t know, that way when, (IF) they come home, they won’t know where they were or where they are once they do get home.


  155. Briseadh na Faire says:

    Would the last poster please close and lock the gate when johng leaves, clearly he is a cull and need’s to be cut out of the heard……Blessings
    Comment by Sharon Cox — October 29, 2006 @ 1:46 am

    I like you original spelling of “heard.”

    The willful ignorance of the facts on the part of JohnG demonstrates a psychotic mind.

    The latest NIE estimate, or at least what has been released of it, clearly indicates that what Bush has done has made him the poster boy for terrorist recruiting. And he won’t release the newest NIE which purportedly shows the situation is far worse now than it was 6 months ago.

    7 to 9 out of 10 “terrorists” held in Abu Gharib have been released after having been found innocent. Yet 10 out of 10 have been subjected to harsh treatment.

    Under international law, America tortures. Bush has a different definition of torture, and claims we don’t torture.


  156. JohnG says:

    #144 Your right, it’s too tough to try.


  157. JohnG says:

    #145

    As for your comments on we do not torture as SOP, and to provide links. I can sit here all day and post them, why don’t you Google:

    Torture at gitmo
    CIA torture
    torture at abu ghraib

    I have, and have found evidence of only an isolated incident and gitmo and “advanced interrogation techniques” (aka torture to you liberal wusses) for the dozen or so people the president authorized.

    You spew America tortures by regurgitating your liberal propoganda…did you ever check the facts of those web sites. Kool-aid tastes good.


  158. JohnG says:

    ##############################

    Winners win, Losers lose.
    Vote for a democrat, and vote for bad news.

    You liberals are right [sic], the US can’t ever win.
    Of course don’t help, just criticize past sin.

    It’s tough, so lets not try, lets just forget all the tears
    while never debate the ideas, while spewing venom and smears

    Made some mistakes to win the cold war,
    Fixing it now so our kids avoid horror

    Heads down we leave, from terrorists, thugs, and thieves?
    Japan, Germany, seemed to become free.

    Our armed forced can succeed because we’re pretty smart
    If liberal senators stop speculating with their mouth farts

    Just because we have no hindsight time machine
    Doesn’t mean that we just give up on our team

    While north korea and iran resist nuclear inspections
    Go head and just spew your “i’m bitter it’s not perfect” liberal indoctrination

    While democrats pretend there is no social security woes
    And sen. clinton says that parents can’t know

    With all the liberal special interest bills ready for the inking
    Not yet, we’re not fooled…with your short sighted liberal thinking

    ##############################


  159. JohnG says:

    #155 You don’t understand geo politics, or you would know your kids would be less safe if we pull out of Iraq.


  160. Zooey says:

    Kool-aid tastes good.
    Comment by JohnG

    Put it down, it’s not good for you.


  161. Terri says:

    I guess Karen doesn’t understand that it is kinda hard to make publish books and make films when electricity is available for only about 2 hours a day.


  162. Terri says:

    John G-All these years I had been called a bleeding heart liberal and I didn’t realize I didn’t even have a heart!


  163. Zooey says:

    Unlike most liberals, I have medical proof that I have a heart. :)


  164. Sharon Cox says:

    Light’s on, back on time….Light’s off, I’m locking the gate on my way out. All the rest of the posters are in charge of patching the hole the farro pig’s make in the fence….Remember some times you have to use hot wire to keep them in their pen…….Blessings..9 day’s and counting….Peace, demand it.


  165. Zooey says:

    You don’t understand geo politics, or you would know your kids would be less safe if we pull out of Iraq.
    Comment by JohnG

    Do you have kids, JohnG? How old?

    My sons are 18 and 24, I have an idea how safe they might be here, as opposed to Iraq.


  166. Blue+in+America says:

    All three of these ideas should be exercised all over America. Our own people are languishing in hoplessness out here, underemployed and underpaid, and nothing in the future to look forward to.

    How about giving scholorships for poor people in OUR OWN COUNTRY?
    How about giving film making capabilities to OUR OWN POOR PEOPLE?
    How about providing publishing for poor people in OUR OWN COUNTRY?

    Why do these people always want to apply progressive social programs OVERSEAS and do NOTHING AT HOME?

    ANSWER: The truth is that “providing” a “progressive social program” as a COVER STORY ALWAYS SELLS WELL WITH THE BLEEDING HEART LIBERALS IN CONGRESS. It makes them look bad for voting NO.

    They usually get their program passed, and go to Iraq… and let it fail… but the MONEY DISAPPEARS DOESN’T IT?

    Nothing but more thieving ever gets done. When will we cut these people off? They have PROVEN THEY ARE NOT TRUSTWORTHY NEAR OUR TREASURY… WHICH BY THE WAY THEY HAVE EMPTIED.

    SEND THEM PACKING!


  167. HAHAHA says:

    Karen Hughes is a criminal!!!!!!

    Just now she realizes the only way to end this is with a peace process, what a joke and a half!!!!!!

    We could have told her that since day one!!!

    http://thetruth247.com
    http://nomorefraud.blogspot.com

    http://cloakanddagger.de


  168. Political Waves » The Kool Aid Chicks … not ready to make nice says:

    [...] LEAKED MEMO: Karen Hughes Thinks Small In Combating Iraq Insurgency ThinkProgress [...]


  169. katy says:

    …something she REALLY needs to worry about:

    Women Under Attack in Iraq, Afghanistan
    By: Nicole Belle @ 10:49 AM – PST
    Remember when Karen Hughes was dispatched to the Middle East to tell Muslim women how lucky they were to be receiving Western-style freedom, courtesy of the U.S.? Well, the news, it’s not so good…

    http://www.crooksandliars.com/2006/10/29/women-under-attack-in-iraq-afghanistan/
    .


  170. JohnG says:

    #169 What do you think will happen if we pulled out of Iraq. Chaos, syria, iran, and radicals take over that country…30 years from now we have pen sized nuclear weapons…do you really want to allow radical facists to multiply? With nuclear weapons this time?


  171. JohnG says:

    #170 Pointless, nothing is perfect, off topic bullcrap.


  172. Maryjane says:

    Hughes, like Rice, is way over her head in the diplomatic field. They are good with words, but that is where it all ends. They are incompetent, and do not have a clue about handling international matters.
    Think about it…Bush is totally incompetent, Cheney is totally disconnected with reality, and all he has in mind is war profiteering, Rumsfeld has been a complete failure, Rice and Hughes, well you know the answer. So it should come as no surprise to anyone, that the present White House has been a disaster to this nation. Their policies and their blunder’s have cost us, billions and billions in dollars, and thousands and thousands of lives. It is time the American people learned to vote with their brains and not with their ignorance.


  173. barfly says:

    You don’t understand geo politics, or you would know your kids would be less safe if we pull out of Viet Nam.

    JohnG’s comment, thirty-five years ago.

    History.

    Those that don’t know it, are doomed to repeat it.


  174. TR says:

    See what happens when you (the Bush administration) create a false reality for the public, you start believing your own propaganda!

    Does this news surprise anyone?

    America (mainly to those on the fence), this is a good example of why America needs a change in leadership.

    These ideas Karen Hughes is proposing would be fine, if there was a stable government, if there were secure streets, if the infrastructure of the country had already been rebuilt.

    This what some may refer to as ‘bass ackward’ thinking.

    If the Katrina fiasco didn’t give you enough of a clue, and you’re still giving the Bush administration (and Rummy) the benefit of the doubt in Iraq, despite the reality on the ground of roving ‘death squads’ and an obscene number of deaths every day, time to wake up and smell the coffee.

    I don’t know about you, but where I come from, when something doesn’t work after a while, we try something different. Sometimes you have to go ‘back to the drawing board’ (hmm, maybe there’s a reason things become “old sayings”, eh?).

    Of course many people are afraid to do that. They think (or convinced?) it will make them look weak. They stubbornly ’stay the course’ despite the grim reality staring them sraight in the face.

    Despite thousands of deaths, conditions worse than ever, billions unaccounted for out of the hundreds of billions “spent” on the war, no end in sight, and highly respected diplomats and former military officers calling for major change, including a change in the job of Secretary of Defense, Bush defends all of his choices and decisions and calls his critics cowards.

    In my opinion, any person who can’t (or won’t) own up to their mistakes, doesn’t have the morals or character necessary to hold any position or elected office, let alone be President of the United States of America.


  175. TR says:

    katy #93, brandX #94, Gonnuts #91, Mike #95, Zooey, excellent posts/good points! (Note: I only read about 20 of the 170+ posts)

    All I’m going to say to the troll “JohnG” is this, re-posting the same thing over and over is Spamming (even if they’re not consecutive).
    It’s a typical tactic of juveniles in chat rooms, so knock it off please.

    Have a good evening all, and I hope that if you live in New England you have electrical power (after all the wind). Last numbers I’ve seen are 3000+ still without power in NH.


  176. EveryDigg » Blog Archive » LEAKED MEMO: Karen Hughes Thinks Small In Combating Iraq Insurgency says:

    [...] Under Secretary of State for Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs Karen Hughes heads off to the Middle East this weekend for a round of public diplomacy. Think Progress has obtained this internal memorandum sent from Hughes to National Security Council Principals earlier this month entitled "Thinking ‘bigger.’"read more | digg story Links [...]


  177. Alexander says:

    Had there been no war in Iraq some of this may have been helpful. Now running these programs is like trying to have biology class during the Columbine massacre.


  178. tom+baker says:

    Karen Hughes!?!?!?!? HA!!! that’s rich……Y, Karen, how ’bout a bake sale??


  179. Margo says:

    Mazlow’s Heierarchy of Needs – Mgt 101 – Psyc 101 – did all the jokers buy their diplomas on line? These people are at the bottom of the scale. They need consistent food, shelter, safety. Gee, why don’t we give them funds to establish an opera company then they’ll all feel so freaking happy they’ll quite trying to kill eachother and everything will be hunkey-dorey! The rampant stupidity in this administration is beyond the pale!


  180. Roger Mexico says:

    I’ve always said Karen Hughes is dumber than a brick. Nice that some things in this world are true and predictable.


  181. Alexander says:

    180. Excellent post. I think it is amazing that people with very respsectable IQs such as Rumsfeld and most likely Karen Hughes can be so reality challenged.


  182. null says:

    Dear JohnG:
    Sorry you didn’t get enough of the Kool-Aid. Jim Jones made just enough in Guiana for his group. Tell you what—there will be a new batch of grape Kool-Aid ready for you and your Republican confreres on Tuesday, 07 November 2006. Don’t mind the bitter taste nor the almond smell, it won’t hurt you. Those of us who will be rid of the neo-con troglodytes like yourself, want you to drink heartily.
    When you think you’ve had enough, take another glassful, that should fix you right up! It’s too bad our shipment of hemlock hasn’t come in from Athens, but it’s probably better this way. The last person to drink of it was an honorable intellectual with whom you can not compare. He drank his from a golden chalice, but we only wanted to waste the price of a paper cup on you since that’s all your political and social science philosophies are barely worth, the paper cup. We tried to think of something cheaper.
    We progressives will try to clean up the mess the pinhead who lives at Mayberry, RFD created in this country and around the world. His Administration has created ruination and disrepute for the good people left in America, which will take forever to live down.
    By the way, you shouldn’t lecture people who are much more intellectual than yourself—it’s in bad taste and unbecoming of you. Do yourself a favor: since Karen and Pinhead are considering sending American TAX DOLLARS to Iraq for among other things, EDUCATION you should immigrate to Iraq, marry a choice Iraqi girl (that is, if you like girls), become a citizen and get the jump on all those noble Iraqis you want to convert to American democracy.
    Just be sure you take with you, copies of the American Declaration of Independence, the U.S. Constitution and the Bill of Rights. Since the Pinhead doesn’t care about them, he probably will let you have the originals, since he won’t be living by them any more. It will help you and your new friends come up with a new government, hopefully better than the one we’ve lived with since 2000 A.D.
    As for one of your comments on the blog, ie.,:
    160. “ # 155 You don’t understand geo politics, or you would know your kids would be less safe if we pull out of Iraq.”
    Comment by JohnG — October 29, 2006 @ 11:40 am
    —please don’t strain your limited brain capacity worrying about “your” (our) “kids”— in your new home in Iraq, you will have enough to deal with, dodging insurgents, Sunni and Shi’ite death squads and just plain “ole” thugs on your way to “Miss Karen’s New School”. Do you think “Miss Karen’s” will teach you Arabic? cause “yore shore Lawd” gonna need it!! For your sake, you better not be “blonde, blue-eyed and fair-skinned” or you’ll wind up being some Sheikh’s “bitch”—or better, maybe you should be, just imagine how quick you’ll learn to sing the praises of the Quran when he introduces in you, the fear of Allah!!!

    Oh yeah, speaking of “pulling out”,—in Iraq you will learn to wish your sire had “pulled out” long before. I met your dam once: she ran out from under the porch and tried to bite me on the ankle!!

    Saaaay, JohnG, tis gonna be great to at least clean out the Stygian stables you call Congress this Tuesday, 07 November 2006!!! Maybe then “We, the People” can start paying down the debt, start reducing the budget “Republican pork”, rebuild New Orleans, seal our borders and keep out Al Qaeda, the drug kingpins and their “mulas”, reduce ILLEGAL immigration, improve educational opportunities for AMERICANS, provide UNIVERSAL HEALTH CARE for all AMERICANS, REIN IN unbridialed CORPORATE GREED, CORRUPTION in CONGRESS and State Governments, and all the other break-downs in our society.

    One last observation, JohnG, I served my “vacation-time” in Southeast Asia (spelled VietNam–Tet Offensive, 1968, for those never heard of the place). I witnessed the carnage first-hand. My battalion was one sent to Hue City to regain control of the “Citadel”. When we were given the “stand-down”, due to KIA’s and WIA’s, my company was no longer operational! If your heroes are or if you, yourself, are one of the GUTLESS WIMPS (from that era or later) who have never experienced a buddy’s horrible death or wounding or endured a mortar or artillery barrage, all the terrible things of war, you better sit down and shut the F**K up!! Otherwise, someone like me, who still lives with the memories until I die, will shut it for you!! From this day forward, “watch your six”.


  183. Kenneth E. Tucker says:

    #183 / null

    Thanks for ‘punctuating’ your feedback for ChickenHawk/Shit johnnyg w/the SOP warning ‘watch your six’, it was just like being ‘there’ .

    His ‘thing’ is to be an irritant, and, just like sand to an oyster, comment threads ‘invaded’ by the FUBAR likes of clueless ChickenHawk/Shits like johnnyg produce comment ‘pearls’ like yours.

    Ken, USS New Orleans LPH-11, 1972-73.


  184. Devildog says:

    184. #183
    Ken, USS New Orleans LPH-11, 1972-73.

    Comment by Kenneth E. Tucker — October 30, 2006 @ 10:25 pm
    Thanks, Ken:

    After reading the tripe written by JohnG, I was overwhelmed with the need to set his, as well as others with his sentiments, straight!! I know too many good progressives who are too timid to stand up to the name-calling blitz for which many conservatives are famous. It seems to me that being a conservative, a Republican or any other label to which they lay claim, is just another way of saying they are proud to be “dogs in the manger”, “hooray for me, I got mine, too bad you ain’t got yours, call me when you get it worked out and we’ll do lunch”.

    Those are a group of people with a big ego, small pen*ses (or ovaries, whichever is appropriate) and a huge attitude problem! They spit out, “Liberal”, as if it is an invective, a half–witted individual like themselves. The irony is, most of them are singing the elitist’s song but have not been given the sheet music. No wonder why they blame their problems on “liberals”! A “liberal” is a person whose credo includes a PROGRESSIVE, CIVILIZED CONCERN for their neighbors and fellowman. In other words everyone is included in the boat as it floats up, instead of being dropped overboard as anchor weight.

    Oh, well, let’s hope that “VietNam in the desert” will soon be done and we haven’t sacrificed more young folks on the Pinhead’s “ego altar”. I don’t think it will dishonor those who have already been sacrificed when our sons, daughters, brothers, sisters, fathers and mothers are no longer sinking in the Iraqi quagmire and are safe at home. The ones who have already become casualties were dishonored by their “Thief-in-Chief”. Those who are returned, can defend us more sensibly in CONUS (“the World”, remember that one, Ken?). At least they will have the advantage of fighting Al Qaeda in an enviroment they are familiar with, without fear of the “civilian population” planting IED’s and such. Our troops will know the “lay of the land”, inhabited by a (mostly) English-speaking citizenry.

    The Pinhead has allowed Al Qaeda to come across from Mexico along with many more nefarious persons of dubious intent. Al Qaeda has burrowed into our society like a “tick on a hound’s back”. (I know of a couple of alcoholic “bitches” who should get drafted and not be able to duck into the TANG like one of their parents.)

    Oh, “Great gettin’ up day in tha mawnin’ ” when our economy is thriving, there is universal health care and good education for all Americans, and a “chicken in every pot” for all Americans. That will only happen, though, when those who have gotten our society into this mess, have had their “goose cooked”.

    Siemper Fideles & AAAUURAH



  185. Here and There » Blog Archive » Legislative Wishlist says:

    [...] Work with military planners and commanders on the ground in Iraq to come up with a new strategy of what to do there. Notice I don’t say “how to win there.” I avoid that intentionally. Even the most optimistic Army officials are no longer talking about victory. The U.S. doesn’t need an active PR campaign to win back respect of the international community — it needs smart, culturally sensitive foreign policy. [...]


  186. Global Geopolitics News » Middle East News - Pentagon reviews Bush strategy says:

    [...] LEAKED MEMO: Karen Hughes Thinks Small In Combating Iraq Think Progress, DC – Oct 28, 2006 A key section of this memo offers the Bush administration s strategy for Public Diplomacy to Counter Insurgency in Iraq. Far from thinking bigger [...]


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