As Iraqis stand up, we’ll stand down.
By on Apr 19th, 2007 at 11:22 pm
As Iraqis stand up, we’ll stand down.
“Military planners have abandoned the idea that standing up Iraqi troops will enable American soldiers to start coming home soon and now believe that U.S. troops will have to defeat the insurgents and secure control of troubled provinces. Training Iraqi troops, which had been the cornerstone of the Bush administration’s Iraq policy since 2005, has dropped in priority, officials in Baghdad and Washington said. … Pentagon officials said they know of no new training resources that have been included in U.S. plans to dispatch 28,000 additional troops to Iraq.”
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What? What? What the f**k!
April 19th, 2007 at 11:24 pmWell, I’m glad they gave up the original bad idea, but it looks like they now have a worse idea.
Support the Troops — Bring Them Home Now.
April 19th, 2007 at 11:26 pmWhat? What? What the f**k!
Comment by Shane
That was my initial thought, so I’m glad I didn’t post it. :)
April 19th, 2007 at 11:27 pmWe’l stand down as they stand up, we’ll stand down as they stand up….
Oh deary deary me… more like Vietnam every day.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vietnamization#Vietnamization_and_American_withdrawal.2C_1969.E2.80.931974
Come on Chimpy, you had an exit strategy for Vietnam…..
April 19th, 2007 at 11:28 pmNothing left now but to send over Oliver Stone and a camera and clear out.
April 19th, 2007 at 11:29 pmIt’s kind of tough for Bush, Cheney and Rove to convince America to give a shit about Iraq when they have lost interest themselves.
April 19th, 2007 at 11:30 pmWar without end.
Amen.
April 19th, 2007 at 11:33 pmThey don’t get the fact that the culture and the peoples are not going to be loyal to the jarheaded white man. Why are Americans so ignorant of other cultures? My guess is that we never had to.
April 19th, 2007 at 11:34 pmIts all kinda bullshit, isn’t it? Where are they going to get the equipment (tanks, missles, anit-aircraft batteries, cluster bombs, F-16s, etc) to protect themselves? We sure the hell aren’t buying that crap for them. And we wouldn’t let them own such things unless we were sure they wouldn’t be used against us or our “friends”.
All this crap has no real end… there is no way we are going to let them have the arms they need to realistically protect themselves.
April 19th, 2007 at 11:35 pmWhat they basically are saying is:
You know what we’ve been telling you the last couple years? Well, it wasn’t shit.
April 19th, 2007 at 11:37 pmSo why are we even debating funds for the surge?
April 19th, 2007 at 11:37 pmEverybody home!
BTW there was a guy who wrote a book on Blackwater and other mercenary troops on the Daily Show tonight. He said that no one is even talking about the paid soldiers (128,000) coming home with our regular troops. He said the mercenaries, which are from all over the world, are going to stay as long as they want. ( I guess Bush and Cheney’s oil wells will still be protected.)
Well here it is:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fJuNgBkloFE
April 19th, 2007 at 11:39 pmThat talking point about them standing up and us standing down is no longer operative.
Plan B.
Endless occupation for never materializing peace.
-GSD
April 19th, 2007 at 11:39 pmDoes this mean we’re colonizing Iraq?
April 19th, 2007 at 11:40 pmFrom wikipedia:
http://en.wikipedia.org/ wiki/ Vietnamization#Vietnamization_and_American_withdrawal.2C_1969.E2.80.931974
“[H]owever, [Nixon] was still doggedly determined to preserve South Vietnam until such time as he could not be blamed for what he saw as its inevitable collapse (or a “decent interval”, as it was known).”
Hmmm….does this sound like anyone *else* currently serving as president of the US?
April 19th, 2007 at 11:40 pmFortruth my Youtube link doesn’t answer why… but well… I’m not sure what it answers…
I had some Brit friend of mine argue somewhat persuasively that Britain needed to lose a war (in a big way) and gain some perspective on the world…. extrapolate that to the current ‘ubermensch’
April 19th, 2007 at 11:42 pmThe lying, corrupt, TREASONOUS criminal Bushite junta…
…NEVER intended for the Iraqi military and police forces to “stand up”…
…the Bushites NEVER intended to provide the Iraqis with the military armaments and hardware they (Iraqis) needed…
…because the Iraqi military and police forces are hopelessly compromised with Shiite militia…
…loyal to al Sadr or other Shiite cleric(s) under the influence of Iran…
…the U.S.military fears (and rightfully so) that these armaments would be used against them at some point…
…add to that the “CONTRACTOR” component where Halliburton, Bechtel et al. were commissioned to rebuild…
…Blackwater and the U.S. Air Force to destroy…
…then Halliburton, Bechtel et al. to rebuild again…
…Iraqi infrastructure…
…while the Iraqis suffer over 50% unemployment…
…and think for a moment…
…Ford, GM, and Chrysler have been effectively shutout…
… of providing the U.S. military and Iraqi military and police with uparmored or other vehicle fleets?
…the Bushites are TRAITORS and they’ve got accomplices in strange places…
…now the Saudis are arming and aiding the Sunnis in murdering hundreds of Shiites…
…Bushiva and L’il Dick are Satanic twins…
…and Iraq has become their hell spawn…
April 19th, 2007 at 11:45 pmMany years ago in my days of learning the ways of life I was faced with the inevitable question: “Son, do you know what the white part of chicken shit is?” “No, Dear Father, please enlighten me.” “It is just white chicken shit, don’t be fooled by the color.”
As my Dear Departed Daddy so wisely instructed me, “It is all Chicken Shit.”
And the “Sons of the Pioneers” (et al) didn’t do too badly with their “Don’t you listen to him, Dan. He’s a devil not a man and he spreads the Iraq sand with shit, chicken, chicken shit. (My apologies to the song writer).
April 20th, 2007 at 12:01 amMarie sez:
Yes, I caught that as well. The more I learn about Blackwater, the more it disturbs me.
Who are these mercenaries loyal to? The United States? No, they’re loyal to whoever sings their paychecks…paychecks we’re paying for, incidentally.
Such a large mercenary force, loyal to the people with the money (who have the money because they’ve been systematically gutting this nation for the past six years), is an existential threat to the stability of the country. It wouldn’t be nearly as troubling if our real armed forces hadn’t been systematically decimated by the reckless and criminal invasion and occupation of a sovereign nation.
April 20th, 2007 at 12:04 am#17 – big papa
You could be right. Sadly, I wouldn’t be the least bit surprised.
April 20th, 2007 at 12:05 amAs my Dear Departed Daddy so wisely instructed me, “It is all Chicken Shit.â€
Comment by Clyde the Ripper
Another great lesson learned from Clyde. :-D
April 20th, 2007 at 12:07 amComment by TripMaster Monkey #19
I couldn’t agree more…
April 20th, 2007 at 12:09 amAttorney General Gonzales’ attempts to deflect blame, deny and coverup during his testimony today were quite a sorry sight. Gonzales was so bad that even the staunchest Republicans like Senator Tom Coburn (received a perfect 100% rating from the American Conservative Union for the year 2005) are calling for the Attorney General to step down.
In stark contrast, as this White House press release shows, the White House remains out of touch with reality:
“President Bush Pleased with Attorney General’s Testimony
RSS Feed White House News
President Bush was pleased with the Attorney General’s testimony today. After hours of testimony in which he answered all of the Senators’ questions and provided thousands of pages of documents, he again showed that nothing improper occurred. He admitted the matter could have been handled much better, and he apologized for the disruption to the lives of the U.S. Attorneys involved, as well as for the lack of clarity in his initial responses.
The Attorney General has the full confidence of the President, and he appreciates the work he is doing at the Department of Justice to help keep our citizens safe from terrorists, our children safe from predators, our government safe from corruption, and our streets free from gang violence.”
http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2007/04/print/20070419-5.html
I just can’t fathom how the White House can issue a press release saying the Attorney General has the “full confidence of the President” after this scandal. The statement is even more outrageous than telling former FEMA director Michael Brown that he was doing a “heck of a job” in the midst of possibly the most incompetent and deadly major disaster recovery effort in modern American history.
At best the President’s statement today reaffirming his “full confidence” in Alberto Gonzales is a stark sign of the rampant incompetence in this Administration from the President himself down. At worst it is an attempt to stave the tide against revealing how the President and Karl Rove improperly manipulated the Justice Department to obstruct justice for partisan ends. Either way, now the public can only have no confidence in not just our Attorney General, but our President and his entire White House.
April 20th, 2007 at 12:10 amZooey,
My Dear Departed Youngest Brother (Today) would have agreed even though he thought Rush Limbaugh was the second coming of Christ.
April 20th, 2007 at 12:11 amhttp://empirezone.blogs.nytimes.com/2007/04/18/the-nra-and-an-anti-semitic-symbol/
April 20th, 2007 at 12:12 amAnyone have the stomach to watch this? This says anything you need to know about….well …everything. The war, the deficit, the dying social services/contract, the fall of the United States of America…..everything.
This is STUPIDITY INCARNATE
http://atrios.blogspot.com/2007_04_15_archive.html#117701576506855501
April 20th, 2007 at 12:12 am#17 – big papa
You could be right. Sadly, I wouldn’t be the least bit surprised.
Comment by Zooey — April 20, 2007 @ 12:05 am
Nothing surprises me anymore, if somebody told me it was snowing shit I’d ask them if it was chicken or horse and how many inches.
Which would be funny if this all wasn’t so true.
April 20th, 2007 at 12:14 am[trolls' heads asplode]
April 20th, 2007 at 12:15 amOoh man, ForTruth got me on a quest to find out why Americans know nothing about the world – I guess I don’t know why, but the basic thesis is holding water so far. I now have this gem, which might possibly sink at least 2 and maybe 3 presidential bids…
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q0mjZR8-vw0
And one of them is not Jerry Springer’s bid.
April 20th, 2007 at 12:17 amJeez Clyde, you don’t kid about that I know – I’m so sorry to hear that.
April 20th, 2007 at 12:21 amComment by s — April 20, 2007 @ 12:12 am
Thanks for the link, s…just finished watching it. Chilling.
This is the leader of the free world…a man who is unable to speak in complete sentences.
He praised the recent meeting with delegates from Congress as ‘cordial’. He said ‘cordial’ about six times. That’s the best he can say about the meeting? That a fistfight didn’t break out?
Why the hell were people applauding this clown? He must hire professional supporters like people used to hire professional mourners for funerals.
April 20th, 2007 at 12:25 amZooey,
My Dear Departed Youngest Brother (Today) would have agreed even though he thought Rush Limbaugh was the second coming of Christ.
Comment by Clyde the Ripper
I’m sorry to hear that, Clyde. Take care.
April 20th, 2007 at 12:28 amComment by TerrytheTurtle — April 20, 2007 @ 12:17 am
When I read your post, I immediately thought of Rick Mercer’s Talking to Americans, particularly the ‘Jean Poutine’ episode.
Great minds think alike, it would seem. ^_^
April 20th, 2007 at 12:28 amThanks, Terry, and others.
Shit happens be it chicken or bull. The best defense is to stand tall and fight for what we believe. We shall overcome or at least go before we lose.
April 20th, 2007 at 12:29 amWhy the hell were people applauding this clown? He must hire professional supporters like people used to hire professional mourners for funerals.
Comment by TripMaster Monkey — April 20, 2007 @ 12:25 am
Nobody gets near the president who isn’t a fan. That’s another thing the msm doesn’t show the public, anybody who rallies against the president. People who aren’t news hunters probably have no idea there’s even been peace rallies.
April 20th, 2007 at 12:34 amShane you saw this I presume:
http://www.thedenverchannel.com/news/12178522/detail.html
April 20th, 2007 at 12:45 amComment by TerrytheTurtle — April 20, 2007 @ 12:45 am
No I hadn’t seen the article. Thanks for the link. I think I had just heard about it even to the point that when Laura reads to kids they are hand selected. Nothing is as it seems with these people.
April 20th, 2007 at 12:54 am26- s
April 20th, 2007 at 1:05 amwatched it – he is losing it…also couldn’t help but think tomorrow is Hitler’s Birthday…. Just what kind of hell is going to break loose as it has in the past?
“Military planners have abandoned the idea that standing up Iraqi troops will enable American soldiers to start coming home soon and now believe that U.S. troops will have to defeat the insurgents and secure control of troubled provinces.
At the same time, the Pentagon says they’ll stop talking about “the long war.” If the military can be considered a living organism, it seems very close to a meltdown; or to be more accurate, a psychotic breakdown. While the term “FUBAR” originated with military brass incompetence, but now it appears to be their new, de facto credo.
April 20th, 2007 at 1:36 amWell, the wingnuts always like to compare Iraq to WW2 Europe; are we seeing the beginnings of the religious equivalent of the Berlin Wall?
From Huffingtonpost:
BAGHDAD — A U.S. military brigade is constructing a three-mile-long concrete wall to cut off one of the capital’s most restive Sunni Arab districts from the Shiite Muslim neighborhoods that surround it, raising concern about the further Balkanization of Iraq’s most populous and violent city.
U.S. commanders in northern Baghdad say the 12-foot-high barrier will make it more difficult for suicide bombers, death squads and militia fighters from sectarian factions to attack one another and slip back to their home turf. Construction began last week and is expected to be completed by the end of the month.
Although Baghdad is replete with blast walls, checkpoints and other temporary barriers, including a massive wall around the Green Zone, the wall being constructed in Adhamiya would be the first to essentially divide a neighborhood by sect.
A largely Sunni district, Adhamiya is one of Baghdad’s flashpoints, avoided by not only Shiites, but Sunni outsiders. The area is almost completely surrounded by Shiite-dominated districts.
The ambitious project is a sign of how far the U.S. military will go to end the non-stop bloodshed in Iraq. But U.S. officials said the barrier is not a central tactic of the ongoing U.S.-Iraqi security crackdown announced Feb. 13.
[. . .]
Pentagon officials first broached the idea of creating “gated communities” earlier this year.
But more recently, military officials have emphasized political negotiation as well as heightened troop presence as a way to stem sectarian conflict.
[. . .]The construction in Adhamiya is not the first time U.S. military planners have attempted to isolate hostile regions. In 2005, U.S. troops tried to surround the Sunni-dominated city of Samarra with earthen berms to prevent insurgents from entering and leaving the city. A similar strategy was deployed to contain Tall Afar. Experiments with less extensive walls and trenches have also been attempted in Baghdad and Kirkuk.
The latest project is the work of the 407th Brigade Support Battalion, part of the 82nd Airborne Division, based in northern Baghdad’s Camp Taji. Since April 10, soldiers have ventured out almost nightly after curfew, overseeing installation of the 14,000-pound wall segments, using giant construction cranes and employing Iraqi crews, said Army Sgt. Michael Pryor, a public affairs specialist for the unit.
Soldiers have dubbed the project the “The Great Wall of Adhamiya.” Commanders in the 82nd Airborne could not be reached for comment Thursday. In a news release earlier this week, military officials said the project was intended to protect citizens on both sides.
“(The wall) is on a fault line of Sunni and Shia, and the idea is to curb some of the self-sustaining violence by controlling who has access to the neighborhoods,” Army Capt. Marc Sanborn, brigade engineer for the project, said in the release.
April 20th, 2007 at 3:05 amSUBMISSION NOT ACCOMPLISHED!
good thing we didnt give in to england back in the day…. we would have been called INSURGENTS or TERRERITS….
thanks MEESTER BOOSH!
April 20th, 2007 at 3:26 amIn the latest CNN/Opinion Research Corporation poll, taken April 10-12,
69 percent of Americans say things are going badly for the United States in Iraq.
April 20th, 2007 at 3:27 ams-#26, That was seriously one of the most pathetic and painful spectacles I’ve ever witnessed.
well, duh, der, ahhhh, a first reason, ahhh, troops (applause) ummmmm, (dang vietnam, try rmber histury class, dang) ummmm,
troops (wild applause)
Anyone still supporting this man is criminally insane.
April 20th, 2007 at 3:44 am#26 This is so embarrassing that this guy is our president. Where are they finding these audiences? I just can’t believe that anybody respects him. He’s not even an effective liar. I just hope we can survive until 2008.
April 20th, 2007 at 4:43 amBOMB BOMB BOMB BOMB BOMB BOMB BOMB IRAN
BOMB BOMB BOMB BOMB BOMB BOMB BOMB IRAN
McCain is giving me ‘BAD VIBRATIONS.’ Bad parody! Bad Beach Boys’ lyrics!
Mr. Mcain, me thinks your surf board hit you in the head.
Mr. McCain, me thinks you will have lots of time to watch ‘Beach Blanket Bingo.’ Your presidential campaign was just hit by a tsunami.
My day will be complete if we hear a song from Rudy. Let’s have another parody. Here’s a good song: ‘WIVES AND LOVERS.’
BOMB BOMB BOMB BOMB BOMB BOMB BOMB IRAN.
BOMB BOMB BOMB BOMB BOMB BOMB BOMB IRAN
John
April 20th, 2007 at 7:40 amThe Iraqi security forces are less effective and cohesive than the ARVN, who we spent 20 years building/training/supporting. ARVN fell completely apart in a matter of days in 1975. Let’s save ourselves further grief and casualties. A full and complete withdrawal of ALL American personnel immediately. Damn! blockquote still not working. Anyone else having problems with it & italic?
April 20th, 2007 at 7:54 amHoly Schicklebruber.
Have Bush and Rove ordered a cake in celebration of holiday?
-GSD
April 20th, 2007 at 8:03 amwow, that is quite depressing
April 20th, 2007 at 8:10 amNo way Bushco./Corp. America leaves all the invested money, bases, and future windfall profits etc..They would do anything to hang on including encouraging another 9/11, or I believe instigating unrest here at home,…anything.
and…Be very wary of Hillary or any other corp. canidate as they have already been locked-in to continue this war of excuses.
April 20th, 2007 at 8:35 amRemember when Rummy was lying about the number of “Brigades” that have been equipped and trained? It was like the shell game – 140,000 or is it 120,000, or no…no it is 160,000. Now I guess it is 0.
We need to support Kucinich’s Impeachment efforts and get these incompetent idiots out!
April 20th, 2007 at 8:36 amhave to defeat the insurgents and secure control of troubled provinces
Well the “insurgents” are the people of Iraq who never attacked America… and the “troubled provinces” is their HOMES… So the plan is to kill people in their homes doing exactly what America started doing in 1776? Nice…. Real American like…
April 20th, 2007 at 9:21 amLook, it’s been clear for a long long time that whatever these pigs say there intent is . . . is just a freaking smoke-screen . . . every single time.
April 20th, 2007 at 9:24 amThey use that tactic, over and over, to keep this horrible nightmare alive. As well as whatever else suits them. They’ve wanted to suck the U.S. Treasury dry from the start . . . and they’ve accomplished that. The longer this goes on . . . the better they like it. What is so hard to understand about that ?
In my opinion, they are getting things just the way they like it.
As long as everyone just calls them . . . stupid, incompetent, worst president ever, etc., they are more than fine with that. Their attitude is, call me what you will, I couldn’t care less . . . legacy ? . . . who the hell cares . . . I’m getting things my way . . . and I’m takin’ it to the bank . . . see you all in hell . . . Don’t bother us now, I’ve got to go play on the ranch, go hunting, take my new 70 foot boat out for a spin, then go on vacation . . . again.
Mr. President, you’ve lied too many times for me to believe anything more you say. WMD’s, Democracy in Iraq, Al Qiada ties to Iraq, We’ll stand down when they stand up are all lies. And I’m only talking about the Iraq conflict and not the rest of your tarnished terms.
Oil, vengence, delusions or whatever pipe dream you and your cohorts had was never enough to convince the american people. You talked tough but bankrupted the military.
Thanks for reminding me why I will not trust you and your administration.
Impeachment is in your future.
April 20th, 2007 at 9:45 amThe practical and significant problem with “We’ll stand down when they stand up” slogan for the military is that at some point, the US military must give the Iraq soldiers the same weapons and equipment they are using. BUT, it is unclear who is loyal to the USA and it is very likely that the weapons and equipment might end up being used against the USA.
This problem will not go away any time soon so the oft repeated bushie slogan cannot be utilized as a benchmark to signal Iraq readiness to assume control of their country. As we all suspected, the cheney/rove/bush plan is to have American soldiers in Iraq forever.
April 20th, 2007 at 9:51 am#26 s
April 20th, 2007 at 9:56 amThanks for the link. It was an effort, but I managed to sit through it all. Incredible. This is the most powerful leader in the world – a moron; he can’t complete a sentence, much less a thought.
Were there applause signs off stage? Why did these people applaud?
April 20th, 2007 at 10:00 amC-Span had a caller on that morning, advertising that Bush was coming to his small town at his request. The man didn’t sound crazy, but there must be something in the water in Tipp City causing people to lose their senses.
This is a dog bites man story. I know of few people outside the Bush administration that ever saw that option as working. Lets see, 70 dead Americans a month for 2 years while we tinkered with a policy that had no chance for success from the beginning. And Bush gets angry for Reid saying that Iraq is looking a lot like Vietnam. Hell, with Kissinger as a top advisor, what would you expect. Kissinger took two years to agree on the shape of a table for peace talks over Vietnam thinking that “wait them out” was all it would take. It didn’t work then and to no one’s surprise it hasn’t worked now either.
April 20th, 2007 at 10:38 amI allowed myself a little optimism yesterday after hearing that Centcom spokesman saying that they didn’t think calling it the Long War was appropriate anymore.
But, already I see how silly that was of me because if they’re saying now that they can’t leave until they’ve defeated the “insurgents” well then we’ll be there forever for sure.
April 20th, 2007 at 10:48 amThe Bush admin is in a holding pattern right now waiting for the time when the Iraq parliament signs the bill distributing oil revenues. They like to talk it up because it will be a “reconciliation” wherein all tribes in Iraq will share in oil revenue. The dirty little secret is that they will be sharing 30% of the oil revenues since the bill gives 70% of the oil profits to US and British oil companies, for 30 years, as a reward for destroying Iraq. If the Iraqi parliament signs this bill, I certainly hope that the people of Iraq stand up and let them know what they think of traitors. The day that bill is signed will be the day that Bush starts talking about bringing our combat troops home. He could care less about the people of Iraq, what he cares about is their OIL!
April 20th, 2007 at 11:10 amWeren’t they supposed to sign that oil-profits-give-away bill weeks ago? What’s the latest on that?
April 20th, 2007 at 11:57 amSuch a large mercenary force, loyal to the people with the money (who have the money because they’ve been systematically gutting this nation for the past six years), is an existential threat to the stability of the country. It wouldn’t be nearly as troubling if our real armed forces hadn’t been systematically decimated by the reckless and criminal invasion and occupation of a sovereign nation.
Comment by TripMaster Monkey — April 20, 2007 @ 12:04 am
These are the enforcers of the police state that this administration has been diligently trying to create since PRIOR to 911. Combine this mercenary force with the contracts given to Haliburton to build detention facilities for “immigration control and other purposes,” and you should be able to see where we are headed here. Still think Alex and his “Prison Planet” website is just crazy? Worse…this started long before this administration. Think back to 1798 with the Alien and Seditions Act (one part of which still stands in law today). Bring it up to the modern era, with the passage of the Patriot Act, combined with today’s technology and a mercenary force…and the (as we were warned), military-industrial complex, and we have what we see today. But most of us continue to ignore this reality, because it’s nearly impossible to believe that our country is NOT the country we were brought up to believe it is. Well, it’s not. And it hasn’t been for a very long time.
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