Gen. Eaton: If Bush won’t listen, Congress must.
VoteVets has released its latest ad featuring 33-year U.S. Army veteran Gen. Paul Eaton, who most recently served as Commanding General in charge of reestablishing Iraqi Security Forces from 2003-2004. From the new ad:
EATON: President Bush says he listens to his military commanders. Well, Mr. President, I was one of those commanders, and you weren’t listening when we warned you of the dangers we’d face invading Iraq. Now our military is overcommitted, and America is less secure. Mr. President, you’re being told we need serious diplomacy, not escalation. And you’re still not listening. If the President won’t listen, Congress must.
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52 Responses to “Gen. Eaton: If Bush won’t listen, Congress must.”
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I’m curious what the pundits like Rush and O’Reilly are saying about these generals?
May 14th, 2007 at 12:59 pmno matter what they try to do militarily, we’ll never have peace…..war does not bring peace, killing does not stop killing, invasions do not prevent terrorism. everything the government is dong is opposite of what it should be doing.
this aggressive foreign policy of the bush administration is causing the deaths of countless thousands, creating more anger and hatred towards this country, draining our economic resources, and ensuring further attacks against us.
It’s time someone listens to the general, and the many others out there opposing the bush criminals. Then, maybe we can have some peace and prosperity.
Some further reading:
May 14th, 2007 at 1:00 pm“Can America Bring Peace to the World?”
http://www.populistamerica.com/ can_america_bring_peace_to_the_world
Where and when are these spot airing? I’ve yet to see one on television.
Media blackout?
May 14th, 2007 at 1:01 pm**SMACK!!**
Congress…..?
May 14th, 2007 at 1:01 pmAahh, what the heck to Generals know about war, huh Georgie. Who’s going to fire this guy like they did Batiste or is he going to get a Swift Boating?
May 14th, 2007 at 1:01 pmGood for him. Another great American.
May 14th, 2007 at 1:02 pmWhy these types of military Generlas don’t make to the ‘discussion table’ on major television networks’ shows…? !
May 14th, 2007 at 1:03 pm#1. Of course they’ll say they are not patriots, etc etc. Dont you just love hearing that sort of stuff from two flakes who were never in the military? And one of those flakes got a deferment from Vietnam because of a boil on his ass (who continues to live now as a boil on the ass of the country). Let the swift boating begin. I cant wait to see what the Reichwing says about this General.
May 14th, 2007 at 1:05 pm#3 - I heard they are being targetted at specific representatives that are considered swing votes. They don’t have the bucks to go national.
THANKS to TP for making these available to all of us that are interested!! What a great site. So great that all sorts of trolls feel that they have to come here and try to ruin it.
May 14th, 2007 at 1:07 pmWhy these types of military Generlas don’t make to the ‘discussion table’ on major television networks’ shows…?
Because those shows are owned by the corporate media. The less you know……………
May 14th, 2007 at 1:08 pmWhy these types of military Generlas don’t make to the ‘discussion table’ on major television networks’ shows…? !
Comment by tarazan — May 14, 2007 @ 1:03 pm
Apparently they’re not the right type of white males. If you see him it will be on Bill Maher, Daily Show or Colbert.
May 14th, 2007 at 1:09 pmOh God I sense a Cheney smirk somewhere.
May 14th, 2007 at 1:11 pmWhy does General Eaton hate the troops?
May 14th, 2007 at 1:13 pmI really cant believe this. I thought we (Americans) would NEVER be so stupid to allow another Vietnam… and now this is even worse… REPUBLICANS… dont EVER let the extreme right represent you again… it really isnt worth living through a faith based military campaign is it?
May 14th, 2007 at 1:17 pmWell at least Keith Olbermann will probably give him air time tonight.
May 14th, 2007 at 1:23 pmI dont get it. Is Jane Fonda brainwashing all of our generals? Clearly the surrendermonkies are behind this.
May 14th, 2007 at 1:40 pm“Now our military is overcommitted, and America is less secure.”
He was a commanding general for pete’s sake! What will it take to make people see the light?!
May 14th, 2007 at 1:44 pmVinnie,
Thanks for the clarification. I’m up in Vermont and there is NO need to drive home how misguided and inept this administration is here.
May 14th, 2007 at 1:49 pmBush apparently isn’t this kind of “commander” guy.
May 14th, 2007 at 1:51 pm#17 - Which people?
Really, I don’t think anyone is happy, but do you know what change even looks like at this point? Don’t expect it to come in the form of a resignation or admission of fault - change at this point must be forced on the administration.
So, what does it look like, this necessary change? Who has the power (and preferably the authority)? Who makes it happen? What motivates them? What can we provide as a catalyst for their motives?
Therein lies the answer, and the end to the madness.
May 14th, 2007 at 1:53 pmWhere the hell did I put that pitch fork.? Oh, there it is, I’m ready…Blessings
May 14th, 2007 at 2:00 pmI can’t wait to see the spin put on this!
May 14th, 2007 at 2:01 pmdono,
True, you don’t know.
May 14th, 2007 at 2:04 pmYes indeed, listen they must.
May 14th, 2007 at 2:18 pmNOW IMPEACH the dirty SOB.
Only in the good old US of A can morons who have never seen war up front , dictate when it is time to go to war and how it should be carried out. If you don’t pay attention to history , history will most likely repeat itself again and again and again………..
May 14th, 2007 at 2:19 pmWill right wing bigot Jerome Corsi and his little pal John O’Neill “Swift Boat” these Generals?
May 14th, 2007 at 2:23 pmPersonally, I think it’s obvious but…let’s start with all of the people who voted for Bush who are still blindly following him. Let’s add all of the idiots who voted for Lieberman and all of the Republicans last year. Let’s add any in Congress who think we should continue to fund the “madness” as you put it.
Who said I expect to hear an admission of fault? Bush seems to think it makes him more manly to never admit he’s wrong. Everyone else who took part in this is busy pointing the finger at other people.
I applaud your apparent willingness to get to the heart of the matter but, rather than just asking questions, perhaps you have some productive and possibly creative suggestions?
May 14th, 2007 at 2:29 pmMy last comment was directed at #20, Comment by DM — May 14, 2007 @ 1:53 pm
May 14th, 2007 at 2:33 pm#28 ~ I don’t. I’m not smart enough to figure out something complicated and clever enough to please everyone. My solution is to call for a House vote on impeachment of Cheney and Bush (simple majority) and send it to the Senate where it can be fairly considered.
May 14th, 2007 at 2:52 pmBush keeps claiming to have listened to his generals and “boots on the ground”….maybe he’ll begin to pay attention when he has a pair of size 12 boots up his a$$??
May 14th, 2007 at 3:11 pmSo when will he be fired for speaking freely? If you speak out against the Chimpy regime you get fired…right?
May 14th, 2007 at 3:14 pm#28 ~ I don’t. I’m not smart enough to figure out something complicated and clever enough to please everyone. My solution is to call for a House vote on impeachment of Cheney and Bush (simple majority) and send it to the Senate where it can be fairly considered.
Comment by DM — May 14, 2007 @ 2:52 pm
Pleasing everyone is impossible.
Impeaching Bush AND Cheney is a good start.
Stopping the flow of money to the war-profiteers might help too.
May 14th, 2007 at 3:17 pmProud Dem - he’s retired. That’s the only reason we’re hearing from him - don’t think they can really get at him now.
May 14th, 2007 at 3:19 pmI’m just sayin’… The other General got fired from his CBS consultant job for appearing on the VoteVets ad… I’m wondering if Gen. Eaton has a consultant job to be fired from.
May 14th, 2007 at 3:29 pmHopefully not.
May 14th, 2007 at 4:07 pmI just did a little research and let’s just say that some on the right side of the fence aren’t too happy with him!
May 14th, 2007 at 4:10 pmComment by DM #20
Iraq can ONLY be solved by Iraqis…
…money has to pour into Iraq to get people working, infrastructure repaired…
…and people to feeling good about their neighborhoods and fellow countrypersons…
…help must come from the international community in concert…
…but NONE of this will happen as long as:
…U.S. troops continue to occupy the country…
…and the criminals Bushiva and L’il Dick are “FREE”…
…The DUHmerikkkan CONNED”selfservatives who support this criminal regime…
…and their Congressional minions and co-conspirators…
…are the ONLY ones who can put an end to this…
…these CONNED’selfserving scum are YOUR:
family members
neighbors
co-workers
friends
and associates…
…YOU must pressure THEM to “see the light”…
May 14th, 2007 at 4:50 pm…as for the Generals (and Tenet) coming forward…
…better late than never…
…I guess…
May 14th, 2007 at 4:52 pmIF the goal of the invasion and occupation of Iraq was any one of the reasons we were given, our collective distress at the seeming incompetence of our leadership would be worth expressing.
But the goal of the invasion and occupation of Iraq has nothing whatever to do with fighting terror, bringing democracy to or stablilizing the Middle East.
It always was about empire-building, usurping natural resources, establishing more military bases, depleting the US treasury, and enacting rigid controls over the US people through Constitution-shredding laws, executive orders and signing statements.
It’s nice that generals are stepping forward, but it’s too late now.
May 14th, 2007 at 6:53 pmIt was too late for this country the minute Richard Nixon, with the help of Richard Allen and Henry Kissinger, manipulated the South Vietnamese in order to win the White House in 1968.
From that point on every American who voted for the GOP, a GOP which was being manipulated by Cheney and Rumsfeld in the Ford administration and by the neo-cons from Reagan’s time on, is complicit in what has brought us to this point.
Reagan Democrats should be the first ones to go when the civil war comes.
May 14th, 2007 at 9:55 pm“It is only those who have neither fired a shot nor heard the shrieks and groans of the wounded who cry aloud for blood, more vengeance, more desolation. War is hell.”
-William Tecumsah Sherman, Union General, Civil War
“It is forbidden to kill; therefore all murderers are punished unless they kill in large numbers and to the sound of trumpets.”
-Voltaire (1694-1778)
I don’t know what weapons World War III will be fought with, but World War IV will be fought with sticks and stones.
-Albert Einstein
“Every gun that is made, every warship that is lauched, every rocket fired signifies, in the final sense, a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and not clothed. This world in arms is not spending money alone. It is spending the sweat of its laborers, the genius of its scientists, the hopes of its children…This is not a way of life at all in any true sense. Under the cloud of war, it is humanity on a cross of iron.”
May 15th, 2007 at 12:54 am-Dwight D. Eisenhower (1953)
The government is broken. The congress and sentate are broken. They can’t even respond properly to a rain storm, yet we are trusting our lives and livings to these incompetent sources. It’s time to take the flintlocks down from the mantels and pay them a visit.
May 15th, 2007 at 8:59 amOhhhhh, I get it! That is not really General Eaton. The footage is a fake (they use someone looks like him)! Please get serious! I am sick of your lies!
May 15th, 2007 at 9:34 amAudrey, I really like those quotes. They are a very good assessment of the situation at hand. I hope I see this general on the Daily Show. Its about the only way to get any decent news these days.
My thing has always been why in the world does Bush think hes better than all those Famous men who lived and died trying to conqure that part of the world. Lets face it Alexander the Great grew up there and other than adding riches to the Crown of England, and the “Church” The Crusades were a total flop. Those two things tell me that when it comes to war people in the middle east still know how to do it.
I also find it funny that we crusify them for their urban gurrilla warfare when we used simmilar dirty tactics against the english.
You use what works. They know on an actual battlefield they can’t beat us but the first “White Men” to use the same tactics In an actual war can’t figure out how to combat them. We saw it in Vitnam with the bombs attached to children and we are seeing it now with there being bombs in the cars with pregnate women. No one can win these wars.
Bush is right if we pull out now it will only get worse because they will believe they won. On the other hand we shouldn’t have gone there in the first place. No matter how this ends I don’t think it can end. Weve created thousands of orphans. Sadam Hussan was an orphan. We are creating thousands of Sadam Hussans. We can come home today but we will be back in 20 or 30 years to remove yet another sadistic leader because we think we know more about how they should run their nation than they do. How many generations of American and Arabic blood is going to have to be spilled before we learn to use the telephone or even email to work out our differences? Normal everyday average people do it every day. Amazing that our goverement leaders can’t.
No one is innocent of this. The American people called for blood after 9-11 We have to own that and the fact we let this president have that much power because of our own anger and hate. Now we pay the price for doing what Toby Keith so elquantly called a boot up your A** I for one really do wish that was not the American way but unfortunatly for everyone it is and its what has gotten us here today.
Bush is an idiot yes. But we cannot forget we followed him blindly into this to begin with.
May 15th, 2007 at 10:23 am“Gen. Eaton……..U.S. military……what would this guy know about the U.S. military”
May 15th, 2007 at 11:10 amIf you want to stick a nife into someones back. Please think before you turn the blade. There may be truth to what you say. There may not be any truth. I tell you one thing though if someone wants to strap C4 or TNT to himself and walk into the room and kill himself….you cannot do anything to stop him. Your totaly at his mercy…..which he prob has none. You think that current President and VP are evil. Well my friends go to a Islamic Country controlled by Islamic Political Regeme…..each and everyone of you would probably be under arrest at this very moment. This country is based on the freedom of speach. Our miltary have died to see to this….One General’s opinion…..I do not know his thoughts….is he right. *Shrug* Not sure. But I tell you this we are truly blessed because we do have a say in the government of the people and by the people. But jus as forethought….if thousand of American’s died each day wouldn’t you want to stop it…..abortions kills thousands of unborn children daily….who stands for them.
May 15th, 2007 at 11:20 amEtu Brute. Get a grip this is a legitmate post. This is a governement mad upon we they by the people for the people. We are so spoiled we need to take a reality check. All the ones above posted would be hiding for their life or DOA. Yes speak you thoughts. But remember this is a country where you respect your leaders. Even if you do not agree with them. Stand up and do something stop talking or get off the soap box and let Americans do something. Our soldiers fought and died all thru history. War is hell….but sometimes deplomacy does not work. Go back to your history. Read about the PM from England whom used DIPLOMACY in good faith with Adolph Hitler…..Hitler invaded I think before his plane landed….the piece of paper with his signature and Hitlers was totally worthless. There are two sides to each story. Before you pull out the tar and feathers get your facts right.
May 15th, 2007 at 11:28 amI wonder how many of the people who left these comments voted for Bush during the last couple of elections.
Remember it takes two to tango; Congress had their hand in this messy also, they weren’t all lied too.
Bear that in mind the next time you go to vote, its time to clean House (and Senate).
May 15th, 2007 at 12:09 pm#44
May 15th, 2007 at 12:21 pmThe American Revolution was fought by a people who wanted to be free from a government that taxed them but did not allow them to have representation in the government. They did not depend on someone else to fight their war. Only when the citizens of Iraq stand up for themselves, with a willingness to give everything the own or posses, including life if necessary will the fighting end. Until then US forces continue to be killed and a greater number Iraqi civilians will be killed. If they won’t stand up for themselves we need to leave Iraq as soon as possible.
We preach democracy and hold the rest of the world hostage with selfish ideology. When will we (the people) say enough is enough and demand accountability for the misguided individuals who pretend to represent us.
May 15th, 2007 at 12:49 pmThe Bush administration is backed in a corner by the American people and the rest of the free world. Can’t you see? Why did Cheney basically threaten Iran? Bush will attack Iran if necessary in his mind, to save his legacy just like he attacked Iraq to save his father’s face and for Cheney’s big oil interests.
May 15th, 2007 at 1:11 pmEaton says “you didn’t listen when we warned you of the dangers” but doesn’t say who else is a part of that “we” (I can’t believe all the commanders discouraged Bush from entering the war) and doesn’t give any evidence that he didn’t listen, you don’t have to agree to have listened. Not only that but he may have agreed with the majority of his commanders(Eaton never says the majority of commanders tried to discourage Bush from entering the war, I’m sure he would have mentioned it was the majority if it had been the majority), he may have listened to and understood the ‘dangers’ but decided to go ahead anyway. He also says “you’re being told we need serious diplomacy” but doesn’t say who is currently telling Bush this (remember Eaton is retired). His statement is purposely misleading and is really quite pathetic when you look at how vague it is.
Bush gave Saddam 48hrs(or was it 72hrs) to get out of Iraq with his sons, or the U.S. was coming to get him. Presumably if Saddam and Sons had left Iraq the U.S. wouldn’t have invaded. So, why no withdrawal after getting Saddam? “Saddam Leave or were invading” kind of implies(at least to me) that their would be no reason to stay after Saddam is gone. I’ve never heard anyone bring up this issue. I’m not saying the U.S. should have definitely withdrawn at that point, I just want to know why the U.S. didn’t.
May 15th, 2007 at 2:48 pmIf Saddam had left, would the invasion still have taken place.