You people give credence to the far righties who say Dems/Libs are nothing but spoiled whiney brats who talk endlessly about what’s right and then piss on anyone that doesn’t agree with your version of it.

Get it straight kiddies…General Petraeus was not put in charge to fix OR answer for the mistake of going into Iraq in the first place.

Neither is it his responsibility to help you OR Bush win a PR war!

His one and ONLY job is to win the best possible outcome for OUR country!!!

OUR country!!!

So get over yourselves and stop taking cheap shots at people who have sacrificed a hellava lot more for their countrymen (that is you and me!) than most of you ever have or will!

You mean the instability that our invasion of Iraq has caused? I agree there will be no good outcome to this horrible policy blunder. THe question is how many more American lives is it worth to commit on the hopes that it will result in a slightly better outcome than if we just get out now guard the borders, and let the situation play out? This is an important question, even if the American lives are people you don’t know.

no one is talking about abandonment, fool…
after all, we made a horrible mess over there…

too damn bad, though, about those dems who just
want to get along and work togther to do the right thing…
i wish they’d figure out the fact that today’s repugs
do NOT want to do ANTthing “together”…
…

For the overview, see:
“Required Reading for Petraeus, Crocker Testimony.”

Because he won’t mindlessly parrot your defeatism, he’s a disgrace to the uniform?

Just so you know, your list of disgraceful people seems to be growing:

http://wpherald.com/articles/5737/1/Top-Democrats-acknowledge-progress-in-Iraq/Improved-security-in-Baghdad-highlighted.html

“Mr. Levin joins a growing chorus of Democrats — including 2008 presidential hopeful Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton of New York and Senate Majority Whip Richard J. Durbin of Illinois — who say the troop surge has produced benefits…”

Is there any consideration by Clarke, and many of the left, of the consequences for the U.S. to not follow through on our commitment to Iraq? Any consideration for the greater instability in the region that will most like result when we abandon Iraq? The message that we send to jihadists? Of what forces will fill the vacuum we create if we withdraw?

I think it is easy to agree that Iraq is expensive. That American troop loses cause us all remorse. But, what about the alternative? Retreat from the Middle East? Hand over the region to Islamic theocracy and jihadism? How will surrender help us preserve western liberties that many here take for granted?

thanks.

would that they could… MOST people don’t even know these reports exist, i’m guessing, much less take the time to read them… IF their local daily papers cared enough to print this information…

the uninformed… the uninclined… and the world goes ’round…
…

Lets remember that it was Clarke who insisted the white house take seriously the Intel assertion that “OBL is determined to strike within the US” BEFORE 9/11 and had to resign when the white house marginalized his experience and knowledge to opt instead for the Iraq War.

A better job needs to be done by TP to stop this rampant name-jacking that drastically convolute the general direction of the discourse. Everyone has the right to expression; But no one should be allowed to jack-off their crap while using somebody else’s pseudonym.

It lends a validation to folks who condemn TP as a site where folks are not sure what they stand for/against. I wouldn’t put it past the GOPrs to pay ’someone’ to represent this idiotic and cowardly role.

1. Major General John Batiste
– Said Rumsfeld threatened to fire anyone who discussed conflicting views
– Retired to speak out against the occupation
– WSJ would not post insight from a TWO STAR general on the occupation

2. General Eric Shinseki – (4 star general for the military illiterate)
– suggested several hundred thousand troops necessary if we invaded Iraq
– ignored pre-invasion

3. LT. General Gregory Newbold – (3 stars)
– Retired in 2002 openly criticizing Donal Rumsfeld’s plans fro invation
– Retired in protest
– suggested 500,000 troops necesary
– Wrote a very insightful TIME article “Why Iraq was a mistake”

4. Lt General Anthony Zinni
– Says it was a mistake to support Bush in 2000
– Supported Jim Webb in last election
– Presented plan about what was necessary to invade Iraq – was ignored
– Outlined 10 majore criticisms of the Iraq Invasion in May of 2004

5. Many retired Generals (8 I believe) wrote an open letter to the President about their concern about torture policy.

There are more, I am sure, but I don’t have them all here. This is UNPRECIDENTED. Never before in the history of our country have so many of the TOP military spoken out against an administration. Although I will listen to the Patraeus report and weigh it on its merits, I have low expectations, because anyone being honest or saying what the administration does not want to hear is forced out or marginalized.

Let’s not forget that these Generals were traditionally Republican – not to mention they have great combined combat experience. You can not accuse these men of “hating America” or “wanting the US to fail”. When will people wake up?

Comment by PeterW — September 10, 2007

The Innocent Bystander Fable by David Sirota.

Congress has the power of the purse, meaning it has the ultimate veto over the war. Democrats control both chambers of Congress, meaning they have the ultimate veto over the war. If they chose not to schedule a vote to give Bush a blank check, the war would end. The whole idea that they “can’t end the war” is the highest form of dishonesty. It is the Innocent Bystander Fable – the oft-repeated lie where Democrats claim they are powerless even though they control an entire branch of the government, and their public efforts to try “to make sure everyone understands” the lie as truth is just another insult in a long string of insults

Probably so. And it’s going to be an ugly primary season for them.

There is nothing and no one that this President won’t sacrifice at the alter of his grotesquely inflated ego, and it doesn’t appear that anyone is going to stop him.

He [Petraeus] has to have some huge payoff waiting in the wings because he is destroying his reputation.

Or perhaps he was convinced by other methods…