Gates no longer ‘hopes’ to get down to 100,000 troops in Iraq by 2009.
Filed Under: Iraq
By on Apr 10th, 2008 at 5:50 pm
Gates no longer ‘hopes’ to get down to 100,000 troops in Iraq by 2009.
Last September, Defense Secretary Robert Gates said that it was his “hope” that there would be “about 100,000” U.S troops in Iraq by the time the next president takes office. During a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing today Gates said — with somewhat of a smirk — that hoping is “one of the benefits of being Secretary of Defense.” Sen. Carl Levin (D-MI) said to Gates, “talking about hope…you hoped that we could get down to 100,000 troops in Iraq by January of ‘09. Do you still have that hope?” “No, sir,” Gates replied. Watch it:
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Kristol: Sober, Serious Democrats Know U.S. Will Have 100K Troops In Iraq When Bush Leaves Office
April 10th, 2008 at 5:53 pmDick Cheney’s dream of permanent war is being realized.
April 10th, 2008 at 5:53 pmWhat’s up with the smirking? We all know these bastards screwed America, do they have to rub it in by smirking?
I would love to see a Senator ask him why he’s smirking. Does he think it’s funny to lose 4,000 soldiers?
Is pissing away 3 trillion dollars funny?
Or is just humorous to stick a knife in a country and no one can stop him?
April 10th, 2008 at 5:59 pmYou know what gates is thinking right? “Well, I have made no sacrifice, my children have made no sacrifices, friends and family have made no sacrifice, I getting more and more wealthy due to the GOP way of government. So, let’s stay as long as we have too. No problem for me!”.
April 10th, 2008 at 5:59 pmThey ALL talk as if there will be no change in the White House in 2009. Every last one of them. Petraeus once gave one nod to the possibility of a Clinton or Obama presidency by saying, as regards their plans to end the war and bring troops home, “I won’t be backed into that corner.”
Petraeus was saying flat-out that a general outranks a Democratic president. And he believes it. Why shouldn’t he?
Democrats are, to the neocon machine now in power, nothing but gnats. They BEHAVE like gnats, and friendly ones, too, in the congress. Nothing will be different starting 1-20-09. You gnats can make all the noise you want. Who’s gonna hear you?
April 10th, 2008 at 6:05 pmJust keep running out the clock on the worst presidency in history.
April 10th, 2008 at 6:08 pmTool.
The longer we stay in Iraq, the quicker the reich-wing becomes a permanent minority.
April 10th, 2008 at 6:10 pmGates will only be charged with a few war crimes, but mostly for collaborating with known terrorists.
April 10th, 2008 at 6:12 pmI want nothing more than an opportunity to smack that smirk right off the faces of every last one of these punks.
April 10th, 2008 at 6:13 pm“Maybe if we stay in Iraq long enough all these damn liberals will head to Canada!!”
Danishpigkartoon, I can tell by your courageous view of staying in Iraq that you, my brave American son, are posting from the Red Zone in Iraq. I have just one thing to say besides “Thank you for your service,” and that is “Please come home safe.” Your courage…your stamina, your iron will, your sheer GUTS…I am crying, I can’t help it. Thank you!
April 10th, 2008 at 6:14 pmI see the danishpig still hasn’t gotten treatment for its high-grade fever.
Well, I guess swilling Robitussin counts as “treatment”…
April 10th, 2008 at 6:15 pmGood point. Don’t you generally want to run out the clock when you’re winning?
Bush running out the clock is like a kids’ basketball team getting creamed and playing with only four guys after injuries and foul-outs, desperately trying to kill the clock so the other team doesn’t get to 100.
Oh, but I am overlooking the possibility that BushCo is lfocused on a different metric of success: the fattening of their “blind trusts”. Maybe that’s what KKKarl Rove meant when he talked about “THE Math”.
April 10th, 2008 at 6:20 pmSometime back, Georgejr was quoted as saying something to the effect that he was going to see to it that his successor would be unable pull the troops out of Iraq, too. There is NO condition under which Bush even decrease our presence in Iraq. That sand is on top of our oil, and by god, we’re gonna make sure it’s Bush’s buddies who have access to it.
“Success” is return to the days when the oil companies owned the Middle East oil fields - before those countries (Saudi Arabis, Iraq (or was it still Persia?), etc.) decided to nationalize their natural resources, and control them, themselves.
April 10th, 2008 at 6:22 pm…you hoped that we could get down to 100,000 troops in Iraq by January of ‘09. Do you still have that hope?” “No, sir,” Gates replied.
Another republican, another lie. Tomorrow, another republican, another lie. Same shit different day. Damn, I said that yesterday. Damn, I’ll say that tomorrow.
April 10th, 2008 at 6:25 pmBush running out the clock is like a kids’ basketball team getting creamed and playing with only four guys after injuries and foul-outs, desperately trying to kill the clock so the other team doesn’t get to 100.
And Bush is going to the free throw line. Look! He’s got a grenade! He lobs the grenade at the back board! And misses!!
April 10th, 2008 at 6:26 pmThe ref catches it, and with a look of utter bewilderment, is blown to shit.
God, would someone please smack that smirk right off his ugly face. Of course he doesn’t hope to get the troops down to 100,000. If he doesn’t have to, why should he. He doesn’t care how many more of our brave soldiers will die while they milk the last bit of profit they can out of occupying Iraq. Because they know the gravy train will stop once Obama is President.
How these people sleep at night is beyond me.
April 10th, 2008 at 6:35 pmGates got his orders from the White House and he will follow those orders like a good soldier getting kick backs.
April 10th, 2008 at 6:37 pmHe sorta has a smirk just like DUBYA. He doesn’t give a shit about the country, the soldiers, anything. He’s counting the days until January 20, 2009 when he will retire with glorious send-off dinners, awards and accolades, freedom medals, etc.
April 10th, 2008 at 6:42 pmOne can only hope those dreams aren’t realized.
Didn’t we have 130,000 combat troops there in Dec 2006 when the Iraq Study Group said there could be no military solution? Now (in the best case scenario) we will have 140,000 maybe in July 2008 and Bush is on tv telling us what a wonderful job he has done by reducing troop levels by 25%!!! For over seven years now they have been relying on the amnesia of the American public.
April 10th, 2008 at 7:00 pmThey aren’t going to reduce troops if the WAR CRIMINALS Bush and Cheney are planning on attacking Iran.
April 10th, 2008 at 7:04 pmYou know, it isn’t necessarily the multitude of deceptions, crimes and unconstitutional acts that bother me so much. It’s the fact that no serious investigation is currently enacted to quell the lawlessness of Bush and Cheney. No probes into missing billions of dollars. No probes into Blackwater’s ability to murder with impunity. Nothing regarding the seemingly endless string of lies as to why we are in Iraq.
April 10th, 2008 at 7:05 pmThe republicans went after Bill Clinton like piranha’s on a feeding frenzy over a sexual daliance. If only Condi saved her dresses instead of cleaning them. But in today’s twisted America, I don’t believe anything would happen if George Bush was caught in bed with a dead girl AND a live boy. And it all procedes with a cheeky grin and a sickening smugness that is as arrogant as it is insulting. Anything Bush has said or says has about as much credibility as when he tries to pontificate about the sanctity of human life. It’s a scam. Everything about the Bush Administration is just one big scam.
So Gates finally came out of hiding. And he looked and sounded like a man who had been taken out behind the woodshed. Cheney has been running the Defense Department for the last couple of months. Gates is just counting down the days until January 20, 2009.
April 10th, 2008 at 7:13 pmHave to agree with Kilo, wish I didn’t.
April 10th, 2008 at 7:48 pmFirst, we must assume there’s an election. If not? The result would be civil war in Our Town U.S.A.
Second, if the new President, and legislators, betray our trust? Once again, civil war. And they won’t be able to argue about semantics when the mob comes for them. And I sure as Hell don’t see Blackwater. or the military, defending them when the checks start bouncing.
So, in summation, I don’t think that anyone is stupid, or brave, enough to perpetuate the failures of Bushco.
April 10th, 2008 at 8:01 pmWay to support the troops, SecDef.
April 10th, 2008 at 8:03 pmNothing to stand in the way of corporate war profits, right?
ol’Bob Gates is a-grinnin ’cause he knows he probably won’t have to sit through another of these grillings before he’s off to a cushy retirement.
what a hero.
April 10th, 2008 at 8:12 pmCarly Corday Says:
April 10th, 2008 at 7:48 pm
Have to agree with Kilo, wish I didn’t.
Nice that kilo doesn’t have to be the ponly moron on the board for a change. two idiots now, great.
April 10th, 2008 at 9:47 pm> Whose not proposing any change to the contractors
> operating there.
Right, know where I can get a an exhaustive list of all the things Obamas planning to do if he gets elected president? I mean, candidates, just like supreme court nominees, obviously show all thier cards before they even begin playing the game. In his nomination hearings Clarence Thomas said he has no opinion about abortion and of course I’m sure you beleive him.
Obama isnt the 2nd coming of christ, but if hes elected, some important folks will eventually end up in jail, and the gravy train, while not derailing will lessen and slow immensely.
One again, one wonders why the f#ck you even bothered posting about this, other than to remind us that Obama isnt Dennis Kunnitich.
April 10th, 2008 at 10:07 pm1,000 Iraqi troops desert and another 10,000 American soldiers are thrown into the country. As the Iraqis stand down, we stand up.
April 10th, 2008 at 10:22 pmCarly Corday Says:
April 10th, 2008 at 7:48 pm
Have to agree with Kilo, wish I didn’t.
Nice that kilo doesn’t have to be the ponly moron on the board for a change. two idiots now, great.
I’m an idiot? Wow, that is a lot to take in. How is it that I’m an idiot again?
What’s a ponly moron?
April 10th, 2008 at 10:33 pmWell, since you had to ask, “How is it that I’m an idiot again?”
Maybe it’s because you’re wearing your idiocy on your sleeve:
Danishpigkartoon, I can tell by your courageous view of staying in Iraq that you,
…allow me to finish correctly with takes a troll to know one, and your brown-nosing of the latest “troll-du-jour” further confirms your ignorance.
April 10th, 2008 at 10:42 pmhttp://www.huffingtonpost.com/ naomi-klein-and-jeremy-scahill/ players-not-cheerleaders_b_93515.html
I voted for Obama in my state’s primary, freedom lover, and am still his avid supporter. Be careful who you take for an “idiot” without knowing them from Adam, let alone whether or not they are actually stupid. Be very careful about “berating” me. I don’t know you or want to, and I don’t care for your remark at all.
April 10th, 2008 at 10:42 pmKilo Says:
April 10th, 2008 at 7:38 pm
… This would be the same Obama whose policy allows for a continuing occupation….
Asopposed to 100-year McSame, who mos’ def gots him a plan — Cheney’s plan.
April 10th, 2008 at 10:57 pm#21 Mr. Evil Says:
April 10th, 2008 at 7:05 pm
I couldn’t agree with you more. What upsets me the most is that Kucinich and Wexler have tried so hard by introducing Articles of Impeachment that got basically put on the backburner. These two actually wanted to nail Cheney to the wall (along with 18 other co-sponsors) and the rest on them didn’t even want to hear about it. If that’s not criminal what is?
When doing the right thing is considered a taboo in Congress; I think it is high time for a major change in Congress. Most of them are disgraceful by actions and deeds. Our Founding Fathers would roll over in the graves if they knew the extent of war crimes, back-room deals, and loss of American Lives this Administration has caused. The irony is that they came to America to escape tyranny.
We still have 7 more months of this left…*shudder*
April 10th, 2008 at 10:59 pmGates is a War Criminal! He was indirectly involved in the Iran-Contra case. Gosh! People on both sides are dying… On the occupyiers and on the iraq civilian population, and this war criminal smiles like it is a joke???!!!!!! The USA is torturing people and he has a ’smart’ smrik in his ugly face??? What are these criminals thinking???!!! Sure, they’ve got away so far… but the cokkie will crumble.
April 10th, 2008 at 11:20 pmFreedom Rebel Says:
April 10th, 2008 at 10:59 pm
Two words to remember, complicit and corrupt.
April 11th, 2008 at 1:21 amHey, snort another KILO! Lets not look at the chimperor who got us in this QUAGMIRE(Cheneys word) in the first place. There was a time that McSame hed my respect and I would have voted for him. But said respect vanished with “bomb,bomb,bomb…bomb Iran”.
April 11th, 2008 at 6:35 amThis is why we stay in Iraq:
US Lawmakers Invested in Iraq, Afghanistan Wars
Abid Aslam / Inter-Press Service | April 8, 2008
WASHINGTON - U.S. lawmakers have a financial interest in military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan, a review of their accounts has revealed.
Members of Congress invested nearly 196 million dollars of their own money in companies that receive hundreds of millions of dollars a day from Pentagon contracts to provide goods and services to U.S. armed forces, say nonpartisan watchdog groups.
David Petraeus, the top U.S. general in Iraq, is to brief the Senate Foreign Relations and Armed Services committees on Tuesday and Wednesday. The latest findings are unlikely to have a significant impact on this week’s proceedings but could stoke anti-incumbent sentiment in this year of presidential and legislative elections.
Lawmakers charged with overseeing Pentagon contractors hold stock in those very firms, as do vocal critics of the war in Iraq, says the Centre for Responsive Politics (CRP).
Senator John Kerry, the Democrat from Massachusetts who staked his 2004 presidential bid in part on his opposition to the war, tops the list of investors. His holdings in firms with Pentagon contracts of at least five million dollars stood at between 28.9 million dollars and 38.2 million dollars as of Dec. 31, 2006. Kerry sits on the Senate foreign relations panel.
Members of Congress are required to report their personal finances every year but only need to state their assets in broad ranges.
Other top investors include Representative Rodney Frelinghuysen, a New Jersey Republican with holdings of 12.1 million - 49.1 million dollars; Rep. Robin Hayes, a North Carolina Republican (9.2 million - 37.1 million dollars); Republican Rep. James Sensenbrenner Jr. of Wisconsin (5.2 million - 7.6 million dollars); and Rep. Jane Harman, a California Democrat (2.7 million - 6.3 million dollars).
Sen. Jay Rockefeller, the Democrat and former governor of West Virginia who chairs the Senate Select Intelligence Committee, invested some 2.0 million dollars in Pentagon contractors, CRP says.
Other panel chiefs who invested in defence firms include Sen. Joseph Lieberman, the Connecticut Independent who presides over the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, and Rep. Howard Berman, the California Democrat who heads the House Foreign Affairs Committee.
In all, 151 current members of Congress — more than one-fourth of the total — have invested between 78.7 million dollars and 195.5 million dollars in companies that received defence contracts of at least 5.0 million dollars, according to CRP.
These companies received more than 275.6 billion dollars from the government in 2006, or 755 million dollars per day, says budget watchdog group OMB Watch.
The investments yielded lawmakers 15.8 million - 62 million dollars in dividend income, capital gains, royalties, and interest from 2004 through 2006, says CRP.
Not all the firms deal in arms or military equipment. Some make soft drinks or medical supplies and military contracts represent a small fraction of their revenues. Many are leaders in their industries and, as such, feature in the investment portfolios of millions of ordinary people who invest at least a portion of their savings in mutual funds, which in turn hold stocks in up to hundreds of companies.
“Giant corporations outside of the defence sector, such as Pepsico, IBM, Microsoft and Johnson & Johnson, have received defence contracts and are all popular investments for both members of Congress and the general public,” says CRP.
“So common are these companies, both as personal investments and as defence contractors, it would appear difficult to build a diverse blue-chip stock portfolio without at least some of them,” the group acknowledges.
If some of the stocks appear innocent, aides say legislators also are. Some did not buy the stocks in question but inherited them. Many hold them in blind trusts, so called because the investments are handled by independent entities, at least theoretically without the politicians’ knowledge of how their assets are being managed.
Even so, according to CRP, owning stock in companies under contract with the Pentagon could prove “problematic for members of Congress who sit on committees that oversee defence policy and budgeting.”
Members of the Senate Foreign Relations and Armed Services committees held 3.0 million - 5.1 million dollars in companies specialising in weapons and other exclusively military goods and services, it added.
Critics have assailed President George W. Bush and Vice President Richard Cheney for their ties to companies seen as benefiting from the Iraq and Afghanistan wars. Bush was characterised as pushing conflict in the interest of the oil fraternity whence he hailed.
Before becoming vice president, Cheney headed Halliburton, a major player in the oil services industry and the object of controversies involving political connections, government contracts, and business ethics.
Halliburton’s subsidiary, Kellogg Brown & Root, was given multi-billion-dollar contracts to provide construction, hospitality, and other services to the U.S. military following the 2003 invasion of Iraq. The contracts drew fire because of Cheney’s history and then-ongoing financial relationship with the firm, and because the company did not have to compete for the Pentagon’s business. The firm was renamed KBR Inc. after Halliburton spun it off last year.
April 11th, 2008 at 8:14 am