Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., is taking heat from Republicans for saying Thursday that the war in Iraq is "lost" militarily and can only be resolved through political, diplomatic and economic means. That was a harsh assessment by a top official who needs to watch his words. But is it that much different from statements by U.S. generals that the war can’t be won militarily? Do you think the war is already lost?
Meanwhile, his House counterpart, Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., who was slammed by Republicans for traveling to Syria earlier this month, said that President Bush told her privately Thursday that he didn’t criticize her trip. Huh?
Posted by Phillip Brownlee
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98 Comments
Sounds a lot like what the Baker Commission said.
Bush’s downfall has to do with lying going out of style.
We are all still waiting on that “…resolved through political, diplomatic and economic plan” Senator Reid.
All talk, 99 percent fluff.
Unfortunately it’s all theatrics at the national level. Now everyone will talk about how controversial his statement is instead of looking for real solutions. Let’s stop playing politics through the media and actually do something constructive.
If “winning” is defined as a stable Iraq, where people are free, and democracy reigns”, than Iraq is unwinnable, and we have lost. But anyone with an ounce of intelligence knew that before the occupation. Iraq will be what it’ll always be, and always has been. We should never have injected ourselves into the mid-eatern mess.
“Mission Acomphised” was a couple years ago, and that major combat operations were over, then weve already won.
If Reid’s assessment is “fluff,” it’s nothing compared to the “fluffing” of the Bush Administration that’s been practiced by “leaders” like John McCain and his ilk.
Reid is right. We need to get real about Iraq, and get out in a sensible and orderly fashion.
hehehehehe CF!
Presidential fluffing is needed frequently and repeatedly as the viagra of power slowly slips away…
“viagra of power” good one — I have a cocky brother I can use that on.
Perhaps the You People in Congress will find the courage of their convictions and pull the funding. Wouldn’t that be refreshing.
The wrong war.At the wrong time.In the wrong place.For the wrong reasons.With the wrong army. (Thanks, Rummy. Although the army inherited from the Clinton Administration is the one that achieved “Mission Accomplished.”)
The wrong strategy.The wrong tactics.The wrong weapons.The wrong body armor.The wrong equipment.The wrong philosophy.The wrong enemy.The wrong purpose.The wrong President.
How could anything possibly go wrong?
When the war in Iraq finally wins, it will be a replay of the Fall of Saigon.
Shurb simply doesn’t want it to happen on his watch.
Given the opportunity, George WMD Bush will play stall ball with American lives and tax dollars in hopes a Democrat will be in office when it happens and God’s Own Party can grasp a “Who lost Iraq?” election strategy.
Imagine what might have happened if the people of the United States had invested 5-Billion Dollars a month over the past four years toward developing technologies that wouldn’t have been dependent upon Middle East oil.
Your Mobil-Exxon stock might have tanked, but there’d be more than 3,000 courageous young Americans who’d still be alive.
Who do you think Dick Cheney is more concerned with? 3,000 brave Americans or the value of his Mobil-Exxon and Halliburton stock?
Do your part, Republics! Slap a yellow magnet on the trunk of your car.
Harry Reid putting his own political agenda ahead of our country and our men and women fighting for his (and our) freedom.
english.aljazeera.net/HomePage
And who says the enemy isn’t motivated by people like Harry Reid. Conversely, Reid’s comments demotivates our troops.
This is a prime example of lefties putting their own agenda ahead of the country.
This word from one who puts our troops or our interests above what?
“Rather than let the bill sink, “we want to get it to the president and let him veto it,” said Rep. Diane Watson (news, bio, voting record), D-Calif., a party liberal who opposes funding the war at all.”
From yahoo.com
Supporting a bill strictly for political reasons, not what you believe. The height of Hypocrisy–whoever does it
I wish to thank ksfarmgrrl for that wonderful omment. I LOL’d.
Democratic party is good at making speeches and in the blog one liner bloviating…
er nm…cant’ think of anything else they are good at.
Impeach traitorous Senator Reid.
Go for it Parkay.
ID – Did you even READ the article at the link you posted? It does NOTHING to support your arguement. In FACT, quoting from the article YOU posted a link to:
“Locked in a bitter row with Democrats over emergency war funding, Bush said that no crackdown could ever fully banish such attacks such as the ones that took place in Baghdad on Wednesday.”If the definition of success in Iraq – or anywhere – is ‘no suicide bombers’, we’ll never be successful,” he told an audience at a high school in Tipp City, Ohio.”
What? I thought we were over there fighting “terrorists.” Aren’t suicide bombers terrorists? Bush, himself, says we’ll never be successful, so why the hell are we still there?
I think Lieberman was dead on:
“Reid was called “reckless” and accused of “playing to the worst elements of the antiwar left.” White House Spokeswoman Dana Perino said his comment was “disturbing.” In a new statement, published in full below, Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-CT) warns Reid, “We should not surrender in the face of barbarism.””
Four more years! Four more years!
Isn’t that what you Bush supporters were shouting in ‘04.
Hey, dimbulbs!
You got your wish . . . four more years of Bush and four more years of war.
The thing that was ‘reckless’ was the invasion in the first place. AND THEY WERE AMPLY WARNED!
im1096, Read the Middle East section…You know, the one that the Islamic Facsist read.
“This war is lost, and this surge is not accomplishing anything, as is shown by the extreme violence in Iraq this week,” Harry Reid, the senate Democratic majority leader, told reporters.
Al Jajeera is a master of disception, and they fooled you.
http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/E37E4CB2-622B-445C-A96C-C7B79219CB70.htm
Sorry, had the link on my clipboard for didn’t paste.
“but it is not a commitment to have our young men and women patrolling Iraq’s streets open-endedly,”
Who said that about our troop committment in Iraq?
We are fighting them there so we won’t have to admit we lost the war over here. Keeping failure from reaching our shores is the new mission of the global war on terror or something else equally catchy sounding.
Or, we are fighting them there because they have huge stockpiles of WMDs and mushroom clouds will someday appear overhead raining down political capital for all Republicans.
Or, we are bringing freedom, democracy, and our own unique brand of genocide to the Iraqi people, even though they are ungrateful savages that pray to the wrong god.
We are fighting them there because the liberals allowed Saddam to destroy the World Trade Center towers and blame a group of innocent Saudis. Only by virtue of the amazing intellect of Bush and right wing talk radio hosts were we able to see through the ruse and come up with a plan to attack the right country. Think of all the innocent Saudi lives that were spared by Bush’s quick thinking.
It is all Bill Clinton’s fault anyway. Or, is it gay people. I can’t remember anymore and Rush O’Reilly already left for the day.
I say forget the whole war thing, we should just send enough freedom fries and freedom toast to feed every Iraqi citizen, it worked for us when we fought for our independence from the French didn’t it.
The real question is – does Reid actually THINK we’ve been defeated?
Or does he WANT us to be defeated?
I wonder what his criteria for declaring defeat is?
Did anyone see Pelosi on the news whispering in Reid’s ear? I would wonder if she told him to say that – but after thinking about it – I’m pretty sure that whatever she said – went in that ear – and directly out the other – since there is no gray matter in betwixt to slow it down.
…shrug…
I think Reid should seriously consider resigning his leadership position. He has undermined the brave men and women fighting for the freedom of the Iraqi people. He has put them in even more danger as he assures the bombers that if homicide bombers become more frequent we will be forced to pull out.
Reid is a bundle of contradiction. He won’t pull the funding, he won’t back the troops, he makes very poorly thoughtout statements with no thought of the consequences.
He should go.
Good question GS. I think the answer is that he THINKS we have been. I don’t think you can provide evidence otherwise.
Care to make a stab at my question above?
The lack of gray matter is in Bush’s and his advisors’ heads.
GS–
Wrong.
The real question is was the war lost before we invaded or was it lost by Worst. President. Ever.’s incompetence?
I lean toward the former, but one can hardly overestimate the latter.
Hmmmm…I tend to think the fat lady hasn’t sung yet – and no, I DON’T mean that nasty old Rosie. lol
Seems to me that the Dems NEED a declared loss in Iraq. A win for the US over there would be devastating for them.
Just the fact that the death toll (of US soldiers) has dropped since the Surge began signifies progress – not failure.
Reid, like many dems, hates that. He has to try like hell to keep folks on the anti-Iraq War bandwagon.
Lieberman called it correctly – the folks we are fighting are barbarians.
If we pull out now – they will slaughter the ones we are there protecting.
I wonder if Reid would have advocated that we let the Jews fend for themselves, too, in WWII?
I kind of think he just might have.
Posted these on the other war related blog earlier — want to make sure as many get to read it as possible
Walter Reed Review Group Publishes Findings
The Independent Review Group (IRG), appointed by the Secretary of Defense to investigate conditions at Walter Reed and Bethesda medical centers, has published its final report on their web site, offering extensive recommendations to overhaul care delivery and disability retirement systems for wounded servicemembers.The bipartisan IRG was co-chaired by Reagan-era Army Secretary John Marsh and Clinton-era Army and VA Secretary Togo West and included seven other distinguished military and civic leaders. Its report minces no words, describing significant shortcomings in care delivery, leadership, policy and oversight.While it found first-class care from the time of the injury through the time of inpatient hospitalization, the system broke down when the wounded members transitioned to outpatient status. The group emphasized what co-chairman West described at a hearing last Saturday as “the horrors of the disability review process,” in which seriously impaired members are given lowball disability ratings and separated from service rather than being medically retired with health and other benefits. The report also highlighted problems with:Qualification and training of case managersInadequate consideration, training and care for members with traumatic brain injuries (TBI), burns, amputations and PTSDInadequate – and declining – mental/behavioral health staffingAccessibility of advanced follow-on care for amputees outside military facilitiesLack of electronic interface between military and VA systemsA “perfect storm” of BRAC, outsourcing and funding shortfalls that has crippled services at Walter Reed, while a planned transition to Bethesda faces roadblocksUnique challenges for Guard/Reserve members in a system that categorizes them differently than active duty members and raises potential for differential treatmentAssistance to family membersInadequate housing and maintenance of facilities for outpatients and family membersSerious leadership failures to fix these shortcomings and moreThe IRG report’s recommendations include:Assigning each wounded member a single primary physician and case managerEstablishing a center of excellence for TBI and PTSD research and trainingCreative recruiting and compensation plans to address military staffing shortagesA complete overhaul of the disability evaluation system to ensure fairness and consistencyAcceleration of transition from Walter Reed to Bethesda and Ft. BelvoirTestifying on April 14 before the President’s Commission on Care for America’s Returning Wounded Warriors – a separate 9-member commission appointed by the President to review similar issues – co-chairman West spoke eloquently on what current treatment of wounded warriors says about the country.”Who are we as a nation?” he asked, observing that, on this score, “We won’t like the answer.”"How long will we take to act?” he asked, observing that there have been four similar reports in the last 10 years that had identified and recommended fixes for the same problems the IRG found, and yet the problems haven’t been fixed.MOAA shares that extreme frustration. There are plenty of people pointing out problems with coordinating between service programs, transferring facilities from Walter Reed to Bethesda/Ft. Belvoir, coordinating between DoD and VA programs, between the Administration and Congress, between the House and Senate, and between congressional committees. There’s no end of people pointing at somebody else as the primary source of the problem.It’s long past time, on the issue of taking care of the Nation’s war-wounded, for leaders in all services, departments, branches, and chambers to get past the rhetoric and finger-pointing and do what it takes to work together and get these problems fixed — now.
The second post there
MOAA Storms Hill for Troops, Survivors, Retirees
MOAA Council and Chapter Presidents from the 50 states and Puerto Rico, accompanied by members of the national Board of Directors and headquarters staff, swarmed Capitol Hill on April 18 to visit representatives’ and senators’ offices on key MOAA legislative initiatives.This year, the “Hill stormers” focused on three main issues, supporting efforts to:Oppose disproportional TRICARE fee increases proposed by Defense leadersFix Survivor Benefit Plan (SBP) inequities for survivors of members who died of service-connected causes and “Greatest Generation” retireesAuthorize a larger pay raise for the troops than the 3% proposed in the President’s budgetMOAA representatives carried a wealth of information supporting those goals, including information brochures outlining the problems and the needed fixes.Hill-stormers received very positive feedback from most legislators, and we’ve already seen a jump in the number of cosponsors for MOAA-supported bills on these topics. Check your representatives’ and senators’ cosponsorship status for the bills listed below:H.R. 579 and S. 604 – Protect against disproportionate health fee increasesH.R. 1589 and S. 935 – Repeal the SBP-DIC offsetH.R. 784 (and S. 935) – Accelerate paid up coverage for SBP to October 1, 2007Enter your ZIP code in the applicable box for each bill to send your legislator a MOAA-suggested “please cosponsor” or “thank you for cosponsoring” letter, as applicable.
This is where I would tell the Democrats that they need to cool the tone and probably just give the President what he wants on Iraq. If Iraq falls into chaos and a failed state, you don’t want Bush to be able to say it was your fault. Like the old saying “if your enemy wants to hang himself, give him the rope to do it”.
Between Mrage and Ken, I’m going to have to get my ruler out to measure their posts.
Hey Ben, who said this?
“Saddam Hussein has effectively thumbed his nose at the World Community.
I think the President approaching this in the right fashion.”Sept 18, 2002
There is no effective government in Iraq. They cannot do the things we ask them to do like set up some variety of reconciliation or a means of dividing up the oil wealth. They can’t do these things, because they don’t want to do them.
So our troops staying in Iraq are helping the Iraqis maintain their stalemate. And, as I post on a different thread today, that is likely the best we can hope for until after 2008 when we will hopefully have a president who can pull us out of this mess without the region collapsing into all-out regional war. The economic consequences of such a collapse would be a world-wide disaster.
Don’t measure em — read em – my last 2 — they’re about you too — or ahhh don’t you support the troops ?
Perhaps a good compromise –
Editors take note —
Why not a one day a week page in the paper that addresses servicemen, policemen, firemen other service workers we rely on — not political — just service news (you have a faith page every saturday) — Achievements, deaths, legislation, human interest etc …. sell advertising on the page and some / all profits go to the VA hospital, National Guard, McConnell AFB. Advertising on the page limited to –”this page is presented by the following companies and individuals) …
It sounds like such a good idea, I’d help ya gratis to get it started and running — I would even consider working with .. re.. repub … ahh cant yet bring mysalf to put the whole name (I’d get accused again of having a political agenda) you know HIM !!! …..
I would stop posting names and screaming for the ME’s firing — hell I might even subscibe again ….
Good grief, ID – I READ the article. I quoted from the article. How did they fool me? Are you trying to say that Al Jazeera made that up? That Reid didn’t say it? If that’s the case, then they fooled Bush too – heh heh – so now he is **predictably** trying to ruin Reid the way he has so many other carreers.
http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2007/04/20070420-7.html
“Saddam Hussein has effectively thumbed his nose at the World Community.
I think the President approaching this in the right fashion.”Sept 18, 2002 – Senator Harry Reid
Is the Iraq War lost?
Depends on how one measures “lost”.
Who would Jesus Bomb?
Are the only babies worth saving lost as fetuses? Do the brown-skinned Muslim babies have equal value? Are the Pro-Life Christian evangelical masses protesting the destruction of innocent life at the gates of Ft. Riley?
How does the RR define “global evangelism” all the while supporting their president’s war of destroying babies in a faraway desert?
The war we won about 4 years ago. It’s the peace we’ve failed to win, and cannot win as long as we have an occupying force there.
Republican
Why didn’t you include what “approach” Sen. Reid said was “in the right fashion”.Are you trying to deceive everybody?
‘BUSH’S DISHONEST NEW STRATEGY FOR DEFENDING THE WAR.’http://www.tnr.com/doc.mhtml?i=w051114&s=lizza111505“But it is safe to say that Reid was not speaking of or praising Bush’s use of false intelligence concerning yellowcake from Niger, aluminum tubes for a uranium enrichment program, and contacts between Mohamed Atta and Iraqi spies in Prague. Here’s the full Reid quote:
As you know when his father went into Iraq, we had a very good debate. Some said one of the best debates in the last 40 years in Congress. We’re going to have a debate. But I think we have to acknowledge what’s gone on in Iraq. Saddam Hussein, in effect, has thumbed his nose at the world community. And I think that the president’s approaching this in the right fashion. He’s now trying to get the international community to join. Secretary Powell is basically living in New York, working with international community. And we have made progress.
Reid was offering support for Bush and Powell’s diplomacy at the United Nations because the administration had previously signaled that Bush was not going to seek U.N. approval for the war. Bush is now essentially using the quote to suggest that Reid supported every decision the president ever made about Iraq.”
I have the video of Senator Reid saying it. Care to view it Cosmos?
There is no deception.
The deception is the ever-waffling Democrats who will do anything to deceive the voters of the United States, so they can get more votes. For Democrats it’s all about votes. They could care less if Iraqis die and even use dead soldiers as talking points.
The great deceivers are the Democrat who talk a lot, with no plan except to scurry back to their collective holes and hide.
Gosh, once again macklin uses selective cut and paste to change the clear intent of the full quotation.
Oh, and it is the democrats’ fault that he effectively lies by not using the entire quote?
Busted. Again.
I thought a macklin ws a fish that really stunk if left out in the sun too long.
Republican,
Your DECEPTION was not including WHAT Sen. Reid said was being done in the “right fashion”.
“He’s now trying to get the international community to join. Secretary Powell is basically living in New York, working with international community. And we have made progress.”
Context is very important.
Heheh Bob. That’s a mackerel. This JM just stinks up the blog.
Mackerel or Macklin – it is hard to keep smelly things like that straight.
Heres another politician that wants to be president, and who thinks we must protect Israel at all costs, McCain.http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070420/ap_on_el_pr/mccain_joke
heheheheh Bob. Check out http://www.grouchyoldcripple.com/
It is one of his favorite blogs for commenting. When you see the content, you will know why.
And notice, his little “tax” story was lifted straight from that blog. Google him. Veeeeery interestink.
So where is Jim? He seems to have disappeared. The fun’s just getting started here.
You know where my Web site is Cosmos, you can watch the video or you can go to You Tube and watch it yourself. Senator Reid’s own words, there is no trickery.
GS – you are full of it. Nobody “needs” defeat; what we need is HONESTY. That is a concept that is alien to the Bush administration.
“”but it is not a commitment to have our young men and women patrolling Iraq’s streets open-endedly,”
Who said that about our troop committment in Iraq?”
That is at least a bit of such honesty.
Republican – undoubtedly that was a Democratic Congressperson referring to putting pressure on Saddam. Such pressure had effectively kept him bottled up. That was BEFORE Bush abandoned that approach.
Yo, ksfarmgrrl,No doubt. Seems to me all us liberals, or whatever name people want to give us, use the same name here. How many names has JM used? Bit of a paranoid schizophrenic, what? But thats typical repuke rhetoric, so surprise is not even in the cards.
Oh I get it, it’s back to I’m that guy JM again.
Phew, I thought it was something important.
Just more rantings from the left.
Yeah Macklin. We googled you. We know. You are SO busted. Maybe now would be a good time to reprint your famous meltdown that got you banned? I mean, now that we know your real name and all.
Grouchy old cripple? I even got your email addy there.
Oh, and btw, your google brings up your name address and phone number in Wichita. But please, feel free to keep denying. It’s just more ranting from the left.
heheheheheehehehheheheheheh!
“”Our commitment to Iraq is long-term, but it is not a commitment to have our young men and women patrolling Iraq’s streets open-endedly,” Gates told U.S. and Iraqi reporters at a news conference in the capital.”
Even Gates is beginning to see that we cannot stay the same failed course forever. How long should it take the ARI to take over the fight? After all, they outnumber the “dead-enders in their last throes” by about 100-to-1.
eh?
Okay, post it here ksfarmgrrl I give you permission. I have no idea who Macklin is.
And post my email, street address and whatever you got, because I assure you that I am not that guy.
My last name doesn’t start with an “M.”
There’s a hint, you have 25 other letters to figure out which of them my last name starts with.
“There’s a hint, you have 25 other letters to figure out which of them my last name starts with.”
. . . and all of em start with stupid.
JM, real slow for ya now. Anyone who goes to grouchyoldcripple.com knows it’s you. The tax thing you posted the other day? Straight from that site. On the same day. And you called yourself a grouchy old cripple. Conincidence? I dont think so.
And you sent me an email way back when. Remember? I dont have to post anything here. Other folks can use the google too. Just google James Macklin + Wichita and see what you come up with.
Your comment at grouchy old cripple will give the email addy if they hover over your name.
Busted JM. You totally gave yourself away with clues.
…but just to humor you….
p51mustang36@hotmail.com
Could this war have been won?
Suppose that as in Desert Storm, the Enduring Freedom invasion force had 118,000 Saudis, 40,000 U.A.E., 40,000 Egyptians and 17,000 Syrians, i.e. Middle East Muslim nations supplying more troops, 215,000, than all of the combined “coalition of the willing” did in Enduring Freedom.
The problem was, the Arabs were willing to rein-in Saddam’s expansionary ambitions, but they didn’t want to participate in regime change underAnglo-Americans, which they saw as colonialism redux.
Bush II missed a take-home lesson his father understood. Bush I accepted less than complete take-down of the Iraqi regime, because that was all that was possible.
In Desert Storm, the U.S. sent in 540,000 troops. Enduring Freedom cut this by 70%.
Could this war have been won? Possibly, had we done the following:
1. Delay the invasion until 2005, but start planning it in 2002.
2. Amass a huge inventory of food, potable water, construction materiel, parking it in the Gulf for immediate transport and distribution into Iraq as soon as we took Baghdad.
3. Amass an engineering and construction corps of tens of thousands of experienced Americans who were ready to quickly reestablish electricity and water supplies after we bombed the infrastructure. The goal should have been to reestablish power and water fully within 6 months of invasion.
4. Build a ground-troops corps of 600,000 men, which would have required either massively enlarging pay and GI Bill benefits, or instituting a draft.
Or dispensing large payments to the leaders of the Middle-East countries–bribes if you will–to get them to commit their armies to the effort. For example, had we put 200,000 troops who were fluent in Arabic on the ground, things would have gone A LOT better.
People in the 2nd, 3rd, 4th + tiers of the Baathist regime should have been quickly recruited, because they were trained in bureaucracy. They just wanted somebody to feed their families, maintain their social status, and give them marching orders. Just like most American managers and administrators. Instead, our administration disqualified them.
I’m not some kind of ill-informed leftist dreamer. I bought Halliburton stock, in 2001. Before the war. I made money on it. Why? Because history shows that presidents: A. help their states. B. help those who put them in office. C. help those in the industries in which they have friends. This isn’t rocket science. LBJ did a lot for Texas. Carter helped to raise Atlanta from a parochial Southern city into a world-class international trade center. Reagan directed hundreds of billions to California defense/aerospace.
There were undoubtedly people who thought that a disruptive/destabilizing Middle East action would greatly raise oil prices, and enrich oil-company execs and large-block shareholders. Even if America lost the war, the warhawks would win. BIG TIME. Ca-ching. In game theory, this was a sure-win gambit. Take over Iraq, and capture the world’s second or third largest oil reserves. Make huge profits. Fail to do this, and still make windfall profits. It’s a great game for those who understand it.
What is the deal with trying to find out actual personal information anyway? Maybe to use it to influence debate?
I thought that was one of the “rules” the strikers came back with. If it’s not, it should be.
Reid is a complete A-hole! Worst person in Congress.
outlander – agreed. I don’y know if it was a ‘rule’ but it should be.
Mark – watchd the end of a program on PBS tonight about how we had a chance to reconstitute the Iraqi military, recognizing that most of the ‘ordinary soldiers’ were just that – ordinary. They could also have provided labor for reconstruction after the war. They had taken a lot of stuff home with them knowing the invasion would succeed.
Instead, Bush ordered the complete destruction of all civil authority and chaos ensued. The former advisor noted that as the time we lost the Iraqi people. It was made worse by Rumsfield joking about the chaos and looting.
uhhh…ksfarmgrrl…I don’t know whose email address that is, but it ain’t mine.
And evidently your research skills sux as I did a quick check and the guy who runs grouchyoldcripple is Denny Wilson.
You can email him at his Website and ask him about the other stuff as I have no clue what your talking abut.
Oh and ksfarmgrrl, try and improve your researching skills if you are going to out some one.
Republican,
“Senator Reid’s own words, there is no trickery.”
You’re either UNABLE to understand the importance of CONTEXT — or stuck so deep in deception mode that you’ve lost contact with reality.
Rep – if those are Reid’s words I would submit that, since you attribute them to 2002 then he was referring to the inspection program that was underway. I fail to see how that can be stretched to claim that he then supported the elective invasion and the bungling that followed.
Well, here is Senator Reid’s voting record. Quite a bit of those funds were used for the reconstruction of Iraq, which involved setting up the new Iraqi government. I included all that I could find, for and against, so people like Cosmos can’t claim I was using selective entries.
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid’s Voting Record# Voted NO on redeploying troops out of Iraq by July 2007. (Jun 2006)# Voted YES on investigating contract awards in Iraq & Afghanistan. (Nov 2005)# Voted YES on requiring on-budget funding for Iraq, not emergency funding. (Apr 2005)# Voted YES on $86 billion for military operations in Iraq & Afghanistan. (Oct 2003)# Voted YES on authorizing use of military force against Iraq. (Oct 2002)
Ben,
Republican left out WHAT Sen. Reid said was being done in the “right fashion”.
“He’s now trying to get the international community to join. Secretary Powell is basically living in New York, working with international community. And we have made progress.”
Context is very important.
Reid is from the old skool days of Mob ran organizations of Casinos in Nevada. He was propped up by them and looked the other way during all the illegal activities. He’s a sleeze bag corrupt guy who scams millions off of land deals and has been using the government since the 60’s to force highway projects towards his land, as to sell them at 20X profit. Not including taking at cut from the Mob for decades.
He is also a scum bag Mormon who wears the white shirt and beats his wife and holds her into bondage by telling her that she won’t go to heaven unless…. He even made her work and pay his college for him, while he went to school and got drunk every night.
Dude is a genuine a-hole to the nth degree. He ran as an anti-abortion, pro-gun Democrat in the 80’s, but has flip flopped big time and has brown nose, black mailed and paid his way up to the top of the Democrat (Party of God) Party.
I suspect that Reid will buy himself another term, even though most of Nevadians hate him.
Oh! Check out not only how much millions Reid has, but his sons are multi-million dollar lobbyist in D.C., scamming corporations to giving them money as to pass messages to their daddy.
You Dems can keep him. He’s an a-hole. Worse than Tom Delay and Delay was bad.
So ksfarmgrrl, where is your apology to me?
You should apologize to Mr. Wilson as well.
Eventually we will win in Iraq but it will take many many more years, many more lives and hundreds of billions of more dollars. I honestly believe that my grandkids (none born yet) will probably be having the same argument in 25 years about whether we should leave Iraq or not.
We’ve spent close to a half TRILLION dollars in Iraq.
Suppose we had put the money into domestic-production energy research and implementation. Bio-materials research. Cargill is already investing in making urethane from corn, useful in diverse applications ranging from house insulation (reducing heating and cooling costs), to furniture foam to surfboard cores.
There’s a company making a super-efficient wind turbine for individual households. Cost $42,000. That can be subsidized. Or assign design of even better turbines to our National Labs, in which the patent are owned by the people, and then sell manufacturing licenses. Subsidize start-up manufacturing costs, and set prices at cost-effective levels.
Solar energy isn’t going to be cost-effective everywhere, but it’s doable where most people want to live today, the Sunbelt. In the Southwest, which may be undergoing long-term drought, you can use solar energy to desalinate water to provide enough potable water to live on, and provide a final shower rince, and if people’s yards have to be xeriscaped, that’s the way it goes.
Worse than Tom Delay? Is that possible? If that’s true I can’t wait to see the book / movie about Reid — would probably be as depressing as the movie about Delay.
That could very well be a first to see a person here apologize —
ksfarmgrrlif:
Don’t do it !!!if you do (I say don’t) make it good and poignant and as funny as you can make it — will be interesting to see how it gets twisted in the blog — potentially bringing narcissism to whole new level and bringing psycho babble researchers to Wichita to study the new phenonenom (sic – sp) will be good for the economy
Went to HIS web page — and it was blank other than a spinning emblem — doesn’t suprise me
Ouch!! : (cut and paste from Joe)
“He is also a scum bag Mormon who wears the white shirt and beats his wife and holds her into bondage by telling her that she won’t go to heaven unless…. He even made her work and pay his college for him, while he went to school and got drunk every night.”
Thanks for showing such extraordinary restraint in expressing your opinion about Reid — we are all impressed with your concise, fact based and accurate descriptiont of him — should we send flowers to his wife?
Mark
I thought it was closer to 3/4 trillion …..
I’ve wondered why the current generation of wind turbines had to be see big — what 200 – 300 feet tall? — with my limited knowledge of physics and things mechanical I would think they could be about 1/10 th the size using some sort of hi tech gear / speed reduction system to power the generators — kind of the size of the windmills we see on farms ….
Obviously Ken you didn’t see the side bar menus on my Web site. The spinning logo is the entry page.
I also have 3 other blogs that have nothing to do with politics or Kansas.
3 other blogs — impressive — need another cookie ?
Reid’s big ‘mistake’ vote was the one to trust Bush back in 2002. The others tend to be the “Hobb’s choice” votes – either vote to support the troops there or be branded as is being done now. I agree with his votes to force things ‘on-budget’ and to investigate the corruption.
Someone above suggested that the two parts of today’s bill (funding and timetable) be split. I opposed that because Republican would then say that they supported the never-ending war by funding it.
Gates is correct; this cannot be never ending. Let the several hundred thousand ARI take over the fight against the handful of dead-enders. They outnumber them about 100-to-1.
Republican, nice job at twisting words to make them mean something that only exists in your imagination.
Yes, I know who owns the blog grouchyoldcripple.com. Go back and read my post. I said you COMMENTED there frequently. As Jim Macklin, James Macklin, and JM. I never said you owned the blog.
You left your tracks JM. I dont think it is MY research skills that suck. But please, do your usual republican thing, and when confronted with the facts, deny, lie, call names, question our patriotism, ad nauseum.
wash rinse and repeat. It doesnt change the fact that you are just EVER so busted.
heheheheheheheh!
Are you stalking again FarmFap?
Shameful.
Just following your example!
A stalker AND a liar.
Reid didn’t make a mistake and trust Bush. Reid will vote for anything that is politically expedite at the time for himself to look good. He has no principles or morals.
He votes what is politically popular. He’s a corrupt political animal. Never give him credit for being fooled by anybody. He is the one fooling everybody else, including Party of God members.
ksfarmgrrl,
I never heard of groucholdcripple until you brought it up.
Whatever floats your disturbed mind boat.
Hehehehehehe. All anyone has to do is google, follow the links, and read. Sorry JM, you are busted, and all the denial in the world wont change that.
GS, I think regular readers here are familiar with your hatred of me. I could repost the links where you posted things you learned by stalking me, both on and off line. It must have really pissed you off when I outed myself. Nothing to hide.
You two never acknowledge a fact that doesnt suit your needs. And when caught in lies multiple times? You just deny some more.
Please, continue on. You two are quite a pair to draw. Every word you post makes it very clear your integrity would fit into a thimble.
With room for a shot, JM!
Ken,
Wind speed increases farther above ground, because even flat ground with little or no vegetation exerts drag. Add trees (in many places trees were planted to slow near-ground wind to reduce soil erosion) and other obstructions. This being said, as you mentioned, shorter windmills pumped groundwater in the old days, and early electicity-generating towers of 60 feet high worked and still do, although they don’t produce as much power as taller ones, both because of slower wind speeds closer to the ground and shorter blades.
You’re the only stalker here, FarmFap. I thought it was stupid of you to go and share your identity – but then again, little you do makes sense.
Now you even brag about stalking others.
You really have some major problems.
Don’t flatter yourself thinking I dislike you – I don’t even think about you. You’re only a legend in your own mind. You are really just NOT that interesting.
Now, why don’t you try getting along with the rest of the posters here and stopping all this stalking stuff? It really makes you look disturbed.
FrmGrl writes: “Yeah Macklin. We googled you. We know. You are SO busted.”
Nice work, FrmGrl. Excellent, in fact.
It just doesn’t make sense that the obsessive-compulsive troll formerly known as JM would just vanish vowing never to return . . . and then he pops up the minute, I mean the very minute, that somebody questioned his “I-posted-the-1896-quiz.”
Republican calls Clark the very names that JM did. He starts posting the day that JM-Eier-Uncle William stopped. He won’t answer questions about himself until he googles his past nics to find out what he said all at the same time vowing that he has NEVER posted under any other nic.
Now it turns out that his initials in real life are . . . JM.
Well, who could’ve ever guessed?
(Now, why don’t you try getting along with the rest of the posters here)
Yes, try to get along just like GSheridan does. She gets along with everyone.
GSheridan writes–Just the fact that the death toll (of US soldiers) has dropped since the Surge began signifies progress – not failure.
The NYTimes reports on April 8 that “Baghdad has become a deadlier battleground for American troops pouring into capital to confront Sunni and Shiite militias on their home streets”
http://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=F60617FE3E5B0C7A8CDDAD0894DF404482
McClatsky News Source reports on the 14 of April that “BAGHDAD — Over the past six months, American troops have died in Iraq at the highest rate since the war began, an indication that the conflict is becoming increasingly dangerous for U.S. forces even after more than four years of fighting.
“From October 2006 through last month, 532 American soldiers were killed, the most during any six-month period of the war. March also marked the first time that the U.S. military suffered four straight months of 80 or more fatalities. April, with at least 58 service members killed through Monday, is on pace to be one of the deadliest months for American forces.
“Senior American military officials attribute much of the increase to the Baghdad security crackdown, now in its third month. But the fatality rate was increasing even before a more aggressive strategy began moving U.S. troops from heavily fortified bases into neighborhood outposts throughout the capital, placing them at greater risk of roadside bombings and small-arms attacks.”
Title: Death rate for American forces in Iraq rises; total reaches 3,305Source: McClatcheyURL Source: http://www.buffalonews.com/180/story/55623.htmlPublished: Apr 18, 2007
That’s what so scary about you Bush Dead-Enders. You just make sh*t up and say it’s true.
‘Course, that’s what got us into Iraq to begin with . . .
Correction: the McClatchey source was published on the 18th of April.
I caught that mis-statement of fact also, but figured it would be futile to point it out.
Mark is absolutely correct about the wind turbines – get them up high where the wind is better. That said, as he noted smaller ones still work and might be much more appropriate in certain circumstances – notably in local applications.
A comment about solar. As Ken correctly notes it might not always be that useful it can be an important part. Note that when it is hot it also tends to be sunny and windy. We are a ’summer-day’ peaking area for electricity demand; that is also the time that alternative energy sources can be most effective.
“I believe myself that the secretary of state, secretary of defense and — you have to make your own decisions as to what the president knows — (know) this war is lost and the surge is not accomplishing anything as indicated by the extreme violence in Iraq (Wednesday),” Reid said.
So let look at this on face value, Reid stated that he believes that the secretary of State has already came to the conclusion that we have lost the fight the way it is. Reid stated that he believes the secretary of defense has already came to the conclusion that we have lost the fight the way it is. Reid farther stated that you would have to make your own conclusion as to whether President Bush has reached such a conclusion.The evidence of the effectiveness of the surge is based on the state goal of the surge, bring security to Baghdad. (BTW the way to “win” this is not to bring security (make a fortress out of) to Baghdad, but to bring security to all towns in Iraq) I will grant you that according to the numbers of troops said to be wanted. Not all are there, their scrambling to try and find enough. So once building Baghdad into a fortress in the middle of the savages is complete then if the violence does not stop. THAT would be the truest sign of a lost in the surge plan. Another BTW the idea of a surge is nothing new in that for the most part that is how the post invasion has been handled. We surge into a trouble spot, secure it then once the spot has been cleared pull out. The only change this time is the concerted effort to maintain a presents there after the spot has been cleared. Focusing on Baghdad is the easiest since most of our troops were already there and as for the Iraqis troops we can now keep the pressure on them to perform as we think they should be.
Anyway as Reid points out, the numbers of Iraqis killed everyday has increased since the surge of Baghdad.The number of American troop killed has increased since the surge of Baghdad. The bombing of the Iraqi Parliament which is in the most secure area ( the green zone) happen since the surge of Baghdad. The number of and size of the car bombs has increased since the surge of Baghdad. It would be understandable if these were all happening outside of Baghdad. BUT since there is an increase and not a decrease in Baghdad where the main surge is going on. It is a indication that the surge may in fact not being working as planned.
The argument is that given time and more troops it may work, I have pointed it out before. Of course it should work as well as flooding any street with police. Crime should go down if not it would be un-winnable. Reid simply stated the oblivious in that since there has been an increase and not a decrease then it would be better to look harder at a plan B. Diplomacy, focusing of the building up of the infrastructure and bring more of the world into the decision making ON THE IRAQIS PART. That is a key phrase in that often the attitude express has been that the Iraqis are a bunch of children and need to be guided then turned around and express the frustration that they are not making enough of their own decisions. Our troops should only be there to fight the terrorists and not the Iraqis.
I would add a couple of points wd. After we ‘clear’ an area why can the ARI then not hold it. According to the administration the ARI outnumbers the dead-enders by about 100-to-1. Remembers, these ragtag dead-enders are in their last throes.
I think gates is beginning to get it with his statement that our comittment there is not open-ended. This thing is for al-Maliki and his ARI to win or lose. It is not realistic to expect our troops to win it for him.
Gates seems to be rational, which is more than you can say for the president. He’s got to be loving Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid for their superior service in Congress.
Threats like “America’s commitment to Iraq isn’t open-ended” don’t mean squat unless they’re credible.
Pelosi and Reid give Gates the credibility he desperately needs if Iraq is ever going to find the political will to bootstrap its way to western-style democracy within the next year or so.