Barack Obama has formulated his Iraq policy.
After that he went to Iraq to see the situation.
Does anybody see the flaw in this picture?
To quote rock group Spinal Tap,
“I know, for I told me so, and I’m sure each of you quite agree…the more it stays the same, the less it changes!”
Inspired by Mr. Obama, I am now officially declaring myself an expert on everything.
To heck with the NAACP. I am now the new black leadership in America. I can’t be any worse than the current leadership, and I know most of the words to the tv show Different Strokes. Besides, what organization would be so racist as to deny a man their leadership position based on the color of his skin? That is racism.
We can also get rid of the NOW. I should speak for all women. I know women like the back of my hand. I enjoy sleeping with women, and most women don’t. Therefore, I know them better than they do.
I watched a musical performance involving bagpipes. I am now prepared to take the reins of power in Scotland.
No, I have not stayed at a Holiday Inn to the best of my lack of knowledge, but I have seen the commercial. I am ready to be their CEO, if that position exists.
I am also now a world class chef, fabulous auto mechanic, linguistic genius, and technological guru. I ate lunch today, drove my car, and typed this column on a computer.
I know, for I told me so.
However, I am no longer qualified to be President of the United States.
I get my information from actual soldiers that have, or have had, boots on the ground.
Men at organizations such as Vets for Freedom, who I will be interviewing July 30th, have unmitigated gall claiming that they understand Iraq just because they were there firsthand. Pete Hegseth of Vets for Freedom has some nerve arguing with Chris Matthews. Matthews runs “Hardball.” That sounds tough. How could a tough guy like that know less than some guy that served in Iraq but does not have a tough guy name like Hardball?
I think it is high time that we stop listening to people just because they know what they are talking about.
I am also an expert in Christianity. Yes, I am Jewish, but if you saw my email spam box, you would understand. In fact, Christian debt relief is all the rage. I now know how accepting a lord and savior I do not believe in can help me pay off my mortgage, which would be useful if I was not a renter.
As a finance expert, I can help save Barack Obama some money.
He needed to cancel his trip to Iraq. His opinions are predetermined, so the trip is pointless. He should spend the money on the finest quill pen and rich quality paper, so that his report will be as important as the second coming of the U.S. Constitution or the Declaration of Independence itself.
Writing papers with no actual facts or knowledge is a time honored tradition. This is referred to in American culture as “academia.” The most egregious form of academia is what is referred to as a “thesis.” Some young person spends several years arguing something, and then some academic slaps their own name on it and declares themselves the ultimate knowledge behind the subject matter.
Come to think of it, Barack Obama is an academic. This explains it. He actually does know everything.
He understands the rationale behind why we cannot drill for oil in Alaska, despite the people of Alaska supporting it. Those people are fools.
I used to spend a ton of time in school in the Principal’s office. I am now qualified to be the Principal of a school, which I will do if every other career path in life ceases to exist. I saw “Lean on me,” and “Stand and Deliver.” I am prepared to sing gospel hymns and do derivatives in advanced calculus.
Also, given that I spend many nights dreaming about the Chicago Cannonball, requiring changes in underclothing, I am now qualified to lecture all of America about the need to reduce emissions, especially at night. Move over Al Gore. I am the new emissions expert.
This knowing everything is easy enough, but storing all the knowledge will be difficult. Then again, I have boxes from the last time I moved apartments a decade ago. I even spent a day helping out the people at Operation Gratitude send packages to soldiers. I am now officially a shipping expert in the great tradition of Aristotle Onassis. By marriage, this makes me an expert on Jackie O.
Some will say I am not an expert on Iraq because I have not been there. Fair enough, but at least I listen to the people who have. Besides, some soldiers have never been to San Diego, and I take great pride in conveying to them my expertise in vacation spots, with Coronado being slightly better than La Jolla.
I admit that I do not have all the answers, even though we all know I do. Yet Barack Obama has no clue, unless he owns the board game or the movie based on the board game, and many people accept his words as the final say on the subject.
Barack Obama is doing the right thing by going to Iraq. Perhaps he can take Hillary Clinton, John Kerry, Ted Kennedy, Al Gore, and Nancy Pelosi, and leave them there. Besides, they would love it there. There are no republicans, unless one counts the Iraqi Republican Guard. It would be paradise for them, and safer than the inner cities in America they wrecked.
Where Obama is wrong is reaching predetermined conclusions before seeing evidence.
This is why John McCain must be President. He understands the nature of war, with all of its horrors. He is prepared to reevaluate strategy, and was the man who insisted on the surge that Obama opposed from the very beginning.
Then again, why would anybody listen to General David Petraeus? He has never even been elected to Congress. He has never held a talk show. He does not even have a radio show or a blog, and any untrained monkey can do that. How can he possibly have credibility?
http://michellemalkin.com/2008/07/18/a-cast-of-hundreds-who-isnt-an-obama-foreign-policy-adviser/
For some reason, being the very best and brightest does matter.
I know, for I told me so, that Barack Obama has already written his report and made up his mind. He can use the money he saved by canceling his trip and buying a subscription to whatever products I am currently hawking.
I may not be an expert, but I know more than him. I would be happy to teach him if he is capable of learning. He is pretty liberal, but then again my parents were schoolteachers. I know everything about that career path. I know so much, I might one day enter a classroom again.
Yeah right. Me going back to school is like Obama going to Iraq. I am not into spending money on pointless exercises where I vow to learn nothing and talk about it endlessly.
eric
There goes Eric, dreaming again. After all, he is no teenager. Therefore, he cannot know everything! :D
Sounds like pure logic to me.
I am an amateur brain surgeon and budding rocket scientist.
NASA’s website can liberate your soul, and my brain is always on my mind.
Glad to be a member.
Glenn
When Obama gets to Israel he’ll probably shoot on over to the the Via Dolorosa and drag his own cross down the path of suffering while wearing his thorny crown.
Well, let’s see what the “experts” thought about the war in Iraq…
“I can’t tell you if the use of force in Iraq today will last five days, five weeks or five months, but it won’t last any longer than that.” – Donald Rumsfeld, 11/02
“I think they’re in the last throes, if you will, of the insurgency.” – Dick Cheney, 6/05
“It’s hard to conceive that it would take more forces to provide stability in post-Saddam Iraq than it would take to conduct the war itself and to secure the surrender of Saddam’s security forces and his army. Hard to imagine.” – Paul Wolfowitz, 2/03
“Oh, no, we’re not going to have any casualties.” – George Bush, 3/03
I don’t think any of you neocons have a clue in the universe. I’ll take Obama over any of you, soldiers or not, any day.
“I don’t oppose all wars. What I am opposed to is a dumb war.” Barack Obama, 11/02
Looks to me like he was pretty prescient.
JMJ
““I can’t tell you if the use of force in Iraq today will last five days, five weeks or five months, but it won’t last any longer than that.” – Donald Rumsfeld, 11/02”
Yea, if you were just a little bit honest and mentioned that Rumsfeld said that in regards to the initial invasion and what it would take to topple the regime then you might be believable.
As we all know Donald was right because it only took three weeks.
————————————————————————————–
JMJs cherry picked quote;
“I think they’re in the last throes, if you will, of the insurgency.” –
Here’s the full quote in its real context;
“I think we may well have some kind of presence there over a period of time,” Cheney said. “The level of activity that we see today from a military standpoint, I think, will clearly decline. I think they’re in the last throes, if you will, of the insurgency.”
The level of activity has declined, no argument about that even from Obama.
And there is no doubt that the insurgency is not even half as active or present as it was a year or 5 years ago.
————————————————————————————-
““It’s hard to conceive that it would take more forces to provide stability in post-Saddam Iraq than it would take to conduct the war itself and to secure the surrender of Saddam’s security forces and his army. Hard to imagine.” – Paul Wolfowitz, 2/03”
March 2003 — U.S. invades Iraq with 192,000 troops.
September 2006 — Escalating insurgent violence requires 147,000 troops.
March 2008 — U.S. troops in Iraq, 158,000.
The facts prove your assertion that we have more troops now than before prove you wrong.
————————————————————————————-
“Oh, no, we’re not going to have any casualties.” – George Bush, 3/03
Again, you fail to give the complete story.
This comment was made to Pat Robertson in regards to the initial “Shock and awe” campaign. In which the entire operation was an air invasion that did not involve one US casualty.
————————————————————————————–
JMJ:
“Looks to me like he was pretty prescient.”
Looks to me like you need to go back to the drawing board because Obamas ” lack of prescience” would of gotten millions of Iraqis killed had he performed the “immediate withdrawl” as he said he wanted to before he changed it to 60 days and then changed it even most recently to “responsible withdrawl”
He has no foresight whatsoever Jersey.
This is why he has to keep making things up as he goes along.
Because usually , as proven, the first thing out of his mouth is wrong and so consequently he has done more repositioning , clarifying, flipping and apologizing than any candidate that I and the rest of the country have ever seen.
Soldiers or not ?
Well, most of those soldiers are siding with us “neocons” and they actually have ALL THE CLUES !!!
The person who does not believe the ones who actually saw it is the clueless one.
Clueless to an astronomical level
Check out this site please
http://bellalu0.wordpress.com/
If I want to hear about geopolitics, global and national economics, diplomacy, history and such, I’ll ask someone who knows what they”re talking about. I have all the respect for soldiers in the world, but they’re soldiers, not statesmen.
JMJ
Yea well either statesmen or soldiers could give better and more honest representation than those cherry picked deceitful selectivly edited quotes you put up.
You obviously dont want to represent the truth no matter where or who it comes from.
You should be ashamed of yourself.
You should of asked a statesman instead of trying to manipulate the info at hand.
“I don’t oppose all wars. What I am opposed to is a dumb war.” Barack Obama, 11/02
Man, I’ll bet the guys laying their lives on the line just loved hearing that one.
In the same speech he said;
“That’s what I’m opposed to. A dumb war. A rash war. A war based not on reason but on passion, not on principle but on politics.
But I also know that Saddam poses no imminent and direct threat to the United States, or to his neighbors’
What a load of crap !!!
He knew this ?
HOW ?
Did he have his own little intelligence network somehwedre ?
“Man, I’ll bet the guys laying their lives on the line just loved hearing that one.”
The guys wouldn’t be laying their lives on the line for this dumb war if we’d have listened to better statesmen like Obama in the first place.
“He knew this?”
I knew it too. So did the majority of people around the word.
“HOW?”
By listening and learning, by weighing the evidence at hand and applying our powers of deduction to what we know about the people and the world around us – instead of “reaching predetermined conclusions before seeing evidence.”
JMJ
“But I also know that Saddam poses no imminent and direct threat to the United States, or to his neighbors”
That is so right, after all Saddam never posed a threat to anybody. He never paid large sums of money to the families of suicide bombers and never attacked Kuwait. Oh that’s right he did.
What I also think is funny is these democrats saying Afghanistan is the real place we should be focusing are the ones who at the time said we should not go into Afghanistan a war we could not win, just like they did in Iraq.
“The guys wouldn’t be laying their lives on the line for this dumb war if we’d have listened to better statesmen like Obama in the first place.”
Once again, and please, lets have an honest discussion here.
“DUMB” is only what you believe.
Against the majority of servicemen who do not feel that way, your opinion means absolutly nothing
Obama had no better intelligence than anyone else, if anything , he had less.
You say you support the soldiers, then stop saying that what they believe they are fighting for is dumb.
What is so ignoratly or conveniently forgotten is that Saddam did pose a threat. And no matter what anyone says, iy also appeared as if he was a threat. This was no ones fault but Saddams.
“I knew it too. So did the majority of people around the word.”
You knew nothing. Unless you had more access to intelligence than anyone in the world.
This is whats dishonest about this conversation. you and others like you are so conceited and arrogant that you actually think that by just saying you knew validates your position or somehow strengthens it.
It proves nothing and it only says that you had your mind made up before the intelligence was even proven to be faulty.
“By listening and learning, by weighing the evidence at hand ”
Yes, that is what was done by almost all of congress and a coalition of 21 other countries
“and applying our powers of deduction to what we know about the people and the world around us”
Yes, that is what was done by almost all of congress and a coalition of 21 other countries
” instead of “reaching predetermined conclusions before seeing evidence.”
Yes, this is exactly what you are doing and have done.
You made up your mind before the evidence was proven to be accurate or fdlawed.
We made up our mind based on the evidence we did see. At least we had no pre conceptions based on suspicion driven by partisanship.
JMJ;
“instead of “reaching predetermined conclusions before seeing evidence”
Or, you could fabricate evidence like you did above in your first comment.
If that is the kind of evidence that you expect people to accept and then expect them to believe you or take you seriously after practically lying through your teeth ? You have no right to ever accuse anyone of lying or making misleading statements.
You pull a fast one like that and then have the nerve to get up and grandstand as some purveyor of truth ? Hah.
Its shameful, I would be embaressed.
Eric
You may want to check out this blog Stand up for McCain.
http://standupformccain.com/
Parrothead and Micky,
Saddam had lost a war with the US (and a real coalition), he had depleted his resources with a protracted prior war with Iran, his forces were shown to be a paper tiger in the Gulf War, he had no control over the skies over 2/3rds of his own country, Iraq was beseiged, embargoed and heavily sanctioned for 12 long years, and his nation was broke.
Anyone who thought Saddam was threat, with all that considered, was a fool – or up to no good. Period.
JMJ
Eric,
I wish someone would address this indepth, Obama’s Hollywood Crowd is one of his media flanks, he has the MSM and it would appear the Left leaning Hollywood folks in the tank for him. But for all the pro left propaganda, Obama “tied in the polls’ and these anti war propaganda movies are not “playing with mainstreet america” Why? We are not all old hippies from the 60s trying to relive our protesting glory days..Hollywood has ran out of new ideas so can only remake old ones. Progressives good -Conservatives bad. Yes the American Public, has figured out what is going on and they don’t like being talked down to. This is showing up in the free market all the time. The Progressives condescending attitude toward “The American Masses” doesn’t play, they don’t get why the majority won’t swallow their “Crappy depiction of American Military people” The Majority of Americans love their Country, they don’t pay money to watch out of touch elites bash it…wierd some of these same people from “Hollywood” were part of 9/11 fund raising for 9/11 victims, where did their good will for Americans go?
Hollywood = “Progressive Bubble”
http://pajamasmedia.com/blog/hollywood-loses-the-war-in-iraq/
Look at you dancing all over the place.
There is no period just because you say so.
You’re saying “period” does not coclude anything that is substantiated with fact.
When law enforcement asks you to take your hands out of your pocket you had better do it. Or else you give them no reason to oblige you in any manner.
All that should be considered is the evidence at hand and not your selective run down of Saddams weaknesses.
Instead you look at the mans history, reputation and recent actions.
Also, when a man is backed into a corner as you suggest he was , that man automatically becomes a lot more desperate, consequently , more dangerous.
Now, lets do this again, shall we ?
Saddam was shooting at ours and the Brits jets.———–> Threat
He was gassing innocent people——————————> Threat
He attemted assasinating a US president——————–> Threat
He payed suicide bombers to kill our troops and Jews—–> Threat
He gave the appearance that he was hiding something.
The bottom line is this.
You say we are fools ?
Hardly. Our reaction was based on evidence, most of which was true.
Only a fool like you and Obama would simply say that they knew he was no threat without having anything but a hunch to back it up.
Plain math.
The threats percieved and proven far outweighed the amount of circumstrances you and Obama found to be mitigating.
You loose, the numbers are not in your favor.
And neither was your disengenuous attempt to distort and misrepresent what our leaders said in your first comment.
You decieve by selective editing, misconstruing and distorting the facts and then you turn around and expect those you are debating with to take your word as the truth ?
A year ago I sided with and felt much the same way Eric did in his comparison of Obama to his dry cleaner.
Both of them are decent men but neither is qualified to run the country.
Since then I have come to distrust and dislike the man.
He is one of the most deceptive and dishonest candidates I have ever seen.
Oh, stop with the bs propaganda already. the assassination attempt was a myth. He did not pay anyone to kill jews or Americans. It’s all lies. You’d HAVE to be a fool to believe all that nonsense.
JMJ
Jersey.
you have to stop discounting people as fools and idiots because you choose to not believe certain things.
This account that calls it bogus is highly speculative and relies mostly on opinion and perspectives.
http://www.rense.com/general67/comdt.htm.
This account gives in great detail and facts that make it more probable than not.
http://hnn.us/articles/1000.html
“On June 2, 1993, representatives of the FBI, the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), and others in the Department of Justice (DOJ) discussed the results of their investigations with representatives of the Clinton Administration. Three weeks later, the DOJ and CIA reported their conclusions. The DOJ and CIA reported that it was highly likely that the Iraqi Government originated the plot and more than likely that Bush was the target. Additionally, based on past Iraqi methods and other sources of intelligence, the CIA independently reported that there was a strong case that Saddam Hussein directed the plot against Bush”
If you read the rest of the article it includes testimony from just about every security agency in our government .
These are facts Jersey, real life documented accounts.
As far as Saddam paying the families if Palestinian martyrs 10,000.00 to 25,000.00 dollars there is a mountain of evidence and reports that also make this true.
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,48822,00.html
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2002/04/03/world/main505316.shtml
“(CBS) Iraqi President Saddam Hussein has raised the amount offered to relatives of suicide bombers from $10,000 per family to $25,000, U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said Wednesday.
Since Iraq upped its payments last month, 12 suicide bombers have successfully struck inside Israel, including one man who killed 25 Israelis,”
“”He is pleased with his idea and is promoting it in the region,” Rumsfeld said of Saddam. “It is a matter of public record.”
Under the new Iraqi payscale, decided on March 12 during an Arab conference in Baghdad, the families of gunmen and others who die fighting the Israelis will still receive $10,000, while the relatives of suicide bombers will get $25,000.
Safi and two others from the Arab Liberation Front visit families in the northern West Bank and make the payments. “We go to every family and give them a check,” he said. “We tell them that this is a gift from President Saddam and Iraq.”
But Saddam is not the only one giving money. Charities from Saudi Arabia and Qatar — both U.S. allies — pay money to families of Palestinians killed in the fighting, including suicide bombers.”
http://israelbehindthenews.com/Archives/Apr-14-03.htm
“The support for Saddam in PA broadcasts and newspapers has laid the groundwork for massive rallies sponsored by agents of Saddam as well as such groups as PA Chairman Yasser Arafat’s Fatah, Hamas and Islamic Jihad — all of them beneficiaries of Saddam’s largesse. Tens of thousands of people — many of whom benefited from the $25,000 Saddam pays to each family of a Palestinian suicide bomber — have participated in pro-Saddam rallies in virtually every Arab-populated city in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. At these rallies, T-shirts bearing Saddam’s picture are sold like hot cakes. Other popular items are dolls of Saddam and the Iraqi flag. ”
Its everywhere Jersey. Its also a matter of public record all over the middle east.
You can say its a lie all you want.
All you are doing is making it evident that you are incapable of holding an honest conversation.
In the last day I have exposed you for being about as deceitful and misleading as any one person can be.
Why are you lying ?
Why are putting out false claims supported by dishonest editing and dishonest quotes that not in their proper context ?
Why are you lying and saying that the facts I display and that most intelligent people believe in and are aware of are lies ?
I am no fool Mr McJones.
I back myself up with reliable reputable sources and material.
If you want to maintain any dignity, credibility or further debates with me I suggest you stop with all this childish denial and blatant disregard for the facts and good peoples intelligence.
I am honest with you and I would appreciate the same in return.
I have been told that some of my expressions on this blog do not elevate my case so I try to maintain civility.
I would expect that the same applies to you as I find all your dishonesty to be very un- civil and defeating to whatever point it is that you are trying to make
I’m gonna break this up because its been in moderation for a while.
Erics probably got something better going on.
————————————————————————————
Jersey.
you have to stop discounting people as fools and idiots because you choose to not believe certain things.
This account that calls it bogus is highly speculative and relies mostly on opinion and perspectives.
http://www.rense.com/general67/comdt.htm.
This account gives in great detail and facts that make it more probable than not.
http://hnn.us/articles/1000.html
“On June 2, 1993, representatives of the FBI, the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), and others in the Department of Justice (DOJ) discussed the results of their investigations with representatives of the Clinton Administration. Three weeks later, the DOJ and CIA reported their conclusions. The DOJ and CIA reported that it was highly likely that the Iraqi Government originated the plot and more than likely that Bush was the target. Additionally, based on past Iraqi methods and other sources of intelligence, the CIA independently reported that there was a strong case that Saddam Hussein directed the plot against Bush”
If you read the rest of the article it includes testimony from just about every security agency in our government .
These are facts Jersey, real life documented accounts.
After all we’d been through with the Iraqis during the Saddam years, for any American to fear that country, in the 21st century, is laughable at best – warmongering for profit at worst.
You just keep justifying your forsaken trust, my friend. See how far it gets us.
JMJ
You’ll say anything, even if it holds no credibility.
the numbers and the facts go against you and your candidate.
All day long, every day, I can make a verifiable case.
You cannot.
Would you have invaded Iraq if you were the president then, Micky? What if your kin were in the service at the time? Would our good host?
C’mon. Get real. It was a DUMB WAR.
JMJ
I would of invaded Iraq long before Bush did.
Previously the man had shown what he was capable of doing by invading Kuwait.
He had committed thousands of human rights violations not only before the first gulf war, but he continued to do so after his surrender.
He had violated every sanction and resolution there was against him.
I could draw up the whole list of everything he did that warranted an invasion.
But the point is this.
We waited around and got complacent with one threat and look what happened.
The reason we waited was because of a mentality like yours that prevailed in the oval office at the time.
For 8 years the threat was not taken seriously and it was assumed that this organization did not have what it took to commit an act that was worthy of an escalated engagement. Much the same as the way you feel about Saddam.
Bush was not about to learn the same lesson all over again the hard way.
Do we wait until Saddam has fortified his abilities to become a threat ?
Or do we stop what appears to be an attempt on his part to do just that ?
The man was being secretive and dishonest. He would not show his cards. And when he did they came out of his sleeve.
Saddam fit the profile of someone who would eventually make an attempt at the US by some means on a catastrophic scale.
With that being the case about his potential based on history lets move on to the actual aggression he applied against the US and its allies.
Shooting at ours and the Brits planes, attempting to kill us and our allies.
It is documented fact all over the middle east in almost every media that Saddam was paying bombers and the family members for successfully attacking and killing Americans and Israelis.
The intelligence gathered by the CIA and a host of other American intelligence agencies could convince the greatest skeptic that Saddam had plotted and attempted to kill Bush senior.
( You present nothing substantial enough to prove that it was a myth as you say) some myth !
The witnesses and first hand accounts are into the hundreds.
When you put all this together Jersey it would be not only prudent but required at some point to shut this man down. After all the surrender agreements, sanctions, and resolutions against him he still continued to thumb his nose at us and the international community while simultaneously still committing human rights violations on a biblical scale.
Had Saddam committed an act against us like 911 after all the warning signs he was giving off it would of been one of the most unforgivable screw ups in our countrys history.
As far as Obama goes. he knows just as well as anyone else that we are not going to leave Iraq.
Before the primary he was telling all the gullible out there like yourself exactly what they wanted to hear. he knew that there was a large source of votes in the anti war crowd.
Then he moved slightly to the center and extended his withdraw timetable. And once aging today he extended it again to 16 months.
That’s a far cry from “immediately ” as he said last year.
The man is a fraud.
And that is why those supporting him have to go to fraudulent measures in order to propel him.
Much in the way you tried to deceive me with all that dishonest referencing in your first comment.
Not nearly as dumb as a bunch of unruly children
[…] Eric breaks out Spinal Tap and Winnie the Pooh to explain Obama’s Iraq policy. […]
The Morning Scramble – 7/21/2008…
Let there be speed…
You best get that extra-large cup of drink; this is going to take a while (hopefully as long as it took me to put the post-weekend edition together):
Justin Higgins found the Obamination Express rocking back……
My only comment is that I liked the essayist’s ingenuity for both this article and the one that preceded this…copied and pasted both to an email format and sent to my friends that still cling to their parents party of evil; aka Democrats.