A Trip Down Memory Lane Posted by: McQ
on Friday, July 25, 2008
That's usually sometihng politicians try to avoid. They usually prefer things like I'm going to list to go down the memory hole instead. This particular trip is provided by John Hawkin's Townhall column and it deals with Democrats and the surge.
Let's begin with the Democrats favorite general, Wesley Clark:
"We cannot support the increase in troops unless George Bush disavows the NeoCon strategy and presents a new strategy. George Bush has been using the troops for the past four years trying to divide the country between those who support the war and those who do not. President Bush is trying to divide us again with his expected call this week for a 'surge' of up to 20,000 additional U.S. troops into Iraq. What the surge would do is put more American troops in harm's way, further undercut the morale of U.S. forces and risk further alienating elements of the Iraqi populace."
That's from a signed "note" on his "WesPAC" site with which he launched a campaign in January 2007 to stop the surge. And, as it turns out, he was wrong in every point of his critique.
He may be your next SecDef.
And, of course, there's the crowd favorite and the Democrats idea of a "hawk", John Murtha:
"...I'm absolutely convinced right now the surge isn't working and I'm convinced that if they don't pay attention to what I'm saying and a lot of other members of Congress are saying they're going to have a disaster on their hands..."
Not at all unlike many things Murtha has said in the past few year, he was completely wrong. Had we listened to him we would indeed have a disaster on our hands.
Former presidential candidate and apparent military expert Christopher Dodd weighed in:
"We don't need a surge of troops in Iraq—we need a surge of diplomacy and politics. Every knowledgeable person who has examined the Iraq situation for the past several years—Baker and Hamilton, senior military officials, junior officers—has drawn the same conclusion—there is no military solution in Iraq. To insist upon a surge is wrong." —
There's that word again - "wrong". Unfortunately for Dodd, it applies to his words, not the surge.
And, of course, never to be found without an opinion, not matter how innane, 2004 Democratic presidential nominee John Kerry "reports for duty":
"We owe our troops a strategy that is worthy of their sacrifice, and it's clear that the current strategy – the President's escalation – has failed to achieve its goal of bringing about a resolution of the fundamental conflict between Sunni and Shia."
Except, of course, it seems to have done precisely that as Iraqis continue to work toward political reconciliation in a climate which is much more conducive to that sort of work.
Speaking of leadership, let's be sure to include Harry Reid in our little montage of quotes and allow readers to gaze upon the real essence of leadership he so deftly displays:
"I believe ... that this war is lost, and this surge is not accomplishing anything, as is shown by the extreme violence in Iraq this week."
I'll bet that fired you up and found you yelling "hooah" at the top of your lungs, huh?
Last, but certainly not least, the silver-tongued orator-in-chief and presumptive Democratic presidential nominee (and expert in all things military and having to do with Iraq and Afghanistan), Barack Obama:
"I am not persuaded that 20,000 additional troops in Iraq is going to solve the sectarian violence there. In fact, I think it will do the reverse. I think (the surge) takes pressure off the Iraqis to arrive at the sort of political accommodation that every observer believes is the ultimate solution to the problems we face there. So I am going to actively oppose the president's proposal."
And he did. And he was wrong.
Just a little reminder for when this bunch tries to take credit for success in Iraq.
Sure he culd be Retief, Rumsfeld started a war we can and are winning against a Third World nation, unlike Clark who tried to start a war with Russia, as SecDef he gets a second chance...
Retief is just unhappy that he’s unable to send this trip down memory-lane down the memory-hole Joe, the best he can do is establish the crappy goal post that declares Clark couldn’t be worse than Rumsfeld.
With that sort of thinking eating horse sh!t can’t be worse than eating dog sh!t I suppose. Retief, you DO notice that Rumsfeld is GONE and Clark very much still here don’t you?
Or are you still campaigning against Bush in 2008?
We’re either going to lose this thing or win this thing within the next several months. [Meet The Press, 11/12/06]
“And I believe that the success will be fairly easy” and “There’s no doubt in my mind that… we will be welcomed as liberators.” [CNN, Larry King Live, 9/24/02. MSNBC, Hardball, 3/24/03]
“I think we could go in with much smaller numbers than we had to do in the past… I don’t believe it’s going to be nearly the size and scope that it was in 1991.” [Face the Nation, 9/15/02]
“There’s not a history of clashes that are violent between Sunnis and Shias. So I think they can probably get along.” [MSNBC Hardball, 4/23/03]
McCain was asked, “at what point will America be able to say the war was won?” He responded, “…it’s clear that the end is, is, is very much in sight.” [ABC, “Good Morning America,” 4/9/03]
Exactly one year before violence in Iraq peaked: “Overall, I think a year from now, we will have made a fair amount of progress if we stay the course.” [The Hill, 12/8/05]
So, what about it, Retief? Do you have any sources for those quotes, did you just borrow them from your lefty buddies, or were you privileged enough to be faxed your "thoughts for the week" from the DNC itself? I guess if you can’t think for yourself, you may as well borrow somebody else’s arguments.
I started by building a list with links back to transcripts, Meet the Press has a couple of more, but I had to rush, so when I found these I used them. Are you suggesting that these quotes are not real? Or are yo just trying real hard to throw up some fear uncertainty and doubt, because the walk down memory lane idea turned out so badly for McCain?
We’re either going to lose this thing or win this thing within the next several months. [Meet The Press, 11/12/06]
“And I believe that the success will be fairly easy” and “There’s no doubt in my mind that… we will be welcomed as liberators.” [CNN, Larry King Live, 9/24/02(longer quote even wackier). MSNBC, Hardball, 3/24/03]
“I think we could go in with much smaller numbers than we had to do in the past… I don’t believe it’s going to be nearly the size and scope that it was in 1991.” [Face the Nation, 9/15/02]
“There’s not a history of clashes that are violent between Sunnis and Shias. So I think they can probably get along.” [MSNBC Hardball, 4/23/03]
McCain was asked, “at what point will America be able to say the war was won?” He responded, “…it’s clear that the end is, is, is very much in sight.” [ABC, “Good Morning America,” 4/9/03]
Exactly one year before violence in Iraq peaked: “Overall, I think a year from now, we will have made a fair amount of progress if we stay the course.” [The Hill, 12/8/05]
You’ll have to find the other transcripts for yourself.
