The mess in Iraq was caused by the same incompetents who helped cause the late great housing ponzi scheme at the same time - namely a corrupt Congress, a boob of a President, and a clueless US population who went along willingly.
This Washington Post op-ed from Chuck Hagel will go down in history. I thought it was important that HP'ers saw it and understood what it meant. I'll give you the highlights but please read the entire piece.
Hagel admits we screwed up, infers Bush is a dimwit on a misguided God-complex mission, admits Congress aided and abetted, admits to $500 billion down the tubes, although we all know the true cost will be well over $1 trillion when this is over, and calls for us to get out. Let Iraq, Iran and Syria clean up our mess.
And oh, what a mess it is.
Leaving Iraq, Honorably, By Chuck Hagel
There will be no victory or defeat for the United States in Iraq. These terms do not reflect the reality of what is going to happen there. The future of Iraq was always going to be determined by the Iraqis -- not the Americans.
The time for more U.S. troops in Iraq has passed. We do not have more troops to send and, even if we did, they would not bring a resolution to Iraq.
We have misunderstood, misread, misplanned and mismanaged our honorable intentions in Iraq with an arrogant self-delusion reminiscent of Vietnam.
America finds itself in a dangerous and isolated position in the world. We are perceived as a nation at war with Muslims.
The world will continue to require realistic, clear-headed American leadership -- not an American divine mission.
The United States must begin planning for a phased troop withdrawal from Iraq. The cost of combat in Iraq in terms of American lives, dollars and world standing has been devastating.
We are destroying our force structure, which took 30 years to build. We've been funding this war dishonestly, mainly through supplemental appropriations, which minimizes responsible congressional oversight and allows the administration to duck tough questions in defending its policies. Congress has abdicated its oversight responsibility in the past four years.
November 25, 2006
Chuck Hagel, conservative GOP senator from Nebraska, finally calls a spade a spade with the mess in Iraq
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The Iraq war was just the first act.
The Muslims should be treated and regulated as if they are a Political Party/movement, not a Religion, according to Pat Campbel, WFLA Radio.
we are indeed perceived (by the muslim world) to be at war against muslims
perception IS reality
So now that that reality is there, what do we do? Finish the war or walk away?
I of course believe we need to get out of Iraq, immediately. Let them settle their own affairs.
Then we need to bomb Iran's nuke capabilities to smithereens. We're going to do it eventually, so might as well do it today.
But no matter what, get our troops out of there. Bring 'em home.
Hagel calling for us to get out, while McCain is calling for us to send more troops
I'll take Hagel as the GOP nominee in 2008. McCain is toast.
Hagel is not a conservative GOP senator.
Now, if you look at my record, my voting record — I've been in the Senate 10 years. Do you have any idea what my voting record is in support of the Bush administration position the last six years, the Republican Party? It's about 95 percent over 10 years. My record is about as conservative as any conservative Republican in the United States Senate. It is constantly — the American Conservative Union constantly rates me as one of the highest.
So I don't apologize, Chris, to you or anyone else for my position. My conservative credentials are pretty clear.
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,209499,00.html
housing talk anyone? i'm going to visit ben's blog
So Iraq is a "blunder" says Senator Hagel. He voted to authorize this blunder, as did every other Republican senator save one, and many Democratic senators.
Have any of them admitted their mistake and apologized to the American people or to the people of Iraq?
The corrupt Chuck Hagel was one of the main pushers of Boosh's amnesty for illegal aliens last year. Add to that the fact he's a Bilderberger.
Forget Hagel. He's one of them.
We are destroying our force structure, which took 30 years to build. We've been funding this war dishonestly, mainly through supplemental appropriations, which minimizes responsible congressional oversight and allows the administration to duck tough questions in defending its policies. Congress has abdicated its oversight responsibility in the past four years.
Let's be a little more specific, shall we? Let's avoid the unspecific evasive.
There's been plenty of other people who didn't drink the neocon delusions and have been trying to examine the mess for those same four years.
REPUBLICANS abdicated all their responsbity about everything in the last four years. They snidely and cruelly accused those who thought otherwise that they were anti-American traitors who were on the side of the enemy.
And don't try to pull any crap about them "not being ''real'' conservatives".
As our esteemed and newly unemployed SecDef might have quoth:
You go to vote for the Republicans that you have not the Republicans that you want.
"America Vulnerable to Military Adventurism
...
But perhaps that would have been a good thing, suggests Robert Higgs, senior fellow at the Independent Institute and editor of THE INDEPENDENT REVIEW, in a new op-ed. Higgs suggests that, as it is, American political culture is too vulnerable to military adventurism initiated by the commander in chief.
Which characteristics make America especially vulnerable? "The essential components," writes Higgs, "are autocratic government, favorably disposed mass culture, public ignorance and misplaced trust, cooperative mass media, and political exploitation for personal and institutional advantages." "
[Link]
Stop talking about the Republicans, you Democrats are in charge. Stop whining and do something. You voted your people in, so tell them to fix the situation. All you Democrats do is f***ing cry. So, what's your solution?
Only winners of this Iraq sh!!t are defense contractors who got lavish un-bid multi-billions $ contracts. Everyone else are losers specially poor people of Iraq.
Cut military spending by 80%.
Bring all American troups home.
Work toward complete energy self-sufficiency in the U.S. as the number one and emergency priority. Fund this effort by raising gas prices to $5/gallon immediately.
Call a constitutional convention.
Limit campaigns to 60 days; 100% public funded. Media is required to donate a defined and limited amount of time for each candidate to state his/her position. NO CAMPAIGN ADS other than this.
..those a few starters
Stop talking about the Republicans, you Democrats are in charge. Stop whining and do something. You voted your people in, so tell them to fix the situation. All you Democrats do is f***ing cry. So, what's your solution?
Impeach Cheney first.
"Anonymous said...
Cut military spending by 80%."
What a great idea. Let's just forget that Radical Islam wants to destroy Western Civilization. Let's then abandon all of our bases throughout the world and become xenophobes. I'm sure the United Nations will step up and police the world in our absence and have our best interests at heart. Their peacekeeping forces have a great track record, if you discount the corruption, murder, thievery and rape that usually accompanies their deployment.
Hi Keith, Iran doesn't have a nuke capability. We should be building nuke tech for them. IMHO.
beebs
What SHOULD happen is we mobilize the country WW2 style, get a million, 2 million, or however many million troops it takes over there and impose order. There should be no other goals until that is met. THEN we can help them rebuild. It will a decade or more, and cost several trillion.
Pure insanity. We need to pull out now.
beebs
I live in Nebraska but I certainly don't back Hagel, who stands for continued US world hegemony.
This article was purely a play for the 2008 election. Look at his voting record. I heard him comment on the radio: "Someone's got to do it."
What was the "it" he was referring to? Stationing US troops all over the world.
Don't be fooled by this guy. He's part of the problem, not the solution.
Iraq can't be stabalized.
Japan and Germany welcomed us after a while and rebuilt their countries. These people would rather die than rebuild anything. They'd rather burn the oil then sell it, even if they starve to death.
We gave them 'freedom' as in no more Saddam. They don't want it. Time to leave.
Why are we in Anbar province 'guarding' and 'policing' them when 80% of their population approves of insurgents killing US troops? What's the point of that? We're spending billions rebuilding Anbar province and have to dodge IEDs to do it? CRAZY. To hell with them.
Did he call it a jew war?
I guess the monkey is awake....
Libs and Dems all suck. You are all the same.
Prediction! Iran (Shia majority) join forces with the Shia majority in Iraq and crack down on the Sunnis and Kurds (with some help from the Turks in the North who are putting up with some Kurdish aggression on their border) and bring some much desired stability to the country as the Americans withdraw or draw down forces. The Iranians and their new Shia brethren in Iraq restore the law and order in grisly fashion but the regular Joes in Iraq are o.k. with it because Muslim on Muslim violence is o.k. compared to American on Muslim violence. Joe Iraqi is o.k. the crackdown because by then he's really sick and tired of car bombings and the destruction of his country. Now the bad news, Iran now controls an even larger share of the world's known oil reserves and has Chinese clients who have contracted for oil with them over the past several years. Oil may be sold to the West but it will be at a premium and with the special "infidel tax" imposed on same. Other countries within the region and OPEC will decide that's a way cool idea start gouging the West as well. Just a thought, have a nice day and ask your elected officials to show some balls and start working toward energy independence NOW! The American Way is NOT to play world cop or Imperial Powerhouse. The American Way is to show some independence and courage, tell those who are gouging you to go f*ck themselves and figure out a way to meet your needs without the aid of as*holes who mean to exploit us. The American Way is to start being independent of these jack asses and tell them that since they love their damn oil so much they can go drink it and we won't be buying anymore of it from them. Just a thought. Smug Bastard
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