Posted on 03/19/2006 7:59:07 PM PST by jmc1969
A former US army general yesterday called for Donald Rumsfeld to resign on grounds of incompetence in Iraq.
There were signs yesterday that the Bush administration was losing its ability to shape perception of the conflict, even among partisan Republicans. George Will, an influential conservative commentator, yesterday compared Iraq's war to that of the 1930s Spanish civil war.
Paul Eaton, a former American army general in charge of training Iraqi forces until 2004, marked the anniversary with a furious attack on Mr Rumsfeld, saying he was "not competent to lead our armed forces".
Yesterday, calling on the US to keep its nerve, Mr Rumsfeld pointed to the swelling ranks of Iraqi government forces. But Mr Eaton, a former major general, said the defence secretary had "shown himself incompetent strategically, operationally and tactically", and was "far more than anyone else, responsible for what has happened to our important mission in Iraq". Mr Rumsfeld had to step down, he said.
(Excerpt) Read more at guardian.co.uk ...
The war in Iraq is intrinsic to the war on terror; it is essential to keep America safe that a defeat be dealt to al Qaeda in Iraq so that they don't draw the same lesson they did when we bugged out of Lebanon and Somalia. I'd rather see us escalate the war and take out Assad than to allow al Qaeda to win in Iraq. Have these people gone mad? What will be the consequences for oil prices and for humanity if we allow ourselves to accept their defeatists nonsense that's been shoveled to us everyday by the Democrats, the MSM, and now Buckley, Buchanan, and white flag Will. We cannot allow these people to bring us to defeat when victory is so close. After all the service members have done and suffered, the will to victory is being sapped by people who've never served and always enjoyed the benefits from those who have.
Everyone must keep in mind that the alternative they propose - quiting now - is not peace, but further war closer to home by an emboldened enemy the MSM, et al. could not see and will not fully reproach or describe because of their contempt for the president.
More to the point is that the vast majority of "Iraqis killed", at least since mid-2003, don't fall onto our side of the ledger in the first place, but to that of our enemy, the terror-insurgents attacking that country. (Duh!)
The left nowadays is so blinded by Bush-hatred they can't even see that they have self-contradictory talking-points:
(1) The Iraq situation is bad because large numbers of Iraqis have died.
(2) We should exit Iraq.
The problem is that (2) is not in any sense a solution to (1), nor is (1) caused by (2). We are in Iraq at this point to defend Iraq from the thugs and fascists who have caused (1). If the left really cared about (1) they wouldn't advocate (2), but its opposite.
"Let's run away from the both of them" is not a solution to "innocent people are being killed by thugs". No one who advocates exiting Iraq has any moral standing whatsoever to preen and moan and hand-wring about the number of Iraqis being slaughtered.
bttt
THIS CRAP HAS GOT TO STOP!
Note, too, that the Left is now siding with the most reactionary elements in the world. While they'd have us believe they're afraid Jerry Falwell is going to make them go to church in a US theocracy (they tend to wet the bed on that issue), they look the other way about mass murdering, religious nut cases who threaten the peace from the Philippines, to Indonesia, to Thailand, to India, to Pakistan, to Iran, to Iraq, to Saudi Arabia, to Kuwait, to Lebanon, to Israel, to Spain, to England, to Nigeria, to Kenya, and anywhere else where Islam isn't practiced as a state religion, or it isn't practiced as these nut cases see fit for it to be practiced.
Similarly for the Left, they say they're for women's rights, yet they ignore the consequences of a victory for a mass movement based on misogyny. Have they forgotten the Taliban's treatment of women, or is al Qaeda in Iraq a reformed movement?
The Left, the MSM, and the white flag conservatives want to offer their Utopian balderdash as a solution and behave like in the real world there is no problem as long as you hate Bush and give in to the enemies of civilization. Ideas have consequences, as the old conservative saying goes, and many of these people proscribing defeat as a solution will be happy to point the finger at Bush if we quit and Iraq becomes like Cambodia under Pol Pot.
Dig a little deeper here and you will find a two-star angry that he did not become a three-star.
If you even worked in the general assignments offices of the services you will find some of these guys (and more so their wives)as catty and jealous as your worst town gossips.
Yup. What you said.
I'm glad you posted that. I had failed to realize it was from them.
hahhaa, that is their new talking points??? Thanks for the heads up. That's the reason, then, for the 'wounded soldiers at peace rally' stuff that's going around.
Dang, you know how to turn a phrase.
These dinosaurs are still getting their information about Iraq from the dinosaur media. They should ask some six-year-old kid to show them which button on the computer is the "power" button.
Thanks,
"Paul Eaton, a former American army general in charge of training Iraqi forces until 2004"
Up and till 2004 the chief complaint was that they weren't getting trained so I guess "former" is probably the right terminology for the one that was supposed to be training them!
"While he criticized others for decisions that led to what he called a false start, General Eaton accepted responsibility for the most visible setback in the training, when a battalion of the new Iraqi Army dissolved in April 2004 as it was sent into its first major battle. The Pentagon sent Lt. Gen. David H. Petraeus, who had commanded the 101st Airborne Division during the invasion and early occupation, to review the program and then to take over the training mission after General Eaton completed his yearlong tour."
In other words, he was fired, replaced, and now wants to share his sour grapes with us.
A Rumsfeld bump
Rumsfelt and four possible scenarios for the msm/Generals hysteria
1. The Generals got passed over - couldn't cut the mustard
2. Generals/msm Backing McCain
3. or hillary clinton
4. Rumsfeld shuts the msm right up - no stupid questions accepted.
This one has just about run the course - time to start in on Vice President Cheney. Will it start by Friday or will msm wait for next week?
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