Posted on 11/21/2007, 8:15:39 PM by Aristotelian
This is a rush transcript of "Special Report With Brit Hume" from November 20, 2007.
MAJ. GEN. BOB SCALES (RET), FOX NEWS MILITARY ANALYST: The secret of the surge wasn't the numbers, it was the strategy. . . .
NINA EASTON, FORTUNE MAGAZINE: But as generals on the ground will tell you, this is a small window in which you need to make political progress.
And I thought what was quite interesting about reading these pieces, documenting how Baghdad is coming back alive, is the extent to which it's still an empty city. There's four million refugees that fled the country.
And I happened to experience this in Jordan a few months ago — these refugees are the people of means, the people who are educated, the people you need back in this country to build a civil society that will press this government to move forward with reform.
HUME: It would be quite a miracle had they all returned by now. . . .
EASTON: Even a Washington Post editorial said the Democrats are acting like nothing has changed since January.
But the one problem that the administration continues to have is public opinion, and that will also take some time. You've still got 68 percent of the public disapproving of the president's handling of this war. You do have a number of people starting to increase on do we think this is a winnable war — up to 40 percent now. That is starting to pick up.
It will take some time, though.
KRAUTHAMMER: It does, because public opinion is a lagging indicator. You had a six-month delay between real change on the ground and the arrival of that news here in the U.S. in the mainstream and media.
(Excerpt) Read more at foxnews.com ...
Easton grasps at straws. First, there's only a "small window in which you need to make political progress." Well, before the surge, there was no window. Next, Baghdad may be coming back alive BUT it's an "empty city." Well, I guess she hasn't read the news that Iraqis are flooding back home. And finally, Easton cites negative public opinion. Thankfully, Krauthammer points out that public opinion lags because the MSM have been slow to report the good news.
I expect to hear more such stammering, stuttering, and disjointed logic as libs try to deal with VICTORY IN IRAQ.
“Even a Washington Post editorial said the Democrats are acting like nothing has changed since January.”
As Rush says, the Dems strategy of pursuing and securing defeat is being challenged by reality.
I expect a number of high profile media-made violent actions as the election gets closer.
I am not sure exactly where Easton is coming from. Awhile back, her husband was working for the John Mc Cain campaign. Now he works in the Romney campaign.
Harry Reid actua"thlly declared that "the war is lost" LOL
actua”thlly —————>actually
Partial bio:
Easton is author of the acclaimed “Gang of Five: Leaders at the Center of the Conservative Ascendancy” (Simon & Schuster, 2002), which was praised by the Washington Post for telling the story of post-Reagan conservatism “more inventively, exhaustively and entertainingly than anyone else.” Her insights into the rise of the modern political right prompted the Wall Street Journal to dub her “the Dian Fossey of conservatism.”
At the Boston Globe, Easton co-authored “John F. Kerry: The Complete Biography” (Public Affairs), served as a lead editor of the 2003 newspaper series on which the book was based, and oversaw much of the paper’s 2004 presidential campaign coverage. From 1988 until 1998, Easton was a staff writer for the Los Angeles Times and its Sunday Magazine. Her articles won numerous awards, including the National Headliners Award for best magazine writing and the Sunday Magazine Editors Award for investigative reporting.
Before joining the Los Angeles Times, she covered business for The American Banker, BusinessWeek and Legal Times. In 1982, she co-authored the book “Reagan’s Ruling Class: Portraits of the President’s Top 100 Officials”. She is a native of California and a Phi Beta Kappa graduate of U.C. Berkeley.
True and that is why I said the “majority of voters” will laugh at the democrats for trying to take credit for our victory in Iraq because I know that there is a significant minority who is made of complete idiots and or who President Bush more than they hate Satan.
She does seem rather smart.
MAJ. GEN. BOB SCALES nailed it. The mixing the US forces in with the Iraqis was a stoke of genius. We simply underestimated how quickly the Iraqis could get their forces up and running. It seemed our side was thinking "hey we can get a troop trained an into combat in less then a year, the Iraqis can do this."
What we seem to have forgotten was that trooper goes into combat with the world's greatest logistic tail under command of officers and NCOS that have decades of combined experience in a military-political system that has over 200 years of accumulated corporate knowledge. What the world's finest military can do was not something the Iraqis could emulate. The Iraqis are doing everything from zero. They needed someone to show them the way.
Petraus, or whom ever, decided on this " Surge" strategy rather then to "Americanize" the war as the armchair warriors in DC were screaming deserves this country's deepest thanks. It was an act of historic military genius
Nina Easton seems to suffer from that syndrome by which a person claims a “conservative” label for themselves but always seems to put forth comments inspired by a semi-hidden leftist agenda. It poisons the Republican party these days.
The Code Pink boobs will be protesting as the Victory Parades go down Main Street.
Pray for W and Our Amazing Troops
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