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I therefore believe it is my duty to my country to love it, to support
its Constitution, to obey its laws, to respect its flag, and to defend it against all enemies.
William Tyler Page
We screwed up. we were intent on a quick
victory with smaller forces, and we felt if we had a military victory everything else would fall in place. We would be viewed
not as occupiers but as victors. We would draw down to 30,000 people within the first sixty days.
All of this was sheer nonsense.They thought that once
Iraq fell we'd have a similar effect throughout the Middle East and terrorism would evaporate, blah, blah, blah. All of these
were terrible assumptions.
A State Department study advising otherwise
 was sent to Rumsfeld, but he threw it in the wastebasket. He overrode the military and was just plain stubborn on numbers.
Finally the military said OK, and they totally underestimated the impact the desert had on our equipment and the kind of troops
we would need for peacekeeping.
There is not a very good answer for what
to do next. We've pulled out of several places without achieving our objectives, and every time we predicted the end of Western
civilization, which it was not. We left Korea after not achieving anything we wanted to do, and it didn't hurt us very much.
We left Vietnam -- took us ten years to come around to doing it -- but we didn't achieve what we wanted. Everyone said it
would set back our foreign policy in East Asia for ten years. It set it back about two months. Our allies thought we were
crazy to be in Vietnam.
We could have the same thing happen this
time in Iraq. If we walk away, we are still
the number-one superpower in the world. There will be turmoil in Iraq, and how that will affect our oil supply, I don't know.
But the question to ask is: Is what we are achieving in Iraq worth what we're paying? Weighing the good against the bad, we
have got to get out.
Adm. William Crowe
Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of
Staff
Generals To Bush — Start Negotiating, Stop Antagonizing
SAN FRANCISCO,
Aug 17 (OneWorld) - Twenty-one former generals and high ranking national security officials have called on United States
President
George W. Bush to reverse course and embrace a new area of negotiation with
Iran, Iraq, and North Korea. In a letter released
Thursday, the group told reporters Bush's 'hard line' policies have undermined national security and made America less safe.
Of
particular concern for the generals was increased saber rattling between Washington and Tehran over the development of an
Iranian nuclear program.
"We call on the administration to engage immediately in direct talks with the government of Iran
without preconditions to help resolve the current crisis in the Middle East and to settle differences over an Iranian nuclear
program," their letter read.
"An attack on Iran would
have disastrous consequences for security in the region and U.S. forces in Iraq," they argued. "It would inflame hatred and
violence in the Middle East and among Muslims everywhere."
The generals further argued that the Bush Administration's invasion
of Iraq is at least partially responsible for Iran's drive to develop a nuclear program.
"When you announce
an axis of evil of three countries and invade one and then say that Iran should take that as a lesson, it does seem that it
may give them an incentive to do precisely what they don't want them to do," Guard said, "develop a nuclear weapon."
A new path for Iraq
Published October 23, 2006
The current approach needs to change. The
Iraq insurgency has gained strength, the horrific violence between Sunni and Shiite has escalated and militias and death squads
roam the country, killing at random and in grotesque numbers. Every new security push seems to be met with an even greater
spike in violence as the insurgents try to oust U.S. forces
Last year,
Bush declared that the U.S. would stand down as Iraqi security forces stood up--that is, as they were trained and ready to
defend the country. Today, many Iraqis have "stood up." About 312,000 Iraqi solders and police have been trained and equipped,
the U.S. Defense Department reported Wednesday. That's only about 13,000 short of the overall goal. More than two-thirds of
Iraqi army units are in the lead in combat operations, Defense reported in August.
So if Iraqi forces have stood
up, why aren't coalition forces standing down? The short answer: the difficulty of the job. Despite the growing numbers of
trained Iraqi troops and police, violence has escalated. U.S. troops have been summoned back into the center of action, to
quell sectarian clashes in Baghdad and elsewhere.
Nov. 6, 2006 issue - By 1952, the last year of his presidency, Harry Truman recognized that the victory
he had hoped for was no longer possible in Korea. U.S. forces were not losing, but they were not winning, either. Instead
they were caught up in a vast, bloody and expensive holding operation. Two thirds of the American public disapproved of the
war.
Fareed Zakaria Newsweek
Truman's successor, Dwight Eisenhower, as a legendary
general, had enormous freedom to maneuver. He used it, ending new military offensives, conceding several key points to the
North Koreans and the Chinese. By some accounts, he also threatened to use nuclear weapons. On July 27, 1953, the parties
to the war signed a peace treaty—all parties, that is, except the South Koreans, who believed the deal amounted to a
sellout.
For Americans, the Korean War was
not a defeat—the United States had gathered a coalition to resist aggression—but it was certainly not a victory.
After three years of fighting and 4 million dead, Korea remained divided
Something like the close of the Korean
War is, frankly, the best we can hope for in Iraq now. One could easily imagine worse outcomes—a bloodbath, political
fragmentation, a tumultuous flood of refugees and a surge in global terrorist attacks. But with planning, intelligence, execution
and luck, it is possible that the American intervention in Iraq could have a gray ending—one that is unsatisfying to
all, but that prevents the worst scenarios from unfolding, secures some real achievements and allows the United States to
regain its energies and strategic compass for its broader leadership role
After the war in VietNam ground to a stale-mate
the US developed the policy of Vietnamzation(train the South to protect and defend themself)This plan enventually got us out
of the war with Presidents Nixon "peace with honor".The last American troops left Nam in 1972 and by 1975 the north took over
all of Vietnam.The Bush plan of training the Iraqis too take over when we go will undoubtedly lead to the same circumstance.Our
brave men and women will be in Iraq and Afghanstan for years to come and as in Nam the causilities will continue to mount
if we continue this "Stay the Course" plan our President has.
In todays headlines the Iraqi people are
even demanding a pull out program of American troops...I never heard them ask for Democracy but I do hear them tell us to
leave.We should not honor our brave comrades that gave their all by staying and fighting in Iraqs civil war...Our President
sent these men and women to a war on terror and that is where we belong...Since our invasion into Iraq there have been dozens
of terrorist attacks around the world...Spain...Manlia, Philippines and Indonesia to name a few and that is where our intention should lie
after we once again defeat the Taliban in Afghanstan once and for all.
What I say...there are mainly three factions
fighting each other in Iraq...divide the country into three sections...one for each and let them govern themself as our states
do...all the money from their oil would be divided by three and distributed to the three states.It may or may not end the
fighting but it's their fight not ours and our troops will be home...
"Either you are with us or
you are with the terrorists."
In the last four years the American
people...our Military and our Represenatives have been held hostage...afraid to say anything against the War on Terror, that just
happened to turn into the War in Iraq ,for fear of being branded a traitor...unpatriotic...kind of like the Joe
McCarthy days of
being branded a communist...
Bush and his administration has used the  tradgey of 911 as a weapon against us...They do not want to see pictures of flag draped coffins coming home...They do
not want to see demostraters nor hear protesters (you have to be so many blocks away from the White House now)... Every time something threatens them they invoke our memories with the same talk over and over....And what truly is sad is so many fall for it again...
We as a nation must take "our" government back before we lose it
completly...it is our duty as Patriots...We must make our local,state and federal government represenatives know that they
too can be replaced...They are suppose to be there to protect our rights and freedoms...to listen to "our voice" not that
of their party leaders...As Americans there are just some things we can not allow to happen...
THE KING AND HIS COURT
in the Kingdom of the blind
THE BOTTOM LINE
And the War just keeps rolling right along...I
was a combat wounded Vet with the 1st Cavalry Division in Vietnam 1968-69...It was an unpopular war both among the poor middle
class men and women that fought it and the American people at home.At that time,President Johnson and his cronies fabracated
the Gulf of Tonkin incident to bring us deeper into the war and sent thousands and thousands of mainly 18-19 year old kids
10,000 miles away to fight a war based on lies,greed and politics.
Now, 38 years later Bush and his cronies are going down the same road of deceit...911 was a terrible day and will live in
many hearts and minds forever but people...Iraq had nothing to do with it...the intell that has come out and is still coming
out is just so unbeleivable...
The Talaban and the Soudis are responsibleFor
911...we went after the terrorist where theylived...Afganastan...destroying their training camps...capturing their weapons
and hunting them down like the dogs they are...after four years the man directly responsibe for the 911 is still on the loose...
Somewhere and somehow our war on the terrorist
that attacked us became a War in Iraq based on weapons of mass destruction that were never to this day been found...based
on intel that iraq was supporting and sending money to the talaban that,as we know now, was never the case...Over 3,040 men
and women have given their all for these actions and thousands and thousands more are coming home with no legs,hands and arms...they
are not mentioned much in the media just as flag draped coffins are not...and just how many thousands of Iraq civilians...old
men...women and children have been sacrificed...
I don't know about you but I for one have never heard the Iraq people cry out for freedom just the opposite...they
did not ask for our liberation...did anyone out there hear them ask us for freedom and Democracy...I sure as hell did not...but
I do hear them calling for us to leave...I say to myself...what makes us any different then say China...Russia...Germany...Japan
or Korea...they all invaded a land to bring their way of life to other people that never asked for it...We,as a nation never
invaded a country and forced our way of life on anyone...In WWI our ships were attacked...in WWII Pearl Harbor was attacked...the Korean people as well as the Vietnam people asked for our
aid and wanted freedom and Democracy as did many other nations throughout our history...these my friends were just causes
worth the scarfice of our men and women in service to their country...
What we are doing in Iraq is not a just war for we were tricked and lied into it by our President with the claims of WMD's
and a grave threat to our National Security,neither turned out to be true...just more decite and lies.It may sound like I
am against Republicans but the truth is...I vote for the man not the party and always have.If this was President Kennedy instead
of Bush my thoughts and feelings would be the same.
This adminstration has done nothing right when it comes to this war and
our young men and women are paying the price for it.There is no hope of freedom and Democracy in Iraq...never was...We had
a good start of democracy in Afgan till Bush pulled most of the troops out to fight in Iraq and now it is faling since the
return of the Taliban.
The presidents "stay the Course" is getting pretty old to me...it's more like "stay and die".
The Republicans are constantly saying that the Democrates want
to cut and run and have no plan of how to get out of Iraq...did I miss something?? When did the Republicans out line their
pull out plan??
My question is the Iraq Army and police are now more then 350,000 strong...more
then twice the amount of men we have in Iraq so why are we still there??? It is time for them to step up to plate and shed
some of their blood for we have shed enough in this unjust war.
"It is dangerous to be right
when the government is wrong."
Voltaire
"Back in the Day" the American people stood up for what was right and spoke out and protested when things
were wrong...it was not Treason to disagree...it was our Consitutual and God given right...today Bush and his cronies want
us to feel unpatriotic if we oppose this mockery of a war...ten years ago my first two sons joind thr service...one in the
Army and the other in the Navy...they joined because
they were proud of our Country and our way of life...in the course of their time in the service we have had
Bosnia...Kosovo...Desert Storm and more...they were both put in harms way...My son in the Navy is still in and was placed
in harms way twice now...but the reasons are different today and they are not truly just causes...
I honor and respect all of our men and
women put in harms way for whatever reason...my support for them will never wavier...neither will my love for this country...I am totally involved in the VFW and Memorial Team...honoring
past and sadly to say present American heroes who gave their all for a country they so loved...but our government and the
representavities we sent to Washington are wrong...they do not
have our interest at heart anymore and the sad sad part of it all is we just let it go...very few Americans
today get involved in anything that won't benefit them...we have become a nation of sheep being led to the slaugther and only
a few handfull of patriots are doing anything about it...
One day while watching'"The Fog of War",a
movie about the Vietnam war and the lies and deceit within the White House,there were some young friends of my youngest son
sitting watching it with me...when they showed all the protest in so many major cities and the march on Washington in 68 I
said to them,"that iswhat your generation should be doing today"...the response amazed me...."today we couldn't get 50,000
people together to agree on anything let alone a protest."
This is our,the regular joe blows country...we are the employers of the president and all the way down the
line...as long as we remain in this state of unawarness this country will never be of the people...for the people and by the
people...it is our right...it is our duty...what will you do???
"When we were making the law, when we were writing the
literature and the mathematics the grandfathers of Blair and little Bush were scratching around in caves"
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