quote:Originally posted by Brentenman:
Dated, yes.
So are the lessons from WW2 and other wars: you do not cut and run. The war is over when the enemy a. is completely wiped-out, dead or b. when he waves the flag of surrender.
I say we root out the Sunni-Shi'ite-al Quaeda insurgents, kill them, THEN and only THEN do we contemplate leaving.....or else, it will be just a festering sore.
I say we leave on OUR terms, not THEIR terms. Leaving on their terms is appeasement, weakness, milk-kneed, and disgraceful.
War is hell...I say give it to them. We didn't ask for it, they started it. So, we need to finish it. Time for Mickey Mouse crap is long gone.
After Iraq is done, then we turn on Iran. They want nukes, I say we give it to them, along the lines of several megatons.....
The Republicans should practice what they preach
1. Republicans were for cutting and running before they were against it.
Here are the those very words in a discussion about the Republican opposition to fighting Milosevic
The U.S. intervention in Bosnia, which many Republicans foolishly opposed, has worked out much better than they predicted. That progress, however, will be undermined if the United States cuts and runs in this latest instance of Milosevic's thuggery. Republicans can be proud that they led the drive to revitalize the NATO alliance by expanding it to three new states. But what will it mean to have expanded NATO last year, only to eviscerate it now?
http://www.ceip.org/people/kagstan14.htm
2.Here is a good PDF with a list of which Republican said what. Here is something put up to promote Cheney in 2000.
Here is an abstract of an NYT piece in 2000 http://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=F1081FF...%2fClinton%2c%20Bill
Dick Cheney, the Republican vice-presidential candidate, called today for a re-examination of the nation's role in peacekeeping missions around the world and said it was time to consider recalling American ground troops from Kosovo and Bosnia. ''I think it is important that we make sometimes difficult choices about when...
3.Bush was for a timetable before he was against it.
http://thinkprogress.org/2005/06/28/in-1999-bush-demanded-a-timetable/
Bush says,"I think it's also important for the president to lay out a timetable as to how long they will be involved and when they will be withdrawn."
4. Republicans promised us hearts and flowers in Iraq. Our work actually got hearts and flowers. And we didn't have 2500 dead and 20,000 wounded.
The allied occupation of Kosovo, where Clark was greeted as a hero with not only flowers, but also billboards and a road being renamed for him, was planned and executed by Clark and Shinseki. It provides an interesting contrast to Iraq, where Shinseki was shut out of the planning, and in fact disparaged for his realistic assessment of what it would take to win in Iraq.
5.Meet The Press episode where Tim Russert mentioned Cheney's prediction that we would be greeted as liberators. Notice that Cheney, with assistance from Tim Russert, talked about 9/11 in response.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3080244/
6.The called Bosnia/Kosovo "Clinton's War." Why do Republicans only want to "stay the course" when it is Bush's War?
7. Bosnia and Kosovo in 2000 were way better than Iraq now. So who is it that really plays politics with wars? Not Democrats
Here's Michael Kinsley
if you're looking for revisionist history, don't waste your time on the war's critics. Google Cheney's bitter critique of President Clinton's military initiatives in the 2000 campaign, and specifically the need for more burden-sharing by allies and a sharply defined "exit strategy." At the time, about 11,000 American troops were in Bosnia and Kosovo working alongside about 55,000 soldiers from allied countries. If only! http://www.slate.com/id/2131029/
8."Stay the Course" is only a slogan not a strategy. Wes Clark quote http://securingamerica.com/node/686
9.Where is the necessary diplomacy? We need more than tough talk.