Tom Donnelly makes the case that disbanding the Iraqi Army was the right thing to do. Thomas Sowell outlines why the Iraqi elections are important. The attack on the mess hall was the work of a suicide bomber. Also see this. This L.A. Times article seems pretty good on the difficulty of establishing the kind of security that is needed to protect FOB’s: vetting thousands of Iraqis is very difficult, to say the least. Robert Novak has a hit piece on Bill Kristol, claiming that his call for Rumsfeld to resign was "in effect, a declaration of war by the neoconservatives against the secretary of defense." There will be more on this.
And don’t forget this WashPost article on new documents that indicate detainee abuse at Gitmo, Iraq, and Afghanistan was considerably more widespread than previously indicated/thought:
https://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=1802&ncid=716&e=19&u=/washpost/20041222/ts_washpost/a17883_2004dec21
Don’t forget to dismiss the entire article as more "liberal-bias" reporting because it further erodes your delusions that the United States always operates from a position of moral superiority, and that our actions in fighting The War on Terror are so righteous. Hmmm...the Iraq-Al Qaeda links? The WMDs??? The "threats" posed by Iraq to their neighbors? The world has noticed how the justifications given for the U.S. invasion of another country shifted as fast as one reason after another was debunked. The world has noticed that PLENTY of Iraqi civilians have been killed by U.S. weapons. The world has noticed what a sham it is to call anyone who wants the U.S. out is dubbed an "anti-Iraqi" and/or an "insurgent." Poppycock!!!! The world has noticed how bogus and immoral this war is!
I thought I was the only one in the world that thought that disarming the Iraqi Army was a good thing, beside’s those generals on the ground at the time. These guys we are fighting now were in the Iraqi army, think of the hey-day they would have had shooting down all the looter’s, after major conflict was over. Yeah, I guess the MSM would have liked that because then they could have said that we should have disband the Iraqi army. Let’s face it, for the MSM there is nothing that this military can do that is right in the eyes of the MSM. As a mother of n American soldier who is fighting over seas, and as an American, I am appalled by the support that the MSM provides terrorist’s. ie, AP, photo of the execution of election worker’s on main street in Baghdad. If the AP editor’s or the photo journalist would have had the guts to do the RIGHT THING, three election worker’s might be ALIVE, and the 30 terrorist’s would be dead or captured. No one in there right mind would believe that they just happened to be the the right place at the right time. The least we can do is to give the AP a fair trial, for their aide in committing murder.
Sandy Garrand,
You’ve made some interesting points in your comment. As a separate matter, though, you really should review proper and improper use of the apostrophe. In your short comment you misused the poor apostrophe SEVEN times. There is no apostrophe needed in "besides." If you simply mean to indicate something is in the plural form, just add an "s" or "es," as appropriate. Adding the apostrophe indicates that you’re contracting a phrase (such as, in this sentence, "you are") or showing possession (as in "Sandy’s mistakes are all too common."). Proper use of the apostrophe not only makes your thoughts easier to read and understand, but can help to prevent others inclined to prejudice from dismissing your thoughtful viewpoints.
-RH
RH
"Sandy’s mistakes are all too common."
I notice you put your period inside your quotations. Is that standard or is it up to the writer?
I’m reading "A Better War" by Lewis Sorely. It is about Vietnam. A lot of things people are concerned about happening in Iraq, like questions about troop strength, may be understood by reading the book. Chapter 5 talks about pacification or the “Phoenix" program. It explains the reasoning for the program and has some bearing on the topic above.
I was surprised at how much like Vietnam Iraq could be. But the different tactics used by our military in Iraq may be seen in the lessons learned in Vietnam.
Iraq can only be another Vietnam if we make the same mistakes we did before. It doesn’t look like that is happening.
Sandy is right to be suspicious of the MSM. They have been digging their own grave by misinforming people. And Sandy is right that the media has been burying other people by blindly helping terrorism’s agenda.
Journalists claim to be responsible for truth, but if they cannot understand the negative impact of their presentation on the war against the most effective hate machine since Hitler, they may not be qualified to be guardians of America’s perspective.
Please feel free to critique my writing. I like to learn and R Hollis explained his point well.
Hollis would make a wonderful teacher.
G.M.