Not even the Associated Press can continue to turn a blind eye;
The United States is now winning the war that two years ago seemed lost.
Limited, sometimes sharp fighting and periodic terrorist bombings in Iraq are likely to continue, possibly for years. But the Iraqi government and the U.S. now are able to shift focus from mainly combat to mainly building the fragile beginnings of peace — a transition that many found almost unthinkable as recently as one year ago.
Despite the occasional bursts of violence, Iraq has reached the point where the insurgents, who once controlled whole cities, no longer have the clout to threaten the viability of the central government.
If you happen to travel the Canadian leftosphere these days, you may notice a deafening silence from certain “progressives” who celebrated every US military setback, every marketplace explosion, every terrorist strike.
Yes you did, you pathetic wastes of skin – you loved every minute of it. Cloaking your words in faux outrage didn’t make your motives any less transparent. You rejoiced in the prospect that a President you despise and a nation you envy might be humiliated.
It hardly mattered that the consequences of a western power losing to the forces of Islamic fascism would be visited as severely upon you and yours, as they would those who of us who argued for victory. You can’t help yourselves – it’s your nature. But, I truly don’t know how you face yourselves in the mirror.
Related: A must read – Audacity of Hopelessness.
Facts not reported are the truth of omission.
You rejoiced in the prospect that a President you despise and a nation you envy might be humiliated.
It actually began before the Iraq invasion. On 9/11/01 to be precise. Some in the leftosphere could barely contain their glee as those airliners slammed into the WTC. All the “they deserved it” prattling began within hours.
I remember some petty moron declaring triumphantly to a CBC reporter that “the center of capitalism had just had a great big heart attack”.
Two posts where Dr Dawg explains why we should get out of Afstan, and debates ensue:
“A Challenge to Canadian Leftists…from one of their own” (see Comments thread)
“Civilian deaths in Afghanistan” (the Woofmeister’s own post)
Mark
Ottawa
Agree completely with your comments on the left – they despise Bush for confronting and taking on Islamic fascism – and they envy Americans.
What do they envy? The American insistence on freedom, both in speech and the market place – rather than our censorship and crippling regulations. They envy the American insistence on confronting situations rather than the Canadian Way which is to hide behind a bureaucracy (UN or other govt) or let the Americans protect us militarily.
But the left still puzzles me, with their support for radical Islam, an ideology which if it ever dominated, would decimate the soft lifestyle of the left. They certainly are able to confront; they demonstrate against the US all the time, they demonstrate against industry, against..whatever. So – I don’t understand their support for fascism.
This is also relevant:
“…Cybercast News Service (CNSNews) was started in 1998 as an in-depth source for individuals, news organizations and broadcasters who want more news on issues that are often under-reported or ignored.
CNSNews notes that the number of journalists embedded with U.S. Forces in Iraq has plunged by 74% in the past nine months — from 219 in September 2007 to 58 in June 2008.
This reduced media coverage coincides with a 75% (June) to 84% (May) drop in the U.S. casualty rate, compared to a year ago. Fewer dead — less reporting…”
Mark
Ottawa
The AP had to release it on Saturday, though, the slowest news day.
Perhaps ET, the left has the confidence that it can bully militant Islam – no problem if Islam defeats Bush and Cheney, and if it encroaches on us we’ll just use the same tactics against the mullahs. The reporters and editors on will co-operate in the fight against the mullahs, yes? Either that, they believe that militant Islam merely shares their objective to dethrone Bush/Cheney. Once that is accomplished, we can all go back to being friends.
ET, have we ever heard even a single cogent argument from the left as to why they believe militant Islam is not a threat to them, personally? I’ve never read or seen one. Blinded by a hatred of the right, and naive in the extreme.
“It’s all about oil”, is not logically the same as “it’s only about oil”.
Yeah sure, Kate.
I think we can draw a direct correlation between the media’s softening on Iraq and the rise of Obamaism. The media has been lavishing attention on Obama and has already crowned him defacto President. It would look bad for the big O if his “damn the torpedoes we’re outta there” approach was met with negative coverage on Iraq. And it would lend credence to the McCain camp. I’m not saying things haven’t actually improved but I would think the dwindling of the press coverage isn’t solely because of it.
The left don’t like it that their favourite rallying points “talking” and “education” were useless against Sadam and the Taliban.
Sometimes you really just have to kill the bastards and the left won’t admit it.
The left only kills its own see the Nazis, Stalin, Mao, Pol Pot, Cuba, etc.
I think we can draw a direct correlation between the media’s softening on Iraq and the rise of Obamaism. The media has been lavishing attention on Obama and has already crowned him defacto President. It would look bad for the big O if his “damn the torpedoes we’re outta there” approach was met with negative coverage on Iraq. And it would lend credence to the McCain camp. I’m not saying things haven’t actually improved but I would think the dwindling of the press coverage isn’t solely because of it.
Sorry about the double post. Finger fumble…..
Only one candidate for president believes that peace is possible, his name is John McCain. The leftards are already saying that the war will restart no matter who wins, to cover for their preternatually cynical candidate.
It is not the left I despise. They are like rainy days – not pleasant but necessary. They provide a constant challenge to my outlook on life and interpretation of the issues of the day. They are always wrong but never give up no matter how totally screwed up their big ideas prove to be.
The people and organizations I really despise are the media. Their job is to report what is happening – not what they want to happen. If they were at least honest and said “we report everything with an extreme left-wing anti-american bias – please read our stuff accordingly” I could at least tolerate them. But despite all evidence to the contrary they claim they are the only truly unbiased people on the planet and we should trust their message explicitly.
Their bias is bad enough but when they venture into actively promoting our enemy’s propaganda in order to damage local conservative governments – at this point their actions are inexcusable, unconscionable and treasonous. Their propagandizing for the enemy is getting our soldiers targeted and killed.
The terrorists know they cannot win a military battle with the west. That is why they use terror as their method to demoralize and defeat us. This worked in Vietnam and is being attempted in our fight against Islamo-fascism. If our media is working with the enemy then to me anyone who supports the media is working with the enemy. I am glad to see that so many North American see it the way I do and are withholding their eyeballs.
The left “progressives” have moved on.
…-
“Moonbats Protest U.S. Stand against IRAN
July 22,2008”
(freerepublic)
Bob Rae is THE primary example of what Kate’s talking about. His comments on both Iraq and Afstan reek of pacifist anti-americanism. Hopefully one day he will be publically hoisted on his own rhetorical petard.
“Yeah sure, Kate.
Posted by: Chuck at July 27, 2008 1:21 PM”
That’s it, Chuck? That’s all you got?
Everytime you lefties post comments like that, you just prove us right. No facts, just “yeah, sure… we’re right and you’re wrong”.
Back up how Kate’s wrong. What are your facts? Show us that lefties weren’t salivating at the possible loss in Iraq; salivating every time a US troop was killed as some sort of signal you were right and Bush was the problem, not the Islamic extremists that would hang every one of you for being who you are. Those people don’t much care for progressives, homosexuals, women, Christians, Jews or even atheists.
The problem is, you can’t…
Lefties are way beyond stupid. Every single one of them.
McCain: “Senator Obama said this week that even knowing what he knows today that he still would have opposed the surge. In retrospect, given the opportunity to choose between failure and success, he chooses failure. I cannot conceive of a Commander in Chief making that choice.”
I can’t either. But that’s what the U.S. will get if they elect Obama the POTUS: a Commander in Chief with no military experience, who seems to have little appreciation for the U.S.’s military obligations . It’s hard to picture him saluting the troops and trooping the guard, seeing as he avoided the fighting men and women in his very brief photo o…oops, I mean stopover in Af’stan.
ET: “But the left still puzzles me, with their support for radical Islam, an ideology which if it ever dominated, would decimate the soft lifestyle of the left.”
You’ve heard the saying, “The enemy of my enemy is my friend”? I think this is what’s going on here, ET.
Islamofascism is the enemy of all things progressive: for instance, Christian countries in the West which have always supported true freedom, democracy, equality before the law for men and women, etc., nevermind that Islamists would equally like to blast the progressive lefistsphere and the Christian West to smithereens.
The left sees only as far as their own ideologies and comforts, and seems incapable of understanding logical consequences, otherwise why would they, at least here in Canada, ever vote for the Librano$ or the NDP?
‘See what I mean?
There is no war in Iraq. The Iraq war took place in 2003 and was over in a matter of weeks. What has happened since is an occupation, period.
This carrot of imminent “victory” is childish. The bill for the Iraq war and occupation, which was completely unnecessary, now exceeds $860 billion taxpayer dollars and thousands of lives and limbs. Those who supported it should have their assets seized to pay for it. I’ve seen stranger things happen.
Kate said: “But, I truly don’t know how you face yourselves in the mirror.”
Blind hatred?
Morons persist………..
These people only had to read Yon and Totten, or see the mil bloggers’ pages.
This is really important. The US has always been respected as a powerful, all crushing military might, but the theory of the asymmetrical enemies is the Vietnam theory that the war can always be lost at home and that the US soldier will not shoot it out in the street.
Both these two theories have been shot down, especially the second. People will be a little more careful in messing with uncle Sam.
The US has demonstrated its ability at big and small wars. This is good.
This is related to the simpering and whining of of the lefty tools… as the NATO forces in Iraq press their assaults after the Taliban and AQ who seek safe shelter in Pakistasn … the noise about the evil US intrusion into the lawless border regions has been going up. In spite of this crap from the leftards the efforts continue to yield results.
thank you very much …
Oops I type -O – d … thats forces in Afghanistan not Iraq …. apologies !!!
The New York Times, wonder of wonders, states in a lengthy article published on today’s front page, “The militia that was once the biggest defender of poor Shiites in Iraq, the Mahdi Army, has been profoundly weakened in a number of neighborhoods across Baghdad, in an important, if tentative, milestone for stability in Iraq.”
Actually, the U.S. had deposed the Iraqi dictator by December of 2003 and had defeated the Iraqi regular Army by April 9, 2003.
The “war” ended on that date. What began after that was an insurgency against the occupation.
‘VICTORY in IRAQ’ will never be heard in the left MSM. GLOOM AND DOOM corruption and support for terrorists is more their style of reporting.
‘VICTORY in IRAQ’ will never be heard in the left MSM. GLOOM AND DOOM corruption and support for terrorists is more their style of reporting.
Where are the praises for Iraqi soldiers and their allies who fought together for the ‘freedom of Iraq’
No, Raphael, correct thinker – it was not an occupation or ‘insurgency against the occupation’. The US never occupied Iraq. Do you know what the term actually means?
What happened after the fall of Hussein was the devt of the CPA, the Coalition Provisional Authority, made up of Americans (Garner, Bremer) and Iraqi; its agenda was to develop the democratic infrastructure of a constitution and electoral system. It lasted for one year, and the Iraqi government was then developed and took over.
During this period, there also existed the attempt by other tribes and special interest groups (religious ‘tribes’) to take control and prevent a democracy. Then, Iran and Syria also moved in via funding and providing militants.
But, the Iraqi people developed their own constitution and democracy. It worked and is working. It isn’t easy to change from a tribal structure to a democratic one; it can’t be done overnight. It normally takes several generations.
The Greek – nice comments. Thanks.
LEMON, PETER C.
Rank and organization: Sergeant, U.S. Army, Company E, 2nd Battalion, 8th Cavalry, 1st Cavalry Division
Place and date: Tay Ninh Province, Republic of Vietnam, 1 April 1970
Entered service at: Tawas City, Michigan
Born: 5 June 1950, Toronto, Canada
Citation:
For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity in action at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty. Sgt. Lemon (then Sp4c.), Company E, distinguished himself while serving as an assistant machine gunner during the defense of Fire Support Base Illingworth. When the base came under heavy enemy attack, Sgt. Lemon engaged a numerically superior enemy with machine gun and rifle fire from his defensive position until both weapons malfunctioned. He then used hand grenades to fend off the intensified enemy attack launched in his direction. After eliminating all but 1 of the enemy soldiers in the immediate vicinity, he pursued and disposed of the remaining soldier in hand-to-hand combat. Despite fragment wounds from an exploding grenade, Sgt. Lemon regained his position, carried a more seriously wounded comrade to an aid station, and, as he returned, was wounded a second time by enemy fire. Disregarding his personal injuries, he moved to his position through a hail of small arms and grenade fire. Sgt. Lemon immediately realized that the defensive sector was in danger of being overrun by the enemy and unhesitatingly assaulted the enemy soldiers by throwing hand grenades and engaging in hand-to-hand combat. He was wounded yet a third time, but his determined efforts successfully drove the enemy from the position. Securing an operable machine gun, Sgt. Lemon stood atop an embankment fully exposed to enemy fire, and placed effective fire upon the enemy until he collapsed from his multiple wounds and exhaustion. After regaining consciousness at the aid station, he refused medical evacuation until his more seriously wounded comrades had been evacuated. Sgt. Lemon’s gallantry and extraordinary heroism, are in keeping with the highest traditions of the military service and reflect great credit on him, his unit, and the U.S. Army.
Canadian, eh?
The only thing the leftards hate more than Bush and the Merican people is Canadian Culture and history. They’d be happy to crawl into bed with slime bag terrorist and their buddies if it aided them in destroying the US and Canada. These fruitloops actually think they can destroy our culture and replace it with Marxist Doctorine. Honestly how stupid are these fools, communism/socialism doctorine has killed millions of people do they honestly think we’ll sit on our hands and do nothing whilst the left and far left destory our soceity. Yea they actually do.
I’ve read posts by Canadians that chill me to the core, they actually celebrate the death of our soldiers. I guess the life of one terrorist is more important than their country men. Spineless moral cowards with the ethics of a slug.
We need new treason laws, honestly we do.
“If you happen to travel the Canadian leftosphere these days, you may notice a deafening silence from certain “progressives” who celebrated every US military setback, every marketplace explosion, every terrorist strike.”
By coincidence, Wendy Sullivan over at
http://girlontheright.com/
has just today described leftard progressives in two words.
I think that the reason that the left supports anyone that is against the Western Democracies is mostly because they have become what one of their icons termed “useful idiots.”
Pat them on the head, express solidarity against the hated US and these idiots will send their families into slavery without even knowing that it’s happening.
Mental illness is what it is. What should be is reality, not what is.
The USA didn’t win anything.
The USA only created chaos and violence in Iraq.
The Iraqi PM is openly calling for the americans to leave the place.
Iraq is doing better because of the IRAQIS, NOT THE AMERICANS.
RW wrote, “The US has demonstrated its ability at big and small wars. This is good”
Certainly the big war. Lets not forget that they did that over the objections of the joint chiefs who kept putting a Powell plan forward….300,000 to 500,000 troops.
Rumsfeld, and he is getting a new look, insisted it could be done with less and he is correct.
Problem is they believed their own press and didnt plan on the occupation or what a reasonable enemy might do in the face of overwhelming power, melt away to fight another day.
Until Petraeus was given primacy in Iraq the Generals there were fighting the old way, buttoned up etc. Petraues brought new doctrine, and he made significant progress with less than 200,000 troops.
There is a legitimate debate around whether the insurgency would have happened if there were 300,000 troops on the ground post invasion. Would a strong show of force and presence have been enough….I doubt it….you still needed the tactics and money that Petraues used. At the end of the day it needed Iraqi’s themselves to help make the progress.
The second question that will be deabted forever and a day is whether keeping the Iraqi military in tact would have helped or hurt….it remains speculation.
The fact that the US could do what it did in the invasion, single front and all, spooked the heck out of a number of powers (Chinese included)
Even the US military didnt execute the way it was supposed to, they still went slower than expected, not following the doctrine of isolate and by pass, essentially Bliztkreig….They still stopped outside of Bagdhad for a few days, when doctrine said they should have pushed in no matter what. Essentially keep moving till you strike steel then blow the steel apart with your overwhelming firepower.
I am concerned about two things that are contradictory
1) That the US will reatreat back to being a big set piece battle military…Powell Doctrine left in the last century.
2) That the US will elarn all of the lessons and decide that the costs of invasion really are lower, in terms of up front requirements. Lower the costs and more invasion opportunities become available.
I agree with Powell that you really shouldnt engage without having the politics at home clarified and lined up. I disagree with him on what constitutes overwhelming force. His 500,000 troops in 1990-91 in terms of lethality is definitely down to the 100,000 – 150,000 range.
Occupation is a totally different story, in terms of tactics and manpower. But I think elements of the US military have learned what works and what doesnt. This does make them truly formidable.
The issue will be, and always will be, will the civilian control get the lesson and convey it appropriately….will the right people be in charge at the US military, those who arent just interested in big capital spend and large battles.
Rumsfeld made lots of mistakes, but will likely be remembered for having signifcantly remade and retooled the US military in a positive way.
Lets hope the masters, the civilians in charge, dont squander, misuse, or degrade that retooled military.
“It hardly mattered that the consequences of a western power losing to the forces of Islamic fascism would be visited as severely upon you and yours, as they would those who of us who argued for victory.”
Many people who opposed the war in Iraq opposed it precisely because it was unnecessary for battling ‘the forces of Islamic fascism.’ Achieving that latter goal would have meant staying focused on Afghanistan back in 2003, rather than diverting critical military resources towards toppling a crippled dictatorship that was of no immediate foreign policy threat to anyone. Al Qaeda and other terrorist groups followed the US into Iraq, not the other way around.
Now, it appears that the US is once again following al Qaeda back into Afghanistan, where this fight should have played out all along.
QE,
Thats the argument, and it is a legitimate point of view.
What it doesnt address is that sanctions were collapsing and the situation highly dynamic. The oil for food scandal revealed how rotten the sanctions regime had become and how bought in were certain elements of the Russian, German, Franch and to some degrees British elites were to Saddam.
The counter argument is what was the US to do as sanctions collapsed and Saddam escaped to new power….imagine him with 140 a barrel oil???
Now I am not a fan of wars based on what if’s. You need better evidence than they had and the reality is that life isnt a game of risk therefore you really do need keep your population on side.
This will get me in trouble around here, but maintaining the high ground in a democracy is probably a requirement. This may mean you need to wait for the other guy to actually take a swing at you. Think about how united everyone was, repeat was, over Afghanistan. It was the source of the attack. Unfortunately, the population, or at least the elites and the left have regrouped and are opposing even “the good war”.
So I agree that Afghanistan has been ignored, not just by the US but by other Nato allies who havent pulled their weight in a NATO battle…thinking Germany, Italy and France in particular.
The Brits will be there, the Dutch have done a great job, the French will be there (quietly though, likely lots of French special ops there now) and Canada. The Germans, and to a lesser extent the Italians really are the laggards here. Had they contributed their weight then maybe the battle wouldnt be where it is.
Canada has esentially fought a strong holding and pinning action buying time while the US and Brits regroup and redeploy. It is appreciated in the right circles and quite frankly has been superbly. We lack the troops to take it further, at least without doing an unsustainable full deployment.
Going to US politics for a second. Obama has boxed himself in with his statements on Pakistan….he may be forced to act, whether its wise or not, to ensure he means what he says. I am all for getting the camps, but you need to give yourself time and resources to do it right, which may be indirect.
The nice thing about the Taliban is they still seem to be suckers for the big battle. If the US can suck them into a big battle then its to their advantage. I suspect once troop levels rise further this will be the tactic. thos Forward Operating Bases will be used as bait and honeytraps.
Anyway, original point…while I acknowledge your argument I think there are loose threads in that scenario that people dont get held to account on. It is clearly a path not taken so we will never know, but the situtation isnt as tidy as some would describe it.
Meanwhile, millions of Muslims have been allowed to immigrate to Europe and North America since 9/11. Forget Iraq and Afghanistan, the leftist-Islamist alliance is winning where it counts–here in the West.
In Iraq, the Americans achieved an incredible turn-around in a very short period of time. It is likely that Gen. Petraeus will end up being regarded as one of the greatest military minds the U.S. has produced. His counter-insurgency success will be studied for generations to come.
The real battle against Islamic Fascism was and remains in Afghanistan and Pakistan. I believe it will take longer and ultimately prove a much tougher fight. The Taliban/al-Qaeda sanctuaries in Pakistan complicate matters enormously.
I think its great that life is improving in Iraq, but to simply recreate the stability that was already there before the US moved in, is hardly cause for celebration. Yes, it was at the helm of Saddam, a tyrant. But before we go and start giving this new government a lot of credit, lets keep in mind that they have yet to establish a record on human rights. Corruption wasn’t and isn’t a Saddam thing. It’s an endemic issue in the nation’s governance. The new leadership may very well cling to power in the same ways. We also now have a more pronounced islamic theocracy than we did before. That’s a point that is lost on a lot of people. For all Saddam’s faults, one thing that boded well for us under his dictatorship was his secularism. With Kate being so intent on hammering down the point that Islam is a threat to the world, I find it odd that she’s declaring victory when the governance focus in Iraq revolves around satisfying repressed Islamic interests. Further to all this, as we can see from the Palestinian territory, democracy does not equal allies, or western friendly governments. This new government could quite easily become cozy with Iran and has already shown signs of doing so.
And if I may say…what unnecessary gutter language in the original post!?… “pathetic wastes of skin”. Take a pill, Kate. There are intelligent people in all spheres, with honest convictions. Learn how to wear another’s hat before taking the easy route and assuming that beliefs contrary to your own must be rooted in malicious interests. Christ.
“The Taliban/al-Qaeda sanctuaries in Pakistan complicate matters enormously.”
Not as long as the NATO forces are willing to keep bombing the crap out of them….
see my previous posts …
Heaping scorn on the willfully oblivious, immoral, and self-righteously hedonistic lemming class is a categorical imperative.
Nicely done, Kate, although “pathetic wastes of skin” borders on the Shaidlesque.
Iraq – RBI
Afghanistan – 3rd base
Iran – up to bat
Syria – on deck
Pakistan/Saudi Arabia – in the bullpen
Those “pathetic wastes of skin” are your neighbors, the people you work with, your fellow country men. Having different political convictions doesn’t make you a bad human being. The average citizen doesn’t care about politics to the same extent that the people here do. They still may have varying viewpoints on the world, but they don’t use it as a means for self identity. I play ball with a bunch of guys who sit on the spectrum form far left to far right and somehow we manage to get along great. Who would have thunk, eh Kate? I think they’re all great people. Funny how Kate lives in constant envy of America, but one thing she doesn’t try and emulate is the discourse in their political system around decreasing partisanship where possible. You frequently hear Republicans and Democrats talking about crossing party lines in the interests of Americans. A lot of it is rhetoric and posturing, but it does happen as evidenced in the ability to vote your conscience without fear of repercussions in congress. While there is obviously a correlation between GOP and Dem initiatives, the vote is never completely tied to party lines, at least in the house. They should be commended for that and we should embrace it more. Both Obama and McCain plan to have members of opposite parties in their cabinets. Great idea in my mind. How often do you hear Canadian leaders talking about working together to get stuff done? Our politics are so divisive and standoffish. I acknowledge the irony in saying that Kate perpetuates this divisiveness.
“But, I truly don’t know how you face yourselves in the mirror.”
Kate, spare everyone your self-righteous indignation. Everyone here knows you couldn’t care less about the fate of the Iraqi people. You’re only interested in victory in Iraq so you can use it as ammunition to further trash the “left.” Call it Left Derangement Syndrome.
Stephen:
Good posts, both of them. Thank you.
what the bright lites ( those against the Iraqi war) fail to see is the strastegic importance of Iraq in the greater mideast arena. It drives a wedge between Iran and Syria, it gives some security to Kawait and Saud Arbia, it cuts off some of the meddling in the west bank. Therefor with saddam’s support for Palistinian terrorists gone, and a hurdle to Iran’s agression there is a far better chance of peace breaking out than the was before the fall of saddam.
I think that history will eventually recognize this and Bush, much like R Regan, will be seen in a positive lite.
If you are dead wrong, you are dead wrong. Having both sides in government is not good if one half is just stupid. Someone like Obama, who thinks that radical Islam should be negotiated with is an idiot. A waste of skin if you like. I personaly believe he is intelligent enough to know you can’t accomplish anything by speaking to evil, but he is political enough to lie about it until elected, like most liberals.
sounds just about right to me, gym.
Steve, lotta words, pretty much all hogwash.
Frank: “Until this moment I have been forced to listen while media and politicians [and leftards] alike have told me “what Canadians think”. In all that time they never once asked. ” Quit trying to speak for Kate. You can’t.