What I posted yesterday on the article “A Surge of Phony Spin on Iraq” by Juan Cole is pertinent to this discussion.

MereMortal you have found an excellent counter tactic

“One thing to remember about Lt. Gen. Raymond Odierno, is how badly he comes off in Thomas Rick's 'Fiasco'. He is blamed for almost single-handedly starting the insurgency around Tikrit and Falluja due to his counter-productive, punitive and overreacting measures against any transgressions by the Iraqi population back in the summer of '03. He, in my view, is not a good source on the truth of what is happening in Iraq.”

You may have revealed a tactic that should be used to overturn the Rovian mantra that we have to listen to our military leaders into an advantage for surge detractors. The true record of the current leaders both generals Petraeus and Odierno should be revealed. Neither would have been made leaders by this administration if they possessed the courage to see and speak the truth. If their so-called accurate voices can be negated and the American people can see their views are not credible, the surge success argument would disintegrate.

Juan Cole and other true retired military leaders please unite in this cause.

I only heard part of what Tony Snow just said about FISA at this morning’s White House Press Briefing. He said that when a telephone discussion involved an American and a foreigner that they would take it to the FISA court and would not go to the court when it involved foreigner to foreigner. He said the reason for the change was because of modern technology that foreigner-to-foreigner exchanges could now be routed electronically through the U.S. The full discussion that I didn’t catch might be even more revealing on how the GOP is going to spin this issue.

Tell the judge that you lost track of a day because you were busy teaching kids to respect life by showing them the wonder of a little spider climbing up and down a single thread. Say that if you didn’t take the time to teach children the preciousness of every creature they would believe those who tell them spiders are icky and then these oppressive mothers would show the children how powerful they are by killing something who dared to frighten and surprise them. I’m sure the judge will show you mercy unless you lost his pants and especially if you bring some blueberry pie with you.

“The things they (soldiers) carry within can kill or make one stronger. RMP, and other who identify with a vicarious and pure desire to understand are warriors or heroes, in my legal lay-person, opinion.”

You have the true insight that only a warrior who has experienced the real horrors of war can possess. As you know, I fortunately have not had to undergo that drenching of my soul.

I’ve always thought that the only true warriors are those who treasure life not those who trash it and glory in the power of burying others. I heard an interview with the sergeant who released the photos of the Abu Ghraib travesties. When he was en-route home to help his loved ones who were being harassed and threatened because this brave young man understood what it meant to be a true warrior and attack those who were despoiling our uniforms and country, he was approached by an Air Force three-star general. The general told him that he had met many famous people and high-ranking officers, but that this real war hero was the one that he had wanted to greet the most.

In the dishonor that our nation’s present leaders have done to our integrity and honor, we should never forget that there are mostly honorable men and women who serve our military. In fact, that sergeant said that 95% of his comrades shook his hand and congratulated him on his decision to show the deplorable lack of integrity and respect for humanity that embodied most of our civilian and some military leaders.

I think both of us in our way want all who enter our world to know the sanctity and wonder of life and we refuse to let those who don’t have the personal strength to admit that, besmirch our honor.

Can you give a couple of examples of radically new perspectives?