Letters to the Editor
-
Not so Risky a Strategy
McCain's stress on how he backed the surge is not as risky as you make it out. It is well known that he is pro-war, so not stressing the surge wouldn't hide that fact.
However, the surge is something he can crow about at least for now. It is one of the things that distinguishes him from his Democratic opponents that might appeal a bit to the main stream voters. He cements his maverick reputation, proves he understands the situation, and shows that he can be tough.
November is still quite a distance away. McCain will deemphasize the war way before that in case the surge does turn sour in the late summer. Of course, his Democratic opponent will try their best to link McCain to the war if things do go south, but his opponent would have done that anyway no matter how McCain handles the issue today.
-
What if...?
What if one of those overstressed and overstretched soldiers in Iraq goes on a massive killing spree, doesn't shoot himself to death and then testifies as to what is really going on in Iraq? What if our own soldiers start dying again in great numbers? What if something happens that uncovers the truth about this awful and unneeded war? Would its champions then back off? Would McCain himself look like a collaborator in mass murder?
-
For Democrats
We have the obligation to tell the truth on the surge. It has not worked, regardless of the reports. By telling the truth, we damage McCain and help the American people and support our candidate.
It's a win-win-win.
Write a LTTE today, folks. The Surge has not worked. Why has it not worked? One simple reason: Today, we spent $250,000,000 in Iraq. Tomorrow, we spend $250,000,000 in Iraq. 8 months ago, on each day, we spent $250,000,000 in Iraq.
Every day we are in Iraq, we spend the $250,000,000. That is 2-3 FULL HIGH SCHOOLS per DAY. That is 5-6 ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS per DAY. That is 1-2 BRIDGES per DAY.
-
McCain: Dead Man Walking
The only way McCain can win - and it's a HUGE if - is if Hillary gets the nomination and continues to polarize the left. But even at that, the anti-Hillary forces are nowhere near as fired up as the anti-Republican forces. Only the media pretends those forces are equal. It's not just Bush that's deeply despised, it's everything ‘Republican’ that the American majority wants removed.
McCain is basically a dead-man walking. He's in the same position Walter Mondale was in back in 1980. Everything he represents - from his out-of-touch ideology to the man he wants to succeed - are viewed overwhelming as negatives by the American people. But America wasn’t spinning wildly down-the-toilet, with a pointless and self-immolating war that weakened American security while bankrupting the nation and eviscerating the US dollar, under Jimmy Carter. Things haven’t been this bad in the United States in over 70 years. And talk of the boogey-man “terrorists” by the pathetic laughingstock in the White House appeals only to the most unhinged, “Islamacists-Will-Kill-Us-All” morons.
If the mainstream news media wasn’t in the business of spouting the GOP’s war-is-necessary, be-very-afraid, talking points, they’d realize that 9/11 is only seen as extremely relevant in 2008 by those with a vested, financial interest in using it to achieve their political goals. The American people have long since realized that if the Bush administration had no interest in getting Bin Laden, and that the most detrimental things that have happened to this country and it’s people in the past 7 years (from Iraq to Katrina to torture to removing Habeas Corpus, civil liberties, and constitutional “guarantees”) weren't coming from an outside force, that the biggest threat to this country and it’s people is obviously NOT in the Middle East – it’s on the TV regularly and is smirking at us.
-
crazy,
a few years back, was redefined as putting the same input into the same system, and expecting a different result.
try real democracy, people, it'll clean out the beltway like a drano enema. you can get some at 'initiative for democracy'. it's relatively cheap, a few minutes at the keyboard, maybe a few bucks later on, and you get a nation honest people can be proud of, because it belongs to them.
-
The depressing thing about Iraq as a political issue
is that no one emphasizes that there are really two separate issues that need to be addressed in the election:
1) Was the invasion just and/or justified? If not, should the instigators be held responsible through loss of electoral support and possibly criminal charges?
and
2) What the heck do we do about it now?
It is naive for anyone - even progressives - to think that HRC or Barama will pull out of Iraq any time soon. If nothing else, ensuring a stable flow of oil will keep us there. Unfortunately, neither Democratic candidate will admit this, ergo it's a strength for McRambo.
No matter what happens in terms of body counts, McCain needs to be associated with preemption, and with the decision to go to war in the first place. This is the democratic strong point. But it's not great for Hillary Clinton, which is why Obama looks better in the general election.
Also, McRambo, to be fair, did not say that he was in favor of a 100 year war - he actually said that an American military presence in Iraq could last that long - but in the same style as the American presence in West Germany.
Finally, the reasons for the lessening violence aren't simply that we have more troops on the ground.
1) We are buying out Sunni leaders to oppose al Qaeda. However, the tap may be starting to dry up.
2) The violence of the past several years has led to a huge refugee problem and de facto ethnic cleansing. Hence, less motivation for local violence.
-
Confused?
Reading these postings is very upsetting. You are all preaching to each other as if you have any clue about what is actually happening in Iraq.
The surge has reduced violence throughout the country, but that's still a failure.
The Iraqi government has made steps towards reconcilliation passing a bill to determine the rights of the providences, distribute oil revenue, and have agreed on a national flag which represents all the separate groups in Iraq. Does this mean anything?
I guess facts do not mean anything if your mind is made up?