Letters to the Editor
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The old "sunk cost" argument.
Fleischer and Anonymous would both like us to stay in Iraq because if we leave now, we will have "wasted" the lives and sacrifices of the men who died and were maimed there. True enough, we will. But if we can't win anyway, and most people with the slightest awareness of the situation in Iraq know that we can't, what's the point of wasting more?
The notion that "I can't afford to waste what I've already invested, I'll keep on till I win" is the mentality that keeps people at the tables in Vegas till they're broke, and caused Enron employees to go on putting their entire retirement funds into Enron stock. ("This downturn has to pass, and then I'll really clean up.") Any economist can tell you why the "sunk cost" argument is bad thinking, although it does have powerful emotional appeal.
I give "Anonymous" this much credit: he does know what that sunk cost really entails, something that armchair hero Fleischer will never, never understand.
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Thanks, Garryowen
"I crossed into Iraq to capture combatants that confessed to loading trucks full of chemical weapons to Syria the day of the invasion. I spent my youth loosing friends and brothers yadda yadda yadda"
Yeah, I was also amazed at the Anonymous tale of wartime derring-do. I've met enough of these guys in bars who claim all sorts of stories of wartime experience but can't tell me what their MOS was. In the service we had the occasional PX warrior who sooner or later would get busted for wearing decorations he wasn't entitled to. The anonymity of the net adds to that problem. But that particular letter didn't even have any logical consistency! I mean, crossing into Iraq to capture people who confessed to moving WMDs...before or after you supposedly crossed? And where did they move them to if you know so much?
I guess Anonymous is under strain from "loosing" his friends.
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Anonymous and Hitlery
Anonymous is a liar, there is no way that he has served one day in the military. His little rant was pathetic. Then there is Hitlery, who continues to spout off moronic drivel. Tiberius, Elephantman and Shooter must not have gotten off their third shift menial labor jobs yet....
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On The Bush Invocation Of Viet Nam
Who would be the one person in America who would be most suspect, most likely to be inaccurate, most likely to spin, and least worthy of attention in delivering their analysis of some American historical event.
I'd say it's President Bush. Or, more specifically, the people dreaming up and writing the words that he's saying.
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The source of Freedom's Watch Funding
Will someone ask Ari on the air who is bankrolling this PAC?
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MAV in Florida
Good to "See" you again.
Yeah. The "bar stool commandos." There aren't as many of them as there used to be, but like you said, their stories are always so outrageously stupid. They don't realize when they are getting all wound up in their fiction that they don't know how military organization works. They are just clueless. But they blunder right ahead, hoping and I suppose, praying, that there is no one in the room or on line who knows their story just reeks as a pack of lies.
I guess it never occurred to "Rambo" (who can't even speak English, let alone Mesopotamian Arabic) that at the time of the invasion every freaking intelligence satellite and both of the civilian remote sensing imagery satellites were tasked with watching every road and goat track into and out of Iraq. Some of these spook satellites are in geosynchronous orbit over Iraq 24/7. Our spooks were watching every exit for just such an occasion as movement of WMDs.
But yet, Rambo is undeterred. He's got a belly full of cheap booze and an inferiority complex that Sigmund Freud couldn't untangle. So he hates Joan Walsh and her "ilk."
Like Bugs Bunny used to say, "What a maroon!"
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anonymous, would you agree with this statement?
From the horse's ass...er...mouth: "I think everybody in this country is making a sacrifice. We all do every time a soldier loses his or her life," Fleischer said. "This military is all of our military. ... Every time a life is lost, we all lose, we all have made a sacrifice, some more than others."
Oh really? So if somebody knocks off a convenience store and shoots the guy behind the counter, that makes me a murderer? That's even more patently ridiculous than the idea that we all sacrifice by watching accounts of the war on television (I think Laura Bush originally made that assertion), or that the people who drive 10 MPG SUVs to the Dunkin' Donuts drive-thru (I've seen these before, complete with the yellow ribbon magnet turned on its side to resemble a Jesus fish and still-intact Bush-Cheney '04 sticker) support the troops as much as those who send monthly care packages. I think my head is about to explode.
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Teen Angel
Ariel Fleischer translates as angel/demon demiurge butcher of the Baghdad infowar. FYI, the best spokesman for maximal popularity is some Jeckyl/Hyde spirit who rules the world in a spirit of butchery.
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@djansing
From among Ari's fool comments, you picked something truthful to pick at. We all do lose a little something every time one of our soldiers catches metal in iraq. Those really are ->our<- soldiers. They are not bush's soldiers or the military arm of the neocons. They are ours. We owe them the duty to get them the hell out of iraq.
What many folks fail to understand is that our soldiers really are acting in our name. We might not like it and we might deny it, but they are. Neither a "Not in my name" bumper sticker nor angry denial can change it. The only thing that can change it is bringing our soldiers home.
Oh yeah. Buy them a beer or help 'em get laid when they do return. If we had done our part 5 years ago there wouldn't have been an operation iraqi freedom.
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I guess "Anon" got deleted
I can't find the letter though I'm dying to read it. I can just about guess what it says. I see these guys with the beer balls all too frequently. Reminds me of a guy I used to know who claimed to ex-paramilitary secret ops dude, although he was my age and too young to have been in 'Nam. He used to wear a CIA ring with a black stone about the size of a quarter on his finger, dressed in cowboy clothes, swaggered and kept us all safe.
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It’s an Emergency Recall to duty
"Oh, that’s so pre-9/11." - Ari Fleischer
What a blatant display of shameless bullshit!
How could he even get his lips to say that after shilling an ad that fraudulently invokes 9/11 images while conflating the events of 9/11 in order to shamelessly justify the Iraq “war” casualties and “the surge”. Once again, into the breech, with the “9/11 Changed Everything” crap.
Remembering the name of that soldier was clearly less important to him than recalling the batting averages of his beloved Yankees (he and Rudy probably share a box at the stadium). It’s despicable how they keep decrying the plight of those who may have suffered in vain, yet can’t even identify one they should be expected to know. How blatantly phony is that?
He still has the ability to effect the glazed straight-ahead stare, all the while robotically spewing talking points and ignoring/talking over Barnicle’s somewhat relevant, but feeble, questions. It’s truly amazing how they stick to “The Formula” as they continue with their apparent postulation that you can fool MOST of the people, ALL of the time. He’s polished this act in front of countless other timid MSM hacks and can do it in his sleep. I think he learned his most critical skills from watching tapes of Baghdad Bob.
Administration report card: Tony Snow’s replacement acquitted himself well as he re-acclimated himself to the rigors of the zombie like job he once held down so well. He did a “heckuva job”.
His return to the job, in case of an emergency, was probably part of the deal he signed to guarantee a pardon, if needed.
I wonder when he starts?