Tim's Favorite Blogs
Media Matters
Blog Directories
Sunday, October 14. 2007
Sanchez Says ...
Frikkin Badgers! Lost to Penn State! What kind of crap is that? Not just lost, but were whupped! I have a little cutie Internet friend by the name of Kimberlee Ann. She goes to PSU. Kim tried out for the cheerleading squad but didn’t make it. What kind of crap is that! I like Kimberlee … so … congratulations, your frikkin team won …Last week the Packers lost to the Bears IN LAMBEAU FIELD! So, because I am so infatuated with another beautiful woman, Roxanne Dawn from Chicago, I had to send her a MySpace comment that said, “Go Bears.” I love Roxanne and her evil twins!
Thankfully, this week, the Pack beat the Washington Redskins. Don’t know any beautiful young women from that area, except for my niece who is serving at Bethesda Naval Hospital. She’s actually from the Houston area; she probably doesn’t follow football at all.
The Raiders are in town, playing the Chargers and as I type the Chargers are commanding the game. My good buddy Mike took another friend — Mike — to the game.
I know about eight guys, all in the same circle of friends, named Mike. “Which Mike?” “You know, Mike! With the truck!” “The Ford or the Toyota?” “I don’t know, it’s the gray one!” “They’re both gray!”
You can see how this can be confusing, so just be happy knowing Mike and Mike are at the game, meeting Mike, Mike and Larry.
“What’s Larry doing there?” “Fuck if I know …”
In baseball, I’m hoping Todd Helton and the Colorado Rockies finally make it to the October (November) Classic. The Rox lead the series, 2-0, but the Diamondbacks aren’t done. Game tonight at 5:30, just three hours away! My nephew Chris has been a Rox fan since the franchise started in the old Mile High.Was gonna root for the Cleveland Indians to win their series, split with the Red Sox, but the lovely Lisa Lacey is a Sox fan, so to be on her good side I’ll root for the Sox to win! Don’t know which way I’ll lean if the Rox and the Sox make it into the World Series … (sigh) Sorry Chris, I’m staying with the sexy blonde.
So, that’s the sports line of the day from me. Go Rox! Go Sox! And since I am so infatuated, Roxanne, I’m sorry the Bears lost. I hate the Vikings more than I hate the Bears anyway, although, Roxanne, I don’t hate the Bears anymore!
•••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••
So, reading the news yesterday, found an interesting article on Yahoo! of all places. Remember Lieutenant General Ricardo Sanchez? He’s retired now, but from 2003-2004 he was the top guy on the ground in Iraq. His assessment of the president’s war in Iraq: “there is no question that the United States is living a nightmare with no end in sight.” And this is the guy who led the troops there. His assessment of the current “surge” strategy: a “desperate attempt” to undo all the damage from the idiotic management of Iraq after the fall of Saddam Hussein, including the disbanding of the military, not puting control of Iraq’s day-to-day security in the hands of locals, letting lawlessness take over and allowing the insurgents and Al Qa’ida to gain a foothold in the country. His assessment of the leadership in Washington, including Congress: “There is nothing going on today in Washington that would give us hope … The American military finds itself in an intractable situation ... America has no choice but to continue our efforts in Iraq.” And the administration in particular: “Incompetent.” And their strategy for Iraq, “a catastrophically flawed, unrealistically optimistic war plan” Geez dude! Don’t sugar coat it!
Sanchez isn’t without his critics. Abu Ghraib took place on his watch and it cost him his career, so, some say, this is his desperate attempt to point the spotlight on the failures of others … except that Sanchez hasn’t been mentioned in the news for close to three years now. No, the spotlight has been on the incompetent Commander-in-Chief and his staff and the rubber stamp Congress for some time. Sanchez just refocused it back to the failure of it all, after a month of administration glad-handers telling us there is “progress being made in Iraq.”
After the 2008 elections, with more than 130,000 U.S. troops still in the way of Iraqi IED’s and bullets, let’s remember General Sanchez’s words … and those of General Eric Shinseki who was forced into retirement when, in 2002, he told Congress it would take several hundred thousand troops to do the job in Iraq … and General Anthony Zinni — once the Commander of Central Command (which oversees operations in the Middle East) before the war as well as President Bush’s Special Middle East Envoy — who said the only plan that had any chance of winning a war in Iraq — which also called for several hundred thousand troops, a plan General Zinni had helped to devise — was scrapped for the plan that has now been proven to be a complete failure.
Something that really disturbs me about my fellow citizens who were once gung ho Bush and Iraq war supporters: they don’t get it that the president is the Commander-in-Chief and it is his responsibility in the end for sending those troops into battle. Whatever disgust I have for the Democratic leadership for their unprincipled and cowardly actions to facilitate the president’s horrific folly barely compare to the actions of the administration and their brain trust — is that an oxymoron? — that concocted and started this fiasco. The former Iraq War supporters want to spread the blame around equally. I don’t think so.
When it comes to criticizing those in charge of the Vietnam War, the biggest finger points to Lyndon Johnson — a Democrat — for manipulating intelligence and creating false reports of North Vietnamese attacks on U.S. warships to justify an escalation in Vietnam. And in the case of Iraq, it all comes down to the president who allowed his advisors to manipulate intelligence and create false reports to justify starting his war in Iraq.
•••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••
And did you hear the Republicans in the most recent debate? All but one, Ron Paul, claimed the president didn’t need Congressional approval to start a war. The debate centered on whether the president could start a war with Iran over that country’s nuclear program. Paul said, “This idea of going and talking to attorneys totally baffles me. Why don’t we just open up the Constitution and read it? You’re not allowed to go to war without a declaration of war.” Article 1, section 8 of the Constitution. Read itHe was responding to former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney’s response to the Iran question: “We’re going to let the lawyers sort out what he needed to do and what he didn’t need to do, but certainly what you want to do is to have the agreement of all the people in leadership of our government, as well as our friends around the world where those circumstances are available.” Maybe you should consult with some constitutional scholars Governor — and the other candidates who think the president has the sole authority to declare war — if it’s too much trouble to read Article 1 of the Constitution yourself. Ignorance is not a virtue — despite the example set by our current administration.
Trackbacks
Trackback specific URI for this entry
No Trackbacks
Calendar
|
February '12 |
|
||||
| Mon | Tue | Wed | Thu | Fri | Sat | Sun |
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | ||
| 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 |
| 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 |
| 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 |
| 27 | 28 | 29 | ||||
Quicksearch
Categories
AD Links
Referrals
Syndicate This Blog
Blog Administration
Powered by
TheForkesReport