Obama “puzzled” by Iraq comment frenzy
Sat Jul 5, 2008 6:19pm EDT
By John Whitesides, Political Correspondent

ST. LOUIS (Reuters) - Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama said on Saturday his plan to end the Iraq war was unchanged and he was puzzled by the sharp reaction to his statement this week that he might “refine” his timetable for withdrawing U.S. combat troops.

“For me to say that I’m going to refine my policies I don’t think in any way is inconsistent with prior statements and doesn’t change my strategic view that this war has to end and that I’m going to end it as president,” Obama told reporters on his campaign plane.

Obama, who based his drive to capture the Democratic nomination on his early and ardent opposition to the war, said earlier this week he might alter his plan to bring combat troops home within 16 months of taking office if conditions on the ground changed.

The comment drew heavy coverage and sharp criticism from some on the left and the right, with Republicans saying it showed he was vacillating on Iraq.

“I was a little puzzled by the frenzy that I set off with what I thought was a pretty innocuous statement,” he said on a flight from Montana to St. Louis. “I am absolutely committed to ending the war. I will call my joint chiefs of staff in and give them a new assignment and that is to end the war.”

Obama will face Republican John McCain, a staunch advocate of the war, in a November presidential race that is certain to focus heavily on the future of U.S. troops in Iraq.

“What’s really puzzling is that Barack Obama still doesn’t understand that his words matter,” said McCain spokesman Tucker Bounds.

(my emphasis added)

Let me unpuzzle this for you, Barack. By the end of 2007 you and your fellow Democrats in Congress had completely betrayed we the people who put you in office in such numbers the previous year. You fucked up on Iraq, Barack. Not your initial decision, but your continued support in blood and treasure. It’s a bad idea to fucking remind us of that right now with your waffling and nuancing.

How ever are we to leave now?

Via TJ’s Anti-Contrarian Blog:

“This news sort of flew under the notice of the Lame Stream Media, and I fear the only way the American People will hear of it is through Bloggers:

Saddam Harbored Al-Qaeda according to a Democrat Senate Investigation!!!

The Democrat-run Senate Intelligence Committee, while trying to find wrongdoing by the Bush Administration in their Phase Two Report, actually proved something that I proved long ago in this blog –

Iraq harbored Al-Qaeda before our invasion of March 2003.

Here is the full report: LINK. Now, go and read Conclusions 10 and 11 on Page 71.

Hey libs, told ya’ so…“

So what does conclusion 10 and 11 say?

There one problem with TJ’s claim, and that’s Abu Musab al-Zarqawi didn’t join al-Qaeda untill late 2004, well after the invasion and occupation of Iraq. His claim is just another in a long line of rubbish. Even the pResident knows that:

In 2001, coalition forces destroyed Zarqawi’s Afghan training camp, and he fled the country and he went to Iraq, where he set up operations with terrorist associates long before the arrival of coalition forces. In the violence and instability following Saddam’s fall, Zarqawi was able to expand dramatically the size, scope, and lethality of his operation. In 2004, Zarqawi and his terrorist group formally joined al Qaida, pledged allegiance to Osama bin Laden, and he promised to “follow his orders in jihad.”

Soon after, bin Laden publicly declared that Zarqawi was the “Prince of Al Qaida in Iraq” — and instructed terrorists in Iraq to “listen to him and obey him.” It’s hard to argue that al Qaida in Iraq is separate from bin Laden’s al Qaida, when the leader of al Qaida in Iraq took an oath of allegiance to Osama bin Laden.

In 2004.

Muddying the water is what the right-wing blogosphere does oh so well. And TJ is tops at that. To illustrate let’s take a look at the next two conclusions that seemed to have been glossed over:

Ya.

So to sum up…was Iraq a bad place with bad people prior to 2003? Yes. Did it harbor al Qaida? No. Did pResident Bush, Vice pResident Cheney, Don Rumsfeld, and numerous other villains lie this country into a war for their own perceived benefit? Yes.

“A liar needs a good memory.”

Published on Friday, May 16, 2008 by The New York Times
An Antiwar March Through Towns Unused to One
by Michelle York

CENTRAL SQUARE, N.Y. - On Wednesday, Charlie Price was smoking a cigarette and sitting outside his restaurant, Charlie’s Place, on a two-lane stretch of highway on the outskirts of town.0516 02 1

He watched as a small group protesting the war in Iraq marched toward him, carrying peace signs and waving at the cars and tractor-trailers whizzing by. “I don’t think it’s going to do any good,” Mr. Price said of their efforts. “I want to get out of there, too, but I don’t think this is the way.”

Yet once the protesters, headed for Fort Drum, more than 50 miles away, reached him, Mr. Price eagerly offered them water and a place to rest - a more pleasant welcome than they had received from many others along the way.

Carmen Viviano-Crafts, 23, of Syracuse, who was carrying a small cardboard sign that read, “Bring home my boyfriend,” said that some people “gave us the finger and stuff like that.”

Since the war in Iraq began five years ago, the Second Brigade at Fort Drum has put in four tours.

For the past week, opponents of the war have taken several routes through the conservative and largely rural reaches of upstate New York - small communities that have sent many of their young men and women into the military right after high school and have paid a disproportionate price.

On Saturday, which is Armed Forces Day, protesters ranging from peace activists to Iraq Veterans Against the War will hold a daylong rally outside Fort Drum. What they lack in numbers - there were only about 40 on the road on Wednesday - they have made up for in passion, having walked about 80 miles so far.

The marchers started from several places, including Rochester, Ithaca and Utica, and merged on Wednesday, signifying the beginning of their final trek toward Fort Drum, just north of Watertown, near the Canadian border.

-My Dad marched with the contingency from Ithaca.

“Lord, if I could only have talked to Hitler, all this might have been avoided.”

…and in other absurdities:
New G.I. Bill Proposes ‘Patriot Tax’
by Brian Naylor

All Things Considered, May 15, 2008 · Congressional Democrats are pushing forward with plans for a new G.I. Bill to give veterans returning from Iraq and Afghanistan money to go to college for four years. House Democrats want to pay for it with what they’ve dubbed a “patriot tax” on people earning more than $500,000. In the Senate, one Republican who notably isn’t on board is John McCain, a Vietnam veteran who says the proposal is too expensive and could encourage service members to leave the military.

He’s A Pander Bear Too…

In stark contrast to his 100 years in Iraq McCain now says he wants out of Iraq. What’s more, McCain is now even saying his is for time tables. I seem to remember a time in recent history when calling for timetables got one branded as a traitor.

Post-War Suicides May Exceed Combat Deaths, U.S. Says
By Avram Goldstein

May 5 (Bloomberg) — The number of suicides among veterans of wars in Iraq and Afghanistan may exceed the combat death toll because of inadequate mental health care, the U.S. government’s top psychiatric researcher said.

Community mental health centers, hobbled by financial limits, haven’t provided enough scientifically sound care, especially in rural areas, said Thomas Insel, director of the National Institute of Mental Health in Bethesda, Maryland. He briefed reporters today at the American Psychiatric Association’s annual meeting in Washington.

Insel echoed a Rand Corporation study published last month that found about 20 percent of returning U.S. soldiers have post- traumatic stress disorder or depression, and only half of them receive treatment. About 1.6 million U.S. troops have fought in the two wars since October 2001, the report said. About 4,560 soldiers had died in the conflicts as of today, the Defense Department reported on its Web site.

Based on those figures and established suicide rates for similar patients who commonly develop substance abuse and other complications of post-traumatic stress disorder, “it’s quite possible that the suicides and psychiatric mortality of this war could trump the combat deaths,” Insel said.

Post-traumatic stress disorder, known as PTSD, is the failure to cope after a major shock, such as an auto accident, a rape or combat, Insel said. PTSD may remain dormant for months or years before it surfaces, and in about 10 percent of cases people never recover, he said.

What does it say that more people have died in Iraq and Afghanistan than in the original September 11th attacks? What does it say that this has already gone on longer than WWII and our defeat of the storied Nazi war machine? And what will it say to you and the rest of the world that American soldiers have taken their own lives in such large numbers?