“My Assessment Is That The Surge Has Not Worked”
In July, after evidence was amassing that the surge was working, Obama said, “My assessment is that the surge has not worked.”
You know why they say things like this to you? Because they don’t give one micrometer of a fecal lump about telling the truth or doing the right thing about ANYTHING. They say things like this in a reach for power. Is that really a man to be President? A straight balls out liar, and one who lies not to protect classified information or some such even vaguely legit reason, but strictly for his own self-advancement. Think about this for a moment. Why, just why, just why, are our choices and winners for leadership in this country about 89% scum? True human scum. How and why is this?
Weekly Standard:
This is the week that the Democratic party ran up the white flag when it comes to the surge in Iraq. Leading the surrender was none other than Barack Obama, the Democratic party’s presumptive nominee for president and among the most vocal critics of the counterinsurgency plan that has transformed the Iraq war from a potentially catastrophic loss to what may turn out to be a historically significant victory.
On Monday, Obama wrote a New York Times op-ed in which he acknowledged the success of the surge. “In the 18 months since President Bush announced the surge,” Obama wrote, “our troops have performed heroically in bringing down the level of violence. New tactics have protected the Iraqi population, and the Sunni tribes have rejected Al Qaeda–greatly weakening its effectiveness.” A day later, Obama gave a speech in which he declared for the first time that “true success” and “victory in Iraq” were possible. In addition, the Obama campaign scrubbed its presidential website to remove criticism of the surge.
The debate, then, is over, and the (landslide) verdict is in: The surge has been a tremendous success.
Obama, in typical fashion, is trying to use the success of the surge he opposed to justify his long-held commitment to withdraw all combat troops from Iraq as quickly as possible. But turning Iraq into a winning political issue won’t be nearly as easy as Obama once thought. He has stepped into a trap of his own making.
The trap was set when Obama repeatedly insisted that his superior “judgment” on Iraq is more important than experience in national security affairs. Judgment, according to Obama, is what qualifies him to be commander in chief. So what can we discern about Obama’s judgment on the surge, easily the most important national security decision since the Iraq war began in March 2003?
To answer that question, we need to revisit what Obama said about the surge around the time it was announced. In October 2006–three months before the president’s new strategy was unveiled–Obama said, “It is clear at this point that we cannot, through putting in more troops or maintaining the presence that we have, expect that somehow the situation is going to improve, and we have to do something significant to break the pattern that we’ve been in right now.”
On January 10, 2007, the night the surge was announced, Obama declared, “I am not persuaded that 20,000 additional troops in Iraq are going to solve the sectarian violence there. In fact, I think it will do the reverse.” A week later, he insisted the surge strategy would “not prove to be one that changes the dynamics significantly.” And in reaction to the president’s January 23 State of the Union address, Obama said,
I don’t think the president’s strategy is going to work. We went through two weeks of hearings on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee; experts from across the spectrum–military and civilian, conservative and liberal–expressed great skepticism about it. My suggestion to the president has been that the only way we’re going to change the dynamic in Iraq and start seeing political commendation is actually if we create a system of phased redeployment. And, frankly, the president, I think, has not been willing to consider that option, not because it’s not militarily sound but because he continues to cling to the belief that somehow military solutions are going to lead to victory in Iraq.
In July, after evidence was amassing that the surge was working, Obama said, “My assessment is that the surge has not worked.”
Obama, then, was not only wrong about the surge; he was spectacularly wrong. And he continued to remain wrong even as mounting evidence of its success gave way to overwhelming evidence of its success.
But Obama is not alone. Virtually the entire Democratic party, including every Democrat running for president, opposed the surge. For example, Senator Joseph Biden–considered by some pundits a foreign policy sage–declared, a few days before the surge was announced, “If he surges another 20, 30 [thousand], or whatever number he’s going to, into Baghdad, it’ll be a tragic mistake.”
Hillary Clinton, on the night the surge was announced, said, “Based on the president’s speech tonight, I cannot support his proposed escalation of the war in Iraq.”
Senator John Kerry said this in February 2007: “The simple fact is that sending in over 20,000 additional troops isn’t the answer–in fact, it’s a tragic mistake. It won’t end the violence; it won’t provide security; . . . it won’t turn back the clock and avoid the civil war that is already underway; it won’t deter terrorists, who have a completely different agenda; it won’t rein in the militias.”
Kerry’s fellow Massachusetts senator, Ted Kennedy, declared that any troop increase would be “an immense new mistake.”
Representative Dennis Kucinich, in this instance speaking for the mainstream of his party, put it this way: “It has been proven time and time again that troop surges don’t work.”
In April 2007, Senate majority leader Harry Reid declared the Iraq war “lost” and insisted, “This surge is not accomplishing anything.”
Also in April, Senator Christopher Dodd said, “We don’t need a surge of troops in Iraq–we need a surge of diplomacy and politics. Every knowledgeable person who has examined the Iraq situation for the past several years–Baker and Hamilton, senior military officials, junior officers–has drawn the same conclusion–there is no military solution in Iraq. To insist upon a surge is wrong.”
In September 2007, Senator Dick Durbin, the Democratic majority whip, in anticipation of congressional testimony by General Petraeus, said, “By carefully manipulating the statistics, the Bush-Petraeus report will try to persuade us that violence in Iraq is decreasing and thus the surge is working. Even if the figures were right, the conclusion is wrong.”
A month later Representative David Obey, asked if the surge strategy was working, offered the view that if violence is decreasing in Iraq, it may be because insurgents “are running out of people to kill.”
In February of this year, Speaker Nancy Pelosi was asked by CNN’s Wolf Blitzer about the success of the surge in Iraq. “Are you not worried, though, that all the gains that have been achieved over the past year might be lost?” Blitzer asked.
“There haven’t been gains, Wolf,” Pelosi replied. “The gains have not produced the desired effect, which is the reconciliation of Iraq. This is a failure. This is a failure.”
And as recently as last month, Governor Bill Richardson, when asked if he was ready to concede that John McCain had been right in proposing the surge because it seemed to be having a positive impact, answered, “Absolutely not.”
Democrats, then, have compounded their initial bad judgment about the surge with reckless obstinacy. As ethno-sectarian violence in Iraq rapidly declined, as al Qaeda absorbed tremendous military blows, and as political accommodation and legislative achievements have emerged, Democrats, rather than welcoming the progress, grew agitated. They embraced with religious zeal the belief that the Iraq war was lost; they therefore viewed the success of the surge as a terribly inconvenient development, one they sought to deny to the point that they looked silly and out of touch. Worse, Democrats acted as if they had a vested interest in an American defeat.
Rarely has a political party been so uniformly wrong, in such an obvious way, on such an important matter. And when Americans cast their vote on November 4, they should carefully consider how Barack Obama and the entire Democratic party fought ferociously and relentlessly to undermine a policy that has worked extraordinarily well and may yet prove to be among the most successful military plans in modern times.
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My assessment is that you would be a complete nightmare for this great country. i feel guilty hating people but i just cant help it. this guy would destroy this country, if one was to be in a coma for 4 years and wake up when he left office this country wouldnt even be recognizable. yeah thats where i am with regards to Obama leading this nation.
yet he keeps being propelled to the top by people with a way different agenda than myself. People who are fake Americans in my opinion. unpatriotic, ignorant and wreckless.
July 19th, 2008 at 4:16 pmObama better hurry back to the US. I hear Harry Reid needs a reach around.
July 19th, 2008 at 4:26 pmThe only HOPE that I am looking for, is enough people come to their senses and not vote for the Jugheaded Obamessiah.
July 19th, 2008 at 4:28 pmFollow the money…. he started moving away from the left-wing loonies and they snapped his leash to show him who is boss. He sealed the nomination and started to tact right and immediately got his worst month of donations…AFTER he made the decision to maximize his war chest by not using public funding for his campaign. If he keeps moving to the right, i.e., dealing with the unarguable facts; they will bankrupt his campaign. He must follow his masters… just like the corrupt Chicago politician that he is.
July 19th, 2008 at 4:36 pmWe’ve seen it before: Democrats willingly oblivious to the shortcomings of their party’s leader in spite of the facts shouting in their faces. Over 40% of voting Americans fit this category and it doesn’t speak well for the future of our country.
Every time we come to another Presidential election, it scares me a lot to think of another Bill Clinton, Jimmy Carter, or Barack Obama in the White House, not to mention a huge Dem majority in the Senate and House to push his agenda and his Supreme Court appointees through. There are very few Democrats that are worthy of governing this great country IMO. The few that are don’t have a chance to rise to the top because of the far-Lefties in control of the party.
July 19th, 2008 at 4:37 pmFire is hot.
obama: No, it’s not.
Water is wet.
obama: No, it’s not.
Desert sand is dry.
obama: No, it’s not.
The surge was effective.
obama: No, it wasn’t.
Honestly, what real person listens to what this soros puppet has to say on ANY subject?
July 19th, 2008 at 4:49 pmThe Republican party has no one but themselves to blame for the mess we’re in. Speaking as a Republican, their suicidal insistance on a “spirit of bipartisanship” has led to this. No agressive defense of liberal lies and deciet. No attempts at prosecution for seditious and treasonous national security leaks. And worst of all, openly embracing bullshit ideas that are owned outright by the left. That leaves us with a candidate that believes in amnesty for illegal aliens, terrorist rights, and fucking global warming! I demand a do-over!
July 19th, 2008 at 4:58 pmMcCain’s campaign better be collecting all the bullshit that ignorant fuckstick has spewed and turn it back on him unrelentingly this late summer and fall. Google and friends want to savor the taste of the seed of the messiah and are helping to edit web searches and content to help bring the messiah his crown.
The truth is not being reported by the MSM and other sources are under attack by the followers.
Fear not the revolution to come..
July 19th, 2008 at 4:58 pmDuhBama is a soft jihadi…just as much the enemy of this nation as is CAIR or Hamas. His goal is the same as his jihadi bretheren: the downfall of the US from within.
This punk isn’t just another ignorant Dhimi slob. His ignorance is deliberate. His vituperations on all things American are ennui to the press; but nevertheless a clear and present danger to the survival of this country against Islamofacism and their tools in libistan.
He must be defeated at all cost.
July 19th, 2008 at 5:31 pmDouble talking microbite.
July 19th, 2008 at 5:34 pmWhat is completely frustrating is the fact the bulk of American voters are … clueless … and intend to stay that way. When I find myself in a conversation with someone who is spouting the MSM talking points I, myself, am stunned at the dumbfounded glare on the faces of these people when I hit them with facts, details, and information they are completely clueless to. And when I tell them they need to actually LOOK for real news that includes facts, data, and solid information … they complain they don’t have the time. So, they ALLOW the MSM to feed their brains …
Oh, I know … I used to be one of them. I used to NOT learn what I should about who I was or wasn’t voting for … Then the Clinton administration ‘happened’ … and I woke the fuck up.
I have become fully aware of the biggest lie there is in this country … That “My Vote Doesn’t Count” … that it doesn’t matter who you vote for, or who gets into office … they’re all the same. Lies.
The Devil’s Absinthe is apathy squeezed from people who take for granted their freedom that so many fought and died to provide and sustain them with. And we continue to feed The Devil’s addiction.
July 19th, 2008 at 6:15 pmThough I prefer McCain and believe Obama to be a narcissistic racist, I don’t think it matters which of them becomes president. I think that our government is broken and it is broken at the legislative level.
A congress that was designed to be representative of the people is no longer such. People who seek high elected office today, do so for power, privilege and wealth. This is not what the job was intended to be. We the people have allowed these sacred offices of public service to become lucrative careers instead of a badge of humble sacrifice through service as the positions were intended.
Politicians today only talk of representing their people while they are campaigning. Once elected they all represent those private agencies who lobby them every day, whether those agencies are nut jobs like Code Pink or The Coca Cola Bottling Company. The people lose their voice after Election Day.
This erosion has been gradual over time. The self righteous bastards who have held these offices through the years have incrementally enriched themselves and dismantled the checks and balances to prevent them from selling their office at the expense of all Americans. For the Ted Kennedy’s and Orin Hatch’s and those before them of this land, we can only hope that there is a special Hell waiting when they pass on. A place where they can pay for their sins slowly much like they, through their action or inaction, betrayed their oath to the Constitution and the people it was designed to protect by placing personal gain before personal honor.
So with this in mind, I say, it does not matter who will be president. The Congress makes the laws, The President only signs them. As long as we have people in Congress who make decisions based on their careers rather than their principles, we must endure.
July 19th, 2008 at 6:25 pmI want a huge media buy ad put out by McCain, with this line, repeated, echo chamber style, over and over again. He now takes credit for Maliki saying he agrees with the 16 month withdrawal timeframe. He will take credit for everything by the time this is over.
July 19th, 2008 at 6:49 pm…Representative Dennis Kucinich, in this instance speaking for the mainstream of his party, put it this way: “It has been proven time and time again that troop surges don’t work.”……
Wasn’t there a TROOP SURGE on 6 June, 1944?? I thought it was an incredible success.
July 19th, 2008 at 6:52 pm
Drillanwr If you want to listen to a great interview listen to Bill Whittle(Eject Eject Eject)on the Tim Conway Jr.(Tim Conways son)radio show. At the end of the interview an idiot calls in and says his constitutional rights have been taken away and Whittle asks the fool to name one. Of course he just stammered.Actually I learned a lot from listening to Mr. Whittle.
July 19th, 2008 at 6:54 pmhttp://tinyurl.com/5tectp
Party politics are trumping patriotism. The bastards in the beltway are loyal to political party over their constituents and nation at large. George Washington warned about this in his farewell letter to the nation.
July 19th, 2008 at 7:17 pmNO HE CAN’T see the success. This guy is tripping on pure idiocy and BLINDNESS. Fuck you hussein
July 19th, 2008 at 7:25 pmThe Dhimmis really have become the scum of the earth.
The Pelosi thing was at the nutroots’ Austin convention today on stage with the Goracle passing out kool-aid and calling all who do not agree with her “deniers” repeatedly. Not just about ‘global warming’ but agreeing with her politics.
July 19th, 2008 at 8:03 pmThe Speaker of the House is two heartbeats from the Presidency and should represent ALL of America and she continues to debase our nation, her office and herself.
What we all here understand that Obama can say what ever he wants because and the masses will blindly follow thanks to the agenda of the MSM.
“But know this, that in the last days perilous times will come . . . Evil men and impostors will grow worse and worse, deceiving [speaking lies easily and convincingly] and being deceived.”
(2 Tim 3:1, 13)
“Woe to those who call evil good, and good evil;
July 19th, 2008 at 8:20 pmwho put darkness for light, and light for darkness;”
(Isa 5:20 NKJ)
Same shit different day, I missed Tet by about 6 months, however, I recall how this Military victory that broke the back of the vietcong confederacy was somehow turned into a “loss” by the MSM of the day.
The surge worked, if only the dems can figure out a way to turn it into a defeat, I have faith that the MSM and idiots like Bam bam can do it if anyone can.
Billy
July 19th, 2008 at 9:19 pmThe playing field has to get leveled somewhere. McCain no matter what is one billion times the man that Odumba is and always will be. If worse comes to worse, we all need to shut down and not participate in anything, just remain silent. This bum will not be allowed in my house ever!!
July 19th, 2008 at 10:13 pmI know exactly what you mean Drill, I have close family members that are suffering the full derangement syndrome. My father thinks that Bush is responsible for anything and everything that could possibly go wrong, he will only watch CBS local and national for his news and it is always gospel regardless of any facts you show him to the contrary. At least I know he will never pull the leaver for Nobamha because the only thing he hates more than Bush is someone who screws with his NASCAR races and Nobamha has screwed with way to many lol.
I have kids in college that continually have the leftist agenda jammed down their throats and are too weak to reject it for what it is (lies). One of their wives threw out the bright idea that they were going to just up and renounce their U.S. citizenship and move to Italy because they have great socialized medicine and their much more in tune with the “REAL” world and things would just be so much better there. I asked them if they needed help packing and, Oh btw say high to all of those nice Muslims they’ll be meeting once they get there, and she replied what Muslims?, and I just lost it and burst out laughing at her, finally after composing myself I said that she might what to do a little “REAL” research on how the rest of the world really works before she up and threw herself and her family to the sharks lol.
I always offer to sit down with them or anyone and show them how to find out what really is going on around them and just where to go to dig up the facts and expose the skeletons but they just always shrug me off and act like I’m the one that is out of touch with reality.
Then my step son, who considers himself the great business guru asked me what I was investing in for the future and I replied honestly to him that I’m investing in God and bullets because we’re going to need a lot of both, he just looked at me like I was some space alien or something. He couldn’t believe that I felt that there was another civil war coming to our nation, he just thought I was nuts.
I’ll say it again here, the time is very quickly approaching that LUNCH will be over and you’ll all need to be picking up your rifles and going back to work.
July 19th, 2008 at 11:50 pmFrom and old WWII & Korea Vet…
As an old guy who has seen a lot of history, I can’t help asking “where in the hell is the media to ask Obama the right questions?” Obama said he would not have invaded Iraq
to depose “Uncle Hussian” and his evil leaders. So far, I haven’t heard any talking heads ask, “How would you have handled the Sadam problem?” Liberal media are not going to ask the question because Obama’s answer would probably make him lose the election. Democrats don’t know how to defend this country. Even their estemed president, JFK, dropped the ball when he failed to support the good people of Cuba at the Bay Of Pigs fiasco. If he had supported the Cuban people against a communist dictator, Castro, when he had the chance, we would not be having a problem with communists who are gaining footholds in South America… That fight would have been easy to win. The Cuban Missile Crisis was a result of that mistake by JFK, yet Democrates continue to brag about what a wonderful way JFK handled that problem. He made the problem so he had to solve it. Instead, JFK sent about a half million troops half way across the world to Vietnam to fight communism when they were already 90 miles off our shore in Cuba. Dems make me want to throw up! Fact is, Democrats don’t know how and are not willing to defend this country. We need to tell them to go hide under their beds while those of us who are willing to fight for this country take care of business.
“Sick and tired of being sick and tired” from Indiana
July 20th, 2008 at 10:56 amThere are definitely WAY too many ppl that only get their “news” from MSM. I had a friend of the family try to argue with me about the success of the surge even thou I just got back from Iraq at the end of April. My battalion owned Fallujah and the surrounding area, we had no fatalities and very few combat casulaties (none were serious and none were evac’d outta country.)
I also think that there are a lot of old school Dem’s out there from the WWII generation that stick with the party because that’s they way they grew up. My wife’s grandfather is one of those, this man is a decorated WWII hero that is a God fearing hawk but because he has always been a Democrat he still supports the party.
I truly fear for the future of our nation.
July 21st, 2008 at 12:01 pm