Famous wartime quotes:
His [General George Casey, new US commander in Iraq] mix of Pentagon experience and field smarts will serve Casey well in Iraq, says retired Gen. Montgomery Meigs: "He's the type of seasoned professional we would want in the job."
--June 7, 2004
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In a rare appearance in Washington, General Casey offered an optimistic but cautious assessment of the situation in Iraq, where he commands more than 140 thousand U.S. and coalition troops.
"We're actually a little further along than I thought we would be at this point."
The general said the Iraqi insurgency is still capable of launching devastating attacks, but he says it is weaker than it was a few months ago thanks to continuing offensive operations by his troops and the new Iraqi army and police.
"In general terms, they are falling off and not effective.
--General George Casey, former US troop commander in Iraq, recently appointed US Army Chief of Staff, in a statement made on March 8, 2005.
The mighty Casey did strike out but got promoted anyhow. How typical.
There will be no end to optimistic forecasts which go to support the idea that Americans must finish what we started so that the people who died did not die in vain.
Even lemmings are smarter. "While many people believe that lemmings commit mass suicide when they migrate, this is not actually the case. Lemmings will often migrate in large groups and as a result some lemmings will occasionally be pushed off cliffs or drowned in bodies of water simply by the press of their compatriots."--Wikipedia
Posted by Don Bacon at April 10, 2007 08:16 AMImpeachment will come and it will come at the behest of Republicans. I'm with those who see no other way for that party to survive other than turn on Bush.
Posted by nlacey at April 10, 2007 08:25 AMI just don't see Republicans doing that. They don't care about the country, they simply do not.
Posted by paradox at April 10, 2007 08:42 AMOne Day the Surge Will be Over
Tensions between the Mahdi Army and the US military are palpably increasing, Slogger sources say, as the US continues its searching operations in areas where the militia enjoys significant popularity.
The Mahdi Army’s network of enforcement extends even into the heavily fortified Green Zone, Slogger sources report. Mahdi Army members have told Slogger that many of the Iraqi guards and policemen working to in the zone are former Mahdi Army militiamen. Members of the militia even boasted to Slogger that “if they wanted to kill someone they could, even if he was in the Green Zone.” One Slogger source recognized Mahdi Army members working in uniform in the fortified district.
http://www.iraqslogger.com/index.php/post/2287/Mahdi_Members_Kill_US_Tipsters_in_Baghdad
Time to remember the last helicopter out of Saigon. (Now Ho Chi Monh City)
Posted by Don Bacon at April 10, 2007 08:51 AMDon, your postings have hit a few buttons. As a two-tour CF-18A fighter pilot, I can relate to everything you say. I'm glad that someone still has the strength to fight what many of us cannot anymore...We are simply too broken. Thank you.
Posted by tempus at April 10, 2007 09:17 AMArmy Times Editorial: Level with troops
President Bush’s Iraq surge plan announced in January called for extending some current deployments and accelerating some others, enabling the military to increase the number of troops in Iraq for a time.
We observed then on this page that the announced moves would support a surge lasting, at most, six months, and that such extensions and early deployments would likely become the norm, rather than an anomaly.
It was just a matter of time before the other shoe dropped and officials admitted as much.
Consider it dropped.
Air Force Gen. Lance Smith, chief of the U.S. Joint Forces Command, which supplies combat forces to Afghanistan and Iraq, admitted March 28 that if the surge is to last past summer, more troops will have to be extended in Iraq and others will have to deploy early.
And since Gen. David Petraeus, senior U.S. commander in Iraq, has already said he expects the surge to “go on for some time well beyond the summer,” there is no longer any hiding from this fact.
The trouble is that the troops may not be up for this challenge.
For example, Marine Corps Commandant Gen. James Conway recently said some of his battalions are already getting as little as five months at home between deployments — and an extended surge will only make things worse.
Now, as longer tours and reduced “dwell time” at home become the norm, the services risk a backlash from troops and families as yet another apparent promise is broken.
Dribbling out this kind of bad news is simply wrong. The long-term damage to the morale of troops and their families could be overwhelming.
Bush and military leaders must level with the troops and let them know what they can expect — and sooner, not later.
That would at least let them plan their personal lives accordingly.
http://www.armytimes.com/community/opinion/army_opinion_iraqeditorial_070409/
To imply that republicans will turn on bush to save their own butts is at the least naive.
What we (American's) say and do, has very little to no effect on anything that our government does. The powers that control this country proved that in 2000 when they performed their coop and installed their puppet and we the people sat by and took it like a bunch of little wimps.
We are a non-factor and therefore the republicans, the democrats, or whoever is in power doesn't have to answer to us in the least bit. If someone who will change things looks like he or she is going to make changes to that structure, if they get elected, then that someone better be surrounded by their bullet proof force field.
tempus,
You're surely welcome. Through my website and postings on various blogs I feel that, among other things, I'm doing penance for my relative inactivity during the Vietnam war. I realize that most of it is useless but it's better to be right and unrecognized than wrong and successful, isn't it? Plus I'm certainly not alone. There are many out there, and here, who like me are gaining in the moral certitude that will make this a better country someday.
I'm sorry to hear that you feel that you're broken but I understand (I hope) how that happens. You know that you have friends, here and elsewhere, with much in common. If you can, when you're able, help us to speak out.
Posted by Don Bacon at April 10, 2007 10:06 AMIf the Pentagon kept their word to the troops, we wouldn't have a problem with soldier's being accused of desertion.
Lying to a soldier when he is going home and how long he gets to stay home will hurt morale more than anything. Well, except messing with their paycheck.
Posted by Seven of Six at April 10, 2007 10:19 AMSoS (Seven to me), is one of the best pals I have on the net. I would be very proud to serve with him, although he was Army and I was Air Force. None the less, a good buddy is a good buddy, and that is all that matters when the shit hits the fan....
Posted by tempus at April 10, 2007 10:37 AMSame here tempus...
Posted by Seven of Six at April 10, 2007 10:46 AMSomehow, someday and probably soon hard knocks reality may finally sink in on even the most rightwing and other Americans.
Soon, it seems, if Bush's prayers are answered, bombs may fall on Iran. They may be nuclear bombs and if they are, hundreds of thousands will die or have their lives shortened through radiation exposure. Bush thinks we can bomb with impunity and he feels only pride and pleasure of power. So many Americans feed upon that same collective pride of purpose. Perhaps, his feeling of impunity may wither if, as seems most possible, the Iranians sting our fleet with their missiles and render nuclear aircraft carriers as obsolete as the Bismark. If they have the capability and arsenal that they claim, the Iranians may rename the Arabian Gulf back to its historic name.
Then, we will have a real dilemma. Do we vaporize Iran and guarantee that the third world will join to vaporize us as soon as they can for their own survival, or do we repent of our Mars worship and try to be a better world citizen?
Certainly, the Decider is now deciding our future.
Posted by Nobody at April 10, 2007 12:43 PMno, ISY not, we don't matter a bit in this country. Did you know the last election was in 2000? The election in 2004 was phony. Four days after Howard Dean was smeared by the media for his scream, thus deemed mad because of his "temper", Kerry was pushed forward as candidate, and that candidate didn't even run an effective campaign; didn't he take a vacation right in the middle of it and go snowboarding somewhere? The election came...and Kerry just handed it over to Bush on a silver platter. Kerry had promised his supporters he'd demand a recount of the vote; he'd have lawyers everywhere rutting out corruption of the vote. Kerry is W's brother, remember, in Skull and Bones at Yale, the warlock social club of degenerate rich boys. When the facts are laid out, two and two equals doom.
Posted by Mal Feasance at April 11, 2007 04:39 AM