An emotional woman stood up in John McCain’s Town Hall in Las Cruses, NM, yesterday. She had a long rambling statement. She ended with the suggestion that we will have to reinstate the draft if we are going to chase Bin Laden to the gates of hell. John McCain thanked the woman for her answer and then said that he didn’t disagree with anything that the woman said.
I don’t know if John McCain heard all of the question or perhaps he zoned out. A draft? I think that a draft is necessary if are going to continue our occupation of Iraq and possibly invade or fight another county. We need more soldiers. On the other hand, this could be somewhat disastrous to John McCain. A draft? I suspect that the McCain will have a statement out early in the morning restating what the Senator “meant” to say.
Thank you, Barack. Thank you for stating the obvious but it needed to be stated again. Barack Obama directly responses to Senator John McCain and his ridiculous charges from yesterday. McCain knows that he will lose on the issues. Therefore, he plays these games.
With less than three months to go before the election, a lot of people are still trying to square Senator Obama’s varying positions on the surge in Iraq. First, he opposed the surge and confidently predicted that it would fail. Then he tried to prevent funding for the troops who carried out the surge. Not content to merely predict failure in Iraq, my opponent tried to legislate failure. This was back when supporting America’s efforts in Iraq entailed serious political risk. It was a clarifying moment. It was a moment when political self-interest and the national interest parted ways. For my part, with so much in the balance, it was an easy call. As I said at the time, I would rather lose an election than lose a war.
Thanks to the courage and sacrifice of our soldiers, sailors, airmen, and Marines and to brave Iraqi fighters the surge has succeeded. And yet Senator Obama still cannot quite bring himself to admit his own failure in judgment. Nor has he been willing to heed the guidance of General Petraeus, or to listen to our troops on the ground when they say – as they have said to me on my trips to Iraq: “Let us win, just let us win.” Instead, Senator Obama commits the greater error of insisting that even in hindsight, he would oppose the surge. Even in retrospect, he would choose the path of retreat and failure for America over the path of success and victory. In short, both candidates in this election pledge to end this war and bring our troops home. The great difference is that I intend to win it first.
Barack Obama finally states that we all love America. We have different views on how to get America back on her feet but we all love America. (see video below)
I feel I have to say something about John McCain’s constant mentioning on the Surge. John McCain acts as if a great military strategy has been carried out. When it fact more has happened beyond what we did. The Sunni leaders decided to kick Al Qaeda out of their country. We have helped but it was their idea. It has been called the Awakening. This started before our Surge. Without the cooperation of Sunni tribal leaders we would still be in deep do-do. Yes, the Surge was worked to control violence in Baghdad but it has also separated neighborhoods. As we barricaded off Sunnis and Shias we have caused people to be forced out of their homes. This is not mentioned by McCain at all. McCain would never mention that a group of Sunni leaders that supported the Awakening were recently blown up. The picture that John McCain paints - America has kicked ass and taken names under the great leadership of General David Petraeus - is overly simplistic and only partially true.
Out of the thousands of terrible decisions that President George W. Bush and his administration have made, the worst has to be deciding to stop chasing the Taliban and Osama Bin Laden. I guess that we can also lump in the decision not to send more troops into the Tora Bora mountains to encircle Bin Laden and kill or capture him at that time. Then there was the decision to push the Taliban and Bin Laden out of the capital city of Kabul instead of closing the city off and cornering all of Al Qaeda’s top leadership. All of these decisions were terrible. We are living with the consequences of these decisions now.
The Taliban attacked an American base in Eastern Afghanistan this week. Now, let’s ruminate over this for a second. American has the most powerful military in the world. Yet, the Taliban launched an coordinated offensive against us. They must have thought either they could win the battle and take the base or they could learn from the American response and use that knowledge in a future attack. Both scenarios are depressing. (They did overrun the base with their second attack.)
Over the last six years, the U.S. has spent billions of dollars in Afghanistan. What have we gotten for our investment? Heroin. Afghan farmers have produced more heroin under the Bush administration then they ever did under the Mullah Omar and the Taliban. Tons of this stuff have flooded the world market. Yet, the Bush administration has done next to nothing to stop it.
We are making the same mistake that former President Reagan made over 20 years ago. U.S. policy was to confront Russia everywhere, keeping the pressure on. When Russia invaded Afghanistan, we supplied weapons to the Afghan warlords and mujaheddin. Russia was pushed out. We declared victory and left. But we didn’t help rebuild the county. More fighting occurred. This time the fighting was basically a civil war. The Taliban won. We continued to ignore events until 9/11.
So, fast forward to late 2001 when we ran the Taliban out of Afghanistan. We left just enough troops to make sure that Kabul will not fall back into the hands of the Taliban as we went after those WMD’s. Afghanistan has been allowed to fester. We don’t have enough troops or money to build a society that respects the rule of law, much less a society that has telephones for commerce or roads to efficiently move produce to market. Six years after the Taliban were pushed out, they are back like Freddie Krueger.
Now the Secretary of Defense Robert Gates is looking for more troops to send Freddie back to where he came from– but there aren’t any more troops. Unless Gates has the powers of Samantha Stevens, on the TV show Bewitched, twitching his nose is not going to produce any more troops. All of our combat units are either in Iraq or in Afghanistan or they have just come back from deployment. There are no good short term solutions.
I don’t think that I have said anything in this post that would be considered radical or left-wing or controversial. This should be the American stance but, as you know, it is not. Bush supporters somehow try to argue that Afghanistan really doesn’t matter. The really fight against terrorism is in Iraq.
Here’s Fred Barnes trying to make this case on Fox News Sunday:
It is very hard as a freshman Senator to get anything of substance done in Congress but Senator Jim Webb of Virginia has done exactly that. He pushed the GI Bill through both houses of Congress. He attached the bill to other legislation and dared the President to veto it. Senator Jim Webb may be that rarest of politicians. One who has principles and sticks by them. He is someone who said that he supports the troops and then proved to EVERYONE that he, in fact, supports the troops.
POLITICAL PROMISES are easy to make, harder to keep. So it is a testament to the tenacity of Sen. James Webb (D-Va.) and the justice of his cause that Congress has enacted a new GI Bill for war veterans. The freshman senator’s ability to work across party lines means that the men and women who risk their lives for America’s well-being will, in return, get expanded education benefits, along with opportunities for better futures.
The expansion of education benefits for Iraq and Afghanistan war veterans is part of the $257.5 billion emergency spending bill that passed the Senate on Thursday. The House gave its approval earlier, and President Bush is expected to sign it this week. The timing is fitting, considering that 64 years ago last Sunday, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt signed into law the original GI Bill, which made a college education affordable for millions of World War II veterans. Today’s warriors are equally deserving, but the system, designed for a peacetime military, has not kept pace with the costs of college. Mr. Webb’s bill — The Post-9/11 Veterans Educational Assistance Act — is true to the original in providing full tuition, housing and living costs. (more…)
There are very few politicians that I admire. As I read more and more about these guys and gals, they really don’t resemble anything that I’m familiar with. Senator Jim Webb maybe that rare guy who promises that he will be over on Tuesday to help you built that back deck and on Tuesday he shows up to help.
I congratulate Senator Webb and Senator Hagel for getting this bill through. I also congratulate our troops for a job well done. Here’s their reward.
You see. George W. Bush isn’t all bad just mostly. President Bush has nominated Lt. General Ann Dunwoody to become this nation’s first 4 star general. She will need to be confirmed by Congress but congratulations to her and all American women as glass ceilings continue to break in this country.
I didn’t know Lt. General William Odom. All that I know is that he was a warrior who fought against this war in Iraq. I have 3 references to him on my blog (here, here and here). The last reference was his testimony in front of the Senate a couple of months ago. I admire anyone who will stand up to this administration.
Lt. Gen. William Odom, former head of the National Security Agency under President Reagan, passed away on Friday in Lincoln, Vermont. A West Point graduate, Gen. Odom served for 34 years until retiring in 1988. Specializing in Russian and Soviet affairs, Gen. Odom earned a Ph.D from Columbia University in 1970 and taught at West Point before becoming National Security Adviser Zbigniew Brzezinski’s military assistant in 1977. In 1985, Odom took over the National Security Agency and led it until his retirement. Following retirement, he taught at Yale University and authored seven books.
In recent years, Gen. Odom was a fierce critic of the war in Iraq and our policy toward Iran. He directly confronted the most pernicious arguments for keeping U.S. troops in Iraq, pointing out that they often contradicted themselves and President Bush’s stated war aims. As Gen. Odom put it in a February 2007 article, “the president’s policy is based on illusions, not realities. There never has been any right way to invade and transform Iraq.” Gen. Odom’s clear-eyed assessment of the war in Iraq led him to the conclusion that a timely phased withdrawal was the only way to salvage American interests and credibility in the Middle East and the world.
Some of his more trenchant thoughts can be found in an article co-authored with Brzezinski three days before his untimely death. Gen. Odom made it clear that the current heavy-handed sticks-and-carrots policy toward Iran being pursued by the Bush administration will almost certainly result in an Iranian nuclear weapon. This policy, he noted, “may work with donkeys but not with serious countries.” Gen. Odom’s perspicacity and directness will be missed in the debate over Iraq, Iran, and the future of American foreign policy. (more…)
I try not to use the word hate. I try not to let hate into my soul, but sometimes it is just unavoidable. For instance, there was an attending physician from my residency who made my life miserable for no particular reason except that he could. It got so bad that if he was walking across the street and I was driving my car… I just don’t know if he would make it. In a similar light, Bob Geiger, who stopped writing his blog about six months ago, posted something on the Huffington Post. He talks about his hatred, Bush, and the military in which he served.
Dead Troops Remembered By President Who Had Them Killed
Yes, that’s a harsh headline for this piece.
But I’ll ask you to forgive me because, as a Veteran, there isn’t a day on the calendar that causes my hatred — and I do indeed mean hatred — of George W. Bush to bubble over the top more than Memorial Day.
“On Memorial Day, we honor the heroes who have laid down their lives in the cause of freedom, resolve that they will forever be remembered by a grateful Nation, and pray that our country may always prove worthy of the sacrifices they have made,” reads Bush’s official Memorial Day proclamation, issued by the White House on Thursday.
The Chickenhawk-in Chief says a lot of things that make this Vet’s blood boil but stuff like saying that he prays “…that our country may always prove worthy of the sacrifices they have made” is almost vomit inducing.
This statement comes from the same man who himself began dishonoring the sacrifices of all Veterans in such huge ways in March of 2003, when he invaded Iraq behind a veil of lies and deceit and started spilling barrels of military and civilian blood to start a war with a country that posed no threat whatsoever to our national security. These stirring words of remembrance come from an administration that began with a stolen election in 2000, which goes entirely against what I was taught way back when I was in the U.S. Navy, which was that part of the “way of life” we were protecting was symbolized by the ability of all of our citizens to have their votes counted. [Read more →]
This has been an interesting and downright confusing week for Senator John McCain’s political campaign. I’m not sure that there was any good news that came out of his camp this week. As a matter of fact, this week reminded me of Rudy Giuliani’s worst week from a political campaign that I have ever seen.
Reverend Rod Parsley, a television evangelist, endorsed McCain several months ago. McCain sought out the endorsement of Reverend John Hagee. Both of these men, who are known to say some very outlandish things, were jettisoned by the McCain campaign this week. It is funny and interesting that McCain embraced these religious leaders during the Republican primary but is now rejecting them before the general election.
McCain’s medical records were almost released. Over a thousand pages were given to a selected group of reporters to review for three hours. I don’t think that anyone should have been surprised when the verdict was McCain is in good health. In a 71 year-old man who’s had malignant melanoma lesions removed from three areas of his body, I would need further evidence that he is truly good health.
Earlier in the week, McCain painted a picture for us of what the year 2013 might look like in Iraq: “By January 2013, America has welcomed home most of the servicemen and women who have sacrificed terribly so that America might be secure in her freedom. The Iraq war has been won. Iraq is a functioning democracy, although still suffering from the lingering effects of decades of tyranny and centuries of sectarian tension. Violence still occurs, but it is sporadic and much reduced.” Reporters, and everyone in the world, thought that McCain was setting a deadline. He spent the next 24 hours explaining why his speech did not really set a deadline. Let’s not be fooled, this speech was given to combat his earlier statement that we should be there or could be there for a hundred years.
Several lobbyists in McCain’s campaign “resigned” this week. It seemed like a routine ‘another day and another lobbyist hits the bricks’ kind of thing. It hard to rail against lobbyists and Washington Insiders when your campaign staff is packed with lobbyists.
Finally, the GI Bill easily passed the House and Senate. McCain somehow couldn’t support this bill. McCain’s friend and chief mouth-piece on Capital Hill, Lindsey Graham, argued against passage of the bill stating that the bill was “too generous.”
Memorial Day is Monday, May 26 this year. In honor of this special day, I’ve decided to share some history of and links about Memorial Day.
Memorial Day began in 1868, when Union General John A. Logan designated a day in which the graves of Civil War soldiers would be decorated.
Known originally as Decoration Day, the holiday was re-named as Memorial Day within twenty years and became holiday dedicated to the memory of all war dead. In 1971, the Federal government recognized the holiday and is now observed on the last Monday in May.
(This representation of a disagreement between Tecumseh and William Henry Harrison is a reminder that sometimes U.S. troops were called upon to do harm to the native population. Tecumseh died in the War of 1812).
Senator John McCain is stuck between his ‘maverick’ past and his desire to woo the conservative base. I’m not sure that you can do both. The GI bill unlike the Farm Bill isn’t packed with pork. It is simply a good bill that supports our troops. How can McCain not support that?
” At the outbreak of World War II, the armed services practiced a rigid discrimination against African Americans that included a stubborn reluctance to acknowledge black capabilities, no matter how obvious. When Japan attacked Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, Miller was stationed there on the West Virginia. By the time he abandoned ship, he had braved enemy fire to carry his wounded commanding officer to safety and, thought not trained for combat, had manned an antiaircraft gin, possibly downing at least one enemy plane. His bravery initially went unrecognized, however, and only after much pressure from the nation’s black press did Miller finally receive the Navy Cross. But once acknowledged, Miller’s heroism became a means, through posters such as this one, for rallying African-Americans to the war effort.”
Miller, a Texas native, was killed when the ship he serving on was sunk in 1943 during the Battle of Tarawa. In 1973, a navy ship was named after him.
Beyond the men he aided and saved in Pearl Harbor, and the quality of his day-to-day service, one hopes Miller’s actions moved the United States closer to full equality of all people.
The artist of the above poster was David Stone Martin (1913-1992) who drew posters, magazine covers, and album covers. This link to the blog LP Cover Lover is one of many the creative covers that Stone drew for jazz albums.
Senator Barack Obama has been slammed for not wearing a lapel pin. The right-wing smear machine has asked why Obama will not salute the flag. Of course, these questions and statements are designed to cast doubt in the minds of those who aren’t sure about a Democrat who is a black man. Today, in West Virginia, Obama talks about true patriotism: Supporting the troops. This isn’t some bumper sticker. Do you support the troops? If so, then why can’t we pass Jim Webb’s new GI bill? Why hasn’t Senator John McCain signed this bill?
This is a great speech in a VERY conservative state. I was going to post just a portion of the speech, but it is really good so I’m posting all 21 minutes of it.
There is no reason we shouldn’t pass the 21st Century GI Bill that is being debated in Congress right now. It was introduced by my friend Senator Jim Webb, a Marine who served as Navy Secretary under President Ronald Reagan.. His plan has widespread support from Republicans and Democrats. It would provide every returning veteran with a real chance to afford a college education, and it would not harm retention.
I have great respect for John McCain’s service to this country and I know he loves it dearly and honors those who serve. But he is one of the few Senators of either party who oppose this bill because he thinks it’s too generous. I couldn’t disagree more. At a time when the skyrocketing cost of tuition is pricing thousands of Americans out of a college education, we should be doing everything we can to give the men and women who have risked their lives for this country the chance to pursue the American Dream.
This video is based on last week’s New York TImes article in which they exposed that many of the military analysts were either on the Pentagon’s payroll or a defense contractor. Free Press asks us to get involved and pressure Congress to investigate this issue.
Here are some things that I have been reading about and I think need more discussion:
Remember the U.S. Attorney scandal? Former U.S. Attorney David Iglesias testified before Congress that he got a call from Senator Pete Domenici. During the call Domenici asked about whether or not Iglesias was going to file an indictment against some New Mexico Democrats right before the 2006 mid-term election. Domenici got a slap on the wrist from the Senate Ethics Committee for the “appearance of impropriety.” In my opinion, I think this is terribly mild.
Abstinence-only education doesn’t work. There have been numerous studies to show this. Florida has passed legislation that Florida schools teach sex education. Some teens believe that drinking Mountain Dew or smoking marijuana can prevent pregnancy. I took care of a teenager who injected herself with turpentine in order to prevent herself from becoming pregnant. Representative John Duncan, a Tennessee Republican, said that it seems “rather elitist” that people with academic degrees in health think they know better than parents what type of sex education is appropriate. “I don’t think it’s something we should abandon,” he said of abstinence-only funding. Education– we truly need our children to be educated. (and we need to vote John Duncan out of office!)
Did you see that the Veteran’s Administration is being sued in a class-action? In spite of the official rhetoric out of the Bush administration, a recent RAND report found that “300,000 U.S. troops — about 20 percent of those deployed — are suffering from depression or post-traumatic stress from serving in Iraq and Afghanistan.” They fight for us and we can’t at least give them decent health care when they get back. We have to do better.
Finally, did you see where a government contractor supplied these flash-band grenades that never worked. After the $15 million contract, the Department of Defense found a flaw in the law enforcement weapon and ordered it to be fixed. Pyrotechnic Specialties, Inc. figured out it was cheaper to just print new labels. Three FBI agents have been injured. Company officials were indicted but there was this nugget: Company officials bribed a federal official and paid for a visit to a strip club.
I was struggling trying to figure out what to say about the Iraq War. Most everything has been said over the last 5 years. So, instead of me ranting I’ll let PBS Frontline remind us how retarded this whole ordeal is.
This story is told by former Secretary of the Army Thomas White (who was fired by Rumsfeld), Dana Priest from the Washington Post (who broke the Walter Reed story and, if I’m not mistaken, the secret prisons story), and Thomas Ricks from the Washington Post (author of Fiasco).
I guess it is easy to write this off as incompetence. They didn’t know what they were doing. But I think it is worse than incompetence. If you are a moron and you don’t know what to do that’s one thing. This is different. Cheney and Rumsfeld knew and understood war. And they understand the government. The problem is that they don’t believe in government. It isn’t that there wasn’t post-war planning because there was (mostly in the State Department, which Rumsfeld shut out of the game). But the post-war planning was thrown out. It was underfunded. It wasn’t necessary.
The combination of a president who isn’t curious and advisers who are extremely radical, egotistical, as well as idealogical served up the Iraq War for us.
For most information on this segment check out Frontline.
I feel chills when I read what Woodie Keedle did. I have seen Fire and Ice on the History Channel. The Korean War was no picnic. Woodie truly went above and beyond the call of duty. It is a great tragedy of our Country that we did not recognize this brave man before he died. It took another 20 years before he would be honored.
Woodrow Wilson Keeble is the first Sioux to recieve the medal of honor.
Update: BTW, I scanned a few of those Right Wing Blogs like Michele Malkin and Drudge - nothing. Air Hot - nothing. Say Anything does have something but then the blog is based in North Dakota where Woodie Keedle was from. I guess my point is I thought that the Right loved our troops?
For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty:
Master Sergeant Woodrow W. Keeble distinguished himself by acts of gallantry and intrepidity above and beyond the call of duty in action with an armed enemy near Sangsan-ni, Korea, on October 20, 1951. On that day, Master Sergeant Keeble was an acting platoon leader for the support platoon in Company G, 19th Infantry, in the attack on Hill 765, a steep and rugged position that was well defended by the enemy. Leading the support platoon, Master Sergeant Keeble saw that the attacking elements had become pinned down on the slope by heavy enemy fire from three well-fortified and strategically placed enemy positions. With complete disregard for his personal safety, Master Sergeant Keeble dashed forward and joined the pinned-down platoon. Then, hugging the ground, Master Sergeant Keeble crawled forward alone until he was in close proximity to one of the hostile machine-gun emplacements. Ignoring the heavy fire that the crew trained on him, Master Sergeant Keeble activated a grenade and threw it with great accuracy, successfully destroying the position. Continuing his one-man assault, he moved to the second enemy position and destroyed it with another grenade. Despite the fact that the enemy troops were now directing their firepower against him and unleashing a shower of grenades in a frantic attempt to stop his advance, he moved forward against the third hostile emplacement, and skillfully neutralized the remaining enemy position. As his comrades moved forward to join him, Master Sergeant Keeble continued to direct accurate fire against nearby trenches, inflicting heavy casualties on the enemy. Inspired by his courage, Company G successfully moved forward and seized its important objective. The extraordinary courage, selfless service, and devotion to duty displayed that day by Master Sergeant Keeble was an inspiration to all around him and reflected great credit upon himself, his unit, and the United States Army.
Congress has been blamed for not stopping the war and everything else including post nasal drip. Well, the Senate passed a bill which raised pay for our troops. This was included in a $696 Billion Military Spending bill.
The Senate voted Tuesday to approve a revised defense bill authorizing a 3.5 percent pay raise for troops while sidestepping a veto showdown with President Bush.
The 91-3 vote sends the $696 billion measure to Bush for his expected signature.
The president had rejected an earlier version of the bill because of a provision that would have guaranteed that victims of state-sponsored abuse can sue foreign governments in court and collect judgments by seizing its assets inside the United States. Bush said that would have exposed Iraq to high-dollar lawsuits over abuse during the Saddam Hussein era at a time when the country is struggling to rebuild its infrastructure. (more…)
I have worked at a VA. This is retardedly common. Injuries that you and I would think would be obviously covered by the VA. Not so much. They aren’t covered. The other thing that the VA does is try to figure out how much are you disabled or how much are you hurt. These are 2 stories of Vets who any American from a distance of 1000 miles could see that they should be 100% service connected.
Ty Ziegel peers from beneath his Marine Corps baseball cap, his once boyish face burned beyond recognition by a suicide bomber’s attack in Iraq just three days before Christmas 2004.
He lost part of his skull in the blast and part of his brain was damaged. Half of his left arm was amputated and some of the fingers were blown off his right hand.
Ziegel, a 25-year-old Marine sergeant, knew the dangers of war when he was deployed for his second tour in Iraq. (more…)
Errington C. Thompson, MD, is a surgeon, scholar, fulltime sports fan and part-time political activist. He is active in a number of community projects and initiatives. Through medicine, he strives to improve the physical health of all he treats...
Out of the thousands of terrible decisions that President George W. Bush and his administration have made, the worst has to be deciding to stop chasing the Taliban and Osama Bin Laden. I guess that we can also lump in the decision not to send more troops into the Tora Bora mountains to encircle Bin Laden and kill or capture him at that time. Then there was the decision to push the Taliban and Bin Laden out of the capital city of Kabul instead of closing the city off and cornering all of Al Qaeda’s top leadership. All of these decisions were terrible. We are living with the consequences of these decisions now.
President Bush has 
