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Commercial Media Let McCain Get Away with Claims that the "Surge" has Worked

By Robert Parry, Consortium News. Posted September 10, 2008.


McCain is falsely clinging to his support of more troops in Iraq as the reason for decreasing violence. And the media is buying it.

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Despite strong evidence to the contrary, it has become established conventional wisdom among mainstream Washington journalists that the "surge" was the singular reason for the recent decline in Iraq's violence. It's also agreed that McCain deserves great credit for pushing the "surge" idea early.

Barack Obama has been repeatedly chastised -- even badgered -- for opposing the "surge." His attempts to refocus the debate more broadly on the wisdom of invading Iraq in the first place are rudely rejected by Big Media interviewers.

The latest example came during an ABC News "This Week" interview on Sept. 7 when George Stephanopoulos demanded of Obama: "How do you escape the logic that ... John McCain was right about the surge?"

When Obama responded that he didn't understand "why people are so focused on what has happened in the last year and a half and not on the previous five," Stephanopoulos cut him off, saying "Granted, you think you made the right decision about going in, but about the surge?"

In other words, the big-name journalists don't want a discussion about the decision to illegally invade Iraq under false pretenses in 2003 (presumably because they almost all were cheering the invasion on), but instead they want the debate to center entirely on their latest false assumption, that the "surge" has virtually won the war.

In reality, the "surge" of about 30,000 additional troops sent to Iraq appears to have been only one factor and -- according to military officials interviewed for Bob Woodward's new book, The War Within -- possibly a secondary one in explaining the drop-off in the violence that had made Iraq a living hell.

As Woodward writes, "In Washington, conventional wisdom translated these events into a simple view: The surge had worked. But the full story was more complicated. At least three other factors were as important as, or even more important than, the surge."

Woodward, whose book draws heavily from Pentagon insiders, reported that the Sunni rejection of al-Qaeda extremists in Anbar province (which preceded the surge) and the surprise decision of radical Shiite leader Moqtada al-Sadr to order a unilateral cease-fire by his militia were two important factors.

A third factor, which Woodward argued may have been the most significant, was the use of new highly classified U.S. intelligence tactics that allowed for rapid targeting and killing of insurgent leaders. Woodward agreed to withhold details of these secret techniques from his book so as not to undercut their continuing success.

But there have been previous glimpses of classified U.S. programs that combine high-tech means of identifying insurgents -- such as sophisticated biometrics and night-vision-equipped drones -- with old-fashioned brutality on the ground, including on-the-spot executions of suspects. [For details, see Consortiumnews.com's "Bush's Global Dirty War" and "Iraq's Laboratory of Repression."]

Successful Repression

As we've reported previously, other brutal factors -- that the Washington press corps almost never mentions -- help explain the decline in violence:



  • Vicious ethnic cleansing has succeeded in separating Sunnis and Shiites to such a degree that there are fewer targets to kill. Several million Iraqis are estimated to be refugees either in neighboring countries or within their own.


  • Concrete walls built between Sunni and Shiite areas have made "death-squad" raids more difficult but alshave "cantonized" much of Baghdad and other Iraqi cities, making everyday life for Iraqis even more exhausting as they seek food or travel to work.


  • During the "surge," U.S. forces expanded a policy of rounding up so-called "military age males" and locking up tens of thousands in prison.


  • Awesome U.S. firepower, concentrated on Iraqi insurgents and civilian bystanders for more than five years, has slaughtered countless thousands of Iraqis and has intimidated many others to look simply to their own survival.


  • With the total Iraqi death toll estimated in the hundreds of thousands and many more Iraqis horribly maimed, the society has been deeply traumatized. As tyrants have learned throughout history, at some point violent repression does work.


But this dark side of the "successful surge" is excluded from the U.S. political debate. As during the pre-invasion period, the Washington press corps acts more like Bush's propagandists than anything close to skeptical journalists.

The only time they get tough in interviews is with Obama, demanding that he get in line with the rest of Washington's conventional wisdom and hail the media's old favorite, John McCain, for his courage and wisdom.

In playing this role, the U.S. press is again playing into Bush's hands and his desire to make sure that outright defeat in Iraq won't occur on his watch -- and that he will leave behind a successor who is committed to the neoconservative strategy of open-ended warfare against Muslim militants.

That is what appears increasingly likely as McCain surges up to -- and in some polls moves decisively ahead of -- Obama.

Domestic Images

As Woodward's book makes clear, Bush always understood the importance of controlling American perceptions about the Iraq War, even when that required lying to the public.

Not only did Bush insist in 2006 that the war was being won when he knew differently -- and he said he was listening to his commanders when, in reality, he was overruling their judgments -- he talked privately about the need to control the Iraq War images to influence the voters back home.

"The U.S. presence helps to keep the lid on," Bush told the top regional commander, Gen. John Abizaid, in explaining the reasoning for a troop buildup, and "also helps here at home, since for many the measure of success is reduction in violence." [Washington Post, Sept. 8, 2008]

In that assessment, Bush was politically prescient.

When the catastrophic levels of violence finally declined to the simply terrible, Bush's partisans -- especially the many well-placed neoconservative opinion leaders -- began baiting anyone who had doubted the "surge," much as they had hectored anyone who doubted the wisdom of invading Iraq in 2003.

The conventional wisdom about the "successful surge" has transformed Campaign 2008, throwing Obama onto the defensive in interview after interview, while virtually no journalist presses McCain about his judgment to make a rapid pivot out of Afghanistan in early 2002 toward Iraq.

Arguably, McCain's advocacy for this premature pivot -- while Afghanistan was still in a fragile state and top al-Qaeda leaders were finding new safe haven in northwest Pakistan -- was the biggest strategic blunder in modern American military history.

It has locked the United States into two open-ended wars with costs likely to soar into the trillions of dollars, while the security situation in Afghanistan deteriorates and nuclear-armed Pakistan slides toward instability.

But the political commentators place none of the blame on John McCain.

No Drawdown

Meanwhile, in Iraq, the supposedly "successful surge" apparently does not mean the United States can withdraw significant numbers of troops in the foreseeable future. President Bush has decided to leave U.S. troop levels in Iraq at about where they are now.

That means the number of American soldiers on the ground in Iraq at the end of January 2009 may well be about the same -- or even slightly higher -- than when the "surge" was announced two years earlier.

However, the likeliest long-term outcome for the United States in Iraq appears to be that eventually the U.S. occupation forces will be told to leave by an increasingly nationalistic Iraqi government, a kind of thanks for all the help but don't let the door hit you on the way out.

The odds then would be that any post-U.S.-occupied Iraq would remain divided by bitter sectarianism as the country has been for centuries and that any democratic institutions would be fragile at best. The likeliest regional winner would be Iran, which has seen its Shiite allies gain the upper hand over the old Sunni power structure.

A possible alternative outcome, of course, would be a unilateral decision by Washington to refuse to leave.

That may be what the victorious neoconservatives in a McCain administration would want, but that would come at an even higher price in blood and treasure. It also would mean that the few remnants of the old American Republic would be wiped away by the arrival of a new American Empire.

Yet, the U.S. news media, which mostly has cheered on the Iraq War from its "shock and awe" beginning through today's "successful surge," has no time to assess the future cost of the Iraq War in lives, money and American principles. That staggering price tag is simply not in the media's frame of reference.

Instead, it's all about hailing McCain and bashing Obama.

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See more stories tagged with: iraq, mccain, surge

Robert Parry's new book is Secrecy & Privilege: Rise of the Bush Dynasty from Watergate to Iraq."

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No clear-thinking American should believe the Manchurian Candidate.
Posted by: VetAgainst McCain on Sep 10, 2008 1:32 AM   
Current rating: 4    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
Listen up, folks. Former POW McCain is a traitor who sold military secrets to the North Vietnamese for hot coffee and cigarettes.

Case at point, an interview with Cuban journalist Fernando Barral which took place in 1970, more than two years after McCain’s capture when he was no longer being physically abused.

The interview lasted nearly an hour, according to Barral, and took place in a posh office of Hanoi's Committee for Foreign Cultural Relations. During the interview, while his fellow POWs were back at their camps struggling to stay alive, cookies, oranges, coffee and cigarettes were offered to McCain and accepted.

After dispensing with the pro forma name, rank and serial number, McCain violated the Code of Conduct for U.S. POWs by voluntarily talking in Spanish with Barral. McCain chatted about his family, aspirations for the future and the downing of his plane.

Barral, who later reported the interview in English-version Communist newspapers for propaganda purposes, quoted Mccain as lamenting, "If I hadn't been shot down, I would have become an admiral at a younger age than my father."

Although McCain claimed he didn’t discuss military matters with Barral, the Hanoi Hilton's U.S. commander, SRO Jeremiah Denton, later issued an order forbidding POWs to be interviewed by visitors.

Said McCain on page 305 of his 1999 autobiography, Faith of My Fathers (hardcopy edition), “[Denton's] decision was a sound one, even though it deprived me of further opportunities to demonstrate my psychic equilibrium… not to mention the [loss of] extra cigarettes and coffee."

Also in his autobio, while admitting to accepting special favors from the enemy -- i.e. drinking coffee and smoking cigarettes -- McCain conveniently omitted the fact he had conversed with Barral in Spanish, a more serious Code of Conduct violation.

True or not about the specific details of his collaborations, McCain said in Faith of My Fathers (page 198 of the hardcopy edition) that he revealed “information about my ship and squadron.” In the same paragraph, he claimed, “The information was of no real use to the Vietnamese.”

Well, that’s not what retired Army Colonel Earl Hopper believes.

A veteran of World War II, Korea and Vietnam, Hopper contends the information McCain disclosed was used by North Vietnam to fine-tune their air defense system.

Hopper’s son, Air Force Lt. Colonel Earl Pearson Hopper, was shot down over North Vietnam and later declared “Missing in Action.” As a result of his loss, the elder Hopper co-founded the National League of Families, an organization devoted to the return of Vietnam War POWs.

On March 25, 1999, two POWs, Ted Guy and Gordon Larson, told the Phoenix New Times they could not guarantee McCain had been tortured before his interrogations.

Larson told the New Times, “Between the two of us, it is our belief, and to the best of our knowledge, that no prisoner was beaten or harmed physically in that camp [known as 'The Plantation']. My only contention with the McCain deal is that while he was at The Plantation, to the best of my knowledge and Ted’s, he was not physically abused in any way. No one was in that camp. It was the camp that people were released from.”

Case closed on Manchurian Candidate McCain, who the North Vietnamese contemptuously nicknamed “Songbird” because of the revelations he repeated in numerous propaganda radio broadcasts.

Vet against McCain
To find out why, click on the links below
VietnamVeteransAgainstJohnMcCain.com
VoteVets.org

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bitter sectarianism for centuries...?
Posted by: HighburyJD on Sep 10, 2008 1:46 AM   
Current rating: Not yet rated    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
what evidence is there of this bitter sectarianism is there pre-war...?

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

"surge worked"
Posted by: Col. Jackleg on Sep 10, 2008 1:48 AM   
Current rating: 5    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
War, what is it good for? Absolutely nothing! I watched Woodward on 60 Minutes and was totally unimpressed...he was there to hawk his book and showed neither expertise nor insight of any value. On the oher hand, Biden made a very positive and excellent appearance on Meet the Press. He was hit hard by Tom Brokaw several times, including challenges that the surge did work. Biden's rejection and analysis of other factors was informed, cogent and totally consistent with his Chairmanship of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. I had my doubts about Biden but after this appearance I am persuaded that he is an asset and worthy of higher office consideration. The military is full of shit now and has always been because with the exception of Ike it has always been political or politically manipulated. No truly free and democratic society can be as dominated by military aggressiveness as we have been and call itself, noble, free, democratic and worthy of respect and alliance worldwide. Think weapons of mass destruction and confess that we are the only nation to have used them indiscriminately and repeatedly. As Rev. Wright so aptly carped "God damn America!"

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» RE: "surge worked"....cheers Posted by: Captainmagic
» Some minor disagreement Posted by: BigElectricCat
HOW HARD IS IT
Posted by: master09 on Sep 10, 2008 1:56 AM   
Current rating: 4    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
Why the obama campaign has never put this surge shit to rest is beyond me. If the surge decision was such a good decision how wrong was it to go to war in the first place. John McCain want to use the surge decision as a justification for going to war but we don't need to talk about this because what is done is done. 4,000 of america's best citizen has given their lives to a republician war and make no mistake about this; this was a war of choice and the republicians has bankrupt this the country but the surge has worked; are we really that dumb? So now they want to put the most powerful country within grasp of trailer trash with a high school education. Yes I said it, it took her six years and six school to get a GOD DAM BS degree in television or what ever, give me a break. "WELL" you voted for Bush twice do you see a patten here? GOODBYE AMERICA.

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» RE: HOW HARD IS IT Posted by: master09
» RE: HOW HARD IS IT Posted by: GatoPreto
» RE: HOW HARD IS IT Posted by: Crazy H
» RE: HOW SAD IS IT Posted by: BigElectricCat
'commercial' media?
Posted by: weathered on Sep 10, 2008 3:13 AM   
Current rating: 4    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
is no different then NPR/PBS the latter are simply more pedantic and polished when lying right through they're bleached teeth.

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It's not just the media or cynical politicians
Posted by: taxidriver on Sep 10, 2008 4:47 AM   
Current rating: 4    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
The American people want to believe that the "surge" has worked. How else to justify the sacrifices of their sons and daughters in the military? We don't want to believe that these sacrifices have been a secondary reason for the decline in violence in Iraq--nor do most Americans recall that Gen. Petraeus said the surge "successes" were fragile and reversible.

So, how successful is something that's fragile, reversible, still killing Americans and Iraqis, and still requiring the (permanent?) presence of 140,000 American troops, plus $10 billion a month in U.S. funds?

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McCain: The 10% Maverick
Posted by: ChicagoPaul on Sep 10, 2008 5:05 AM   
Current rating: 5    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
Yeah, and the press also perpetrates the obvious lie that McCain is a maverick. This modus operandi is the same as the typical Republican method of truth-telling:

"John McCain is a MAVERICK." Say it often, say it loud and soon everyone will believe it.

It's not a lie...but it's not exactly the truth either.

John McCain is a maverick 10% of the time and a CONFORMIST 90% of the time.

(Another obvious example of Republican truth-telling: "Obama will raise taxes." True...on 5% of the population.)

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» RE: McCain: The 10% Maverick Posted by: Crazy H
Tales from the Commercial Media
Posted by: ProgressiveManiac on Sep 10, 2008 5:17 AM   
Current rating: 5    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
I've been a bit surprised to not see more commentary about the appearance of Woodward on 60 Minutes this last weekend. If you watched it, you heard Woodward spout more propaganda about the surge. I hope you listened with caution.

Woodward is known for having sold his soul to the Bush Administration for his ounce of access, so anything he has to say should be considered with some suspicion. In this case he revealed a new secret weapon that has made the surge a success. Of course that is all he could reveal, not the nature of the weapon, not even generally what it can do, just that it contributed to the success of the surge. As others have asked, has the surge really been a success?

As a footnote, I would ask whether there has really even been a surge. While the U.S. has been putting additional troops into Iraq, it should be remembered that other countries have been withdrawing troops. Where is the accounting of the net troop strength?

As a second footnote, I would ask why Woodward has access to such super-secret information? Isn't this taking access to an illegal extreme?

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» The new secret weapon . . . Posted by: dustdevil
The "news journalists" are killing us
Posted by: seazen on Sep 10, 2008 5:18 AM   
Current rating: 4    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
All this talk of the "surge" is more Alice in Wonderland nonsense. The surge is like taking all the fire hoses fighting a forest fire, training them on one tree, and when the fire on that tree goes out saying "it worked!"

We have no news media worth a damn any more. And, as Jefferson, Franklin and others predicted, you cannot have a functioning democracy unless there is a "free and independent press" (free from corporate control, too) to hold government and leaders accountable.

It blows my mind that the only source of meaningful revelation of our corrupt government/corporate power structure is on a comedy channel.

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If nothing else
Posted by: Elmowilcox on Sep 10, 2008 5:23 AM   
Current rating: 5    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
I still find reports when I check, you know, everyday, of car bombs, people bombs, and IEDs killing scores of people....everyday.

If a crazy person was known for beating their head against a wall repeatedly, and their doctor got them to only beat their head against the wall less, it would not be considered a successful treatment.

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» RE: If nothing else Posted by: Blandyna
Obama has been supporting this crap too however
Posted by: Phred42 on Sep 10, 2008 5:54 AM   
Current rating: Not yet rated    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
and he needs to stop it - if it's not too late for him to do that

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McIdiot
Posted by: GreyFoxThree on Sep 10, 2008 6:20 AM   
Current rating: Not yet rated    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
LOL, McBush is a real McIdiot. I still cannot believe that anyone with a single ounce of common sense is taking McBush seriously. I mean really. Are the Sheeple that blind?

Justin Watts
Whats hiding on your PC?

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The Surge was part of the Purge Hostile Takeover
Posted by: Purple Girl on Sep 10, 2008 6:22 AM   
Current rating: Not yet rated    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
This For Profit 'Surge' has been a direct cause of the Purge which has occured simultaneously in the US. Drain off 10 Billion a month..On credit, from our coffers. then add a little Banking/mortage crisis, Throw in higher fuel and food prices, a Dash of mass layoffs... And Voila you have the Perfect Purge of the American Economy, thus control over the masses!
"conditions on the Ground" Mac? how about our 'Country's First' !

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The Alaskan Breeder
Posted by: zipper696 on Sep 10, 2008 6:55 AM   
Current rating: 3    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
has been inserting in her oft repeated stump speech the mantra that Obama "won't acknowledge that victory is within sight in Iraq".

At the same time The Old Geezer has STOPPED using the word "victory" in his speeches.

Will Joe Biden PLEASE stop being Gentleman Joe and bite this dumb bitch in the ass and make her define "victory"?
(..and then iron his shirt..)

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» RE: The Alaskan Breeder Posted by: carolann
» Hmmm.... Posted by: robbie.seal
» RE: Hmmm....Indeed! Posted by: BigElectricCat
» Hmmm... II Posted by: robbie.seal
As An Independent Thinker
Posted by: Last Chance on Sep 10, 2008 6:56 AM   
Current rating: 5    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
I must disagree with Mr. Parry and his supporting posters. While I opposed Bush's invasion of Iraq as an act of oil-motivated imperial aggression, that doesn't close my eyes to the resulting horrendous crimes committed by Iraqis against Iraqis -- and once committed to the scene it was the duty of American and British forces to put a stop to it by whatever means necessary, including pay-offs to various tribal and factional leaders, which no one seems willing to talk about.

So, next is Afghanistan where the extreme macho fanatical Talaban are some of the most dedicated murderers on planet Earth, including among their victims any women who dare to learn how to read, write and vote. And behind the scenes AlQaeda, the mastermind terrorists for their hypocrite version of Islam and a wanna-be terrorist empire that must be eliminated if there is ever to be peace on Earth.

Thus, the enemy of my enemy is NOT my friend! I detest the Talaban and all such fanatical pseudo-Islamic killers of independent women, and I hope the Western allied forces succeed in crushing them totally! Bush IS a lying imperailist criminal, but that doesn't turn his enemies into good guys!

So, whatever happened to the real good guys? Scattered and lost amid the seven billion raging appetites of this top predator species, schizophrenic humanity! -- (more on my literary website "If Saving the Earth")

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» GREAT POINTS!!! Posted by: robbie.seal
» WOW!!! Posted by: robbie.seal
We should not have needed a surge
Posted by: carolann on Sep 10, 2008 7:11 AM   
Current rating: 3    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
When Bush announced we were going to war in Iraq, he and his cronies told us that the war would be a 'short' one. They anticipated that their Shock and Awe air strike would be enough. So they sent in too few troops, something that US Generals were opposed to, from the onset.

So what happened? The Bush administration underestimated its actions. Shock and Awe were a disaster to innocent people in Iraq. Shameful for America.

So Bush called in other nations to help us. That ruined Tony Blair's career, for starters. Then country by country, each began to pull out, leaving us virtually alone in Iraq.

Had Bush understood the Middle Eastern mindset, he would have known better than to do what he did. So he needed the surge, but that does not mean the surge is responsible for any progress. We will not make progress around the world with narrow-minded, unintelligent leaders like Bush/Cheney.

Eight years is not enough. It is too much. No more.

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So did Obama by rolling over like a DUMB PAVLOV DOG on the Bill O'LIEly show !!
Posted by: maxpayne on Sep 10, 2008 7:26 AM   
Current rating: 5    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
Look, everyone already understands that the rightwing media favors Mccain and they've been doing it for years. If only Obama had been a true populist standing up to the surge lie would Mccain have lost his credibility. But NOOOOOOOOOOOO, Obama took the bait and is LOSING ! And Biden is only a compounding liability !!

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» Too True. Except... Posted by: robbie.seal
The REAL problem
Posted by: ReallyBearish on Sep 10, 2008 7:45 AM   
Current rating: 5    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
Isn't the truth about the "Surge". The problem is that reporters are generally simple minded numskulls that can't deal with complex issues. Military policy is complicated. Catching a politician in some sex scandal is much, much easier to write about, exp. if Fox Noise lays it out for you.

McCain got caught with his pants down with his answer regarding the number of houses he owns. The reporters could then drive that one into the ground. Simple, direct. Nothing complicated.

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» RE: The REAL problem Posted by: BigElectricCat
A peacemaker
Posted by: solrev on Sep 10, 2008 8:07 AM   
Current rating: 5    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
“Woodward, whose book draws heavily from Pentagon insiders, reported that the Sunni rejection of al-Qaeda extremists in Anbar province (which preceded the surge) and the surprise decision of radical Shiite leader Moqtada al-Sadr to order a unilateral cease-fire by his militia were two important factors.”

What made this possible was the fact that the military in Iraq stopped treating these two nationalists groups as terrorists. After the initial shock and awe, before outside extremist had the opportunity to enter Iraq, we could not find any terrorists to kill, so we called the nationalist’s terrorists and went to war with them. That was the same mistake we made in Vietnam we could not find any communists, so we went to war with the nationalists. Obama should stop the media from cornering him on Iraq. All Obama has to say is I would never have gotten into that war, and if I inherited it, I would have ended it post haste. After Saddam was captured I would have brought the tribal leaders of the Kurdish Sunni, the Arab Sunni, the al-Sadr Shia and the al-Badr Shia together. I would have given them their land advised them to write a constitution and document how they would share their national oil wealth. The most important piece of advise, I would give them would have been this. “We hold these truths to be self-evident that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their creator with certain inalienable rights, among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. Governments are instituted among men to secure these entitlements. Make this declaration before you begin or you will just end up killing each other. I will now get out of your way but we will remain until you ask us to leave, in order to prevent any other outside forces from dividing you. If I would have done that I wonder what Iraq would look like today.”

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Musical Chairs...
Posted by: Carol Burns on Sep 10, 2008 8:21 AM   
Current rating: Not yet rated    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
...That's what the entire McCain campaign looks like. He's changed his mind so many times about the Iraq War it makes my head spin. He says his veep selection will hinge on "experience", then opts for an inexperienced, self-described "pit bull" in lipstick. His fellow veterans and POW's don't support him, in part because he consistently refuses to support THEM, yet he claims to have received "every award" out there from veterans. "My friends, (fake smile), my friends, I uh, I was a POW, but I stood up to those "gooks" by taking their special favors and making over 30 anti-American films for them."
Where was McCain when Bush pulled the infamous "bait and switch" and diverted the quest for Bin Laden into a baseless preemptive attack on Iraq? He was out there stumping for the war, that's where he was. He made it look like a piece of cake, and now he says it could last for 100 years. I don't think he knows what he's saying half the time, or he's just counting on the press to ignore their journalistic mandate and continue to lie at his behest.
Obama/Biden '08!

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More about Manchurian Candidate McCain
Posted by: VetAgainst McCain on Sep 10, 2008 9:02 AM   
Current rating: 5    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
On August 15, 2008, during a speaker's forum featuring Barack Obama and McCain in Lake Forest, California, hosted by Rev. Rick Warren and broadcast live on TV, the Arizona senator again played his shop-worn POW card to prove he was capable of dealing with Russian military adventurism, such as this year's invasion of Georgia.

For example, he told Rev. Warren about being tortured by the North Vietnamese, which cannot be verified. But the most blatant exploitation of McCain's war record happened when he was asked about his greatest test of courage.

With the straightest of faces, McCain said it was when the North Vietnamese offered to release him early and he turned it down.

An act of bravery?

Read the opinion of Colonel David Hackworth, a much-decorated career Army officer, Vietnam combat legend and popular TV guest commentator.

In 25 years of active military service, which spanned the Korean and Vietnam conflicts, “Hack” received 78 combat awards, including the Silver Star, Distinguished Flying Cross, Bronze Star with "V," Air Medal and eight Purple Hearts.

Before his death in 2005 from cancer, Col. Hackworth wrote the following:

McCain refused an early release. An act of valor? Three former POWs told me he was ordered to turn it down by his American POW commander and he “just followed orders.”

McCain certainly doesn't appear to be a war hero by conventional standards, but rather a tough survivor whose handlers are overplaying the war hero card.


Here's the opinion of another Vietnam war hero, former POW Phillip Butler.

In an article published in June 2008 by Military.com, Butler, a Navy pilot and U.S. Naval Academy graduate who spent more than eight years in North Vietnam as a prisoner of war, explained why he would not support McCain for the presidency.

Said Butler about McCain's touted early release refusal:

John was offered and refused early release. Many of us were given this offer. It meant speaking out against your country and lying about your treatment to the press. You had to "admit" that the U.S. was criminal and that our treatment was "lenient and humane." So I, like numerous others, refused the offer. This was obviously something none of us could accept. Besides, we were bound by our service regulations, Geneva Conventions and loyalties to refuse early release until all the POW's were released.


Bragging about refusing early release from North Vietnam shows John McCain for what he is. Far from being a principled patriot, he is a pandering politician who will say anything to win the White House.

The low point so far in McCain's campaign came during his GOP acceptance speech, when he boasted that his bravery had been challenged, but not Senator Obama's.

How more absurd could McCain get? A white man of privilege asserting that in America's Caucasian-dominated, prejudiced society, a black man never faced a test of courage?

What about every waking day of Barack's life, having to appear in public with a skin color different from most people around him -- the "Mark of Cain," as evangelical Christians whisper in private.

Right now, if they could hear Manchurian Candidate McCain beating his chest and bragging about being heroic, the 56,000-plus U.S. service personnel who died during the Vietnam War would be turning in their graves -- about 10,000 rpm!

Vet against McCain
To find out why, click on the links below
VietnamVeteransAgainstJohnMcCain.com
VoteVets

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» Misnomer !!! Posted by: Last Chance
history buff
Posted by: Mike U. on Sep 10, 2008 10:09 AM   
Current rating: 5    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
The 800 pound elephant in the room, which no one is willing to talk about, is the paying of the tribal leaders millions of dollars each month NOT TO KILL U.S. MILITARY PERSONNEL. What happens if the policy is changed or they want MORE U.S. dollars?
It worked when Nixon agree to pay North Viet Nam billions to let the U.S. forces leave South Viet Nam without them killing our people. He made some payments but reneged on the rest after our troops had pulled out. They called it "reparation payments"

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» RE: history buff Posted by: Last Chance
» Some Payment Info Posted by: robbie.seal
When Will We Know We've Won?
Posted by: FoonTheElder on Sep 10, 2008 11:27 AM   
Current rating: Not yet rated    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
Great, now that the surge has worked so well and we've won the war when are we getting out?

We still have more soldiers in Iraq then when we invaded or before the surge.

So exactly when will we know when we've won? When all the Iraqi's leave and let us steal their oil without objecting? Iraq is the never ending war without a defined purpose. Just like the phony War on Terrorism.

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What is the argument about, now?
Posted by: douglashoyt on Sep 10, 2008 12:08 PM   
Current rating: 5    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
Obama has conceded that the "surge" has worked. There is no more controversy unless Mr. Paul, Nader or Ms. McKinney are asked.

But no one is asking.

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Falling for the okie-doke
Posted by: Spiritgirl on Sep 10, 2008 12:19 PM   
Current rating: 5    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
Gee, where have you been hiding for the last 8 years. In the run-up to the 2000 stolen elections the supposedly "liberal" media gave George W. Bush a pass. As the governor they refused to note the decline in the Texas education system, that Texas led the nation with teen-age pregnancy rates, that Texas led the nation in death-penalty cases carried out! In the run up to the Iraq disaster once again a compliant "liberal" media refused to ask the tough questions that needed to be asked, before we got into this debacle! Sen. McShame is a part of this crew, and once again the corporate run "liberal" media is not doing their job! They refuse to ask the tough questions, they refuse to actually point out McShames military record - to the lies that have been promulgated by that campaign! This man is not the "war here" that he would have you to believe!

No, this country club, star driven media is a sham of their former selves! They are supposed to be there as the 4 estate of government to shine a light and inform the populace of what the issues really are, about the avarice and corruption that these people are hiding! The sad truth is if Nixon were president today - he never would have come up on impeachment charges!

This is worse than those "reality tv" shows, because this is about the future of this country! This is about the next generation, and the mess that they will inherit! Come on people, wake up! Stop falling for the b.s.!

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The media is buying it? The DEMOCRATS are buying it, including Obama!
Posted by: fanny666 on Sep 10, 2008 12:32 PM   
Current rating: 5    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
Another cave-in from the Democrats. Obama on Bill O'Reilly's show, I guess the author didn't see it?

Obama told Billo that the “surge worked beyond anyone’s wildest expectations”.

Obama on O'Reilly

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Mightily convenient propaganda -- duh!!!
Posted by: Mikmo6 on Sep 10, 2008 12:58 PM   
Current rating: Not yet rated    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
Oke, what this "the surge has worked" mania means to me is that none of us -- myself included really knows what the fuck is going on over there and rely totally on what we read in the U.S. media, most of which is reported by the U.S. military itself.

Of course -- duh!!! -- election coming up, the military wants to elect McCain so they can continue to occupy Iraq, and they will report a dramatic decrease in violence meaning "the surge" worked. Is it really so? Where are the numbers?? What decrease? And as one poster has previously said, indeed, "What surge?"

It is some mightily convenient GOP propaganda if you ask me. Judging by the way things have gone with the War in Iraq, isn't it likely that once the election is over that the violence will pick right back up again to previous levels and we will need to send more of our sons and daughters for "surge 2.0?"

And BTW WTF is Obama doing giving credibility to shows like O'Reilly or Stephpopolos by going on them in the first place?
What's next, the Rush "the pill-popper" Limbaugh show or maybe Wally George (I admit I'm not even sure if Wally is still among the living) If so,color Barack as being on the campaign trail to nowhere!!

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Surge? Working? I seriously doubt it.
Posted by: blogoffanddie on Sep 10, 2008 6:26 PM   
Current rating: Not yet rated    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
Believe what you will, whether the surge is working or not, the official line has no credibility?

The Bush government has earned this distrust. Only the feeble minded accept blindly. After lie upon lie upon lie, any thinking person should approach all official statements with suspicion.

The modus operandi of this government is to say whatever furthers their agenda best. They don't let the truth get in their way. It is a proven fact that this government went to war in Iraq based on lies. Hundreds of thousands of people died because of these lies.

The problem with the American populace is they still believe they are the good guys in the world. They still view themselves as the cavalry, but they are in fact viewed as the hostile invaders and the belligerent occupiers.

http://blogoffanddie.wordpress.com

So long Dubya, we’ll Always Have Guantanamo!

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Euphemisms
Posted by: Direct Democracy on Sep 10, 2008 11:47 PM   
Current rating: Not yet rated    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
When the media use phrases like "targeting and killing" to describe assassination they sign off on assassinations.

When the media resort to warm and fuzzy euphemisms like "untruth" to describe a lie, they sign off on lies.

FREE AMERICA

REVOLUTIONARY (DIRECT) DEMOCRACY

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Let's Nutshell This Beeyotch
Posted by: ranchero42 on Sep 11, 2008 4:37 PM   
Current rating: Not yet rated    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
At some point in time the insurgents start running low on: people to kill and shit to blow up. Next time we feel the need to take over a country or region where suicide bombing is some kind of sick sacrament, what say we resist that urge?

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The members of the media are well aware
Posted by: TruthBeTold on Sep 12, 2008 12:57 AM   
Current rating: 5    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
of facts but will never report them to the American people. They are, according to John McCain, his base and have been shilling for him for years.

This will never change.

And because so many people in this country never seek out facts this the media's shilling will work.

Look at the bang-up job they did in informing the public about Iraq.

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