Archive for Michael
Obama’s Military Advisor Blames Bush
Retired US Air Force General Merrill McPeak believes Iran hates America because of President Bush’s “tough talk”. Truth is indeed stranger than fiction. I mean, you just can’t make stuff this good up! It is scary that someone this, well, dumb, could rise to a position of power and importance.
McPeak was the Air Force’s Chief of Staff and a member of the Joint Chiefs during the first Bush’s presidency. He claims that Iran is behaving the way they are because President Bush talks tough about them and insults them. Before President Bush they weren’t any problem. He even seems to defend Iran. “Iran is a big enemy of al Qaeda,” said McPeak. He said, “They were a big enemy of the Taliban. They cooperated with us quite completely in the initial phases of our Afghanistan operation.” So Iran cooperated with us, according to McPeak.
The Afghanistan operations he refers to didn’t begin until after the 9/11 attacks. Keep that in mind because McPeak went on to say, “…it was us that insulted them by including them in the ‘axis of evil’ and making sure they understood we didn’t like them very much.”
The ‘axil of evil’ statement was made by President Bush after the 9/11 attacks. McPeak can’t have it both ways. Frank Gaffney, was a Pentagon policymaker in the Ronald Reagan administration and now heads the Center for Security Policy. Gaffney said, “With all due respect to Gen. McPeak, what drives the United States and the Islamic Republic of Iran apart-and has since 1979-is the unwavering antipathy of the regime in Tehran towards teh United States, its ally Israel and freedom-loving, non-Islamist nations more generally.”
It was Iran that overthrew our embassy and held US citizens hostage for over a year during Jimmy Carter’s presidency. It was Iran then that named the US the ‘great satan’. It is Iran that has promised the complete destruction of Israel and the US. All this long before the current President Bush included them in the ‘axis of evil’.
McPeak is Obama’s senior military advisor. Obama has said that he would meet with Iranian leader Ahmadinejad, without pre-conditions. Yeah, McMillan met with Hitler and flaunted the “agreement” he reached with him. Don’t know who I’m talking about? Look it up. What were the consequences of that niave’ leader meeting with a murderous tyrant?
Angelina Jolie, “…we cannot afford…to squander the progress…”
Congratulations and thank you to a celebrity that has used her voice to point out what is really happening on the ground. Jolie reported what she saw and was told by people there and didn’t push a liberal, anti-America agenda that so many from Hollywood do today.
Before me is the article written by Angelina Jolie and published in the Washington Post.com opinions page. It is titled “Staying to Help in Iraq”. I hate it when I see quotes taken out of context so let me give you the complete quote that I’ve paraphrased in the title above. In the article Jolie stated, “What we cannot afford, in my view, is to squander the progress that has been made.” She goes on to say that we should step up our financial and material assistance.
Jolie is not only an actress but is a humanitarian activist and a United Nations good will ambassador. She works with the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees. Her article is about the Iraqi refugees still in Iraq and those that fled the country. It is her opinion that we have now reached a point in Iraq where humanitarian assistance can be effective.
The progress that she refers to is the progress made by the “surge” that has been effective in recent months in reducing our military losses and increasing security overall in Iraq. She met with Gen. David Petraeus and Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki. She even talked with American troops. Jolie feels that our recent success in Iraq has paved the way for increased humanitarian assistance and has asked for more money and effort in that area.
“As for the question of whether the surge is working, I can only state what I witnessed: U.N. staff and those of non-governmental organizations seem to feel they have the right set of circumstances to attempt to scale up their programs”, reported Jolie. Thank you for that, Ms. Jolie. Thank you for your honesty and the integrity to be on point with your stated goal. I hope that you are successful in your attempts to help the Iraqi refugees. With the continued help and support of the American government and military you will be successful.
Wait; let me qualify that about the American government. Barak Obama and Hilliary Clinton may put a stop to the good we’re doing in Iraq. They both promise that they’ll pull us out. Senator Reid and Representative Pelosi think our troops are murders and terrorists. Senator Kerry says we are the bad guys. Maybe, Ms. Jolie you should just count on the troops that you spoke to. The ones you said about, “And when I asked the troops if they wanted to go home as soon as possible, they said that they miss home but feel invested in Iraq. They have lost many friends and want to be part of the humanitarian progress they now feel is possible”.
Democrats and far too many Republicans have demonized President Bush and our military; I wonder how fast these same folks will rush to take credit for the humanitarian progress being made and that Ms. Jolie seems to think can now increase?
Dean Still Recovering From Melt-Down
I remember the melt-down of Howard Dean, past Governor of Vermont, during his bid to be president. He was screaming in-coherently, nearly foaming at the mouth. Apparently he hasn’t gotten over it.
Today he is being quoted from a speech he gave on Black History month at a university. He is quoted as saying, “that with a woman and an African-American as the two front-runners, the Democratic field “looks like America,” while the all-white male Republican field “looks like the 1950s and talks like the 1850s.”
Howard Dean, like most Democrats, just keeps re-writing history. They completely ignore their own failure in their self appointed and oft referenced role as savior and benevolent benefactor for African Americans.
Obama the Moving Target
Barak Obama has made many eloquent speeches without really saying anything. Getting him pinned down on a position about anything is quite a challenge.
In the recent debate it took his opponent and the moderator a long time to get him to make a solid stand on the Farakahn statement of support that was recently reported. He just wouldn’t reject the support. He kept saying that he had denounced anti-semitic comments by the Nation of Islam leader but just wouldn’t come out and reject his support until, finally, after repeated prodding he did. Or did he? He said if the word ‘reject’ pleased Clinton then ok. But he never did, and still hasn’t stated plainly and without question that he rejected the support of Farakahn as well as his divisive rhetoric.
In this same debate Obama said he’d immediately pull our troops out of Iraq. He then said that if Al Qaeda came into Iraq and established a base he reserved the right to take military action. Not if they committed terrorist acts or the atrocities that they are known for…only if they established a “base” in Iraq. Then John McCain pointed out that Al Qaeda was already in Iraq. After having a day to get his answer ready and scripted Obama’s reply was that Al Qaeda wasn’t in Iraq until we invaded there.
What a moving target Obama is. The fact is that he has no firm plan about Iraq. When attempts are made to pin him down on his pledge to immediately pull out of Iraq he falls back on his claim that he reserves the right to take military action, etc. His original comment illustrated just how niave’ and inexperienced he is in foriegn affairs and military issues.
When caught “off-script” like during the Farakahn issue in the debate he shows that he’s not that eloquent and knowledgeable; and certainly not committed to any position. On this Iraq exchange he had time to prepare and trotted out that spiffy comeback that avoided the point made by McCain…and avoided taking a stand once again! He completely skirted the issue.
Obama is a smooth tongued orator that is gifted at talking alot without really saying anything substantive. Like a river boat gambler he is adept at slight of hand with his commentary.
For a president I’d rather have someone that lets me know exactly where he stands. Someone that stands his ground in the face of adversity. A president that, even though I may not agree with him on everything, I know who he is and what he stands for. Not a moving target blown by the political winds and the vagaries of the most recent polls.
Predicting the future…I hope!
I was trying to find any significant “CHANGE” that Barrack Obama had initiated while in the Senate. He’s always talking about and promising change. Since no one will ask him to be specific about change and no one will ask him why he hasn’t initiated any change yet as a Senator (see my post earlier this month) I thought that maybe he had and I’d missed it. Well there is one change he’s proposed. Its called Senate Bill 2433, The Global Poverty Act of 2007.
Senate Bill 2433, the Global Poverty Act of 2007, would “require the President to develop and implement a comprehensive strategy to further the United States foreign policy objective of promoting the reduction of global poverty, the elimination of extreme global poverty, and the achievement of the Millennium Development Goal of reducing by one-half the proportion of people worldwide, between 1990 and 2015, who live on less than $1 per day.” Did you get that? We, you and me, the American taxpayer, are to pay for this.
The Iranian Gunboat Hoax
I was just reading some articles here and saw some posts accusing the US Navy of fabricating the recent incident with Iranian gunboats. You just have to shake your head at times and wonder.
I believe that during this incident the Iranians themselves released video showing their gunboats in close proximity to US Navy warships. The Iranians themselves made reference to the Gulf of Tonkin incident. THAT fed the conspiracy theorists! The Iranians count on our own folks to do most of their propaganda for them.
CHANGE
Change. It seems to be the most recent political buzz-word. As far as I can tell each and every candidate running for president has talked about and promised change.
Change. Yep, they all claim that America needs change, particularly in Washington, D.C. What makes this amazing is that three of the top four candidates, Clinton (both), Obama and McCain are all current members of the United States Senate. I do agree that if there is any entity in Washington that needs change it is the Senate.