Cain says president making mistake telling the enemy when the withdrawl begins

Herman Cain

Frontrunner Herman Cain did not write a press release, but that may be a good thing. It might have been more confusing than his 9-9-9 tax plan. He misunderstood his own plan. He it changed to 9-0-9. I heard him explain it but I am still confused.

Watching Cain, I sense he thinks he is the smartest person in the room, and everyone has to defer to him. To get the votes and support of the Tea Party, Cain has shown that he will pander and say whatever is necessary to achieve his political goals.

 Cain is a nonstop critic of President Obama. He said he would run circles around him in a foreign policy debate. I would pay to see that!  In a debate with President Obama, Cain would get whipped so fast he wouldn't realize he's been hit by lightning speed intelligence.

Cain's cryptic statement on troop withdrawal from Iraq was made in the midst of his campaign. It reveals how short-sighted he is when it comes to a complex subject like foreign policy.

"Whether or not it's the right thing to do, I would consult with the commanders. The thing that I wouldn't do that the president is doing, is telling the enemy how many troops you gonna bring out and when you gonna bring 'em out. I believe that our time there was worth it, but I would not have announced this big drawdown, tell the enemy so now they're going to basically position themselves." 

That's it?           

President announces withdrawal of soldiers from Iraq at end of year

President Barack Obama

Today President Obama announced the withdrawal of soldiers deployed in Iraq. Conservatives like John McCain are not pleased. Republicans want troops to stay in Iraq indefinitely. The majority of Americans want the soldier home and an end to the conflict.

 “As a candidate for president, I pledged to bring the war in Iraq to a responsible end, for the sake of our national security and to strengthen American leadership around the world,” Obama began. “After taking office, I announced a new strategy that would end our combat mission in Iraq and remove all of our troops by 2011. As Commander-in-Chief, ensuring the success of this strategy one of my highest national security priorities.

“Last year, I announced the end to our combat mission in Iraq, and to date we’ve removed more than 100,000 troops. Iraqis have taken full responsibility for their country’s security.

A few hours ago I spoke with Iraqi Prime Minister Maliki. I reaffirmed that the United States keeps its commitments. He spoke of the determination of the Iraqi people to forge their own future. We are in full agreement about how to move forward.”

Some stats on the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan:

• 8 years, 260 days since Secretary of State Colin Powell presented evidence of Saddam Hussein’s biological weapons program 
• 8 years, 215 days since the March 20, 2003 invasion of Iraq 
•  8 years, 175 days since President George W. Bush’s “Mission Accomplished” speech on the USS Abraham Lincoln 
• 4,479 U.S. military fatalities 
• 30,182 U.S. military injuries 
• 468 contractor fatalities 
• 103,142 – 112,708 documented civilian deaths 
• 2.8 million internally displaced Iraqi
•  $806 billion in federal funding for the Iraq War through FY2011 
• $3 – $5 trillion in total economic cost to the United States of the Iraq war according to economist Joseph E. Stiglitz and Linda J. Blimes 
• $60 billion in U.S. expenditures lost to waste and fraud in Iraq and Afghanistan since 2000
•  0 weapons of mass destruction found in Iraq

Stats from ThinkProgress, October 21

'My sons are serving the country when they campaign for me.'

Mitt Romney

 A few years ago, when Mitt Romney was running for president, he was asked about his sons enlisting in the Army, going to Iraq. I thought he would give an intelligent answer, given that thousands of young men and women were deployed in Iraq. Thousands of them volunteered because they wanted to serve their country after 9/11.

Romney said, flashing that silly grin, "My sons are serving the country when they campaign for me."

I was almost speechless at his arrogance. His five sons--healthy and sun kissed were standing next to him, that same silly grin plastered on their lips. The media showed pictures of his sons living the good life, enjoying their favorite foods and recreational activities, relishing freedom from a war in the Middle East.

Today, after President Obama announced he is withdrawing soldiers from Iraq at the end of the year, Romney had the gall to talk about spilled blood and sacrifices made by the men and women fighting in a foreign country. He said in a press release:

 “President Obama’s astonishing failure to secure an orderly transition in Iraq has unnecessarily put at risk the victories that were won through the blood and sacrifice of thousands of American men and women. 

"The unavoidable question is whether this decision is the result of a naked political calculation or simply sheer ineptitude in negotiations with the Iraqi government. The American people deserve to hear the recommendations that were made by our military commanders in Iraq.” 

Political expediency ahead of sound judgment?

Rick Perry

 Texas Governor Rick Perry thinks President Obama is employing bad judgment in his decision to bring home soldiers deployed in Iraq at the end of the year. Republicans are losing their minds, refusing to give the president credit for keeping his promise to wind down the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. American are demanding that the President "end the wars!"  Republicans are saying: "Wait a minute. Not yet!"

Perry said in a press release: "I'm deeply concerned that President Obama is putting political expediency ahead of sound military and security judgment by announcing an end to troop level negotiations and a withdrawal from Iraq by year's end. The President was slow to engage the Iraqis and there's little evidence today's decision is based on advice from military commanders.

"America's commitment to the future of Iraq is important to U.S. national security interests and should not be influenced by politics. Despite the great achievements of the U.S. military and the Iraqi people, there remain real threats to our shared interests, especially from Iran.

“The United States must remain a firm and steadfast ally for Iraq, maintaining an ongoing diplomatic, economic, and military to military partnership with this emerging democratic ally in the Middle East. As a veteran and commander-in-chief of national guard forces, I cannot express enough appreciation for our military service members who have protected and defended American interests in Iraq. Our Iraq war veterans made enormous sacrifices to make our nation and world safer, and I know all Americans will welcome them home with great pride and appreciation.”

A baffled Bachmann tells President Obama to go back to the negotiating table

Presidential candidate Michele Bachmann wasted no time responding to President Obama's announcement that soldiers will be coming from Iraq by the end of the year. She wholeheartedly disagrees with the President's actions. During the sideshows called debates, she never misses a chance to pull the ripcord of misinformation. For starters she says President Obama is weak. Her husband Marcus probably tells her what to say. After all she is a godly Christian woman who is obedient to her husband and God.

Regarding President Obama intentions to bring home soldiers deployed in Iraq, Bachmann stated this in a press release:

Michele Bachmann

"Today's announcement that we will remove all of our forces from Iraq is a political decision and not a military one; it represents the complete failure of President Obama to secure an agreement with Iraq for our troops to remain there to preserve the peace and demonstrates how far our foreign policy leadership has fallen. 

In every case where the United States has liberated a people from dictatorial rule, we have kept troops in that country to ensure a peaceful transition and to protect fragile growing democracies. We will now have fewer troops in Iraq than we have in Honduras – despite a costly and protracted war.

"President Obama's decision represents the end of the era of America's influence in Iraq and the strengthening of Iran's influence in Iraq with no plan to counter that influence. We have been ejected from a country by the people that we liberated and that the United States paid for with precious blood and treasure. The administration claims that we got exactly what we needed, but today's announcement demonstrates otherwise.

"The United States needed a working democratic partnership in Iraq and we should have demanded that Iraq repay the full cost of liberating them given their rich oil revenues. I call on the president to return to the negotiating table with Iraq and lead from the front and not from weakness in Iraq and in the world."

Creating facts that are easily disproved

Chris Matthews, MSNBC

Watching Chris Matthews’ Hardball today I was struck by war stats he threw out at the beginning of his show. The guests were Republicans Michael Steele and Ron Reagan. Matthews, talking about the American causalities in the Afghanistan war, said during the Bush presidency only 630 soldiers were killed from 2001 to 2008; in the case of President Obama, since 2009 to the present, 1,000 soldiers have been killed in Afghanistan.

I wrote the numbers down to make sure I heard them correctly. They were discussing the President’s “two wars” in Afghanistan and Libya, his polices, questioning why Americans were still in Afghanistan. They were all over the place with their expert wisdom. As usual, Matthews was way, way off track!

Going on the Internet I found the information I was looking for at The Washington Post, under the banner “Faces of the Fallen.”  This information assured me even more than Matthews. As usual, he was creating his own facts. His guests did nothing to disabuse him of these wrong numbers. I looked for Afghanistan stats alone but couldn't find them. Fallen soldiers in both wars are combined. Matthews didn't say where he got his statistics.

The “Faces of the Fallen” site was designed by Nelson Hsu and Alyson Hurst and programmed by Andrain Holovaly. To see the complete breakdown with photos, ages, year of death, home state and military branch, go to washingtonpost.com, key in "Faces of the Fallen" to view the site.

To date the total of fatalities in Iraqi and Afghanistan is 6,026. The wounded  was not included in the statistics, but the number is reportedly in the thousands. Wounded soldiers suffer a variety of serious wounds due to IED attacks.

*Barack Obama was not sworn in as president until January 20, 2009.

Many fools blindly rush into a situation; but wise men prefer to be cautious and analytical

Presidential candidate Paul Pawlenty

Republican Tim Pawlenty, a potential presidential candidate in 2012, is perturbed by President Obama. He thinks the President should take unilateral action against Libya. He shouldn't pull together an international coalition to resolve the bloody battle Muammar Qaddafi is visiting upon Libyans revolting against him.

Pawlenty said in an interview with Politico: “ I’m not overtly concerned with our popularity in Europe or the Middle East.” As the Church Lady on Saturday Night Live might say: “Isn’t that special!” Realistically, it’s not wonderful and Pawlenty should be concerned. The tough guy image he is cranking up for the media and voters is pure buffoonery.

Neocon Republicans like Pawlenty, many of whom have never fought in a real guns and bullets war, are anxious to send others to fight and die while they stay home, sitting on their cushy asses, offering shopworn lip service to whoever will listen. President Obama is correct in using absolute caution about Libya. Only a chest beating fool would rush into Libya with guns blazing and bombs bombing without a flow chart of choices.

That's what Bush did in Iraq. He had already given orders to bomb Iraq, telling the American people 24 hours later. Americans, out for revenge after 9/11, applauded Bush's actions without knowing the facts. No flow charts. No exit plans on the table. Over a million deaths and human injuries later, the world finally learned the truth. There were never any WMDs in Iraq. The preemptive "Shock and Awe"bombings were personal with Bush. He had a long bone to stick up Saddam Hussein’s tokus. Hussein had threatened his daddy and Bush was angry. 

Dick Cheney and Donald Rumsfeld said the Iraqi people would greet Americans with "roses and chocolates." They would shout with joy for being rescued from the hands of an evil dictator. Bush lied and people died. He made a speech on the aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln with a large backdrop banner simply stating: “Mission Accomplished.” The mission was nowhere close to being accomplished.

Here it is 10 years later and American soldiers have not received roses and chocolates from the Iraqi people. Instead, they are angry and that anger has turned outward on Americans. All of our memories are connected to televised images of death, destruction and misery in the Middle East. We saw families grieving over their sons and daughters killed in battle. Grieving Iraqi mothers and fathers were no less difficult to watch.

There is no graceful way to withdraw from Afghanistan and Iraq. Bush and his gang of neocons have gone on to live their lives, appearing on TV, writing books, hitting the lecture circuit, living large and comfortably. Thousands of American men and women are stuck in a foreign land, unable to realize comfortable lives with their families, unable to make TV appearances, lecture for money or write books. Thousands of them are crippled both mentally and physically for life.

Bush's big lie should not be forgotten by any of us. The wounds of these wars are too deep to push to the back of our minds.

If President Obama go it alone in Libya, America may find itself in another protracted Middle East conflict. The same spineless neocons pushing for an immediate show of American chutzpah, are the same hypocrites who will use it against President Obama in 2012 if a unilateral invasion evolves into a long confrontation. Iraq and Afghanistan are perfect, in-your-face examples of why it is dangerous to kick down a door without knowing what’s waiting behind it.

Corruption in Iraq and Afghanistan: A meat and potatoes diet of fattening money

Corruption has always been ripe as rotten fruit in Iraq and Afghanistan, starting with American companies such as Blackwater Security, Haliburton and other makeshift contractors from America. They saw a way to get rich quickly amid the Bush created chaos in these countries. Corruption and rip-offs began days after the first bombs were dropped in Iraq.

I saw one young American bragging  about flatbed trucks he delivered to Iraq. He had a multi-million dollar no bid contract. The trucks did not work; they were old and broken. The contractor said he did not guarantee the trucks would work. His corruption was bold and bodacious. He was arrogant enough to get on American TV in Iraq and make this confession with a smile.

There will never be security in Iraq or Afghanistan due to the many young men will to strap bombs to their bodies. Suicide bombers do not mind dying for their cause. Iraqi women are now volunteering to be suicide bombers. They want to kill American soldiers.

From the beginning America has been reluctant to join forces with the citizens of Iraq to strengthen their police and security forces. America was reluctant to engage the people in redevelopment and rebuilding what bombs destroyed. The loss of life was carelessly treated as “collateral damage.” Had they been paid a decent wage to rebuild their homes and businesses, the enemy wouldn't have been able to convince a great number of them to become suicide bombers. Americans felt that "nation building should begin in America.

Had the people in Iraq been treated fairly, with respect and asked to rebuild their homes and businesses after President Bush's "Shock and Awe" bombing campaign, the Taliban and other terrorists couldn't have thrived and survived for fear of  getting turned over to  American soldiers, or killed by Iraqis. The terrorists' foothold on the people would weaken. Citizens would have more to gain than to lose by cooperating with America.

Corrupt politicians in Iraq and Afghanistan, like those in America, are a hindrance to peace, stability and progress. Kickbacks, price gauging and free money are too seductive to ignore. Once the corruption ball started rolling downhill in 2001 it was hard to roll it back uphill.

“The Taliban is not a popular movement, but it exploits a population frustrated by weak governance,” stated a recent report titled Progress toward Security and Stability in Afghanistan.  Citizen involvement is the key to thwarting Taliban threats of violence and retaliation against American soldiers and peoples in the Middle East.