Category: Politics-US

Yes you read that right, the answer to Iraq is to follow the Korean War model:

With respect to foreign policy, this country has patiently endured a mismanaged war for nearly four years. Many, including myself, warned even before the war began that it was unnecessary, that it would take our energy and attention away from the larger war against terrorism, and that invading and occupying Iraq would leave us strategically vulnerable in the most violent and turbulent corner of the world.
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As I look at Iraq, I recall the words of former general and soon-to-be President Dwight Eisenhower during the dark days of the Korean War, which had fallen into a bloody stalemate. “When comes the end?” asked the General who had commanded our forces in Europe during World War Two. And as soon as he became President, he brought the Korean War to an end.

I wonder if anyone has bothered to tell Senator Webb the US still has nearly 30,000 US soldiers in South Korea and that the Korean War has not ended.  Did Senator Webb go to the Uri Party school of history?  Let me get this right the Democratic "exit strategy" from Iraq involves keeping at least 30,000 US soldiers in Iraq 50 years from now and signing an armistice with who?  Iran?  Al Qaida?  I wonder if Senator Webb will be willing to be the US representative to the signing of the GWOT Armistice Agreement with Bin Laden, Assad, and Ahmadinejad sitting on the other side of the table from him?  Then the Democrats can rely on the UN to enforce the armistice as well as it does with Hezbollah. 

Plus when Eisenhower became President he did not immediately end the actual official combat of the Korean War as the senator claims.  The war raged on for months before the armistice was signed and the armistice was finally signed due to Eisenhower threatening to use nuclear weapons.  So using the Democratic model for success the US should threaten to nuke Iran in order to get the GWOT armistice that hopefully Senator Webb will be willing to preside over and sign.  After the signing the US should then sign a defense treaty with Iraq like the US did with South Korea after the Korean War armistice.  Then to top of the great Democratic "exit strategy" the US should then be expected to have troops in Iraq 50 years from now.  Should the US call this force USFI, United States Forces Iraq? 

Another reason why as bad as the Republicans are I could never support the Democrats, what a bunch of demagogues more interested in expanding their own political power than supporting the troops in Iraq. 

OFK has a great write up on what the Democrats should have said last night.  Very funny, but oh so true.

UPDATE:  The moonbats are saying that this picture is a right wing hoax and that the picture is not from the chow hall in Baghdad but actually England because of the British flag in the background.  Well the moonbats are wrong again.  I don’t expect them to admit though.  I’m sure they come up with some Bush/Cheny/CIA conspiracy theory behind it next.  Here is a picture of the blogger who broke the story taking a picture of him in the chow hall sitting in the same chair as Kerry and holding a current Stars and Stripes newspaper proving that this is the chow hall in Baghdad. 

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This picture via LGF, from a US soldier in Iraq is just priceless:

Here is the note that the soldier wrote with the picture:

This is a true story…..Check out this photo from our mess hall at the US Embassy yesterday morning. Sen. Kerry found himself all alone while he was over here. He cancelled his press conference because no one came, he worked out alone in the gym w/o any soldiers even going up to say hi or ask for an autograph (I was one of those who was in the gym at the same time), and he found himself eating breakfast with only a couple of folks who are obviously not troops.

What is amazing is Bill O’Reilly came to visit with us and the troops at the CSH the same day and the line for autographs extended through the palace and people waited for two hours to shake his hand. You decide who is more respected and loved by us servicemen and women!

I have to wonder what Senator Kerry was thinking by going to Iraq in the first place?  I’m guessing he was hoping he would get some good photo ops with the troops in order to show that he is not anti-military.  Well it appears he isn’t going to be getting that photo op he is so desperately seeking any time soon.

best UN ambassador in recent memory for the US has been forced to resign due to partisan politics:

Unable to win Senate confirmation, U.N. Ambassador John Bolton will step down when his temporary appointment expires within weeks, the White House said Monday. Bolton’s nomination has languished in the Senate’s Foreign Relation’s Committee or more than a year, blocked by Democrats and several Republicans. Sen. Lincoln Chafee a moderate Republican who lost in the midterm elections Nov. 7 that swept Democrats to power in both houses of Congress, was adamantly opposed to Bolton.

Critics have questioned Bolton’s brusque style and whether he could be an effective public servant who could help bring reform to the U.N.

Bolton has been critical in getting North Korea related resolutions passed through the United Nations. Kim Jong-il can now sleep a little bit better at night because the walrus is gone simply because of partisan politics in the US. Bolton’s political critics won’t give him an up or down vote in the Senate simply because he would probably win the vote, so they have buried him in the committee.

OFK has more and I like his idea on who the next nominee for UN ambassador should be.

So now not only am I stupid, but I also have no career options:

I want to make it abundantly clear: if there’s anyone who believes that these youngsters want to fight, as the Pentagon and some generals have said, you can just forget about it. No young, bright individual wants to fight just because of a bonus and just because of educational benefits. And most all of them come from communities of very, very high unemployment. If a young fella has an option of having a decent career or joining the army to fight in Iraq, you can bet your life that he would not be in Iraq.

Let me guess, it was a botched joke.

What started his tirade you ask? It was this commend and question from Chris Wallace:

Congressman Rangel, you caused quite a stir this week when you said that you’re going to introduce a bill to reinstate the draft. Here’s what you said this week in a newspaper article. Let’s take a look. “The great majority of people bearing arms in this country, for this country in Iraq, are from the poorer communities in our inner cities and rural areas.”
But a recent and very detailed study by the Heritage Foundation, Congressman, found the following and I’m going to put that up: 13 percent of recruits are from the poorest neighborhoods. That’s less than the national average of people living in those neighborhoods. Ninety-seven percent of recruits have high school diplomas. Among all Americans, the graduation rate is under 80 percent. And blacks make up 14.5 percent of recruits for the military; the national average is 12 percent.
Congressman, in fact, contrary to what you’ve been saying, isn’t the volunteer army better educated and more well-to-do than the general population?

Rangel is an idiot and like many of the Democrats he can’t come to grips that this is not a 1968 military anymore. His demographic stereotypes of the US military do not match reality. White males are over represented in combat arms branches (slightly) while blacks are over represented in combat support elements. Not that there is anything wrong with that because everyone volunteers for the job they do in the army. Hispanics are the demographic most widely over represented in combat arms branches and I don’t hear hispanics complaining. Maybe because once again they volunteered for the positions. Rangel’s claims that blacks are some how over represent in combat arms branches while the white males are hiding in college like in 1968 are groundless and borderline race baiting just like his claims that people join the military because they have no other options.

The military is an all volunteer force, highly educated, and very professional. I for one like what I do and will go back to Iraq again if needed. It is a shame that some in the US government are determined to slur it and tear down those of us committed to defending this country.

HT: Milblogs

Maybe Kerry was right:

Maybe we are unedumucated?

Senator John Kerry was just had a press conference and he blames the controversy over his comments on (drum roll please) a Republican conspiracy against him!  Karl Rove must of drug and hypnotized him before he gave his speech.  He said his comments about stupid people going to Iraq was a “botched joke” against how stupid the president is.  Let me take this time to remind everyone, courtesy of B5 that Kerry wasn’t any genius at Yale either.

Kerry does say he supports the troops, and once again let me show everyone how he supports the troops:

I would like to talk, representing all those veterans, and say that several months ago in Detroit, we had an investigation at which over 150 honorably discharged and many very highly decorated veterans testified to war crimes committed in Southeast Asia, not isolated incidents but crimes committed on a day-to-day basis with the full awareness of officers at all levels of command….

They told the stories at times they had personally raped, cut off ears, cut off heads, taped wires from portable telephones to human genitals and turned up the power, cut off limbs, blown up bodies, randomly shot at civilians, razed villages in fashion reminiscent of Genghis Khan, shot cattle and dogs for fun, poisoned food stocks, and generally ravaged the countryside of South Vietnam in addition to the normal ravage of war, and the normal and very particular ravaging which is done by the applied bombing power of this country.

Here is his more recent comments about US troops “terrorizing” Iraqis:

In accusations about American troops reminiscent of what the young John Kerry said to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee in 1971, the senator and 2004 Democratic presidential nominee told CBS “Face the Nation” host Bob Schieffer there was no reason for U.S. soldiers to continue “terrorizing” Iraqi children.

“And there is no reason, Bob, that young American soldiers need to be going into the homes of Iraqis in the dead of night, terrorizing kids and children, you know, women, breaking sort of the customs of the – of – the historical customs, religious customs,” Kerry said Sunday

Oh yeah, he doesn’t like obese people either as he called Rush Limbaugh doughy.

Kerry refused to apologize for his remarks and I’ll take him at his word as this being a “botched joke” however, I think it is more offensive that he won’t apologize for his “botched joke” and just shows that his liberal politics are more important to him than apologizing for his bad joke and letting this thing blow over.  He is actually feeding the controversy now in order to bash President Bush as leading some kind of conspiracy against him.

Yes, that’s right, anti-Americanism in Korea is all President Bush’s fault because a Yale professor said so.  The Joong Ang has an interview with Korean-American Harold Hongju Koh, the Dean of the Yale Law School.  Most of the article is pretty much what you would expect from someone who served in the Clinton Administration and is now at Yale.  Lot’s of Bush sucks, neo-cans are bad, and Christians are even worse which he is entitled to his opinion on, however at the very end of the interview he said something caught my eye because it has no basis in fact:

How do you see the current state of U.S.-Korea relations?

From our vantage point, from a journalist’s vantage point, the U.S.-Korea alliance is very shaky and Korea-U.S. relations are very tense.  I have many objections to how U.S. foreign policy has been conducted, and I can understand why allies have objections. I also am very struck by the amount of anti-Americanism here. Korea is a country that has always been affectionate toward America. They were partners in the Korean War and many Koreans emigrated to the United States, like myself. I think that most Koreans have real affection toward Americans. It’s American policies that bother them and draw attention. Policies change from administration to administration.

Why a say this has no basis in fact is because the key issues of anti-Americanism in Korea have nothing to do with US governmental policy.  What does the protesting of an US Air Force bombing range have to do with US governmental policy?  What does the 2000 water dumping incident have to do with governmental policy?  What does the 2002 armored vehicle accident have to do with US government policy?  Or my favorite the “polluted” USFK base issue.  The list goes on and on.

The fact is that these people are not protesting and spreading anti-Americanism due to current US policies because you don’t see masses of people protesting over the US stance on North Korea compared to a traffic accident or the water dumping incident.  The reason for anti-Americanism in Korea are much more complex than that and aided by Korean politicians looking for short term political gain.  So just to simplify anti-Americanism in Korea as solely Bush’s fault is intellectually dishonest at best, but I guess it is to be expected from someone looking to blame their own failed North Korea policies with the former Clinton Administration on someone else.