Sure, the recommendations of the Iraq Study Group might be largely useless. But hey, check out all the wonderful consensus - and cue another chorus of Kumbaya! That, in a nutshell, is the message of the Boston Globe's editorial of this morning, Presidential Ingratitude.
Excerpts:
- "Whatever might be questioned in any particular recommendation of the report, the bipartisan spirit and consensus-building purpose of the Iraq Study Group deserve grateful praise from the president, not a defensive rejection."
- "The Iraq Study Group may not have come up with all the right answers; in their pursuit of unanimity, they may have settled for split-the-difference compromises where only one straight path makes sense. But in their bipartisan spirit of cooperation, they gave Americans a much-needed reminder of how statecraft once was conducted."
- "With its revival of the tradition of seeking consensus on foreign policy, the Baker-Hamilton report offers Bush a chance he should not miss."
Message to the Globe editorial board: please go back and read what you just wrote: "The Iraq Study Group may not have come up with all the right answers; in their pursuit of unanimity, they may have settled for split-the-difference compromises where only one straight path makes sense. But in their bipartisan spirit of cooperation, they gave Americans a much-needed reminder of how statecraft once was conducted." "
Surely you can't mean that. With so much at stake, you can't believe that it is more important for "statecraft" to achieve consensus than to find "the right answers," can you?
To hell with consensus and Kumbaya. Let's win the war on terror. And if that means bruising the tender egos of Vernon Jordan, Leon Panetta, & Co. you know what? - we can live with that.
Finkelstein recently returned from Iraq. Contact him at mark@gunhill.net
—Mark Finkelstein is a NewsBusters contributing editor and host of Right Angle. Contact him at mark@gunhill.net.
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Message to the Globe... Indefensible Report, huh???
December 9, 2006 - 08:22 ET by acaiguanaMessage to the Globe... Indefensible Report, huh???
"But, but... -- its a report!"
Darn it.
By the folks who brought you wisdom from the lofty mountain of high class intellectual arrogance. In their condescension toward the President, his foreign policy and their spewing abandonment of Israel they thought they could slip in the 'Right to Return' phrase because, hey, what the heck, Americans wouldn't even understand what they were talking about.
And that is what we are hearing. We are so stupid as a body politic and a nation of idiots that we cannot even understand what they are really saying.
Oh really? How about 'surrender'. Cut and run? Get out and declare ourselves the winners?
Do these people really think our enemy is unhappy with their report? I scoured the report and could not find one idea that pointed toward victory. Toward shoring up our relationship with our only ally in the region, Israel. Toward a strategy of isolation with Iran or toward a policy that would dictate terms to our trade partners that would once and for all settle where we stand.
Where was the revocation of 'most favored nation' status for all those countries that trade with Iran or N. Korea? Where was the strategy to deal with Syria? Where were any military strategies analyzed? How did the report forget the idea of winning?
But we all have consensus.
Consensus is the point where everyone agrees and thinking then stops.
ACA
...
Acaiguana says: "Ya can't win if ya don't play."
The left wants us to ignore
December 9, 2006 - 08:27 ET by badanovThe left wants us to ignore that foreign policy constitutionally is in the hands of the president and not congress nor their lapdog, ISG.
Brute Force: If It Doesn't Work, then You're Just not Using Enough!
Boston Globe=scum, shite, and wimpy little sissies
December 9, 2006 - 08:33 ET by kathleenirishYeah, and there's the ever-growing consensus among the people who used to read your 'newspaper' that it is one half lies and one half crap, which makes you a total joke.
Just like the idea that somehow everybody, including the terrorist despot states you seem to love so well, were one big, happy family that 'talked' about their feelings and needs, and everyone had tea and laughed together, well, until the big, bad Bush administration came and kicked sand on everybody's fun. If that isn't revisionist history, nothing is.
The Boston Globe is the weaker, babier version of the New York Times, and fading fast. Keeping the liberal elite faith, though. Can't wait until they're toast. The jihadists will probably get them first, though. Sharia is coming, get ready!
Is it 1939 again? It must be, or Neville Chamberlain and the terrorist appeasers are being channeled through the msm.
Is it 1939 again? It must
December 9, 2006 - 08:46 ET by DontFeedTheTrollsIs it 1939 again? It must be, or Neville Chamberlain and the terrorist appeasers are being channeled through the msm.
Sadly, I think you are right Kathleen. I see 2 to 10 million dead in Iraq when we leave (to appease the appeasers) and the Syrians and Iranians fight over who gets to keep Iraq. Then I see greater attacks against Israel, with the liberal appeasers saying 'stay out of it, it's none of our business'. Then the nukes start flying and our oil supply from that region dies off. Here comes hell and hell means war.
DSG
We can burn radioactive oil, right?
December 9, 2006 - 08:48 ET by acaiguanaWe can burn radioactive oil, right?
ACA
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Acaiguana says: "Ya can't win if ya don't play."
Iran has gotten away with eve
December 9, 2006 - 09:09 ET by kathleenirishIran has gotten away with everything they have ever done, why not now?
Maybe the Europeans could help, since I hear they are the most intelligent, insightful and convinicing people on the planet. Their 'negotiations' are legend in their success rates and amazing outcomes, they tell me. They've been 'talking' to the mullahs about "(please!) not making nuclear bombs, okay, please?"...and that has worked sooooo well!!! Just look at the results they have achieved! 18 or 19 years of 'engaging' and 'dialogue'. I did hear, though, that there's been so much laughing among the leadership of this terrorist nation that there's a flowing-robes shortage from all the pissing in their pants over how ignorant and foolish the 'world' is about their true intentions. And the leftist media gives them free (FREE!) publicity and support! Things are really going their way.
The MSM never seem to get around to the nastier parts of the realities of life for those who are victims of their regimes. No, they have to make false reports about American 'atrocities' and worry about terrorists-bent-on-killing-Americans being held in jail and their 'constitutional rights' being abridged somehow! The outrage!
Sorry, I got carried away.
The Boston Globe: Making 'corrections' for incorrect reporting for over 100 years.
"He who has a thousand friends has not a friend to spare, and he who has one enemy will meet him everywhere" -Ali ibn-Abi-Talib, 4th Islamic Caliph
Naw, my little Irish one, carry away, carry away.
December 9, 2006 - 09:14 ET by acaiguanaNaw, my little Irish one, carry away, carry away.
Here's all you need to remember. 444 days. That's how long Jimmy Carter talked to the Mullahs.
The result. Modern Iran.
ACA
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Acaiguana says: "Ya can't win if ya don't play."
If push comes to shove, we
December 9, 2006 - 13:05 ET by james789If push comes to shove, we don't need oil from the middle east. Yes things will be tough for awhile, but in reality, right now we have the technical knowledge and most of the resources already in place that we need to maintain our energy supplies right here in our country. What no one has ever talked about and I would welcome an open discussion of is what would happen to most of the people in the countries of the middle east and Africa if suddenly, their primary source of revenue disappeared. Then what would happen to the world as a result of over a billion followers of Islam who have no food, no jobs, and no respect, who have been taught for 3 generations to hate and despise the west.
The things that will destroy America are prosperity-at-any-price,
peace-at-any-price, safety-first instead of duty-first, the love of
soft living, and the get-rich-quick theory of life. Theodore Roosevelt
Is it 1939 again? I'd put
December 9, 2006 - 08:56 ET by Jack BauerIs it 1939 again?
I'd put it back to the start of the 1930s. 1939 was the culmination of appeasement.
Churchill spent the decade warning anyone who would listen that war was inevitable unless the allies acted then to stop Hitler and his Nazis.
Was there an "imminent" threat to the US or the UK in 1933? Of course not. (Though there was an immediate threat to German Jews.)
Was Hitler planning for war. Of course. And all the wishful thinking... all the "we can talk" mentality... all the "just get a consensus and make a few concessions appeasement"...
All that was a worthless, cruel sham that led to the deaths of millions upon millions when push came to war.
Churchill knew that. But no one in power was listening. They preferred to bury their head in the dirt. Sound famililiar?
A famous piece of Jewish folklore about the time.
WHEN A MAN SAYS HE'S COMING TO KILL YOU. BELIEVE HIM.
Proud member of the all-powerful and vast
militarist/industrialist/capitalist/zionist-bagelist complex
As depressing as it is to wri
December 9, 2006 - 14:33 ET by UnsaneAs depressing as it is to write this...we HAVE to LOSE A CITY in order for people to finally "get it". And even then, the media and many Leftists will not put the blame on the perpetrators and their source: they will be oh so happy to put the blame on the very existence of the United States military, much less its occasional use in our best interest, and those same Leftists will demand the creation of their dream Nanny State as the solution, for if we just get rid of our military and have a Nanny State, the entire world will see how super-nice we are and we'll all live happily ever after...
"Socialism is the philosophy of failure, the creed of ignorance and the gospel of envy." -Sir Winston Churchill, British statesman (1874-1965)
Unsane--frightening
December 9, 2006 - 15:18 ET by misterbillUnsane--frightening--but true. To lose an American city is unthinkable, but even worse is, I believe your follow on sentence about the Leftists is too true. Think of Quisling, Petain, Vichy. I expect I will not see all of it because even an old man can pull a trigger. I will not sit idly by.
Little Makes Sense
December 9, 2006 - 08:49 ET by allanfI made the mistake of going through the report. The report is not cohesive and does not propose a strategy. It puts forward a “laundry” list of recommendations which lack consistency. It is far from a strategy, rather just a throw it out there document.
From the report I learned that our troops are under funded. So are the Iraqi police. Yet a bunch of insurgents with haphazard funding from Iran and Syria are able to cause a “grave” situation.
I also learned that we need a wider solution to the Arab Israeli conflict for peace in Iraq. I hardly think that the Sunni’s and Shiites are killing each other as practice to better learn to kill the Jews.
The report also urged us to hold a regional conference, with everyone except Israel invited. It also urged us to talk to Iran and Syria. I don’t know about the rest of you but talking can be very dangerous. It can inflame a situation, What will we threaten and why would anyone take us seriously if we can’t solve this problem itself.
The report also kept talking about a national police force. Policing in Iraq needs to be a local affair, with local Sheiks controlling their own flocks. For someone looking to implement a strategy for victory the report contained nothing.
The dirty little secret of this mess is that it will quiet down on its own. Right now there is a power vacuum and factions are jockeying for position. If Sunni’s and Shiites don’t want to live together, they will separate on their own. Patience is the key to resolution, not conferences.
I expected better work than this from James Baker. He told Congress that the report is not a "fruit salad" where you can pick and choose. I agree, it is more like "chicken surprise".
To Mr. Baker, who makes no mention of victory I say, if you think it can't be done, you are right. You can't do it. Let President Bush and those who can lead finish the job.
What we have here is a failure to communicate.
December 9, 2006 - 09:01 ET by acaiguanaWhat we have here is a failure to communicate.
The report is geared to domestic politics. It only attempts to appease in order to 'unify' the so-called fractured American idiots.
Everything about this war is being used by the Democrats to further their domestic political power. There is no sense of international threat on behalf of radical Muslim Islamofascists to America or to the West. There is no idea that the real issue is a return to 8th century rule of Holy Law and forced religion. Talk about separation of Church and State? Naw, that only works in a free country. And freedom is what the Iraqis are struggling with as they have no prior experience with the concept.
So, in order to make nice nice, the report authors threw out any principle of good guy versus bad guy, took a shot at the neocons by abandoning Israel and then to ice the cake, suggested that the Bush Administration keep in contact with the Iraqi government.
This report was written by strong anti-war Democrats placed on the Iraq Surrender Group (HT to Rush) staff by Democrat congress members and the principals had no say in that matter. Is that ever mentioned? Not yet. Not by the MSM.
This report is really an embarrassment to this country, not to mention a stark comment on the quality of Ivy League Education.
James Baker should have just stayed home. "I'm sorry, I'm just too old and worn out to try to play anymore." That would have worked, huh?
How about staffing the Commission with Nebraska Corn Fed Huskers? They know how to compromise in the middle of the game, right?
ACA
...
Acaiguana says: "Ya can't win if ya don't play."
liberal mindset
December 9, 2006 - 09:03 ET by iveseenitallThis the liberal mindset. Right, wrong, whether it helps or doesn't,-- no matter. I got what I wanted, something which justifies me and puts the President in a poor light. This is what modern liberalism is all about. If millions die when we pull out, they won't care. Disgusting.
NEVER,NEVER trust a liberal
The 5 million, MILLION, innoc
December 9, 2006 - 09:21 ET by kathleenirishThe 5 million, MILLION, innocent people who died in Southeast Asia after our pullout from Vietnam, will pale in comparison.
But, what's a few million to a liberal Democrat in Congress? They have their power now.
They have always yawned over the 100,000,000 or more who have died as a direct result of those Gods of Humanism, Mao and Stalin. The MSM is even worse, though.
God help Israel.
"He who has a thousand friends has not a friend to spare, and he who has one enemy will meet him everywhere" -Ali ibn-Abi-Talib, 4th Islamic Caliph
"... the bipartisan spir
December 9, 2006 - 09:18 ET by Indiana Joe"... the bipartisan spirit and consensus-building purpose..."
"...in their bipartisan spirit of cooperation,..."
""With its revival of the tradition of seeking consensus on foreign policy,..."
Uh, SORRY, Globe. With the Democrat history of 14 years seeking "consensus and bi-partisanship" since they lost Congress, and the 6 years of seeing how far "bi-partisanship" and trying to be a "uniter" got President Bush, that dog won't hunt anymore. As "The Who" famously sung "Won't Get Fooled Again!"
Let's just win the damned war, what do ya say??? Sound like a "plan?"
Bipartisan
December 9, 2006 - 09:28 ET by allanfbi·par·ti·san (bī-pär'tĭ-zən, -sən) Pronunciation Key . The process of Republicans giving up their principles and ideas for agreement with Democrats. Supported by members of two parties after great beligerence on the part of Democrats to cow another into submission.
PERFECT, allanf!Post it on Wi
December 9, 2006 - 09:36 ET by Indiana JoePERFECT, allanf!
Post it on Wikipedia!
Now it belongs to the ages!
<edit to above> Hmm,
December 9, 2006 - 09:39 ET by Indiana Joe<edit to above> Hmm, apparently can't edit once a reply has been posted. Just wanted to change "sung" to "sang." Oh ,well..... <end edit>
YES, perfect. Capitualation t
December 9, 2006 - 09:47 ET by kathleenirishYES, perfect. Capitualation to the enemy only makes them want more. The Republicans in Congress lost their balls somewhere!
I seem to be getting a nasty potty mouth, here, better get to church tomorrow.
"He who has a thousand friends has not a friend to spare, and he who has one enemy will meet him everywhere" -Ali ibn-Abi-Talib, 4th Islamic Caliph
Remember that kid game where you spin a color?
December 9, 2006 - 10:18 ET by acaiguanaRemember that kid game where you spin a color?
It requires a mat on the floor with blobs of different colors and one spins and put their hands and/or feet on that color. As the game goes forward (two people play at the same time) the folks get all entangled trying to meet the spin requirements.
That is what this report is like.
ACA
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Acaiguana says: "Ya can't win if ya don't play."
don't stop now lass'e
December 9, 2006 - 12:12 ET by foolnomoremy lady: PLEASE!! don't stop NOW, your on a roll,an said nicer then i!!
In the future when we have
December 9, 2006 - 12:15 ET by Red JeepIn the future when we have reports like this why not try to keep the contents and the whole fact that a report is being done….A SECRET. Why encourage our enemies?
I just want to poinjt out tha
December 9, 2006 - 14:08 ET by NazarethI just want to poinjt out that Baker has isseud a request for an Arab meeting WITHOUT the 'pressures of Israel" being present. Baker's suggestion that we negotiate with Iran and Syria is an evil anti-Semetic maneuver to steal more land away from Israel by involving Iran and Syria who have been funding Hammas, and who will be in position in Iraq to exhert their will over Israel should we give them the go-ahead.
As one person said- Baker is in the pockets of Saudi Aribia, and NO way should he have been on this commission team! It IS akin to him being paid off by Hitler, and then turning around and suggesting that we include Nazi Germany in our efforts to 'help' Israel secure her borders.
NO way would we have stood for that and NO way should we stand for his recomendations that we include Iran, who has vowed over and over again to wipe Israel off trhe map, in ANY situations in this war on terror!
http://sacredscoop.com
On consensus
December 9, 2006 - 16:11 ET by UnsaneMargaret Thatcher did say one time that "Consensus is the absence of leadership."
"Socialism is the philosophy of failure, the creed of ignorance and the gospel of envy." -Sir Winston Churchill, British statesman (1874-1965)
Thatcher's right. The ISG w
December 10, 2006 - 21:59 ET by GalvanicThatcher's right. The ISG was a bad idea from the beginning, but both the Congressional Dems and the Reps figured that, if nothing else, it would give them political cover for not having any ideas themselves.
Unfortunately, the ISG 'compromise' is more useful to our enemies than it is to us or the Iraqis.
And for Bush, it is the last nail in the coffin for his Presidency. To most of the world, Hamilton and Baker represent the 'grown-ups" giving advice to W. --- this is disasterous for him and our troops in the field.
'Unfortunately, the ISG 'comp
December 10, 2006 - 22:08 ET by bigtimer'Unfortunately, the ISG 'compromise' is more useful to our enemies than it is to us or the Iraqis.'
Nothing new with that scenario is there Galvanic?
"Once the coffers of the federal government are opened to the public, there will be no shutting them again." - Grover Cleveland