"It appears we have appointed our worst generals to command forces, and our most gifted and brilliant to edit newspapers. In fact, I discovered by reading newspapers that these editor/geniuses plainly saw all my strategic defects from the start, yet failed to inform me until it was too late.
Accordingly, I am readily willing to yield my command to these obviously superior intellects, and I will, in turn, do my best for the Cause by writing editorials - after the fact."
- Robert E. Lee, 1863
Haha. Great quote! And very applicable to current events.
What about when real soldiers return from Iraq and contradict the fairy tales we hear from the president? Are real soldiers to be trusted? Or, are they traitors for speaking?
I'm sure there are times Grant, Sherman, and Lincoln would agree with him!
I'm confused. Which side am I supposed to cheer for again? I've got lots of relatives on BOTH sides of that one. I think I'm at least 1/4 Redneck and 1/4 PWT when all is said and done.
Charles of Schaumburg
If updated to todays world he would be referring to Faux Noise.
Attribution is ambiguous but let's take it as a given. What's your point?
I don't have a point. It's all the Monday morning quarterbacks that have a pointy head.
That would include you, since like me, you are not a soldier.
Who are the Monday morning quarterbacks to whom you refer?
Are you suggesting that there shouldn't be civilian control over the military? That Congress shouldn't ask Petraeus questions?
That there are no checks and balances? That Congress shouldn't ask the Administration questions?
I thought it interesting that you provided a quote from Lee. That was an interesting situation, as you no doubt recall. The South didn't stand a chance and sent Lee to war, anyway. What was the fundamental problem, there? "Wrong war," of course.
So, are you sending a subtle message to the Administration that they've screwed up, badly? It sure looks like it.
Who on those Committees asked any question of the General? All I heard was Dim Senators and Congressmen posturing and trying to make him look bad. It seemed like, at some point, one of them would ask him if he still beats his wife LOL
mike
And all I seen was some democrats pontificating and making political speeches. What a bunch of wind-bags.
The General on the other hand was spectacular. He blew the dims away. They are floundering.
The war is floundering, as is its architect.
LOL. You didn't listen, you read posts here and caught a 30-second blurb on Faux News.
I was referring to newspaper editors -- specifically the New York Times but you can choose from any other one also. They almost all lean heavily to the left.
Congress should certainly ask questions and hold the Administration's feet to the fire but not with the zeal for partisanship that they have been displaying for the past six years. I truly believe they do not have the American people's best interest in mind, just their own party's. It's all about having power no matter what the cost.
I love labels.
Left leaning?
"Yet being faced with the truth that the war is going terribly, there are still people who believe that the U.S. should stay the course. So what does this harmful strategy mean in terms of the effect on service members? Since Bush's announcement in 2003, 3,328 service members have died in Iraq as of this writing. The military is in a state of crisis because morale and discipline have been eroding since the war began. The military reported 22 "self-inflicted" deaths during 2006 in Iraq. There were 3,196 reported desertions during 2006 with the number rising significantly each year. There is also the issue of troops coming home with significant injuries such as Post Traumatic Stress Disorder and Traumatic Brain Injury and being turned away by the Department Of Defense and the VA. This has meant that troops who are suffering from significant mental health problems are being given a rifle and being sent back into combat for second, third, or even fourth deployments. The Army is also having such a hard time with the rate of deployments that they have implemented a back-door draft called "stop-loss" that holds soldiers against their will for extended periods of time after their contract expires."
My father is from Mississippi and has a brother who's just like My Name Is Earl Hickey.
Principles above all. Never cheer for Confederates, Communists, fascists, plutocrats, or fundamentalists.
Nobody said it would be easy. So you pick and choose your wars by who you vote for? Liked clinton so the Kosovo conflict is not mentioned. Hate Bush so the Iraq terrorist hunt is not liked. Hell, look at Korea, 53 years later we still have an army stationed there, but that's ok because Truman was the president. Look at clintons war, 10 years later we still have troops in Kosovo, but that's ok because it was clintons war and he knows better, BULLcrap. I think you people think Iraq people are of a lower class and don't deserve better treatment, is that what you believe?
"Some critics have accused the coalition of leading a war in Kosovo under the false pretense of genocide.[10] President Clinton of the United States, and his administration, were accused of inflating the number of Kosovar Albanians killed by Serbians.[11] Clinton's Secretary of Defense William Cohen, giving a speech, said, "The appalling accounts of mass killing in Kosovo and the pictures of refugees fleeing Serb oppression for their lives makes it clear that this is a fight for justice over genocide."[12] On CBS' Face the Nation Cohen claimed, "We've now seen about 100,000 military-aged men missing...They may have been murdered."[13] Clinton, citing the same figure, spoke of "at least
100,000 (Kosovar Albanians) missing".[14] Later, talking about Yugoslav elections, Clinton said, "they're going to have to come to grips with what Mr. Milo?evi? ordered in Kosovo...They're going to have to decide whether they support his leadership or not; whether they think it's OK that all those tens of thousands of people were killed...".[15] Clinton also claimed, in the same press conference, that "NATO stopped deliberate, systematic efforts at ethnic cleansing and genocide."[16] Clinton compared the events of Kosovo to the Holocaust. CNN reported, "Accusing Serbia of 'ethnic cleansing' in Kosovo similar to the genocide of Jews in World War II, an impassioned President Clinton sought Tuesday to rally public support for his decision to send U.S. forces into combat against Yugoslavia, a prospect that seemed increasingly likely with the breakdown of a diplomatic peace effort."[17] Clinton's State Department also claimed Yugoslav troops had committed genocide. The New York Times reported, "the Administration said evidence of 'genocide' by Yugoslav forces was growing to include 'abhorrent and criminal action' on a vast scale. The language was the State Department's strongest yet in denouncing Yugoslav President Slobodan Milo?evi?."[18] The State Department also gave the highest estimate of dead Albanians. The New York Times reported, "On April 19, the State Department said that up to 500,000 Kosovar Albanians were missing and feared dead."[19]"
Your description is so bad it's what one would expect from a PR hack.
Gen. Petraus came across as a decent but not spectacular man who was trying to defend, not enthusiastically, the GW Bush administration's indefensible Iraq policy. BTW, Petraus may know what we should do in Iraq, but his own track record for command is sub-par, and his successors have had to fix his shortcomings.
You ask yet another question, but the answer is obvious in what you posted, so why did you believe you needed to ask the question? LOL
mike
You mean like Judy Miller?
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