The story: Rep. John Murtha, D-Pennsylvania, said problems in Iraq are due to a “lack of planning” by Pentagon chiefs and “the direction has got be changed or it is unwinnable.” His suggested “direction?” More troops and equipment should be sent to Iraq. Sounds fairly reasonable, right: what we are doing now is not enough to win, so we’ve got to do more if we are going to continue there at all.
And yet, commenting ONLY on the word “unwinnable,” here’s what Republicans have to say:
“The Democrats are quitting, calling the war unwinnable while we have our men and women and their families sacrificing every day” charged Rep. Sam Johnson, R-Texas.
“Democrats are "basically giving aid and comfort to the enemy,” echoed Rep. Michael Burgess, R-Texas.
Yeah, that’s a fair approximation of what he said. Right…
I think the main reason this pisses them off is that if we were to increase troop levels, we might have to admit exactly how much money we’ll actually need even if we don’t increase them, instead of deceptively trying to hide this cost until after the election.
Wait, you mean some Republicans lifted a single word out of its sentence, then used said word to demon-strate its utterer’s sympathy with “terrorists” and disloyalty to “the troops”?
Shocked, shocked. (But why do YOU hate America? Get a haircut! Get off welfare! Hippie!)
You know, if just ONE of those guys would say that sending so few troops into Iraq was stupid.
On the subway this morning, I was watching a Yuppy mother trying to entertain her two-year son. The boy had a pacifier in his mouth as she’s holding up a picture book and asking him what each picture is. OK, not bad, but…!
She’s trying to correct his pronunciation of each word, like “T-T-Taxi”. Now, I’m thinking "look lady, could you say “taxi” properly with a pacifier in your mouth? What the heck are you doing to the poor kid? Take the pacifier out of his mouth, for crying out loud! :mad:
They not only need birthing classes, we need a New Parent primer. Better still, maybe instead of marriage licenses, we need birthing licenses? - Jinx
Sorry, y’all! This was accidental and wish I could retract it! :eek: :rolleyes:
It was supposed to be a new thread for the Pit. I guess I’ll roast in SD Hell for this one! :eek: Feel free to “flame” me for this one and throw rotten tomatoes…
We now return you to your regularly scheduled thread…
Sorry! :so embarrased: Now, I’ll go hide away in shame…
Maybe a question for GD, but riddle me this, Batman…
In what possible way is this war winnable? Given unlimited resources, cooperative Iraqis, and a good dose of magic, what is the outcome that we are hoping for? Is there a win/win situation that could possibly happen?
Democrats and Republicans had a different definition of Winning in Iraq.
Democrates want Iraq to become a stable democratic country where everybody can vote and have freedom of speech and religion. Something like Rhode Island.
Republicans want Haliburton to make scads of money and for GWB to look tough.
Clearly the Democrats should be locked up Enemy Combatants and held without bail, or trial.
You can’t win a guerilla war (sorry, “asymetric war”) without the goodwill of the people. In such a situation, all you can do is come down on potential guerillas like a ton of bricks. Unless you’re pretty fucking sure that everyone you’re coming down on is actually an enemy…well, you’re just creating new ones, aren’t you?
The way to win is to kill/arrest/remove enemies faster than they can recruit replacements. Is that currently happening in Iraq? Isn’t that why Israel is in the exact same position with the Palestinians that they’ve been as far back as most can remember?
“Hearts and minds” isn’t just hippiecommiefaggot talk to make war sound even worse than it really is. It’s actually something we NEED over there.
I usually stay out of political arguments around here because they’re invariably nothing more than a huge waste of everybody’s time. There will never be room for a meaningful discussion so long as people cling to ignorant bullshit like this.
In all sincerity, you have seemed, well, unusually confrontative and argumentative. Sure you can dismiss a few folks’ perceptions, but maybe with sufficient numbers/diversity, it may compel you to reflect a bit and perhaps deal with it?