State of the Grab Bag Address 2008
Last update: Video here, here, and here.
Scroll down for updates…Democrat Kansas Gov. Kathleen Sibelius responds blandly to SOTU…McCain skips out, gives advice from Florida…Sen. Jim DeMint gives conservative response…Obama disses Bush…
Nancy Pelosi final blink count: 1,002.
Dick Cheney final blink count: 2.
***
I’ll be liveblogging the State of the Union Address at 89pm Eastern, if I can drag myself out of depression. Electile dysfunction. Whatever it’s called. These annual rituals have become dreary exercises in grand government grab-bag rhetoric. President Bush’s final SOTU address promises to be no different. The White House sends along this handy online guide to all the spending initiatives to be unveiled today. On top of stimulation-palooza, we’ll hear about:
“Reauthorizing No Child Left Behind And Expanding Education Options: President Bush will call on Congress to pass bipartisan legislation reauthorizing and strengthening No Child Left Behind. He will also ask Congress to support a new $300 million “Pell Grants for Kids” program to help poor children in underperforming schools afford the schools of their choice and announce a White House Summit on inner city children in faith-based and other non-public schools that will be held this spring.”
“Increasing Energy Security And Confronting Climate Change: President Bush will call on Congress to build on the success of the energy bill he signed in December and take the next steps to improve our energy security and confront the challenge of climate change without undermining economic growth. He will reaffirm the United States’ commitment to work with the other major economies and through the UN toward an international agreement on climate change that can slow, stop, and then reverse the growth of greenhouse gas emissions through actions by every major economy. He will also call for the creation of a new $2 billion international clean technology fund.”
“Empowering America’s Armies Of Compassion: President Bush will call on Congress to help ensure equal treatment for faith-based organizations seeking Federal funding by permanently extending Charitable Choice provisions guaranteeing their participation on equal footing in certain Federal programs. In addition, the President will honor the resilience of the people of the Gulf Coast, and the contributions volunteers have made to the region, by announcing that the United States will host the annual North American Leaders’ Summit in New Orleans this April.”
“Improving Border Security, Immigration Enforcement, And Assimilation: President Bush will review the steps his Administration is taking to improve our border security and address immigration challenges within the boundaries of existing law. Although Congress has not passed legislation to address the immigration challenges our Nation faces, the Administration continues to build upon progress we have already made in strengthening our borders, enforcing our worksite laws, prosecuting criminal aliens, keeping our economy well-supplied with vital workers, and helping new Americans successfully assimilate into our society. Without legislation that creates a lawful way for foreign workers to support our economy, however, we cannot fully relieve the pressure on the border.”
“Supporting A Compassionate Foreign Policy: President Bush believes freedom can only be advanced if the United States does its part to eliminate the hunger, disease, poverty, and illiteracy that creates despair and allows violent extremism to take root. The President will ask Congress to reauthorize the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, consistent with the program’s successful founding principles, and to double the Plan’s historic initial commitment with an additional $30 billion over five years. He continues to support the President’s Malaria Initiative to combat malaria in 15 African countries, and the President will also ask Congress to support an innovative proposal to provide food assistance by purchasing crops directly from farmers in the developing world.”
Meantime, a few tipsters sent the following photo of the media gallery seats. One correspondent e-mails: “If any of you want the terrorist reaction to tonight’s State of the Union Speech, you have to go no further than the U.S. Capitol. Democrat Leaders in Congress have arranged for the media voice representing all things terror to get front row seats in the press stake-out in the US Capitol tonight—where members of Congress will give their reactions to the President’s speech. Congressional leaders have conveniently placed Al Jazeera a mere 3 or 4 steps outside the House (Democrat) Majority Whip’s Office. I wonder how all the U.S. and Western media outlets that got pushed out to make room for Al Jazeera feel about this? I wonder how the U.S. Military—who lost countless brothers and numerous strategic edges in the War on Terror due to terrorist-TV—will feel about this? I wonder how mom and pop America will feel about this? PS—As a Texan, I am offended that they put Al Jazeera in front of the statue of my hero, Sam Houston. Why couldn’t they put them in front of the statue for Jeanette Rankin of Montana—the only member of Congress to vote against declaring war on Japan after the Pearl Harbor massacre?”
Update: 8:52pm Eastern. Lots of pre-speech schmoozing on the floor. Teddy Kennedy is now welded to Barack Obama’s hip. Hillary Clinton is making a beeline to every black House member. Dick Cheney looks bored.
Update: 9:01pm Eastern. The Cabinet has entered. Michael Chertoff is winking at someone. Gack. CNN’s reporting that Hillary went over to shake hands with Sen. Windbag. Obama, the network reports, avoided Hill. Meeooow.
Update 9:06pm Eastern. The president is introduced. A momentary break in the BDS clouds over Washington. Standing ovation. The president just rubbed someone’s bald head. There’s Sheila Jackson Lee, as usual, parked right up in Bush’s face. Another shot of Sen. Windbag and his new best friend. How many times will the cameras cut away to Obama and Kennedy?
The first ovation lasted 4 minutes. Pelosi formally introduces Bush. Another ovation.
Blink. Blink. Blink. Blink. I have to stop watching Nancy Pelosi’s eyes. She’s making me blink, blink, too. My contacts are going to slip out.
Update 9:13pm Eastern. President Bush opens with the economy. He talks about trusting people with their own money and empowering them to make their own decisions.
(Except, of course, when they make bad decisions in an election year. Then it’s Washington To The Rescue!)
The president cracks a joke about wealthy people offering to pay more in taxes. “I welcome their enthusiasm. The IRS accepts both checks and money orders.” Charlie Rangel smirks, Hillary Clinton rolls her eyes slightly, Nancy Pelosi blink-blinks.
Bush calls for making tax cuts permanents.
Cheers to that. Applause from Republicans.
Mentions earmark reform, spending reform. “Americans have to balance their budgets. So should their government.”
Loud cheers and applause. Vows to veto appropriations bill that don’t meet his earmark cuts. More cheers.
Moving on to health care: “Expand consumer choice, not government control.” Obama has his fingers on his mouth. Pelosi looks at her shoes. Blink, blink.
Update 9:22pm Eastern. Bush is hyping the No Child Left Behind Act. His good friend, Teddy Kennedy, with whom he partnered on NCLB, doesn’t even bother to look up. Bush talks about liberating poor children trapped in failing public schools. Applause. Well, Pelosi doesn’t applaud. Guess she’s for keeping poor children hostage in failing public schools.
Update 9:26pm Eastern. Bush talks free trade. He moves on to energy independence. Too funny: CNN focuses on a snoozing member of Congress. Not sure who it is. He’s in Deep Sleep Stage 4. At least.
Bush talks green talk: We must “confront global climate change.” Hillary claps perfunctorily.
Update 9:31pm Eastern. Bush speaks passionately in defense of ethical science, addresses embryonic stem cell research. “We must ensure that all life is treated with the dignity it deserves.” Applause, standing o. Moves to judges and calls for prompt up-or-down votes. Applause.
Update 9:33pm Eastern. Announces a summit in New Orleans. Standing ovation.
Moving to failures. “Entitlement spending and immigration.” “I’ve laid out my proposals. Now I ask for your proposals.”
Woo-hoo! Everybody claps! Yay! Let’s have entitlement reform! Clap for the cameras.
Then: Do nothing.
Bush reviews border enforcement. He calls for “a lawful way for foreign workers to come here and participate in the economy…We must find a humane way…that upholds both our laws and our highest ideals.” Applause
There is a lawful way. Through the front door. The most “humane” thing the feds can and should do is apply the law in a consistent, coherent manner. Enforce it. Stop perpetuating selective policies. Stop protecting law-breakers from the consequences of their actions. Put law-abiding Americans’ interests above those of Big Business and the “diversity” industry.
Update 9:38pm Eastern. Terrorism. We have taken the fight to terrorists and extremists. We will stay on the offense. We will keep up the pressure. We will deliver justice to our enemies. Standing ovation. Democrats get up…reluctantly.
Bush reviews the surge. “One year ago, our enemies were succeeding in their efforts to plunge Iraq into chaos…improvements in security followed by improvements in daily life…thanks the troops…” Everyone stands. Oh, how things have changed in a year. Bush touts improvements in Iraqi security forces. Standing ovation. “No doubt…al Qaeda is on the run in Iraq and this enemy will be defeated.”
9:46pm Eastern. Big applause. Oh, boy. What do you do if you’re a Dem? The surge is working? Stand? Sit? Bite one’s tongue?
I heard some strange yelling. Not sure if it’s someone trying to disrupt the speech.
Promises men and women in uniform: “You wil have all you need to protect our nation…I ask Congress to…fully fund our troops.”
“20,000 troops will be coming home.” Louder applause from Dems than when Bush declared that al Qaeda was on the run. Pelosi smiles broadly.
On political reconciliation: “We’re seeing some encouraging signs…de-Baathification reform…Iraqis still have a distance to travel, but after decades of pain and dictatorship, progress is being made…Iraqis taking control of their future…it is in the vital interest of the U.S. that we succeed…My fellow Americans: We will not rest until this enemy has been defeated.” Applause.
9:52pm Eastern. Moves to Israel-Palestine and security threat from Iran.
Nancy Pelosi is fidgety. Fiddle with program. Sniffles.
“We will defend our vital interests in the Persian Gulf.” Ovation. “We will take every lawful measure to protect our country.” Mentions no attacks on American soil since 9/11. “Not for lack of desire.” Bush calls for giving them tools to protect America.
That is: Permanent FISA reform.
Pelosi purses her lips. Or rather, tries to purse her lips.
Bush: “We’ve had ample time to debate. The time to act is now!” Standing ovation from Republicans. All Democrats seated.
Yes, as I said last week, there are still differences between the parties.
9:59pm Eastern. Bush wants $30 billion for AIDS, new spending to prevent global famine…VA reform, aid for wounded warriors…expanded child care for vets…
10:03pm Eastern. Riffs on “We, the people.” “So long as we trust the people…the state of our union will remain strong…with confidence in freedom’s power and trust in the people, let us set forth to do their business. God bless America.”
Nancy Pelosi blink count: 1,002.
Dick Cheney blink count: 2.
Update 10:18pm Eastern. Democrat Kansas Gov. Kathleen Sebelius gives the Dem response to the SOTU. She has a lovely fire in the fireplace behind her. She says she’s going to give an “American response” instead of a “partisan response.” She’s talking about a “new American majority.” “Families can’t pay their bills, they’re losing their jobs, they’re threatened with losing their homes.” So spit it out. What do you want, governor? Ok, ok: Raise the minimum wage and reduce college loans. Of course! She wants S-CHIP expansion. What else? “Building Green.” “Going Green.” Translation: Thermostat control and light bulb nannyism. “Will you join us, Mr. President?” Uh, yeah. He’s already on board. Guess she was too busy preparing her speech to listen to his.
Boy, is she stiff. Her neck muscles are really, really tense. She should get closer to the fire. She needs to be warmed up. “On behalf of the new American majority…we ask you, Mr. President, to join us. We’re ready to work together.” He’s already ready to work with the Dems: On shamnesty, stimulation-palooza, NCLB. What else does she want?
She bids adieu and hopes President Bush “sleeps well” tonight.
Does she have some milk and cookies, too?
Update 10:30pm Eastern. John McCain’s on MSNBC telling Chris Matthews what he would have said. Criticizes Bush for not pushing hard enough on earmarks. “I would have been tougher on spending, would have talked more about serving something greater than your self-interest, more urgency to stimulus package passed…I appreciate the President.” Not enough to show up in Washington for the SOTU, though. Matthews and McCain cackle about Romney’s criticism of McCain’s liberal record. Cackle, cackle.
Update 10:34pm Eastern. Sen. Jim DeMint’s YouTube conservative response to the SOTU:
And the text:
Hello, I’m Senator Jim DeMint from South Carolina, the Chairman of the conservative Steering Committee here in the Senate.
It’s traditional for the opposing party to offer a response to the President’s State of the Union. My purpose tonight is not to oppose the president but to compliment what he said and to add some ideas from the conservative perspective that we want to focus on in the Senate this year.
Id like to present tonight 10 points that we will work on this year in the Senate, attempting to force votes, so that America can see where Republicans and Democrats stand and as a way to highlight the conservative agenda.
The first and the most important thing for our country is for us to assure the security of our nation. One of the problems we’ve had is the funding of our security systems and our military has fluctuated every year. Our proposal is that we spend 4% of our Gross Domestic Product every year, so the military can plan on the funding that they will get and to plan on the weapons systems and the armament and the number of troops that we need to secure our nation.
The other thing that we need to consider is our economy. The President addressed it tonight. There are concerns that we need to do more to stimulate our economy. While the President has some good ideas, it’s very important that we give some predictability to our businesses so that they can plan and grow. So we would force a vote this year on making the current tax rates permanent. The tax cuts that were passed several years ago have worked to stimulate our economy and we need to make sure that we have a permanent and predictable tax system.
We also need for our economy to control government spending. Unfortunately today, our government spends way too much money and takes way too much money out of our private economy. So, we’re proposing a balanced budget amendment. Every year states, if they add spending, they have to find ways to cut in order to balance their budget. We need to do that at the federal level in order to assure continued economic growth and to make sure we don’t take too many dollars out of the hands of Americans.
Another important issue that the President discussed that we need to continue to stress as conservatives is border security. The immigration problem is an issue we need to deal with as a nation. But we can’t deal with it in any rational way until we can control our borders. We will force votes this year on the funding of this fence to make sure it is completed. As well as a worker ID program that must be implemented.
Another problem that can be related to our economy, as well as the growth of our government, is wasteful Washington spending. And a big part of that are these earmarks that you keep hearing about, when congress designates money to their favorite local projects or special interests groups. This year there were over 10,000 earmarks in the bills that were passed, for local museums, bike paths and water and sewer plants. This is wasting our money and wasting our time as a Congress. When we should be dealing with the bigger issues that face our nation, we’re scrambling over who will get money for some local project. We need to reform the entire earmark system.
I’ve mentioned we need to make tax cuts permanent but we also need to reform our tax code. Every year we find our tax code is running jobs offshore as more and more other countries are more competitive than we are with our tax rates. We need to lower our corporate tax rates from where they are now at nearly 35 percent to 25 percent so that we’ll at least be competitive with Europe. We also need to offer some options: the flat tax, for people who would like to get away from the current tax code and to use a simpler, more understandable tax system. We’re going to do everything we can to make sure that the Senate this year votes on some tax reform proposals so that America can see who is serious about fixing our tax code.
We also, as conservatives, need to talk about Social Security. Social Security’s going to be running out of money over the next few years and one of the things that we need to do immediately is to stop spending Social Security on other things. People are astounded when they find out we’re really doing it but every year when people pay their Social Security taxes out of every paycheck, Congress spends some for today’s seniors and they spend the rest on other things. We have a bill that we call “Stop the Raid on Social Security” that we will force members of the Senate to vote on.
We also need to fix our health care system, and we’ll be proposing that we make it easier for individuals to buy health insurance. And one way to do that is to allow individuals to deduct the cost of their health insurance the same way employers do. Another thing we can do to dramatically lower the cost of health insurance is to allow individuals to buy health insurance from any state in the country. Today we’re limited to buying health insurance from the state we live in. This creates statewide monopolies and raises the cost of health insurance. We can fix that with some legislation that we will force a vote on this year in the Senate.
There are things we can do with education, such as the A-PLUS bill that we’ve talked about. This would allow states to have more flexibility in how they deal with the No Child Left Behind system. They can agree to certain standards, but do it their way – more creative ways, more flexible ways. So we can improve No Child Left Behind, which the president talked about tonight, by giving the states more flexibility.
We can also empower our businesses to be more competitive as we look at regulations like Sarbanes-Oxley that continue to chase capital away from America to other countries.
The last point I want to mention is the United Nations. We talk about it a lot – the United Nations is corrupt, and probably is a source of much anti-American sentiment around the world. We would propose that we withhold funding from the United Nations until they implement the reforms that have been discussed so many times here in Washington.
Those are just several of the things as conservatives that we’re going to push in the Senate this year. The state of the union is good, but the state of the future would be much better if conservatives come together and force the Senate to tackle these difficult issues that we’ve mentioned tonight.
Thank you, and God bless.
Hear, hear!
Update 10:36pm Eastern. Obama disses Bush SOTU for “warmed-over past State of the Union speeches.” And Obama would offer something different? He’s giving his laundry list right now of what he would have proposed. Same old, same old.
Update 10:42pm Eastern. Anderson Cooper tells Mitt Romney that calling McCain a “liberal Democrat” is a “personal attack.” Er, wouldn’t that be a compliment if you’re a CNN anchor?
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I just heard on the radio that Bush is planning to push his shamnesty bill again: i mean so called “comprehensive reform”. That coniving man. I voted for him and I regret it every day. That is why I can NEVER vote for someone like McCain or Huckleberry.
HA! That’s a knee-slapper!
I’ll definitely be stealing that phrase in conversations about this election cycle.
Even better I just heard that Senator Dick “Turban” Durban (D-IL) has invited two wounded veterans to sit with him during the address. Senator Durban has previously called US military personnel “Nazis”… so apparently he’s willing to be seen associating with Nazis for a chance to make political hay.
POTUS better not give any tax money away until all Americans have food, water, and shelter.
I agree with you, Real ImmigrantChick #1. I voted for Bush twice but this pandering to illegals is enough for me to jump ship. We are being evaded and our leaders don’t even recognize it.
I don’t think knee slapping will help.
As the government wants to spend more and more of my money, I find that I have less and less interest in earning more for them to take. *sigh* And I was beginning to enjoy a noticeably positive cash flow.
Crickets chiping.
Do they have crickets in the Capitol Building?
I will not watch this fiasco tonight. Bush comes down the aisle and all the hyprocrites want to shake his hand, smiling, clapping, and Just so ‘MSM’ see me.I voted for Bush twice and this year’s potentials are as bad. I cannot watch Bush sugar-coat Poliseee. All the Dem’s and a vast number of Rep’s hate Bush’s guts and will be all nicey nice tonight and stab him in the back tomorrow. Don’t you just love this?
L
I too voted for him twice. I won’t say I regret it because he was still better than Gore, but I am very, very disappointed.
Jorge Boosh can’t get evicted from the White House soon enough. He has betrayed everyone who voted for him; most of made the same mistake twice.
Will he mention Ramos and Compean? Will he mention Gil Hernandez, or the agent recently killed by an illegal? Nah.
Instead, he’ll continue doing the bidding of his Mexican buddies, spend more of the money we don’t have on pointless “help” for everyone but those who really need it, kiss Nancy’s bony posterior and keep right on selling us out.
He can’t help himself. God help us.
most of us made the same mistake…
Bush makes me too angry to type.
I ain’t watchin’ him, no way no how.
When you hear the word “bipartisan,” as we probably will tonight, grab your wallets folks because that is code word for we are going to take even more of your money for useless programs.
Better yet, let them all find their own damn food and shelter and stop taxing me to pay for it. I’ve provided food, shelter. health insurance and all the rest for MY family, everybody else damn well can provide for theirs.
PS: As for the “rebate” I wouldn’t mind seeing some of my money back. I’ll use it to go buy another gun, doing my part to stimulate the economy.
Maybe it’s a good thing I won’t be near a computer tonight; I would be swearing like a longshoreman at the grab-bag grabbing the money out of my wallet.
We need a “State of the Blog” address to help lift all of us out of the depression. There are more than a few good things that have come out of here the last year.
That’s about the only item you can get with $300-$1,200 that is actually made in America, so that is a good call. Heck, I’m looking for suggestions to add to my small-but-growing arsenal.
I hold any opinion until I see what the President has to say. At least, I can grant him that.
One bit of good news:
This is a good start. He should also require all public projects to be named after the tax payers who paid for them and not after the politicians who stole the money from the tax payers. John Q Public Internation Airport sounds good to me.
The looting has been going on for decades under both party banners. Spending is out of control. Budgets expand like American’s waistlines. I don’t care which party we’re talking about, all these folks are living large on our monies and it’s time to take back our freedom.
Here’s my favorite.
TankSoldier wrote:
I would venture a guess that one of them will be that Tammy Duckworth formerly of HI who had made no secret of the fact that she hates Bush. I know someone who was with her at Walter Reed, they say she was the biggest whiner and that’s saying a lot being amongst men and women who also lost both legs, some arms as well. Finally one Sgt. told her to stuff it with her complaining and they all cheered. She was let out of the Army in time to run of a Rep. seat in IL (in which she didn’t even live) which she promptly lost. We got to hear about her and her brother in arm Ehren Watada ad nauseum when we lived out there. She joined to pay for grad school but like the rest of us no one put a gun to her head to do it. She is bitter but there are so many others who are not.
Tanksoldier #3, I just saw Durbin’s comments in his hometown paper about tonight. He wants Bush to start discussing troop pullout tonight. Turbin is a joke and needs strong competition to run against him this election.
Some thoughts.. Huck wants to do away with income tax altogether, and any economist can tell you that’s impossible – the government would simply implode. Huck proposed federal sales tax instead, but to cover the loss of income tax, we’d be looking at at least 30% sales tax on everything we buy, and that’s on top of existing state sales tax. That would not encourage spending or help the economy.
Another worry is that come 2012 (I think it’s 2012) the current 35% cap on high income bracket tax expires, and I believe it automatically reverts back to the Reagan 50%, or maybe even the 70% rate it used to be prior to that (which most people have completely forgotten).. if Dems are in, they’ll let it happen and say their hands are tied and blame it on the Republicans, or they’ll say it’s only because of them that it’s not reverting back – just watch, it’ll be big.
Address
I heard an ad on radio today from a Rep. running against Durbin. I don’t live in IL (in IN, in Chicago region), but I sure hope Durbin gets tossed.
Did the Sergeant of Arms bring in dozens of feeding troth for all the little piggies to feed?
*sigh*
To paraphrase the Boston Globe…
“More mush from the Moron”
Might I suggest that every time Bush mispronounces a word, you have a glass of your favorite adult beverage. I’ve used that when installing Windows. Every time I had to reboot, I had a beer.
–
Ted Kennedy, the Sr. Senator from Massachusetts is famous for drowning his sorrows, his joys, and his dates.
A tipster writes:
Leave to Nancy Pelosi to pander to the voice of our enemy at the expense of a true American Hero like Sam Houston. San Francisco values, again.
I’m not worried about anything. I have repeatedly told my friends that it might be good if a democrat is elected president.
The combination of the democratic party’s inept grasp on the world as it relates to our great country, their socialist pocket grabs, and a hostile congress will be a great wake up call for the good ol USA!
I secretly hope Obama wins. I want to watch that inexperienced turd get kicked around like an old football in Kenya.
What would Sam Houston do? Put them in a back room , turn out the lights and let Jim Bowie take care of the problem.
winemkr, I could almost agree, but Obama is only a tool of Soros who DOES know what HE is doing… and right now he is working to wreck our economy. This is for real.
winemkr, You may think that letting the Democrats wreck the economy will be a good thing for Republicans, but I don’t think you are considering the full ramifications of an economic collapse.
I think Hillary or Obama with the connivance of the Congress could easily push this country into a full blown depression the likes of which haven’t been seen since the 30’s.
I don’t think this country could survive it intact. In fact we could see the imposition of martial law, the suspension of the constitution and a flat out civil war. (Worst case scenario)
I especially think this likely if Hillary is elected. She is the Democratic Nixon without the ethics.
Historically, the United States is fractured to a point not seen since the 1850’s IMHO.
No, I truly believe that if the Democrats win, we all lose and we lose big time.
Prove me wrong…Please??
Okay almost 8:00
:hands Michelle a Red Bull and a Proza(c)
Correction: Starts at 9pm, not 8pm…
LOL @ electile dysfunction
Eh, take them now so you will not care later.
I just can’t bring myself to watch another Bush State of the Union address. He has just wandered so far away from conservative credentials that it makes me ill. And, I especially won’t watch the Democrat response.
As a Floridian who was for Hunter/Thompson, Mitt already has my vote—-whatever happens, McCain will NEVER get my vote. As a retired military officer, I was never impressed with him early in my career and now he repulses me. I consider some of his actions traitorous.
MM, you gotta know that some of us old men don’t read with real good eyes and some words just cause us a lot of distress.
My first read of it, I thought “MY GOSH SHE IS TELLING THE WHOLE WORLD.”
My second read of it I shouted “SHE IS BETRAYING ALL OF US MEN”.
My third read of it, brought on a sense of relief that a lot of old men (not me) can relate to. Our secret is safe, as long as no one watches TV.
Michelle, get some rest and fagedaboudit!
He’ll say exactly the same as the las 7 times and not mean a blooming bit of it.
We can catch the re-run if we need something to knock us out at the dentis’t offic.
Electile dysfunction. ROFLMAO
Small victory in Florida. Rudy is doing badly. I will try my best to make it a two-fer.
Anybody else watching Newt on the Factor? I miss 1994.
The Contract, my youngest daughter’s birth, and we were on the verge of getting this vibrant, challenging, refreshing voice on the editorial pages of the Seattle Times.
Oh, the good ole days when we just had to worry about Hillary becoming the Czarina of Health Care.
“You have sat too long for any good you have been doing lately… Depart, I say; and let us have done with you. In the name of God, go!”
– Oliver Cromwell
evilned
My post was tongue in cheek with a major dose of reality.
The key to my post is that there will never be a majority in congress or the senate that supports the socialism that the democrats espouse.
The worst that will happen, especially if Obama is elected is that the government will come to a standstill.
In the mean time the surge will be destroyed while the democrats fiddle to the people in our country who are below the radar, and that includes a bunch of young dumb college students with a 15 second attention span.
Nothing will change in Washington. The parties will be polarized and the war on terror will become more evidently critical because the the snakes will come out and try to attack a weak administration, etc, etc, etc,.
The fact is that our nation (it’s political leaders on both sides of the isle) are biting their collective tongues.
They are briefed, and those who ignore the briefings are the ones who denigrate the current administration.
They are going to PAY big time if they are elected. The enemy wants them elected.
Once our enemies come out against a perceived weak US government they will be destroyed.
IrishEyes #26, I’m thinking we need to convince Mike Ditka to beat Turbin? Or even former Governor Jim Edgar. I’m no longer in Illinois but grew up in Springfield and for Durbin to come from the same town makes me sick. Thank God there are reminders of Lincoln all over the place.
I’m with you evilned. While nominating McCain or Huckabee would be a blown opportunity and demoralizing, electing Clinton or Obama would be worse by several orders of magnitude.
I have been eyeing the Springfield Arms XD Compact 4” .45 ACP myself. Be a very good way to support an American company while helping to ensure my personal and family’s security. With the fracturing of this nation’s rule of law by the liberals along with the willing help of the RINOs it just might come in handy if things go the way I fear in the not to distant future.
On January 28th, 2008 at 8:11 pm, winemkr said:
Ummmm, how does Supreme Court Justice Alcee Hastings strike you?
I still thank him for nominating Roberts and Alito.
Ugh. “Electile dysfunction” and “grab bag” indeed. And with Al Jazeera right up front to watch it all.
I think I just threw up in my mouth, a little. And the State of the Union speech hasn’t even started yet…
winemkr, I hope you are correct. I fear you are not. I really can’t see a way out of this. The democrats will roll back our security levels to 9/10 and gut both the military and intelligence services.
(I Don’t consider the CIA to be worth much any longer)
Domestically, they will begin the nationalization of the health care industry, (Hillarycare mark 2), and I suspect they will go after the energy industry as well.
Wanna bet that when they run out of money they start looking at all that nice, juicy IRA and 401K cash just sitting there?
A deadlocked government works only if the democrats don’t pick up more seats and if the remaining Republicans can maintain disciplne. Need I remind you just how many of them are gutless wonders who will do/say anything to stay in office?
If they do pick up more seats, (and I don’t know how things are on that level politically), they will race for socialism.
I do believe we will get hit again by Muslim terrorists, and we will get hard. Just how do you think Cackles or Osama Obama will handle attacks?
My guess is it would be similar to what happened in the 90’s. Omar the tent maker got a few rush orders. :/
Oh well, time to start getting radical in my views. *grin*
Hey Texas Tiger—-Remember Harriet Meiers???—that was BEFORE Alito. Alito came AFTER we started screaming.
Cnn is streaming the speech on website if you are like me and don’t want to watch it on tv.
evilned
This is why I know we are going to be OK.
January 28, 2008: Because of Saddam’s continued support of terrorists, weapons of mass destruction and bad behavior in general, the U.S. invaded Iraq. Using three divisions, the country was conquered in three weeks. Britain had done the same thing in 1941 with three divisions, and also took Baghdad in less than three weeks. But in 1941, the British went in because Iraq had declared itself an ally of Nazi Germany. After deposing the pro-German Sunni Arab politicians, the Brits simply installed a pro-British Sunni Arab strong man.
When the U.S. led coalition ousted Iraqi troops from Kuwait in 1991, most observers, including media pundits, missed a very important detail. The U.S. has gotten Arab nations to join the operation only because of a promise not to invade Iraq itself. This was no secret at the time, and was a reflection of Arab politics. That is, the Sunnis must be in charge, especially in Iraq, which is considered the front line for the defense of the Arab world from Iran.
In 2003, the U.S. removed the Sunni Arabs from power, and declared that democracy, and majority rule, would prevail. That was anathema to the Iraqi Sunni Arabs, who feared retribution from the Kurds and Shia Arabs. In addition, there was the money angle. The Sunni Arabs had been keeping a disproportionate share of the oil wealth for themselves, and had been doing so for decades. In order to avoid poverty and prison, the Sunni Arabs began a terror campaign against the coalition (mainly U.S. and British) troops. In early 2004, they allied themselves with al Qaeda, and Islamic terrorists in general. Al Qaeda saw the invasion of Iraq as an attack on their heartland, and an opportunity to defeat the United States, and the West in general.
The basic U.S. strategy in Iraq was, historically, sound. You help the locals get organized so they can take care of themselves. That means elections and help to rebuild local institutions. But there’s never a guarantee that will work. The U.S. Marines were in Haiti for nearly 30 years (from 1914), and the country still reverted to dictatorship and poverty when the marines left. This exposes a truth that many refuse to acknowledge. Fixing countries isn’t easy. The “civil society” that we in the West take for granted, cannot just be conjured up. The harmonious relationships that enable some democracies to work, are not a given. Those relationships often require a lot of bad habits to be changed. This is not easy. Just check a history book.
Iraq, and most of the countries in the Middle East, are broken. They have been for a long time. We in the West have generally ignored it, because there were no workable solutions that were easily available. Then came the latest wave of Islamic terrorism. This got worse, until September 11, 2001, and then the prospect of mass murder in our own backyard became a reality. But at that point, the West became divided over the solution. Do we keep treating the terrorists as a police problem, and wait them out? That is known to work. But the threat of even deadlier terrorist attacks made more dramatic moves attractive to many, especially in the United States. That resulted in Iraq, confronting the Arab problems up close and personal. It ain’t pretty. But unless the Arab problems are solved, the ugly aftereffects will still be there, and so will the threat of mass murder on the street where you live. The war on terror, and the war in Iraq, are all part of a struggle within Islam. Do we keep on with the same pattern of rebellion and repression, or do we try developing a civil society. Until the Iraqis decided what kind of country they wanted to live in, the war went on.
The anarchy that followed the American conquest of Baghdad was quickly accepted for what it was, spontaneous revenge against the Sunni Arab dictatorship and the thieves that ran it. Things settled down for a while, until the Sunni Arabs began the terror campaign to drive the Americans out, intimidate the Shia Arabs, and regain control of the country. These were all high-risk undertakings, and all failed. But not until after four years of terror, and over 100,000 dead Iraqis, did the Sunni Arabs admit defeat.
After the coalition took over, there was no more Iraqi police force or army. That’s because the Saddam era security forces were recruited mainly for loyalty to Saddam, and the Sunni Arab minority. Before Saddam was ousted , the active duty army consisted of about 250,000 troops. Some 40 percent of these were the elite Republican Guard. Nearly all the army officers, and most of the NCOs, were Sunni Arabs. In the Republican Guard, everyone was Sunni Arab, as this outfit was, in effect, Saddam’s “royal guard” and his main defense against a revolt by the army. The other 150,000 troops were mainly Sunni and Shia draftees, although there were Kurd and other minorities (Turks, and several Christian groups). At the time of the invasion, about 100,000 reservists (men who had done their conscript service recently) had been recalled to active duty. There were another 600,000 or so reservists who could have been called up. But many of these were Shia Arabs, and Saddam didn’t want to see lots of armed Shia, in uniform or not.
Unless you wanted an Iraqi security force led by Sunni Arabs, many of dubious loyalty to a democratic Iraq, you had to disband the security forces. The army and police force had to be rebuilt. After two years of enormous effort, a new force was created. This was not easy, for the old Iraqi army was widely considered (based on performance alone) to be one of the most inept in the world. Despite spending over a hundred billion dollars on it, Saddam was never able to build a force that could fight effectively. Without the widespread use of chemical weapons in the 1980s, Iraq would have been overrun by an army of poorly equipped Iranian amateurs. The main problem was that the old Iraqi army was designed more for political, than combat, reliability. That’s the main reason it was disbanded shortly after Iraq was conquered in 2003.
Saddam’s army did have some troops who could fight effectively. That was the Republican Guard, a force of about 100,000 troops selected mainly for loyalty, but also given lots of training to make them effective fighters. Saddam wanted effective troops, but only wanted them if they would be loyal to him. That meant there were very few Iraqis he could find for such a force. But the Republican Guard experience did prove that with the right training and equipment, you could turn Iraqis into effective soldiers.
Equipping the new Iraqi army was the easy part. Just provide 700,000 uniforms, 210,000 sets of body armor, over 300,000 small arms, half a billion rounds of ammunition, 20,000 vehicles (mostly trucks), and twenty new bases (including five large enough to house a division.) By 2005, three divisions were activated (1st, 3rd and 7th), although these troops mainly operated as infantry battalions attached to American units. Some Iraqi brigades were being formed to conduct larger scale operations. The U.S. (and Germany) have also been training Iraqi staff officers, but no one could be sure when these divisions would be able to operate by themselves. Battalion and brigade officers were now getting there first combat experience in 2005.
Over 500,000 Iraqis joined the new army and security forces (many of whom are paramilitary SWAT teams), and over half of them were dismissed (as untrainable) or deserted. Those that remained served in 115 battalions. The most important thing about these battalions was that each of them have a ten man American training team. These guys continue teaching, often by demonstrating how things are done. For example, the old Iraqi army never stressed marksmanship, or small unit leadership and combat drills. The American style has the troops shooting lots of bullets at targets, with repeated instruction on how to hold and aim the rifle properly so that you could hit what you were aiming at. The infantry drills are demonstrated by American trainers, and U.S. troops. Iraqi troops constantly saw American soldiers and marines in action, and the American training teams in each Iraqi battalion were always ready to show the Iraqis exactly how it has done. The Iraqis were told they can be as effective as the Americans, but they had to train hard to get there.
The hardest job was getting Iraqis who can, and will, serve as effective NCOs and officers. In Saddams army, being an officer or NCO was seen as a form of patronage, not a responsibility. It’s hard to change that attitude, as it was alive in Iraq for generations. Again, the Iraqis were reminded that if they wanted to be super-troopers like the Americans, someone had to take on the leadership responsibilities. After two years of looking, several thousand capable candidates were found. But the training took time, and the American training teams spent a lot of time showing the officers and NCOs the many little things that go into making a capable combat leader.
All this has been a difficult story to report, leaving Americans with a vague idea of what was happening with the Iraqi armed forces. Most journalists have no idea what the old Iraqi army was like, and what kind of changes had to be made to create a new one. But the changes were being made, and every week, more Iraqi troops became capable of fighting. They didn’t have to be as good as American troops, just being better than the terrorists and irregulars they face gave them a decisive edge. And each week, more of them achieved the edge.
Nearly all of the violence was in central Iraq, where there were many mixed (Sunni Arabs living in close proximity to Kurds and Shia Arabs). In the far north, the Kurds had been free of Sunni Arabs for a decade before 2003. There were very few terrorist attacks in the Kurdish controlled area, and by 2005, Iraqis were going to the Kurdish north for vacations. The Kurds had very strict border controls, especially for Sunni Arabs. In the south, where most areas were completely, or overwhelmingly, Shia Arab. The only violence was between Shia militias.
The U.S. tactic from the beginning was to minimize American casualties, creating Iraqi security forces, collecting as much information on the Sunni Arab terrorist groups as possible, and maintaining supply routes from Kuwait. This was still a lot of activity, usually amounting to over 2,000 convoys and patrols a day.
The enemy included al Qaeda, which imported thousands of Sunni Arabs for suicide attacks. Nearly half of these were from Saudi Arabia and Yemen. Most of the rest were from North Africa, which, next to Saudi Arabia, has long been a major source of Islamic radicals. But most of the attacks were by Iraqi Sunni Arabs, who tried to coordinate operations with al Qaeda. By 2005, this merger began to fray, as Iraqi Sunni Arabs grew tired of the indiscriminate suicide bomb attacks. But more worrisome was the growing number of Shia Arab death squads. Saddam’s secret police and militias used terror to keep the Shia Arabs in line, and these terrorists did their work openly. No masks, just bad behavior, done for maximum impact on the greatest number of people. The Shia Arabs wanted revenge, and in 2004, the Shia Arab death squads began to operate. They went out at night and killed Sunni Arabs. Some they would take prisoner, and torture them before killing them. The Sunni Arabs had death squads as well, but there were far more Shia Arabs than Sunni Arabs.
By 2005, many Sunni Arabs were fleeing the country. Jordan and Syria accepted these refugees. Both countries also allowed these refugees, many of them wealthy members of the defunct Saddam government. Jordan insisted these terrorist organizers and paymasters be discreet. But Syria allowed them to organize a smuggling operation that got foreign Sunni Arabs, recruited from all over the world, to fly in and be moved across the border. This did not get shut down until 2007. At that point, even the Syrians could see they were backing the losing side, and it was time to play nice with the Americans, and the new Iraqi government.
Elections were held in 2005, and the new government was dominated by Shia Arabs. By 2006, about half the Sunni Arabs were gone. The country was now about ten percent Sunni Arab, 65 percent Shia Arab, and most of the remainder were Kurds. The Sunni Arabs were faced with extermination and that led to one last terror offensive in late 2007 and early 2007. This killed 3,500 in September, and in February, they killed 3,000. The dead were civilians and security personnel (mostly civilians). The Spring Offensive was quickly brought to halt by a U.S. “Surge Offensive.” This was done with five more American brigades being brought in, to join the fifteen already there, and the 250,000 Iraqi security forces (half soldiers and half police). By the Summer, most Sunni Arabs had had it with the terrorism, and the Americans were able to cut deals with most of the Sunni Arab tribes, and recruited another 70,000 Sunni Arabs for local defense forces. These turned on the Sunni Arab terrorists in their midst. By January, only about 300 Iraqis died from the violence. The Sunni Arab rebellion was broken.
There remained some major problems, mainly massive corruption, and incompetence in the government. Except for Israel and Turkey, there are no working democracies in the region. It’s all bullies and police state politics. Many Iraqis realize that the old ways have not served them well. But building an effective government is not easy, even with everyone saying corruption is a bad thing and must be eliminated. There’s no guarantee that this “war on corruption” will work, but things will remain bad if you do nothing. The Arab world is a mess because of the corruption. Not just all the dictatorships, but an economy that under-performs the rest of the world (including many areas without natural resources, like oil). There’s an “Arab Reform Movement” operating throughout the region, but so far all they have been able to do is bring the problems out into the open. That’s progress, but not a solution.
Despite the need for solutions, too many American politicians were more concerned with political correctness. That isn’t always bad. For example, there has been enormous emphasis, in Iraq, on keeping American casualties down. This has been a success, with the casualty rate being about half what it was in Vietnam, and at a record low level historically. This has amazed military experts the world over, but was accomplished by adopting tactics that limited what American troops could do. The civilian deaths, as a result of U.S. combat operations, declined even more. That got little media attention either. But it was a big deal with the Iraqis.
Iraq can either be a turning point in Middle Eastern history, or the democracy can be corrupted, as it was in 1958 when the constitutional monarchy was overthrown by the Sunni Arab dominated military. To that end, the Iraqis are trying to negotiate a long term treaty with the United States that would include an American promise to “coup-proof” elected Iraqi governments. That’s novel, but depends on the election process remaining uncorrupted. Nothing is simple in the Middle East.
January 28, 2008: Because of Saddam’s continued support of terrorists, weapons of mass destruction and bad behavior in general, the U.S. invaded Iraq. Using three divisions, the country was conquered in three weeks. Britain had done the same thing in 1941 with three divisions, and also took Baghdad in less than three weeks. But in 1941, the British went in because Iraq had declared itself an ally of Nazi Germany. After deposing the pro-German Sunni Arab politicians, the Brits simply installed a pro-British Sunni Arab strong man.
When the U.S. led coalition ousted Iraqi troops from Kuwait in 1991, most observers, including media pundits, missed a very important detail. The U.S. has gotten Arab nations to join the operation only because of a promise not to invade Iraq itself. This was no secret at the time, and was a reflection of Arab politics. That is, the Sunnis must be in charge, especially in Iraq, which is considered the front line for the defense of the Arab world from Iran.
In 2003, the U.S. removed the Sunni Arabs from power, and declared that democracy, and majority rule, would prevail. That was anathema to the Iraqi Sunni Arabs, who feared retribution from the Kurds and Shia Arabs. In addition, there was the money angle. The Sunni Arabs had been keeping a disproportionate share of the oil wealth for themselves, and had been doing so for decades. In order to avoid poverty and prison, the Sunni Arabs began a terror campaign against the coalition (mainly U.S. and British) troops. In early 2004, they allied themselves with al Qaeda, and Islamic terrorists in general. Al Qaeda saw the invasion of Iraq as an attack on their heartland, and an opportunity to defeat the United States, and the West in general.
The basic U.S. strategy in Iraq was, historically, sound. You help the locals get organized so they can take care of themselves. That means elections and help to rebuild local institutions. But there’s never a guarantee that will work. The U.S. Marines were in Haiti for nearly 30 years (from 1914), and the country still reverted to dictatorship and poverty when the marines left. This exposes a truth that many refuse to acknowledge. Fixing countries isn’t easy. The “civil society” that we in the West take for granted, cannot just be conjured up. The harmonious relationships that enable some democracies to work, are not a given. Those relationships often require a lot of bad habits to be changed. This is not easy. Just check a history book.
Iraq, and most of the countries in the Middle East, are broken. They have been for a long time. We in the West have generally ignored it, because there were no workable solutions that were easily available. Then came the latest wave of Islamic terrorism. This got worse, until September 11, 2001, and then the prospect of mass murder in our own backyard became a reality. But at that point, the West became divided over the solution. Do we keep treating the terrorists as a police problem, and wait them out? That is known to work. But the threat of even deadlier terrorist attacks made more dramatic moves attractive to many, especially in the United States. That resulted in Iraq, confronting the Arab problems up close and personal. It ain’t pretty. But unless the Arab problems are solved, the ugly aftereffects will still be there, and so will the threat of mass murder on the street where you live. The war on terror, and the war in Iraq, are all part of a struggle within Islam. Do we keep on with the same pattern of rebellion and repression, or do we try developing a civil society. Until the Iraqis decided what kind of country they wanted to live in, the war went on.
The anarchy that followed the American conquest of Baghdad was quickly accepted for what it was, spontaneous revenge against the Sunni Arab dictatorship and the thieves that ran it. Things settled down for a while, until the Sunni Arabs began the terror campaign to drive the Americans out, intimidate the Shia Arabs, and regain control of the country. These were all high-risk undertakings, and all failed. But not until after four years of terror, and over 100,000 dead Iraqis, did the Sunni Arabs admit defeat.
After the coalition took over, there was no more Iraqi police force or army. That’s because the Saddam era security forces were recruited mainly for loyalty to Saddam, and the Sunni Arab minority. Before Saddam was ousted , the active duty army consisted of about 250,000 troops. Some 40 percent of these were the elite Republican Guard. Nearly all the army officers, and most of the NCOs, were Sunni Arabs. In the Republican Guard, everyone was Sunni Arab, as this outfit was, in effect, Saddam’s “royal guard” and his main defense against a revolt by the army. The other 150,000 troops were mainly Sunni and Shia draftees, although there were Kurd and other minorities (Turks, and several Christian groups). At the time of the invasion, about 100,000 reservists (men who had done their conscript service recently) had been recalled to active duty. There were another 600,000 or so reservists who could have been called up. But many of these were Shia Arabs, and Saddam didn’t want to see lots of armed Shia, in uniform or not.
Unless you wanted an Iraqi security force led by Sunni Arabs, many of dubious loyalty to a democratic Iraq, you had to disband the security forces. The army and police force had to be rebuilt. After two years of enormous effort, a new force was created. This was not easy, for the old Iraqi army was widely considered (based on performance alone) to be one of the most inept in the world. Despite spending over a hundred billion dollars on it, Saddam was never able to build a force that could fight effectively. Without the widespread use of chemical weapons in the 1980s, Iraq would have been overrun by an army of poorly equipped Iranian amateurs. The main problem was that the old Iraqi army was designed more for political, than combat, reliability. That’s the main reason it was disbanded shortly after Iraq was conquered in 2003.
Saddam’s army did have some troops who could fight effectively. That was the Republican Guard, a force of about 100,000 troops selected mainly for loyalty, but also given lots of training to make them effective fighters. Saddam wanted effective troops, but only wanted them if they would be loyal to him. That meant there were very few Iraqis he could find for such a force. But the Republican Guard experience did prove that with the right training and equipment, you could turn Iraqis into effective soldiers.
Equipping the new Iraqi army was the easy part. Just provide 700,000 uniforms, 210,000 sets of body armor, over 300,000 small arms, half a billion rounds of ammunition, 20,000 vehicles (mostly trucks), and twenty new bases (including five large enough to house a division.) By 2005, three divisions were activated (1st, 3rd and 7th), although these troops mainly operated as infantry battalions attached to American units. Some Iraqi brigades were being formed to conduct larger scale operations. The U.S. (and Germany) have also been training Iraqi staff officers, but no one could be sure when these divisions would be able to operate by themselves. Battalion and brigade officers were now getting there first combat experience in 2005.
Over 500,000 Iraqis joined the new army and security forces (many of whom are paramilitary SWAT teams), and over half of them were dismissed (as untrainable) or deserted. Those that remained served in 115 battalions. The most important thing about these battalions was that each of them have a ten man American training team. These guys continue teaching, often by demonstrating how things are done. For example, the old Iraqi army never stressed marksmanship, or small unit leadership and combat drills. The American style has the troops shooting lots of bullets at targets, with repeated instruction on how to hold and aim the rifle properly so that you could hit what you were aiming at. The infantry drills are demonstrated by American trainers, and U.S. troops. Iraqi troops constantly saw American soldiers and marines in action, and the American training teams in each Iraqi battalion were always ready to show the Iraqis exactly how it has done. The Iraqis were told they can be as effective as the Americans, but they had to train hard to get there.
The hardest job was getting Iraqis who can, and will, serve as effective NCOs and officers. In Saddams army, being an officer or NCO was seen as a form of patronage, not a responsibility. It’s hard to change that attitude, as it was alive in Iraq for generations. Again, the Iraqis were reminded that if they wanted to be super-troopers like the Americans, someone had to take on the leadership responsibilities. After two years of looking, several thousand capable candidates were found. But the training took time, and the American training teams spent a lot of time showing the officers and NCOs the many little things that go into making a capable combat leader.
All this has been a difficult story to report, leaving Americans with a vague idea of what was happening with the Iraqi armed forces. Most journalists have no idea what the old Iraqi army was like, and what kind of changes had to be made to create a new one. But the changes were being made, and every week, more Iraqi troops became capable of fighting. They didn’t have to be as good as American troops, just being better than the terrorists and irregulars they face gave them a decisive edge. And each week, more of them achieved the edge.
Nearly all of the violence was in central Iraq, where there were many mixed (Sunni Arabs living in close proximity to Kurds and Shia Arabs). In the far north, the Kurds had been free of Sunni Arabs for a decade before 2003. There were very few terrorist attacks in the Kurdish controlled area, and by 2005, Iraqis were going to the Kurdish north for vacations. The Kurds had very strict border controls, especially for Sunni Arabs. In the south, where most areas were completely, or overwhelmingly, Shia Arab. The only violence was between Shia militias.
The U.S. tactic from the beginning was to minimize American casualties, creating Iraqi security forces, collecting as much information on the Sunni Arab terrorist groups as possible, and maintaining supply routes from Kuwait. This was still a lot of activity, usually amounting to over 2,000 convoys and patrols a day.
The enemy included al Qaeda, which imported thousands of Sunni Arabs for suicide attacks. Nearly half of these were from Saudi Arabia and Yemen. Most of the rest were from North Africa, which, next to Saudi Arabia, has long been a major source of Islamic radicals. But most of the attacks were by Iraqi Sunni Arabs, who tried to coordinate operations with al Qaeda. By 2005, this merger began to fray, as Iraqi Sunni Arabs grew tired of the indiscriminate suicide bomb attacks. But more worrisome was the growing number of Shia Arab death squads. Saddam’s secret police and militias used terror to keep the Shia Arabs in line, and these terrorists did their work openly. No masks, just bad behavior, done for maximum impact on the greatest number of people. The Shia Arabs wanted revenge, and in 2004, the Shia Arab death squads began to operate. They went out at night and killed Sunni Arabs. Some they would take prisoner, and torture them before killing them. The Sunni Arabs had death squads as well, but there were far more Shia Arabs than Sunni Arabs.
By 2005, many Sunni Arabs were fleeing the country. Jordan and Syria accepted these refugees. Both countries also allowed these refugees, many of them wealthy members of the defunct Saddam government. Jordan insisted these terrorist organizers and paymasters be discreet. But Syria allowed them to organize a smuggling operation that got foreign Sunni Arabs, recruited from all over the world, to fly in and be moved across the border. This did not get shut down until 2007. At that point, even the Syrians could see they were backing the losing side, and it was time to play nice with the Americans, and the new Iraqi government.
Elections were held in 2005, and the new government was dominated by Shia Arabs. By 2006, about half the Sunni Arabs were gone. The country was now about ten percent Sunni Arab, 65 percent Shia Arab, and most of the remainder were Kurds. The Sunni Arabs were faced with extermination and that led to one last terror offensive in late 2007 and early 2007. This killed 3,500 in September, and in February, they killed 3,000. The dead were civilians and security personnel (mostly civilians). The Spring Offensive was quickly brought to halt by a U.S. “Surge Offensive.” This was done with five more American brigades being brought in, to join the fifteen already there, and the 250,000 Iraqi security forces (half soldiers and half police). By the Summer, most Sunni Arabs had had it with the terrorism, and the Americans were able to cut deals with most of the Sunni Arab tribes, and recruited another 70,000 Sunni Arabs for local defense forces. These turned on the Sunni Arab terrorists in their midst. By January, only about 300 Iraqis died from the violence. The Sunni Arab rebellion was broken.
There remained some major problems, mainly massive corruption, and incompetence in the government. Except for Israel and Turkey, there are no working democracies in the region. It’s all bullies and police state politics. Many Iraqis realize that the old ways have not served them well. But building an effective government is not easy, even with everyone saying corruption is a bad thing and must be eliminated. There’s no guarantee that this “war on corruption” will work, but things will remain bad if you do nothing. The Arab world is a mess because of the corruption. Not just all the dictatorships, but an economy that under-performs the rest of the world (including many areas without natural resources, like oil). There’s an “Arab Reform Movement” operating throughout the region, but so far all they have been able to do is bring the problems out into the open. That’s progress, but not a solution.
Despite the need for solutions, too many American politicians were more concerned with political correctness. That isn’t always bad. For example, there has been enormous emphasis, in Iraq, on keeping American casualties down. This has been a success, with the casualty rate being about half what it was in Vietnam, and at a record low level historically. This has amazed military experts the world over, but was accomplished by adopting tactics that limited what American troops could do. The civilian deaths, as a result of U.S. combat operations, declined even more. That got little media attention either. But it was a big deal with the Iraqis.
Iraq can either be a turning point in Middle Eastern history, or the democracy can be corrupted, as it was in 1958 when the constitutional monarchy was overthrown by the Sunni Arab dominated military. To that end, the Iraqis are trying to negotiate a long term treaty with the United States that would include an American promise to “coup-proof” elected Iraqi governments. That’s novel, but depends on the election process remaining uncorrupted. Nothing is simple in the Middle East.
Yes. Close call, but the process worked. We screamed and we got a better nominee.
What did all our screaming after the Breyer and Ginsburg nominations get us? A big steaming plate of Jack Squat.
There is way to much hand shaking and pda get to the speech
I am not at all happy with what POTUS has done on many fronts. I will say this though;
1) He’s a heck of a lot better than Gore (Thank God Gore wasn’t in office on 9-11)
2) He’s been strong on many issues in the GWOT… Not nearly as strong as I would have liked… but stronger than ANY Democrat would have been (minus possibly Lieberman).
Jim C
Fox News is streaming as well.
http://www.strategypage.com/qnd/iraq/articles/20080128.aspx
Sorry I didn’t get the link in that post.
Hoo Yah!!
You’ve got it jimC. Perspective is what it’s all about.
I like Bush despite his faults he has done a lot of good
Better than looking at Pelosi’s smoosh.
I kind of like delaying and derailing spending bills.
Looks like Pelosi’s sucking on a Viactiv.
The Dems are like the deaf and blind at a symphony.
He should’ve opened with, “You won’t have George W. Bush to kick around anymore!”
Ya make tax cuts perment
Cut wastful spending Yeah
It’s a pretty glum night compared to his first SOTU. Think of what could have been:
Rallied after 9/11, with all the world watching, he hits the terrorists hard and it’s covered on Fox live, then dismantles their organizations one by one, locks down the borders and dismantles and rebuilds INS, laughs at McCain-Feingold and vetoes it on the spot, gets social security reformed to ownership accounts, makes Steve Forbes Treasury Secretary and passes a flat tax, cuts 8% each year from the federal budget, massive layoffs of federal workers (with retraining), the China backlash hits and people boycott most goods made there, the economy soars, Scalia is made Chief Justice when Roberts is nominated, the NEA is quietly dismantled, State overhauled, Gore’s movie gets made but nobody watches it, ANWR drilling begins, Teamsters love it and convince unions to vote GOP, 200 new ships are started, Hussein has an accident, earmarks made illegal, all campaign contributions are public, the light strike force concept is developed, Putin has an accident, we stop all foreign aid except for Israel, which gets all the fencing contractors that have finished with the US borders, Chavez has an accident, GM buys Toyota, Ford buys Honda, what’s his name in Iran is taken into custody when he arrives at Columbia, the Dixie Chicks are playing at sock hops, all the lefty actors really did move, there are 40+ red states and climbing……
Veto Corleone?
I like President Bush, go ahead hate me….
I dont hate you aj I like bush too
I only wish that these speeches were given the night before the Presidential elections, so the sight of Democrats sitting as the Presidrnt announces tax cuts while Republicans applaud can be fresh in their optic nerves as they pull the level for The leader of their country.
Congress is like kids applauding the school principal for calling for a dress code and having stewed tomatoes on the lunch menu.
They aren’t interested in having open debate on spending.
Clinton and Obama looked miffed….lmao
The Bellower’s Smug Mug is winning America’s hearts, don’t you think?
Teddy is looking at the wine list.
Getting my brick ready to throw at my TV when he mentions “comprehensive immigation reform.”
Also getting ready to use my “rebate” to buy a new TV.
I like him too, AJ
Sheesh…. in one year, this speech could be given by Hillary or Obama. Sometimes these things need time to truely be realized. Yikes, what a thought!
boomer,
I like the XD also but I really love my Springfield Armory Ultra compact .45. Well balanced, easy to shoot, and because I have small hands it fits me well. If you have large hands its a no go.
Mrs. Malkin,
Thank you for the live blogging. I’m at work not at home throwing things at the TV where I should be so its nice to get some unbiased take on the speech.
School choice Yeah
Who says bipartisanship is dead in Washington? Both Dick Cheney and Nancy Pelosi, visible right behind Bush as he stands at the podium, look like they’re gamely trying not to throw up.
Teddy skipped the wine and selected a fine single malt.
Dems will find fault with any sort of trade agreements. The NYT acts as if globalization was a bigger threat than radical jihad.
Ya’ know…there is A LOT I disagree with the President on, but those who sit and refuse to applaud him need to realize how that looks to the rest of the world. What ever happened to standing together for the greater good of this Nation? Some of them look like little babies who didn’t get their way! No solidarity whatsoever. BTW: ROFLMAO @ “blink blink blink” tee hee
azygos you xcan probably get this on radio if you have one there.
Made me LOL!
I stop watching the speech and i am listing to to avoid pesloi eveil eyes
Pelosi is going into Billy Jeff at an MLK celebration mode by 9:45.
Laura Bush in red looks like an angel Clinton looks like the devil….
Nancy Pelosi clapped…..I think she read my post!!!! lol
Climate change??? We don’t need no stinkin’ climate change! We are getting LOTS of Sierra snow this month, this week, and next week!
The climate is just fine, thank you.
Dems are kind of lukewarm about the avoidance of the “destruction of human life” angle.
No Child Left Behind… gag. What about the gifted students who get ripped off in their quest for a good education so everyone else is on a level playing field? If some president in the near future doesn’t disband the Department of Education, stop throwing money at a broken system, and stop getting government MORE involved in the education of our youth, we’re in DEEP trouble.
I’m in an all steel building in a tiny cubicle. Radio does not pick it up, I tried. Connection is to slow to allow for internet access.