CRASH: ME-siah

by swede

In the TOTUS weekend address, the President proclaimed that combat operations in Iraq are ending, and that training and counter-terrorist operations will continue through 2011. The successful outcome in Iraq is the result of brilliant leadership by the President - faithfully and diligently honoring his campaign promise to end the war!

I'll bet you didn't know that. Me neither. Further, it seems the Bush administration has been grossly negligent in it's respect for, and the care and treatment of, our noble warriors. Shameful! Not to worry though - our much more veteran-friendly CiC will take care of it! (Do I need to /sarc off?) Unbelievable. The spectacle:

As the Combat Mission in Iraq Ends, We Must Pay Tribute to Those Who Have Served




Transcript is here. A few nuggets that burnt my bonnet:

"As a candidate for this office, I pledged I would end this war. As President, that is what I am doing. We have brought home more than 90,000 troops since I took office. We have closed or turned over to Iraq hundreds of bases. In many parts of the country, Iraqis have already taken the lead for security."

As Ed at Hot Air notes, conspicuous in the address is the use of I, my, me, we - conspicuously absent are the words "victory" or "success" - nor any mention of President Bush's contribution - nor the brilliant work of Generals Patreaus and Odiermo. Truth be told, had the Egomeister in Chief actually kept his promise, all troops would have been removed by May - and likely as not chaos would prevail in Iraq. If Obama did anything right, it was to carry out Bush's exit strategy and leave the generals alone. That I'll give him credit for.

Patraeus in particular is worthy of high honor. If you wish to read his accomplishments and biography, you'll need to set aside some time. He is a remarkable man, who would have risen easily to the top of any field, but chose to be a soldier, and is arguably the best in his time. His adaptation of the US forces in Iraq to completely unknown methods of warfare was nothing short of genius - and phenomenally effective. Geez, I wish he'd run for president, but he despises politics. I'd vote for him in a heartbeat.




My Obamabot brother and I have an ongoing dialogue about Iraq - though we have been banned from the topic at Thanksgiving and Christmas gatherings. Was the war a success? A stable democracy in the Middle East, rather than a lunatic dictator is huge - assuming it survives. But was it worth the blood and treasure? That's the real question, isn't it? O'Reilly thinks not, for what that's worth. I don't think it can be answered. An old query philosophers like to bat around is, "Is this the best of all possible worlds?" What would the world be like had Hitler been stopped at Munich? Or if the South had garnered a strong international alliance in "The War of Northern Aggression?" What havoc would Saddam Hussein have wreaked had he remained in power? There is no way to know - but I am quite certain the planet is a much better place without him on it, and there is absolutely no question US forces are returning home in victory!

Iraq Veterans: You are awesome! Well done! A huge thank you and God bless you!  [Dittos, Rags]