I Know It's Wrong and I Don't Care

I know it's wrong to enjoy Ann Coulter as she viciously attacks liberals and I don't care.
I know it's wrong to agree when she is crude as she savages their heroes from Clinton to Carter and I don't care.
She's overblown.............so am I.
She exaggerates to prove a point.........so do I.

I love Ann Coulter.

Bush's America: 100 Percent Al-Qaida Free Since 2001

In a conversation recently, I mentioned as an aside what a great president George Bush has been and my friend was surprised. I was surprised that he was surprised.

I generally don't write columns about the manifestly obvious, but, yes, the man responsible for keeping Americans safe from another terrorist attack on American soil for nearly seven years now will go down in history as one of America's greatest presidents.

Produce one person who believed, on Sept. 12, 2001, that there would not be another attack for seven years, and I'll consider downgrading Bush from "Great" to "Really Good."

Merely taking out Saddam Hussein and his winsome sons Uday and Qusay (Hussein family slogan: "We're the Rape Room People!") constitutes a greater humanitarian accomplishment than anything Bill Clinton ever did -- and I'm including remembering Monica's name on the sixth sexual encounter.

But unlike liberals, who are so anxious to send American troops to Rwanda or Darfur, Republicans oppose deploying U.S. troops for purely humanitarian purposes. We invaded Iraq to protect America.

It is unquestionable that Bush has made this country safe by keeping Islamic lunatics pinned down fighting our troops in Iraq. In the past few years, our brave troops have killed more than 20,000 al-Qaida and other Islamic militants in Iraq alone. That's 20,000 terrorists who will never board a plane headed for JFK -- or a landmark building, for that matter.

We are, in fact, fighting them over there so we don't have to fight them at, say, the corner of 72nd and Columbus in Manhattan -- the mere mention of which never fails to enrage liberals, which is why you should say it as often as possible.

The Iraq war has been a stunning success. The Iraqi army is "standing up" (as they say), fat Muqtada al-Sadr --the Dr. Phil of Islamofascist radicalism -- has waddled off in retreat to Iran, and Sadr City and Basra are no longer war zones. Our servicemen must be baffled by the constant nay-saying coming from their own country.

The Iraqis have a democracy -- a miracle on the order of flush toilets in that godforsaken region of the world. Despite its newness, Iraq's democracy appears to be no more dysfunctional than one that would condemn a man who has kept the nation safe for seven years while deifying a man who has accomplished absolutely nothing in his entire life except to give speeches about "change."

(Guess what Bill Clinton's campaign theme was in 1992? You are wrong if you guessed: "bringing dignity back to the White House." It was "change." In January 1992, James Carville told Steve Daley of The Chicago Tribune that it had gotten to the point that the press was complaining about Clinton's "constant talk of change.")

Monthly casualties in Iraq now come in slightly lower than a weekend with Anna Nicole Smith. According to a CNN report last week, for the entire month of May, there were only 19 troop deaths in Iraq. (Last year, five people on average were shot every day in Chicago.) With Iraqi deaths at an all-time low, Iraq is safer than Detroit -- although the Middle Eastern food is still better in Detroit.

Al-Qaida is virtually destroyed, surprising even the CIA. Two weeks ago, The Washington Post reported: "Less than a year after his agency warned of new threats from a resurgent al-Qaida, CIA Director Michael V. Hayden now portrays the terrorist movement as essentially defeated in Iraq and Saudi Arabia and on the defensive throughout much of the rest of the world, including in its presumed haven along the Afghanistan-Pakistan border."

It's almost as if there's been some sort of "surge" going on, as strange as that sounds.
Just this week, The New York Times reported that al-Qaida and other terrorist groups in Southeast Asia have all but disappeared, starved of money and support. The U.S. and Australia have been working closely with the Philippines, Malaysia and Indonesia, sending them counterterrorism equipment and personnel.

But no one notices when 9/11 doesn't happen. Indeed, if we had somehow stopped the 9/11 attack, we'd all be watching Mohammed Atta being interviewed on MSNBC, explaining his lawsuit against the Bush administration. Maureen Dowd would be writing columns describing Khalid Sheik Mohammed as a "wannabe" terrorist being treated like Genghis Khan by an excitable Bush administration.

We begin to forget what it was like to turn on the TV, see a tornado, a car chase or another Pamela Anderson marriage and think: Good -- another day without a terrorist attack.
But liberals have only blind hatred for Bush -- and for those brute American interrogators who do not supply extra helpings of béarnaise sauce to the little darlings at Guantanamo with sufficient alacrity.

The sheer repetition of lies about Bush is wearing people down. There is not a liberal in this country worthy of kissing Bush's rear end, but the weakest members of the herd run from Bush. Compared to the lickspittles denying and attacking him, Bush is a moral giant -- if that's not damning with faint praise. John McCain should be so lucky as to be running for Bush's third term. Then he might have a chance.

Sharp drop seen in US deaths in Iraq

In this photo released by the U.S. Army, Maj. Gen. Rick Lynch, commander of the U.S. army's Third Infantry Division, second left, speaks with Sunni Sheik Emad Ghurtani, right, in Haswah, Iraq Thursday, Oct. 18, 2007. October is on course to record the second steep decline in U.S. military and Iraqi civilian deaths in as many months, a testament, American commanders say, to the U.S. troop increase and Iraqi disgust with al-Qaida and Shiite militia extremists. Maj. Gen. Rick Lynch points proudly to what the military calls "Concerned Citizens," Iraqis, both Shiite and Sunni, who have joined the Americans to fight militants. He says he's signed up 20,000 of them in the last four months. (AP Photo/ Capt. Allie Weiskopf Chase, U.S. Army, HO)

Even the Globe has to acknowledge how awesome Rick is!

Sharp drop seen in US deaths in Iraq

By Steven R. Hurst, Associated Press Writer October 23, 2007
BAGHDAD --October is on course to record the second consecutive decline in U.S. military and Iraqi civilian deaths and Americans commanders say they know why: the U.S. troop increase and an Iraqi groundswell against al-Qaida and Shiite militia extremists.

Maj. Gen. Rick Lynch points to what the military calls "Concerned Citizens" -- both Shiites and Sunnis who have joined the American fight. He says he's signed up 20,000 of them in the past four months.

"I've never been more optimistic than I am right now with the progress we've made in Iraq. The only people who are going to win this counterinsurgency project are the people of Iraq. We've said that all along. And now they're coming forward in masses," Lynch said in a recent interview at a U.S. base deep in hostile territory south of Baghdad. Outgoing artillery thundered as he spoke.

Read the rest here.......

20,000th Visitor

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July 1, 1916

July 1, 1916, in the worst single day of casualties in British military history, 20,000 soldiers were killed, 40,000 wounded in a massive offense against German forces in France's Somme River region during World War I.

Iraq’s Sunni Time Bomb

Today's NYT Op-Ed "Iraq’s Sunni Time Bomb" is from Princess Crabby's favorite, Matt Sherman..................who never posts anything new for me in his blog (boo!).

Iraq’s Sunni Time Bomb
By MATT SHERMAN
Washington
WHILE the recent fighting in Basra and Baghdad has alerted many Americans to the danger that Shiite-on-Shiite violence poses to our goals in Iraq, it should not divert our focus from another looming threat: that the Sunni tribesmen who have sided with the American-led coalition may turn against us.
Perhaps the biggest reason for the drop in violence during the second half of 2007 was the coalition’s hiring of some 90,000 men, mostly Sunnis, to protect critical government properties like pipelines and to take part in neighborhood-watch systems. The decision to support these so-called Sons of Iraq — armed, many times, with the same AK-47’s that had been pointed at our troops just months earlier — was always viewed as risky, but few options were available to us at the time to reduce violence. So far, the gamble has paid off.
The Sons of Iraq program was at the heart of what the United States military called its “bottom-up reconciliation movement,” intended to get Iraqis to stop fighting the government and one another at the local neighborhood and village level. But use of the term “reconciliation” may be misleading. The word conjures images of forgiveness and repentance. That’s not what the Sons of Iraq idea was about — the coalition set out simply to neutralize a large swath of rogue fighters, often with money, with the hope of finding ways to reconcile in the future.
This is not to say that reconciliation is not possible; I believe it is. And by this I don’t mean reconciling Sunni and Shiite Islam — 1,300 years of history are unlikely to be resolved in a relative instant. What we can do is help shift the debate inside Iraq so that it doesn’t rest on how one sect relates to another but how individual Iraqis relate to their government.
While the Sons of Iraq movement has been a leading contributor toward the reduction of violence against American troops, it remains highly fragile. Some of its groupings are nationalist, some are Islamist, many are tribally rooted and some may, unfortunately, be composed of hard-line Sunnis intent on restoring their sect’s domination over Shiites. Thus, unsurprisingly, the group is viewed with great skepticism by many Shiites in the Baghdad government.
With each passing day, the amount of influence American officials have with the Iraqi government dwindles, while the list of objectives we wish to achieve grows. We need to pick our priorities now — and at the top of that list must be finding a productive future role for the Sons of Iraq.
First, we must take a look at who the Sons of Iraq are and what motivates them. They are not a monolith; members come from more than 125 political and tribal groups holding differing aspirations and influenced by numerous entities, some of which have goals contrary to those of the Americans and the government of Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki. Thus there is no single solution to all 90,000 potential problems.
The leading idea so far is to fold a fraction of them, about 20,000, into the Iraqi security forces. The remainder would be accommodated in civilian job-placement and training programs. But this will be far harder than it looks.
For political and sectarian reasons, the (mostly Shiite) ministers and officials who oversee the security forces are unenthusiastic about bringing in Sunnis. In addition, the government doesn’t have the bureaucratic efficiency to handle such a large influx of people easily. Aside from those problems, we’d need to come up with a way of deciding which men are qualified for security duty — a screening method to marginalize hard-liners and co-opt less ideologically driven members.
But the American leadership must press the Iraqis to overcome those obstacles. As we look to transform the Sons of Iraq, we are talking about more than just a venue to redirect insurgents from violence. This is also an opportunity to encourage engagement by Sunnis, many hailing from oft-ignored western Iraq and who have no real voice in the political system, in the new nation.
As for the American stake in this, the future drawing down of forces will be largely determined by the commitment of Iraqi factions to reach local political and security compromises. If we can’t help find a way to integrate the Sunnis into the state, many Sons of Iraq could revert to the insurgency. (This is another reason that it’s prudent to put a pause on further American troop reductions.)
By better understanding the objectives of this diverse group we can more efficiently create postwar employment, promote acceptance within the government, foster local security solutions and improve the chances of sustained success against the insurgents. Failure to find a new role for the Sons of Iraq, however, will result in the deterioration of government authority, an inability to draw down our own forces, and a return to militia rule for much of Iraq.
****************
Matt Sherman has spent more than three years as a civilian official in postwar Iraq, most recently in 2007 as the political adviser to the First Cavalry Division in Baghdad. He is a principal with SCI Consulting, a senior adviser with the Scowcroft Group and an adjunct with the RAND Corporation.

By any definition, Mac clear on Iraq

The Boston Herald has gleefully offered to run the Op-Ed the NYT declined.

By any definition, Mac clear on Iraq
By John McCain Tuesday, July 22, 2008 http://www.bostonherald.com Op-Ed

The following is the op-ed originally offered by Sen. John McCain to The New York Times [NYT]. The Times rejected it, demanding that, “The article would have to articulate, in concrete terms, how Sen. McCain defines victory in Iraq.” The Times published an op-ed on Iraq by Sen. Barack Obama on July 14. This piece has been edited slightly for space.

In January 2007, when Gen. David Petraeus took command in Iraq, he called the situation “hard” but not “hopeless.” Today, violence has fallen by up to 80 percent to the lowest levels in four years, and Sunni and Shiite terrorists are reeling. The situation is full of hope, but hard work remains to consolidate our fragile gains.

Progress has been due primarily to an increase in troops and a change in their strategy. I was an early advocate of the surge at a time when it had few supporters in Washington. Sen. Barack Obama was an equally vocal opponent. “I am not persuaded that 20,000 additional troops in Iraq is going to solve the sectarian violence there,” he said on Jan. 10, 2007. “In fact, I think it will do the reverse.”

Now Sen. Obama has been forced to acknowledge that “our troops have performed brilliantly in lowering the level of violence.” But he still denies any political progress there.
Perhaps he is unaware that the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad has recently certified that, as one news article put it, “Iraq has met all but three of 18 original benchmarks set by Congress last year to measure security, political and economic progress.” Even more heartening has been progress that’s not measured by benchmarks. More than 90,000 Iraqis, many of them Sunnis who once fought the government, have signed up as Sons of Iraq to fight against the terrorists. Nor do they measure Prime Minister Nouri al Maliki’s newfound willingness to crack down on Shiite extremists.

The success of the surge has not changed Sen. Obama’s determination to pull out all of our combat troops. All that has changed is his rationale. In a New York Times op-ed and speech, he offered his “plan for Iraq” in advance of his first “fact-finding” trip there in three years. It consisted of the same old proposal to pull all our troops out within 16 months. In 2007 he wanted to withdraw because he thought the war was lost. If we had taken his advice, it would have been.

Now he thinks Iraqis no longer need our help.

To make this point, he mangles the evidence. He makes it sound as if Maliki has endorsed the Obama timetable, when all he has said is that he would like a plan for the eventual withdrawal of U.S. troops.

Sen. Obama is also misleading on the Iraqi military’s readiness. The Iraqi Army will be equipped and trained by the middle of next year, but this does not, as Sen. Obama suggests, mean that they will then be ready to secure their country without a good deal of help. The Iraqi Air Force, for one, still lags behind, and no modern army can operate without air cover. Iraqis are also still learning how to conduct planning, logistics, command and control and other complicated functions needed to support frontline troops.

No one favors a permanent U.S. presence, as Sen. Obama charges. A partial withdrawal has already occurred with the departure of five “surge” brigades, and more withdrawals can take place as the security situation improves. As we draw down in Iraq, we can beef up our presence on other battlefields, such as Afghanistan. I have said that I expect to welcome home most of our troops from Iraq by the end of my first term in office, in 2013.

But I have also said that any drawdowns must be based on a realistic assessment of conditions on the ground, not on an artificial timetable crafted for domestic political reasons. This is the crux of my disagreement with Sen. Obama.

He has said that he would consult our commanders on the ground and Iraqi leaders, but he did no such thing before releasing his “plan for Iraq.” During the course of eight visits to Iraq, I have heard many times from our troops what Major Gen. Jeffrey Hammond, commander of coalition forces in Baghdad, recently said: That leaving based on a timetable would be “very dangerous.”

The danger is that extremists supported by al-Qaeda and Iran could stage a comeback. I find it ironic that Sen. Obama is emulating the worst mistake of the Bush administration by waving the “Mission Accomplished” banner prematurely.

I am also dismayed that he never talks about winning the war - only of ending it. But if we don’t win the war, our enemies will. I will continue implementing a proven counterinsurgency strategy, not only in Iraq but also in Afghanistan, with the goal of creating self-sustaining democratic allies.

Now It's Ours.

I know! Let's see what Rick is up to. Let's see.......an interview with Tim Cocks (now that's an unfortunate name) of Reuters
Outposts help U.S. troops quell Iraq violence
Tue Feb 19, 2008 7:07am EST
By Tim Cocks

On a patch of Iraqi desert flanked by palm trees, U.S. soldiers erect concrete blast walls and saw wooden planks to make cabins. Out front, a gunner tests his mortar launcher, firing a round into an empty field.

The soldiers are building the latest U.S. combat outpost in Iraq, a tactical shift begun a year ago to move troops off their relatively safe, sprawling bases and into small garrisons in and around the country's dangerous neighbourhoods and towns.

The town of Salman Pak, 45 km (25 miles) south of Baghdad, had long been a haven for al Qaeda, whose bombers used it as a springboard to launch car bomb attacks on Baghdad.

But thanks to a combat outpost set up a year ago and then with help from Sunni Arab tribal leaders who turned against the militants, U.S. officers say security in Salman Pak has improved and they want to make sure those gains are not lost.

"Al Qaeda owned this for the past three years. Now it's ours," Major-General Rick Lynch, who commands 20,000 U.S. troops south of Baghdad, told Reuters during a visit to the town.

"The way it's ours is we get this permanent presence here, so they know we're not leaving. We're not going to give this up until Iraqi security forces can ... maintain security."

Read the rest here.

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Bayer Healthcare + Defense Commissary Agency + AAFES = Soldiers’ Angels Support

Bayer Healthcare + Defense Commissary Agency + AAFES = Soldiers’ Angels Support Bayer Healthcare has teamed up with the Defense Commissary Agency (DeCA) and the Army Air Force Exchanges (AAFES) to support Soldiers’ Angels, a volunteer-based non-profit organization that supports all branches of the U.S. Armed Forces through special projects, dedicated teams and individuals caring for our troops. Whether sending care packages, helping families at home, or assisting the wounded, Soldiers’ Angels makes a visible difference in the lives of our service members.

During the month of June, Bayer Healthcare will donate $0.05 for every $1.00 spent on participating Bayer products (Bayer Aspirin, Aleve, Alka-Seltzer, One A Day, and Citracal) to Soldiers’ Angels Adopt a Soldier program, at military commissaries and exchanges, up to a maximum of $20,000.

Bayer, DeCA and AAFES are supporting the promotion with in-store advertising and displays. Banner ads supporting the program will also be running the entire month of June on www.military.com .

Thanks Bayer for your support of Soldier's Angels.

In Annapolis, Ready For the Ripley Race!

Going to bed soon. I'm wicked happy about "falling back" tonight. I'm not worried about smoke detector batteries......Mary will have to take care of that.

So we'll be up and at 'em early so we are ready for the 9 am start of the Ripley Race.

No, I am not running. Silly.

If you are in or around Annapolis, stop by, cheer on the runners.

From their website -

Established in 2009, the Ripley Race is a 5K road race to raise awareness and support for our men and women returning home from war. In just three years, we’ve raised more than $20,000 for returning veterans.

The Ripley Race is powered by the Cincinnatus Fund , a 501 (c) 3 that serves returning veterans where the system stops. This often means providing wounded soldiers with prosthetics and other tools that help them reprise a healthy, active life.

With nearly 1,000 runners, the 2010 Ripley Race raised $10,000 for the Semper Fi Fund and had tremendous support from the military community and their families. This year, we’re aiming higher. Join us by signing up for the race or making a tax-deductible donation to the cause.

Grace Has Some Advice For SouthieBoy

Grace, my sister who is prepared for everything. She of the carefully filled out calendar and polite and helpful children. Grace who can not fly by the seat of her pants unless dragged. Grace with bird flu supplies in the attic. Grace who has an answer for everything and she will tell you whether you want to hear it or not..............

I saw something briefly about a satellite which will fall to earth at some point. So on my way home from work, I called Grace.................."Are you building a shield?" She knew immediately what I was taking about and replied in an awestruck tone, "Did you see that? It weighs 20,000 lbs. (How the hell does she know that?). But I'm not worried, it's going to land in the Persian Gulf." I hadn't heard that and I said "Hey, that's where Tom is!"

Grace said

"Tell him, he better duck."

Drunken Posting

Had dinner with a friend tonight. 99% of the time, I am the designated driver. That's fine. Tonight with my car in the shop, I say "Hey, I have no car, I think I'll drink." My friend proceeds to drink anyway..........WTF?
It's ok, Frankie's g/f Toni (who I love) came and got me.

So, I am surfing before bed.

Reading my boys at Op-For. Excellent post linking to Rich Lowry's take on Jessica Lynch. Go read it.

Wonder who's on Jon Stewart. He's a flaming lib, but I laugh.

Battling about naming destroyers over at the Castle........I vote for USS Ernest Evans. Only go over if you agree with me, lol.

Tomorrow is ANZAC Day........raise a Fosters!

Sometime on Wednesday I will reach 20,000 hits. Wow, people like reading about nonsense!

You know there are some crazy people over at the Atlantic. And they write articles about crazy books. I was reading an article in the March, 2007 issue, while I waited for the dryer to finish. This month's issue is unopened on the bookcase because I am 27 years behind on my reading. But I digress, this article "She’s Just Not That Into You" is a review of a book by Joan Sewall, "I'd Rather Eat Chocolate: Learning to Love My Low Libido". Where do they find these people?

The Next 24 Hours........

.......Sitemeter will tick over 30,000 Total Visits. As I write this it's 29,926. Jen is not impressed. when I mentioned the number, she said "Can you get each of them to leave a buck?"

Most bloggers note these milestones. I noted "25,000"....."20,000"..... I was actually Rachel's 10,000 visit at "Pay Heed To The Geek".

The point of this post is...........I really want it to be someone I know! So when you visit, peek at Sitemeter and if it's you, leave a comment.

Thanks,

Maggie