If anyone wants to know what your tax dollars pay for, go and visit Walter Reed some time, or Bethesda National Medical Center, or take your family to Arlington Cemetery and see the fresh graves that have been dug. Those soldiers haven’t been put in the ground by Hamas and other people on the terrorist list. They’ve been put there by Al Qaeda, and the Taliban and Haqqani and the Pakistani government, and all those people who want to destroy the United States, the West, and our way of life.
Sun Tzu said tactics without strategy is the slow road to defeat. We need a strategy. And the first element in that strategy is, quite literally, sanity. Seeing facts and events and people as they actually are, not as we wish them to be, or pretend that they are. Then, based on reality, determine who our enemies are, then destroy them. We have wasted 11 years. We had a detour into Iraq, and we have pretended that Pakistan, our enemies’ patron and haven, is an ally.
Tell me how this ends. Tell me how we destroy our enemies. Tell me what will replace the current non-strategy, which is the slow road to defeat.
Our enemies are real, they are serious, they are playing the long game, and they mean to win.
I see nothing like that clarity on our side. I see no leadership on our side. I see no willingness to say hard things, such as that Pakistan is our enemy, that the Muslim Brotherhood which has taken over Egypt is our enemy, that Al Qaeda is alive and growing in power.
By every rational measure we should win this. But we may not.
And when I look at what’s happening in Libya, and there is this big song and dance about whether this is a terrorist attack, and you just want to scream, are you kidding me? The last time we were attacked like this, it was the USS Cole, which was a prelude to the 1998 embassy bombing, which was a prelude to 9/11. And you’re sending FBI to investigate? I hope to God that you are sending in your best clandestine warriors, who will go to exact revenge, and let the world know that the United States will not be attacked on its own soil, that its ambassadors will not be murdered, and the United States will not stand by and do nothing about it.
I am urging everybody to spread this speech around. It is poison to the administration’s narrative about the Middle East.
How did CBS let one of their top properties go off the reservation so close to an election?
The Afghan’s have always come together to repel the invader. That’s you by the way, for some reason this is not well understood. If you think they should just surrender to Lara Logan’s better judgement, you are living in a dream.
Of all the commentators to misunderstand Afghanistan LL stands near the head of that list.
The Taliban stuffed the Afghan army and police and may be a substantial part of those organizations so valued for their ‘post withdrawal’ potential. I pointed this out years ago to almost universal derision. It’s a simple and effective tactic to have your enemy train and arm your people. You may out of your depth in that part of the world.
You might have noticed you are hated by a very large number of people in nearly all of the middle and parts of the far east. It’s because you are in their countries taking their resources and killing those opposed to you. To call these people ‘terrorists’ is to completely miss the point, but that is what you are good at.
Bin Laden suckered you and you went for it hook, line and sinker. After the election it will become apparent how successful he was as helicopter Ben is pretty well out of rabbits and the hat is worn out.
Lara Logan learned the hard way what the Egyptians are like. I have been in favor of leaving Afghanistan for several years. Pakistan has been an enemy for years, since Mushareff left at least. Egypt is now in the hands of an enemy, led by a man with PhD in petroleum engineering from USC, my alma mater. Egypt, of course, has no petroleum. All of this makes it more critical that we attain energy independence quickly. Obama has been an excellent investment for the Arabs that supported him and helped him get into Harvard law school. Everyone should read Valerie Jarret’s father-in-law’s article. It explains a lot, including her influence and her 6 Secret Service agents that Ambassador Stephen didn’t have.
We have wasted 11 years. We had a detour into Iraq, and we have pretended that Pakistan, our enemies’ patron and haven, is an ally.
I think that this interpretation is overwrought. We saw Pakistan as a problem we could better manage by keeping the Pakis inside our tent pissing out rather than by direct confrontation. By now it seems clear that in recent years they have played us more than we played them, but that doesn’t necessarily mean that our initial strategy was wrong, even though we have been slow to change it. Nor does it mean that we should focus on Pakistan to the exclusion of other threats. And we can still change course in Pakistan and Afghanistan — better late than never.
What does seem wrong is our abandonment of Iraq, begun under Bush, and continued by Obama for, it seems, mainly cynical political reasons. Iraq is strategic high ground, while Afghanistan is of little value other than as a staging ground for terrorists, who we can deal with using a far smaller troop presence than we have. Afghanistan is more a strategic liability because our people there are hostages to Pakistan and Russia. Obama’s appeasement of Islamist governments in Iran, Turkey, Egypt, and of the Taleban and other Islamist groups, compounds the problem. He is doing precisely the wrong things.
Richard Fernandez put it well in this comment, and especially this comment on one of his own posts.
I strongly suspect that Lara Logan’s outburst of public sanity will result in a career move to Fox.
My jaw dropped when I heard / saw her speech. The Emperor has NO clothes, and she just pointed it out for all to see. The “reset switch” sold to the Dept of State must have been “batteries not included” as it hasn’t done a thing to change the relations between governments. State is being hornswoggled and they don’t even know it, or will not at least acknowledge it.
Bush had a PILE of nay-sayers, “the war is lost” SENATE MAJORITY LEADER certainly didn’t help, and there are likely some bodies and blood caused by his so political words. Because of his political [along with a LOT of D’s in Congress}, many have and will die. On both sides. The military deserves at LEAST the support of those who authorize their deployment. Derogatory words and statements of defeat are unacceptable to persons who honor the US as the last true hope. Apparently, political power and greed are more important than the US. What a sorry state of affairs.
Tunisia, Libya, Egypt, Palestine, Syria, Iraq, Iran, Afghanistan, and Pakistan are all or soon will be under the influence of the MB. They will either succeed[BEING FINANCED BY US!] to set in place a caliphate or an anti-US set of governments, or they will not. Everything done “leading from behind” will come home to roost. The ‘weak horse’ is the one fed to the pride of lions tracking the caravan. Obama is riding the weak horse, with HRC as his ‘guide’. Good luck with that.
tom
You handed Iraq to Iran by removing Sadam. It was obvious that is what would and did happen. Iraq is 65% or so Shia and I have no idea why you would did not understand what that ment. Just stupid I guess.
The story of Iraq isn’t over. Our error lay in leaving rather than in deposing Hussein. Perhaps the news that Shia Iraqis are Arabs with a distinct national and ethnic identity, more competitors than allies of the Persians, hasn’t yet reached your backwoods outpost. The Iraqis cut deals with Iran because they have to, since we have departed and left a power vacuum.
“You handed Iraq to Iran by removing Sadam. It was obvious that is what would and did happen”
Is there anything the US could so that would meet with your approval ? No, of course not. That’s why I ignore you like the trolls that appeared after the debate. I wrote above that Iraq was worth a try to see if an Arab country could run a modern economy. I said nothing about democracy and I thought the Iraqi army would eventually end up running the country as they did in Turkey. Turkey is now sliding into Islamism having imprisoned about 1/3 of the senior officers of the Turkish army.
If Shiite religious affiliation is the dominant consideration, then the experiment failed. Had the US kept a small presence, instead of Obama’s political decision to cut and run, we could still have significant influence. If that wouldn’t work, maybe the middle east is lost for another century. Israel is in dangerous territory but has always been able to defat Arabs. Iran is being ruled by a small clique of radicals who are analogous to the old Soviet Union and the Nomenklatura. The people are restive and the real prospect of war with a supportive US president might spark a real revolution. I don’t know what will happen although Obama is a disaster. Foolish and stupid leaders have caused terrible wars before.
Iraq will go down with Vietnam as an American military victory that was wasted by the feckless leftist Democrats.
Afghanistan is another story. What we are doing is abusing ourselves while the Pakistanis laugh t us. We should exit ASAP. After we get our hostages (soldiers and diplomats) out, we should blow up all the military equipment we have given to the Pakistanis, and tell the Indians that it is now their problem.
Reagan’s attempt to counter-punch terrorists who attack and abduct Americans ended with the Marine Corps barracks bombing in Lebanon: a terrorist victory. Who here thinks Obama can do better, even if he wanted to?
Condoleezza Rice
“Is there anything the US could so that would meet with your approval ? No, of course not. That’s why I ignore you like the trolls that appeared after the debate.”
I’m not sure if you know what ‘ignore’ means.
Sure, if the US acted as a useful state and not as the spoiled brat we see today I could find some approval for you. I will not be holding my breath though.
‘The story of Iraq isn’t over. Our error lay in leaving rather than in deposing Hussein. ‘
Bush signed paper that forced you to leave Iraq when you did. Only by breaking that agreement could you stay. You think a permanent occupation is the way?
“The Iraqis cut deals with Iran because they have to, since we have departed and left a power vacuum.”
Iran and Iraq have cooperated since you invaded Iraq. It has nothing to with you leaving.
PenGun said: “…you are hated by a very large number of people in nearly all of the Middle East and parts of the Far East. It’s because you are in their countries taking their resources and killing those opposed to you.”
That is a perfect example of the mindset of the terminally deluded “Hate America” leftists. They make platitudinous comments without any basis in fact, and think they are correct because, to them, their comments sound “intelligent”.
Don’t bother to challenge their fraudulent assertions – they certainly cannot list the countries where we supposedly are “taking their resources and killing those opposed to (us).”
The good news, though, is that people don’t believe their mindless tripe, and see through their specious claims.
Just to keep it short, the reason Bin Laden did 9/11 was because of your presence in Saudi Arabia.
You don’t think they hate you? Really.
“Just to keep it short, the reason Bin Laden did 9/11 was because of your presence in Saudi Arabia.
You don’t think they hate you? Really.
That must be why so many come here for their education. They don’t want anyone messing with their society; I’ll grant that. The trouble is the Saudi royal family did a deal with Roosevelt (Remember him ?) and they want protection from us against their enemies, like Iran. Personally, I’d be happy to leave them to their own devices now that we have plentiful domestic energy sources. Funny how Obama tries to shut down all of our energy sources, isn’t it ? The Arabs have a lot invested in him and he is trying to pay them back.
Even Morsi has a PhD from the university that I attended. Sayyid Qutb taught high school in Centennial Colorado. He was horrified at 1950 US social customs. Khalid Sheikh Muhammad was educated at a US Baptist college, of all places. He probably didn’t have Obama’s connections.