colecrowe
01-05-2008, 12:14 PM
Please call the Campaign. Please call the Campaign with this 100 years quote and video. See below post.
http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080103/OPINION01/801030365/1008
The following are excerpts of The Detroit News editorial board's interview with John McCain, U.S. senator from Arizona and GOP presidential hopeful:
Q . When should the United States leave Iraq
A . It doesn't matter. We're still in Kuwait since the first Gulf War. If we can continue to show this progress, we could be there for 100 years, for all I know, as long as Americans are not dying. It's not a matter of American presence; it's a matter of success so we can beat back this adversary. If we'd done what they wanted us to do six months ago, al-Qaida would now be trumpeting to the world that it defeated the United States of America.
But it absolutely is a matter of American presence--just like it absolutely was in Lebanon (Reagan realized that and withdrew, and then called getting involved in the Middle East in that way his greatest mistake) and it is absolutely the main issue in Iraq. They are fighting us because we are occupying their country and they don't want puppet governments. I was there as an Army infantryman for a year. All the polls are showing more and more hatred from the Iraqis. They supported us the first year--but after that they felt like they were being occupied and they now support the killing of Americans. The country has been ethnically cleansed in many parts, which explains the "success" of the surge--which is no success at all: the violence has gone up and down since we got there--when I was there in 2004 we would get "great news" about every 3-6 months. They have told us again and again and again that we almost have it won, we are going to be turning it over to the Iraqis really soon. It was supposed to be a cakewalk--like McCain thinks Vietnam could've been if it wasn't for "public opinion" losing that war for us (he said that at the Youtube debate).
The "flocks of returning refugees" is so silly: based on probably bad numbers anyway, and then it's so little its sad, I mean 20,000-40,000 out of 2 million?! That is 1.5%--and people are still leaving in greater numbers. The deception is scary. And Syria has been cracking down very hard on denying Visas and kicking people out--besides the fact that the refugees cannot find work. http://thelede.blogs.nytimes.com/2007/11/21/refugees-more-good-news-from-iraq/
It is a bald faced lie that we are in Iraq to fight Al Qaeda:
From Wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Al-Qaeda_in_Iraq
AQI is among Iraq's most feared militant organisations[11] and many experts regard it as the United States' most formidable enemy in Iraq.[8] Others suggest that the threat posed by AQI is exaggerated;[12] some scholars claim that a "heavy focus on al-Qaeda obscures a much more complicated situation on the ground."[13]
According to a 2006 U.S. government report, this group is most clearly associated with foreign terrorist cells operating in Iraq and has specifically targeted international forces and Iraqi citizens. Most of AQI's operatives are not Iraqi, but instead come through a series of safe houses, the largest of which is on the Iraq-Syrian border. AQI's operations are predominately Iraq-based, but the United States Department of State alleges that the group maintains an extensive logistical network throughout the Middle East, North Africa, Iran, South Asia, and Europe.[6] Over a three-month period in 2005, al-Zarqawi's (now deceased) affiliates were reportedly responsible for more than 1,700 attacks on Coalition and Iraqi forces in the city of Mosul alone.[6] Many of these were suicide attacks and improvised explosive device (IED) attacks, typically using cars and other motor vehicles. (In March 2007 the U.S.-sponsored Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty analyzed al-Qaeda in Iraq attacks for that month. Al-Qaeda in Iraq had taken credit for 43 out of 439 attacks on Iraqi security forces and Shiite militias, and 17 out of 357 attacks on U.S. troops.)
Estimates for AQI numbers range from 850 – about 3 to 5 percent of the Sunni insurgency – to several thousand.[1][14] In 2006 the State Department's Bureau of Intelligence and Research estimated that AQI’s membership was in a range of "more than 1,000," putting AQI’s forces at less than 1 percent of the insurgency. In 2007 the State Department dropped its base-level estimate, because, as an official explained, "the information is too disparate to come up with a consensus number".
According to both the July 2007 National Intelligence Estimate and the Defense Intelligence Agency reports AQI accounted for 15 percent of attacks in Iraq. However, the Congressional Research Service noted in its September 2007 report that attacks from al-Qaeda are less than two percent of the violence in Iraq and criticized the administration’s statistics, noting that its false reporting of insurgency attacks as AQI attacks has increased since the "surge" operations began.[15][16]
http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080103/OPINION01/801030365/1008
The following are excerpts of The Detroit News editorial board's interview with John McCain, U.S. senator from Arizona and GOP presidential hopeful:
Q . When should the United States leave Iraq
A . It doesn't matter. We're still in Kuwait since the first Gulf War. If we can continue to show this progress, we could be there for 100 years, for all I know, as long as Americans are not dying. It's not a matter of American presence; it's a matter of success so we can beat back this adversary. If we'd done what they wanted us to do six months ago, al-Qaida would now be trumpeting to the world that it defeated the United States of America.
But it absolutely is a matter of American presence--just like it absolutely was in Lebanon (Reagan realized that and withdrew, and then called getting involved in the Middle East in that way his greatest mistake) and it is absolutely the main issue in Iraq. They are fighting us because we are occupying their country and they don't want puppet governments. I was there as an Army infantryman for a year. All the polls are showing more and more hatred from the Iraqis. They supported us the first year--but after that they felt like they were being occupied and they now support the killing of Americans. The country has been ethnically cleansed in many parts, which explains the "success" of the surge--which is no success at all: the violence has gone up and down since we got there--when I was there in 2004 we would get "great news" about every 3-6 months. They have told us again and again and again that we almost have it won, we are going to be turning it over to the Iraqis really soon. It was supposed to be a cakewalk--like McCain thinks Vietnam could've been if it wasn't for "public opinion" losing that war for us (he said that at the Youtube debate).
The "flocks of returning refugees" is so silly: based on probably bad numbers anyway, and then it's so little its sad, I mean 20,000-40,000 out of 2 million?! That is 1.5%--and people are still leaving in greater numbers. The deception is scary. And Syria has been cracking down very hard on denying Visas and kicking people out--besides the fact that the refugees cannot find work. http://thelede.blogs.nytimes.com/2007/11/21/refugees-more-good-news-from-iraq/
It is a bald faced lie that we are in Iraq to fight Al Qaeda:
From Wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Al-Qaeda_in_Iraq
AQI is among Iraq's most feared militant organisations[11] and many experts regard it as the United States' most formidable enemy in Iraq.[8] Others suggest that the threat posed by AQI is exaggerated;[12] some scholars claim that a "heavy focus on al-Qaeda obscures a much more complicated situation on the ground."[13]
According to a 2006 U.S. government report, this group is most clearly associated with foreign terrorist cells operating in Iraq and has specifically targeted international forces and Iraqi citizens. Most of AQI's operatives are not Iraqi, but instead come through a series of safe houses, the largest of which is on the Iraq-Syrian border. AQI's operations are predominately Iraq-based, but the United States Department of State alleges that the group maintains an extensive logistical network throughout the Middle East, North Africa, Iran, South Asia, and Europe.[6] Over a three-month period in 2005, al-Zarqawi's (now deceased) affiliates were reportedly responsible for more than 1,700 attacks on Coalition and Iraqi forces in the city of Mosul alone.[6] Many of these were suicide attacks and improvised explosive device (IED) attacks, typically using cars and other motor vehicles. (In March 2007 the U.S.-sponsored Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty analyzed al-Qaeda in Iraq attacks for that month. Al-Qaeda in Iraq had taken credit for 43 out of 439 attacks on Iraqi security forces and Shiite militias, and 17 out of 357 attacks on U.S. troops.)
Estimates for AQI numbers range from 850 – about 3 to 5 percent of the Sunni insurgency – to several thousand.[1][14] In 2006 the State Department's Bureau of Intelligence and Research estimated that AQI’s membership was in a range of "more than 1,000," putting AQI’s forces at less than 1 percent of the insurgency. In 2007 the State Department dropped its base-level estimate, because, as an official explained, "the information is too disparate to come up with a consensus number".
According to both the July 2007 National Intelligence Estimate and the Defense Intelligence Agency reports AQI accounted for 15 percent of attacks in Iraq. However, the Congressional Research Service noted in its September 2007 report that attacks from al-Qaeda are less than two percent of the violence in Iraq and criticized the administration’s statistics, noting that its false reporting of insurgency attacks as AQI attacks has increased since the "surge" operations began.[15][16]