Today In History: US Surrenders In Iraq

Had Obama had his way back in January 2007:

The Iraq War De-escalation Act of 2007

The Obama plan offers a responsible yet effective alternative to the President's failed policy of escalation. Realizing there can be no military solution in Iraq, it focuses instead on reaching a political solution in Iraq, protecting our interests in the region, and bringing this war to a responsible end. The legislation commences redeployment of U.S. forces no later than May 1, 2007 with the goal of removing all combat brigades from Iraq by March 31, 2008, a date that is consistent with the expectation of the bipartisan Iraq Study Group.

In case you were in a haze back in the winter of '07, "escalation" meant "The Surge." Per Obama, it was a predetermined failure before it was even fully launched.

Do you know how hard it is to find any pics of "American surrender" on Google? That's why I chose the iconic Saigon chopper. It's our version of the blubbering Frenchman. Indeed, the only picture of American surrender I could find was this one of Corregidor in the Philippines, 1942:

So that's what American surrender looks like. Do you want to know what actual American defeat sounds like? Listen to this haunting message, the last Morse code transmission sent before Corregidor fell to the Japanese.

Had enough? No? Vote for this naive American loser:

UPDATE: Welcome, National Review --- both The Corner and Campaign Spot (thanks, Lisa & Jim). Hello again, Instapundit! That uproven US missile defense system Obama wants to scrap? This one. It's one thing to embrace defeat overseas, but to actively neglect the defense of our very soil? Unacceptable.

Comments

[bmac]

As long as your handin' out blogroll links mesa.....
*cough*

[mesablue]

I've found the best time to tip Ace is late in the evening. He's linked me even when I didn't want it, heh. I think he sets up a cache of things to post during the day while he's out doing other things. Big time blogging, you know.

You missed the Allah/Entropy beta male contest. I can't believe I waded in that deep.

[mesablue]

Geez, I didn't have you either, bmac?

Sorry, I haven't updated in a while. I want to get the whole moron list on there when I can figure out how to make it work with my stylesheet.

[mesablue]

Ok bmac, you're now linked by my used to be awesome, now mostly lame blog.

Cuffy has now far surpassed me in the linkwhore stats generating category.

I didn't even break out the crack heads at 200,000 for the year. I'm slipping.

[Cuffy Meigs]

dude, I'm a filthy filthy whore.

[mesablue]

Yeah, but you're good at it.

Geez, you get links from places I've never even thought of.

Good work.

Though, i used to let other people do the link whoring for me so I would appear less -- whorish.

If you know what I mean.

[Cuffy Meigs]

mesa, I became more brazen with tipping after I linked/blogged about a fairly big blogger...and proceeded to get tipped every day by him. WTF? I'm a nobody and this guy was whoring me for links.

[bmac]

Thanks mesa!
Cuffy, your not a nobody in our book buddy.

Linkwhoring...one of these days I'll figure that one out. I am a lazy bastard.

[Cuffy Meigs]

It's easy, bmac. Just visualize those scenes from Less Than Zero. And with that---goodnight!

[mesablue]

Ugh, I lived in Twenty Nine Palms when that came out. Went to watch it in Palm Springs, within a few hundred feet of the scene that still creeps me out.

Funniest line -- "No one lives in Palm Springs", while sitting in the Palm Springs theater.

[Barry in CO]

>Iraq had nothing to do with 9-11

and invading Iraq had nothing to with Iraq having anything to do with 9/11.

Everyone's entitled to their own opinion; they are not entitled to their own 'facts'.

[cranky]

Ron S., did you get drafted into the Air Force or did you receive a draft notice and enlist in the Air Force? You didn't answer that same question before so I'm beginning to believe you dodged the Army or Marine Corps.

Let the bitterness go, Ron. There are vet centers who can help you if you need and want it. You are a very angry person and that is not healthy.

[SFC Cheryl McElroy US ARMY (RET)]

I'm addressing this to all the "Iraq is an unnecessary war" defeatist morons who raise their ugly heads every time the subject pops up:

Newsflash: Hussein was a WMD-wielding megalomaniac who cavorted with al Qaeda. He thumbed his nose at every resolution enacted by the U.N. including Res. 1441, which in conjunction with Congressional approval, gave us the authority to use military force. You ought to read it some time. We also found tons of cyclosarin, among other discovered WMDs, and I’m damned glad we took out the sonofabitch before he had the chance to use what he had. Hussein should have been finished off in 1991 when we were there the last time.

Oh yeah, and here's what was found:

WMDs found:
1,500 gallons of chemicals believed destined for attacks on U.S. and Iraqi forces and civilians.
Link: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/08/13/AR2005081300530.html

1.77 metric tons of enriched uranium and roughly 1000 highly radioactive sources.
http://www.energy.gov/news/1388.htm
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/3872201.stm

Warheads loaded with Sarin
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,124576,00.html
IEDs and artillery shells containing Sarin

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,120137,00.html

And:
http://www.washingtontimes.com/national/20060313-123146-7380r.htm

Those weapons were previously unknown to the U.N. inspectors.

And his terrorist connections:

Hussein's terrorist connections:
The Mother of All Connections:

http://www.weeklystandard.com/Content/Public/Articles/000/000/005/804yqqnr.asp?pg=1

Secondly, the al Qaeda will cross borders no matter where we struck back, which is why I would have transformed Syria, Iraq, Iran, and Afghanistan into asphalt parking lots on 12 September 2001. (for starters) Afghanistan, like Iraq, is just one more battlefield in the war against Islamofascism. We made a mistake by walking away in 1989 after we helped kick out the Soviets.
This war ain't over by a long shot. Al Qaeda and Taliban are funded, aided and supported throughout the Middle East. The Islamofascist vision of a world Caliphate will continue unless we kill them all off.
Our policy should be simple: you attack us, we annihilate you, your supporters, your country, everything.

That's how you fight a "jihad". But, I'm a former Soldier, not a politician.

[Ron S.]

"I guess since I did five times the service you did that my opinion swamps yours and makes your opinion completely irrelevant."
(cranky)

And since the late Col. David Hackworth did a thousand times more than you in combat**, his opinion places your opinion at the bottom of the Mariana Trench.

**Hack (who believed we needed to get out of Iraq) served 25 years of active duty in the U.S. Army, in three separate wars. He served seven years in combat, earning 10 Silver Stars, 10 Purple Hearts, 8 Bronze Stars, the Distinguished Service Cross, the Distinguished Flying Cross, the Army Air Medal, and was recommended for the Congressionall Medal of Honor three different times.

[Cuffy Meigs]

When are you going to realize the sheer absurdity of the chickenhawk argument? You can't "win."

Ron's Fascist America, where only soldiers can vote.

[PattyAnn]

First, it was serving in the Military. Then it was your children must be serving in the Military. Next, it's how long you served in the military. Then again, it's whether or not you were in the Combat Zone.
You want to move those goalposts one more time Ron S.? I think there are about two inches remaining, or left if you choose, that you can use.

[Ron S.]

"When are you going to realize the sheer absurdity of the chickenhawk argument? You can't "win.""
(cuffy)

The late Col. Hackworth, for one, disagreed. Hack referred to the current administration (a majority of which is comprised of draft dodgers) as "Perfumed Princes."

[Ron S.]

"You want to move those goalposts one more time Ron S.? I think there are about two inches remaining, or left if you choose, that you can use."
(PattyAnn)

Sure thing, PattyAnn; let's move them far enough to cover this:

"Now's probably about the time you're formulating a chickenhawk type of rebuttal. Fine, but how many anti-war types have put their asses on the line for peace. Where were you stationed as a human shield?"
(Eric)

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

So you're in favor of requiring combat before being able to protest, PattyAnn; but oppose the same criteria before sending someone else overseas to risk their lives?

And you'll have to take your complaint about "how long you served in the military" to cranky, since it was he who introduced those standards, and not I.

[PattyAnn]

"So you're in favor of requiring combat before being able to protest"

End of discussion with you, as you want to start inventing things now.

[geoff]

Hack referred to the current administration (a majority of which is comprised of draft dodgers) as "Perfumed Princes."

Hackworth referred to a lot of people as "Perfumed Princes," including Wesley Clark and the generals in Iraq. It has nothing to do with chickenhawks.

Why do you lie about these things?

[Ron S.]

"Fine, but how many anti-war types have put their asses on the line for peace."
(Eric)

Here's one, Eric:
Jon Soltz, U.S. Army...served as a Captain in Iraq from May to Sept. 2003, deploying logistics with the 1st Armored Division.

[geoff]

Jon Soltz, U.S. Army...served as a Captain in Iraq from May to Sept. 2003, deploying logistics with the 1st Armored Division.

Deploying logistics, eh? That's a weak one as far as hazard goes, but it is one, so there you go:

Anti-war types who put their life on the line for peace: 1

Good work. Except that as an invader of Iraq he obviously wasn't fighting for peace, at least in any near-term or direct sense. So strike that one.

Next?

[Mark]

Actually Hitler was the first to make the chicken hawk argument. Being that he had been a soldier, he found it a powerful propaganda tool. Fascists like Ron S. still continue to use it today as you can see...

But Ron S. clearly loves Bush and Cheney because, according to Ron S, they use lies as a means of propaganda. And since Ron S also uses lies to propagandize then he must have voted for them in both elections.

Oh what a difficult choice Ron S. has in this election. Since he clearly votes for the person most like himself - the one who is willing to lie the most - which liar will he choose? Will it be Obama or Hillary?

Oh what a conundrum.

[Cuffy Meigs]

Yeah, but, but ... what about this guy? {insert random rank + name here}
/RonS.

[geoff]

He should have said Rachel Corrie, except that she died defending a weapons tunnel, not peace. But if it had been an innocent Palestinian house, then she could have gone on the list.

But the original question inherently excluded military personnel - a point that went over Ron S.'s little head.

[Ron S.]

"Fine, but how many anti-war types have put their asses on the line for peace."
(Eric)

Here's another one Eric:

>> U.S. Army infantry Sergeant John Bruhns (Third Brigade, First Armor Division, First Battalion)...served in Iraq, 2003-04...was part of the initial invasion, later stationed in Baghdad neighborhood near Abu Ghraib prison...Bruhn was involved in approximately 1,000 raids during his one-year tour.

Sgt. Bruhns is now a peace activist..."I would like Congress to draft binding bipartisan legislation that requires President Bush to bring our troops out of Iraq," Bruhns has said.

[Cuffy Meigs]

OK, Ron, you are not only an idiot, but you have exceptionally poor reading comprehension skills.

Eric asked how many PEACE ACTIVISTS put their asses on the line to be HUMAN SHIELDS during the run up to the 2003 invasion, not how many former soldiers are now peace activists.

You're thisclose to being banned because you're making my blog even more moronic than it already is.

[geoff]

OK, Ron, you are not only an idiot, but you have exceptionally poor reading comprehension skills.

Even after I explained it to him. You try to help some people...

Next the lightbulb will go on (maybe) and he'll start with Rachel Corrie. At least I hope he will. That way he'll only be 1 day behind in the conversation.

It might make him seem a little less pathetic.

[Ron S.]

"It's laughable to me how the rhetoric about Iraq has been pared down to WMD, and only WMD. We had so many legitimate reasons to go in there it's ridiculous, but foremost is the fact that we were enforcing the U.N's OWN RESOLUTIONS THAT THEY REFUSED TO ENFORCE. For oh, about 12 years. How many more resolutions should have gone unheeded before something was done?"
(bmac)

The late Col. David Hackworth disagreed:
"Having thought long and hard about war with Iraq," Hack said in January of 2003, "I cannot find justification. I don't see a threat. They are not Nazi Germany. This is not the Wehrmacht. In no way does the situation in Iraq affect my nation's security. That is the bottom line of analyzing threats. 'Does this country threaten my country's security?' In this case, absolutely not."

And I'll wager Hack's military expertise "trumps" yours, bmac...

[cranky]

Ron, you and "Hack" were on such familiar terms, you addressed him by his nickname. How long had you two known each other?

So Ron, I'll ask again. Did you enlist in the Air Force after you received an induction notice for the Army or Marine Corps? You're avoiding answering that question for some reason. Your continuing failure to answer that question makes me think you essentially dodged the draft yourself.

What was your AFSC?

Name all of your duty stations, including TDY locations, and dates assigned to that station.

Did you receive an honorable discharge? If not, were you discharged under other than honorable conditions, like John Kerry.

Get out of the U.N., right Ron?

[cranky]

Hey Ron S., here is another Hackworth quote:

Our fumbling government's response since Beirut - during both Republican and Democratic administrations - has been to cut and run, or to flat ignore this growing threat, apparently hoping it would go away.

David Hackworth

Maybe he foresaw the current crop of progressives, liberals, and Democrats including your dork Obama. You know, all that fucking hope it goes away shit Obama, Reid, Pelosi, and Murtha peddle.

[bmac]

Wow, Cuffy's right Ron, you seem to have no comprehension skills whatsoever. You're like that kid in class that reads aloud...really slow....and doesn't understand what he just read because all his brain power was sucked up just...trying..to...read.

Dude, can you get off Hackworths cock long enough to realize he's not the be all, end all, of military opinions? He's got his own agenda.

Comparing Iraq to Nazi Germany is borderline retarded. We were beyond justified in going in there, everybody knows it, and hey, BTW, we're not "at war" with Iraq the way we were at war with the Nazi's idiot.

In fact, this conflict is a continuation of the Gulf War which ended in a cease fire, NOT A SURRENDER, and Saddam did not follow the terms of the U.N. approved cease fire, hence, we shoved the terms right up his ass, as we had every legal, and moral right to do so.

Ok, read slow, what..part..of..that..don't..you...understand?

[Cuffy Meigs]

STFU, Ron:

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/06/us/politics/06mccain.html?_r=1&hp=&oref=slogin&adxnnlx=1207487087-jmN%20kRDIlUGs8gKQ%20iauQQ&pagewanted=all

[Rosetta]

This is the most entertaining thread I've read in a while?

Ron S,

If you can get your head in the present and voice your own opinions instead of David Hackworth's, I have 2 questions for you.

1) Do you support an immediate and full withdrawal from Iraq?

Assuming you do, the consequence of that would be full on, no-holds-barred sectarian violence, fueled in no small part by Iran, and the number of innocent Iraqis that would be killed would number in the ten of thousands if not hundreds of thousands.

2) You cool having that blood on your hands?

[Rosetta]

This is the most entertaining thread I've read in a while?

How did that ? get in there? Stupid ?. I meant that as a declarative statement.

This is the most entertaining thread I've read in a while.

[cranky]

Rosetta, you can't buy the kind of stupid that Ron S. brings to the party. He has a gift.

[Rosetta]

Gift? You mean the ability to channel Hackworth?

[Zombie David Hackworth]

I heard what you were saying, Ron. You know nothing of my work.