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strattonsigns
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Isn't it kind of cocky for a Obama to say he had a "constructive" conversation with Maliki today? I wonder, did we have an election already and he now has the ability to "construct" an agreement on troop withdrawal? I could understand if he would have called the conversation "informative" but "constructive" made it sound like he was in negotiations with the Iraqi government. Pretty bold to me.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080721/ap_on_el_pr/obama;_ylt=ArrRnrVumXtJQdnQdN6XqwGOe8UF |
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Mon Jul 21, 2008 4:31 pm |
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MikeInGB
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quote:
strattonsigns schreef:
Isn't it kind of cocky for a Obama to say he had a "constructive" conversation with Maliki today?
No. It's called due diligence. Last I knew Obama was a United States Senator whose vote(s) directly impact the military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan. There were other members of the Senate with him as well. Now, I'm sure you're trying to make some general assumption that by going on this trip Obama is prematurely claiming the presidency and that rubs you the wrong way. So be it. The reality of the situation is that Obama is the Democratic nominee for POTUS and with that stature comes greater access. Besides, the Iraqis need to develop a relationship with both Obama and McCain. McCain has been to Iraq also and he is not the president either. Did that piss you off? |
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Mon Jul 21, 2008 4:45 pm |
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strattonsigns
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Mike,
I applaud Obama's fact finding trip to the War zones and his meetings with OUR military leaders to FINALLY get a first hand look at what's going on there. Now he may have some credibility when speaking about the conditions on the ground there. However, it is presumptuous of him to insinuate that his conversations were "constructive."
This is a misleading statement given to reporters that somehow has the ring to it that he was "negotiating" some sort of time table, when in fact he does not have the authority to do that. The truth is, it was no more than an opportunity for Al-Maliki to inform Obama that the surge did in fact work and troops can finally start to be reduced and control given over to the new Iraqi DEMOCRACY
as more infrastructure and control is built there.
The fact remains, that if we had done what Obama wanted two years ago Iraq would be in a civil war.
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Mon Jul 21, 2008 5:42 pm |
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Adam Ford
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quote:
strattonsigns schreef:
The fact remains, that if we had done what Obama wanted two years ago Iraq would be in a civil war.[/b]
Or we could never have invaded in the first place and saved a few hundred billions of dolars and lives and not be as hated in the middle East. |
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Mon Jul 21, 2008 7:46 pm |
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MikeInGB
F L I N T O I D
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quote:
Adam Ford schreef:
quote:
strattonsigns schreef:
The fact remains, that if we had done what Obama wanted two years ago Iraq would be in a civil war.[/b]
Or we could never have invaded in the first place and saved a few hundred billions of dolars and lives and not be as hated in the middle East.
strattonsigns, that's what will happen anyway. The Iraqis know when to pull back and when to be offensive. They're not stupid. In fact, when it comes to fighting on their soil they're much smarter than we are. Whenever we decide to leave they'll come out of the woodwork and give us some parting shots so they can claim to have defeated the big, bad, Americans. It's going to happen and it's going to be heartbreaking. You can't defeat an insurgency but you can prevent one which is exactly what we failed to do. This administration fucked things up beyond repair. Better to leave sooner rather than later and save some money in the process.
Adam, might I add "or had a workable plan that PROVIDED FOR PHASE II, III, ETC." I wish Republicans like you would have been in Washington 7 years ago, I might still support them. |
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Mon Jul 21, 2008 8:09 pm |
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Adam Ford
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quote:
MikeInGB schreef:
Or we could never have invaded in the first place and saved a few hundred billions of dolars and lives and not be as hated in the middle East.
strattonsigns, that's what will happen anyway. The Iraqis know when to pull back and when to be offensive. They're not stupid. In fact, when it comes to fighting on their soil they're much smarter than we are. Whenever we decide to leave they'll come out of the woodwork and give us some parting shots so they can claim to have defeated the big, bad, Americans. It's going to happen and it's going to be heartbreaking. You can't defeat an insurgency but you can prevent one which is exactly what we failed to do. This administration fucked things up beyond repair. Better to leave sooner rather than later and save some money in the process.[/quote]
You seem to be assuming the insurgency is losing. Al Sadr is hiding out in Iran. Iraq has very strong ties now to Iran and appears to me to be indirectly "helping" to run the country. We supported Saddam to help counter Iranian influence. I thought Maliki was an idiot at first but he might actually be a lot smarter than Bush and Saddam. He'll probably buddy up to Iran and Al Sadr if he ever manages to get us to leave. Once we leave I bet he'll take back the oil fields again. |
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Tue Jul 22, 2008 7:23 am |
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MikeInGB
F L I N T O I D
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quote:
Adam Ford schreef:
You seem to be assuming the insurgency is losing. Al Sadr is hiding out in Iran. Iraq has very strong ties now to Iran and appears to me to be indirectly "helping" to run the country. We supported Saddam to help counter Iranian influence. I thought Maliki was an idiot at first but he might actually be a lot smarter than Bush and Saddam. He'll probably buddy up to Iran and Al Sadr if he ever manages to get us to leave. Once we leave I bet he'll take back the oil fields again.
I think we're talking past each other here. I'm not suggesting the insugency is losing at all, just laying low for the time being. I agree 100% with the rest of your post. All we did was cede Iraq to the Iranians. Brilliant. |
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Tue Jul 22, 2008 7:48 am |
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