That Was Easy! Barack Solves Iraq

Barack Obama presents his plan for withdrawing from Iraq before going there and meeting with the people on the ground.  I especially admire the power of positive wishful thinking embedded in this seemingly simple sentence:

Unlike Senator John McCain, I opposed the war in Iraq before it began, and would end it as president.

Obama has a plan to greatly reduce US involvement in Iraq.  Whether ending US involvement ends the fighting is a matter of serious dispute - at his website as of June 22 Obama wrote of a "civil war"; one might debate whether that would worsen if the US leaves.

Ah, well - if removing US troops equals "ending the war", then it is peace in Darfur.

REALITY HAS BITTEN!  As of June 22 the Obama website wrote of a "civil war" in Iraq, as duly mocked in this post and excerpted below:

The Problem

The Surge: The goal of the surge was to create space for Iraq's political leaders to reach an agreement to end Iraq's civil war. At great cost, our troops have helped reduce violence in some areas of Iraq, but even those reductions do not get us below the unsustainable levels of violence of mid-2006. Moreover, Iraq's political leaders have made no progress in resolving the political differences at the heart of their civil war.

Now as of July 14, progress has been made - the only civil war mentioned is the experience of the United States back in the 1860's ("A New Strategy Needed: The Iraq war has lasted longer than World War I, World War II, and the Civil War."), and the old "surge" passage now reads as follows:

The Problem

Inadequate Security and Political Progress in Iraq: Since the surge began, more than 1,000 American troops have died, and despite the improved security situation, the Iraqi government has not stepped forward to lead the Iraqi people and to reach the genuine political accommodation that was the stated purpose of the surge. Our troops have heroically helped reduce civilian casualties in Iraq to early 2006 levels. This is a testament to our military’s hard work, improved counterinsurgency tactics, and enormous sacrifice by our troops and military families. It is also a consequence of the decision of many Sunnis to turn against al Qaeda in Iraq, and a lull in Shia militia activity. But the absence of genuine political accommodation in Iraq is a direct result of President Bush’s failure to hold the Iraqi government accountable.

Wow, The Minuteman got results!  Tomorrow, I command the tides.

AS HUBRIS SETS IN:  Hmm, that June 22 post was linked by the InstaPundit himself so it is not absurd to think that some Obama counter-intel operative noticed it.

Well.  Can we draw the arrow of cause and effect from my post to the revised view of the Iraq civil war at the Obama website?  A humble blogger (that oxymoron is a belated George Carlin tribute) would focus on the "common cause" explanation - the same factors that prompted Team Obama to re-calibrate his Iraq position prompted them to update their website and me to look at it.

But folks who prefer to paddle in snark-infested waters will cry out as one - The InstaPundit Gets Results!

Comments

[centralcal]

LindaK: Points well made!

[BobS]

It seems to me that recent decisions by the Obama campaign indicate a debate among competing camps. The message is being controlled by shrewd political ops who know that Obama has to move to the center. But other things like his desire to speak in front of the Brandenburg Gates in Berlin and having his acceptance speech in the Broncos football stadium are leftist romanticism.

[Patrick R. Sullivan]

We could have deployed the full force of American power....

We could have secured loose nuclear materials....

We could have invested hundreds of billions of dollars ....

We could have strengthened old alliances....

We could have called on a new generation....

We could have secured our homeland....

We could have rebuilt our roads and bridges....

What was it Phil Gramm said about a nation of whiners?

[Jane]

One of Obama's biggest weapons is that there is never any give and take. He doesn't take questions, he just gives speeches; he doesn't talk to reporters he just writes op-eds. He won't clarify or expound or explain. Take it or leave it. It must be a dictator thing.

[bgates]

More bad news:
Oil prices plummet over $6 amid economic fears
(The headline to this story by AP writer Adam Schreck, which I believe is roughly Yiddish for "terrible man".)

Coincidentally, as Adam noted in para 17, the President continued to press Congress to lift their prohibition on offshore drilling. What are the odds that would happen on the same day the commodity people decided high oil prices should be the direct cause of lower oil prices?

[cathyf]

...all in the cause of fighting a war for well over five years in a country that had absolutely nothing to do with the 9/11 attacks.

And what country would that be? One of al Qaeda's explicitly stated reasons for the declaration of war on the US in 1998 was the presence of American bases in Saudi Arabia required to enforce the no-fly zones in ...wait for it... Iraq. (gasp Iraq?!?!? How could that be?!?!? Iraq had absolutely nothing to do with 9/11!!!) If GHW Bush or Clinton had gotten rid of Saddam and closed down the Saudi bases, then maybe 9/11 would never have happened.

Of course knowing the intellectual underpinnings of modern Islamofascism requires one to actually, ya know, consult the writings and speeches of Islamofascist leaders and intellectuals. As opposed to staying cozily coccooned in the circle jerk of western left-wing idealogue academics and their fantasies that Muslims act as atheistic socialists rather than having, ya know, actual Muslim theology.

[clarice]

Better yet,bgates--the yiddish/english dictionary gives this definition for shrek:fear, alarm; terror

[cathyf]

We could have deployed the full force of American power....

We could have secured loose nuclear materials....

We could have invested hundreds of billions of dollars ....

We could have strengthened old alliances....

We could have called on a new generation....

We could have secured our homeland....

We could have rebuilt our roads and bridges....

I dunno, PRS, I think the best answer to that is quite simple:

...yep, we know for sure that we could have done those things, because we did do those things with George W. Bush's leadership!

[clarice]

Sad news--but it frees me from having to watch the news again:(Wa Po):
Brit Hume, a top anchor and executive with Fox News since the channel was launched 12 years ago, plans to step down at year's end. But he won't disappear entirely. Sources familiar with the situation say that Hume, 65, will give up his job as Washington managing editor and anchor of "Special Report." They say he is near a deal to continue with Fox in a senior statesman role, not unlike that of Tom Brokaw at NBC, for roughly 100 days a year.

[centralcal]

Well bummer - sad to hear Brit will be semi-retiring.

[Ann]

Good News--IBD is telling Nancy Pelosi to resign!
Bad News--She won't.

I'm with you Clarice, Brit Hume stepping down is the final nail in FOX News for me. :(

[JM Hanes]

Thanks to Jane for previewing the Obama speech, and to Rich for the link to the transcript I was looking for when I came across Mark Halperin's excerpts from a PBS interview with Gwen Ifill, apparently to air tonight. Here's his appalling response when asked "What do you mean when you say residual force?":

Well, this is one of the things I want to discuss when I travel there. And I think that it’s important to have the commanders on the ground help to shape what is going to be necessary for limited missions that have been defined by the president, the commander in chief. The missions that I’ve called for: as you said, protecting diplomatic forces and civilians, U.S. civilians or foreign civilians in Iraq, making sure that we are protecting our bases, training Iraqi forces, if, as long as we are short of the fact that we are not training them to engage in sectarian war but rather training them for the integrated force structures that are needed to protect them, and to have a counterinsurgency force that can act swiftly if you start seeing the reemergence of al Qaeda in Iraq. Those would be the limited missions that they would be carrying out. I think we need to make sure that the commanders have the resources they need in order to be able to deal with those issues.

If I were worried about my blood pressure, I'd have to skip reading this crap entirely. For starters, there is simply no such thing as "a counterinsurgency force that can act swiftly." The kind of strike force Obama is actually describing is the polar opposite of counterinsurgency. Aside from noting out the sheer ignorance on display, why hasn't anyone pointed out that Obama is essentially advocating a return to the disastrous, failed, approach which the counterinsurgency surge was designed to correct.

I'm convinced that Obama's singular intellectual skill consists of sucking up jargon -- like professorial distinctons between strategy and tactics -- and using it to disguise that fact that he's just repackaging political talking points and doesn't actually know enough to do otherwise. His entire career, not just his speeches, has been built on sounding good.

[RichatUF]

In other campaign news, I found this bit over at Time a bit odd.

This is the closer: Obama has never tested his network's fears: fear of a third Bush term, of continued G.O.P. control of the White House, of losing. If hope can raise $300 million, can fright raise $200 million more?

Wasn't his campaign suppose "to change the politics of fear"?

The picture is in the usual heroic pose too.

[Jane]

I'm so sad about Brit - please, can nothing else bad happen for a while. Then again I will be happy for Brit cause he deserves it.

JHM, you nail it as always. Just think how shallow the people who believe Obama must be. Well we probably already know that answer.

[BobS]

Obama is signaling that he is trying to get control of the narrative on Iraq and establish his own set of facts. As I said earlier, he's revealed is true moral view of the matter in that the Iraq War was wrong and should "be ended". He said this in his speech today. Thats for his left-wing base.

But he attempts to have it both ways by changing the statement in his own web site to say the surge is working.

On one hand the war was wrond and should be ended, On the other hand the surge is working.

[BobS]

As Jane pointed, Obama just gives speeches and writes op-eds. He never does Q & A with the press.

[Dale in Atlanta]

Barack HUSSEIN Obama (PBUH)(SWT)(SAW)!

[BobS]

It seems that everytime he has to fac a question, he segways with "I've always said" or "I've always maintained"

[clarice]

He's also good at sneaking in carp in such a way as to suggest there's something real there--for example, saying he wants our forces there to train Iraqis "if, as long as we are short of the fact that we are not training them to engage in sectarian war but rather training them for the integrated force structures that are needed to protect them,"

Excuse me. Is he under the impression that we are doing something otherwise?

[centralcal]

Dale, please. We can't say the middle name. We must speak in code.

Barack Insane Obama

[Rick Ballard]

Obama Bear Market Report

Total trading losses on the 40th day of the bear market initiated by Senator Obama's apparent "clinching" of the Democrat's nomination exceeded $150 billion today, raising the total for the entire 40 day period above the $2.35 trillion dollar mark.

Glum traders noted that apathy and despair were pervasive accross markets as many investors simply abandoned all hope and shifted assets to cash accounts. The only bright spot in the market is that the Obama Bear has hit Asian and European investors even harder than Americans.

It now appears that the only possibility of the market turning up prior to the election will be a marked shift in sentiment, reducing the possibility that Senator Obama will ever occupy the White House.

[clarice]

No wonder Michelle always seems mad. Being married to someone like this who shapeshifts the meaning of words and what he's said regularly to establish that he was always right and who lies at least as much as BJC is bound to make anyone angry.

[clarice]

From your mouth to God's ears, Rick and let it happen and the dollar soar on August 2 when my feet touch the ground at Charles De Gaulle airport.

[DaleinAtlanta]

Dale, please. We can't say the middle name. We must speak in code.

Barack Insane Obama

Well, I never "utter" it, and I use the appropriate Muslim honorifics, since he and his "followers" think he is a "Prophet" or a "Whitelighter", so that is why it is thus:

Barack HUSSEIN Obama (PBUH)(SAW)(SWT)

If we all did that, all across the Blogosphere, EVERY time "HIS" name was written, guaranteed we could piss off the Obama campaign!

[BobS]

Heather Nauer is awful on Fox. I hope she's not the one who set the show's agenda

[Rick Ballard]

"August 2 when my feet touch the ground at Charles De Gaulle airport"

Paris in August? On your way to Cannes or Nice, I hope. The Parisian's thrift in soap usage is really noticieable in August. (Actually, all twelve months if you use public transportation.)

The air is much better on the southern coast.

[bad]

Is he under the impression that we are doing something otherwise?

Obama's inflated view of his own intellectual prowess is a fatal flaw. Let's pray the voting public recognizes it before November.

[Neo]

Little known fact:

When George Washington was a boy, he got a new hatchet and was eager to try it out. He went to the prized cherry tree and began whacking. (the tree that is)

When his father discovered the cherry tree’s absence, he asked George, “George, what happened to the prized cherry tree?” To which George replied, “Father, I cannot tell a lie. I chopped down the cherry tree.” To which his father replied, “Then you shall have 10 lashes boy.” To which George replied, “Perhaps I was inartful in my truth-telling. What I meant to say was that my friend Benedict told me that it was not a cherry tree and it would be a good tree to practice with my new ax. So I chopped it down thinking it was not the prized cherry tree. So in effect, I did not chop down the cherry tree. I’m reshuffling my friends at this time.”

[clarice]

Heh, Neo.
Yes. Rick , I'll be in transit to the Luberon.

[BobS]

I don't believe that I've heard the word, "inartful" used before the Obama campaign used it

[MayBee]

I'm not sure that reporting the substance of his remarks serves any purpose - isn't the sincerity and fine tonal quality of his voice more important?

ha!

[GMax]

Thats not the Benedict that I knew?

[Danube of Thought]

"...as long as we are short [assured?] of the fact that we are not training them to engage in sectarian war but rather training them for the integrated force structures that are needed to protect them..."

What does this shitbird know about training? And what the hell does "training them for the integrated force structures needed to protect them" mean?

[BobS]

Carl Cameron has an excellent piece on Fox Special Report on Obama's flip-flops on Iraq and great sound bites from McCain. It really almost served as a hit piece on Obama. Cameron even provide a timeline of changes in Obama's positions

[bad]

From Newsweek, Obama on attending church with a child:

But after their first child, Malia, was born, they found making the effort more difficult. "I don't know if you've had the experience of taking young, squirming children to church, but it's not easy," he says. "Trinity was always packed, and so you had to get there early. And if you went to the morning service, you were looking at—it just was difficult. So that would cut back on our involvement."

What is that old saying about when the going gets tough? No wait..that doesn't apply to these people.

Just a guess but Iraq, Iran, Pakistan and mean reporters, and inartful staff people are probably going to make things difficult should he reach the White House.

[bad]

LUN to Newsweek for previous post.

[hit and run]

Jane:
Hey I read your blog. Is there more than one of you married to your wife?

When you have a voice in your head, you are never alone.

[SWarren]

OT
Hah!!
Bush Says Drill!
Oil drops $9

LUN

[hit and run]

Rick:
I'm not sure that reporting the substance of his remarks serves any purpose - isn't the sincerity and fine tonal quality of his voice more important? Didn't he reflect an authoritative, uplifting and calming stage presence?

Dean Barnett on the speech:

You know what else grates? The alliterations of “Kandahar and Karachi” and “Beijing and Berlin.” It’s impossible not to get the sense that Obama cares a lot more about how his words sound than what (if anything) they mean. Don’t get me wrong – obviously we do have interests in Kandahar, Karachi, Beijing and Berlin. But that’s precisely the point. Obama’s assertion here is off the charts in terms of its banality. And yet by imbuing it with a lovely albeit increasingly tired cadence, Obama seems to think he’s saying something of import.

[clarice]

HHey, that Beckel story's a good one, Hit.

[Bill in AZ]

Bush Says Drill!
Oil drops $9

heh heh - Soros has all ten fingers in the dike while the oil is gushing out... another election, another couple of billion wasted.

[Elliott]

but it frees me from having to watch the news again

I hope they* don't cancel Special Report as the WaPo article indicated they might. I think that Bret Baier has been doing quite a good job as the primary substitute host. In fact, if I may be allowed to revise and extend my remarks, I'd say he'll be the best host/anchor at Fox when Brit Hume leaves.
_________________
*Per usual, "they" is here synonymous with Roger Ailes and his evil minions.

[Sue]

Bush Says Drill!
Oil drops $9

Bush says drill and Yahoo says Oil
prices plunge at fastest rate in 17 years over economic fears. ::grin::

[Rick Ballard]

H & R,

Take a look at the shirk by Obama in that piece that bad linked:

"I don't know if you've had the experience of taking young, squirming children to church, but it's not easy,"

Imagine a church as large as Hate Whitey United without a nursery.

No.

Really.

C'mon - at least try...

OK - he's lying through those pearlies like a Persian rug.

Again.

He makes Bubba look like a paragon of honesty.

[Sue]

Yeah, and in his 2004 interview with the religion reporter, he said he attended every week, 11:00 o'clock service. So, is he lying now? Or was he lying then? And will anyone ask him? As the Obama Turns will continue after these commercial breaks...

[centralcal]

Elliott: I like Brett Baier too. He has that really "nice guy" quality that Tony Snow had and that Brit Hume has.

I hope he gets the spot permanently and they don't do away with the show.

[Soylent Red]

Being married to someone like this who shapeshifts the meaning of words and what he's said regularly to establish that he was always right and who lies at least as much as BJC is bound to make anyone angry.

"But, uh, honey... I have always maintained that, uh, your weight to height ratio was, uh, sort of, uh, attractive."

The Last Words of B57OII*(PBUH)(BOHICA)

______________

I watched a bit of this today. The man is criminally stupid. I listed with my mouth agape at the JUST PLAIN IGNORANCE that came rolling off his lips. And the arrogance...don't get me started.

Just thinking about it causes my blood pressure to rise.

If this ponce is elected, we're finished. End of story. Because if he gets his meathooks on the levers of power, he's going to foul things up so badly, or worse, institute liberal fascism, we will never recover. Carter wasn't even this flat out stupid.

And the fact that he's currently got 43% of the people fooled is, frankly, depressing.
__________

[Soylent Red]

Oh, and as for FOX News...

I'll keep watching. There's still the info-bimbos.

[Terry Gain]

cathyf

Go to the head of the class. Your 3:47pm post is so good I'm cutting and pasting the best part below:

...all in the cause of fighting a war for well over five years in a country that had absolutely nothing to do with the 9/11 attacks.
And what country would that be? One of al Qaeda's explicitly stated reasons for the declaration of war on the US in 1998 was the presence of American bases in Saudi Arabia required to enforce the no-fly zones in ...wait for it... Iraq. (gasp Iraq?!?!? How could that be?!?!? Iraq had absolutely nothing to do with 9/11!!!) If GHW Bush or Clinton had gotten rid of Saddam and closed down the Saudi bases, then maybe 9/11 would never have happened.

------

You are likely one of the few who understands that the war in Iraq started on August 2, 1990, when Iraq invaded Kuwait, and not March 2003 when Bush decided to end a ceasefire that wasn't working.

[PeterUK]

"The bit I found fascinating was where he claims he will not let the military set up permanent station there as they have in Korea. Then how about pulling the troops out of Korea and Kosovo and Germany and Japan and all the other places.

What Bambi fails to realize is that the Middle East is where the major problems of the world are centered. By taking away our troops from that area he is essentially neutering us in having any influence on what happens there and also removing us from any affect on the oil production for the foreseeable future. That is not a good position for us to be in at this juncture."

"A global ban on the reduction of fissile material and a reduction of missiles. IOW I will disarm this country. That will give us credibility with Iran."

Is Obama campaigning to be the president of America or Iran? Certainly his policies are of more benefit to Iran.

[hit and run]

Rick:
Imagine a church as large as Hate Whitey United without a nursery.

Yup. That was my response exactly.

I staked my email reputation with one person today that Trinity had a nursery, that I wouldn't even go check their website even with my reputation on the line.

Then I went through a partial defense of Obama in that taking an infant to church is hard -- and can be difficult for parents to "let go" of the precious baby to near strangers...

...but for us, by the time hit and run jr was 1, every Sunday mrs hit and run and I would look at each other after dropping him off and think...."you know, we could head out for a nice brunch, what with this free baby sitting and all"

We never did it.

[BobS]

Lieberman's remarks were effective today:

http://www.weeklystandard.com/weblogs/TWSFP/

[Rick Ballard]

H & R,

I've seen that with first babies at the infant stage and occasionally with visitors but my more common experience in the nursery with regulars was receiving Junior or Juniorette rather offhandedly. I don't recall anyone actually tossing a baby but I caught more than one diaper bag, tossed by a mom as she scooted out the door, determined not to be late.

I just can't see Wright launching a stemwinder to the tune of a Bawlin' Baby Choir.

[bad]

Rick & Hit,

Think of the generations of farm families who worked in the barn, milking cows, feeding beef, hogs, chickens, etc..eight, nine, ten, people sharing a single bathroom, cooking and serving breakfast for as many and still getting everyone dressed in their Sunday best and off to church on time. And they never whined about how "difficult" it was.

[PeterUK]

"We could have deployed the full force of American power to hunt down and destroy Osama bin Laden, al Qaeda, the Taliban, and all of the terrorists responsible for 9/11, while supporting real security in Afghanistan."

I have this vision of carrier battle groups on giant tractors crawling over the Hindu Khush.

The man is surely a complete prawn.

[Jane]

You know what someone needs to capitalize on? The fact that has chairperson of the committee on Afghanistan, Obama has held no meetings, nor has he visited the country. Of course with all his other ridiculousness that's small potatoes, but it should get advertised.

[clarice]

A complete prawn..Just think PUK, how un-fa-ir it is that we chose not to engage in a way which would give every centenarian with an antique blunderbuss an edge on our troops who would be wending their unfamiliar way through wadi after gully .

[clarice]

Yes, it should, Jane--what better example of his utter disinterest in anything except the advancement of his own political career.

[Rick Ballard]

Jane,

Why not make his nonappearance at the Senate Committee he theoretically chairs your first episode on the radio drama "As The Obama Turns"? (all credit to Sue for a great name)

MayBee is the one who keeps raising the issue - she probably has something to add on it.

[hit and run]

Rick:
I've seen that with first babies at the infant stage and occasionally with visitors but my more common experience in the nursery with regulars was receiving Junior or Juniorette rather offhandedly.

Exactly. That's why I said hit and run jr, not princess hit and run, our second...heh.

bad:
...getting everyone dressed in their Sunday best and off to church on time. And they never whined about how "difficult" it was.

Phil Gramm was right.

[PeterUK]

Removing troops from Iraq will take the pressure off Iran's western flank leaving Iran to concentrate on Afghanistan and supplying the Taleban,Smart move Mr President.
BTW
"And I think that it’s important to have the commanders on the ground help to shape what is going to be necessary for limited missions that have been defined by the president, the commander in chief. The missions that I’ve called for: as you said, protecting diplomatic forces and civilians, U.S. civilians or foreign civilians in Iraq, making sure that we are protecting our bases."

Most wars,the protagonists end up fighting the war forced on them by the opposition.

[hit and run]

Obama won't show for townhalls with McCain, he won't call meetings in the subcommittee he chairs, he voted present in the Illinois state senate with abandon, he avoids going to Iraq for 900+ days until being shamed into doing it by McCain, ditto with meeting with Petraeus, ditto with Afghanistan, he never wrote anything in recorded history as president of the Harvard Law Review...et cetera

[hit and run]

But he's already got Ahmadinejad penciled in for Jan 21.

[BobS]

No wonder even the hard core Dems who are Clinton people say OHB is an elitist.

[BobS]

Geez....sorry..BHO

[hit and run]

Don't worry, Bob.

At least you didn't call Obama when you meant Osama...

Like Joe Sestak (D-PA) did.

[Porchlight]

"Trinity was always packed, and so you had to get there early. And if you went to the morning service, you were looking at—it just was difficult. So that would cut back on our involvement."

"We worship an awesome God in the Blue States".....except when we can't be bothered.

[Ann]

From O's speech today: (Thanks for the link Rich)

"I will focus on training Afghan security forces and supporting an Afghan judiciary, with more resources and incentives for American officers who perform these missions."

Soylent,
Please don't raise your hand for this one. :) I hate to think what you would have to do to support an Afghan judiciary.

By the way, my heart sank when I read your post about leaving in three weeks. You have alot of people here praying for you. Godspeed with Smooches.

[narciso]

So who was the brilliant fellow at CSIS (Canadian Intelligence seems like such an oxymoron right now) who decided not only to tape the interrogation of young Omar Khadr; but not destroy the tape. Of course, the tape was not put in context; say the family of Spec. Christopher Speer; the kid's got the moves right out of the Birmingham AQ manual. crying on cue, telling a McClatchy reporter he wants to go to medical school.
That couldn't possibly cause a problem; re:
Zawahiri and Effendi Abdallah.What's a 15 year old Canadian of Egyptian background (yet another Al Masri)doing hanging around in Afghanistan, anyway; I know the high school version of the madrassah. The varsity team fields grenades and AK-47s instead of shot put and weights, I don't even want to know what they do in shop. Interesting the only place where the
Birmingham AQ manual has surfaced is a Spanish espionage and archeology tale called
Contrato con Dios by Gomez-Jurado; a modern take on the search for the ark, iterrupted by jihadists.

[Jane]

Why not make his nonappearance at the Senate Committee he theoretically chairs your first episode on the radio drama "As The Obama Turns"? (all credit to Sue for a great name)

Y'all have elevated me far beyond the level of my incompetence. But I'm all for having goals.

[Sue]

Jane,

I know the perfect person to write your As The Obama Turns series...

[Rick Ballard]

Jane,

You have access to a very good research team, you have the requisite skill set to frame (and answer) any set of interrogatories which you might choose to pursue. Pick a line of questioning and put us to the test. We'll come up with whatever you ask for.

I think it important to maintain a fairly constant level of light ridicule in order to achieve maximum effectiveness. That's the only area where approaching the show as you would a brief or a dep might be more hindrance than help.

Think of it as a critique of a center ring clown show and you can't go far wrong.

[BobS]

Did anyone see excerpts of Doug Feiths appearance in from of a cong. com. about Guantanamo? I read his opening statement in Powerline, but nothing more. He had to face Conyers and Nadler, so you never know. He appears to be a man that is not intimidated by subcommitte hearings.

[BobS]

Geeeez....I'm reminded of a 90's pop band, Jane's Addiction. The band's signature song is "Jane Says" See,now Jane. You have theme music.

[BobS]

and please, Jane, leave word here so dopes like me can link your show

[Danube of Thought]

Wonderful excerpt from the Politico:

"After a brief bout of Obamamania, some Capitol Hill Democrats have begun to complain privately that Barack Obama’s presidential campaign is insular, uncooperative and inattentive to their hopes for a broad Democratic victory in November.

“'They think they know what’s right and everyone else is wrong on everything,' groused one senior Senate Democratic aide. 'They are kind of insufferable at this point.'”

"Insufferable" would seem to be the mot juste at this point.

[Porchlight]

See,now Jane. You have theme music.

Don't forget "Sweet Jane" by the Velvet Underground...

[GMax]

Insufferable, its a not a bug its a feature with this group!

[MayBee]

The only thing I have to add about Obama's committee is that Biden says all the Foreign Relations committee doings are held at the committee level- not subcommittee. So that's why Obama hasn't held a meeting.

(via my http://tinyurl.com/69nt69>boyfriend

Senate Foreign Relations Chairman Joe Biden, D-Del, rejected that accusation in a statement to ABC News. "The reason Senator Obama didn’t chair a NATO and Afghanistan subcommittee hearing is because I did, as Chairman of the Committee….when it comes to the war in Afghanistan and the war in Iraq, we hold those hearings at the full committee level,” he said.

Now, I think that sounds like Biden is Obama's Cheney (ha!).
Obama wants to run the country and isn't even allowed to run his little subcommittee.
He's never run anything without supervision, apparently.

[Rick Ballard]

Well, there you go then. The question becomes: "Why does Democrat Senate leadership have so little faith in Obama's competence that they do not even allow him to hold committee hearings on an area of great importance?"

[Ann]

Sue,

"As the Obama Turns will continue after these commercial breaks..."

LOL That was really good.

Jane,

You are the snarkmobile!! You are going to be fantastic! And Rick just gave you great advice...you already have an audience that admires you and will be a great research team. Ya going to smoke the Obama bus with the Jane snarkmobile. ;)

(I was going to add that "We are JOM and we are reporting for duty" but I gagged)

[bgates]

Is Obama campaigning to be the president of America or Iran?
Come now. To be president of Iran, he would have to be Shiite Muslim, and there has been absolutely no evidence at all that he is Shia.

Geez....sorry..BHO
I figured 'OHB' was right-to-left, like Arabic.

'They think they know what’s right and everyone else is wrong on everything,' groused one senior Senate Democratic aide.
How terribly unfair for Congressional Democrats to have to deal with such people.

[bad]

Maybee

He's run plenty. He run from Jeremiah, he run from Rezko, he run from Jim Johnson, etc., etc., etc......

[sbw]

Okay, I've read through the thread. Did I miss the obvious observation -- Obama has just thrown Iraq under the bus.

[hit and run]

Jane Says, Jane's Addiction

Sweet Jane, Velvet Underground

Then again, you do know there's a Jane Hamsher tie in to Sweet Jane, right?

Don't forget about Jane, Jefferson Starship

[bad]

Tigerhawk has been reading Rick:

Investors this summer have been placing their bets on an Obama presidency, and for the most part that hasn't been good for the market.

LUN

[Danube of Thought]

How about "Queen Jane Approximately":

When your mother sends back all your invitations
And your father to your sister he explains
That you’re tired of yourself and all of your creations
Won’t you come see me queen jane, won’t you come see me queen jane

[RichatUF]

Rick-

More peak oil propaganda from the good offices of Business Week. There must be fingers and toes trying to plug all the holes in the dam at this point.

Unnamed sources &radical;

Secret document with secret future production figures &radical;

Mr. Peak Oil himself &radical;

It is almost like reading a McClatchy dispatch on the future victories of the Madhi Army.

[RichatUF]

It seems my checkmark didn't work

its not this &radical;

this &rad;

or √

[Soylent Red]

Clarice:

You've straight nailed the case for waging war in Iraq rather than Afghanistan.

Better to fight insurgents on nice flat desert, than rocky and cave-y mile-high mountain ranges, where many others have failed before you.

Forgive me for waxing a little esoteric here, but I sense a learning moment here...

There is a fellow who works where I work who is considered one of, if not the, national experts on Afghanistan. He and I BS from time to time. I have two of his three books which are considered essential reading for understanding the muj and their tactics, inscribed by him, in my library. His assessment goes like this:

Afghans have been doing this for hundreds, if not thousands, of years. The ranges and weaponry change, but the tried and true tactics are basically the same.

If we go in there, as the Soviets did, with overwhelming numbers, we are forced to sustain overwhelming-numbers-worth of supply train. Since our current force structure has about a 20-1 tooth to tail ratio, that equates 20 support personnel for every "shooter". That's a whole hell of a lot of soft targets to provide security for.

The recent attack on that COP in Kunar province was on a combat outpost that was set up specifically because the route up the Ghaki Pass that was bringing in NATO supplies was constantly under threat of ambush and the Euros and Canadians were shrieking about it.

And as has been demonstrated, if there's one thing Afghans know how to do, it's set up ambushes on soft targets. A thousand years of practice will net you some measure of expertise.

That's his Reader's Digest assessment.

My pile on assessment is as follows...

By just "moving troops" you bring about a vicious cycle, much like what we saw in Vietnam, where the security requires support which requires more security and so on until you run out or give up. My guess is that Obamessiah would tend toward the latter, and that right soon.

But, as the British discovered in Malaya, it's not all about the numbers. What you have to do is have light and fast hunter-killer teams that operate with little support out in the boonies, and highly structured and funded civil-military teams doing the COIN work in the ink spots (hearts/minds + intel + civil affairs). At the same time, you are establishing host-nation security for your c-m teams, so that as Afghans become reasonably able to provide security, they are the face on the mission.

IOW, transition from America/NATO doing everything, to where the Afghans are telling the Americans to get the hell outta the way so they can do it for themselves.

And we are already doing that. We just need to be doing more of it, now that Iraq has taught us how.

So we were left holding a bag we couldn't accurately predict, while having to sink more than we thought into Iraq (because of relative population and urbanization).

So let me sum up, then shut up...

Obamessiah sits over a committee that not only has access to this information, but has the ability to recommend action in Congress.

I didn't hear peep out of either of those groups about anything I've just talked about. Maybe I was asleep during that part of the last seven years.

Further, Obamessiah, with all of that access and probably a pretty spooky security clearance, should be at least as well versed on the subject as the average milblogger.

Yet his comments today show that he doesn't know what the real problems are, isn't particularly interested in holding committee meetings to find out, and is prepared to advocate solutions from his bubble of ignorance.

BTW Ann, WRT I will focus on training Afghan security forces

I already did. Their called MiTT teams. I'm on a list. And we've been doing them in Afghanistan since almost day one.

And my vote for "Jane" song is

Lady Jane
by The Rolling Stones

[Porchlight]

Lazy Line Painter Jane, Belle and Sebastian

...stick with it, it's a goofy video but the musical payoff's at the end.

Hazy Jane I, Nick Drake

gorgeous tune

[hit and run]

Queen Jane Approximately, Bob Dylan

Or this live version, Bob Dylan playing with the Grateful Dead, 21 years and 3 days ago today.

Lady Jane, Rolling Stones, on the Ed Sullivan Show

[bad]

Further, Obamessiah, with all of that access and probably a pretty spooky security clearance, should be at least as well versed on the subject as the average milblogger.

Gee Soylent, that sounds like some work is probably involved, maybe some difficult work so that would cut back on his involvement.

[Soylent Red]

Bob Dylan playing with the Grateful Dead,

You're the grooviest hit.

When I drop out and grow my hair long, you're invited up to my commune. I have both catalogs. Except the sucky ones.

[BobS]

Darn...Jane Says is kinda creeper....go with Starship

[bad]

Hot air has a link to a website discussing rumors of 8 superdelegates switching from Obama to Hillary.

LUN

[Soylent Red]

They were distracted bad.

I wonder if they'll have to turn in their "Hope and Change" ceremonial daggers and party pins...

[hit and run]

Soylent:
When I drop out and grow my hair long, you're invited up to my commune.

I'm soooo there....

Oh, and you should see my hair now. It's pert'near a half inch.

[hit and run]

Hmmmm, how about a Mr. Porchlight original "Jane" theme song?

Or failing that, a cover on one of the selections above?

[Ann]

Soylent,

I was worried about a soldier supporting an Afghan judiciary not the security detail. (You know cutting of heads, hands, stoning etc.)

and

Well, this hurts:

My dear lady anne
Ive done what I can
I must take my leave
For promised I am
This play is run my love
Your time has come my love
Ive pledged my troth to lady jane

LOL