Words Of Wisdom From the CinC

Rare is the day when I can endorse an Obama quote without reservation, but this bit of Eerie Prescience is irrefutable:

"But right now what we have is, I think by all accounts, a disaster unfolding in Iraq. We all have a responsibility, Democrats and Republicans, Congress and the White House, to make sure that we can come up with the best strategy. I don't think the president's strategy is going to work."

OK, he said that about Bush's proposed surge in January 2007 but I wouldn't change a word today.

Lest you wonder - yes, I am peeved that the media is all agog about what we might or might not have done differently with Iraq in 2003. Better questions include Rand Paul's ruminations about the wisdom of decapitating strongmen with no plan to replace them, as with both Bush with Saddam and Hillary with Libya; eventually we may even turn to the question of whether Obama's decision to cut and run from Iraq with no residual US presence contributed even the teensiest bit to the current chaos. Not even the Times could turn a blind eye to that; this is from their coverage of the ISIS ascendance a year ago:

Critics have long warned that America’s withdrawal of troops from Iraq, without leaving even a token force, invited an insurgent revival. The apparent role of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria in Tuesday’s attack helps vindicate those, among them the former ambassador to Syria, Robert S. Ford, who have called for arming more moderate groups in the Syrian conflict.

Today it is Ramadi in the news:

Key Iraqi City Falls to ISIS as Last of Security Forces Flee

BAGHDAD — The last Iraqi security forces fled Ramadi on Sunday, as the city fell completely to the militants of the Islamic State, who ransacked the provincial military headquarters, seizing a large store of weapons, and killed people loyal to the government, according to security officials and tribal leaders.

The fall of Ramadi, despite intensified American airstrikes in recent weeks in a bid to save the city, represented the biggest victory so far this year for the Islamic State, which has declared a caliphate, or Islamic state, in the vast areas of Syria and Iraq that it controls. The defeat also laid bare the failed strategy of the Iraqi government, which had announced last month a new offensive to retake Anbar Province, a large desert region in the west of which Ramadi is the capital.

Hmm, the "failed strategy" of the Iraqi government? Much later we get this:

The deterioration of Anbar over the past month underscored the ineffectiveness of the Iraqi Army, which is being trained by American military advisers, and raised questions about the United States’ strategy to defeat the Islamic State. At the same time, now that the militias are being called upon, the collapse of Ramadi has demonstrated again the influence of Iran, even if its advisers are unlikely to be on the ground in Anbar, as they were during the operation in Tikrit.

Iran up and the US down.

We are also offered a half-history lesson:

Anbar Province holds painful historical import for the United States as the place where nearly 1,300 Marines and soldiers died after the American-led invasion of 2003. 

Well, it also resonates as the home of the Anbar Awakening, the birthplace of the Bush surge which led to what Obama declared to be a "sovereign, stable and self-reliant Iraq" when he lauded the final troop withdrawals in preparation for his re-election campaign.

DEAD-ENDERS: Paul Krugman won't talk about anything post-2003. However, in the course of denouncing Bush's lies he recycles some misinformation from the left, including this chestnut:

Did prewar assessments vastly understate the difficulty and cost of occupation? That’s because the war party didn’t want to hear anything that might raise doubts about the rush to invade. Indeed, the Army’s chief of staff was effectively fired for questioning claims that the occupation phase would be cheap and easy.

The timeline was kicked around endlessly, particularly when John Kerry deployed it during his 2004 Vietnam Flashback campaign. Can we agree that the CNN fact-checkers don't normally tilt right?

CNN Fact Check: Kerry implies that former Army Chief of Staff Eric Shinseki was forced to retire as a result of his comments about troop levels in Iraq, which is inaccurate. Shinseki served a full four-year term as army chief of staff and did not retire early. Since World War II, no army chief of staff has served longer than four years. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld decided in April 2002 who he would tap to succeed Shinseki, according to a Pentagon official, long before Shinseki's troop level comments in 2003. So by the time Shinseki made his comments on troop levels, it was already known that he would not remain in his post beyond his full four-year term.

And lest you doubt, here is the Times from April 2002, a year before the controversial testimony, covering Shinseki's replacement:

The senior defense official said Mr. Rumsfeld chose Gen. John Keane, the Army's second-ranking officer, to succeed the current Army chief of staff, Gen. Eric Shinseki, whose term will expire next year.

Whatever. I certainly understand Krugman's desire to rehash an argument in which history has substantially vindicated him, rather than tackling the messier problems of the present, such as, how do we regroup from the Obama disaster in the Middle East?

SINCE YOU ASK: I assume the media will eventually ask every person in America what we should have done in Iraq in 2003. My official editorial position is that Bush should have realized that Rumsfeld did not have a credible plan to win the peace and therefore ought to hold off on the war. That said, I think by the time Bush left office Iraq was eminently "winnable" and might well have remained stable, sovereign, and substantially self-reliant if US troops had remained as a counterweight to Iran and the Shiite militias.

I also wonder about the effect of a non-invasion of Iraq on our policy with Iran. Presumably, absent an invasion of Iraq we would have pressed for the ever-tighter sanctions that were so bitterly unpopular in the Arab world (reputedly killing 5,000 Iraqi babies per month) and so empowering of Saddam's police state.

Could we have persuaded the ayatollahs to give up their nuclear aspirations while Saddam remained as their neighbor? Could we have persuaded the world to engage in a second endless, unpopular humanitarian disaster with tougher sanctions on Iran?

Then again, even with Saddam out we aren't making headway with Iran, so who knows...

Comments

[narciso]

Actually Schoomaker, who was ex Delta, was the replacement, not Keane,

[narciso]

Miller points out in her memoir, that Libby had been working on adjustment to the operational plan,

[matt]

I guess that line in the sand just got a little closer.

[Jack is Lightnings!]

Reposting from other thread: Ramadi and how it fell.

If your interested in how ISIS captured Ramadi, here is a slide show from the ISW folk.

http://www.slideshare.net/ISWPress/isis-captures-ramadi-may-2015

BTW, did anyone note what Obama did to honor the military on Armed Forces Day?

[boatbuilder]

Bush did not anticipate the nature, degree and extent of the Abu Ghraib chorus and the politically opportunistic abandonment of and attack on the war effort by the Democrats and MSM on the domestic front. Perhaps he should have. Hindsight is generally 20-20.

[Jack is Lightnings!]

And to really be on topic: General Jack Keane referenced in TM's post is the Chairman of the Institute to Study War.

[GUS]

Who the FUCK is Paul Krugman, and why would I care what he thinks?? He's just another Georgie SnuffaluffaGUS, libtard hack.

[narciso]

well comandante krugman, the allusion to the shining path's commander, is intentional, is one of TM's white whales,

[narciso]

but Fernandez, is a better guide:

http://pjmedia.com/richardfernandez/2015/05/17/fighting-entropy/

the only caveat is the jayvee affiliates, are already inside the Kingdom as they are in Europe and the states,

[Jack is Lightnings!]

narciso,

Can't remember what happened with the Keane appointment that they had to bring Schoomaker out of retirement. Keane retired not long after that. He and Shineski were the last of the Vietnam War officers to serve on the staff. It was Keane who saved Petraeus' life in a live fire exercise back in the early 90's.

[narciso]

well this is how they described it at the time,

http://www.nytimes.com/2003/06/11/us/retired-commando-chief-is-chosen-to-lead-the-army.html

[NKonChrome]

This post is an exercise in revisionist history, rather than putting people in their actual 2003-2015 context.TM does get the bottom line correct; Iraq is a far worse place today than when Obummer started effin' it up in 2010-2011.

[NKonChrome]

BTW-- whichever JOMers noted in 2012-2013 that Benghazi was a weapons depot for syria, take a bow, you were correct: http://townhall.com/tipsheet/katiepavlich/2015/05/18/confirmed-weapons-were-moving-through-benghazi-to-syria-n2000471?utm_source=BreakingOnTownhallWidget_4&utm_medium=story&utm_campaign=BreakingOnTownhall

[Some Guy]

"Bush did not anticipate the nature, degree and extent of the Abu Ghraib chorus and the politically opportunistic abandonment of and attack on the war effort by the Democrats and MSM on the domestic front. "

What rational, decent person would? The level of cynicism it would take to predict it, at that time, might be a bridge too far. Today it seems clear, but back then I don't think it was at all.

[jimmyk]

Was there a time when the decision to go to war could be made on the merits, without needing to factor in the sabotage of the effort by domestic opponents, and the possible total mucking it up or abandonment by a successor President? Not in my lifetime, but it doesn't seem as though Roosevelt, Truman, or Eisenhower needed to worry about that. I guess Kennedy bears some responsibility for choosing LBJ as his VP.

[Miss Marple]

Some Guy, One cannot fault Bush for failing to predict how evil the democrats were going to be. Who can forget those democrat representatives going to visit Saddam? Who can foget Harry Reid saying the war was lost?
Who can forget Ted Kenndy saying, "Lie, after lie, after lie?"

I also know that if Bush had NOT gone into Iraq, they would have accused him of ignoring intelligence and propping up a dictator for his oil buddies, ignoring the atrocities Saddam was inflicting.

I despise these people and I want someone to flat-out call them scum and traitors. And I don't mean people like us; I mean elected officials and candidates and pundits on TV!

[James D.]

Some Guy, I think it was easily predictable at the time.

The Dems made traitors (Kerry), murderers (Teddy Kennedy), shameless thieves (the Clintons) and KKK leaders (Byrd) the leaders of their party. Why would any reasonable person expect anything other than treachery from them, even back in 2003?

[Jack is Lightnings!]

NK,

I think a number of us noted the Benghazi pipeline at the time after the attacks. I know Soylent, I and others commented on the annex team were CIA contractors hunting down the 40K missing MANPADS and that the Turkish Consul meeting with Stevens was another indicator of how the pipeline was running.

[Jeff Dobbs]

Well, at least post-Bush, Shinseki did so much good when Obama made him VA secretary.

[Neo]

Madeleine Albright gave this commencement speech at Tufts University

We see it in the widening gap between rich and poor, and the growing dangers to the environmental health of our planet.

We see how technology has given new destructive tools to groups who use religion as a license to murder, as if God's commandment were "thou shalt kill."

And we see how many of the assumptions of my generation, and your parents' generation, about the 21st century have been proven wrong.

To put it another way: the world's a mess. That is a diplomatic term of art.

I am sorry, but it is true.

... Albright is obviously a racist

[Jim Miller]

Speaking of Paul Krguman, when the NYT came out with their editorial attack on "hate speech", I immediately considered writing them and asking why, if they were against hate speech, they kept publishing Krugman, Gail Collins, Tim Egan, and editorial page editor Andrew Rosenthal.

None of them are exactly motivated by love.

(I didn't bother sending it knowing that, at best, my letter might reach an intern.)

[Rex]

Remembrance time. Stephen Den Beste had about the best summary analysis of why we went to war in Iraq. (I don't know how to post LUNs, so I included the link here.)

http://denbeste.nu/cd_log_entries/2003/07/Microscopicview.shtml

[Beasts of England]

Geez! Commencement speeches have become a real fun-sucker. Between Albright and the First Lunch Lady, student loan debt isn't the only thing trying to bring you down.

[GUS]

Global warming. CHECK.
Marxist class warfare claptrap. CHECK.
Anti-religion not mentioning IZZZLAM. CHECK.

Albright is garbage. Rotting quim. H/t Capn Hate.

[Bill Peschel]

The one thing we should not be doing is encouraging our leaders to use our men and women as paid mercenaries, sent without any idea of what constitutes victory.

If we're sent there to build an empire, then build the empire. If we're sent there to hang the dictator from a lamppost and go home, then do that, too. And we get a vote over whether to go, too. None of this, "we're sending 'advisers' to Uganda," either.

If Bush I had gone to bed that night and let the army take Baghdad and destroy Saddam, we wouldn't be talking about Iraq today.

[lyle]

If Bush I had gone to bed that night and let the army take Baghdad and destroy Saddam, we wouldn't be talking about Iraq today.

I think this is just a wee bit too facile.

[Miss Marple]

Bill Pesschel, You have a point. However, hindsite isn't any help with that situation, either.

Bush 41 was a product of his times, and lived through the entirety of the Cold War. At the time of the 1991 war, the Soviet Union had not yet imploded. Iraq's northern border was pretty close to the Soviets. Given how lame our intelligence was (not predicting the fall of Communism) I can see that caution about antagonizing them might have played a part in ending that war early.

Especially since the advice was also given by Colin Powell.

[GUS]

Beasts, it almost makes you wonder what happened to HOPE and CHANGE??

Albright is a regular Rodham. She went to see Kim Jong Il and brought him chocolates and a Michael Jordan autographed basketball. She forgot the RESET button.

[Beasts of England]

Good question, Gus! I guess the progs are planting the seeds of discontent just in case a rep takes the White House next year.

@Bill Peschel: GHWB was constrained by resolution from taking Baghdad.

[lyle]

DebinNC,

Thanks for that link about the rescued Golden Retrievers on the last thread. Heartwarming. It's so believable that they would be easy targets for feral dogs in Turkey. Our Gracie would have been a goner in no time. She does NOT like strange dogs coming up to her. She has not a whit of interest in the butt-sniffing routine.

[lyle]

http://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2015/05/tsarnaevs_mother_us_will_burn__in_the_flames_of_an_eternal_and_terrifying_fire.html

Strap her to the chair or the gurney with him. [redacted]!!

[NKonChrome]

JiB-- take a bow about piecing together the Benghazi-Syria pipeline. That also explains Petraeus's being so circumspect about this.. well, that plus his girlfriend.

[matt]

Um, the Soviet Union began imploding @ 1987-88 it finalized in 1992-'93. It is now reconstituting itself as a Rico enterprise.

Anybody with a clue knew that it would have been criminally irresponsible to just leave the Iraqis to their own devices. It should have been a 20 year plan towards stability and full Iraqi control.

Afghanistan was a 30-50 year project going in.

There literally was no plan for what to do next in both cases and I fault the Bush Administration for this. Bremer was a disaster and set the goal back by 10 years.

[George]

I think that every war should be the subject of questioning Presidential contenders. "Leaving the Mexican War, then: Knowing what we know now, Mrs. Clinton should Arkansas have left the Union to promote the cause of slavery or should New Yorkers have rioted against the draft during the Civil War?"

[Jack is Lightnings!]

Talking about Libya: Clinton Friend's Libya Role Blurs Lines of Politics and Business | New York Times

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/05/19/us/politics/clinton-friends-libya-role-blurs-lines-of-politics-and-business.html

3 guess who Hillary's friend is and whether or not he was a spousal abuser.

[Beasts of England]

My bottle of Stag's Leap Cask 23 was just delivered from The Last Bottle. Instead of drinking it immediately, I'm thinking about laying it down for three hours of so. :)

I'm thinking about doing an off-heat leg of lamb on the Weber? Maybe a garlic-thyme rub, with whole-soaked rosemary stalks on the coals to generate some great smokiness?

Uhh... Be back later!!

[lyle]

I'd recommend you drink a bottle of your stash of '05 first, Beasts...

[lyle]

Jonah gives you your chuckle of the day:

Years ago, my wife returned from the dog park, crestfallen, with Cosmo waggling happily by her side. The Wonderdog, as we sometimes called him, had betrayed her profoundly. “What did he do?” I asked, immediately taking his side, at least a little. “A fat man got out of a van with a bunch of dogs, and Cosmo ran up to him and was all buddy-buddy with the fat man. He let him pet him.”

“So what?” I asked.

“The fat man was Ted Kennedy.”

“Oh, Cosmo,” I said, shaken.

But forgiveness came quickly as Cosmo sat down on my wife’s feet and asked for a scratch behind his ear.

Read more at: http://www.nationalreview.com/article/418479/what-having-dog-can-teach-you-about-life-jonah-goldberg

[PD]

@POTUS: Barack Obama joins Twitter... finally

Bill Clinton asks:

Welcome to @Twitter, @POTUS! One question: Does that username stay with the office? #askingforafriend

I actually got a tweet from @POTUS. Didn't know that I was following him, must check to see if I took my meds or not.

[Ben]

Oh let me say I don't have much respect for twatters and now I lose more respect for the See and See.

[NKonChrome]

Sid the Squid peddling influence and collecting checks from the deluded who believe his BS. The NYT is aching to have a hardcore Prog run instead of Hilligula.

[rse]

clarice-do you know under what circumstances a bill that has been voted out of committee (in this case in the Senate) can be introduced for a vote in a dramatically different form that what passed the committee?

In this case with no notice of the shift or that it grew by almost 200 pages from about 600 to almost 800.

[NKonChrome]

amendments?

[lyle]

A quick primer:

http://news.investors.com/ibd-editorials/051515-752968-despite-pose-stephanopoulos-is-no-objective-journalist.htm

More like a partisan hack with a Napolean complex.

[pagar]

Anyone remember seeing one of those ads that says "my girlfriend just made $$$$ for 3 hrs work on the internet"?

http://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2015/05/obama-doj-announces-plan-to-pay-organizers-163-million-to-build-community-trust/#disqus_thread

Clarice and Janet have it up on facebook right now. IMO, if they took 163 MILLION and threw it down the sewer it would do the same amount of good.

[clarice]

TM, better than ever.

[rse]

No NK. Lamar has substituted a new bill with the old name since what came out of committee.

[pagar]

"No objective journalist."
He is the prime living example of a leftist propaganda spreader.

[Cecil Turner]

SINCE YOU ASK: I assume the media will eventually ask every person in America what we should have done in Iraq in 2003. My official editorial position is that Bush should have realized that Rumsfeld did not have a credible plan to win the peace and therefore ought to hold off on the war.

As long as you're okay with a nuclear Iran and a nuclear Iraq squaring off right about now (which seems the most likely outcome), I wouldn't argue too much. Okay, maybe I might. (I think now--as I thought then--Den Beste nailed it.)

I think it's worth mentioning that not only was Iraq "winnable"--it was "won"--despite the best efforts of the defeatcrat party to make it not so. The only way to lose it was to cut and run, which was the course of action Barack Obama (with Hillary Clinton's willing cooperation) executed in 2011.

[Beasts of England]

Slight change to my process, as I found in my notes a grilled lamb recipe from Alain Ducasse. He's calling for a wet rub of finely-chopped scallions, garlic and parsley in olive oil, then rosemary and thyme direct to coals for smoke.

I'm going to julienne and sauté some carrots and zucchini - color is important - and also do some pan-roasted new potatoes with parsley for the sides.

I need to do a cooking blog. lol

p.s., if you can find some '05 in my cellar, I'll split it with you, lyle! :)

[DrJ]

Cecil, obviously that's Bush's fault.

[DrJ]

Philly train news (WSJ):

FBI: No Evidence Firearm Hit Derailed Train

The Federal Bureau of Investigation has found no evidence that the windshield of an Amtrak train that derailed in Philadelphia last week was damaged by a firearm, the National Transportation Safety Board said.

[NKonChrome]

The Left's identity fetish and hate filled politics will consume them: http://www.foxnews.com/us/2015/05/18/boston-university-prof-in-racist-tweet-controversy-accused-ridiculing-white/

[NKonChrome]

Dr. J-- even if a firearm or some other projectile struck the engine cab, that would not explain the run up to 106MPH. This engineer is some kind of nut.

[Ben]

I abused my wife and got fired from my job.

[Jim Miller]

NKonChrome - Here's one possible scenario: The train was hit by a rock and the engineer thought it had been hit by a bullet, and panicked. That would explain his sudden increase in speed, and then his last-second attempt to brake.

Note please, that I said "possible".

[GUS]

Jim, the Train dude "doesn't remember".

Why would you forget your innocence.

[Extraneus]

"If I knew then what Obama would do to this woman and all other innocent Iraqis, then no, I wouldn't have liberated Iraq just to have that scumbag give them up to the JV team."

Is she still alive?

[Extraneus]

.

[Jim Miller]

GUS - Because he was knocked out.

Which is what happened to me last December. Apparently, I fainted, fell off my chair at a fast food joint, and knocked myself out. When I recovered, I saw two worried looking firemen, who wanted to take me to an emergency room.

But I don't remember what happened before I fainted and, as Dr. anonomom mentioned here a few days ago, that temporary loss of memory is quite common is quite common after you have been knocked out.

[Extraneus]

.

[Extraneus]

.

[Extraneus]

.

[pagar]

Where is Henry?

According to some of the comments there is something very confusing in their reply.

http://legalinsurrection.com/2015/05/us-supreme-court-will-not-hear-wisconsin-john-doe-case/

[Jim Miller]

The temporary loss of memory didn't make me repeat phrases in comments; I was already doing that from time to time.

[Extraneus]

Ok, I'll stop with the pics, but the liberation of Iraq was the greatest humanitarian endeavor the world has seen in decades.

Those who call it a mistake are hard-hearted.

[Janet]

It is heartbreaking to see those images, Extraneus.

Wretchard T. Cat (Richard Fernandez) wrote on FB - "A friend of mine who was Marine officer during the surge wrote to say he recognized from the news videos some of the men who supported America being executed by ISIS. That kinda makes it personal. They trusted America, but someone forgot to tell them that in politics betrayal is a way of life."

[Tonto]

I like this!

[Extraneus]

Somebody posted an excellent NYT link to a piece written by a pilot about a trip from London to Tokyo, which I saved and finally read. Even the artwork is good.

http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2015/05/14/opinion/14-in-flight-mark-vanhoenacker.html?action=click&pgtype=Homepage&module=opinion-c-col-top-region&region=opinion-c-col-top-region&WT.nav=opinion-c-col-top-region&_r=0

[Jane]

I think that is good pagar, because I think we won.

BTW, I talked about the weapon cache going from Benghazi to Syria. Clearly I read it somewhere because I'm not that smart.

Did any of you hear the latest from Carley Fiorina?

Boy I like her style.

“Several weeks ago, I was asked by a reporter whether a woman’s hormones prevented her from serving in the Oval Office," she said. "Now, ladies, this is a test: Can any of you think of a single example in which a man’s judgment was clouded by his hormones? Any at all? Even in the Oval Office?”

http://www.cnsnews.com/news/article/cnsnewscom-staff/carly-fiorina-can-you-think-single-example-which-mans-judgment-was

[Jane]

Oh Pagar I'm wrong. I was think of the Judge case not the Jon Doe case.

[Extraneus]

She may have been referring to the anti-room of the oval office.

[pagar]

Should be the comment of the decades!

" but the liberation of Iraq was the greatest humanitarian endeavor the world has seen in decades."

[Extraneus]

Thanks, pagar, but what pisses me off is that none of our "leaders" have summoned up the guts to make that simple and obvious point, even though it would cut Obama and his apologists to the quick.

[Ignatz Ratzkiwatzki]

If you believe, as I did, that you should not go into Iraq or if you were it should be to turn Saddam's regime to rubble and leave, if you have the slightest interest in maintaining the credibility of US defense and power and reliability as an ally, once the decision to remain and win the peace was made you are committed to making sure it does.
It would have taken no small remaining force to keep the lid on and Iraq was never going to be a model democracy but removing it had perfectly predictable results of not only a bloodbath and a strategic disaster but a huge discrediting of our seriousness as a country.

One can only assume those who pulled us out completely and cheered it on have not the slightest interest in maintaining the credibility of US defense and power and reliability as an ally.
But don't call them unpatriotic.

[Threadkiller]

Was Fiorina really asked that? Seems like she is setting up a scripted "jerk store" comeback to a non existent premise.

I will check the article.

[Threadkiller]

An unnamed reporter asked the hormone question apparently.

She may as well start in with joe six-pac and larry lunch-pail stupidisms to properly lose this competition.

[Extraneus]

I'd go further and claim that they knew what would happen, and wanted it to happen.

[Threadkiller]

Where was Brian Williams several weeks ago? He is the only imaginary reporter I can think of that would ask imaginary hormone questions to a post-menopausal cancer treatment survivor.

I may as well check her birth circumstances. Can an American really get all composity like Odummy?

[Ignatz Ratzkiwatzki]

--I'd go further and claim that they knew what would happen, and wanted it to happen.--

Not sure that's further but, yep.

[Neo]

We really have to ask just who comes out a winner if the Clintons are destroyed.
Don’t get me wrong, I don’t believe that an enemy of my enemy is my friend, but rather another foe.
Odd that all of this opposition research is used so early .. before any caucuses or primaries.
It's almost as if another Democrat is angling to take down Hillary ... and make it look like it was the Republicans who did it.

So, who comes out of this looking good, I do mean another Democrat, if the Clintons are destroyed ?

I suggest you take a look at who didn’t jump to support the Democratic nominee apparent so far ? .. like Mr Obama for instance, but don’t stop there.

[Jane]

The "progressives" AKA assholes are all in for Bernie - which I think is just wonderful because he doesn't have a chance in hell.

[Jim Miller]

Well, as I'm sure most of you recall, in 2007, Barack Obama conceded that genocide might be a consequence of his proposed Iraq policies.

I do not know of a single leftist who said that was a reason to vote against Obama in the primaries and caucuses, or in the general election. I'm sure there must have been some, but I don't know of any.

(To be fair, he didn't think that genocide was a likely consequence of his proposed policies,)

His admission drew little attention then, but seems like something we ought to pay attention to, now.

[Janet]

John wrote - "Documents newly pried out of the Obama administration by court order demonstrate beyond doubt that Hillary lied about the Benghazi attack."

http://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2015/05/the-truth-about-benghazi-slowly-emerges.php

[Janet]

"So much for Hillary’s infamous “Was it because of a protest or because of guys out for a walk one night who decide to kill some Americans…?” So much, too, for the scapegoat video."

[clarice]

Defense, State Department Documents Reveal Obama Administration Knew that al Qaeda Terrorists Had Planned Benghazi Attack 10 Days in Advance (Judicial Watch)

[Jane]

Via Drudge:

NYT STRIKES AGAIN: Hillary read and circulated Sid Blumenthal intelligence memos...
Paid by Clinton Foundation, Media Matters...
Role Blurs Lines of Politics and Business...
House committee may subpoena...

Twitter is abuzz that things are about to get tough for Blumenthal.

[henry]

Pagar, I have no idea what the SC just did. The denied cert, but are collecting more 3rd party briefs, including one under seal.

Meanwhile we wait for the WI SC ruling (which I guess gets appealed to the Feds by whichever side loses). Roggensack is acting as Chief, Shirley and her fellow lefties are MIA (not clear if the Tilted Kilt in Rockford IL was checked).

[Some Guy]

I haven't a chance to see any network news or other lamestream outlets, but have they reported that the Waco shootings were because of a clash between the Tea Party Riders and the Bitter Clingers yet?

[Jack is Lightnings!]

Ex,

Thanks for that aviator's terrific essay. Good writer, thought of daddy as I read it. Both have a way with words. Must have to do with those 11 to 13 hours of pure boredom on autopilot. Know all about that but then I was young and could sleep sitting up-right.

tonto,

Now that was one clever WS production. May want to share on FB.

Lightning up 2-1 after 1st period. Those long days on the Tampa Bay area ice as kids growing up in Florida is paying off for those guys.

[maryrosee]

Janet
This is what will bring her down
I remember the day after she was skulking around the WH trying to get everyone's story straight on Benghazi
Also Mills commandeered the information memos and phone records and stole or tried to delete the criminal negligence ones
Now we hear from Sid Vicious

[boatbuilder]

Tonto that was satire at its finest.

[maryrosee]

Henry
I am so glad Roggensack is acting as chief
Imagine working with someone on the Court and then being so small and petty that you can't congratulate them on becoming Chief
This is why they voted her out of the Chief Justice position
Because she is a mean vile nasty person

[Eric in Boise]

The NYT war on Hillarity! reminds me of Kissinger's comment on the Iran-Iraq war: It's too bad they can't both lose.

[Old Lurker]

So yesterday every time I went to JOM on my iPad it redirected to that gardenclub site. Tonight it takes me to MySpace....

Wassup?

[narciso]

The motive being retaliation for al libi's death issomething i speculated on

[Jack is Lightnings!]

Don't laugh.

But as a business proposition, it would make sense for the Times to change direction a "little" bit to stop the bleeding. They don't have to give up their editorial prejudice at all since most readers never read the editorials but they do read above the fold stories on the first page.

As I said, don't laugh, not even you jimmyk:)

MSNBC could take a page out of that book but for them it wont make any difference simply because of their personality lineup.

[narciso]

I'm still curious about drumheller and left unsaid murray'spart in this network. They were senior spies in the europeansection tied tofrench andgerman intelligence and their business interestsin iraq, and i assume continuing with libya

[DrJ]

Brett Stephens is worth reading tomorrow:

http://www.wsj.com/articles/everything-is-awesome-mideast-edition-1431990488

If it is behind the paywall, use the Google trick.

[narciso]

Sid vicious started out recycling dezinformatya when when he worked for fensterwalds commitee while at the phoenix, thats where hecamein contact with phil agee.