Obama's "Plan" For Iraq Blasted In NY Times Guest Piece

Owen West, who "served two tours in Iraq with the Marines" and authored a book on counterinsurgency in Iraq, tells NY Times readers what he really thinks of Obama's abandonment of Iraq in 2011 and his current program of trickling in a few advisors:

Mr. Obama, despite warnings of Mr. Maliki’s intentions, made no sincere effort to leave a sizable number of troops in Iraq past 2011. Now we’re sending in tiny groups, a few hundred at a time, to live on lily pads. That’s no way to instill the will to fight, yet Pentagon officials brag about numbers of “troops trained.”

Before entering ground combat, we have to fix the political problem. It would be insane to repeat our previous mistake and train an army to fight for the current Shiite government. Last year we trained not a single Sunni soldier, and our dollars continue to flow through Baghdad to Shiite militias.

...

Even with a thousand American advisers, Shiite soldiers today won’t fight for desolate Sunni lands. If we’re committed to a yearslong effort, money should flow directly to the end recipient of our choosing — whether that be the Iraqi Army, Kurds or Sunni tribesmen. Our current half-strategy opposes one enemy — the Islamic State — but benefits a much bigger threat, Iran.

If we don’t get the politics aligned with a commitment to destroy the Islamic State, our advisers should expect the same heartbreak as those of us who fought in Operation Iraqi Freedom, and our fathers before us in Vietnam.

 

Comments

[NKonChrome]

CecilT-- he was on meth; he had neither a mind nor health... or even a soul. Meth is filthy poison.

[henry]

CT, eating prescription meds and LSD like candy do not make a person crazy in SC.

[squaredance]

Something really stinks about this...I mean a "Rhodesian" flag?

[Cispigmented Heteronormative Microagressive Ignatz]

In case anyone missed Tonto's Kemosahbee Harry Stein's essay on Seinfeld and the PC Thought Police, I'm relinking.
Excellent.

[narciso]

btw, Hank Goldberg won the AIG bet. and he didn't even do better than the Duke Bros,

[narciso]

the shooter is not unlike the braquers, that were in that Rotella piece, which went down the memory hole,

[Captain Hate on the iPhone]

As lyle points out, just like with Benghazi, 404 lets nothing get in the way of fundraisers. Nor Rodham...

[rse]

OL-Between wioa, ecaa, and TPA GOPe is determined to launch full blown fascism on us.

I was out running errors and all I could think of was Bend Over is their attitude.

Saw Paul Ryan proposes giving block grants to states to give healthcare subsidies if King V Burwell overturns the exchanges.

I think people do not realize that most of the so-called conservative think tanks are actually not Conservative on economic issues. They like the welfare state and they want the providers to be cronies.

[narciso]

yes we know rse, does hate crime include death penalty, because if this isn't a clear and convincing case,

[Cispigmented Heteronormative Microagressive Ignatz]

What kinda nutjob gets his kid a 45 after he's arrested for meth and LSD possession?

[Old Lurker]

rse "I was out running errors "

I sure wish I could out run some of my mistakes.

:-)

Yes, rse, DOOM is the right descriptor.

[narciso]

sorry you have to be linguistically appropriated,
der untergang,

[narciso]

now that is the chief skydragon netter,

https://twitter.com/iowahawkblog

[jimmyk]

Agreed, Harry Stein's essay is wonderful.

He says Seinfeld is a liberal, which I don't doubt, but it's to Seinfeld's credit that I have no idea based on the show, and if anything might have thought otherwise. Not coincidentally, I'd say the same thing about Larry David and "Curb Your Enthusiasm." I guess what I'd add to Stein's piece is the importance of being able to laugh at oneself, which Seinfeld/David can do. Jon Stewart occasionally does it, but more often puts his political agenda first.

[Captain Hate]

So proud that OrangeDrank has a good working relationship with 404 because that's what the GOP campaigned on in November.

[James D]

rse @ 2:27 is completely right.

[narciso]

what I was pointing to:

http://www.wsj.com/articles/former-aig-chief-asks-court-to-revive-backdoor-bailout-claims-1434643409?mod=rss_markets_main

[Jane]

Powerline got its hands on one of Blumenthall's emails to Hillary. Worth the read:

http://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2015/06/blumenthal-email-confirms-libya-was-to-be-hillarys-crowning-accomplishment.php

[James D]

CH @ 2:40

I can't say what I really think about Boehner, Ryan and the rest of the so-called "leadership of the House GOP, because this is a family blog.

"They can all die in a fire" is the kindest thing I can think of, and that doesn't even begin to express how I feel about them.

[Miss Marple]

I don't want Boehner to have a good working relationship with Obama.

In fact, I would like to see barricades set up between the Capitol Building and the White House.

[Michael (fpa Patriot4Freedom)]

What an arrogant, narcissistic a*hole oBOzo has once again shown himself to be . . .

He didn't even have the decency to wait until after the funerals to politicize those victims' tragic deaths. Then he uses false representations of "facts" to justify his hubris. What a champ !

[rse]

Running errors at the grocery store as red still wants all her favorites while she is home.

http://civilrightsdocs.info/pdf/policy/letters/2015/Ensure-A-Reauthorized-ESEA-Letter-6-18-2015%20.pdf is the letter from various civil rights groups. One of the things wanted is for states to have an obligation to eliminate disparaties in resources among school districts. As I just poinetd out on my blog, that will have affluent citizens paying once in property taxes to their own district and again in state taxes to fund other districts.

One reality is that there are way too many school districts and they serve as a key employer in many rural areas along with area hospitals and the closest higher ed facility. Lots of places in this country have no real economy not financed by Uncle Sam.

[Captain Hate]

The only barricades are set up between the ruling class and us.

I used to marvel at how cynical some old timers in my home town were at hating all politicians and saying they're all crooks. Obviously they had believed in the GOP.

[henry]

Sounds like a follower of Robert Byrd.

[narciso]

actually Fritz Hollings, he put the stars and bars up as governot,

[narciso]

so POI had the optimistic scenario, Samaritan was an American outfit after all,

[narciso]

and lets not forget this vet hating twit,

http://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2015/06/disgusting-obama-official-lashes-out-at-gop-gov-nikki-haley-in-aftermath-of-church-shooting/

[Captain Hate]

That Powerline email from Sid is tremendous. Obviously his delusional rah rah Rodham themes help the Pantsuit, along with massive intake of alcohol, to deal with life with a predator who doesn't find her interesting or attractive.

[Dave (in MA)]

.

[narciso]

it is rare to have this much category error, outside of a Flathead column:

Do not skimp on the reasons in the US interest behind the successful strategy: We prevented a humanitarian tragedy on a vast scale. … The US has demonstrated its principled belief in the rule of law and acted on the basis of the United Nations resolution. We have supported the legitimate aspirations of the Libyan people for democracy and freedom. We have ousted a murderous dictator who has been terrorism, civil war throughout Africa and a prop for dictators elsewhere. By acting in Libya we have helped advance the cause of democracy and freedom throughout the Arab world. … We have put Assad on notice that the sands of time have run out for him as well. Our successful strategy in Libya stands as a warning that our strategy will work again.

[narciso]

this fellow is just confused, it should be a thobe,
not a burka,

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3130087/Burka-clad-white-man-arrested-police-detonate-suspect-package-Watford-town-centre.html

[narciso]

yes, about that last thing:

http://www.parismatch.com/Actu/International/L-insaisissable-MBM-Mokhtar-Belmokhtar-785398

[lyle]

Right on schedule:

http://thehill.com/regulation/245280-gun-owners-not-likely-to-use-firearms-for-self-defense-study-claims

A new study attempts to debunk the claim that gun owners rely on their firearms for self-defense.

The left-leaning Violence Policy Center released a study Wednesday that finds people are much more likely to use a gun to kill someone without cause than to protect themselves.

According to the study, gun owners committed 259 justifiable homicides compared to 8,342 criminal homicides in 2012, the most recent year data was available.

That means gun owners are 32 times more likely to kill someone without cause than to act in self-defense, the study reasoned.

[maryrose]

Defense bill went down because partisan hack Harry Reid has the nerve to want more money for of all things the IRS and the EPA

[narciso]

hemenway, shirley they can't be serious,

[narciso]

maybe we'll hold off IS with swingline staplers I guess, maryrose,

[lyle]

Welp, I linked to that VPC study but I guess it was too naughty. Any help, Jeff?

[narciso]

it's not only Joyce foundation, zaphod and ayers paper route, but it's hemenway, one of their most infamous researchers,

[maryrose]

Narciso
Obama sends 450more of our troops and can't find any Sunni fighters to train

[narciso]

seeing as nearly all of the awakening has been murdered or driven into exile, who would take the chance,

http://armsandthelaw.com/archives/2006/07/joyce_foundatio_5.php

[Beasts of England]

Heinous acts of ignorance and emotional instability? Sorry, this thread isn't about the number of black-on-black murders in Baltimore since the riots. A number far greater than nine. But, please, continue to dance on the dead bodies with your soulmate Øbama.

[narciso]

right off the back I see a problem, they lump gun owners, legitimate I assume, with all homicides,

[narciso]

so it's Vizzini right off the top,

[Cispigmented Heteronormative Microagressive Ignatz]

-- But you do tend toward attitudes facilitating these heinous acts of ignorance and emotional instability.--

Your casual calumnies and causistries demonstrate that, in the end and at heart, despite your rare moments of graciousness and/or lucidity. you really are pretty much exactly what GUS paints you as.

[Jeff Dobbs]

lyle:
Any help, Jeff?

I can't do much without it being my thread.

But if you need a hand towel in the men's room - those have been replaced...

[jimmyk on iPhone]

If someone has a stolen or otherwise illegally obtained gun they're considered a gun "owner" in that study. Brilliant.

[lyle]

Your daily People's Cube:

State-funded research proves existence of Quantum Aggression Particles (Heterons) in Large Hadron Collider

Does Iowahawk blog for them?

[Cispigmented Heteronormative Microagressive Ignatz]

John Lott destroyed this bogus BS years ago and many times over.

[lyle]

But if you need a hand towel in the men's room - those have been replaced...

Any word on when the sauna gets fixed? Thanks.

[Ben Zaynus]

(_!_)
. /'\

[Cispigmented Heteronormative Microagressive Ignatz]

Merely a good judge of character.

[Jeff Dobbs]

lyle:
Any word on when the sauna gets fixed?

Ah, yes, about that. The men's sauna isn't going to be repaired.

We're going transgender.

[Beasts of England]

Dancing on the dead black bodies and claiming an unarmed black man deserved to get shot? That's certainly a new low for you, feather boy...

[Beasts of England]

It's 94° with 54% relative humidity. I don't need so steenkin' sauna. :)

[rse]

The Center for New Community has issued this statement on the need to confront the violent racism in America today. http://newcomm.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/AME-Church-shooting-06182015.pdf

The letter proclaims that "we all did it".

No, we did not. A single a**hole did this awful thing and don't you dare use this tragedy to hold all white people accountable.

[narciso]

type pad, really doesn't like unshielded stupidity like that study,

[Ben Zaynus]

~ ` ~
.oOo.

[Ben Zaynus]

~ ` ~ ~ ` ~
.oOo. .oOo

[Ben Zaynus]

`, ' . `
.oOo.

[NKonChrome]

But we can hold all Meth freaks accountable.

[lyle]

We're going transgender

Quite so. Does this mean we can get a shoe shine and/or a mani pedi?

[lyle]

Let's go to the range together, Ben. You can learn all about triggers, bitch.

[Eric in Boise]

That means gun owners are 32 times more likely to kill someone without cause than to act in self-defense

Narc and jimmyk caught the error here, of course, as I'm sure did others. Another way of interpreting this is that there are 32 times more gang bangers pulling triggers than there are lawful citizens fighting back. That's an argument for carrying lawfully, not an argument against.

[lyle]

You're kinda white, yourself, bitch.

[narciso]

so this nazgul, was out on bail, what was the deal,

[narciso]

looks like Hemenway, got his Kramerica intern to crunch the numbers, also layers of peer review,

[Beasts of England]

Phil finished at -1. Dustin Johnson is at -6 with two to play. The USGA won't like that too much!

[Appalled]

I'm not sure why the tragedy in Charleston has to bring out the vileness here -- but it seems mandatory.

Got to say, there are many times when the blacks in South Carolina would have enjoyed enjoying their 2nd Amendment rights -- and I'm not sure a Hawaii progressive quite understands that, right before a lynching, or right after, the friendly neighborhood Sheriff often sent his boys around to make sure the local black folk didn't have any weaponry.

I'm not a big fan of the 2nd Amendment, but until it is repealed-- and there is an honest constitutional effort to do so -- it does need to be respected.

[DebinNC]

and the study doesn't account for the many crimes deterred by a firearm that do not result in a homicide.

Or the high likelihood in places like GA of most potential victims having a gun and knowing how to use it.

[NKonChrome]

BoE-- what do you think of this burnt out St Andrews on the puget sound set up?

[Ben Zaynus]

~ ` ~
.oOo.

[Beasts of England]

I'm just watching streams right now, NK, so I don't have a complete opinion yet. It's telegenic, so far, from my small-screen vantage point.

There are fifteen players under par at this point, so they've figured out how to avoid much of the punishment. I'll be interested to hear the pro's assessment after the first round.

[maryrose]

So to sum up
The Obama foreign policy aided and abetted by Hillarity stinks
The current SOS is nursing a broken ego and leg and no one is minding the State store which has never had a permanent I G since its 2009 inception

[Beasts of England]

Headed to the lake to get a jump on the weekend. And to cool off!! lol

[maryrose]

Also Jen Psacki and Marie Harf have. Been reassigned for unknown reasons

[Eric in Boise]

Oh, say, could you see this one coming?

http://www.breitbart.com/big-hollywood/2015/06/18/transgender-woman-sings-national-anthem-at-pro-sports-event-for-first-time/

Via Breitbart.

[squaredance]

Pretty interesting.

[Miss Marple]

Auction tonight.

See you guys later on this evening.

[danoso]

nine people mowed down - sickening how excited some folks get over it. Like it made his day. An evil, disgusting human being.

Should've known not to check in today, just kept the Open on all day.

It's a troll's mission to make everyone feel as miserable as they feel. Go fuck yourself pal

[DebinNC]

It’s also mildly amusing/disturbing how closely all the nerdy, medicated, spree-killing geeks resemble the progressive pundits who are caterwauling for unilateral disarmament of the citizenry. They look nothing like the fat and hairy—yet unmistakably male—Georgia hilljacks who milled around the gun show in Gainesville. And although I’m supposed to fear those “angry white males,” I felt far less hostility emanating from the convention floor than I do whenever I’m around leftist girly-boys.

Amen, sista.

[Ben Zaynus]

(_!_)
''/|\"

[Ben Zaynus]

`, ' . `
.oOo.

[Ben Zaynus]

~ ` ' `, ~ ' . ` , `~ ` ~
.oOo. . . .oOo . . .oOo

[Jim Miller]

I think nearly all of you will be pleased to learn that I have solved the problem of which woman should be on the new ten dollar bill. (Some of you may even be jealous that you didn't think of her yourselves.)

[daddy]

Martha My Dear

Let’s start with currency notes – paper money. Martha Washington is the only woman whose portrait has appeared on the face of a U.S. currency note. She appeared on the face of the $1 Silver Certificate of 1886, 1891 and 1896. But there was another woman who appeared on U.S. paper currency as part of a historical scene. Pocahontas appeared on a $10 bank note in 1869 and a $20 demand note in 1865.

(Far right side, I think in Indian garb)

[Jim Miller]

But you needn't be jealous; instead you can use your photoshop sills to prepare some sample bills.

[Eric in Boise]

I felt far less hostility emanating from the convention floor than I do whenever I’m around leftist girly-boys.

In Terrence Moore's classic 2004 "Wimps and Barbarians" essay, he treated the two groups as mutually exclusive. What he didn't mention is that sometimes, as we've recently seen, both traits are combined into one person, and we get a wimp/girly-boy with barbaric tendencies. That's where things really get dangerous.
http://www.claremont.org/article/wimps-and-barbarians-the-sons-of-murphy-brown/#.VYMwMk3JB2Y

[Janet]

from squaredance's 4:37 link -

" Maybe those who claim they’re earnestly seeking an answer to Friday’s bloodbath should focus less on Gunsville and more on Pillsville. But right on the heels of their howling about NO GUNS came cries for MORE PSYCHIATRY. I don’t expect these remnants of 1960s ethics to ever blame drugs for anything. But what puzzles me is their newfound blind support of government. How did they turn from being the harshest critics of “The Man” in the 1960s to being his most brainwashed advocates today?

It’s also mildly amusing/disturbing how closely all the nerdy, medicated, spree-killing geeks resemble the progressive pundits who are caterwauling for unilateral disarmament of the citizenry. They look nothing like the fat and hairy—yet unmistakably male—Georgia hilljacks who milled around the gun show in Gainesville. And although I’m supposed to fear those “angry white males,” I felt far less hostility emanating from the convention floor than I do whenever I’m around leftist girly-boys."

[Janet]

sorry...Deb had already posted that.

[Cispigmented Heteronormative Microagressive Ignatz]

--How did they turn from being the harshest critics of “The Man” in the 1960s to being his most brainwashed advocates today?--

They never objected to The Man; they objected that he wasn't Their Man.

[Extra haiku]

People talk to trolls
No matter how dumb they are
Does Gaia know why?

[Porchlight]

I keep thinking the POTUS can't surprise me with his remarks, but that jerk still manages to do it every time.

[Lazybusy]

Ignatz, I like that your latest remarks on the pup has been all good. I pick my new Gordon pup up tomorrow.

[Extraneus]

Drudge:

President Never Considered Canceling Hollywood Fundraisers...

[maryrose]

The trick Porch is to not listen to the jerk Obama
He never has anything of interest to say and he is absolutely wrong on every issue
A waste of time and with his time running out he just becomes more outrageous

He is against the defense bill because it takes away authority to ode Gitmo
It is continuously all about him
I detest him so I have no interest in what comes out of his yapper

[A strange last line.]

So who is 'Clio' at the end of the Blumenthal email @Powerline?

[Old Lurker]

So have all the kool kids moved to jom-fb, leaving just us luddites here at the real jom? This will not end well for us.

[Jeff Dobbs]

Yes, OL - and Mrs OL is there too and she's talking smack about you.

She'll probably deny it if you ask, tho. And I'm probably just making it up. You're safe, nothing to worry about.

But you took some pretty fuhhhhhh-nnnnnnnnnnny pics back in the last 70s. She won't stop. It's hillarious.

But it's not happening. I'm worse than Obama when it comes to telling the truth. You have nothing to fear.

[gaw]

I think serious consideration should be given to honoring Dolly Madison as the first woman on our paper money. I like the idea of honoring our founders on the currency.

[henry]

OL, we the few, the non FB, the safe from the Chinese.