Barack Obama, who has no experience with or in the U.S. military, seems to think military requirements are solely this: “[Y]ou tell me what it is that we need in terms of boots on the ground, in terms of equipment, in terms of other capabilities that are gonna be required.” To Obama, the military is “man and machine.”

It is obvious that Barack Obama doesn’t know the full history behind the political successes achieved by our military concurrent with the “surge” in troop numbers. It is clear Barack Obama doesn’t realize that many of our nation’s most insightful historians and political and social scientists are in the military, and that it was their input that has been key to quelling much of the violence in Iraq. Larry Johnson quotes an essential story by Walter Pincus in the Washington Post that credits a 300-page report, “Iraq Tribal Study: Al-Anbar Governorate,” that was “put together by a distinguished group of retired military counterinsurgency specialists and academics, each with Iraq experience [and] was circulated in the Army’s Command and General Staff College at Fort Leavenworth, Kan., at the time led by then-Lt. Gen. David H. Petraeus.”

Pincus writes that “the support of Sunni tribal leaders against al-Qaeda in Iraq,” which is “hailed as one of the few successes from the U.S. troop increase this year,” came from the Iraq Tribal Study which “provided a handbook on how to gain that support by covering the basics.”

=========================
Katie Couric should've asked Obama:
How much influence did the Pentagon report, Iraq Tribal Study: Al-Anbar Governorate,’ have on the successes you’ve attributed solely to the Sunni leaders? You told ABC News that you “did not anticipate … the convergence of not only the surge but the Sunni Awakening in which a whole host of Sunni tribal leaders decided that they had had enough with Al-Qaeda, in the Shiia community the militias standing down to some degrees.”

You also said, “So what you had is a combination of political factors inside of Iraq that then came right at the same time as terrific work by our troops.”

You seem to overlook the direct role that the U.S. military’s distinguished analysts played in the “Sunni Awakening” and the “political factors” — and that the military leadership studied this report and implemented its recommendations “on the ground” in Iraq. Sen. McCain knows this history.
===================

Barack Obama probably has never heard of the “Iraq Tribal Study” and doesn’t know the authors. He would stumble through an answer but would be essentially stumped.

Obama's remarks indicate that he believes the Sunni leaders decided, entirely on their own, to band together, and that he is unaware of the role of the military’s best thinkers in making that happen. McCain knows this.

Barack Obama doesn’t know about, or acknowledge, the highly influential Iraq Tribal Report that was circulated in the highest ranks of the military, and changed how the military interacted with the populace of Iraq.


-- Modified on 7/25/2008 1:11:48 PM

I know that it's light on argument, but so are arguments based on "It seems that . . . "It's obvious that . . . " "It's clear that . . ." [insert straw man]. It would mean something to know how you came to that conclusion on the basis of what he didn't say in a single interview. (He didn't praise our troops enough). His approach of "[Y]ou tell me what it is that we need in terms of boots on the ground, in terms of equipment, in terms of other capabilities that are gonna be required,” sounds curiously like Bush's.

It seems to me that informing him of the Tribal Report would have taken three seconds and that anybody in the military brass he met would be equal to telling him about. I'd be surprised right now if the military thought Obama ignorant of them.

I don't know why you're down on Obama about this. I mean, he hasn't flip-flopped on his point of view. No, embraces what he said.

Also, what he is quoted to have said in a single interview probably doesn't have any bearing on his regard for the military. Hell, the military seemed to get along with him, and he had praises for them.

There has been plenty of success on the surge; violence has been markedly reduced. What I attribute that to, though, is General David Petreaus. He has pulled off a miracle, and he has done it with a number of men that should have been too small to make a difference. The fact that he engaged the Sunnis instead of searching for enemies to arrest and kill sounds like . . . well, a liberal strategy.

However, if the factions don't settle their differences, this calm isn't going to be stable.

BO hasn't flip-flopped in this issue yet, but he hasn't acknowledged the fact that without the "surge", there wouldn't be any stability in Iraq today. He still thinks that his way would've been equally effective. If he thinks that the surge didn't work, then why enforce it in Afghanistan? Why doesn't Obama use his "political reconciliation" approach in Afghanistan?

Obama doesn't want to listen to the US generals' advise that we can't put a timeframe to the military's withdrawal in Iraq. BO is still stuck with his 16-month withdrawal timeframe. He wants our military to leave regardless we finish our job in Iraq or not. This is just one example that he doesn't care about our men and women in our military...whether they come home victorious or not, he doesn't care. Another example is when he cancelled his visit to Germany's Landstuhl Regional Medical Center(don't ask me for the link, you can easily research it).

IT IS VERY WORRISOME THAT BARACK OSAMA THINKS HE IS CAPABLE OF MAKING JUDGMENT CALLS INDEPENDENT OF THE MILITARY. WE'VE ALREADY HAD ONE PRESIDENT WHO DID THAT. GEORGE W. BUSH. WE CAN'T AFFORD ANOTHER!

I don't even know the purpose of the Joint Chiefs of Staff doesn't mean I can't lead them! After all, I put my flag lapel pin back on!

Of course I did again rip America in my Berlin speech, but nobody noticed.

So, how many of you are getting tired of all the stutters and 'Ums' I put in my interviews. Hee Hee. Normally you'd expect that from old guys like McCain. My fawning media thinks I am so deliberate when I do it, but I'm just making it up as I go along.

Kumbaya Barack, Kumbaya!

Here's Obama without a Teleprompter:

"Well, let me — let me be absolutely clear. Israel is a strong friend of Israel’s. It will be a strong friend of Israel’s under a McCain government — administration. It will be a strong friend of Israel’s under an Obama administration. So that policy is not going to change."

=============
Here's another example where BO makes up stuff as he goes along (and NO, it's not the part where he claims that there are 57 states in the US):

At a press conference in Israel, Barack Obama said that the U.S. Senate’s banking committee is his committee, which will surely come as a surprise to the chairman of the Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs committee, Christopher Dodd, an Obama sycophant.

NOT ONLY IS THE U.S. SENATE COMMITTEE ON BANKING, HOUSING, AND URBAN AFFAIRS NOT OBAMA'S COMMITTEE, BARACK OSAMA IS NOT EVEN A MEMBER OF THE COMMITTEE!!! (See Video Link Below)

He doesn't know difference between Sunni/Shia, thinks Iraq borders Pakistan, thinks Czech Republic is still Czechsolvakia, thinks Iran is training Al Qaeda, & he's either the dumbest candiate ever and/or a LIAR when he said the Anbar Awakening was a result of the surge....Wrong, the Anbar Awakening began MONTHS before the surge...

And McBush's strength is foreign policy??...

McCain is too stupid, too ill-tempered, too arrogant, to be POTUS...I'm now convinced he would be worse than Bush...Honestly, most of the club goers at the Viper Room on Sunset Blvd. could run the country better than McBush could....



"This is his signature issue. If McCain doesn’t know what he’s talking about on this subject, he doesn’t have anything in reserve. It’s not “nitpicking” to note that McCain seems incapable of speaking intelligently on the issue he cares about most.

What’s more, it’d be easier to overlook isolated mistakes if McCain didn’t screw up the basics of what’s going on in Iraq so frequently. McCain has been confused about whether the U.S. can maintain a long-term presence in Iraq; confused about the source of violence in Iraq; confused about Iran’s relationship with al Qaeda; confused about the difference between Sunni and Shi’ia; confused about Gen. Petraeus’ responsibilities in Iraq; and confused about what transpired during the Maliki government’s offensive in Basra.

Worse, this isn’t a new phenomenon. Back in November 2006, McCain couldn’t answer a reporter’s question about his own opinions on the war without reading prepared notes on national television. As recently as March 2007, McCain was embarrassing himself by insisting that Gen. Petraeus travels around Baghdad “in a non-armed Humvee” (a comment that military leaders literally laughed at.)"

-- Modified on 7/25/2008 4:22:07 PM

I swear that if necessary, it will move. I could hardly call him a centrist, but he's much more pragmatic than you think. If necessary, he'll handle missing that deadline if the military advises it. But he'll hold it as long as he can to put pressure on Iraqis to settle with each other...

Obama's always been known to be cocky. That's what I'm thinking. What we have here isn't Carter or Clinton. Or any brand of politician we've ever seen before, at least running for the presidency.  

Either he sticks to his misguided guns, which would make him an idiot, or he flip flops and goes against everything that he ever stood for. Nice choice. I think I'll vote for McCain, who despite his faults, actually has a clue as to what's going on.

Zin, you are too funny. You want us to vote for your guy based on the fact that you know somehow, despite what he has been saying for years, that he will not keep his campaign promises and will actually do what is right. Great fucking logic. Vote for Obama because he's a liar. Great fucking campaign slogan.

With all the Obambi fables, do you really want to go down this path.

What about his new ad on Arms Control? He spent 2 months in the US Senate and made couple of calls to Senator. Lugar which he is portraying as his " life long work on arms control" and "his record of working across the aisle" who is he kidding?

Only Obambi Extra Strong Kool-Aid drinkers and those who just realized there is process called  Presidential Election every 4 years in the US.

No one else is or will.

See what happens when you don't have any record and you are big fucking blank slate, you tend to write crap all over it or is it crapping all over it.

Now, I know you're going to say I call every republican senator far right, but I think it is safe to call Sen. Tom Coburn (R-OK) FAR right...This is a guy who calls for the death penalty for abortion doctors, so there you go, straight out of the 8th. century - Tom Coburn...Yet Obama was able to cross the isle & to pass the Transparency Act w/him..

"The "Coburn–Obama Transparency Act" authorized the establishment of www.USAspending.gov, a web search engine launched in December 2007 and run by the Office of Management and Budget"...

Obama will work across the isle with Republcians in his administration....I'd bet he'd offer a cabinet position to Chuck Hagel and/or a couple other Republicans as well....

What are we going to get with Senator McBush???....Nothing, but the same old shit we've had since 1/20/01 - gridlock, partsian politics, & an American public that suffers because of it.....

Now, I know you Republicians (oops, Kerrackles & GA Gambler are independents, who lean right on most issues though) & FOX Noise think it's big joke that were hated around the rest of the globe, but it is important that our tarnished reputation with the rest of the planet gets fixed - only an Obama administration can do that, whereas McBush would rather just "bomb, bomb, bomb, Iran".....

Hopefully after the first presidential debate on Sept. 26 at the Univ. of Mississippi, people will know how much better of a person AND candiate Barack Obama is to John W McBush....




-- Modified on 7/26/2008 7:57:02 AM

You like everyone else here including me, show a bias. The candidate you've identified as friendlier to your goals is given slack. It's funny to see McCain's blunders, dissembling and dishonesty ignored so thoroughly.

McCain's looks totally out to lunch. Unlike conservatives here with Obama, I haven't bothered to report all the foibles, gaffes, flip-flops and just plain stupidity of McCain and his so-called campaign. I presumed, wrongly it seems, that people here were making comparisons. It seems nobody here is motivated to do that.  

For flip-flopping: just last week McCain flip-flopped on sending three additional brigades to Afghanistan, after OBAMA agreed with Joint Chief Adm. Michael Mullen that those Brigades were needed. It was McCain who fought against it at first, and who suddenly went out of his way on a completely unrelated speech to flip-flop on his position. That's sticking to his guns all right.

This might indicate that his "stick with the Generals' advice" is merely a campaign strategy.

He accuses Obama of attending only one Subcommittee hearing on Afghanistan, while he himself attended none of the three hearings.

More, he tells people in New Orleans that if he had been in the White House during Katrina, he would have done things much better. Where was Bush during Katrina? He was in Arizona for McCain's birthday. Neither have said if McCain had any serious advice for Bush.

His campaign shows impaired judgment, making unbelievable gaffes. Such as one involving novelty gifts to reporters on the Straight Talk Jet. Last week, they gave out beach sandals in a bag with the words "McCain-- another day at the beach." That's right, they gave out FLIP-FLOPS, with McCain's name on the bag.

It was appropriate though. Remember at all when he said he says he hates lobbyist, that he absolutely won't listen to or take money from them, then had to purge his the many lobbyists RUNNING his campaign after the press revealed them.

One might say he sticks to his principles, when he notices them.

His top economic advisor says this is just a "mental recession" and that this is a nation of whiners. (Real Reagan pro-American there.) That adviser was Phil Gramm, the FUCKING ARCHITECT OF REAGANOMICS! (Who BTW, never had a real job and never had to meet a payroll. Just sayin') After a flip-flop, McCain retired Gramm, which is funny, because a month before that, McCain was talking about how his program would give "psychological relief" from the recession.

In the same week, his campaign releases a statement "signed by over 300 professional economists in support of John McCain's Jobs for America economic plan." The problem was, when interviewed, many of them opposed the plan, though they were for McCain. The month before McCain talked about how he never listens to economists and points out how they were wrong about the housing crisis.

He has flip-flopped on abortion. He has done a stealth flip-flop on immigration.

He shows he doesn't know a Sunni from a Shi'ite or Afghanistan from Iran. He tours Iraq in a flak jacket and with hundreds of troops guarding him and says its safe.

He says that the "fundamentals of the economy are sound," while he and his wife have more than $100k in CREDIT CARD debt.

And this is just a small sample. I read of Obama's gaffes here and I have to shrug. They don't even look serious.

Added to all of this, he's 72-years old. He's susceptible to all kinds of health problems. He could die suddenly, and Alzheimer's becomes a concern, especially when he refers to Czechoslavakia and makes the same gaffes repeatedly.

Now, how does Obama win with you? He sticks to his guns you call him an idiot, if he admits he was wrong, you call him a flip-flopper. I don't think the problem you have with Obama has to do with what he says. I think the problem is you just don't like the notion of a liberal Democrat in the White House. I already know how resentful you are of the barest possibility of higher taxes.

Believe what you want, there is nothing wrong with setting a deadline, a goal, and McSame did that at one time, too. Obama isn't a liar unless he believes 100 percent right now that he won't meet the goal. That's the standard no matter how much you don't like him. If you accuse me of "knowing somehow" how do you know somehow that he's being dishonest. You guess, that's how.

What are you referring to that he has been saying "for years?" Definitely it isn't that he'll get us out in sixteen months.

-- Modified on 7/26/2008 10:47:08 AM

-- Modified on 7/26/2008 10:55:24 AM

IMHO, I think the guy needs a vacation, a week of sleep followed by another of R&R. He wasn't always making these mistakes; he didn't always have so many ummses and stutters.

At least he's not like George, or John Kerry. He works his ass off. Somebody on the campaign needs to sit him out for a while.  





-- Modified on 7/26/2008 4:31:11 PM

Yep hearing Obama try to ramble through why he did not  support the surge will be comedy and after he says he wants 50,000 troops to remain  Daily KOS will go nuts

-- Modified on 7/26/2008 3:08:55 PM

your argument based Wikipedia, that doesn't cut it. As far as I know, you may have entered it on Wiki.

It is known fact that OB signed on as Co-sponsor just to make sure he gets his name on it.

BO is full of BS.

At least Obama has shown he can work with the other side - Not a damn thing will change with McBush - he's too arrogant & stubborn, he's a "my way or the highway" type of politician....

Obama was correct to oppose the war in the first place...Seeking credit for the surge in a war that should have never happened doesn't cut it...

And yes, while the surge has reduced violence (it's been about 1,900 days since the declartion of "Mission Accomplished" in Iraq in May 2003), there has been limited political progress..

-- Modified on 7/27/2008 8:38:47 AM