Comments on: Broken http://firedoglake.com/2006/07/23/broken/ Firedoglake weblog Fri, 17 Feb 2012 03:13:10 -0600 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.1.2 By: Kelly S. Parrson http://firedoglake.com/2006/07/23/broken/#comment-203234 Kelly S. Parrson Mon, 24 Jul 2006 16:33:18 +0000 http://www.firedoglake.com/2006/07/23/broken/#comment-203234 <p>Well I am not to sure where you are getting all your information, but trust me we still convoy three to four times a day out of Kuwait. Every pot hole, plastic bag, pop can and dog is consider and IED until proven otherwise. The boys get shot at on a daily basis and have junk thrown at them, when they cross under the bridges. So if your trying to tell the Americans our troops are not in danger try again. I have a nice prosthic joint in my right shoulder as well as being booted for telling my story in Time Magazine, the truth hurts and the republicans hate it. That is why I am running for office. The problem being is everyone wants to scream and complain but no one wants to put their money where their mouth is. We all want change so help the ones who are trying to change the way our country is heading by supporting or campaigns. Stop giving to the big boys and help us little guys get into state assembly so we can help the big boys when they need it.</p> <p>Kelly S. Parrson, Democrat for the 36th Assembly of Wisconsin, as well as a disabled Veteran from OIF 2003-2004, lost my job and my house next is my family but we are holding on.</p> Well I am not to sure where you are getting all your information, but trust me we still convoy three to four times a day out of Kuwait. Every pot hole, plastic bag, pop can and dog is consider and IED until proven otherwise. The boys get shot at on a daily basis and have junk thrown at them, when they cross under the bridges. So if your trying to tell the Americans our troops are not in danger try again. I have a nice prosthic joint in my right shoulder as well as being booted for telling my story in Time Magazine, the truth hurts and the republicans hate it. That is why I am running for office. The problem being is everyone wants to scream and complain but no one wants to put their money where their mouth is. We all want change so help the ones who are trying to change the way our country is heading by supporting or campaigns. Stop giving to the big boys and help us little guys get into state assembly so we can help the big boys when they need it.

Kelly S. Parrson, Democrat for the 36th Assembly of Wisconsin, as well as a disabled Veteran from OIF 2003-2004, lost my job and my house next is my family but we are holding on.

]]> By: T- http://firedoglake.com/2006/07/23/broken/#comment-203139 T- Mon, 24 Jul 2006 15:16:27 +0000 http://www.firedoglake.com/2006/07/23/broken/#comment-203139 <p>Shelley,<br /> You’ve seen them, you just don’t recognize them.<br /> Your problem is the same one that bushco has, you’re blind.</p> <p>“If I was president, this wouldn’t have happened.”</p> <p>– Sen. John Kerry (D-MA), quoted by the Detroit News, on the Israeli-Lebanon conflict. [per *ilson, next thread]</p> Shelley,
You’ve seen them, you just don’t recognize them.
Your problem is the same one that bushco has, you’re blind.

“If I was president, this wouldn’t have happened.”

– Sen. John Kerry (D-MA), quoted by the Detroit News, on the Israeli-Lebanon conflict. [per *ilson, next thread]

]]> By: Shelley Wickman http://firedoglake.com/2006/07/23/broken/#comment-203129 Shelley Wickman Mon, 24 Jul 2006 15:09:17 +0000 http://www.firedoglake.com/2006/07/23/broken/#comment-203129 <p>I used to be a repulican, and I get angry when articles like this say, “We must get the Democrats back into power”. I would vote Democrat if the party could come up with someone that has an answer to the problem. I haven’t seen that person!!</p> I used to be a repulican, and I get angry when articles like this say, “We must get the Democrats back into power”. I would vote Democrat if the party could come up with someone that has an answer to the problem. I haven’t seen that person!!

]]> By: Madison Guy http://firedoglake.com/2006/07/23/broken/#comment-203004 Madison Guy Mon, 24 Jul 2006 12:29:41 +0000 http://www.firedoglake.com/2006/07/23/broken/#comment-203004 <p>Great post! This is why the Prince of Darkness and his buddies are so frightening.</p> <p><a href="http://letterfromhere.blogspot.com/2006/07/prince-of-darkness-like-his-neocon.html">http://letterfromhere.blogspot.....eocon.html</a></p> Great post! This is why the Prince of Darkness and his buddies are so frightening.

http://letterfromhere.blogspot…..eocon.html

]]> By: Christy Hardin Smith http://firedoglake.com/2006/07/23/broken/#comment-202778 Christy Hardin Smith Mon, 24 Jul 2006 04:17:27 +0000 http://www.firedoglake.com/2006/07/23/broken/#comment-202778 <p>bianco at 162 — For starters, we shouldn’t have been there in the first place. In addition, the military has no business running the reconstruction phase of this half-baked nightmare of an occupation — reconstruction has always been a State Dept. purview, but Rummy got his hands in the pie to hand out goodies to Halliburton, and so it goes. The planning for this entire mess was flawed from the start, despite the precision of our entry into Iraq, the looting, the failure to secure government buildings properly, and the continued disregard for basic subsistance infrastructure is all part of the idiocy that was Rumsfeld’s need to cut corners just to see if he could. </p> <p>If you are going to go into a country to take out a government, you don’t do so with a third of the forces that your military commanders recommend to you for the post-invasion aftermath. And you don’t then fail to secure all the locations where IED materials and rocket launchers and ammo and many other weapons were stored (which are now being used against us, coalition forces, and Iraqi forces). You go in with overwhelming force and you keep the level there until the entire country is subdued. Period. Basic military strategy 101.</p> <p>And that’s just for starters. I could go on and on about this, but I’m tired after a long day of blogging, and I’d suggest reading up on some of the testimony of Gen. Shenseki, on some of the interviews that Gen. Wesley Clark and others have done, and many of the op-eds that former military and intel (including Larry Johnson and Pat Lang and many, many others) have been doing all along.</p> <p>Had this not been done in a slapped together, half-assed fashion from the start, had the work been done in the planning stages to have adequate military force on the ground to hold the nation’s violence down to a manageable level or less while the infrastructure work got done to the power grid, the run-down hospitals and other necessary infrastructure issues, and had the work been contracted out to Iraqis who need the jobs…well, it might be a whole lot less of a civil war three years down the road, mightn’t it?</p> <p>And bianco, I’d suggest you modify your snotty-assed tone and educate yourself on the difference between decent, ethical, dedicated military servicepeople and the skeezy tactics that the Bush Administration has been able to cajole out of a few in the chain of command who put their own rise in power above ethics (as in Gen. Miller who has had his hand in Gitmo, Abu Ghraib, and Bagram in Afghanistan, who has been kissing Rumsfeld ass ever since the Bush Administration came into office.) But taking a snotty ass tone with me on this issue will get you nowhere…you are lucky that I’m tired and not in the mood to respond at length in a post. The fact that I even had to explain basics to you on this tells me a lot…</p> bianco at 162 — For starters, we shouldn’t have been there in the first place. In addition, the military has no business running the reconstruction phase of this half-baked nightmare of an occupation — reconstruction has always been a State Dept. purview, but Rummy got his hands in the pie to hand out goodies to Halliburton, and so it goes. The planning for this entire mess was flawed from the start, despite the precision of our entry into Iraq, the looting, the failure to secure government buildings properly, and the continued disregard for basic subsistance infrastructure is all part of the idiocy that was Rumsfeld’s need to cut corners just to see if he could.

If you are going to go into a country to take out a government, you don’t do so with a third of the forces that your military commanders recommend to you for the post-invasion aftermath. And you don’t then fail to secure all the locations where IED materials and rocket launchers and ammo and many other weapons were stored (which are now being used against us, coalition forces, and Iraqi forces). You go in with overwhelming force and you keep the level there until the entire country is subdued. Period. Basic military strategy 101.

And that’s just for starters. I could go on and on about this, but I’m tired after a long day of blogging, and I’d suggest reading up on some of the testimony of Gen. Shenseki, on some of the interviews that Gen. Wesley Clark and others have done, and many of the op-eds that former military and intel (including Larry Johnson and Pat Lang and many, many others) have been doing all along.

Had this not been done in a slapped together, half-assed fashion from the start, had the work been done in the planning stages to have adequate military force on the ground to hold the nation’s violence down to a manageable level or less while the infrastructure work got done to the power grid, the run-down hospitals and other necessary infrastructure issues, and had the work been contracted out to Iraqis who need the jobs…well, it might be a whole lot less of a civil war three years down the road, mightn’t it?

And bianco, I’d suggest you modify your snotty-assed tone and educate yourself on the difference between decent, ethical, dedicated military servicepeople and the skeezy tactics that the Bush Administration has been able to cajole out of a few in the chain of command who put their own rise in power above ethics (as in Gen. Miller who has had his hand in Gitmo, Abu Ghraib, and Bagram in Afghanistan, who has been kissing Rumsfeld ass ever since the Bush Administration came into office.) But taking a snotty ass tone with me on this issue will get you nowhere…you are lucky that I’m tired and not in the mood to respond at length in a post. The fact that I even had to explain basics to you on this tells me a lot…

]]> By: bianco http://firedoglake.com/2006/07/23/broken/#comment-202486 bianco Mon, 24 Jul 2006 00:50:30 +0000 http://www.firedoglake.com/2006/07/23/broken/#comment-202486 <p>” .. because Donald Rumsfeld and Dick Cheney and the whole of the Bush Administration and the Republican Rubber Stamp Congress signed off on a war on the cheap” </p> <p>“on the cheap.” — yo red, are you saying that a war we all know by now was launched on lies should have been *more* expensive in order to be called legitimate, practical, .. “winnable”? </p> <p>what would “spare no expense” have achieved differently? 400 less american dead? 800 less american dead? how many extra billions would have avoided abu graib? please discuss.</p> ” .. because Donald Rumsfeld and Dick Cheney and the whole of the Bush Administration and the Republican Rubber Stamp Congress signed off on a war on the cheap”

“on the cheap.” — yo red, are you saying that a war we all know by now was launched on lies should have been *more* expensive in order to be called legitimate, practical, .. “winnable”?

what would “spare no expense” have achieved differently? 400 less american dead? 800 less american dead? how many extra billions would have avoided abu graib? please discuss.

]]> By: Tears http://firedoglake.com/2006/07/23/broken/#comment-202415 Tears Mon, 24 Jul 2006 00:14:57 +0000 http://www.firedoglake.com/2006/07/23/broken/#comment-202415 <p>While I too want the Rebulicans out of power, what makes you think any US policies in the Middle East will truely change? Democrats are in bed with AIPAC as much as the Repubs. Until we put US interests FIRST, we are doomed to repeat tragic policies that continue to harm us.</p> While I too want the Rebulicans out of power, what makes you think any US policies in the Middle East will truely change? Democrats are in bed with AIPAC as much as the Repubs. Until we put US interests FIRST, we are doomed to repeat tragic policies that continue to harm us.

]]> By: HopeSpringsATurtle http://firedoglake.com/2006/07/23/broken/#comment-202332 HopeSpringsATurtle Sun, 23 Jul 2006 23:30:11 +0000 http://www.firedoglake.com/2006/07/23/broken/#comment-202332 <p>I had to skip this until now. We must remember that we <strong>all</strong> have a personal stake in this occupation. Someone you know knows someone in Iraq. I have someone in Iraq. And I want this bullshit to end. <strong>NOW</strong></p> I had to skip this until now. We must remember that we all have a personal stake in this occupation. Someone you know knows someone in Iraq. I have someone in Iraq. And I want this bullshit to end. NOW

]]> By: fbg46 http://firedoglake.com/2006/07/23/broken/#comment-202281 fbg46 Sun, 23 Jul 2006 22:48:02 +0000 http://www.firedoglake.com/2006/07/23/broken/#comment-202281 <p>In addition to all the reasons we are all aware of for not invading Iraq — no WMD, no connection between OBL and Hussein, etc., etc. — alot of us vets were dead set against it for the very reason Col Pat Lang wrote about. Maintaining a force of 130,000 in a place like Iraq is all about maintaining the Main Supply Routes. If we can’t do that, our leaving Iraq will make the retreat from the Chosin Reservoir look like a walk in the park.<br /> About the only thing that favors our forces in Iraq is the terrain — it’s relatively flat and outside the cities not cluttered. Everything else — the heat and then the cold, the fine powdery sand — is hard on the gear. That means they need lots of water for the soldiers and lots of fuel and spare parts for the equipment.<br /> That stuff gets to where it’s needed on the MSRs. If it can’t be moved over the road on the MSRs without being attacked, then it won’t get there. As Col. Lang points out, flying it in won’t work — the bulk of water and fuel oil alone requires more lift capacity than exists in all of our military.<br /> Given that our forces are too small to prevent a determined force of Shias and Sunnis from severely compromising the MSRs, you could say our presence there is tacitly agreed to. The question is: For how much longer?</p> In addition to all the reasons we are all aware of for not invading Iraq — no WMD, no connection between OBL and Hussein, etc., etc. — alot of us vets were dead set against it for the very reason Col Pat Lang wrote about. Maintaining a force of 130,000 in a place like Iraq is all about maintaining the Main Supply Routes. If we can’t do that, our leaving Iraq will make the retreat from the Chosin Reservoir look like a walk in the park.
About the only thing that favors our forces in Iraq is the terrain — it’s relatively flat and outside the cities not cluttered. Everything else — the heat and then the cold, the fine powdery sand — is hard on the gear. That means they need lots of water for the soldiers and lots of fuel and spare parts for the equipment.
That stuff gets to where it’s needed on the MSRs. If it can’t be moved over the road on the MSRs without being attacked, then it won’t get there. As Col. Lang points out, flying it in won’t work — the bulk of water and fuel oil alone requires more lift capacity than exists in all of our military.
Given that our forces are too small to prevent a determined force of Shias and Sunnis from severely compromising the MSRs, you could say our presence there is tacitly agreed to. The question is: For how much longer?

]]> By: hubris sonic http://firedoglake.com/2006/07/23/broken/#comment-202216 hubris sonic Sun, 23 Jul 2006 22:11:37 +0000 http://www.firedoglake.com/2006/07/23/broken/#comment-202216 <p>aye.</p> aye.

]]>