Major General John Batiste Informing Rumsfeld
after retirement the former commander of the First Infantry division in Iraq — said that it was “outrageous” Rumsfeld was still in charge of the Pentagon. (prior to Bush firing him) Batiste added, “He served up our great military a huge bowl of chicken shit, and ever since then, our military and our country have been trying to turn this bowl into chicken salad.”
He once had this to say.
By PHILIP ELLIOTT Associated Press Writer
The Associated Press - Wednesday, May 09, 2007
CONCORD, N.H.
Three retired generals targeted a dozen members of Congress, including Minnesota Sen. Norm Coleman, in a new ad campaign Wednesday, saying they can't support President Bush's policies in Iraq and expect to be re-elected next year.
"I am outraged, as are the majority of Americans. I'm a lifelong Republican, but it's past time for change," retired Maj. Gen. John Batiste told reporters in a conference call. "Our strategy in Iraq today is more of the same, a slow grind to nowhere which totally ignores the reality of Iraq and the lessons of history. Our president ignores sound military advice and surrounds himself with like-minded and compliant subordinates."
Batiste and Paul Eaton, also a retired major general, are featured in the ads by VoteVets.org. They challenge the president's argument that he listens to his commanders on the ground in Iraq. Batiste and Eaton, both former commanders on the ground, said the president's Iraq policies endanger U.S. security.
"The fact is, the president has never listened to the soldiers on the ground effectively," said retired NATO Supreme Allied Commander Wesley Clark, who ran for president in 2004. "This administration is not listening to the troops and is not supporting them."
Other veterans promoted the campaign at a news conference in Manchester, the start of a six-state publicity tour targeting Sens. John Sununu of New Hampshire, Susan Collins of Maine, Norm Coleman of Minnesota and John Warner of Virginia, plus nine congressmen. All are Republicans.
"There are probably a handful of senators that have been pretty vocal in their verbal questioning of President Bush, but they don't really back it up with action," said retired Lt. Col. Andrew Horne, a Marine who served in the Gulf War and the current Iraq war. Horne unsuccessfully ran for the U.S. House as a Kentucky Democrat in 2006.
"If members of his own party would pressure him, the president would not be standing like he is," Horne said.
Brandon Friedman, a 29-year-old Army veteran of Afghanistan and Iraq, said the president's policy is all wrong.
"I think all troops would like to see the government in Iraq succeed, but I think that many troops don't think that this is the way to go about doing that," said Friedman, a Republican who served in the 101st Airborne Division.
Many in the group, including Sununu, have criticized various aspects of administration policy, but all have opposed legislation to establish a timetable for withdrawing American troops.
"Telling members of al-Qaida, militias or insurgent groups the date we will begin and end troop withdrawals is irresponsible," Sununu said.
When VoteVets.org ran ads in February, Sununu said critics of the war have every right to speak out, "but no group or individual should claim to speak for all the patriotic Americans serving in Iraq and around the world in our armed forces."
The House members targeted by the new ads are Mary Bono of California, Phil English of Pennsylvania, Randy Kuhl and James Walsh of New York, Jo Ann Emerson of Missouri, Timothy Johnson of Illinois, Fred Upton of Michigan and Michael Castle of Delaware.
White House Says Bush Would Veto Democrats' Bill to Fund Iraq War Only Into Summer
ReplyDeleteWASHINGTON (Associated Press) -- The White House threatened on Wednesday to veto a proposed House bill that would pay for the war only through July _ a limit Defense Secretary Robert Gates warned would be disastrous.
The warnings came as Democratic leaders wrestled with how to support the troops but still challenge President Bush on the war. Bush has requested more than $90 billion to sustain the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan through September.
Democrats were unbowed.
"With this latest veto threat, the president has once again chosen confrontation over cooperation," said House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.
In a flash of defiance, House Democratic leaders this week promoted legislation that would provide the military $42.8 billion to keep operations going through July, buy new equipment and train Iraqi and Afghan security forces. Congress would decide shortly before its August recess whether to release an additional $52.8 billion to fund the war through September.
"In essence, the bill asks me to run the Department of Defense like a skiff, and I'm trying to drive the biggest supertanker in the world," Gates told senators Wednesday. "And we just don't have the agility to be able to manage a two-month appropriation very well."
In testimony before the Senate Armed Services Committee, Gates left open the possibility of bringing troops home soon, even as the Pentagon plans to maintain a buildup of U.S. forces in Iraq through the end of the year.
ReplyDelete"If (we) see some very positive progress and it looks like things are heading in the right direction, then that's the point at which I think we can begin to consider reducing some of those forces," Gates said.
Senators pressed Gates on reports that commanders in Iraq may want to wait until next April to make an assessment of the buildup. Gates insisted that the evaluation will be in September.
"What are the prospects for having some light at the end of the tunnel, to see some encouragement which would enable the Congress to have the fortitude to support the president and go beyond September and the full funding of the $500 billion?" asked Sen. Arlen Specter, R-Pa.
Gates replied, "I think that the honest answer is, senator, that I don't know."
REPORT: HALF OF FORT DIX TERROR SUSPECTS MAY HAVE BEEN SMUGGLED INTO U.S...
ReplyDeleteHewitt talks to Isikoff for 15 minutes.
The entire time was spent steering him back to reality from his see no evil WOT conclusions based on his desire to see no evil.
Headline above misleading in his opinion since Ringleader may have been a native! (Jordanian)
On and on, but of course immigration is NOT an issue here!
Isikoff: Unraveling a Terrorist Cell
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Newsweek Retracts Koran-Desecration Story -2005
Whitaker said that writers Michael Isikoff (search) and John Barry (search) had shown their story to two Defense Department officials but that neither commented on the alleged Koran incident. Whitman implied on Monday that no Defense officials were contacted prior to publication.
Whitaker, however, did not say that the allegations in the story were wrong, but that the Newsweek reporters' source could not pinpoint where the source obtained his or her information. He also implied that the story had no causal effect on the recent riots in Afghanistan, in which 16 people have died and dozens have been injured.
Check out the first 15 seconds of the video on front page of LaTimes.com.
ReplyDeleteIn that amount of time, the firefighters are almost overrun.
I'd say
"Screw the Bridge, I'm gone!"
(saved by a helicopter,
that's cutting it a little too close.)
A federal law enforcement source confirmed to FOX News that the three — Dritan "Anthony" or "Tony" Duka, 28; Shain Duka, 26; and Eljvir "Elvis" Duka, 23 — also accumulated 19 traffic citations, but because they operated in "sanctuary cites," where law enforcement does not routinely report illegal immigrants to homeland security, none of the tickets raised red flags.
ReplyDeleteThe brothers entered the United States near Brownsville, Texas,
"When will we never learn"
ReplyDeleteGWB and all the rest of the open borders globalists will feel NO guilt, of course, when a city is taken out via this route.
Just your average Beaver Cleaver good Neighbor:
ReplyDelete"The apparent leader of the group, Philadelphia taxi driver Mohammed Shnewer, is quoted in the affidavit as telling a confidential FBI informant that he envisioned using “six or seven jihadists” armed with rocket-propelled grenades, or RPGs, to kill at least 100 soldiers at Fort Dix. Apparently motivated by his fury at the U.S. military, Shnewer also allegedly talked about timing another attack on a nearby U.S. naval base in Philadelphia during a peak period just before the annual Army-Navy football game. (The root cause of Shnewer’s hatred of American armed forces has not yet been made clear.) "
Joe Smith, who lives on the same block, is being held on 2 million dollars bail for having the name "Joe Smith,"
ReplyDeletewhich alleged mastermind taxi driver Mohammed Shnewer found offensive, when Joe called taxi driver Mohammed Shnewer for a ride for his 80 year old mother, Dorothy Smith.
Dorothy Smith is now missing.
Putin Cites Nazis in Veiled Criticism of U.S.
ReplyDeleteThe comments were the latest in a series of sharply worded Russian criticisms of American foreign policy.
Putin is taking advantage of anti-Americanism to curry favor with the world's malcontents. He's not hurting himself with the Iranians either. It's a cynical game he's playing which will lead to no good.
ReplyDelete